The Grey NATO - Ep 64 - Dive Watch Retirement

Published on Tue, 24 Jul 2018 09:00:14 -0400

Synopsis

The podcast episode covers a range of topics related to travel, adventure, diving, gear, and watches. The hosts discuss Jason's experience driving the Bentley Bentayga SUV, their interests in film photography and developing skills in new hobbies, and Jason's maintenance work on his vintage Land Rover. The main topic is about the suitability of using vintage dive watches like the Rolex or Tudor Submariner for actual diving, considering their age and the need for proper servicing and testing. The hosts also share some final notes, including recommendations for a smartphone camera lens kit, a map of American watch companies, an article about the Thai cave rescue, and details about Singer's new customized Porsche 911 model.

Transcript

Speaker
J.E. Stacey Hello and welcome to another episode of the Graynado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 64 and we thank you for listening. Hey Jason, how's it going? It's been, uh, what, maybe a week since, uh, since we did the last one?
Jason Heaton Yeah, it kind of came up quickly. Yeah, it sure did. You know, on my end, I had just gotten back from a trip the day before we recorded and And you were doing a lot of travel. And so we kind of squeezed it in. Lately, since then, I've been kind of enjoying some, just some downtime and some of the best weather we get here. So it's kind of nice to be nice to be around the house here, but you've been, you've been on the road and we'll be again shortly here. What, what was your, what was your last trip? That was the Portland trip, I think.
J.E. Stacey Yep. Yeah. I was in, I was in Portland for a weekend. Or for, I guess it was more like nearly four days to drive the Bentayga V8, the new Bentley with the four liter V8 engine, as opposed to their W12. Yeah. So, I mean, as you would expect, it's fantastic. Like, I mean, it should be, uh, you know, it's, uh, I think it, you know, it starts at $165,000. So it should be, you know, really remarkably good. And a lot of the ones we were driving around were in the low twos. Yeah. uh, with, uh, with spec and you know, it's 550 horsepower. It's, uh, so much torque. They're very fast. They're very comfortable. I mean, like, I kind of think like if you look at it and yeah, or if you've ever been, if you've ever like seen inside a Bentley, you kind of already know what to expect, but you know, the interior is fantastic and the stereo is great. And, uh, and, and, you know, the seats are really comfortable and the visibility is excellent. You know, it's based on the same platform as the Uris. which I drove in the past, and of course the Porsche Cayenne. So, you know, while they're working with the same hard points, I think that the Bentayga looks a little bit more like a wagon, which I like. It has sort of a longer roof. After I put up a photo when I drove the Continental GT, I was dressed kind of all in green with the green GT in Austria. And then they got me a green Bentayga for Portland. So I had the matching car. It was verdant green, which is this beautiful kind of saturated. Same color. Same forest green. Yeah, same color. And then a saddle interior, like a tan and black interior, which is really nice. So it was a great trip. Had some lovely food. We actually went to the factory where they make Pendleton. Oh, nice. Blankets and shirts and that sort of thing. And actually saw the whole process of like dyeing the wool and, you know, like using the looms and their quality control measures. That factory, the one in Portland, had been around since 1912, and their one in Washington was like 1907, local business that hires people locally and makes everything there. And I didn't realize that they had this interesting backstory with... They had this really beautiful blue, like a flannel sort of blue work shirt, and they were saying like, this shirt's kind of famous because It was worn by a band that at the time was calling themselves the Pendletones because they liked these shirts so much. And Pendleton, you know, nicely wrote them and asked if they could maybe not. And the second name that they came up with was the Beach Boys.
Unknown Oh my gosh.
J.E. Stacey Wow. So you can actually like see the cover of the first, I don't remember what the first Beach Boys album was called. My father would know for sure. But they're wearing Pendleton shirts on the cover. Oh, that's crazy. And so that shirt's been in consistent Manufacture since certainly since then and then of course beforehand, but that's a cool little side trip to yeah Definitely on a car sort of test drive trip.
Jason Heaton That's that's really cool.
J.E. Stacey Yeah, I think they wanted to kind of connect The in like Pendleton has some British roots. It was started by a Brit that came to the States So I think they wanted to connect the kind of craftsmanship and and the attention to detail which was extensive and and So much of the process was still hand done. Yeah, they had lots of machines for looms and spooling and all that kind of thing but there were people walking around making sure that everything was going correctly. Yeah. Which is pretty cool. And it felt like you're in kind of not a modern factory, especially if you've ever seen how like a car is made now. Yeah. And, but certainly not, not something super old. It was in this kind of middle ground where they must've found a kind of happy medium between technology and kind of hands on. And I found it really fascinating and I definitely wanted to pick up a shirt and then, you know, you expect a tour like this to end at the shop of some sort. Yeah. And then it didn't. And, uh, and I, I forgot there was actually like a Pendleton flagship store down the street from where I was staying. And I didn't get a chance to go, uh, go take a look at some of the shirts, but it's my understanding. You can definitely dig them up in, um, in Goodwills if you know what you're looking for.
Jason Heaton Oh, sure. I'm curious. And, and, you know, I'm guessing most, uh, TGN listeners are like myself and we'll never be in a position to be, you know, buying a, a Bentley Bentayga or a Continental or a McLaren or whatever in And you tend to, um, because of your work with Nuvo, um, the trips tend to be with these very high end cars. And I'm wondering if the experience of, you know, how does kind of the average person relate to these sort of cars? Is it, is it similar to kind of putting on somebody's, uh, Lange, like that time you, you got to wear a Lange while you were over in, uh, in Italy or, or if you're at a red bar group or get together and you, you put on someone's paddock, Is it sort of that type of experience where it's just sort of an appreciation from afar? Do you need to drive this car to appreciate it?
J.E. Stacey I'm just kind of trying to relate to... I think you could be driven in something like a Bentley to understand what they're going for and why people actually pay that kind of money for it. I'll never pay that kind of money for a car. It's absurd at a personal level. But I think from coverage, I think like what someone reading the piece might get would be the exact same as somebody reading a post about a watch that they're never going to buy. Yeah. It's just kind of, you know, enthusiast knowledge and perspective. Yeah. And, and I think that, you know, certainly I find that if I read about a car, it's kind of like a little dose of being part of that car's thing. Yeah. Like whether you, whether you got to drive it or not, but like if I read a review, like I have a car story coming up in final notes. And when I read that, I got kind of the same buzz I would get from actually experiencing the car to some extent. You know, those details and all of the photos and that kind of thing kind of give you a better understanding of what it is. And if, and if you're into cars simply because cars, like you didn't, you didn't come to it because you need a vehicle. Yeah. Then I think that enthusiasm plays through, like none of us are coming to watches because we really need a watch. Yeah. Uh, so I think there's still, I think there's still that kind of two side of it. And then I'm sure there are people who would read a Bentayga review and that would inform a purchasing decision. Sure. But that's got to be a much smaller slice. And I think that a lot of those people either already know what they're looking for and maybe they want to just know about smaller details or just get an idea of colors or what the interior looks like or something like that. But that one's a little bit harder for me to speak to because it's so far outside my personal experience with in terms of ownership. You know, I drive a Mazda. It's fine. It's a fine car.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Huh. Well, speaking of, uh, British cars in a much lower level. I'm finally having a little bit of time here at home for the rest of the summer. I've had some time to kind of do some a little bit of tinkering that's been long overdue with the Land Rover. Did kind of a fluid change last weekend and minor rust treatment and painting work and stuff like that. So I'm just kind of excited to be spending a little more time at home doing that kind of thing. And it's a very, it's just one of those activities that's so different than kind of anything else, you know, than, um, you know, diving or traveling or anything like that. It's a very, I'm, I'm very much a, uh, a novice kind of arm, uh, armchair or shade tree mechanic. So it involves a lot of, uh, heavy sort of prep and thought process on my, on my part. I'm not the kind that can just go out and know exactly what he's looking at and turn a wrench and, and do something. So in a way it's a little more rewarding, I guess, than, uh, you know, maybe if I were kind of an, Competent and confident mechanic who can just sort of know what he's doing I kind of enjoy that process of learning a new skill, which is something that I guess in the rest of my life I don't maybe get as much of so it's It's it's been kind of fun, and I'm looking forward to kind of getting my hands dirty literally the rest of the summer All right, I entirely know what you mean with with like picking not only with being a dilettante mechanic at best
J.E. Stacey But just like knowing that something's wrong with the car diagnosing what it actually is Yeah, is even that part's kind of fun because you feel like you're on the road to fixing it Yeah, even if you're not the one that's gonna end up doing that like if the work was to it's too much work Right, right, but you can you can take it to the person to be like this is what's going on And this is why yeah as opposed to just being like hey, here's a car. That's me. It's making a noise Yeah, yeah, and and I like you know with something like the Landy or you know I used to have at one time I had an old blazer. Yeah an 89 blazer mechanically not super complicated. Yeah. And not electronics, not a lot of electronics to get in your way. So a lot of it can be like visible or where the noise is coming from or what, what, what is leaking something. Right. And go from there. And it's a, it's super fun to pick up, uh, to pick up, you know, little bits of knowledge as you go, because it, and then it'll be very custom to like that year of the vehicle. Right. And they don't, it doesn't always translate to other stuff. But I remember, you know, with the cars I would own, you would, you would learn how to do little things or you would kind of know what to predict. So when you did hear a noise, you're like, Oh yeah, I knew that was going to go at some point.
Jason Heaton Yeah. My, my, my next challenge is, um, you know, these, uh, these vehicles are kind of known for their electrical gremlins. And thankfully I haven't had too many issues, um, in the kind of the year of ownership that I've had with it, which is great, you know, knock on wood, but, um, I've having this peculiar sort of issue with the, the front indicator lights, which have never quite worked in the left turn signal. Um, I can't get it to work. And so just, you know, there's just a myriad of, of resources online for this kind of stuff, you know, forums and, and, uh, just websites and videos and things. And, uh, come, come to find out that the actual housing for the turn signal lamp is grounded to the frame with a, um, a steel screw that goes through the, the actual cup that the light sits in on the, on the, on the vehicle. And sure enough, you know, after however many years now, it's, I guess it's a 30, 30 plus year old vehicle. It just corroded. And so when you, when I took apart the lens and kind of looked at where the bulb fits in there, that little ground strap is completely green from corrosion and and just needs to be replaced. So, you know, I've, I've read things about where, you know, if you dribble kind of Coca-Cola over it, it can kind of eat away at that corrosion, et cetera, et cetera. You know, it's one of those little troubleshooting things that, uh, until I get it fixed, it's a matter of sticking an arm out the window, you know, for, for indicating which, which way I'm turning. But, uh, you know, it's stuff like this that, uh, just having the time to kind of putz with that is, is really quite nice. So that's, uh, that's kind of the latest thing and you're, you're kind of in an analog, yeah, in an analog mode these days with, with the new Canon, uh, film camera that you got, you, you got a chance to try it out.
J.E. Stacey I did. Yeah, I had it delivered. You know, again, thanks to Enrique Michant. He helped me source the camera and then I got it delivered to the hotel in Portland, which was just easier than shipping it all the way to Vancouver. Yeah. And, and so yeah, I got it's kind of like a little zippered bag with all the manuals and a couple lenses. I've only used the 50 F1.8, but it was already mounted on it. Yeah. But I've put two rolls of film through it while I was in Portland and since I got home. So I used a roll of Tri-X 400 and a roll of the Kodak Porta 400. So the Tri-X is black and white, the Porta is color. Both are, I think, super common film that people kind of, when you start to dabble, start to get into. So I took those to a developer yesterday, so I should see scans sometime in the next little while. So it might be fun. I don't have high hopes because I don't really know what I'm doing. I do, I do know that like from all the physical indicators, I loaded the film correctly. So that's a good, a good step in the right direction. Yeah. Um, and now we'll see how well the camera operates. And then of course, as an extension of its ability to operate my ability to actually focus it right. And to understand how the meter works. Cause it's a little bit different than use. It's not vastly different than using a digital camera from a metering standpoint, but it's a little bit different in that, um, like I've been, I only shoot manual. Yeah. On all my digitals. I've been doing it since like when I first got into photography. I bought a Canon g7 digital Like a point-and-shoot with an okay lens And very quickly just put that in manual mode so you had a you know You had a button to go to ISO you had a wheel to do shutter speed and you had a wheel to do aperture Yeah, and then what I typically do and I still do this with the Sony is that I just leave the lens at the aperture that I like typically wide open or within one or two stops of wide open yeah And then I just use the ISO or the shutter speed to balance it. Yeah, to keep your exposure right in the center, or maybe a little bit low, I like to underexpose a little bit for digital and with the with the Canon. So yeah, there's a little like, when you when you have pressed the shutter or use the exposure check button, you kind of get like a display on the right hand side of the viewfinder. That tells you what aperture you should be at for the metering. Yeah, so you can't like you can obviously then change what it says, but the fastest shutter speed is 1 1,000. Yeah. So a lot of times I'm up in the four to F eight range, which I'm not used to. So I might, um, I might use, uh, an ND. Yeah. Uh, just to balance that down, bring me back down towards one eight. Cause I, you know, I like that Boca, especially if I'm going to be shooting, like this is mostly to shoot people or, or, you know, stuff that quote unquote would be more towards an artistic bend. Yeah. So we'll see how that actually goes, but I highly recommend, as I did on a previous episode, picking up an old camera. I'm having an absolute blast with it. It came with a hilarious strap, which I'll put in the show notes. Oh, the Epcot. That's so cool. Yeah. Like this weirdly colorful set, like 80s style strap. Yeah. And, uh, and yeah, it feels really good. It's like heavy and chunky and super mechanical. Obviously it has almost no electronics that, you know, the program has a meter, uh, and it requires a battery to operate. Like you can operate a lot of the Nikon stuff without even a battery. Yeah. But not in this case. And, and yeah, so I'll probably track down and if anybody listening has like a box of lenses that they're not that interested in, and you might have a 50 F1.4, or even the 50 F1.2 L, drop me a line. I'm around I'd happily buy something like that. So if you've got an FD lens sitting in a drawer somewhere, let me know. I think it'd be fun to play around with some kind of faster, more aggressive glass than this. I think this 50 f1.8 is fine. We'll see what it's like. But I obviously would like something that's more towards as good as you can get.
Jason Heaton Well, similar to kind of what I was talking about that sort of joy of learning new skills. When I was a few years ago, I decided I wanted to learn to process my own film. So I Got one of these little tanks that you can just take your roll out in a dark room or inside of a developing bag and unthread, you unspool the film from the roll and then you feed it onto these cages that then snap inside this tank. It's just a small plastic bucket with a lid that completely keeps out light. And then you just buy the chemicals and do it right at the kitchen sink. No way. Yeah, and it takes up no space at all. And then you end up with your exposed film, your negatives, basically. And you cut them apart and hang them to dry. And there you've got your developed film. And it was kind of this added layer of challenge, because it certainly is much easier to take it to the lab. And they always do a flawless job, the place that I go to here. I wouldn't recommend learning how to process your own film with anything you want to, you know, that's important to you. Right. Yeah. I certainly screwed up a few roles, but I've had decent luck. And then the next level I got was I bought a, um, because I had these, uh, these negatives, which, um, I want to be able to see, you know, you can look at it through a loop on a light table or something, but I actually bought a, um, a negative scanner. So it's a film scanner. And again, that doesn't take up much room either. It's about the size of a small desktop printer. And you just snap the strip of negative into this cage, slide it in, and then it scans. And you can tweak it like there's any number of adjustments you can make. So to kind of go from that front end of exposing the film properly in the camera and shooting a good photo to kind of ending up with that scan was very rewarding. Um, and then I took a, and I might've even talked about this on a previous episode. I took some of my, uh, black and white roles that I had shot, you know, in a couple of years earlier on a trip to Iceland. And I took a local, there was a local lab that was doing a, a dark room class where you could actually do your own enlarging. And that was really cool. So if you've got anything locally in Vancouver, if any listeners, um, are in a city that has any kind of a photo studio or photography. um, school or anything like that. Oftentimes these places do these open courses where you can go and use their enlarging equipment. And boy, it was that really, really neat. I mean, I, I've got some, uh, framed prints that I made of some black and white film I shot in Iceland and it, it really is impressive and remarkable. I didn't process that film myself. I actually had negatives that were processed by a, by a lab professional lab in town, but then the enlarging I did, um, and to kind of see the whole process end to end was, was really quite cool. And I thought I would kind of continue doing the processing and I even toyed with the idea of, you know, building a little dark room in the basement and buying some used enlarging equipment. But it just hasn't quite gone that way. But it's just one of those hobbies that's like a rabbit hole. I mean, it's like working on your own vehicle or I suppose taking a course on how to, you know, take apart your watch or something like that.
J.E. Stacey It's great fun. Yeah, I absolutely love starting at the bottom end of a learning curve. Yeah. Whether it's, you know, trying to pick up, I, you know, I, I played tennis for the first time recently, like, and had a nice afternoon doing so. Yeah. And it's just kind of fun to be at the bottom of something and just kind of applying yourself and, uh, and seeing, you know, what the results are. Uh, it's, and, and, you know, I'm, I'm hoping when I see some of these photos, there's some rewarding factor in that the photos are in focus, we'll say.
Unknown Right.
J.E. Stacey Right. Maybe properly exposed. So we'll see how that goes. And, uh, if I get one that looks okay, I'll put it up on Instagram. We'll see how that goes over time. But I think it's a lot of fun. And I mean, arguably, I would say now and now that I've I've gone into, you know, and paid to have two rolls exposed and scanned. Yeah, the camera is not the expensive part by any stretch of, you know, this, this cannon setup was like 150 bucks shipped. Yeah. Um, but you're going to pay, you're going to get into that very quickly when it comes to film. So if you can start to either develop your own or scan your own or whatever, yeah, you know, it's, it's probably a cheaper way to approach this as far as a hobby. If you have the space, right. Uh, for whatever equipment I could definitely see, um, you know, paying to have somebody create the negatives and then, you know, scan them myself. Yeah. That seems to, uh, that seems to make sense to me. So maybe that's the route to go. I'll have to look into a film scanner.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And certainly if, uh, I'm sure we have a number of listeners that are into film photography and if anybody has any good tips for us on, uh, scanning equipment or, you know, labs, I know there are labs that you can mail away your film and get it back developed for a little cheaper or good sources to buy film online. Um, by all means, uh, write to the graynado at gmail.com and let us know what you think.
J.E. Stacey Yeah, let us know if there's something you wish you'd known when you started. Yeah, right. If you could shortcut us a little bit, that'd be fun. Certainly in my case, Jason, you've been getting great results from film for a long time. Well, should we jump into the main topic? Yeah, we certainly can. So this question comes from a listener, Neil, in Australia. Neil, thanks so much for the question. So he's saying his question is about the age of a dive watch that we would actually dive with. Even after it has been checked by a watchmaker and pressure tested, at what age would you retire a dive watch, even if it passed these tests? At some point, he would like to get a Rolex or a Tudor sub, but he would only justify it if he could actually use it diving, which is awesome and makes sense, obviously, to Jason and I. He was looking for an older model because he doesn't like the new case style. So along his hunt, he had found a Tudor sub from 1976, but he thought it might be too old to be used practically as an actual tool watch. So he was looking for some feedback on that. And I think Jason, you have a fairly similar experience with an older Tudor, right?
Jason Heaton Yeah, in fact, I've got a Tudor Submariner also from 1976. Oh, perfect. And I've taken it diving. So I guess my philosophy, and this is actually an interesting follow-on question to our last episode, because I had talked a little bit about the old Teagraph Doxa that I have and had refurbished, and kind of put out a question to listeners about whether or not they think I should take a diving. So this is really, this is really a good follow up. And I got a fair number of responses via Instagram from people that were by and large, I don't think anybody said don't dive with it. So, um, I certainly plan to, uh, to get it wet and the next opportunity I get. Um, but I, you know, my feeling isn't, and I've thought about this a little bit, um, over the past couple of years. And I did take the tutor sub diving a few times and it is, if you were, someone who bought that watch new in, let's say you're an older guy and you were a diver back in the seventies and you bought a Tudor sub and you had that watch from new and you just kept on with kind of getting it serviced and maintained because you liked to take a diving and it was your tool. It was your instrument. Um, you probably wouldn't be asking this question at this point. You know, you'd probably get to this point 30 years on and say, um, you know, It's just time to get the gaskets changed and have it pressure tested, and I'm going to take a diving again. And you wouldn't maybe think twice about it. But for some reason, when we buy vintage watches of the same sort, we tend to raise that question. And I'm of the feeling that if a watch is properly serviced and you get it tested, go ahead and take a diving. I would have no problem with that, and I've done it myself. So that's kind of my feeling. first go at it?
J.E. Stacey Yeah, no, I would completely agree. I think if you compared it like to a car, whether it's something like your Land Rover or maybe a sports car that you'd like to take on a vintage rally, or something to that extent, or even just, you know, you want to buy a vintage car, the question isn't, will I be able to drive it? Like it was designed to be driven. It's just how has it been serviced? How has it been cared for? Yeah. So if you're buying a watch from the 70s that you do intend to dive with,
Unknown Yeah.
J.E. Stacey You just have to make sure that it's been cared for so that there's not a problem that can't be addressed. Right. And then once you get it, you have to then also carry on the legacy of good care. Yeah. I would say that if the watch passes the overall test for pressure and such, then that's it saying it's ready to dive. Yeah. You know, if you, if you take your car in for a tune up or you spend a, you spend a couple of weekends getting your, I don't know, vintage triumph or something, you know, going. and running well and it gets you around the block and maybe out for a shakedown run without issue, then I think that's it saying, you know, it's time to go. Do what you want to do with it.
Jason Heaton I think we are advocates and anybody that's made it to episode 64 listening to us knows that we're advocates of using things and getting out and doing stuff. And I would suspect that most people listening are of the same ilk. And so I don't think it will be, we would get much dispute from anybody on kind of the notion of just using a watch in general. And I don't think that I recognize that a lot of these vintage watches cost a fair amount and none of us are, or most of us aren't made of money and can just afford to, to damage something that costs, you know, $5,000 or something. But, um, we're all kind of of the philosophy that, you know, these, these things are kind of, you're almost honoring them by using them the way they were intended to be used. And for sure, it reminds me of your, your car analogy reminds me of the, the, uh, the English tour that you went on with the Braymont brothers, uh, the English brothers from Braymont last year. And, you know, they, they took a vintage Jag and a vintage Porsche on a trip across half the U S and, but of course, before they did it, they had them extensively checked out and, and, you know, pretty much stripped down and fully serviced, I think on, on both counts to get them roadworthy and they still encountered problems. So, um, but a watch is a little bit less, uh, you know, maybe it's a less taxing experience to go diving with a watch than it is to drive through the heat of the desert or whatever with a 1960s car.
J.E. Stacey The only scenario in which I would say maybe don't take it is if it had some extreme sentimental value to you. Yeah. I think that would be my only limitation on like where I would become precious with a watch. Yeah. Otherwise I think you know especially if you're buying it now as a watch from say 1976 so it's only becoming yours now. Yeah. Just do what you want to do with it for sure. Yeah. Like obviously don't buy, don't buy a, I don't know what a vintage Tudor sub cost these days, probably 5,000 or more could be easy. And don't buy it if you can't afford to keep it serviced. That might not be the right decision for you. Like if you can't, if you want to buy a vintage sub or a sub with the smaller case style, so that could bring you up to a pretty modern one, like your 14060M. You know, if that's your goal, make sure that you, you know, roughly what it would cost to keep it keep it serviced. I mean, these watches will run for a very long time without being opened. But that's not going to be the same if you're diving with it all the time. You'll want to get it checked every now and then.
Jason Heaton It's one of those things where, for instance, with the Tudor Sub, I had it fully serviced and checked and it was passed with flying colors, the water resistance test. And I kind of thought to myself, I was doing a trip and I did a story about diving with that watch, so that it was kind of a good excuse to take it. But it's not my primary diving watch by any means, but it was kind of fun to do it once and to say that I've done it and kind of when I wear it, I know that it's worthy of that. And I guess the two sort of concerns or caveats that I have about diving with a vintage watch are one, the bracelet or strap strength is a concern. If it's something that's rare or that you prize particularly, and this could be the case with a modern watch too, For sure. I had this T-graph on this trip to Michigan a couple of weeks ago and I took it on a very shallow like literally like a 10-foot dive just to kind of get my weight sorted and whatever else and I had it on my wrist while I was doing that so it did get underwater. But then I was wearing it on my wrist quite a bit when we were on the dive boat and I was helping some other divers on and off with their gear and getting people in and out of the water and dealing with the lines on the boat at the dock and things like that. The watch was on the original beads of rice bracelet. And I guess that's one concern that you might want to think about is how you strap the watch. And I think, you know, these bracelets, the old ones aren't particularly sturdy, especially now. And you can snap it quite easily and drop it into very deep water, which would not be a good scenario. So you might want to think about what strap you put it on, NATO or something like that.
J.E. Stacey Yeah, it's kind of like considering the tires for your car. Yeah, make sure that they're up to you know Make sure you've you have a strap that you're comfortable with and if you can if you're in a scenario where you can dive with a NATO or maybe a rubber NATO Yeah, you could cinch down a little tighter that we can I'll drop a link in the show notes for anyone who doesn't remember that Zulu diver 328 rubber NATO. It's great great option for the summer for anyone's watch diving or otherwise and Do that make sure the spring bars look good I mean, it's like, it's, it's fairly routine stuff. I think you would include that in a, in a general service. You'd make sure your tires are, uh, you know, properly inflated and, and aren't ballooning or cracking or anything like that. And I think you have to do the same with your spring bars. Occasionally I change straps. So often I see them when they're, when they're not looking good or you, you know, put a tool to them and the end comes off. Right. And, and, you know, uh, you can buy, you can buy, they're not expensive to buy good ones. Uh, as far as, uh, spring bars go, you can order them online. I bought them from Esslinger before very easily. Yeah. And so that's something else to consider, but that's more of a consideration for anyone who's listening. If you're not so sure about your spring bars or if you know that they're in kind of weird shape or might even look a bit rusty. It's like a buck or two bucks or something like just replace them.
Jason Heaton And these, particularly with a Tudor sub, for instance, with the drilled lugs, the Rolex spring bars are fantastic. They're the shoulderless kind. They're a little bit thicker. And I have a lot of confidence in in Rolex and Tudor spring bars, you know, from almost any era. So the other thing I was going to mention too is with the Tudor sub that I have, the Snowflake hour hand was particularly known for dropping out the lume. It would crack and because it was such a big surface area of lume that wasn't really well supported from the back. And a lot of these older dive watches, you know, the lume is shot. So if you're looking for any sort of low light condition legibility, you're going to be out of luck there. But the kind of concern that a good hard knock will, you know, certainly there's a mechanical risk to the movement, but also to, you know, knocking out any kind of loom from hands or knocking loose a marker from the dial or something like that. If that's a concern, I guess that would be one thing to keep in mind also.
J.E. Stacey Yeah. Fragile looms a good point. Something to bring up, especially if it is going to be this, you know, Neil's only watch that he plans to dive with. he might be better off going with something a little bit more modern. Yeah. Because I wonder what the price delta is. I didn't look, so I'm not sure, but I do wonder what the price delta is in Australia, say, between a 70s Tudor sub or a more modern slim-case Rolex, like a 14-060M.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think the Tudor is actually running a little more expensive, so you might actually be better off getting a 140-60 or something.
J.E. Stacey Slightly more modern means slightly less work, Yeah, from or being slightly less worried about it. But I think either way you go, Neil, you had mentioned a no date Rolex or this Tudor sub, I think both could be great. You just kind of have to keep on top of a couple really, I think, pretty standard, and not that overly intensive, you know, aspects of caring for the watch.
Unknown Yeah, definitely.
J.E. Stacey Lots of people dove with them for a long time. So I think you could too. Yeah, go for it. Alrighty, well, you want to go on to a final notes?
Jason Heaton Yeah, sure. I will jump in with mine first, one of mine. Um, we were talking extensively about cameras earlier, and this is a very different sort of camera or camera component. It's actually, um, something that, uh, uh, one of, uh, local guys here a few weeks ago to get together, uh, turned me onto his name's David and, um, David, if you're listening, thanks a lot for the recommendation. It's, it's a clip on macro and wide angle lens kit from, uh, company called Xenvo. X-E-N-V-O. And, you know, a lot of us have seen these clip-on lenses for our iPhones and Android phones. But this one hit the right sort of combination of price and features. It's about $35 and we'll put a link to the Amazon page where it sells. And it just has a nice feel to it. It has a good kind of lens cap like you'd find on any decent camera lens. It has some heft to it. It's made of, it's probably like a milled or machined aluminum housing for the lens. And there's two lenses that actually screw together. So the macro portion of the lens screws onto this clip that then just clips right over your phone so that it sits against the camera. And then there's a wide angle component that screws right onto the macro lens to give you a wider angle, which I don't use very much, but the macro lens is really quite nice, especially if you want to do any kind of close up watch photography with your phone. Right. And and then it comes in a little zippered kit with and it has a lanyard with a little carabiner, which is kind of goofy. But in that kit, there also is a little three way light that actually clips onto your phone as well. So when you clip the lens onto your camera, your phone's camera, you could clip the little light next to it and you can it has three different settings. And if you need to like light up something, let's say you're at a watch get together and you want to take a few photos of your buddy's paddock or whatever and it's kind of low light or kind of bad lighting. Um, the light works reasonably well and the macro I found to be really, really good quality. And, um, I'm really pleased with it. I mean, there were a number of us that were, you know, at this get together and he showed us this and I think three of us like immediately went to Amazon on our phones and just ordered this thing. Cause it's, it's kind of for $35 it was a bit of a no brainer and I've, I don't really have the wherewithal to, pony up for for like the loop systems, you know, little lens that you can use for sure, which are in the hundreds. So this this was a really nice affordable alternative.
J.E. Stacey So give it give it a go. Yeah, I think that looks great. And it's not expensive. And it gives you a little bit more flexibility with the camera. So if you're on an iPhone, but it also looks like because it's a clip, it should work on a ton of different phones. So
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. We tried it with my wife's, what does she have like a Huawei or LG or something and it fits fine. So as long as it kind of fits your, wherever the camera lens is on your phone, it should, should be fine.
J.E. Stacey Well, very cool. Yeah. I like that a bunch. My first up is actually just the outside online article about the daring rescue to save that Thai soccer team that was stranded in a cave.
Unknown Yeah.
J.E. Stacey Uh, so an interesting story. I assume that like a lot of people probably follow this as it happened, but, uh, outside did kind of a nice write up explaining some of the process. Uh, I would have liked them to maybe gone a little bit deeper into the actual diving aspect of it, which it may, maybe that story is, you know, underway. So yeah, in the event that you weren't following this or have no idea what I'm talking about, there was, uh, a span of time, some 18 days that a, uh, 12 members of a Thai soccer team and their coach were kind of stranded in a flooded cave system. And they did nine of those days without food while people were trying to find them. Pretty intense story. And then a bunch of cave divers from kind of all over the world kind of banded together to sort of way of getting them through a few pretty tight spots in the cave. So a good read and a nice kind of primer from outside. And if I can find other articles that kind of have more detail than this, then I'll throw that in there too. But I think it's an interesting story, very grenado sort of story. So I wanted to make sure we at least threw a link in there.
Jason Heaton Yeah, good one. My second one comes courtesy of Vortik. Vortik is the small watch company based in Colorado that has a very niche sort of focus and that is converting old American pocket watches to wristwatches. And I met with R.T. Custer, who's the founder of the company and kind of this brilliant young engineer who kind of came up with a way to 3D print titanium cases for pocket watches and do the conversions. And so R.T. sent me and again, this came courtesy of him. So just in the interest of full disclosure, I didn't pay for this, but it's a map made of a very thin kind of cork material that is a map that he made in cooperation with the North American Watch Collectors organization that has a museum out in Pennsylvania. It's a map that shows kind of all of the significant American watch companies from the 19th and 20th centuries. And it's just kind of a fun sort of thing if you're into American watchmaking or old pocket watches. There isn't a whole lot of detail, but it's kind of an older map of the U.S. with kind of examples of the pocket watches from each of these companies, roughly in the location of the country where they're from, and then kind of a brief description of each of the companies at the bottom. And I just kind of liked it. I saw it at Basel, and he offered to send me one. So they're selling it on their website for $45. And it's, like I said, it's kind of this thin cork material, which You know, you could certainly frame it or hang it up, but I'm using it as a desk blotter. It's kind of just on my desktop here and it works really well. It's nice and tacky and you can kind of put your coffee on it or your phone or pens and whatever, and they don't go skittering across the surface. So it's, uh, and it's kind of just fun to look at very watch themed for, for someone like me. So, um, really cool. Thanks RT for sending that. And, uh, by all means, if it's something that interests you, check it out at Vortex website.
J.E. Stacey That is really cool. I think that's a, that's a, yeah, just a really cool thing. It looks the, the texture of it looks great too. Yeah. They have, they have some photos and yeah, sort of a cork like. Yeah. Almost like the pin board.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And they must've used some sort of, I don't know, burning or something to, to print it because it has a definitely laser etched. Yeah. It's, it's etched. So when I run my finger across it, there's some texture to it. And, and when I first unpackaged it, when it came in the mail, it kind of had this burned smell to it, which was oddly appealing.
J.E. Stacey Oh, for sure. And yeah, it's 30 by 20. Yeah. Yeah.
Unknown Very cool.
J.E. Stacey Yeah. So my final one is I had mentioned, you know, covering a story about a car and it's a Speedhunters article about the new Singer DLS, the dynamics and lightweight study that they did with Williams, an automotive engineering company, you know, responsible for a lot of Formula One technology. Yeah. And there's a ton of stories you can find online about this car. They just kind of actually, you know, they showed renderings of what they planned to do a while ago. And then this car actually debuted at Goodwood just recently this, you know, a day or two before we recorded this episode. And the car is incredible. And as Jordan who wrote this Jordan Butters wrote this piece, as he points out, it also kind of represents the Zenith, the current Zenith of this resto mod 911 craze. It's $1.8 million. Oh, wow. Jeez. So it's 964 based, but then, you know, it has fully bespoke skin. It's super lightweight. They're not saying what the weight is currently, but, you know, the entire purpose was to make this version as light as possible. And then it has a Williams engineered 500 horsepower motor that revs to 9,000 RPM. It's on these outstanding wheels. It's in white. It's actually a slightly different shape. than the actual 964, all of the body panels are their own. And then, I don't know this for certain, but then you get into weird stuff like, did they make their own windshields? Because that's insanely expensive. Yeah. I had linked that Zagato piece on the last episode. Yeah. But when you get into coach building cars, you'll find that they often keep all of the glass. That's like a hard point that they won't change. Oh, sure. Because making your own windshield is absurd. Yeah. or, or, or a windscreen or, or that kind of stuff. Like, like you, you pretty much want to keep the doors as much as you can. And, you know, because that's an aperture and has glass in it and then the windshield and that kind of thing. And I'm not sure to what extent they went and maybe that comes into the $1.8 million. They're asking for the car, but, uh, I think it's absolutely fantastic. Just in details, just check out the photos or, or find somebody else's coverage. I think we'll start to see videos. I'm sure. Yeah, of kind of tours of the car and hopefully some people driving it as well. I know that I saw Chris Harris wrote that he had driven it and hadn't really come across a motor like that before. So I mean, that's saying something that's Chris Harris. So hopefully we'll have more exposure to the DLS in the future. And I should be able to see one in person in September. For the luxury supercar weekend here in Vancouver, I have, I understand that they should have one of them available for the show. So that's pretty exciting and I'll obviously shoot a ton of photos if I get close to it. Wow. But I mean, I love this sort of stuff. I love what Singer does in general and then for them to partner up with a brand like Williams and make something that's just full-on bonkers is really fun. Definitely worth a few minutes of your time to take a look at.
Jason Heaton So a question I have is if the body panels are all bespoke and it's using a Williams engine, is it still a Porsche?
J.E. Stacey I mean, what's Porsche about it? I'm assuming that the, well, it's still a base four liter flat six. So I assume it started its life as a Porsche engine, probably from a 993 would be my guess, but that could be, I didn't read that. I think in the past they've used 993 transmissions and engines in a 964 style body. But all of the Singers that we've seen don't use any body panels from a Porsche. They're all redone in carbon fiber. Yeah. And to that slightly tweaked proportion of a singer. Yeah. And especially in terms of that rear track width and the way that they sculpt the fenders and that sort of thing, that's all custom work. But I would assume things like the chassis, the various actual underpinnings of the vehicle are still based on a Porsche, the dash maybe, I don't know. Sure, yeah. There's still something in there. And certainly for them to debut at Goodwood, they're obviously not in a totally adversarial position with Porsche. Yeah. Um, you know, they, certainly they show up at car shows and that sort of thing, but this is, this is a little bit more, um, a little bit more limelight certainly. And, and, and that I, you know, it's got to come along with that number, that $1.8 million for rest of my Porsche. It's bonkers.
Jason Heaton I think it looks incredible. It's gorgeous. The color scheme that, that sort of, I don't know that butterscotch sort of goal is beautiful.
J.E. Stacey Yeah. It's like a weirdly orange, Yeah. Non-orange sort of color on the interior. It's great. So it'll be interesting when they start talking about what the weight is, uh, like how much weight they've been able to pull out of the car. Yeah. Uh, because then, then you'd start to see the effect of that much money, you know. Right. Developing Porsche engines as you go up in power become insanely expensive. Yeah. So naturally aspirated 500 horsepower, that's a hugely expensive motor. And then to be removing weight. is also a very expensive endeavor. Yeah, and it'd be interesting to see where where they made some of those saves and how much they you don't want to share about that moving forward. So just a wild car, you know, maybe maybe you get to see one someday, maybe you don't, but the photos are great.
Jason Heaton Do these cars quick question? Do these cars have to conform to modern safety requirements?
J.E. Stacey Because this isn't considered a vintage car, or is it? Yeah, they have the van of the original vehicle. Oh, it does. So they have the van of a 964. I mean, I'm only assuming they are 964 based vehicles. Yeah. So I mean, that's been like a long standing loophole, you know, with those, with those 356 Zagatos, the nine that are being made. Oh, right. They're using, they have to use donor cars. Yeah. You know, it would probably be easier in some respect to just make a whole car. Yeah. But, but then you have to go through that process. Whereas with a donor car, you're registering and putting a plate on whatever. Yeah. Right. So easier that way. Well, cool. Good show. So yeah, as always, thanks so much for listening. 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 The Graynado. If you have any questions for us, please write thegraynado at gmail.com and please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. Music throughout, of course, is Siesta by Jazza via the Free Music Archive.
Jason Heaton And we leave you with this quote from Rudyard Kipling. If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, if you can dream and not make dreams your master, if you can think and not make thoughts your aim, if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same, yours is the earth and everything that's in it.