The Grey NATO - Ep 72 - Watch Resolutions

Published on Thu, 10 Jan 2019 06:00:15 -0500

Synopsis

The podcast opens with a New Year's greeting and discusses the hosts' holiday breaks. One host went on a getaway to Northern Minnesota and tried out new cross-country skis, while the other reflects on the stress of moving across the country. They discuss their anticipation for an upcoming trip to Colorado where they'll get to ski and record a face-to-face episode.

The conversation then shifts to the upcoming SIHH watch show, with one host attending for the first time with Hodinkee. They share their excitement for potential releases from brands like IWC, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Lange. They also speculate about commemorative watches for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing and the Rolex Submariner Date.

Next, they dive into their goals, resolutions, and desired watch releases for 2019. Topics include exploring vintage gold watches, trying to be a "one watch guy" for periods, hiking and outdoor adventures, and the hope for reasonably sized sports watches from brands like Blancpain and Omega.

The episode closes with final notes recommending the Netflix show "Tales by Light," waterproof thermal pants from Ozark Gear Company, a Netflix show about extraordinary homes, and a new magazine from W.M. Brown Project.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton Hello and welcome to another episode of the Graynado, a Hodinkee podcast. A loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This episode is proudly brought to you by Alps and Meters, upholding the tradition of classic alpine sport. It's episode 72, and we thank you for listening. Hey, how's it going? Great. Happy New Year. Yeah, same to you, dude. The year started off okay. We're a few days in at this point.
James Stacey Yeah, about to meet each other again out in Colorado tomorrow.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I'm kind of like weirdly, like really excited just to kind of be out there for a few days. I had kind of, you know, been moving across country. It was pretty stressful sort of December and into even the last couple days. And I'm excited to kind of get out there and just kind of focus on watches and hang out with you and decompress a little bit.
James Stacey Yeah, yeah, should be fun. Should be a good crew and I don't know. The mountains in winter are just something special. So it should be great.
Jason Heaton Yeah. We get a day of skiing. That's going to be awesome. And we get to do a face-to-face episode so people can look forward to that from the next one. Yeah. Great fun. So what else is, what else is new? Tell me, tell me a little bit about your kind of holiday break.
James Stacey Yeah. So, you know, since we recorded last, which I think was just right around Christmas, I guess, my wife and I went up to Northern Minnesota, just along the North shore of Lake Superior to kind of outside of a small town called Beaver Bay. for uh kind of for a pre-new year's getaway and we we rented a cabin that we found on VRBO and um kind of happened to drive up there just in the just in the wake of a pretty major snowstorm that they had up there so that made the driving kind of interesting and but it also made it just just really beautiful to kind of get into the woods and um we had to go up like a half mile really steep snowy hill um just kind of turn off the traction control and just kind of floor it and kind of skid up to the top. And then once we were there, we didn't leave at least in the, in the car, um, did a little bit of snowshoeing and, um, I brought some new, uh, new cross country skis that I got this winter and got to try those out. But other than that, we just, just hung out, kept the wood stove full of wood and, and read books and listened to podcasts and, uh, um, just, just looked out, you know, Lake Superior was kind of off in the, off in the distance through the trees and, It was it was really really great to sort of unplug after What was you know, pretty busy year. So it was great. That sounds awesome. I'm happy for you Yeah, and you know the the skis that I got were really fun to try out I mean, we've had a really lousy ski winter here in in the Twin Cities for snow and for skiing because it's just been sort of icy and gray and We've even had a lot of rain this winter, which is really weird. But so I got a chance to take these skis up north with me. They're from Fisher. They're called the S-bound and they've been around for a few years but I hadn't tried them. They're kind of marketed as a backcountry ski, metal edged touring backcountry ski that you could use for some sort of light downhill skiing I guess if you were proficient in telemark style skiing or you can kind of like skitter your way down. that half-mile driveway or road that we had to drive up I was kind of practicing my downhill technique in these skis and they work pretty well. They're pretty wide at the at the tail and the tip so they're kind of almost like carved or you know carving style cross-country skis which is sort of a weird it was a weird concept for me but but what's really neat about these skis is they have a little slot and up near the nose that you can you can string a skin through which I didn't do but you could put like a removable skin for for doing uphill travel if you're doing some serious kind of uphill mountain backcountry skiing, but Yeah, they were they were great. So, you know just a full disclosure Fisher sent me these to to try out so I didn't pay for them, but regardless they were really Really impressive and it's it's just fun to kind of get up You know that far north where the snow is still deep and just kind of break trail. So that was that was a lot of fun
Jason Heaton Yeah, my my dad is very much a big fan of cross country skiing. But you know, we're I'm in southeastern Ontario currently, which is where my parents live. Yeah. And there's no snow here. Oh, yeah. So he he told me many times over the Christmas break, that he was looking at your Instagram and just like, like lovesick for the snow. Oh yeah. And he got a, he got a beautiful new pair of boots. He has new skis this year. Yeah. And, uh, and I keep telling him like, man, you get in the car and just drive somewhere. Like you said, like go find a cabin, go, go up somewhere near a ski area or whatever that has some snow and, uh, and kick around. So my guess is that'll be his next move.
James Stacey Yeah. And it's funny, I, years ago I bought a, uh, I got a set of, um, roller skis, you know, so you can use your existing Nordic boots and poles, um, But then you, uh, you clip into these roller skis and I tried them a couple of times and boy, it's just death defying to be on pavement, like kind of getting up some speed, like especially going down a hill. And you know, I know that plenty of people do this for off season training, but they're, they're fairly terrifying. So not to, uh, and yeah, that's a pretty lousy sales pitch, but, uh, I will offer them if you want to, if we meet in Colorado and your dad wants them, I can bring them. You can hold them back for them because I've, I've given up trying to use them.
Jason Heaton Yeah, for sure. Anyway, I'll run that past him and see what he thinks. Yeah.
James Stacey So yeah, other than that, I mean, you know, I mentioned I up in the cabin, it was kind of prime, prime time for, for some whiskey drinking. And I've been drinking kind of an unusual new whiskey lately. It's a, it's from, it's actually from England and which, which sounds kind of surprising, but you know, it's, it's from a region that's just South of, of Scotland. So, you know, it's not that much different than, than Scotch whiskey. Um, and this is called, it's called the English peated whiskey. So it's a very peaty, um, a very peaty malted whiskey, uh, from, from England. And, uh, my wife had gotten it for me a while back and, you know, I had never heard of it. Um, and I think it's fairly affordable, but you know, I mean, now we're seeing, we're seeing whiskeys pop up from unusual locations. Um, of course the Japanese have been doing it for a long time. There's a Amrut from India and of course scotch and bourbon and rye and all these others. And, uh, why not England? So. I can vouch for it. I'm certainly not a whiskey expert, but I do drink my share of it, and I get behind it. I think it was really quite good.
Jason Heaton Well, that's great. I know that we'll have to see what we can find in Colorado. I've been taking a little bit of time off, as people tend to in January. Yeah. If I'm going to have a drink or two, it's always nice to have it with you. Yeah. I've certainly never tried an English peated whiskey like what you've described, so that sounds good. Yeah, I'll save a little bit for when you visit. Oh, perfect. Yeah, that'd be great. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, for me, it's mostly been just kind of a never ending process of moving across country and, you know, packing up one house and shipping vehicle and moving and moving and moving. And I calculated at some rate in December, I had something like eight homes. I'd stayed in eight different places. Wow. uh, in December. So, uh, I mean, some of those are, are, you know, work related. I was in, I was in New York for some time and did a little bit of traveling around that area. So I saw a few different spots and, and, you know, that's all great. And then, you know, it kind of looks like, uh, like January's already pretty packed for travel. You know, you and I will be in Colorado. I will be back from Colorado by the time this episode goes live.
Unknown Oh, right. Yeah.
Jason Heaton And, uh, yeah. And then the day after this episode goes live myself and a large contingent of the Hodinkee team are going to SIHH for the big show. So that's, I mean, most people listening know what SIHH is, but it's, you know, the big Geneva show for Richemont and several ancillary brands that kind of exist to, or that also present in the area surrounding the show. So it's one of the two big shows. If you're not, you know, if you're kind of just dipping your toe into the watch world, January we have SIHH and March we have Basel at least until 2020 and then it all changes. So the big show SIHH, I've done SIHH in the past but I've never done it with Hodinkee. So this will be my first time with those guys which I'm exceedingly excited about. The show isn't really the sort of watches I love typically. I'm always excited for one or two. I've seen a little bit of what, um, IWC has, and it looks like it's back to sport watches again, which I'm excited about. And then of course, uh, JLC always has some interesting stuff that, that is actually in the entry level to luxury price point, uh, you know, last year with the Polaris and, and I'm sure they'll want some sort of a followup the year before that they had the, the sector dial, uh, stuff that was pretty gorgeous. And, uh, and so there's a couple of brands that I find pretty interesting if I can get a chance to tag along and take photos at Lange. definitely not going to turn that down. Their booth also has cold beer and pretzels. Yeah, it's always good. So that's the one of the key spots at SIHH for sure. And other than that, you know, I get to hang out with the team from Hoding Key, which is always a treat. And, you know, I'm not wild about Geneva, but I'll make the stops. I'm not sorry, that's not fair. I'm not wild about Geneva in January. Yeah. I've been told when I bring up how much I dislike Geneva, I've been told by people who know much more than I do that it's absolutely lovely other times of the year. Sure. But I'm going to, you know, make a run for those chocolate almonds and certainly try and make a spin over to the Mad Gallery, one of my favorite spots and that sort of thing.
James Stacey Yeah, so I'm actually sitting out SIHH this year. So I can't say I'll miss Geneva in January, but I will miss the opportunity to get over and buy those Auer chocolates. I think they call them the princess and they're the those wonderful chocolate-covered candied almonds, which, if you haven't tried it, R-A-U-E-R, and if you can find them, or find somebody that'll mule some back from Switzerland for you, they are truly, truly incredible, and maybe I'll hit you up to buy me a box or two.
Jason Heaton It's already in the works. You don't have to worry about it. Yeah, they're awesome. It's a shame that Colorado isn't after Switzerland, because I could just hand them to you. Yeah, yeah. We could spend the whole next episode just eating them into the microphone, which I'm sure people would love.
James Stacey Well, we might have to, um, depending on the timing, we might, I guess, I guess have to record an episode from Geneva. I don't know. Well, I guess we'll have to see how the timing shakes out, but that could be kind of interesting to kind of do. I think we did that a few years ago when I was over there and I think you were back in Canada. So yeah, we definitely did do an episode.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But yeah, we'll have to see, uh, see how the timing works out. I think we might clear it by episode 73, but we might need one in the, in the can. So yeah. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, always trying to keep on top of that recording schedule. And then, you know, on top of that, I see that you've got a new watch that's actually on wrist. I have a new watch that's in the mail. So what do you actually wear? I mean, anyone who knows that your Instagram has seen it, but it's quite a thing.
James Stacey Yeah, I mean, this was not on my radar at all. And it's definitely not a watch that's my usual taste. Anybody that knows me, I'm definitely a sport watch, kind of dive watch guy, almost 90% of the time. But we had a sort of a local Midwest Watch Club slash Red Bar MSP get together here just before Christmas where everybody sort of got together and we sort of did an informal swap meet and drank and ate and made merry for a night and and there on the on the kind of the sale table was this late 70s Tudor Prince oyster date with I guess it's kind of more of a silver dial silvery white dial on on a folded link oyster bracelet in the box, in the original Tudor box, and it was being sold by a local friend here, Dustin. Hey, Dustin, if you're listening. Dustin is a pretty discerning watch collector. He's got some pretty heavy hitters. He's got a very early Monaco, and he's got kind of a really beautiful 1675 that he wears quite a bit, and he just said he wasn't wearing this Tudor very often and kind of was looking to move it, and he gave me just one of those prices that you just can't turn down, especially with a watch that I was just smitten by. It's hard to describe kind of why I was attracted to this watch. But now that I'm wearing it, it's so it was the what they call the jumbo oyster date. So, you know, jumbo is a term that's been used a lot with APS and paddocks or whatever. But it's because this watch is 38 millimeter diameter as opposed to the 36 that most of these these watches were back in the day. So it's just the right size. And then it looks just right on on an oyster bracelet. And it does. Yeah. The stick hands and the stick markers. and kind of a very spare dial, but then you get the magnified date. There's just something that appeals to me as, you know, someone who wears dive watches a lot. You know, you often use the term palette cleanser and to me this feels like that. It's a watch that, like I said, was just not anywhere close to anything I would ever consider just seeking out but but when I put it on I haven't taken it off since I think December 22nd I mean you know I'll swap for like a wrist shot or just for kicks for half a day but pretty much I've been wearing it non-stop it kind of has this feel of you know I'm getting up there in age of course but like it has that sort of old man sort of like like a guy who's done stuff would be wearing this watch you know like it's it's definitely got the the oyster case and kind of the water resistance you'd expect from a Rolex Oyster case watch, um, but then with the stick markers and there's, I don't think there ever even was any loom originally. So it's just kind of one of those watches that could be a dress watch, but you know, you could sail around the world with it or you could, you know, ski in it, which I've done and, and kind of just beat it up and it still looks good. So yeah, it's, it's been, it's been great. I'm going to wear it to Colorado. So you'll, you'll see it in person out there.
Jason Heaton Oh, that's great. I mean, those, those watches remind me so closely of early explorers.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Because they're, they're just one unit of like a reliable watch.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton That has no pretense of being like, for when you go out on the town or for when you're underwater or for when you're this or for when you're that, it's just for when you want to wear a watch. Right. Here it is.
Unknown Right. Right.
Jason Heaton And it's like, they're super pure. And you know, you hear people say that like the 1016, the, you know, the original Explorer.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Is probably the purest, finest, most perfect sport watch design ever.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And like that Tudor's right in the same vein. Yeah. You know, it's, it's, it's maybe separated by generation. Yeah. And, and maybe a little bit more refined in some ways and less vintage in other ways, but I think it's killer and it looks great. The photos you're, you're putting up look fantastic. I can't wait to see it. Yeah. Yeah. It's been a lot of fun.
James Stacey So, um, and you've got something coming in that unfortunately hasn't arrived yet.
Jason Heaton No, it's not far from here, but I don't think it'll be here. Well, it won't be here before I leave. I leave very early in the morning to get to Toronto for the flight to Colorado. Yeah. You know, I had said that in a previous episode, I'd said that I'd missed this Walkman, you know, Regat Crono. Yeah. Because I kind of slept on it when I saw it. I was like, I'll get to, I'll write, I'll write Jordan retro watch. I'll write him later. I'll get to it. And this time I saw a gold watch that I was kind of, that I thought looked really good. The condition looks incredible. Yeah. And I very quickly read a little bit about the movement because I didn't really understand was it a chronograph? What is it? But it's called a Buren Minstop. And it's this really funky parking meter timer. So it's kind of a tonneau cushion style case. It has a single pusher. So it almost looks like a monopusher chronograph. Yeah. but then it has essentially a digital display for a countdown timer, or sorry, a digital display for a count up timer.
James Stacey It's like a rotating disc or something, right? Is it?
Jason Heaton Yeah. So it's, yeah, it's a rotating disc. So the basic is that the disc is always running. Oh, it is. And you, you click the pusher to zero it. Oh, okay. Which I think is super clever. And basically, you know, for a while, and I don't have to go back into my like general growing appreciation for gold watches. Yeah. But for a while, I've wanted a vintage watch that's a gold case with a gold dial. Yeah. And I want something that's like not too dressy, but not too sporty, like just kind of an old man's gold watch. Yeah. Not unlike your Tudor, but like in some sort of gold. And if it had a functionality that I don't already have. Yeah. All the better. An alarm was kind of what I had in my mind. Waltham made some pretty cool cushion case alarm watches that were gold tone.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton And this worked out perfectly. I wrote Jordan immediately. He said, you know, the condition's great. This is how the movement works. This is how the functionality is. And we made a deal, and it's in the mail to me. So stay tuned on Instagram for that. I'm sure I'll talk about it in probably not the next episode, because we're going to record that episode also before I get the watch, but maybe the one after that. Yeah. So I'm hoping this will be what I'll wear on wrist at SIHH. Yeah. because obviously, Bjorn, you're not going to upset any brands by wearing a competitor. I always like wearing a vintage watch in these scenarios when you can. Yeah, right. But yeah, I'll put a link to the page from RetroWatchGuy in the show notes, so you can check it out if you want to see the watch. But he's had them before in steel, and they make them in kind of also a different shape to the aperture for the timer. Sure. One that's like a full half parabola. Yeah. Whereas this one's kind of cut to even look even more like the timer on an old school parking meter. Yeah, right. So I like it. It's not, there's not too much black on it. I'll wear it on a brown strap or maybe even like one of the green straps that I have. And I think it just looks like a lot of fun. I'm excited to have it in.
James Stacey Is that rotating disc, is it counting up to 60 seconds or is it a minute? It's minutes. It's minutes. Perfect.
Jason Heaton Oh, even better. Yeah. Wow. Which is fun. So yeah, it was the idea was like you could park and know that you were allowed to park for 20 minutes there and just start it as you got out of the car. No muss, no fuss. It's amazing. And, and, uh, and yeah, I, I just, I don't know, it's fun and I think it's going to be fun to wear and it looks like it's in fantastic condition. I mean, Jordan takes great photos, so you can tell. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, I'm excited for it. So hopefully I'll have, I'll get that on Thursday. I'm home for a day roughly before I leave for Geneva. So yeah. Perfect choice for that trip. Yeah. Yeah. I hope that works out. Otherwise I'll probably wear, uh, I'm not sure. Yeah, I could wear the Explorer. I mean, I could just wear the Aerospace. It's fun for SIHH. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's true. Yeah, right, right. So a perfect travel watch too. So yeah, we'll see how that works out. And what about camera gear?
James Stacey What do you take into SIHH? What do you take into Colorado for that matter?
Jason Heaton Well, here's the sad thing. I one of I went to a child's birthday party over Christmas, just after Christmas. Yes. And we're at a bowling alley. And I picked up one of my kids and the strap to my 6500 with the Zeiss on it. Yeah, hooked on their leg, it fell off the table, and I broke the lens. Oh, so, you know, I was very upset. And I am still upset. But I've never broken a lens before. And I've been doing this for a very long time. And I don't like to not bring things to a bowling alley or whatever, because you might break them. So this was eventually going to happen. Yeah. And being a Zeiss, it can be repaired. It's a very high end lens. Unfortunately, I don't there wasn't enough time between the party and when I leave tomorrow, to actually buy another one of the Zeiss that I love, which is for anyone listening is the 24 millimeter f 18 zed a Yeah, and it's a sonar T. So it's a rare lens. It's a very expensive lens within the cropped mirrorless format for Sony. And, and it's nice and small. And, you know, if you if you've seen any wrist shots on my feet, if you've seen any car shots, it's that lens. Oh, wow. It's what I use most of the time. So I didn't panic. I thought about it for about a day and a half. I took that lens in for repair. I'll have it repaired maybe by Basel. Yeah. And, and so in the interim, I'm going to drop down to just using one camera, which will be the 5D Mark III. It's an amazing camera, it does take a better image than the Sony can. Um, but all I have for it because my entire camera collection is packed for the next while. Yeah. So all I have for it was the 50 millimeter, which is what I was going to bring to SIHH. Yeah. It's a perfect, uh, watch photography lens, the 50 millimeter F2.5 from Canon. Yeah. Uh, so to kind of fill in the gap for cars, cause I have some car work coming up between now and then I bought the Sigma 35 F1.4 Art, which I've shot with before for Hodinkee. They have one in the office. Yeah. And I mean, maybe in some scenarios, the Canon L 35mm, which is double the money, is slightly better, but all of the really pro reviews would suggest they're both the same. And this one, I mean, it's not a cheap, the Sigma Art stuff is not cheap. It was, well, you know, over $1,000, but it's a really, really impressive lens. I went out and shot with it for a couple of days, so I kind of have a feel for it now. So now, yeah, I'm rolling to Colorado with the 50 and this new 35 and just the Mark III, which is all fine. The only real bummer is when you want to do an Instagram, I now have to, like, take the SD card out. Oh, yeah. It doesn't have Wi-Fi, so you have to take the SD card out. You have to plug the SD card into a little reader, plug it into my phone, pull the file, eject the reader carefully so you don't corrupt the card, put the card back in the camera. Yeah. It's clunky. It's not that much worse. It's just clunky.
James Stacey Yeah. No, I hear you. Yeah. I mean, it's not a bad backup camera, but I totally hear what you're saying. And I think moving from, you know, as I mentioned in the last show, moving to the Nikon Z7 has kind of streamlined that camera to phone interface. I mean, we had that with the Sony, but for kind of topside stuff to move away from like a D4 or a DF that didn't have Wi-Fi to the Z7, it's really helped. And I can vouch, you know, that we have the Sigma 50 millimeter art lens 1.4. It's an incredible lens. And it's an incredible lens and Ghoshani shoots, you know, she's shot a good deal of the kind of the great photography that's gone with a few of my stories with that lens. So I'm sure you won't be hurting, but yeah, that, that workflow is going to be a little bit clunkier. And then of course the Canon is just a much bigger camera too, right?
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's, it's quite a bit bigger. And I mean, that's okay. Cause I, you know, to go to Colorado, I have to bring all the recording gear for our stuff. So I wasn't really going to do it out of the tote bag. Sure. Yeah. Uh, so I actually have more room than I need now in, uh, in the Tenba, the perfect camera bag that it is. Yeah. Um, and then, yeah, and then we'll see, you know, there's, I'm still, the funny thing is, is if I had dropped the camera and the 6500 had broke, but the lens was fine. Yeah. Yeah. I probably wouldn't do anything about it cause I'm planning to replace the 6500. Oh sure. Yeah. The bummer is what I broke was the thing I wanted to keep from the Sony platform. Yeah. Yeah. To move to the A7R3. Yeah. It's, uh, yeah, so, so it is what it is. I, I I'll, I'll find out from Zeiss what the repair is going to be and how long, uh, probably in the next couple of days. So, yeah, yeah, that's too bad. Well, yeah, it's not, not, not great, but, um, you know, like I said, I've done really well as far as damaging camera gear over the time and, uh, eventually it was going to happen. So I, what I probably should have done was gone to the bowling alley with, uh, a film lens, uh, a film camera. Yeah. and just run a really high ISO film and develop the pictures later. It's not like the, I should, you know, it wasn't a scenario where I was ever going to work. I like, I wasn't selling these photos or something like that. So I probably should just done it with film. And then if they had knocked my AE1 off the table, I'd be out a hundred dollars. Yeah. Yeah. And now I think it's time to just chat briefly about our sponsor, which this week is the wonderful Alps and meters. They are purveyors and creators of fine kind of classic Alpine apparel. And Jason has had some longstanding experience with their clothing and some of their wares. Jason, tell us a little bit about Alps and Meters.
James Stacey Yeah, so I think what I like about Alps and Meters is they sort of harken back to that, I guess, golden age of sort of Alpine sports. A little bit of James Bond, a little bit of Reinhold Messner thrown in there. You know, I've used their products for the past couple of years. I've been skiing and hiking and, you know, just all around sort of adventuring and also urban wear with a few of their pieces. And I think what's neat about them is that they're functional, but they're also like really stylish. I have, I recently picked up their touring vest, which is a sort of pullover, I guess you'd call almost like an adventure smock. It has a big pocket on the front where you could put a map or your gloves. It has a high collar that laces up the front and it's made from sort of a coated nylon, but it's thin enough that it's not terribly hot, but it sheds water and snow. And then, you know, I've also had a chance to, to use a couple of their sweaters, including this, this classic waffle, which is, I think, you know, you had described it as almost a sort of a James Bond-esque sort of sweater it's sort of this waffle knit with some detailing at the at the Elbows the inside of the elbows for flexibility and then it has this sort of off-center asymmetrical Button placket that runs from the neck down to about the middle of the chest just a nice sort of heavy tight weave Dark wool that that I've worn a lot of the winter even as outerwear I've worn it skiing and snowshoeing on its own and You know, it's the kind of thing that transitions well from outside adventuring and actual functional use to, you know, the cliche is apres-ski, but I think, you know, use it for sort of just general sitting by the fire, sipping a hot cocoa or just walking around town. I think Alps and Meters just does a really great job with design. And of course the build quality is really excellent as well.
Jason Heaton Yeah, that's great. I mean, I'm nothing if not a fan of like a really nice gray sweater. Yeah. And we couldn't be more happy to have a sponsor like Alps and Meters supporting the show. So swing by alpsandmeters.com to see what they have. And if you use the code HODENKEY at checkout, you actually get express shipping for free. So a huge thank you to Alps and Meters for supporting the Grenado. And let's get back to it.
James Stacey Well, maybe we should jump into our main topic. Yeah, let's do it. That sounds good. I mean, it's our first show of 2019. You know, we did sort of a nice end of year episode. for episode 71. And so we kind of figured this time might be sort of fun to look ahead to 2019, uh, talk about sort of goals, resolutions, ambitions, but also kind of what we want to see for, for watches this year. I think we've kind of done this in the past informally, like what, what would we like to see? What are our predictions for SIHH in Basel? Um, but you know, we thought we'd sort of expand it and just sort of look ahead to the year, uh, kind of what we want to do and what we want to see. Um, For you, I'm guessing the Burin might be a little hint at what you have in mind in terms of watches for 2019. It's your first incoming, so it's kind of a bit of a bellwether as to what you're after.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I think we're kind of setting the tone with the Burin. And I think it might be a year where I kind of just mess around with kind of vintage gold watches, get a feel for what there is and the different sort of stuff. And maybe the goal would be to have something in solid gold by the end of the year or I don't personally need more watches, you know, if it's a good deal or if it's a cool thing, or if I feel it somehow expands my ability to write about watches by understanding something new or different. Yeah. Then super, that's, that's all great. And I think I'm not going to lose my enthusiasm for watches, uh, in any metric. So, uh, yeah, with, with the Burin and then, you know, looking forward to kind of other stuff as the year comes.
James Stacey Yeah. I mean, it's, it's interesting that, that, you know, you and I, who certainly when we, when we met years ago and kind of started doing the Grenado, you know, we were kind of known as, and still are, as kind of sports watch guys, divers, hikers, adventurers, guys who wear these mainly dive watches. And the funny thing is, is that we're both embarking on the new year with non-diving watches, kind of very different types of watches. It's interesting that we both sort of went in a totally different direction for the new year.
Jason Heaton Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, the fact is, is like, we just did that post, the very popular, I didn't even realize this post was so popular, but that post on Hodinkee, the one I wore the most this past year, I didn't realize that was like some people's favorite post. Yeah, I know. People go nuts for it. And I, you know, I picked the Explorer 2. And the funny thing is, is like, as I was writing it, I'm like, well, I'm gonna end up picking it again next year. Like this is like, that's my 80% of the time watch, it's just that Explorer 2.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton So it's nice to go in a really like, like really go in a different direction, not go from an Explorer 2 to like, another watch for travel or even another GMT, just like a gold watch with a weird chronograph.
James Stacey Yeah. And it's, it's, it's nice too that the watch like that is, it's a fun watch and the Tudor is a fun watch too, but it's getting a lot more time than I thought it would. But, um, I had an interesting discussion with, uh, this is a bit of an aside, but I was, I was talking to Dustin, the guy that I bought this Tudor from and, and we were, uh, you know, saying, why, why don't, why don't you wear it very often? And he said, well, you know, I got this GMT that I wear. And he said, you know, it's kind of like, when you put on something else and you're wearing a different watch, you start to wish you were wearing your Rolex. And, you know, I kind of chuckled at that, but in a way, you know, this sounds, I realized that as it's coming out of my mouth, that it sounds elitist or something strange. But I think guys that kind of know watches that maybe have experienced Rolex or Tudor for that matter, there is a certain intangible sort of draw to those watches that it's a certain classic feel. Um, whatever. And I think, you know, you, you experienced that with your Explorer 2 and I, I wear a lot of Submariners, but, uh, um, it's, I guess it's not surprising that your Explorer 2 was your, your most worn watch.
Jason Heaton Absolutely. Especially with a year, like we talked about this on the last episode, but especially with the year with so much travel.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Right. I mean, it's just like you throw it on a NATO and you never think about it again and it's just pure functionality. And it also like, it just kind of became the watch that like I always had on my wrist. You see it in a lot of photos. It's fun. Yeah. Right.
James Stacey So, so gold watches. So, um, starting the year with a gold watch and potentially you'll kind of explore that area. And maybe is that, would you consider that kind of a prediction of what some brands might do and maybe what we see more of? I mean, it's sort of been a trend in the past couple of years, right?
Jason Heaton More gold watches. The funny thing is, is I think it's a trend that kind of came from both sides of the market because I think people started to see a renewed appreciation for things like rose gold. And then you started to see it in the iPhone. You started to see it in Daniel Wellingtons. Yeah. And, um, What's the department store brand that starts with an M? Michael Kors. Oh, yeah, right. You started to see these watches in gold, and it wasn't just women's watches. It was presented in a way where it was these kind of classically-minded uniform wears, and these other brands started to kind of conceptualize the kind of days where a guy who might be cutting his lawn in a white t-shirt and the gold watch he wears all the time. That's his watch, that's your watch. And there's like, you know, there's something kind of leave it to beaver or like the space era. Like you imagine Buzz Aldrin cutting his lawn on the weekend or something, and maybe he's wearing a gold watch. I'm sure he was wearing a speedy, but it kind of fits in that general space, that mental space. And then I think at the same time, we started to see, you know, you have brands that are re-exploring precious metals by making their own versions of it. Right. Omega has Sedna Gold, Hublot has King Gold. King Gold, thank you. Yeah. And we see more and more of that, especially as people start to experiment with like what can be done with ceramic between coatings and kind of blended materials and composites and blending gold with various types of carbon fiber and And so you're seeing, I think you see more and more gold. Yeah. And then what I think we might see as a trend, and this is something that I'm going to put my sake in the ground now because I think it'll be funny to look back on in a couple of years if I change my mind.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton But people can remember the start of 2019. I am still staunchly against two-tone. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. I have like zero love for it. I would buy, I would buy, I like the idea of a gold aerospace. Yeah, yeah. But the only ones that are like plated or don't have a ton of gold are the Teutone ones. Yeah. No, no way. I don't, I just don't like Teutone. I don't love the new Root Beer GMT in Teutone.
James Stacey Huh. Interesting.
Jason Heaton I've had it on wrist. I've seen it. Yeah. Um, it's gorgeous. It's really like an, it's an incredible watch. It would never be the one that I would buy. Okay.
James Stacey Here's one for you. Cause I saw, funny you bring that up because it popped up in my Instagram or something the other day, the Tudor steel and gold with that, uh, I think it's like a champagne or gold dial.
Unknown Okay.
James Stacey I find that watch just unnaturally attractive. I mean, it's again, totally outside my wheelhouse or my interest level, but wow. And I remember seeing it in person at Basel last year and just, I was really taken with it. I mean, I'm not sure I would ever buy it or wear it, but come on, you got to admit that one. I mean, you'd wear that maybe on a NATO, like a gray NATO.
Jason Heaton Wouldn't that be cool? I don't know. I think I'd have to try it. I think I'd have to try it. I don't know what it is about two-tone that just doesn't sit right with me. What about the bronze? I think we're going to see a trend towards more two-tone.
James Stacey What about the steel and bronze stuff that maybe Aorus does that kind of looks warm, goldy sort of tones with the steel. Do you like that?
Jason Heaton I like it better, but they do it so minimally like the rim of the bezel. The Aorus 65 is basically all you see is the edge of the bezel and I think the crown. Yeah, yeah. And I think that's fine, and I understand why people like it, and then they'll also, sometimes you have the same reflected on the surrounds for the indices in the hands. Yeah, yeah. And that makes perfect sense, and it's a gorgeous thing. It's like when you get into the, you know, like a giant Breitling with the center links are gold, and the rider tabs are gold, and the text on the dial is gold. That's too much, yeah. Yeah, and I never felt like a special affinity to the two-tone Submariners.
Unknown Yeah, right.
Jason Heaton Because they just seem like you took you took something, um, that was purposeful and like, you know, like, it's like, I don't really like a two-tone Audemars Piguet Royal Oak because the steel one was made steel because that's how they kind of changed the sport watch industry. Right. And the gold one just kind of flaunts that thing entirely. And then there's just something in the middle ground. It's like, you haven't committed to the idea. Yeah. Yeah. Some of this, but not some of that, but you know, and then they've, they've had good success with things like titanium and steel. Yeah. So it's mixed metals look really cool, right? For me, it's the, the gold steel is like, I don't know. I don't, I don't even like like a, like a pair of Ray-Ban Clubmasters that have the gold accents versus a white metal. Like I just, I think my preference when it's, it's not like when you're not going to go the whole way is to go, is to stick with the white metal. Yeah. I think a gold dial, like I could give you that. I think like the gold or the champagne sort of dial, I think you could find a space where that has like a specific charm. That's not the same charm as the gold. Yeah.
James Stacey Yeah. Okay, on the similar theme, what would you like to see kind of this year in a gold watch that might be surprising? Hmm. I'm leading you here because I can read your notes.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I mean like it'd be really, I think it'd be genuinely hilarious and awesome to see like Doxa do one more version of the Sub 300 in plated gold. Yeah. Like make 50 of them. Yeah, right, right. Yeah. Just because I think that it would be like like those watches are so fun. They sold fairly well. People are kind of still about them. Yeah. And, but the, the actual like world of Doc's enthusiasm is, is like narrow. It's small. Right. Right. And, and I think that these, this would, this would just be like a bit of a font to say like, we can, we can make 50 of these things. They're strange and funny and they wear really well. Yeah. And I just think it'd be really like, I think it'd be like gold with the, with the, the pro dial. Yeah. Would be hilarious. Yeah. I think it'd be super fun. Well, there is a precedent for it. I mean, I know that there's one, there is one plate at one that we know of.
James Stacey Yeah. Right. So, yeah, that would be, that'd be pretty cool. And it's the right look, that sort of era. I mean, it fits perfectly that case shape and that small dial. It would kind of be quirky enough that I think it could pull off a solid gold.
Jason Heaton That'd be, that'd be pretty neat. Yeah, I think so. I mean, what about for you? I know in past ones where we've done our little predictions for SIHH, which are never, right? Yeah. We spoke about the possibility of Lange making a steel watch, which would be the inverse of this concept, a brand that only does precious metals.
James Stacey Every year, I kind of hold out hope that it's both hope and sort of dread that Lange will do a sports watch, like a pure sports watch. And I have a feeling they won't ever. I shouldn't say never, but I always feel like, you know, I love that, that type of surprise. It's kind of like when Patek did that big travel time, uh, uh, pilot watch a couple of years ago, like it attracted such derision from some and some love from others. And I haven't liked it, but I would love to see Lange kind of pull something out of their hat like that. They seem a little more kind of conservative and very careful in their releases, but I sure would, uh, I sure would love to see them do something, you know, with kind of, uh, you know, mushroom kind of plunger pushers and, and kind of more of a, I don't know, like black dial sort of steel chronograph, um, with a little bit of water resistance or something. I don't know. Um, you know, I mean they have, they have a bit of precedent with their kind of Flieger watches, uh, but those are obviously very similar to what IWC was making in the forties and whatever. So I think they would probably veer away from that, but just some kind of a, a little more of a sporting watch would be, uh, would be fun to see from them. I can't wait to see what, uh, you know, you mentioned IWC, um, what they come out with. I could almost guess that, you know, Panerai will be kind of, uh, more of the, uh, kind of more along the trend of what they do, you know, maybe a new submersible type thing. And then, and then maybe, uh, kind of continue with the Due line sort of expanded a little bit, hopefully give it a little more water resistance. Yeah, that'd be good. But, uh, yeah, I'm not sure. I mean, I think, you know, 2019 is kind of a big year. Obviously it's a big year for. you know, moving ahead to, to maybe Basel or something. Um, Omega, I mean, it's the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. And I know that when, when Ben interviewed, uh, Reynald, uh, Eichelmann at, at the H10 event a couple of weeks ago, you know, he kind of baited him a little bit with, with a question about, will we see another caliber 321 Speedmaster? And, you know, Reynald sort of deferred and very politically, you know, minded sort of typical CEO speak, you know, sort of waved it off, but that would definitely be, Something that for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing would certainly be a You know if I were a betting man, I might might put some money on something like that even though I have no inside knowledge of that but I think it's also if I'm not mistaken, I think 1969 was the year they introduced the the Submariner date if I'm not mistaken. Okay, I think So the 1680, you know the first Rolex Submariner, right? and you know, certainly people will correct me if I'm wrong or I can look it up after this episode, but So that would be interesting to see. I've heard sort of rumors that Rolex is going to kind of do something different with the case shape of the Submariner, which again, there's nothing hard and fast or firm about that rumor. Rumors fly around Rolex and people are never right. But going back to like a thinner lug with like a 50th anniversary Submariner date would be really cool.
Jason Heaton I mean, what would you if there's if there's like, like, for me, I try, like, I can never really predict what these brands will bring up, because I don't follow the trends that much. And in many ways, I don't, there's a lot of brands that I don't follow, like at all. Yeah, yeah. That carefully, like when they launch something new, I'll read about it. Okay, that's what it is. But like, I'm not like, necessarily a subject matter expert. Yeah. On everything that say, Glashuta Original makes. Exactly. You know what I mean? Right, right. But within our zone, for me, I would... I think we've said this before, but I would love to see them, and they've made versions of this, but I'd love to see a 50 fathoms at 40 millimeters. Oh, yeah, yeah. Do it at 41 if you have to. Yeah, yeah. But they keep making them at 45 and 48 in the GMT. Right, right.
James Stacey It's too big. Well, the Ocean Commitment one and the MilSpec one were both 40. And they were perfect. Both of them were like, that to me was, you know, without the Mil-Spec water intrusion sort of thing on there or the Ocean Commitment logo, that watch would be perfect, utterly perfect.
Jason Heaton I mean, I don't like the date implementation because it's like a punch out at 4.30. So put the date at 6 or just do it really easy and go no date. Keep the three barrel movement if you can at 40 millimeter, give the 120 hour power reserve. I think it's the... I don't remember what the movement.
James Stacey 1315 or something like that.
Jason Heaton Something like that, yeah. But try and do that, but whatever they were using for those watches, just drop the date off it, go no date, keep the sapphire bezel and do it at 40 or 41 and just print some money. Yeah, right, right. Like make it $9,800. Yeah. So it makes the list of watches under 10 grand. Yep, yep. And then in a year or two do the exact same thing in titanium. Yeah. And just make something like a really killer, just call it the 50 fathoms classic. Yeah, yeah. And like suddenly a bunch of people who like walk past Blancpain because they see how big these dive watches are. Sure. and they walk their way over to things that like 40 and 41 and 39 millimeter will suddenly be like, oh, I'm going to stop for a second because that's roughly the same price as a steel sub, which I can't buy anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Like there's a couple of brands that could kind of capitalize on the fact that Rolex is making it hard to buy a steel sports watch. Yeah. And Blancpain's one of them. Right. Right. And like they're not part of the same family. They don't have to worry about infighting. Like right now it's funny because like Rolex is probably helping tutor at some metric.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton because they're making 39-millimeter sport watch that wears like an old one. They make a great 41-millimeter diver. They make a great chronograph. They make a bunch of stuff that's all in steel. Right. And there's a bunch of brands that really should have jumped on this last year. Yeah. And they should get on it this year. Omega's definitely considering retaining things that are more reasonable size. Yeah. It would be really cool to see a dark side of the moon not at 45 millimeters. Yeah, that's true. Give us that amazing ceramic case. and everything that comes with it, and maybe even like a 9000 series movement, but just bring it down to Speedmaster Pro sizing. Right. Yeah. And maybe they see that as a problem in terms of cannibalization, but I think it would be amazing where you can say like, oh, well, a Speedmaster Pro is six grand or whatever. And if you want, if you want like the high tech version, but otherwise the case is the same shape with the cool lugs, all of that. Yeah, yeah. Do it in ceramic. And I mean, if it was a millimeter bigger, I don't think anyone would care. It's 45. It just feels big these days. Yeah. Yeah. And what, what else do you see? Like, like, if you think of other brands, what would you, like, what would you like to see from a DOXA this year?
James Stacey Well, again, you know, 50th anniversary of the T-Graph. Um, you know, there've been rumors flying around that it would be a very logical sort of thing. They, they capitalized on the 50th anniversary of the, the sub 300, you know, they really milked that one and, and with great, great success. Um, you know, the T-Graph would be a good one. You know, we've talked before about, uh, some sort of, uh, uh, uh, second generation GMT. I would love to see that. Just going back to one of the bigger brands, I think you mentioned Tudor. I don't know that they'll do it, but I'd love to see the Heritage Chronograph get that in-house movement that was in the Black Bay Chronograph. Oh, yeah, for sure. They have that movement now, and if they can make it a little thinner, put it in the Heritage Chronograph, because I love, and I know you do too, the Heritage Chronograph, that form factor. It's almost the perfect sports watch. The screw-in pushers, 150-meter water resistance, 12-hour bezel.
Jason Heaton What's not to like? Yeah, absolutely. The blue and white one is one that's been on my list for several years now. It's just the opportunity has not come up to snag one in a scenario that I wanted. I don't really wanna just buy one at retail. Yeah. But I think on wrist, especially with that cool blue, orange, white NATO. Yeah, yeah. For a guy that writes about cars, that's kind of a fun thing to have in the quiver and a very cool watch. So to see them make the move to Yeah, to have the movement that they're sharing with Breitling in that watch, I think, would make a lot of sense. Update the line, maybe even offer a new color or do one in bronze or something like that.
James Stacey Yeah, and for me, it's not even so much the in-house aspect of it. I mean, in-house is great, but I think it's kind of an overrated concept. But I think that the movement that's in the Heritage Chronograph is a modular, kind of tall, stacked movement. I've heard people have issues with the pusher kind of feel. I haven't experienced that myself, but Um, you know, just, just, I guess personally, I would just love to see a new version of the heritage chrono period. I don't care really what's inside of it, frankly, but, uh, if that's what drives them to do it, that would be really great.
Jason Heaton But I mean, the fun thing is, is a lot of times, like you and I call out in-house is not being better because part of that being because there's generally a big price jump. Yeah. Yeah. Tudor typically adds about 250 bucks to a watch when they, when they go to in-house. Right. So, I mean, like if that's a brand, that's a, like a newly developed movement from Breitling who knows a thing about chronographs. Yeah. Obviously. Yeah. That feels like a good way to go. I don't think you're paying a big premium for it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a cool idea.
James Stacey Yeah. Yeah. I'd love to see the other one I've got on my list. I'd love to see, I feel like, you know, Bremont's kind of breathed some new life into the Supermarine family with the S300, which has been, seems to be very popular, very successful for them. I'd love to see them take, you know, even like the S500 or an S300, and make a chronograph out of it. I've really grown to love dive chronographs. I don't know, you know, I've got the old Teagraph that I bought last year that I've talked a lot about, but I just like that. They're, you know, it's debatable whether a dive chronograph is truly kind of a functional thing for a diver, but I think just as a, as kind of a sports watch to wear, they just have such a cool factor. And I think the Supermarine is kind of, Braemont does a nice job with its Alt-1 chronographs, and I just think to kind of move that over and kind of a two register Supermarine chronograph would be a pretty neat move for them.
Jason Heaton I absolutely agree. I mean, and it also falls well within like the brand's core strength. Yeah. So it's one of those things where like you mentioned and you go like, huh, it's kind of funny they haven't done that yet. Yeah. Right. You know, even with having several watches at 43 millimeters that have the chronograph and then having a Supermarine S2000 that's 45 millimeters, like they have the room to work with it.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton So it'd be really interesting to see what they decide to offer. And I would assume they'll do some sort of their own event in February. Yeah, yeah. So we should get a chance to see some of that, which would be fun for sure.
James Stacey Yeah, right. Yeah. What about non-watch stuff? Are you aiming to do... Are you gonna buy a vintage car this year? Are you gonna try to do more hiking? Or what's kind of on your... on your plate.
Jason Heaton You know, I'll have to, I definitely have to buy a car now that I'm in Ontario and Toronto. Um, I really can't decide on what I want. I'm having, I'm already having kind of some, um, general choice anxiety. Uh, you know, it's not going to be a vintage sports car. It's going to be something I can move the kids around in. I'm tempted to go kind of towards an older Jeep Cherokee. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, which has been a long time love of mine. I drove one when I was younger of my father's and uh, just a great kind of all around vehicle. But then, you know, you start to consider like, side impact crash protection and things like that when you've got the kids. And I'm not sure that that's more of a selfish decision than the smartest one for dad. So I'm kind of weighing a few different options, but I'll get into that. And then I probably don't see myself buying a sports car simply because I drive so many on my own. And also the whole scenario around speeding in and around Toronto and Ontario is bad. Oh, really? So you can very easily lose the car and the license around here. Oh, wow. And unlike BC, where I was living, I had access to roads that were kind of appropriate to a supercar. Yeah. To drive up to Whistler, say, on Highway 99, or there's a couple other spots that I'm definitely not going to blow up for the other people who drive on them. Yeah. There's almost nothing around Toronto that you would call like a proper driving road. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, you're, you're left with like crawling a sports car through downtown Toronto, like a city, city driving. Right. And, uh, and that's, you know, hard, hard on a car and definitely going to be hard on your license and that sort of thing. And then, uh, and then you have highway driving, which is, I'd rather be like comfortable and quiet for a highway. Yeah. Yeah. Um, you know, if I, if I've got to put in some miles, so I'm not really sure with that, but definitely, uh, definitely more cars. is the goal, and I think 2018 went really well as far as that. I drove some of the most fantastic cars in the world. Yeah, tough to improve on that. Absolutely, yeah. So I think I'm just going to try and stay in the mix as much as possible. I have something coming up in February that is next level to the extent that I'm not being told when I'm driving. Oh, wow. It's not been seen. And this brand has never done a North American driving preview. So that's that's I'm very excited for and will be absolutely fantastic So I will put what I can on Instagram in about a month's time Well, but we'll see and my guess is a lot of that will be embargoed for a bit. Huh? Yeah, do you know I'm going I'm going up to Montreal with Porsche later in the month to the spot called camp for To do some winter driving in the SUV in the four-wheel drive Panamera Oh, nice. And so that's good. I like, I really like those opportunities because they keep your skills kind of sharp. And I haven't done a lot of winter driving, you know, the last few years being in Vancouver. Yeah. I did the Mercedes-Benz ice driving course last, last February. Oh, I remember that. Yeah. So yeah, out in Manitoba. Yeah. So hopefully some of those skills will transfer. I won't be too rusty, but we'll see. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, with the car things going really well, you know, I absolutely adore the team at Nuvo and all the opportunities they've brought and the kind of flexibility they give me to kind of cover what I want to cover and focus on what I think is kind of like enthusiast, but still accessible and interesting.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton So all of that's good. I'd like to continue that. And then as far as like adventures, I mean, I think the next one that needs to be on my list is a trip to Minneapolis. I've put it off for way too long. We need to do another TGN summit. So we'll have to see if we can make that happen either, you know, in the next few months, you know, a hangout.
James Stacey Yeah, we talked about, uh, you know, something in the next couple of months, which would be really fun. And, and, you know, there's, there's certainly things we can do any time of the year here. And, uh, if you come, we'll give you a proper, uh, proper local welcome here with some of the crew. And then you and I can go off and, I don't know, do some skiing or ice diving or, or just drive around in the Land Rover or something like that. We'll have, we'll have a good time.
Jason Heaton And of course we'll record. Yeah, absolutely. And, and, and it might be an opportunity to do another get together. Yeah. Which would be, which would certainly be fun. I mean, what, what are you thinking as far as adventures? I know in the last one, you're saying like you might dial back the diving a little bit and try, try a different flavor of adventure.
James Stacey Yeah. I mean, you know, maybe, maybe it's a, there's some sort of overall vibe trickling into my life with this, this tutor that I bought, that's a kind of also bleeding into kind of a at my adventure mindset. And, you know, last year was an epic year for, for diving and went all over and did some really amazing stuff. And I think, you know, having, having been out in Aspen a few weeks back and we're going to, uh, to Vail to do some skiing, um, tomorrow. Um, and then just this trip up North, it's kind of awakened that, uh, sort of topside mountain, uh, sort of adventure spirit in me that that's been dormant for a few years, probably since, uh, 2013 when I did Rainier. Um, I just, I'd like to get back to more sort of hiking, backpacking, um, just sort of tramping around. I read a great book when I was up at the cabin, um, called the places in between written by Rory Stewart, this, uh, Scotsman who, who walked across Afghanistan the year after the Taliban fell. So 2002. Oh, wow. And it was like, it's, it's an amazing book. I was going to put it in the final notes, but I'll just mention it here. And just the idea of just sort of walking across a country or just, just exploring on foot is, is something that's very appealing to me. So, We'll see. Ghoshani and I have a trip to the UK in June for a family function in London, and we're going to try to get up to Scotland. I got some great intel from a friend of the show, Aaron Cross, who sent me some good ideas for things to do up there. And I just think, you know, more kind of cabin time, more backpacking time, more just sort of topside travel. Certainly there'll be plenty of diving and, you know, Uh, probably a lot in the great lakes this year. I'd like to get up to Whitefish, um, where the shipwreck museum is. And there's, there's a, uh, it's kind of the shipyard or sorry, the shipwreck, uh, coast, they call it up there. So there's a lot of wrecks. Um, one of these years I need to get over to Iceland and, and dive Silfra the, the, the crack between the two continental plates. Oh yeah, for sure. You know, stuff like that. But, uh, yeah, I think, I think I just want to kind of even things out a little bit and do, do a little bit more topside. I'd like more time at home too, to kind of, tinker with the old Land Rover. I kind of enjoy that sort of taking sort of a solitary Saturday and just sort of putzing with sort of easy stuff. You know, I've got the door locks and latches are getting a little loosey-goosey, so I'd like to replace those. I've got some electrical lighting gremlins that need to be sorted, you know, little stuff like that that you can sort of putz with for an afternoon without great cost or getting too too dirty or sweaty, and it's just sort of rewarding to do that sort of stuff. So, um, so those are a few of the sort of, uh, goals, uh, sort of loose goals that I have for the year, this year, just sort of spend a little less time underwater, uh, a little more time tramping around and a little more time at home this year. Um, the other kind of the last thing I wanted to mention was that I I've sort of been a long time. Envier, if that's a word of, of one watch people, you know, people that sort of just wear their watch for everything and, and, and all the time. And although I realize now that I'll never be that person, I thought it would be kind of a fun experiment to maybe try being a one watch guy, um, for maybe a period of time or, or kind of switch and just wear one per month or, or do like a two month experiment, whether that turns into a story for Hodinkee at some point, or maybe it's just something we talk about on TGN for fun, or, or just sort of make it sort of an ongoing Instagram theme. I was chatting with my buddy Myron who's over at Roverhaven Straps in Michigan and he was kind of coming to the same idea for 2019. So we were going to kind of support each other in this endeavor. So I think, you know, we're a week, almost two weeks into the start of the year and I haven't taken off this Tudor Oyster Date. So I think this might be my one watch for January and we'll see where it goes from there. So that's kind of where I'm at.
Jason Heaton That's a fun idea. I'd be happy to kind of match you with that so we'd have something to talk about, maybe do a one watch episode. Yeah, yeah. And go from there. So maybe I'll try and do a month with that gold Buran. Oh, yeah, yeah.
James Stacey I mean, I think, you know, you and I, like you mentioned earlier, we get to scratch the itch by getting loaner watches for reviews and things like that. And certainly, I would make exceptions where that comes up. I have a watch coming in shortly that I'll be, you know, kind of reviewing and looking at and We do these trips every now and then where you wear a watch, but other than that, I just, I enjoy wearing kind of just that notion of wearing one. And I think the one watch a month thing could be a little difficult once you get like, you know, down to November and you're, you know, you're craving wearing the watch that you wore back in January. So I don't think it's quite that realistic, but yeah, we'll see where it goes.
Jason Heaton Absolutely. I think it's a fun idea and yeah, it might lead to an interesting sort of post or some understanding of like, Maybe it's something that you think you like and then you try it for a little while and you're like, no, I like having three or four to kind of jump around in. Yeah. Right. Right. The other thing for me, if you want to talk like resolutions is this year I'm going to try not to buy anything I already have. Oh yeah. It's not a great skill of mine. Like I'll just like, I was, when you're moving, you kind of become like a cognizant of all the things you have. Yeah. And I think typically I'll buy something and like it and use it, but occasionally I just kind of buy a few of the same things. And watches are one example, I guess, but also that's work. And camera gear, I suppose, is another example, but it's also work.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Jackets. Jackets are my big weakness. Yeah. Jackets, backpacks. I realized how many backpacks I owned when I started packing. Yeah. And I think I'm not buying anything unless it directly replaces something I already have because it's better.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Otherwise, I'm just sticking with what I got. Yeah. Definitely clothes for me. Like I'm just going to try and buy very select pieces that last a long time, continue with things like Outlier and, uh, and, you know, Icebreakers and, you know, these brands that have been really good to me so far. Sure. And, uh, and try not to do like, oh, these, I can get three of these t-shirts for $18. I need three more t-shirts suddenly. Whereas like before I walked, before I, and the other, that, that, that leads to one more final thing I'm going to attempt. And I don't know if I can do this because I'm now in Ontario, but I'm going to attempt not to go to a mall for a year. Oh, good one. I hate, I hate malls. Yeah. Yeah. They like give me like just a general anxiety of like, there's too many options here. Yeah. None of it's focused. None of it's like, right. This wasn't selected by anyone that knows anything.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton It was bought via spreadsheets and put into a big place and I'm supposed to figure out what I like. And I just, I'm going to attempt not to do any malls this year. I don't know that that's actually possible, but I'm going to try really hard. No malls.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton That's a good one. Yeah. No malls. And, and, uh, and I'll try, I'll try and do the Kevin Rose thing where if you put something in your Amazon, you wait a day to actually buy it. Yeah. That's a good one too. Yeah. Because Amazon will really get you when you're like, Oh, I, my, my USB cable is not braided steel. How have I been charging my phone all this time? I have to have a braided steel one. Yeah. Or another memory card case or something like that.
James Stacey Yeah, yeah. For sure. Well, I mean, I think, you know, as we kind of close out the topic here, I mean, you know, there are a lot of goals and resolutions everybody sets every year that you break 90% of them. But it's always a fun month of the year to kind of be optimistic and look ahead. And even if you get halfway there in any of these, you're kind of headed in the right direction.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I completely agree. Want to final notes?
James Stacey Yeah, let's do it. My first one is one, it's actually season three of Tales by Light. So we have talked about Tales by Light in the past because it's one of our favorites. It's a Netflix program that was kind of produced or made possible by Canon, a camera company. And in each season, now we're up to season three, they highlight three or four photographers each season where they kind of follow them around and kind of dive into what their specialties are in terms of their focus, their passions, a little bit, not really about the gear they use, but kind of the images they create and why. And season three is a another really good one. There are three photographers. One, the first one is a guy who does photography for UNICEF. So it's the UN's sort of childhood They try to help children in peril around the world, whether it be refugee camps or child labor issues and things like that. So this guy's actually in Bangladesh and he's taking photos of kids that are working in pretty horrible conditions. And he's accompanied by Orlando Bloom, the actor, who's a UNICEF ambassador. And regardless, I actually found I liked Orlando Bloom a lot. watching this, you know, I thought, oh, it's a celebrity involved with this, but he lends, he has a very real aspect to him and doesn't detract from kind of the overall story and the focus on the photographer. And then the second guy is, uh, someone that people might be aware of from Instagram, Sean Heinrichs. He is a spectacularly talented underwater photographer who, um, kind of focuses on, uh, you know, the plight of, of ocean species and, and issues related to ecology and just take some amazing photos of mantas and whale sharks and things like that. So he, uh, he's the second guy. And then, uh, the third one is, um, a guy named Dylan river, who's an Australian and he, um, goes into the, the kind of the outback in Australia and he focuses heavily on indigenous cultures, their Aboriginal people, um, kind of capturing their stories and things like that. So, um, you know, beautifully shot. Talented guys, interesting stories, and they're all very digestible. Each episode's like 24 minutes long. So, you know, easily bingeable or you can kind of just digest them one at a time. So yeah, Netflix, Tales by Light, season three.
Jason Heaton Fantastic choice. I mean, we definitely spoke about seasons one and two when they came out and I occasionally get emails of people telling me to watch them. You know, they haven't gone back and heard the old episodes and it's just incredible programming and I Been so busy, I haven't even like been jumping around on Netflix that much. I should definitely get in and watch that. So good, uh, good heads up. I appreciate that. Yeah. And, uh, my first is also a show on Netflix, which I found while I was traveling through December. And it's both not the type of show that I like and a topic that I don't know that much about. And it hit me kind of really hard for both reasons. And it's, uh, it's essentially kind of like a home and garden style or TLC. I don't know if that's a thing in the States. It must be. You know, it's one of these shows about homes. It's called The World's Most Extraordinary Homes on Netflix, and they have two seasons, and I think each season has like four or six episodes. And in those, they go to, they're about an hour long, and they go to an area like New Zealand, and they show you a few really avant-garde, really interesting architectural homes. So where a very rich person has worked with an architect to build the home, the dream home. And they show you the plans, and they show you these 3D renderings, so you can really understand how the home came together. And then they'll talk to the architect, and they'll talk to the artist, and they'll talk to the people who were involved with designing it, whether that's the owners or just the architect. Yeah. And it's hosted by Caroline Quentin, who I believe is an actress in the UK, maybe a stage actress. And she's not someone I recognize, and I feel like I watch enough BBC shows that I would probably catch her.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton Maybe she's been in something I watched and I just didn't notice. And this guy, Piers Taylor, who's an architect. He does some stuff that we, you know, went back and actually Googled his name. He does some really interesting stuff. And like, I don't know that much about architecture. I become loosely interested in it because it's a huge fascination of Stephen Pulverin. Yeah. He's become a friend of mine, you know, in the span of time that I've been working for him and even before that, but he loves architecture and design. And it's something I would love to learn more about. And the show is so entry level. So if you see a building and you're like, that's beautiful, but I don't really know why, or like, oh, that's ugly, but seems purposefully ugly, why? Yeah. Then check this out. I absolutely watched all of it in two days. And it's fantastic. It's really, really, really fun watching.
James Stacey Oh, that sounds good. Like you, I'm fairly ignorant about architecture and kind of theory of architecture and that sort of thing. But I do have an admiration for just a beautifully designed home. So I'm definitely going to check that out. That's great. Um, my second one is, uh, it was kind of a surprise. Uh, I was getting a lot of ads on social media for, it was just calling them waterproof thermal pants and they kept kind of showing these looped videos of like a guy sort of dumping a glass of water on his trousers and they'd like bead off and drip off. And then they showed a guy hiking in them and whatever. And they're like really good looking sort of soft shell hiking pants. but they were kind of anonymous and I saw them advertised from various brands and they all looked the same. Um, and at one point I just, it said like 50% off or something. So I clicked the link and it took me to a website for a company called Ozark gear company. So they, they, they sell these pants. They just call them waterproof thermal pants and they're fantastic. I got them yesterday and I can't be more excited about them. I've been, I've had good soft trail pants over the years. I've had, you know, a mountain hardware and Northwest Alpine and, North Face and things like this. But these are right up there. These are really great. They're really good looking. They kind of have the contrasting reinforcement panels on the knees and on the seat. And they're this sort of stretchy soft shell material that really beads water off and presumably is breathable to a certain degree. But I think they'd be more for kind of three season fall, winter, spring activities outside. Pretty athletic fit. They're pretty kind of you know, snug in the thighs and the legs, but also very stretchy. So I'd kind of use them for cross country skiing or for hiking or snowshoeing or, you know, fun in the mountains. And then they just have this sort of light fleece lining that makes them sort of cozy and warm, but not like hot. You know, you can wear them indoors without being uncomfortable. And I got the, there's kind of a slate gray with black contrast panels and some sort of orange stitching accents. They're just really great pants. And right now, at least, uh, you know, at the time we're recording this, um, they're on sale for like $64.99. So really killer deal for, you know, kind of Eddie Bauer, North Face level quality, uh, outdoor hiking pants for, for not, not a lot of money. Um, so I'm thrilled with them. I think they're really, they're really great.
Jason Heaton That's fantastic. That's a, that's a good, good tip. It's funny to actually buy something on Instagram. That's okay, I guess.
James Stacey Yeah, and you know, I can't really see any weak points. I mean, maybe, you know, at some point the zipper is going to fail or the button's going to fall off or something, but so far they seem really well made. And, and yeah, it was, it was funny because the ads I was seeing were just so kind of cheesy and like, just, you know, like infomercial kind of like late night TV sort of ad style. Um, but you know, so far so good. I, um, it was a, it was a good purchase. So, yeah.
Jason Heaton Oh, I'm glad to hear it. That's cool. Yeah. Uh, yeah. So my, uh, my last one is, uh, is actually a magazine put out by our buddy, Matt Hranek from, uh, the W.M. Brown project. Yeah. And, uh, it's a brand new magazine. Uh, I haven't been able to actually check it out yet, but there's no way that it's not awesome. So I'm going to throw it out now. I will find it, whether I find it in Colorado or, uh, you know, maybe, maybe I can find it in Geneva or I'll find it wherever I can find a copy of it for sale. I'm sure Matt can connect me with a location whenever I make it to a city. But Matt and Matt and his wife, you know, with the W.M. Brown project, and that's what he is on Instagram. He's an absolute must follow. He's great. Matt's the sweetest guy. I spent some time with him in Italy this past May for Concorso Della Ganza. And and it's it's been it's been really great getting to know him. We hung out a little bit in New York over the summer. And now to see him kind of launch into this next thing, which is this beautifully produced magazine, something that you and I have a huge affinity for. I'll put the link in the show notes, but you should definitely be following Matt on Instagram to keep up with these sorts of things. And the magazine looks incredible. It covers kind of the same sorts of topics that we talk about and kind of geek out about and enjoy. And it has a really lovely aesthetic. And I kind of can't wait to get an issue in my hands.
James Stacey Yeah, I ordered one and it came and it's really nice. And what I liked about it was the way he sort of launched it and put it together. There's no advertising in it. And he sort of did it almost like as this pet project of like, I just really like good print magazines and these are topics I'm passionate about and, and I'm going to do this. And so, you know, he's, he's kind of a style guy. So he's got some, some cool stuff about some, uh, some clothing brands. Uh, he talks a little bit, he's got Aaron Sigmund writing about cigars. He's got Adam Moore doing some photography of watches. Awesome. Um, you know, Land Rovers and tweed and, and, uh, travel, um, some good travel article and, uh, Yeah, it's definitely worth it. So yeah, that's a good one.
Jason Heaton Super. Well, I think that's a show. We're well over our usual hour, well into the longer stretch. Yeah. And, you know, as always, thanks so much for listening and big thanks to Hodinkee for supporting the show. You can hit the show notes via hodinkee.com or the feed for more details. And we have a special thanks for Alps and Meters for directly supporting this episode of the show. If you like the show, please check out our sponsors. And this week is Alps and Meters. 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. Jason and I read and reply to every message. And please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. Music throughout a siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive.
James Stacey And we leave you with this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, who said, The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.