The Grey NATO - Ep 84 - Homage, Yes Or No?
Published on Thu, 04 Jul 2019 06:51:16 -0400
Synopsis
This episode of The Grey NATO podcast covers a range of topics including a recent trip Jason took to London to launch the Omega Ultra Deep watches for the Five Deeps project, the new Bremont Her Majesty's Armed Forces collection, a discussion on homage watches, and recommendations for the film "The Last Breath" and camera carrying cases.
Links
Transcript
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| James Stacey | Hello and welcome to another episode of The Grey Nado, a Hodinkee podcast. It's a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 84 and we are so pleased to be able to say that it's brought to you by Bremont Watches. A huge thanks to the fine folks at Bremont for supporting the show. |
| Jason Heaton | That's really exciting. We're really thrilled to have Bremont. Yeah, right? Yeah. Long time fans, both of us, and And they've always been supporters of us. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I think it's great. I did an Instagram AME recently. And one of the questions was like, how did you get connected with Jason, uh, you know, to do the TGN and such. And, and we got connected through Mike at Bremont. I mean, one of the, I remember the first year I went to Basel, uh, that was one of the most exciting, like one of the meetings I was most looking forward to is seeing some of their stuff, the new stuff in person. I had, I had actually met Mike. and Nick English, one of the two brothers that founded the company at like probably one of the first watch meetups I ever went to in Toronto, you know, pre-Vancouver, pre-this is before a blog to watch, you know, this is, or I guess it would have been just in the early days of a blog to watch. It was fun and a great time. And it's really exciting to see where the brand's gone since then. And they've released some stuff this year that I think is equally like a really strong footing for them. So we'll get into that more when we hit the ad break. But I'm just thrilled. I mean, it's fun to have this, to be backed by a product that, you know, both of us have put money into. It's cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Right. And speaking of all things British, I am back again from a trip to London. I was there last week, I guess it was. |
| James Stacey | You were there for three days? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it was a short trip. So, you know, I was there a couple of weeks ago on that trip that I recounted in our last episode, and then last week I was there just for three or four days with Omega this time. So it was an Omega trip to launch a really interesting project and product, if you can call it that. Omega had hooked up with Victor Vescovo, who's a Dallas-based tycoon, I guess you'd call him, sort of a modern day gentleman explorer who runs a private equity company or private investment company and is self-funding this pretty ambitious expedition to take a submersible to the deepest point in all five oceans called the Five Deeps Project. And Omega caught wind of this because he wanted a watch to wear on all of the dives and went out and bought a Planet Ocean chronograph. And I'm not exactly sure how the connection was made, who contacted whom. That was a little vague. Omega hooked up with him and decided that they would be a sponsor, and he was pleased to have them. Omega's actually the only sponsor. He's doing the rest self-funded, which is pretty amazing, because it's like a $50 million project, yeah. And he partnered with Triton Submersibles, that's based in Florida. And Omega designed three experimental, they're not calling them prototype watches, called the Planet Ocean the Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep Professional that they specially designed and they're strapped to the robotic arm of the submersible. And then there was a third one that was put on this sort of remote operated vehicle, ROV lander device. And all three of them survived. It was really an interesting trip to London. You know, I arrived and didn't really know what this was about. I knew about Victor Vescovo and I knew that that was the basic subject of the trip but I was unaware that Omega had developed a watch until kind of the last minute and so when we got there and they unveiled this it was it was pretty exciting stuff the the watches are quite handsome even though they're you know massive built to be you know to survive the bottom of the ocean but you know from sort of anecdotal feedback from everybody from Instagram and the Hodinkee post that I wrote people you know are saying that you know, they'd buy a watch that looked like that if they made it in kind of a more wearable size. So, uh, really a neat trip. They held the event at the British museum, which we didn't really get a chance to walk around, but, um, it was, it was, it was pretty exciting. Reynold Eichelmann, the CEO of Omega was there and a couple of their heavyweights from the product development team were there. And of course they had the three watches and we had a couple of nice dinners and, um, it was, it was just really neat. And Victor was, he, He's a very enigmatic guy. He's, he's got a really interesting background. He was in, he was in the Navy, U.S. Navy in Naval Intelligence. Didn't really go into much detail about that. Um, and now he's, he's made quite a bit of money obviously in his own private ventures. And then he's also done that the Explorers Grand Slam, which is summiting the seven summits, the highest peak on every continent, as well as track the final, I think it's a hundred kilometers to each pole. Oh wow. So he's like, you know, what, what's next? And discovered that no one had ever been to the five deepest, or sorry, the deepest points in all five oceans. So, so cool. I don't know. That's next. |
| James Stacey | And, uh, yeah, I mean, it's one of those things where like the, the watch, I think like the, like you were saying that the kind of, and you brought this up a couple of times in the piece on Hoding Key, which of course we will put in the show notes, the watch, the aesthetic, I really like, I mean, like the, the proportions and everything to make a watch to go that deep, make it kind of problematic as a, as something you would wear on your wrist. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | But like as a design study, the color use, the kind of matte dial, the kind of big hands, like it's obviously a Planet Ocean, but it's kind of like a, it has this sort of, just kind of toned down appeal. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And I think once you delete that helium release valve and it gives the watch an entirely different look for some reason, it looks a little more like the old Omegas that we know and love. |
| James Stacey | I agree. I think it's killer. And I think, like you said in one of your captions on there, make it smaller and they will come. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | And, uh, I think it could be pretty cool. And it would be, it would be also fun. Like this is a pretty neat project. I think this is the sort of project that like dive watch nerds would get behind on kind of a big level. Right. And, and, and I think, I think that can kind of translate to sales, um, of an interesting sort of, you know, one-off or not one-off, but like a side version of a, of a planet ocean. |
| Jason Heaton | I think so too. |
| James Stacey | And you know, it's funny because you and I, we don't talk about the Planet Ocean very much, but they are really killer watches. You've owned a couple. I've owned one. |
| Jason Heaton | It was actually my first. But Ghoshani has the chronograph, right? She does. And she's worn it many, many times. She's had it for many years. And I still think it's a modern classic. I've often thought that a good topic for a future episode or an article would be, you know, modern icons or modern classics. And I think the Planet Ocean alongside the Pelagos and a few others is definitely one of those. |
| James Stacey | I think that'd be a great post. You should probably claim that before this goes to air. I'm glad the trip was good and then of course you did some touristy things in London that I think are also well in the vein of our interest. What else did you see when you were there? I saw some planes on your Instagram. |
| Jason Heaton | So when we were there a couple of weeks ago on vacation, I didn't have a chance but I always wanted to go to the both the Imperial War Museum as well as the Churchill War Rooms. And so I managed to sneak out. I arrived on the morning of the day before the Omega event that kind of mercifully gave all of us a day to acclimate to the time change. And so I got in in the morning, just dropped my bags at the hotel, and then walked over to the Churchill War Rooms, which is the underground set of bunkers and rooms and sort of headquarters of the British government during the Battle of Britain back in 1940. actually throughout the war. And it was fascinating. It was kind of a bit of a line to get in. It's, it's very touristy. I mean, a lot of people with, you know, camera phones and selfie sticks and really crowded, but, um, really worth it and really worth, um, wandering through down there. They've done a really nice job of recreating the space and the rooms. And a lot of the original stuff is in their, uh, Churchill's, uh, brigade pocket watches still there, which is kind of neat. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, the map room has all the maps are still hung on the wall. There's a little bag of sugar cubes that was left behind by one of the, I think the generals who, you know, once the war ended and they just sort of up and left, uh, he just left them on his desk and wild, uh, legend has it those are the same sugar cubes. Surprising no ants have gotten to them. But, um, so I, I did that and then I walked from there. I walked over to the Imperial War Museum, which is just the most incredible, one of the most incredible, if not the most incredible museum I've ever been in. They've done such an amazing job of collating all of this fascinating memorabilia, if you will, from back to World War I up through modern day, the troubles in Northern Ireland, and the Gulf Wars, and the Cold War. And I guess what struck me was not only, I was always left with this thought of, where did they How did they get this stuff? You know, they have a Land Rover that was used by the press, I think it was Reuters or BBC or something in, I want to say Kosovo or Bosnia, the armored truck with the windshield smashed in, just looks totally beat up. And, you know, they've got a Harrier jump jet hanging from the ceiling and a Spitfire hanging from the ceiling and multiple battle tanks, which, you know, these things weigh so much. And I'm thinking to myself, how does the structure support the all of this weight I mean they've got submarines and fuselages of planes and tanks and yeah it was crazy they had of watch interest they had one of those manned torpedoes that the so-called pig that the Italian forces used in World War II that you know Panerai likes to kind of use that as a bit of an emblem of their history they had one of those there it was it was really cool I mean I'm I would of course was most interested in kind of the vehicles and the implements of war in sort of a strange fascination, but it's, uh, yeah, it was, it was really impressive and it's free. It's open to the public and outside the front of this, this old beautiful building that it's housed in are these two massive cannons, uh, that were on a battleship, a British battleship. And I just couldn't believe those things were mounted on a ship. They're just like a, They look like a city block long. They're not. But they're just massive. So it's a very impressive place to go and well worth half a day of jet-lagged wandering to get there. And then I stumbled back to the hotel, took a nap, and then the event started with Omega. So it was a good trip. And I got to meet up with Mike Stockton. Mike was there. Oh, lovely. Representing Fratello Watches. Oh, Mike's great. Yeah, Mike was great. And he had a really killer old plow prof on, which was very fitting for this event. Rad. And we went out for pints one evening before we met up for the official Omega dinner. And he knew of this little place called the Lyric Pub, which was right near our hotel. And they had Cascades on tap there. And so we had a couple of pints and chatted and caught up. And Mike and Robert Yon are co-hosting a new podcast over on Fratello Watches, too. We'll link to that. Talk a little bit about that. All in all, it was a short trip, but a really good trip. That's kind of the download. |
| James Stacey | Well, I'm glad that that sounds like a great trip. It's always nice. And like, Mike, such a nice company and such a friendly dude. That's a that's a good face to see on a press trip for sure. Yeah. Well, that sounds awesome. And I definitely need to get to that. That the that museum sounds sounds like so much fun. I saw I saw a couple I could get that close like a Harrier. Those are nice. Oh, yeah. Yeah, for me. I'm you know, we're recording this. You're at home. I'm in New York. Um, I actually think the environment in which I'm recording this might be a little bit noisier than our normal. There's a lot going on at the Hodinkee office. So I'm in a little brick side room, uh, and, and there's a lot of street noise right on, right on schedule. Uh, so I'll do my best to minimize that, but, you know, at a certain point, I'm sorry, like this is, this is what the recording scenario is. And I think we can make the most of it, but, uh, yeah, it's been, you know, I've been, um, been kind of running around and I came down here, uh, to just kind of catch up with the team. And there was a handful of kind of fun projects happening, including the new AORUS Houdinki LE, which sold in minutes and was really exciting. And to see that watch, you know, kind of in person and as it will ship is pretty fun too. So I'm very happy to say that I was able to pick one up of the 250 made. Wow. Expect to see that on, uh, on my Instagram, probably the week after this episode goes up. Oh yeah. Yeah. They're shipping them soon. Yeah. So, you know, obviously we're huge fans of Oris and, uh, I, I've, as much as I had wanted the, uh, Dermeister talker, which I experienced and really loved on Clipperton. When I saw this one, uh, I, you know, saw the drawings of it and some of the prototypes, I really really saw an opportunity for something pretty fun. So if anyone happened to miss the Aorus LE, we'll throw it in the show notes, but it's sold out at this point. So there were never going to be kind of enough of those for the general level of demand. And then, you know, the other kind of thing that happened to me is my trusty MacBook Pro, which I've had for four years, died. And of course, it couldn't just die in Toronto where my backups are. and everything else. It died like the day I got to New York and I'm going to be in New York for a couple of weeks. So it's kind of a weird scenario where like I have all of the data and files and everything. Like I had just done a backup and kind of a new file system organization in Toronto. But yeah, so I lost a little bit of files and that sort of thing. And then things like doing a TGN, suddenly some of the little core files and, and the processes. And like, I went to sit down to record this episode and I realized like on this loner computer, I'm boring. And while, while I sort out another MacBook pro, I don't have Skype. And then I realized I don't want my Skype passport. |
| Unknown | Oh, right. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | All that kind of stuff, like all these little things. So, I mean, some of it ports over really well, like Dropbox, you don't even notice you're on a new computer. Yeah. So anyways, I'll be moving to a new computer. What I can say, and it's kind of a fun, fun thing to bring it up because now this week I realized just how tied to it I am. And it's not really an avenue that we typically dip into, but like, um, I can actually work really well without a computer thanks to the phone I have now. Sure. So Jason, you're an iPhone user and that's probably a natural choice for a lot of people that it's been the de facto sort of just smartphones since it came out. I've been on Android for several years, and I recently got the latest Galaxy Note from Samsung. And it's worth saying that while this is not an ad in any way, I didn't pay for the phone. I have a friend and a listener at Samsung. I have a few friends at Samsung or who have been with Samsung, and they kind of had this available. And so it's on some sort of a loan Uh, to me and it's, you know, it's a giant phone. If you, if anybody's used to the note, it's this kind of massive phone. It has a pen, but because the screen's kind of nice and big and the battery's so good, I bought a little Bluetooth keyboard that has like a tray. I can put it in the show notes. It's a Logitech something or other, uh, that has a tray and you can actually like sit there and I can write a whole article. Like I can write whole pieces on it. I've used it on airplanes to do that, which is pretty cool. And then with my laptop dying. What I noticed or learned more about, if you will, is some of these phones, the Samsung phones, have a service called DeX, which I guess is for desktop experience. I'm not actually sure. D-E-X. But I can actually take this phone and with a little adapter, plug it into a big monitor. At home, I plugged it into my 30-inch monitor, the one I would normally edit photos on. And it runs an entire desktop in Android. So all your apps are there. All your windows are there. My WhatsApp. my Chrome, all of that shows up, but it feels more like you're using OS 10 or windows and it runs really snappily. I can actually run Lightroom mobile full screen on a 30 inch monitor, uh, and like edit, edit photos. And you can obviously like Bluetooth, a mouse and a keyboard. It's kind of a wild thing. Like how much, like I'm so used to the, the workspace in which I exist being a MacBook pro. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | But then you realize like, well, really the space I work in is like, Lightroom, which if you use Lightroom Mobile, everything synced. And then Chrome, everything syncs. And Dropbox, everything syncs. So as long as you have something that has kind of enough processing power and enough screen, most of this job, like everything short of like a big watch review photo pack, can be done on something like this Samsung. |
| Jason Heaton | Huh. You know, I'm out of my depth talking about tech on the podcast because I'm a bit of a luddite with my What is it like an iPhone seven and a very old MacBook Air, but it's for one thing, I think yours is a cautionary tale about those productivity hacks and backups and things like that, because this sort of thing can happen to anybody. In fact, I'm a little worried now about my old computer, but, um, I remember when, you know, I think Ted Gushue, I think mentioned somewhere around social media that he was deciding when he needed a new computer, what to do and decided that he was going to endeavor to, to go forward only using an iPad. which is less of a stretch than what you're doing. But it makes perfect sense nowadays. Everything's sort of in this gray area of devices and the apps that you can get on phones are so robust now. It's really just a matter, to me, of the visibility or the legibility or just kind of getting it big enough to see. Because for a writer, all you need is a keyboard to be able to see your document. There isn't really much processing power needed. The photography is a different story, but it sounds like you're able to make that work as well. So I, you know, they're really probably, it's almost an interesting experiment to see how long you could go just, just working off of a, a really robust modern smartphone. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. And I mean, like we have coworkers at Hodegi that only use iPad pros, which is, that's a lot of horsepower. That's the same, like, you know, that's horsepower, like a Mac book air and a keyboard, but they're small and light and you get to use the pen and you start to see like, like visually speaking, like I can understand why a guy with what I can make assumptions about Ted's workflow. And I have to imagine something like that where the screen is very high quality, but it's not so big that it like weighs you down when you're moving around through your day. It seems like he's constantly on the move, like not only like from one airport to another, but in and out of cars. So like the size of your bag is gonna be a big issue. And like, if the processing power only has to be good enough to sit there and edit some big images and then save them somewhere, You know, like if you had a monitor somewhere, I can kind of exist without a laptop in many cases, it would be hard to do an entire watch review. Just because there is some there are some high level edits that are a lot easier in classic Lightroom, which would require essentially a desktop app or a native app for OS 10. Yeah. Um, but other than that, I mean, like I can, there's, I now find that I'll be sitting at my computer and I'll have a, you know, an image on the screen in Lightroom. And then anything else that comes in my email, my, my, um, any sorts of communications, uh, Instagram, and then even things like if it's just, if it's a photo for Instagram, I'll go directly from my Leica to my, the note, and then just into Lightroom mobile, make the little edits I want to make, you know, color and boost and this and that, and maybe apply a preset that I've, I've created. And then export it directly to Instagram. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I mean, when I'm sitting here at home, I've got a big monitor, but my laptop is closed sitting off to the side. It's the smallest Mac book air. So actually using it as a laptop is very infrequent unless I'm on a plane or sitting on the couch. |
| James Stacey | I mean, there's a good chance your next would be at like an iPad with a, one of those keyboard cases. Yeah. Right. I'm not actually sure like this necessarily falls into the normal TGN flow, but there are people who, who write us saying, how do I get your job? Or, you know, I, I like to do the same sorts of things that you guys do. And some of that does come down to tech, whether that's a camera or a computer or how we record. |
| Unknown | Right. |
| James Stacey | But the screen is really where, where it sells itself as like an absolute tool for the types of productivity you need to do this job. Uh, you, you can really just get a lot done with it. And, and it has a really nice camera on it. If you want to take, I've, I've published photos, actually the fun one, and I'll put this in because nobody believes that it's from, a cell phone camera is I took a picture at the back of the Saturn five rocket on the last Omega event I went to. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | And it's kind of this like weirdly lit smoky. There's like a faceless sort of character in the foreground. And that was just taken, like just snapped it on the phone in pro mode. Uh, it's, uh, it's, it's, it's amazing where, where devices have come in the span of time that even the iPhone's been around. Like, like, since we went all went from blackberries or flip phones to Yeah. Something that's essentially just a big screen that you hold in your hand. I find it remarkable. So I, it's a little bit of a ramble on, but if, if, if this is a, an area of your life that you want to get into of, of being kind of a mobile creative, there's so much out there that could mean you don't have to bother spending three plus thousand dollars on, on a laptop. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And I wonder if that's the route I go or if I have one more laptop in me. after this one, and then that's it. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, maybe so. |
| Jason Heaton | I mean, that's probably enough for phones, but... Well, it's funny, this is a bit of a risky departure for us to kind of go on so long about technology, but I do think that we've had enough questions about how we do our work, and I think this is an important part of it. |
| Jason Heaton | It's a piece of kit, it's a piece of gear, and it's one thing we like just alongside of our bags and our boots and our jackets. And I think the style of work you're describing could be, if you want to bring it around to more of a TGN-ish term, Uh, it's Alpine style, you know, it's, it's, it's light and fast and what you can carry. |
| James Stacey | Absolutely. Like as much as possible, if I can live out of a small tote bag, uh, that, that's how I would, that's how I would like to operate. And, uh, and, and devices like this and these little bits and, and, and we, I got a couple of questions in that AMA that I did on Instagram saying like, Hey, could you show a picture of what you take? Like your EDC, these sorts of things. And I think all of that kind of plays into it as like, If this is something that you've essentially devoted your living to, you do have to operate at a fairly high level. And you have to be in a scenario where if your laptop kicks the bucket, you have to be able to pivot and keep working. I got lucky that I was in the office and I just borrowed somebody else's kind of loner old laptop. And that's what I'm making do with for bigger photo work and that sort of thing. But I definitely could have just said, oh, well, if you guys have a spare monitor, I'm pretty much set. I have everything else. I just, I can plug my phone into the monitor and it operates like a, like a decent desktop. |
| Jason Heaton | Wow. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Very cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, we should probably should jump into some watch stuff here before we lose too many people. |
| James Stacey | So yeah, I mean, if we want to dig into watches, there's actually one thing we talked about the Aorus, which I'm really excited about at a personal level. And I think it's a really interesting kind of take on the 65 that keeps all the charm, but kind of made it something kind of distinctive. But if you want to talk distinctive, You sent me a single Instagram image of a watch I didn't realize was out or even in production, like in planning. I didn't either. And somehow, it's that thing where Instagram doesn't give you everybody, because I follow Ming, and you follow Ming, I'm sure, and I don't see their posts. And in this case, this is called the Ming18.01 Abyss Concept. They're only making 10 of them, but it's a Ming watch dive watch. |
| Jason Heaton | It's just, I can't take my eyes off it. I'm looking at it now. It's stunning. |
| James Stacey | It's like hyper modern and really gorgeous. It has a little bit of like an Ichapod feel to it. Um, and, and, and it just looks really incredible. Uh, you know, I only 10, they were sold out at 6,500 Swiss francs. Some 10 people got a really, really cool watch for when all things are considered, isn't that much money when you, when you kind of look at what your options are at $6,500 if you want something truly distinctive and from a small, independent manufacturer. And it's this really hyper-modern, tons and tons and tons of loom. Look at that loom shot. Yeah, the loom shot's bonkers. This is really something we don't need to talk about a ton about this watch because it's hyper-visual. So we'll put it in the show notes. It's the Ming 1801 Abyss concept. I've asked if I can borrow one. For a little hands-on, but my guess is if they only made ten. They don't care. Yeah, they're gone Wow, so why would they bother sending it but a really cool watch from a really really cool kind of Forward-thinking modern brand from from a guy who's aesthetic. |
| Jason Heaton | I really love it means a hugely talented photographer with that really comes through on the landing page product age for this incredible photography |
| James Stacey | Yeah, it sure does. So, uh, please check that out. And, uh, and yeah, I think it's, uh, let's jump into an ad break and then we have kind of a pretty fun topic that I think people are going to like. Yeah. So this week's episode, episode 84 is brought to you by our friends at Bremont watches. Uh, you know, we have like a, you and I kind of have like legitimate history with this brand. They've been around, um, kind of in the same timeframe that you and I have been into watches and covering watches. And, I mean, absolutely kind of one of my favorite modern producing brands. They make a bunch of different watches. I have a lovely white dial 43 millimeter Bremont Solo. Pretty rare one, isn't it? Yeah, I guess so. |
| Jason Heaton | It has the screw-in crown, right? |
| James Stacey | It does. Oh, that's a good point. Yeah, mine is a very early one that does have the screw-down crown. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | And a really great watch. It's currently on loan to Enrique at Machant Flashlights. Oh, nice. He had some interest in seeing it, and we were crossing paths in New York, so I loaned it to him after I had it in town for the last Braymont event. And I really just love that watch. It's a white dial watch, so it's really great on different straps. It kind of has their sort of take on not too vintage, but also not too modern sort of pilot aesthetic. And then, of course, you have the 2,000 meter version of the watch that had me fall in love with this brand, which was the S500 Diver, the Supermarine. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I've got the Supermarine 2000, and I've had it for, gosh, I want to say, I think it was 2011 or 12 when I got this watch, and I wear it probably more than anything else. It truly is a visually just beautiful watch, and I've put it through a lot of sort of hard knocks. I've taken it ice diving and tropical diving and everything in between, It's just been rock solid, still looks as good as it did the day I got it. And now I've got it on a bracelet, and it just wears well on almost every kind of strap or bracelet. Just a fantastic watch. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, so Bremont Watches was started, and we've talked a lot about Bremont, so we can coast through this part pretty easily, but Bremont Watches was started by two brothers, the English brothers, Nick and Giles. Two great guys, really love watches, but they're also, I would say, fairly capable businessmen because they were able to build. luxury watch brand from nothing. They didn't buy an outstanding name. They didn't come back on something. They designed what they thought was kind of a hole in the market. And they went for it. It kind of has a distinctly British vibe. And I still remember the first time I saw the S500 in person. And it's just, they're just a gorgeous watch. Like they're really beautiful. They're really well made. They use these, most of their watches, we'll learn about some new ones in a moment. Most of their watches use these three-piece, what they call a triptych case. And the cases are made of hardened steel. And it's legitimately hard. Like, I don't have any scratches of any considerable amount on my Solo, despite wearing it, having worn it for years. I mean, I think I got it December in 2013. And I would say I wore it pretty constantly for several years. And they hold up really well. They have one of the best crystals I've ever come across. It's an 18-layer anti-reflective coating that's polished and hardened. So it ends up being super anti-reflective, great for photographs, really, really good. And then, of course, in my case, a white dial really helps reflections of any type to begin with. Jason, you've had yours, like you said, kind of all over. These are nice, tough watches. Their kind of calling card is the MB series, which includes the connection with Martin Baker and ejection seats. So these are watches that can survive the extreme stress of an ejection. And they, you know, they have, they have such a strong, strong connection to, uh, not only aviation, you know, the brothers are very much into planes, um, but also the military. And that's where you find something like the, not only the Martin Baker connection, but also, uh, the three watches that they announced when we saw them earlier this year, which is the new, um, HMAF, Her Majesty's Armed Forces. line which which is three i think three of the best designs they've come out with uh you know since kind of releasing the the core s500 mb uh alt 1c kind of the original aesthetic for bremont and and what this does is actually they have a legitimate partnership with the armed forces in britain and uh so this is your sort of mod connection and this is the only luxury brand allowed to use the symbols and heraldic badges of all three services And so in sort of an inspiration of the Dirty Dozen watches, they have these three new models. And this is the first time that they've departed using the three-piece case. So it's a more simple two-piece case, a little bit more standard in the watch industry, but you still get hardened steel. And Jason, of the three, is there one that kind of sits with you? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, the Arrow which is a mono pusher chronograph is the one that really caught my interest. I love the broadsword as well because I'm a bit of a sucker for the dirty dozen watches. Yeah. With these three watches, Braymont has pulled off a pretty tricky endeavor and they've done it really well. And that is to look at something in the past and be inspired by it, but make it fresh and also to keep their own brand identity. So even though they've gone away from that three piece case, the two piece case, the side of it still retains a lot of the, sort of the Bremont styling cues that we're used to, kind of those beautifully curled down lugs. They've sort of textured the case sides to retain a bit of a hint of the three-piece style. And the three watches, the broadsword, the arrow, and then the dive watch, which is the Argonaut, really have a nice, fresh, sort of military-inspired, but also a little more dynamic, I guess, is the word I'm thinking of. um, look to them, which, which I really like. |
| James Stacey | In looking at the arrows again, since seeing them in person, I like all three quite a bit, but the broadsword, not only is it a 40 millimeter, which is not now uncommon to the, to the, like that size ranges exist for Bremont, but it's a special case. It's a Swiss automatic movement with sub seconds. It's amazing on wrist. Like it's really, really good. It's super legible. It has like a distinct military appeal without feeling like you're trying to buy a watch because you like the navy seals or you or you like the royal air force or something like that like it has sort of a sweet spot of being just a good watch that also has this connection to the armed forces the broadsword would now represent the entry point to the bremont brand and the first time that we find a bremont under 3 500 bucks let alone for a while under 4 000 they have a couple watches under under four grand but this is 34 45 for the broadsword The Arrow, which like you said, is a 42mm steel watch with the hardened case. It's a monopusher chronograph. It's gorgeous. It's super cool. And that's at $4745. And then the Argonaut kind of splits the difference coming in just under $3700. And that's 42mm. And it's a sort of internal bezel diver. I'll make sure we get a link to each of these in the show notes if you want to check them out. And you know, Bramont has other stuff that's come out this year. They of course have made a beautiful tribute to the D-type as a kind of continuation of their work with Jaguar. And of course, that's been connected with various auto shows and collector meetups and sorts of things over the UK. And it's absolutely stunning. And that doesn't really surprise me because the other ones, they had worked with Ian Callum for the Jaguar watches, and they really had come together as kind of a really special sort of automotive tie-in. But for me, the real sweet spot is either something like a core model, like a Supermarine, or an Alt 1C or an MB, and then something new in these HMAF watches, which I think all three are really, really remarkable things. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, and they're not only good looking, but one thing I like about Bremont is they have this nice mix of refinement with ruggedness. These watches truly can go pretty much anywhere with you and survive most of what you do. I mean, I think you and I both put them through some hard knocks and they do really live up to their sort of tested beyond endurance tagline, um, really solid pieces. |
| James Stacey | So, yeah, that's a huge thank you to Braymont for supporting the gray NATO. We are absolutely thrilled. It like, like Jason, I said at the top of the show, it's, it's kind of just nice to be able to keep a lot of this advertising tied into things that we already like, whether it's, uh, you know, some of the brands we've already had or, or some that we'll be able to promote in the future. And, and with Braymont, we couldn't be more proud to, uh, you know, be able to tell you a little bit more about the brand. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, and I would encourage all the listeners to swing by braymont.com and check out the new releases as well as the core collection. And thanks a lot to Braymont for sponsoring episode 84. |
| James Stacey | All right, let's get into the main topic. Yeah, let's jump into it. It's a good one. So this week, this actually came up as a question that I've gotten a few times on emails, and it's things that we have mentioned variously over the past episodes, but we've never really devoted a chunk of an episode to this topic, but it is kind of a pillar topic in the watch enthusiast community. And of course, you're going to guess it based on the title of the episode. So this week, Jason and I are kind of chatting on our personal feelings on homage watches. These are watches that, well, I guess we should probably define it. That's probably the easiest way to get into it, but everybody kind of knows what an homage watch is at a base level. Jason, how would you define an homage watch? Where do you kind of see the line? Maybe that's the easiest place to start. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's tricky and homage watches inspire some of the most spirited debate and discussion on forums and comments and just all around the internet or meetups. Absolutely. To me an homage or homage watch is one that is directly visually tied to an existing piece historically, whether that's a vintage or a vintage piece that you can't get anymore, or whether it's an existing piece like a Rolex Submariner or a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. Yeah, I guess these are watches that on an aesthetic spectrum are hew very close to the original design of an existing watch. And it's a bit tricky to define because there's definitely, as I mentioned, a spectrum. So, you know, some watches you'll see the same hands that are in a ploprof, or you'll see the same bezel, such as the case of Unimatic that you can say, oh gee, that looks like a Blancpain, you know, a Bund, a Blancpain, the one they issued to the German military. Or, gee, that dial looks an awful lot like a Submariner dial. But I think when all of those elements come together and you get dial, bezel, hands that are so close to something that's original or was original, that's when it gets tricky and that's when it kind of treads on some dangerous territory for a lot of people. And I think that's kind of where we want to talk about today. |
| James Stacey | I think, I think for me, the easiest, yeah, the easiest starting point is where it doesn't, where it feels pretty black and white, where like, if you removed the brand and put, and put a different brand or the brand that they, that the designer sought to ape, rip off, copy, homage, whatever, whatever term you're comfortable using. um if so like if you if you see a watch that's very clearly a Rolex homage to the extent where if you change if you removed the brand of whatever they called that watch and put Rolex on the dial it would now be a fake that's that's where i think we don't have to really argue about that that position i don't think it's that interesting to argue about that position i and i think i i'd please obviously correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the overall TGN standpoint is like, if you're at the point where the only thing that differentiates your watch from another watch is the fact that it has a different brand name on the dial, no other design elements to speak of, I think that it lacks any authenticity or credibility. And I think that it also could serve to highlight the fact that there are a lot of people out there offering much more original designs, whether those are some that might make reference to past design aesthetics, or be quite original entirely like something like the Ming that we mentioned. |
| Jason Heaton | So I just googled the definition of homage and ironically the definition is special honor or respect shown publicly. So you know outside of the watch space I think homage is something you know you're giving tribute to something that exists in a very respectful way and I think in the watch space homage is kind of a dirty word. It means copy or replica. Yeah. And, and I, I guess I'm a little ambivalent about this because I think, you know, it's, it's a very longstanding practice. You know, we saw the poor man's Hoyers, which, you know, okay. Some could argue that, that they were often made by Hoyer themselves, but the poor man's Hoyers, the, I mean, countless watches that, that looked like Submariners you also get. |
| James Stacey | Okay. Well then I would, I would jump in and just say like, let's say, let's use a Submariner cause I think that's the classic homage today. Yeah. Would you buy one? |
| Jason Heaton | Nope, I wouldn't. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, neither would I. I mean, I'm not going to say that someone who makes a Submariner homage is doing something they shouldn't do. I would suggest that they should take what they've learned from creating a watch and try and make something more original, if at all possible. But I would never buy it. I wouldn't support it. And if somebody was like, oh, hey, should I buy this homage or this non-homage, I would definitely say, oh, homage shouldn't be in the running. If like, look for something original. And then the other thing, and I know that this is a very personal, personal side is like for me to even imagine buying one, I know that I would wear that wash and look down on it and think of the real one, which for me is a bummer. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. It's just, it's a reminder that I couldn't get it or that it was too expensive or this or that. And it would, it would absolutely detract from the charm of that homage. So while I guess for me that that traditional definition makes sense when a brand internally makes homage to something else that they made, like they pay tribute, you know, a 50th anniversary of this, like the docks of 50th anniversary versus the original. I think that I think you could in many ways call that a strictly as strictly divine. We typically call them reissues when they're within the same scope of the brand. because it seems to be a kinder word than homage, but strictly speaking, that Sub 300 that you and I both love is an homage to a watch that DOXA, which doesn't share any employees or production, manufacturing, those sorts of things with the original DOXA. Sure. So, I mean, at what point do you... It's one of those kind of difficult topics where everybody kind of has their own opinion on it. What I know is I wouldn't buy one. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I don't like to come down hard on people you know, for where they want to spend their money. And I think I'm a little more forgiving when it comes to the people who maybe buy an homage watch versus the brands that produce them. I feel like you do. It's, it's less of a, I don't have a really hard sort of distaste or, or I don't feel it's anything, you know, criminal or, or horribly egregious, but I do, it's disappointing, I guess. If you, if you're starting, if you're going to the effort of starting a watch brand, why not create something fresh and new? Um, as opposed to the guy who is buying them. In many cases, these are people who maybe are just getting into the hobby. They see somebody wearing a Submariner and they think, you know, I don't have $8,000 to spend on a new Submariner or more on a vintage one. Or I can't justify spending that much on a watch, but I really like the look of that watch. They're kind of stuck. What do you say to that person who wants to buy a Steinhardt that looks like a 65-36-1, you know, 1950s Submariner, that they'll never be able to afford almost six figures for the original that wants that same look. Do you push them towards a black bay? And then a black bay is kind of an homage to a big crown sub. For sure. It's tricky. It's kind of a, it's, it's a way into, for many people, it's a way into the hobby. It's a way into a look. They can sort of test drive a certain look on their wrist. And in the future they might end up springing for the real thing because like you said, they look down on their wrist and every time they look, they see it, they think of, of the real thing. So I, I don't know, I'm a little bit forgiving, or I guess that's kind of my devil's advocate role, but personally I would never buy one. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I like that we're sort of on maybe different footings for this. I know that, like, I get that you wouldn't buy one and I wouldn't, but like if someone came to me and said like, oh, this is what I want, or that's what I want, or I like a Submariner, but I found this Invicta for 105 bucks, on Amazon, I think I'll buy that. I would say, you know, the big thing is like, are they watch enthusiasts or did they, they saw a watch and that they want that one watch? Like if you want, if you want to watch like, I certainly have friends that have Invictus that I've known. And I would say like, in that case, look at an SKX007. You're getting a lot of, I would say largely, if you zoom out far enough, a very similar overall wrist presence, a similar aesthetic. Like these are the sorts of things where I would want If I was going the other direction, I would kind of like in coming to somebody that I knew to be kind of an expert or an enthusiast in a space, I would want that feedback to say like, well, you know, I might know a little bit more than you and maybe it's better to put your money here or here or here. But the truth is, is I guess I got a little bit of crow if I'm going to be too hard on any part of the homage thing, because our rule about what watch to buy is buy the watch you like. And if you can wear, like if you can wear an homage and enjoy it and really like it and not feel like, like you're, you know, the thing that always comes to my mind is like, you see these Ferrari clones that are made on kit cars based on something like a Pontiac Fiero. And what I always see when I see it is I go like, I would have rather driven the Fiero. That's not that bad a car. When I see someone with a four or five or $600, what's essentially a sub clone, I always think like, there's like seven or eight like really more interesting enthusiast kind of insider watches that they could have bought for the same money or less. Maybe they could have gotten two Seikos or, or maybe they could have dug up a Hallios or something like that. And I guess that's how I see it is like, I don't actually have like you, you, you, you took, you took a price point that I have a lot of respect for. And then you, you made it ape something that I, that I also have a lot of respect for and, and, you did it like the homage stuff kind of does it in a fashion that discredits both sides of it for me. |
| Jason Heaton | So let's switch gears a little bit here and talk about potentially acceptable homage watches. |
| James Stacey | You wrote down my absolute favorite example. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, so I've got two examples. I've got the Numark, which I picked up recently. I've got the white dial one, so it's not a full-on homage, but they also make a black dial one that is identical to the Fabulous Four asymmetrical chronographs, as they're called, that were issued to the RAF in the 1970s, made by a few brands. There was a British enthusiast who bought the name Newmark, and he basically recreated these watches down to the... He had the font recreated for the dial, the case dimensions, etc. And I love the watch. I mean, you can still buy the vintage ones. They're quite expensive. This is a $300 or $400 watch, as opposed to a $3,000 or $4,000 watch. Um, but then the other example that I think we're both familiar with is a mark two or MK two paradive, which is a definitely almost a one-to-one homage of the, the Benrus type one, type two divers that were issued to special forces in the Vietnam era. Um, to me, that's always the example that pops to mind as an acceptable homage, but I'm wondering why do we feel that, you know, I think. |
| James Stacey | I would agree. This will be a little bit of a tough line to tow, and I'm sure some people will roll their eyes. Others are already writing me a long email. Both responses are fine. It's just meant to be a discussion for watch enthusiasts. And with the Paradive, I absolutely agree. I really like it. If somebody was like, oh, I really like the Benris Type 1, Or type two, but I don't want to wear something that's that old and treat it really poorly. And they're kind of rare and they're expensive, et cetera, et cetera. So I'm just going to buy the Paradive and wear that as my daily watch. I'd go like, yeah, it makes perfect sense to me. That's a killer watch. It's really nicely made. It's a, it's a, it, it absolutely pulls that aesthetic. For me, it's something like, maybe this makes no sense. It's hard to try and tell you why the Paradive doesn't bother me. for all those reasons. But if you said the same reasons, and it was a subclone, it would bother me. And I think it's, it's weird, but I agree that for whatever reason, I have this cognitive bias against specific, really specifically things that go after things like, you know, Seamaster knockoffs, Submariner knockoffs like these, I guess they're not even knockoffs. But I guess specifically, I have this kind of weird cognitive dissonance that would accept something like making a replica of a very insidery sort of watch like the Paradive. Whereas I don't like the idea of making a replica or an homage to a watch with this very grand general appeal where by wearing the watch that looks so similar you somehow actually get some of the prestige of Rolex or the, you know, some of the general air of Rolexness kind of exists |
| Jason Heaton | I feel like our argument is very thin, though. It kind of falls apart if we're criticizing homage watches, but then you look at Mark II's offerings and they make the Paradigm, which we both like and would potentially buy, and I did own one. And then they also make the Kingston, which is almost a one-to-one homage or replica, if you will, of, I think it's the big crown Submariner, like the Dr. No, you know, Bond Submariner. as well as I think they make, um, I think they were calling it the project 300 or something. It was the, the look of the Seamaster 300 Omega. Now they also make the, that watch called the Hawkins, which is kind of a Mark 11 sort of military IWC thing. Um, that in my mind is a little more acceptable and I don't know why that is. It's, it's virtually identical. It's also a, an homage watch just like the paradigm, but I guess maybe what, I'm coming around to this idea that those two watches, the Paradive and the Hawkinj, those two watches were contract watches that the military commissioned from brands. And in the case of the Hawkinj, which is an homage to a Mark 11 pilot's watch, was a contract watch that was made by several brands. Does that make it more acceptable? I don't know. Because the Paradive... Okay, so Benris is back in business, or the Benris name was bought by somebody recently, a couple of years ago, and they're making watches that, to me, I find not terribly attractive. They don't look anything like any past Benrus watches, but the Benrus name exists. So let's say that company, Benrus, decided to recreate the Type I or Type II from the 60s or 70s, and they start selling it on the Benrus site. Is that more acceptable than what Mark II has been doing with the Paradive? |
| James Stacey | I don't know. It really comes down to like a gut sort of thing where like some of it bugs me because I think it tries to pull on the authenticity and the like kind of hard fought market position of an icon. And I'm sure that you can take those whole sentences and pull one watch out and put another watch in and the argument's about as flimsy. But some of it bothers me. and some of it doesn't, and some of it I would spend my money on, and some of it I wouldn't. And especially when you tread into the Rolex space, it's just a hard no. Because it immediately starts to tread, for me, into fakes. And it could be in some way that the very early days of my watch appreciation were rooted in Victor. And there was that day where I had finally had done enough Google searching before Hodinkee, before Belong to Watch. I had done enough Google searching to land a poor man's watch for him to a detailed kind of breakdown, just allowing people to understand that if you bought whatever it was, the 8926 Invicta, you were buying essentially as close as they could squeeze a fake Rolex. Yeah. And, you know, then I saw a picture of a Submariner next to it and I went like, I don't want to wear this. And I sold it. I got rid of it immediately and I moved on to an SKX007 and a 778 and a handful of different Orients. |
| Jason Heaton | So maybe it's Rolex homages that we're particularly offended by. No one has made an homage to a Speedmaster as far as I know other than something like Undone which sort of has an inspired dial. But you look at a brand, Eddie Platz over in the UK bought the name Persista and he was making a few watches under that name that were direct sort of replicas of existing watches. Now he did one called the PRS 50 which was an homage to the the no rad the no radiations dial. I think it was the Polish Navy or something Blancpain 50 fathoms and you know people loved that watch. I remember that was in kind of my earlier days of getting into watches and you know I think at the time I considered getting that. I mean there's no way you could buy it's kind of like the the Benros. There's no way you could buy one of those. I mean, they're so rare and you can buy them, but they're, you know, astronomically expensive. But now I would never, now I wouldn't buy one, but I, but it's less offensive to me than an Invicta Submariner clone. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I, I, I would agree in, in, in some metric, I would agree. And then, you know, the other, the other one that, that I've written about and, and, and we've talked about is like brands like Baltic and Marode, which take a lot of inspiration from something like a vintage Blancpain. and make little tweaks to kind of make it their own. But in many ways, especially if you weren't educated or in the format, if you put them a road with no branding on it next to an old Blancpain 50 fathoms with no branding on it, there's a very similar thing. And it could be, there's a few sides to that. One, I don't think that making something that looks like a Blancpain is the same as making something that You know, I don't think that making something that looks similar to an old Blancpain is the same as making something look similar to an old Rolex. And I don't actually know if that's a fair assessment. It's, again, one of these sort of gut judgments. And it definitely, for me, is very heavy when it comes to Rolex. And it could be a bias from things like Invicta or from those four or five times in my life where I've decided, oh, no, I will mention to the guy sitting at the table next to me that I like his sub and he says it's fake. That's his reply. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And we aren't talking about fakes certainly here, but it does bring to mind a story. I remember I was out hiking several years ago and I passed a guy on a trail and I glanced down and he had a Pepsi bezel Rolex GMT on. And I said, Hey, you know, cool GMT master. And immediately he held it up and he said, Oh, it's a fake. And he was so proud of it. And I thought that that's a really strange response because yeah, If you're wearing a fake, you're doing it presumably to either because you like the look and kind of quality, you want to emulate the look and quality of a Rolex, and you like that watch in particular, and or you want other people to see it and think that you have a Rolex, in which case he's getting neither. Because if he's telling me right off the bat that it's a fake, he loses my respect immediately, unless he's trying to get my respect for spending less on it. And he's also not getting the quality and the authenticity of a real Rolex. So it's kind of a lose-lose scenario. So I never quite understood that. And that could sort of bleed over into the same with homage watches. If you're buying a Steinhardt Submariner clone or an Invicta or something, do you just want the look? And if that's the case, that is what I've said before. It kind of comes down to what you like to see on your wrist. So buy that. Absolutely. You're kind of not getting the whole package. You're not getting the history of the brand. You're not getting the inherent quality. I don't know. I guess I would love to hear from, for one thing, I would love to hear from people associated with brands that create these watches. You know, if Bill Yao, if he listens or something, you know, write in, maybe, who knows, maybe we'll be able to do a short interview or get some feedback that we could read on the episode. or other brands or people that like homage watches and have a strong defense for them. We'd love to hear from anybody. I mean, this is a very, in the watch space, I mean, granted watches are a very niche sort of pursuit, but, you know, it's a very strong topic for a lot of people. I'd love to hear more opinions. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I mean, I would say that maybe we can try and develop a concept of a DGN position on homage watches. I mean, it really does come down to we, Jason and I will always say that you should buy what you want to wear, what you, what makes you happy. That's what this is about. And if that's an homage watch, I want to be very clear. That's fine. It's absolutely fine. But as two guys kind of in the watch industry that take the time to make a podcast where we try and share what we know, what we've learned, um, and, and, and, and in, in the hopes of maybe spreading some education and some kind of general information throughout the scene, for $500 that you're going to spend on your homage watch, we can suggest options that are great that aren't homage watches. That's true. The little bit of vitriol that I have that I've kind of put into the microphone over this conversation is that I know that if I put it on my wrist, I would immediately want to take it off. And within that, I kind of like the idea that you can get really good watches for the same money that aren't homages. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, and I think we've tried to definitely encourage people to reward originality and individuality in these brands, like a Bremont with these sort of modern classics that they've produced, or something like the Ming, the very limited special edition into which a lot of creativity and thought went. And those are the types of brands that I like to celebrate, and I think we both do. |
| James Stacey | Absolutely. Yeah. I would, I would entirely agree. And, uh, I don't know that there's necessarily, I think it's a topic we could talk about again. It would be really nice to bring in some people that have differing opinions or different, different, uh, perspectives because there could be things about this that you and I are missing, uh, which I'm more than open to. I would love to learn, learn more about the, that kind of, uh, of the scene that you could, you know, it's something that I typically don't spend a whole lot of time looking into because I don't really like it. Um, but so I think there's probably some opportunity for a wider perspective than maybe certainly what I've put out in this episode. So I would say, uh, if you have an opinion, a feeling one way, if, if, you know, if something we said upset you by all means, uh, write us in the great NATO at gmail.com. Love to hear from you. And, uh, and yeah, and if it, if, and if somebody's listening, who represents a brand that produces a watch that could be considered, uh, an homage somewhere on the sliding scale, uh, that we kind of. loosely outlined uh the great nato gmail.com let's have a discussion let's see where you land i'd love to hear where some of the listeners are my guess is there's people kind of firmly in both camps and there's a lot of people somewhere uh on the spectrum between where i think you find jason and i uh depending on the brand and watch that's being uh you know being in tribute uh so yeah cool well i think we can close the book on that one it's hardly uh |
| Jason Heaton | Hardly a topic that we can close out. There's plenty more to talk about, but I think we've kind of covered as much as we can today, so maybe we jump into the final notes. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, a starting point, for sure. You've got two there, so why don't you go first? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, so the first one I have is one that I think we both thought I might have talked about in a past episode, but I looked back through some old show notes and I didn't see any links to it. I think I've talked about it to so many people, including you. I think I sent you the link as soon as I watched this movie on Slack, and I think we both got excited about it. Cole included it in one of his, the Houdinki sort of Saturday picks links is something to check out. So anyway, this is a movie that's on Netflix. It's called The Last Breath and it's a documentary, really well done documentary about a British commercial diver who basically gets stuck at the bottom several hundred feet down uh, without connection to the surface or his umbilical air supply, um, due to various factors of mechanical failure, some weather. Um, and the movie is kind of about that and the rescue attempt to, to retrieve him. And I don't want to give too much away because I think part of the impact of this film is the way that it's put together and the way it's the movie develops. You go through this incredible rollercoaster of emotions to the point where, you know, I watched this movie. I liked it so much. I watched it. And then my wife came home later that evening and I told her we have to watch this movie. And we, I watched it two times in a row. And I think both times there was a part of the movie in which I was almost brought to tears because it was, it's so impactful and it's, and it's a mix of onscreen interviews, kind of seated headshot interviews with various people involved in the story and live footage from helmet cams and diving bell cams. |
| James Stacey | I know the part that you're talking about and I completely agree. |
| Jason Heaton | It was absolutely crushing, just devastating, that part of the movie. Yeah. I mean, I just, I wanted to just shrivel up. It's wild. I can't give anything away. I just really suggest watching this. A listener had written in or an Instagram follower and said, Hey, I think this is a movie you'd like. It kind of perked me up and I thought, oh, didn't I talk about this before? Because I've talked about it with so many people. If you like to film like Touching the Void, the Joe Simpson documentary, or actually it was made by Kevin McDonald about Joe Simpson and his harrowing experience mountain climbing in the 1980s down in the Peruvian Andes. This movie has been compared to that and rightly so. I think it's equally well done, if not better. Just a tremendous Tremendous, frightening and realistic and really well-made film. But yeah, check it out, The Last Breath. It's available on Netflix. I think it was actually a Netflix production. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, it is on Netflix and we've received a couple of emails about it, including one this morning. |
| Unknown | Oh, wow. |
| James Stacey | So there's definitely some listeners that are already on the The Last Breath train. I will not add anything to the comment about the story. It's a fantastic film and you should watch it. And definitely we're not giving anything away. So it's really, really good. And if you're listening to this, that means it's Thursday morning and we just made your plans for Friday night. Yeah, it's a it's a it's fantastic. So what a great pick. And what do you got? So for mine, it's actually yet another comment on how to carry a camera or an option for how to carry your camera. So, you know, I'm sure over the 83 episodes before this, we spoke at length about how we like to move a camera around. And sometimes that's in a specific camera bag, a bag that's meant for carrying cameras. And other times that's in some sort of a case that then goes into a more casual bag. So not only does it not look like you're carrying a camera, but it might be a little bit dressier or a little bit more casual or just not like a low pro backpack or something like that on your back. And I had been hunting for kind of the perfect option. I had a really good Manfrotto zippered case that would hold the 6500 with a lens and another lens and some batteries and that was good but when I moved from the 6500 to the Leica Q the kit got even smaller so I had this kind of larger than it needed to be zippered EVA sort of case and I was kind of hunting around for other options and finally I came across this case from a well-known brand for people in the Leica world is Artisan and Artists they make these woven straps that a lot of people really love like neck straps And, uh, I've came across this case called the ACAM 75. And it's a, it's a little case. It's kind of shaped, um, with the similar structure to like a paper bag. |
| Unknown | Yeah, it looks like that. |
| James Stacey | But it's in, it's in multiple materials. So there's a softer internal and then it's still very soft, but like a slightly more rugged external. Um, and then it has a big elastic band and basically you open it up and it opens not unlike a lunch bag. It's kind of has a, a cleft to it. So it's a little bit more open on one side. And you can drop the camera in this little thing. It's just just barely kind of holds a cue. So that's roughly your size as a small mirrorless. And then you fold the flap over and then just kind of wrap the elastic, which is hard sewn on the back. You kind of pull it around the front and you put it right in your bag. It's a it's a little on the expensive side, given we've talked about things like gorilla cases before, which are these, you know, you can buy them on Amazon and they're just these yellow bags that come in all sorts of different sizes. You can hold all sorts of different gear in them. This is a little bit more tailored towards the, the well-heeled mirrorless photographers. So this is about 90 bucks at B&H. And so for just kind of moving the one camera, I'm sure I could tuck a battery kind of next to the lens, but I've got another little kind of kit bag that holds cables and batteries and filters and all that kind of thing. So really just to know that your camera is nice and safe and properly wrapped up. Um, this would be, you know, kind of the middle ground between wrapping it in a bandana, which I've done before, or putting it in like an actual camera case or a Pelican or something like that. And it's a really nice size. It's just nicely made. I'm quite impressed by it. And I think if you're in the same scenario, I think it's worth the consideration, if not the money. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I'm looking at it and it looks really cool. I love the sort of minimalist, simple design. It reminds me of, you know, the same reasons we like some, some watch rolls or, you know, tool pouches or things like this. I guess I wonder if it would be big enough for like, what's the limit in terms of camera size? Like would my Z seven with a, with a lens on it fit, or do you think it would be too small for that? |
| James Stacey | I think you might have to go to the bigger one. There's an a cam 76. I think I'll link both. Um, but the 75 is the smallest one they make and it really seems like they, they use the Q or maybe a 6,500 with a shorter lens than my, than that Zeiss I had. Um, but if you, uh, the dimensions are on, on their website, so you could theoretically measure the, a few dimensions of your camera. The biggest you probably won't be the width cameras kind of blocked in width, roughly speaking when they're mirrorless. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Um, it would be how long the lens protrudes from the fixed element of the body. Yeah. So if it's a lot more than the Q, it's definitely not going to fit in the 75. Um, but there is a larger version and there might even be a larger version after that. I had only compared what I believe to be the 75 and the 76. Yeah. Um, and I, I'm impressed. And, and that's a good, that's a good, uh, kind of mental. It does when, when you put the elastic over it, it's about the size of a, of a larger sort of eight watch roll. And similar in look, I bought a bright red one. So if I'm walking down the street and I have this reoccurring fear that I've left my camera wherever I just was. So with it being bright red, I can kind of glance down at my tote bag and see, oh no, it's there. We're good. Yeah. So yeah, that's the Artisan and Artis Acam 75 camera case. A little on the pricey side, but pretty killer. |
| Jason Heaton | Nice. Yeah. Well, my My last final note today is a strap, uh, of all things, you know, it's amazing in the, in the more than two years that we've been doing this show. And of course the show takes its inspiration from a strap, the, the show name, um, how many different kinds of straps you talked about the crown and buckle Chevron strap last show. Um, you know, I've, I come across new straps almost every week and you probably do too. It's, it's just blows my mind. So when I was over in the UK, not last week, but the previous time. As I mentioned, I visited Silverman's and CWC, and they gave me a strap to take back with me, which was originally from the early 80s, kind of what the Brits called the Falklands era, so it was around the time of the Falklands War in 1982. It was a watch strap that was used on fixed spring bars, fixed strap bar dive watches. It's a nylon strap that was sort of retrofitted with a pass-through friction buckle. So, you know, you put the watch on, you run the strap through the watch, you put it on your wrist, and then you thread the strap through this fixed friction buckle, and then pull it tight around your wrist, tuck in the end to a stitched keeper, and you're good to go. And I love the strap. It has a real authenticity to it. It's stamped with the broad arrow symbol. It's kind of a really cool sort of drab olive color. et cetera. So I love that you can get them from Silverman's. Apparently they have a huge back stock of them. They said that they're good to go till like 20, 2050 or something crazy like that. So they have, they have thousands of these things. They're, they're really cool and I recommend them. Um, but since I posted a photo of that and people started asking about it, another guy got in touch with me, um, also from the UK who runs a company called Zulu Alpha straps. And I believe he's based in Wales actually, or Liverpool and, He's ex-military over there in the UK, and he started making straps of a similar style. So these are, you know, pass-through single-piece nylon straps. He makes kind of a shinier seat belt style one, and then he makes more of the traditional sort of nylon NATO style. Okay. With a pass-through buckle, but it's two rings, two steel rings that sit on the six o'clock side of the watch. that then you thread the strap through and then it passes back under a sort of sliding bar and then you pull it snug. And this style was familiar to me from, I think you could get like a nylon belt in this style. You'll have to check out their website. |
| James Stacey | Like a nylon belt or the attachment on like a casual motorcycle helmet? |
| Jason Heaton | Yes, something like that. Yeah. Yes. Twin D ring or something like that? Exactly, exactly. And then he has a stitched keeper that is held together with like a steel grommet that you tuck the remainder in. And again, it holds the watch really, really firmly. It's definitely more sturdy and secure than, say, like a Gas-Gas Bones Velcro. Probably even, well, I would guess it's sturdier and more rugged than just a standard pin buckle NATO. The pins on those tend to be kind of flimsy sometimes. Really sturdy strap. I've been wearing it on mainly my Supermarine, actually. He sent me a 22 millimeter and then a 20, which I put on my CWC. And, you know, I would say keep an open mind. James, I sent you a couple of these in the care package I sent to New York, which hopefully you'll get today. |
| James Stacey | The care package literally just walked past the window. |
| Unknown | Oh, great. |
| James Stacey | It's waiting for me outside. |
| Jason Heaton | I'm excited. Very cool. So keep an open mind. I know you don't like a lot of big hardware. I'm not a big fan of sort of traditional Zulu straps, which have those big oversized loopy keepers. This is sort of like that, but once you put it on your wrist and kind of cinch it up, they're really comfy, they're very secure, really nice stuff. And I guess, you know, the moral of the story here is there are some really interesting strap types that are not NATO straps, and particularly these three that I just mentioned coming from the UK. So you've got Gas Gas Bones, who's been around forever. Carl's just a great guy. He used to be a parachute fitter for the RAF, and he kind of knows his stuff. He's a really good craftsman, and he's made straps for Bremont in the past. So his are great. Then you have these really cool ones from Silvermans, and then these Zulu Alpha straps. If you're someone who is tired of NATOs or just wants to try something new, I definitely recommend these as a different sort of take on things. So I'm really pleased with them, and thanks a lot to Zulu Alpha. Those straps were sent to me gratis. So I appreciate the, uh, the care package and James, I forwarded on a couple to you. So we'll, we'll give them a shot, but, uh, thanks a lot. And I recommend them. They're really cool. |
| James Stacey | That's right. Yeah. NATO or NATO adjacent. I'm very much a fan. I like that. There's so many sort of options as well, whether you listed a bunch there. So that's, uh, that's really cool. And I will certainly find an appropriate watch for that and, and, uh, take it for a spin. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, as always, thanks so much for listening and a big thanks to Hodinkee for supporting the show and to Bramont Watch Company for sponsoring episode 84. Head over to bramont.com and check out the whole collection, especially the Her Majesty's Armed Forces collection, which is new for 2019. Hit the show notes via hodinkee.com or the feed for more details. You can follow us on Instagram. I'm at Jason Heaton and James is at J.E. Stacey, and be sure to follow the show at TheGreyNado. If you have any questions for us, please write to TheGreyNado at gmail.com |
| James Stacey | And we leave you with this quote from Ernest Hemingway who said, The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, and the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable. They are often wounded, sometimes destroyed. |