Episode 188 - Flier Watches

Published on Wed, 01 Jun 2022 21:49:02 -0700

Synopsis

In this episode, Andrew and Everett discuss "flyer" watches, which are affordable watches they bought on impulse without much research or forethought. Everett defines a flyer as a sub-$700 watch that he's somewhat unsure about but is willing to take a risk on. Andrew defines it as a watch he bought almost on an impulse. They each share three "flyer" watches from their collections and the stories behind purchasing them. The episode also includes an announcement about a limited-time collaboration with Nick Mankey Designs for branded hook straps as a way for listeners to support the podcast.

Links

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Transcript

Speaker
Everett	Hello fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 in 20 the watch clicker podcast with your host Andrew and my good friend Everett. Here we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like.
Andrew	Everett, how are you? I'm really good. Andrew, we've been offline. Nerding. Just now nerding, uh, talking about, talking about recording equipment. We've, uh, we've just recently pre-ordered. and improvement to our recording studio that no one will notice. You won't. We will. Nobody will appreciate really besides me. You'll appreciate it too. Marginally. However, I want to just share this for the folks. There was a second when you looked at me, the look in your eyes as you were looking at me talking was a little bit like the look in Kim's eyes when I talk about watches. There was just a half second of like glazed over like, okay,
Everett	Well, you said like a series of words that meant nothing to me. And I was a little convinced that they meant nothing to you. So I was just like, I don't know. I'm pleased. Andrew, I'm doing really well. How are you? I'm good. Well, good. I wanted to get more done today than I did. I got nothing done today. So I'm a little bit kind of like in that listless, kind of anxious. I should have done more than I did mood. So I'm happy to be doing something productive right now. So it's good. This is going to be beneficial to my day.
Andrew	This is good. Well, and also you planned this episode. I did. That takes time.
Everett	Well, it takes time. The greater amount of time was getting through the writer's block. Yeah. Like you can only bang your head. Like I just, I banged my head against the wall so many times that eventually the wall fell.
Andrew	Yeah. And the bruise is not that bad.
Everett	No, it's, it's pretty minimal. It'll, it'll be healed pretty quickly, but we're through. I was through the writer's block. We talked about an episode, we got an episode planned. And here we are.
Andrew	Here we are drinking beer. As we do. The red lights on.
Everett	And we're talking watches. That's what I say.
Andrew	Oh shit. No, it's good. It's good. I feel good about it.
Everett	We're talking about watches. The red lights on. We're good.
Andrew	And. We're talking about watches.
Everett	We are. And we're talking about. Kind of one of our OG style episodes. Yeah, I guess that's right. I guess that's right. Just some ideas. Just some free form conversational talking about watches.
Andrew	Here's a type of watch. Here are three versions of that watch and what they mean to each of us. Yeah. That's like the original 40 and 20 format. It is. I like that format.
Everett	I think a lot of you like that format, otherwise you wouldn't have come here. But today, we're going to talk about the flyer. The flyer watch. And not a pilot's watch. Not a flying watch. Not a fliga. The flyer. I'm going to take a flyer on that. The watch you took a flyer on.
Andrew	And that's a term we use a lot. I'm going to take a flyer. I could take a flyer on it.
Everett	And I think it's important to define for everyone, everyone's definition is unique in what a flyer is. I'm going to start with what my definition of a flyer is.
Andrew	Do me.
Everett	Will you tell anyone? I always do. And yes, yes I will. For me, a flyer is a sub $700 watch. I don't know why that's my threshold. It is a particularly arbitrary number. It's pretty arbitrary, but it's also in that realm of you can get into some low level, high level shit in that $700 range. You're getting to the peak of a lot of micros, a lot of small brands, a lot of cool stuff. Just that $500 to $700 range is probably the most exciting. changing in the watch world. I think that's where you're getting the most exciting, uh, kind of development in the watch world for the most part. And obviously there's some cool stuff at like the multi thousands and millions range, but in the truly attainable world, that five to $700 range is really cool. Yeah. With that comes some cool also can, indicate maybe novel or odd, which are some things that like, I just like, like they're just some cool shit. That's like, I could, I could drop $700 today, be in a small amount of trouble at home and in get a large amount of enjoyment from that purchase.
Unknown	Right.
Everett	Like, and that's maybe the threshold is like, That's how much money I can spend and be in a small amount of trouble that is balanced or perhaps outweighed by the enjoyment or potential enjoyment for the watch that I'm going to get. So that's for me, that's my price threshold for a flyer. It's also something that I'm maybe a little unsure about. That everything points to I should enjoy it, I should like it, but there's maybe something hanging that means I won't. but I'm going to take the risk.
Andrew	Yeah. You know, I, I personally define a flyer watch a little bit differently and, and which is not to say your, your definition is not accurate. It's just to say, uh, when I look at the watches that I'm going to talk about today, that they, they feel a little different than that. Um, certainly they're all relatively affordable. I think, yeah, they all fit into that, that definition, but I don't think that's the character. I don't think that's the defining characteristic of these. Um, For me, it's a watch that I bought almost on an impulse. So I don't really, I very rarely do anything truly impulse. But all three of the watches I'm going to talk about today were bought with very little forethought. I just, I saw it. I was like, I'm going to buy that watch right now. And then I bought it and now I own them.
Everett	And now here they sit before us.
Andrew	And here they sit before us. These are all from three, not phases, but like I didn't buy them all at once. These are basically the three watches that I own that I can, that I can characterize this way. Um, they're the only three, but they're the three watches that I kind of impulse bought. I didn't think about it. I didn't research. I didn't read any reviews. I didn't look into it. I just saw it and I bought it, which is.
Everett	unlike both of our typical purchase practice. By the time we buy a watch, we're almost tired of that watch. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. I think most people, not most people, but the people who have the revolving door watch collection, by the time they viewed a watch as much as we have, they've already sold it and we're about to buy it, perhaps from them.
Andrew	waiting for marriage, but dating six years. And it's like, I don't even want to see you naked tonight.
Everett	Yeah, exactly. Which I can't imagine. That's, that's a weird thing to not want, but you know, whatever. So with that, we've now kind of discussed what the flyer watch is, and it's something that's maybe impulsive. It's maybe not a grail. No, it's definitely not a grail. It's something that you're maybe not even sure that you want, but you're prepared to take a risk on. And if the risk pans out, you're really pleased with it, and if not, your feelings aren't hurt because you knew it was like a maybe.
Andrew	You knew what you were getting into to the extent you had no clue what you were getting into.
Everett	Exactly. It's not like buying an Explorer and putting it on your wrist and being like, well, fuck, I hate that.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	Like that's not a flyer. It could be a flyer for somebody. but it's not a flyer for us. Yeah. So with that, would you please begin?
Andrew	Lead us off. You know, the first watch I'm going to talk about, this is the oldest of these three watches. It is actually the youngest of the three. Uh, but it's the one I've had the longest. This is a watch made by a company that's near and dear to both of us. I've never heard of that watch before today. Notice. Oh, never mind. Notice. This is, uh, the Notice Sector Dive Watch. Is that how you always say the word sector? Sector. Okay. No, I don't think so. Uh, this is the Notice Sector Dive Watch. Um, this is from, I believe the first drop of these, the very first run of these. So black PVD bezel, uh, single white loom pip on the bezel. Everything else is sort of murdered out. I'd say green minutes hand on this pretty sterile, pretty stoic. Um, and you know, they dropped these and I hadn't planned on buying it. I hadn't spent any time thinking about buying it. Um, they dropped and I basically, Same day they dropped, ordered it and have owned it ever since.
Everett	So I don't know, three or four years ago at this point, I think ish three, three years, maybe a little shy of that.
Andrew	And you know, these sector watches are the notice sector watches are really, you know, what you see is what you get. These things are, I think vastly overrated. I've waxed poetic. about how just wonderful these things are. I'm on record as loving the Notice, the Notice Sector Series. I think... Did you say overrated? No, no.
Everett	If I said overrated... You did say overrated and that's why I'm correcting you. Underrated.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	Yeah, yeah. If I said overrated, I was a mistake. I just think they're, I think that they're really something special. And if you, If you see one, you like, I'd say, just pick it up and own it. Cause they're, I mean the best entry level micro brand watch in the world. I say with very little, um, with very little reservation, this is special to me too, for a slightly different reason in that as they were releasing these West reached out to me and said, Everett, uh, I just want to let you know, we're dropping, we're dropping the notice sector skin divers. And I wanted to let you know that you and Andrew made an episode about skin dive watches pretty early on in the show. Yeah. And, and that episode inspired this watch. And I say that I think Wes and Colin are on record having said that it feels like kind of a big headed thing to say, but that also happened at the same time. So it wasn't cool. I mean, there was that like added element of. Holy shit, that's cool. I got to get one of those.
Everett	It was kind of a made it moment for us. We're like we. We influenced something like other than a purchase that had no affiliate link to us like we we influenced somebody like we we had this. We had enough of a voice or said something meaningful enough that somebody said, hey, I could maybe do something with the nonsense that was just spilled into the airwaves in front of me.
Andrew	And you know, I love this watch. I'll probably have it forever. I don't know if I'll ever get rid of it. I would get rid of it if it felt right. But I wear this thing easily once a month, probably a little bit more than that. And yeah, it's just in the collection for forever. I think that this is the watch that indicated to me that sometimes it's okay just to see something, know you're gonna like it, and make the purchase, if you can afford it.
Everett	Well, and these were, what, $450? I think that these were $400 even, but maybe $450. In that sub-$500 range? Yes. And this was kind of at the blooming of the micro brand era, this is two and a half, three years ago, where micro brands are in that four to $500 range. And everywhere, notice wasn't first to the game, right? Well, we'll never accuse them of that. But they were perhaps strongest in that segment. And this For me, at least in the way I'm remembering the explosion of micro brands who have come to prominence in the last couple of years, the sector dive was, I would say probably one of the more important watches to the notice collection and also a part of the shift away from dive watches because the sector dive was the beginning of the Sector Series, which is a field, a sport, and a pilot. And they did this whole case family with the intention of getting away from the microbrand dive watch thing. They knew it was important still, but it wasn't going to any longer be the... THE thing. And it's a cool watch. I don't know why I don't have one.
Andrew	It is really cool. Yeah, 150 meters of water resistance. I mean, it is. It's a. Everything you need, nothing you don't type of watch.
Everett	But everything you want to. In the way of a fun.
Andrew	Sport watch, yeah, yeah, sporty watch.
Everett	What do you got up first, Andrew? First for me, I'm going to go to my most recent. In the way of the Traska commuter. So no one is unaware that I'm on a 36 kick. No one is unaware that I was lamenting being unable to purchase a fucking Smith's Everest. Still haven't been able to. I've been on the website Sunday morning, 6 a.m. for the last six months, whenever they drop. Can't get one. I went to Rage Buy, a commuter, and they were also unavailable. And I went into like tantrum, like Donkey Kong tantrum mode. I got an email from Traska. I didn't personally get one. I was on their mailing list that they were going to drop a batch and they'd be available for purchase. And they became available for purchase. I bought one. I went to the website, not moments after the drop. But ours. Went to the website. Bought a watch. About a week later, I had my watch. I put it on.
Andrew	Smitten. You're gonna have to justify this a little bit because being on a waiting list sounds anti-flyer to me.
Everett	I'm not on a waiting list. I wasn't a pre-order. It wasn't a waiting list. It was a newsletter. Oh, I see. The same way I sign up for Laurier's newsletter or for anybody else's newsletter.
Andrew	It was just a hey, this is coming out.
Everett	Yeah, GnomNom sends me their newsletters with their sales. And I saw it and it was a hey, we have inventory coming in. They'll be available on this date. And I was like, okay. I don't think this is exactly what I want. Or maybe I don't even know that this is what I want. It's really close. It's perhaps close enough. And I'm going to spend the 450. I'm going to take a flyer. Yeah, I'm going to take a flyer. I'm going to send this because number one, I can get it. And number two, it checks most of the boxes, if not all the boxes, even without being the thing that I think that I want.
Andrew	And based on the amount of times I've seen you wear this. Dude. I'd venture to say that this is your favorite watch right now.
Everett	This is my most worn watch right now, but like outside of work. I love this thing. This is what justifies the idea of a flyer to me because this isn't, this isn't the watch that I thought that I wanted. And maybe any watch in that size and design language would have fit the bill. But that's exactly what I wanted. It's perfectly boring. It's perfectly sized. The bracelet is exceptionally comfortable. It's attractive. It's also, I got to say there, Traska's whole, like one of their schticks is their scratch proof finishing. Fuck me, man. I haven't gone out of my way to try to mar this watch, but one time I was sitting in a metal, like a great, grated, uh, top picnic table. And to demonstrate that this thing was scratch proof. I just like while wearing it, smashed it on the top of this metal grate on the clasp because I'm not really concerned about the clasp getting marred. And you can feel free to tell the audience what is on that clasp. There's one scratch on it. No, there's not.
Andrew	That's a hair. There is a scratch on it. That's oil.
Everett	Finally gotten a scratch on your clasp. The scratch is gone now. That was that was grease.
Unknown	Where?
Andrew	But. Oh, there is. I will say. Look at that. That is three months of near constant wear. I do more than that in an afternoon. Yeah, right. Of a loner piece. I put it on my wrist. I look at it and I go, ooh, this is pretty nice. And then I take it off and there's more scratches on the clasp than that has.
Everett	Yeah. Like I've put painter's tape on things. You've put painter's tape on things we've had in. Yep. Just to prevent it. This thing is, there's nothing in all the watches I'm going to talk about after this have like significant experiences from less deliberate attempts.
Andrew	You know, I think that your ownership of that watch has for both of us really, uh, put a point on how cool a company Trask is. I, uh, so Trask introduced their newest watch. I wish I could remember the name. Will had a review of it on the website. I'll link to it. It's their, I always call them twin stick divers. It's a dual crown, not a twin stick, a dual crown diver. And it's boring. It's boring. It's a boring dual crown. Seafarer.
Everett	Um, it's not boring because it has coral and mint as color options.
Andrew	Well, the coral, the coral dial is actually really cool. I hate them. Um, with that said, I think that is what Traska this, uh, your commuter is so perfectly inoffensive and boring. And, and that is what that watch is supposed to be.
Everett	That's what Traska is supposed to be. Traska is supposed to be.
Andrew	Perfectly boring and the build quality is as good as anything else under 500.
Everett	I mean there's I Honestly, I put it up against my Christopher Ward. I'd put it up against my Manta easily I put it. I'm not the finishing quality, but the the finishing longevity, right? I have more damaged visible damage to the Manta Which compromises the finishing value, right?
Andrew	I think the build quality is closer to Christopher Ward, but not there It's not, it's not as good as either one of those watches in terms of build quality, but anything else under 500 beats anything under 500.
Everett	And that's the whole, I think that's the Traska model. Their, their motto should be we're boring and fucking awesome. Yeah. Cause that's what they are. Every, everything about them is perfectly inoffensive, super simple, not Bauhaus design language, but as Bauhaus as traditional watch design can be right. Like just pure boring. It's not what I would call Bauhaus. It's not minimalism, right? Bauhaus is minimalism design language. This isn't minimalism design language. It's just nothing. It's perfect.
Andrew	And I think the thing I like about Terraska is it's delightfully different than what you expect it's going to be, too. It is still top down view what you expect. And then you start looking at the details and you're like, oh, this is different. The case sides of Traska's, that's the commuter, right? The case sides of the commuter, the actual case has some gentle curvature in places that always surprises me. And yeah, I think that's a great watch. I think it's a great flyer watch and I'm glad you bought it.
Everett	I'm super glad I took a flyer on this and I didn't keep trying to buy an Everest, though I have continued to try to buy an Everest because I want one. This was This isn't a placeholder. This is a forever. Even if an Everest comes in.
Andrew	Watch number two. Three. Watch number three for us, two for me. This is a watch that at the time I bought it, I'd never heard of it. I had never seen one of these before. I still to this day have never seen one of these. I believe that there is only one of these. in besides this one in circulation in the like world though the watch aficionado circle that i run in and that's the several thousand of you that i interact with somewhat regularly uh this is my victorinox fa-18 7750 chronograph watch this is a i would say this is a breitling-esque Uh, tachymeter, bezeled chronograph. Um, it's a little bizarre. It's kind of busy. It's got a tele- telemeter on the chapter ring or the re-hot. I think you'd call that a chapter ring.
Everett	Re-hot. Yeah, I would call it a chapter ring.
Andrew	It's $77.50, so $6,912. Um, big sort of awkward white date window. Lots of shiny. Polished steel on the markers, um, polished steel hands, kind of awkwardly brushed bezel with a, with an engraved, uh, tachymeter. I mean, this thing's, it's just a weird watch. It's yeah, it's 77 50. So it's about 18 millimeters thick. And also I want to say it's 38 millimeters in diameter. So it's. It's a cube. It's got awkward dimensions.
Everett	It's only a movement. That's all it is. There's no case around it.
Andrew	Full polished case besides that brushed bezel. I mean, it's just a weird watch. It's super weird. I think that they did sell these with a bracelet. Mine did not come with a bracelet, so I wear it on leather. One of the only watches I wear on leather. It was truly a flyer. I saw it at a Red Bar event. I was at Red Bar. There was a guy who had a bunch of watches. He had a, I think it was a $650 tag on that, or maybe an $800 tag. And I said, I want this. And I think I got it for 650 bucks. And, uh, I love it, man.
Everett	Does it not have a running seconds anywhere?
Andrew	Uh, it does have a running seconds. I want to say running seconds is at nine. So so standard 77 screw down crown 200 meters of water resistance. I mean, it is such a weird watch and certainly not a hype watch like the anti hype watch, if anything. And I'm just so glad to have it. It's a legit. You know, low end automatic chronograph, but a legit sort of High-end Victorinox.
Everett	Yeah, right. It's also the end of an era. It is, in some ways. Yeah, that's right. This is kind of representing the downfall of Victorinox in the way of respectable watches. The pre-Einox phase. Yeah. Though there's some dope Einoxes out there.
Andrew	Yeah, there are.
Everett	They exist, but this is kind of the end of it, right? Like these really elegant lugs that would, they're a little fat for a dress watch, but they would be fitting of a dress watch. They're slender for this watch. They curve nicely. I mean, this is like a claw tooth bathtub is what I'm looking at.
Andrew	Yeah. It's a, it's a, it's got a lot. Breitling is the brand that comes to mind when I look at this. Breitling is all that this is.
Everett	This is like 2000s Breitling.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	Yeah. This is like CIA Breitling kind of thing. Right.
Andrew	And so, theoretically, these were made for the actual Swiss Army, for F-18 pilots. I think it could be bigger based on that function, but I wouldn't like it as much if it was bigger. Part of the charm of this watch is the stumpy little case.
Everett	Yeah, but this is the F-18 pilot after he gets out of his jumpsuit watch. Like, he wants to still look like an F-18 pilot, but not still be wearing his flight suit. Like, hey, yeah, I fly F-18s. I don't know how you would say that in Swiss, but you probably say it just like that.
Andrew	Probably. So this is truly more so than the rest of the watches I'm going to talk about today. This is truly a flyer. It's such a flyer that I bought it and instantly, instantly, like within moments I was like, I maybe shouldn't have bought this watch.
Everett	I remember you telling me you were going to be in trouble.
Andrew	Like, ah, I bought this thing and I didn't really think about it.
Everett	Uh, in fact, it wasn't until just now that you ever told me how much you spent on it.
Andrew	I think I was kind of embarrassed cause it's so different than how I normally buy watches.
Everett	Um, it's also such a goofy watch to spend that it's, I mean, it's not a lot of money. It's not that much money for people who buy watches regularly. And, and I was thinking about that today. And as I was thinking about episodes, I was like the, the emotional, uh, stealing that you give to yourself for how much you're going to spend for a watch. Like the first watch you buy is sub $300 and you're like, holy fucking shit.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	And then you're like, well, you know, I, I spent, you know, 2000 on it, but it's not a big deal. It's like, I took a flyer, $650 watch. Like it's just, it's the things that you become emotionally tolerant to spend your money on and, and watches become those things. And as you start to, As you start to recognize the value that you can find in watches, not just the the enjoyment, but also the actual monetary value, you become a lot more comfortable spending money.
Andrew	Yeah. You know, at the time I bought this, I think it was the second most expensive watch I'd ever bought. I had the Speedmaster and this. And so and I had like the sector pilot or the sector dive, you know, so it was It was a big amount of money for me, and yeah, another watch I'll probably have until the day I die.
Everett	Even now it's the third most expensive watch you've bought. Maybe.
Andrew	I don't know. I do. No, that's not true.
Everett	Oh no, it's not true. Yeah, it's not. So let me dive into my second flyer. My second flyer is the Seiko Alpinist. And at the time I purchased it, for some reason, I don't remember why, but my wife had like given the green light on some watch purchases. I was like, okay, yeah, all right. And the first thing that I got was the Alpinist. And I'm going to have a big disclaimer here that my alpinist experience is unique to me. You will most likely not experience it. I got this watch. Do explain. I got this watch and I thought it would be my first catch and release. I thought maybe the sizing would be off. I wasn't really sure about the second crown. I just wasn't, I wasn't sure. And I put it on and I wore it for a couple of days and I was like, yup, you're not going anywhere. This is not a catch and release watch. It is so sleek, so comfortable. It's that perfect, middle ground between like a dressy sport watch and a tool watch and it's all because of that second crown and and the new iterations with just the single crown i'm not a big fan of i'm not a big fan of the of the dial like they're just a miss for me so this the watch i'm talking about is the second most recent iteration with a Internal rotating bezel. It's the Saab 017 style.
Andrew	Exactly. Same style as that.
Everett	My unique experience is that my movements fucked up. And I don't I don't know if I did it. I don't know if it was just a manufacturer thing. It's the JDM. It's a it's a whole thing. And I just haven't sent it in for a service because of laziness. And I have other things that I wear. If this was my only watch, I would have clearly sent it in for service. If it was one of like two watches, I would have sent it in for service, but it's one of many and has not risen to the point that I'm that motivated yet to send them for service. Sure. But I love this watch. It doesn't keep time. It just doesn't. It's purely a piece of jewelry. I still wear it from time to time just as a piece of jewelry because I love wearing this watch. so much and right now it's on one of Uncle Seiko's most recent releases with the uh uh solid lugs yeah what do you call this it's like an angus oyster or something yeah it's his new i think it's president okay yeah yeah and i haven't sized it yet because i don't i haven't worn it since will sent it back to me uh this is a recent pickup i don't think i've seen this Uh, I've only had it a couple of weeks.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	Will can correct us on when he sent it, but, um, it's fairly recent and I haven't sized it cause I haven't worn it since then. But this flyer is, I think, I mean, I, I've been really comfortable with all of my flyers. I haven't, I have yet to have an actual catch and release flyer purchase, which is maybe, maybe the point of this episode is to take the flyer. You're actually going to like it.
Everett	But yeah, this is I love this watch. I lament every time I look at it and like, man, I wish you would keep time, but not enough to send it in for service.
Andrew	You should just do that.
Everett	I should. It's going to be like 300 bucks. It's like half the cost of the watch. I've like thought about just selling it and buying a new one. Yeah, because it would be the same cost as just getting a new watch. And it's what's the it's the NH or the DSR 36, I don't know what it says on the back. It's a discontinued movement, so you can't buy the movement. You can, but it's... Yeah, is it a 6R movement in that? Yeah, it's a 6R... 35 or whatever. Yeah, whatever it is. They're not as widely available as they once were. Yeah. Because I wouldn't mind just doing a movement swap, but I also could just sell the watch and buy a new one and basically be at the same cost as the Surface.
Andrew	Sure. Uh, I, I love that watch and I'm glad that you own it. And I do think you should get the moment fixed.
Everett	If anyone knows, here's the thing. When I wear it, it keeps garbage time. And when I say garbage time, it could be like, it's plus or minus hours in the box wound and not worn. Perfect time. Like exactly the time you would expect it to keep. Some sort of there's something additional. It's a positional issue. And like maybe there's a rock in the movement or something. And I bet it's something incredibly simple. Yeah, but I'm not willing to venture into it. And I mean, maybe I'll send it to Evan.
Andrew	Yeah, I think you should send it to Nick Harris or somebody. One of these guys.
Everett	There's there's people out there. But if anybody has a has a flyer idea. I'm I'm prepared to accept it.
Andrew	All right, my final watch. Do it. Watch number three. Watch number five total. Three for me. This is my newest pickup.
Everett	It's very new too.
Andrew	Uh, I've, I've owned this thing, I think for nineties.
Everett	Uh, is that including shipping time?
Andrew	It's, it's a several, uh, years old watch made by Hamilton. I talked about this last This is my Hamilton khaki aviation watch. Did I not talk about this last week?
Everett	We talked about it, but you didn't talk about it on the show.
Andrew	This is my Hamilton khaki aviation, the Hamilton coupe, uh, watch from the interstellar movie with Matthew McConaughey. All right. All right. Uh, this thing is 42 millimeters. It's a big, giant, Pilot's watch. And when I say big and giant, it's really not that big. I mean, it's 42 millimeters. It's 42 millimeters.
Everett	Uh, however, everything we've talked to today is under 40. That's right.
Andrew	So not only is it, is it big in terms of the normal size diameter watches I wear, it is 98% dial. Maybe 99. So 41 and change dial. I'm exaggerating. I don't know what the number is. but it's a ton of dial. And so when most of my watches are 38 millimeters with a bezel, this thing having a very scant bezel at 42 millimeters, just it wears very large. And in fact, there's been a couple of times, not so much in the last few days, but the first day I wore this first couple of days I wore this, uh, there was a couple of times where I caught in the mirror and I was like, Oh my God, what is that?
Everett	Um, it's not bigger than your Speedmaster.
Andrew	It is. It is smaller than the Speedmaster or it is bigger than the Speedmaster. Um, the actual case is bigger than the Speedmaster and the dial is orders of magnitude, orders of magnitude bigger. Um, yeah, no, it's, it's a big watch and I didn't know how much I'd like that. It's a day date. If you don't know what these look like, mine is the silver dialed version of these and it's a very light silver, almost white depending on the light you catch it in. Um,
Everett	It's more white than it is silver.
Andrew	You know, I really didn't know what to expect with this thing. I saw it on Reddit. It was being listed for a song. Actually, I bought this Apple watch you seek. So the price was right. It's a watch I'd looked at kind of in the past, but never really to buy. It's just a watch I'd seen. And so the price was right. And I was like, you know, I'm gonna buy that watch today. And I did. And Man, that's the real flyer. I'm so happy, Andrew, that I bought this freaking watch. I love it. So it is the I think the newest versions of these come with the H10 movement. This is the older 2834. It's man, I I fucking love this watch. I'm really impressed by what Hamilton does. You know, I think these are like 900 ish. retail price new if you were to buy one. Um, so I'd call this like a thousand ish dollar watch. I'm really, really impressed at what Hamilton does at a thousand bucks. I think that this bracelet is, it's a stiff bracelet. It's not a real floppy bracelet. I think you and I both tend towards the Monta style drapey bracelets, sturdy and stout, but also really flexible. This is not that. It's not. It's much more structured. It doesn't lay down flat, which is not my favorite thing, but you get it on the wrist and it doesn't matter. The construction on it is really, really good. The fit and finish on it is really, really good. And so it's another, I mean, I took a flyer on it and I'm so glad I did. I would be so disappointed to not have bought this thing. And of course that's not true because I would have never known. But I just love this fucking thing, man. Look at these case lines.
Everett	Let's see. Yeah. I mean, so to speak to the bracelet, it is, it's not fully articulating, which is kind of the, kind of the rage right now. I appreciate that that rage exists because it makes for a really soft wearing bracelet. I mean, almost almost like wearing a manky strap, right? But that's not exactly what a bracelet is about. A bracelet is a is a chunk of steel wrapped around your wrist to hold your watch to your wrist.
Andrew	That's going to exist in an oval shape.
Everett	Exactly. When it's on your wrist. Exactly. Its natural state is ovular. You know, regardless of exactly the shape of your wrist, it's going to be generally ovally. Unless for some reason you have an eight and a half by 11, a sheet of paper for a wrist, you don't need a fully articulating bracelet though you might like it. And I'm really okay with that bracelet. I could do with a little bit more taper. Just a touch.
Andrew	Yeah. It starts off at, I think it's a 20 to 19 or 20 to 18. Um, Which, which is fine.
Everett	Like 20 to 17 or 20 to 16 would be more appropriate. 2016 would totally work. 2016 might even be a touch thin though for the size of that watch head. Cause it's 42, yeah. But a 2017, just a touch more taper would be, would be more comfortable. Cause that's a chonky bracelet. Yeah. 20 to 19 you're not really getting taper.
Andrew	You get a little bit of built in taper from the watch head. So it builds in some taper where there wouldn't, because the 42 millimeter case, 20, millimeter brace. It sort of looks, the proportions are deceptive.
Everett	But they're also really good. That's like a, but it feels like a super engineer bracelet.
Andrew	Total flak around this. Just had never talked about this watch. Not a watch we've ever discussed.
Unknown	No. Not on my list.
Everett	You sent a picture of it and you're like, Hey, I bought this. And I was like, that was an unusual purchase. Because typically we send pictures back and forth for weeks. before a purchase is made, unless it's Mike. Mike's a revolving door.
Andrew	You know, that's the, I mean, I think that that's this, this episode might not, might not, um, connect with everybody because I think a lot of people make most of their watch purchases this way. Oh, that's horrifying. You and I not so much.
Everett	No, my last purchase. And there'll actually be a year in the box. review hitting watch clicker soon for this watch. It's the Christopher Ward C63 automatic. And the reason I'm comfortable calling this a flyer, it isn't because the amount of time I waited to buy this watch. It's because of the amount of time it took me to decide to buy this watch. This was an immediate decision. Yeah. It was a brand new release. We saw the embargoed media release. I saw a picture of it, said, I'm buying this watch. Did no further research, did no further looking into it. The day it became available, bought this watch.
Andrew	Yeah, well, there was no research to be done because they didn't exist. Exactly.
Everett	And this watch I love. It has all the things I want. It's boring. It's got super clean lines. It's a 39. case, but it's also that Christopher Ward light catcher case, so it doesn't seem like a 39, which is maybe a complaint that I have about it. It seems big, though it's not. Clean colors. My true complaint is in the non-tapered bracelet, which... It's got taper, just not very much. No, this is 2020. There ain't no taper here. In fact, the clasp is larger than the bracelet. all the way around. So it's really 20 to 21. Mike France has promised a tapering bracelet in the future. But it's a quick release bracelet and the more in the aquatain bracelets do taper. The more I wear this bracelet, the more I'm okay with the lack of taper. I want the taper. But on this watch, in this bracelet, which is fully articulating, though you don't need it. I'm really okay with the lack of tape at this point.
Andrew	Yeah. Build quality is, is second to none.
Everett	It's Chris Ward. I mean, this is like, this isn't a hidden gem anymore. I think it's just an overlooked masterpiece within the watch world. They do some weird stuff, some stuff that I like look at and I'm like, why are you doing that? Why are you wasting time, money, energy, and R and D on that when you could be doing things like this terrifically boring, beautiful watch. And it's a flyer for me because there was just no thought. I saw it. I liked it. If I could have bought it that day, I would have very much like your, like your Hamilton.
Andrew	Yeah. You know, you see, you mentioned, I remember seeing the embargoed vision, uh, images of these and you said, yeah, I think, I think I might get that. But you said it in the way that we say that all the time. Like, Ooh, I like that. I'm going to get that. Uh, and then, not a week later, you had it and it was like, Oh, you were serious. Very serious. Very much a flyer and very different than the way we, you normally buy watches.
Everett	Yeah. And I'm very pleased with it. It's these three watches are kind of the watches that I, it uses my litmus test for subsequent purchases.
Andrew	You know, it's interesting, Andrew, I think that you maybe have better taste when you don't think about a purchase too much because These of your watches are my three favorite.
Unknown	I mean, that's not true.
Andrew	I really like your Atlas.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	I like all my watches. I love all my watches. These three get the most wear, including the one that doesn't work.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	Well, this was fun. Yeah. I like talking about kind of kind of reaching back into the, what have I done wrong and what have I done right?
Andrew	Well, what have I done right? Uh, these are the things we did right without thinking about it. Uh, you know, I don't really have, uh, I don't think there's a meaningful takeaway from this episode. Uh, you said a few moments ago, maybe the takeaway is it's okay to just buy that watch every once in a while. I think for some of you, it's probably okay to not buy that watch. That's a different episode. Uh, that's actually the rest of our episodes. So please listen to episodes one through 187. Uh, however, If you're like us, and you spend too much time thinking, the takeaway for you can be, it's okay every once in a while to impulse buy a watch.
Everett	Oh, I've talked myself out of way more watches than I have talked myself into. When I buy watches, I send a picture of the watch to the group and say, talk me out of this. What was the last one that I did? You know, I don't know. I was on the ledge about something and I almost bought it and Mike talked me out of it.
Andrew	Yeah, I don't remember what that was. I do remember the conversation, though. Andrew, is it OK if I make an announcement?
Everett	Do it. Oh, it's important announcement. So, yeah, I insist that you do.
Andrew	So I think it's fair to say that we are fans of the Nick Mankey hook strap. Would you agree?
Everett	Might be an understatement, but I will, I will accept your terminology.
Andrew	So we, you know, we have products that we like. Um, I I'm on record as having really liked the Matt supreme NATO straps from Kronenbuckle. Um, you know, there's just a number of products that have come through here over the years. That's like, Yeah, this is a great product.
Everett	We highly recommend it. We buy it ourselves without any affiliate marketing. Like this is like we spend our money on these things. That's right.
Andrew	I think amongst. The Watch Clicker editorial staff, the most. Enjoyed product unanimously enjoyed is the Nick Mankey hook strap. So these are thirty five dollar straps. Normally, I think that we probably as a group own three hundred to four hundred dollars worth of these things.
Everett	So and we will buy them in batches of like five.
Andrew	We always just buy them. We get in line like everyone else, like everyone else. We order them on the website. We pay full price. So we're not getting any. And we wait our 12 weeks. That's right. We're not getting any deals. We're not like emailing Nick and saying, hey, can you do this special thing? Although with like I did do that once and
Everett	It didn't work, and he still had to wait his 12 weeks.
Andrew	I did have to wait the 12 weeks, and I paid full price for it. However, I got a version of material that he doesn't offer on his website. That's the one exception to that. However, this is just a strap we like. So about three or four months ago, we had Nick on the show. It's been about a year ago. And we discussed perhaps at some point doing a collaborative strap. And the fruits of that labor have finally come to be. So watch clicker is doing our very first collaboration product.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	As a, as a team, we are collaborating with Nick Mankey for a limited time run. They're not limited in quantity, just limited in time, limited in duration of availability, uh, collaboration with Nick Mankey on a branded on a branded, literally branded on the strap, uh, 40 and 20 and or watch clicker logo hook strap. They come in four colors, black, Navy, orange, and gray. Uh, the best sort of pass through strap colors, I think. Um, dang, man, this is really cool. So what do you need to know? You need to know that these will be available on June 4th. That's a Saturday. 9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. Or is it whatever. Pacific Time. Sometime in the morning. Cupertino time for you Apple users. 9 a.m. and they'll be available for two weeks. Now, what do you need to know about this? $44. So these are more expensive than standard hook strap. However, they will be a standard hook strap. So this is first and foremost a way for you to support us at WatchClicker. And Nick. And for you to support Nick Mankey. These are, I don't know, not novelties, but they're kind of one-offs, right? This is just a hook strap. If you bought the same exact strap without our logo, it would be, I think, $10 cheaper, but because you're a fan of the show. And because you're a fan of the website, you should buy these. This is an opportunity for us to recommend a product to you that we already recommend because we're just huge fans of it. Uh, and it's a way for you, you at home to, let's say you don't want to, you don't want to be a patron. You don't want to do Patreon because it's an incurring fee and you'll forget about it. And that's annoying and nobody likes that. Um, this is a way for you to support us with a one-time purchase and to get something out of that purchase. So I don't know what the numbers are, but we'll get a portion of every sale of these. Um, and we'll use that for hosting. We'll use it for software. We'll use it for perhaps travel to wind up that sort of thing. Um, in any event, we'll use it to make better products to give to you. We don't get paid. We're not going to get paid because of this, but we are going to, we are going to have access to some sort of opportunity to bring you a better product. So if you're already a Patriot patron, You shouldn't feel pressured to do this. If you are a patron, you can be happy to be pressured. It doesn't matter. This is just an additional opportunity for you guys to support us.
Everett	This is our hardest sales pitch we're going to give you.
Andrew	And there's no pressure. The website and the podcast is free. But if you want to support it, this is the way to do it. And it's a really cool product.
Everett	would love to see one in the wild.
Andrew	Wouldn't that be cool?
Everett	Like you're at a bar and someone's wearing a... I was wearing mine because we have, like, we have some sample ones that Nick sent us. I was wearing mine while I was at Disneyland. I was looking around and I was like, you're obviously not going to see one. You're not going to see one. And number two, nobody's going to recognize it and be like, dude, that's cool. I don't know. I wore it just in case.
Andrew	All right, you guys. Nick Makey Designs. .com. June 4th.
Everett	They're also going to be available via link through WatchClicker.
Andrew	If you go to if you go to WatchClicker.com, there'll be a link. There'll be a link on the website. I think there's a tab if you go to the straps tab.
Everett	One more important thing. You don't need a soft tape measure for this. Small, medium, medium, large.
Andrew	Yeah. Normally these Nick Nakey hook straps are built to dimension. We did some testing on this and we figured out that the six and a half to seven and a half, seven and a half to eight and a half, five and a half to six and a half. I think those are the three sizes. Uh, we figured that that actually works really well. So if you're certainly if you're in those ranges, small, medium, large, uh, and these will probably, this is probably the fastest hook strap you'll ever get to because we're going to get priority. So if you have been waiting and didn't want to wait the time, I think that this is a unique opportunity. To get a fast get to the front of the line. Yep. Front of the line. Nick make extract. So. And you want these colors. Andrew, other things. Oh, what do you got?
Everett	I have talked about a trail running shoe before, which I still stand by. Yeah. I recently got a new pair. Oh. Because I was I just, I wanted a little bit more versatility and I wanted Gore-Tex lined. Which is weird for a low, like a low shoe to have Gore-Tex lining. Nah, I get it. But when you're in a moist environment. Moist. Moist.
Andrew	People have problems with that word.
Everett	That's what I'm saying. I'm desensitizing. It's exposure therapy. It's valuable. You don't want your feet to get wet. You know, there's the downsides of your feet get sweaty and then the sweat is held in. But the so my experience with these thus far is they breathe well enough. Right. My socks aren't wet when I take my shoes off. I got the Adidas. Terex Swift R2s. Let's see.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	I'm not wearing them when I when we record, I wear slippers because we're in my house. And I got them because I ride a bicycle sometimes at work and it didn't like wearing pants all the time, so I wanted some shoes that I could wear with shorts that were still appropriate for work. And I gotta say, these are not good trail running shoes.
Andrew	Yeah, they look like they have a bit of a hybrid boob. Uh, like hiker sort of.
Everett	Yes. These are good hiking shoes. They're crazy stable, crazy stiff, like perhaps as stiff insole as any of my Danner designed mountain hiking boots. Yeah. They clunk when I walk. They're solid sold. really stiff insole comfortable. They're not good trail runners. Do not buy them for this purpose. If you're looking for a hiking shoe or any kind of shoe that's like in that kind of hybrid zone, like a tennis shoe isn't quite appropriate, nor is a boot. This is money. This is a little bit of a flyer purchase because I was like the worst that's going to happen. is they're too soft. And then that's not a huge tragedy for me because then they're just too soft and I just have more comfortable shoes than I was expecting. Yeah. And if they're too hard, fuck ever. Like I'm wearing, I got these as boots. These are killer. Gore-Tex lined, so weather coming in is not an issue. Your own ecosystem, generated within is a bit of an issue. But having worn them on several sweaty occasions, you're not pulling out wet socks. And that's kind of a problem with Gore-Tex lined boots and shoes is that you also need to create like you create an environment within the boot and get sweaty. And then it's like, well, I've ruined the Gore-Tex purpose here by creating the moisture myself. Yeah. But for biking, Exactly. So these were 85 bucks on the Amazon. And that's on sale, I think. I think they're on sale. And also right after I ordered them on Prime, which like really got me chapped. I like I threw a little bit of a fit. I ordered them. Hey, we've received your order the following day. Shipment has been delayed. It wasn't two day shipping, even though it's prime. It was a week that chapped me. And I got a free month of Prime out of the deal. Pro tip, if things don't come when you expect them through Prime, just email and they'll just credit you a free month of Prime. You're welcome. But if you're looking for something, and they come in a couple of colors, but the reason I got these is because they're all blacked out. There's just, there's their black sole. There's a little bit of an orange, like the little vibram. Marker, it's not Vibram, it's something else, but it's the equivalent of Vibram. Great, great hiking shoe. Yeah. Super pleased with it. Looking forward to getting a muddy.
Andrew	Yeah, you know, I I do I do Gore-Tex on trails when in the winter. So I think basically like I do it in the summer. November to February is sort of my range for where, you know, as soon as it gets to like 45, 50 degrees, it's too hot for me to wear Cortex, but in the winter, I'm a big, I'm a big fan. So, uh, however, I'm usually running in those probably too stiff, but I was thinking recently I was doing, uh, a hike with some ice and snow. And I thought, you know, I need just a little bit more shoe. So that might be great for that.
Everett	These, these of the ass I I've, I wore them off road with the toddler today. And they have the ass. They've got the like the trail running grip without being like the weird like. Like. What's the word I'm looking for? The weird tread. Yeah, that's not functional at all, but for trail running, they've got a really good hybrid mix. I'm pleased with this purchase.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	Great. I've got another thing. Do me. My other thing is timely. It is. And I'm going to do my best to not do any spoilers. Not just for you at home, but also for you, Andrew. If you spoil it, I'll kick you. You're in the middle. I finished up volume one of Stranger Things season four today. In fact, right before I came over to our studio for recording, I was watching this. My kids are now nine and ten, and I'm able to watch things like this with my kids and they're into it, which is really delightful. Um, man, Andrew, I gotta say this is, this is, I think the best season of stranger things so far. Um, I do know a number of people that are sort of like vocally anti stranger things. And to those people, I say, fuck you, fuck right off. No, I I know I do say that. I'm not backing off of that. No, I I've been into it since the beginning. I think that season one was wonderful. I think seasons two and three floundered a little bit at times. I thought the plot was OK. I thought the characters were charming. Season three in particular. It seemed like they sort of leaned into character development. They introduced several charming characters. Season four, they have brought everything together. This is by far the best storyline. The character development is as good as it's been in any season. The little sort of like, Easter eggs, I guess is what you'd call them, are out of this world. Some of them are really, really good. And it's just it's just the most well thought out Stranger Things story that they've done so far, including season one. Season one, there's some novelty involved. It was a novel thing, and that was part of its that was part of its delivery was the novelty of this 80s. This is this is still that. But actually just a really, really excellent story. And I'm here for it, man. There's a couple of things I don't like. I don't like. The villain.
Everett	OK, it's the point of a villain.
Andrew	I don't like the wigs. There are some really, truly horrendous wigs in this season. Late 80s. What do you want? Yeah, I know. They've, they've taken away from it a little bit.
Unknown	Okay.
Andrew	But everything else aces my favorite stranger things season. And that's all I got, man.
Everett	Wow. Thank you for not doing any kind of spoilers. I'm well behind you. You're a few episodes, but it goes quickly. It does. So the quicker we end this, the quicker I can get to the next episode. All that being said, do not forget. And so this publishes in just a couple of days. This will publish on June 2nd. Two days from now.
Andrew	Saturday, June 4th.
Everett	On Saturday.
Andrew	9 a.m. Cupertino.
Everett	Do not forget to head to either our website and WatchClicker.com. or nickmackydesigns.com and get yourself a watch clicker or 40 and 20 branded hook strap and get to the front of the line.
Andrew	Custom printed with a proprietary printing technique that Nick has not even shared the details of with us.
Everett	He has refused, even though we've requested it several times.
Andrew	Hey, thanks for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20, the watch clicker podcast. when you check us out at our website, watch clicker.com or on Instagram at 40 and 20 at watch clicker. That's where we post pictures of watches, but also where we post links and, um, pictures of our most recent reviews and articles. So check us out there. If you want to support watch clicker, you can do that either at nick mankey designs.com with a hook strap or at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. Look guys, it's a lot of money for hosting and for the equipment it takes to do this. And that's how we do that stuff. And don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like.
Unknown	Bye bye.