Episode 202 - the Five Types of Watch Collector

Published on Wed, 07 Sep 2022 22:37:27 -0700

Synopsis

Andrew and Everett host the 40 and 20 Watch Cooker podcast, where they discuss watches, food, drinks, and life. In this episode, they introduce five categories of watch collectors they have defined: 1) The Pokemon Trainer who collects every variant, 2) The Thoughtful Curator who thoughtfully curates their collection around a theme, 3) The Butterfly Catcher who collects randomly based on impulse, 4) Those who continuously look for "The One" watch but are never satisfied, and 5) The Day Trader who collects purely for financial gain through flipping. They analyze their own collections and place themselves in these categories. They also discuss other topics like silicone baking mats, socks, and redefining the conversation around watch collecting.

Transcript

Speaker
Andrew Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 in 20, the Watch Cooker podcast with your hosts, Andrew and my good friend Everett. Here, we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Everett, how are you? Yeah, just bang on that a little bit more. You like it when I get you in the mouth?
Everett We're sharing a microphone tonight. I'm good, Andrew. Andrew, did I tell you? You know, I know everybody loves to hear about, uh, our mixing board escapades, but did I tell you that they specifically had a firmware update regarding the sound pads to increase the volume? It was one of my complaints early on. It was really your chief complaint. Yeah. And, and it's been fixed now. So when we, when we turn on the volume, I remember. Yeah. Yeah. You know, really?
Andrew Our first couple of weeks, the, the intro and outro music was a little quiet.
Everett It was. It was. Uh, Rode, Australian company, very, very good company. I am just over the moon with their products. We still, by the way, by the way, we still do have a mixing board. Someone reached out to us to purchase our Rodecaster Pro 1 recently and said, Hey, I'm sort of, I've been podcasting. I'm kind of trying to upgrade my equipment. What's your price?"I was like, I quoted him a price. It was kind of a slamming deal. He was like, that's great. Um, you know, can you tell me anything about using? And I was like, well, why don't you tell me what your setup is? And kind of determined that this thing wasn't going to be for him. I sort of talked him out of buying it.
Andrew You're not supposed to do that.
Everett Well, correct. But you know, I just like in talking to this guy, I could just tell like, this is not really for you. So here's what I'll tell you. If you're going to record any sort of voice audio with more than one microphone in the same place, then you will get value out of this machine. However, if you're recording a podcast remote, I think that the value is limited. I think that there are probably better options for you. Certainly, less expensive options for you, even at the smoking deal I was going to send it to this guy for.
Andrew And what I will tell you is that if you would like to purchase a piece of 40 and 20 history, it's available for sale right now. I have disinfected it. And ensure that when you message the Instagram, Ask for me to respond specifically and then we can work out a deal.
Everett All right. Enough of all that.
Andrew I will not talk you out of buying our equipment.
Everett Enough of all that. Andrew, Andrew, how are you?
Andrew I'm good. I had a training day today and it was a little bit longer than I expected. Was it like that Denzel Washington movie? Very much like it.
Everett Uh, I, I. Denzel, Den, Denzel Washington. Den, Denzel. Do we say it wrong? I can never get the emphasis right.
Andrew Yeah, that happens. So I had a little bit of that today. It was cool, you know. So, but I'm fine now, obviously. You made it. I made it. You know, blood in, blood out kind of thing. It's not a big deal, you know, but we're there.
Everett Have you ever seen that movie Blood In Blood Out?
Andrew Yeah.
Everett Gosh, man, one of my favorites.
Andrew It's good.
Everett All right, carry on.
Andrew Yeah, you know, just plugging away. Nothing really new or exciting in my life. I'm excited, though, that football is back. Oh boy. I didn't like how it started. Oh boy. For me personally, but generally speaking, I'm glad football's back.
Everett At least you didn't spend like $1,500 to go to Atlanta for 36 hours to experience what happened.
Andrew Yeah. I meant to text you that I hope it was more fun to be there than it was to watch.
Everett It was. Certainly it was. Yeah. No, I had a blast. I had a really good time. I went with a dear friend and Had a great time because traveling with a with a friend is fun. But that was a rough game. I'll just say that that about it. That was a rough game.
Andrew I woke up and looked at the score and said, I'm going back to sleep.
Everett We're going to talk about watches tonight.
Andrew We should get there because we planned. We're definitely biting off more than we can chew in an hour. Yeah.
Everett You know, this is one of those episodes that that sort of we had an episode plan And then as we were prepping tailspin, it was like, you know, I just don't think we're there. Like, I don't feel good about this. This is going to feel like a sort of a rehash of prior ideas. Um, and so as we were, as we were planning this, you know, three weeks ago, which is kind of our planning schedule, we're about three weeks out. Um, as we were planning this week, we went back to the whiteboard, which is not a literal whiteboard. Went back to the whiteboard. No, it's a butcher block that we keep in the recording studio. And revamped this, revamped this. And I think we got to a good place. I feel good about this episode, but in doing so, we almost certainly are going to have to cleave. Cleave some portions of the original decided idea, because we hit a whopper.
Andrew We have big ideas, and that's maybe our problem.
Everett So it all started, it all started when I recently found an article, an article, uh, it was, it's more of a blurb than an article, but it was, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was prepared by a doctor, a doctor named Shirley Mueller. Just briefly some background on Shirley Mueller. Shirley Mueller, in addition to being a board certified neurologist and psychiatrist, so Shirley Mueller MD. Shirley Mueller is also an internationally famous collector of Chinese porcelain. And, you know, as a hobby, she collects porcelain, but as a... Which is weird. That's correct. But professionally, she studies collecting. The human brain. the human brain and and specifically the behaviors and tendencies of collecting. And she's a lot of her work. So so she's written a book on the subject of collecting called I've got it right. It's just right there. Oh. Inside the head of a collector. neuropsychological forces at play. One of the main areas of studies that Ms. Mueller has sort of focused in on is a thing called the oddball paradigm. So the oddball paradigm is, uh, the study of electrical stimuli in your brain or the study of electrical, uh, phenomena in your brain upon seeing something new, novel, odd, and or not or not correct, correct. And so what Miss Mueller, Dr. Mueller has done is she's created some categories of different types of collectors. So folks that focusing on what like the novel, folks that are perhaps
Andrew Focus on the deal, right?
Everett Right. The value, kind of like the way we collect.
Andrew Mm-hmm. The history of it, the historical significance.
Unknown Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Everett And organizational collectors, collectors.
Andrew So, bottom line. Like I collect number one Phillips screwdrivers. Right. Only number one.
Everett At the end of the day, it's fascinating. It's fascinating. It's really interesting stuff because I think in some really real ways, probably most of the people listening to this show are going to relate to a lot of the things she's talking about in one way or the other. However, I did not feel in reading through some of the big broad stroke categories that she talks about. And there'll be a link to this little blurb in the show notes, which will be just enough for you to sort of figure out who she is, figure out what she's talking about. And you can decide if you want to sort of go deeper. But in identifying these categories, these people, I thought, you know, you're close. You're close. You didn't really, you didn't really get there for me.
Andrew Cause watch people are different.
Everett Cause watch people are different. So what we did, what we did and what we're going to do for you tonight is we're going to, we're going to redefine these categories. We're going to create some categories of watch collector.
Andrew Informed by the field's leading expert in the psychology of collecting.
Everett Perhaps indirectly informed by Shirley Mueller, MD, expert in Chinese porcelain and... We're going to get a CND after this, I'm sure. The neuropsychology of collecting. Yeah, we're almost certainly, we're basically honorary degree holders at this point.
Andrew Yeah. No, I mean a cease and desist.
Everett Yeah, we might get that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's possible. Find my address. It's either a CND or honorary degrees.
Andrew No middle ground. So do we want to just label them and then define them or do we want to go one through five, label, define?
Everett Yeah, you know, I think we start at the top and we just talk about it. I think there'll be some excitement for you at home in waiting, in waiting to hear what the next category is. I can dig that. So we've got five categories. We've got five categories and And after we're done, we're going to kind of place ourselves. But, but as you listen through, I want you at home in your car, wherever you are to place yourself. I want to know what you, what you, what type of collector, watch collector you consider yourself. You can message us. And when I say I want to know, I don't really, maybe I don't really want to know.
Andrew We want you to know. It's about personal exploration and self-discovery. Why don't you start us off? Category number one, so we have five categories that are, there's nuance in these, because some of these are gonna, they're gonna have overlap, but really important distinguishing factors. Category number one, the Pokemon trainer.
Everett Yes.
Andrew Gotta catch them all.
Everett Yeah, it's self-explanatory, right?
Andrew Right, this, and I think that this is almost the step one all watch collecting journeys, which is why it's category number one. Some people leave it and move on to other categories.
Everett Some remain. Yeah. Some, some remain. This is, this is the guy that as a kid had like 15 different colors of swatches. And now as an adult has seven colors, seven dial colors of SKX.
Andrew He has them all because more is always better.
Everett More is more.
Andrew more is more, almost to the point where he doesn't care what he's acquiring because he just wants it. He or she, let's be fair. Right. That where they don't care what they're acquiring because they just want it. I don't care if I have every color of SKX, this is a J model black. This is a non J model black. They're different sort of, and I want them.
Everett Yeah. And, and there's justifications too. Right? This person is very inclined to come up with a reason for why they need this thing that is very similar to other things they have.
Andrew Virtually identical. Yeah. Yeah. And there's, and there's, uh, I think in the, the J model, that's a good, but I think in the development of the Pokemon trainer, they become far more appreciative of the, the J model, which is why that came to mind immediately. Because though it's identical to the non J model, it's not because there's a J in the reference.
Everett Suffice to say, the mature Pokemon collector does not sell a lot of watches.
Andrew Even the immature Pokemon collector does not sell a lot of watches. Yeah. This is a person. who acquires, acquires, has a true library of watches.
Everett And that is the joy. That is the joy for the Pokemon collector, is the library. Look at my library of watches.
Andrew And they reasonably know that there's no reason to have that many.
Everett We've got some friends at the show who are the Pokemon collector, but their organizational skills leave something. I'm just going to say Joe, the drawers, drawers are maybe not the best solution.
Andrew Do, do your... That's preservation, man.
Everett Do your collection justice and put them in, you know, put them in a, uh, some sort of like cascading tower.
Andrew There are big box stores going out of business all the time. Get some of those spinning pylons that sit out front the Walmart jewelry section. That would be dope.
Everett Yes. Yes. That's right. Cat like what do they what do they call those? Display cases. Yeah. Get get the Casio display case.
Andrew Get the one you can get ones with doors on them. So you're going to mitigate any kind of exposure to the elements. You could even get the locking ones where they store like the $70 watch. I'm there for this.
Everett I'm there.
Andrew That would be I might I might get one like a small one, like one of the countertop display ones and just put it here in the studio. I'm there for it.
Everett That's fantastic. So This is our first stage. You'll see we're going to increase the nuance. We're gonna decompress the nuance as we go. I think that there are a few different categories of the Pokemon trainer. However, we're gonna leave it there.
Andrew There's an evolution within it, right? There's nuance and there's depth to all of these, but because we have a limited amount of time, as mandated by our producers, we can't go fully into each of these.
Everett category two category two this is the thoughtful curator these are the folks that these are the folks that are known to are known to sell watches are known to sell watches but that is not really their primary focus they are thoughtfully curating a collection of watches Oftentimes there's a theme. Oftentimes there are trends in their collection. The thoughtful curator may be into space watches, for instance. They may be into, uh, they may be into like vintage watches. I think a lot of vintage watch collectors fall into this category.
Andrew And I, and I think most sales are in support of an acquisition. They're not like, man, we'll get this one out the door. We'll get this one out the door. They're almost like regretful.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew Like I have to part with this in order to make this thing possible. That's that it's every purchase is really deliberate. That makes divestment a challenge in order to create that perfect, you know, whatever it is, three, five, 10 full library of, you know, take your pick for that, theme or for that idea. There's, there's, there's like a philosophy behind the, a clear philosophy collection.
Everett That's right. And this person oftentimes, you know, when I, when I think of this collector, I think of someone like Jason Heaton. I think Jason Heaton is a famous, thoughtful collector, right? There is a definite theme to his watch collection. Uh, and, and it's a lovely connection collection. But you can tell that he's been really deliberate about finding watches and getting rid of watches that maybe fill the same void. He is thoughtfully curating his collection.
Andrew I think even of Luke's G-Shock collection. Yeah, well, which is a little bit closer to Pokemon Trainer, but there's still a lot of diligence.
Everett Speaking of Instagram celebrity, Luke Albert, if you don't know who's got, I think probably one of the top Let's just say, let's just say conservatively one of the top 10 G-Shock collections in the world. Behind only Casio. You know, and he, frankly, it may be, it may be a smaller company than that, but you know, a really, really incredible collection. Yeah, no, I think that he sort of straddles that line.
Andrew But that's where we say the nuance.
Everett That's right. That's right. Now, category three, bit of a flip side to that coin.
Andrew Yes. Similar but very different.
Unknown Mm hmm.
Andrew Category three is our butterfly catcher.
Everett Well you could thank Andrew for that category name.
Andrew And here's my idea of the butterfly catcher. It's you've got to put a lot of effort into catching a butterfly whether by hand or by net because there Pretty spry. But there's always a lot of butterflies out there. And there's no reason in particular why just a person with a net catches that butterfly. Besides, that's the one I targeted. And the butterfly catcher is somebody who is deliberate in what they catch. Because you gotta put some effort into catching a butterfly. You can't just throw a net around. It's not as deliberate as the hunting and searching and researching of the curator. It's I see that one. I like that one. I want that one. Now I have to catch that one. And now it's mine.
Everett And I think between categories two and three, the curator and the butterfly catcher, you're gonna have similar sized collections, probably those two people with the same, you know, all other things being equal are going to have very similar sized collections, but the collections are going to be drastically different, drastically different with a curator.
Andrew You've got something that makes sense. You see it. It makes sense. And then with the butterfly catcher, you, you, you look at this, this, what am I looking at? This, this, what is this watch box? Yeah. This, this train wreck of a collection that, that is, is really unique, really personal. It shows kind of a trajectory of collecting. It shows a trajectory of taste and of desires, but it also shows none of that because no two watches are even remotely similar. None of them make sense with one another. And it's like, what, how are these two? Did you really buy both of these? Yeah. It looks like a yard sale table. Yeah, that's right. Or like, like the jewelry box at a Goodwill there. There's just no rhyme or reason. to the acquisitions and not that they liked them and they deserve to buy them because they wanted them.
Everett And not to distinguish between categories too much at this point, because we can do more of that later. But I think again, in comparing the, the butterfly catcher and the curator, you've got, you know, I have an image of these two. So the, the thoughtful curator either has a couple of like polished sort of burl wood watch boxes or, you know, maybe like a Pelican case if they're outdoorsy, right? But the, the, the case is like, like tight and put together. The butterfly catcher maybe has like a drawer with socks for padding or perhaps like a towel laid out on top of the dresser. Yeah. I mean, there's a difference in the way they collect, right? The, the, the butterfly catcher kind of frenetic and frantic, perhaps, the thoughtful curator a little bit more deliberate.
Andrew Yeah. Yeah. I'm thinking of the butterfly catcher as just this lusty, like, yes! Just like an animalistic attack on, I want it, I like it, gimme it, and I will work for it.
Everett Category four. I actually regret the fact that we didn't come up with a better name for this one as we're about to say it, with the name we have the name we have. And so we're going with that. This category also, uh, this category casually, perhaps temporarily referred to as, I think this is the one so firm.
Andrew I don't know. I think that's appropriate. Yeah. Well done.
Everett So, so category for our category for collector, this, this person typically has a pretty small collection. Mm. between two and five watches at any given time. And every time they get a collection and they're wearing it, they get the itch. They're like, you know, I've just, this isn't it. This isn't it. I thought this might be it, but it's not it. They put everything on Reddit. They sell it and they buy the new one and they get the new one and they say, I think this is the one. And that lasts for exactly 47.3 hours.
Andrew That's scientifically proven.
Everett At which point the entire collection goes back on Reddit. Yes. This person is not motivated, perhaps, to make money. They're constantly looking for the one. And every time they get a new watch, nearly every time, they've decided, I did it. I'm there. And that moment is so fleeting. You can see it from a hundred miles away. We know, we know several people, I would say.
Andrew We all know several of these people. That's right. Because they get it and you're happy for them. They're happy. Guys, I finally did it. I think this is the one. This is it. That's perfect. They're just submitting fully in love.
Everett They send you pictures. They post beautiful pictures on Instagram. Yes.
Andrew They gush over the watch. Yes. And then you're scrolling watch exchange like, hey, motherfucker. Yes. You're dumping it that quick? Yes.
Everett Yes. Yes. Yes. No. Yeah. I just, I didn't connect with it. Yeah. I didn't connect with it. This is the Tinder guy. That's right. And these folks oftentimes will have the same watch in their collection two or three times, almost always lose money and lose money in their transactions because they're in such a hurry that they take that low ball deal. Yeah. Because they just need to get to the next thing. They're confident that at some point that watch is going to come in, it's going to be the one.
Andrew Yeah. And then, you know, the fourth time it comes through the collection. And by that point, you've lost enough money to have paid for it once. It's still not it.
Everett You know, and I think we should say at this point, Andrew, I think neither one of us really relate to this type of collector. But there is something to be said for that type of collection. These people experience more watches than just about anybody else in the world. You know, they've had every brew. They've had, you know, you know, you, you, you name it, right. All the cool Seiko divers, several Omegas. I mean, this person has had, you know, perhaps, perhaps a Rolex or two over time.
Andrew A good amount of vintage watches.
Everett That's right. At a different price point, this, this person might be, you know, rolling through paddock or whatever, this person gets to experience so many fucking amazing watches. And there's something to be said for that.
Andrew Oh, absolutely. None of these categories are meant to be disparaging in any way. Correct. I think this is the one is maybe the maybe the one we're speaking the most. Oh, I'm looking for a word. It's not derogatory. Disparaging. Disparaging. Yeah, that's the word. But because it's the one we can relate the least to.
Everett I think actually I think our next category actually is for me is that one.
Andrew Yeah, it's fuck this guy. Yeah. The day trader. This is the reason you can't buy Smith's from the website. Category five. Yes. Category five. The day trader. He's the reason you can't buy Smith's at retail. He's the reason you can't buy the Moon Swatch at retail. And these are the folks who are collecting purely, in my mind, for the financial gain. These are the watch flippers, the guys who see something that's gonna be valuable because it's a limited inventory, it's a limited edition, it's a serialized take your pick. They see the opportunity, they want the watch, because everyone wants the watch.
Everett They probably very much love watches. They're doing this.
Andrew adamant appreciation for watches, but they recognize the value proposition in watch flipping. Most industries have a flipping industry. Yes, that's just the way it goes. And they're they exist because we let them exist. But these are the guys who buy a watch, maybe even before it's shipped to them, already have it listed on eBay.
Everett This person has spent more time on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist than anybody else you know. They have alerts that ping their phone multiple times a day for multiple search terms. They are always, always looking for a bargain. And because of that, they tend to have money.
Andrew And be more plugged in than most of us because the amount of attention it takes to make any reasonable amount of money in the watch flipping industry is enormous. Any flipping industry, you have to be constantly on your phone waiting for drops, designing or building out bots for purchases, have a pretty good pile of liquid capital to be able to make it worth it. And also understand what the market's doing. I mean, those guys who stockpiled SARBs right before they went out of inventory, made a killing. Yeah.
Everett Good for them, but also fuck them because yeah, this person, this person has had at this point several moon swatches. They were on that, they were on that. All they did was change the shipping label. They were on that Qtimex on the release. They wait for Hodinkee to drop a new limited edition. So they oftentimes make money. Occasionally they take a hit, but
Andrew Very occasional. They're also very discerning in what is going to be worth the investment. Yeah. Right. You know, these, these Houdinki collaborations, they're ready to go. Smith's when they come out, they're ready to go. They've got their bots set up. They're just, they're ready to go. They're on it. They have their finger on the pulse of the industry and they are capitalizing on the opportunity. So good for them. They just make it harder for the rest of us to get the things that we want.
Everett So there you have it. These are, those are the five categories that is mostly set in stone. Although we are taking, we are taking suggestions to rename the fourth category. We may not take any of your suggestions and it may stay still to review the five categories of watch collector, Pokemon trainers, two thoughtful curators, three, the butterfly catchers, four, I think this is the one, five, the day traders. And that's it.
Andrew That's it. That's the scientifically proven backed by, you know, meaningful data categories.
Everett So you may just, just a previous that you, you may find yourself thinking, well, I'm kind of more this, But also some of this, that's fine, right? You may have tendencies that fall into multiple categories, and that's okay. But you can, by way of utilizing our five-step program, identify what type of collector you are, and ultimately become a better human being, I think.
Andrew Certainly more informed.
Everett Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Andrew, can can we? Can we? I don't have that sound effect on the board. How? I don't know. I do have I have this. It's not exactly applicable. It's not even kind of. Oh, wait, wait. No, that's not really it. It's not quite it yet. Yeah, that's OK. Can we just can we stop for a minute and back away? and back away from our new, our new baby. And perhaps I think, I think the best way for us to sort of move forward with this conversation is for us to back up and review the states of our collections today. So perhaps we'll go through this quickly, because this is not the topic of today's episode, but I think it's a good place for us to transition here. Now, now that we've developed the five categories of watch collector. We've shared those with you, the world. Let's, let's back up. Tell me where your collection is at today.
Andrew Okay. So as of today, my collection is sitting at an Atlas, a C63, a commuter, a Nemo,
Everett Give it give us give us the full name. Some of this is yet.
Andrew Okay, maybe brand new to watch a Manta Atlas, a Christopher Ward c 63. Automatic, a Traska commuter, an EMG Nemo, a Timex Q Timex, a Seiko Alpinist, two crown, a Saab, a Seiko Saab. Oh, a Saab 035. A 035. A Seiko SSB031.
Everett The 40 and 20 chronograph.
Andrew The official Seiko has agreed to this. A Islander 38 Diver. One of the SKX reduced. The 0013s. A Relio Solstice. A Casio World Timer. It is a fun watch. I love that case a lot. But as I said in my review, the color just is a slight miss for me. A Seiko ReCraft, one of the squares. I don't remember the reference on it. The green, the green gilt. The green gilt square. I've had that on mesh and it looks really good. Yeah. A F91, a Commodoreski with a racing bezel. A Seiko SNK. Noria Bambino. Casio Calculator. A Citizen Avion. A DW 5600 with steel case and bracelet. Yeah. Which is dope. Yeah. A Timex Ironman, a 5600 now back on OEM because I broke a spring bar, had to take it off the Haviston. Oh boy. And then put a new spring bar in it on the OEM. Turns out actually if you use a size bigger, if you use an 18 millimeter spring bar, everything fits together better. So I think, I think I maybe fucked up the case.
Unknown Mm.
Andrew Um, but it fits and it works. And as it turns out, I also do still have an Orient Mako, which didn't make the picture when I took my state of the collection because it wasn't at my house and hasn't been for some time. Totally forgot that it was there. It was not there. This may be how I should put it. Okay. No red flags, no star clusters up that there was a missing watch, which is maybe an indicator of a problem. Okay.
Everett Okay. So, so that is how many watches right now?
Andrew I don't like when people ask me that.
Everett Yeah, that's, that's okay. Let me ask you another question.
Andrew Four, eight, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.
Everett Is that the entirety of your collection? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Andrew As far as I know, I mean, there can be, evidently I can be missing a watch and not know.
Everett So I, I've got 18 watches that I'm going to share with you. I will also represent to you at home. There are about 12 watches. in my collection that aren't going to make this list. And because they're just sort of random one-off, most of them are inexpensive. They're just watches I don't wear very often. And so I'm kind of, that's cheating. That's like the second collection. That's like the sub collection. So I'm going to get, I'm going to give these folks at home, my prime collection. These are the watches that are getting worn regularly day to day. So from the top, my 1996 titanium JDM Casio MRG. my white bezel gwm 5610 g-shock one of a kind my solaps purchased in person um at wind up nyc i've got my skx 007 on a bracelet of course i've got my casio amw 320 gold diver casio arnie I've got my Divex, my, my Divex sort of 500 tuna cased white label dive thing. That's weird. And I just love also with the, uh, EMG Nemo, I've got a Vostok Amphibio mod. My, my, my, uh, what, what, what did we decide that the name of that, the Dostok mod, I've got a Notice Sector Skin Diver. I've got a Seiko King Seiko, the new King Seiko for my collection that many of you have asked me about. I've got my Monte Triumph. I've got a Hamilton Kaki Mechanical. Seiko SNK. I have got my Pulsar G10. I've got my HKED 1963 chronograph. I've got my FAA 18 Swiss Army Valjoux 7750 chronograph. I've got a Speedmaster and not pictured my Hamilton khaki aviation automatic. So 19 watches, give or take. And so this experiment, so we're not going to talk about all these in detail, but, but this is meant to just sort of give you an idea of where we're at with the collection, what's going on with the collection. Um, and, and, and kind of give us a place to transition now. So, so you guys have heard about most of these watches. I mean, for me, there's a couple of new ones, the King Seiko, the khaki aviation pilot, um, this is meant to give you like kind of a cornerstone for the for the next section of our show, which is for us to summarize our lessons learned in collecting. Um, I think our, I think our lessons learned are pretty discreet. So without, without being too on the nose, what, Looking at your collection today, that state of the collection that you've just read to these kind folks, what kind of takeaways do you have? What are your lessons learned, Andrew?
Andrew I think it's, for me, as I look at this collection, it's kind of a telling of the trajectory of the industry, which is to say that I have been doing a lot of industry influence, uh, in that people are now making watches that I want in the future, right? You know, we, we start with the citizen avion, right? Which is, it was my first deliberate watch.
Everett That was your watch. That was your first watch.
Andrew Big, simple. It's got cool technology. And then I moved on to the Mako. Also a little big, but a diver. And this is in 2018.
Everett Thereabouts, yeah.
Andrew Like 17, 18 zone. When divers were the thing.
Everett It was the watch. Dive watches. And it probably, I mean, but let's be, let's be, let's be honest. It still is today.
Andrew It still is today, but what, But that's kind of when the flavor of the very like burgeoning kind of coming to in into into its own into adulthood, small brand industry. Everyone started with a dive watch.
Everett Microbrand was meant meant diver.
Andrew Yeah. And then micro brands realized people want more than just divers. and really started pushing out, right? Then, you know, I have the SSB, something cool in, in, in the way of a Mecca courts, also in the way of a, not a home, not, not, not an homage, but certainly a similarity, right? It's the poor man's speedy.
Everett Yeah. It was the, for us at the time we recorded the poor man's Speedmaster episode.
Andrew It is. And I think it remains. So if you're looking for a cool technology, reliable technology, attractive watch, and you're not going to drop 4,500 bucks on the low end, that's it, right? We're, we're looking at sub $200. Yeah. I think there are $121 on Amazon sale and they're just great. They're just great. Awesome. I love them. And then there's, kind of a butterfly catching in the way of what do I want, what do I like? And I have the SNK in the way of a small watch. I'm like, Ooh, this works. I like this. Let's try a Sarb. Let's try like a sport watch feel. And that's kind of like the Sarb was kind of a turning point for me where I was like, Ooh, this is what I want. I want a small sport watch. And everything after that, has been that. Everything in between has been kind of trying things out, dipping my toes in the water. Is this what I want? Is this what I want? It's all been refining the things that I like, the things that I want, trying new things, and realizing this is what I like in a watch. That sterile bezel. Yes, I want- Sporty. Sporty, small, simple. On a bracelet, yeah. Yep.
Unknown Yeah.
Everett And so and so are just one comment about your collection because you really haven't ever sold a watch.
Andrew No, I don't do that.
Everett You haven't sold. I will throw one away before I sell it. I can from your collection identify myself. I won't. But from your collection, I can identify a handful of watches, probably three to five watches that I think you could part with reasonably. I know that there's a number of reasons why you don't part with those watches. And I'm not, I'm not attempting, I'm not trying to say you should sell those, but I can identify a number of watches in your collection that you probably don't really wear enough to justify owning.
Andrew I think we could, we would identify the same eight. Yeah.
Everett Do you, do you, as you sit here today, um, have, have you learned anything, um, about yourself and the way you collect that, um, might cause you to make different choices in the past, or are you satisfied with your collection where it is, even with those five unidentified watches?
Andrew I am super satisfied with those purchases. And the reason I won't part with them, and why I'm so satisfied with those purchases, is because they represent to me the trajectory. Right? This is where I started. They tell the story. They tell the story. And, and, and with that, I think I, I think I would identify primarily as the curator.
Everett I think so. That's where I would probably put you. And although there's a, there, there's, it's a bit, I think it's a bit of a, of a, The no selling of watches, I think is a bit of a, what's the word I'm looking for? It doesn't quite fit in the thoughtful curator.
Andrew But I think that shows the journey to get there, right? I started as the Pokemon trainer, as we all do. And then a little bit butterfly catcher, right? Like, I'm just going to reach out. I want that. I'm going to grab that. That's mine. Like, okay, well now I have this. It's not quite what I expected. or what I wanted. Or it turns out it is what I wanted, but it's no longer what I want. And those steps all led me to what I think would become a curator, right? I know exactly what I want and there's not exactly a theme behind my... I think with your last sort of seven or eight watch purchases, I can identify a pretty... Yeah, there's a theme. There's certainly diversity. But it's led me that being that butterfly catcher and the Pokemon trainer helped me get to knowing exactly the things that I want. So there's no regrets, but my, my no regerts, no regerts. The lesson learned is it's okay to be the trainer and it's okay to be the butterfly catcher. There's nothing wrong in those things. And it's also okay to move away from that. Yeah.
Everett Yeah. So it's interesting. I, I think I think my lessons learned are pretty similar to yours. You know, I also haven't sold a lot of watches. I think we're both kind of on record as saying, you know, I really I spend so much time getting there that once I get it, you know, I know, I know before I purchase the watch that this is something that I'm really interested in having in my collection. There are very few sort of impulse buys. And frankly, the watches that I have bought that were impulsey are the ones that are most likely to be sold. I have sold more watches than you, um, by a lot because you're at zero and, and I'm not so infinitely more watches, but I've sold, you know, I think at this point, nine or 10 watches. Um, I think what I've learned is that a, I make better decisions when I take my time.
Andrew Uh, and, and, and furthermore, but you had some really good impulse pickups.
Unknown I have.
Everett I have. But furthermore, I have, uh, I know what I want. I know what I want. You know, I look back, some of my earliest watch purchases, that Casio AMW 320, I did not spend a lot of money on that watch. Um, and I knew what I was getting. I bought that watch. I, I wear that, that hundred, you know, 75 to a hundred dollar watch. I wear it maybe once every other week, uh, which, you know, you heard the list. Uh, I have a lot of watches and I have a lot of really great watches. I wear that $75 Casio all the time. And it's cool to me in a way that maybe some people won't relate to, but like this is the kindergarten cop watch. This is a watch that's been in 8 billion movies and TV shows. It's everywhere. I just, I love this watch. It's a, I mean, it's a comfortable watch. It's a good looking watch, but, but just aside from that, it is this like sort of bizarrely cool, neat and or significant watch. And so I think it fits in my collection. I will never sell that watch. Cause it doesn't make any sense to sell it. Cause it's, it's not worth anything, but I also, because I love it, you know, transitioning, I won't go through these one by one, but you know, my, my G shock, my white, GWM 5610. You know, that was a journey to get there. I had to buy multiple watches. I had to combine those watches. Love that watch, titanium G-Shock. I looked for years for that watch. I got it and I love it. And I love it. Speedmaster, obviously. I had to literally get hit by a car to buy that watch. You know, these watches I all spent time on.
Andrew Um, and the triumph is a watch that you have been seeking for four years.
Everett Yeah. Yeah. Since the very first time I tried one on the very first time I saw a picture of one, I was like, that's a dope watch. And now I own it and I wear it twice a week. Probably that, that is the watch I wear more than any other watch. Um, that's that's 77 50 F a 18 is a watch that nobody's ever seen. Nobody cares about. Nobody really even likes it. It's got that weird sort of Breitling-ish bezel, that brushed steel bezel. I love that.
Andrew They did Breitling better than Breitling.
Everett Yeah, that's right. My Pulsar G10, that's a watch that nobody likes. Even G10 people don't like that watch, right? But Prince Harry wears it, and fucking A, I can wear it if Prince Harry can wear it.
Andrew There's a lot of things that Prince Harry can do that you would like to do.
Everett My soul labs. Look, um, I'll just say it. I am a butterfly catcher. I'm a butterfly catcher. There's no doubt in my mind in our categories. I'm a butterfly catcher. These watches are weird. They have very little to do with one another. They span all sorts of, uh, decades, value level years, styles, sizes, two of my very favorite watches. at AMW 320 and my Pulsar G10 both get regular wear, they are 45 and 35 millimeters respectively. A full centimeter in between them in terms of size.
Andrew And when you wear it, a centimeter is a lot.
Everett And I can wear them almost interchangeably, same outfit, same activity. So if there is a theme for me, if there is a theme for me, I think it's a sportiness. There's a sportiness. I don't have very many dressy watches. But I don't think that's all that atypical in terms of watch collecting today. Did you sell your Saab? I did sell my Saab. I did. Probably about a year ago.
Andrew Really?
Everett Correct. Hmm. Correct. That's not true. It wasn't a year ago. It was in March. I sold it to... Might as well be a year. I sold it to Instablank. Oh, he owns it and he has promised to keep it and, and to give me a right of first refusal on it. So it's only kind of sold. It's sold.
Unknown He owns it.
Everett Okay. So we've, we've decided the category as a watch collector. We've updated our state of our collection for the purpose of placing ourself. I think we've agreed you are, more thoughtful curator.
Andrew I'm tending towards there, right? I'm transitioning from the butterfly catcher to a curator.
Everett I am firmly in butterfly catcher territory.
Andrew And I think you'll remain there.
Everett Oh yeah. No, there's no doubt about it. That is the collection I want. I want that eclectic obscure collection for sure.
Andrew So when we were building out these categories, we had four initially and I, put forth a fifth as the butterfly catcher with effort in mind who didn't appropriately fit in any of the other four categories because you are a careful curator of disaster.
Everett That's right.
Andrew Right. You, you find the things that you want, right? You you're maybe butterfly hunter would be a better term, right? You look for that diamond in the rough amongst all the other butterflies. Yeah. And you see it and there's not really any reason why you want that butterfly more than the dozen others that surround it. Yeah. But you'll want that one.
Everett Yeah. And, and, and to continue with your diamond in the rough, uh, oftentimes sort of Alia Babwa type watches, right? Watches that are not terribly expensive, but are, but look pretty cool and have, uh, You know, I can't remember any of the number of things he had in that parade, but all of them, you know, these some sometimes kind of wild. Oftentimes people describe the watches that I love the most as ugly.
Andrew But yeah, the G-Shock is a is a smush motion.
Everett Not going to be for everybody, let's just say. And that's OK with me. Right. I'm OK with that. Because because in part, these watches are interesting because of those things.
Andrew And if I can add one last thing that separates the butterfly catcher from the curator. The G10 was what? If you didn't have to pay for international shipping for it. I think it was 120 bucks, something like that. This sits in the same regular wear rotation. The Speedmaster Pro.
Unknown Correct.
Everett Yeah. I wear them probably almost exactly the same amount. So does the Silhouette. Yeah. Silhouette. Yeah. I wear, I wear that watch constantly.
Andrew Those three watches don't belong in the same box. The same photograph. Nevermind the same box.
Everett Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, that, that's right. That's right. No, no themes whatsoever to be had here.
Andrew And then you throw in the titanium.
Everett Gee, it's just like, what the fuck? Andrew, I'm confident we've done it. I'm confident that, uh, we've probably changed the conversation about watches, uh, irreparably. I'll say not to, to be a little bit, uh, uh, to, to, to be a little bit, uh, humble about it. We're disruptors. We're disrupting the industry. Um, w w w with that said, With that said, having done it once again, once again. Other things. Ooh. What do you got?
Andrew I have another thing. I knew you did. It's maybe a homage. Other thing.
Everett Sure. We're, we're, we're, we're, we're going to just, we're going to hang our principles up tonight.
Andrew Yeah. So my other thing. is silicone baking mats. And the brand that I'm using right now. Are we going to call it a brand? The thing that I'm using right now. It's from the Amazon.
Everett And to be clear, not from Brazil.
Andrew No, it's from Germany. Okay. But I bought it on Amazon. It's called M M Mat. Matt, silicone baking mats, best German silicone set of two.
Everett Can you tell me, can you just describe what this looks like to me?
Andrew $17.59. Now, here's here's the thing. They look exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Like Silpat silicone baking mats.
Everett Silpat being the most famous.
Andrew The silicone baking mat. That's right. But I, as a collector.
Everett As a thoughtful curator.
Andrew Take pride in getting a good deal. Yeah.
Everett Which is one, which is one of the collecting tendencies that Ms. Mueller, Dr. Mueller identifies, right? Folks that take pride in getting a value.
Andrew And I'm also, on first purchase, willing to risk getting something shitty before I finally buy the good thing. Buy once, cry once is my motto in a lot of ways. Buy nice not twice, not so much. I will buy twice. Because I want to test the things that are trying to do the thing that the pinnacle of the industry is doing, because I think there's a lot of examples of not the brand doing it as good as I need the brand to do it.
Everett You know, I think something I've noticed with both of us, the more disposable or contemporaneous a product is, the more likely we are to buy something less than the best. Yeah. The buy it for life ideal is only applicable to situations where the thing may actually last for life. Now, that's not true with all things, but with most things, if this is a disposable item, I'm less likely to spend more on something incrementally nicer.
Andrew I'm not buying Red Wing boots. So fuck up my boots. Yeah. I, I destroy them. If I buy Red Wings, if I buy Loa's, if I buy Danner, if I buy Columbia, I will exhaust the life in that boot in the same amount of time.
Everett I'm, I'm, I'm going to take on bridge, but I'll leave it at that.
Andrew Right. I'm gonna, I'm gonna put the miles on it. Now, some of those I can resold, but generally speaking, I'm going to do the same damage to them. So knowing that Silpat is the pinnacle in the industry, the original, arguably the best $34 on Amazon, $28 on Amazon. It doesn't matter. More. than M.M. Matt silicone baking sheets. Matt. Matt. German silicone.
Everett Which is probably not German. Probably not.
Andrew Yeah. It's German. It's best German silicone. So I got a two pack for $17.59. It's journeys. Perhaps. Yeah. And Immediately out of the box, one of the things that I've noticed when I look at silicone baking mats, like when I've seen them in store and put my hands on, I'm like, these are kind of like this. I understand silicone, I understand it's heat resistant, but this is like not gonna do it.
Everett This is what I'm looking for.
Andrew These are thick. That's how I like them. They're pliable, but also rigid. Oh yeah, you're talking my language. They're the same specs as Silpats.
Everett Did you get the half sheet size or quarter sheet?
Andrew I got half sheet size. Half sheet, perfect. Because I have half sheets. If you haven't bought half sheets at the recommendation of Everett many moons ago, I don't know exactly what you're doing.
Everett Get your half sheet aluminum baking pans.
Andrew But I have half sheet aluminum baking pans.
Everett Nordicwear if you're if you're pro.
Andrew I got them from the Amazon because when I went to cash and carry which which is now restaurant supply or chef supply. Sure. They were they had every other size but not half sheets. So whatever. I did find Thai basil. I had to buy five pounds. You would not believe the size of bag that five pounds of basil is. But I needed Thai basil and that's where I could find it. So these so far. Have held up in hot ovens. And I would think so at 1759, so that puts them at like. 8. 90 ish. Per sheet, they're going to last for a year. Total lifespan between the two of them last for a year. In a year, I go through more than $18 in aluminum foil and parchment paper for the purpose of baking. They are super easy to clean. Rinse them off. You just wipe them with a sponge and they're clean. They don't take up space in your trash. Roll them up. You throw them in with your pans. If you're not, if you haven't tried silicone baking sheets before, get yourself an, um, Pat, get yourself an aluminum or a silicone baking sheet. It doesn't have to be Pat. Try them. This has changed my oven game, because how often do your kids want taquitos for lunch?
Everett And you're like, fuck, I don't want to get a pan dirty.
Andrew I have to get a pan dirty, either I have to spray it or use, you know, 13 inches of aluminum foil to cover my pan. You throw that down, you throw in the oven, you pull the stuff off of it. And then later in the day, when you remember, oh, I need to rinse and clean that, you just take the whole unit pan and sheet, throw it in the sink, wipe it, throw it back in the oven like we all do. Cause that's where all of our pans live.
Everett No, I, I, I, I'm, I'm intrigued as a, as a longtime user of a soap hat. I appreciate a budget soap hat. Um, performance is good. It sounds like thus far. I think it's a great pick.
Andrew No weird odors, no weird staining. And I've, I've put a bunch of stuff on it. I did some like, heat testing. Not like I didn't push it past the threshold, but I put stuff on it just to heat it up for that could have just as easily on the microwave. Yeah. So good, good, good, good. Silicone baking mats. I'm using mmm-pats or mmm-mats.
Everett Yeah. I would say be careful about Silpats. If you're buying Silpats on Amazon, they're probably fake. There are some problems with fake Silpats. I don't know if you've had these problems yet with your mmm-pats, but the, Sometimes with the fake Silpats, even ones that are marked Silpat, they will burn. They'll burn and they'll discolor. So be a little careful. I think if you're going to buy Silpats, buy it from a known retailer. If you can, a brick and mortar locally. You know, I think they have these things at like Williams-Sonoma.
Andrew I'm not that fancy.
Everett If you're going to buy an M-PAT, buy an M-PAT and make it happen. Oh yeah, M-AT. But just know, just know, on Amazon or even eBay, there are a lot of fake Silpats and they're not gonna last. The real thing, I'll say the real thing, they will last forever. They're fantastic. Andrew, Andrew. Do me. I have another thing. Do it. My other thing is socks.
Andrew You should wear those when you wear shoes. Yes, correct. Yeah, yeah, correct. My biggest fight with my second grader is not wearing socks when he wears shoes.
Everett Yeah, and it ruins the shoes. Spend a lot of my time in dress clothes. If not, if not a suit.
Andrew Like dresses or?
Everett Yeah. Yeah. Well, not sometimes, but that's actually a different conversation.
Andrew Less time, but.
Everett Yeah. If not a suit, then slacks, right? Dress pants. And with dress pants, thou shalt wear dress socks. If you find yourself in dress pants, if you find yourself in khakis, or anything equally or more dressy than khakis, you should be wearing dress socks. Unless you're going sans socks, which is a thing, I don't object to it, but if you're wearing socks, they should be dress socks. Concur. Now, if you spend as much time in dress pants as I do, you will have realized that almost every single pair of dress socks that you can buy in the world Suck. Socks suck. Um, dress socks tend to... Socks things started. Yes. Dress socks tend to, you know, they don't, the material's thinner, which means the stretchiness is less substantial, which means they stretch. Um, most of the time they come to, you know, at highest the middle of your calf, more often just below your calf muscle. which means they hit that like, they hit that expanding area as it's expanding. And so they're pushed down towards your ankle. Uh, the more discerning among you will know of brands like Pantherella, um, you know, very nice socks, oftentimes Merino, sometimes fancier materials, uh, but they're fucking expensive, right? As you were talking about 65, $75 or more socks. And if you have a collection of pantherellas good on you, that's fucking rad. But I it's not the I'm just not going to spend $80 times the 20 pair of socks I need for my life.
Andrew So I discovered which are inherently destroyed through wear.
Everett Yes, but but also a good sock should last a very long time. I discovered a few years ago a brand called Bombas, and it recently became time for me to buy more socks. And so I got a new couple of sets of Bombas socks. And having been wearing Bombas for the last, I don't know, two or three years, I'm a convert, I'm a convert. These things are anywhere between $65 and $90, depending on what kind of sales they have going for four pair of socks. Now that's a lot, that's a lot. for four pair of socks, even $65 on the low end. We're talking about, you know, 16, $17 per pair of sock. Uh, that's a lot of money, but the, these things last.
Andrew You're also buying two pairs of socks, right? When you buy Bombas, they do a match.
Everett It's two socks.
Andrew No, no, no. I mean, they do like a donation. Doesn't Bombas do like a pair for pair?
Everett Oh, I'm not sure about that, actually, Andrew. I'm not confident about that, but it's possible. While you talk, I'll look. But these things last forever. They sell a bunch of different socks. But if you go to Bombas, there's all sorts of stuff. I'm talking today about the Bombas dress socks. They were made both in like a tri blend and also a merino wool version, which are obviously more expensive. The tribe lines are, right now, 63 and change for four. And if you're in dress clothes, I cannot recommend more Bombas. They go above the calf to just below the knee, which is... The thing you sent me was knee high, and Bombas does one for one.
Andrew When you buy a pair of socks, you're also buying another pair of socks, probably not a matching pair.
Everett They donate a pair.
Andrew They do one for one purchase against donation.
Everett Uh, so for me, they come up to just below my knee, which is perfect. They sit above the calf. Um, and yeah, it's such a mundane thing to talk about, but it's real. It's real. If you were in dress clothes, get yourself a set of four bombas. Just try them out. Fantastic. Fantastic socks. I've been wearing these for years. Just refresh my collection. So it's fresh on my mind. Love them. Decent colors. The materials are great. They last. forever. They last forever. These are the most durable socks I think I've ever had. Always comfortable. They're thin. They're perfect.
Andrew Do you like the knee high because it is more appropriate for the garter that you wear?
Everett Yes. Correct. Okay. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. It's kind of a sensual look.
Andrew It is. I mean, having seen you sans pants, wearing your shirt, just in sock garter.
Everett Yeah, no, I mean actually half versus like attached to the sock above it or below the knee socks It's a it's a better look when they're attached I realize you're being funny, but this that's actually a thing right sock garters were a thing because prior to the invention of stretchy rubberized fabrics Socks just fell down. They just fell down.
Andrew I had Shirt stirrups. I was in the army to get my shirt from untucking because I got a little wild on the dance floor and keep it in place.
Everett Yeah. Yeah. Uh, yeah, these are great. They're great. I highly recommend it. If you're in dress pants ever get yourself some Bombas that I think is probably my favorite value in socks.
Andrew Oh, Bombas does like all manner. They don't just do like socks. They do all the socks and undies.
Everett That's right. It's a, it's kind of a neat company.
Andrew Um, do one for one donation and it's all in support of, unhoused donations to provide socks and underwear, the number one requested item at all missions and other unhoused support.
Everett Also, I will say, if you do have a badass collection of Pantarellas, I'm curious about it because that's something that I've always sort of thought about getting into and just never had the stomach for it.
Andrew Send us a picture of your Pantarella socks. Maybe not on your feet. That'd be rad. Definitely not on your feet. If you send me feet pics, you will get blocked and we'll find a way to block downloads.
Everett Andrew, we've done it once again. We've redefined, uh, several aspects of watches and watch collecting probably, uh, probably forever. This is going to change the way people talk about watches.
Andrew Disruptors. Is there anything you want to add? I'm out of things, man.
Everett You know, I'm glad because. Me too. Not that I don't want to hear you talk. I'm just, I'm just kind of, I'm just kind of Satisfied with where we've come. Feeling good. Hey, you guys, thank you. Seriously, thank you for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20 Watch Clicker podcast. Why don't you check us out on Instagram at 40 and 20 at Watch Clicker. But really, you should go to our website, WatchClicker.com. Check out the reviews. You check out our YouTube video reviews from Will the Watch Clicker. He does. He does some fucking dope videos. You guys. Great, great reviews. Great article. Watch Clicker. dot com. If you want to support us at watch clicker, you can do that at patreon.com slash 40 and 20 because we need money for this stuff. You guys, it's not a lot of money and we don't get a lot of money, but we do need money for hosting hardware, software, et cetera. Those of you who are already patrons, we appreciate it so much. And otherwise don't forget to check us out next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things.
Unknown Bye bye.