Episode 216- 2022: The Time for Timex
Published on Wed, 14 Dec 2022 22:20:59 -0800
Synopsis
This episode of the 40 and 20 podcast covers the history and recent developments of the American watch brand Timex. The hosts Andrew and Everett discuss Timex's origins as an affordable brass watchmaker, their iconic releases like the Iron Man watch that kept the brand alive through tough times, and their recent pivot to more enthusiast-focused models like the Marlin reissue, Q Timex line, and collaborations with brands like Worn & Wound and Hodinkee. They analyze the hits like the Expedition North titanium field watch and misses, while speculating on Timex's potential to become an affordable darling brand for watch enthusiasts in the coming years.
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Transcript
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Andrew | Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 and 20 The Watch Clicker 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? |
Everett | Just amazing. Just kicking so much asses. And yeah, here I am. |
Andrew | So much asses. You got a good shape today. Your mustache is looking especially pronounced. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you got a good shave. |
Everett | Well, that's how I'm doing. That's that's the extent of it. |
Andrew | I am interested in a mustache ride, maybe on air, but certainly later. Andrew, how are you? I'm good. I'm a little worn out. We have a third birthday happening tomorrow. So things have just been kind of a little hectic. And this week is a trash week for Sam. So she's got like late meetings, early meetings, late meetings, early meetings, which means that Unlike usual of having like a pretty good routine, my routine is broken. |
Unknown | Sure. |
Andrew | Which is exhausting. Like if just one thing is out of place that it fucking call me done. I'm that's it. I don't, I don't do changes in, in, in routine. Well, so this has been a significant change in routine. The, our little is turning three in the morning or tomorrow it's birthday tomorrow. So there's been like, stacked on top of Christmas preparations, birthday preparations. It's been kind of just a big week, but it's going and I'm really good because everyone's been, but me, everyone but me has been really agreeable to all the goings on. It's really just been a me problem. |
Everett | So yeah, whatever. Just a me problem. Yeah. It's a you problem. It's it's everything's a me problem too in my life. Everything's a me problem. Um, but yeah, yeah, we, we, uh, we did hang, we did do Christmas decorations. You, uh, publicly, you publicly criticized me for my lack of Christmas decorations last week and would have continued to do so. To that I say, fuck right off. I got on the roof, asshole. Uh, house is decorated, looks very nice. |
Andrew | And you left my ladder on my front porch so that people could break into my house. |
Everett | Correct. I actually, Someone took it down, but I had extended it right to your bedroom window. And that's how I got in. Got it. Got it. Yeah. Um, yeah. You know what? I realized that I'm probably too old to hang Christmas lights on, uh, the tippy top of a second story gable. |
Andrew | The key is to like find a repeatable solution, right? Like they make those things that that slide under your gutters that that your they're like little L shaped brackets and your Christmas lights hook into them and they slide under your gutters and you push them up with a stick of sorts like just some kind of pole. But the problem is then you have to pull them down and that whole that whole apparatus down. I mean, the real solution is something that's repeatable. So I've always done a series of hooks. Just get up, throw my lights on the hooks, and that's just not it anymore. But I'm with you. I think I'm either going to pay to get the year-round LED strips installed this year or just in the future account for having to pay somebody to come and hang Christmas lights. |
Everett | Yeah, I think for me it would be the latter. There's something about the LED Christmas strips that don't feel quite the same to me. |
Andrew | They're not quite right, but if you accompany it with other accoutrement, it's tolerable. |
Everett | Yeah, I'm sort of anti-accoutrement. Uh, yeah, in the meantime, I hung my ass out on the roof and I felt fairly safe the entire time, but it's just like a level of discomfort that I was, um, it's just uncomfortable enough that I thought, you know, your roof isn't that pitched. |
Andrew | It's just quite tall. |
Everett | Yeah. Yeah. No, that's right. That's right. There wasn't, it was never a time when I think I was actually unsafe or in danger, but I mean, you're in danger the whole time, right? Anytime you're, you know, a roof, 25, 30 feet up in the air, you're, you're in danger. |
Andrew | So, uh, did you watch our neighbor put on his led strips when he did it? Nope. He, I don't know if he bought or rented the, uh, like a full harness get down and it mounts to the inside of the window. Cause he can access his roof from his window. Yeah. Tyler. |
Everett | Yeah. No, he bought that. He offered to let me use it. |
Andrew | Oh, so he got, he mounted it up in a, in his window and then he buckled in and was out on the roof full harnessed up. And I would expect nothing less from him. He's a dentist. Yeah. He's a smart guy. He, he knows that if he falls off the roof, he loses the house. Yeah. Uh, but I just, I don't have any good, uh, windows to access my roof from otherwise I would have done the same. |
Everett | Yeah. Um, but yeah, the house looks very nice. It does. It looks festive. Classy. I'm happy with it. I'm not super excited about three weeks taking them down, but hey, we deal with that when the time comes. Yeah. |
Andrew | Or don't. Your lights are pretty discreet when the lights are off. |
Unknown | Yeah. |
Everett | Well, we'll see. However, we're not talking about Christmas lights. This is not turned into a Christmas light podcast. It couldn't. We're sort of out of things, though. We'll whiteboard it. Yeah. We've sort of exhausted the topic. However, this is a podcast about watches, and today we're talking about watches. We're talking about watches. |
Unknown | Finally. |
Everett | And specifically, we're talking about a company, an American company. Sort of. That's gone by many names, but most recently has gone by the name Timex. Which, fun fact, Timex is What do they call it when you take two words and smash them together? An anagram. |
Andrew | Uh, conjunction. |
Everett | It's a mash up of the words time and I'm not joking. Kleenex. Kleenex. |
Andrew | Timex is... Time Kleenex. Wipe your nose of that bitch. |
Everett | Uh, which, gosh, man, uh, if we only knew what we know now. Timex, the Kleenex watch company, is an American company, and they've been around, man. Starting in the 1850s, a brass manufacturer out of Connecticut started working on timepieces, specifically, what do you call those things? Pocket watches. Pocket watches, yeah. Pocket watches, brass pocket watches. And basically, since the beginning of the American time, company later merged with Ingersoll. Since basically the beginning, Timex's shtick has been cheap watches, the most affordable watches on the face of the earth. And they're in fact, they had a $1 pocket watch that was said to have said to have been the watch that made the dollar famous or the buck famous. Like a watch. Literally a dollar, which a dollar in whatever this was, the 1930s. This is probably, yeah. Or 20s, you know, a dollar went a lot further than it does today. But we're talking about, you know. |
Andrew | Maybe at most five gallons of milk. |
Everett | Still the cheapest watch on the face of the earth. And so Timex has always done affordability. And that's always been their play. And that's a tough game to play. It's a tough game for a company that's competing with larger margin competitors to stay ahead. And amazingly Timex, I think is perhaps the cockroach of the watch industry. I think And I don't say that. It's a pejorative, right? And I don't, I don't mean it to disparage Timex because I think that it's a, in this context, it's a noble attribute, right? Yes. They just don't die. And they can't. They just don't die. |
Andrew | They can't, they won't. |
Everett | They survived the wars. All of them. They survived. And in this context, really, I mean. |
Andrew | They survived. The great wars. And survived. They thrived. through the courts crisis. |
Everett | They survived the courts crisis, which in and of itself is notable. |
Unknown | Yeah. |
Everett | But, but not, not for, not for nothing, right? I mean, they like basically everybody else in the world almost died, right? Casio and Seiko really almost shut everybody down, including Timex. And it took the Bill Clinton watch, the Iron Man, to bring Timex back from the brink of certain failure again. Again, it's Timex between between the Iron Man and Indiglo and the dollar pocket watch and their wartime efforts. Timex is always just managed. Just managed to survive. Never been never been the epicenter of haute horology. Never will be. Or even anything close. |
Andrew | No. |
Everett | Uh, they flirted with their, they flirted with their good design, but never really been on the bleeding edge. |
Andrew | They've, yeah, they've, they've never pushed the envelope. They've ridden the wave. |
Everett | And yet they're always there. |
Unknown | Always. |
Everett | When you and I got into Watch as Andrew, We sort of came through the F71 affordables forum and Timex was there, right? Timex was there. The, the expedition, the brass plated expeditions always been a player. |
Andrew | He's always been a dude at the party, right? He's just never been hosting it. He's never been the center of it. He's just always been at the party. |
Everett | We've talked about Iron Man, the Iron Man, a lot on this show. In fact, in, in, or earlier episodes. |
Andrew | One of my favorite watches. |
Everett | We often talked about that watch is kind of like the the the watch, right? |
Andrew | It remains so to me. |
Everett | If you want to watch and you want to be able to do everything you want to watch to climb to the top of Everest or swim to the bottom of the sea or whatever the fuck you're doing, go get a 200 meter Iron Man, right? |
Andrew | Yeah. It's going to outlive you. |
Everett | It's going to have all the functions, complications. I mean, really, in some ways, Timex is the distillation of actual tool watchmaking, if we dare say such a thing. They've had, and really when we were getting into it, you had two other Timex watches that were always in the mix. One of those being the Waterberry, which was kind of the new kid in town, right? This is their modern Like fancy shit. Like this is our fancy shit. Still 90 bucks. Right. And then they had the Weekender, which in some ways the Weekender was kind of like the affordable watch for the everyman. Like don't get a Daniel Wellington. Don't get an MVMT. Go buy yourself a Weekender. |
Andrew | Yeah. You're going to spend less and get better quality. |
Everett | Yeah, and I'm not sure the latter is true, although that does seem to be a popular sentiment. You know, really crappy plated brass cases, terrible movements, you know, terrible, noisy movements. Not terrible because they're not accurate, but terrible because they're a freaking pain in the ass to live with. |
Andrew | I've never looked it up, but there's a name for the time stamp clacker used on movie sets. Yeah, that is the sound that your date wheel makes in a transition on any Timex. |
Andrew | Snap. Oh, new day. |
Everett | And so in some ways, in some ways, and then there were I mean, obviously, Timex has eight billion skus at any given time, so that's not all there was. But those seem to be the players. And then you had other. |
Andrew | They were those were the players that were that were existed in the watch person conversation, right? Cause there's 10,000 SKUs. There's no getting around that. But those three watches existed in the, these are cool and there's a reason they're cool. And it's not just because we think they're cool. There's actual coolness here, right? You could, you could pick any one of Timex SKUs and look at it and be like, this has some cool things. Yeah. But those three watches are there are kind of the, Four watches really. Yeah. Four watches are really kind of what found all the things we look for in cool watches. |
Everett | But in some ways, but in some ways, and I think this is a fair point, Andrew, this was, this was the end of that era of Timex. Yeah. Because you know, you and I, I think in particular, I have lamented. So I owned an easy reader. So it was actually my law school watches. So watch I bought in law school and I wore it. It was the pewter dial. I don't know what they call it, but it was the easy reader with the pewter colored dial. And I really liked that watch. I really enjoyed it. It did all the things I wanted it to do. Um, and I showered with it. I mean, I wore that watch constantly for four or five years and it was good. No, no, I wasn't. But I did wear that watch for about four or five years, almost constantly. And so it was both good and also terrible, right? It was super noisy. Yep. It was plated brass, which I hate. And I've lamented this plated brass is is the bane of the watches existence. And Timex has this long history with plated brass watches from its very source as a company, it was a brass company. So Timex has a long relationship with brass. I find a brass watch, a plated brass watch to be completely not worth my time. |
Andrew | It creates a really cool opportunity for aging. It does. It creates a really cool opportunity for patina. And if the watch is built such that it is expected to patina, rather than be thrown in the landfill, it's a really cool thing. But Timex's watches are disposable watches. Yeah. That's right. Up to that point. And, and, you know, time will tell maybe even up to, up to now they were meant to be disposable. |
Everett | And I will say my Timex, my easy reader does not function today. It doesn't work. The date wheel stopped working and now the whole thing doesn't work. It's disposable. Throw it away, buy a new one. That's right. |
Andrew | $45. |
Everett | I think it was less than that when I bought it and probably less than that even now. So, um, all that to say, and I think this sort of catches us up to current. We've not given a full, we've not given a full history of Timex cause there's some very cool things. |
Andrew | Timex deserves a full history. We haven't done one, which is a little bit shocking. |
Everett | And we will, we will. We've previewed this now. We'll come back to this because there are some cool things. Uh, Mickey Mouse watch. Andrew's favorite. God. Fuck. Timex is a very neat company for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with. |
Andrew | Mickey Mouse or Snoopy or or orrology. |
Everett | That's right. That's right. So we'll come back to it. However, we are going to now flash forward to circa 2018 2019 when I think the modern iteration of Timex really started because I think Timex is now several years into a market pivot. |
Andrew | An essential market pivot. Yeah. Like a whole watch world market pivot. And we talked about this two years ago when we started seeing Seiko drop SKUs, when we started seeing the consolidation of things down to the Seiko 5 world, it created this vacuum. And we said, say, or we said Timex is gonna fill it. They haven't. They haven't. Our hot take was a little cool, but they're working toward it. Not as fast as we would have hoped. Cause I wanted to see Seiko drop or Timex drop two dozen Seiko replacing SKUs, but they've done a thing. And they made a huge pivot in that 2018-2019 timeline with the Marlin drop, with the Q Timex reissue. I think it really starts with the Marlin. The Marlin is, was their pivot point. They said, Hey, look, we have a thing here. We have this deep catalog. There is a market that exists for this affordable hand wound watch. And they tried it and it worked because unlike during the courts crisis the general consumer is okay with things right outside of the watch world you might hear my dog barking my wife just got home outside of the watch the watch world the general consumer is okay with like boutique-y things like Hipsters like oddities. And in the general consensus, having to wind a watch is a bit of an oddity. So a hand winding watch played to what the watch world wanted from Timex. And it kind of filled this interesting world that Timex was trying to dip its toes into, which was the cool bit, right? They weren't just experimenting anymore huge mass market. I want to make 10 million of these to sell 9 million of them. And then the rest will sit on shelves. Because that's what Timex was. Timex was a economy of force, right? It was all volume sales. It almost didn't matter the price point because they were making a killing on every single sale. And by a killing, I mean like two to three cents. But fast pennies are better than slow nickels. And that was Timex's business Fast, fast, fast fucking pennies. I don't need slow nickels. I want all the fast pennies. And they tried to capitalize on every single fast penny market. We've got Snoopy. We've got Mickey. We've got every single cartoon iteration you can imagine. Every single sports team. Everything. Timex has collaborated with everything. They have every single possible logo you can imagine. Every single colorway. Everything. They want the fast pennies. But with the introduction of the Marlin, they bumped their price point up. The Marlin came out at what, like 200 bucks? Maybe, that sounds right. Which was, I think, their most expensive watch. |
Everett | Buy it two or three times. At least their most expensive, like, analog watch, yeah. They may have had some more expensive fancy-schmancy Timex or Iron Man shit or whatever. |
Andrew | Perhaps. Yeah. But they dipped their toes into the slow dime market and they landed it, right? They reached back into their catalog with this really classically styled, very simple, very like vintage inspired watch in this moment of vintage mania where everyone had vintage shit where like, you know, rappers are making songs about thrift shopping. |
Unknown | Right. |
Andrew | And they landed it. |
Everett | Yeah, they did it right, too. I mean, the sizing was good. They hit on something earlier than a lot of these. These big brands tend to be a little tone deaf to trends, maybe some of that purposefully. And I think a lot of that just by way of not being tuned in. |
Andrew | No, they're just not nimble, right? They plan their production two, three years in advance. |
Everett | Yeah. And the Marlin felt to me tuned in. in a way that was surprising. And I think that that's what really caught people by surprise. Oh, this is a thoughtful and a trend appropriate watch from this brand that has not been plugged in for so long. And then they followed it up with the Q Timex, which I think fair to call that watch a smash success, right? |
Andrew | Smash. You couldn't buy it. Normal people couldn't buy it. Nevermind watch people. |
Everett | Did you buy yours over retail, Andrew? |
Andrew | No, I bought mine at retail from the Timex website. |
Everett | And you've got the Pepsi Q Timex. |
Andrew | And I bought it on a whim because I'd known it had been sold out and I must have gone on to the Timex website on a restock day. Cause I went to look at it just for whatever reason. I was like, Oh, this is in stock. Bye. And I got it because in the weeks leading up to it, this is a, $180 I think was retail-ish. These were going secondhand, like brand new in box and even worn with box and papers from Timex for 400 bucks. |
Everett | Yeah, 2X, 3X retail. |
Andrew | And that's unfathomable for a Timex general release. |
Everett | A quartz Timex watch. You know, and people were saying it at the time, like, don't buy this. These are going to be available. Don't buy these, these huge markups. But there was a thing that was happening. And I think it's indicative of Timex's, you know, this is the thing. So, so starting with the Marlin, but then really picking up steam with the Q Timex, this, this was Timex saying, okay, watch people. We see you, we see you and here you go. And, and then, and then, you know, I think Timex kind of slowed down from there. They continued to pump Qtimex out because there's only so many machines and there's only so many resources. |
Andrew | And they still have 10,000 SKUs they have to be producing. |
Everett | That's right. And so there's still... pumping out watches, but they really leaned into that Q-Time because they had the Eagle Eye or whatever. |
Andrew | And they've got seven iterations of the Q at this point, between a Chrono, the Q, the Golden Eye. And they're still coming out, right? Yeah. I mean, they, they've got the bezelless, the bezel and the, and a chronograph at this point. I don't know. |
Everett | I, do they have a GMT? Well, yes. Yeah. So, and we're going to talk about it today. Yeah. And so all of this, and then along the way, you know, they've got their Giorgio Gali collaborations. |
Andrew | And a Hodinkee collaboration. That shows how clued in this company has gotten. They collaborated with Hodinkee. |
Everett | And in the midst of this, they released a couple of stinkers, right? Like I think in particular, the one I think about is the American Documents watch, which was like American made and it wasn't a stinker. It's a fine watch, but it didn't hit. |
Andrew | They release a lot of stinkers. their entire UFC line stinkers. Sure. |
Everett | They're weird. American documents was different though because that's clearly a watch that they released targeted at an enthusiast. They have that didn't that you know the UFC watches these aren't targeted. But they've done a thing right. |
Andrew | They've they have made clear that they are going to produce watches for the watch enthusiast. And there's going to be stinkers in that. They have the ass they have the capital. to be experimental. They have a deep catalog from which to draw from. And they're going to throw things out there. Yep. Documents was pretty not great. Yeah. It was a valiant effort though. Cause that could have been really cool. It just wasn't. That that's right. Which is a risk that most brands can't afford to take. You know, we see it with new brands all the time where they take a little bit of a risk and then that brand doesn't ever get to production, right? I mean, but Timex has the ass to be able to take some risks, which makes them really interesting to follow. It also makes them really disappointing to follow because the risks that they take thus far have been stingers. Yeah. |
Unknown | Well, yeah. |
Everett | I mean, and look this, this, I think you hit on something there, right? It's, they're going to take risks and so not everything's going to hit the same way. |
Andrew | And I think their 26 millimeter line is dope. Right. I love it. |
Everett | So actually what we're doing now is I think 2022 has been sort of a, a big year for Timex. It's yeah. And they've hit on, they've hit on some, on some things that are that we, that we might've expected, right? More Q Timex. Shocking. Some funny collaborations. But also some things that we've already hinted at that were surprising, right? Really good collaborations. And so I think, Andrew, do you mind if we just kind of dive into this? |
Andrew | Random girl. |
Everett | And maybe talk about the Q Timex watches that came out in 2022, because there's a handful of them. So starting with your question, Do they have a GMT Q Timex? Well, Andrew, they do. Turns out they do. So earlier this year, I think in April or so, Timex announced their very first GMT variant of the flagship quartz-powered Q Timex. This is... That's the first link you sent me. This is a Q Timex, just like you know and expect. It looks the same. Add a GMT. Matt Black Dial, we've got sort of Pan Am Colorways, Ronda Movements, which very cool, Swiss Ronda Movements. |
Andrew | We've got... Which is a huge move by Timex and really interesting. |
Everett | Well, and the Q Timex use Seiko movements. Yes. So they are outsourcing their movements for these watches, which adds to the quality, I think, in both cases. |
Andrew | Yeah. It's the best choice. Don't use Timex movements for your watches until you can do something comparable to the market. And you can't, so don't. And these GMDs came in at 38 millimeters, right? |
Everett | That's amazing. Yeah, 38 by 12 and a half. So I think the standard, I think your Q Timex is 12 and a half. Uh, or excuse me, 11 and a half. Yes. These are 12 and a half. So a little bit thicker, which is fine. It ought to be tiny little lug to lugs. |
Andrew | Um, it's, it's to this day, one of my most comfortable watches. Yeah. That bracelet's fantastic. And it shouldn't be, it's a trash bracelet, but it's money. The lug to lug on it makes it fit perfectly. It has no business for $180. being as good as it is. |
Everett | Yeah. That's right. Yeah. 220, I think on a bracelet, 200 bucks on a strap for these, these GMTs. And you can get them for less than that, to your point. |
Andrew | Yeah. And, and, um, we would be handling one, but it's not allowed in studio because of how loud it is. |
Everett | It's around us. So I assume it's not that loud. |
Andrew | Well, the, the cue courts, is not allowed in this room when we record because we don't need a metronome. Yeah, it's very loud. |
Everett | So another QTimex release from this year. Excuse me. Are we talking the chrono? Yeah. In addition to a GMT, they're making the circuit, right? And now we've got a chronograph. Also 200 bucks. Cue Timex just like you know and love. This came out earlier this year. I don't know exactly when and it got a lot of play for like two weeks and then people started talking about it. I don't think that's because it's not a good watch. I think that it's just because it's a quartz chronograph which. |
Andrew | And it got overshadowed by all the other things that happened in 2022. You know Timex is not exciting to people. |
Everett | Well, because it's Timex, right? |
Andrew | Exactly. And it maybe shouldn't be exciting to people, right? But this is the Q Timex as a quartz chronograph, still the great acrylic crystal, all the things you want, but still Timex. And I think Timex is struggling a little bit with being able to legitimize itself to the to the watch enthusiasts at large. Sure. Though it's producing stuff that watch enthusiasts are saying, gimme, gimme, gimme. They're answering the call, but for some reason, watch enthusiasts are kind of like, oh, hum about it. I miss a $200 quartz chronograph. This is, you know. |
Everett | And so different than the regular Cutomics 40 millimeters. So going to be a little bit bigger, which you'd expect. The thing I like the most about this watch is the big Q at 12 o'clock. So this is this is Timex like flexing its design muscle, not a company that's widely known for design. And this is them flexing a little bit like this is this is a cool watch. And we know it's a cool watch. And we're going to show you by way of putting a fat Q with the 12 o'clock marker. |
Andrew | I love it, man. It's it's one of the best designed Timex there is. It's dope. And I want to see more of this from the Q line. And I, I mean, it has to exist only in the Q line, which means it exists only in the quartz world. But if they could create it, if they could make Q an entire line and start incorporating non-quartz into it, because I think that'd be a pretty easy pivot to make. The M79 I think was a bit of a bust, right? It's their mechanical version of things or their automatic version of things, but it's fucking bonkers thick. It's 14 and a half millimeters thick. Yeah. Why? |
Everett | Well, yeah, I don't know. |
Andrew | There's no reason for it. It only has 50 meters of water resistance. There's no excuse for a 14 and a half three hand automatic movement. with 50 meters. There's just no excuse. And if they could turn, if they could pivot this cue with that awesome cue at the 12, slim down their case, they've got a really cool line here that plays to hipsters, watch enthusiasts and normal watch people like, because it's attractive. It's got that very sixties and seventies vibe. without being photinated, without being ridiculous. I don't know. I, they have something really special here and I, and I'm, I'm excited to see what the future of it holds. And I'm a little scared that they're just going to fuck it up. |
Everett | Yeah. Right. Yeah. Well, yeah. Have no fear. No, I have fear. I have some. And we'd be remiss to talk about not to talk about, the most important Q Timex release of the year, which is Timex's collaboration with everybody's favorite watch publication, Hodinkee. Yeah, I don't know what we'd call this. This is sort of a monochromatic, all sort of metal colored 38 millimeter Q Timex with an homage to a pie pan dial from Timex's history. This is a pie pan dress watch is what this is, with a dive bezel, lovely silver sunburst dial. |
Andrew | They should have done this without the bezel. They should have done this like the golden eye with the pie pan. |
Everett | I'm fine with the bezel here. I like the font choices. Yeah, you know, this is another look. Yeah. Citizen movement in this. Which is nice, because it's a fantastic Japanese movement. Again, you know, starting with Seiko, now with Citizen Movements, they're putting the right stuff in this to make this feel like a watch that you could be confident buying. I don't have a lot to say about this, except that I think it's cool. |
Andrew | They did a cool thing this year. They did a couple Odenki collaborations. Right. So we'll move from from this on to their more recent. I'm going to call it a tonneau case. And are we talking about the Warnenwound collaboration? Oh, yeah. Not the other. The Warnenwound. |
Everett | The other Hodinkee Warnenwound. |
Andrew | Yeah. The Warnenwound. Sorry, I'm not. They've done collaborations, which shows that they're they're keyed in to the enthusiast world. So they did a Warnenwound collaboration. |
Everett | And this is just recently, and this thing has been like all over my Instagram. |
Andrew | Everyone's W.W. Seventy five. We're going to call a tonneau case and I'm going to call it a tonneau case. Nobody knows what a tonneau case is. Nobody agrees. Basically, if it's not round or square, it lands in the tonneau case territory. We had an in-depth. spirited argument about this very recently. The only thing that we could agree that wasn't a tonneau case was the Cartier crash. Not a tonneau. Not a tonneau. It's a drunk tonneau. Everything else wasn't round or square. Tonneau. Correct. This is a traditional tonneau case. I think when I say tonneau, you're going to, you're going to imagine this shaped case and it's great. And, and, and, you know, the watch side, cause the watch in and of itself is not particularly special. It's a lovely watch. It's a great release. I'm excited for it. It's 200 bucks. I think you could probably still get these. |
Everett | No, I think limited edition one out of 500 and they are, Nope, they're gone. |
Andrew | Sold out. Um, but what it showed me was that Timex was really getting into the weeds in the enthusiast world. What do you want? What do you like? And in a collaboration, they get to do all this market research. Hey, these are the things that watch people want. These are the things that watch people like, and we only have to produce 500 watches. |
Everett | Then they're going to get sold for us. |
Andrew | Exactly. But we get all this knowledge, all this information for future endeavors, for research and development on other lines, on other things that we've gotten works. |
Everett | You know, I think my favorite thing about this watch was that it was this watch that you expect, uh, to be a, a catalog reissue or, or something. And it's not like, this is a totally new watch that looks like it could have been released in 1972. That's the one. um but it wasn't it's it's a brand new watch two very cool colorways we talked about these when they came out yeah we did um the black and green was just is dope it's just cool man if this was a laurier drop or whatever you know it's if it wasn't a timex it would feel like oh my god look at this really cool thing i think timex in and of itself sort of asks for this comparison to other Timex watches. So like, Oh my God, this is a Timex and it's amazing. I think these are great. They're sold out obviously. And, uh, I love what they've done here. I, I have a ton of appreciation for the design decisions that I'm sure were made by or, or, or encouraged by guys at worn and wound guys and gals, I should say. |
Andrew | And I'm sorry for mistaking you for Houdinki. |
Everett | And I think this is just a killer watch. Not a ton to say about it besides that, except that. |
Andrew | But it's cool and it shows that it is the same innovation. As we saw in the Marlin first release. The first iteration of the Marlin where they're saying, look, we know that there's something here doing cool watch it has a market and it will sell. It's not going to be 10,000 parts? Units? Units. That's the word I'm looking for. We're not going to sell 10,000 units. But every unit we produce, we will sell. And there's something there. And I think Timex is seeing the value in that sure thing. Sale that exists in appeasing the watch enthusiasts. |
Everett | And can we talk about, can we talk about some watches that I don't think are targeted at the enthusiast? Yes, but rather more of a general line. And so there were two, so Timex every single year collaborates with 8 billion brands. I've counted it's 8 billion. |
Andrew | It's eight and a half. |
Everett | And so we're just going to talk about two of them because I think that they in some ways are the same, but also in some ways different. Uh, so, so two, collaborations, not publication collaborations, but branding cross branded watches. So the first one we're going to talk about the licensing on that must be so expensive. Yeah, well, I'm sure so. So the first one we're going to talk about the probably the more expensive licensing agreement is the Stranger Things. Yes. Collaboration. So Timex released three count them three Stranger Things collaborations. And unlike a lot of collaborations, They did this, they did these three watches with three different cases, three completely different lines. |
Andrew | So they released an- Which is unusual even for Timex. |
Everett | That's right, that's right. So they released a T80, which is their classic 80s sort of F91 brass, steel brass thing, which is making a little bit of a comeback right now. They also did an Atlantis, a 1980s resin case, sort of everyday sport watch, also digital. And they did an analog camper, a black cased camper watch, which also a resin case, sort of a wire lug looking thing. These are all watches that were worn in Stranger Things by characters. And they're all a little bit different, right? |
Andrew | They're all super different. They could be three totally independent lines, and it makes no sense. This is the weirdest, the strangest thing. It is the strangest thing that Timex could have done. It makes no sense, and they're all super fucking cool. |
Everett | They're all cool. I agree. So the T-80, they've opted for just Uh, I don't know what you call the, basically just a film on the non-business parts of the watch dial, which on the T80, there's a lot of also with the Atlantis, the non-business parts of the dial, they've, they've adopted this film kind of like, uh, uh, the hole to the upside down the start of the show. If you ask me though, Andrew is the camper. |
Andrew | Yes. |
Everett | The campers, the stars show. This is a black resin cased watch with a black dial with at first glance, absolutely nothing going on. It says at 12 o'clock timex, it says at six o'clock stranger things. |
Andrew | And then other than that, it is just a watch, but it's not super apparent that it says stranger things. It looks like it could be their Indiglo hundred meter thing. And then you look at the numerals like, oh, I don't know that makes sense. |
Everett | The numerals are upside down. They're in the right position, but they're in the upside down. |
Andrew | Oh, my gosh. |
Everett | But they're upside down. This watch is rad. These watches are rad. And it to me belies a level of detail that is surprising for time. In particular, the camper, the T-80 and the Atlantis, whatever. |
Andrew | Exactly. They make the T-80 and the camper. Honestly, they used not exactly the same. We'll call it, we're going to coin a term here. We're going to call it a dial cover. A dial cover that exists on digital watches. Okay. It is the space between the digital dial and the bezel that has usually a graphic applied. It's the dial cover. |
Everett | The dial cover. There's actually a term for this. I'm 100 percent certain. Nope. We've coined it. |
Andrew | Hot take right here. And both of them are cool, right? Both both the that. So the T-80 has the kids riding their bikes in the background as black silhouettes with a red moon. An homage to Spielberg. Yeah, exactly. And then the Atlantis has kind of the tentacly vines. |
Everett | It's the hole. Right. But it has to be upside down. |
Andrew | But with the hemorrhoids. That's right. It's prolapse. It's it is. And then you read the time in the gape. And the camper, though. Yeah. Yeah. Talk about it is just nothing. You're like, why is this? It just said stranger things. It just if it just it could also be 100 meters water resistance or for a time x. five meters water resistance, right? You just don't exactly know what you're looking at. |
Everett | Quote unquote water resist. Exactly. Exactly. |
Andrew | Uh, but then you look at it and you're like, Oh, these markers are all upside down. The only way they could have made this more appropriate to the design is switch the placement of the hour and minute hand. So that the minute hand actually read you the hour. So it was truly upside down. And that would be cool as fuck, which would be a pretty easy at home mod to do. |
Unknown | Yeah. |
Andrew | Cause you just have to adjust the placement of the hands. That being said, the fonts are really good. Like just everything about this show discipline in Timex design department. because this could have gotten weird and it could have gotten weird fast, but they were so careful to not overdo it. Restrained. |
Everett | Yeah. Restrained, I think is a good word for what they were. |
Andrew | Disciplined, restrained, take your pick. This is the cool one. And as a result, this is the one that's $120 on Amazon right now. The other are 60 bucks. |
Everett | And keeping with their eighties theme, because Timex is perhaps in some ways a brand of the 80s, much like Casio. I think that they fill that spot very well, two sides of that coin. Another set of T80 releases coming on the heels of their immensely successful Pac-Man watches, also released in the T80. Last year, Timex released a Space Invaders watch, which three different T80s, a silver, a gilt, and a PVD. It's not gilt, it's gold. of 18 karat gold Timex T-80 plated, plated. And the dial cover, the dial cover on these. Thank you. Has a Space Invaders theme. And this is not special, but it's very cool. And these chime the Space Invaders theme music. |
Andrew | And it's also kind of a discreet Space Invader cover. Yeah, the dial cover is discreet as hell. It is apparent when you when you really look at it. but you're not wearing a Space Invaders watch. And I think that's something that Timex has done really well, is unlike a lot of other collaborative branded releases, and we're gonna move away from Star Wars because Snoopy and Mickey and all that other stuff, when Timex decides to be discreet in their release, they really are. This could be any T-80, but it's also Space Invaders. |
Everett | Under a hundred bucks. Just fucking buy one. I'd like to talk about a watch that Timex released this year that I think is a bit of a mess. They're 90 bucks. I don't think this is an American documents mess, but it doesn't, it, it didn't do anything for me. Okay. Um, we've talked, I think we talked at the end of last year about all of the ocean plastic watches. |
Andrew | Timex this year released... That was the thing. Everyone wanted ocean plastic. Collect your water bottles so I can make a watch out of it and save the trash island. |
Everett | This summer, Timex releases a Waterberry ocean plastic quartz watch. These are, I think, 90 bucks. Hundred bucks. |
Andrew | So under a hundred. Let's find it. Made of ocean. Ninety nine. So it's not really under a hundred bucks. Ninety nine dollars. |
Everett | A hundred bucks. It's a three hander. |
Andrew | OK, fine. Why is this in the Waterbury line? Why isn't this in the planet or not the planet ocean? The. Oh, fuck. What do they call their diver line? I don't think Timex has a proper dive. They have a weird dive line. That's not exactly a dive line. |
Everett | I don't know. Oh, look. So they made this with the Swiss company Hashtag Tide. And so these are properly made with a good company. They've got fun details, 37 and 42 millimeters. I think these have the harbor sides. Oh, yeah. |
Andrew | The harbor sides with a Mercedes hands and a Cyclops. That's what they should have made it with. I mean, come on. |
Everett | I think these have Seiko movements. |
Andrew | They made a handful of them or the Navi XL. They just they had better lines to introduce us into and they had better colorways. They didn't have to do a faux adventurine dial like they they they they did. |
Everett | It's a it's a it's a it's an ocean plastic dial. |
Andrew | The bracelet doesn't have the same adventurine look as the dial, which means they didn't have to do it right. They they leaned too hard into it. They time next to the shit. |
Unknown | Yeah. And. |
Everett | These, uh, oh, no, these are time X movements. |
Andrew | So fluted bezel, come on, they just they did. |
Everett | Oh, yeah, they really want to. Oh, OK, so we. So that's a flop. |
Andrew | But they did all the things they they took the risk because they could afford to take the risk. And it was a miss. |
Everett | I think it's time now to talk about what's undoubtedly not a flop. What is 100% the coolest Timex of the year and perhaps the coolest Timex ever. And I'm going to give that coolest a capital C. Is it the Expedition North? Yeah. Timex. What the fuck? Titanium. Titanium hundred meter legit field watch a hundred expedition line. Interesting choice. Yeah, I mean, but whatever you change that. Forty one millimeters. |
Andrew | Yo. But here's the thing. It's it is also. |
Everett | Twelve and a half. Twelve and a half thick. Yeah. No. Two hundred meters of water resistance. I'm sorry. |
Andrew | You said two hundred, didn't you? |
Everett | I think I said a hundred. |
Andrew | I thought I said I thought I heard you say two. Fantastic titanium class, but they finally mean they they finally made the Timex. We all wanted the Timex that we were expecting when we bought the weekender, when we bought the easy reader. They finally made it. |
Everett | They made the expedition that I've always wanted. That's what this is. Timex Expedition always looks good, always feels good, but a shitty watch. This thing is. Dope. Automatic movement. |
Andrew | I could go with the non-textured dial, right? I mean, just imagine. Nah. I could go with the non-textured dial. Sure. If it didn't have a textured dial, I would have bought one. Because it is a pinnacle field watch. Yeah. It's super simple. I'm not a huge fan of the logo at the 12 o'clock, but I totally get it. |
Everett | I love the logo. |
Andrew | I love the logo at 12 o'clock. It's the Expedition North logo. I want less on a dial, right? I like I've been on record and I will go on record again today. I would be totally accepting of a white dial, black markers, single hand movement. I'm totally good with that. This is a watch that works for me, even with this texture dial. It's so simple. It's all the things we'd hoped for in a field watch minus the size. It's a big 41 millimeters. |
Everett | It's got a Miyota 8000 movement, but I'm tolerant of the new one with hacking and handwriting. Um, dude, this is it. |
Andrew | This dude, if 300, did we say, do we have 300 bucks, 350 bucks? |
Everett | So, so this is like the entry level. |
Andrew | Fuck it all. Watch. |
Everett | Yeah, this is it. I haven't touched one. And I've read plenty of reviews of people speaking positively about this. I mean, I imagine for 350 bucks, there's some there. There are some corners that have been cut, but who cares, man? |
Andrew | Because you won't wearing this watch. You're going to be able to do anything you want wearing this watch as all you have to put a different strap on it. You probably ought to. I imagine the leather. |
Everett | Yeah, I think it's not leather. It is. They it's they it's one of their Eco friendly. It's dry tan or something. Yeah. |
Andrew | Put something else on it. And this is maybe a one watch for somebody who was like, oh, it's been a little bit of money, but a lot of money. Wants to look pretty OK, but I also want to like be able to swing a hammer in it, potentially hit it with a hammer. This is it. Yeah, this is this is the coolest released that Timex has had since the Q Timex. Because it shows that they're listening. We want the cool shit. And they did it for no other reason than the cool shit. |
Everett | And we haven't really talked about that. We haven't really talked about how good this thing looks either. It looks good. Yeah, it looks good. It is inch crown guards, super curvy case. Looks fantastic. |
Andrew | But, but like that, that long curvy case, right? |
Unknown | Like, like big old hips, long legs. |
Andrew | With a matte dial, that thing is going to, it's going to like cause me some issues. |
Everett | You know, the only thing I don't know about this is what's the crystal made of? Is it a sapphire? |
Andrew | They don't have our crystal. Yeah, no, it's a sapphire crystal, right? That's which is what it ought to be on a watch like this. |
Unknown | Yeah. |
Everett | Yeah, dude. |
Andrew | No dome on on it. It's just a flat sapphire. It's a touch thicker than I would like it to be. Sure. They could make it thinner. And I think that's maybe. What they do. In the next years, let's figure out how to make their shit thinner, but she's thick. And I'm down with it. A loomed crown? Like why would they do a loomed crown? |
Unknown | Why not? |
Andrew | Because it's awesome. Because it's a cool flex that exists for no reason. |
Everett | Now these things are sold out now. But there is a waiting list. And so I'm sure they're going to make more of these. Yeah, very cool watch. Can we talk about one thing real quick, Andrew? Because this I think has gotten some buzz. They actually are going to be released on the 16th, December 16th. Uh, because it's, I think it shows that Timex is experimenting and playing. They hooked up with the Board Ape Yacht Club, which has an NFT collection. |
Andrew | That's their thing is they're the, they're the NFT collectors. |
Everett | I don't know anything about the Board Ape Yacht Club. |
Andrew | The Board Ape Yacht Club. Sure. Buys NFTs with their dividends. They do hosted yacht cruises. They rent luxury yachts for all their investors with their dividends, I guess, an investing group. God bless. For vacations. Like it's it's a group, right? It's a it's a it's a group of people who all get together. on these private yachts they rent with their dividends or sales. I'm not exactly sure how NFTs work. Nope. Because they don't make any sense to me, but they use their earnings to go on these luxury retreats on enormous luxury yachts. Cool. Which is why they're the Board Ape Yacht Club. |
Everett | Well, so Timex hooked up with these people. to release 500, I think customizable or customized watches, which are all associated to an NFT for whatever it's worth. |
Andrew | And... It's worth more now, even that we're talking about it. |
Everett | And these things are fine. I mean, they're whatever. I don't know anything about the watch. What I do know is that these cost $2,580. I assume a very large percentage of that, probably to the tune of about $2,300 is for the exclusivity and or the NFT. I'm not sure where the line is. That's $1.29 million that's going to go toward, you know, we'll say 30% of it to the watch. |
Andrew | So, um, that's $1 million toward their next luxury yacht vacation. |
Everett | And you can pay for it. I'm all about. I'm all about intangible, intangible value. And so to the extent these have intangible value, maybe it's a good investment. Maybe it's not. I don't know. I don't care. And I won't. I won't. I won't comment on that aspect of this, but I want them to go on their luxury retreat. What I think is noteworthy is that it's. Again, demonstrative of Timex. Goofing around, they're playing around, they're experimenting, |
Andrew | They're trying with the not 10 million skew fast penny market. I think it's fucking cool. |
Everett | And I'm not educated enough to know if this is a good watch or a bad watch. I mean, the watch in and of itself is whatever, but whether this is a good purchase or not, I don't know. And I don't think it matters. It just is a sign that Timex is sort of reading the tea leaves, playing games, doing their thing. |
Andrew | So here's the question. Has Timex been the void filler that we expected and hoped they would be? |
Everett | Well, I'm going to I'm going to caveat the answer because I don't think that the void that you had suggested at the time you speculated on this, I think we disagreed about. |
Andrew | There's a vacuum. |
Everett | Whether the void actually existed. And I think we probably still would disagree, at least in some nuanced ways. And the simple answer is no, nobody's filling this void. From what I can tell, nobody's filling the void, the so-called void. Timex is not, Orient certainly is not. |
Andrew | Dude, they dropped their shit this year. |
Everett | Fuck. Another company that we've talked about filling that space. But I don't think it matters. I'm more impressed by Timex than I have been at any time ever. I think in particular, the Expedition North, but also other things that, you know, in that Warner One collab, those two watches, I think, are really impressive and really fun and exciting for someone that has appreciated Timex for the brand, but found Timex wanting in terms of the actual products it puts out. My Timex Easy Reader purchase in law school was not made, it was a practical decision, right? It's a $35 watch. It's almost a flyer. And it's cool. Timex is a cool brand and this looks good. And that was it. But it was a shitty watch. That's a fucking shitty watch. The value for the dollars I spent was fine. It wasn't a bad purchase because I spent 30 bucks on it or whatever. That's fine, right? |
Andrew | two afternoons at McDonald's. |
Everett | That's right. That's, that's like a beer and a burger at a brew pub. So that's fine. But it was still a objectively shitty watch. Timex is for the first time, you know, in a very long time making watches that don't suck. |
Andrew | And they stand to be in the next five years, the darlings of the affordable big brands. Yeah, they stand to if they continue this trajectory. If they continue these cool releases, they stand to replace Seiko in the affordable darling category, right? They're never going to replace Seiko. Because Seiko will always have the coolest. Highest tech shit, the coolest. Yeah, but they are in a position and are positioning themselves to be the, Hey man, I'm thinking about, you know, kind of dipping my toes in the watch world. What's a cool first watch. It's not the SKX anymore. And I think they, I think, I think Seiko is in a position to surpass the SNK to surpass the Mako, the SKX is gone. I think they can beat the 5 Series. They're in a cool position to jockey for that watch enthusiast first watch recommendation, which is critical to the watch enthusiast corner of the market. |
Everett | Keep making cool shit, Timex. |
Andrew | And you're well underway. Stop putting Snoopy on everything though. |
Everett | Andrew. Other things. |
Andrew | What do you got? I sent you another thing. I have to look it up. I don't remember what it is. I do have another thing. I have been using this one for just a year. It's a piece of winter clothing. So a year and a little bit of change. So I'm a person who lives in darkness for the most part. So I have to wear a cold weather clothing quite often. Um, I'm also one who's like down to try things just to see if they're shitty. If it doesn't work and it was cheap, just, okay, well that, that didn't work. There's a brand on the Amazon called T S L.A. Tesla. Not the cars. They have an E. They make thermal long sleeve shirts. And I have dug it. So I got one for last winter just as like a let's see if it works. And I never replaced it, which means it worked. They are. Twenty six to twenty seven bucks on Amazon, which when you compare it to like other Under Armour style cold gear. Is pretty inexpensive when you're comparing name brands, right? There's a bazillion cheap brands out there, right? I can't say this is any better than any of the other cheap brands out there. but this one is money. It isn't piling after weekly washings for an entire winter. And then, you know, whatever, however much of this winter there is, it doesn't like get like sticky or any of the other weird things that happen with cold weather gear. The only thing, the only negative I will say about it is it holds odor. |
Everett | Yeah, that's that's sort of the bane of this. |
Andrew | It really holds odor. Right. When I wash this thing, I wash it with two Tide pods. I throw three dryer sheets in it. And when it comes out of the dryer, I hit it with the Febreze odor eliminator because that thing stinks. I've heard you can eat those Tide pods. I've heard you're supposed to eat them and post on the YouTube The one that's Hyde Park container now, it says not to. War rewards, but for 20 bucks, these TSLA. Thermal long sleeve compression shirts. Really hold their weight against any of the other expensive. Brands that I've ever worn, I've paid for the expensive brands and I've worn the expensive brands, I've liked the expensive brands Not any more than I'd like these, except for the stink. These hold stink in a really different way than any of the other expensive brands that I've paid for, which might be a deal breaker, right? I mean, maybe if you're a stinky person inherently, this is maybe, you know, maybe pay the extra money, but for, for 27 bucks, if you're just like a medium stink person, these might be worth it. But I, so I, I only have one and maybe that's the problem is that I wear one and wash it a lot, maybe separating its wears, maybe just like wear it once and wash it. I typically wear mine twice before I wash it. Maybe that's the problem, but it's just, it doesn't smell good even out of the dryer. It just like, it holds it and you put it on and it's just like, God, it's back. Barring that oddity, this has been a really good cold weather base layer for me. And as a person who is exists in a lot of cold weather, I'd recommend this even with the odor. Cause with layers over top, you really don't notice the odor. That's a weird recommendation, but um, yeah, this is for, for 26 bucks. When you, when you look at, you know, comparable, um, name brands for these base thermal layers, This is a killer price and it has is I often. Pulled the sleeves, which is a full length sleeve, I usually pull it up to my elbow. Just to get some ventilation, because it keeps me hot, like I sweat. Even outside in it, it's a it's a warm base layer, so if you're looking for a base layer, a warm base of like maybe two warm But if you're looking for a really warm base layer and you don't want to spend a lot of money, this is a good option for you. So these TSLA thermal base layers, it's been working for me and I like it. They stink. This is a weird recommendation of another thing. They get the funk, but they're like, it hasn't piled. It hasn't gotten weird stretched out. It hasn't like, like, you know, the way under armors just like, it first where you're immediately getting the weird, uh, like, like snags and, and strings pulling out is it doesn't have that. And I don't wear this kindly. This isn't like a delicate I'm cold today where it's getting hardware and use and it's, it's doing its thing. Just stinks a little bit. So if you're OK with stinking, but you want to be warm, this is money. |
Everett | Thanks, Elon. Yeah. Thanks, Elon. Link in the show notes. |
Andrew | Yeah, the link will be in the show notes. I will also tell you that I am not as jacked as the guy in the picture. |
Everett | Yeah, no, you are. I've seen you with this thing on. You look great. |
Andrew | They come in a onesie. That's the one he's describing. |
Everett | Andrew, I've got another thing. Do they talk about it? My under thing, my under thing, my under thing, my other thing doesn't stink. |
Andrew | Mine does. Mine actively stinks. I haven't, it has to go in the laundry tonight before I go to bed. |
Everett | I, um, I was recently invited to go skiing and instead of, uh, an invitation to go skiing, it was an invitation to go on three separate ski trips, including a three day, uh, in Park City. So I am, I am skiing this winter and, um, And so with that, I realized... Did you get a modeling deal? I did. Which just happened. I did. With that, I realized I needed to refresh my ski equipment, which was non-existent. And so I've done the thing that nobody ever wants to have to do, which is to go buy skis, boots, bindings. Did you go to Berg's? I did. I did. We've got a local company here called Berg's. It's great. But it's like all new shit, right? They don't have like deals or used shit, right? You buy new shit. |
Andrew | They have consignment, don't they? |
Everett | No. And so I went to Berg's and I bought boots. I bought bindings and I bought skis. I'm going to talk about one of those things because bindings are whatever, right? Just buy whatever binding they recommend. I disagree, but continue. Boots are, don't decide what boot you want. Go get fitted for boots and get the ones that feel the best, right? Don't look for a boot. Just get the boots that they put on your foot that feels right. Skis, on the other hand, you've got some choices. And I didn't really know what to buy. The last time I looked at commercially available skis was probably realistically 10 years ago. And skis have, oh my God, changed so much. Yes. This is incredible for such an old sport that in the last 10 years, 15 years, ski design has come so far. My mind was blown. I had no clue what to do. |
Andrew | Did you get park skis? Yeah, you did. |
Everett | I did not. |
Andrew | You're way too old to be getting park skis and you did it anyway. |
Everett | I did not. I did not. I got an all-mountain ski, which is the right decision unless you know exactly what you're going to be doing. I got an all-mountain ski. I got a ski from a company called Focal. which is a German company. They've been around for a hundred years. They make some of the best skis on earth. I've skied Focal before, but I got a pair of the Focal Kendo 88. And these are a new ski as of this year. And they are fast and they are amazing. I was a little turned off by the ski when the guy recommended them because they're like a fast ski and they're for kind of an aggressive skier and they really want to go fast. But I was totally blown. |
Andrew | Those look like fucking park skis. |
Everett | They do, right? The design is so much different. So these are they're not a powder ski, but they've got a big wide sort of round floaty tip. And the guy kind of talked me into him. Like I sort of described how I'd ski. And, um, he's, you know, I, I was originally looking at a little bit stiffer ski, the sort of flagship focal, the mantra. Focal. M6. Focal. I think it's an F sound in German. |
Andrew | It's V-O-E-L-K-L. And I don't know how you speak German. Cause I don't speak German. But it's not focal, not by a long shot. |
Everett | So I was looking at a, I was looking at a different ski. The guy talked to me into these. I thought these are going to be too fast for me. I got them on the mountain. I am blown away by, so it didn't matter if I was going fast. It didn't matter if I was going slow. It didn't matter if I was on hard groomer. I even got into a little bit of ice. I skied a lot of powder. I skied a lot of... He's only got a 4 out of 10 on powder performance. I skied a lot of off-piste. Dude, I don't know if these skis are crazy or if just skis have come so far, but I have never put a pair of skis on and felt so confident at every single thing I did. So here's my other thing, man... This is the last time you skied. It's been a while, five years, maybe three years, five years at the very least. |
Andrew | And you rented skis, I assume, at the last junction. |
Everett | I did rent skis the last couple of times I went. I went to Park City and I rented skis for two days. I'm blown away. I am blown away by how much better skis are. I put these things on. I took about, I don't know, 45 seconds to kind of get reacclimated. And then it was just like, yep, everything I wanted to do, I could do. I mean, I'm not a good skier either, but you know, I'm not a bad skier, but I'm not like that. I'm not that guy. I was totally blown away. I think if you haven't skied in a while, go check out skis. These are kind of an advanced to, you know, advanced to expert ski. And I was astonished by how well they worked. They worked well slow. They worked well fast. They worked well when I was getting a lot of pressure on my outski. They worked well when I was kind of like off balance and not quite, you know, pushing. |
Andrew | They hold their edge too throughout the day. |
Everett | Oh yeah. Yeah. There was zero problems. I was blown away. If you're someone who hasn't skied in a few years and you want to get back out there, but you're nervous. Oh my God. The equipment is so much. better than it was even even 10 years ago. I mean, it's absolutely astonishing. I had the most fun day of skiing I've ever had in my life, having not skied in years. |
Andrew | And this wasn't like ideal skiing conditions, right? This was this was an opening day. |
Everett | The conditions were really good. |
Andrew | The conditions are good, right? There's a lot of powder. You've got a decent pack, but you don't have like the pack of the year. You don't have like nine feet a pack, some good powder on top of it. This is opening day, right? |
Everett | Opening day is... Yeah, this winter's crazy though. The conditions were fantastic. Shocking. |
Unknown | Yeah. |
Andrew | You've skied Bachelor, right? Yeah. Yeah. I've never skied a bad day in Bachelor. |
Everett | Yeah. We've got, you know, we're on the West Coast, obviously, so we get, you know, you East Coast folks, I'm sorry, but... You got shit for skiing. |
Andrew | You just don't know it. |
Everett | But you know what? This ski would be fantastic for an East Coast groomer park. Totally blown away. That's my other thing. It's not necessarily the Kendo 88, but that's what Andrew is going to link to. It's just new equipment. If you haven't skied for a while or you haven't looked at new equipment for a while. Holy cow, man. I'm 40. I'm 40. I'm kind of overweight at this point. |
Andrew | And those look like park skis. When I looked at them, they look what I, and I haven't looked at that snow sport equipment in a decade. |
Everett | They're an 88. They're an 88 millimeter, super aggressive, all mountain. And those look like, like park skis. Totally mind blowing. |
Andrew | Wow. Yeah. Loved it. I'm no longer equipped for that. You're older than me and I'm not equipped for it. So that being said, I think we, I think we did it. I think we wrapped up Timex this year. Some hopes, some dreams, some terrible |
Everett | Yeah, do you have any thoughts about what you want to see from Timex? |
Andrew | I want to see Timex keep collaborating. I want to see Timex capitalize on the intellectual capital they gain from collaborations. And I want to see them keep churning out thousand piece releases for the watch enthusiast, because they've got a really special catalog for the watch enthusiast. We'll never be their primary target. We shouldn't be. We're not the moneymakers, but I want to see them capitalize on that thousand to 2000 piece release for us. Cause they've got some really cool shit. |
Everett | Yeah. And I think for me, I'd like to see them iterate on the expedition North series a little bit. |
Andrew | That's a, yeah, they're gonna. And I think we'll see some cool shit. I think we'll see a diver next year. And I think that Expedition North titanium diver will be really cool. |
Everett | Hey Andrew, uh, you okay if I take a minute to thank our sponsors? |
Andrew | I think you really ought to. |
Everett | So folks, this episode of 40 in 20, the Watch Clicker podcast is brought to you by some sponsors. First, we've got Escapement Media. If you're starting a new watch brand or have an existing brand, Escapement Media has your photography and video needs covered. Once you see the photos, you won't be able to escape. Check Escapement out at escapementmedia.com. Foster Watches. Great effing watches. Check out the 11 Atmos Skin Diver now on sale at fosterwatches.com. And Frank Affronti Photography, offering images and videos of real watches on real adventures. Your favorite divers from 100 feet below to 14,000 feet up. Now accepting underwater bookings for March of 2023, affrontography.com. Links for all those available in the show notes. And if you would like to advertise on 40 and 20, the watch clicker podcast, send us an email. Hello at watch clicker.com to discuss those options. And thank you at home for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20, the watch clicker podcast. Check us out at our website, watch clicker.com. That's where we have weekly articles, reviews, several posts a week at this point. You can also check us out on Instagram at 40 and 20 at 40 and 20 underscore watch clicker and at watch clicker. That's where we post all of the updates for the website and the podcast. If you want to support what we're doing here, you can do that at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. Look folks, that's how we get the money to keep this thing going. Hosting fees, hardware, software, et cetera. And don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. |
Unknown | Buh-bye. |