Episode 2019 - Our Favorite Affordable Divers

Published on Wed, 04 Jan 2023 21:45:39 -0800

Synopsis

In this episode of the watch podcast, the hosts Andrew and Everett discuss their top picks for dive watches at different price points: under $500, under $750, and under $1000. They share their thoughts on various affordable and mid-range dive watch models, analyzing the value proposition, specs, and design details of each watch. The conversation touches on how their perspectives on affordable watches have evolved over the years as the show has progressed.

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Transcript

Speaker
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 killing it, man. So good. Like, uh, gonna drink some whiskey. Uh, gonna talk about watches.
Andrew	How much better could a person be? Seriously. Just an embarrassment of riches that we're living here. Andrew, how are you? I'm good. I had, uh, you know, as per usual, it's Tuesday night. I've had a really good weekend. Whoa. Hey, Hey, you know, I've never spilled in here.
Unknown	Me either.
Andrew	Okay. Uh, yeah, I've had a really good weekend today. Uh, was, I did not realize today was the last day of winter break. So I went into this weekend thinking that I was going to be, uh, home by myself all day and able to get down Christmas decorations. do all manner of other things. Um, turns out today was the last day of winter break. So I was not home alone today, but it was cool. We had a, we had a cooking day. We did, uh, everything from scratch. We did a couple of big loaves of French bread. We did ravioli meatballs. It was delightful. A little bit stressful, right? Cooking with a seven year old is not exactly a, a relaxing endeavor. Right. But it was mostly fun.
Everett	That's good. That's a, that's a net positive.
Andrew	Yeah. It was mostly fun. And it was like, I, every time something got a little bit complex or like a little tedious or just need a little touch up, I was like, go play video games. And he would leave me alone for about 10 minutes and get us back on track and return. And he did, you know, 8% of the work and caused 95% of it. Yeah.
Everett	But he had seen that tick tock of the old lady making, I think she's making cookies with the toddler and he like, I think he's eating flour and just like, yeah, I did almost get stabbed today.
Andrew	Um, but you know, that'll happen when you, when you give a kid a sharp object, he almost got stabbed by himself. And at some point I was just like, fuck it. This is going to taste good.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	It doesn't matter how it looks or if it's just, you know, noodle ribbons with ravioli filling on top of them and some red sauce. So yeah, it was a good day. It was fun. The bread, the bread is actually what I was most pleased with how it turned out. Cause I make French bread fairly regularly and uh, I always make little tweaks and today I think I nailed it. I would offer you some, intended to actually was, was going to send you home with some ravioli and meatball some breads. Sorry. It's fine. The timing was just poor.
Everett	Yeah. Andrew's alluding to my biennial. Is biennial twice a year or every other year? I think that's. Or is it both?
Andrew	I think biennials every other year.
Everett	Okay. So my biennial keto. Touch up. Touch up. Touch up. Although with the last year and a half, this is going to be a sustained, this is going to be a prolonged effort.
Andrew	A little bit more than that.
Everett	Yeah. I let the weeds get out of control. That happens. I'm going to need a couple of bottles around. Uh, no, that's good. I like, I like cooking days with the kids, you know, and I always feel amazed at how much more they're able to do than you give them credit for.
Andrew	I did not feel that way. Yeah. Um, but maybe we'll get there.
Everett	Yeah. I mean, seven is, that's close, right? That's sort of the beginning. My daughter now 11 can, make an entire batch of cookies without any supervision. I mean, we are there. We don't allow her to do it when we're not there, but she can do it without any supervision. She does a few things and I'm like, you should do this better. But she can make an edible cookie from scratch. Like the last time she did it, she used too much salt, I thought, in my mind, too much salt.
Andrew	Much, like maybe 30% too much.
Everett	And she also used... Sugar in the raw. Oh, yeah. Sugar in the raw. That's right. And so it had like a crystalline sort of texture. You know, these are decisions, right? They're decisions you make and then you taste it and you're like, oh, OK, that's why we don't use sugar in the raw or whatever.
Andrew	Or you treat sugar in the raw differently than you do granulated sugar.
Everett	That's right. But so that doesn't bother me. at all, but yeah, you know, like she doesn't measure the salt and so she'll use too much salt. So she'll figure it out. But still 11 years old, like, Hey, I'm going to make some chocolate chip cookies. I'm like, good luck. Let me know if you need anything.
Andrew	If you're not going to measure salt, I would expect that you would come up too light on salt.
Everett	Not this one.
Andrew	Salt, like I'm always intimidated by salt because you can, you can fix. And maybe that's just comes from learning, right? I'm sure I've over salted things. Yeah. So now I always tend shy. Because when I'm baking, I definitely measure the salt because that's chemistry. But cooking, it's just like, oh, here's a little pinch. I need some more. Here's a little pinch. Yeah. I've never been like, well, that was too much. Now what? Like, not now as an adult when I'm cooking regularly.
Everett	So, Andrew, you pitched an episode this week.
Andrew	I pitch an episode every week.
Everett	You do. That's true. You are the episode, man. You pitched an episode this week and I was like, yes, please take me back. to the olden days.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	You pitched a threefer.
Unknown	It's not really a threefer. Yeah.
Everett	Yeah. But, but, uh, uh, uh, we each pick three watches episode. Yes. So today, uh, do you want to tell us what we're doing? I mean, I know what we're doing, but do you want to tell these, these kind folks at home what we're doing?
Andrew	No, we're not just producing in flight today. We're writing in flight. So Everett actually has no idea what we're about to talk about, but I'm going to be fine. So today, You know, as a person does when they're thinking about what they... Wait, wait, can I talk about what I'm drinking? Oh, yeah, you should. Can I try that death water or liquid death?
Everett	Yes. So I am drinking a bourbon and soda, but instead of soda water, I'm using a seltzer. I'm using this liquid death. This is their berry flavored. Oh, that's really good. Yeah, it's just I mean, it's just seltzer water, right? It's better than LaCroix. Yeah, it's good. I don't know. I don't know that I have a strong preference as between this and anything else, but we had it and it's good. And it, whiskey, seltzer mixes so well in whiskey. It's like a high ball.
Andrew	And that little berry, it kind of, it really makes it like a high ball.
Everett	Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, yeah, I'm drinking a bullet. I'm drinking a bullet and seltzer high ball. Bullet, seltzer, high ball. And it's delightful. It works. It works. And it's got very few carbs. Very few. More importantly, very few carbs. Anyway, I just wanted, I just wanted to talk about that.
Andrew	I'm drinking Boneyard, which has a really similar, you know, motif to liquid death. I thought those were booze for a long time. And I saw like somebody, one of my coworkers drinking one once. And I was like, bold move, bro. And he's like, what do you mean? I was like, what do you mean? What do I mean? What do you, what do you mean? What are you drinking? Seltzer water.
Everett	Yeah. The can makes it look like in liquid death.
Andrew	And it's proximity to, it seems like at least to me, they very intentionally put it on the convenience store shelves, not in the liquor or in the beer cooler, immediately adjacent and right adjacent to similarly sized beer cans.
Everett	Yeah. They want you to know that it's, it's approaching danger. Yeah. As if the name and skull motif wasn't enough. But actually, it turns out it's just fucking berry flavored seltzer. As it turns out. And you're drinking beer. You're drinking Boneyard RPMIPA, which is one of my favorites. I got Boneyard. Each can has about 400 grams of carbohydrates, though.
Andrew	They don't put nutrition facts on beer.
Everett	No, but I think it's like 35. Something like that. Yeah, it's high.
Andrew	So it's like I'm feeling energized by them, though. So today's episode, what I want to do, I was I we've gotten some some feedback on ideas for shows that are like, take it back to revisit episodes. Take something that you did, you know, two, three years ago and see how your perspective has changed. How have you changed? How would you approach that question, that thought, that idea now? And within that vein, one of the things that I was thinking about is, is the dive watch world. Cause dive watches are, They were the thing when we really started giving a shit about watches. When we, me and Everett, probably not you the listener, but when we started- But maybe, but maybe. Yeah, but when we started caring about watches, dive watches were the thing. They've not really fallen out of style, but they're not the hot ticket item anymore. They're not the only thing anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're not the, because for a while they were. It was dive watch or not. If you were in the affordable space, you know, you could get a ton of Seiko trash and you know, you get some trash, but the new cool stuff was divers. As a result, divers hold a special place in my heart.
Unknown	Same.
Andrew	And as an affordable watch podcast, I was like, well, let's, let's do something here. There's a, there's an episode that I'm sure we've addressed, but let's, let's circle back on the idea now. So my idea was for each of us to choose. three dive watches under $1,000 at stratified price points. So first price point being $500 and below, second being $750 and below, third being $1,000 and below. And I think just in that is the first big transformation that we've experienced in these four years now, right? Four?
Unknown	Yeah, a little over four.
Andrew	We're talking about $1,000 watches casually. Without any heartburn, without any like... Yeah, these are formally reach watches. Yeah, exactly. They're formally reach watches and now they're pedestrian, not by a long shot. But these are watches that we're comfortable with, that we're familiar with, that we would consider owning. you know, the conditions were right. So that's at least for me, the first big, Whoa, what a shift.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	Cause I mean, I make more money now than I did when we started, but that's not like, that doesn't really have an influence on my emotional fortitude for the amount of money I'm going to spend on a watch.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	The, the band-aids been pulled, the cork popped. I'm okay with spending money on watches. And within that, It's not just because I want more expensive watches. It's because I've come to appreciate and recognize what comes with every dollar more you spend in a watch.
Everett	So with that said, I think we did a pretty good job at, and I think I was surprised that the $500 watch, we'll get into the specifics of these picks when we talk about them, but I was surprised that for me, the $500 watch was one of the harder choices. And not because there weren't watches that were available under that, but I felt like a lot of them were kind of obvious. You know, like the Orient Kamasu, for instance, such a great watch, such a great value, but it's like, that's boring. So we don't necessarily need to talk about that. I still think that it is probably one of the greatest values in, perhaps the greatest value in watches right now. But, oh, okay. So let's pick something, you know, A, that's a little bit low on the price range. We're talking about a little bit more expensive watches today. It's sub 500. I think it's a cheat to pick a $200 watch. But also, but also like, we've talked about that. That watch hasn't changed, you know, the Mako or whatever.
Andrew	I also wouldn't buy it right now.
Unknown	Yeah, me either.
Andrew	All the watches I picked today are watches that I would buy today.
Everett	Same.
Andrew	And I mean, the Mako is not on my list, the Kalamazoo is not on my list. That whole suite of $200 divers that are, I mean, I think you're right when you say they're probably some of the best values in watches. They've totally replaced the SKX.
Unknown	I have no problem recommending that watch.
Andrew	No.
Unknown	You have a Mako, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Andrew	You had it for a super long time. I didn't even realize it was gone and you brought it back and I was like, Oh cool, my watch.
Everett	I have no problem recommending that watch.
Andrew	No, it's a killer watch. I could do with a little bit less polish on it, but that's something you can kind of deal with on your own. Yeah. Depolish it by wearing it. It runs great. It's super comfortable. It's sized great. It's attractive. If they had a no date option, it would be.
Everett	So how we, If you're listening, we haven't forgotten about you. We haven't forgotten about the portable stuff. So our tastes have evolved. We're still here. We'll still talk about a portable stuff. We're not gone.
Andrew	We're around, but you were calling me Howie and making a bald comment. And I was like, that's, um, that's not even funny.
Everett	Yeah. So, uh, do you just want to go right into it?
Andrew	Let's go right into it. So let's start, um, Let's start at the sub $500 category. Did you have so you said you had some trouble finding a watch?
Everett	Yeah, I think I had trouble. I think that the it's not that I had trouble finding watches. There are a lot of watches it. I had trouble finding watches that I think what you just said that I would buy today.
Andrew	Because there's a lot between 500 and 575.
Everett	Yeah, that's also true. That's also true.
Andrew	Which speaks to what we've seen in the micro world in the last four years. It used to be $500 was the peak of the small brands. And now that's sort of like getting your foot in the door. Or the top of the bell curve, yeah. You're getting your foot in the door. So now we see, you know, I think Foster's a good example. I think the Neptune is a good example. We're looking north of five right now, if you can get them. Yeah. Yeah, continue.
Everett	Oh, well, I think that's it. I was I just I had a little bit of trouble finding a watch that I would buy that I would buy. I found one I would buy. In fact, it's one that I'm surprised I haven't bought. It's one that I'm now thinking about buying like, like maybe actually like now now. Because it's a really cool watch. I think there's some overlap in my collection. But I would buy this today. So My very first, my sub $500 diver. If you're just going to buy one, the Seiko SRP-E03, that's the black dial. King. What do they call this? The, I could pull up my phone and actually, uh, the King turtle, the Seiko King turtle, um, Sapphire glass. Fantastic. dial, that really deep waffle dial, really good bezel, improved bezel with a little bit grippier action, deeper grooves.
Andrew	Probably going to be aligned.
Everett	Yeah, probably going to be aligned. Uh, sapphire on the crystal, loomed sapphire on the crystal, a ton of, say it goes, you know, glow in the dark, proprietary glow in the dark material. Um, Geez Louise.
Andrew	200 meters, the 4R36 movement.
Everett	Yeah. So I actually don't love the 4R. The 4R works though. But it works. Yeah. That's right. And there are watches that are much more expensive than this. You know, in fact, one of the watches that almost made it on the list, but didn't, the Uni, uh, is it the Modelo, Uni Modelo? Oh shit. Doesn't matter. That runs a 4R, right? Or an NH35. So there are a lot of great watches with this movement. It's a tried and true movement. It's thick. And for that reason, the King Turtle is thick. This is a big boy. So it's 45 by I think 47 and a half or 48 on the lug to lug, 22 millimeter lugs. But this is a turtle. The dimensions are identical to the OG Turtle or more or less identical to the OG Turtle. really well-crafted watch. The bracelet's Seiko, so it's going to be sus.
Andrew	Just north of okay. Yeah, that's right. Just north of okay. You will replace it and you will not regret it.
Everett	But I mean, everything else, like this is the SKX mod, the super mod that people were making in 2015, right? This, this has got all the things you want. It's properly spec'd, hacking, hand-winding, Sapphire, uh, good dial.
Andrew	This is what people were buying an SKX to build.
Everett	That's right. Ceramic bezel. This is the modded Seiko that we all wanted. And at under $500, I think I sent it to you on Amazon for like $495. $468 on watchco.com. and 460 and watchcode.com. So this is a I mean, you know, if we think, well, the SKX at 250 in 2015. Add these improvements and add a little bit for inflation. This is the same basic price, right? They've done all the things.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	They've made this watch a total trooper. There's nothing on paper that you could complain about. Maybe the size, but that's subjective, right?
Andrew	It's big though, and I wouldn't complain about this, but when they dropped the mini turtle, they added a Cyclops. It's like, come on, it's three millimeters smaller. You don't need that.
Everett	King Turtles got a Cyclops as well. A big, long, day-date Cyclops. Is that a Cyclops? Yeah, it's a big, long, day-date. So that is probably the most controversial feature of this watch.
Andrew	It's distorted such in this photo that it doesn't look like a Cyclops.
Everett	Yeah. That, that is the, that's the one thing that people were like, why? But by all accounts, and in fact, my handling, I knew it was there and I didn't think to look at it, um, in the about an hour that I played with this watch. Um, but by all accounts, the Cyclops is, it works, which is not, which is not uniform. universally true with Cyclops. So or whatever magnifier, I don't know what you loop. I'm not sure what you want to call this thing, but I like Cyclops. Yeah, me too. And so, yeah, I think for five hundred bucks, gosh, yeah.
Andrew	And so you're not going to do much better in the way of specs and in the way of quality of finishing, because Seiko does a good job across their entire line.
Everett	And this is an icon, right? It's a fully modern, fully specced iconic watch with, you know, great history. This is the entry level Seiko, except that it doesn't have Seiko problems. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Right. Uh, is this a super sick watch and for under 500 bucks, if you talk to someone and they're like, I want a big badass, entry-level watch.
Andrew	Pro diver. I mean, this isn't the Prospex or is it a Prospex? No, it's not Prospex line, but it's, is it not? Is it? I don't think so. Oh, it is Prospex line. Yeah. Yeah. It's Prospex. Yeah.
Everett	So that's, so the second hand, the yellow second hand also matches the yellow text at six o'clock on both the 03 and the 05. And they've made a bunch of different iterations of this now. Um, but yeah, I, I think this one's cool. The, I like the paddy, the light blue and black version, but I still think for me, the black one is the one. The 03 is the one. So, you know, and then I look at this and I'm like, gosh, if I bought this, would it replace my SKX or would I rock them side by side? I mean, I'll never get rid of my SKX, but.
Andrew	I think you could just size it up and wear it on the same wrist above.
Everett	Like literally side by side.
Andrew	Yeah.
Everett	Yeah.
Andrew	Just make it a little bigger to wear it above the SKX.
Everett	That's right. And wear them on either side of my foster. Yeah. Because I have to wear the foster.
Andrew	Yeah. You have a weird dilemma. Yeah. That bracelet articulates so nicely. Just watching you slide it up and down your arm kind of gave me, it caused some things to happen.
Everett	Every time I mentioned foster on the show, I'm like, OK, I'm not going to talk about this watch every single episode. It'll slow down, I'm sure.
Andrew	Yeah. We'll see. Just look.
Everett	Yeah.
Unknown	Anyway. Yeah.
Andrew	Good pick. My first sub $500 pick is a watch that I have come super close to buying more times than I can count. I just haven't because this it I know that's true by the way. It's just it's not. Dive watches just aren't my thing right now, and they haven't been for some time. It is the Scurfa Diver One Titanium. I apologize deeply. I don't remember who loaned me one. Somebody loaned me one for a time. And I almost absconded with it. I was like, I don't see any reason not to do that. Obviously, I didn't. They have their watch back. This watch was in photos. You're like, man, this is a big fucking clunky tool watch. And you put it on. Did you have the titanium? Yeah. You put it on. It is not that. It is sleek. It's chunky, right? It is a purpose built tool. Diver's watch. I'm talking to dive watch. It's no svelte skin diver. It's a diver's watch. It's a dude who makes money under the water doing shit. A legit commercial diver who built a watch to support him and his endeavors. This thing is dope. Quartz movement, super reliable, great loom, good lines, crazy comfortable brace or strap on it. This was like, this watch is problematic for me. The problem, right now is actually less of a problem. They're sold out across their lines of the diver one and the diver one titanium, which are the two that I like. But these are in and out of stock. Yeah. They're going to come back. They come in a bunch of colors. They're just good, right? They're similar to that white label Seiko that you have, right? Just no bullshit, no frills, well-designed, not to please watch people or neck beards, not to sell a ton at the jewelry counter because they have a faux diamond at the 12 o'clock, but just like a fucking hammer. Hey, there's a bunch of them on that wall. Find the one that's going to work for you and then buy it and use the shit out of it. That's what this watch is to me. This watch is the Harbor Freight hammer wall. And you just go and you grab one off of it and you're like, yeah, that's what I need right now.
Everett	Yeah. It's better than that. Right.
Andrew	Cause Harbor Freight, like the lifetime warranty at Harbor Freight tools. So it doesn't matter what you do to them, but it's better than that. Right. It's, it's a much higher quality. You're not going to destroy this thing most likely. And they're under 300 bucks. Yeah. They're killer. And the reason I haven't bought one is cause I just can't, I, It kind of hurt me to have it, because I wouldn't wear it.
Everett	Yeah, this is like the grown-up version of the Casio Duro.
Andrew	Yeah, yeah. That's exactly what it is. It's smaller. It's, they're 39 millimeters. They're, they're really, really appropriately sized. Yeah, 39 millimeters.
Everett	Unlike the Duro, which is 49, 45, I think.
Andrew	Yeah. 40 millimeter case. Yeah. 500 meters of water resistance.
Everett	And a good movement too. It's got the, the Ronda 713. Which is a, which is a fantastic Swiss Quartz movement.
Andrew	One of the most important details that I typically forget, the non-titanium version, 316L. This is it. This is my sub $500 diver. And it's, you know, it's 300 bucks.
Unknown	And you were like, you're not going to pick a $200 watch. Is that the point of this episode?
Andrew	No, this is the watch. This is if, if I were, if you were to say you need to buy a watch, You can't do it right now actually, cause I can't buy it right now. But if this watch were in stock and you were like, you need to buy a watch right fucking now, go do it. And this is the watch I would buy.
Everett	Yeah. And you get a helium escape valve.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	So when you're.
Andrew	Oh, what's the word? Uh, I don't know. It's not concentration. It's um, Oh shit. Diving. The style of diving that requires it. It's not concentration. It's uh,
Everett	I know what you're talking about. In any event, you don't need it, but you have it if you if you do.
Andrew	Yeah, because this is a tool watch. This isn't this isn't a company like throwing it on because it's a cool thing to do. It's like this guy knows. It's not compression either or condensation. What is it?
Unknown	Oh, boy, Andrew.
Everett	Yeah, no, I think this watch is is fun.
Andrew	Saturation.
Everett	I think this watch is fun because... Saturation. Is because it is... Condensation. Condensation diving. I think this watch is fun because it's so serious, right? This is such a... It's like you said, it's like that white label... Divex. Divex Seiko that I have that is... Like this is a watch for serious people doing serious things and it doesn't cost a bunch of money, but it does all the things.
Andrew	It does what you need it to do. It does more than you need it to do. And if you need it to do these things, it does what you need it to do.
Everett	And it's also super well built and fun to wear and.
Andrew	And attractive. Yeah. This guy hit the nail on the head in designing for watch people.
Everett	Multiple times at this point. Yeah. So we're going to move on to 750. This was the hardest category. Yeah, I think that this category is tough because there's not a lot that falls in this. There's a lot of watches that are, you know, 600. There are a lot of watches that are, you know, 800-ish. That 750 mark's a little tough.
Andrew	I found each of these categories to be difficult.
Unknown	In their own way.
Andrew	In their own way, right? And I think it showed an interesting stratification of the pricing of dive watches. We have a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of watches in 350 to 600. Yeah. And they're all kind of in the same specification zone. And then once you hit about 700, you clearly move up a league. Yeah. Right. You, you, you move in, you move into a whole new level of specifications, whole new level of finishing new brands or different brands are entering that space. And then at about 1100, you see a whole world open up. So this, like this 700 to thousand dollar zone is, is really interesting because there's a lot of trash. Yeah. A lot of trash.
Everett	I think that's right. Yeah. And the diamonds are few and far between.
Andrew	But also there are many. There are a lot of faux diamond crusted divers in the $7,000 range. Yeah. And a lot of bullshit watches that shouldn't that you shouldn't spend your hard-earned money on at that dollar point because there's just better stuff that you can get for less or the same. So the first watch that we need to talk about in this under $750 range is arguably the most deserving in our opinion because we independently chose it. Yeah, both of us. You sent your links to me as I was like getting my links together to send you. And I saw you send me that link and I was like, fuck. It's the Raven Trekker. And Raven's not a brand that we talked about often enough on the show, I think.
Everett	Yeah, I think that's right.
Andrew	And I think maybe a lot of people take it for granted.
Everett	Which is weird to me. I think I met Steve in Los Angeles this past November. And Steve's great. He's, like, super kind. You can tell really cares about his craft. Has interesting ideas about what's good in watches, which I think are very apparent when you look at his lineup. But he's got this sort of unapologetic, old-school, thought process when it comes to the watches he's going to design, but then his design choices are very, very modern and surprising too. When you pick these watches up and you, you, you wear them, um, it's like, oh my gosh, this is surprisingly phenomenal. And, uh, in a way that I didn't expect it to be.
Unknown	Um, yeah,
Everett	You know, the airfield is not the watch we're talking about, but the airfield was the one in his lineup that I was like, yo, this is super sick.
Andrew	We talked about it on release and we were, I mean, I, I remember being very excited when it dropped cause he does cool shit. And I think we all just take it for granted cause it's just, it's always there. And it's always doing cool shit. And it's always doing it. Raven. Reliable, cool shit. With no hype. And I don't understand why.
Everett	You know, I think he does get hype, but I think it's like a little bit less hype beast hype.
Andrew	It's just like this quiet professional, just the blacksmith, like just forging away and pushing out awesome stuff and people buy it and they love it and they move on because they buy it and they love it and they don't need to talk about it because they wear it for what it's intended for and they like it.
Unknown	Let's talk a little bit about this watch.
Everett	Let's talk about the Trekker because this is a pretty cool watch.
Andrew	It's a super cool watch. And I think the first thing that I want to talk about is how modernly sized it is relative to what I imagine in my head as the Raven lineup of being big, bulky tool watches. And the Trekker is not that. The Trekker is a 39 millimeter case, 47 lug to lug, 13 millimeters thick.
Everett	No, it's actually I, he says that and maybe that's true with the crystal, but it wears way with, with, it says with the crystal 11 without.
Unknown	So we've got, Oh, okay.
Andrew	I see. But yeah, three, one, six L steel drilled lugs, 300 meters of water resistance.
Everett	It box Sapphire.
Andrew	Yeah. 20 to 16 bracelets.
Everett	It's got all the things, all the things in a 90 15 fantastic movement.
Andrew	Why don't we talk about these watches more? 700 bucks.
Everett	Female in lengths.
Andrew	Yeah. Yeah. What's our problem? Ceramic bezel. And it's gorgeous. So I have, I have the black with yellow second hand pulled up and it's got the 12 o'clock inverted red triangle, a kind of orange yellow minute track and a yellow second hand. where you would expect white or silver or whatever hand matched, but it's not. It just adds this awesome. Little excitement of color.
Unknown	Mm hmm.
Andrew	This thing is so fucking cool.
Everett	And and it comes in a full PVD gold case and a PVD gold two tone as well.
Andrew	I don't need that hard pass on both of those things. But though you have predicted that this is the year of two tone.
Everett	I'm kind of into this PVD two tone on this.
Andrew	Yeah. So this was both of us independently picked this as the, as our pick for, you know, presumptively the best divers at each of these price points. Yes.
Everett	And this is what we picked. Yes, that's right. This was, this was our top choice. Both of us independently. Correct. Uh, because it's really good. This is sort of got like a BB 58 vibes. Very. Yeah. Or... Especially in the gilt setup here with the maxi dial and lollipop seconds.
Andrew	Yeah, very much so. So we're gonna, unfortunately, move on from our favorite and go to a backup pick.
Everett	Yeah. So my pick is a backup pick, but that's okay because it's a fantastic watch. And actually, I think that this watch compares with your watch in some interesting ways. So it's bigger, 42 and a half millimeter case. So this is more of a traditional dive sized watch, but the case and the general aesthetics have some similarities here to, to the Trekker without, without being, without being one-to-one.
Unknown	I picked the Mido or Mido or... Micho, I think is actually how you say it.
Andrew	I think it's a shh with that D, with the accent.
Everett	The Mido Ocean Star Automatic. This is the blue dialed version that I picked. This is the 200, right? Because I think it's beautiful. Yes, that's right. This is the Caliber 80, which is the ETA, Powermatic, Tissot, Hamilton, same thing. Powermatic 80 movement, which we've talked about that a lot, 21-600. but with 80 hours, 80 stinking hours of power reserve. Really interesting handset on this. I think the handset is the place where you might, where you might grumble if you were to grumble about this.
Andrew	It's the only feature of true personality in the design decision-making.
Everett	That's right. That's right.
Unknown	With that said,
Everett	It's really, really stinking good. Yes. 42 and a half millimeters. And this thing, I've marked this on Amazon for $700.
Andrew	From the Mito website, $930.
Everett	$700 on this guy is a steal.
Andrew	Yeah, that's a good, that's a good money.
Everett	And you get full Swiss, all the Swiss things. You get a super classic brand. I don't know that this is better or worse than the Raven. I think the bracelet on the Raven is probably a little bit better than this.
Andrew	I'd expect so.
Everett	But what I do know about this watch is that if you're looking for a 42.5, 43 millimeter bigger dive watch,
Andrew	And if Swiss made.
Unknown	The Raven Trekker might not get you there at 39 millimeters.
Andrew	And if Swiss made matters to you, right? This bears the Swiss made branding because it is Swiss made. If that's something that's important.
Unknown	This is it.
Everett	Yeah. Yeah. And I think this watch is similar to. Similar to Raven in some ways, this watch is kind of slept on a little bit, right? Because you don't look at it and think,
Andrew	Oh, what's that? Because it's a little boring. They both are just a little boring when you see pictures.
Everett	And the Mido in particular has a very sort of matte everywhere thing going on. And so it doesn't have any of that bombastic polish that's, you know, on the top down. Subdued. I'd call this subdued.
Andrew	Very Okenosker matte feel. Just subtle.
Everett	That's right. 42.5 by 49. A little bigger. Just under 12 millimeters thick. 22 millimeter lug width. BGW9, I understand that the lume application on this is very good. Aluminum insert in the bezel, which take it or leave it. But, I mean, caliber 80, sapphire crystal, a probably great bracelet, or good enough bracelet, I should say.
Andrew	I think the whole thing is going to be just good enough. I don't think you're going to be disappointed even a little bit in any aspect of this.
Everett	Not at $700. No. At $1,500 maybe. Not $700. But this could easily be a $1,500 watch. without them changing anything, just putting a different sticker on it.
Andrew	Yeah. I mean, there's plenty out there that do that.
Everett	Quick adjust on the clasp on this. It's that it's the funky, um, yeah, that swatch group. Yeah.
Andrew	Uh, and if you, if you put a Rolex logo at the north of this 10 grand, baby, that's right. Uh, yeah. So I want to talk about two others briefly. Yeah. Cause there's two in this price point that we, that we talked about. Yeah. So first being the CWC. We're just going to say the Royal Navy Diver Issue Spec RN300-MTQM60. This is the Quartz Royal Navy Diver. The Quartz Royal Navy Diver. Yeah. 550 bucks. Ish. Yep. It's 458 pounds. So the pound is gaining again. It's no longer one for one. I don't remember when that happened, but it's happened. CWC does a lot of really cool shit, and they've got all these really cool military spec'd for the Royal Army, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy watches that they produce. This is a brand with a ton of heritage and just doing. Cool shit to be used. And that's Really cool. 550 bucks-ish. It's a quartz diver. There's nothing particularly intriguing about the design. It's very, you know, G10, A11. It's a mil-spec watch.
Everett	It's stoic, I'd say.
Andrew	Yeah, it's dope.
Everett	I mean... The case is kind of Monin-esque. Yeah. if not a Monin case.
Andrew	I mean, it's obviously not made by Monin case, but they probably had Monin cases made to fit the spec at, you know, when Monin was producing cases. It's just, it's a, it's a cool watch at this price point. And for those of us who are, you know, even remotely intrigued by this mil-spec world, you know, CWC and Marathon are doing, they're doing the thing.
Everett	You know, the coolest thing about this watch, Andrew, is this something that, you know, I don't think it is because you're not, your eyes aren't lighting up.
Andrew	It comes in a Destro configuration.
Everett	Yeah. You can order this at checkout in a Destro.
Andrew	Provided they have stock of it. They don't currently. Otherwise I would have made an apology to my wife today. I was like, Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh dang. Um, last up, And this watch didn't make the list because it's not available yet.
Everett	But I think this was also both of our first picks as well for $750.
Andrew	Yes, we both went here first.
Everett	We both went here and then we went to Raven.
Andrew	Yeah. And then you texted me first.
Everett	Independently.
Andrew	Which, you know, we're not, you know, we're not the experts. We're pretty well versed.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	The Notice Avalon 2.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	They're pro diver. They're no bullshit, big ass, clunky. totally anti-notice watch. Yeah. That they do so well, because when you look at the rest of their lineup, this doesn't make sense within it, but they do this so well that they must keep it kind of vibes of King turtle too.
Everett	Yep. Yep. So the Avalon, I'm a huge fan. We've had an Avalon. Um, my good friend Frank has the, gold or canary dialed Avalon. Our partner. Our partner, but also my good friend. Yeah. Um, yeah, man, this is such a fun watch. It's killer. You know, I've, um, I find the Avalon to be one of the easiest watches to be critical of. And I've been with both Wes and Colin critical of this watch. In particular, there's a thing at the end links that I was like, well, But the reason I feel so comfortable being critical with the Avalon is because it's so freaking good.
Andrew	It is like great. Yeah.
Everett	When you find something wrong with it, you're like, yes, I gotta tell them. That's right. It's just such a cool, wearable, good size. I think it's like 42 or 43, 42 and a half, something like that. Uh, so yeah.
Andrew	41 and a half.
Everett	Not available? No.
Andrew	41 and a half at the bezel, 43 and a half at the case.
Everett	Not available right now.
Andrew	Which is why we both didn't pick it initially.
Everett	Not available right now, but I know that they're making more of this. This is in their forever lineup, but they just have a hard time keeping them in stock.
Andrew	Which is because it's dope. Yeah. On to the big boys, Andrew. Yeah, let's let's start spending some money.
Everett	We both, we went different directions here. You cheated a little bit. No, I did not.
Unknown	As per usual. I did not.
Everett	As per usual. My watch comes in at $860. Not in the configuration that you want it. 865 is it? So 840. Picked the brand new Christopher Ward C60 Trident 300. Important distinction there. So this year, fall of 2022, last year, excuse me. In fall of 2022, Christopher Ward unveiled their new 300 meter version of the Trident C60 line. And I think that the reviews of this watch have been in a word rave. Everybody loves this thing. It's thin. It's got a fantastic, that light catcher case. It's got
Andrew	Fantastic. It's 11.3 millimeters thick.
Everett	Correct. Correct. Including the crystal. Yes. As everybody likes to say. It's got all the goodies. It's got the goodies. For well under $1,000. You get a really, really amazing watch. SW200 movement, 200-1. that's been decorated to the teeth. Yeah. It's, you know, uh, exhibition case back.
Andrew	Signed rotor.
Everett	Signed rotor. So fantastic. Now.
Andrew	Not just my pick. And not discreetly signed either. The entire perimeter of the rotor reads Christopher Ward.
Unknown	And the new logo.
Everett	And the Swiss flags. Oh my gosh. People are so weird about Christopher Ward logos, but whatever. If you, if you're worried about it, that's fine. I still like you. Uh, but. Uh, it's got the new logo, which I actually quite like, um, that the Swiss British flag amalgamation, um, which again, I quite like, um, but 840 bucks, you get it on a rubber strap. Now, now if you've got a thousand bucks and like a couple of bags of cans on the back patio or, or you can use the Google because Christopher Ward with their loop magazine includes $150.
Andrew	coupon. You can find these everywhere. If you're paying more than if you're paying retail for Christopher Ward and not $150 off, you are not working hard enough.
Everett	So retail with the bracelet 1040. So that's not allowed. And so I didn't pick it on the bracelet, Andrew, but you didn't, but you want it on a bracelet because the Christopher Ward bracelet is so good.
Andrew	It's a chunk, but it's so good.
Everett	Hold on. I didn't pick it on the bracelet though, because it's really good on the rubber. But if you have 40 extra bucks laying around and we didn't today, so I did not pick this, but let's talk about the bracelet just briefly, because when we say best in class, I think sometimes that term gets a little bit overused and it becomes meaningless. Christopher Ward's bracelets are sometimes problematic. We've talked about your Sealander bracelet, which is good.
Andrew	It's a very good bracelet, and I wear my Sealander on the bracelet in spite of its one millimeter taper.
Everett	And so there's always little things, but in terms of build quality, Christopher Ward's bracelets Chef's Kiss. Build quality is really, really good. And this is a good bracelet. Great clasp.
Andrew	The clasp on these is big. It's long because they have a lot of adjustment positions.
Everett	That's right. To do what they're doing just takes space. That's the bottom line. It takes space.
Andrew	I believe that these are 20 to 16 taper bracelets. I think you're right about that.
Everett	So, well, they're There are three different sizes of the C60. You can get in 38, 40, or 42. Dealer's choice. And the specs change. So I believe the 38 is a 11 millimeter case. And then they get a little bit thicker as the watches get bigger. And I'm not quite sure why that is, but I'm sure there's a reason. In any event, it's probably proportions, but whatever.
Andrew	It was probably to retain the exact same design
Everett	The appeal from the top down view, perhaps with the 40, you get a 20, 20 to 60 taper, I believe.
Andrew	I'm smitten, but it's great and it's great. I love this whole line. I'm a Christopher Ward fanboy.
Everett	We'll drop a link in the YouTube or a link in the show notes. But Frank did a YouTube review. Uh, which is on the website and also on our YouTube. Frank did a fantastic review on this where he actually took it diving and it's.
Andrew	When he wore backpacking, he wore the. The one that broke. Yeah. He didn't break that.
Everett	He did. He did. Didn't he? He dropped it.
Andrew	He didn't break that.
Everett	Okay.
Andrew	You broke the Breitling. He did not break the Pelagos.
Everett	So that's my choice. Under $1,000, well under $1,000.
Andrew	Well, exactly. You've got 160 big ones to do with as you will.
Everett	But if you have $1,000 and like I said, a few bags of cans, you might want to think about that bracelet. Get the bracelet. That is not a cheat.
Andrew	I am fully within the rules. You are a notorious cheater at this point. Your Honor. Your Honor. Uh, this is a super good pick and I, I really seriously considered it. I was like, I, I mean, without a bracelet, it's only 840 bucks, but I want it on a bracelet, so I'm not going to pick it because I want it on a bracelet. And this is actually the first time this has ever happened that are one, two, three. We're all like that. We've had that much overlap in our decision making. Yeah. Maybe we're siloed at this point. We just live in our own little, magical worlds.
Everett	What do you got at a thousand bucks, Andrew? Are you, are you okay?
Andrew	I was burping. It was a long, like deep build.
Everett	You just kept, it looked like you were going to talk and then there's no words.
Andrew	I was trying, but a burp was building. A thousand bucks. And this is this kind of surprised me when I started looking at this. I was like, I mean. I looked at it some more and I was like, I can I can get down with this. The Doxa sub 200. Mm hmm. Without cheating. Nine hundred ninety dollars on on a bracelet. On a fantastic beads of rice, fantastic beads of rice. And here's what you're getting for that nine hundred and ninety dollars. You're getting everything that DOXA is. You're getting Swiss made. You're getting heritage. You're getting the dive like the pro diver world feel. Thing. That's what DOXA is. DOXA is a dive watch company. That's all they do. It's all they have been doing. And that's really all they've ever done. I think I can rest my case.
Everett	Yeah, I slept on this watch and there's a good reason for it.
Andrew	Cause it's not the Doxa. Cause it doesn't. It's not the 300 or the 300T. That's right. It's not the Doxa, which has made me sleep on this watch too. And if we're being fair, if prices, if money is no option or no concern, money is an option. I don't know what's happening. If money doesn't matter, I'm not going the 200. I'm going 300 T. Yeah. Cause that's the doxa, right? If you say, Hey, is that a doxa? And you're looking at any other.
Everett	Yeah. No one's going to call you out from across the room wearing this.
Andrew	No, because, because this is more akin to the foster on beads of rice, right? This is 70 skin diapers. It doesn't have that DOXA thing, which I think is what makes it the most intriguing for me, because it still has all the DOXA things, all the heritage, all the specs, all the technology. And it's pretty unassuming 70s mace, like Montgomery Ward dive watch. Comes in all the color ways. My, my go-to for DOXA is the Caribbean. Do you say Caribbean or Caribbean?
Everett	You know, or is it contextual? I do feel like we had this conversation recently. Um, I am probably, uh, I'm probably in the Caribbean camp.
Andrew	I'm, I'm context. I say both and I don't know what influences why.
Everett	And, and, and, and by the way, I'm normally a shark hunter guy. Uh, but on this model, it sucks. I don't like that. Correct. Um, correct. On this model, I'm with you. The Caribbean is the way to go.
Andrew	That just sounds wrong in this context. I'm going to the Caribbean. This is Caribbean colored. That's kind of how I feel that that word should work. Um, but it's all the things and it's 990 bucks. I think this is, this is, In my mind, probably one of the most slept on Swiss made watches out there.
Everett	Yeah. I think that's right. Yeah. Great size. Yeah. 19 millimeter lugs, which is whatever, but it comes with a rubber strap if you want.
Andrew	And your beads of rice, right? You're not going to take it off of that. Yeah. 42 millimeter case, 46 millimeter lug to lug. It's going to sit nice and small on your wrist. 200 meters of water resistance. Nice twisted lugs. Yeah, it's just it's all the any other brand. And this is a banger, right? If this is a squalor or if this is a Mido or if this is a take your pick of brands with a little bit of heritage. little bit of legacy.
Everett	Yeah. Shit. This is a Tiso. Tiso's back. Yeah, exactly.
Andrew	Like this, this is a banger, but because it bears the Doxa logo, it's under a thousand dollars.
Everett	Yeah. This actually reminds me of the Squala. I can't remember which one it is.
Andrew	If this is Zen, this, this blows up, right? Cause it's, it would be innovative for Zen to be breaking out of this Uber German engineering. I mean, this, Hamilton could drop this watch right now and it would kill Bulova. This, this could be a Bulova just as easily and it is a banger.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	But because it's a Doxa, it's just slept on.
Everett	Yeah. You know, um, one watch we didn't talk about today, there's a new micro brand out of Eugene, Oregon called the foster. They make a $500 dive watch. We didn't talk about it.
Andrew	Cause it's over 500 and it's not really quite enough to be in the seven 50 category.
Everett	Um, I do think we did it. This was fun. This was fun. I think we need to do more of this. Uh, there is a lot of new territory that we haven't covered since we've been here. I would like to do some episodes where we get down and dirty, like three for 600. Ooh. Revisit some of that stuff. Try to start fresh. Don't look at our show notes.
Andrew	See, I try to look at the show notes cause I want to see the evolution.
Unknown	Me too.
Andrew	I listened to some episodes today when I was pitching episodes to you.
Everett	Oh, I like that. And we've got some, we've got, you, you, you pulled, you pulled a couple goodies out. So we're going to, we're going to get into this. We, we hear you get back to the, get back to the brass tacks guys. Have I ever told you that I thought for years and years and years that the brass tacks was like a tax on brass? Like, let's get down to the brass tacks. like how much tax we have to pay on brass, but, but it's actually like tax, like, like nails made of brass.
Andrew	Yeah. That's I was, when you were saying that I was suddenly really embarrassed. Cause I was like, it's not nails.
Everett	Yeah. No, I'm not embarrassed. I'm feeling pretty good about myself. For many, many years. It was the tax on brass.
Everett	With a CK.
Andrew	It's CK and not X. God, I feel good. Oh man. That was like, that was just. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Everett	Can you play some Jay-Z right now? We're going to get back into it. This was fun. Let us know. Let us know what we missed. There's a ton of watches that we missed.
Andrew	There's a ton and there's a ton that we looked at. But here's the lens we're viewing through. Every watch we talked about today is a watch that I would be comfortable buying tomorrow. Right. That's the lens I looked through. It wasn't just like, well, let's find something that fits. And I think that's one of the growth things that we've experienced. And it's partly because we've gotten to experience so many watches and we have gotten to be hands-on with so many things in the last four years. You know, in our first handful of three for 600, it was like, Oh, that's a, you know, that's an affordable watch. I like the way that it looks. It seems like it'd work. I'm going to pick this watch. Because that's a watch at that time that I would have bought. I think a lot of those watches that we've talked about, I probably wouldn't buy anymore. Yeah. For a lot of reasons. Yeah. And the lens that we view our purchasing decisions now is more developed. It's more informed. And one of the things that I want to be able to do back to the roots of this show is share that.
Everett	But it doesn't hurt to also talk, you know, we started the show because we were frustrated with the, with the dearth of media focused on truly affordable stuff. So we'll get back there. We'll get back there. We'll talk about it. We can, we can divest ourselves from our own wants and needs for the purposes of making good content. And I think, and I, and I think for our, for our part, we have the knowledge to be able to look at watches and be like, yeah, Four years ago, that would have made my list. But today I know it's a shitter. And here's why.
Andrew	Yep. Which is not to say. You shouldn't buy it if you like it. As always, Andrew. But here's the thing. Four years ago, a reach watch for us for eight was 800 bucks. Yeah, I spent.
Everett	Ten times that.
Andrew	Yeah. Andrew wasn't. I mean, I had a little pit in my stomach, but I'm really pleased that purchase other things.
Everett	What do you got?
Andrew	OK, so as I said today, I made some raviolis. Last week, when in preparation for making ravioli sometime, I was looking for a. Well, zigzag cutter roller fella. Shape my ravioli so they weren't just square edges. I'm fancy. Uh, I found a thing and I was like a little intrigued by it. Found a cheap version of it on the Amazon. Bought it. I used it today. It's a Ravioli mold with roller. What this thing is, is a metal frame. That's a good click. That's a good bezel action. It's a metal frame with varying amounts of either holes or indentations. It's like a muffin tin. Yes. Okay. That you lay your rolled ravioli pasta dough over. There's a little lid, like a cap that you set atop of it to press your dough into the indentations or total holes. You then fill your ravioli, you close it with the other end or your other piece of dough, and they all come with a roller to then roll over the top. And these molds have jagged, angular, It's a word jagged isn't right, because jagged would suggest it's jagged, but it's not jagged. I like words. Angled cuts, they have they have nicely cut edges so that when you roll your pin over your top sheet of dough, you are simultaneously sealing and cutting all of your ravioli. Then you turn over your plate, dump 10 ravioli out and start again. Here's what I learned today. Don't get one. That isn't just in that, don't get one that has a bottom that is actually a filled hole, get one that's a true void, just to cut out.
Unknown	OK.
Andrew	Because the dough will like vacuum seal itself to the metal. So when it's just hanging, just gravity there. Pull it out, it deforms. Or it tears.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	Watched a lot of videos over the last week in preparation for this. Um. Spend a little bit more money than I did, so the one I got was like 20 bucks on Amazon. Small ravioli. Spend a little bit more money than that. The edges weren't particularly sharp or crisp, which meant that the the labor of just rolling your rolling pin over this mold over this cutter. Evolved really quickly to like manually pressing against the cutter. Sure. To, to with your fingers, break it. So spend a little bit more money. Cause I know that a little bit more money means a little bit better mold. Probably. Right. Right. I mean, I, my expectation would be that if you spend $40 instead of 20, you're going to get a more precise cut on your, on your molded metal. But this thing was dope. If you make ravioli even twice a year, it pays for itself because I've made ravioli a number of times. I'm going to make it more now because I have a much more efficient way of making it.
Everett	You've got a tool that gives you confidence to do the thing.
Andrew	No, not just confidence, but it makes it if it actually like your return on investment is there. If you make ravioli is an entire day affair, if you're hand cutting every single square. Because you have to hand cut it, you have to seal it, you have to trim it, but these come pre-sized, sealed, you're quintupling your speed. You roll out all your dough, you lay it out, you fill it, you roll it, you flip it, you powder your parchment paper, and you're straight. This made ravioli making like something that's going to become a A Roberts family staple. Probably like a quarterly event for me. This, I will do this more than like once or twice a year now. Wonderful.
Everett	Cause ravioli is delicious. You're going to leave a link in the show notes to the one you bought. Yes.
Andrew	Don't buy that one.
Unknown	But don't buy that one.
Andrew	Yeah. Don't, don't buy that one because that one is not great. It works. If that's all the money you have to spend, don't spend it on a ravioli mall. If you're buying a ravioli mold, you can afford to do a little better.
Everett	Fair enough. Are you going to buy a better one?
Andrew	No, cause I already have one.
Unknown	Andrew, I got another thing.
Andrew	I probably will be buying another one, but I'm going to do another round with this. I've got another thing.
Everett	Do me. So I have been skiing, um, which I've talked about on the show and I'm really loving it.
Unknown	The
Everett	There's two things that are causing me discomfort. The snow? No, besides the snow and working hard, two things that are causing me discomfort. One is goggles. So as a glasses wearer, as a person who wears glasses, I've got to wear goggles that go over the glasses.
Andrew	Do you still have your army Sun, sand, snow inserts. I do.
Everett	And they're broken. Oh, that sucks. Cause those are in the prescriptions on any good.
Andrew	Oh, so you could, you could work with that though.
Everett	You could probably go to a, I probably can. I can get a pair of inserts for like 150 bucks, but that's not what I'm talking about today. So, so I'm struggling a little bit with goggles over my glasses. That's fine. I can deal with that. I will deal with that. But the other thing that I was having problems with was my mid layer. So when you're when you're skiing and it is 40 degrees or 35 to 40, you can get away with like a medium thickness base layer and just a jacket or at least I can.
Andrew	You get a T-shirt, sweatshirt and a jacket. Yeah.
Everett	Yeah. Well, yeah. Yeah. Based on based on my body temperature and body regulation, temperature regulation, I can get away with I've got a good base layer bottom or top, excuse me. And I can wear my jacket. I've got an insulated ski jacket. I can wear that. That's fine. But if it gets any colder than that, certainly 32 and below, I need to have a mid layer on or I'm cold. And I've been wearing a fleece. It is a sort of a cinchilla knockoff.
Andrew	Cinchilla being a Patagonia button three quarter.
Everett	Correct. Correct. So I've been wearing this fleece as a mid layer. It's, it's good. The fleece is good. Um, the brand is actually pretty good. It's Duluth training, trading company. We've got one of their, one of their retail stores here in town. And so I picked this thing up. It's fine. It looks good, but just the cut and everything I've been struggling with it. So, um, you know, the fleece is not super high grade. And so it was sometimes a little too warm, sometimes a little too cool. Temperature hasn't been a problem. but really just like movement range of motion in my shoulders, arms, because the arm hole locations and whatever, I just wasn't digging it. And so I went in search of a mid layer and I found something and I think it might be really cool. So this is a North face product and you had recognized him earlier that perhaps a SKU is going out of stock, which is maybe a good thing for you if you want it right now.
Andrew	Yeah, right now, like in the next week.
Everett	Right now. And maybe there'll be another evolution of this in the future. But this is a hybrid mid layer, which means it is got a breathable, you'd call this micro fleece. That might be accurate. I thought I'm going to call it a very thin fleece arm, shoulder sides of your body and then a down it's not down it's a synthetic down they call it thermo ball but a down chest stomach and then back so so basically the top it's a reverse combat shirt that's right that's exactly right it's a reverse combat shirt so you've got fleece or you've got you've got down like quilted down synthetic down on your chest and stomach and on your back which theoretically will create some warmth there and some protection from the elements And then you've got a relatively breathable polyester fleece everywhere else that is going to not trap heat. So it will keep you warm, but also keep you warm. That's right. Dry quickly, provide a layer of insulation, but also expel excess body heat. Reverse combat shirt. That's what it is. Super flexible, like no limitation of my range of motion. It feels comfortable. It is. It's not bulky like even a micro puff would be.
Andrew	Um, it's micro puff.
Everett	It is micro puff on the chest, but because it doesn't cover your shoulders and because it doesn't cover your, it's not even your armpits, your ribs and armpits, it's just your front and back. You don't feel that bulk at all.
Andrew	So nano puff plate carrier.
Everett	I think this thing might be the answer. I'm dope. It kind of looks funny because you've got this quilted portions on your front and back. But whatever, it's not meant for looking good.
Andrew	But it does look good.
Everett	It's like very, you know, white J's and... It's got a giant helmet hood, which is not functional unless you're wearing a helmet. It's functional. It will go over your head and then you can put like all your extra shit in there.
Andrew	And your helmet and, you know, three extra pairs of underwear. That's right. Talk about a good flying jacket. We're talking about your half your carry on could fit just insulating your melon.
Everett	Um, yeah, no, this is, this is great. So I've had it and I haven't skied in it, but I've worn it and you know, you can just kind of tell, you know, right.
Andrew	As soon as you put something on and you're like, yep, that's it.
Everett	That's it. So, uh, I got this for 75 bucks at a North face outlet, but they're available on evo.com. Andrew's going to put a link in the show notes.
Andrew	I will 87 99.
Everett	Yeah. And for the quality of materials here that you're getting and the quality of the product and the reputable brand and sure it's made in Vietnam, like
Unknown	And you're getting like you're getting good product.
Everett	So the the North Face Thermo Ball synthetic down product is a cutting edge product.
Andrew	It's right on the cusp of everyone else's synthetic nano down kind of shit.
Everett	Correct. So for 85 bucks or if you're close to a North Face outlet, you maybe try bumping in there for you save a couple bucks.
Andrew	But doesn't Nike have North Face at their outlet?
Everett	You know, I'm not sure about that. Is that is that a thing? Are Nike and North Face connected? Aren't they? I don't know. I do know that Columbia bought Mountain Hardwear and that Mountain Hardwear's products have plummeted in quality since that happened.
Andrew	But I used to really like Mountain Hardwear.
Everett	Yeah. No, they suck now. But yeah, anyway, this is a great jacket. Link will be in the show notes. I really like it.
Andrew	I like it. It's an interesting color. Yeah, this is like kind of a minty green.
Everett	It's like that digi camo tan like the it's.
Andrew	Yeah, it's neither.
Everett	It's neither desert nor woodland like that circa 2007 army and ambiguously tan color.
Andrew	I loved ACUs. They were ridiculous.
Everett	I, I did not like ACUs, but I have a lot of them still. I have so many. I think I have like 12 pair of ACUs laying around.
Andrew	I have a few ACU whoopies that I just love.
Everett	Uh, yeah, I think four whoopies are cool.
Andrew	I don't love the ACU part. I just love the whoopie part.
Everett	Andrew, do you mind if I take just a second to thank our sponsors? I think we need to. Can we just say, can we just like break the fourth wall here? I mean, it's a podcast, so there's not really a fourth wall. Yeah. Look, you guys, the whole point of this. So you may have noticed these brands that are sponsors are all owned by partners, which of WatchClicker, which is to say.
Andrew	Are you accusing me of something right now?
Everett	No, no, I'm not. No, no. I'm just saying all that to say the sponsorship is being paid by sweat equity. We are doing this because we want you to pay us in cash monies as opposed to these sweat equities.
Andrew	If you've got a brand, a company, a thing that you think would add value to the type of people who listen to this podcast and you know who you are.
Unknown	You know who you are.
Andrew	You know who you are. If you're doing a thing that's awesome and we all would think is awesome. Reach out to us because we want to plug you. We want to support you. just for listening. Because, you know, this is like, we're, we're friends, we're family, we're all in this together. And we want to be able to put you up on a platform and say, look at this. This is a cool shit that this person is doing.
Everett	On that note, this episode of 40 and 20, the Watch Clicker podcast has been brought to you by, I'm going to change it up, Franco Frontier Photography. offering images and video of real watches on real adventures, your favorite divers from 100 feet below to 14,000 feet up. Frank is now accepting underwater bookings for March of 2023, rapidly approaching at affrontography.com.
Andrew	And look forward to meeting Frank next week. He's going to be here.
Andrew	And you're going to hear from him.
Everett	By Escape the Media, if you are 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.
Andrew	He does really great family photography too.
Everett	And Foster Watches, great effing watches. Check out the 11 Atmos Skin Diver now on sale at fosterwatches.com. Links to all of those available in the show notes. If you, if you, want to advertise in 40 and 20. Please, please give us a holler. Send an email to hello at WatchClicker.com to talk about options. And thank you for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20, the WatchClicker podcast. Check us out on our website, WatchClicker.com. That's where the goods are. Every episode of this podcast, as well as weekly reviews, articles, all of that stuff, sometimes many times per week. You can check us out on Instagram at watch clicker or at 40 and 20 underscore watch clicker. There's a story there. If you want to support what we're doing, you can do that at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. Look right now, that's where we get all of the money to pay for things like hosting software and hardware. And it is, it is not a small amount of money. For all our current patrons, we love you and appreciate you.
Unknown	And for all of you who are thinking about it, come on over.
Everett	You can pay a buck an episode, two bucks an episode, whatever you want. It's totally voluntary. You can listen to this without ever paying us a dime. But if you do want to support what we're doing, patreon.com slash 40 and 20. And don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Bye bye.