Episode 224 - Size Matters

Published on Thu, 09 Feb 2023 06:38:57 -0800

Synopsis

The podcast discusses watches that should have a different size than their current dimensions. The hosts and guests share their opinions on various watch models like the Orient Bambino, Bulova Lunar Pilot, Omega Speedmaster, Marathon GPQ, Ball Engineer III, Rolex G-Shock, and Tag Heuer Monaco. They argue that some watches would be better if they were slightly smaller or larger in size to improve wearability and aesthetics. The hosts also discuss other topics like cast iron skillets and the TV show "The Last of Us."

Transcript

Speaker
Andrew Hello fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 in 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 You know, I'm so good. I tell you this thing we do, it's, it's weird, right? We have a podcast.
Andrew Uh, that's weird, but it's a weird thing that people do.
Unknown Yeah.
Andrew Especially since we don't have man buns.
Everett Oh, I sometimes do.
Andrew You do sometimes. I don't have the requisite equipment.
Everett You know, it's really good, right? Yeah. I mean, this is like, uh, this weekly ritual, but also just like a time that I think most people don't make for themselves. I don't think most people make this kind of time.
Andrew Right? No. And most people's spouses don't have like a, just an accepted chunk of time carved out every night of the week. for me to hang out with my friend.
Everett Yeah. Not every night of the week. One night of every week, I think.
Andrew No, we record every night. It's just, we only publish one a week.
Everett Don't tell the wives.
Andrew Yeah. No, they think we're on thousands of episodes in, um, we just tell them there's a lot of, a lot of spit takes on a cut scenes, if you will.
Everett Yeah, that's right. Uh, no, but really good. Really good. There are a number of, There are a number of stressors in my life as per the usual, but they're good. I feel like it's a good level of stress right now. And I'm, and I'm excited about our topic tonight. I'm just good, man. I'm happy.
Andrew How are you? I'm also good. Just plugging along. I had a pretty unproductive weekend, which is simultaneously really refreshing and also really stressful. Cause I'm one of those people that stresses. during relaxation about all the things that I probably ought to be doing. So it was a little bit of a mixed bag of emotions for me this weekend, but opposite. I chilled. I chilled. Good. And that's what I needed.
Unknown Good.
Andrew Good. And now we're here talking about watches. I did over the weekend watch, um, it was called fear city and it was a Netflix documentary highlighting the FBI's 1980s takedown of the five families. Oh, uh, so like right on the heels of the, uh, Donnie Brasco infiltration of a mafia family, they were like, Hey, we can do this. We just need to figure out how, and it's a story of how they decided that they were going to apply Rico to, uh, organized crime. Um, but one of the things that I kept hearing was like friends of ours and you know, my good friend or like, you know, this is my friend. Like, so every time, like, it got me thinking about our intro where it's like, I'm a good friend ever. And I'm like, I wonder how that would be perceived in mafia terms. We are the mafia. Yeah. Yeah. We're just not very influential or anything.
Everett Or illegal. Uh, I do have a, before we get into our topic tonight, I do have, well, I want to start with a story. Is that okay? It's a short story. It's an anecdote perhaps. A few years ago, I, purchased a NATO strap from a company called Crown & Buckle. Pretty well known company, big company. I purchased one of their Supreme NATOs based on a recommendation from... Supreme. Supreme. Based on a recommendation from Will, the Watch Clicker Editor-in-Chief, aka Daddy. And so I purchased this thing and I got it and it was good. I liked it. But I then proceeded to tag for several posts, crown and caliber in my posts about the crown and buckle Supreme NATO. Uh, and at one point we'll said, why have you tagged crown and caliber in that post? And it hit me all at once. So I know the difference between crown and buckle and crown and caliber at that time I had purchased. a very expensive for me watch from crown and caliber. I was not confused about the actual existence or the distinction between the two companies. It was just one of those things, right?
Andrew When you, when you start to type in an ad, you get like a list of options. You click one that seems right. And you move on with your life because social media is not about spell check. It is about existing.
Everett That's right. So all that to say that was embarrassing and funny. And I laughed at myself about it. It's with this story in mind that I'm going to tell you a more recent story. So last week talking about our former writer, Mike Razak, who we fired, who we have fired for causing, uh, talking about Mike Razak, I had mentioned that Mike left us to go write for, to edit the blog Tempest Fugit. and then had left Tempus Fugit to join Worn and Wound. That is not true. No. I know that's not true. I knew the existence of the two blogs, A Blog to Watch and Worn and Wound. I know the difference. I know the people. I thought he wrote for Hodinkee. I know the people, the individuals on both of those staffs, most of them personally. Uh, I'm not actually confused. Mike is now writing for a blog to watch. Mike Rezak is not watching, writing for worn and wound. Yeah. Corrections, corrections, corrections. I apologize. Uh, Mike sent us a text message and said, thank you. I've now received many, many, many messages for people calling to congratulate me on my new position. Uh, sorry. I'm sorry, Mike. I'm sorry to all of you. Mike Razek, AKA Mike Scott watches, is writing for a blog to watch and not worn and wound, which I knew. And I do know that those are different places. I apologize. Sometimes we say things.
Andrew And I don't think he deserved the apology.
Everett And with that, Andrew, we're talking about watches.
Andrew We got there. Finally, what are we at? That was a long apology. Seven on the dot. Seven minutes of apology for Mike. We're talking about watches today. And this is a topic inspired by an article. No, not by an article. It's inspired by a watch that Mike just recently posted on a blog to watch regarding the release of the finally appropriately sized, Bulova lunar pilot.
Unknown Yeah.
Andrew And this is a watch that I've loved for a long time, but I could never get it. It's the first time I tried it on. I was like, you're kidding me. I can't wear this. It's way too big. I love everything about this watch, but for how it fits on my wrist. But 45 millimeters is just... It's just too much, especially when the source material is not 45 millimeters. Yeah, that's right. We're going to do a reissue and we're going to do a big. Oh, you mean literally big. You're actually going to make it bigger than than the original. That's an interesting take. But that's what Bulova did. And that's what they maintained for a long time. Until now. Where they've released a true to spec sizing.
Everett Yeah. Case, case sizes.
Andrew True to spec case size of the original lunar, lunar pilot lunar lander.
Everett Yeah. I think they called it the moon watch at one point. And then that, that was. It's had some names. That was obviously not good. So the Bulova lunar pilot. Yeah. Um, They've released this in a 43 and a half, which as Andrew says, that's the original size of this prototype watch that was never actually produced.
Andrew Um, but there were instances of it being worn to the moon.
Everett And so that got us thinking, it got us thinking what watches, what watches exist in the world that ought to be a different size in our minds, what watches exist that ought to be a different size. Uh, now, We came up with this idea and we're like, yeah, this is great. And we ran into a problem.
Andrew We did.
Everett Which is that as of late, there's a lot of variety in watch sizing. I think that by and large, most of the watches that exist in weird sizes have been corrected, right? You know, you brought up a list earlier and I liked it, right? You talked about the Tudor Black Bay. You talked about the Tudor Ranger. You know, and there's any number of watches that we could bring up in this show. Maybe you have a few more, but it seems like there's a trend towards companies kind of fixing their watch sizes, right? We just talked about the Sealander, or not the Sealander, the CW 60 300 meter Trident watch, which has been released in a 38, a 40 and a 42 millimeter version. We're starting to see a lot of that kind of thing. And so I think this episode is harder than either of us expected.
Andrew Yeah. Cause when I was, when I went to thinking about watches that I was like, Oh, I need a, you know, I want a Ranger at 38. Oh, I have that. I didn't previously. I want the C63 and a 36. I have that. Oh, the Black Bay. I also have that. It's like all these companies are, they're fixing the things. It's like my one bitch was, I don't want that. That watch is just too big. It's bigger than I want it to be, which is not to say it's too big because it's appropriate for a lot of people, but it's bigger than I want. And I think companies are seeing that and they saw the opportunity to create a little bit of size variety within a single line and capitalize on some missed sales. And they're getting those sales. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. So we have each come with a list. Uh, Will didn't ever get back to us, you know, so he doesn't get a list, but we also pulled Mike. He's we're going to have some of his input here cause he provoked some thought about watches that speak to us in every regard but for their dimensions. That's all we want. We just want a size change and this watch is mine. Andrew, do you want to lead us off here? I am going to lead us off and I'm going to start with the Orient Bambino family. All right. I'm an owner of a Bambino of the OG Bambino, which is like what? Forty one and a half, something like that.
Everett Yeah. Forty and a half or 40.
Andrew Forty and a half. Forty one. It doesn't matter. It's too big. It's too big is all dial and all polish. So it seems really big. And what? Two years ago, Orient a year doesn't matter. Yeah. More recently than that. Yeah. Orient dropped a thirty eight and a half millimeter iteration of the Bambino, which for those of you who are somehow Unaware is their line of dress watches And they've got you know a whole variety of them they've got Actually a pretty significant variety of Bambinos ranging from open heart to your Just run-of-the-mill three-hand dress watch with a date window. I Have the OG big one, that's too big As a result, I don't wear it. Cause it's just too big. I'm told 38 in person is money.
Everett It is. Yeah. You know, you, you put this on your list and I thought, I think I disagree.
Andrew I think they've fixed this watch, but here's the thing for this dress watch. That is all dial all polish. This in my mind needs to be 36 And no more. Because it looks big. Because it's all dialed. There's nothing else. There's nothing sucking light into the watch. It's just all there. This is a classically designed, as you'd expect it to be, dress watch. It should be a 36. And you were like, oh, the 38's really good. I'm like, okay, well, that's really cool. But imagine this big ass dome sapphire looking like a 1963 at 36. And that's what it should be. That's what this dress watch should be. 36, no more. But because Orient, I would be willing to accept 36 and a half with 17 millimeter lugs because that's what Orient does. that would make this watch perfect for me, and I'd buy one even from their website at $410.
Everett Yeah, for my part, I actually think they nailed this, and I told you that. But I see your argument, and you're right, being so much dial, it still wears pretty big. I think they did great, and I think it's a little bit like asking for a And expanded NCAA playoff and then asking for, for more and more, right? Like at some point it's just silly, right? Like the reason we went to four is because some years there was more than two teams that had a claim. And now we're talking about 12 or whatever, right?
Andrew They changed the landscape and it should be an eight, 18 playoff. And that I, that's pretty reasonable, but it's not a good comparison.
Everett And so, you know, we say, well, the Bambino is too big. Like, they're like, okay, well, it's smaller. And you're like, oh, it's still too big.
Andrew Because they did the orient thing. They kind of did the thing. They were like, oh, well, it's too big.
Everett No, it's a little too big. No, I think I think it's a good call.
Andrew You know, the we're, we're, we're nitpicking millimeters here, right? We're talking about the difference between a 38 and a 36, which when in passing, you're not going to see, but in like in a true examination of the watch, this is a more appropriate 36 millimeter dress watch than it is 38 or 40.
Everett Yeah, I think we start we're starting to get to the point where we're going to see a return to like 36 millimeter dress watches as as a norm. It's maybe just happening. It's we're just starting to see that because we're seeing 36 millimeter sport watches. But, you know, all of a sudden people are picking up 38 millimeter Seamaster or 36 millimeter Seamasters. And it's like, yo, that looks dope, right? We're going to start to see that. And so I won't, although I'll disagree with you, I won't disagree with you. Is that fair?
Andrew No. You're either all in or you're all out. Well, I'm going to build a little balcony for you to sit outside my window and record for subsequent episodes.
Everett I'm down in the summer for sure.
Andrew Right now.
Everett Yeah, no, I hear what you're saying. So it's a good choice.
Andrew That's my first pick. This is a watch that I like so much I own it, right? I want it to be smaller and this is not small enough for this watch.
Everett So true to our lead up, I picked a watch today that I thought, well, this is a great pick. This is a watch that's out of my price range, but that I've worn and thought it's too big. I picked the IWC Portugieser Automatic.
Andrew Portuguesier, I think is how you would say that.
Everett And for those of you that don't know, it's a, it's a big watch. I think it's just a hair over 42. 42.3.
Andrew Because why could you, like, why not just keep things, you know, even.
Everett But then I learned that IWC in the last, during COVID in any event, released, a Portugieser in both 38 and 40, so I had to scratch that from my list. But in any event, I replaced it with the next watch on my list that really fits the same type of concept. And this, I think, goes along with your Bambino pick pretty closely. But this is a watch that has always been too big, that's beloved by many people, but is still too big. has not been modified by the company and is still too big. And that's the Seiko Cocktail Time. So the Seiko Cocktail Time was a 6R, one of these Prisaj watches that originally had a 6R movement and has been downgraded to a 4R movement because the 6R movement just doesn't make a ton of sense. But there's, you know, the classic Cocktail Time I think is that sort of crystalline blue Beautiful. Just a stunning watch. The poor man's snowflake. It is way too big. So this is a, this watch I think is 41 millimeters or maybe not quite 40, 40 millimeters, 40 and a half, excuse me. Beautiful. Just an absolutely stunning watch. And you can get it in a lot of different colorways now as part of the standard Presage lineup. they're releasing these things in lots of different versions. So you can get like a triple gold, not real gold, obviously. Um, you can get still the classic blue, you can get greens. They have like brass colored versions and you know, you name it, you can find a presage cocktail time. And it's still an amazing watch, but it's too fucking big. I think that like your advice for the Bambino, this watch is a 37 to 38 millimeter watch. Max could be smaller, but I think it fits in that 37 to 38 millimeter space, or at least it would.
Andrew I think with the design cues, they could, they can be bold and do this in 34 and blow it out.
Everett Oh boy. You're, you're crazy.
Andrew I think they could do really well with this.
Everett Yeah. And so they did release some smaller, I should say, they did in 2020 release some smaller cocktail time watches. They're problematic. They're not the same. The cases are different. The dials are in my mind, not attractive and they don't do the same thing.
Andrew They're not cocktail sun dials. They're a whole new line. If you're going to make a new line, make a new line. Seiko is not lazy.
Everett And. Supposedly earlier this year. There's a 39 millimeter cocktail time that's been released, but I have not seen one of these these in the wild, and I don't think they actually exist. It's also not enough. I don't think they actually exist. And even and you're right, even at 39 millimeters, this watch is too big. I don't think these actually exist though.
Andrew Are they only rendering photos available?
Everett No, no. There's some reviews on them online, but I'm, I'm having trouble. Is it like actually, yeah, actually believing they exist. And, and I don't think so. They're calling them 39, but I think they're closer to 40, which is 39.7.
Andrew That's right.
Everett That's right.
Andrew So we shaved the crown.
Everett So All that to say, all that to say, I don't think that, I don't think that there have been changes to this watch that allow us to say they fixed it. The cocktail time is the wrong size and unless until they fix it, I'll stand by that. Same as your Bambino.
Andrew It's exactly the same as the Bambino because the Bambino is, the entry level cocktail time. Yeah, it really is. It's that super 70s dress watch feel, you know, maybe even earlier than 70s. But the design cues that I see in here are really like late 60s, 70s inspired. And it just shouldn't exist north of 37. Yeah, I think that's that. And these are Dress watches by design. And I totally get that the market has shifted and style has shifted, had shifted. It's not has anymore. It's going back. But there was a point in time where you weren't going to be able to sell a 36 millimeter watch to men. You just weren't. Yeah. I accept that. I just want these companies to be a little bit more nimble in their response to like, Oh no, no, we have this. We have a catalog and we're ready for this. and let us get like, let us, like, let's get excited about where it's no longer the Invicta days. Like, like watch people and people who are looking for watches that are making a meaningful purchase are no longer going to the Timex Ironman. You're not wearing an Ironman under your suit anymore because it's not this cool quartz thing. Wear a dress watch again. Right. Because that's what's cool. And then these cocktail times are what, 450, 550?
Everett Yeah, depending on what you're getting between 400 and 500, um, or between really 300 and 500. Um, I'm looking, you can find the aviation cocktail times, these 39 millimeters, you can find them right now for $469. So they're real.
Andrew They're real, but they're not small enough. Yeah.
Everett They're fakes. 39 and a half.
Andrew That's not different. Good Lord. Yeah. I love, I love the cocktail time designs. These are one of the first watches that I saw and just was smitten by every dial is unique and beautiful and deliberate. And then these were my gateway drug into grand Seiko. Grand Seiko. Grand Seiko. And it it's a really cool thing that Seiko does in their dial texture in this affordable space that's really unique to the cocktail time. I think.
Everett Andrew, watch number two. Watch numero. Go. Two.
Andrew Do you have.
Everett Don't fucking do it.
Andrew Do you have the booze queued? Don't fucking do it. The Speedmaster Pro.
Unknown Mm hmm.
Andrew Mm hmm. And you didn't bring it tonight to like reinforce my decision.
Everett No, you know what? We don't normally do watch checks, but I wore my Hamilton khaki aviation automatic tonight, which I think is like big old bitch.
Andrew Forty three and a half. But you know what? It's right. It's right. It's right. It's got these really beautiful crown guards. It's all dial. It's straight pilots watch. And I wore the OG pilots watch and the Cartier Santos, um, which in the medium, and if a small existed, I would have bought it. Uh, but yeah, it's the, it's the speed master for me and I've, I've worn your speed master a lot and I've, I've tried on other speed masters. Every time I've put it on, I've just been like, I love you. But you're not the one for me. Yeah, this it's maybe it's wrist shape. But honestly, for I think it's the lug to lug for as around as that watches. It's not. It's quite ovular, ovular.
Everett Oval shaped, ovular sounds like a reproductive term to me.
Andrew What is the adjective for an oval? Oval shaped. Okay. It's oval shaped. Uh, it's long. Yeah. It's lug to lug is, is like two millimeters too long for my comfort. And it makes it feel slappy. It like hangs over my wrist. It doesn't have the curve that I want to like, Suck it down because long lug to lug is like you can deal with that with sweeping lugs. It just doesn't have that. And it super bums me out. Because I really want a Speedmaster. But I don't like it. Yeah. And it's like that's a hard place to be in, to love something and simultaneously not want it because it's just not for me. And I don't like the reduced because I don't like the dial change. Everyone's like, oh, you don't like the Speedmaster, get the reduced. I'm like, no, fuck the reduced. I don't want the reduced. I want a Speedmaster, but it just doesn't work for me. And that's my thing. I just wish they would scale the Speedmaster down, like grab the top right corner of the design and just like pinch it a little bit. And put that out in a millimeter and a half, two millimeters smaller in every dimension, and call it the Speedmaster Pro for you. And I'll buy it. I want it.
Everett Have you by any chance tried on the newest, the new 2021 Speedmaster? Because I understand that it's.
Unknown I don't know that I have.
Everett I understand that it's smaller. I understand that it's a shorter lug to lug on the new one. 47 and a half, which is maybe a full millimeter shorter.
Andrew I thought the pros at 47, the the.
Everett So the new Speedy Pro, I think it's 47 and a half. My. My older 1861 Pro is a touch over 48. Is it? Yeah. It's like 48 three or whatever. So the 3861 Pro I think is slightly shorter and I think it actually has a little bit more curve to the case. If not actually more curve, functionally it probably sits a little lower.
Andrew See that changes the game a little bit. But the fact remains that up until that release, that's what I want. I want just a slightly shorter lug to lug. I'm okay with the case width.
Unknown Yeah.
Everett Yeah, no, it's the right, the case width is right.
Andrew Because the case width is right. The bezel width is right. Everything's right about it. But it's just it's just a touch too long. And even when you look at the Speedmaster top down, you can look at it and you can say, all right, you can either add some sweep to these lugs, you can shorten these lugs and you're not going to really change the look of this watch. You could even change just the bar placement. Yeah. And achieve what I need.
Everett You know, it would be worth trying it on. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on it because nobody's talking about that as a resizing of that watch, but I do believe that it probably wears a touch shorter. So, you know, I think it's a minority of people who are, have normally sized wrists or average size wrists, I should say, such as yourself who can't wear that watch. Um, for whatever reason, because I have cylinders. Yeah, no, I, I understand. And I've seen it and I know the phenomena you're talking about. It might be worth a trial on that. So yeah, time to go to an AD. That's right. Let's, let's make it true.
Andrew That's my, my complaint. And I, as many times I've worn a Speedmaster and as in love with that watch as I am, it's just too long for me. Yeah. And that's, you know, that's a real problem.
Everett It is.
Andrew I like girth, you know, not a length guy.
Everett You're a bit of a size queen. Yeah. Watch number dos.
Andrew For you.
Everett For me.
Andrew Three overall.
Everett For me. I'm going to go with a watch from our Canadian friends at Marathon.
Andrew This was a good choice. I really appreciate that you made this choice because all of my gripes were in the opposite direction.
Everett And I'm going to go with the Marathon GPQ. or General Purpose Quartz, although the General Purpose Automatic is also 34 millimeters. This watch is, if you don't know what a Marathon General Purpose Quartz, this is their entry-level watch. They cost, I believe, $240 at retail.
Andrew From Marathon.com, I'm sure you can get them cheaper.
Everett You can get them both with tritium, I believe, or perhaps they've moved them all over to their proprietary, I think it's like a Lumabright clone called Mariglo, which is fun. But this is a quartz resin cased military spec banger at 34 millimeters. They're insanely cool. They're cool. Fixed lugs, no nonsense, kind of an oversized crown, a little bit of an asymmetric case. The General Purpose Quartz is a rad watch that is too, it's too small.
Andrew Yes. And for a company like Marathon to do something too small, like what the fuck?
Everett Also, I'm going to say something else about this case. They say it's 34 millimeters. I've had one of these in calipers and I believe I had it at like 33.2 at the widest portion. This watch is incredibly small. 16 millimeter lugs and you've got to wear it on like a pass through. It's a tough watch. It's for me, it's tough because I'm like, I want to like it. And it's just, it's just too small.
Andrew Everything about it says it should be a baller banging field watch. Yes. It's just too small.
Everett I want to love it.
Andrew You need it at 36, probably a 38. Yeah. I think 18 or 20 millimeter lugs. You just need this thing scaled up. It's just it's two. It's like it was their attempt at a ladies watch, but they made one of their coolest tool watches. Totally useless at 34.
Everett I think 36 and a half or 37 would be perfect. 18 millimeter lugs because 16 millimeter. 16 millimeter lugs is is also tough, right? It's tough to find 16 millimeter. You can get them. It's not impossible. But your options are seriously limited.
Andrew And for those of us who buy spring bars in bulk, we have so many 16 millimeter spring bars. That's right. So many. But we don't need them because they're fixed lugs. So it's like, well, at least I have them. I can maybe buy some more 16 millimeter lug watches.
Everett So you make this thing 36 and a half or 37. They're thin.
Andrew There's some other problems. Well, because they're quartz, they're thin, they're resin, they're super light. It's kind of like wearing an F91.
Everett There's some other problems with this watch, right? It's got insufficient water resistance at 30 meters. But that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. If it were just wearable, I would be in. And it's obviously wearable. You can wear it. You can wear anything you want. But for me, it's just too small. The rent is too damn high.
Andrew It's a sapphire. I mean, like all the things that they put into this and just, what were they thinking?
Unknown Yeah.
Everett Well, and they sell a lot of them too. Great movement. It's their high impact fiber shell case.
Andrew Honestly, I think this is their attempt at a lady's watch.
Everett Yeah. I don't think that that's true. I think it's a throwback tiny little, and in fairness, the marathon navigator, which is, a watch that I love.
Andrew I might get one this year.
Everett And that we've talked about on this show. It's a 41 millimeter watch, and it does a lot of the same things aesthetically and design-wise.
Andrew It's got a better asymmetric case.
Everett And a better asymmetric case, yeah. So this is what I want a marathon for. It's an actual asymmetric case. This is... They're kind of similar watches, but I want the general purpose quartz. I also want the Navigator. I want the general purpose courts to be a practical watch, and it's not. It's at 34 for me.
Andrew No, because at 34, you're beginning to compromise legibility.
Everett By all accounts, legibility is good, and I've worn this watch a lot. I haven't worn it a lot, but I've worn it enough to be comfortable with that. I don't remember having a problem with the legibility. With that said, I did have a problem with just the way it felt on my wrist.
Andrew It's an F91, but it's 250 bucks.
Everett It feels the same as an F91. When you put the F91 on and you're like, this is cool, but a little too small. It feels like that.
Andrew I'm going to be a suicide bomber.
Everett And the F91 is fine because it's a tiny little digital and that works. This watch is too cool for that.
Andrew Yeah. I want, I want, if this is a 36, I have a couple of them.
Everett Maybe, maybe B2. Yeah. Yeah. They feel swatchy, right? You put them on and it feels like a swatch.
Andrew No, yeah. It's the resin and the tiny.
Everett So that's it.
Andrew And the inevitably terrible nylon that it comes on.
Everett That's right. That you can't, that you basically are stuck with because it's really hard to find 16 millimeter straps.
Andrew Yeah. Gotcha, bitch.
Everett All right. What's your next one?
Andrew My, Last watch. The ball engineer three, the ball insert watch of your choice here because they're all too fucking big ball skin diver. So but for me specifically, it's not the ball skin. See, engineer three Marvel light chronometer at 40. I love.
Everett ball. I know you do.
Andrew In and around my face. I think what they do is so cool. Somehow inside these two things that are not attached to your body, but are kind of attached to your body, they create people. The Swiss watch company does watches. Also by the name of Ball. That are amazing. They're beautiful. They're finishing is great. They're using tritium illumination. It's so cool, but too big.
Everett And I think Ball is using 904L steel and they've got like great, They've got great names. I think their anti-shock is called like the amortizer.
Andrew Yeah. It's a, it's a weird, they, they've proprietized all of their names for the same things that everyone else is doing.
Everett I think that they're, they're like, uh, Diashield or whatever is like called woo metal, moo metal, something like that.
Andrew It doesn't matter because what they're doing is awesome. It's awesome.
Everett Yeah. Agreed.
Andrew I've not seen a single watch from them that I wasn't like, ooh, ooh. And I look at the spec sheet and I'm like, eh.
Everett Who the fuck do they think they are? IWC? Exactly.
Andrew And they're not making pilots watches. They're making sport watches. Their divers are appropriately sized.
Everett So how much is this watch? Or how big is this watch?
Andrew So this watch is a 40. Right? It's, it's a 40 millimeter sport watch, which it's the Cinderella size.
Everett It's the name of our podcast for him, but it absolutely is.
Andrew But, but that's not where things are trending and they're not hip to it. If this Marvel light chronometer, cause they have multiple, uh, cause they're using tritium. They can affect the color of their. Bloom, so my like what I really want is the rainbow. Where it's like seven, eight different color and it's not 12 different colors. There's some repeats. But every marker is a different color. It's not just doesn't matter. You all know what their rainbow looks like. I love it. But I'm not in the market for a 40 millimeter sport watch right now. 38? I'm all in. 36? I'll pay you double. But that's like that. It just bums me out because they're not like they have sub 40 millimeter watches. But they're their ladies category. which are like 31, 32 and also come with gemstones. I want Movado with tritium tubes. I want a ball engineer with rainbow loom. That's what I want and I want them, I just want them to go smaller and they're not going smaller and they seem to be holding fast to their 40 millimeter space. And ball has a super cool history and a really cool association with railway timing and you're getting chronometers from them at, uh, 2,500 bucks. Like this is, they're doing cool stuff. If you want a watch that's bigger than it really should be.
Unknown Yeah.
Andrew Everything, but for the size. They have cool anti-magnetism. That's like one of their jams is their anti-magnetism is fucking off the charts.
Everett They got the amortizer.
Andrew Yeah. I don't know what 80,000 is relative to other people. I remember, I remember reading once about magnetism and like the general, Anti-mag that you're getting in a watch. Protects you from your refrigerator. And that is all.
Unknown Mm hmm.
Andrew Which is reasonable because you go to the fridge a lot. It's way less than 80000. 27 gas tubes. On this watch. For loom. Every minute, hour marker hands. The whole thing. It's super cool. I love tritium. I just want them to make it smaller and also not so thick. They're 13 six there. These are some chunky bitches. I just want them smaller.
Everett Yeah. I think that ISO compliance is something like 60 gauss, um, or 4,800. anti bags or whatever. So, yeah, it's it's a it's a big number. This is a great watch, but they're they're specked off the charts.
Andrew Yeah. And then they're just too big. If they were at 38, I'd have perhaps more than one.
Andrew Yeah. Yeah. Every and that's the whole that's the whole line. That's it's not just this watch is the entire ball lineup is there. 40 millimeters is their floor. They do not go below it until they're into their ladies category where they exist between 30 and 33.
Everett So much like your second pick of the Omega Speedmaster Pro.
Andrew Are you about to ruffle some feathers?
Everett I think I'll ruffle some feathers, but others, the more sane and rational amongst our, uh, amongst our audience will be like, hell yeah, brother. I'm gonna, this is a beloved watch. It's a gem. It's a watch that's been adorned by the likes of John Mayer.
Andrew Stone Cold Steve Austin, probably.
Everett Perhaps. I'm going to throw one out there that feels almost too obvious, but because it's too obvious, it's too obvious. I'm going to throw out the Rolex, the Casio G-Shock. the 6900 series. So I own a 6900. I sometimes wear that 6900.
Andrew You're one of a kind.
Everett You know, I'm a 5600 guy, right? When it comes to G Shock, it's a 5600 for me. And the main reason, there's a couple reasons, but the main reason is because it's really well sized. It is not a dainty watch. But it's a very well-sized watch for what it is. Not true of the 6900. The 6900 is a beast. Beefcake. And while I can appreciate the need for such a watch, or even the occasion for such a watch, for me, on a day-to-day basis, it is simply too big.
Andrew As a person who lives in the world that occasions for the size of a watch exist, this is still too big of a watch.
Everett It's too big. And it's too big for me, not just because of the size. And at 50 millimeters, it covers a lot of wrist. Yeah. At 50 millimeters, it covers a lot of wrist. I also think its proportions are off. Now, hear me out.
Andrew You're 100% right.
Everett The 5600 has, because of its compactness, a certain amount of detail that is all pushed in. It gives the case some intricacy. And when you wear it, you can see the details. The details look right. The 6900 to me looks like it was designed to be a smaller watch. And rather than rather than sizing it up and increasing the level of detail, they just zoomed in. And so you've got resolution problems.
Andrew Well, but it also looks like it was designed to be a much bigger watch because you can't read any of the sub dials.
Everett That's right. That's right.
Andrew In order to read this watch, it needs to be 20% larger.
Everett The dial is overly crowded and the details on the case molds are too, uh, they've been zoomed in on, but not refined. And I think it's a problematic watch. I know it's beloved. I know that there's a ton of great versions of this. I know that people love them. I have one and I like it. I don't love it because it's too big. And that's a watch that needs to be fixed.
Andrew At least fix the sub-dials. Make them more legible, because they're not legible. Even in 50 millimeters, this watch does not have legible sub-dials.
Everett I don't care about legibility, I'll be honest with you.
Andrew I want to know what I'm looking at. I don't want to have to memorize what each sub-dial does and tells me. So when I loom it up, I'm like, oh, that's what I'm looking at.
Everett I don't use the sub-dials. I mean, I have them on the watch and they're in use, but I don't actually.
Andrew Then maybe they're not useful and you delete them from the design. I know I I'm, I'm a hundred percent with you. This is a, this is problematic because it's simultaneously too big and too small.
Everett That's right.
Unknown That's right.
Andrew Which is weird. But I also still really like it.
Everett Well, I think that we have come one step closer to fixing the world of watches.
Andrew Drew, allow me to to provide our honorable mentions for Mike, who was the only one who contributed to the request. The Tag Heuer Monaco, and I actually I disagree with him on this one.
Everett Nope, I agree 100%, too big.
Andrew I love the dimensions on this watch. As a person who is a square watch lover, I think the dimensions are right. It retains its wrist presence. Because the problem is, if you're trying to... When you get too small with a square watch, then suddenly you're losing your dial. Because we measure differently. in a way that's not really supportive of square watch wearing.
Everett You know, this is a big GFY watch, and so I dig it. GFY watches should be big, but I think to actually wear, I agree with Mike, it's too big.
Andrew The Monaco chronograph is 39 millimeters.
Everett Which wears like a 50. It does. I don't know if you've worn that watch. It's fucking huge.
Andrew I disagree with you. It's a big watch. But I really like it. I, I, I do agree that it could be a little bit, a little bit smaller, like pull it down to like a 37, but that's his first pick. Second pick Breitling all, all just, there's not a, there's not a specific, he, he sent the, uh, the super ocean as a specific example, but Breitling, Breitling in general is entirely too big. They've leaned really heavily into this big pilot watch idea. And I totally get that, but also like, I don't know, make watches that are wearable and more people will buy your watches. Cause I love a lot of the Breitling designs and would never wear a 57 millimeter watch.
Everett But you know, when you look at it, when you look at a Navitimer, not a small watch, but for me, it's the right size.
Andrew The Navitimer LCD is like a grail retirement watch for me.
Everett The Navitimer All. In fact, the 41 millimeter Navitimer, which I've had the occasion to try on. Too small. I want it bigger. So.
Andrew Is that what happened?
Everett Uh. Oh, it was a SuperOcean. No, it was a Navitimer 41 that I didn't like. That you broke? No, no. That was a different watch. I did break a Navitimer. No, the 41 millimeter Navitimer. It was a SuperOcean. Which came out a few years ago. I've tried on and it was too small for me. It's not too small. It's objectively plenty big. But for me, I was like, no, this watch is supposed to be bigger. This is supposed to be a big ass fucking watch.
Andrew But that's the thing is we come to expect, and that's maybe like a weird place that Breitling is trying to exist in, in that we expect them to be big, but maybe not so big. But then when they're not big enough, we're not like, I want a big Breitling. That's what Breitling is. So it's a weird place for Breitling to exist in. And that's it. We've done it. We've covered a bunch of watches. We've talked about a bunch of size bitches. Just do the things that I want to do.
Everett Do it.
Andrew I will maybe buy them.
Everett Do it the way we say. Yeah. Andrew, other things. What do you got? Go.
Andrew I have another thing. My other thing is cast iron. Oh, skillets specifically. So here's here's the thing. I think everyone gets a little bit scared by cast iron.
Everett Which is stupid because it's so easy.
Andrew It's the easiest thing you'll ever own. But with most cookware, there's this expectation of the more money you spend, the more manner it's going to be.
Unknown Mm hmm.
Andrew When you buy triplies, you should spend more money.
Everett Best buy the most expensive triplet you can.
Andrew Yes. And I have really good triplets. I love them and they're great. That's not the case with cast iron. Right. So when, when you, if you were to Google best cast iron on the market, you're going to come across some stuff. Okay. You're going to come across Victoria, Ozark, like say emerald, you're going to come across at varying degrees at varying price points. You're going to come across a space that exists. If you're looking at a 12 inch cast iron skillet that exists between about $50 and about $500 and your normal, okay, This is what I should buy because I want to buy the best. Instincts would suggest you spend closer that $500 mark.
Unknown Right.
Andrew Because that's the normal thing. But the more listicles you go through and the more best ofs and the more not cooking inspired best ofs that host these. And that's where I really, that's where we all should find the gems. If you're looking for a running shoe, like the best running shoe for this application and you find it on a blog dedicated to computer parts, that's meaningful. So I, I routinely go to, goodwill to look for things, like just to find little gems. And I found a lodge and an emerald cast iron.
Everett Both on the entry level price spectrum.
Andrew Yes, both on every list. I paid like 20 bucks for my goodwill. Each. Clean them up, re-season them. They're great. They're good to go. So as I was looking more into it, Lodge finds itself on every single list. Maybe not the top on some instance instances on the top on a lot of them in some it's not, but it's on every list. And here's the thing about Lodge. It costs $25, maybe 40, but it's under a hundred bucks. It comes pre-seasoned, ready to go. I like have this weird thing where I like re-seasoning. So I like the effort. I'll save the $10 to scrub my pan with steel wool for 45 minutes and then re-season it. But here's the thing. Once you get your cast iron seasoned and ready to go, you're going to put your tri-plies away for most applications and not pull them back out. They get super hot, they hold their heat, and here's what's more. They're so easy to clean. While they're still hot, you put it in the sink, you spray it with water, you scrub it with a sponge. You don't even have to use soap, but you can.
Everett But you can, which is a total myth that you can't use.
Andrew Huge misnomer.
Everett Polymerized oils. Cannot be cut by soap. Just just go throw that out there. It's fucking plastic Yes, soap is not gonna touch it.
Andrew Carry on you scrub it with your sponge. I Usually just spray it with some Cooking spray wipe it with a paper towel and then that lives on my stovetop. Mm-hmm for the next use It is Better than any nonstick you're gonna use if you care for it It's just, it's, it's the truth.
Unknown Yeah.
Andrew Throw away your non-sticks cause you're destroying your non-sticks because inevitably somebody in your house is using metal tongs on your non-sticks and scratching it.
Everett Which is putting Teflon into your food.
Andrew And you're eating it. But whereas those of us who are using cast iron are using metal deliberately so as not to melt the plastic apparatus that we're scraping food with. They cook super well, they hold heat super well, they come with lids, they come with all the things. And Lodge is one of the most, if not the most affordable brands on the market and finds itself in every single top five list. They're like between 25, 50 bucks. They come pre-season, you can do some YouTubing, to educate yourself on it, which consists of like, don't put it in the garbage disposal and re-season it occasionally.
Everett Yeah. And I will, I will say this, I will say something, I'm going to say two somethings about this cause I'm passionate about this subject. One, you don't really have to season a lodge. You can, but you can just use it and it'll do the same thing. I, about five years ago, bought a 10 inch lodge, never did anything for seasoning. I just use it. Because it comes pre-seasoned. I use soap on it pretty regularly. Not every time, but when it needs it, I'll use soap on it. And that thing is glassy on the bottom. Lodge, the biggest criticism of Lodge, modern Lodge, is that it's grainy. They use a grainy cast. And so people say, oh, it's not like the old milled service ones, which are better, blah, blah, blah. That's a problematic statement and probably not meaningfully true. But my Lodge is glassy on the bottom because I've just used it. The second thing I'll say, I think I agree with you and I don't think you're saying that products like Smithy or Finex are bad products. There are a number of what I'd call boutique cast iron makers that are making beautiful heirloom cast iron pieces that are going to work very well.
Andrew And they require care.
Everett Yeah, that's right. They're going to work very well. They're going to be wonderful, wonderful pieces that you can have in your kitchen and that you can probably literally gift to your kids at some point and they'll have them forever. But those are great things. I think the point you're trying to make, and I'll just assume this for the purpose of what I say next, with a $10 lodge, you can do all the same things. You'll be just as happy and it'll cook just... Your kids might not want it in 40 years, but who cares?
Andrew And then somebody else will find it a goodwill in 40 years and they'll clean it up and they'll keep using it because it's not heirloom quality, but it's gonna be the same durability.
Everett And you're gonna have more or less the same cooking experience. Yes. I love it, man.
Andrew Cast iron. I got two big ones of goodwill the other day and I was like, Yes, because I've had a 10 inch for a super long time and I got 12 inch or maybe it's an eight inch. Doesn't matter. I got a significantly bitter, bigger platform and I'm so pleased it fits my whole big ass stakes in it.
Everett Andrew, I've got another thing.
Andrew Do me.
Everett I've been waiting to talk about this because it just wasn't ripe yet.
Andrew OK, so it's ripened. It's ready to pluck.
Everett It's ripened and it's ready to pluck and I have been actively engaged in a new show called The Last of Us, which is based on a video game series by the same name. This is for those of you who have heard of this but don't know anything about it. A set of zombie video games. This is a set of video games about zombies. You may not know if you did not or have not played the games is it's really not about zombies. So these video games are linear. You know, the modern video game is oftentimes sandbox, non-linear. Story is oftentimes secondary. Not the case with The Last of Us. These are very contained gameplay is very linear. You do the thing you're supposed to do in basically the direction you're supposed to do it in. Cutscenes are famously, notoriously, perhaps long. Yeah. Beloved Games, they've made a show, an HBO show, the king right now, I'd say, of serial
Andrew See HBO programming right now.
Everett Uh, yeah, this is, this is the show. I think this is the water cooler show right now. We're now four episodes in. If you have heard anything about episode three, uh, it caused some controversy. I think a good kind of controversy. I loved episode three, but this is not a zombie show. Famously, a show involving, uh, not really zombies, but a zombie apocalypse, not really zombies, uh, that is not about zombies. It is about love and relationships. And thus far with this show, Pedro Pascal is our primary protagonist. Bella Ramsey is the other maybe primary protagonist. Their dynamic on screen is phenomenal. Bella Ramsey of Game of Thrones.
Andrew Also Pedro Pascal of Game of Thrones.
Everett Game of Thrones. It's so good. It's been so good.
Andrew The zombie component of this show has been so significant to pop culture, though, that CNN Medicine has like done, has published articles regarding zombie fungus. Well, whether or not it's like a, like, should you be worried?
Everett This is the, the, the, the best science fiction is based on real science and the fungus that is the basis of the zombie apocalypse and last of us is real and it does actually affect ants specifically in the way that is depicted in the show kind of ish.
Andrew Does a species jump though? And that's what we need to know.
Everett That's right. So the problem with this fungus is that it can't survive in the temperature at which it would need to survive in to affect humans. Basis of the show is it it has mutated such that it can all very potentially real things, at least theoretically real possibilities. It's fun. It's scary and cool. But the show wasn't about zombies. The show was about love and relationships and humanity. And they've done a really good job with it. And surviving.
Unknown Yeah.
Everett All of those things in the context of surviving. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. It's really good. I'm loving it. I'm loving it. If you're not on the train yet, hop aboard.
Andrew When the series, when this season concludes.
Everett I knew you were going to say that because you're, you're like that, but.
Andrew I'm going to buy, I'm going to get a month of HBO. I'm going to binge the, the series season and then cancel HBO.
Everett I do think there's something. So this, the show is all done by the way. The, they finished the series, they've released the series to the critics. So the critics have seen all of these episodes. I don't know if you could find them illicitly. I'm of course not going to do that. But I will say there's something fun about the water cooler experience. And I think that's part of the reason I like HBO series is because when you're watching them in real time, you get to watch the show on Sunday night. And then on Monday, talk to people about it, which I do. You get to read the blogs about it. That's fun. I like engaging in that way.
Andrew See, I super like when Netflix drops an entire season and I sit down on Monday morning and just like eat it, all of it. I'm like, that's cool. Now I have to wait a year.
Unknown Andrew, what else do we got?
Andrew Mike, is it a blog to watch?
Everett Confirmed.
Andrew Not worn and wound.
Everett Also confirmed. I'm sorry. Worn and wound for having cast those aspersions.
Andrew A lot of watches out there are not sized to our liking.
Everett And amazingly, pleasantly, more and more of them are.
Andrew A lot of brands are feeling the pulse. I think we've done it.
Unknown Perfect.
Everett Hey guys, thanks for joining us for this episode of 40 in 20, the Watch Clicker podcast. Why don't you check us out at the website, watchclicker.com. That's where we post every single episode of this podcast, as well as every week, articles, reviews, and things you might like to read. If you are capable, you can also check us out on the socials on Instagram at watch clicker or at 40 and 20 underscore watch clicker.
Andrew We still owe you a story.
Everett If you want to support what we're doing here, you can do that at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. All the things we do cost money. hosting pictures, hosting audio, hosting websites, software, hardware, etc. Many of you have already decided to come on board and support us. We're so thankful. If you haven't, think about it. 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.