Episode 227 - Watches Roundup for March 2, 2023

Published on Wed, 01 Mar 2023 22:25:36 -0800

Synopsis

The podcast discusses the latest watch releases, including the Noctic Sector D dive watch, a murdered-out Alpinist from Seiko, the new Autodromo Type C digital watch, a gold-toned G-Shock, and new watches from Lorca, Circulus, Tissot, and Zin. They also touch on Pharrell Williams' new role at Louis Vuitton and recommend the book "Blood and Thunder" by Hampton Sides and the TV show "Shrinking" on Apple TV.

Links

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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	Great. Uh, I'm good. It's Tuesday. As usual. Recording night. Uh, drinking beer. As usual. I'm good. Andrew. How are you? How do you identify, Andrew?
Andrew	Somewhere between a thoughtful curator and a Pokemon hunter.
Everett	Yeah, fair enough. Yeah. How are you?
Andrew	I'm good. I'm a little sleepy. I worked today a little unexpectedly, a little expectedly in that yesterday I was invited to work today for what was sold to me as an ill-defined amount of time, which for most things is like four hours or so. It turned out to be like about eight hours.
Everett	Invited is a curious term.
Andrew	Well, I didn't have to go. Yeah. There's some like obligation, but also if you're not available, you're not available. Anyway, I was invited. I went and ended up working a full day, like a full normal person day. on what was supposed to be my productive weekend day, because yesterday was chill day. Got some stuff done, but most of the stuff that I was like, I was doing was partial with intent to finish it today. So I had a pretty ineffective chore weekend. Which is whatever, but here I am now. Talking watches and drinking beer in my, I'm gonna start referring to this as my study.
Everett	Is this the study? We're in the study? What else would it be? Sure. I like it. The den? This isn't a den. The studio? Yeah, studio makes more sense. You're one easel away from a studio. This is, it's our studio.
Andrew	This is where we record. It's our recording studio.
Everett	I know, but I think if you get an easel in here that it's definitely like the studio.
Andrew	Maybe I'll get like a couple easels and buy some like charcoal, Sketches and just put them on the easels It's perfect as though they're like I'll just put something you're working on.
Everett	Yeah the the active art project.
Andrew	Oh Yeah, you know, I've been working on that for some time. I do have some bad news.
Everett	Yeah, I know I was I was I was going to Come Friday morning get on an airplane and go to DC for the district time event. I Am no longer doing that those plans were dashed due to a number of circumstance. I will not be in DC and that's pretty sad for me.
Andrew	Did you buy some spirit airlines tickets?
Everett	No.
Andrew	Oh, someone stole my credit card information and bought spirit airline tickets.
Everett	No, that was not me. Okay. Uh, no, we, we had, uh, uh, yeah, no need to get into it, but I was going to be in D.C. this weekend. I was very much looking forward to it. And we had to kind of last minute cancel that plan. So sad. Grande siento, my friend. Yeah, it's sad. So I'm a little bummed about that, but I'm still excited about that show. I think that's going to be a fun show. I'm looking forward to pictures from that show. I'm looking forward to being a little jealous about that show. And yeah. Yeah. Anything new for you this week?
Andrew	I don't know. Maybe we go to that next year.
Everett	Yeah, I think it would be great. I think it would be great. Obviously, I've got multiple reasons to be at watch shows these days. And we were going Foster was going to be presenting at that show.
Andrew	So I like DC a lot more than I like New York.
Everett	Yeah, vice versa. I think New York's one of the greatest cities in the world and DC much less so. But I do like DC.
Andrew	I like DC a lot more than I like New York.
Everett	What's your what's the thing you like about DC better?
Andrew	All All the things. Literally everything.
Everett	Yeah, I can't think of a single thing I like about DC more except for the Smithsonian. That's the one exception.
Andrew	The entire mall. The three mile stretch of free and amazing museums.
Everett	Yeah, the Smithsonian for me is far less crowded.
Andrew	It's much more walkable because it's smaller, right? Like you're not totally I don't feel like you're totally.
Everett	I'm making a face of. You are making a face. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, I do think the Smithsonian is, I mean, just you, you could spend a month at the Smithsonian. Uh, and, and I'm looking forward to at some point, probably pretty soon getting my kids out there. They're like at the age where there could be just days of wonder.
Andrew	I think next year is the one. Yeah. I think next year's your spot. Every time I go to New York, I feel compelled to have to use Uber or taxis or the subway. I've not felt that way in D.C. any of the times that I've been.
Everett	I did the D.C. marathon a few years back. This has been, I say a few years back, it's been over a decade at this point. It's a few years. Yeah. And it was totally a delightful marathon. It's got this weird stretch at the end where you're like on a You're like on an overramp for several miles and then you turn around and come back off of the overramp. But other than that, it was a pretty delight because you go through the mall, you go past all the monuments. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, it was cool. It was called the Marine Corps Marathon is what they call it. Hoorah.
Andrew	Hoorah, I think is actually, I don't think they have. Hoorah. Yeah. It's too complex a sound. Uh, the, the best meal that I've ever had, uh, is in, well, maybe not the best, my favorite like vacation meal I've ever had was at a place in DC called Agora. And I don't know. Sounds like a Greek restaurant. Greek and like North African, very Mediterranean inspired. Um, And I don't know exactly where it is relative to anything else. It was near our hotel. There were a lot of embassies nearby. You're really clearing things up. And we go in, we sit down, and I'm like, no, everything looks really great. And in restaurants, they often bring you some kind of starchy appetizer for free. You know, Mexican restaurants, you get chips and salsa, you frequently get bread other places. brought fresh, fluffy, right out of a brick oven naan. Oh yeah, that's the jam. And my life was changed. Yeah. And then we had a really terrific meal and the whole trip was really fun, but they, it was just like, it wasn't like Red Robin where you get, you know, a basket of fries and then, you know, by the time they pay your bill, they have one, then your next one ready for you. That basket of naan never got liked. I had to have eaten just constant two pounds of fluffy, hot bread.
Everett	Andrew, have you ever had a pizza place called Pieology? I have. I had Pieology, uh, sliced. It was, it was my kids that, that they weren't finishing and they brought home. It was Pieology and it was like pizza on naan and it was delightful. I really liked it.
Andrew	I make naan pizza with like the naan out of the bag.
Everett	It had been wood fired. I could tell because there was like char on the bottom and it was like a wood fired non. I was like, this is dope. I liked it.
Andrew	I understand there were some consequences in the household though. That Betty was mad about her pizza. Oh no. Betty said Kim got sick. She said she got food poisoned and then got graphic.
Everett	Yeah. I don't think that's, I don't think that was the pizza. I certainly, I certainly didn't have any.
Andrew	She still got graphic about it. I was like, thanks Betty. That was really important for me to know. She's like, I don't even care though. I'm willing to risk it. Andrew. All right.
Everett	Andrew, rather than graphic poop stories, we are today, in fact, talking about... Graphic poop stories.
Andrew	That's the thing today. We are talking about watches. We're talking about action, excitement, watches.
Everett	And we decided, we just did a roundup a couple of weeks ago. We decided to do another roundup this week because there's been really a lot of stuff. I think two things happened. One, we missed a couple of things from the last roundup that was like, Oh, kind of wanted to talk about that. And the second thing that happens, it's just been like a crazy week, we're sort of getting into the watches and wonders time and people are starting to drop stuff. We're not going to talk about all the watches and wonders.
Andrew	It's Q1 though. This is where people set the tone.
Everett	There's just stuff happening. There's stuff happening. And so we decided to dip back in We're into a second roundup in three weeks, but I think arguably we have more stuff. It's going to be harder for us to get there today. So without further ado, I'd like you to lead off. Andrew, what's your first roundup watch item to talk about today?
Andrew	I want to talk about just kind of a fun article that I read at, I found it on Time and Tide via a fella named Zach Blass. It's the Viles.
Everett	He's Bill's younger brother.
Andrew	Yes. And the cousin to Zach Graff. The five of the best action movie watches you can still buy at retail. And for some reason, watch stuff in movies always gets me excited. Watches in media is something that I like because there's really interesting uses of watches. Sometimes you can tell it's an afterthought. Sometimes you can tell it's not even the costume design. It's like, that's what that actor was wearing that day. And that's what they were like, Hey, just leave that on. It's fine. Other times they have a watch designed to fill a need, right? So it's somewhere between haphazard and so deliberate, which is a pretty wide range. But that always gets me excited when I see watches that I can recognize in media. And I'm like, I wonder. Yeah, right. I wonder. I want to know. So first up, the Tom Cruise Mission Impossible Casio DW290-1 V. $55 G-Shock. It's, it's, I mean, there's nothing exciting about it, but Tom Cruise wore one on Mission Impossible. That feels like a deliberate decision to me. Totally. When they've got tons of other action movie shots or action movie watches to be really prominently featured, right? When you look at the way James Bond has used watches throughout history, any other number of tool, cool guy watches, and he's wearing a $55 G-Shock. Yeah, you know, I think... And also not a good G-Shock. relative to the other offerings?
Everett	I don't know. I think at the time that this movie came out, so when was this movie? When was the original Mission Impossible?
Andrew	The original Mission Impossible was probably like 2005, maybe earlier.
Everett	Yeah. I think at the time this movie came out, this was kind of a cool watch, right? Obviously not a G-Shock, but it had that G-Shock feel... I don't know. I think that there was a period of time, specifically when Mission Impossible came out, that this was kind of dope. It's still dope. I still love it. It's not the sexiest silhouette. 96. Is when Top Gun came out? Or Mission Impossible came out?
Andrew	Yeah, when the first Mission Impossible, Top Gun came out.
Everett	And in subsequent movies, Tom Cruise wore different G-Shocks, right? So I think that this was just sort of a watch of the time.
Andrew	But why didn't they go with a G-Shock G-Shock? And why did they use a Casio, not G-Shock G-Shock? Because it has all of the things. It has everything that a G-Shock has, but the logo.
Everett	Yeah. No, I think this is basically a G-Shock. I mean, I think it basically is, and it looks cool.
Andrew	It does, but it's not, it's a, it's a G-Shock ripoff by its company.
Everett	Yeah. Yeah. Well,
Andrew	What? We're going to introduce direct competitors to ourselves. Yeah. Uh, next up interstellar, interstellar, the Hamilton khaki field Murph. I don't think we really need to talk much about this watch. Uh, it is a beloved watch. It's place in the story was really important. And I think this was a really great watch to use in it because this is, this is, Kind of what epitomizes to me the heirloom watch. This is not an inexpensive watch, nor is it a safe baby watch. This is a watch that you get and you wear every day, all the time. This is, you know, grandpa's watch. That makes perfect sense for this movie. Yeah. This was a deliberate decision. The Casio, not G-Shock. G-Shock was, seems a little haphazard. Yeah. Next up, the Gray Man Tag Heuer Carrera 39. A really interesting deliberate decision because Gray Man was kind of weird. I watched it twice. I give every movie I don't like a second watch.
Everett	I think I liked it. I don't know. It was fine. I thought I thought this was kind of weird because they start off with these two like classic watches and they go into this list of like Kind of whatever watches.
Andrew	I kind of weird watches, but that's the kind of watches that I like in, in this space. Cause that's what gets me thinking as I'm curious. I want to know why. Um, it's certainly an interesting watch to choose given the field, uh, when they're, when they're going for this look.
Everett	Yeah. It's money. Same thing with the next watch. Same thing with the Breitling Avi. It's like, well, let's stick this on Brad Pitt's wrist.
Andrew	But it's kind of a weird choice, right? Yeah. Because that's a weird fellow. He's obviously going to wear a weird watch. Because bullet train was fun and real weird.
Everett	I thought bullet train was so bad.
Andrew	It was fun and weird. And I hated it and liked it all at the same time.
Everett	I didn't even like it. And then, of course, they go with a James Bond Seamaster. Again, I think they started really high on this list. For me, this list was really interesting. Like, okay, the DW290. Okay, the Murph. And they're like, oh, here's this bullshit Carrera that they put on Brian Gosling's wrist. Like, meh.
Andrew	Meh. Choosing the Seamaster is a cop-out. It's like they couldn't identify a fifth watch.
Everett	Also, no AMW320. Which is maybe the most featured.
Andrew	Time and tide. Maybe the most featured. watch in media without going shot by shot through every piece of film and television ever produced, I will say there is nothing, you know, outside of subs, outside of Rolex, there's no other watch that I've seen more of in media than the MW320. It's everywhere. I think NBC must own 30 of them.
Everett	Yeah, that's a fun list. I like stuff like that. Thanks, Tom and Ted. Thank you. What you got? I got a new release, and I almost was surprised when this was released this week, because I was like, I feel like I've known about this watch for a long time. There's a bunch of reasons for that. And I don't think this watch has been exactly a secret, but Notice debuted their 500 meter sector sector, the sector range has from the get been a eventually for watch collection with different styles, different dials, different hands, essentially sharing the same mid case. They've released a fifth watch. Now they've released a fifth watch still, still a four circle logo in the sector line, but, but they released, I think a wholly different watch here with the Sector D. This is a 500 meter dive watch, sharing the mid case of the other Sector watches, but with now a big O, a big O, what, 42 millimeter bezel that overhangs the case, 500 meters of water resistance, a little thicker because we've got that water resistance.
Andrew	13.6 on the thickness.
Everett	Which is not crazy. No. Um, yeah, this thing's dope. This thing's dope. So it's got this like dual bezel. It, you know, this, this dual, what do you call that? Dual ring bezel with a 12 hour on the inside and a standard dive bezel on the outside. Um, it's got these great big, these great big, uh, square markers. Um, Man, this thing's pretty cool, and it's got all the modern touches. We've got a Nodex clasp, we've got a blasted surface. I think it's pretty cool. This is not gonna be for everybody. This is a big, bold case.
Andrew	But it's not that big. It's still the Sector 39 millimeter case. It's got a big-ass bezel, crown left.
Everett	Yeah, left-hand drive. 13.6 thick. A big crown too. The crown on this is more rugged and pronounced.
Andrew	But because of the case shape, we have an 11 and a half rista crystal. This is dope.
Everett	Yeah, it's cool. It's really cool. I'll say it again, I don't think this watch is gonna be for everybody, and it might not be for you, but I think it is for somebody. And that's what makes it cool. It's got some neat details. It's got some red, um, red fill. It's got a fully loomed bezel. Now I guess I'm fully loomed. It's the numerals on the bezel or loomed. Uh, it's a BGW nine watch. So a little bit different than the C3 they've been going with. And that bezel that overhangs the case. I think that's just great. It's sort of looks top down. Like your watch is a bezel. Your watch is just a bezel.
Andrew	Yeah. It looks like it ought to be much bigger.
Everett	Right. I think this is really great.
Andrew	Found a typo in Frank's review.
Everett	Yeah. I think this is cool. So these are on sale now. $575, which for what you're getting a fantastic value. It is, um, this is a little bit more money than the regular sector line, but again, fantastic value. Still, we've got the NH35 movement.
Andrew	You're getting a little bit more out of, though, out of this than you are the rest of the sector line.
Everett	Yeah. You're getting the loomed bezel for one, the extra water resistance.
Andrew	Yeah. You're getting all the extra water resistance. You're getting some extra engineering costs that go into making this happen at this size. This is a small 500 meter watch.
Everett	That Nodex clasp in and of itself.
Andrew	Yeah. Yeah. I like it. I want to wear one.
Everett	So notice.com, check one out, buy one if you want.
Andrew	Andrew, what do you got? I have something exciting. Introducing Seiko is back in black with three classic releases. Two of them I could care less about. The last one, and the one that I am most excited about, is the twin stick alpinist in a full DLC.
Everett	Black. Murdered out. Just yes. Murdered out alpinist.
Andrew	So we're, we're, we've got a SLA 067, SPB 3P5, 335 and the alpinist spbj337 yeah so we've basically got like uh we've basically got like a uh 1965 diver yep we've got a turtle and we got an alpinist and i could i whatever the 1965 the turtle who cares uh it's the alpinist murdered out for me that is some next level stuff
Everett	Like I've seen... Is this Alpinist and 8035 movement? You know it is.
Andrew	Dude, it's rad. So I about two years ago saw somebody who had taken their... No, it's the 6R. No, they're even SL.
Everett	Yeah, I think it's the 6R. Where was it?
Andrew	I was just looking.
Everett	Which is still cool.
Andrew	A couple of years ago, I saw a photo of a fella who had his Explorer PVD'd. My mind was blown. I was like, Oh, well, I could do that. Then I realized that the cost of that is about the same cost of the watch. So to double my investment and have the value seemed silly. So it just kind of went out of mind. So seeing this release come, this might get added to my, my collection. They're coming in.
Everett	Would you sell your, would you sell your green alpinist or your black alpinist? No, I'd keep it. You just have the double.
Andrew	Yeah. So here's the problem. The, the alpinist is coming in at $9.25. murdered out.
Everett	That thousand bucks is not not nothing. No. No. But it's gorgeous.
Andrew	But it's gorgeous. They're also limited edition.
Everett	Yeah. So. And Hodinke's Pimpin' Em. So.
Andrew	Yeah.
Everett	So they're not going to. I don't think these are collabs. These are just.
Andrew	There's Hodinke, Pimpin, Seiko. Seiko at least. But they're dope. They kept the red 12 o'clock triangle on the inner rotating bezel that gives it like the real murdered out feel.
Everett	Yeah. Yeah. It's got little red details. Yeah. It's a pretty cool watch. You know, the only thing I'll say about these, so these are going to be available in April. What I will say is the photos that have been provided to us by Seiko, I assume, and then, and then through Hodinkee, um, make it a little hard to sort out. They're like these black background, like, you know, kind of gray on gray. And so I'm a little bit curious. It's just going to look PVD, but it's hard to get a real good representation. I think that the greens have been really pumped in these. And so a little hard to see, like, what's this going to look like in real life, but very cool watches.
Andrew	I'm into it. It'll look awesome. And I hope I can find one used for less.
Everett	I want to talk about a watch, Andrew, that I think is cool as shit that I have heard nothing but negative shit about. Ready? Autodromo released what they're calling the Type C, which is in reference to the Type C sort of racing cars of the 90s, you know, or excuse me, of the 80s. 80s, everything was digital and computers. It's a perfect name within the Autodromo lexicon. This is a digital watch. This is a stainless steel digital watch with different coatings. They've got, I think, four different versions of these and they're $475. Looks just like an F91, you can get that for 10 bucks. You callow sons of bitches cannot figure out why the fuck this is cool. So, so first let me say something. Gosh, so crass. Let me say something. An NH35 movement can be had for about 23 bucks. So do not tell me, I don't care what module is in this, the movement in the majority of sub $400 watches is a piece of shit. And don't even the Miota 9035 is a piece. It's a $50 movement. OK, and that's like really nice. So let's not pretend like the value of a $500 watch is in the movement. Shut the fuck up. This watch is rad. Okay, so I got to see one of these in New York. Bradley of Autodromo was wearing the Cerakote yellow version of this on his wrist. He did not let me hold it, nor did he let me take a picture of it, but he was happy to talk with me about it. Dude, these things look amazing.
Andrew	How are you going to wear something like that to a media event? And abstain from photography.
Everett	Nah, he knows what he's doing. He knows what he's doing. He knew people would see that and be like, what? And I don't know. He's a little bit of an odd guy, but he's definitely knows what he's doing. He knows what he's doing. I know he knows what he's doing. These things are all awesome. I don't care what you say. It is worth every single bit of that money to have someone like Bradley at Autodromo designing watches in this space is exactly what we need. Is this the best value watch? No. No watches are a good value. Shut the fuck up. This thing is awesome. It looks great. It's a phenomenal size.
Andrew	36 millimeters.
Everett	Yeah. Phenomenal size. That's what size this watch should be. And it wears bigger than 36 too, right?
Andrew	Because it's a bigger square.
Everett	That's right. That's right.
Andrew	And it's steel, so it's not gonna be F91 Vanish on your wrist, nor is it titanium Vanish on your wrist. It's not a bargain.
Everett	This isn't a bargain.
Andrew	But we're not here to talk about cheap watches.
Everett	We're not talking about bargains, people. This is rad. Shut up. You might not like it, but don't tell me that this watch is an F91. No, it's not. Shut the fuck up. I love this thing. I will die.
Andrew	This hill, this is the one.
Everett	Geez, I mean, it's funny, you know, I think Hodinkee did a post and you go down and it's like, shut up. Everybody shut up. This is rad. I'll fight you. And I fight dirty. He does. He's a biter. Andrew, what are your thoughts on this now, now that I've left the table really open for you to think freely?
Andrew	And I don't, I don't have a lot to say, I think. No, I, I super dig this. I saw his yellow one at, uh, at wind up also, and, uh, was excited about it. It's the most exciting watch they have. Autodromo hasn't really spoken to me in any of their releases. Sure. This one lands it for me. This is a cool vintage inspired, but brought to, brought up to the 2023 level that I want.
Everett	I dig it. I think that this thing is like an AE86. I mean, it's the fit and finish. You can just tell from the pictures, the fit and finish is phenomenal. They've got a PVD coated like red and yellow. They've got a brushed steel. Yellow, I guess, like with yellow details, uh, and then, uh, and then a green accent also PVD, I think. And then, of course, the star of the show is the yellow Cerakote. I love these watches.
Andrew	This is 80s racing. This is it. This is the kind of stuff from the 80s that is tolerable for me to return. Yeah. A lot of other things are not.
Everett	This works. You know, I think Bradley references a couple of different cars when he talks about his design influence. Let's see if I can find these. Oh, a Porsche 962C and a Sabra C9. Fine. I see an AE86. That's what this looks like to me. This is an AE86, and I'm here for it. Give it to me. Put it in me.
Andrew	It's pretty small, so it wouldn't be that uncomfortable either. What do you got, Andrew? G-Shock, again, answering the call. of the watch modding and watch community with a full metal gold Casio. This is too much watch for me. It's not gold.
Everett	It's not real gold. OK, let's just be clear, because I was colored when I saw the link you sent. I was like, whoa, it's not. It's gold toned.
Andrew	It's gold toned. It's not gold. I wouldn't put it past G Shock to drop one in gold.
Everett	Just $18,000 Casio. Because why not? People would buy it. People would buy it for sure.
Andrew	They wouldn't be able to make enough. But I dig it, even though this is too much watch for me. This is, this is, you know, they say like, don't wear a hat bigger than your personality. I think that's right. This watch is bigger than my personality. I'm a pretty boring guy. This is not a boring watch. nor is it an especially cheap watch. So what are these in US dollars? So we've seen Casio dropping full metal, which is really cool because Casio were being modded into full metal cases. And then G Shock's like, well, why don't we just, we can do that. We can give it to them like that. It charges them more money. Then we get the money instead of Ali. These in US dollars are coming in at $808.83. That's not bad. It's not bad. It well, no, it is. Yeah, it is. And that's terrible.
Everett	Come to. Yeah, I've changed my mind. It's awful.
Andrew	It's awful. But that's the world we live in right now. We're Casio and G Shock are cashing in on some interesting hype surrounding some of their lines. But I dig this color. It's not just the because it's it's not just the case. It's gold accents on the dial. It's gold hands. It's everything. It is a gold toned bling machine. It's fucking dope. I wish I was cool enough to wear this.
Everett	There's a Casio on a rubber that came out a handful of years ago, maybe this last year with a gold case and a plastic band, rubber band that is like 200 bucks all day. And so I wonder what the difference, I mean, is it just $600 worth of bracelet? Probably. All right, fuck it. It's fine. It's fine. It didn't move me.
Andrew	I got excited about it. I'm happy to see them responding to the people. You think they're responding to the people? No, I think what G-Shock is doing is they're seeing the hype around their stuff and capitalizing on it. They're trying to attack that modder's market and the making their stuff better market by just doing the stuff that people want. G-Shock is surprisingly nimble. Yeah.
Everett	At least as I perceive it. G-Shock is selling a bucket load of watches. When you're selling that many watches, you should be nimble.
Andrew	But you shouldn't be able to be nimble. You should be this enormous machine that's manufacturing five years out. And they're not, or maybe they are. And they're just like a year behind. I don't know. But, um, That's a cool release and I was happy to see it.
Everett	So this is one of the watches that for me, I wanted to talk about a few weeks ago and then it just didn't happen. But it's now sort of getting a little bit more play. And so I thought I'd talk about it now. There is a brand that was announced, I think, via Hodinkee. Also, Gary Steingart is writing for Hodinkee now, which Yeah, I don't know. It doesn't fit. The place is a revolving door. I love it. I love the fact that Gary Steingart's writing for Hodinkee. Anyway, he wrote an article, I guess, because it's not really a review. Yeah, it's Gary Steingart. He wrote something and put it on Hodinkee about a new watch, a new brand, and their debut watch, a brand called Lorca. And the debut watch titled, I guess, unsurprisingly, model number one, which, fair. This is a brand out of New York from a fellow named Jesse Merchant, which not someone I know a ton about, but this is a 36 millimeter fixed bezel Sopra GMT with, I think it's fair to call this sort of classic styling, It's got a very sort of 60s thing going on here. And decisions were made. One of the things Gary Steingart talks about in his article is the idea of a one man band that many of micro brands are. He talks about micro brand, you know, we talk about that term all the time and it's sort of whatever. But these singular creator watch brands, and he talks about a handful of different brands, Louis Heath and Ann Ardain, Chase Fancher at Oken Oscar. How, when you take the committee out of design, you get these really special watches, much like, I think, Bradley.
Andrew	Or bags of shit.
Everett	Well, that's the other side to that coin. I think this is an absolute hit. This feels to me a little bit like Laurier. Mm-hmm. It feels to me a little bit like Serica.
Andrew	That's right where my mind went, that very, like, 50s, pilot-y.
Everett	Yeah. So what we've got is a Soprad top-grade GMT, which is a lovely movement. Not a particularly expensive movement, but a very nice movement. And then just from their fucking design decisions, this comes out in a silver and a black dial. Um, I don't think I love the silver. I do love the black, um, fonts, fonts. I think this is, I think most of this watch is going to be a love it or hate it sitch and you may not love it and that's okay. You don't have to argue.
Andrew	The fonts are remind me of. Like blacksmithing stamps. Yeah, they don't seem etched, they seem pressed. Because they're they're not they're not sloppy by any means, but they're super.
Everett	Unique, like pushed in. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, it's got lines. It's got lines for days. That's right. It's got this box, the box for this thing I love. So when we, so when I worked with our manufacturer to design a box for the Foster watch, we had kind of talked about something like this. You know, I've talked a lot about that watch, how it's supposed to be the department store, sort of 1960s, 70s. We had talked about a box like this. This has like a box that looks like something that was purchased at the pharmacy, a piece of jewelry that was purchased at the pharmacy in the late sixties. You know, it looks like when you open it, can you hear the hinge?
Andrew	You can hear the hinge. And you also know that while you open it, it's going to action the inside of the box to raise up the product within it.
Everett	And it's got like a piece of, like satin-lined cardboard. I don't know. I'm not actually talking about this box. I'm talking about what I imagine this box is.
Andrew	It's the feeling that it's evoking, though. Yeah, that's right. Which is the whole thing of this watch. This is to evoke something in you. Evoke? Is that the word? Yeah, that's the right word.
Everett	Yeah. So these aren't cheap. It's a Sopra GMT. So I think retail on these is $17.50. They're going to be available about a week from now, March 7th, for a pre-order at $14.50, which, again, not a bargain. but a really reasonable price, I think, for what this is. You may not love it. I love it. I love a bunch of things about this watch, but three things in particular are screaming at me. One, the size. Yes. 36 millimeters.
Andrew	Which is about as small as you can go with that movement. I don't know if you could go any smaller.
Everett	Two, the end link. Oh my God. If you haven't seen this watch, go look at the end link. The end link is tenting my pants right now as I'm sitting here talking to you.
Andrew	I can vouch for what I'm seeing.
Everett	Three, the clasp. Look at this beautiful clasp. Yeah. Two-button clasp with just this beautiful, simple, understated engraving with a very, very refined and elegant cursive L. Love it. I love this watch. It's not because the watch is special. It's because it's been designed and really special.
Andrew	The watch is special. That's why you like it. It's okay.
Everett	Really well designed.
Andrew	I love it. 11.2 thick. I don't know if you can even use thick anymore at that size. Yeah. Here's my complaint.
Everett	20 meters, 20 atmospheres, 200 meters of water resistance.
Andrew	Here's my complaint.
Everett	Give it to me.
Andrew	won't be delivered until November.
Everett	Yeah.
Andrew	Well, that's how it goes, but that's, that's my one complaint.
Everett	Fair enough. No, it's a really fair complaint.
Andrew	That's, that's a, that's some delayed gratification that I'm not prepared for.
Everett	Especially, especially if 1500 sweet, sweet dollars.
Andrew	And maybe $1,800, right? I mean, depending on when you order, but yeah, you're looking at until November and perhaps that, that pre-order right now will allow him to, to have some inventory on hand come ship date.
Everett	Yeah.
Andrew	So, so maybe you can buy in November for $17.50. Maybe not.
Everett	Mr. Merchant, if you're hearing this, give us a call. I think it's Marchand.
Andrew	Marchand? Oh yeah, because he's Swiss. M-A-R-C-H-A-N-D-T. Yeah, he's French, Swiss French.
Everett	Swiss Canadian.
Andrew	That's what I said.
Everett	Mr. Marchand, if you are listening to this, give us a holler.
Andrew	We'd super like to get one of these for free.
Everett	I know you're hanging out with Gary Steingart. Whatever. We're cool too.
Andrew	Not as cool. Andrew, what do you got? Oh, I haven't even been preparing for my next thing. Um, next thing, short thing, uh, just, just something of note that has happened. Uh, Mr. Pharrell Williams. I've heard of that guy. He's known for his hats. He's known to have interesting watches. He's also taken on a new role.
Everett	Okay. Are you going to tell us more?
Andrew	No. All right. I'm going to let you Google it.
Everett	You're really not going to tell us?
Andrew	No, move on.
Everett	Newly appointed menswear creative director of Louis Vuitton.
Andrew	Well, why are you telling them? Well, because you're, you're dragging your feet. Because I wasn't going to tell you. I just want to say, look up, look up Mr. Pharrell Williams. So, uh, he is the new creative men's director for Louis Vuitton, which is interesting. And I think it matters to watches. Watch people think, watch media thinks it matters to watch it because there's a bunch of articles out there kind of pontificating on what this means for somebody who has been known for their interest in haute horology to now be taking the reins as a creative for a company that stands to do really well in that space. And there's not very many brands that exist with any regard in the watch world that also hold comparable regard in the fashion world. Yeah. I think it's an interesting position for Louis Vuitton to find themselves in. And I think they could do some really cool stuff with it. Like I think if they were to, if they were to push out a line in that like three to $8,000 range and be a direct competitor with Cartier, I think that'd be really interesting. And I think they'd have not similar offerings, obviously, but I think they could do a really similar thing. And I think it'd be really cool.
Everett	Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Cartier is obviously, they've been baking watches since the get right. Um, I think it's hard to come in, but they've also been making jewelry.
Andrew	They've been making fashion. They've been, at the forefront of that space, and Louis Vuitton just hasn't been making watches with the same regard.
Everett	Yeah, well, Louis Vuitton's a bag company.
Andrew	And shoes, and logos. They make a logo. They do make a logo. I think it's interesting, and I think it'll be a big nothing, right? I don't think it'll actually come to fruition, but it's interesting to think about. I'd wear some cool LV shit. Yeah, you would.
Everett	I would. Andrew, one of the brands that really jumped out at us in New York. We talked about this in our decompression.
Andrew	And our most excited about.
Everett	A brand called Circulus, not a new company. This is a company from the 50s, 1950s, that was a few years ago revitalized by the son of the owner, fellow named Cornelius Huber, who is just delightful, just a charming, charming young man. Cornelius took his, so this is a German brand, Cornelius. Which I didn't know was a German name.
Andrew	Circula. Cornelius.
Everett	Cornelius, oh. Took over his grandfather's company in 2018 or started running his grandfather's company in 2018 at the very least. and has, unbeknownst to me, and I think a lot of people, just started dishing out bangers. They released a new watch this week, or announced a new watch, which is their Aqua Sport GMT. This is not a 36 millimeter GMT. This is bigger. This is in their sort of Aqua Sport diver mode, like a skin diver. This feels like a 1970s skin diver, but it's a full featured... This is not a Sopra, this is a Salida. 330. 330. It's not a small watch, it's a 40 millimeter watch. 13 and a half, which is... It's pretty appropriate for a GMT. Not terrible for a GMT, but it's really... I think this is a really handsome watch. They've got this in a couple different colorways. They've got like sort of a subdued gray, dark gray thing. They've got a split tone, light blue, navy blue thing. And the gray's got kind of like a minty green accent to it. And the blue has sort of an orange accent to it. These are really handsome. Really good use of color. Not quite like fairer contrast with the colors. Super close. Same. It feels similar to me in terms of their use of color in a creative and good way. And these watches, you might see these in images and be like, meh, because they look like watches. This is a watch from a company I've never heard of. Fine. You get these things on your wrist, in your hand. These things are amazing. So I think that these are coming in at like $1,100 or thereabouts, which not nothing. That's not nothing. But at retail for a Solita 330, that's pretty reasonable. That's in the range. And these things are fantastic. The fit and finish and the manufacturer, beautiful.
Andrew	I was shocked. by how much better these were in person than in photographs.
Everett	It's crazy. Like how did you make a watch that is so much better than it could look in a picture?
Andrew	Why do people take such bad pictures of your stuff?
Everett	And how have I not heard of your watches?
Andrew	Yeah. And they're small. It's a small brand out of Germany, which is not really like the spice of life in our watch knowledge. They stand to have a really really great couple years. I'm excited by this one. What do you got, Andrew? What do I have? Uh oh. Oh, I got one last thing. It's a monochrome article that I saw. Introducing blue panda and integrated rubber straps. Tissot enlarges the PRX collection again. I don't care about the blue panda. I don't care about the ice blue. They have finally released a rubber strap for the PRX.
Everett	I knew that's why you sent this link. Yeah.
Andrew	Which is the the chief complaint of every integrated bracelet strap watch out there. I want to be able to change my strap. Yeah. Sometimes a bracelet doesn't work. Sometimes the rubber strap doesn't work. I just want the option, right? I kind of was, was hesitant about the Santos for that very reason because of the proprietary shit. There were some options out there that are no longer. Uh, and then I got it on a brace and I was like, Oh, this is never coming off the, the, the, leather strap that it comes with is still in plastic. But with a PRX, I know I'm going to want to be able to change the strap, at least occasionally. And they finally done it. I'm super appreciative for it. I can't speak to its quality. It looks nice on the watch and I'm here for it.
Everett	It looks really clever. It's a quick release. It's kind of a waffle print thing. It's got a signed rubber. Yeah. the PRX logo appearing on the inside. Yeah, I think these are cool, man. I actually really like this. I really like this bracelet. Do you know what the cost on the chronos are? I don't. Did you know that Dame Dollar is a Tissot Ambassador spokesperson?
Andrew	I did, and I don't know why. I just recently saw it.
Everett	Did you know that Dame Dutler scored 71 points in a basketball game this this week? I saw that. It was against the Houston Rockets who are who have won 13 games this season. But let's forget about that for a second. This is the second time they've won 13 games this season. That's awesome. This is the second time someone scored 70 points in a game. Which is freaking crazy. Yeah, that's a lot of points. 70 points is crazy. I went back and watched the game, and it was like, oh, Dave scored again. Oh, Dave scored again. He's on par. 13 three-pointers, which is tied for second most threes in a game of all time. But yeah, pretty cool. This is cool. The movement is a Valjoux, an upgraded Valjoux movement in that GMT, or that chronograph. And I know you didn't want to talk about it, but it's a pretty cool chronograph. And they're $2,000 for a Valjoux Chronograph PRX. Pretty dope. That's a beautiful movement too. It's gorgeous. Yeah. And the rubber strap is really cool.
Andrew	But I don't care about any of that because I am excited about the finally releasing the rubber strap. I'm really hoping they make it available on their accessories page to be able to pick it up for anybody who's already got a PRX.
Everett	Yeah. Yeah, they should. Okay. One final watch that we're going to talk about. Okay. Zin, Zin, whatever you want to call it. Maybe we should just be vague. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin.
Everett	Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. Zin. And one of these is a alloy that they're calling gold bronze. I don't, I'm not going to get into what gold bronze is because I don't have a fucking clue, but it's some percentage of bronze with a more hypoallergenic thing going on. They released three different iterations of these. One of these is a fully titanium T50, which is a lot like the U50 with I think a sexier dial and a sexier handset, you may not like the handset. This is more like a 556. These are broadsword. This is a broadsword kind of pilot-y thing. It very much looks like a U50, but you don't get that Lego handset, which I think is dumb. But some people like it. You might like it. You might like the Lego handset. I don't love it. I like this a lot better. So one of these is full titanium. One of these is a titanium mid case with a gold bronze bezel, which is a pretty sharp look. And then there's a limited edition, they didn't make very many, 150 or so, of full gold bronze. These are not cheap watches. No. I think the limited edition is 5,000 or 6,000 bucks or something. And the titanium is like
Andrew	3800. So the. T50 gold bronze 300 pieces. They call it 300 examples. OK. Fifty eight hundred bucks. The titanium. GBDR with gold bronze. Forty two seventy on textile and.
Everett	4670 on rubber. Yep. Or the titanium bracelet.
Andrew	Yeah. And the T50 titanium is 3840 on both the bracelet and the rubber strap. That's the one that gets me excited because a full titanium U50 is dope.
Everett	Yeah. I think actually the gold bronze bezel. So I think titanium case, titanium bracelet, gold bronze bezel. That's the one of these I like the most.
Andrew	I don't because I don't like the color disparity. Yeah. I'm here for it.
Everett	I'm here for it, but I can see both arguments.
Andrew	I don't like the disparity.
Everett	I'm here for you, Andrew. I don't like it. This watch makes too much sense in titanium. In fact, I was surprised to realize that this has not been in titanium before now.
Andrew	It's just now titanium. Yeah. Given all of the other things that Germany is doing, you'd think titanium would be really high on the list versus
Everett	So really kind of out of the price range of things we normally talk about, although we talk about whatever, but a pretty neat release. If you're in a Zen and you've got 5,000 bucks or 6,000 bucks laying around.
Andrew	And the nice thing about Zen is that you get this really small window to buy their stuff and then never again, it will forever be on their website, but you will not be able to buy it. Yeah. So if you've got 5,000 bucks not sitting around, you're not gonna have to worry about it in about a week and a half. because you can buy the watch.
Everett	Are these the same? Is this the same handset on the 556? If it's not the same, it's very similar. It's got a pilot feel. So yeah. Super pilot, a U50. With that, I think we can put this, this episode to rest. We didn't get to every single link that we had on the page, but that's okay. That's okay. Um, I think we're in a good place to move on. Andrew, are you ready to move on? I am. Do you have another thing? I do. You, you, you oftentimes do. Andrew, other things. Most often.
Andrew	What do you got? I have been reading a book. You don't know how to read. Well, it's on, it's an audio book, but I have it played on like one third speed. So it sounds like I'm sounding out the words. It's nice. I have been actually reading. Blood and Thunder, an epic of the American West. That sounds cool. It's by a fella named Hampton Sides. Hampton Sides is a historian known for his historical nonfiction books. Blood and Thunder is the story of Kit Carson.
Everett	So this is nonfiction.
Andrew	Yes. Um, ish. No, it's nonfiction, right? I mean, it's a, it's a nonfiction book written by a historian. So, you know, there's going to be just some artistic license taken in connecting dots, which is important. Fine. You're going to get some, not by the author artistic license, but you're going to get some, you know, uh, oral history growing of the bear things. you know, when in fact a person might've kicked a bear cub, you know, by the time his kids hear about it, he fought a full grown grizzly and all three of his friends, right? There's, there's always going to be some of that in, in these legendary people. But given how relatively recent this time is, you know, the story of the American mountain man, um, Western expansion is all pretty well documented. It has been super fun. I've never read any of Hampton sides books before. Um, the way he writes is really captivating. It's super easy to read. It's not one of those books where you have to like build up a little momentum. You're just right in it. You're in the story. You're in the excitement. You can read a page and then put it back down because your kids are yelling at you and not feel like the, the, tedium of having to get into the book and then get back out of it. I've super enjoyed it. Um, just anecdotally, there's a part of the story is, um, he's taking his oldest daughter east to where his family is, but you know, on the edge of the frontier for an education, he keeps his toddler with him. Um, but his toddler stays with some family friends and then just like as, as kind of a, I think it's even in parentheses. This is the last time he saw his youngest daughter because she fell into a vat of boiling lard for, or not lard, whatever they make for soap. They use for soap, not lard. It's um. Tallow. Tallow. Yeah. Fell into a vat of boiling tallow and was scalded to death. End parentheses. Moving on. That's the kind of writing this guy is like this huge and Super important thing is just also, by the way, Kit Carson, I like it. Everyone's kind of familiar with the name Kit Carson and his role in the westward expansion and the fur trade in America. It's been a really fun book to get a full, more full look at this fella's exploits. Uh, because of this book, I'll probably get a couple more of Hampton's, uh, books because I've enjoyed his writing.
Everett	I love when that happens when you get introduced to an author and you're like, yeah, I can get down with what you're writing about. Yeah. You know, I've got pictures of Kit Carson up. Not, not a handsome fellow.
Andrew	No, but you wouldn't be either if you live 98% of your life outdoors without electricity or plumbing.
Everett	And I'd let this, I'd let him borrow whatever tools out of my garage he wanted. Just based on appearance alone. Yeah, sure. Go ahead.
Andrew	I think you would take him if you didn't allow it. Because you also know he's carrying like several muskets and a tomahawk.
Everett	Sure, sure. I started a new show this last week with my wife. This is a show on, I believe, Apple TV. Okay. I always do that and I'm like, oh gosh, is it Apple TV? It's called Shrinking. And It's not about getting smaller. Rather, it's about a therapist, a psychiatrist, perhaps. It's got the main protagonist, Jason Segel. It's got Harrison Ford. Rick Moranis. Rick Moranis. It's got a couple of actors that I was not super familiar with, but have really charmed, I was going to say pants off, but that makes it sound sexual and it's not. They've been charming. A young actor named Lukita Maxwell, who is, I believe, from Singapore, who had never seen anything before, but is a really tremendous actor. And then also Jessica Williams, who is of, I believe, Daily Show fame. And also the incredible Jessica James a few years back. And she, I think, is really the surprise star of this show in some ways. A bit of comic relief, but just fantastic cadence. Fantastic. This show is dark.
Andrew	Is Harrison Ford the shrink?
Everett	So actually, Jessica Williams, Harrison Ford, and Jason Segel are all shrinks that work together. Okay. Yeah. And it's a dark show. It's a depressing show. It's about a widower and his daughter dealing with the death of her mother, his wife, in sometimes healthy and other times very unhealthy ways. It has been really good and funny and relatable in unrelatable ways. And I'm loving it. So I think- Relatable in the human condition way. In the human condition way. Yeah, that's right. I think it's six episodes in with the seventh episode going to be released soon. So it's like at that place where if you start now, you'll be caught up for like end season type of hijinks. Really good. Not something I'd heard anybody talking about. Just we took it on a flyer based on the tile.
Andrew	It's not really bingeable yet though. People don't start talking about shit until it's bingeable.
Everett	You couldn't fully binge it today, but you could get pretty close and then just have a couple of episodes you were waiting for.
Andrew	So six hours is not a binge.
Everett	Oh, you don't think so?
Andrew	No. Yeah. Well, give me 12 and then I'm on board. Really good. I didn't start Yellowstone until season four.
Everett	And then you were like, it was like too late. Like you were going to get through all the good stuff and into the bad stuff. Yeah, I got it. Yeah. Um, no, really good. And, and not something I'd heard a lot of people talking about. I've been both of us, both my wife and I were like, yo, this is good.
Andrew	That's surprising. Cause Apple TV usually does a really good job marketing outside of their platform.
Everett	Yeah, that's right. What was the, uh, Jennifer Aniston? Um, anyway, you, you couldn't, you couldn't turn the television on even if you're not connected to the internet and not see an ad for that. But yeah, Yeah, no, really good, really charming, really funny, a little sad, a little dark. It's all the things. Yeah. That's what you want. Yeah. Recommend. It's not Ted Lasso, but it feels a little like Ted Lasso. Okay. Yeah. It's not the same as that, but there's some tonality similarities.
Andrew	All right. Apple TV is establishing themselves as the human condition channel.
Everett	That sounds right. That sounds right. Andrew, once again, we've done it. We've rounded up the world of watches.
Andrew	There's nothing else you need to know. You heard it here first and last.
Everett	We've given the folks some reading material, some viewing material.
Andrew	Know that your pants have been charmed off.
Everett	We've charmed their pants off, maybe, hopefully. Your pants. My pants. Not theirs. And theirs. Hopefully. Nobody's wearing pants anymore. Anything you want to add before we go? The amount of things, man. Hey you guys, I'm really glad you joined us. Thank you for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20, the WatchClicker podcast. Why don't you do us a favor, check us out at watchclicker.com. That's our website. We put all the episodes of this podcast on there, but also articles, review, there's a review of the brand new Notice Sector Deep on there. You can also check us out on socials at WatchClicker or at 40 and 20 underscore WatchClicker. If you want to support us, and oh gosh, we hope you do, you can do that at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. That's how we afford all these fancy microphones and mixing boards and software and hosting. Patreon.com slash 40 and 20. And hey, don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Bye bye.