Episode 228 - Our Ugly Ducklings

Published on Wed, 08 Mar 2023 23:26:34 -0800

Synopsis

This is a podcast episode where the hosts Andrew and Everett discuss "ugly duckling" watches - watches that they initially did not like but grew to appreciate over time. They each share three watch models that fit this category, including the Doxa Pro, Moser Streamliner, Seiko Arnie Prospex Tuna, Seiko Sportura Kinetic chronograph, Bell & Ross BR05, and Panerai Luminor Marina. They provide insights into their evolving perceptions of these watches, often relating to aspects like the design, size, or finishing that they initially disliked but came to admire. The discussion is lively and humorous, showcasing the hosts' passion for watches. At the end, they also mention some other topics like TV shows, slippers, and details about supporting the podcast.

Transcript

Speaker
Everett 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.
Andrew Everett, how are you?
Everett I'm doing super. Have I, uh, taken an occasion to brag recently on our production quality? Because it's because of our producer. We've got, listen. And our sound engineer. I, I challenge you to find another podcast, watches podcast. Let's be clear.
Andrew I don't know if you want to make that challenge.
Everett Another watches podcast that's produced as well as this one. It's because we do it in flight. We're just that polished of people. Yeah. You know, but. Polished of people? Polished. Yeah. We're that highly polished. Polished. I like that one better. Yeah, I challenge you. Find another Watches podcast that does what we do. We're the best. Well, I think being the most unique doesn't necessarily make us the best. Nobody knows what we do. And there might be a reason for that. I think we're both unique in our very ununique way. And also we just, you know, there's a little bit of, there's a little bit of love here. You might not even notice, but listen to other podcasts, you guys. It's like home cooking. I love a lot of these people that I'm talking about right now. Like genuinely, but I don't, I'm pretty proud of what we've done here.
Andrew We've done a cool thing.
Everett And here we are on episode 752. Can you even believe it? Uh, no, I'm doing really well, Andrew. I, um, I've got a trip coming up before too long. A mushroom? No, an airplane. Actually, we need to talk about that because we're going to have to figure out what we do when I'm gone for a week in Denver. Let's just can one. Colorado. I'm going to go to Denver for three days to watch. Down under. To watch the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. That'll be a hard weekend. Will be a first for me. And then I am going to goes directly from Denver to Winter Park. So if you're going to be at Winter Park or the NCAA tournament or the NCAA tournament in Denver, hit me up. I'll be in Denver the 18th, 19th and 20th. No, 17th, 18th and 19th. And then I will be in Winter Park on the 20th, 21st and 22nd. If you are going to be in either of those places, on those days. Don't call me. Hit me up. We'll, uh, get a toddy at the lodge or a $20 beer at Pepsi arena. That's what it is. I don't know. I tried to think of something clever and there's just nothing like that. It's a $20 beer. Andrew, how are you? I'm good. As we were talking about, um, the special recipe of this episode. I was thinking I made spaghetti last night. Okay. It's a little, that's a little, okay. It's a little on the point on the nose, but all right. And I was thinking, so what, this is something I've been thinking about and I made the spaghetti and I did some different things. Okay. I roasted heads of garlic ahead of time. Oh yeah. I did a bucket load of chopped fresh basil and I added it like the way you add hops into beer. Like a little, a literal bucket? Like probably a full cup. Okay. Well, you know, well you could have a cup size bucket. And added it at different periods during the cook. Right? The way, the same way you do hops because of the acids in it, they dissolve and infuse their flavors at different rates and with different cook times, it changes the flavor. I do the same thing with garlic. I did. Yeah. I did the same thing. I added the, I added raw and roasted garlic at different increments. And, and my goal was, um, what I've found is that my like, kind of like somewhere between ragu, not ragu brand, but like ragu sauce. And, um, Bolognese sauce. It's like, it's my, my white people spaghetti sauce. Sure. General mix. It always tastes the fucking same. It doesn't matter what I do. And I was like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to like, I'm going to, I'm going to up this significantly. I'm going to put an extra hour of work into this in the way of roasting garlic and pay more attention to this pan. I'm going to add an intervals. It tastes the fucking same. Yeah. Yeah, there was absolutely no change. And it got me thinking about the hateful eight, you know, the scene where he's talking about the stew. He tasted stew when Sam Jackson comes into the end of the little shed, he eats stew and he's like, you know, I've had this stew. My mama stew tastes exactly the same every time, like whatever her name is, her stew tastes exactly the same every time. It doesn't matter. Whose stew it is, they all taste unique. And exactly the same. But different, right? You can differentiate between two people's stews. And I kind of just came to an acceptance. I'm like, that's my spaghetti sauce. That's your spaghetti, sure. That's the way it tastes. It doesn't matter what I do. I even toasted it. I tasted toasted fennel ahead of time. I toasted off some garlic and then removed it to put it back. I put in the extra effort to change it It tasted exactly the same. Yeah, I think the bottom line is you get so... A, you've got these big flavors and the big flavors really are complementary, right? So you get the sweetness of the tomatoes, you get that big acidity of the tomatoes, you get that garlic, garlic is garlic, right? You know, roasted garlic is different. It's sweeter. It's deeper. I thought that adding it at different times in conjunction with that spicy, hot, bright, it didn't, it made no difference. Andrew, have you, uh, have you played with puttanesca's like making pasta puttanesca? Not that great. I think you dig it, man. It's a really fun way to make pasta. And I think you dig it. You should try that. I mean, I've done it, but I haven't played with it at great length. I'm a big, I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan. Uh, it's my favorite way to eat spaghetti now in the style of whores. I think that's what Puttanesca means. I think you're right. But it's my go-to like easy. I know both the kids will eat it.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett I also, instead of, I usually make French bread like, like from scratch French bread. Um, earlier in the day, have it do a compound butter, garlic butter it. Um, this time we had some leftover frozen white bread loaves, like that you get in the five pack grocery store. Um, and we have leftovers that some of them were, are years old. Cause every year Sam makes an enormous, we're talking like full sheet pan cinnamon roll, the family tradition for Christmas. So there's like stray one or two loaves of, This white bread and I was like, let's fucking make white bread, do the same thing. Man, that's so much better than any loaf of bread I've ever made. It's bullshit. So anyway, I made that and the kids were obviously very happy and I was like deeply disappointed. I was like, I put in so much more effort. It's exactly the same. I didn't make the bread and love it more. So that's how I am. I watched your children. You did this week, um, which was fine, right? I had five kids in the house. It was fine. Um, this week, but this week did I work? Yeah, I think you were in between shifts. Uh, and so I do believe you were here, but you were in your night, night time. But I watched your kids and your wife was very concerned about your youngest because it was Tuesday. I worked on accident. He's got a reputation. I think it was Saturday. He's got a reputation, your son, your youngest son. He does, he's a bit of an animal. And I had him for, I think, two and a half hours, and he basically sat on my lap and peacefully watched TV the whole time. And I think your wife was so mad at me about that. Yeah, he won't let me even come near him. He is not a fan. And it's totally spiteful, because he loves me. Yeah, yeah, 100. But if he knows I want something, There is nothing in this world that will cause him to let me have it. I want to snuggle you. Fuck off, dad. I will die before I let you have that. Well, in any event, today, 10 minutes in, we are talking about watches. We've gotten there. We've gotten there. I appreciate your patience at home with us decompressing from our weeks. Here we are, we're talking about watches. And Andrew, you came up with a good one this week. Do you mind telling the folks what we're gonna talk about? I am gonna introduce it. So today we're talking about watches with ugly duckling syndrome. Say more. And for those of you who are unfamiliar with the children's story of the ugly duckling, something that you initially look at And you're just, it's just not there. And I think maybe a more appropriate for this context is the pop culture ugly duckling as referenced in every 90s and early 2000s teen movie of, oh yeah, for some reason these are foaming up. I forgot to warn you. It's fine. It's fine. Yeah. When we open a beer, it for some reason explodes. They haven't been shaken and they are chilled. I have no answer. Maybe it's cold IPA thing. Anyway, uh, in every 90s, the nerdy girl who takes off her glasses and suddenly becomes hot as an analogy to something that just, just suddenly the light switch turns on for you. You see it and you dig it. It was always there, but you just, you didn't quite get it. Maybe it's one of those like, uh, you remember those, posters that like you had to cross your eyes and suddenly the image appeared. Maybe that's it. I don't know what those are called. So that's not what we can call this, but we're going to call this ugly ducklings because it's watches that exist in the space and in the world that they got made and they're real and there's some, there's something there and we didn't see it at first and then slowly or maybe just suddenly gain an appreciation for it. And I think there's a lot of watches out there for all of us who we were maybe not repulsed by, but also like, nah, it's a no for me, dog. And then they take their glasses off and you're like, fuck! Oh, hey, Laney Boggs. What up? Because I was thinking about things like just watch people things. I was like, there's a lot of watches that I like that I didn't used to like. And, and a lot of the watches that I like, and I'm going to start with my first pick and I'm gonna start right away. We're not going to do any more introduction into this. The first watch that we're diving into, uh, kind of early on in both of our watch journeys, you showed me the Doxa Pro for those of you unfamiliar. It's the orange Doxa. Yeah. And you, and I remember you saying this cause I was like, you're a fucking idiot. That doesn't make sense. You said anyone who likes watches eventually likes this watch. I was like, no. You're stupid. I like nothing about this watch. I almost feel like you're complimenting me. Or or something like that. I'm acknowledging your insight. Fantastic. It's certainly not a compliment. And you mean it in the worst possible way. 100%. If this could be derogatory, I would make it so. I've totally, I've totally knocked you off your game, Andrew. I'm sorry. No, no, I'm just, I'm just coming to terms with what I'm about to do. You were right. Yes. This is my first really good example of an ugly duckling for me. Cause I think for me, I'm a boring watch guy. I like the more boring, the more better. And I don't mean boring and in, in like Bauhaus, like one hand, although I do like me a one hand watch. I do like that. But I like simplicity and I like the elegance that comes with really deliberate, simple decisions. I mean, to, to make stoics.
Andrew Yes. Yeah.
Everett Yes. To make a cushioned case diver with a big UFO bezel. Yeah. To, to be able to do that in a way that's kind of like, not notable is really special. And I think Doxa set the tone for that. You know, we see, we see iterative similar watches and you know, the first watch that comes to mind for me is the monster. Yeah. Right. This, that, which is a clear, clearly inspired by this watch. Yeah. Right. It's, Simple, but it made it bigger. And it didn't need to be bigger. Doxa went as big as you could possibly go with this, this just little bit of an oddity. And I totally dig it. And I have, I'm kind of like in that space where, where the 300 T is on the table for me. Not exactly there. But I'm really close.
Andrew Sure.
Everett And I'm really struggling between the pro and the orange and the Caribbean and the blue. Tough choices. It's a super tough choice because the Caribbean is the is is frankly from for me and my general taste. That's that's an outlier. Right. That's a flyer. Yeah. It's blue and it's a doxa, which is just kind of like it's just a little bit out there for me in the way that I like to enjoy watches. Sure. But the pro in the orange is just, it's doing something for me. Yeah. The professional I think is sort of like the Doxa, I think is fair to say. It's the Doxa. It's the Dirk Pit Doxa. It's the one that I think Rick Murray really had his eyes on when he revived this brand. And there's something about it, right? There's something about the legacy, I think, has a big part of it. But there's something about that watch that is like, yeah, you're eventually going to get there. At some point, you're going to see that watch and be like, you know, I could rock a Doxa. And maybe part of it's the story. Not the legacy, but the story behind the story that creates the legacy, right? Cause if, if a brand is 10 days old or a hundred years old, that doesn't really impact me as much as why. Well, and that's a real thing, right? That's why all these brands come up with these stories that, you know, like, this is a thing, um, you know, and, and it's, and it's also why that sometimes feels, you know, uh, insincere, um, because it's one of those things that you can't fake. No, you really can't. And I, and I, like, I love the army, the Doxa army. Sure. I love that whole line. And, and I got to say, I'm a shark hunter guy through and through. I liked the shark hunter a lot. And when you showed me this and I saw the shark hunter, I was like, okay, I can get down with that. It wasn't the 300T that I had an issue with. It was the professional that I had an issue with. I was like, that's an orange watch. And I've been told that you should never wear a hat with more personality than you. And I would equate that also to a watch. Like, I'm not a Richard Mille guy. I'll never be a Richard Mille guy. Even if I had the money to be a Richard Mille guy, that's just not me. And that watch has more personality than I do. I would argue that the Professional perhaps has more personality than I do, but I think I'm okay with that. I think I'm okay with wearing that 10 inch Stetson in the way of the Doxa Professional. It's a really cool watch, man. I'm glad you've come around. It's my, it's, she took her glasses off and I'm totally, totally into it now. Or maybe I took my glasses off. Maybe that's what it is. I took my glasses off and she's suddenly ready for me.
Andrew That's maybe more appropriate.
Everett Maybe I'm the ugly duckling in this scenario. So my first watch is a weird one because all your watches are weird ones. Geez, dude. So this is, this is a watch that I can't afford. Um, it's, it's a watch that's really just not in consideration for me, but it's a watch that at first I thought, nope, Not at all, don't get it. And then much like your experience with the Doxa, just over time it grew and grew and grew on me. I tried one of these on recently and it was instantly like, yep, I get it. So my watch is the Moser Streamliner, specifically the center seconds, although the tourbillon is very neat.
Andrew It's pretty okay.
Everett Specifically the Moser center seconds. I've got this up on my screen in that beautiful green ombre dial. Our good friend Blaine Townsend owns one of these. It's a weird watch, right? It's got this sort of bionic man bracelet thing going on, semi-organic. It's got a case that's curvy in ways that you don't expect. Also octagonal. Yeah. Octagonal, but round, but also square. Um, it's a, uh, an enigmatic handset. I think that's, that's a good way to, to put it. It is an ejecting, um, Oh gosh, why don't I know words? A syringe. It's a syringe that's actually ejecting... It's like a red rocket. These are the red rocket hands. Yeah.
Andrew It's got... That's the new name.
Everett It has been coined here. Yeah, I heard it here first. These are red rockets. It's got this lovely... I mean, the one part of this watch that it's hard to argue with is that beautiful degradé, that green degradé sunburst-y dial. But then you get up to the minute track and you're like, wait, what is going on with the minute? Okay. I wasn't feeling it. However, there was a thing that happened when I tried this watch on where I was like, Oh, I get it. It's sub 10 millimeters. I don't know exactly how thick it is, but I think it's nine and a half ish millimeters. It's got this phenomenal looking movement. And it's just put together. I mean, you put it on and you're like, everything is exactly, exactly in the place it should be. Fits together the way it should be. The polish, which you almost can't see on the bracelet is... It's like a polished brush. It's completely epic. This watch is epic. It is, I think, one of the most beautiful, accessible watches that you could get. And I didn't realize it until I tried it on. And I was like, aha, aha. This is a watch that I've now got a crush on, a pretty big crush on. That was very much the way the Santos was for me. It's a watch that's just kind of like, oh, I don't, I mean, maybe. I can maybe see it. I can see what it does. But then the moment you put it on, you like, you actually see it. You're like, Oh, cause that's what it takes. I almost picked that watch for one of spoiler alert. I didn't, but I almost picked that watch for one of my selections tonight. Your Santos that you're wearing on your wrist right now, because I did not like that when I got into watches, I thought, no, this is not, this isn't it for me. No. Cause it's square. And it has Roman numerals. Yeah. And, and the, the streamliner doesn't have Roman numerals. It has no numerals. It has simple markers. It's, it's not square. There's nothing square. Nor octagonal nor round. The, the bracelet is none of the things It's like a modern Tag Heuer link bracelet almost. It's like this perfect amalgamation of all of the things in watches. And in order to be successful in that execution, your execution has to be perfect. And I will say these, these things aren't easy to come by. I think they sell on the gray market over retail. So it's, it's not a, It's not like a watch that they made and had trouble selling. This is a very popular watch. In the quantities they've sold it, the demand exceeds the production. I mean, there's probably a thousand of these in the world. Oh, I think they made more than that. I do. I think they made quite a few more than that. I don't know. I don't know what the production numbers are.
Andrew For Moser?
Everett I mean... You know, I don't know, Andrew, honestly. It could be a thousand. I'm not sure. I suspect it's more than that, though. Even so, I mean, this is one of those things that because of how odd it is and how you see its price from the retailer versus its accessible price, you can confidently say there's something there. Yeah. And unfortunately, cause I don't see it, but I'm pretty confident that if I were to try it on, I would see it. I think maybe. Yeah. I also don't think this is a watch for you. I think it's, It's not a watch for me, but if I were to try it on, I would see it. It's, I think it reads 40 millimeters on paper, but I would say it wears bigger than that. I would say it wears closer to 41 or 42. It looks pretty slabby. Cause it's all dial. Yeah. One, it's, it's square-ish too. It's not square, but it's square-esque adjacent. Square adjacent. There's something happening. So yeah, that's my first watch. The, the Moser NC. Streamliner the three hand that's an interesting pick. It's kind of that's it's sort of the interesting is like alright, whatever you say No, that's sort of the space that you exist in though is these really and I I've called you the the curator Pokemon the Pokemon curator. Yeah You're an interesting hybrid of like you want to catch all of the auditors And you'll see more of that as we go through our picks. I was going to say, you're doing some foreshadowing because I think my next watch is the most ever watch that's ever been made. Ever. Andrew, second watch. What do you got? For some reason, my page is reloading. Okay, so my next pick is the Seiko Arnie Prospex Tuna. There's a lot of reasons for this to be a ugly duckling for me. Number one, it's huge. It's a big boy. It's enormous. It's 47 and a half millimeters. It's a big boy. It's an Anodigi, which I love. I love Anodigi. I love digital watches. There were some comments early in our existence. People are like, whoa, Andrew, is that watch? I thought I just had a bunch of weird digital watches. The answer to that is no, I do not just have a bunch of weird digital watches. I love digital watches, though. I love the technology. I love the story of the super cheap nothing. Toppling these. Titans generation old
Andrew heightens and saying, Oh, fuck you.
Everett And somehow it's one of the few, the, and I, and I, the very few David and Goliath technology stories, right? You, you very in the history of technology and mechanics and, and consumer goods, you very rarely have seen, super cheap, shitty things topple well-established, technologically advanced things. Like imagine if the typewriter came out and toppled computers. That's sort of what we're dealing with in digital toppling the mechanical watch, I think, right? That's a little bit of a hyperbole. But in the way of actual form and function, we take this very technically simple thing, right? There's a lot of super important and very valuable technology that goes into it, but the importance, right? I mean, I'm maybe not trying to capture, maybe not landing it, Yeah, I don't have a great analogy for what we're getting at. I think there's something a little different that happened with quartz. In the 70s, computers were exotic. Exactly. And quartz, digital quartz watches in particular, were emblematic of that exoticism, right? So there was an impulse, I think, a draw to that that we have trouble appreciating today. Yes. Because of the simplicity of... Well, not just that. Also better, objectively better, right? It not only is this exotic and futuristic and magic, but it's better. Yes. And a typewriter is never going to crash on you. It's never going to just like give you the red ring of death. It's never going to do that. I still think you've got it backwards, but I think I can appreciate what you're saying, right? Yeah. There's something here. Yeah. I love, I love it. The other thing that I just couldn't wrap my head around on initial introduction was the shrouded case. And I totally got why the shrouded case was there. It made sense. But I also, like, didn't care.
Andrew I'm like, okay, neat.
Everett Tried many on, was like, yeah, yeah, this is cool. Neat. Okay. So fast forward. Fast forward. five years. To a point where I now love these watches. I don't just love them because they're the Arnie. I love everything about it. It's this odd, indestructible.
Andrew It takes 316L steel and wraps it in more 316L steel with a whole other piece of 316L steel and says, will protect you. 316L Steel.
Everett I think these are the most absurd example of redundancy, and I love that strange ode to redundancy for no reason. This is this is. Case on case, time on time. Yes, this is like I dug A basement illegally under my house to fill with food. And then beneath that basement, I dug another basement to fill with guns and ammunition. I fucking love it. I love the redundancy and and the value in that. Right. Like I'm not I'm not saying you shouldn't dig to subterranean basements beneath your house for food. And then guns and ammunition. Because you should. Because I don't think you shouldn't. Because of America and stuff. But also like, do you need to? I don't know. But when you need it, you need it. And that's what the Seiko Arnie is. When you need it, you fucking need it. And when you don't, you have it anyway. And it's awesome. You know who needed this watch? Arnold Schwarzenegger? Major Alan Dutch Schaefer needed this watch. Yes, he sure did. Uh, you know, you know why these episodes are hard for me, Andrew? Because you have to look at all the watches that you like and are like, or you don't like and like, Oh, I actually like that. Or I don't know. I don't actually don't know. Yeah. That's why basically that, you know, I loved this watch from the second I saw it. It was, I hated it. I loved it. Even to this day. I hate that. I love it. I love the Ripley. I love this watch. I love, The Pro Prof. I loved the Ripley and the and the Pro Prof from the onset because they're just ridiculous. But they're meant to be ridiculous. This wasn't meant to be ridiculous. I love I love the ugly watches. My my my Seiko or my Casio G-Shock MRG Titanium that everybody hates. Fucking hate. I love the ugly. Right. You said it earlier. I'm the Pokemon, not collector.
Andrew Discerning Pokemon catcher.
Everett The Pokemon curator. Um, there's a certain, there's a certain level of like my natural impulse is, is to find the unappreciated.
Andrew I mean, what are you wearing right now?
Everett The ugly ducklings. Oh, so I, I do have an NWA for the show. I am wearing a watch from a company called County Com, AKA Meratech. Countycom is a website that you may or may not have heard of. Check it out. Countycomm.com, I believe is the website. It's run by a dude and he makes shit. You can find, I believe, carbon fiber combs. And you need that, but you also like titanium, like belt buckles. Uh, he just, he makes cool EDC shit. And, uh, a handful of years ago, I believe, I believe in collaboration with Casio made a, uh, G-Shock ish watch called the, I believe it was called the SOPMOD or the Mil-Shock. The Casio Mil-Shock. It looks very much like a 5600. Mil-Shock. Mil-Shocker. Uh, He last year, this is what he says in a video about this. He was approached by a government to make watches, military issue watches. He does not disclose which country, which military. So yeah, yeah, whatever. That's what he says. And that the product was, they initially looked at reissuing the MilShock. And I think Realistically, it sounds like they couldn't do it. It's just going to be too much money. And so what he did was remade that watch. It's called the SOPMOD II, a.k.a. the MIL-S-9290, a.k.a. the SPO-030722, a.k.a. the TDW watch, the throw down watch. There's some redundancy there. I apologize. Um, I, I look, if, if you see a picture, you'll be like, oh, that's a, that's a 5,600 clone. Nope. Except that it is approximately 1.37 or 1.75 times larger than a 5,600. And 1.75 times lighter. It's huge. Um, it's, it's light. It's nice. It's also got lugs, which I dig. And it's ridiculous. It's a $26 watch that doesn't make any sense. And I have no reason to own, but I own. It's enormous. It's super light, 50 meters of water resistance. It's enormous, doesn't have water resistance. I don't think it has shock resistance. Definitely not. Not for 26 bucks. Yeah, this is a bizarre watch, but I love it. I love it because it's weird. I'll tell you, it comes on a Maritag. raft style strap with the titanium hardware, which is worth the price of admission. This is like a $19 strap.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett I paid $26 for the watch. Right. I love it. $36 for shipping. It's super big. He didn't pay 36 for shipping. It's way. No, no. Okay. No, no. It's way too big. It's a, this watch doesn't make any fucking sense, Andrew. Not even a little bit, but you own it because you like it. Not only do I own it, I've been wearing it. Yeah. So It's the first Knot Foster I've seen you wear in a long time. These shows are hard for me because I like all the ugly watches. No, they're not ugly. You like weird watches. So my second watch is weird. It is weird. It's made out of titanium. Always a plus for me. It's made by Seiko. Plus. Also always a plus. It is a chronograph plus it has not one but four separate dials. four entirely independent dials. So this is, you probably already know what it is if you know, if you know these watches, but this is a Seiko Sportura Kinetic SLQ007, which is the rarer, stronger, lighter brother to the SLQ009. The difference being the 007 or the 009 is made of steel. The 00, excuse me, 007 stainless steel, the 009 is made from titanium, which is the one I like. It's a big watch. It's a 41 by 49 millimeter watch, as discussed, four separate dials. It's ugly. It's got that very late 80s, 90s Seiko curvy kinetic aesthetic. These things are hard to find and cost way too much. If you find one of these in good shape, it's going to run you about $3,500 to $5,000. Do you know what I love about this watch? Tell me. A lot of watches, when you see a three link or faux three link bracelet, it's integrated into the lug. Or the end link. Seiko said, fuck all that shit. Not this one. Not this one. They beveled the case. I don't even know if you call that a bevel so much as a step. They stepped the case to match. The integrated bracelet such that you have a 38 millimeter watch. 38 by, uh, by 13 millimeter watch encased by a 40 by 12 millimeter watch. It's the most bizarre alien thing. Like this, this could be the Ripley watch. It could have been. Yeah. This could have just, it could have been just as appropriate as the Ripley chronograph. And I think that really speaks to what Seiko was doing in that time frame in the way of pushing the envelope. They sort of missed on what the future held with a few of their offerings, but they put out so many skews. They cast that wide net. Yeah. Some of these are going to land. And some of them will eventually land and some of them are just going to vanish. You know, Andrew, for me, I think this one lands. It eventually landed.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett Right. It maybe it may took a hard vertical bounce and has eventually come back because this is a super fucking cool watch and you've never seen anything like it before or since. Yeah. You know, I think my favorite part of this watch and even if you know this watch, you may not have ever picked up on this. The main three-hand dial on the... Oh, it has a date, by the way. I got sidetracked. This is not what I was about to talk about. It's got a date with a magnifier at the four o'clock position. But my favorite thing about this watch is the main timekeeping dial, the biggest of the four. Only slightly. Is a spark dial. So, like I said, you may know this watch, but you've probably never acknowledged or noticed that the main dial is a spork dial, which I love. Look, I'll stop talking about this watch because if you hate this watch, you're... I'm the fondest trash. It just makes no sense. If you hate this watch, you're fine. That's right. You should. But also... this is an ugly duckling watch. I did not like it. I was like, it's too much. No one should like this watch on first viewing. And then the more you look at it, you're like, oh, actually. Yeah. I better get that. Bad ass, though. I better get that. So this is one of those, I will own this someday. I'll own this. I need to get one before they get ridiculous. You're sort of in that zone. They're there. Yeah, that's unfortunate. I may consider getting one and trying to restore it because I might save some money. Do you think the screws... What do you think those are for? I think they're just as likely to actually be functional as they are to be completely decorative. Doesn't matter to me. No, they're all at different angles, which means that they serve a function.
Andrew That they turn. Sure. Yeah.
Everett Yeah. Do you think they removed just that piece of the case? The plate? Yeah, like the exterior plate of the case. It's possible. It's possible. This is a cool watch. Check it out, the SQL007. And buy them all up, drive the price up. Excuse me, the SLQ009 is the titanium, 007 is the steel version. Yeah. They're both really cool. I mean, I wouldn't kick the steel version out of bed. No, but you want the titanium version of your bed. That's like a. That's like a marrier fuck in a situation. Final watch, Andrew, go. OK, final watch. This is actually the easiest. This was my first pick. This is a watch that we had a similar experience with. Yeah, it's the Bell and Ross BR05. Bro. Yeah. The brass. I saw this watch a lot, right? Bell and Ross is a known quantity. Bell and Ross is a thing. Bell and Ross is kind of a thing that's like easy to make fun of. Cause I think just kind of, yeah. And I, and I sort of like, like I always, I understood why people liked You know what my favorite part about this watch is? Hmm. Well, my favorite part about this story is I went to wind up in 2021 and you weren't able to go at the same time that the windup watch event is held. There's also an event at Gotham hall in New York called watch time, which is something we've talked about on the show. It's, it's a watch show. with a bit higher degree of watches. So more expensive, more money, just nicer watches. They're serving Macallan. Yeah, that's right. They're serving. That's right. You can go upstairs, get your free Macallan. It's Macallan 12, but it's still Macallan. My first experience with this watch in person was in 2021. after coming back from watch time. And I believe I came back and on this show ranted a little bit about how much I loved this watch. And you gave me a blank stare for much of my rant. Yeah. Approximately one year later, almost to the day we went to New York together. Andrew, we did. I'll let you take the story from here.
Andrew So we went to New York together. Don't pause me.
Everett I like that. I need this delay because this is like a little bit of pride eating twice now in the show. So I've always just kind of like up to a point. I just kind of didn't. And I was like, OK. It's a big ass square watch with a round dial. Sort of don't get it. you know, prep them to go to wind up and watch time. I'm like, I'm excited to try this watch on. Cause there, there must be something here. There no watch is in a catalog that there's nothing there. I might not get it. And that's totally okay. Cause I'm not a smart guy, nor do I have great taste. Me not getting it is not a good indicator of something's good or badness. But I really didn't get this watch. And because I knew I would get to see one, I was kind of excited. And we go to watch time, cruise to Bell and Ross's table, talk to a couple ladies who don't speak English. Handsome ladies. Very handsome ladies. Just they they speak just enough English to like. Get there. And I put the BR05 on my wrist.
Andrew And like a lightning bolt, I get it.
Everett This watch fits perfectly. It hit me very much in the same way the Santos did. Where I put it on and I'm like, man, this watch fits perfectly to my wrist. Though it is a chunk and a block of steel, it curves around my wrist like any other round watch I've worn, like every other well built, designed for the people watch. And suddenly I got it. I got why this watch existed and continues to remain in existence. I got why it costs $5,000. I got it all at once like a bolt of lightning. This is probably not, no, this is a watch I would not buy, but this is a watch I would very much like to have and wish I could have it. It's wildly comfortable. The bracelet was phenomenal, even unsized. It, I just, I, I don't get it. I still don't get it. Cause I don't particularly like this watch, but I also love this watch. It was amazing. It's an enigma to me. It was that comfortable. It was that well finished that it's, it's a watch that at $5,000 that I don't love. I still want. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you. I love it. I love the watch it. This was the watch. I fell in love with the diamond version of this watch, which is outrageous. I'm not a diamond watch guy. No, but that was the one for me and an orange plastic watch. Yeah. I mean, look, it's a tough watch. Uh, it's a tough watch to understand. And then you put it on and you're like, Oh, there it is. I get it. I got it. Cause it's thick and it's chunky. Yeah. You know, it's not, I do think that this watch should be about a millimeter thinner than it is for, for me to really, if it was a millimeter thinner, really be in love with this watch, it would be about a millimeter thinner. It would be problematic for me. Yeah. I would buy this watch. My final watch. I'm ready for it. I have a friend, Andrew. His name is Brian. I'll leave it at that. Brian is a... I may have talked about Brian on this show before. We've talked about Brian and his... I sneezed. Brian and his story. Brian's an enigma. Brian took took the LSAT in a tent in Afghanistan. He left a six-figure investment banking job to become a private, a literal private, even though he could have been a specialist in the 82nd Airborne. He is a Second Amendment nut, but also Black Lives Matter protester. He is one of the best criminal defense attorneys I've ever met. He's bombastic that I've never gone against him. He will buy shots of Pappy for everyone at the table at the bar at four 30 when you weren't planning to drink Pappy. Uh, he's just, he's bigger than life. He is like an ankle bracelet on him to know where he's drinking. He's bigger than life. He's also a big dude. And he's a big dude. He's got like a $10,000 hi-fi system. I don't know what kind of music he likes. He's an ADM guy. He's a dude. Brian's a dude. But this is a man who, when he was a six-figure investment banker before 9-11, had a Breitling, a fantastic Super Ocean that I really like. And he tracks that perfectly tracks. He subsequently bought a two-tone bluesy sub. He's got a, uh, a handful of very lovely watches. And about a year ago, I'm his guy, right? He like messages me like, Oh, this is what I'm thinking about buying. Uh, about, about a year ago, he messaged me and said, I want a Breitling Avenger chronograph GMT 45. No, I was like, hold on. No, you said a lot of things right there. No, you don't. And he's like, well, I don't understand why. And I was like, I just don't think you want that watch. I don't think a, you know, it's, I don't think you want that watch. And so we kind of talked through it and he's like, well, I still think I want, I was like, well, then fucking buy it. You're not going to, if you didn't question your intent to buy, you wouldn't have asked me. That's right. I don't think you want that watch. So we started talking about things he wanted, and we got to a weird place because I recommend watches to people all the time. This happens regularly. You too, Andrew, I'm sure. I do. Many of the people listening to the show will be in a similar position from time to time. Someone will say, I need a watch. You'll make a recommendation. I have never had one of those conversations that ended at Panerai. No, nor will you ever again. Nonetheless, At the end of the day, Brian and I ended on an 80 hour Panerai, a big fucking Panerai. It's not big for Panerai. It was during that conversation that I fell in love with Panerai. Yo. Do you know that I have been signing you and Will up for Panerai and Hublot newsletters like, I don't know, every other week for about a year? I didn't know that, but thank you for that. That's why you've been getting them. Yeah. All right. Fair enough. Um, look, so, so we, we got to the three day Panerai. This is a, this is a totally beautiful watch. Uh, it's, it's maybe not the watch I would buy. Do you know if, if not for the crown guard, I'm, I'm there. I've, I've settled on, a regular old Luminor Marina 44 millimeter as the watch for me. This is probably the quintessential Panerai when you talk about Panerai. It is. The Luminor Marina is the one. And never have I ever, as it were, thought, gosh, I'm going to be spitting, but I've got a crush, much like Much like the Moser, I've got a crush. The problem with the Panerai is I might actually buy this watch. I'm not big enough. I'm not bombastic enough. I believe you are bombastic enough. But maybe not. But not big enough. I don't think you have the size. I think you go I think you could pull it off on a bracelet though. I got a crush, man. I got a crush. I think she talked to you, man. This is so, so I don't know that this watch is classically ugly.
Andrew No, it is.
Everett But when you, when you understand how big it is, that it's a 44 millimeter bloated square with a weird crown guard spring release system thing. Uh, that's, that's virtually all dial by the way. A hundred percent. Uh, it's 43 and a half millimeters of tile. This is a big fucking watch, man. No reason for me to like this. I like small watches. I want this watch. I want this watch, Andrew. But you like them thick also. And I, I get it. And honestly, if you could restore it, if you dremeled off the totally enclosed crown guard on these, I'm there. I'm there with you. But I, I don't, I don't like the totally enclosed crown guard. Yeah. And I, I, I, I understand technically. You want the base, you want the base PAM 210 with the, with the regular all that name crown.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett Yeah. No, I want the crown guard. I want it all. Go, go big. And if you're going to spend, you know, $8,000, eight to 10, $8,000 on a watch, yeah, you go big. But when you get to create your own watch at $8,000, you do you. Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. Which is why I'll never own a Panerai. I cannot confidently... I can't promise that. I can't confidently say the same. So that's it. That's my third watch. I think the Panerai is maybe slightly less ugly than the other watches. You know, this is a beloved watch. It's the less, it's the, it's the least weird of your watches. And it was the most surprising to me cause you are a weird watch guy. And, and, but also at the same time, I was sort of expecting your watches to be much more middle of the road of watches you'd come to appreciate. Sure. Like I'd go the other way. Yeah. Yeah. Like, no, I like weird things. But these are the not weird watches that I like. But this Amy Adams right here, for some reason. Sure. It just does it for me.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett Like, yeah. Duh. Yeah. Yeah. But no, you went like you went deeper. Go big. Go hard. Into the oddities. But for the Panerai, which is I think that's kind of an ugly duckling for everyone. The first time you see it, you're like, Oh, what is that? And why is that? And then you kind of like warm up to it and you're like, Oh, actually I'm okay with that. I got, I got a crush. Yeah.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett Well, Andrew, I think we've done it as we usually do. Is there anything else we want to say about our ugly, ugly duckling watches today?
Andrew No, I'm out of things.
Everett In that case, The time has come for other things. Andrew, what do you got?
Andrew I have another thing.
Everett I'm glad for that because that's what time we're that's what time it is. So I'm glad. More than 10 years in the making. Damn. There is a show. Hosted by stars. Called Party Down. Now this is a show that I was introduced to by you, our good friend Tommy, who has been on this show. And I was introduced to it when he was house sitting a house near my house in college. And we went over to said house because it had a hot tub. And we got tatered on a brand of tequila called KAH, K-A-H. Which could well be another thing in and of itself. We got tatered drinking tequila. Sitting in the hot tub. We returned from said hot tub. And Tommy said, Have you seen the show called Party Down? And you and I said, No, nope. And he turned on Party Down on stars. And it is a show. With super familiar faces now, not so not at the time, not so in 2009. Adam Scott, Rob Thomas, Fred Savage, Paul Rudd, Dan Etheridge, Brian Gordon. Yeah. Sorry. Household name. Walk of the walk. Like Hollywood Walk of Fame. Stardom. Ken Marino, Lizzie Kaplan. All of them. There's a star, Jane Lynch. No one in Megan Mullally. None of the main characters in the show will you not recognize now? JK Simmons. In 2009 you, they were all relatively fresh faces. Oh, Kevin Hart, Ken Jeong. The whole premise of the show is a catering company in LA of a bunch of people who are trying to make it in Hollywood or Have given up trying to make it in Hollywood. Which is really funny when you consider the context of the show being made and the people being cast for it. Each episode is one of their catering events.
Andrew It ran two seasons. And then in 2023, Well, 2021.
Everett It was revived. 2022, they filmed. 2023, they released. The 10 years later season. I haven't watched it yet. Because it just recently became available on stars like in the last three days. So I paid for a star subscription on Hulu. As you do, as one would do. I'm rewatching the first two episodes or the first two seasons to catch up. To prime myself for season three, even without a season three. This is a reasonable other thing, but we've got three seasons of a bingeable television show available to you on Hulu for about five dollars. Well worth the price of admission. It is hysterical. It's that like. Peak 2009 2010 comedy that's like would not be on television now, but that we all really laugh at. Because it's horrifying and also funny. Because it kind of reminds you of a time when it was like it was OK to say those things. And man, it really should not have been. But it was funny when they said it. I'm sorry. Glad it was. Yeah. I loved the show. And about two years ago when they announced that there was going to be another season, I was elated. And then I kind of forgot about it. And recently when I saw that the most recent season and probably the last season was available, I subscribed to Stars for the month. You're going to have to you're going to have to. I'll follow up at the conclusion, like probably next week. I'll get through it next weekend. And I'm so excited because it's all the it's the main players, they're all back. And that's a super rare thing for 10 years later for all of the cast to come back and be like, yeah, I'm ready to party shit. They can't even make a hangover for because Ed Helms is like, I don't want to do it. Bradley Cooper's too busy, but. Yeah, he is too busy, man. But that's my other thing is this really awesome show that even without its third modern season would be totally worth it for a $5 superstition to stars for the month. Wonderful. Good choice. I'm here for it. Andrew, I've got another thing. Do me. Uh, have I talked about my, my slipper issues recently? You have not. You know, I am wearing some nice mocks right now. I'm actually a little surprised you wore them across the street. I wouldn't wear those across the street. So I long ago, I bought my first pair of grown up slippers. This is gosh, I would say this was 2008. And I bought a pair of Ugg Byron slippers. We have talked about those. And they were great. They were shearling lined. They were kind of a suede. a rough out type of leather. They're great. I had them for a long time. I wore them. They were a little warm, you know, whatever. But so are the ones you're going to talk about in 2015 or thereabouts. I bought a pair of glare ups. I think that's how you say that, which is a boiled wool slipper and I really liked them and I wore the shit out of them. But for whatever reason, I just, you know, they wore out this last year and they wore out catastrophically. That's a good lifespan for a slipper. It is a good lifespan. And I genuinely considered going back in, but there was something about it. I said, you know, this isn't slipper for me. I want to, I want to branch out. And I think LOB, is a company that's famous for his slippers. I've had a pair of their wicked shearling line slippers, which I know you wear. I wore. They also had a catastrophic failure. I think that the quality on those is not very good. I think they changed about three years ago because I had a pair and then the subsequent year, Kim had a pair. And hers broke. Hers blew out. Really quickly. Kim being my wife. Yeah. The woman I sleep with next to and with. Okay. Uh, maybe I had mine a couple of years earlier cause hers blew out before mine. And I was like, no dude, mine are still in good shape. And then when they blew out, it was like catastrophic. All systems could fail. Like one soul was falling off. The other one was like erupting on the, it was just, it was catastrophic. So the wicked slippers were out and I went online. You guys aren't alone, right? These things are breaking and they used to be a great slipper. I don't think they are. There's a couple of brands. Mini Tonka is one. UGG is still a very good option. They're the, yeah, there were a handful of slippers that I went back and forth on and it just, I wasn't feeling it. And eventually through my research, Oh, I also went to Bombas. Bombas has a slipper sock that Will Gillis, the editor-in-chief of The Watch Clicker, speaks very highly of. I consider those, they're inexpensive, they're kind of... But no, I want something serious.
Andrew Yeah, I want a sole.
Everett I want to be able to walk across the street. I looked at a few British brands. Anyway... They're slipper people. I finally came back to L.L. Bean and I read a review of the L.L. Bean Hold on, let me get it right. Men's leather, double sole slippers, shearling lined. There you go. 4.5 stars with 837 reviews. These are a hard out leather. So unlike the Wicked slippers, which are rough out, these are a traditional sort of like leather material. They've got a leather sole. They're shearling lined, but it's not a thick shearling. It's a pretty thin shearling. It was just my bitch with that little beanies. They were way too hot, way too hot for like six months. So I, I picked these up and man, I gotta tell you, I'm kind of in love. I'm kind of in love with these things. I've been wearing them now for about three weeks and I found my new slipper, man. Okay. The double sole leather shearling lined. They also make these in an unshearling lined version. So just. Just a leather mock. A leather mock slipper. I think that that would be a problem for me because it would stink. I think you'd have to wear those with socks. Yeah. That's like a bow shoe. Which is fine. You could do that. I don't like to not wear socks when I'm in my house. That's right. That's right. So I picked these up. I've had them for three weeks and they're everything I hoped they would I got new slippers, and I think I'll probably wear these for five or six years, and then I'll decide they weren't good enough, and I'll look for the next time. And they will explode catastrophically. The same way any other... Because they're boat shoes, right? Let's hope they don't explode catastrophically.
Andrew I would like that if they didn't. If they had a rubberized sole, they would look like any other boat shoe.
Everett I will say, when I got these, they're polished. It's like polished leather, like waxed polished leather. When I got them, I put them on and I borderline couldn't stand up. They were so slippery. So it took them about a day of wear before I could like walk around the house without like falling on my ass. I bet if you hit them with a conditioner, they would last a little bit longer.
Andrew Yeah, I will condition them.
Everett My concern is the seams. even, even double stitched. Yeah. We'll see that the seams are certainly the most likely place of failure. So we'll see. In the rough side out my, I actually, I didn't have issues with seams until the very end, but I had a lot of issues with the leather breaking. So we'll see. I got new slippers and I love them so far here a month in. I was like, yep, these are the ones. Those are some, some handsome slippers. Andrew, Alas, here we are. Have you got anything else to say? I could do without the leather faux lace, boat shoe look. It is what it is. It is. And I bet they're cozy as fuck. I take that to mean nothing else. That's it. Hey. I'd like to just quickly thanks you guys for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20 of the Watch Clicker podcast. Thanks. Why don't you do us a favor? Check us out on our website, which is WatchClicker.com. It's where we post every single episode of this podcast, as well as articles, reviews, and we've had some bangers lately. Some banger reviews. We got to go through those perhaps next week. You can also check us out on our socials, on Instagram, at 40and20 underscore WatchClicker and at WatchClicker. We have pictures. We got information about the things we're talking about on the website, et cetera, et cetera. If you want to support us and, and we genuinely hope you do. You can do that at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. That is how we fund this entire operation. It is our primary source of income. That's how we pay for hosting software, hardware, et cetera. And it's a lot for all of you who are already supporting us. Thank you so much. And if you're not check it out, you don't have to give much, just a little bit would really And don't forget to check us out next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Bye bye.