Episode 230 - Our Watch Collecting Journeys

Published on Thu, 23 Mar 2023 08:23:12 -0700

Synopsis

This podcast episode discusses the evolution of personal preferences and tastes when it comes to watches. The hosts, Andrew and Will, reflect on how their watch preferences have changed over time, from being enamored with every new watch as beginners to becoming more discerning and developing specific tastes. They talk about factors like case size, lug-to-lug measurements, and design elements that they now pay more attention to but didn't consider earlier in their watch journey. The episode also touches on the experience of reviewing watches and how it can sometimes lead to nitpicking and finding flaws that wouldn't be noticed otherwise.

Links

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Transcript

Speaker
Andrew	Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 in 20, The Watch Quaker Podcast with your hosts, Andrew and my very good friend, Will. Here, we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Will, how are you?
Will	Whatever it is in here, we're going to burn this place to the ground.
Andrew	We are. You know how hard it is to work the slide and open a beer all at once? That was surprisingly difficult.
Will	That's why I tried to get you with mine.
Andrew	Yeah. Well, I appreciate that. That's what I needed. So as, as we all know, Everett is in winter park right now, or as maybe you don't all know, maybe you didn't listen last week. Uh, but Everett's in winter park. So, uh, here we are partying without him. The adult supervision on the podcast is usually Everett. He's gone. Let's light it up. How you been?
Will	Pretty good. Been busy. Um, Reviews have been busy. The website's been busy. I mean, for anybody who doesn't know, I also do commercial watch photography outside of the review stuffs, and that has been really busy. So the camera has been getting a ton of clicks. And then aside from that, I have a four-year-old and a two-year-old, and they're always keeping me busy.
Andrew	And a full-time job and a wife, you know, just no big deal.
Will	Yes, and also those things.
Andrew	Well, terrific. Super glad to have you, because I think I think your perspective is one that we often, I don't know if we bring you on often enough to offer your insights. Because you're busy, and we're busy, and we're three hours apart. So it's full daytime right now for me. My wife's actually still at work, I think. At least, like, probably.
Will	It is, uh, it is just, just about nighttime now because of the time change. Um, yeah, but that's normally what, what gets us is you guys are ready to record and I'm ready to go to bed.
Andrew	Yeah. In fairness, I'm ready. You got me a little earlier tonight. Yeah. We got a little bit earlier and here we are at a party. And this is a topic that we kind of tag teamed came up with. I posed the idea and I was like, and we'll talk tomorrow. And then we didn't talk tomorrow, which was yesterday. Um, And then we talked a little bit this morning and you, you took it to, I think a better place. Cause it was an idea. My idea was to dive into the, into you as the daddy of the watch clicker. Cause you have a far greater breadth of experience just by the nature of how many watches go through your revolving door. So what we wanted to talk about today was I actually, I'll even let you, please, I insist you introduce the idea.
Will	Yeah. So what you originally came up with was interesting, which was from a reviewer perspective, what do you see that you, you know, maybe didn't like before that you like now, or how your tastes changed from a review perspective. And I was like, tons of stuff there. I think we can talk about a lot, but I thought it would also be interesting to talk about personal preferences because as I was going through that, looking at some of my earlier reviews, which I have them up in front of me. I reviewed a lot of watches that I bought myself or, you know, I bought to review and then sold it. You know, that's kind of how I started getting a catalog of reviews under my belt. And I bought a lot of things that I liked. And when I look back at what I liked, like, I don't like some of that stuff anymore. I don't, why did I even like that in the first place? It's not my style and it never was. It was just kind of that, like, um, you're just getting into watches thing. You want to experience everything type of thing. So I thought it'd be interesting to go back and talk about some of that stuff and also get your perspective, because you get a watch and you hang on to it. Oh, yeah. I'm not a revolving door guy. Yeah, you're not. Yep. So I'm a straight polygamist. I'd like to know from your perspective what makes you decide that's the watch I'm going to buy and I'm definitely going to hang on to it.
Andrew	I brought some some watches of the journey in front of me today. And we'll tease them. I have I have my Mako. As as you all know, I have a. Manta Atlas on Everest strap right now, and that's teasing a future episode. I get it. Yeah, that looks good. I totally get Everest now. And then a a Cartier Santos. So that's just a little tease of like where we're where we're going to get to. Um, but yeah, and then, so that was kind of my thinking as, as let's, let's track this evolution of a journey. Cause we all start for the most part in a pretty similar place. Most people have a pretty low threshold for how much a watch should cost. Because we've all seen in every grocery store checkout aisle, watches clapped in a little plastic container that costs $9. So why on earth would we spend any more? It's like, well, I can get that watch for $9. And I also have a cell phone in my pocket. But for whatever reason, some people are like, I think I want to watch. And then they get a watch. And if they're people like us, who end up into people like us, they do an upsetting amount of research. And they get a watch. They're like SNK, Mako, Time, or SKX, you know, there's probably some people who start in some like kind of other veins, but that's sort of the zone. And you love that watch. You love everything about that watch. And then you're like, well, maybe you want something else and you get a different something different and you love that watch. And it's this this evolution of a greater threshold for a higher dollar. And starting to really refine your tastes, like what about this watch do I like? And why do I like it? And what other watch does this perhaps better or in a different way? So your first review. Oh, you're on my phone. I FaceTimed you. So I don't have the luxury of being able to scroll. Your first review was A no, it wasn't the SNK mod. It was that was that was number two. What was number one?
Will	Horace Aquas. Yes.
Andrew	Your favorite. The Aquas. And it's not that I don't like the Aquas. It's that I have a I have a bad taste in my mouth about the Aquas because somebody I particularly don't like likes an Aquas and has a has an Aquas. And I was like, well, well, then I can't like this watch if this person does. So that's where we start. Let's talk about that. Let's start about the, the origin story. And we've talked about kind of the origin story of, of your watch collecting journey, but let's talk about your origin story of watch reviewing within the context of, of you, you are at an Aquas at this point. So there's some other, there's some stuff already completed.
Will	Yeah. So I think it, There's probably some people that haven't heard this story, and I think I still have a version of it up on the website, but I'll give an abbreviated version of how I got to the Aquas. So when I bought watches, I usually wore watches, but I wasn't a person that wore them all the time, but when I started working in like my career, I started wearing them. And I would just buy what I liked, what I saw. I was like, that looks good. I'll buy it. You know, it wasn't, I didn't own any automatic watches until I got where we're going to get to in a second. Um, because I would just go on Macy's and I would look what they had online. And if I liked it and I thought it looked good, I would just buy it. I didn't look at what size it was. I didn't look if it was automatic or, um, courts. I didn't really care or know much about automatic watches at that point. Um, and I own two watches that I vividly remember. One was, I think it was called the Bulova Field Classic or something. You've probably seen it. It was fairly popular. It had numerals at, uh, two, four, eight and 10, I think. Um, something like that. Uh, and it was a black dial.
Andrew	That's a very, very Bulova thing to do. Like we're going to do everything normal. Not.
Will	Nope. Um, and it had a slight texture to it. I think it had, you know, like different, um, textures on a couple parts of the dial. I don't have it anymore. Um, but the other one I had was a white Daniel Wellington because I didn't know any better. And I got sucked into social media marketing. Um, and one day I was just browsing on Reddit. Uh, I forget what it was. It was like buy it for life or something like that. And someone was talking about watches you should never buy. And someone put in there, Daniel Wellington. And I was like, look down at my wrist. Oh boy. Let's find out why.
Andrew	Why am I wrong here? How can you hold such a strong position?
Will	Yeah. um and then someone had commented in there come over to r slash watches and you know you'll learn all about stuff and i spent days in there just pouring over the pictures because these are all watches i've never had exposure to before you know and this was right around i think when micro brands were really starting to to catch fire like i think the c4 the first c4 had just come out so around that time frame um and what i i made the somewhat of the same mistake but I bought something that I thought looked good, but it was mechanical. I bought an Orient Sun and Moon, which is a watch I would never buy today. It has multiple things on it I don't like. It's too big, has Roman numerals all over it.
Andrew	That's a shocking watch that you've ever owned.
Will	I'm really pleased to know that you've owned that watch. That was my first mechanical watch. And From there, I got an SKX, a 173, so not the 007. I didn't have a 007 for years until I bought one and modded it. But from there, I went down, OK, I want to get something Swiss. You go down that rabbit hole.
Andrew	Because you're in that rabbit hole now, and you're like, well, now Swiss is the thing. That's where this all started. I need to go Swiss. That's a nice watch, Swiss made. It's got to say it on the dial, or it's not a nice watch.
Will	Yep. So, uh, I, I, I found the Horace Aquus and I was like, that's, I love that watch. It's beautiful. I love blue. You know, it looks cool. All that kind of good stuff. Um, and I, I talked to my, she wasn't my wife then she was my girlfriend and I talked to her about it until she was blue in the face. Um, and we were at a mall one day and I was like, Oh, there it is. Let's go. Let's go try it on. Um, so I went and tried it on.
Andrew	She said, fucker, buy me an engagement ring. Stop buying watches.
Will	Well, this is a funny story. She was like, do you want it? And I was like, yeah, of course I want it. I was like, but I can't buy it right now. And, uh, she goes, well, I'll buy it for you. And I was like, shut the hell up. So she, she bought it for me. Um, and it's a watch that will always be in my collection. Cause it was the first watch that I ever remembered, like someone buying for me, you know, for something significant. Um, and later that week I proposed to her, I'd already had the ring and everything. And she had bought it kind of thinking, you know, that we were going to get engaged. So that was her engagement present.
Andrew	Pushing you over the ledge.
Will	Come on. Just in case I'll buy this damn watch and maybe he'll propose. And I did.
Andrew	There's no precedence for having to return a watch. There is precedence for having to return an engagement ring. So that's a big risk on her part.
Will	She told me if I left her that I would have to give the watch back. But so that that's the first watch that I reviewed. And the reason that it was the first watch I reviewed was because I didn't have anything else. You know, I had no brand connections. I had just I my first post on Instagram was the night we got engaged. I posted a picture of that watch with her ring. And I was like, I'm engaged. And this is my first post ever on Instagram. I wasn't WatchClicker then. And I was like, that picture, I'll get tons of tons of people coming to me to give me reviews because of that picture. No, nobody.
Andrew	It didn't set the world on fire.
Will	No, no. I think it actually did pretty well. Like if you go back and look at it for having just started in Instagram back in 2018, I think it did okay. But it didn't get me anywhere. But it started me down the path of reviewing watches. And I looked back at some of the first watches I reviewed. And just my first, I'm gonna go with my first five with the exclusion of the Speedmaster because I went back and reviewed that later. And that's a different story. But, um, the Oris Aquus Seiko, uh, SNK 809, which is the little Seiko five, uh, the Hamilton Kaki.
Andrew	That was the modded version of it though.
Will	Yes, correct. Um, which is funny. That is still one of the most popular articles on the website. Like every month it's one of the top five because it's one of the only, um, articles on the internet that like talks about modding and SNK is outside of like YouTube. Um, So there's that. The Notice Contrail, like the first one, and the Tissot Visodate. And with the exception of the Contrail, all those watches were watches I had bought. Notice had actually sent me the contrail for a couple of days to look at. I don't think they were expecting a review. It was when they were pretty young and they were just kind of sending watches around to people to just take pictures of, you know, to get a buzz going.
Andrew	Well, yeah. And it was, it was traveling the circuit of like, Hey, everyone come see this watch. Cause it's worth seeing. And the more people that could put it in the hands of for a short period of time, just that was, that was kind of the, that was an interesting move that they did that, that kind of made a shift in the, small brand world where watches go on tour at this point and they sort of pioneered that idea in a really unique way because you weren't somebody. They were just cool with it landing at your house because they were like, maybe this guy will buy this watch or maybe he'll tell a friend about it and he'll buy this watch.
Will	Yeah. And I think I had Uh, I had bought a retrospect from them and I think that's and, and you know, like this is back when they were super young and I was just talking to them, you know, just on Instagram, like, I don't know if I should buy this watch, you know, like it was $350, I think. And I was like, it's a lot of money. Can you tell me more about it? And they answered all my questions and that's why I bought it.
Andrew	But it's funny because that little story... It's a lot of money for somebody who also owns an Aquas, right? So you still, your stomach for a dollar threshold... I just got married. I was broke. Well, okay. So your stomach for a watch threshold purchase, but you maybe were just a wise spender.
Will	Yeah. Frugal is the term we'll go with. Not really. Anyway, the Retrospect that I bought and the Tissot Vizodate are two watches in their specific configurations that I would never buy today. And they were both white dials. Okay. I owned a multitude of white dials. I was going back and looking at some of my reviews. I had that the retrospect, the Tiso, uh, a brew retro graph, um, a Casio edifice, which I still have.
Andrew	Cause you can't sell that. There's no reason to. Yes. Shipping would be more expensive.
Will	Um, Did you own the DJ that you reviewed? No, no, no, no. That was, uh, that, oh man, who reviewed that? I don't even remember. It was some guy who wrote one review and that was back before I could change the author. Oh, okay. Um, hold on. Let me click on it cause I can tell you. It was Alexander Kraft.
Andrew	Oh. Is he perhaps the son of Robert Kraft?
Will	Probably not. Maybe. I don't know with the DJ. Um, But it's interesting because I don't know why I bought so many white dials. Because I can't figure out why did I like white dials back then and I don't now. Because you did.
Andrew	It's clear through your early reviews that you were a white dial guy.
Will	And I'm not sure if it was because I was like thinking black, you know, I had a black dial watch in the SKX. and the SNK and it's like, okay, you can't have that many black dials, you know, and like, maybe that was my thinking. And I followed it up by buying five white dial watches, go figure. Not that I don't like white dials, like I don't hate them. It's just that I have one and I'm like, that's enough for me with white dials. I don't think I need another one. I don't know why I think that way, but you guys know, I like blue and black dials. They're the colors that I always settle on.
Andrew	I'm very much the same way with a few very like real exceptions. If I were to rebuy the SNK, I would, I would purchase in black.
Will	I had a, I had a blue SNK also, which big surprise there.
Andrew	Weird. Um, but the, the C63 and the Santos, like those are meant to be white dialed watches in my mind. Like when I see that it must be white. I maybe should edit that.
Will	Well, that's why the C63 and 36 millimeter originally came out in just white and black because that was the color for that watch.
Andrew	It's so good in white. And the way that light catcher case just makes it this almost electric white is perfect. But I'm very much in the same vein. I want a black, maybe a blue if I'm feeling a little crazy. That's what I want. Like I'm wearing my Atlas right now on my Everest strap because that's what is set. Everything else is just running on whenever it was last set. But yeah, the blue is the, that's my reach color. Like that's my, I'm feeling saucy today color.
Will	So that, that's a good one because, um, we'll come back to stuff that I don't buy anymore, but something that changed, I hated green dials. I would never buy a green dial watch. It was like, eh, don't like it. Don't like green. And Mike always used to bust my chops about it. He'd be like, well, you don't like green dials, so you wouldn't want to review this watch. But the Foster 11 Atmos was the watch that changed my mind on green dials.
Andrew	It's a good green.
Will	It is. And it is the only green dial watch I currently own. But it has opened up my mind to green dials. I don't know what it was about that green where it just like flicked a switch and it was like green dials are OK. You can you can do this. And we'll go back to Mike. He was very proud of me that I got the green dial. That's like a real saucy color for you. That's a big reach. The The, um, the new Seiko fives that are out, the, uh, like the reinterpretations of like the SNKs that are coming out, the 36 millimeter ones. Um, they're coming out with a green dial on that and I'm going to get it because it looks really good.
Andrew	And they're going to be cheap.
Will	Yeah. I think they're like 200 bucks.
Andrew	Yeah. They're going to be cheap. So with that, we're kind of, we're kind of touching on it. One of the things that I wanted to talk about was, is the ability for you to refine your taste in a, in a really unique way. Most people don't get to wear as many watches as we do. And I certainly don't get to wear nearly as many as you do. What's been like one of the things that has, let's just talk about that. Talk about how, how that immersion in diversity has worked toward refining your taste.
Will	Yeah. So that's interesting because in some ways it's a blessing and a curse. You can try out watches you are thinking of buying, you know, because you, you reach out to the brand and you say, Hey, I want to review your watch. And they say, yeah, sure. And then they send it to you and you try it out and you're like, man, I love this thing. I'm going to buy it. Or you get it on your wrist and you're like, Hmm. Not quite what I thought it was. I don't know if I want to buy it now, but I was in a spot when I first started reviewing where everything, everything that came through my door, I wanted to buy. And I think it was like that. I don't even know what you'd call it, like an addiction of opening the box, you know, and taking it out and being like, you should have done unboxing videos at the same time.
Andrew	You'd be a bazillionaire.
Will	Yeah, I went into the wrong industry. But I think because of that, I got so enamored with everything that I had that I became numb to everything for a little while, where I was just like, new watch, I don't care if I get it or not, whatever. And I think for a lot of people hearing that, they're probably like, well, you're a jerk. Because a lot of people don't get to do that. I think you'll find that anybody that reviews things has that, you know, you kind of disassociate from what you're actually reviewing sometimes because you try to be objective about it. And that was a lot of what I went through when I first started really reviewing watches that weren't things I was buying. Because I had to find ways to be objective about it and disassociate myself from whether or not I liked the watch. Because especially, you know, with like a green dial, I didn't like green dials at the time when I was early on reviewing these watches, but I couldn't say like, I just don't like green. So this watch sucks. I had to say, you know, something like green isn't for me, but if you like green watches, this might be your favorite watch because the green is actually a really nice shade or something.
Andrew	You know, you have to find ways to do that, but it also happens to be green.
Will	Yeah. So damn this watch. Um, but I think that helped in, getting to the point where like, I now like green watches because I saw so many that when the right shade of green came along, I was like, that's the one I've been waiting for the right one to come along to say, yeah, now I like that. And maybe that'll happen again with white dials, you know, or maybe I saw so many, I was like, I don't like them anymore. And maybe there'll be not that there'll be a shade of white, but a design shade of white is going to come through.
Andrew	That's going to scratch the itch.
Will	Yeah. But a, uh, a watch that has a design with a white dial that really gets me all hot and bothered.
Andrew	So, and I think I've experienced this and I think just hearing you explain that I've gotten a lot more picky. One single thing can turn me off from a watch that otherwise is terrific. And I very much like, but that one single thing I'm like, well, No, I've seen that thing done right. You could do it right. You ought to have done it right. And then I would have bought this one and you didn't. So pass.
Will	Big time. Uh, there are things that I would normally look over early on that now I'm like, no, that, that one thing just totally ruined it. And I'll give an example because The watch I'm going to talk about, I think they heard the same thing coming for multiple people and they changed it. Red seconds hands. I don't like them at all.
Andrew	Like red tint or whole red?
Will	All red. Okay. Totally red. Just the seconds hand. Not like a GMT hand or anything like that. Just seconds hand. And there are a couple of watches that did this, but there was the Manta Ocean King time only. And when they first launched it, it had a red seconds hand. And I was like, I would have bought that if it didn't have a red seconds hand. It was the only thing keeping me from buying that watch because I wanted a new date diver. And I was like, man, why'd you go to go and do that? And then I think it was just this watch on my wrist that bugged them a whole bunch. And they released it with the regular silver seconds hand or polished seconds hand. And I went and got one because I was like, you finally fixed it. You know, so it's things like that where it's like that one thing keeps you from buying it. And then you kind of hope that the brand changes that so that you can be like, all right, now I can buy it. It's okay.
Andrew	Is that problematic for us?
Will	It doesn't happen often.
Andrew	Like, is that, is that a problem that we have to have a perfect, like our definition of perfect iteration for us to buy a watch? And it's nice because I don't buy watches, but that's like a little problematic that we have this like developed is is is complimentary of the terminology that I'm using. I want it to be derogatory. This like super specific, like we've gone through so many things. We know exactly what we want. And unless it's exactly it pass, it can still be great. And we're still OK with it being great. It's just not for me. So maybe developed isn't fully derogatory, but it's a little derogatory in the way that I'm trying to use it.
Will	So I have a, I have a really good example of that. And it's the, the Helios C4. I have owned four or maybe five of them because I was looking for the perfect one. It's a watch I've always liked, regardless of the hype. I've always thought it's just a good-looking watch with good dimensions. The case is nice. I remember the first wind-up I went to in 2018. Jason was there with Hallios, and I got to actually try one on, and I was like, oh, I'm going to get one of these one day. But I didn't like the colors he had. It was when he was in the first iteration of all those, like, pastel blues and stuff that he had. Um, so I got a, uh, a silver sunburst one. Didn't like it. Yeah. Wasn't my thing. Then I got a blue with a fixed bezel, which I had for a while, but then I was like, no, I missed the bezel. Then I got the Nimbus gray with a steel bezel. And I didn't like the steel bezel.
Andrew	You want a black bezel on that?
Will	Yep. Um, and then I swear there's one more in there, but I just got the latest iteration, which is the Seaport four with a, I think it's the first time he's done it. It's a black dial with a fully graduated black ceramic bezel and it's perfect. Yep. And I'm like, all right, so 2018, that's almost five years ago when that wind up was, I waited that long to get this watch that I've been like, just give me black. Trying to get it the whole time.
Andrew	Yeah.
Will	Yeah. So, but I mean, that, you know, that's, it's kind of fun to go through that kind of stuff where you try out a bunch of different iterations of a watch. And you know, like I didn't, I bought all those. I didn't have Jason sending me them in for review because you know, he didn't need it. He doesn't need the press. I don't have a C4 review on the website. I'm pretty sure I don't. And I probably won't do one because if you want that watch, you want that watch and he doesn't need a review to sell them.
Andrew	And you know exactly why you want that watch. Exactly. And you're committed to that watch. Yeah. That's the problem with the C5 for me is like, you need like engagement level commitment to be able to achieve that watch.
Will	Yeah. And you know, the other thing with it, that specific, well, let me back up a sec. With watches like that, that I've hunted for a while and I buy, I'm now at the point, especially with the website where I don't review them anymore because I found that sometimes when I review a watch and I take all my pictures, I find things I don't like because I'm basically looking at it through a microscope and that's not a great thing. It happened early on when I would review watches. I would have a watch that I loved and I would review it and I'd find a bunch of dust on the dial or
Andrew	And by a bunch you mean like three particles.
Will	Yes.
Andrew	Or like a rough polish on the edge of a hand. Like looking under a loop is a really good way to get disappointed.
Will	It ruins watches for you. And I have also done things where I've gotten a watch for review and I won't buy that one. I'll be like, I want to send me. All right. If I want the black dial, I'll be like, send me the green dial. I'll get something different. So that way, when I look at it under review and I know I'm going to buy that watch because I'm, you know, I'm reviewing it. I'm like, this is great. If I find something I don't like, I'm like, well, it's just that one. You know, it's when you find it on your specific watch where you're like, ah, damn it.
Andrew	It ruined it. It's like when I, so you know how all Santos or how Cartier has the uh, the Cartier logo at the seven o'clock or at the, in the seven o'clock Roman numerals. Like when I found that that wasn't in mine, I was just like, whatever. It's, it's fine. Yeah. No, there's, there's something there in finding flaws and errors in, in the watch that, that you're going to keep.
Will	Yeah. Because I think when you're, I think when you're reviewing watches or even if you're just, um, Not reviewing them because there's a lot of people that don't review watches that brands send them watches and they just take pictures for Instagram and that's it. They don't write a single word about it. I think that you can find things that you don't like, but it's easier to overlook if you're not examining it, like you said, you know, under a loop. And I think that's the reason that I don't review my personal watches anymore. a lot of times I don't even take pictures of them because when I edit photos you know I often zoom into 100% and you know I'm looking at things that I wouldn't normally look at and I'll find things there so if you were to open up my watch box you'd probably find some watches in there that you've never seen on my Instagram feed or on the website or anything like that because I don't want to ruin it for myself I kind of want that that innocence of it's never been photographed you know like you guys like you've seen the watches that you know I get and I don't review because you know we have a little text message chain and we talk about things like that but I think a lot of watch people do that they're just like happy with what they have and they don't want to ruin it for themselves and I went like thinking about that I go back to things that I now care about not colors or anything like that that I didn't before And it's like, man, I wish I could get that innocence back. And one of them is case sizes and lug to lug measurements. There was a time when I didn't care what the case size was, and I had no clue what a lug to lug measurement was. And I envy those days because I just didn't give a crap.
Andrew	No, but you did. And I think you did care.
Will	No, I didn't.
Andrew	I bought so many watches that were too big. Some watches are objectively too big for your wrist.
Will	Okay. If we're talking about like a 50 millimeter watch, yes. Um, I understood that at least, but all right, look at it this way. If you buy a watch that is 42 millimeters, could be big, could not be big. You can have a 42 millimeter watch with a 48 millimeter lug to lug, or you can have a 42 millimeter watch with a 52 millimeter lug to lug. Unless you know, you know what you're looking for, you're probably not going to notice.
Andrew	52 to 48 on a lug to lug.
Will	You would notice, I would notice, but me five years ago, probably wouldn't notice.
Andrew	On your wrist, you would notice and you'd buy it. You're like, man, this watch is too big, but why is it too big?
Will	Sure. But think about it for a second. You put it on your wrist. Let's say that watch came in two options, and you didn't know that those two options existed. The lug-to-lug is the only difference. If you just bought one of them because you like the way it looked and you put it on your wrist, you'd go, wow, I love the way this looks. I'm happy. Why would you look at the lug-to-lug distance and think, hmm, if only this was a little bit smaller? Because you didn't. At some point, we were all innocent. And that's the best word I can come up with in how we looked at watches on our wrist. We didn't look at the measurements and whether we thought other people would notice if the lug to lug was big on our size wrist. We just bought it and we're happy with the way it looked. And that was the end of it.
Andrew	Yeah. But if it's objectively, like a Speedmaster is not comfortable for me to wear. It like it hangs over the edges because I have cylinder wrists. So it hangs off the edges. It bugs me and it bugs me that it bugs me. So maybe that's it. Maybe I wouldn't know that it bugs me cause I hadn't worn watches that fit perfectly.
Will	Yeah. Yeah. I think that, well, there's a difference there, right? It's like buying a car. You sit in a car and it's comfortable. You sit in another car and it's uncomfortable. There's that, you know, whether it feels comfortable on your wrist. Um, but I look at it in a way of the Omega planet ocean. Um, before I got my Speedmaster, when I was starting to like get to that point where I was like, okay, I want to get an Omega. I went and I tried on a bunch of watches at, um, in Omega boutique, tried on the Speedmaster. I tried on the Seamaster. I tried on the Planet Ocean.
Andrew	Did you try it on Aqua Terra too? Cause that's like, Oh yeah.
Will	Yeah, of course. I tried on everything. I still want to get an Aqua Terra, but one of the, or the Planet Ocean that I tried on, was the 43.5 millimeter one, the big boy. And the Seamaster that I tried on was the first generation ceramic Seamasters, the one that had the non-wave dial, but the ceramic bezel. Yes. Yeah, I think they're 40 or 41, 41. But when I tried the Seamaster on and I tried the Planet Ocean on immediately after it, I actually thought that the Planet Ocean was a more comfortable watch, even though it was humongously bigger. And now, if I was going to go back and do that same thing, because I, it's funny, when I was trying them on, I had videos of them on my wrist. Like I took a video like, oh, let me see what this looks like in case I want to look at it later. I've gone back and I'm like, Man, the Seamaster fits me so much better. But at the time, this was early on, this was probably 2000, like early 2019. I loved the Planet Ocean, the 43.5 millimeter Planet Ocean over a 41 millimeter Seamaster. Why? I would like to say I have a reason, but I wonder if it was just because I perceived it as the better watch, not knowing about, you know, size, dimensions, all this garbage that we think about on a day-to-day basis about every watch that we look at. I wonder if it was just because I was like, the Planet Ocean is the better watch on paper.
Andrew	I like it better is maybe the answer. Because, because it costs more. Oh, I mean, there's something there. This is more expensive. So it's nicer.
Will	Yep. But like I said, going back now, I would choose the right now, if I went back to that same boutique and tried on the same watches, I would take the Seamaster any day of the week.
Andrew	Yeah. And I think there's something there because if you were to put on any 36 millimeter sport watch, like in different brands, like if we were to take a, a commuter and a C36 and an Explorer 36, Mm hmm. Put them all on. A strap. So I think bracelets important. Yeah, that's going to be a huge factor, but all on the same leather strap and you try all those watches on. Without a doubt, everyone chooses the Rolex is the better watch.
Will	So the fun experiment to do with that would be to do that same thing, put them on a strap tape and black out the dial. Yeah. Yeah. It was around the same time the Traska Venture Summitier 36 came out.
Andrew	I had just bought a Summitier, so I didn't buy a 36.
Will	Yeah. And I had both of those. And everybody was asking me, you know, which one would you like, would you buy? And I was like, man, both. Like they're, they're different, you know, because the, the Summateer is, you know, it's got the numerals, it's got the painted markers and all that kind of stuff.
Andrew	It's also a little bit chunkier. It's, it's a little bit more tool wise feeling.
Will	Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yeah. The, the lugs I think are more like squared off. Um, and it's interesting because I wonder if I did that same comparison five years ago, what I would think. Because those are two watches that you could say, even though the Chris Ward costs more. Let's say you were going to buy like a like new and box used Chris Ward and a new Traska, which would probably cost around the same dollars. Which one would you pick?
Andrew	I think I go Traska because I've I've put mine through through some pain. And it doesn't show. Any Trasca.
Will	Oh, their coating is so good.
Andrew	It's so good. Any Trasca you buy used, unless they put it through a garbage disposal, is like new in box.
Will	If they have the box. I just got it today. Trasca sent me the free diver for review. The new iteration. And it's Yeah. Yeah. And it's one of the prototypes, which has been sent around for review. And, um, you know, I'm sure John's wore it and all that kind of stuff. And I mean, it, it looks brand new. There's not a single scratch on it anywhere.
Andrew	No, it wasn't.
Will	It wasn't wrapped in, wasn't wrapped in plastic or anything. Like there were links removed in the box when he sent it to me, like it's been worn.
Andrew	Yeah. You don't even mar the bracelet when you pull the links, like that time, the screwdriver slips. It there. Their hardening coating is, is really impressive. I cannot compliment them enough on what they're doing. And I also wonder why nobody else is doing it because they're doing it. They're, they're selling watches at sub $600. And if, if it, if that hardening drove up the price of anyone else, $200, it'd be forgettable and they should do it.
Will	So, That's another thing is. And I can equate it to both what I'm doing in reviews and then personal preference. Is things like that. How much do they matter to the new buyer that's buying their let's say they're buying their first automatic watch and they're looking at that stuff. And then people like us that have had exposure to a lot of watches. How much does the hardening coating matter. And it's interesting because what I'll do in my reviews now for like a Traska is I usually say something like, I've talked about the coding in review ABC, go back and look at it if you want to know more. It's just so I'm not repeating the same information.
Andrew	You don't just copy paste this thing is fucking indestructible paragraph.
Will	Well, I often wonder like, Should I be talking about that in every review? Because what if someone like me, who's five years ago, comes in looking at that specific review? Are they going to go back looking at a free diver and read the Summiteer review because I said to go back and look at the coding? Probably not. They want to know about the watch we're looking at. And you've probably seen it. We've been talking about adding to the website the compendium That's a index of just a ton of information that is common between watches and brands and stuff. Yeah, exactly. And just being like, if you want to know more about this coding, click here. But, you know, it's a topic for another day, but it's something interesting to think about, you know, when you're thinking about people early on in their watch journey. What do they really care about? And I would love to know. Because one thing I do at work a lot, my day job, is I survey people on the things that they care about and what they're actually working on. And the answers I get are very surprising. So my day job is project management and process improvement. And what I find when I do these surveys sometimes is what I think that people care about or are interested in is often a lot different from what they actually do. And Instagram polls are a way to do that, but I don't think you're getting everything because people on Instagram are motivated to respond. Yeah, yeah. Well, that and you're getting people who have gone down the rabbit hole of watch stuff on Instagram, which you could argue are mostly informed buyers.
Andrew	But we're not the people that are actually meaningful, right? We like where we're the kind of us people where we like Traska because they're not only are they good, but there's something really special about what they're doing. It's unique to really the watch world. There's other brands that are doing a coating like that. But I think that's the thing that like kind of messes us up as people who have this huge opportunity to be uh, exposed to watch brands is we get to know the, like the special things like, like the reason we buy Traska is not just because they're good watches, but because they're also doing something special at a super affordable price point. And they stack up against people who are charging way, way more and aren't, doing that same special thing. They're doing their own special things, but the Traska special thing is like, I don't know, that's a, that's a game changer for me. That hardening methodology is, is it's something.
Will	And especially because, you know, their designs aren't groundbreaking. I'll just say that. they're good designs, but you can see what they're based off of, and they're not homages in any way, I don't think. No, not by a long shot. Because, you know, John's putting his own flair into them and, you know, especially watches like the Freediver. I mean, that one's definitely totally original. You know, maybe the Commuter, you could say, is down that path a little bit, but that's not... that's not holding them back at all, because he's taking a good design and injecting it into solid manufacturing with that hardening coating and good prices. And if you could convey that to someone who is me five years ago, I don't know if I would have picked an Aquus to be the watch that I was obsessed over. You know, like, it'd be interesting to go back and take all the knowledge I have now and say, Pick the watch that your future wife's going to buy you as your engagement watch. What's it going to be? I don't know if my answer would be the same.
Andrew	No, obviously it's a Datejust. You got to capitalize on that opportunity five years ago. Yeah. So let's do it. Absolutely. We're starting to get into the time where we need to wind down. Let's talk about how your personal purchasing decisions have changed. And let's look at the evolution. You know, we talked a little bit about like the, the kind of early years bullshit, but let's look at, you know, so an SNK is among your first purchases. Let's go from like a 2020 ish purchase and look at that evolution.
Will	Man, that's a good one. Cause I think, I don't think I, got my feet under me as far as what I was really interested in and what I would want to put my money down on until the past, I want to say like eight months. I was, I was still flipping a lot of stuff, especially like Seiko's. Oh yeah, it was bad.
Will	The stuff in my watch box really hasn't changed that much in the past year. And I think it's because I've kind of decided that what's the fun in, you know, just constantly flipping things because you're never happy, you know, and I think that's what we're all looking for in this hobby when we're thinking about buying watches is you want something that makes you happy. you know, for some people having something new makes them happy. So it's, it's personal preference. But, um, just an interesting thing that happened to me recently was, um, you guys know about it is I built a new, um, drawer insert for my watches. Um, cause I, I don't have a watch, but I have a watch box, but that's not where I keep my watches. Um, that sounds really strange out of context. It's where I keep things. And it holds 14 watches.
Andrew	That was your, that was your limit? Was that like, I will have no more than 14 or was it like, it was only wide.
Will	It was only wide and deep enough to accommodate 14 slots. That's, that was what was holding me back. Um, but what it allowed me to do was to take, this is where the watch box comes in, is take some things that I didn't wear a lot, which were in the watch box out and put them in the insert. that was intriguing they're just kind of sitting around, you don't wear them and you don't wear them for a reason. Is it because you don't like it or just because you like other stuff more? And what if I was like, I don't know, now that it's in front of me, maybe I'll start wearing them more. So I don't know, maybe that's, maybe that's a challenge to some of our, our people out there that feel that same way is, um, maybe go through some of your watches that you don't wear too often and, uh, put them on your nightstand to wear tomorrow morning.
Andrew	Hmm.
Will	and see if you still enjoy it because I did that. Because this is another little anecdote is I pick what watch I'm going to wear tomorrow at night before I go to bed. I wind it up. I set the time and I have a little ballet tray that my wife got me that I put like my keys and my watch and then I'm going to wear the next day.
Andrew	Your keys go into your bedroom?
Will	Not like my car keys. Oh, OK. Like my house keys.
Andrew	The doors are not attached? What?
Will	Sometimes. I have a I have a process. Just leave me alone.
Andrew	I mean, I have a process, too, and it is not nearly that complex. I get in the house and my wallet and my keys fall into a bowl right by the front door.
Will	So my car keys, my house keys go are all together. I have other keys. that are for the shop, my shed and the basement for reasons because our kids can open and fall down the stairs. So there's a lock on that door. So those are the keys that come with me because they don't leave the house.
Andrew	OK, that makes sense. I accept that because previously I was kind of concerned about what kind of animal sits on the couch at night and watches television with house keys in their pocket.
Will	Housekeep and they don't sit in my pocket. They usually just go in the valet train most of the time until I need them. Um, but anyway, like my things go in there. Like, you know, if I'm going to have a pocket knife the next day, it goes in there too. Um, so this is what I'm saying. Yeah. Yeah. Stage my stuff. So grab a watch. They haven't worn in a while. Wind it up. Or if it's quartz, make sure the time's set correctly. stick it on your nightstand, strap it on in the morning. So you feel like it as much as you did when you first bought it. You probably do. I found that that is true most of the time. Some watches I found like, eh, I lost the love for it.
Andrew	Hmm. I like that idea. I think I might. Well, so I have a two, I have two trays of like a jewelry box inserts. They don't have pillows. But it's like, um, individual compartments for, I don't know what it's for. They were my wife's and then I took them because they suited my needs better. Um, and that's what I keep my watches in. So I've, I find myself periodically rotating watches out of the bottom shelf that I don't typically see. I'm just putting them onto the top shelf to try to encourage where, but I have only a few. days where I get to wear my watches in the way that I want to wear them.
Will	Well, I think, you know, sometimes when you have a bunch of watches, I think you do need to encourage the wearer sometimes.
Andrew	It's easy to get into a rut and it's not rut in a bad way. It's easy to be like, I love this watch and I'm going to wear it every day. Like I hadn't worn my Atlas in a while because I couldn't take my Santos off when I didn't have to be wearing a G-Shock. And I put it on a bracelet. Put it on to take it downstairs, and I was like, oh. Hello. I forgot about you.
Will	It feels like a new watch sometimes.
Andrew	Exactly. And then I put it on this Everest.
Will	And that's what it's all about.
Andrew	This Everest strap is dope. I think I prefer the bracelet, but this Everest strap is I totally get it now.
Will	Yeah, I had an Everest for my ocean king, and I almost almost preferred it to the bracelet.
Andrew	It's super close, but the Manta bracelets are just some like next level shit.
Will	Yeah, there. If it was a Seiko bracelet, I'd wear it on the Everest all the time. Every day without.
Andrew	Yeah, without question. Even I think even Christopher Ward bracelet. This is I would I would put it on an Everest. Oh yeah, absolutely. But. Montez just well with that. Just enough above.
Will	Andrew, other things.
Andrew	Go. I have another thing. It is a movie. It's called the unbearable weight of massive talent.
Will	Oh, man, I wasn't gonna be my other thing. But I have my my one of my best buddies. I just told him because we were watching The Last of Us. And I said, you love Pedro Pascal, you need to watch The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. This movie. And he messaged me and he was blown away with how good it was.
Andrew	This movie cost $30 million to make. And it made $29.1 million at the box office. So it's an enormous flop. And I think it's going to be one of those enormous flop movies that becomes a cult classic. So it's a 2022 movie. Totally agree. Starring Nick Cage, Pedro Pascal. The whole premise of the movie is Nick Cage as himself. Burned out on acting, tired of not getting the movie star roles, he decides to retire. But in an effort to pay off his debt to the hotel he's been living in, he agrees to go for, to go to a fella's birthday party. That fella is Pedro Pascal. And then the movie begins and it is beautiful. It's this really interesting like buddy movie story, like, It wasn't as funny as I was expecting it to be, because it's kind of billed as like a dramedy. But it was this really big market.
Will	Weird.
Andrew	Yes. And I think that's part of the part of the like thing to it. Right. They marketed it weird. They were kind of hoping for like a fear and loathing feel. And they didn't get that, but they did something really It's like a buddy cop movie for people who don't like buddy cop movies. Yes. I loved it. I will watch it again tomorrow.
Will	Yeah. So after my friend watched it and he told me he watched it with his wife, how much that he liked it and his wife liked it. I need to watch it again because I watched it when it first came out on streaming, I think. And I was like, man, I did not expect to like this movie as much as I did. No. And I think I need to go back and watch it again.
Andrew	Yes, this is this is a movie that will get a second and third watch. I might watch it again tonight with my wife because I think she'd like it because it's not like it's not action. It's not an action movie. It's not a comedy. It's not exactly a drama. It's just a really interesting story. And they did a great job telling it. It's like a bio anybody who's into.
Will	Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's like a. It's almost like a really skewed autobiography in a way. Yeah.
Andrew	And Nick Cage plays himself. It's unapologetically Nick Cage playing himself.
Will	And it makes no sense, but it makes perfect sense. Anybody who's into memes will recognize a couple that have come out of this movie.
Andrew	Just owned the Internet.
Will	Yep.
Andrew	Yeah. So. Will, what you got?
Will	Great movie. I recommend it also. So I mean, I had trouble picking something tonight, but then I was sitting here, I just finished the last sip of my beer that I had. And I remembered something great. And I've said to my wife that it is the best thing that I've bought in the past year. And I'm going to read off the Amazon. I'm going to read off the Amazon description of the thing that I bought. And I'm gonna tell you what it does. It is the HGN Metal Kitchen Sink Glass Rinser Faucet Glass Rinser for Kitchen Sinks, Bottle Washer, Kitchen Sink Accessories, Stainless Steel, Brush, Nickel. Yes. OK. Oh, yeah.
Andrew	You know what I'm talking about. I know exactly what you're talking about. OK, so you. The 16th word.
Will	Everybody. Yep. Yep. Everybody. Everybody close your eyes. You're going to your favorite brewery. and you order your beer and they take your glass and they turn it upside down and they push it down and some water shoots up and it rinses the glass and then they pour your beer. It is that thing that rinses the glass for my house. Now I had wanted one of these for a long time. I had it in my Amazon cart. It's saved for later for years and I have to give credit where credit is due. My wife said to me, Hey, you know that thing that you want to put whenever we redo the kitchen that rinses the glasses like the breweries? You know you can put that where your soap dispenser was?
Andrew	And you weren't using that soap dispenser. I know that because I capped my soap dispenser in my previous house.
Will	Yeah, never used it. I put the thing in so water didn't leak is what I did. And I was like, shut up. You're kidding. And I don't know why it never occurred to me, because once I read the directions for this thing, I was like, they actually recommend that you put it in the soap dispenser instead of drilling a new hole in your sink or your countertop. So if you have a soap dispenser in your sink that you're not using or you think is useless... Because it is useless and you're not using it.
Andrew	Yep. And all you do is it comes with a little... For those of you who have a faucet, And one of the freestanding spray wands.
Will	Yes. Yes.
Andrew	Same thing. Upgrade your faucet.
Will	And if you have the, if you have the freestanding spray wand, it's even easier. Yes.
Andrew	Because the water's already there. You don't have to cut into the line. Just get a new faucet. There's so many that have pull away faucets that you don't need a spray wand.
Will	Exactly. Independent standing. Yeah.
Andrew	This is a double upgrade for you. You're welcome.
Will	Yep. So how this thing installs for everybody who doesn't know and you're scared, all you need to do is disconnect either your hot or your cold water feed. It comes a little T-valve. You buy yourself a dollar thing of plumber's tape. You put it around the threads on both ends. You screw your little new hose line in and you screw it into this thing that goes where your soap dispenser was. And you will impress all your friends. Because you're suddenly a baller. Yep. So, all right. So let me just, let me just say this. It's great for rinsing out your beer glass before you're going to drink a beer. But if you have kids, it is so good for rinsing out all the stupid cups that they have that can't go in the dishwasher. Our kids have, um, I think Zach makes them, they sell them at Target. They're the cups that have the straw that can't fall out, that has like a molded character on the top. Like we have the baby shark one, we have the Spider-Man one, we have the the raptor one, we have another baby shark one. We got a million things that can't go in the dishwasher. All I do is I just take the the sponge and I just real quick with soap and then I rinse it out with that thing. It takes two seconds and it's clean as a whistle.
Andrew	That is one of the best other things that's ever been brought to the show.
Will	Oh man, everybody who wants, let me tell you, let me tell you how much a stupid thing was too, because don't buy the one. Yeah. Don't buy the Delta one or whatever, because that's what I was going to buy. And they wanted $200 for the brushed steel one to match my stupid faucet. Yeah. This one is $56.99 and they have a $15 coupon on Amazon right now.
Andrew	That's the one I pulled up to link into the notes.
Will	There it is right there. Boom.
Andrew	That's what I'm talking about.
Will	I bought it on January 30th of this year. It has eclipsed any other purchase that I have made for my house in the past year.
Andrew	I've seen multiple videos of this thing in action, and I've also used one of these professionally, like at a workplace. I want one for my kitchen, but I don't have a soap dispenser thing. So when I get one, I have to I'm going to have to bore into my quartz countertop, which is a little bit.
Will	You can just drill the hole for it. Yeah, it's a little scary. Um, I have drilled a hole into countertops before. It's scary, but it's just like drilling a hole in wood. It just takes longer.
Andrew	Yeah.
Will	Uh, except don't sue us if you screw it up.
Andrew	Yeah. The, the consequences are much greater if I, if I fuck up my ceramic sink or my countertop.
Will	Yeah.
Andrew	And if I, if I have to just like, Oh, I have to cut off these two inches of this piece of board. bore a new hole. Because I always, they say drill or measure twice, cut once. I drill first then cut.
Will	I measure once and cut 15 times.
Andrew	But I always drill first. I cut pre-drilled boards so that I have a little bit of extra room for error.
Will	Yeah, that's okay though. That's fine. Yeah.
Andrew	So with that, we've talked about the evolving tastes of a watch reviewer or watch people as it as it were. Will, do you have anything else?
Will	I'm telling everybody, take a watch out that you haven't worn in a while. Set it, put it on your nightstand and wear it tomorrow.
Andrew	I think you'll enjoy it because you enjoyed it when you bought it. That's what I'm talking about. So thank you all. for joining us for this episode of 40 in 20, the Watch Clicker podcast. Thank you, Will, for coming to party with us while Everett parties in Winter Park. To those of you who are supporters on Patreon, we cannot fully express how much we appreciate you. Thank you so much for your support. For those of you who are not supporters and are maybe thinking about it, maybe would like to be, check us out at 40in20.com. Oh, no. Patreon.com slash 1420. I don't do the outro very often, guys. Give me a break. Check us out at WatchClicker.com. It's where we post all our reviews, all of our articles. You can scroll all the way back and see the original reviews by Will the Watch Clicker, a.k.a. Daddy. Thanks for tuning in this week. Don't forget to listen to us next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Bye-bye.