Episode 232 - Tool Watches

Published on Sun, 09 Apr 2023 20:55:37 -0700

Synopsis

This episode of the 40 and 20 podcast covers the topic of defining what qualifies as a "tool watch." The hosts Everett and Andrew discuss various factors like water resistance, durability, purpose, and more to arrive at a succinct definition: "A tool watch is a watch designed to perform a physical task or activity usually typified by or combined with a discrete physical durability that makes it especially suited for said task or activity." They then each pick three watches that fit this definition, analyzing affordable field watches up to more expensive diver and sport models that exemplify being a true "tool watch."

In the other thing segment, Andrew recommends checking out the Waco miniseries on Netflix for an engrossing look at the events through interviews with people on all sides. Everett highlights Patagonia's "Worn Wear" program where you can buy lightly used Patagonia gear at steep discounts, citing it as a great way to get high-quality outdoor pieces at a low price from the reputable brand.

Transcript

Speaker
Andrew Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 and 20 The Watch Clicker podcast with your hosts, Andrew and my good friend Everett. Here, we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like.
Everett Everett, how are you? So good. It's baseball season. We're officially, we're officially in baseball season, which makes me very excited.
Andrew We're only out of baseball season for about three months.
Everett No, we're out of, it's like, October to April. Spring training starts in like February. Yeah, but spring training is not real base. I mean, that's baseball, but it's not real baseball. Okay.
Andrew Yeah, it is. It is regular season baseball.
Everett It is regular season baseball. Very exciting. Bunch of new rules. If you're not a baseball fan and you turn on a baseball game, there is a very very good likelihood that you're going to be confused by something pretty quickly, pretty quickly.
Andrew And I think you might enjoy the game more.
Everett A lot of these rule changes were designed for fan engagement, pace, pace of play, pace of play has, is, uh, the stated intent of the commissioner. And so what we've seen is that games have gone faster. There have been some other consequences, other by-products of the rule changes. Some of those intended, some of those less so, Stolen bases are way up. Early numbers were like 300%. I don't think that will hold, but we're going to see a very big year relative to the last several years in terms of stolen bases. You know, there's these new pitch clock things that sometimes it's like, what, what, what happened? The bases are bigger. You wouldn't notice that looking at the game, but it has changed the game.
Andrew Um, yeah, they were like 15% bigger looking at an old bag and a new bag side by side. It's shocking. You're like, this, this is, it seems like it's going in the wrong direction. This is what a T-ball player should be running toward.
Everett Not, not a professional athlete. I think it's four inches on the X and Y axis, axis, axis, axis, um, Yeah. No, cool. One of the things that has caught people off guard is the intentional walk rule. So baseball finally has made it so that a pitcher can intentionally walk or a team can intentionally walk a batter without awkwardly throwing four pitches outside of the reach of the batter.
Andrew You just throw your glove on the ground.
Everett Yep. You just make the signal and the runner takes first base, which is cool. Yeah. I always thought the best way to intentionally walk someone would be to throw at them.
Andrew Yeah. Hit them with the ball. Yeah. But that's, that's intentional and they get a walk and you get it out of your system.
Everett So anyway, it's been a very exciting, although as a Mariner fan, it's been a little bit hit or miss, uh, more miss than hit, um, to start the season, which is rough, but you know, like you said, it's 162 games. So, We are now something like 44 games, 3% of the way into the season. So, uh, yeah, yeah. Very long season. We're just getting started, but it has been, it's been exciting. The only problem with baseball and my wife notes this problem more than I know what the problem is that there is a baseball game on very frequently during baseball season. And so there's lots of time spent casually or, or partially watching a game on the phone down on my lap while engaged in other activities. There is always a baseball game on. Well, certainly always a baseball game on, but but almost always a Mariners game. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I think that's it. I don't know. We don't we don't talk about baseball a lot here. I don't talk about baseball. We don't talk about sports a lot here. Right. Very often, though. And so I won't be talking about it all that frequently. But just so everybody knows that's exciting thing that's happening in my life.
Andrew Excitement. Andrew, how are you? I am good. Yeah, I'm not bad. I'm not great. I'm just perfectly medium. Everything is going exactly the way I want and need it to go. Kids are being good. Nothing particularly exciting is going on in my life. Just good. I'm in like a happy equilibrium. I like that. Sorry, I'm not more exciting right now. I'm like, I'm kind of wracking my brain. I'm like, I don't really have.
Everett That's what happens when you're not a baseball fan.
Andrew Yeah. Apparently you're just not interesting. Good to know. Schmadium. Yeah. That describes me in every regard.
Everett Well, all right. We're here. We've made it. We've made it. We're here. We're here to talk about watches. Uh, we've got a week. We've got a week until our next guest. It's an exciting guest. It's someone you guys have met before on this show. Um, that's all I'll say for now. Yeah. We'll keep it close to the chest. Uh, but we'll have a guest next week. And so we wanted to talk about us a topic that we've talked about before.
Andrew Yeah. Kind of revisit to, to see the evolution, the changes and then, and to see what stays the same.
Everett Right. We're talking this week about tool watches and not really anything revolutionary here, just a revisit of the topic of tool watches, what watches that we think are cool. As for the usual, we've picked three watches times two to talk about in the context of our conversation. But Andrew, you had thought you had proposed to me that we revisit what a tool watch
Andrew is yes and i and i the reason i wanted to revisit that is because when i when i'm kind of racking my brain for episode ideas i look back on all of our previous episodes and read the notes and i listen to some of them sometimes um to see like what what did we miss what did we not cover or perhaps just as important what has changed in the in the delta of time right there's some episodes that we probably won't revisit in the same regard, right? The poor man's speedy. Yeah. That's kind of a finite idea. Yeah. Right. We're not, we're, we're probably not going to go back there. Objectively bests. We owe it to that idea to go back there because things change, things evolve. Sometimes things don't change and everything else changes around them and then they objectively get worse by, you know, by comparison relative to their peers. Yeah. Um, but tool watches, uh, I saw a tool watch episode, scrolled by it, and I saw another one, I don't know, a year or so later. I think 93 and 153. Yeah. And looked at them, and I was like, okay, this is kind of interesting. And I looked at the watches we picked, and one of them was kind of some less thought about tool watches. And then, you know, we've kind of expanded a little bit into, you know, our favorite tool watches and how to wear a tool watch. you know, what is the actual durability of your watch? And this is something we've touched on a lot. And what it got me realizing and thinking about in myself is my idea of a tool watch has drastically evolved in the last several years. Changed completely on not just what a tool watch is, but what I want out of a tool watch.
Everett Yeah. Well, let's hold on what a tool watch is because we're going to talk about that. What would you say has been the greatest change in the way you approach a tool watch or what a tool watch might mean to you personally?
Andrew Less. My original idea of a tool watch has got to be this big, chunky beast with several complications. I mean, I'm thinking like a Protrek ABC watch, you know, like that's a tool watch. That is a tool watch. But I think there's a lot more diversity and cool stuff in what's subtle tool watches. And I was looking at the watches of espionage feed today. Great Instagram. Great Instagram. And he had, oh shoot, I don't remember the watch. It was a Tudor. It was either a Pelagos or a Black Bay on an operator's wrist. And he took the position that Tudor of the modern era is what Rolex was in the 90s making attractive, no bullshit, super functional, super durable watches for people who do hard shit. I was like, yeah, that it kind of put definition to how I feel currently about tool watches. They don't need to have ABC complications. That's a cool thing. And I'm not going to ever kick one out of bed, but I'm wearing a, an Atlas tonight. I'm on to Atlas, which I would very much consider a tool watch. It's not a banger by any means, but this is a watch that I could, that will outlast me in almost any environment. That's a tool watch.
Everett So what is it? What are the, what are the qualities you want out of a tool watch?
Andrew So just like when I'm reaching for a screwdriver, kind of depends on what I'm doing. But what I want out of a tool watch is for it to be really good at something intentionally. You know, whether it be a dive watch, like an ISO certified, even though ISO is kind of superfluous, that's a hard word for me. Will you say it? Superfluous. That's the word.
Everett It's kind of that, but it's got to have that. By the way, it's the Pelagos 58 is the watch he's wearing. Yeah.
Andrew I couldn't remember if it was the Pelagos or that.
Everett It's both. It's the Pelagos Black Bay.
Andrew Oh, all right. Then I wasn't wrong. You were right. That's what I want. I wanted to do one thing really, really well and everything else around it. Well, I want it to be attractive. I don't like looking at it and like wearing it. And I want it to be wearable. You know, the kind of the OG Garmin GPS tool watches that were about the size of a king-size snicker bar and set. Yeah, you know vertically along your arm That's not a great tool watch cuz that's just like it was bigger than handhelds But it was a wearable. Hmm. I know it's a shitty tool watch Dangles off your it doesn't mean whatever But that's what I want. I wanted to do something really really well, and I don't want it to be a byproduct I don't want it to be like oh it happens to do this really well That's, no, that's what this thing was designed to do. If it's a chronograph, that's what I want it to do. And I want it to be great at it and cool, but also still work in more than just that capacity. We talked about the calculator watch. Yeah. That's a shitty tool watch. It's a shitty calculator and it's not a great watch. It's got a tiny dial, tiny buttons that you fat finger. Even if you don't have fat fingers, like you have to use a pencil. to push the buttons on your calculator watch. It's a cool novelty, but again, not a great tool watch. Yeah. And there's some differentiation there, right? Something that has a special or unique quality intended to do a thing to make your ability to do that thing easier, better, safer.
Everett You know, I think that tool watches is one of those terms in watches that sometimes means something and other times means other things to the person who's saying, who's uttering the phrase, almost to the point where it becomes meaningless. So there are a handful of phrases in watches. And I think to a watch is one of the most conspicuous entries to the list. are vague to their own harm. You know, we talked many episodes ago, at this point, about flagship watches. And we argued on the show about what does a flagship mean? We argued about, you know, which watches were the best candidate for a brand's flagship, etc. And I think we had some meaningful thoughts. But that's another term, right? What does this mean? This is a term that people throw out and everybody nods like, yeah, but we don't really know what it means. I think tool watch is similar in that regard. We say, this is a tool watch, but we don't ever think about what does that mean? Or perhaps some people do. I think that the, the first thing I'd like to note is that a tool watch is not the same as a beater. Correct. There may be beaters that are tool watches, And there may be tool watches that are beaters, but those two terms aren't the same thing. They don't refer to the same qualities. And I'm not sure a beater is a terribly meaningful term. I'm not sure that you could actually develop a definition of a beater watch that would be meaningful for everybody, which makes it kind of a throwaway term, right? different, you know, some people would be like, oh, got the got the Submariner beater on today or whatever, right? Like, I think some people would say that. My beater is a description of how I wear a watch versus a type of watch. Yes. Not so for the term to a watch. And so understanding that general principle, we set out on accomplishing the not simple task of defining the term tool watch. Andrew, I did not know when we started that task if we were going to get to a place where we feel good.
Andrew We got there because we're parsers.
Everett I think we got there. I think we got there. So should I just read the definition?
Andrew Read the definition because this is canon now.
Everett Okay. Everybody... What are you wearing? Everybody at home, get out your pens. I'm wearing a King Seiko today.
Andrew That's what I thought it was, but I haven't seen that on you in a while.
Everett Everybody get out your pens. Here's our revised definition. You're not going to hear the earlier drafts, or perhaps you will. This is the final draft. This is the final revised definition for the phrase tool watch. A tool watch is a watch designed to perform a physical task or activity usually typified by or combined with a discrete physical durability that makes it especially suited for said task or activity. Okay. So let's break it down. So first it's a watch designed to perform a physical task or activity. So we all know that can mean a lot of things. So the, the most, I think, iconic or the most, you know, thrown about reference for a tool watch is a dive watch.
Andrew Mm-hmm.
Everett Diving is a physical activity. One of the things that we struggled with in creating this definition is the idea of a pilot's watch or perhaps a racing watch. Yeah. We initially said that this watch had to have a feature of physical durability. We agreed on that, and then we kept coming up with things that we thought, well, that's certainly a tool watch, but there's no component of that that is physical durability. So for instance, Breitling Navitimer, clearly a tool watch, although not everybody is going to wear that like a tool watch. I think a lot of people don't. Clearly a tool watch, but this is not a highly water resistant watch. It's not especially known for its like magnetic resistance or its, you know, temperature fluctuation resistance or anything like that, right? It's a watch that is designed for pilots flying, being a physical activity, thus a watch designed to perform a physical task or activity, whether that's race car driving.
Andrew Because I went to a Speedmaster right away when we were thinking about that. So the Speedmaster then becomes not a tool watch and the Speedmaster is objectively a tool watch.
Everett I don't think that's true because the Speedmaster was specifically designed and rigorously tested to withstand freezing and pressure changes and... With 50 meters of water resistance and it... Don't make the mistake of substituting water resistance for physical capability.
Andrew But that is a huge limiter within the scope of the rest of its abilities.
Everett So it's Achilles heel. So it's a watch designed to perform a physical task or activity, hiking, swimming perhaps. So this is a big world that we're in. Here's the next part. Usually... typified by or combined with a discrete physical durability. That's how we fit these in. That makes it especially suited for said task or activity. Yes. And I think at the end of the day, we agree that's fair. It gets the intent across. It doesn't disclude things we think that should certainly be included. And it does a relatively good job of sorting out things that shouldn't be included. We talked about a moon phase watch.
Andrew We argued at length. Oh, I don't know. It was probably 20 texts exchanged over it.
Everett So moon phase is a complication, one of the oldest complications designed to inform the observer of the phases of the moon. The moon phases being something that, you know, say 15th century, were pretty valuable and important for people to know. Thus, a very practical complication. Now, typically appearing in watches, not for practical purpose, and in fact, appearing in watches that are designed to be elegant and dressy.
Andrew Usually without loom, so in the dark, you couldn't see your moon face. And so that, right?
Everett That was how we got to, I think that was an important part. How do we differentiate a Navitimer from a Moonphase watch, right? Because a slide rule, anachronistic complication, not something that's being used all that often, although pilots will be like, oh, we had to... They will. Oh, okay, fine.
Andrew Boiled egg needed. Boiled too, I get it.
Everett These things are anachronistic complications, but they're different. And that is how we got there. So whereas a pilot's watch is a watch designed to assist pilots in the physical activity of flying, a moon phase watch typically designed to be dressy and look fucking dope. Yes. With your tuxedo.
Andrew With a antiquated tool capacity incorporated into it. That's right.
Everett So, I'll read it one more time. Revised proposed definition, a tool watch is a watch designed to perform a physical task or activity usually typified by or combined with a discrete physical durability that makes it especially suited for said task or activity. Don't at me. That's what a tool watch is.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett Which also has the added benefit of eliminating the Casio calculator watch. Yes, we have decided tonight. This is a controversy that's been tearing the watch world up. Casio calculator watch hot take, not a tool watch.
Andrew Nope. Novelty watch. Super fun. I still love it. Not a tool watch. Make it bigger.
Everett Boom, boom, pow. Yeah. I feel good about that. I feel like we've done something really important tonight.
Andrew You know, we, we've accomplished a lot and I think we're, we're making waves and changes in the space that we live in. Um, and that's important for us to define this because we like definitions. We like putting things into boxes and understanding why we think the things that we think. So now we have a definition.
Everett Much like the flagships with that in mind, We each picked three watches. Yeah. And I think it'd be fun to talk about those watches. I agree. Andrew, you've seen my watches. You've seen your watches. Is there any particular order you'd like to, to move about the country in?
Andrew Oh, you know, I forgot to open yours. So give me a second.
Everett I think what I'd like to do is start with the least to the most expensive of our watches. Okay. How do you feel about that? Yeah, I like that. We don't usually do that. I am going to start, if you don't mind, with a watch that I think is pretty fun. This is a watch I don't know a ton about because it's not a watch that gets talked about a lot, but this is a watch by the Cabot Watch Company. It was referred to or released, I believe, in 2020, but it's based on a 1980 Ministry of Defense fence specification it's the cwc t20 gs case this is a british forces tonneau so sort of hamilton khaki pioneer looking uh they call it the nicknamed the g10 fat boy so swiss quartz movement it is a really typical tonneau case, 316L steel, 38 millimeters, very, very compact, 42 lug to lug, 30 millimeter dial diameter, so I think that that 38 must include the crown. Yeah, I think so. High-torque RONDA 715 quartz, LUMINOVA, fixed spring bars, This is a field watch. It's a MOD field watch, G10. Not a lot more to say about it, I don't think. Water resistance, much like many field watches, five atmospheres. So we've already talked about this. To a watch, physical durability does not necessarily mean some insane amount of water resistance. Correct. This is a watch designed for a soldier in the field who may get wet but is not scuba diving.
Andrew Certainly won't be submerged for a protracted period of time.
Everett Legibility is one of the primary characteristics of most of our field watches. Luminescence at night is a characteristic. Its ability to fit under a cuff and but not necessarily in a dressy way. its ability to be tough. Fixed spring bars, in this case, are going to typify that experience. Brushed stainless steel for low glare. This is a tool watch through and through, right? Agree. Let's talk about the cost because I have arranged these things to be in terms of prices low to high. This is not a super cheap watch. 250 pounds right now, which I think is a just under 300. Yeah. Buckaroos. 285, 287-ish. Uh, things that compete with this. Um, Hamilton Khaki Mechanical, probably half again as much, if not twice as much. Veyr lives in this space. Veyr lives in this space. Bertucci lives in this space. 100%. Bertucci almost made this list in this slot. Uh, Timex Expedition North has their American Field Watch candidates.
Andrew I think the SNK can kind of exist in this space. It's in a different way, but it could exist in this space.
Everett Absolutely. So I went with Cabot because Cabot's making current MOD watches, which in my mind makes it an interesting company because just because we've got a tool watch doesn't mean we have to skew the things that we like about watches. And this watch being produced by CWC with the Circle L Luminova markings and the broad arrow at six o'clock, it does those things for me.
Andrew I agree. I've come really close to getting these, a couple of different iterations of this.
Everett Other watches that might do very similar things, we already talked about the Hamilton Khaki Pioneer. And the other one is the Marathon General Purpose watches, which I think are pretty, General Purpose Quartz, General Purpose Mechanical, pretty fun watches, resin cases versus steel.
Andrew I think I'm less excited about resin than steel. I understand that resin does not rule you out of being a tool watch, but I'm less excited about it.
Everett You know, I don't know what episode it was, Andrew, But it was very early. And you had made an argument that a Timex Iron Man, I think it was when we introduced our durability rankings, our objective watch ratings, and you had made the argument that a throwaway watch was durable specifically because it was throwaway.
Andrew And I can't remember exactly your justification, but I, I will continue to hold to that because an F 91, you can buy 25 F 90 ones for this price, which will last you your entire life. That's maybe true. You, you might break it and it doesn't matter. You break a Swiss courts. You're that hurts. there's, there's some, some like emotional consequences there to either. Yeah. I mean, to fully replace the movement, you're not going to be getting that repaired. So there's a, there's a, a durability in the, like, how much can this take the replaceability, but also replaceability. That is a component in that.
Everett Well, it may be, maybe splitting the wickets on your, on your counterintuitive or perhaps even what are the, what are you, Call it with two ideas. Contradictory, uh, conclusions, conflicting, uh, conclusions. This is an acrylic crystal, which I am on record as being a Hezzy boy. Uh, feel this with an acrylic crystal.
Andrew There's something there. Yeah. You polish that right out. And if you can't, you can't.
Everett And it's not good, but it's not going to shatter. Yeah. Or it's, I mean, it might shatter.
Andrew I think you actually got two in a row here.
Everett Do you? I don't know what you mean by that. You're next up. Well, you're next up. Oh, I see. Yeah, you're you're next up. Is that right?
Andrew Yeah. Yeah. OK, well, this was on and off my list.
Everett A couple of times I had trouble with this watch, mostly because it was available for about 15 hours. It seems long. About a month ago. but it's estimated to be restocked this summer. Um, is the notice sector deep. So we are huge fans of the notice sector series. We've talked about that watch ad nauseam on this show. Uh, the notice sector series was, uh, created by notice to be a single mid case housing for discrete different types of watches. Um, which includes a pilot watch, a sport watch, a dive watch, and a field watch. The logo for the Notice Sector Series is four rings on the case back of the watch. And when they released this, I asked Wes if they thought they might need to change their logo because I think that this is a fifth entry into the sector series.
Andrew It's the little diamond in the concentric. It's in the it's not a pie chart. It's a Venn diagram in the Venn diagram. It's one of the confluences.
Everett So what this is is a five hundred meter dive watch. It is the exact same mid case as all of the rest of the sector watches. slightly more protuberant case back for obvious reasons, but a very different feeling watch because it has got a large oversized, even 42 millimeter bezel that winds up overhanging the case all the way around in all four directions. It's got a very big crown, which has a lovely locking indication on the crown, which I don't know if anybody needs that, but I sure as heck want it. What do you think of this watch, Andrew?
Andrew I dig this. And I think something they did intentionally or unintentionally, they solved one of the biggest bitches about dive watches. The bezel's hard to manipulate. I can't get a good grip on it. And they're like, Oh, I know how to do that. I'm going to put a monster bezel on the outside of the case and you're going to be able to get purchase on this bezel on three sides, the top, the side, the bottom. Yeah. You're going to be able to manipulate this bezel in mittens. Yeah. Yeah. It's, this is super cool. This is, this is one of the coolest things that notice has done. And I think it's, I think it's awesome. And this is, this is, you know, kind of the, the typical, everyone thinks of this as a tool watch. Nobody looked at this and I'm like, Oh, that's a conservative dive watch. That's right. Yeah. It's, it's no like, and the other, because it's a small case, it's also not huge. This isn't what you're going to wear to work out for like the weight of the watch. I dig this. They've taken this huge idea and smashed it into a wearable package.
Everett You know, some, some, some differences to this versus the other notice, even the notice dive, it's got a double bezel, uh, giving you both a 12 hour indication and a 60 minute dive timer. It's got a left-hand drive, which, you know, I don't know if I know if that's a great idea for a dive watch, but it's interesting and fun.
Andrew It's different because you're not opening your crown on a dive. Um, yeah, that's right. So I don't, I don't really see it. But also if you look at the, the overhead pictures in a, with a shirt on the crown vanishes.
Everett Yep.
Andrew It's still huge, but you don't see it.
Everett You don't see it. That's right. Super legible, really cool handset. Uh, it, Yeah, you know, we don't need to tell you how great it is because it sold out almost instantly. Just a terrific watch, very much a tool watch. And like I said, I only included it because I'm confident that you will be able to purchase this relatively soon.
Andrew And it's not a it's not a tool watch that you're going to look crazy wearing. You could wear this normally. Right. It's not huge. Yeah. It's not a 60 millimeter dive watch.
Everett 42 millimeters minus. Yeah. Cause the case is 40. Yeah. It is. And it's not, it's not super thick either. 13.6, which it's not, it's not skinny for 500 meters of water resistance.
Andrew You gotta, you gotta make some kind of compromise there. That's right.
Everett Just a terrific watch notice sector.
Andrew So deep. Uh, and they do warn you that there is a nearly nuclear amount of luminous material. It had been really cool if somewhere on there they took the, uh, uh, nuclear hazard, uh, stamp, put it on there. That'd be cool. Andrew, finally me. It's finally you. Another, this is, this is not a field watch, but it fills that place. This is a sport watch in the Traska commuter. And the reason this fits in the tool watch world for me, it's designed to be a go anywhere, do anything watch with that you will never outlast. It's not a super, it's not a dive watch, right? You know, one of the, part of our definition is, um, designed to perform a physical task or activity usually typified by or combined with a discrete physical durability. This watch's discrete physical durability is the hardening process by which they put their steel through. This is not an indestructible watch, but it shows no signs of wear. I don't, I treat this watch kindly, but I don't worry ever about what I'm doing while I'm wearing this watch. It has Super LumiNova. Its lume is terrific. 90-39 movement. 100 meters of water resistance. It does all the things that I want a watch to do in any environment. It is the watch I can pick up, put on, regardless of what I'm about to do. And that's a tool watch. It's like putting on your Carhartt jeans. Those are work pants. You don't know what you're going to do in them. And that's okay because it's going to carry you through.
Everett Yeah. So perhaps not designed to, to perform a specific task or activity. But be terrifically durable. But to perform all the tasks or activities. All the tasks or activities.
Andrew It's not going to do anything exceptional, right? There's no rotating bezel. There's no timer. There's no date. There's no, it's not got 500 meters of water resistance. It doesn't have a chronograph. It doesn't have a fourth hand. It's just a... Does have a third leg, though. Does have a third leg. It's just a utility watch. And it bumps right up against what I expect out of a field watch. And I think what differentiates this from a field watch is its dial.
Everett Yeah, that's right. It's a slightly dressier dial meant to give you some versatility in the boardroom, as they say.
Andrew Because if you put a 1224 dial on this, you're like, oh, that's a field watch.
Everett I think that's right. Yeah, no, I accept. This is absolutely between the scratch resistance and the crystal and the water resistance absolutely fits the bill. Not everyone's going to wear this like a tool watch, but it certainly is a tool watch.
Andrew Not everyone wears their Black Bay 58, like a tool watch. Or their Black Bay 36. But damn, those are tool watches. Or, to our earlier point, a Breitling Nevitimer.
Everett Correct. Yeah. I accept, Andrew. I think it's a lovely pick. I know you love this watch. I do think it's a little boring to pick a watch you own, but I'm going to do that.
Andrew I'm going to do it. Because I don't like the dial configuration on the Summateer, as much as I like this dial configuration. Thought about going with the free diver, but I went a different direction with my dive watch. But it's all the hardening thing. This is a tool watch line coming out of Traska.
Everett Absolutely, nailed it. And for 600 bucks. Which is a smoking deal. Traska doesn't get a ton of hype, which we've talked about on this show. In part because of their particular aesthetic, which is, as you say, Andrew, less. The Traska aesthetic is less.
Andrew Yes. And that's what I want. They deserve hype and I'll continue to hype them. There's a great case profile on that, by the way. It's so good. Oh, I get to do three in a row. Yes, you sure do. OK, so next up for me. The Veyr D5 Atlantic.
Everett Tell me about this watch. You put this on your list and I thought, oh, that's a weird watch.
Andrew D5 Atlantic. As we know, Veyr does an interesting thing in that they have different varieties of the same watch. And the difference is where it gets assembled and what kind of movements in it. So the D5 Atlantic is a USA assembled. I believe it's Swiss. Oh gosh. We'll scroll that automatic 39 millimeter dive watch. 200 meters of water resistance. Sapphire domed crystal. USA assembled. If that's important to you, it's just a cool thing, right? It's not, it's not necessarily important to me. Miota movement. But it's cool. Okay. So Miota movement, um, they have, they, they do, I think as a company, they're doing a little bit too much of variation and what's made where and assembled where, cause they've got some Swiss stuff. They've got some American made Chinese stuff. They've got some Chinese assembled stuff. And it's, it's a little bit chaotic. It's a thing. And I can't wrap my head around it. they have, so good for them.
Everett It's a little bit like, uh, it's a little cheesecake factory.
Andrew A little bit. Yeah. Right. Like I shouldn't really be able to order Tikka Masala and Puttanesca in the same place. Like I just, I'm not comfortable with that. Uh, so 39 millimeter case, 40 millimeter bezel. So we got a little bit more overhang. We still got some purchase on the bezel. Brushed steel, which is 316L, as we know. Sapphire crystal, double domed. Ceramic loomed bezel. 11.6 thick. I mean, I don't know. This is, I chose this watch because I wanted to branch away a little bit from the, um, the Seiko world of dive watches. I wanted to find a dive watch that I liked, that did the thing, and that was well-designed. This looks like kind of a less retro-y kind of Baltic design language, right? Baltic has works from similar space, but they really push hard into vintage inspiration. But this is just a 200-meter dive watch for $640. There are better ones out there, certainly. There are worse ones out there for much more, certainly. This is the kind of dive watch I want. Super simple, little bit of polish, a lot of loom, great legibility, and does its job.
Everett Yeah. You know, I'll tell you, I'm not over the moon about this watch, but it's not because of the design. The design's terrific. Perhaps one of the most famous designs in all of watches. Yeah. But no, it does the trick. And I like what you've done here. I think that this is a nice compliment to your first pick. And I know the guys from Veyr, they're great, terrific guys. And I think this is a great, terrific watch. And it certainly meets our criteria and definition for a tool watch.
Andrew Because I tried to keep my watches under $1,000. My dive pick would have been a little bit north of this.
Everett I kept my watches under $1,000. Did you? For two out of three.
Andrew Oh, that's pretty good. So like I said, I get to do three in a row. My last pick, very much like your first pick, Uh, it's a field watch with a little bit of extra ass. Yeah. The khaki field titanium auto. What a terrific watch. 945 bucks. I love the khaki field. I don't know why I don't own one. I love these watches. And in this iteration, it's in titanium. which for this application is the perfect material. It's got, what's it? These are two or a hundred meters of water resistance. So it's north of what you typically get out of a field watch. A hundred meters of water resistance is what I want out of what I would consider to be a tool watch. Not because I'm going to need that kind of pressure, but because I don't want to think about it. At 50 meters of water resistance, there becomes, it's just not as sure. You get a little bit more water resistance, you get less ability to infiltrate with moisture. If you're living in a sustained wet environment, I'm not talking like it gets rained on, I'm thinking like in the jungle or the fucking swamps, where yeah, you're not gonna surpass your water resistance, but you're just gonna be waterlogged. And at some point, you're going to open your crown. Sure. A hundred meters of water resistance, even with an open crown is not going to mitigate it, but it's just more protection. And that's what I want out of a tool watch. And when we're thinking about a titanium field watch, a hundred meters is kind of the bare minimum. And that's where they're at, which is also the expectation. It's a pass fail and they passed.
Everett They pass. H10 movement in this thing. I might get one of these. Obviously designed to go outside.
Andrew Anywhere. Outside. Anywhere. Terrific watch. I love titanium. Except on a 1990s G-Shock.
Everett You know, I'm not crazy about the orange pop on this, but in Hamilton's defense, I think for this watch, in particular the titanium, it It works, and it works in a really good way. So they've got a bit of a sector dial here. You've got the 12 and the 24-hour numerals.
Andrew Yeah, this is a terrific watch. I like the orange pop because of legibility, like just quick glance legibility.
Everett A little bit of full loom here. A little bit, yeah.
Andrew That's fine. It works. It works. It's not brown. It's just like just it's... It's dark. Slightly aged. It's dark. Yeah.
Everett Yeah, no, great pick, Andrew. And I think it's a terrific watch. It's a watch I've looked at a number of times in the past. Yeah, terrific.
Andrew All right. What do you got next?
Everett All right. So there is a town, there's a city, I think you might call it, called Glashutte. Have you heard of this place?
Andrew I know a fella who says it much better than you. Okay.
Everett I think it's actually Glashütte. So there's a place in, then they shouldn't put in SH, Germany called Glashütte, which is one of the most important places in all of watchmaking. Lange is out of Glashütte, Nomos, Tutima, and also a company called I think it's Mula or Mula.
Andrew I think it's Mula.
Everett Mula Glassuta. Mula is, I believe, a company we have never spoken of on this show before. Is that correct?
Andrew I can't say with certainty. This is like, we're in like the 240s, aren't we?
Everett Yeah. That is not to say. It's not an important company in watches because it very much is an important company of watches. It's just not a company that we've spent a lot of time talking about. So the watch I've picked for my third entry is the 1000 meter water resistance Miele Glashutte SAR Rescue Timer. So. So. This is a watch that was designed for German search and rescue professionals, specifically for the German government. It's a, unsurprisingly, a search and rescue watch. This is a watch that has a thousand meters of water resistance that notwithstanding that thousand meters of water resistance, comes in at a, I would say, conservative 42 millimeters by 13 and a half millimeters. Yes. Not undersized, but I'm going to say that this probably wears like a mid-sized watch. It does have... It's got a four millimeter thick crystal, Everett. It's got a four millimeter thick crystal and still comes in at 13 and a half millimeters. The most notable feature of this watch, I think, so it's brushed everywhere, it is steel, and I almost wish that this were titanium, but it's not, and so that's that. Still, it's got an interesting feature, which is that it has got a bezel that appears black because it is, in fact, a hard vulcanized black rubber. The bezel on this watch is vulcanized black rubber, which means that it is going to be physically, physically very resistant to taking damage to the bezel, which is the most likely place for you to hit where you're going to smack things, especially during a search and rescue operation. That's right. So, uh, I wouldn't call this a beautiful bracelet. Mm-mm. Because it's just simply not beautiful. Also has some rubber on the bracelet. But you know from Mila that this is going to be incredibly well put together, incredibly robust. I just think this watch is terrific, Andrew. I think it's a super cool watch. Mm-hmm.
Andrew Yeah. Me too. It incorporates weird things for a very real reason. And I can get down with that. It's not for me. And it's really, I think it's not for most people who aren't doing search and rescue operations. I don't dig the dial design. Yes. So it's got the legibility is great ish. There's a ton of loom, but it's all markers. The actual numerals are so small that there's just no way. They're just there.
Everett Yeah. And so perhaps unsurprisingly, it's got a very German feel to it. I'm not going to say it looks like a Zen because it does not, but it's got that same aesthetic that Zen incorporates.
Andrew That all German watches incorporate.
Everett You look at the handset, you look at the case profile. This is a German watch through and through. Conservatively sized with a thousand meters of water resistance. It does have a weird feature, which is a crown located directly
Andrew at four o'clock and the crown is the only thing on the entire watch that's polished which is a bit of a mismatch but it has an interesting crown guard too it does it has like a it typically crown guards are just on the sides of the crown and this one kind of encases the crown it's definitely interesting and it's not i mean it's $2,500. Yeah, $2,500.
Everett $2,500. I believe they're out of production, but you can still find them. There'll be a link to Exquisite Timepieces, which has these in stock. That will be in the show notes if you were... Hooded Lugs. Yeah, I mean, this is cool. It's a cool watch. It's a cool watch. Not cheap, but it's not supposed to be. But it's certainly, I think, when we came up with our definition, I was looking for a watch that I thought, I need a watch, A, that I've never talked about, and B, that is totally an embodiment of the definition that we came up with tonight. So I'm going to read it one more time. A tool watch is a watch designed to perform a physical task or activity usually typified by or combined with a discrete physical durability that makes it especially suited for said task or activity."That's this watch. Yeah. 100 Atmos. Rubber bezel designed to be brushed up against rocks or trees or whatever else you're going to run into. 1,000 meters of water resistance. probably very difficult to break, four millimeter sapphire crystal.
Andrew Domes too. So you get displacement issue, like strength.
Everett This is a, this is a tool watch and it's really fucking cool. And it's made by Miele in Glashutte.
Andrew Yeah. Why are they making that watch?
Everett I don't know, but I'm here for it, man. Is this the tooliest of all tool watches? No. Oh. The Pelagos is. I think the Pelagos is maybe the most iconic tool watch, certainly the quote unquote best. I think this is the tooliest of all the tool watches. Perhaps. There's some Zen watches that I thought, well, this could fit here. Zen's actually got a U1000. Something about the Mula was calling out to me though.
Andrew Because it's unique. If very much like the CWC there, they were given a spec sheet and they were like, we got this, we got this.
Everett Hold my beer.
Andrew We'll put rubber in the vessel and seal you up tight.
Everett Yep.
Andrew I think if this were titanium, that's the, that puts it right over the edge. It would be, it also puts it probably at like 3,200, 3,500, 2,500, 3,200.
Everett Who cares? Give me some titanium.
Andrew Yeah. Give me the titanium. That's the Pelagos has really been like, Screaming, you know, it sucks.
Everett I think it's a pretty neat watch.
Andrew It's a pretty neat watch. It's a good list of tool watches, and we've done the thing. We did it. We've defined what a tool watch actually is, and it doesn't have to come with a hundred complications. It doesn't have to be made of resin. It just has to do a thing intentionally really, really good and make your life better for it.
Everett So here's the, here's the deal. If you, if we're going to post the definition in the show notes, it'll just be in there. If you, you at home, whoever you are, go to Reddit and you're the first to post a Reddit thread saying 40 and 20 guys say they define tool watches. This is what they came up with. What do you think? We'll shout you on on next week, next week, next week. Next week's episode. Okay. All right. All right. We did the thing. Andrew, having accomplished the task of defining a tool watch, what do you got?
Andrew I watched a mini series today called Waco American Apocalypse. Yeah, it's really good. It's really good. And I've watched the other Waco things. There was like a docudrama, which was also pretty good. It was really good. And when I started this, I was like, am I watching a thing that I've already watched? No, this is new. This is all new.
Everett Because you know the story.
Andrew Well, yeah, I know the story and I have an interesting personal, not personal. I was not in any way affiliated with what happened at Waco. I actually have no memory of that, but I have like, never in my life was I not aware of Branch Davidians. Uh, so I'm watching the show and I was just totally engrossed. They did this really interesting as, as most documentaries do combining video from the actual events against interviews from people who were there in every capacity. And I think that was the most interesting part to me was the interviews they have, like in previous shows that I watch, I don't remember interviews with Branch Davidians, like with people who are on the compound. And in this, these are some of the most hard, the hardest hitting guests in the mini series is these folks who were on the compound for, you know, uh, varying ages and expectation of, of their participation in it. It was crazy. I could watch it again. It was super well-made. They, they, it wasn't, it was the story, right? It wasn't the sensationalism. Usually when you get a mini series like this, they, they focus on the, on the big things, on how sensational it was. And this was like the human stories from every perspective.
Everett Even, even the ones that are really, really tough people, like, like you're a really difficult person to handle.
Andrew Yeah. Yeah. And, and the, the interesting thing that I took away from it was like, people who were there, at least the people they had on screen, they seemed to be in a position where they were ready to do it again.
Everett Yeah. Kind of unapologetic about the things that were going on and some of the pretty terrible behaviors, not to upset anybody here, but pedophilia and sex with minors and
Andrew And like systematic. Yeah. Yeah. The, the people who lived on the, and I'm like, not just the people involved, but the Branch Davidians who they were interviewing on the show were like, this is life, bro. Like, what's the problem?
Everett Not, not only that, but 30 years later, this was, this was our life. And this was something that was spiritual and good. Not withstanding the fact that it is. an incredible taboo and pretty hard to stomach.
Andrew I knew this, but it took me, it took the reminder of the Oklahoma sitting bombing connection to the Waco incident. And when I, when I saw, there's a clip of Timothy McVeigh there in the, in the crowd of onlookers, because this was televised for 51 days on national television. Timothy McVeigh is there on camera. And I was like, Oh my God, I forgot about this. It's just this crazy, it's a really well done mini series on Netflix. Yeah. Terrific. And for a lot of us, it's like, it's, it's, if you don't remember it, you remember the immediate fallout. Yeah. Cause you're, you're not that much older than me. I'm sure you remember this, maybe not super clearly, but you're like, Oh yeah, I remember that.
Everett I remember it happening. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Andrew, that's a really good other thing. And I'm a little disappointed that I had you go first, although you always go first. I always go first. But, uh, I feel like mine's going to be a let down. You'll never let me down. Andrew, have you heard of the company called, not the country, uh, or not the place, excuse me, but the, but the company called Patagonia?
Andrew No.
Everett Well, so there's a outdoor gear company called Patagonia.
Andrew If you talk about the sweater you're wearing, you've already done it.
Everett Do you know anything about Patagonia Worn Wear? No. So Patagonia is... It's a terrific company, by the way. They make expensive stuff and... Patagucci, as it's commonly called. That's right. It's expensive and oftentimes it's very good But, you know, I think because there's a certain segment of the population that's really, really heavily latched on to certain aspects of Patagonia's catalog that, you know, not everybody's super high on them, but whatever. It's enough for me to say it's a terrific company with terrific ideas about what's what and they make really good stuff. I did not realize. that Patagonia maintains a used gear section through their website and on trade in on that section you can both trade in your lightly worn Patagonia clothing and you can purchase other people's lightly used Patagonia clothing that's been received and thoroughly cleaned by Patagonia for 50% off.
Andrew I don't even care if you clean it, but that's right.
Everett Oftentimes for, for pretty steep discounts, I didn't know that this was a thing. And then someone said, Oh, well, did you check out one where I was like, no, what's that? Um, yeah, they, I think the most stunning thing about this is how much stuff they have on here. So, uh, Pretty much, if you want an article that's in the current or recent Patagonia catalog, you'll be able to find it here. You may not find the color way you want, but Patagonia is one of these companies that has the same products by and large year in, year out. They always introduce some new stuff and they always get rid of some stuff, but there are things like the Cinchilla, which has been in the catalog for a billion years. It's like an OG of the catalog. That's right. So, so for instance, right now you can get in excellent condition, a Cinchilla pullover normally selling for 120. You can get one for 67 bucks from Patagonia. And I can confirm that that will be in like new condition when you receive it, it'll be the size you want. Um,
Andrew If you know the size you want, don't get this if you don't know what size you are.
Everett Well, I'll tell you, Patagonia is a little weird with that stuff. Sizing can be tricky. So if you want an article, I recommend Googling the article that you want in sizing because in particular, their tops can run large or small depending on what the product is. Uh, you know, all of the, all of the goods, you can get a damn sweater. You can get the micro, uh, micro puff.
Andrew You can get, I'm looking at a nano puff right now. Those are $280 new, 139 bucks in black.
Everett I don't know who traded that in down. And they got tons of stuff down, sweater, vest, normally 180. You can get it for an idea. I had no clue. And I think it's terrific. I think it is terrific. Patagonia, a lot of margins of Patagonia. And so they have the ability to do stuff like this, but it's pretty cool that they're giving their consumers an opportunity to pick this stuff up directly from them with, with their standard return policies. Anything you buy from Patagonia by and large is effectively lifetime guaranteed. It's terrific. So I ordered two articles of clothing. I ordered a cinchilla snap tea. Fleece and I ordered a pair of baggies. They're shorts. They're athletic shorts.
Andrew I might be getting that nano puff.
Everett Both came in. Both were like new.
Andrew Yeah, that looks packaged. She took the tag off of it.
Everett Terrific. I didn't know this existed. There'll be a link. There'll be a link to both. No, there won't.
Andrew I'm not linking people to this. I'm keeping this for myself.
Everett To both. the new Waco miniseries on Netflix and Patagonia WarnerWare in the show notes. Andrew, we've done it. We did a lot of things. Anything you want to add?
Andrew I am all out of things, my friend.
Everett Hey, you guys, thanks for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20, the WatchClicker podcast. We really appreciate you and we're glad you're here. If you'd like, and we'd like you to, go to our website, WatchClicker.com. That's where we post not only every episode of this podcast, but articles, reviews, other pretty fun stuff. Just about every week, there's one or two things that go up there. You can also check us out on the socials at WatchClicker or at 40and20 underscore WatchClicker on the Instagram. And most importantly, if you'd like to support us, oh boy, we hope you do. Kind of support it this way, KO. Patreon.com slash 40and20. Look, seriously, that's how we get all, all of the money, well, most of the money that we use to support the podcast, the website, hosting, hardware, software, all of that stuff. All of you supporting us. We thank you so much. And if you'd like to support us, we'd love, we'd love to have you genuinely. And don't forget to check us out next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like.
Andrew Bye bye.