Episode 244 - Watches Roundup for June 29, 2023

Published on Wed, 28 Jun 2023 22:30:59 -0700

Synopsis

The podcast episode covers a variety of recent watch releases and news from brands like Christopher Ward, Alpina, Citizen, Oris, Vero, and Omega. The hosts discuss their opinions on the designs, specifications, and value propositions of these new models. Additionally, they share some personal anecdotes, including one host's experience purchasing a new golf putter and another's interest in a long-term NASA experiment simulating life on Mars.

Links

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• episode MP3 - local mirror

Transcript

Speaker
Andrew	Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 and 20 The Watch Cooker podcast with your host, Andrew, and my good friend Everett. Here, we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and a lot of things we like. Everett, how are you?
Everett	I'm just killing it. Today was one of those days where I started the day knowing it was going to be a big day, busy, lots of stuff. And it just, it, it, it delivered. It delivered. I started my day at about 530. In the morning. In the morning.
Andrew	On purpose?
Everett	Yeah, which is not that early. I mean, a lot of people start their days at 530. I'm not one of them. So just from the moment I got going, I was going. But it was like a court day, which is fun. Court days are dynamic and You know, when you're in there and you know what you're doing, I know the judges, you know, I don't know them personally, we're not friends, but like, I know who I'm working with. I know the personalities involved. I had cases that I felt really good about, you know, files or whatever that I was working on. It was like, everything was in place, which made it nice. It's a good day. But it was still just a lot, right? All the things that needed to happen, happened. Everything went smoothly. But just like, okay, go, go, go. When I got off work about 530, 545, it had been full, but I was like, I'm ready to just deescalate the brain function. Came home to my dog, family's out of town. So it's just Larry and I sat on the couch. We had some dinner together.
Andrew	You brought up my drill home, which I thought was like, I, my blink camera alerted me that someone was at the front door. I was like, well, that's weird. And my drill was just sitting on my welcome mat.
Everett	Yeah. You know, it was one of those things you had brought it over for a project. I don't remember what you had left it. I haven't used it. You haven't needed it. You mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. Like, do you have my, yeah, yes I do. So I saw it in the garage today and I thought, Oh, I'll drop that over at Andrew's.
Andrew	Well, thank you. You can also knock on my door or text me.
Everett	I like to just make faces and you're wearing camera and then walk away. They were interesting.
Andrew	They will draw some hits on the OnlyFans.
Everett	Yeah. Good, good, good, good, good. Andrew, how are you?
Andrew	I am also good. It's been kind of a weird weekend. I transition every weekend from being a night sleeper to a day sleeper. So some weekends are just bad.
Everett	Sometimes the transition doesn't go as well.
Andrew	Yeah. I have a much easier time sleeping during the day than at night. which is probably good, right? That I can sleep during my work week. Um, but this was just not a great sleep weekend for sleeping at night. So I got some yard work done today, had some decent leftovers. I made a, I mean, as you know, I made tri tip and quick smoked salmon and some grilled salmon yesterday for dinner. So that's some good leftover dinner.
Everett	Just kind of, kind of coasted through the weekend. You know, that's the best weekend is when you coast.
Andrew	I like to be a little bit more productive. There's a lot of things that I've been looking down the barrel of and I'm like, man, I had time to do that. Had time. Didn't do it. Didn't do that. So that's okay. That's for, that's for next week.
Everett	That's for next week. We're sitting here, we're drinking beer. The sun is low in the sky. It's not too warm up here. We're drinking Tricera hops, which is an Akasi beer.
Andrew	Kind of there like the original hop bomb Northwest craft beer.
Everett	Yeah, it's certainly one of them. It was certainly the first sort of big giant hit, I think, for Ninkasi and remains to be a very drinkable, a very drinkable beer. It says on the can notes of floral citrus and resin. What does resin taste like?
Andrew	Take a sip of beer.
Everett	Notes of resin.
Andrew	I think bong resin is what they're specifically referring to. Is that what it is? Yeah, it could be. It's like resin. Because there's a couple companies have done like weedy flavored beers. Oh, it's something, yeah. They have like weed flavored names to them.
Everett	Well, and hops are related to cannabis, is that right? Am I making that up?
Andrew	I don't. No, but they have really similar traits in their like oiliness and the acids and flavors that you can derive from their oils.
Everett	Definitely. Well, good. Good. Well, in any event, we're not talking about beer. Or weed. Or weed. Or whatever else it is we were talking about. We are talking about watches. And once again, we brought you a roundup of the most cool and interesting thing that have happened in the world of watches. I would like to start, Andrew, if I may, with not a new watch, not a new release, and really not even an article. Well, it is an article. It's actually two separate posts on Fratello in the last two weeks. Okay. Yeah. So, excuse me, let me pull this up because It caught me basically right away based on the headline when I read this thing. And I think that's the point, right? I won't go so far as to call this clickbait, but it certainly is meant to be provocative. So the title of the article is, Why Budget Mechanical Watches Don't Make Sense. This was posted by Dan DeGroot. And the point of the article is, that watches under a certain price range, specifically in this article, it's about a Seiko SKX007, that watches under a certain price point can't economically be serviced. So for instance, it's more expensive to service an SKX than it would be certainly to replace the movement and likely even just to replace the watch.
Andrew	It used to be. Now it probably is about the same amount.
Everett	Yeah, I mean, pretty close in any event, right? And so the point of the article is just that, that at a certain level, you're losing, if you can't practically service the movement, then some of the mystique, some of the actual appeal of a mechanical watch is rendered moot. And it's a fair point. But this article, it should not be surprising, garnered a tremendous response, most of which was negative, right? So 262 comments presently. And I think that the comments are fairly critical of Dan's headline, right? The headline being, inexpensive mechanical watches don't make sense. And in fairness to Dan, it's not really what he was saying. Although, it is what he said.
Andrew	It is what he said. It doesn't make sense. It is what he said. They're a disposable item.
Everett	That's right. But I think that the implication of the way you just said, it doesn't make sense, kind of brings it back to reality, right? Yeah, it doesn't make sense, nor does a speedmaster or a Submariner or any of the watches that you can buy, none of them make sense. These are pretty things.
Andrew	Yeah.
Everett	These are pretty things. They're pretty things. A watch doesn't have a soul, even a mechanical one.
Andrew	Even if it was handmade.
Everett	That's right.
Andrew	Even if it was hand turned.
Everett	And so before we got started, I just kind of wanted to kick us off to say, A, No, it doesn't make sense. And B, Dan DeGroot, you shut your fucking mouth.
Andrew	Especially when you're talking to me.
Everett	Because, no, of course it doesn't make sense. And a yes, I still want it.
Andrew	But we all know that. This isn't like revolutionary idea. We all know that you're not going to get your NH35 serviced. You're just not.
Everett	No, you could.
Andrew	But you could.
Everett	Why? Well, the point is, The point is you could, you know, this reminds me of the thing that some people say, which is something along the lines of, I'm not going to put a $200 strap on an $80 mechanical watch. And to that, I say, why, why the fuck not? Right? Why not? Why is a $200 strap any more appropriate on a thousand dollar watch or a $5,000 watch? than it is on an $80 watch.
Andrew	You'll still wear $60 Amazon shoes and a $1,000 suit.
Everett	Yes, right. You'll still do it. Look, that, so all that to say, it may not make sense to service your NH35 for more than the cost of a brand new Seiko, but if the allure of the thing is in its everlasting capabilities and you have the resources, you sure could, and there's no reason not to, right? This is a pragmatic decision making.
Andrew	No, the reason not to is that it's just cheaper to buy a new movement and drop it in.
Everett	Exactly. And that's fine. If you're okay with that, that's fine. Just get the new movement, drop it in. Or if you're like, you know what, this thing's kind of beat to hell anyway, I'm just going to get a new SKX. Also fine. Or if you got 400, 500 bucks lying around, I think it's like 300 if you send it to Evan, send it out and get it cleaned and serviced, right? This is a choice that you get to make. So while I appreciate the point that Dan was making, and both Dan and RBJ did a good job with the comments, and I think Dan actually came back and posted a follow-up to this, basically saying, look, I'm wearing a $750 Seiko as I write this, or whatever, right? That's fine and good. I think the other problem here, and this is the problem that most of the readers picked up on, is that it's one of those things that watch people say that's annoying. It's like, you know what? Just shut up. Just stop it, Fratello. Just stop it. OK, so, you know, yeah, you wear cheap watches. You slum with us every once in a while, Dan. Fine. But just don't be an asshole. right? Don't be an asshole.
Andrew	Yeah. Cause there is something there, there is something that strikes a nerve saying the watches that I like and the watches that I can buy. Somebody degrading that devaluing them. There's something there cause you shouldn't do that.
Everett	Yeah. And like I said, they did a good job of corner bringing it back and Fratello for their part writes about a lot of inexpensive watches a lot. They're not gatekeeper media, right? They are, They're doing a good job covering the range of stuff. It's just that article and that and the headline just felt. Yeah, fuck you guys, right?
Andrew	Yeah, that was clickbait. He just wanted you to read it. So if you saw that and he wanted us to talk about it, that's what it was. He probably did. He probably did. He knew what this came out. So he's had. Gosh, he's probably been like losing sleep for the last two weeks.
Everett	Well, I think he has been. I think he has been feeling a lot of a lot of grief. So and for good reason.
Andrew	And to the extent that he made an inflammatory statement and then reasonably supported it.
Everett	Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All true. Andrew, what do you want to talk about?
Andrew	Oh, first thing I want to talk about. I want to talk about. The new C60 Atoll 300 models. So Christopher Ward has released two new iterations of the C60 and they're calling them ocean inspired. And these are C60s, right? There's nothing beyond being a C60 that's special about them, but we've gotten all like a silvery white with a steel bezel. And this blue that they say is inspired by the Indian ocean is phenomenal. It's a gradient, like green to blue ocean color. Like it actually really captures that tropical blue ocean feel. Not in the way Seiko does it, but in the way that it actually looks. You see it and you're like, oh, this is inspired by the ocean. This looks like the Bahamas. Yeah. I see, I see it completely.
Everett	I super dig it. You know, you said these are just C60s. Has Christopher Ward ever done a... I'm going to say something that's probably annoying, but have they ever done a Yacht-Master bezel like this?
Andrew	So... I don't think so.
Everett	I'm trying to think of where else this stainless bezel... These both have like a raised polished numeral stainless bezels. All of the Yacht-Master. And I don't know that I've ever seen these. And it's a good look on this watch.
Andrew	Yeah, these are only available in the 40 millimeter size. But I'm OK with it because look at that thing on a bracelet.
Everett	Yeah, it looks great. We're obviously a huge fan of Christopher Ward, huge fan of Christopher Ward's bracelets, although they do better sometimes than others. But I do believe this is a fully tapered bracelet.
Andrew	I have yet to handle one of their fully tapered bracelets. Pardon, Evan. I'm sorry. appropriately tapered bracelets. Yes. 20 to 19 is not a taper. Uh, I've yet to handle one, but I know it's going to be good cause I love their bracelet even as, as chunky as it was.
Everett	They do just, they do such a good job with the engineering of the bracelet. All the things. And these are terrifically thin. 11 three I think is what they are. 30 Atmos, uh, SW 200. These are these are terrific. I mean, this is what you'd expect from Christopher Ward.
Andrew	They're NC 60 pricing, right? 965 pounds on a strap. 1165 on a bracelet.
Everett	So I think actually winds up being 1250 US dollars or thereabouts. Yeah. Or thereabouts. So terrific. Are these available now? Oh, look, even better than that. $10.95 on a bracelet.
Andrew	Ooh, if you go to the website?
Everett	Yeah. Oh, that's pre-order though. So pre-order ending July. Do we have a delivery date? They don't usually do long leads. Yeah. I'd imagine it's not going to be a terribly long time, but pre-order through end of July.
Andrew	This calendar year, you'll, you'll be getting them delivered.
Everett	Yeah. Good, good picking. It doesn't say. I got a watch I want to talk about. I want you to talk about it. OK, so this is an expensive watch and I'm sorry everybody in advance because it's too expensive for me. I wouldn't buy this watch because it's just. Too weird. And it costs too money for how weird it is. Are you asking for a gift for me? Yes, so what I'm asking is for gifts, so just I'll just get out of the way this watch. Retails at $5,395. It's not quite available, but this is a watch from the brand Alpina, which is not a brand we've talked about a ton.
Andrew	Maybe a handful of times.
Everett	Just a handful, but they are a fantastic company and they're celebrating their 140th anniversary, which is not, it's not like a, it's a weird anniversary to get real excited about.
Andrew	Yeah. Just wait 10 more years. Come on.
Everett	So they refer to themselves as the inventors of the sport watch, I guess, which, okay, I don't know about that.
Andrew	But they have... You can argue, no one else is around.
Everett	They are releasing a, I don't know what you'd call this, limited edition sort of deco tank style watch, which has
Andrew	I don't know if we can call it textile. Because of the age of this brand, I think we can just call it a rectangle case.
Everett	All right, fine. But what this is is 28 vintage movements uncovered by Alpina and restored. And we're going to link in the show notes. If you haven't seen this movement, go to the link. It's a rectangular movement with this big, beautiful bridge work on the back. And this thing is fucking terrific. If you buy this watch, you're buying it because of how gorgeous this movement. So it's a two hertz movement, 42 hour power reserve, which is kind of a weird... Well, it was made in 1938.
Andrew	That's right. Yeah. They probably had to figure out a way to measure it, because they were like, oh, these are old.
Everett	What do we got here? Polished silver case, Uh, great dimensions, 29 and a half by 35.7 millimeters. Very thin 9.7. So this is the nostalgia watch. It's a pretty small nostalgia watch. It's going to feel very, very vintage, but with silver polished silver case and a silver dial, this thing is absolutely terrific. You're probably going to sell out if they're not sold out already. Uh, oh no, they're not available till July. So you have time. If you want something really neat, if you want something really neat, this is something I think that is, this is really neat.
Andrew	I really like it. I hope they do a modern movement version. Cause that'll cut the price by two thirds.
Everett	Yeah, well, they have to make the movement, though. I don't think that there's a movement of these dimensions that exists today.
Andrew	They can figure out something. They have enough of a catalog to put a movement in there.
Everett	Yeah, this is this is terrific.
Andrew	Let's see, I'm looking for the release date on it. These are just gorgeous. I am liking seeing more of these very vintage and not like 60s, 70s vintage, but like 30s, 40s vintage inspired watches making their way onto the market. They don't have a date yet. Yeah.
Everett	You might have to sign up. Yeah, I don't think there is a date. Let's see. There's a lot of information on the website. So if you go there, but there's no way to sign up or anything. You can sign up. Yeah. You can subscribe to their newsletter, which I don't know.
Andrew	They're doing an integrated steel bracelet sport watch. That's kind of cool. The new Alpener. Alpener? Alpener? That one? Yeah.
Everett	I like Alpener. Anyway, that's all I have to say about it. I saw it actually, Our friend Mike sent it and I thought, man, this is great. My only criticism, slightly aged colorway on the hands and loom. As you'd expect though. I don't know. I don't know that I do expect it. In fact, I'd much prefer it to be white, but it is what it is. It's not obnoxiously patinaed.
Andrew	Andrew, what's next? Ooh, next up. The Citizen Series 8 GMT. Which Citizen did a really great thing with in releasing. And then they citizened all over it with this weird textured dial. Like. So what we know. Citizen has dropped a affordable space GMT.
Everett	These are coming in at... These are Flyer GMTs, the 9054 movement.
Andrew	They're coming in at under $2,000. They're going to be available at the end of the year. They have a Pepsi and a Batman, and then they have a Gold Root Beer, which is going to be their limited edition. Root Beer-ish. Yeah, the Root Beer is $1,300, or 1,300 pieces. Why I'm excited about it is that it means that they are going to be using this technology, using these movements and having this available as a product line. This particular series, I'm not really sold on it. I'm actually kind of bummed about because I, I feel like citizen could have done better. Yeah. I'm not feeling this, which is really normal for citizen and that they have this great thing and then they They ruin it themselves. Citizen very much shoots themselves in the feet. Stubs their toes, seemingly on purpose. I don't like these colorways. I don't like this design. What I'm excited about is that they're entering into this GMT space. And it means that there's more cool things to come. That's what I'm excited about. Because I frankly, I hate these watches. I hate these like Rolex rips. in the name of dropping a GMT.
Everett	Yeah. I don't know if I disagree. I don't know if I agree with you.
Andrew	This is a Rolex rep, but they, these look like the faux Rolexes that you see in every single like Mexican tent distributor that have Rolex written on the dial. Yeah.
Everett	Yeah. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna subscribe to that, but I still don't love them. So these are in the, um, that series eight that you've talked about, which is sort of a high finish when a citizen's high finish, it's a flyer GMT for under 2000 bucks. Uh, you know, yes, good, good diameter, 41 millimeter fine thickness, 13 and a half. These are integrated bracelet support watches. They've got these bracelets. They're integrated and they look nice, but they're really bricky and 2015 micro brandy feeling. Yeah, I'm not afraid of these because they look like anything Rolex has ever done because I don't think they do, but they are not my cup of tea in terms of design language.
Andrew	They're not great, but we're seeing the GMT in the affordable space in a cool way for the next release. I'll subscribe to that. Not this one. Yeah, I'll subscribe to that. Not this one. This is a bummer.
Everett	Yeah. These seem like they're made for a different market than me too, so.
Andrew	Yeah, you're not fist pumping right now, so.
Everett	Yeah, it's cool. And I do hope we're going to see more of this movement, and certainly we will. I think Citizen's probably working on production, but this does seem like it's going to be something that's going to be pretty regularly in the rotation. I got a watch from a brand called Oris. Oh, interesting. Or perhaps Ori? Ori? Ori? Uh, AORUS. So AORUS, fantastic brand. We've talked about them a lot. We, uh, regularly talk about new AORUS releases. This is not, uh, there's nothing new about this except for the metal they're using. So a few years ago, AORUS released their 38 millimeter AORUS Diver 65 with the cotton candy colorways. blue and pink in particular. And there was a green as well. And these all came with bronze cases. And I think you and I at some point talked about how that bronze case looks terrific when it's new. And then it's an acquired taste after that.
Andrew	Yeah.
Everett	Like the day after that. And so you either love that look or you don't. I am in probably don't love. It's not for me dog. That look, there's nothing wrong with it. I've seen, I've seen these, particularly I saw a pink one at a windup and it was just manky. And I was like, Oh, that's nice. That looks nice. But I don't think I would want to wear that on a regular basis. So it's not for me. Well, they've released these in steel. They've released these in steel and that steel is not going to Age. Rot away. Like bronze. Rot away. Turn green. And so I think this is terrific. They're not outrageously priced. I think that these are, it's, it's just an Auris 38. They're $25.50 on a bracelet, $23.50 on the, I think they come on a Perlon. It's got the Auris 733, which is a, I think a Sellita. It's got a hundred inches of water resistance, sapphire. This is the 38 millimeter Oris Diver 65, but it's in steel. And you get the cotton color, cotton candy colors in a steel watch.
Andrew	And I'm here for it. I'm here for it. I like, I mean, of all the Easter colors that landed that year, these were some that I appreciated.
Everett	Yeah. And I think that they've released those for people like me that are like, I'd buy that watch if it just was in steel.
Andrew	So yeah, it was, it was like too much all at once to do it in bronze and Easter.
Everett	And you can buy them right now. Unlike most of the watches we've talked about on today's show, these are available at the AORUS website right now. And I assume that they're going to be hitting the secondary market really quick. And they're probably not going to go out, run out. I don't, they're not limited. So these are part of the permanent collection, I believe. I'd hope so. It wouldn't make sense. Oh, Warner One says in, in the headline, yes, it's 38 millimeters and no, it's not limited. What an introduction. It's a parenthetical in the headline.
Andrew	We don't read good y'all.
Everett	So there you go. Yeah, these are terrific. Also, not a Yacht-Master bezel, but a blasted and raised, polished raised numeral steel bezel, which is cool.
Andrew	Cool, cool. I like it. Thanks, Horace. Always, always giving the people what they want. Just give them, give them people what they want. I have a new thing. Tell me. This is another brand that we've talked about several times. We've talked about all the brands. We've visited with the owner a couple of times. Vero is digging back into their catalog away from their current, I don't really even like adventure watch theme to bring back the Meridian manual wind.
Everett	Did we talk about these on the show at some point?
Andrew	I think when we were at Vero originally.
Everett	No, I feel like we talked about these when they re-released them, but did we?
Andrew	Yeah, these are these are fantastic. Maybe we did. So they they they're just terrific. They're these beautiful, simple field watches. 36 millimeter case. They're just phenomenal.
Everett	Yeah. And these are kind of harken back to The Rally and Sunset collections from the olden days of Vero, 2019. I think there was the Worn and Wound collaboration. These feel very much like OG Vero.
Andrew	This is OG Vero. Like this, when I see this watch, I'm like, oh man, I remember sitting on your manufacturing floor, which is like two dudes, a dog and a couple of CNC machines. And then there's a workbench in the back with their like all their paints and oh, no, no, that's not where they're what were they doing back there? Then they had their clean room with all their painting materials and stuff. Their pad printers. Yeah. And I was like, man, this is it. And I really like what Vero is doing right now. But this is this is Vero to me, this clean, simple. Just beautiful watch.
Everett	And did you say this is 36? My recollection was it was bigger. Um, these are 36. No, so these are 38. No, 38 millimeters by 44.5 9.4 thick because it's a mechanical manual wind movement, the SW 210, which is a very thin hand weld movement. And I think the thing I like about the more than the Raleigh and Sunset is that... Those were 36. Those were 36 millimeters. And this is a slightly bigger than those. I think the thing I like slightly better than those watches is this sort of flat, wide bezel. I really like that on this watch, giving you sort of a porthole dial feeling. Yeah, this is terrific.
Andrew	800 US dollars.
Everett	Which is like a third of the price of the Raleigh and Sunset, I believe.
Andrew	Yeah. This is being pitched as the summer adventure watch in this article that I read.
Everett	Uh, the guy who wrote that article is a fucking idiot.
Andrew	I don't think I would call it a summer adventure watch, but I certainly love this watch.
Everett	It's a terrific, it, yeah, it's a terrific, it's a terrific watch. We're going to find a different, uh, a different article.
Andrew	We're just going to link to the one Andrew's reading.
Everett	We're just going to link to the Vero website. That's right. But this is a this is a terrific watch. I'm very into it. Well done. Well done, Chris. Should get him back. You should get him back. What do you think of this tan ribbed strap that comes on these? I'm all about the ribbed band. It's an interesting strap. I've never seen anything like this. It's a ribbed leather, which is sort of like a like a depressed ribbing that's been stamped into the leather. It sort of gives it a like a synthetic look, but then you get up close and you're like, Oh no, that's leather.
Andrew	Yeah. Uh, this, I don't know, this seems perfectly Chris and Vero to me. Like why, why? But also I get it and I, and I like it. And the crown on this is terrific too. Not Vero.
Everett	Different than Veyr.
Andrew	Yeah. Well, I Googled Vero and I was like, why am I looking at an S5? Because I misspelled it.
Everett	I've got one more watch I'd like to talk about. I'd like to hear about it. So this is a watch that I read about on Hodinkee, and I think it is one of the most surprising watch releases I've ever seen, except there's one other collaboration that I read about this week that we're not going to talk about this week, but we're going to talk about very soon, that I was like, what? But this watch is not that watch. This watch is perhaps the most surprising Watch release that I can remember Cara Barrett, formerly of Hodinkee, who's gone on to start her own watch company, the kids watch company, Parchee, which has been widely lauded and I think almost universally loved. Legend has it that Cara was approached by Giorgio Agali, who is the namesake of Timex's rad shit to do a collaboration, a Kara Barrett collaboration. This, uh, if you've ever been to Kara's Instagram, she's got a, she's got a style. Kara has a style. It's like a New England, certainly Northeast, casual, cool chick vibe.
Andrew	But if you know anything about Northeast Casual, it's not. It's nothing even remotely close to casual.
Everett	I'm going to say something at the risk of being offensive, and I hope I'm not offending, and I'm sure Kara doesn't listen to our show, but it smells of old money is what I would say Kara's vibe is. Northeast Casual. In any event, she's a hip chick, right? This watch, when you look at it, you're like, Oh, yeah. Yes. That's Kara Barrett's Timex. Mm hmm. So I'm just going to describe this if I can. You just did it perfectly.
Andrew	Yeah, we're done. This is the watch that Christopher Walken was storing inside of himself.
Everett	So this is a, I would say, feminine watch. This is a woman's watch. Baby blue dial. very sort of vintage Breguet numeral feeling mechanical watch. It's got a mechanical seagull movement. That's what's interesting to me. And it comes stock. It comes stock on a freaking TwistoFlex. Because it should. I usually doubt this is a TwistoFlex. I think this is probably something that Timex has has made in the style of a TwistoFlex. But this thing is just terrific, right? 245 bucks, hand-wound mechanical. Come on.
Andrew	Even in baby blue, I'm kind of, I'm really tempted by this watch.
Everett	So what is the, what do you call the style of crown that's on this? I don't know if there's a name.
Andrew	It's, it's just, it's, it's like the, what's on this, the, big Santos. That's right. Uh, with a, like a, a jewel in the middle of the crown protrudes from the rest of the crown. Cause the small Santos doesn't have that. You can buy a crown replacement for the small Santos to get that kind of like, like crown crown. Yeah. Cause it looks like a crown. It's a crown. No, no. I understand that. It's like watch crown, But it looks like a crown like you would wear on your head.
Everett	Yeah.
Andrew	And then that's I don't I don't know.
Everett	It's it's I'm reading this and it's not an English word. Cabochon.
Andrew	Oh, yeah, makes perfect sense. I get it. Crown on a crown. Is that what that means? Yeah, obviously, as I'm I don't even know what language that is.
Everett	A cabochon pronounced cabochon. is defined as a gemstone that has been shaped and polished rather than faceted. The term comes from the French word caboche, meaning head or noggin.
Andrew	All right. Or noggin, that's the word. Yeah. That's a layperson's definition.
Everett	The crown, I think, is maybe the crowning achievement. It's beautiful. Come on. All right. Yeah. I love this watch. No loom. PTL, right? But this watch shouldn't have loom. I love this watch. And 250 bucks. Yeah. 250 bucks. It's a Giorgio Gali Timex collab with Cara Barrett.
Andrew	Does V1 give you hope that there will be more? Oh, I don't know. Because it gives me hope that there will be more. Maybe. I don't know why you would name it version one if you didn't intend for subsequent versions.
Everett	So the first comment on the Hodinkee article is I can't wait for the Parchee x Dwayne Johnson drop, fam. That's well played. OK, yeah, terrific watch. That's all I have to say about it.
Andrew	Yeah, I super dig this. What do we get? I think we have time for one more.
Everett	Yeah, we have time for one more. Do me, Andrew. I'm ready for it.
Andrew	We have some new Planet Oceans. I think are worth mentioning. We're doing Planet Ocean today? So we've got a 600 meter, which is just a 600 meter Planet Ocean. It's lovely. I didn't get too excited about it. The 6,000 meter Ultra Deep got me excited.
Everett	Is this different than the Ultra Deep that came out last year?
Andrew	I don't know. Exactly. I might just be a new color way. It could be the same. Okay. Uh, and the reason I don't know is cause I didn't care. Um, when, when it came out last year, uh, but I saw this one and was just taken this dial slays me. It looks like a photograph of kind of a stormy, churny, ocean in the middle of the night. It is beautiful. And then you go through some pictures and you're like, okay, well, neat. Like that's a really cool dial. And then you get to the loom. Holy shit. This is dope. This is like Omega being cheeky. You have this kind of gradient loom on the dial itself.
Everett	Wait, are these artifacts are loomed? Yes. It's got like a secret message. Yes, it has.
Andrew	Omega was here at a depth of 10,935 meters, like cartooned On to the dial!
Everett	Okay, so wait, wait, wait, hold on. According to Omega, the dial pattern is an accurate representation of the bottom of Challenger Deep, the deepest point in the Mariana Trench, which was mapped out by the 5Deeps team using nearly a million sonar points. The dial then is coated with liquid enamel and a flowing pattern to create visual depth, and if you shine a UV light on it, there's a bit of hidden text that says, Omega was here. signifying the world record dive of 10,935 meters.
Andrew	This is rad. This is so cool. This is like the first pat yourself on the back cheeky messaging I've ever seen from a watch brand that I'm like, yup, I'm for it. You know, this is a $13,000 watch, so I'm never going to have one. I'll probably never even get to touch one. Because I'm always sticky and have barbecue sauce on my fingers. Yeah, people just won't let you. No, they'll let me look at it. Yeah, through glass. Or maybe at a distance. Maybe they'll use the UV light.
Everett	Sure. Yeah, so this is the same chassis as the Ultra Deep that was released last year. Makes sense. But the Challenger Deep aspect to it, this anniversary version, is all new.
Andrew	It's super cool. Omega did a bunch of stuff this week for their, for some anniversaries.
Everett	Are these, are these also, didn't they call the metal something special? Megasteel? Megasteel. That's what they called it. Are these also Megasteel? Probably. The Ultra Deep with Megasteel. Probably. That's a terrific watch, Andrew. You put this on there and I was like, man.
Andrew	No, I, I saw this and was like, Oh, I'm, I'm for this kind of, stuff. You convinced me.
Everett	That's, that's terrific.
Andrew	Omega was here. Come on.
Everett	And having the dial being a representation of challenger deep is like, I saw that dial first and I was like me, but knowing that it's a representation of challenger deep, I'm cool. Yeah.
Andrew	Yeah. I accept the 600 is just like whatever, but the, the ultra deep man that it's doing it for me. No 6,000. Did I, what did I say? 600. It's not 600, it's 6,000. It's 10 times that. Yeah. It, uh, it's been there.
Everett	Can you wear it with a tux? Uh, this is terrific. Yeah. How big is it? It's 45, 18. Okay.
Andrew	45.5, 45 and a half. Yeah. Which you'd expect. Yeah. Right. Um, is it bad that one of the first things I thought about after the Titan got crunched was I wonder what watches they were wearing and if they're still running.
Everett	You know, yeah, I don't want to talk about that on this show. It was a top 10 thought. Oh man, that's rough. Well, did we do it? I think we've done it. Do we even have anything else on our, on our list of possibles?
Andrew	We had a couple, we have a 37 millimeter release from Citizen. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I've already closed that tab, so I'm not going to talk about it.
Everett	The Timex World Time 1972 release. which I think we might have already talked about. I think we talked about it briefly. So Timex brought back in 1970s world time, very funky, super cool bezel on this thing. Really sort of standard, uh, standard world time bezel, but the way the whole thing's done, funky retro. I'm digging the world timeline. Big tonneau H case thing going on here. It's almost a square. 179 bucks. Well done Timex. And then, yeah, the the 37 millimeter. Promaster dives, which.
Andrew	Cool, man. It's a thing.
Everett	Eco Drive 37 millimeters. They're fine.
Andrew	They're great. Citizens doing some stuff. They just need to start doing the right stuff.
Everett	Do better. Play better, Andrew. Stop doing worse. Andrew, with that, having finished all the watch things, other things, my friend, what do you got?
Andrew	I have an interesting other thing. This last week, a science experiment began. Science! Called CHPIA-1, crew health and performance exploration exploration analog one.
Everett	That just don't have it just don't have an acronym. Anyway, great.
Andrew	Well, you need an acronym for that because that's that's like, a lot of words. Use different words. Yeah, well, it's NASA. So I don't know what you want from them. So chapia one is the first long term, 378 day living experiment to test humans response to life on Mars. So they have four non-astronauts, non-trained astronauts who were selected and hired by NASA to be participants in this year long experiment. All in Houston, where they have, I don't, I don't remember exactly the professions, but these are the types of people you'd expect. It's like a scientist and engineer, a doctor and a, and a Navy pilot. And Pauly Shore and Steven Baldwin. Obviously. This is it. They've started it. They have a 3d printed 1700 foot environment for them to live in for the next year and some change.
Everett	Why 3d printed so they can make it on site?
Andrew	Probably because it's also super cheap.
Everett	Okay.
Andrew	That's my guess.
Everett	NASA doesn't need cheap things. Okay.
Andrew	Anyway, whatever. Maybe they expect it to break. I don't know. Yeah, carry on. Or they're testing their 3D printing technology to be able to use it on Mars. That's what I just said. Everything NASA does is like layers. So anyway, it just started. These people have just gone into their lockdown. We're not going to hear from them again for a year.
Everett	Wait, I have a serious question. Is Polyshore there?
Andrew	Yeah, but he's not going to survive. He's going to be the first one they eat.
Everett	He's going to escape. Everybody knows how the story goes.
Andrew	I'm super excited by this because there's like NASA has been doing some really cool stuff. Like they just diverted an asteroid. They're putting people into this experimental chamber to test livability on Mars. I'm excited to see updates as this experiment progresses.
Everett	So are these people able to communicate with the outside world? They're able to communicate with mission control. And is there an observation of them, like an active real-time observation?
Andrew	Yes, active real-time, 100% all the time observation to see what happens when you're living on Mars. And they're going to replicate all kinds of stuff. They're going to kill their communication equipment. They're going to kill equipment. They're going to simulate bad weather. They're going to simulate famine, like in the inability to grow crops and shit. Like this is like the most dangerous game times 10. It's rad. They're not hunting them. They're just going to like, it's like the matrix. They're now living in it. They're actually living in the matrix right now. It's super cool. I'm really excited for it. I'm not, I wouldn't be excited to be one of the participants. And I don't really understand the, the, the psyche of the, of the people who do that. Um, but that's okay. I'm just excited for it. It's neat.
Everett	Cool. I'm into it. I'm excited to see the Pauly Shore, Stephen Baldwin movie about this made circa 1992.
Andrew	You see it again. Yeah. Also rocket man, you know, for if, if you're really interested in it, what's his name? I can never remember his name. Brendan Frazier. No. Uh, Harland.
Everett	Oh, yeah, that guy. Yeah, I know what you're talking about.
Andrew	I will never, ever not like I can at any given day. I remember the scene of him farting into his spacesuit and trying to control the fart bubble as it goes through the hose.
Everett	Yeah. Harland Williams. Yeah. Andrew, I've got another thing. Do me. I found myself in the position of needing to buy a new putter recently. Oh, we won't talk about why I needed a new putter because I had a pretty nice putter. Are we talking disc or stick? We're talking about ball golf. Okay. And so I was in... I had the occasion to purchase a new putter, we'll put it that way. All that to say... Which green is it left on? All that to say, man, Buying a new putter is hard these days.
Andrew	Stressful. There's like 19 different shaft lengths. And not just for your size, but like, do you want a belly putter? Do you want a chest putter? Do you want a short putter? Head shape and size.
Everett	And manufacturing techniques have really exploded. There's a lot of insert and waiting technology that's available, but also milling technology is probably better now than it's ever been, at least with regards to putters. So I, you know, I'm going to find something cool, right? I'm a guy, I've got a few extra bucks for this kind of thing laying around most of the time. And Kim's not home, so. And so I, uh, go on a search and I'm just like, you know, I'm just not feeling anything. So, uh, you know, Odyssey has their two ball design and, uh, you know, I, there's these insert designs and there's a lot of like space-age shit.
Andrew	I have a two ball and I like it.
Everett	Uh, uh, Scotties have gotten pretty like techie. You can still find some simple Scotties. And then I'm looking at like ping, options, because Ping is kind of like the classic, the answer, you know, Blade style. I'm more of a mallet guy. Anyway, there's a company that's been around for a long time, 25 years now, because this is their 25th anniversary, called Bettinardi. And the owner of Bettinardi is actually the guy, I can't remember what his first name is, But the Bettinardi owner is sort of the guy that revolutionized fully milled putters about 35 years ago, sometime in the nineties, early nineties. And basically until the late nineties, when Bettinardi started his own company, if you had a fully milled putter from any company, so be it Scottie Cameron or, uh, any sort of Callaway fully milled putter, they were probably milled by Bettinardi. He's the guy. And then eventually he was just like, well, I'm going to start my own putter company. So Bettinardi makes these very, very cool. I got a putter. Did you get a Queen Bee? I didn't get a Queen Bee. And in fact, I had a Queen Bee in my hand when I bought my Bettinardi Studio 6, number 16. Uh, excuse me, studio stock number 16. And it is, it's one of those things I picked it up and I was like, Ooh, so fully milled construction, which means no inserts, which is a little tricky, right? In the, in the day and age of insert everything, a lot of weight and physics and MOI all based on these inserts, right? So instead of being insert based, These are engineered to have MOI around this billet and the way it's milled. I picked this thing up and I was just like, I think this is the one for me. The Queen Bee also had that in my hand. And I was like, this is terrific. But it just, it just was, it's a little bit less symmetric. And it was just like, ah, I think I like this one. But those were the two. I came down to the Bettinardi Queen Bee number six in the studio. You might not know these things. I don't know about these things. The point is I bought a new putter and I fucking love it. It was like anything else. I didn't spend a lot of time hitting balls with it, although some people do that. Some people will hit 400 balls and they're like, this is the one that feels right. I'm like, no, you know, if it feels right, I want the one that's going to feel right in my hands and then I'll figure out how the ball moves off of it.
Andrew	I'll figure that part out and what I am and how my impact input influences it.
Everett	I want two things. I want one for it to feel nice in my hand and two, I want it to be cool as shit. And you want to look good. And I've accomplished both of those things with this putter. The queen bees look cooler, man. I don't know. So I did bronze. I did really like, I was, it was really down between those two, the queen bee and the, the, the studio stock 16. So I wound up with Studio Stock 16. I like the shape of the face. Yeah, so and it's fully milled, right? This is a piece of billet, fully milled, precision milled, and it is the nicest mill work I think I've ever seen. This thing is like Tudor level of finishing on this fucking thing. I'll have to show it to you. And you're going to smack balls with it. And I'm going to go hit golf balls on a dirty golf course with fertilizer and everything hanging around. It's gorgeous. Pretty pumped. It's a stupid, it's a really frivolous purchase. There are a lot of good $80 to $150 putters that you can pick up. But they're not Ben Nardy's. They're not this one. Yeah. Yeah. I'm into it, man. It's really cool. That's all. We've done it.
Andrew	We did it. Where do they have these locally? Did you go to PIDS? I got it at the Country Club.
Everett	Okay. Yeah. Which means I also got a great discount on it. But that's what matters. I mean, it's not that big of a discount. I still paid a fuck ton. It's better than four or 50 bucks. Yeah, I paid a lot less than that. Yeah. Yeah. Andrew, anything you want to add? I think we've done it before we get going for the day. Well, perfect. Once again, thank you, folks, for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20 to watch clicker podcast. When you check us out on our website, watch clicker dot com. That's where we post articles, reviews, pictures of the handsome, handsome Frank Affronti. You can also check us out on our, uh, Instagram, 40 and 20 underscore watch clicker, or just at watch clicker. If you want to support us and oh boy, we hope you do. You can do that at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. That's where we get all of the money that we need for hosting software, hardware, et cetera. And there's a lot of needs there. Patreon.com slash 40 and 20 would love to have you. And don't forget to check us out next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like.