Episode 245 - Watches Roundup for July 6, 2023

Published on Wed, 05 Jul 2023 22:51:04 -0700

Synopsis

The hosts, Andrew and Everett, discuss several new watch releases including the Tudor Pelagos Red Bull Racing Edition, a new Louis Vuitton integrated sports watch, the latest Seiko 62MAS reissue, and collaborations from Monta, Farer, and Pittsman (a new South Korean brand). They also share their thoughts on the latest Moon Swatch release and recommend the HBO series "Station Eleven."

The conversation covers the details of each watch release, such as case sizes, movements, pricing, and design elements. They provide their opinions on the aesthetic appeal and value proposition of these timepieces, drawing comparisons to other brands and models where relevant.

Links

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Transcript

Speaker
Andrew	Hello fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 in 20, the WatchGlare podcast with your host Andrew and my good friend Everett. Here we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like.
Everett	Everett, how are you? Tremendous. I'm doing so well, Andrew. Uh, we're, we're back into the throes of hot summer. It's been warm, which I don't mind. I like it. Although there's that certain time of day where you're like, all right, I need a break.
Andrew	But... Like the moment you step outside.
Everett	Yeah, that's right. So I will say, I feel like we've had a consistently... This is the whole world, I think. I feel like we've had a consistently warmer summer than I'm used to, but we haven't had any outrageous temperatures. Not yet. No, not yet. And this obviously summer's long and that could still happen, but we haven't been in the hundreds at all. I don't think.
Andrew	Not yet. My car said 101 today. I know that's not true. Yeah.
Everett	I think that's an exaggeration. It's because it's on asphalt. Yeah, that's right. So the air temperature may actually have been that hot. But no, I'm well, we had a nice 4th of July holiday. was able to drink a couple beers, eat a cheeseburger, drink some Pabst Blue Ribbon, watch fireworks from a distance. They were kind of far away, and we were sitting in the park. That was fun, though. The good stuff. Got bit by a couple mosquitoes. Also to be expected for the summer. Yeah. I played some golf, not on the fourth, but just before that with my friend Henry, a fellow watch guy, local watch guy.
Andrew	I'm pretty convinced he is not real or he hates me. No, he, because you, you like keep him shielded from me. Yeah. There's plenty of, there's a lot of times actually where you've been like, Oh yeah, I was just with Henry.
Everett	And I was like, cool. He's actually commented that I, he's made the similar comments that I keep you guys separated. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, no, that's not true. Andrew is just a hermit who doesn't like people or socializing.
Andrew	That's fair. Actually, that is a fair assessment. Andrew, how are you? I am good, as I'm sure you can hear. I'm right on the tail end of a cold where I finally feel okay, but I sound bad. But I spent yesterday just in bed. I was just toast. So I seem to get sick around holidays. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's my hermitness. The socialization. It's like I can't handle it. Pending socialization. I'm not going to be able to deal with it. But, uh, uh, yeah, so I'm finally feeling good. Um, I got a little sunburn today at work and I, I got the typical watch sunburn, but here's the thing. I was also wearing gloves. So there's like a, I don't know, three quarter inch strip, uh, on the outline between the, the, the end of my watch and the top of a glove.
Everett	Yeah, you were wearing your watch higher than you normally do. Otherwise, you wouldn't have that. That's where it always is. That's where my watch always is. Because you usually wear it like on the back of your hand.
Andrew	Yeah, sorry. I'm not like like a 90s gangster, like an Everett wear it around my elbow kind of guy.
Everett	You have a good fourth year besides being in bed. Did you guys do anything?
Andrew	So the city a little south of us has a big parade. So Sam and the kids went down to the parade. I think it's the biggest 4th of July parade in Oregon.
Everett	It's possible. Yeah. You're talking about cottage Grove or Crespo. Yeah.
Andrew	Yeah. I think it is. So they went down to that and we have some friends who live down there. So they go down a little early. So they've got parking and walk a block and a half to go watch the parade and then spend the day there grilling.
Everett	So I did, uh, I did almost witness a fight over, fireworks in a parking lot. We live in, we live in the communist Republic of Oregon. And so.
Andrew	In which every major city has banned fireworks.
Everett	Yeah. It's, it's, it's interesting. Uh, I'm sort of indifferent and also I'm kind of a communist by the way, if you're home listening, so don't, don't get offended. Uh, but I have never seen people so like aggressively like coming at someone else for lighting a fountain, but yeah. It was interesting. I was like, wow, here we go.
Andrew	I see your popcorn and you're just like ready to go. Yeah.
Everett	No, I had Pabst Blue Ribbon. That's what I'm talking about. Cool. World star.
Andrew	Yeah. Every, I think, I think Salem, but I know Portland and Eugene both have fireworks bands. So, um, you can't, buy, sell, possess, or use fireworks that aren't snakes, sparklers, or puppets.
Everett	Yeah. I mean, we're also just a few years removed of having several billion dollars of property damage caused by a forest fire that was almost certainly related to fireworks.
Andrew	We just had an urban wildfire started on Sunday.
Everett	So it's real, right? The danger is real. Well, in any event, we're not here to talk about fireworks or communists. Or fires. Or fires. But we are here to talk about some watches that are fire. That are fire. That are fire. But not the literal, dangerous, scary kind, but the figurative, sexy kind. Flamin' hot, like the Cheeto. Like the Cheeto. That's right. Yeah. That's right. Andrew, would you be so kind as to take it away tonight?
Andrew	I would like to take it away. I, for whatever reason, have gotten bit by the Pelagos bug.
Everett	As so many folks do.
Andrew	And that has certain, you know, it means some things for me. Financial implications. It has implications. I haven't bought one. I'm like trying to talk myself out of buying one. And I don't know why, because I love them. And they made it harder with the release of the Red Bull Racing Editions. And these are hot fire.
Everett	Yes. So two brand new FXD Pelagos. carbon cases. Yes. And one of them, one of them is a chronograph.
Andrew	A chronograph. Yes. So the one time only the non chronograph is at 42 millimeters. The chronograph is 43 millimeters and these are dope.
Everett	yeah this is the this is my maybe my favorite colorway of this watch they've ever released hot cheeto fire yes hot cheeto fire uh carbon cased i mean come on you know i think it's a little bit dangerous maybe not dangerous i don't know what the right word is it's it's a decision to make their first ever pelagos this is the first pelagos chronograph right
Andrew	that I'm aware of.
Everett	I'm sure maybe there's been one, another Ellie before, but to make the first, what I think is the first Pelagos chronographing and with this carbon case is a decision, right? That's a decision.
Andrew	Yeah. And they're not limited edition. Sorry. They are special edition, but they're not limited.
Everett	How do you pronounce that word?
Andrew	Is it, you know, I didn't even try Aligoni. I think is, is it a Lingy?
Everett	A Lingy? What is a Lingy? I'm not sure. I don't care. Where a lingy Red Bull racing colors.
Andrew	Oh, they just they're they just want a big.
Everett	Is that a team or racing team?
Andrew	Yeah, they want to regatta.
Everett	Oh, oh, it's a regatta racing team.
Andrew	Hey, shoot. I read an article about it. An American team just won a big ocean sailing race. My assumption is that it's this team. And it's just really good timing for for them. Uh, what I don't super dig, I can't quite tell from this write up is, Oh no. So I, uh, we, we can say with certainty, they don't come on a bracelet. They come just on a fabric strap. Um, which is kind of a bummer because I want a bracelet, but this color way it's, it's a black bezel. Tudor blue dial in the carbon case, red seconds hand, red accent on the, uh, the Pelagos font. It looks really good.
Everett	Yeah. I like the, I like the red, the red accent, which I'm actually not a huge accent color guy, but in this, in this, uh, in this iteration, I really liked the way it works.
Andrew	Yeah. I wish it came on a bracelet though. Maybe they'll do like, Either way, this is a cool release, the Pelagos in a chronograph, and it gets me really excited for what Tudor's got cooking. Because this is much bigger than Blue in the way of release. I mean, we see the Ranger in the last couple of years, the reemergence of the Ranger in the last couple of years, the iterative sizing of the Black Bay line. We're seeing some cool stuff. Pricing on these. The time only is $36.75. The chronograph is $5,075.
Everett	Yeah, so both of these are pulls, right? Well, in the realm of reasonable for what you're buying. But certainly wallet pulls, right? I don't think we're going to call these affordable.
Andrew	Certainly not.
Everett	Well, with that in mind, I want to talk about another watch that is not affordable. Okay. By that I mean it's very fucking expensive, at least for me. But I thought it was sexy and I wanted to talk about it on our podcast because we have a podcast that we've recorded.
Andrew	Is it the first time we're going to talk about this brand ever?
Everett	Certainly. Certainly the first time we're going to talk about this brand. So Louis Vuitton is Louis Vuitton, Louis Vuitton, Vuitton. There's probably like a partial vowel that I'm supposed to pronounce in there. Louis Vuitton has made watches in the past. They sell watches now. They're all kind of clunkers. If you ask me, they're either like heavily bedazzled and or they're kind of giant. They've got these giant divers, not giant, but pretty big. Uh, they've released a full steel sports watch and it's sort of, I guess you'd call this an integrated bracelet. I mean, if this isn't integrated, I don't know what is an integrated bracelet, steel sports watch, all stainless steel. It's got a sector dial. It's got a very sort of organic case, 40 millimeters, eight and a half, 8.3 thick. And it's gore Jess. Yes, it is. Absolutely stunning. And it's a in-house micro rotor. Brand new movement made in-house by Louis Vuitton. Louis Vuitton actually purchased a movement manufacturer recently in 2011, La Fabrique du Temps, I think is how you say that, which is a movement maker to the stars such as Jacob and co speak more and etc. etc. But they make really dope movements. And this thing has an absolutely stunning micro rotor movement. And this thing is totally gorgeous. There'll be a link in the show notes, I highly recommend you go take a look at this movement, though the rotor itself is, I don't know, probably two millimeters thick, maybe a millimeter and a half thick. And it's just a milled piece of brass. It looks to me, this thing's gorgeous. Yeah. Maybe bronze. I don't know. And the movement's just stunning.
Andrew	Chronometer movement. Are they, um, are they posturing themselves to you think be players?
Everett	Well, this is a player watch. I don't know if Louis Vuitton needs to play anybody else's game, right? Uh, you know, they certainly have with their in-house manufacturer, man, you know, in-house movement manufacturer, they've got horology bona fides. I don't think that they, they need to convince anybody of anything, right? They're here. This is a totally killer watch that I think people are going to love and buy even at 19,000.
Andrew	euros. Yeah.
Everett	Oh, excuse me. The, the, the micro rotor is rose gold. That makes more sense. Yeah, it does. Uh, yeah. Right. So 20, 20,000 euros, which is a whole bunch of dollars. Uh, this thing's not cheap. This is very much a luxury item, but in terms of interesting watch releases, it's not derivative of anything that I can think of. Uh, it's got some Cartier, feel to it, I would say, but it doesn't look like a Cartier.
Andrew	No, it has the feel of a company that does jewelry in high fashion, who's making a watch, which is why Cartier feels the way it does.
Everett	But isn't fucking around. They're like, we're going to make a sick watch. It might not be for everybody, but this is actually just a dope watch.
Andrew	It's surprising to me that they would do something this deliberate and this technologically advanced when they can ride just their logo.
Everett	Yeah. But I think they're in that world, right? They're in that world where someone is like, how about we make a super dope watch? And everybody's like, yeah, yeah, let's do it. We can afford it. Right.
Andrew	Yeah. I mean, Louis Vuitton is, and they're going to pay for it regardless of the price tag.
Everett	Yeah, that's right. That's right. I mean, this is on many, many summer shopping lists. So I think these are available in September if you want to get one. Uh, I wonder how many of these they're going to make. You know, I don't know. It's a luxury watch, so these are usually made in pretty small quantities, but I don't see any indication that it's limited at all. And like I said, Louis Vuitton has a catalog of watches, so this is theoretically just a catalog watch for them.
Andrew	Only five atmospheres of water resistance, though. Boo!
Everett	Louis, boo! You can do better. You can do better. I know, because if I got something like this, I'd want to wear it in the ocean. Everywhere. Swimming. Everywhere. I'm just joking. Yeah, no, I think this watch is terrific. It's gorgeous. Totally unreasonable. I'm never going to buy one. I'll probably never wear one. But in terms of my general appreciation for cool shit, this is newsworthy, I think. I think I agree. Andrew, what do you got?
Andrew	We got another moon swatch.
Everett	Do we? We do. Yeah. Tell me.
Andrew	It's a strawberry moon. Chronograph hand has strawberries on it. Is that what they're calling it? The strawberry moon?
Unknown	Okay.
Andrew	Moonshine gold hand. Strawberries on it. So I'm fine with this. I don't know how I feel about it. Um,
Everett	Oh, what's not to know?
Andrew	I'm kind of confused by it. Up to this point, the moon swatch has been pretty conservative. You know, it was some some planet themed color waves, and that was the the boldness of it. But it wasn't really like silly or novelty. Its novelty was that it was A moonswatch. Plastic cased. Speedmaster produced by Swatch. That was all the novelty it needed. And now we have a strawberry hand, which makes me kind of concerned that we're going to start seeing like Snoopys and that the moonswatch itself will be almost a brand.
Everett	Well, but this is, I mean, they've been doing this, right? So there's the moonshine gold, but that was still, there was the pretty conservative, the pink second hands. There was the flowered second hand. And now it just seems like they're going to keep it interesting. And here's, here's a new thing.
Andrew	Make them available. Like let me buy the line before. I think they're pretty available these days. No, but I want to buy it direct from you. Oh, well, yeah, I'm not going to camp outside the line.
Everett	I don't think people are camping these days. I think you can find, you can find most of these if you have to be in a city that's got a swatch ID. But yeah, we're not. We are not. We live in Eugene, Oregon. Yeah. Forest fire capital of North America.
Andrew	Canada's on fire right now, not us.
Everett	Yeah, that's true.
Andrew	It's only July, what, 5th?
Everett	Right. We're early for our forest fires. So they're coming. No, I think this is, I'm not a big fan of it. I think that this is, totally fine and kind of fun. I don't really understand it. I don't get it. I don't really understand the strawberries, but like, I'm sorry.
Andrew	I also don't ask the case. They're bio ceramic.
Everett	You felt mine. That's a legitimate thing. That is not plastic. It's, it's, it's certainly some type of plastic. Yeah. But when I think of a plastic case, I'm thinking of something different than what that is. Yeah. I'm going to die on that Hill. The fucking moon swatch is rad. It's very cool.
Andrew	I just, I want more availability before we start diving into oddities and making it kind of a, it's bigger than a line at this point. It's bigger than a single, an iterative watch release. It's almost a, like a sub brand.
Everett	Yeah. Well, so, okay. Here, hear me out here. This is fucking swatch, right? Like this is what swatch does.
Unknown	Yes. This is what Swatch does.
Everett	The brand Swatch does colors.
Andrew	But have some regard for what you're doing colors with.
Everett	Fuck that. Just go crazy, Swatch.
Andrew	I mean, I get that the Speedmaster itself has Snoopy on it, right? I get that.
Everett	If they make a like a neon chartreuse case with a neon pink dial, I'm going to drive to Vancouver or Seattle. Where's the closest? Probably Seattle. I'm just driving. I'm just going to go. And I'm going to get it. Make all the colors swatch. I'm going to Las Vegas in October and I'm going to get one.
Andrew	Don't let this bah humbug... Not one of these nonsense. I'm going to get a moon swatch in Las Vegas. What are you going to get? Probably whatever they have. I imagine their selection is... Yeah, I don't know.
Everett	It's... I think stock is pretty reasonable right now.
Andrew	We might be past slim pickings. But I'm going to try them all on and see which one I like best.
Unknown	Yeah, okay.
Everett	You don't have a... You know, I knew for me the mission of ours was the guy.
Andrew	I like that one. I was at the Jupiter's the O.D. or not the O.D. but the like the flat dark earth tan. Yes. Jupiter or Saturn. I don't know. Doesn't matter. You'll have to tell me. I really like that one. I like Uranus for obvious reasons. I wish I think it would have been really baller of them to do a Speedmaster reduced for Pluto. Oh, that was a real missed opportunity.
Everett	That is. You're right. You're right. I wish they would. I wish they would go back and do that. But, um, you know, so I think it was two years ago or maybe perhaps last year that Yema introduced its, uh, oh gosh, what were they talking? What did they call it? The Riskmaster. series with, uh, which is now sold out. And this was a serious watch. So we talked about the watch this watch on this show, also an integrated sport watch, also a micro rotor. And I thought, man, this thing is really fucking cool. It was 3000 bucks. It was intended to be a limited at release. I understand they're all sold out. But it was a really cool watch. I thought it was. And I think Yema is a neat brand. I like the fact that they do things a little differently. They take some shit for their quality control. They take some shit for their, you know, still using Kickstarters as an established brand. All fair things to give this brand shit for. But I like the fact that they're pushing things and they're being interesting. As a brand with horological chops and capabilities, I might add, they're doing things. And I really liked that release. I thought it was perhaps just a touch expensive for me. Well, they fixed that, and they have released a set of three watches they're calling the Urban Traveler, which is, to my eye, a very similar watch. It's not a micro rotor. Rather, it's just a full half rotor. A full half? Yeah, well, like a normal... A standard rotor? Standard rotor, yeah. And it's visually very simple. And I think it's just terrific. Under $1,000, I think under $900, available right now. It's also got an in-house movement, the Yema 2000, which I don't know much about it. I know it's just sort of standard fare. standard fair movement. And golly, I'm pretty good with this thing. 11.5 millimeters thick, which for this watch, I think is maybe just a touch too thick, but really very good. 100 meters of water resistance. This is a true sport watch. It looks to me very Antarctic, perhaps. Uh, it's got textured dials, but the texture is done really, really well. And they released these in three colors, kind of a silver, kind of a peach and a very pastels and certainly not Tiffany more purple than Tiffany pastel blue.
Andrew	Um, yeah, yeah, a lot more purple. I call it periwinkle periwinkle.
Everett	I think that's a great color. Uh, yeah. Gosh, what do you think of these?
Andrew	I think these are terrific. This immediately made me think essence.
Everett	Oh, Similar similar feel to an essence. Yeah. And it I get more of a Sopek Sopek.
Andrew	I don't know how you pronounce that that brand name, but it's very much geometric, high polish sport watch feel. That's really familiar.
Unknown	Hmm.
Andrew	That is doing really well right now.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	And I dig it. I think this is a really good release.
Everett	Yeah, but you know what I like about it? It feels like a Yama, right? This feels like Yama's watch, even though it's clearly an homage to this type of watch, right? This thing that's happening that everyone's chasing right now. This thing that happened 50 years ago and is now happening again. Yeah. We're there, right? This is a PRX or a Nautilus or whatever else you want to call this. It's that, but it's good and it's, it's affordable. And, and I think they're doing a great job with it. I do wish that Yum had the ability to make this thing thinner because that is, so I just happened to be wearing my chronometer grade Formax Essence.
Andrew	I was holding it side by side with it. photos of it in the watch. I was like, oh yeah, this is familiar.
Everett	And the thing I love about this watch is how thin it is. So I think this is either just under 10 or like 10 exactly. And it just hugs the wrist. It fits so thin. I think 11.5 millimeters for this watch is just a touch thick to be competitive.
Andrew	To be competitive right now. This was previously a really appropriately sized thickness for a watch, and watch companies are doing a phenomenal job at slimming down movements, finding a way to stack things tighter, better, and reduce size. Yema's just going to be behind because they're just operating at a different scale.
Everett	Well, and they're French. I don't know what that means, I'm just talking nonsense.
Andrew	I really like the signed links on the butterfly clasp.
Everett	Yeah, well, and so that is, in my mind, that is a disadvantage to this watch. It's also a disadvantage to the Form X. Butterfly clasps are hard, right? I don't really like them. You do. I just, I hate the lack of adjustability with the butterfly. You can't adjust, I mean, there's no adjustment here. I am locked
Andrew	in. Yeah, but your links are thin enough.
Everett	I mean, look at these links that, but I don't want to have to change my link. You know what I mean?
Unknown	I get the point.
Everett	I totally get it. In the summer, this watch tends to be just a little bit too tight. And so I'm stuck with the decision to either open up the stupid micro adjust part of the clasp, which is, I mean, just add a link.
Unknown	Yeah, but that's a pain in the dick.
Andrew	Not if you have a Santos. Andrew, what do you got? That quick release technology on the bracelet is... No, it's incredible.
Everett	It's unreal. Nobody else uses that, which makes me think they've got some sort of license on that. I know it's not their tech. It's somebody else's tech.
Andrew	It seems like something that'd be pretty easy to recreate. Yeah, perhaps. I'm not like an engineer or anything, but it seems like something that'd be pretty easy to... Maybe not at under $2,000.
Everett	Probably not, no.
Andrew	So I've got something from a brand we've never talked about. Pittsman, a South Korean watch brand has got a couple of releases. One of them being the first Pittsman and the other being the Pittsman two, just kind of a weird naming convention for simultaneous released watches. Um, But so it's a it's a South Korean company who is doing kind of historically inspired dress sport watches. The first Pittsman is being is based on the kind of World War One era where pocket watches were making this interesting transition into wristwatches. And the second is based on I mean, their story, right? It's kind of a Seiko-y story, um, based on the roofing tiles of South Korean architecture. I don't really see that, uh, if I'm, I'm being totally honest in reviewing the, the Pittsman too. I don't really see, uh, roofing tiles. Uh, what intrigued me is not even the first Pittsman because the first Pittsman is kind of whatever, it's a small seconds with really lovely blued hands. It could be from anyone.
Everett	Yeah, this looks like it could be like an RGM or or a what's the or what's the one in Los Angeles?
Andrew	Or take your pick of companies. I was intrigued by the Pittsman 2 because of the case shape and lugs. It has these on like really looking at it disproportionately fat lugs to this case. It makes it a really intriguing case profile from a top-down view. The rest of it's kind of ho-hummy, right? There's nothing really caught my eye in the way of standing out, in the way of being super unique, but that lug shape on that case really caught my eye and got me interested
Everett	These are... It feels a little bit like a Ming, right?
Andrew	Yeah, a little bit.
Everett	Same type of thing going on at the end of the lugs.
Andrew	Kind of like GM Lang. It's not quite a... Because GM Lang had those kind of like bulbousy... No, not GM Lang. Who had those lugs? It was somebody who didn't go to market. I'm not sure.
Everett	It doesn't matter. Well, I think definitely reminiscent of Ming. Like the same... That same shape, less exaggerated. Ming, it's more exaggerated.
Andrew	These are 39 and 40 millimeter case, respectively. 11.6 on the first Pittsman thick, 10.8 on the Pittsman 2. And that's the thickness you want on that sport watch feeling that they've got. And they're available now for both of the, well, no, $1,100. on a bracelet and $1,200 on a bracelet. Is that for both of them? Each.
Everett	You don't get them both. 1202 Pittsman 2 on bracelet with leather. That's a terrific price on this. Yeah. And that's with an SW 300 movement.
Andrew	Yes. SW 300 movements.
Everett	This is a really interesting. Which is how they've gotten that. That's how they've gotten that too as thin as they have. Cause the, the one is the, is the 200, I think, or 220. What is it? Oh, 261. I don't actually know what a 261 is, so it must be a small seconds. Well, that's, yeah, that's a terrific price for these.
Andrew	This is an interesting brand kind of shown up out of nowhere with two intriguing releases.
Everett	Yeah, it's interesting. Well, you would think with what South Korea is doing right now in terms of market, in terms of manufacturing, that you're going to get some hot shit boutique brands, maybe not in watches, but just in everything, right? And so, yeah, that's intriguing. And it's an interesting market to be watching just in terms of like the two most popular family SUVs right now are both Korean SUVs, right? Korea is probably more than any other country right now increasing it's manufacturing capital on a, globally speaking. So yeah, I think you're going to get some hot shit stuff to come out of there. I don't know if these are hot shit or not, but they're certainly attractive watches. The markers on that too are, are stunning. It, you know, you never know what this would look like up close, but the hands on the, the first Pittsman though.
Andrew	Yeah. Those blue, those blue swords are, I said,
Everett	Yeah. Not really a brigade. That's a sword, like a heat blued and the enamel numerals on the one. Yeah. Are terrific too.
Andrew	They're lovely. And it's like, Hey, I'm here. I'm ready to party. Right.
Everett	It's cool. Pittsman, interesting name for a Korean company. I don't know. Um, I don't know where that comes from. It sounds like a brand that's trying to be a brand, which whatever you got to make decisions.
Andrew	Yeah. Yeah, these are terrific. What you got next?
Everett	Next up for me, I'm going to talk about a old, a new old watch. This is a watch by a brand called Manta. Oh, Manta released after having discontinued almost two years ago, a year and a half ago, having discontinued the second generation of the Ocean King, which could only mean one thing. Monta has released version three of the Ocean King, and I think that the general hubbub has been something to the tune of meh, but I disagree.
Andrew	I think the general hubbub, though, is reasonable.
Everett	Yeah, it's not unreasonable. So look, Monta is not now, nor has it ever been a company that is trying to wowie zowie release watches, right? Like the most dangerous thing they ever did was release a pink dial.
Andrew	Oh, gosh. And they barely made it through.
Everett	So this is not a company that's trying to wow you with the interesting and new things it's doing. Rather, This is a company that has been almost singularly focused on refinement, right? We've talked to Justin on the show. And refinement of manufacturing practices specifically. That's right. That's right. And so this watch is, I think, unsurprising. And I think that it's really a fairly natural progression for them. They haven't made a ton of changes to it. They've made some technical refinements to it, which I think We don't need to spend a ton of time talking about, but they've also done a couple of things which are immediately apparent when you see this. So one, you may not realize you're seeing it, but in fact, it makes a giant difference. The lug to lug on this is two millimeters shorter. So they went from 49-ish to 47 millimeters on the lug to lug. Still about 40 millimeters on the case, but a substantially shorter lug to lug. That doesn't sound like a lot, 49 to 47.
Andrew	That's a huge difference to get really attractive proportions present.
Everett	Correct. They've gone from borderline too long to Cinderella size on the lug to lug. The other thing I think that happens there is the lugs get a little fatter. And I'm not sure they're actually fatter, but aesthetically speaking, they're fatter. So we sort of have gone from like, a five-digit to a six-digit sort of appeal when you look at this thing. Now, one of the main criticisms that I've heard of this is that it's gone from being really unique in character to kind of blah. Like, meaning this just looks like a Rolex, which I think is both fair and unfair. because it doesn't look a lot like a Rolex to me. But they've moved that direction, right? So they've gone with what I'd call maxi dial markers. These are pretty big, reminiscent of a maxi dial style markers. Whether it's actually wider or not, I don't know, but they've increased the at least visual look of the bezel. So the bezel appears to me to be relative to the dial wider. And they've also gone away from that Manta font on the bezel to something that's not really like digital Rolex, but is much closer to that. That's the one decision I think with this dial that I'm kind of... I wish they'd stuck with that Manta font. I love it when brands stick with the font, and I feel like having this more generic font on the bezel for me is a step back, but the rest of this thing, I look at it and I'm like, yeah, this all makes sense. It makes sense to me what you're doing. And I, and I, and I dig it.
Andrew	I'm I'm with you on the, the digging of this watch. This is speaking my language. This is like basic bitch, black diver. Everything is refined. Everything, not polished. in the way of a polished finish, but everything is super well executed. Yeah, this is my, this is my language.
Everett	And these are, these are new Manta prices. So Manta price has been slowly creeping up. $22.25 a pre-order starting next week, July 10th. And then after October 23rd, expected delivery $25.50. So we're, Manta's getting there. I mean, they're certainly, in terms of the product they're putting out, they're competitive with brands like Longine or Tudor.
Andrew	Manta is the best bang for your buck at this price point.
Everett	But I think they're starting to get to a place where, you know, like, do you want a Tudor? Because maybe take a look, because you're not saving that much anymore.
Andrew	And they're into docks and land. Oh, yeah.
Everett	Well, this is a much better watch than most of the DOXAs I've handled.
Andrew	All, but they're still into that realm. And when you're buying a DOXA, you're buying a little bit more than just the watch.
Everett	Yeah, yeah. Well, of course. You know, I think the one exception that I can, you said all, that DOXA Army, I don't know why it's better, but that DOXA Army was. Because it was a middle finger. Holy shit, that thing was nice. Yeah, the printing, oh my God. So yeah, this is, I mean, it's a Manta, right? You look at this and you're like, oh yeah, it's a Manta. It's gonna have top-notch, I mean, everything is gonna be top-notch, right? Even things you maybe don't care about. Things you won't even notice are gonna be top-notch. And so if that's what you want and you got 2,300 bucks burning a hole, I think this is good. I don't know what Manta's resale, uh, what Monta's resale discount is, but you know, most of the people who buy these in the first couple of months are going to baby them. And so I think, you know, November of 2023, you're going to see these show up on the secondary market. And I'm guessing if you wanted to save a few bucks, you'd be able to do so that way.
Andrew	You'll probably find them 1800 ish.
Everett	Yeah. Yeah. Perhaps. Yeah. And all of a sudden that becomes a much more reasonable purchase. So Because people are going to pre-order these, get it, decide they want to flip it. These are every bit of two grand worthy though. Oh, I mean, even at 20, even at retail, $25.50, this, there's, there's just not another watch that you can buy for that amount of money that compares. Maybe a Longines. How much are the, how much are the Spirits? Longines Spirit. $27. So yeah, I mean, I think you're probably getting on a bracelet. No. So the new, Oh, that's the GMT is 3,150. Yeah. The where are they? Maybe it's just, maybe do they have a three hander in the diver configuration? Anyway, I think that that's probably the closest competition and I've only handled one of those spirits and I would say it felt close. You're not getting all the doodads in engineering, though. You're just getting a very well-built watch. So, you know, and you're getting a giant male in link, but you're getting probably similar quality on balance.
Andrew	Yeah, I think so. I'm hard pressed to think of brands that that's the closest thing I can think of. Yeah. That have the same finishing, um, deliverable as, as Manta.
Everett	Cause even Seiko at that level, you're paying more.
Andrew	You're paying more. Um, you're paying much more. So I don't think you're paying. I don't think anything on that price range is even close.
Everett	Yeah. In terms of bracelet and class, like you're not going to get anything markers. No, you're really looking at three thirty five hundred to five before you get anything that's that's truly touching. Uh, what do you got, Andrew?
Andrew	Hmm. We have a new worn and wound colab.
Unknown	Mm hmm.
Andrew	We got to ask these guys how they're doing all these colabs, because it's pretty easy.
Everett	You have the biggest Hypey watch retailer in the U.S.
Andrew	Well, I want to get hypey because I want to start releasing collaborations. So Farer has done a collaboration with Warren Lound. It's their limited edition.
Everett	Yeah, Farer's first ever. I think this is Farer's first ever collab. Yes, it is a three hand.
Andrew	I don't know what what's this based on. their first ever collaboration with another brand.
Everett	I think it's just they're just they're automatic. Do they? Yeah, they don't have a name for this case.
Andrew	I don't think it's just their three hand with this great silver dial gunmetal, maybe gunmetal. Yeah, it's not. Yeah. Gunmetal, I think, is more appropriate. Kind of navy hands, maybe black, like midnight, teal and orange tipped secondhand. This is money. Gunmetal PVD case, 39 and a half millimeters, 10 and a half thick. They call it a subdued but brooding demeanor. Which I don't think is wrong. Okay, Warren and Webb. And then all of their product photography is really subdued and brooding up to and including a photograph of a red light at dusk. Like, brood harder. Guys, this collaboration is dope. It comes on a navy leather strap. I'm excited about this. Uh, the first time I got to handle Farrer watches in person was it wind up in New York this last year. I'd always been really intrigued by their colors and seeing and kind of concerned that I wouldn't be as enamored by them in person. Um, seeing them in person, I was even more enamored. I was like, take all of my money. I'm prepared for the divorce because they're gorgeous. The way Ferrer executes color and color combinations is unparalleled. And though this color combination is kind of unlike Ferrer, it has all of the things that you expect from Ferrer. It's got that great font. It's got the great diversity of color, but it's not the bold color that you typically typically see with Ferrer. Um, It's clearly a collaboration.
Everett	Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Definitely. Some of them, some of us, I think my favorite thing about this watch is, and I think Ferrer has done this with other watches. This is not the first time they've done this, but they do a molded loom marker set. So both the batons and the Arabic numerals are, molded loom, and then they're overprinted. So in this one, we've got molded loom that's been overprinted with a blue that's the same, I think the same color as the hands, that dark navy. And so essentially what you get is these bright ass loomed, these bright ass loomed markers, but they look like they're a negative of what you'd expect to see because the loom is the marker is actually made of loom and it's got a negative over overprinting on it, which is, you know, I don't know. Interesting. I think that's the right word for that.
Andrew	It's cool and different, which is something that Farrer does a lot of. And then Warnermound is doing the dark and broody. And these are gorgeous. They're only making 70 of them. They're going to be available. Oh, they're not available anymore. Yeah, I think I think they're I think they are thousand fifty. They came available on June 28th.
Unknown	They're still available.
Andrew	Oh, there's there's. Strike while it's hot.
Everett	Ships within one week.
Andrew	Yeah, these are these are lovely. And I I mean, if you're in the market for a fairer. This could be the one because this is gorgeous. I dig it. Is that Frank doing the modeling? It's not, but he kind of looks like Frank.
Everett	Yeah. So I've got a watch. Uh, this, this watch is surprising in that rather than Seiko finally did this thing, it's that, Oh my God, Seiko did this thing again.
Andrew	Yeah. Which has kind of been Seiko's thing right now.
Everett	So Seiko released another 62MAS dive watch. So the 62MAS, Seiko's first dive watch, very, very famous. 2017, they released sort of a twin release of SLA-017 and an SPB-051, one of them being a sort of for the masses 62MAS, the other being a more refined, you know, and more expensive iteration of the same watch, which we at the time, I think commented, well, that's kind of neat. Um, uh, they've done it. So, and then they did it again and then they did it again and they did it again. So they've released, I think this makes the sixth 62 MAS, uh, release from Seiko in the last six years. With that said, I think that this is, the first one that has been nearly one-to-one, aesthetically speaking, of the original. And I say that at least top down. So this is a 38 millimeter H case dive watch. It is longish, which I like. I like long, I think H cases have a tendency to get really compact. Either stubby or way too long. That's right. So this is a great, I mean, this is a 62 moss. It is what you expect it to be. And for what it's worth, I think it's terrific. Uh, it is a case profile that I am very, very comfortable with. You look at the side pictures of these. It's beautiful. This is a absolutely perfect skin diver watch. It comes with the six L movements, the L versions of the movements being their corner kind of like,
Andrew	But this is a 6L37, so it's upgraded from the 35. That's right. I don't know how, you know, important those upgrades are.
Everett	Yeah, I think it's shock resistance and just general durability. So more accuracy over time and more shock resistance.
Andrew	Perhaps though, like the difference between a 35 and a 37 could be nominal.
Everett	Yeah, I don't know. I think Seiko's pretty honest about that stuff. One of the few companies that is pretty honest, Omega too. Yeah, and these are the same movements, the same, the L line is what they used in the King Seiko range. So this is terrific. It's the right size. The markers are right. So I think because all the 62 MOS watches have been bigger, that you wound up with these kind of vacuous dials. This doesn't have that. every the proportions on this look right. The proportions look right.
Andrew	Yeah, it looks like a crowded 70s dial.
Everett	That's right. 12 and a half millimeters. 200 meters, obviously. Yeah, the the only thing the only thing I don't love. Oh, oh, and the box. I do love the box. Yes. So the box talk box, man. I think this box is actually designed after the original 62MAS packaging. It looks like a 1970s jewelry store package, right?
Andrew	Yeah, because we don't care about box and papers. Here's your watch. We packaged it in the cheapest thing possible to prevent it from getting destroyed during shipping.
Everett	I do think, however, the thing I don't like is the price. which makes me think that box is also probably very nice. 3,500 bucks. Yeah. These are a lot.
Andrew	That box is going to be trash. My, my Commodorski came in a cardboard box just like this open from the end bubble wrapped watch and it looked like it had been stepped on no less than by the entire red army.
Everett	How much was your Commodorski? 35 bucks ish.
Andrew	Yeah. That's what I paid for the racing bezel to go on it. And now it's an attractive watch. But yeah, this is that same jewelry counter at Sears. Hey, I want that watch. Cool. Let me box it for you. Here you go. I love this packaging. Yeah, it's good. That's my favorite part.
Unknown	It's a good watch.
Andrew	I don't like the dial color. Well, that kind of like sunburst-y
Everett	That is reminiscent of the 62 MAS watches that exist today.
Andrew	I get that. But if you could, like, I don't know, updated it a little bit. If you're going to change the movement, how? Why not? Like, give me some dial colors.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	Yeah. Because this in orange would be fire and I would buy it.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	Like, oh, that sucks.
Everett	Andrew, do we have any other watches to talk about? I don't.
Andrew	You have no more watches to talk about. I don't. I think I'm out of things.
Everett	Well, in that case, we've done it. Other things. What do you got? Oh, I got another thing.
Andrew	Uh, as a person does, they, um, get bored with games on their phone and try to find new things. And I found a new thing in the way of a very old thing.
Everett	Is it Bloons TD six?
Andrew	Do you remember the Rome total war series?
Everett	I know what it is. I've never played it.
Andrew	Okay. So it might've been a little late for you. You're just a little bit older than me, right? There's some things that we don't quite overlap in. Sure. I'm not that old though. Just a little bit though. And you, you might've, it just might've been a little bit of a miss. So, uh, In the early days of video gaming. Not like the earliest days, we're not talking like.
Everett	In the early days of you video game.
Andrew	The early days of like PC gaming and Sega kind of branching out from a gaming platform on to computers. They released a series, the Total War series, which is a large scale strategy game where you begin as a faction on this kind of like it's Europe, North Africa, Mediterranean, kind of stretching into Russia and the Middle East, but fairly small scale. But that region of the world you've started as a faction, it's turn based. You build your settlements, you build your armies and you try to conquer the world. Cool. It was a great PC game. It had expansions and all other manner of, all other manner of, um, spinoff games to it. And looking for a game to play on my phone found that for 10 money, Rome, Total War, the original. Has been updated for iOS, can't speak to Android store, I would expect it's already there, though.
Everett	It has never been released on Android. They announced they announced it in 2018. It's never been released.
Andrew	They're working on it. I've gotten well more than $10 of enjoyment out of this game. It plays very much like the original. The battle sequences are different and they're kind of hard to figure out when you don't have like a left click, right click kind of manipulation of your armies. But I started playing it and was immediately like taken back to being 13 and playing video games on my computer. I love that. It was terrific. I'm still playing it. And I probably won't play it much longer, but for 10 bucks, I got my enjoyment out of it. Way more than going to see a movie.
Everett	I will, I will just say that game was released in 2004, at which time I was not too old to be playing video games. No. Okay. I was playing a lot of Halo. You were playing different video games. A lot of Counter-Strike. I believe rainbow six at that time.
Andrew	So rainbow six is kind of in that zone. Yeah. Um, yeah.
Everett	Rainbow six was like a mature game at that point, but I was still playing it quite a bit. So, yeah. Well, it sounds terrific. It is. It's a good iOS game. It sounds fun. Yeah. I'll have to check it out. The controls and everything are good.
Andrew	Sometimes with ports like that, you do the, uh, the, the battle controls are kind of hard and, and They might just be more advanced than I've been willing to put my efforts into. But they're also not exactly intuitive.
Everett	I've got another thing, Andrew. Do me. I got a recommendation to read a book recently. And because I don't know how to read, I found out there was also a show by the same name, which I assumed meant it was the same thing. I've subsequently found out that's both true and not true. But I watched this thing on a flyer. My family was out of town last week. And so I was home alone a lot. And so I thought, well, I can get through a single series, a single season. series in that time. Turns out I only needed like two days because I couldn't fucking turn the thing off. I watched a series called Station 11, which I think it took me probably two and a half episodes to really get hooked. But it was one of the, you know, sometimes you, you read a story and you're like, okay, like, all right, all right. I see you. This is good, but okay. Okay. And then all of a sudden shit starts clicking. And then it never stops clicking. It's just like, kapow, kapow, kapow, kapow. So the show's called Station Eleven. I don't know if I said that. It's based on a book. It is, for me, as I sit here right now, I have no problem saying top five series I've ever watched.
Andrew	Wow. I love HBO miniseries. They put so much time and effort into them. They don't lead you on. They tie it up nicely. Yes. Season ones specifically when they do like a second season of a miniseries, they tend to kind of fall apart. Yes. Season one of a miniseries from HBO is fire.
Everett	So it's Mackenzie Davis, Himesh Patel, Gail Garcia Bernal, uh, absolutely terrific. Lori Petty, terrific cast. Uh, and the characters are totally beautiful. You know how sometimes you watch these series. So I'll just say, This is a post-apocalyptic series, but it's not like anything you've ever seen. It is like, it's sci-fi, not like anything you've ever seen. So it's like Waterworld. It is like nothing I've ever seen. Also, I have never, ever enjoyed a story with as much symmetry as this. The complexity is huge. So I think it is 10 or 11 episodes. It must be 11. No, I think it's only 10 episodes. It's 10 episodes. It takes about eight episodes for the symmetry to reveal itself, but then it spends the next three episodes, eight, nine, and 10, just blowing your socks off with symmetry and connections. and they're not overwrought or silly. It is beautiful. I'm still, here I am several days later, my mind is blown at how good it was. I cannot overstate enough how much I loved this series. And of course, I like, when I finish it, I'm like, fuck, I got to go to Reddit. And I start reading and everybody who's watched this has, you know, this, you just can't find anybody saying anything bad There are a few things. The story is hardly believable. There are elements of the story that is, like, really ridiculous, but it is... It's science fiction. And poetry, too. That's the other. It's poetic. Yeah, it's... Bad science fiction is hard to believe. The parts of this that are bad science fiction are pure poetry. And in that context, it makes it acceptable to me. Just stop what you're doing.
Andrew	Turn us off. We're done.
Everett	Go watch station 11. I can't. I got to read the book now. I haven't done it yet. Totally mind-blowingly stunning. I couldn't believe it. I'm into it. Yeah. And it's just a single season. Like, well, I don't know. Maybe there'll be a sequel season, but this is a standalone story.
Andrew	It won't be as good because it's HBO and their second seasons are
Everett	I don't even know if they're going to do it. I haven't read anything about that. It would make sense for this to be a single season and I kind of hope it is because it is. Maybe they'll do a station 12. Like, like Oceans 12. Yes. Yeah. Totally wonderful story. Check it out. Take down the Bellagio. Andrew, are you all done? Are you all done with me? As usual. Yes. Because I am 100% done with you. I get it. My room, this room is hot. It is. My legs are sweating. Me too. Hey, thanks you guys for joining us. for this episode of 40 and 20, the WatchClicker podcast. Do me a favor, go to WatchClicker.com and just peruse the site. Peruse actually means look at in detail and not skim. Peruse the site. You can also check us out on our socials at WatchClicker or at 40 and 20 underscore WatchClicker on Instagram. If you want to support us, and we really hope you do, we are completely listener supported. You can do that at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. That is how we get all the money that we need to host pictures and podcasts and internets. That's where we get it all. Please support us, patreon.com slash 40 and 20. And hey, don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like.