Louis Vuitton's Emergence (294)
Published on Wed, 12 Jun 2024 23:20:13 -0700
Synopsis
The podcast discusses new watch releases from various brands, including Orient, Louis Vuitton, Farer, Raymond Weil, Swatch, Stowa, Seiko, and Studio Underdog. The hosts share their thoughts and opinions on these new releases, covering aspects such as design, pricing, and overall appeal. They also touch on topics like watch collecting, golf equipment from the late 90s/early 2000s, and Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
In addition to watch discussions, the podcast offers insights into the hosts' personal lives, including a camping trip, trials and arbitrations, and parenting experiences. Overall, the podcast provides an engaging and informative conversation for watch enthusiasts and those interested in related hobbies and lifestyle topics.
Links
Transcript
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Andrew | Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 1420 The Watch Clicker 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? I'm doing well. Baseball season is officially over. |
Andrew | Yeah, the playoff run has ended. |
Everett | The playoff run has ended. The boys lost in the championship game, which was sad, but also very cool. But they made it there, right? You made it to the ship. Yeah. That we go into the ship. Uh, it was cool, man. It was fun. Baseball season was a lot of fun this year. Now they go into summer league, which is more like they in, in other years they've called the sand lot. It's a little bit more, a little more fun, a little bit more fun, a little bit more casual. All the games are during the week. So opens up your weekends for summer. Uh, so yeah, that's, uh, that's one thing behind us. I, Um, one, not one, but two separate trials this week. I had two trials in a week, which it's a big week. It's only Wednesday. Um, which is tremendous, right? It's tremendous. It's tremendous feeling. |
Andrew | So I've got a bummer. They didn't keep going longer. So you keep billing hours. You need to be a less good attorney. |
Everett | You know, it, there's an endorphin sort of chemical rush related to, to trial, just trial in general, and then stressful. |
Andrew | Yeah, that's right. And you don't have very many trials. That's an uncommon thing for you to have two in a week. |
Everett | It really is. Yeah. Um, but I won both of them and, and one of them I won really decisively. Uh, one of them wasn't actually a trial. It was an arbitration, which is as close as you can get without being it. Oh yeah. All the same soaking, all the same things, but, but not in a court. So rather, in a conference room with an arbitrator versus a judge. But yeah, you're doing all the same things. And at the end of that, the arbitrator actually complimented me on my preparation. He was like, I really appreciate the way you prepared, which is. |
Andrew | Thanks for doing your job. That's a poor commentary on the field that you exist in. |
Everett | You know, it is, it is. And that's actually fair because you see a lot of things in the court and you're like, what in the world? is going on here. Like, how would you think that this would get it done? |
Andrew | I see that shit in the criminal world, which is like an aberration. It's like, are you serious? Really? That's your, this is the effort you could apply? |
Everett | And so it felt like, I mean, you know, obviously thank you for, for complimenting me for doing my job, but also it was like, this is an attorney I respect. And so it was like, Oh, okay. That's nice. That's a good feeling. |
Andrew | What are the requirements to be like a mediator or an arbitrator? It's a contractor, right? Like it's not assigned by the court. It's somebody hired to do the thing. Yeah. |
Everett | Yeah. Well, arbitrations are usually heard by an arbitrator who has been selected by the attorney. So oftentimes when you start an arbitration, you get sent a list. of potential arbitrators and you can strike. |
Andrew | So how do I get my name on the list is what I'm saying. Cause I want to be able to build those many hours to just sit and listen to people bitch and be like, I think you're more right than them. |
Everett | Yeah. So I actually got, I got impaneled on our big, on Oregon's big arbitration panel. |
Andrew | Do I have to be a part of the Oregon Bar Association? You do. Yeah. |
Everett | So I got impaneled about a year and a half ago. And for me, the way I got impaneled, I know the administrator for the organization and I said, kind of casually to him in a meeting, hey, if I were interested in getting impaneled, are there things that I could do? And he was like, I'll send you an invite. But the reality is just because you're on the panel doesn't mean you will be impaneled. And so my name goes on lists that go out to attorneys and they either strike me or select me. You know, you generally you get a strike X amount and then you get to put the rest in preference. But I'm the arbitrator on three separate arbitrations right now and I just finished my first. So a year and a half in, I'm a relatively experienced arbitrator at this point. So it's just experience. It's time in the saddle. And then at a certain point, it's reputation, right? This person has a reputation for being whatever, whatever it is you want your arbitrator to be. |
Andrew | What about a mediator? Do I have to be on the bar to be a mediator? |
Everett | Yeah. Well, no, you don't. In fact, mediations that you come really in a lot of different forms, um, but for to be a, like a judicial mediator at that, at the alleged litigation level, you probably would need to be a, um, so I'm theoretically also on the panel for mediations and I haven't been pulled on any of those. So, Can you put my name on that list? You can call, you know, call arbitration services of Portland, have a conversation with them. Okay. Yeah. Andrew, Andrew, how are you? |
Andrew | I'm good. I'm, I'm worn out. I went on a camping trip this last weekend. Um, and it was not fun. It was a kind of like a semi organized school camping trip that included about eight to ten families from the school that Mark attends. So I knew just from that alone, I was like, this is not going to be a fun trip for me because I know no one and I'm going to be in some forced social situations. All that happened. But I'll say it was an absolute blast to watch Mark, who's third in third grade, join the 15 kid bicycle gang, cruising the entire campground, descending on different families, campsites who had s'more fixings out. |
Everett | There's something about watching your newly autonomous child become truly autonomous. |
Andrew | And it was, it was like a stretch for me. And I realized this weekend, I'm a little bit more of a helicopter parent than I really considered myself to be. Um, because we're at a campground, right? We're at a state park and he would just like get on his bike and depart. We weren't all co-located. We weren't in like a little pod. We were spread. All the families are spread out across this entire campground. I didn't know where the fuck they were. Mark's like, I'm going to so-and-so's camp. I'm like, well, what number is it? I don't know. Like, okay. So that was a little bit of a stretching growing experience for me. But it was also really cool. Cause when I think about like my experience when I was in third grade, I was like walking home from school after after school, like extracurriculars, just like, I don't know, nigh on a mile, maybe more like in the neighborhood of a mile by myself, like key to the front door. Like, okay, no, we got this. So it was, it was a fun experience for him. It was really taxing. to be interacting with a bunch of people who our only commonality is that our kids go to the same school. That wasn't really my jam, but it was nice. It was a nice, I took two days off work one day to prep for all the movement and then a day to like actually load up and go. And so anyway, I'm a little worn out from that, but it was a fun weekend. It was fun enough weekend. |
Everett | It sounds good. It sounds like it's outside of your comfort area, but a normal person would have a lot of fun. |
Andrew | You know, I interacted with a lot of normal people who I felt like had the same experience I did. |
Everett | Well, in any event, we are not here to talk about camping, awkward social interactions, arbitrations, mediations or even baseball. Rather, we're here to talk about watches. And at nine minutes in, Andrew, I think it's appropriate for you to take it away. |
Andrew | I, I, I'm going to take it away. |
Everett | Um, I always, we always do the same thing where I say, Andrew, go ahead. And he's like, I'm not ready for the thing that I'm prepared for. |
Andrew | Well, here's the thing as I'm not, I didn't open up any of your links. So I'm going to open up something that I know we, we, we didn't overlap with, which is a new release from a brand that we talk about and have talked about quite a bit called Orient. I've heard of them and we did overlap, but go ahead. That's all right. This is the one I'm picking. Um, so the, the Orient Bambino is, is what we're going to talk about. And about five years ago, the Orient Bambino existed only in a 41 millimeter case. And though it was a terrific dress watch, every other regard. It was just too big, and it was too big of a case. It had a big domed crystal. It just wasn't quite what it really ought to have been. |
Everett | Yeah, in a lot of ways, the sort of beginner's dress watch du jour, but problematic. |
Andrew | In a lot of meaningful ways. They upgraded it, or they updated, maybe not upgraded, but they updated it, what, three years ago? Yeah, well, it's a new 38 millimeter case. They sized it down a little bit. |
Everett | Yeah. You know, Andrew, that's interesting because we talked about this about three years ago and there were rumblings. I do think that there was a J.D.M. smaller Bambino. I don't actually feel like it made it here, or at least to the extent it did. It didn't really make it to our market until last year. |
Andrew | Yeah. And so so it existed. Now Orient has dropped and I and I will say before I start singing its praises, 38 is still too big for this. This should be 36, perhaps even a 34. But we're we're tending. We're trending in the right direction, so we have a 38 millimeter Bambino with small seconds and I love this. It's coming in four colorways. We've got a cream dial with blue minute and hour and a matching small seconds at the six o'clock. It still has a date. I could, I can maybe do without a date in a small second since they're trying to kind of nail the dress watch, but we're, we're moving in the right direction. So maybe the next iteration is a no date. Um, there's a black with a white sub dial, white on white, and then a, um, gold gilted white on white and this is money 38.4 millimeter case they're coming in at oh gosh what's the thickness on these they are oh i gotta find it real quick um 12 millimeters thick which is still kind of thick i think it's accounting for a domed crystal in that so i'm hoping the case is 10 millimeters. And for an entry level watch, that's going to ring up at. |
Everett | What, 350 at the max, 350 bucks, the RP, the MSRP on these is 350, and I think that these will be much less than that, I think these will be low 200. |
Andrew | Yeah, you'll be able to get you'll you will likely get into these under 250 bucks, which is is the Bambino, right? It's the entry level dress watch. It's And an entry-level dress watch is going to have inherent flaws because a dress watch is a dress watch. It's going to have some technology put into it to make it really thin, to make it really small, but this is the entry-level dress watch. This is it. This is fantastic. I love the small second introduction. The colorways are great. The white steel with blued hands is terrific. Great crown size on these. I don't see a crown measurement here, but it's perfect crown size on it. Like a little bit of an onion without being a big pilot watch. This is great. Yeah. So when they were 30 meters of water resistance, so it's as good as a Patek. |
Everett | When they released these last year, they came in and four different versions and they were all sort of earthy colorways. And I thought, well, these are terrific. I do think that the ones that came out at the end of the last year were a little thicker. I think there were 12 hat 12 and heighth versus these 12 millimeter thick, which is interesting. I don't really have a lot to say about that. Um, besides, Oh, that's interesting. The, uh, For me, I think I tend to agree with you, Andrew. It is sort of inherently problematic, the sort of cheap dress watches may be inherently problematic, but I think these are really nice. And I do think it's a much better size. I actually don't agree with you that they need to be smaller, that they're trending. I think 38 is fine. |
Andrew | 38 works. I'd like to see this on the 36. |
Everett | And that's right. That's fair. But I'm fine with the size here. I actually think these are just kind of terrific, if not like super duper boring and probably relatively low effort watches. I mean, I'm not going to suggest that anybody that's listening to this should get one. However, For someone that says, you know what? I need a nice watch. I need a nice watch. I want something to wear to work. I want it to be cool. I want it to be interesting. I want it to be nice. And I want it to be about 200 bucks. |
Andrew | Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And you're not getting into a dress watch for less. You're not getting into a dress watch at this price point, really. |
Everett | Yeah. I mean, at 200 bucks, you're going to be tempted to go to the mall, right? I'm going to go to Macy's or whatever. And get a fucking God knows what. Yeah, something, right? And so for that person, for that person that's going to go and get some sort of catalog citizen or whatever, like, Hey, there's a really cool company out of Japan and you don't really find them anywhere, but they make |
Andrew | really good watches. And they do in-house movements and you're going to get blued hands. |
Everett | And they're cheap. Uh, that's a great, I mean, for a, for a beginner watch or a student, maybe a high school student or a college student or just for somebody graduating college who doesn't have any money and is looking to interview for some big kid jobs. Or your 40 year old friend who's like, I want a watch that's interesting and nice, but doesn't cost me. I don't want one of the ones that you would buy. I want something, something less. Yeah, this is, I mean, it's terrific. |
Andrew | I can't say anything bad about it. Really legible. The, the blued hands, the blue hands, I don't know if I can call them blued hands, the blue hands on, on the cream and the white dial. And I don't know the answer to that question. Contrast. I'm with you. Just really lovely. I'm not usually a cream dial guy. This one does it for me. I think I tend, of the four colorways, I think I tend towards that cream dial. The black isn't it for me. If you're going to get black, you know, and at this price point, just get an SNK. |
Everett | That's right. Yeah, that's right. Well, since we're on the range of a dress watch, Let's talk about a very similar watch. Are you talking about Moon's Watch? No, I'm going to talk about Louis Vuitton. Ooh, Louis. Who has all of a sudden, who is all of a sudden, with the help of its 25 or 26 year old brand manager, who is a Nepo product, I say that without any sort of disdain, Jean Arnault seems that way. I think he's literally 26 or 27 years. He's a baby, and he looks like a baby, but he is the boss of the Louis Vuitton brand, based on his dad being the boss of LVMH, Bernard Arnault. Yeah, Louis Vuitton has all of a sudden become a horology company, and not to say that they don't have a background in horology, but they've gotten rid of, I think, 90% of their catalog. They've basically stripped it. |
Andrew | We're seeing this, like these luxury brands dipping their toes back into watches in a meaningful way and doing some shit. |
Everett | That's cool. Yeah, it's not so much just dipping their toes, right? Because they've been dipping their toes for ages. It's it's really a complete change of direction. We're going to get rid of all the fluff and we're going to make serious watches for serious watch people. Well, this week, Louis Vuitton updated a watch that's been in their catalog for quite some time. But I mean, this is a different watch. So the Escale, I believe, is how you pronounce that. The Louis Vuitton Escale time only three hand watch. It is I mean, this is a 38mm dress watch, much like the Bambino 38. |
Andrew | A little bit different price tag, I would expect. |
Everett | Yes. Yes. They cost more money. So this is actually kind of a preview. We're talking about a $20,000 $7,000 watch depending, you know, to $37,000, depending if you get it in gold, um, or, or, or what are they? 18 carat rose gold version with blue dials, 27, five, the platinum with the meteorite dial is 37,000. Um, I said 38, but these are actually 39, but they're 39 by nine. So really elegant. These are being widely hailed as one of the most interesting watches to come out this year. I don't know. I don't know that I even have the ability to comment on that. But what I can say is that these are absolutely stunning. So like Louis Vuitton always does, they have design elements that are evocative of Louis Vuitton trunks. They came out with the Tambor last year, which kind of took the world by storm. And this watch is similar, but also different. But what you can see is with the lugs, something Louis Vuitton has always had, their lugs look like trunk buckles or trunk brackets. And then the markers are also trunk brackets, at least the 12369. This watch is terrific. And it's not only terrific because it looks great, because many, many Louis Vuitton watches look great, but it's also got a terrific movement. Micro rotor. Mm-hmm. They wanted to be able to get the power reserve up, and so they made the second hand out of titanium so that they could get a... Just a little bit of an edge on the weight. That's right. They've got this thing terrifically thin and everything is absolutely beautiful. So it's 147 component Louis Vuitton Fabrique Do Tom caliber LFTO two, three, whatever, uh, micro rotor automatic, which is the same movement that was in the tambour. Um, and it's a totally stunning, beautiful four Hertz movement with 50 hours and a 22 karat gold micro rotor. |
Andrew | Fuck. Cause why not? I, the, the, suppleness of this case, even with having angles in the lugs, the way this bezel transitions into the dial, it's like a water slide. It's just gorgeous. Like this is a confusing watch to me because when I think Louis Vuitton, I do not think baller ass watches I didn't at least and and now I do because this is a gorgeous soft like elegant case the the dial texture I could do without but this is a this is a thing you know it |
Everett | It is, Andrew. It's a thing. And it's a thing I think we should be paying attention to. You know, Bernard Arnault, obviously very, very famous dude, was at one time, if he's not now, the richest person in the world. You know, this is an important person heading LVMH. And him tapping his I think at the time, 23-year-old son to take over horology at Louis Vuitton. It may be a eyebrow-raising decision, but by all accounts, and I think Danny Milton did a Talking Watches with Jean Arnault a few years ago or a year ago, a couple years ago. And really what you find is this is an incredibly smart kid, I'm going to call him a kid and I don't think that's unfair, who knows a ton about watches and knows an absolute encyclopedia's worth of knowledge about watches and is dedicated to making cool shit. You know, there are problems with putting a 25-year-old nepo baby in charge of a brand like this. However, there are also some advantages. |
Andrew | But not when you don't expect anything for the brand. He could only win if he just maintained the status quo and kept doing $30,000 fashion brand shit. |
Everett | He wins. I don't know if that's true. I think there are a ton of ways he could fuck this up, but he hasn't because he's cool and he knows watches and he cares. |
Andrew | And he cares in that, that the technology that's in this watch, there's, there's this line. He, he, they could have made it thinner, but they wanted to keep the dimensions of the design. They wanted to keep the dome. They wanted to keep the, the, the, visual aspects and two millimeters of difference. They could have gone as low as eight. They held it at 10 for a reason. And that's, yeah, that's right. |
Everett | It's 10 with the crystal. |
Andrew | That's some like really thoughtful design watch people shit. Like, no, I wanted it to look like this. It's not about just being super thin. |
Everett | And I also think he is, so Jean Arnault is responsible for bringing back the Gerald Genta brand. And I think he brought back another brand too that I'm blanking on, but he's a kid, right? He's a child. With that said, he's doing a really cool thing and I think it bears us paying attention to what's going on with this brand. I can't think of another brand right now that is making moves quite as quickly or as bigly as they are doing it. |
Andrew | Yeah, they've done the three meter dive and they're fully in. |
Everett | And you know, they've got ass, right? It's like taking a billionaire and putting them on an F1 team. They may participate and they may even do well because they've got the money and the ass. And so give a smart MIT, Imperial College graduate the keys to the Ferrari and see what happens, right? I think is what's happening here. And because of his unique sense of business, having grown up with Bernard Arnault, having been well-educated and also having this genuine love of watches. I think something cool is happening. So anyway, that's all I'll say about that. It's a cool watch. I don't think I'm going to buy one. I was thinking about it and I've changed my mind. |
Andrew | Yeah. I, it's just, it's, you know, I have some other priorities. Otherwise I'd, I'd add one of these to the stable. What's next? Yeah. Cool release from Ferrer. And Farer is hands down one of my absolute favorite brands for their use of color. When I think of like good color application, I think of Farer. I think of brew. |
Everett | Zodiac. I think of Zodiac. I think of Zodiac. |
Andrew | And it's not to say that other brands do it bad. But these brands are deliberate and creative and just execute color perfectly. Studio. But I think Studio Underdog is like a category into themselves in the way that he uses color. Color is his brand. Brew and Farrer and Zodiac use color to enhance their brand. So Farrer has released a monopusher GMT in just the best colorway that I could ever imagine. And I always really liked Farrer pictures. And when I saw them in person, I was always concerned that in person the colors would kind of get lost. Or would maybe not quite hit. But when you see them in person, they're maybe better than in photographs. They hit, yep. They slap, as the kids would say. |
Everett | They're skivity riz. |
Andrew | Yeah, skivity riz. I used riz. I said riz. |
Everett | Totally Sigma preppy stuff. |
Andrew | I said riz today at work. My boss, who's younger than me, looked at me like I was the asshole. And I was like, Hey dude, get with it. Um, this is beautiful. And this is, this is a fairer monopusher GMT. |
Everett | I like how you say it's a monopusher GMT as if that's a normal thing. It's a fucking monopusher chronograph GMT. Holy fucking shit. |
Andrew | They've done some things here, right? So we have a Bicompax GMT as you do. We have a Bicompax GMT at the 9 and 12 with a GMT hand. This is a 62 hour power reserve running on a SW530 or 536. 20 millimeter lugs, 41 millimeter case, 14.5 thick. It's acceptable for the movement that we're getting in here. And this isn't meant to be a small watch. This is a statement watch. We have this beautiful sunburst blue dial with a blue nine. It's a white sub dial at the nine, white and yellow at the 12. This color explosion is so good that I'm okay with this being a thick bitch. Uh, 2,200 bucks. This is so good. The things that they've been able to incorporate into this watch are phenomenal, but their use of color is what is it? That's what's going to sell this watch. |
Everett | So, uh, Oh, okay, maybe, but no. You're totally wrong. You're wrong. There's two of these. There's the Seagrave, which is a textured black dial that's got... That's a pass for me. No, no, no, no. |
Andrew | The black is gorgeous. |
Everett | It's got an orange G&T hand, a blue second hand, a green small second hand. You've named nine colors. The Seagrave uses a 12 and six layout on the Bicompact. So these are actually, they're the same movement, but with different sub-dial layouts. Oh yeah. And then you've got the cob, which is the 12 and nine with the blue sunburst dial. I want to say something about 14 and a half millimeters, Andrew. So it is 14 and a half millimeters. That includes a two millimeter hi-hat crystal. And these are laid out similar to a watch that is near and dear to me, meaning that the case back is not quite recessed up into the case, but it sits very, high in the case. So the way they've oriented the module in this movement is they've oriented the module in a way that this thing is going to slam itself on your wrist. And so I think at a, an effective 12 and a half millimeter mid case, uh, with that's been slammed to your wrist, I, and I'm looking at the profiles. |
Andrew | These are going to ride like a, like a 12. |
Everett | I think that these are going to wear, Very thin. And also, did we mention that this is a monopusher GMT chronograph? Because what the... This is a rad watch, Andrew. Both of us had this on our list today. Because everything about it is cool. This is a... And it's 2,200 bucks? Yeah. Excuse me? Exsqueeze me? This is a $2,200 monopusher GMT that's going to ride awesome, has great colors, and is fucking rad and great and cool? What the fuck? This watch is fantastic. |
Andrew | This is, yeah, this, this is going to be a top five of the year. This watch is fantastic. And we're in June, right? But this is going to be a top five of the year. |
Everett | It just happened. But people aren't really, I don't feel like people are talking about this enough. |
Andrew | It's because Ferrer is so discreet. They're like, Hey, by the way, we have this new thing. |
Everett | Just check it out for us. Cause you know what else we're going to talk about today? We're going to talk about a fucking moon swatch and a Bambino and Holy shit. |
Andrew | Yeah. This is the, yeah. The colors on this blue are, this is rad. |
Everett | Fair. I do really like the blue by the way. I think everybody likes the blue. I could do without the date. |
Andrew | Whatever. I love the date. The date execution is perfect, but I could do without it. If I have to offer a critique. |
Everett | Andrew, did you know that Raymond Weil won a GPHD this year? I was not aware of that. Oh, so Raymond Wilde is a brand, we've talked about them. And in fact, we talked about their GPHG watch at one point, kind of briefly and just like, hey, Raymond Wilde is kind of doing shit with, and I don't know how to say the word, but I think it's the Mile Cime. And I was like, this is neat. Raymond Wilde, holy shit. Raymond Weil introduced this week a Milisime... I'm saying that wrong. I think you're pretty good. Tricompax Chronograph. And I'm just going to start by saying this is a beautiful, classic, elegant looking watch top down. Many watches are. However, However, it is a, it is a, um, 12.9 millimeter, 50 meter water resistant, 39 and a half millimeter by 46 millimeter chronograph that is under $5,000. Yes. That is under, this is a 13 millimeter chronograph under $5,000. Uh, And 27 joules, 4 hertz, 65 hour power reserve, automatic tri-compact chronograph. And it's gorgeous. It's very, I would say subdued, sober. This is not a, this is not a watch that's pulling any tricks. |
Andrew | That's very beer, like kind of 1963 World War II kind of inspired pilot's watch. |
Everett | It feels that way, yeah. Yeah. And it's 3,700 euros. So 4,000 bucks? If, yeah. Dude. This is cool, man. These are gorgeous. And is Raven Wild a good company again? Are we ready to say that? I mean, maybe they were never bad. And if you're a Raymond Wilde fan, you're like, Raymond Wilde's always been underappreciated and they make great watches. But let's just be honest, Raymond Wilde's not making splashes. So now they've won a GPHG and they introduce a super dope 13 millimeter automatic chronograph in the same year. Let's just be honest, they're doing things that they haven't done. |
Andrew | They've changed their pace a little bit. Even if they, in the past, have been doing some cool shit, this is some momentum. Box Sapphire. |
Everett | This is gorgeous. Under $5,000. Did we say this is under $5,000? |
Andrew | I think we need to mention that it's under $5,000. This is a dope watch. |
Everett | Yeah. This is a dope watch. It's got a Selita movement, or at least a Selita bass movement. Fine. That's fine with me. |
Andrew | And this is an everyday watch. Even on leather, this is like a go anywhere, do anything, 50 meters of water resistance. I'd maybe pull the leather off. I know you can get leather wet. I'm not saying you can't get leather wet. I'd prefer not to. Because, you know, I want to keep my leather good. Cared for. |
Everett | You know, this feels to me a little bit like Uh, you, you had said sort of like a World War II chronograph. This actually feels to me like, like a Portofino maybe, or? |
Andrew | A little bit, some flavors of that. I think a 63 is a good, is a good comparison in my mind. |
Everett | And, and, and the, the case has got like, Yeah, it's terrific. This is a really terrific watch. It looks to me like a much more expensive watch than it is with the curved lugs. Yes. The great case. This is a terrific... Wow, come on. Come on. I mean, how many sub $5,000 good chronographs are there? that are 13 millimeters, under 13 millimeters. I mean, I, I can't think of very many. |
Andrew | They are few and far between. I'd have to get back to you on that. Uh, I want to talk about something and it's something that we said we probably weren't going to talk about again. Uh, cause on the heels of the moon swatch craze, they dropped, I don't know, 250 different SKUs. Mm-hmm. I think is that a fair? Yeah, it was 240 something. Oh, yeah. Two, two 40 something. Well, they ran out. So they did a mission on earth. They ran out of space. |
Everett | That's the thing about space. It's finite. |
Andrew | So we, exactly. So we had, we had to come back home. We, they, they reached the boundaries of human exploration, um, at Uranus and have returned to the earth to do, I think my favorite colorway of the moon swatch. They have polar lights, desert and lava. |
Everett | Lava. Lava. Are you a, are you a, A lights or a lava guy? A desert guy. |
Andrew | This. Oh, interesting. This like kind of creamy tan, like it's not OD, it's not FDE, it's not tan, it's not beige. This is my color. It's like a dust. So we have the, the lights, which is, uh, this really lovely tealy green lava. This will shock you is an orangey red and the desert is like this gorgeous tan like regolith kind of white tan. I love this. These are, Two releases that I could not care less about there relative to all the other Moon Swatch releases. But the Desert is my favorite Moon Swatch release so far. 300 bucks. Again, same Moon Swatch criteria. Gotta buy it in person. Still all the same shit. It's a good release. I, I, I think, I think it's kind of representative of the end of the skew releases for the moon swatch that we're coming back to earth though. It kind of tracks with the trajectory of like, Oh, we've gone to space and now we're going to come home. |
Everett | Um, back to earth. That's good. |
Andrew | I'm hoping that they slow down, but we know we're going to get a skew a month still. |
Everett | Yeah. You know, I think these are all terrific, actually. I really like the lava. The lava's cool. I could wear the shit out of the lava. I really like the, so what is it, Polar Lights? Is that what they're calling it? Sorry. Polar Lights, yeah. Polar Lights, which has like an aventurine, probably not aventurine, but an aventurine. |
Andrew | Did you get to see the Northern Lights? Did you? Nope, nope. I stayed up every single night, stood in my backyard. stood on my hot tub cover, used my phone. Nope. I couldn't see him. And I think it's cause there's so much city light between us and the Northern horizon. Um, but yeah, we, we had the unfortunate experience here where we live in town of being in the zone of receiving the Northern lights a couple of weeks ago and not seeing them. |
Everett | Uh, so I, I do, I do like all of these and I am a proponent of, I actually am just all the way there for it. I think these are great watches. I think that it became really pretty popular to talk shit about these for a while. And I think that it was almost like if you like these, you're stupid or whatever. I don't know, man. I think these are great. I love what Swatch has done with them. I love the moonshine. releases. I love this new drop. I like the watches. I like, I like, I like, I like, I like. And the reason I say this, I'm reading, I read a Zach Kazan. I like Zach Kazan. I think he's great. I think he writes really well. I think he's a fun person to talk to. Having met him a couple of times, I like Zach Kazan, but he says, he says this in his write up on these. As many readers will surely recall, I'm not the biggest fan of the moonswatch. Fine. What was once a charming idea, and perhaps a way to get new enthusiasts into the hobby quickly, became something of a money grab. A predictable result, no doubt. But now that there's a regular cadence to these releases, it seems possible that the collector's infatuation with reselling them for a profit might die down somewhat. |
Andrew | That's a good thing. We want the, we want the gray market, buy it with your bot. Can I finish? No, fuck you. Cause I'm, I like, I think about this every time. I think every time I see a Smith's watch release, cause I still get the emails, Hey, Smith's is going to open on Sunday at 6 AM GMT, which is great. But then what you would buy that watch for from the brand you're going to pay two or three times more to actually own it because some dickweed sets up his little computer nerd bullshit to buy watches and sleeps in while I sit there and try to plug in all my information as quickly as I can and I can't get it. That's good. The hype isn't good. The excitement is. We should be excited about these releases, but the hype of people buying it to resell it isn't and fuck you if you're camping on the street to buy this watch to sell it for profit. What did you have to say? |
Everett | I don't remember. Uh, so the, did you have more to say about those? |
Andrew | No, I, I, I'm off my, Soapbox. |
Everett | So Stova released its 36mm Flieger's this last year, which we talked about on the show. These were classic B-er Flieger's and they were cool. We liked them. |
Andrew | The Varus is what they called them, which was, I think this was on our list to talk about. I'm not sure we did talk about them. |
Everett | Oh, that's entirely possible. It's entirely possible that this was on our list and we never made it to it. However, they've released these now in a 40mm. So I don't actually know a ton about Fliegers, right? It's a watch that we've talked about in relation to like Laco, the Aachen and Augsburg, you know, especially in our like three watches for 500 series. You know, this is just sort of a classic like entry level watch from Laco. Um, and you know, we've talked about them in, in other contexts, military watches and pilots watches. Um, but it's not something I know a lot about. However, uh, these watches have kind of caught my eye because they do a number of things They do a number of things that I find really, really intriguing. So on their face, this is a 40 millimeter watch that very much has a 1940s Flieger vibe. But for all intents and purposes, from what I can tell, this is a totally excellent modern fantastic watch that comes in at about 10 millimeters, which is great dimension. So 40 by 10 with a 20 millimeter lug. The dimensions are totally terrific. But beyond that, I feel like these watches are just terrifically modern. So it's a case back that has screws. It's got six screws as opposed to like a big sort of threaded case back. which is something that a lot of companies do. I remember Orion doing this, like in particular with the Hellcat. And I thought, well, that's terrific. And I talked to Nick about it and he was like, yeah, it's really, you know, you don't have the sheer forces, it's really a superior way to do this. |
Andrew | It's just a pain in the ass. |
Everett | And that's right. Yeah. Well, I don't know how much of a pain in the ass is, but it is. |
Andrew | If you have to pop the case back, it's way easier to just drop your case back, tool on it, twist it off. a screwdriver and pry it off rather than six screws. That's right. It's like engineering versus like the, um, a consumer engineering versus functionality engineering. |
Everett | I think that's right. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. Um, and these watches have that implementation. And so, I actually don't think there's anything about these watches that I'm like, whoa, this is crazy. Except for the following. When Stova has released these, or in particular these, these 40s, they've released them in three virtually indistinguishable configurations. And the configurations are what actually caught my attention here. So you can get these with two different automatic movements or a mechanical movement. So the two automatic variations are a standard grade Sellita SW200 or a top grade Sellita SW200. And the hand wound is a Sellita SW210 in top grade that's really well decorated. So that's interesting, right? Like, okay, we've got three virtually identical movements in terms of capability. The only difference is being the decoration. And of course, with the hand wound, you have the, you don't have a rotor. And the difference in prices, this is what caught my eye. So if you get the standard grade, Bowmaster, B, Stova, Flieger, Varis 40. The standard grade SW 200 is 950 euros. Thousand bucks. The top grade SW 200 is 1,080 euros. And the top grade hand wound is 1,100 euros. So you've got a total between the cheapest and the most expensive, you've got a total of 150 or what, 180, roughly 10% of the price of the watch difference in these three distinct and discrete variations on a single watch. And it, it kind of makes me wonder, A, what are they doing? I mean, from, from a marketing standpoint, what are they doing? |
Andrew | They're doing the Christopher Ward. |
Everett | Yeah, well, I don't know that Christopher Ward has ever done this. |
Andrew | No, but they're doing the Christopher Ward pricing model. What I can't figure out is the six o'clock difference. So there's two dial variations. One of them has a big 30 at the six o'clock. One does not. |
Everett | The one that does not has... Is that the manual wind? date. |
Andrew | And yes. Oh, it is a date. Yeah. OK, you've answered my question. |
Everett | Yeah. So the date version is at six o'clock. |
Andrew | That butterfly is going to be so baller on that mesh or Milanese. |
Everett | Yeah, I probably wear this on leather, but no, I like the Milanese. |
Andrew | I'd fuck up that mesh. |
Everett | I think these are terrific. Yeah, these are good. And I really, I'm more curious. I'm not willing to say the pricing is cool or good or whatever. But I am willing to say it's interesting. And I'd like to know more about what they're doing with it. |
Andrew | Yeah, I honestly, I think it's a kind of a Christopher Ward model of like, it costs us $60 more to make this. So we're going to we're going to cost you $60 more. |
Everett | Oh, by Christopher Ward, you mean that this is just a direct reflection of the markup? Yeah. |
Andrew | Well, and maybe so, you know, like maybe not a three X, but like a, a, it costs us this many more. So you'll pay this many more. |
Everett | Yeah. Who knows? I think that the interesting thing is to me that they haven't distinguished them in any way except for the movement. So, right. You're not getting a different dial or a differently finished case. that would justify a different price point. They all virtually have the same price. These are all thousand dollar watches. |
Andrew | So I think it's a proportionate markup to their cost. Sure. |
Everett | But why? What, what, like from a marketing standpoint, what, you know, they're obviously going to have to do different things. They're having to do different supply chains. They're going to have different MLQs. It's such an interesting model that I'm curious about. |
Andrew | I don't think Stova's concerned about their MOQs. |
Everett | Yeah, maybe. Yeah, you're certainly right. Anyway, that's all I have to say about it. It's interesting. It's not an interesting watch. I mean, it is interesting. |
Andrew | It's not. It's a perfectly boring watch. It's my style of watch. I could see myself owning one of these, as could I see myself owning the next thing I want to talk about, which is the new Seiko Prisaj Cocktail GMTs, the SSKs, 0 3 7 3 9 and 0 4 1. These are the cocktail times. But now in a GMT. So we have the icy blue a gilted black and that kind of weird creamy guilty creamy gold. Yeah. These are great. I've I've loved the cocktail time. really since I started giving a shit about watches. It's one of the most elegant, cool watches out there. When people talk about, when I talk to people about getting a watch, this is always in my lineup of like, hey, consider one of these. These are, these are beautiful. They're cool. They're unique. |
Everett | Get a Bambino, but if you're going to get a Bambino, actually get a cocktail. |
Andrew | Yeah. Spend a little bit more, get a cocktail time. The the dial texture is fantastic and adding a GMT to it. I don't know if I care. I sort of I think it maybe takes away from it a little bit, but I also really like it. This icy blue with the blue GMT hand is It's big tits on your face. Good. Like this is this is some shit. And they're, you know, they're cocktail time, right there. They cost 600 euros. The case size is amazing. Forty point five, twelve, eight thick. Therefore, movements like this is just. This is a great release. Seiko's doing some cool shit with their new GMT movement. I'm glad to see them expand the GMT out of the Seiko 5 series and start trying it elsewhere. Because a presage with or cocktail time with a GMT is like, I don't know, you don't really need it. |
Everett | But I'm really happy to have it. I really like the way they've integrated the 24 hour scale, which is |
Andrew | Between the markers, like intermittent odd numbers? |
Everett | Odd numbers between the markers, sort of shoved out to the periphery. Yeah, pretty cool. You know, they're calling the classic blue, they're calling it the skydive, or skydiving, which apparently is like a blue carousel cocktail. Okay, they've got a rusty nail. And they have an acacia. Which is the honey yellow dial. Yeah. |
Andrew | Yeah. These are these are great. |
Everett | Which that that's sort of standard fare for the cocktail time is obviously these dials are all cocktail inspired. |
Andrew | This could be the the impetus for me to to actually finally pull the trigger on one. |
Everett | On a 4 hour movement. 4 hour 34. Yeah. |
Andrew | Yeah. I mean. |
Everett | Or you mean a cocktail time in general. |
Andrew | Yeah a cocktail time. |
Everett | Yeah, these are great. This is really classic cocktail time dimensions, 40 and a half millimeters, 12, eight thick. Um, you know, I will say the case dimensions make it look a pretty bit, uh, pretty upright. This is a slab sided case. Yeah. |
Andrew | But this could be the added throwing a GMT into the mix could be what it needed for me. Cause I love the cocktail time. Every time I see one, I'm like, ah, she Priced at 600 euros, which is... You'll be able to get into these for 450, 500 bucks. |
Everett | Assuming stock is there, yeah. |
Andrew | It'll be there. It's Seiko. |
Everett | I've got a Seiko. That's a Chinook. Outside? Yeah. Yeah, double rotor. I think you're right. So King Seiko is back again, and this time they're back with something I love. I love... You know, I bought a King Seiko I own a King Seiko. |
Andrew | You're a little medium about said King Seiko though. |
Everett | And I think I'm a little medium about said King Seiko. Because you impulse bought it. That might be part of it. However, I am less medium about this King Seiko and there's a number of reasons. So first. All the reasons. It's got a tonneau case. Yeah. And. Fuck me. And it's a great tonneau case. This is the kind of watch you hide in your butt. 39 and a half millimeters, so it's a 40 millimeter watch, which includes the tonneau case, but it's under 10 millimeters. We've got a Seiko dress watch, automatic dress watch, that's under 10 millimeters, with a terrifically short 44-ish lug to lug, just under 44. And the way they've done that, of course, is by using a 6L35 movement, which is their new... their new Seiko architecture. It's the same movement that was in the locomotive that we talked about last week. It is that the movement itself is two millimeters thinner than the 6R35, which 6R35, terrific movement. No problems with that, although I think sometimes the question comes up, why would I do 6R35 instead of 4R35? Whatever. This is an entirely different thing. A full 2 mm, well not, almost 2 mm thinner than a 6R. The 6L is something really, really terrific. But, that to say, it is a premium movement and they have priced it as such. So this watch, for sure, in my mind, for sure the greatest King Seiko released, at least in this new iteration just in terms of the shape and the size. But this is a thirty two hundred euro watch. |
Andrew | Yeah. And here's here's my only bitch about it. And it's limited edition to 700 pieces. Yeah. Here's my bitch about it. If you're going to give me a ton of case, give me a hundred meters. |
Everett | You feel like Tano means diver. |
Andrew | If you're going to give me a utility case, give me a utility watch. This is not a dress watch case. This is a utility watch case. But it has all of the trimmings and none of the dressing. Like, you cannot give me mashed potatoes and not give me gravy. |
Everett | It's an interesting take. It's not one I've ever thought of. I mean, I think that this watch is pretty dressy, but I do hear what you're saying. I don't know. I'll have to think on that. |
Andrew | Think on it all you want. |
Everett | Can we have a tonneau dress watch? Of course we can. |
Andrew | We can. And this is a dress watch. But it absolutely is, but it's a tonneau case, which should carry within a hundred meters of water resistance. |
Everett | I feel like you just made that up. |
Andrew | I maybe have. I've never seen a tonneau case with less than a hundred meters of water resistance. |
Everett | Well, that's all I got to talk about. |
Andrew | Well, fuck off. What are we at right now? Well, you know, we're at an hour three. We're there. You know. I think everything we have can. Can either get saved or just. |
Everett | Yeah, I mean, there's only there's only one other thing. |
Andrew | Well, we have the smaller samurai. |
Everett | Yeah, just talk about that. That's it. That's the only thing. |
Andrew | We have a, we have a, we have two other things. So we, we have a small, smaller samurai release and the samurai is an interesting, uh, vein in the Seiko line in that it is almost futuristic. It's like trying to be on the cutting edge of design trends. You know, it's this, really lovely dive watch that's inconsistent with at least in case design and shape inconsistent with the typical trends it's like almost a square but it's not a square super angular yeah it's like post-modern angular so we have a new smaller case size that's 41 7 coming down from what 43 and a half. And I've always really liked the the samurai case. It's just it's never been kind of in this in the size zone that piqued my interest. We have a red on red, a black on black. And a black on black on black release, we've got a black case. And. It's a samurai. It's a great 20th anniversary edition. I could have gone with a blue here but it's like all this makes sense and I really like the samurai case. I wish Sega would put more ass behind it to try to break away from the round case diver sub cult that exists because I really think the samurai does that in their case shape and design. And I don't know that it gets the. I don't know, gets the recognition that it maybe ought to being this fucking baller prospect. Cool diver. |
Everett | Yeah, I mean, first, it should be noted that this watch shares very little with the samurai that was released 20 years ago. |
Andrew | Yeah. No, it's a wholly redesigned new thing. |
Everett | The case is different. Although it has some of those elements, the dial is different. Although it has some of those elements, the hands are different. Although they have some of the, I mean, this is a really a brand new take on the samurai and, and the size is different, right? The size is appropriate. 41 millimeters instead of 44 millimeters. Um, there are, you know, the samurai has those that really sort of the original, the 2004 samurai has that really distinct bezel. Um, and so this is just, this is just totally different. It's a totally different watch. I'm okay with that. I'm not complaining about that. Um, I like a lot of the changes. I think that the bezels on these are, gorgeous. I love the font on the bezel. I actually, I think I like everything about this watch. I'm maybe a little bit, I think maybe I'm almost like a little bit troubled by the fact that this is a Samurai and not something else. And maybe that's okay because maybe it's just, this is the new redesigned Samurai. Okay, fine, fine. All right. All right. It's fine. |
Andrew | But it troubles me a little bit. No, I see it. I, Because it's not the samurai we're accustomed to, but it's samurai we know. It just is upgraded. Like your wife comes home with a new haircut and you're like, oh shit. |
Everett | Okay. It's the same butt, but that hair is different. Yeah. You know, this is a $600 watch, which is great. This is really terrific to see this coming in at a price that it's like, that makes sense to me. |
Andrew | Um, well, and it's this, it's just the step up. It's like, I'm not going to buy a Kamasu. I want to get, I want to spend a little bit more money. |
Everett | It would be disappointing if they had brought this in at like 1200 bucks, right? Yeah. And they haven't done that. |
Andrew | And you could, I could see them, I could see Seiko doing that. Yeah, that's right. But they didn't. And I think this is a land, like this is a, this is a, they knocked it right out of the park. |
Everett | There do seem to be some fit and finish issues. It's 600 bucks. |
Andrew | It's Seiko. There's going to be fit and finish. There's going to be QC issues because it's Seiko. And it doesn't matter how much you spend on a Seiko. Those issues will all remain. |
Everett | Yeah. I mean, it's a great watch. I don't have anything bad to say about it. Did you have something else to talk about? What else did you do? |
Andrew | Yeah. No. Last thing. Studio Underdog has a release from a Dubai-based art gallery, Perpetuel, in their Field Watch case design with Arabic numerals. Oh, okay. Yeah, with like Arabic numbers in their Field Watch. I think part of it is playing on the popularity of the Seiko 5 with Arabic numerals. I'm saying Arabic numerals, but that's not... No, they're not Arabic numerals. They're not Arabic numerals. They're like actual Arabic numbers. They're the way numbers are written in Arabic. And as a novice Arabic speaker, I don't know why I don't know how to describe this better. Um, these are numbers, how they're written in Arabic in their, in their field watch design. |
Everett | Uh, Eastern Arabic numerals is what they're called, but actual Arabic Eastern Arabic is what they're called, but actual Arabic. |
Andrew | Correct. Um, we have the white dial, the full loom, the blue full loom, What's it? The pink lemonade and, and a black, I think it's, it's a cool studio underdog collaboration that I think is representative of how excited people are about studio underdog. Cause he's doing some cool shit and partnering with some cool people. These are, um, AED. What's AED? currency? |
Everett | Uh, uh, Arab Emirates dollars. |
Andrew | I don't know. So there's $6,000, which I can't imagine is, is Durham. |
Everett | That's what they call it. |
Andrew | Our Durham is, is what the, uh, I imagine they're consistently priced with all the rest of his releases, which are sub 1000 American money. Um, These are cool. I think it's a fun, the font on them is great. They're super legible. |
Everett | It's a collaboration with Perpetual? |
Andrew | Yeah. It's a, it's a collaboration with the art gallery Perpetual. Um, cool release. And like, just, I'm, I'm really excited for him. For Mr. Bank. Uh, and, and the places he's going with his funky, fun designs. I like it. And this is better than the Seiko 5 with Arabic writing on it. |
Everett | And it's also better than a Bambino, with or without? |
Andrew | Yeah, agreed. And without knowing exchange rates. I don't know. |
Everett | Andrew, other things, what do you got? |
Andrew | Okay. I have a little bit of a weird other thing. So, like five to seven years ago, You know, as a fairly new parent, I read this two decade long study that associated reading like as a child and having books in your home to long term earning potential. And to sum it up, the research team created this sort of matrix on like, if you have this many books in your house as a child, it doesn't matter if they're being read to you or not, you will likely earn this many money as a grownup. And they stratified it so it was like 50 and under, 50 to 100, 100 to 200, kind of like, it doesn't fucking matter. But the end state of the study was like, if you have more books in your house as a kid, you are going to be smarter. You're going to be more literate. Your social skills are going to be better, which is weird because reading isn't a social interaction. It doesn't matter. Um, so I took that to heart. Like I, you know, I had, when I read the study, it was like my oldest who is now much older, but like I was a parent of a two year old and I was like, Oh, you need to have more books. more books in your house. Buy books. And just put them in your house. Doesn't matter if they get fucking read or not. Shortly thereafter, I learned about this thing from our pediatrician called Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which is a free thing that you can sign up for. for your kids. So if you have kids under five years old, so from birth until five, if you sign up, you get one book, one children's book every month in the mail. If you have two kids under five, you do get the same book. They do not do a good job of making sure that you get different books. But now that I only have one under five, once a month I get a free children's book in the mail and it is like the highlight of my kid's month. I'm like, Hey, Dolly's book is here. And he's like, yeah. And he goes fully sideways and excited about whatever Dolly's book is. He might not even like Dolly's book, but he's excited that Dolly sent him a book. He doesn't even know who Dolly is, but Dolly sends him a book every month until your kids are five years old. So if you have kids under five, and you're not aware of Dolly's Imagination Library, Google it, get signed up, get a free book every month because they're going to make more money and be more successful and be smarter. And that's our whole goal as parents is to set our kids up for success. So that's my other thing. Dolly's Imagination Library. |
Everett | I love it. I'm going to check it out. |
Andrew | I got my Dolly book today. Which is, I was like, oh, this is a great other thing because I was wholly unaware of it. I only, I didn't get to fully, uh, take advantage of it with my older kid, but with my younger, he's been enrolled in it since he got born. |
Everett | I love it. Yeah. Uh, I've got another thing. |
Andrew | Do me. |
Everett | I'll start by way of some introductions and background. Andrew, do you know that I am a driver of a 2003 Lexus LS430? No, I don't know that anyone is. And then I formally drove a 1996 Lexus LS400 and that I searched for well over a year for a near-mint model of a late 90s G-Shock. The point I'm making... None of this sounds familiar. The point I'm making is there is an aesthetic from the late 90s and early 2000s that tickles me, right? So there is this period of time, and I'm not gonna suggest, propose, or even imply that there's anything particularly novel about this period relative to other periods, right? There's every period of time has a design language and aesthetic. But I think partially because of my age and partially because of just my social inclinations, this is the period of time I've kind of latched into, latched onto as being the one that I identify the most with, right? That late nineties, early two thousands is when I was coming of age. It is this period of time that I just think this is, this is my favorite, right? Now, There were a number of things happening in that time that make it special, right? Manufacturing and technology, and there was a bunch of things happening. |
Andrew | We were going from... It was the most exciting period in American history since the Base race. |
Everett | Perhaps, right? We were going from- End of the Cold War. Analog to, or not necessarily analog, but we were going from electronics to computers, right? And so there was just a lot of things happening. Really, there were a lot of things happening. And so I just find myself really enamored by that period. I found this just on YouTube, as you do, I found this video and it's from Scratch Golf, S-K-R-A-T-C-H. If you're a golfer, you'll know that YouTube channel generally. They make really good, high quality, well produced golf videos that are fun and usually have a little bit of a different angle than where you'd normally come at these things from. And it's terrific. It's a really good YouTube. So I find this scratch video and it's called range pickers. I was like, what's this? And the video I, the video I saw was range pickers, sorry, Andrew, I meant to have it up, uh, building a championship golf bag for $500. And, and I was like, well, what is this? And I watched this video and then I watched another one and this fellow went to Portland And I was like, well, that's cool because I'm from Portland. And so I'm watching this thing. The deal is this guy is a fan of that era. His name is Cole Young, and he started a few years back a store, a shop in LA called Metalwood Studio. And I'll just read. Metalwood Studio is an ode to golf in the 90s and some of the early 2000s. The technology boom is just starting to happen. The pros of yesteryear are trading in their persimmon woods and balada balls for something a little faster and more aggressive. They've exchanged flares and four-button placket polos with the baggiest, frumpiest shit they could find long before the yoga-but-make-it golf clothes of today. Metalwood aims to preserve this iconic look and feeling by offering a shoppable experience. We look to engage with our visitors by creating a nostalgic wormhole via a collection that includes vintage-inspired clothing, accessories, and golf equipment. Okay, fine. What this guy does in these videos is he goes to places all around the country that specialize in golf equipment from this area. And, and this equipment is terrific, right? This is the Nike SQ period. This is when golf equipment went from being what it was to what it is now. And so you've got a lot of duds. But you've also got some of the greatest, certainly the most revolutionary equipment ever made. And he explores these things. You know, you've got shafts and you've got head technology and you've got aesthetic brilliance and beauty that all coalesce in these handful of equipment that oftentimes are very affordable. And this is what he does. He goes and finds equipment from this era and then goes and golfs with them. And I was like, this is |
Andrew | This was made for me. That's like the era of the beginning of the carbon shaft. It's the beginning of like, not just forged blades, but it, whoo. |
Everett | This is the technology boom. And it is, it's incredible. It, it's just a marriage of so many things I love, right? Like golf and technology boom era and and finding the cool shit and finding the cool shit. That's right. And I was like, this is fucking terrific. There's only nine videos. They, the series started about a year ago. They've just sort of re kicked it. This fellow Cole Young is a personality. He's fun. He's, and he knows so much. He's an encyclopedia. He goes to these places and he's like, Oh, this is the Fuji Cara. Uh, yada, yada, yada. 68 gram blah blah blah blah blah and it's like okay, how the fuck do you know that? But he does and it's just he spent an hour and a half there before they hit record Oh, well, maybe or he maybe just knows anyway, it doesn't matter but I love it. I love it So I've watched all these videos now. I want more and then now I'm like Do I need 90s golf clubs? I need to build the technology boom bag, and I think I'm going to I think I'm going to because this stuff is all super accessible. |
Andrew | You know, I've got like, you would have played again, even here in Eugene and you're going to find some cool shit. |
Everett | You probably could. Right. But I mean, I think like this, this, this thing would, you could get into it and you could do better than that. Right. You could really find some really incredible cool stuff and have this collection that you love and you wouldn't even have to do it fast. You do it over time. Right. You know, I've got, what, $4,000 worth of golf equipment in my garage that is, like, really good and fucking boring and lame, right? It's not boring. Well, it is boring. It's not lame. It's good, right? I've got these- It's the right thing to buy. Mizuno Hot Iron, you know, perfectly new top technology. I've got good shit, but I'm also like, okay, well, like, what if my golf bag instead was made up of the coolest shit ever made, right? What if- That inspired all the other shit. What if I had a golf bag full of 1997 titanium G-Shock MRGs, right? Like- God, everyone would laugh at you. They might, and it doesn't, everybody laughs at my G-Shock. It doesn't matter, that would be cool. And your swing. Oh! Too true. It's not funny because it's true. Yeah. Anyway, so yeah, and now I think I have a new, and now I have a new hobby that I haven't started yet, but it's probably going to happen. |
Andrew | And you're about to sink a ton of money into. |
Everett | I, you know, but that's the thing. |
Andrew | I don't think it's going to be that much money. Yeah, it won't be. |
Everett | I don't think. I mean. Be under a grand. I think so. I think I could probably do everything for well under, well under a grand. |
Andrew | You could fill a bag for under a grand. |
Everett | With like the coolest shit ever made or some of the coolest shit ever made. |
Andrew | What's the coolest shit of the time that inspired the current coolest shit? |
Everett | Maybe that makes it the coolest shit though. And then maybe that's the point, right? And let's, let's be clear, like velocities have been locked into place since like face velocities since like 2003. So there's some sweet spot technologies or whatever, but like a golf club made in 2005 is exactly as fast. as a golf club made in 2020. |
Andrew | But you're not a good enough golfer to notice the difference. |
Everett | I know. I know. I mean, the sweet spot technologies are going to be the thing that makes the difference, right? You've got much different sweet spot sizes, but in terms of velocity, like they literally are maxed out and they have been for 20 years. You can't get any faster. |
Andrew | No, you just have to make your swing faster. It's the human error. That's right. |
Everett | That's right. So anyway, technologically, we digress. |
Andrew | We like peaked in 2005. |
Everett | It's not even that we've peaked. It's that they've been throttled. Clubface technology is throttled. You can't go faster. Yeah, it's peaked. No, it's the regulating bodies. Perhaps. Yes. No, not perhaps. 100%. So 20 years ago, those things were maxed out. We can't get any faster. A club from 2010 is just as fast as the club that you buy today because of the regulating bodies. They've maxed them out. |
Andrew | That's why you can't cork your bats in the MLB. |
Everett | That's right. Anyway, Andrew, that's all I got to say about that. Anything else you want to add before we go today? No. Hey folks, thank you once again for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20 watch clicker podcast. Do me a favor, go to our website. It is watch clicker.com. We post every single episode of this podcast on that website, but we also post articles, reviews, and other things that you probably want to read about watch clicker.com. You can check us out on social media on Instagram at watch clicker or at 40 and 20 underscore watch clicker. Things go up there from time to time telling you about what's happening on the website. If you want to support us, and this is important because we actually need support to keep this thing going, you can do that at patreon.com slash 40 and 20, much like public radio. We only survive based on the donations of you kind people. And please don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. |