Episode 30 - Watch Collecting

Published on Wed, 22 May 2019 23:13:00 -0700

Synopsis

The hosts Andrew and Everett have a casual, rambling conversation about various topics. They discuss their weekend project of building shelves in Andrew's garage, overcoming issues with publishing their podcast, the philosophical concept of "watch collecting" and what defines a true collector, and speculate on shows that could fill the void after Game of Thrones ends.

Transcript

Speaker
Everett Hello fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. This is the 40 in 20 podcast with your hosts, Andrew and my good friend Everett. Here, we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Everett, how are you?
Andrew Man, I am over the moon. It's been such a good weekend. A long weekend. A long weekend.
Everett Not like days wise long, but like in terms of hours of work put in.
Andrew Yeah, so we did a thing this weekend. We built some shelves for my garage.
Everett We did.
Andrew And I feel super satisfied right now. Now, I feel more satisfied than I probably should.
Everett No, I don't think so. So, when you asked me to help you put up shelves. Here we go. I had an idea of what garage shelves are in my head. They're the everyday garage shelves that you see in everyone's garage that take 45 to 75 minutes to purchase the lumber. cut the lumber, stick it to your walls, and then load the ship back up. That's not what we did.
Andrew I'm sorry. Okay, let me just say, I'm sorry. My sincerest apologies.
Everett We built walls and then frames for those walls and then stood them up as shelves. I joked with you several times that if a bomb were to land directly on your home, two things would stand. Your chimney, and your shelves. And I think that's accurate. You know, for them being fully assembled, that's accurate.
Andrew No, I think that's right. I mean, they're bulletproof. They're bombproof. They're fantastic. They're ridiculously overbuilt. You know, one of the things I do professionally quite a bit is I prepare plans and mock-ups for the purposes of permitting. So sometimes it's a site plan. Sometimes it's interior structure. It's a skill I have that I've never used for fun, although it is fun, right? Because you get it, you know, get your rulers out. And, um, you know, if I ever need something that's, that's dead nuts, I hire an engineer or, or an architect perhaps. Um, but I have the ability to do permit drawings for, for these projects. Someone says, gosh, I just need this thing. We submit it. They say, well, we need drawings. And so, and so I do prepare a drawing that meets the code standards and I prepare a legend and, but, To do that, I've had to develop these sort of pseudo architect skills. Definitely drafting. Drafting. That's that's right. So, I mean, you know, and then at some point you have to get sort of the fonts right and because they want it to look like a drawing. And so if you if you have the font right. Well, so I have these skills, but I've never used them for anything fun. And so I thought, well, if we're going to make shelves, I'm going to I'm going to do plans. I want to make plans that I could just hand to Andrew or to someone else and they could take the plans and build the shelf. That's 100% accurate. Which is what happened. Which is what happened. Those plans were good enough. However, the end result of me embarking on that project is that we have ridiculously overbuilt shelves.
Everett 300 three and a half inch screws.
Andrew They're big shelves.
Everett Come on, man. It's 23 feet?
Andrew Maybe, yeah. Nine shelves. It's a lot. I mean, I was telling Kim this morning, it's like 80 bucks in screws.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew 80 bucks on screws. No, it's crazy. I learned a ton. You know, you've built a lot of stuff, and I've goofed around with you sometimes, and I have made some stuff on my own, too, but nothing to this magnitude. I learned really a lot. You know, I learned a lot, A, about overbuilding. What do I actually need to make this work?
Everett That's an important skill to have. I mean, that's a good experience to have gained. Overbuilding shit is just as bad as underbuilding it. Well, no, no. It's not nearly as bad as underbuilding it, but it's to the same personal detriment.
Andrew Right. Right. Well, in terms of time spent, I mean, those shelves, theoretically, I'll have those shelves for the rest of my life.
Everett Oh, they'll be in your home longer than your children will be.
Andrew Oh, for sure. 100%. Yeah. So, overbuilt is a thing. They're heavy. You know, they're going to be hard to move, but we can move them. I built them to be moved. Really easily, I think. We can move them. You just take them apart. They went up a lot easier than I thought. You know, they were so heavy to try to put together.
Everett That was, I think, the most impressive thing. was that throughout all the pain of building them, actual assembly was just drop and fasten.
Andrew That's right. Yeah. So anyway, my shelves, do any of you care about my shelves? Probably not.
Everett Not a single one of you. But we scratched the building itch and I got to use my screw extractor for the first time and that was a riot.
Andrew Yeah, it was. It went, you know, when it worked, it just worked and it was like, man, that was fun.
Everett Yeah. Couldn't get it going. Couldn't get it going. Then finally I had the right size and it just, it ripped it out. The screw was not actively on fire, but it was smoking and burnt.
Andrew So other things, what, what is your screw extractor brand?
Everett Oh shoot. I don't know. Well, it's whatever they have at Lowe's.
Andrew They work. Uh, that, that's our pitch for this, this brand. We're going to get a sponsorship based on this.
Everett And I've, I've tried to use them before. and not succeeded, so I just got a Sawzall and cut the screw off and covered it up. That would have worked too. Yeah, but we didn't have a Sawzall. That's true. But yeah, so I got to do that, and it was, I mean, definitely fun. This was a very precision-oriented project where our margin of errors had to be pretty low, and I was impressed that over the course of 14 hours, I think is probably all said and done what we spent on it, we didn't really get out of, we didn't get out of the acceptable margin of error.
Andrew That's right. That's right. Well done. Well done, you.
Everett Me only. Mostly you. Mostly, mostly me. Not really, though. It was a good team effort. I mean, and we talked about it, shoot, inside the last month. Talked about, couldn't wait to scratch the building itch.
Andrew You know, it sort of goes back to our sort of, you know, our production philosophy here at 40 and 20. I say here as if 40 and 20 is a place. We're in the guest room. 40 and 20 headquarters in the guest room at Everett's house. But I think that's part of our philosophy here, which is, let's get these microphones out, or let's get this miter saw out, and let's just do this thing. Let's do the best we can, let's think about it beforehand, come up with a good plan, execute that plan, and then at the end of the day, we'll see what we have. And I think if we think this out ahead of time, And I think if we follow the directions that we set for ourselves, uh, at the end of the day, we're going to have a decent product. And like the shelves that are now standing in my garage, holding, uh, some 60% of my garage shit. Um, I think that our show has kind of done the same thing, right? When we started, uh, you know, after our sort of initial hiccups, we were able to pretty quickly, um, realize that our plans, you know, we had these hardware plans and these technological plans, um, and, and then just our, our innate abilities applied to those plans. And I think we realized pretty quick, Hey, this is going to work. It's going to work. It is working. And now we're, and now we have a product. Now, if we could start that shelf project again, I think we would change a couple things. And I think we would do the same thing. in our podcasting plan, right? We would change a couple things, but bottom line, end of the day, we come up with a plan. We execute that plan. Podcasting for me, the other thing I realized, I realized pretty early on is we just have to do this every week. Yeah. Even if we don't want to, even if Andrew's working 60 hours at the range and his elbows hurt and I've got a brief that's due tomorrow, Um, we just have to get this thing published on Thursday and except for a few, you know, shit, we've recorded on Wednesday night before.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew Right. That's right. Late. Right. I'm editing at one 30 in the morning so that we can get this up. But we have a plan and we execute on the plan and we're consistent. So, um, last week we had a little, uh, what would you call it? So publishing boo boo. And I don't even think I walked you through it, but yeah, we haven't talked about it. You know, when I we recorded and when we recorded, there was just a glitch in the software. There was a some sort of glitch in the software. And at some point, like 45 minutes in the half of the audio, because we record we record together. So it's one track. But then we split that track so that we can put them both into stereo. So you're not hearing in your car. You're not hearing me. on your on your driver's side and and run your passenger side, although that could be fun. It could be. It could be. We split the audio and and then we and then we balance both sides. So so we're we're each on either side. At some point when that happened, it glitched half of the audio about 45 minutes in. And so it created an imbalance and an almost imperceptible imbalance. So you wouldn't be able to see it if you just looked at the audio track. You know, this visual, it's got bumps. It looks like an EKG machine or something, you know, if you've ever looked at an audio track. But it had a slight variation, which meant that the last 20 minutes of the podcast had this echo, is what it sounds like. And if you've never heard it, it's really interesting. It's what it sounds like. It sounds like one of us was recording in a rotunda with ceramic walls or something. So we should have been singing. That might've been nice. That might've been nice. Maybe next time we try that. Yeah. Um, and so I realized, I realized what was happening after I had already converted to an MP3. And by that point I had closed all the original software down the audacity. And so it had saved all of our changes. And so there was no edit undo, which I think could have fixed the, you know, a command Z could have fixed the problem, but I'd already closed down. The audacity, so there's no command Z available to me. So I had to go in and chop where, where the, where the problem was. I had to go into command, chop where the problem was, and then I had to reset half of the audio over, which means manually grabbing it and sliding it over just a little bit. And, you know, you have to magnify way in, you know, so you're looking, your whole screen's like a second and sort of set it because even just a little bit of variation. Even just a little bit of variations maintains that echo. So got it right and then went back to republish because I'd already published Audacity. When I went back to republish, I saved and there's a function where you can just replace the file. And when I grabbed that new file, I grabbed an old one. So I would love to say this was Audacity's fault. I would love to say it's SoundCloud's fault. It was not. I grabbed an old file. When I woke up Thursday morning, I had like 14 DMs on Instagram. All telling me... That feels good. Yeah, it does feel good. Thanks guys for listening and telling us what's up. But 14 DMs basically all saying, hey idiot, dress watches. You've republished dress watches, which was true. That was a good episode. It was a good episode. We thought you guys wanted to hear it again. So immediately tried to fix it. And then the fix I did, I don't think I did the right thing. I should have just deleted it. It just compounded and it compounded. This is a snowball. There's a giant snowball coming down the house at me on Thursday morning. Um, oh, also I had a brief, I had a brief due Thursday afternoon.
Everett So obviously that wouldn't happen on a, on a chill day.
Andrew It would not. So, uh, it was fine. We made it, made, made it. I think most of the people who wanted to hear the chronograph episode got to hear the chronograph episode. Some people didn't even notice. Some people were like, Oh, hey, this was a, this was a great episode. I really liked your dress watch selections. And I thought, well, I'm really glad you're listening. Uh, I'm glad that you're, that you're here with us. Uh, but. Yeah. You know, some folks just didn't even notice with the episodes titled chronographs. We're talking about dress watches. They were just into it and people like us and they say positive things. So, um, probably Russian sex bots maybe. So that was, I mean, what a weird week, you know? But here we are, the bottom line is we have a plan. We execute the plan and it's not perfect.
Everett You guys, sometimes we're going to make mistakes. It's not perfect. Sometimes that, that, that what's supposed to be a proud 27 inches. It's, it's going to get put in the scant 27 inch pile. That's right.
Andrew That's going to happen. So, well, that's good. So we're going to talk about, uh, kind of a weird, we're going to go, uh, we're going to go philosophical again. A little bit. Yeah. We're not going to talk about a type of watches and three options you buy.
Everett We could though. We could. We won't, but we could because that's our choice. And in America we make choices.
Andrew This is our dang podcast. You guys are probably, if you were, if you were still listening, thank you. Cause this has been a ridiculous intro. I'm really sorry about that. I'll just apologize. It's certainly not been the longest. We've just been talking about fences and sound cloud issues for 14 minutes. Whatever.
Everett Whatevs. So like you said, this week we're going to touch on a little bit of a philosophical, um, feeling in the watch world and i think one that uh has been front of mind for us but i think for a lot of people in who are either already uh two feet into the watch world uh and i think it's something that becomes a barrier to entry for people who want to get into the watch world and what we're going to talk about today is air quotes watch collecting well you put your fingers up slash watch collectors air quotes and you bent them yeah because i air quoted
Andrew Okay.
Everett I like it. Double bunny ears, both hands. Uh, so yeah, that's, that's what we're going to touch on today. Uh, so it's going to be. Slightly different than, than other, other episodes. It's going to be a really free flowing discussion about watch collecting, uh, the positives, the negatives, how it changes the watch world, how it changes watch people, uh, and how just our thoughts on it. So buckle up today could get controversial.
Andrew Yeah, I mean, I don't know if we need to get controversial. I mean, I suppose it might get that way.
Everett I'm gonna get that way for controversy's sake. Get it, girl. Yeah. So, let's get right in. And I'm gonna start with how I define watch collecting. Okay. I define watch collecting as any other form of collecting, but you're collecting watches. So, within that, a collection, in my mind, is a group of objects or of similar objects of things if you will that you amass for either their value the uh just a hobby interest in them or for preservation purposes with some sort of curation yeah yeah a deliberate curation like yeah within those like a curated collection there there's there's a purpose behind it and you're you're well you can't use the word in the definition that's my teacher my second grade teacher But your purpose is to amass the most possible.
Andrew Aliki, Aliki Anderson was her name. She was Greek. She was great. Fantastic.
Everett She sounds like it and she's still busting my balls these 55 years later. So that's, that's what I, that's how I'm going to define collecting. Right. And we can agree on that definition of collecting.
Andrew Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're, you're, you're pretty, you're pretty inclusive there. Okay.
Everett So, watch collecting, I think, falls into a couple categories. I think we get people who are true collectors, who are amassing watches, who are bringing a curated collection, selection of watches together for the purposes of interest, a passion for that watch. I mean, there's SKX collectors, there's military watch collectors, there's... Dancy... There's, yeah, there's just anything you can imagine in collectors. That's collectors. And then there's folks who I think get lumped into collector category who are just folks who have a shitload of watches. Right. But I don't know if that's actually watch collecting.
Andrew Okay. Well, help me understand your distinction because I think that you haven't made it yet.
Everett Okay. So we got the people who are being really deliberate about curating a collection.
Andrew So like looking for specific pieces to fill voids.
Everett To fill voids as a hobbyist or a They want the J series, or they want the blue dial. They want something to fill these holes to create an entire collection, a... Ooh, what's the word I'm looking for?
Andrew The word I'm looking for is... Aliki busting your balls right now. She was really great. She had a fantastic accent. She is busting them.
Everett A series. We'll stick with series, because I can't think of a better word. Sure. A complete set or something.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett Now, dudes who just have a bunch of watches. I have never in my life been called a tool collector, but I got a shit load of tools.
Andrew I'll tell you right now, this man has a lot of tools. I didn't have to buy anything, which is a little sad. You didn't buy a lot of screws. Well, besides screws, I didn't have to buy a dang thing. I bought sawhorses. You did? Ooh, yeah. I bought sawhorses. But you're going to say about tools, you have a bunch of tools, but you're not a tool collector.
Everett I'm not a tool collector because every tool has a purpose. And I use a screwdriver as an example. You can have a number two Phillips in a one inch shaft or 12 inch shaft. They're not the same shaft. Mm hmm.
Andrew Well, I think my wife is a shaft. I think my wife is a kitchen gadget collector. Is she?
Everett Does she not use them? Do they just they just sit on the on the cabinets above it and notice all of the shelf space we have?
Andrew Yeah, but gosh, this pineapple slicer is fantastic.
Everett I have a pineapple slicer and it is fantastic. That's such a stupid tool. But it works. But my point is that every tool has an application. And because I have an embarrassing amount of tools, that doesn't make me a tool collector. But you give a dude 10 watches and suddenly he's a watch collector.
Andrew Right, right, right.
Everett I see what you're saying. And that's where I think there's a very important distinction to be made between folks who have watches for many occasions, purposes, and applications, and people who are deliberately
Andrew collecting watches. So can I advocate for Beelzebub here? Okay. All right. So a T-square and a tape measure do seriously different things. You're right. And as we learned this weekend, as I learned, as you probably already knew, a miter saw and a table saw have distinct advantages over one another, depending on what you're trying to do with them. And so, you know, or a jigsaw and a sawzall, right? So I think watches are a little different, right? By and large, by and large, all watches do the same thing. So to the extent that I have two watches, two three-handers, let's say, because I think that's the easiest, most simple way to avoid argument.
Everett Then I think you probably have a hammer and a handsaw.
Andrew Yeah, well, I don't think so. I mean, if you have two three-handers, you have two hammers. And if you have three three-handers, you got three hammers. And who needs three hammers? Now, I can already hear the arguments. I brought three hammers. I can already hear the arguments. But I think the point's a good one, right? There's some differences to the thing.
Everett I think there is some subtlety. You're right. Some nuance, if you will.
Andrew If I have 45 ball-peen hammers, and I'm buying them not because of their application, but because of their vintage or their finishing. Oh, then you're a hammer collector, bro. Then you're a hammer collector, right? Yeah. Which I think even most people that have 10 watches have made decisions closer to the hammer collector than to the guy who just wants to be able to get everything that needs to get done done.
Everett Maybe, but I think in principle, what you're looking at is creating a diverse collection of tools that will fit every environment you're in.
Andrew Maybe the frivolity of watches just in and of themselves. You know, a watch is a superfluous item. Disagree. Well, I think by and large for most people, it truly is. I mean you, you, not so much, but me and I think 75 or 60 to 75% of all the people in the United States go to work and spend eight hours in front of a device that has the time displayed in the lower right-hand corner, or perhaps the upper right-hand corner, depending on what type of device you're on. So that in and of itself eliminates some of the need. So we get in a car that's got the time front and center. We park that car at the building. We walk in the building. So there's like, from the time I leave the house, to the time I get home there's approximately 45 seconds where I'm not staring at the time. That makes a watch superfluous. So just the fact that I have one on my wrist, one, I think there's something to be said for being a watch collector, right? Now, if I don't have a hammer, I cannot sink a nail. Well, I mean, I can, I can do the whole, like, like set the, set the the butter knife up against it and then bang it with the heaviest book on my shelf i've never done that i'm not either no i have done that i'm sorry okay i have done that i'm sorry how long of a nail it's a short one it was just to hang a picture okay like okay it worked it did the trick okay the butter knife didn't work very well after that i mean it worked it didn't look very good doing it though no i can't imagine so so There's something to be said for just watches in and of themselves being an extravagance, a superfluous thing that just having one or perhaps two watches. If I've got a SKX and I've got a Bambino, I might be a watch collector, which is not true for the guy who has a hammer and a screwdriver.
Everett No, no, not at all.
Andrew Not a tool collector or watch collector. I mean, I'm making an argument here. You don't have to agree with me.
Everett Are you a tie collector?
Andrew I would say I am a tie collector.
Everett Why?
Andrew Well, because I have a, A, I have a bucket load of them. B, I look for specific ties. I have bought probably 50 to 100 ties on eBay based on their manufacturer and the amount of folds.
Everett Okay.
Andrew So maybe, maybe you asked me the wrong question.
Everett No, no, no. But does that, does that make you a tie collector? Because you're somebody who, who wears a tie more, more often than not. Does that make you a tie collector? Because you're collecting a tool. We can call in this environment a tie a tool for your profession because you can't show up in your undies as comfortable as that would be.
Andrew I bet my law partner owns more ties than I do. I would not characterize him a tie collector and I am. I think it's the way I buy ties.
Everett Okay. And so then now we're on to something. So having a bunch of a super... We're going to skip that word. Having a bunch... Doesn't necessarily indicate collecting.
Andrew We've been drinking Bush Light since like 9.30 this morning too. Sorry guys.
Everett Power tools and beer. And some donuts in there. What else do you need? One of mine had sprinkles.
Andrew Your Bush Light? Yeah, it's a new trend.
Everett Sprinkles. Anyway, but does that... I guess what I'm trying to wrap my head around and kind of come to grips with is at what point do you just have the tools that you like to use for certain applications and where's the threshold into becoming a collector? Is it a conscious decision? Is it when you start making conscious decisions? Because at that point you do become a tool collector when you start making decisions about brands that you use or specs that you're looking for in a type of tool. But I don't think anyone's going to call anyone Well, no, I'm sure there's tool collectors out there, but no, but I don't think I don't think ever contractors ever going to be accused of being a tool collector, even with a van to two or three vans full of stuff.
Andrew Yeah, no, it's, it's a good point. Yeah. It's a good point. There's some nuance there. Right. And maybe that was what, that was my point.
Everett Um, sorry to draw the tool connection, but that's what we've been banging on all day. We could use guns or shoes or books or, but you know, I think maybe you got closer there with ties because, uh,
Andrew Think maybe there's something there's something we can unpack there. You know, especially when when I compare like I said my law partner Versus me. I don't know that he has more ties than I do But I suspect he does because I've seen him in a bucket load of ties, but I may have more reversible though Maybe he has half the amount of ties but just double the options, you know, his ties all look nice so I'm not so don't take this as a Because it's gonna sound what I'm about to say is gonna sound like I'm disparaging him He's well-dressed. He looks good in court. There's no issue there. But I don't gather that he's being particularly thoughtful about his ties.
Everett But you're going to be nerdy about your selections as per you are. As per me.
Andrew As per me, I know he has, you know, mostly four-fold box store ties. I can just tell. I can look at that tie and say, well, that's a four-fold box store tie. It looks nice. You're wearing it well. That's fine. But it's not a seven-fold you know, or, or, or whatever, right? And I have those ties, right? You know, the ties that I've spent more money than I would admit to my wife. Um, you know, uh, you know, I have, I have those ties. So that is, that is different. He's got a bucket load of ties and they look great, but I don't think he's a tie collector. He has a bunch of ties cause he has to wear a tie four to five times a week. Uh, so he's just got a bunch of them. I, I get, I, I would be willing to bet his wife, buys some large percentage of those uh you know my wife I don't think has ever bought me a tie because she just knows right you know just like she would she would not buy me a watch and if she did she would probably consult with you or or some you know I mean that very thing the reverse of that very thing happened that's right just a couple months ago yeah that's right so uh that being what it is I think that maybe we can sort of focus in in that distinction I think that should allow us to unpack a little bit. What's the difference between a collector and someone who just has a bucket load of things? And I'm pretty sure the same thing is true in watches.
Everett Although, there's some overlap there. I think you can have a bucket load of things and not be a collector. Because I don't know if I'd say, I'm a watch collector. I like watches. I have a fair amount of watches. I don't have a, there's no uniformity. There's no real theme or idea behind the collection. I have a pretty versatile, and I'm going to call it a collection because I don't know of another word to describe a group of things, but I have a pretty versatile, diverse collection that fits most of the environments that I live, work, and exist in.
Andrew So I guess for guys like you and me, maybe that's a distinction, right? We collect, I've got the finger quotes, we collect watches with an eye towards filling gaps right so so maybe part of what we're doing is uh filling our tool chest you know we're trying to um we're trying to select pieces that have a dynamic or that or that have a use uh some sort of application that that's slightly different but but within that there's a a bit of i think for both of us it'd be fair to say within that there's a bit of uh Selectiveness. Selectiveness, right? And, you know, for my end, I know that I have considered buying a J version of the SKX, the Japanese-made version, and not to get into the nuts and bolts on whether that's different or whether it's a higher quality. I think, spoiler alert, it's probably the same exact watch made to the same exact specifications. The idea that I could have a J version, there's something about that that's appealing to me. Does that desire, or to say to the extent that I did buy one, would that make me a collector? Is there something about that that's distinctly a collector's move versus a sort of really pragmatic versatility approach?
Everett Maybe. And I think if we go back to tools or clothes or anything of that, of that nature, I mean, maybe it's just buying something that is otherwise not available here in the US. I mean, maybe it's sending out for an Italian suit rather than, than that. I mean, I, I don't know. I mean, that's part of the conversation is what, what is watch collecting? Um, and I don't know, I don't have an answer for you on that one.
Andrew Sure. Well, I, you're the, you're the answer guy, right? I do the editing, you're the one with the answers.
Everett Not today.
Andrew Not today, boo-boo. No, I think that there is something here, though. When I started being interested in watches, I didn't set out to be a watch collector, but I think that what happened to me is something different than collecting. And I say what happened to me as if I was a passenger. Or recovering. Right. I do think there's some of that that happens though, right? And I don't know that this happens to everyone, but I know it did happen to me. I mean, there's a certain amount of sort of thoughtless acquisition syndrome, you know, gas or whatever, that happens to, I think, a lot of folks when they pick up something new, whether it be watches or pens or knives or, you know,
Everett uh should i know people who buy knives who don't even like the knife they're like i just you know i like collecting knives i needed to have one of these i i needed to fit this no don't even like it my collection there's a there's a i have a friend who has one of the gerber cleavers a folding cleaver and he he likes cleaver blades uh in folders and he bought this gerber full well knowing he didn't like it but he's bought it he's like i don't even like it i just have it because i don't know i have it he just has knives yeah that's interesting well you you know I almost feel like the SNK fills that role for a lot of people later in their watch journey. They just have some SNKs.
Andrew Yeah. You know, for me, I did feel a little bit swept by it, right? That first watch acquisition is one thing, but then you realize, well, gosh, now I have this one. I should get this one. And there's always this sort of mix of, there's always this sort of mix of, you know, practicality, because you use the practicality to sort of walk your way down the road in a in a thoughtful manner, you know, you use this practical argument to make you feel like the decisions are good ones. And, and, and maybe they are good ones. I'm not saying they're definitely bad ones. But that's the that's the rational brain says, Oh, well, I need a chronograph in my collection. For all those times I need a chronograph, right?
Everett Or not, because you like the way they look.
Andrew Right, right. So if that's okay with you, if that's okay with you, and some people are there already, you know. I bought this watch because I like the way it looked. But I think more of us are sort of in that place where we think, you know, I really shouldn't be spending money on a watch. There are eight billion things that I could be spending money on. And all of those are more valuable than a watch. However, I have this compulsion.
Everett Oh God, no, it's a compulsion. It's an obsession.
Andrew I have this compulsion, you know, and I know that I've been, I've been caught up by that sometimes, you know, had it in my head where I'm buying this watch right now. And, you know, maybe something happened and I didn't get it. And then later I thought I didn't need that watch. I didn't need that watch. And I know that now, cause I didn't get it. Now I don't really want to get it. Um,
Everett And so I've never had that taper. I've had a lot of watches in my cart that I've not bought, and then I've made their way back to my cart and not bought and made it way back. I've never looked back on a watch like, I'm glad I didn't get that one. Really? Yeah, it kind of blows me away. I can't think of a single watch that I haven't bought that I am glad that I didn't.
Andrew Interesting. Interesting. I mean, I can I can sort of right now as I sit here, maybe pinpoint it to a one or two. You know, I think there was a long time. Nope. Lunar pilot. Oh, well, but that's different, right? That's a watch that you thought you wanted and then you became closer, more familiar with the watch and realized there was things about it that you didn't expect. I think that's maybe somewhat different. Maybe, yeah. For me, my tastes have evolved. You know, there were watches that when I started collecting, I thought that watch, and I actually almost don't want to say the watches because I don't want to actually, I've just decided that I almost named dropped a watch. But you know, just my tastes have evolved and I don't mean evolved as in the sense that they've gotten better.
Everett They've gotten more refined. They've just changed. Refined and not refined in like an improvement, they've gotten more refined in more definitive.
Andrew Yeah, that's right. I think I've just decided, I've become more acquainted with what I'm looking for in a watch. And for me, I know that means 40 millimeters-ish. It means automatic. It means higher water resistance. Um, I just know I just ask around and a big ass crown if I can get it. Uh, you know, I just know sort of what I'm going to like, and I've got a better idea. Um, I don't want, I don't want chunky watches. I don't want 44 millimeter watches, although there are some 44s that I'd wear and that I like. Um, I just know more what I like than I did when I started. So. Um, I don't buy very many watches and you don't either, really. Neither one of us is buying a ton of watches. And I think that there's something to be said for figuring out what you like. And people come about that in drastically different ways. We've talked to just, I don't know how many of our listeners. A metric fuck ton. A metric fuck ton. People who say, gosh, I have, I've gotten rid of everything, you know, and everybody's seen it, right? People, you know, whether it's a watch you seek post or. Someone on Instagram says, I'm getting rid of everything because I've sort of figured out what I like. And I've got 40 watches, you know, in, in my watch box. I don't wear any of them. I don't wear any of them. Um, that hasn't happened to me. I wear, I think every single one of my watches, the only one I don't wear very regularly at all is a Timex. Uh, Oh, it's not a weekend or it's a easy reader. I have a Timex easy reader that I don't wear very often. Um, It's just not it's just not something I'm going to wear. And that's fine.
Everett But the one I don't wear is my Commodore because I haven't got any bezel for it. Right. We got to work on that. It's still bezel-less. Right. Right. And I picked it up to put it on the other day. I was like, oh, I can't I can't just wear you naked.
Andrew Can I get some clothes for you? Can we just smack your bezel back onto it?
Everett I don't like I don't like the bezels on there. That's what kept me from wearing it. I need to get I need to get a just a polished plain old bezel.
Andrew Call Murphy, Murphy Manufacturing and say, do you have anything that'll fit this? I don't know what the dimensions on there.
Everett I'll bring it over and we'll get the calipers on it.
Andrew Well, I don't know what the dimensions on his, he's got a sterile amphibia bezel, but I don't know if it would open.
Everett Maranom has a sterile bezel that seems to fit the case, but I don't know.
Andrew All right. Buy from Murphy, man. He's manufacturing stuff here in the US. It's like 10 bucks more.
Everett Right, but I don't want to put American shit on my Russian watch.
Andrew I've got German shit on my Russian watch.
Everett That's fair. Same team, though.
Andrew Hopefully we're not offending anybody.
Everett If we were offensive to people, they would have stopped listening a long time ago. If you've reached this point, they're okay with us.
Andrew Yeah, that's right. If you're still listening to us in the full evolution, and if you're still listening to us today. I suspect this is going to be the worst episode ever. Potentially, yeah. Well, we're sorry. Hey, you know what? We've been working all weekend.
Everett Anyway, let's move on past, because I think we've got a sort of nebulous definition of collecting.
Andrew A baseline?
Everett Yeah, what it means to us. Clear as mud. And I think one thing that I want to talk about is the barrier to entry. Talk about it. That it creates for people trying to get into the watch world. Because we, as watch people, very frequently make it intimidating to buy a watch. I don't like watches. I don't either. Why not?
Andrew No, you're right. I think it's a good point. So, so talk about it. Cause I know I have feelings. I've felt this, but I'm interested here.
Everett So you get a person. Yeah. You get a person who wants to, wants to buy a watch and because they know you to be a watch person or assume you to be, because they've seen you in the same watch in one week or in, in different watches every day of the week, uh, assume you're a watch person and they ask you. And, and I think, I think we take it in a, in a handful of ways. Sometimes they come to you and they say, hey, this is the watch I'm looking at. I'm like, you can't buy that watch. That watch is trash. Who gives a shit? Like where, where watch? Like who cares if it's a fashion brand watch? It's being powered by a lot of the same quartz watches that we know and love. They just are getting a different logo on the, on the dial. And it's made to only look good and not be some orological masterpiece. Uh, or I think the other way we go with it is we fire hose them. with watch information. Right. And then talk about the importance of a well-rounded collection and, you know, this movement or this type of movement or these complications. And I think that makes it a barrier to entry. I know when I was looking for my first watch, like my first deliberate and thoughtful watch purchase, it was hard to get on watch forums and feel like I was making a good decision. I didn't feel like there were any good decisions to be made because you'd find a watch that was maybe highly rated in one place, and then you can find a whole lot of people talking shit about it in another place. And I think that that watch collecting mentality, where everyone has to have, and this is broad stroke sweeping, so don't take this as I'm talking about you, or you Everett, or you the listener. I think when we as watch folks, pile down this watch collector mentality because we think of ourselves as watch collectors because we make thoughtful decisions about the watches we purchase, we turn away people who want to be excited about watches but don't feel like they can be because they don't have a whole shitload of money to allocate to it, they don't have a whole lot of time to learn about all the intricacies of watches, and we sort of make ourselves unapproachable and deny folks from being able to enter into this really fun hobby. And I think that's part of collecting. I think that collecting mentality is very circle the wagons and protect the hobby. And I think that comes with collecting and you get some elitism out of it. And I don't like that.
Andrew You know, I think that the hard thing about that question is, you know, what watch should I buy? I think the hard thing about that question is that it's such a personal decision. You know, everybody who's been on a watch form has seen this question posed and answered in a number of different ways. Hundreds of ways. Obviously, different people have come to different conclusions about how that question should be answered, and they're all probably uniquely valuable. Maybe not uniquely, but the approaches are valuable in their own ways.
Everett really it depends on who's asking the question and and and what they want out of that it's so hard to tell when someone says hey i've got 300 bucks what watch should i buy i always say what do you what do you do like what do you want to do with it what do you want it to do if you don't know like these are the kinds of things that your watch can do um and and i just start throwing options and i like this okay if you don't like what we did with tommy like Do you like this? Okay, well, what about this?
Andrew I think the problem with that, especially in the forum setting, is the questions in and of themselves can be intimidating, right? Yeah. So the first question I would always ask is, how do you picture yourself wearing the watch? But then that opens up a whole bunch of other questions. Do you want something that's going to be sort of set it and forget it, and you'll look at it and just like it, but not have to worry about it? Do you want something that's going to be more sort of technical? But there's so many questions I can think of, you know, because I think I have the knowledge to get that person into the watch they want. But I think sometimes the process in and of itself can be intimidating. So what does that person want from me in that answer? That's really hard to figure out. That's fair. You know, because I know that some people might want me to ask those questions. They might want to have the conversation. Other people They just want me to say the name of a watch, and that's uniquely difficult, right? Because, shit, I don't know. I mean, I can think of, if I was going to go back and buy a first watch right now, I think I'd just buy the SKX again, you know, if I was there. So I'm happy to say that, but not everybody loves the SKX, right? And that's not going to be a perfect, I know for me, that would be a perfect first watch. If someone told me right now, hey, don't even think about it. Don't spend another moment thinking about it. Just go buy an SKX. I would be happy. I'd be happy. But that's so personal, right? That's not going to be the right answer for everybody.
Everett I think the question here is how does that watch collecting mentality, how do we as watch people be more approachable and be less elitist and be less... I mean, elitist is the best word I can come up with right now. Be less of an asshole and bring people into this hobby. sure because i think i think this is a hobby that is it's fun it's and it's more or less practical i mean it's i think it's certainly more practical than collecting spoons i like spoons i mean i like to eat cereal off of spoons actually i gotta say i'm a fork guy i'm just gonna throw it out there for cereal that's an interesting choice you can't eat you can't eat soup you can't eat cereal with a fork but but obviously if there's something i can't like my wife will eat macaroni and cheese with a spoon that's weird
Andrew Who does that?
Everett It depends on how big the spoon is. I've certainly eaten macaroni and cheese with the big kitchen stirring spoon that I've used to make the macaroni and cheese.
Andrew So, you know, every couple has that stupid conversation that they've had a hundred times that's like, why is it that we have this conversation? No, I mean, you know my point, right? But why is it that we don't have this conversation so many times? My wife, I mean, we don't eat macaroni and cheese a lot, obviously, but at some point we did, you know, when we're poor or whatever, or, you know, hard times, you know. Or lazy. Or lazy, right. You know, but she would always, she'd make macaroni and cheese or I'd make macaroni and cheese or whatever and she'd be serving it up and she'd say, do you want a spoon or a fork? Babe, I want a fork because I'm a grownup. Like, what are you talking about?
Everett But she eats macaroni and cheese with a spoon. It's like drinking water out of a coffee mug.
Andrew I do that. What? Yeah, sorry. So anyway. Yeah, right. Figuring out what it is you want, right? I think that's your point. Yeah. What is it you want to get out of it? And to the extent that you want to get something out of it, if you're asking me for my advice, how can I deliver that advice to you in a way that's not intimidating, that doesn't make you feel bad? You know, more times than not, I think that's questions. You've got to start with questions. But figuring out a way to feel it out, right? How is this person, what are they actually asking me? And can I read anything in terms of the way they're asking the question or can I ask some preliminary questions to sort of feel out what they want, I think is a huge part of it.
Everett And one last note on watch collecting. I want to hear. We talked about it. around like a January time frame, maybe December, January. And I talked to you and said that I'm I'm I'm going to be really, really deliberate about watch purchases this year because I don't want to get into the just frivolous purchasing of watches. Yeah. And I still haven't bought a watch this year. Actually, I got I received one as a gift. Yeah. You got that recraft. I got the recraft as a gift from a birthday birthday. And I still haven't bought a watch this year. I don't think I have either. And I'm No. No, neither of us. There have been no new watch alerts. Sorry guys. And this is not breaking news that I'm announcing the watch I've just purchased. But I wanted to make sure that- Is it the Speedmaster? A pair of them. I got us matching Speedmasters. Oh man, I love you so much. Why wouldn't I? I got them custom engraved. It's actually SpeedDaster. SpeedDaster. It's from a website. It's whatever. You don't have to worry about that.
Andrew But it looks just like a Speedmaster. Yeah. So everything's the same.
Everett Yeah. Whatever. But what I wanted to do this year was avoid the frivolous purchasing of watches just for the sake of. I wanted to make sure that every watch I acquired from that point on was meaningful to me in some way or special to me in some way. And, you know, I've found a whole bunch that I've been ready to pull the trigger on and just haven't. um and i i because what i want to do is avoid that consumerism side of of watch collecting the gas yeah and then simultaneously i'm also i'm never going to be a collector of anything i just i don't have the time or the inclination to have a really well curated collection of anything yeah shillow tools i got plenty of clothes but i don't think i'm ever going to be a collector. I'm a pretty utility-driven person, and I want to make sure that what I'm introducing to my life has value to it, is filling a hole, filling a gap, meeting a need that's been identified. So, still haven't made the choice. There's a couple that are on the radar that might happen, though.
Andrew Every time Brad Watch, Brad Holmes, posted his Nightwing this morning, and I was like, I just need to pull the trigger. I need to get a, uh, did I say Nightwing? Yeah, you did.
Everett I don't know why. We're tired. We, we had, we were up until one o'clock last night. You were up later than that. I was.
Andrew Yeah. Yeah. Uh, uh, uh, Citizen Nighthawk. He posted a Citizen Nighthawk, which is different than Nightwing. Um, also different than the Batwing. Different, all different things. Yeah. All different things. Uh, but, but yeah, no, I'm sort of in that same place, right? Where I've, I've done enough sort of, frivolous watch purchasing you know i bought my uh seiko kinetic diver my ska we did we did just lie and i'm going to correct it i'm going to interrupt you to correct it we did get on the waiting list for the affordable steel uh russian digital oh yeah the russian watch forum watch yeah we're both on the list for that my i didn't tell my wife yet it's 36 bucks you don't have to okay and we're wait listed For a $36 watch, come on! The Watch You Seek Russian Watch Forum has a 2019 project watch, I think. And it's an Electronica 55, the first ever stainless steel case. It's a Russian watch that I know very little about, but it looks, it's got sort of that F91W feel. It's super Russian, super Russian. The whole dial is Cyrillic. Uh, I'm stoked about it. And for 36 bucks, dude, give me two.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew I only put my name on the list for one. Yeah. I just did one as well. So we're wait listed, but I think it sounds like they're going to open it up beyond a hundred people. So I think I'm like one 26 and you're one 29 or something like that. We're pretty close. So hopefully we get in on that, but that was a little bit of a frivolous watch purchase, but we didn't purchase anything yet. I did sign up for prepay. So if they ask for money, I'll prepay.
Everett i don't know if i did or not all right there was a lot on that website in russian that's right i can't understand any of it including the watch yeah but it should be cool so i did lie a little bit but that's that's a cool watch that's a special piece it's unique it's a custom like custom watch it's a limited edition watch i think that fits all the criteria that i want to add to it i love digital watches i'm in all right well uh i think
Andrew It seems like it's a good time to sort of shut it down for the day. Anything else in terms of collecting that you wanted to hit on before we go? Be thoughtful. Be thoughtful about your purchases and don't worry too much about what you're doing. I think I would say that sort of to cap off the conversation. I think we spend time, you know, particularly Andrew and I, and probably you if you're listening as well, spend time thinking about this whole thing and what it means. Don't overthink it. If you want to watch, buy the watch. If you don't want the watch, sell the watch or whatever. But I wouldn't overthink it. You know, are you a collector? Are you something different? I wouldn't overthink that. And I know for me, I never have. And I think you're probably in the same boat.
Everett It's also okay if the most valuable watch in your watch collection is the least expensive.
Andrew Yeah. Yeah. No. And you know, my most expensive watch certainly isn't my favorite.
Everett Or most valuable. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
Andrew I think that's good. Well, do you have any other stuff you want to talk about this week? I think we both had some stuff that we've been, we were chatting about earlier.
Everett We, we've reached the end. Y'all. Oh my gosh. Today, today, the final episode of Game of Thrones airs.
Andrew I'm excited. I'm sad. I'm, I'm, I've got anxiety.
Everett And eight weeks ago, you heard it here first. We're going to be disappointed and it's okay. It's okay. I said it. I don't know what episode it was, but I remember sitting here and saying, you know what? I'm a little scared that I'm going to be disappointed with how it ends. And you know what? We're going to be. That's just the way it is. I'm pretty happy with the disappointment. This season, there is a lot of complaints going on about this season.
Andrew Whatever. Complaints about everything.
Everett But you know what? None of them are valid because everyone wants this perfectly told story given to them through the eyes of people with an unlimited budget, unlimited timeline. If these folks had it their way, Game of Thrones would go on for 25 years and would come to a screen goes black ending in the middle of an episode and call it a day. This season has been so visually stunning. Last week, I was sweaty. I felt like I had just gone on a 60 minute run at the conclusion of the episode. I was sweaty. I had an elevated heart rate. My wife went over to hold my hand. She's like, oh my gosh, why are you so sweaty? I was like, how are you not? it has been a terrific episode but here but here's here's the dilemma i'm in now what's gonna fill the void and there's there's some options out there uh i've caught the first half of a couple episodes of barry that airs immediately after game of thrones on hbo and it is hysterical it's a hater john hater john hater as a from what i've gathered from from watching half of a handful episodes he is a an assassin of sorts? Yeah, that's right.
Andrew He plays an assassin.
Everett But a bumbling assassin.
Andrew I don't think he's bumbling. I think that he's having an identity crisis. Is that different? It is different. He's not bumbling. I mean, there's nothing. He's effective. He's a good assassin. He's just in the midst of an identity crisis.
Everett Oh, okay. Well, now I'm even more intrigued. Next up, Chernobyl. Might fill the game of thrones void.
Andrew Well, but Chernobyl's I think a miniseries.
Everett I think I'm okay with it It'll it'll fill the void for a time. Oh for you. Yeah for me. What's gonna fill your personal void? Yeah, I don't give a shit about you guys I care about what's gonna fill my personal void as it comes to TV. I thought you meant in the catalog Oh, no, I don't know what comes next in the catalog, but I'm really excited for it I've heard all kinds of fan theories and talk about spinoffs of Game of Thrones and some prequels and Which, honestly, I think at the conclusion of Game of Thrones, I'm going to be really happy to re-watch the series three, four, five times a year. And then, you know, not worry about it.
Andrew You know, I'm not a go back and watch it again kind of guy. Do you watch it over again?
Everett Oh, fuck. I've watched the entirety of The Office 25 times or more. Same with Parks and Rec. I've watched Breaking Bad and Dexter probably five, ten times each.
Andrew I think Sopranos, The Wire. I'm sure there's other ones. Sopranos and the Wires, I think, are the only ones that I've deliberately, like, gone back because I just wanted to see... I wanted more.
Everett I'm on round three of The Wire right now. So good. Not season three. I'm working through the entirety of it for the first time. I understand. Yeah. Great. Yeah. But I just... I want HBO to come up with something of similar scale. No, not scale. I want the storytelling like what you're getting in Game of Thrones And there's some complexity there that hasn't existed in like from my perspective in television Really ever before.
Andrew Oh interesting, and you don't think Westworld's there.
Everett I think Westworld could have been They're not done, but I don't think they I think they lost a lot of momentum in the gap between season two and three Cuz three's not gonna air till next year sometime That's a two-year gap for a show that was just generating momentum. You can't get that back
Andrew Yeah, that seems like an incredibly long time. So you said season two ended in June?
Everett Yeah, last so June of 18. Season three is gonna air sometime in 2020.
Andrew From what I read, that is a big gap. I mean, I guess the scale of what they're doing is huge, but it's a phenomenal show.
Everett Season two was one of my favorite, like second seasons of any TV show ever made. They just they killed it. They knocked out of the park. That was great. But They are going to lose all their momentum. I'm going to probably miss it when it comes back on. I'm like, oh, season three is out.
Andrew Cool. You know, I felt like this before. I know when The Sopranos ended, that was a thing. People said, well, we're never going to see TV like this again. I didn't watch The Sopranos at the time it aired, but I watched it later. But I know that that was a conversation. People were like, this is an end of an era. And then I know I felt that way when Breaking Bad ended. I feel like Breaking Bad and Sons of Anarchy sort of ended at the same time and that was my whole TV life was those two shows.
Everett Breaking Bad ended way better though. Oh yeah. The last season of Sons of Anarchy was trash.
Andrew So stupid. That end scene shoot me. But yeah you know those two shows sort of ended right at the same time and I felt like man we're not going to be able to replace this and of course something is
Everett to fill the Game of Thrones void that is about to be created in my life.
Andrew You know, for me, I think Westworld is there, if not completely, then almost, but it is pretty disappointing that huge gap between season two and three. It seems a little, you know, I guess the magnitude of what they're doing with scope and the magnitude is huge, but it still seems like, gosh, that's a long time.
Everett If that had been the break between season four and five, maybe, but not two and three. It's too early. They need, they need more momentum. They need more viewership to be able to maintain the momentum.
Andrew When we talked, we talked shelves, building shelves, building shit. We talked about my, uh, epic podcast, publishing, uh, debacle debacle. We've talked about watch collecting.
Everett Yeah. Kind of philosophical discussion on it.
Andrew Right. I mean, I don't think we could ever call anything we say philosophical, but it's the musings of some drunkards. Uh, we've talked about. What's going to fill the gap of Game of Thrones? Anything else that we need to tell these people before we part with them for the week?
Everett Winter's here. And it's gone. Just like that. Here and gone. One day.
Andrew One day changed it all. Well, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us for this episode of 40 in 20. Don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Bye bye. Our music today is Bummin' on Tremolo by Kevin MacLeod of incompetech.com, licensed under creative commons by attribution 3.01.