The 300th Episode (reupload) (300)

Published on Thu, 01 Aug 2024 08:54:45 -0700

Synopsis

This podcast episode is a retrospective celebrating the 300th episode of the "40 and 20" watch podcast. The hosts, Andrew and Everett, reflect on their journey over the past six years, discussing how they started the show, memorable interviews, changes in the watch industry, and personal growth. They talk about their experiences interviewing notable figures in the watch world, the evolution of watch brands like Nodus and Monta, and how the podcast has impacted their lives. The hosts also express gratitude to their listeners, collaborators, and Patreon supporters. The episode concludes with a brief discussion of recent movies they've watched.

Transcript

Speaker
Andrew Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 and 20, the Watch Clicker podcast with your hosts, Andrew and my good friend Everett. Here we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Everett, happy 300 episodes. How the hell are you?
Everett I'm great. It's hard to it's hard to understand. It's hard for me to look back and be like three, 300 people listened to this many episodes, 300. Uh, no, I'm doing, I'm doing really well. This is, this is fun. You know, we had talked about doing something big or, uh, doing something special. Uh, ultimately at the end of the day, uh, it's felt good. Like let's just do what we do.
Andrew Exactly.
Everett Let's just do what we do. So I'm good. I'm excited. I'm excited to be here for the 300. time doing this with you, Andrew?
Andrew Well, not here for the 300th time and not even in front of these microphones for the 300th time or on this board, but we are together for the 300th time and probably more like 320 for all the times that we had to re-record an episode.
Everett I don't think it's been that many. Maybe, maybe like with special episodes and re-records like 320. Six or seven.
Andrew No, there's there's easily ten episodes That we got through the entire thing and then probably another 15 where we got at least 15 minutes in Yeah, a good many a good many six years of episodes, you know, I think what the I think my favorite part about that is, you know, we've had like a handful of like
Everett Oh, we were supposed to publish on this day and we actually published later or like, sorry, the episode didn't get uploaded.
Andrew But or we published last week's episode the second time because it was that good.
Everett We have literally in six years or just about six years never missed a week. Right. So like I said, you know, maybe two got published in the same week or whatever. Right. But 300 episodes. Damn near six years. We've never missed. a recording.
Andrew Every week there has been an episode for you to listen to. We're sorry for that.
Everett We are. Yeah, we are. I'm not. I changed my mind. I can't believe they're still listening. I mean, I think, I know there are a few people who were listening at the beginning that still listen today, but I think that there is some turnover, right?
Andrew And I don't blame them.
Everett I think there is some turnover. But yeah, Pretty cool.
Andrew Here we are. This would be a good podcast to get in on like right now. There is a lot of material to binge on.
Everett Yeah. Well, and if you think we say another hour of watches, food, drinks, life and other things we like, but it's not an hour ever. I think in that 300 episodes, there are probably something like 400 to 450 hours of our voices having been recorded and published to the internet. Now I do think something is going to happen, not this week, but next week.
Andrew Yeah. Yeah. We've talked, we talked about this, I don't know, six months ago and, and we put that off to be a future watch clicker problem. Um, and here we are now talking about it again for the first time since.
Everett I do believe that starting next week, our oldest episodes, so episode one will fall off.
Andrew We'll have to find a way to maybe re-upload it onto the website and keep like the archive on the website.
Everett I believe, I believe we've got all of the original files. I say all, it might not actually be all, but I believe we've got most of the files.
Andrew Meh.
Everett Meh.
Andrew Whatever. The first ones, they had that weird clicking until we learned to put it in airplane mode. We were using digital equipment. It wasn't great. Whatever. Think about how far we've come, man. We used to have to put our shit in airplane mode.
Everett Yes. Well, I mean, maybe that's that's the we're going to talk a lot about what's changed in watches, but let's talk about our first episode.
Andrew Yeah. So this is our our 300th episode, a retrospective. I think, I don't remember if it was Frank or, or Will that made this suggestion and I'm not going to go back through the text thread to, to look it up. So I'll attribute it to you both. Um, that was the recommendation. I kind of liked it. I, I like stopped pressing for ideas cause I asked, I was like, does anybody like have a, a thing that they think would be appropriate for 300? Um, And that was the idea that resonated. So this is our, our look back on 300 weeks of watch podcasting.
Everett And you know, if we had like a better editor, there'd be like clips and stuff. We're not going to do that. It's just going to be more of the same. It's just going to be us babbling. We don't pay him enough. So let's talk about, let's talk about that first episode. So Andrew, I have a distinct memory. So I lived in a different house. You lived in a different house. We both still lived in Eugene. Um, but I have a distinct memory of us sitting on my back porch. I had a patio in those days, uh, or a deck on my back porch and we were sitting there on some Adirondack chairs and we had yellow legal pads and we were just like spit balling ideas of this thing that we had talked about at that point for
Andrew Nine on a year.
Everett Yeah. And so we were like, okay, what are the things we need? Well, we need, um, a jingle and that jingle that we picked was hundreds of open source audio clips later. So that music is called bumming on tremolo. Yeah, it is by Kevin McCarthy. Uh, Kevin McCarthy is, I want to talk just briefly about Kevin McCarthy and then we'll move on. Kevin McCarthy has a website called... Oh boy, I know it and my brain just blanked. My brain blanked?
Andrew Uh-oh. It's gonna be one of them nights.
Everett Let's buckle up, friends. It's coming, you guys. Don't worry yourselves at all. So, Kevin McCarthy has a website called incompetech.com. not McCarthy. Kevin McCarthy is a politician. Kevin McCloud has a website called incompetent tech.com and the guy had, there were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of jingles on there that he has made oftentimes with instruments, real instruments, oftentimes with synthesized music that he offers to the public for free under a creative comments license. And I used, But we used Bowman on Tremolo for this. I've also used Kevin MacLeod music for other podcast projects I've used. It's terrific. But the point is we picked that music the very first day and we had a conversation about it's really important that our music and our intro is always the same because that is the anchor that people will need. You know, I think of Radio Lab when you turn on an episode of Radio Lab, you're like, Oh, I know what this is. I don't know what it's going to be. but I know what it is. I know what I'm in for. And so that was really important to us. And if you go back today and listen to episode one or episode two, for that matter, or anything one through 300, that intro is exactly the same. It, like you mentioned, different equipment, maybe different audio quality, but we decided that very first day we need to have this thing and you can literally go back and listen to episode one And it is identical. It is identical, which I think, Andrew, I think that's really freaking cool.
Andrew Uh, I'm just, I'm looking on our iTunes and episode four is as far back as I can go. Well, but here it is. I'll play it. Why isn't it playing? There it is. Episode four, Orient watches. I wonder if our episodes have started dropping off because we have some bonuses in there. Oh, interesting. It's already started. Uh, yeah. We have some, uh, shorts in there. So many reviews, some kind of little, little bonus episodes. I'm sure you're right. I'm sure that's exactly what's happened. We have three of them at least. Well, we have exactly, well, we must have four.
Everett We must have four. Yeah.
Andrew Yeah. Um, Well, hopefully those audios are captured somewhere else, and if not, whatever.
Everett I still have them on Podme, and I was looking at them earlier, so the audio file still exists. Yeah, so the point being, we are still today doing that same thing, although a lot has changed, right? Much has changed. So that first episode we recorded with a blue Snowball microphone and some sort of Samson.
Andrew A Yeti. Yeah, it was a Samsung something.
Everett Shitty digital microphones that we had plugged into a single computer, a single Mac computer and recorded in Audacity, which if you've ever recorded a local podcast, multiple host podcast, you know is a nightmare. It is a nightmare that Mac did not like that. For our experience, and I know not everybody experienced this, we had a ton of trouble with digital audio. So we had interference from cell phones and other electronics, and we really- We had interference with Kim's cell phone in the living room. Yeah, yeah, we really struggled with that.
Andrew And we couldn't get our audio levels right, and it was hard, because we were learning on the fly, right? We were learning production, we were learning sound engineering, And just how to host a podcast or not just, but just how to be radio voices. This is, this comes naturally ish to us because we're both kind of excruciating talkers. Yeah. But it's still a, it's still a learned skill to be able to host a coherent audio show.
Everett Yeah. Yeah. And, and we really didn't know, like you said, we didn't know any of that stuff. We didn't know anything about audio. We didn't know anything about microphones. We had to learn it all kind of in real time. And, and now looking back, you know, people will ask me for advice about audio. And I say, I can tell you definitively based on your budget, what you should be doing and whether or not your budget is appropriate for what you're trying to do.
Andrew Yeah. Your budget isn't enough.
Everett Which is not to say I'm an expert in audio equipment, but for entry-level spoken voice stuff, we've spent a lot of time thinking about this. We've spent a lot of time thinking about how do you capture, in a big room without treatment, how do you capture voice in the way that's most effective? What's going to work? What are you going to struggle with? Yeah, we learned all that stuff. But I think more notably than that is what we didn't know at the time, Andrew, is how little we knew about watches.
Andrew How little we knew about anything. We were just like, fuck it, let's jump in. Because the whole idea of the show, the whole premise of it was what we want doesn't exist. What we're looking for isn't out there, why can't it be us?
Everett Yeah. Yeah. And to the extent it did exist somewhat, you know, certainly two broke watch snobs preceded us. I think the great NATO, although it's maybe a little bit of a different thing, preceded us. You know, there were other people doing kind of what we wanted, but they certainly weren't doing it the way we wanted it to be done.
Andrew Yeah, the answers, our questions, like the type of questions that people like us ask, like the real weirdos ask, weren't being answered by and large. So we set out to find those answers and share them.
Everett And it should be noted right now, we've talked about this a number of times, specifically more generally, it was really about Like the affordable, the truly affordable watches, those entry level watches. And, you know, I think, Andrew, I'd have to check our notes, but I'm pretty sure that we had like a general idea of what percentage of the show would be dedicated to what dollar figures.
Andrew We were, I have the notes. I have all my notebooks in a folder. It was like 60% under $7.50. And then 30% north of that. I think we've stayed pretty damn close. Yeah. In the last like two years, I think we've migrated north and kind of more moved towards like maybe 30% under 700 and, and the other 70 south of say 5,000. But I, I think that comes with a, an actual understanding of the value proposition. Uh, and not, I think, I think we've learned it's not just the, the dollar sign. There's a lot that goes into that dollar sign that, that creates value, uh, and affordability as it were.
Everett Well, you know, I'd be happy just to, to shoot from the hip all night, but I know you have a bit of a, you've got a bit of organization for us and I'm, I'm curious to see if we, if we,
Andrew make even and what we're only 20 minutes in right yeah if we make even the blandest attempt to stick to a rubric what we okay so so my first uh overarching outline idea in talking about the last 300 weeks of the watch industry is i wanted to talk about the rise and fall of brands and i want to focus less on the fall of brands but i wanted to think about I mean, 300 weeks is almost six years.
Everett Just shy, two months shy of?
Andrew Like three months shy, I think. 12 weeks. So yeah, three months, exactly. That's how months work. I wanted to think about and consider that the last six years have been perhaps the most exciting in the watch industry since the invention of the quartz watch. Perhaps, yeah. Not just in the way of technological advancements.
Everett Maybe the 60s has an argument.
Andrew I think so, but this has been an era. This will be looked back on in watch history as a pivotal moment in the industry when people, not just brands, but people could start making watches and people could become brands. It didn't take the same kinds of things. It didn't take military contracts. It didn't take an innovative new technology. It just took some desire and some design chops and some like, go get it.
Everett Right. So with, with the advent of, uh, uh, crowdsourcing, it doesn't even require capital.
Andrew Yeah. And that was, that was big. It also created a problem. We saw a ton of brands with a, with a figure head who could generate a lot of excitement that couldn't get over that first watch hump.
Everett Hmm.
Andrew They could get a watch out there. They could get it crowdsourced, funded, produced, and into the hands of customers, but not again. And we saw a lot of that. Not just the last six, I'd say like probably the last 10 years has been a moment for a ton. Probably more watch brands have tried and failed in the last 10 years than in the last 50. So I want to talk about some of the brands that we've seen rise in the last six years. Yeah. And, and, you know, brands that we've kind of grown up with that, that we've been on a similar trajectory of, of from our fledgling in the nest state to not plateaued by any means, but stable for sure. And the first one I want to talk about is Notice. Notice was founded in 2017. Yeah. So that's right in the zone where we started. Later, I think we started talking about this in late 2016. When'd you move back?
Everett Yeah. No, February of 17 is when I moved back. So it would have been right then.
Andrew So February, March, 2017, I don't know what month Notice was founded, but same time is Notice is being founded. They're releasing their first watch as we're trying to kind of get our, get our mallards aligned to make this show a thing.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew So we came up and they were on our radar from the beginning because they were affordable. They were doing the thing. They were interesting. And, and people like you and me could buy them without like getting a divorce over it. Right. Right? Because, you know, when we first started doing this, a $250 watch was like, uh, Hey, I want to spend some money on a watch. Now it's like, if I say, I could, I could buy a $250 watch today. And it's not because our finances have changed. It's because like I could buy a $250 watch today and not ask permission because my wife would be like, Oh, it's only 250 bucks. Yeah. Yeah. You're fine. I appreciate that her emotional threshold for expenditure for watches specifically has increased. I buy a hundred dollar pair of shoes. She's like, what do you need another pair of shoes for? It's like, Hey, you know, this watch I'm looking at, it's 2,600 bucks. And she's like, okay, like let's just put some aside for the next couple of months, but a hundred bucks, it's the emotional threshold. But anyway, um, notice, right, we're starting at the same time where we're, we're, putting our feet into this really interesting space of Kickstarter and the first real exposure of brands to Chinese OEMs who can do some custom stuff, but they also have this enormous catalog of off-the-shelf where you can create your own watch, kickstart it, and fund and produce it. Everyone can have a watch brand, but that's not exactly what Notice is doing at all. And they get over that first watch hump and the second watch hump and that third watch hump. They start to define themselves all while we're watching and just drooling over this brand that's notably different than what we're seeing throughout the rest of the industry.
Everett Let's talk about that. Let's talk about that first watch. So the, so the notice Trieste, uh, it was a sort of bathyscaphe skin diver ish. Let's just go through specs here. So this is a 41 millimeter by 50 millimeter skin diver ish dive watch. 200 meters of water resistance. NH35, unsurprisingly. Oh, you could also get it with an STP111. Superluminova, Double Dome Sapphire, $350. 13 millimeters thick, $350. Male and Lynx, you know, it's an attractive watch. Still looking at the pictures of this today. It's an attractive watch, but it's really, very striking at how far notice has come. This is a stamped clasp, kind of a shitty stamped clasp, if you ask me.
Andrew It's 2017, man.
Everett I know. Well, I know. I guess maybe that's the point, right? It is a shitty stamped clasp. This is the watch that kicked off notice. And it was a watch that people were fairly excited about, right? At 350 bucks, it was in the affordable range, even in 2017. It was something special. And there were, you know, I think the microbrand scene really gets kicked off in like 2007, 2008. I think Bill Yao and Raven are making watches at that time. But this is like, something noticed it's something kind of special. And I think people recognized really early, like, hey, these two young dudes from L.A. are doing something kind of neat. And here we are now six years later and notice is an absolute powerhouse in the small brand space as a brand themselves.
Andrew Never mind what they're doing for other brands.
Everett That's right.
Andrew Yes.
Everett That's right. Just really a fantastic success story. I don't think you and I would claim any sort of responsibility, but I do think we feel like... I mean, we're responsible.
Andrew We do feel... We are responsible for... A certain amount of kinship with the... For the Skin Diver. With that brand, right? Because we grew up together. We were doing really different things in the same space. within our own little silos, we're doing the same thing. We're kind of these new kids on the block who maybe don't have much of a right to be there, but because of the democratization of the space, we're fucking here and we are going to do our thing and we're just going to grind. And we grew up together doing the same thing and very different ways.
Everett It's pretty neat.
Andrew And here they are, right? They got over all of those hurdles that a brand faces and are now arguably one of the most influential brands in the space.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew Not just as Nodus, but also as their... As Nodex. As Nodex and as the design lab, they're huge. I mean, they're way bigger than we are.
Everett Another brand I want to talk about that sort of came up at that same time. So Manta, so Manta actually goes back a little bit further than us. Manta introduced their first watch, I think it was the Ocean King in 2016. Yeah, in 16. And when they released the Ocean King, they they released it as sort of a traditional retail watch. And we've talked with both Justin and Mike about this on the show, about how that launch ultimately turned out to be a failure. The price was pretty high. I think at the time the price was somewhere like $2,500 because it accounted... We're back to that now. Because it accounted for distribution costs and Then in 2017, they come back with, it wasn't the Atlas, it was, well, the Triumph and what's their other GMT?
Andrew The Atlas is the GMT.
Everett Was it the Atlas? I want to say, anyway, in 2017, they come back. So this again is when you and I are like really like starting to fill out the space, starting to learn more, starting to read more, really getting into it. and re-release these watches at a much lower price point, they wind up doing a thing where they refund folks who had paid full retail for that first release, and they wind up giving them money in a move that I think probably saved that company.
Andrew It ingratiated them to everyone in the world who cares about Manta.
Everett Yeah, perhaps. Yeah.
Andrew It's one of the best PR risks that's ever been taken.
Everett And I don't think it is an exaggeration for us to now say that Manta is hot shit, right?
Andrew Is that unfair? It is the hottest of shit. Manta is, bang for your buck, one of, if not the best affordable watch you can buy. Yeah. The whole line. I don't like the... sunburst on the on the nobles but you know you can get flat dials on all the other parts of their line and they're iterative too that's something that i've really appreciated about both of these brands that we've talked about is is each release you know you get to a year on average they've improved upon it they're like oh yeah by the way this this one has the new bracelet and and this one has the new end links and this one has the new clasp and And this one, you know, we did this little different thing with the hands and like, you're not, you're not getting Tiso where it comes out of the factory one way for the rest of the production life of that watch. You're getting iterative improvement. Like the Atlas that I have, if I buy an Atlas today, it is objectively better in several ways. Yeah. I love the Atlas. It's in my, in my watch box right now. It's not as good as the one I can buy today, but four years later.
Everett Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I looked up a release price on the, on the triumph today, 1550 and you know, there's been like 2000 right now.
Andrew Yeah. I think 2100. Uh, and that's 1550 on a bracelet.
Everett There are, a number of improvements they've made. And there are also a number of just increases that we, you know, we're at levels of borderline unprecedented inflation globally. And so there's really good reason for those prices to have come up. Justin's also been really transparent with us and with the public about their pricing model and how it was the intent from the beginning to get into a place where their margins were able to allow them to grow and develop more efficiently, but.
Andrew Well, but Monta's doing a thing too, where they're, they're not necessarily improving their designs. They're improving the way they do things.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew Like look at how cool I can do the same thing. Yeah. I'm using, I'm using diamond lasers, not just regular lasers, which is cool as shit. If you care. And I think I care because that technological advancement, that R and D that they're doing, leads to better watches. The finishing on Manta is, is, is just next level. You don't find it under $5,000. Yeah. But for Manta.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew I'm going to say, but for a lot tonight, I think.
Everett I think that's right. Yeah. The, you know, the, I think these two brands in particular notice in Manta really represents, you know, I wouldn't say they're our favorite brands, but also they're kind of my favorite brands. Right.
Andrew They're our thing, man. They are the affordable, like the undisputed affordable champions of the world. Because they're not just giving you a watch that you can afford to buy. They're giving you bang for your buck. There's plenty of $500 watches out there, plenty of $700 watches, plenty of $2,000 watches that just don't hold a candle to what these two brands can do.
Everett And it's not to say they're not other brands that we really love and appreciate that are very close. You know, I think of Astro and Banks. I think of EMG.
Andrew I think of Laurier is a good example. Acerica is a good example. Formax. Circula is a good example. Formax is a perfect example because they're doing a similar technology thing that Manta is doing, but in a different way.
Everett Yeah, the vibe feels really similar. Yeah. Yeah. So, but I think as far as like, I can Ferrer's a good example of like just doing cool shit and doing it really well Yeah, and and brew is maybe its own thing, but I can that's a whole other that's a whole episode I think in terms of what these brands have Represented in the various spaces that they represent things They we feel really close to that. It just feels like their trajectories have kind of mapped ours. Maybe not trajectories that's unfair their trajectories as far exceeded ours, but They're, they're. They're growing up. They're growing up happened around the same, happened at the same time.
Andrew I played, I played high school football with Dhammakan Su. Okay. That man plays in the NFL. I do not. Is he retired? He's got to be retired. I don't think he's allowed to play in the league anymore. I don't think he's, I think he was invited to try his, his gangster shit elsewhere. Uh, but yeah, I think like he's in a whole, they're, they are in a whole different class than we are. But we were kids together and it's cool.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew Yeah. And we were, and we were kids together and played as kids together. Yeah. Right. And I think this is a good, a good segue to move into some of my favorite, our favorite interviews and episodes that we've had. And the first one that I picked was episode 84 with Justin from Manta. And this is the squirrel fucking episode. That episode, when we recorded it, so that's a year and a third. A year and a half, yeah. You know, a year and a half in. And we've had interviews before, but we pulled like a big known brand.
Everett Yeah, we were excited. We were like, holy shit.
Andrew Did we do it? Have we made it? And who knows, like, I don't even know if we've made it now, but at the time... We have not, that's okay. It's like, this guy is willing to talk to us?
Everett He wants to come on and talk to us?
Andrew He's... Who lied to him? Like, we're not... Are we supposed to pay him? Like, is that how this interaction goes? And he comes on, and I think we both made a decision is that we were just going to be us.
Everett Yep. We talked about it.
Andrew And yeah, we talked about it ahead of time. We're like, let's, we're just going to be us. We're not going to try to pivot or adapt to this or be something that we aren't. This is not going to be a defining turn for how we do this. Like he's, he's here hanging out with us. Two to one, man. And we're going to talk about that squirrel fucking on the, on the fence. And we talked at length about whether or not to keep that in. Yeah. And we did. And we did. Cause this is, we, we just wanted to be us. And that was, I think a really important decision that we made without realizing how important it was. Because I think it would have been pretty easy for either of us who can be pretty good code shifters. Code shifter? Yeah.
Everett Code changing? What's that? Yeah, I think that's, I think, I think you did the job.
Andrew To, to make a pivot. To be like, we're going to be highbrow now. We're going to start seeking out, you know, these little bit more expensive brands. We're going to be a little bit more refined. No. That's not us. And I think that was a, that was a defining moment. Like the squirrels fucking specifically keeping that in with Justin, who's wearing a fucking bow tie while we're drinking bloody Marys and just like, no, we're just going to be us. We're just going to be dudes who like watches. And if you want to talk to us about them, we'd be super happy to talk to you about it.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew And I, that was a, I think a really important decision that we made. And I don't know, maybe it was, maybe it's to our detriment longterm, but here we still are, you know, 220 episodes later. I don't even remember anything we talked about in that episode. Nope. Me either. I just remember the squirrel fucking and being like, we should, we let's do it. And that was our commentary back. It's like you have Justin on from Manta and you leave in talking about squirrels fucking on a fence. Like that's what we're about, man. Yeah. That's our thing. Yeah. We're just dudes talking about watches.
Everett No, you're, you're right though. There was a decision made that day. Um, and, and yeah, you know, there's no right or wrong decisions in these things, but it was like, this is how we're, this is how we're going to roll. This is how we're going to do interviews. And ultimately, I think it was Brad Holmes. Brad Holmes, who I believe, gosh, I'm gonna screw it up. I think Brad Holmes wrote at the time for a blog to watch. God, I'm regretting saying that, but I believe that's right.
Andrew He wrote for an influential watch media outlet.
Everett And we at the time were talking pretty regularly on Instagram and I had said, Hey, you know, we're at this place where a year and a half in we've recycled a lot of content. Um, and we're not struggling with show ideas, but we are definitely trying to figure out like, how do we, how do we continue this thing in a way that's going to be interesting? And Brad had suggested that we do interviews. And we had done a number of interviews at that time.
Andrew That wasn't our first or second or even our, I think we'd probably done 15, maybe 10, 15 at that point.
Everett But it was by way of Brad Holmes recommendation to us. Like, I think it really makes sense for you guys to do interviews that we made that transition. Our first interview was Eric from EMG watches.
Andrew Our first step, our first interview was Tommy, who happened to be in town at the time.
Everett We won't count that one. Episode 17, we recorded with Eric of EMG. And, you know, not to take anything away from Eric or EMG by saying Justin was our first big interview. Eric was equally a big deal for us at the time, right?
Andrew Yeah, he was a brand owner.
Everett It was like, man, this guy's down to come talk. And, you know, I think we still today have a good relationship with Eric. Probably don't talk to him as much as I could or should. But he was the first one that it felt like, I like what you guys are doing, and I'm happy to support what you're doing, and I'm happy to have you guys support what we're doing.
Andrew Because EMG to this day has produced some of my favorite watches.
Everett The Nemo, I still think, is the most underrated microbrand watch ever made. without a doubt. I still wear my Nemo on a regular basis and that watch to me, I put it on and I'm still like, this is a banger.
Andrew It's a perfect watch.
Everett With that bezel and the dial is perfect. You know, that brand I think for us really felt, you know, we talked about Nodus, we talked about Manta in terms of timeline. EMG at the time and even still today really felt to me like this is a brand that is what we're doing. This is what we're doing. We're doing this brand. These guys are making watches because they love them. They're really high quality. They're fun. They're interesting. They're good. They're members of the community. They're in the community and they're making these cool watches. That felt to me at the time and still does today. Maybe it's different, but still feels to me like that's the brand that we're the same as. We're the same as these guys.
Andrew Yeah. I think that might be a more appropriate comparison.
Everett And you know, it really, I think for me, and I believe you feel the same way, Andrew, it made us feel like, all right.
Andrew We're here and people are okay with us being here.
Everett People are okay with us. Not that we made it. But people don't hate us.
Andrew Yeah. Like, oh, we maybe weren't invited, but nobody's told us to leave. Yeah, that's right.
Everett That's right. Oh, and they actually, that guy bought me a drink. Yeah. Yeah. That's great.
Andrew Look at me go. Yeah.
Everett What other episodes Andrew?
Andrew Oh, uh, next up. And this is, I think a little bit of an out of left field. Episode 92, Michael Happy from Gavox. Gosh, that guy. That is one of the most fun interview interactions I've ever had. I don't know that I've ever met somebody so passionate and eccentric and fun as Michael Happy. I absolutely loved that episode. And he's so committed to what he's doing. He's like, I'm going to be the first watch on Mars. I'm like, fuck yeah, you are. You're going to be the first watch on Mars. I don't know how anyone could not believe you. I don't think he's going to be the first watch on Mars, but I do think he could be.
Everett You know, he's so Michael Happy. This is a person I learned listening to two broke watch. But can we just sorry, I want to get back to Michael Happy.
Andrew I'm going to take we should probably talk about Mike and Kaz.
Everett I'm going to take 15 seconds. Maybe maybe even a few more than that. Mike and Kaz from two broke watch knobs. So we Andrew and I both but but I really got into watches. when two broke watch knobs was debuting, when they were brand new, when they were fresh, when they were sexy. And they still are those things. You know, I, in a lot of ways, the way those guys talked about watches shaped how I think about watches. And when we started doing this, those guys had at that point really kind of hit off. They were really popular. People were into them. They had sway. And both of those guys, Mike and Kaz spent time with me individually, trying to figure out producing and trying to figure out hosting and recording and, and talk to us.
Andrew It was, uh, they were very much a rising tide or what's rising tide lifts all boats. Is that the phrase? It sounds right to me.
Everett And I think it's the right sentiment, Andrew. they were gracious and awesome and they made a cool product. And, uh, it, you know, it's, I sometimes feel like my cynical side says, yeah, they stole our thunder because they introduced when we'd started talking about it, but they were in terms of having a, a role model, Uh, they were huge for us. You know, we, we even when we were doing our planning meetings, how do we differentiate ourselves from this product? How do we be different from them? Because we don't want to recreate what they're doing, but they were always.
Andrew Yeah. Cause as we're, as we're like workshopping what we want to look like, they're doing the things that we were like setting out to do. Yeah.
Everett That, that, that's right. But you know, They didn't ever have to talk to us. They didn't ever have to spend time with us. And they both did. Kaz has been on the show. Um, you know, Mike's too cool. I don't know about that. I think he would have come on the show had we asked him, but fuck that guy. No, I'm just, you know, love those guys. Mike and Kaz, you know, I think we have passed you in episodes now, which was a goal of ours, an unspoken goal of ours for a long time. We've done it. But... Bitches! They paved the way for this. They really did. And I have a ton of gratitude for all the support that they gave us. Both, I mean, I think they were patrons for a long time. Hell, they still might be. I don't know. And, you know, just really appreciative to those guys. So back to Michael Happy. I learned about Michael Happy from those guys. And, you know, him being on the show, I think he was one of their only interviews at the time. And I was like, this guy's crazy and weird.
Andrew He's like a Gallagher, man. He's just like, he was so hard to contain. Spastic. Yes, and so enthusiastic. I loved it.
Everett It's this also, I thought a little bit about Michael Happy, like what makes that guy, he's got this like bizarre combination of hubris and freneticism. that come together in a way that's not... It's not off-putting. Yeah.
Andrew It's inspiring.
Everett It's like the clash of the two things makes the bad parts of both things fade away. It just is like this bizarre amalgamation of two aspects that should be bad. He's frenetic and he's really egotistical. And, but when they come together, it's in so endearing, right? It's like, how is it that you're saying all these ridiculous things about how great you are? And I love it.
Andrew And I believe you. And I want to help you. Like, so I have a Gavox wall clock right in front of, in one of my bathrooms. So I see it every day. I think about Michael happy every day. Cause I, and I intentionally put that clock right there. Because that is an energy that I want to think about every day.
Everett Michael, you're terrific. We love you.
Andrew Loved it. Episode 138. This could be the biggest episode for me that we ever had. Our first Michael Frantz interview.
Everett Gosh. I told Kim, I was like, babe, this guy, He's like a big deal and he's British. And he's like a big deal. And she was like, and I was like, no, he's a big deal. He's a big deal.
Andrew Like a really big deal. And then we have him on and he's just a dude. And you know, Michael France is the, like one of the most lovely people I've ever met, but just a pure professional. We couldn't, we couldn't break him if we tried. We could get, we could do an episode. I think it'd even be game for it if like, let's break Michael France. And I don't think we could do it. Yeah. But it was like, you know, we have Justin and I'm like, have we done it? We have Mike on and I'm like, I, I think we've made it. I think we're like respectable, media personnel at this point, like this isn't a dude who's just going to like come to my house. This is a real guy. This is like a real important person in the industry. And he's going to come talk. I went into that. I don't go into interviews nervous. Yeah, no, I felt the same way. I was fucking nervous. Yeah, me too. And then he just melted it away. I don't know if it was the accent. I don't know if it's he just has like all the aura of this comfort, like If you were to see Mike France drinking tea, sitting in a recliner in the corner of your living room, at my current age, I'm 35 years old, I would not have any hesitation to just climb up into his lap. Thank you. He just has that. He's so disarming. He's so personable. He's so engaging. This guy could sell ketchup popsicles to a woman in white gloves. He and but that that's not what he cares about. He just is just so genuine, too. But also, that was such a huge pull for us because we're at 138. So we're what, three years in?
Everett Not quite yet.
Andrew Two and a half. Two and a half years in. And what? Why is he talking to us?
Everett You know, he has that thing. So in 2000, circa 2006, I met a fellow named Chris Connor, who at the time was the CEO of Sherwin-Williams. I was a young manager trainee at Sherwin-Williams. And I met him in a room with like 10 other manager trainees. And he was there just to talk to us about, oh, this is the, you know, we probably spent about an hour with him. you know, it was one of those things, right? It's just like, Oh, I get it. He had the hair and he had the tone and he had the disposition and he just has this, he had this genuine, I was like, that guy makes millions of dollars a year because he makes everybody feel calm. He's competent, he's smart, but there's a lots of competent and smart people. He makes everyone in the room feel so important. Yes, yes, exactly right and Mike France has that you know, it's that same thing He's just one of those people that you meet where you're like Yep, I get it and you know, I think Mike could be I Think Mike could probably be in a position where he makes a lot more money than he does at Christopher Ward I'm sure he's doing fine at Christopher. Let's be clear.
Andrew I've seen his living room. He's doing fine
Everett But I think, you know, he's one of those people, he could be... He could be doing finer. Finer, probably, because he just has that thing. So, you know, the other episode for me, and I feel like we're going to isolate, what, five or six episodes here. Whatever. It's our show. I think it's a bit of a disservice to some of the other people that we've had on the show. But the other one for me that I was like, really gobsmacked. And still that I look back, even probably more so than some of these others we've talked about is Eric Wind. Episode 160. Fuck. Episode 160, we have Eric Wind on the show.
Andrew Why is he even talking to us?
Everett Yeah. And he did. You know, and Eric is not Mike France or Chris Conner from Sherwin-Williams. He's not that guy. He doesn't have any obligation to talk to anybody. Well, That's actually a good point. He doesn't have the same interest in talking to us, I don't think, even with Wind Vintage. But he's also not like, he's not that super charisma guy, right? Not to say he's not charismatic, because he definitely is. But Eric's charisma is not this sort of... Center of the universe, pulls everyone into his orbit kind of guy. It's more the genuine depth of his knowledge and his ability to have humility notwithstanding the depth of his knowledge.
Andrew He was hard to talk to because of how deep his knowledge went.
Everett Hard for us to talk about, certainly. I mean, he knows more about specific watches than we know about all watches.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett Right. In terms of how it was made, you know, what the methods were, what the means were. I mean, you know, you've talked a little bit about like, oh, we need to have a metallurgist on to talk. Eric knows that stuff. Yeah. He would be just as capable as the metallurgist of talking to us about why specific metals are better for specific. Because he just knows everything. Everything. And I don't just mean materials.
Andrew references, uh, you know, dates of manufacture, the guy, and the guy talked about like vintage speakers and, and like the guy just knows everything.
Everett And he is probably one of a handful, maybe let's say a hundred people in the world that can actively influence the value of watches by way of his opinions about what watches should be.
Andrew Yeah. So if you're looking to sell a vintage piece.
Everett Talk Eric Wind into thinking it's cool.
Andrew Maybe drop a couple hundred bucks in his pocket. So outside of episodes, some people that I wanted to just mention is like people who have been super fun and I can't believe that I got the chance to either virtually or in real life meet them. Mike Pearson, who is just an absolute blast to interact with. Yeah. His enthusiasm and his energy is just intoxicating. Brett Williams. I have on more than one occasion people like, Oh, you have a podcast. Do you ever talk to anyone famous? Like, well, Brett Williams knows me by name and face and he has an IMDb page. So like, yeah, like kinda. And he's also just a straight homie who loves watches and loves doing the thing. We should get Brett back again.
Everett And that's Brett Williams of Albany Watch Company. Tool Watch Company.
Andrew Now Tool Watch Company. Nick Mankey, who is just a dude doing a super cool thing. Yeah. And I love him. And John Ferrer, who is also just the coolest dude doing the coolest thing. And every time you interact with him, you feel like the only important thing in the world.
Everett Yeah. I'd add a couple. Ken Lam always been just a total peach.
Andrew D.U. Wu was super fun doing micro rotor shit and Venturine like all at once, like the ambition of that.
Everett Andrew Perez, Tom Clements.
Andrew Oh yeah, Andrew. Fuck.
Everett Andrew's just the best. Andrew Perez. I think, I think for me, Andrew Perez of Astro and Banks. Uh, I've, we've had him on the show a handful of times and, but I've also spent a lot of time with that guy and there is no person in all of watches, maybe besides John Ferrer, uh, those two guys really, who I felt like were just beyond any sort of, beyond any sort of like business or marketing thing. We're just like, who are you as a human and how can I connect to you as a person? Those two guys, Andrew Perez, John Farrar, huge shout out to you because you're not just great brand owners and you're not just cool people and you're not just fun to talk about. You're genuinely amazing people that have made me feel like a cooler person just by knowing you.
Andrew Can we talk about somebody who hasn't been on the show, but who has also been influential and really meaningful in this whole journey?
Everett Yeah.
Andrew Debbie, man.
Everett Oh my gosh.
Andrew Case in crown, Debbie, who is for everyone in this space of the industry, just like somebody who we all know and love and you don't, we don't get to know her without this. And I'm glad that like, All these people have been so either knowingly or unknowingly really influential in not just the show, but in our lives. And I just appreciate it. It's been, you know, we started this thing just to talk watches and to kind of fill a gap that we perceive. And I don't think we ever took into account what we would be able to glean from it or get back. And that's all awesome stuff.
Everett Next up.
Andrew Favorite changes we've seen in the industry in the last six years.
Everett Yeah, it's actually pretty straightforward and simple for me. I think the change from quote unquote overbuilt to ergonomically efficient watches is my favorite change that I've seen. I think we've seen a renewed emphasis on thinness. And I'm going to say, you know, love them or hate them. Manta, for me, has been the most important player in this particular dimension. But the thinness of a watch has become, for me, the most important dimension. I'll take a watch that's anywhere from 36 millimeters to 42 millimeters and happily wear it. But if you're thicker than 11 or certainly 12. Did you just gulp? Yep. I'm gonna, I'm gonna hesitate, right? Uh, so for me, that's been the biggest change. I think right now, today, we are seeing several drops of watches with 100 plus meters of water resistance and at or under 10 millimeters happen every year. And that to me, is the biggest change, the biggest development in watches. And I don't mean $10,000 watches. I mean watches starting at well under $1,000, we're seeing come in at 10 millimeters. And for me, 40 and 20, 40 and 20, it's like, oh, these are the most important dimensions of a watch. It should be 40 millimeters and it should be 20. And, and, you know, even, even early on, we acknowledge that that's a bit of a, there's a little bit of flexibility there.
Andrew Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Everett Even on the 20, not in the 20, but we weren't thinking about thickness at the time because nobody was thinking. No.
Andrew Cause everyone was 12 and a half to 13 and a half thick everyone.
Everett And so for me, that's the biggest change. And it's the thing I'm most happy about watches. We're getting fully spec'd. automatic watches coming in at well under 11 millimeters on a regular basis now, and that's a game changer for me. I think watches wear in 2024, the average watch wears significantly better than it did in 2018. Even at 42 to 44 millimeters?
Andrew Sure. If you're bringing it in at 10, 10 and a half? At 42 millimeters, I'll give you 11 without a reservation. And that's huge. What I wanted to mention about my favorite big changes is we're not seeing catalog releases. Yeah. They exist, right? They're still out there.
Everett I actually think even in 2018, there wasn't a lot of that.
Andrew They still happen. Yeah. When we see a new brand launch, we're seeing soup to nuts design, innovation, and there's some brands that aren't, right? But by and large, you know, I think studio underdog. That is a soup to nuts, whole new design theory being released. Brands like that that are showing up and saying, Hey, this is a wholly new watch. This isn't just a watch that has, you know, maybe a different handset or different dial color, or I use this different end link. They are wholly designed the relationships that we're seeing between Uh, new brands and OEMs or manufacturers direct creates this environment where brands are showing up and not competing with the other brand who just did a different dial color or different handset. They're introducing whole new designs. And that's awesome. I love seeing that, that we're not just getting new dial colors. We're getting new watches and more is more and more is better. And I love that.
Everett You know, we've been doing this retrospective. We talked a little bit about how we've changed. We've talked about how the industry has changed. We've talked about things that have stayed the same and things that have changed. You know, there's a lot more that could be said, you know, in the context of quote unquote our here.
Andrew We can't obviously we define the hour. It's our show.
Everett We can't talk about everything. But before before we kind of shift away here, Andrew, I think there's one thing that is really important that we do talk about. So maybe the most important thing when we started in 2018, we were just a couple of assholes and a couple of microphones to And we didn't know anything about watches and we just did it. And you can actually, if you do, if you are so inclined and go back and listen to the early episodes, you know, starting in like episode five, we start talking about field watches and pilot watches. We did entire episodes dedicated to certain types of watches and in some really real ways, we were learning about watches in real time, right? So what is a field watch? Well, shit, I don't know. Let's go learn about what is field. And I think that that was perhaps for us and hopefully for other people, what made it interesting, right? It was the discovery of the thing. But at one point, an important thing happened. We talked about it earlier. We transitioned from that discovery process to interviews and As we were interviewing people, we, you know, kind of, we kind of did a lot. We interviewed some, uh, Jeff Batchelor of Elgin Time. You know, we didn't really have a standard for like, who do we interview? And we still don't today. If you, if you, if you think you should come on the show and we should interview you, let's fucking do it.
Andrew Yeah. We're happy to talk to anyone. We're not interesting enough.
Everett Episode 79, we come up with an episode. I had been talking to a guy on Instagram. watch reviewer, and I say, hey, why don't you, and actually I think maybe you came up with the concept, why don't you come on our show and talk about the life of a watch review? And we had this guy named Will. Fucking asshole. Who had a website called Watch Clicker. Oops. And we had Will come on, and we just talked to this fucking guy about what his process is for watch reviews.
Andrew And so to set the stage here, this is early COVID. So we're on the back porch with a card table with two monitors set up and our whole recording studio set up outdoors.
Everett It was like like the first month of lockdown.
Andrew Yeah, it was it was early COVID. It was early. It was early enough that we could sit outside and record. So it's gotta be March, April, maybe May. I don't remember exactly when. I mean, you could look it up. I could probably tell you. It doesn't matter. Um, but we're on the porch in Adirondacks with some webcams. April 29th, 2020. Dual monitors, our whole recording studio on the deck. Yeah. Set the stage of our, of our first meeting.
Everett And we just jammed and we hit it off, I would say. I would say we hit it off. It was later that week that I was messaging with Will and I said, you and I had talked. Yeah, we'd talked. And so I messaged Will on Instagram and said, hey, there's something I'd kind of like to talk to you about. And he says, okay, I'm really busy right now. Can we talk later? I can't remember. We set a time. I was like, sure, I'll call you then.
Andrew Meanwhile, in that intervening period, he told his wife, hey, I think they want to pitch a partnership.
Everett And you know, it was really, it really just made a ton of sense. Made all the sense. Will had a website and he did nothing but written and photographic reviews. We didn't have a website, although we had talked quite a bit about it.
Andrew And we'd talk to an SEO guy about it and turned him down and it kind of went a little sideways after that for a minute.
Everett And, and, you know, so it just made perfect sense. And when, when I, when I asked Will, when I, when I pitched, Hey, we were thinking like, this just makes a ton of sense. Why don't we do, why don't we each do what we're doing, but combine our efforts and collaborate? And he was like, I knew you were going to ask that. I've already talked to my wife. And the answer is yes. Thus, Forty and Twenty became Forty and Twenty, the Watch Clicker podcast.
Andrew And Watch Clicker grew by two.
Everett And Watch Clicker grew by two. And subsequently, we've been joined by Mike Rezak and then later left by Mike Rezak. Fuck Mike Rezak. We were joined more recently by Frank Affronti.
Andrew Well, Mike, and to be fair, Mike did kind of decline and Frank did not.
Everett That's right. That's right. And we've had a handful of wonderful writers for Arista Bra, Andreas, you know, these people that have become part of our family, both in the world of what we're doing and also just completely good friends. So it's really important that we say to all those people, Will and Frank and Mike and all those folks, Evan, I'm sorry, Evan, I almost missed you, Evan, To all these folks that have been doing this thing with us, it's just been such a pleasure. We're not retiring. This sounded like a retirement speech. We're going to keep making episodes. Sorry. It's just been such a treat. And I'm so thankful to Will that he said yes. And I'm just so happy to be doing this.
Andrew But not Mike.
Everett But not Mike. No, you know, we still actually I text with Mike nearly every single day. Nearly every single day. And you do, too.
Andrew I do. Yeah. Not during my work week, so I really don't text much while I'm at work.
Everett So, you know, Will and WatchClicker and Frank and Mike and Evan and all these guys, so thankful for them. They've been here in real time with us as we did this thing. Jesus Christ, am I missing anybody? Do I need to look at the masthead?
Andrew We're missing everyone, right? We've done dozens and dozens of interviews. We've had dozens and dozens of writers we've interacted with, been influenced by and impacted by untold amounts of people. And we deeply apologize. That will Benny if we if we aren't giving you an appropriate shout out in this very off the cuff conversation. Yeah. You deserve it. And we suck. We know that you you're the one listening to us. That's not our fault. You're listening and we appreciate you. And never mind the fact that we can't specifically and by name thank each and every person who downloads and listens to this show every single week for whatever reason. We really appreciate it. It's a weird thing for me, and I'm sure for you too, Everett, that people give a shit about what we have to say.
Everett Yeah. Well, no, I think that's right, Andrew.
Andrew So we appreciate it. Thank you. Last up for the agenda are takeaways. What does 300 weeks of this leave you with?
Everett Gosh, Andrew, it's such a weird, it's such a weird thing to think about. You know, in some ways this has changed my life. In other ways, it hasn't. I'm a guy, anybody who's been listening to our other things section for the last six years knows that I'm a guy who collects hobbies. My hobby is collecting hobbies. Watches has been one of the most consistent things in my life. You know, I might go a year without fishing. I might go a year without golfing, although not really. But, you know, I have these things in my life that I can come and go from. Watches was the hobby that I committed to in a way that I can't get away from.
Andrew No, we're stuck here.
Everett And that's not to say it's a burden, but it is sometimes a burden, right? There is sometimes that feeling of like, I don't feel like doing this this week. But the point I'm trying to make here, and I'll make it, I'll try to be brief, is that by way of having committed myself to doing something and actually having done it, every single week for the last six years, I've learned a ton about maintaining my joy for a thing, a voluntary, recreational, joyful thing, maintaining my joy for that thing through tedium, right? So we've got, folks, you know, there are friends that I've made through this thing. Uh, I'm not gonna say anybody by name, but there's one person in particular, and if you hear this, you'll know I'm talking about you, who has like at times struggled with watches, uh, in ways I maybe don't completely understand, but has gotten mad about them and has like gotten mad about the community and has gotten mad about probably his own, uh, consumption of the hobby. And it's created joy for him, but also created consternation and confusion maybe. And, you know, ultimately he's a smart enough guy that I don't think that it's a significant problem. But for us, Andrew, for you and I, we've both had to find places in our life where we can continue to love this thing. And even when it's like, We're maybe like for no good reason but rejecting it, you know, the tedium of it. We continue to learn. We continue to enjoy it. We continue to actively and passively be part of it. Yeah, that's my takeaway. Like when you do something and you commit to it, you're going to grow and develop as a person. Maybe some of that's just age, right? Because I've gone from 36 to 42 as we've done this thing. I've become an older person and old as time goes along. But I, I think I've grown a lot and I, and I don't, I don't discount. the amount of growth that is either because of or has come alongside of doing this. So my takeaway is watches don't matter. They're jewelry. They're stupid. You don't need them, but I love them. And I'm so happy to have like made myself commit to this thing I love. And maybe I could have picked something different and it would have been the same, but I picked something and I did it and I'm doing it and I'm growing because of that.
Andrew And I get to do it with you. And I get it too with you. I have a totally nonjudgmental two to three hour block once a week to hang out with you. And we don't even like we could just stop recording. We could just like hole up in here and booze. And they wouldn't know. That's right. You just do it. They being our wives. I have like a protected bullshit session every week on account of this show, which is Dope. It's awesome. Um, one other thing that I'll say, I'm really glad that in the early days we were approached by a fella who wanted to monetize in a, in a meaningful way, our show. And it could have been life changing money. I'm glad we didn't. I'm glad we kept just being us. and not being beholden to anything other than this like weird commitment that we made that neither of us really acknowledged, nor do we like disavow. We're like, no, we're going to do this every week. We did it in fucking Mexico, right? We brought recording equipment to Mexico with us in what week 10? Yeah. I mean, yeah. Like we just committed to it for, for, no return. And I'm, I'm really glad that we stayed that course because I think that the TDM of like, Oh, I'm doing this cause I have to get paid versus like, I'm doing this because I, I generally want to do it. Even on nights I don't want to do it. I want to do it. I want to talk about watches and I want to like engage with this and think about this and talk to you about this. for not the expectation of a paycheck. I'm glad that that was a decision that we jointly made, even if it created some stressors. Like, I'm glad we don't get paid. Yeah, me too. It'd be cool if we did, but I'm glad we don't.
Everett You know, it's interesting that you say that because, you know, I don't think I don't think that we could have, well, the decision point becomes, can we actually do this in a way that we can survive and feed our families? And we've seen people come up into the industry and turn this into a career. Kat of 10 and 2 is somebody I think about. She's made this her career. She's successful. She's a great fantastic photographer. She's a good writer. We have seen other people do this. Tony Trena from Podinky. And so you can do it. You can do it. But it does change it. And instead of this being our careers or our jobs, it's our hobby. And like you said, we can walk away any time we want. Um, but, but here we are because we want to be.
Andrew Yeah. I don't want to walk away. Yeah. I like talking about it. Nobody else will talk to me about this.
Everett Yeah. No, nobody wants to talk to me about this either.
Andrew One of my coworkers saw me wearing a Nighthawk the other day. He's like, Oh, kind of watches that. I was like, Oh, it's a Nighthawk. It's this really cool citizen. It's got an eco drive movement. And he's like, Oh, Oh, um, and, and he's like, I took it off. I handed it to him and he like, kind of sheepishly accepts it and is like, Oh, neat. And then like hands it back and is like, I can see him edging away from me while I'm talking. And I was like, it's not because I'm in my underwear. It's because of what I'm talking about. Cause that guy will stand there. We cross paths while we're like, when I'm getting on, uh, getting onto work. So I like, I am I will be in my underwear frequently while I'm talking to him and then getting dressed and he will remain with me in conversation until I'm fully dressed and I have to leave. So it was the watch. It was talking about watches that made him uncomfortable and walk away. Um, but yeah, nobody else will talk to me about it. So, um, he was like, look, man, that I don't, I didn't realize what kind of can of worms I was about to open. So, um, I'm gonna go, I'm out. So yeah, That's my, that's my big takeaway is that I'm, I'm glad we're just doing this cause it's fun and not because it's a job. It'd be cool to get paid. Like it'd be cool to do this for money. Um, but that's, that's not why I wanted to do it in the first place. And I'm glad that that's not what we're doing. That's a weird smile.
Everett Andrew for the 300 time. Other things, what do you got?
Andrew I have another thing. I watched a new movie that I've been looking forward to watching for, uh, sometime. The tile recently popped up on Netflix that it would be available on Monday, Monday being two days ago, yesterday, yesterday, today's Tuesday. Ghostbusters Frozen Empire.
Everett Oh yeah. I haven't seen that yet.
Andrew Uh, Mondays and Tuesdays are my movie watching days because nobody's at home. So I just like do dishes and fold laundry and like chore shit while I watch movies. So I watched Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. I liked the last Paul Rudd Ghostbusters. I liked that they could modernize the franchise, but still hold true to the original, not the original three, but the original one, like Ghostbusters the first.
Everett And this one was no different. Yeah. You're not the first person I've heard express that, that sentiment.
Andrew It, it had all the nostalgia, all the cameos with a still new story that still felt very ghostbusters, which means it's a 1980s really predictable storyline, like plot line outcome. Nothing like it is. It's paint by numbers. You know exactly what it's going to look like, exactly what it's going to do, and everyone still does a good job. The acting was exactly how you want it. I don't know why, but I love Paul Rudd as a Ghostbuster. That's never something I feel like I should ever say. It's something I feel maybe a little embarrassed for saying, but he's a perfect Ghostbuster. Perfect. Yep. He's like Ant-Man is a Ghostbuster because he's also a perfect Ant-Man. He's just like, just perfectly sarcastic, just dry enough and just like, I don't really believe you. It was super fun. It had all of the 80s feel that you want out of Ghostbusters with like modern CGI and an 80s story. It wasn't a modern story. It was an 80s story. This was a 1980s movie made in 2020, probably 2022, 2023 was when they shot it and released in 2024. It was super fun. It did a really good job honoring the Ghostbusters like heritage, but still kind of advanced the story. I liked it.
Everett It was super fun.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett They've done a good job with that franchise. I'll have to check it out. Yeah. It's, it's absolutely worth a watch. I've got a, I've got a movie also, Andrew, and it's actually a, this has been another thing of mine in the past. I had the boys, my wife and daughter, my oldest child, went to Maui last week. And so it was just me and the boys. Growing down, eating pizza? Literally. For a week, me and two 11-year-old boys, we had baseball games. We had a really good time. We went to the driving range a bunch. Nice. But we also watched a lot of movies. I don't let my kids pick movies. They watch so much stuff on their own that when we sit down together, I am. They watch so much shit.
Andrew Yeah. The movies and shows they watch suck. Wow.
Everett Well, I don't know about that, but, but when it's, when we're going to sit down together, I, and so I think there's like a contract, right? The contract is I'm going to select things that I think you'll enjoy. but from my catalog, right? I've got a playlist and I'm gonna select things from my playlist that I know you'll enjoy.
Andrew And I think I- Or that you ought to enjoy. We watched Sandlot tonight.
Everett I hit more than I miss. And they're both getting older and they're both more mature than they've been. And I decided, you know what? I think that they would really like everything, everywhere, all at once. Oh shit, that's heavy. It might be a little mature for them, but I think they'll enjoy it. And as we're watching this, so it's my third time watching, and I watched it once with Kim. I watched it once with Kim and Betty. And so this is my third time having gone through it. And I forget how incredible a movie that was. So I As I was watching this thing, you know when you're watching something and you really enjoy it, you're like, this is the best thing ever made. I had that thought, and I actually just believe it. I think it might be, for me, and this is subjective, but I do think it might be the best movie ever made.
Andrew It's now the third time it's been other-thinged on this show. Is that right? Yeah, Christian other-thinged it.
Everett It is... I mean... Everything that needs to have been said about that movie has been said, but it is super terrific. And here's what I will put forward as evidence of this statement. At one point, I realize I'm tearing up and like, you know, I'm crying or I'm about to cry. Yeah, the wet eyes. And I kind of glance over and both these boys, 11 year old boys, both boys, fucking boys, especially Lucius is a boy.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett And I look over and both of them are crying too.
Andrew Dripping. Oh man.
Everett And I'm like, Oh man, this is a movie, man. It is.
Andrew You can get 11 year old boy to cry and it's not, uh, forgetting Gilbert Grape or Benjamin Button or, or, uh, Uh, what's the firefighter one?
Everett Uh, back, back, back draft, back draft. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't seen that movie in probably 25 or 30 years. Yeah. So we're all sitting there, these three bros just come out of the driving range eating pizza and all three of us just crying watching this movie.
Andrew That's a, that's a commentary in itself.
Everett Terrific. You guys, if you have, I talked to someone since watching this that was like, still haven't watched it. And I was like, just stop what you're doing.
Andrew Do you want to hear something?
Everett What?
Andrew I haven't seen it.
Everett Oh my God, Andrew.
Andrew Oh my God. I haven't seen it for every recommendation.
Everett I've been like, I haven't caught it yet. Oh my God. Go fucking watch that movie. It is. I mean, no exaggeration. I think the best movie ever made.
Andrew Nobody has said any different. And I feel like I'm, I'm a little reticent to watch it because of how many of that review I've received.
Everett Do not fear about that. You're speechless. I've watched it three times, and I'm still shocked when I watch it about how good it was. Like, I was shocked at how good it was having watched it twice before. Next weekend, Kyle will watch it. Hey, you guys. Andrew, anything you want to add?
Andrew Thank you, everyone. for participating in these 300 episodes. Thanks for listening to our nonsense and for being a part of the family.
Everett Thanks for being here. All of you guys, all you guys who support us on Patreon, special thanks to you because I do not exaggerate. We wouldn't still be going without you. Correct.
Andrew Our wives would not support that.
Everett You guys are the real ones. Everybody else, you're fine too. And we love you just for listening. Thanks for the 300 times. Thank you for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20, the watch clicker podcast. Do me a favor, go to our website, watch clicker.com. That is where you can get every episode of this podcast, but also see articles, reviews, et cetera. If you want to follow us, you can do that on Instagram at 40 and 20 underscore watch clicker or at watch clicker. If you want to support us. And we hope you do. You can do that at Patreon.com slash 40 and 20. Look, guys, that's how we keep it going. As I said, we would not still be going if not for our Patreon supporters. And don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life and other things we like. Bye bye.