Yema has a... Yemazing Week. (320)

Published on Wed, 11 Dec 2024 22:31:43 -0800

Synopsis

In this episode of The Watch Clicker podcast, hosts Andrew and Everett discuss recent developments in the watch world and share personal stories. They begin with talk about college football before diving into watch news, including Christopher Ward opening their first US showroom in Dallas, Texas. They discuss several new watch releases, including Nodus's Sector 2 line, Omega's leaked military Speedmaster, Yema's new CMM watches, and other recent launches. The hosts also share personal anecdotes, with Andrew describing a fun company team-building experience at an escape room, and Everett recommending a new poker-inspired mobile game called Balatro. Throughout the episode, they provide detailed technical analysis of the watches while maintaining casual, friendly banter.

Transcript

Speaker
Andrew Hello fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 1420 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, how are you? I'm good.
Everett busy, work, kids. I mean, that is my life, right? You know, this isn't what we do here. No, I'm trying to think of new things that I can talk about. And I feel at a loss.
Andrew Yeah, I mean, Oregon's only the number one seed going into the inaugural 12-team college football playoff. That's not that really big of a deal. Somebody I know who I'm fairly close friends with is going to the Rose Bowl, didn't invite me. That's also not that big of a deal.
Unknown Did you look at that picture, Andrew?
Everett Yes. So I sent Andrew a printout. It was actually a receipt of tickets having been bought. There was six tickets for the Rose Bowl, and there were four tickets for another game. Did you see that? Yep. So I bought tickets to both. the Rose Bowl and the National Championship. I say I, we. I'm not among the we. Well, I share my season tickets with a with one of my law partners. And so. I think that was, I honestly, I think that was a safe choice. You know, worst case scenario, we sell them. And we only, I think we only get charged for the national championship tickets if we go. So I think the way they do it is they sell it to, they sell those tickets to every school. So, like, they have, for Ohio State, these are the tickets that have been sold. Well, if Ohio State doesn't make it, those just go away, and your money gets refunded.
Andrew Well, that's smart.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew I think I would still go, even if Oregon didn't play. I think the atmosphere would be super fun.
Everett Well, I won't have tickets if Oregon doesn't play. Right. I'll only have tickets if Oregon plays.
Andrew I just think there's a problem with their calculus there.
Everett So I am hoping, I am hoping to be singing Welcome to Atlanta in just a few short weeks. Just a few short weeks. My wife is gonna be super mad because that week, I will be in, that's January, so I'll be in Jackson Hole Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Theoretically, we'll come back Theoretically, we'll come back for a day. Change bags and go to Atlanta. You know, it may make sense not to come home just with ticket logistics.
Andrew It might, yeah, just fly out of Jackson Hole into Atlanta.
Everett Yeah, so that is new. I am going to the Rose Bowl. I am going to Atlanta. You're going to get to watch Oregon beat Ohio State twice this year. Uh, perhaps. Because Ohio State's going to beat Tennessee. Perhaps. Yeah, I mean, I kind of hope they don't. I think Ohio State's pretty good. They scare me a little bit. I don't see a world where Tennessee beats them. Yeah. It's that reason that they scare me. Yeah. And actually I think Tennessee is a pretty good football team, but yeah, I think Ohio State's a more complete football team. So, uh, Andrew, how are you? I'm good. I'm, I'm dressed, uh, festively.
Andrew I just came from a work, uh, Christmas party that, uh, two of my coworkers, their neighbors, but neighbors not in the way that we are. They actually, they have adjoining properties, so they have a fence, like a, they have a fence between their two yards. and they've cut a gate to allow access back and forth through their backyard. So we were at a, I was at a Christmas party for a little while. We'd had a white elephant gift exchange. There was some excellent whiskeys tasted. It was good, so I'm dressed in my Christmas sweater and I've come from that, but I don't know, just like, Barring college football, my life has been a little bit boring. Yeah.
Everett Yeah. That's how that goes. That's how that goes. Uh, it's, it's definitely, it's kind of a boring season.
Andrew Yeah. Cause it's just busy. Yeah. It's like, you're not really doing anything. Everything you're doing is fun, like objectively, but you're not really enjoying much of it.
Everett Yeah. Well, uh, did your party go well? Did you have a bunch of whiskey? I see you're wearing your Santos. It looks really good.
Andrew Yeah, I know. I, I dressed, you know, festively. So I have a Christmas sweater on. I have. My Santos, I wore a jacket. Yeah, it was fun. It was, you know, it's a bunch of people that I work with and enjoy their company and got to meet a bunch of spouses and talk a bunch of shit and taste some whiskeys. I tried the Jack Daniels Sinatra. It, yeah. Right, like it was all the good things about Jack Daniels. And none of the Jack Daniels parts.
Everett I recently heard a rant about Jack Daniels and it was all about how Jack Daniels is bourbon and that the people who will like actually when you say it's bourbon are more wrong than the people who say it's bourbon. And I was like, Oh, this is compelling. I cannot now remember what it is. It had to do with corn content. Yeah.
Andrew So bourbon and whiskey are objectively different. And it has to do with corn content and where bourbon is whiskey, but, but where it's grown and then the content, I don't remember the exact numbers. There was something, but anyway, I heard this and I was like, Oh, that's really compelling. Because Kentucky bourbon and Tennessee whiskey, though they are the same, are grain bill objectively different and their mash content has different percentages of origin and actual percentages of corn. Yeah, it was something I was like, oh, well, that's really not a difference anyway. It's not a significant difference. It's semantics and semantics matter in certain circles. As you know, we exist in a circle of folks whose semantics really matter.
Everett Speaking of semantics, so we on Wednesday. I'm down for semantics. Today is Wednesday. We go to counseling. Uh, Kim and I and, or Kim Lucius and I go to counseling. So it's with the, it's actually a pretty cool program, but it's for kids that are being fostered and, It's just sort of this program to sort of help you work through these things. And our counselor, a guy named Andrew, young guy, probably 30, he's probably your age, maybe a little younger than you, but really like stylish dude. And I've noticed he has a tutor and I've noticed he's got a couple of decent seikos. Well, today he's wearing a Mission to Earth. Oh, and I didn't say anything just because it's this sort of awkward.
Andrew Yeah, it's a little bit of a weird environment to watch. Watch spot.
Everett But I, um, at one point I looked at my watch and I realized it wasn't running. I was, and so, cause you're wearing your speed, I'm wearing my speed master. And so I'd kind of pulled it off my wrist and was winding it. And he kind of made a comment. He's like, oh, you got somewhere to be. And I was like, oh, no, I just realized it wasn't watching. He was like, is that a Seiko? What do we got there? And I was like, oh, no, it's the same watch you're wearing. And I turned it around and he was like, no, that's not the same watch I'm wearing. I was like, oh, that's kind of fun. That was a weird flex. I wasn't flexing. Yeah, you were.
Andrew It's the same watch you're wearing. He's wearing a Mission to Earth and you're wearing a Speedmaster Pro. Yeah, it's the same watch. I don't know the difference.
Everett You're a douche. I mean, we know, I know him pretty well. It was not, uh, he laughed. It was funny.
Unknown Yeah.
Everett Hopefully he got the humor of like, Oh, he certainly, he certainly did. He 100%.
Andrew Cause that was a, that was a big flex. It was dropping it on the table.
Everett It's like, it's the same thing, but it was that, but it was definitely, uh, it was not inappropriate based on our relationship.
Andrew There was also like a moment of like, Little tip of the hat to the fact that he's wearing in a mission to earth and that's baller it's not as baller as a speedmaster, but it is baller and he really recognized that I Recognized his watch and it's a cool watch.
Everett I don't like there's no the guy that has tutors Yeah, and he's got nice watches. So like he realizes that's a cool watch for what it is. Yeah, I Yeah. Uh, anyway, anyway, we are not flexing the counselor though. We're not here to talk about watches. We're here. We are here to talk about watches. We are here to talk about watches. Uh, this isn't the college football podcast, man. That's tomorrow. I don't, you know, that's such a competitive field. You ever listen to college football podcasts? Yeah, I know. We do great in it. I have listened to a few of these. Not my thing. No, because they're they're just, I don't know. It's a way to be informed. I will say that. And that's kind of a cool aspect to it.
Andrew But I listen to a lot of them. Ahead of fantasy football drafts to try to find those like late round picks because I'm in a I'm in a Dynasty League So we we have annually a three-round Rookie free agent free agent draft and then we free Asian draft. Yeah So so annually we have just a three-round draft and then we retain the rest of our team So a lot of like this year. I'm a down year. I've got like one win. Ouch. It has been painful. My IR is overflowing into my bench. Uh, but I knew this year, like going into this year, I was going to have a pretty tough rebuild year. So I'm, I'm, you know, planning out my draft prospects for next year cause I'm positioned pretty well. Uh, And that's when I really listened to college football podcasts is to like find that like third round draft, like that guy who's no one has him on the radar, but he's going to be the guy like Puka Nakua was going to be a guy for me. And then he didn't. And then he didn't.
Everett And yeah. Yeah. He did for a moment. He did for a moment. Yeah. Um, well, uh, I just want to share this with you. Oh, I just want to share this with you. Look at you. I am in first place in my fantasy.
Andrew I have, I have the most points scored against me.
Everett Oh boy. Well, I have the most points scored and the most wins, so I'm in first place. Andrew, why don't you get us started with a watch, buddy? Oh, I shall.
Andrew I wanna start, actually, I'm not even gonna start with a watch. I am gonna start with a thing that has happened in the last couple weeks, and that thing is that Christopher Ward has opened up a showroom in Dallas. Dallas, Texas. Dallas. Yeah, Dallas Tejas in the heart of Texas. We have a British watchmaking brand showroom. How cool is that? So Christopher Ward famously really got their start as a direct-to-consumer brand, right? That was their whole business model. Nope, you're gonna buy right from us. You're not going to a brick and mortar. They really capitalized on e-marketing, e-trade, not the website, but the, yeah. E, what's E? Electronic? Yeah, they were like sort of one of the very first, they were pioneers. An early adopter of online sales, just kind of in general, right? As this emerging market of online, like market space existed, Christopher Ward's an early adopter. And now here they are in 2024, right at the very tail end of 2024, Opening up a brick-and-mortar Showroom in Dallas, Texas of all places and that's because that's where Mike lives and Mike likes it there and you know, it makes sense But this is cool and you look at pictures of it and it's this really don't mean Mike France No, no, Mike France does not and nor does he live in France. He lives in the United Kingdom contrary to his name This is cool. It is this really beautiful, super British showroom that's been really intentionally designed to showcase Christopher Ward watches because Christopher Ward knows that not very many people get to see their watches in person. Because unless you buy it, or you know someone who has one, you don't get to see it in person. And that's really the weak link that we see in a lot of modern watch brands, is that people take these enormous leaps of faith, buy a watch, sight unseen. You know, renderings and product photography are not adequate representations of most watches. Many watches, you get exactly what you think you're gonna get. I think one of the things that Christopher Ward, as fantastic as their product photography is, you don't get the full appreciation of this light catcher case until you've seen it in person. And so having an opportunity to see Christopher Ward in the metal, make a purchase that same day, not have to pay the customs nonsense or have the weird customs hang up that we have when we buy in the continental United States is awesome. This is a super cool project and I am very excited to see it happening. Uh, I might have to make a trip to Dallas just to go visit it cause Dallas is a cool shit city. Uh, Austin gets all the love.
Everett How big is Dallas? It's huge. Like four or five million, huh?
Andrew Yeah, let's look. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metro, I wanna say it's like six million.
Everett You know, it's the type of move that I think can really only be good. There are some costs to it, and they're not small, but I think at the scale that Christopher Ward is selling watches now, I think this only comes with benefits.
Andrew Dallas-Fort Worth Metro, $7.6 million. Ooh, that's big. That's huge. And Dallas is a cool city. And like I said, Austin gets all the love in Texas for being a cool city. San Antonio is really cool. Houston's adequate. Dallas is a cool city. And this is a really great place, I think, in this economic hub of a place to open up their first showroom. I think it's really special that they're opening up their first showroom outside of the United Kingdom in these United States.
Everett Yeah. Yeah. You know, do you? I don't know if I don't know Dallas at all. Do you know this area of Dallas at all? It kind of looks to me like it's a little bit suburban. This is certainly not downtown. Where is it? Is there a map of it? You know, I don't know. But but that's not downtown.
Andrew Dallas is interesting. It's kind of like if you think of any other major city, right? There's like a downtown. There's like your financial district downtown. There's like your business district downtown. And then there's like a bunch of commercial downtown that are that like they might have live and works incorporated. They might have apartment complexes incorporated, but are, are, commercial districts, but not necessarily the air quotes downtown. Because Dallas is urban for 35 square miles.
Everett What's that many people, right? This is North Dallas. So I don't know Dallas at all, but this is North Dallas. Let me see if it's in the Google Maps already. Well, that's pretty cool, man. That's pretty cool. I think that's exciting, and I agree with you. It'd be fun to make a field trip. You know, the problem I would have going there is there's so many other places I want to go before Dallas. Like, if I've got a list of places in the United States I want to go, Dallas is, I don't think, top 25.
Andrew Oh, it's barely in Dallas. It's in Frisco. Wow, it's like very North Dallas for those of you familiar. It's it's on the south edge of Frisco. Still Dallas, still Dallas. That's still Dallas.
Everett Andrew here, I'll show you. I'll show you the map. Oh sure, sure. Oh yeah, that's like that's like all the way outside of all the freeways. Still on.
Andrew Road is that 35? It's on the Dallas North Tollway. I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that the Dallas North Tollway has like an 85 mile an hour speed limit. So you drive 85 and you're getting past like you're standing still. It's pretty cool.
Everett Andrew, I've got a watch. Do me. So Los Angeles brand Notice.
Andrew I'm unfamiliar.
Everett Well, Los Angeles brand notice founded by. Colin Chen and Wes Kwok, two people that I would call friends. Would they call you a friend? Hard to say, probably not, almost certainly not. But two people I would call friends, right? Friend lists are friend lists. You remember the old days in MySpace where you had like your top 10 and then you're like, you're on my top 10, why am I not on your top 10?
Andrew Yeah, there was like drama started around that shit. It's like that.
Everett They're on my top 10.
Andrew Whole relationships made and broken by your top friends.
Everett I'm not on theirs. They did a cool thing about, what, five years ago where they introduced a line of watches called the Sector Series. We've talked about this at length. length on the show, but we do get accused sometimes of not telling the story. So the idea is of the Sector Series is that there would be four watches that would each share a mid case, but be four discrete watches. So you had a pilot watch, a sport watch, a dive watch, and a field watch.
Andrew Pilot. I said pilot. Oh, did you? I wasn't listening.
Everett Subsequently they've added to that. There's a GMT. I think perhaps there was a chronograph, no chronograph, but there was a GMT.
Andrew So there was a, there was a special edition limited release watch clicker GMT. That's right.
Everett That's right. So they have really expanded this, but what's remained true is that they all share a mid case, and they look the same, right? So the notice does a good job with their design language, right? They use fonts, and they use designs in a consistent and cohesive way where you can pick up a notice and be like, yep, it's a notice. They just did a thing which you may not have even noticed. Oh, great pun. Totally unintentional. But which I think is terrific. So notice has released version 2 v2.
Andrew which Nodus is super known for, even if they don't name it the V2. You might get a March run and an October run of a watch that have had iterative improvements on it. These guys are master tinkerers and are constantly improving on every single aspect of their watches.
Everett This, however, is called 2. But curiously, maybe not curiously, maybe not curiously at all, actually, the 2 comes before Pilot. So what this watch is called is the Notice Sector 2 Pilot, which I know this is a nuanced thing, but that suggests to me that we're going to see a whole new line of sectors that this is being applied to the entire line, the two. So what's different? Well, well, first what's the same? Uh, this is, this is a very similar watch. Uh, in fact, if you, if you just pulled it up, you'd be like, Oh yeah, that's what that is. That is a notice sector pilot. However, They've shaved off a millimeter, Andrew. And this wasn't a thick watch to begin with. Yeah, I actually disagree with you. I think that this was a thick watch.
Andrew At the $500 price point, this was... Fine.
Everett Fine. Fine. I hear what you're saying, but... If this is a $700 watch? Almost 13 millimeters, it was a thick watch. I think, not thick, but... But the higher end of average for this price range. Okay, I accept. Mid to high at that. Anyway, they could go thinner. Who cares? 11.7 millimeters thick on the Noda Sector Pilot with 100 meters of water resistance. And that's still with an NH. That is still with the Second Movement. I have talked to a handful of people, John Ferrer of Brew Watches, Wes quack of notice. Uh, I have talked to a handful of brand owners that say, you know, we use Seiko movements because a, they work and B because the Seiko people are so good to work with. They're so good to work with. So notice uses different movements and different watches at different price ranges. But for the sector series, the Seiko worked and I think it does work. However, they've, but, but it's, It's a notoriously chunky movement, especially when you compare the NH movements to the 9000 series from Miota. I mean, it's like a millimeter. 11.7 millimeters with an NH movement, which means it's going to be way less expensive. and it's gonna be realistically easier to service. And it's just a fantastic operation they've done here. They've got a full brushed flat Jubilees, the five link pentalink is what they call this. This is the bracelet. It's my favorite bracelet. It's the bracelet I put on my own watch given the chance or very similar. In fact, I haven't checked the dimensions, Might be my bracelet, actually. I don't think it is, I'm just joking. God, this thing is terrific. Obviously, you're gonna get a Note X, you're gonna get BGW9, and it's still 500 bucks.
Andrew And you're getting 100 meters of water resistance. You're also getting a cool collaboration for their green variety, which is a partnership with Watch Crunch. Watch Crunch, yeah.
Unknown Like, what?
Andrew They're just always doing fun, cool shit, and it always lands. The only bitch that I could have about this watch, and I can only speak to the dive, is the lug placement is unusual and causes it to only look good and feel good on the bracelet. But once you take it off the bracelet and put it on a strap, you get a little bit of weird edge, I've noticed. Maybe with a pass-through, you're fine, but with a true strap, it doesn't, like a two-piece strap, it doesn't lay quite right. But if the greatest tragedy is this watch is only good on the very good bracelet that it comes with, you're not really losing much. There's no strap monster here.
Everett you know so the flyboy just comes on a strap and it looks terrific i'll say so yeah the flyboy the watch crutch 550 dlc bezel 525 steel bezel 500 this thing's terrific give it to me um
Andrew Yeah, and these pictures it looks like that maybe corrected that because of their iterative improvement on basically every run of watches Yeah, there's no two runs that are the same. I don't think yeah, I Think that's right Yeah, so the notice which is not to say hold off on buying a notice because the next round will be better It's to say that this round is really good. The next round will be even better. Yeah Yeah I gotta, I gotta think. It's a short little mention. Doxa and Topper Jewelers have paired up to unveil a new Sub 300 limited edition. What's the, what are they calling this color? It's a gorgeous white dial with blue markers. I love it. Blue on the bezel. Oh my gosh, this is so good.
Everett Do you not like this? I do like it. Yeah, I do like it. I think it looks really good. I do feel like you need a Doxa because every time Doxa releases a watch that's a tiny bit different than its other watches, you're like, this is it.
Andrew I know that I need that. They're only making a hundred of them.
Everett Topper's cool as shit.
Andrew They're three grand. This is a cool Topper collaboration. I think the relationship that Topper generates with brands to have Topper specific releases is really fucking cool. I can't think of a single other distributor that has this type of collaborative relationship with brands.
Everett Well, I think there are a lot of them, but I do think topper feels close to us and they release, I think they, their releases are uniformly tasteful. Like, Oh, they all nail it. Yeah.
Andrew There's none that are like, Ooh, all you, that was what you chose. Yeah. Uh, they all keep with the heritage and design language of the brand. They do something a little bit unique. Uh, Yeah, no, I do super need a dachshund. I'm kind of in the space where I'm a little bit stuck between the Caribbean and the Caribbean. How do you say it? I think both are acceptable. But how do you say it?
Everett Both.
Andrew Do you say pirates of the Caribbean or pirates of the Caribbean?
Everett It is 100% pirates of the Caribbean and there is no ifs, ands, or buts about that. Yeah, but if I'm like, oh, I'm going to go to the Caribbean this summer. Correct. I think you can say, I think you can say both. I also think you can say, I've spent, I'm spending some time in the Caribbean. I think it just is, is completely context dependent. And I don't think there's a wrong answer unless you say pirates of the Caribbean.
Andrew Yeah, no, I agree. Like the context matters, but the context also like really matters. It totally changes how you're supposed to say the word. Uh, it's not a homophone. It's,
Everett You're a homophone.
Andrew It's like maybe the most complex homophone there's ever been. It's the same word, but you must say it different in different situations. Sorry for that, non-native English speakers. A couple things that bear mentioning here. I'm torn between the Caribbean and the pro. Yeah. You know, for me, any, both for me, there's just, well, I get the T and pro and the 300 and Caribbean.
Everett I am torn between models. However, it's not those ones. I love the Caribbean, but I do that was wrong, but I do the Caribbean.
Unknown I do not think I'd get a probe. I, Hear me out. I know I'm ready. Hear me out. Uh, there's something about the pro that just feels a little, I don't know.
Everett It's one of the, normally I'm the guy that's like, no, get the one. There's the one, get the one.
Andrew But you're a shark hunter guy though, right?
Everett For me, shark hunter is the one. For me, shark hunter is the one. However, I held an army in my hand. I will just tell you this, if you're a dial guy, and not everybody is, right? That dial's magnificent. If you're a dial guy, and frankly, I had seen pictures of this, I'd seen pictures of this, and I was like, meh, because it's weird, right? It's a bit weird, right? It's not like a, yeah.
Andrew It's like fairer weird. It's like, oh, I can't appreciate it until I see it in person. Let's call it enigmatic.
Unknown Okay.
Everett But the pad printing is, this is such a weird thing. The pad printing is some of the best pad printing I have ever seen on a watch in my life. And it was like, I picked it up and I was like, whoa, what is that?
Unknown And you know, oh my God, that's seen a lot of watches, right?
Andrew I like really struggled when you sent me that picture and you're like, hey, here's the price point You want it right now? And I was like fuck. Yes, I do and that would be an irresponsible decision.
Everett And that's, it's better, and just to be clear, it's different and better pad printing than they have on their normal run, so.
Andrew Well, it's a special edition, and they only made, what, like 500 of them?
Everett No, I don't think it's special edition. I think they made a buck a buck. I think you can still get it today, yeah. Unlimited, you can still buy it today. Oh, I thought it was an LE, but it doesn't matter. Uh, one thing Barry mentioned about this collaboration, uh, that the. Proceeds from sales of the great white topper edition will be donated to the greater, um, Andrew Farrell owners. Oh, far young's far phallus. The Greater Farallones, I'm just gonna say, I'm just gonna say it. I'm just gonna say it. Farallones. The way it reads. I'm wrong. Farallones Association, a nonprofit focused on restoring coastal habitats and protecting marine life in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. I'm not gonna look it up. I could've looked it up. I didn't. Sorry. Which, that's cool. I love it when fucking companies do that. I will say, when I first saw this thing, I thought maybe it was an enamel dial.
Andrew It does that that like matte white, like kind of has that.
Everett It is not. No, it is not an animal. It's a full moon. But the colors. Fuck yeah, they nailed it.
Andrew Yeah, it's this is a color that I. Are they sold out? They have to be. There's only 100 of them. This is a color way that I wish was in all the time because I would go this over pro in a heartbeat.
Everett Oh yeah, no, I think I'm with you on that.
Andrew I really like the Pro. I'm ashamed to admit that I really like the Pro.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of.
Everett It's a great watch.
Andrew I remember early on... It's an icon.
Everett Iconic.
Andrew In our watch journeys, you showed me an Orange Monster and a Doxa Pro. And I was like, whoa, that's a... Not for me. I am right a lot. I am right a lot. Sometimes you're right. No, I am right a lot. And in this instance, you happened to be correct.
Everett So Omega, a company. Omega, sorry. Omega, a company that has been selling watches for a very long time and sells some pretty cool watches, has recently, has recently been guilty of Leaking watches strategically. Mm hmm. And making lazy releases. It's Omega. It's Omega. Come on. That's so anyway, they they first had Daniel White, Daniel White, Daniel Craig, where the White Dalles Speedmaster On a red carpet and a red carpet and then that's a baller way to leak it Like I feel like that's a very Hublot or like Richard meal way to leak releases and then they were like, hey Why don't you take this black dial Seamaster to the Paris Olympics? He was like, yeah, you know, you're paying me enough Can I keep it?
Andrew And so and that it was it was successful I feel like I would be a way better person for Omega to use to leak watch releases I disagree a hundred percent. They could just send it to me and they'd be like, hey, I saw this random dude today wearing heretofore unseen Omega watch
Unknown No, people would just think that you bought it in fucking Tijuana.
Andrew Uh, which is why you wouldn't be. There's many reasons why you wouldn't. I would be, I'm, I'm arguably more handsome than Daniel Craig. And, uh, I, I feel like people seeing a watch on my wrist would be like, Oh, that's not a one of a kind. That's there's something special happening here.
Everett I'll make it. Just send me watches. So unlike the Daniel Craig leaks, uh, Craig, what did I say? Craig, Craig,
Andrew I saw a whole thing with him and Fallon about how to say his name. Oh no, not Fallon, Colbert. It was like 30 seconds of them going back and forth about how to say his name. I still don't understand. Craig. Craig? Yeah, with an I, not Craig. Craig? Yeah, he wants it to be said Craig.
Everett So unlike the Daniel Craig. That's the one. Releases. There's another leak that happened that we're gonna talk about, which was not intentional. This was not an intentional release. So there is a spy plane, and it's called the Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady. I don't know anything about it. I'm different than the band U-2. Yeah, perhaps. I am not into planes the way some people are. Some people would be like, oh yeah, the Dragon Lady. Anyways, the spy plane's famous. It's been flying since the fifties.
Andrew They take it really horrifying.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew Well, I assume that they've, I assume that they've done a lot of things to it, but still, uh, um, and apply like a, an air platform that's still in use 80 years later is like, it wasn't, it was good. Then we should be doing better.
Everett I don't know. I don't know. I mean, think about Andrew, think about a 50 cow machine gun. A 50 cal machine gun, the ones that are being used right now in combat by American troops is not based on a design from 1916. It is the same fucking gun that the US Army has been using since 1916. No, no. In the 60s.
Andrew There's a butterfly trigger.
Everett In the 60s, they changed the trigger.
Andrew There's a butterfly trigger now and two handles in the sixties.
Everett They changed the trigger. It is the same gun. So some of these things, right? It's like if you've reached the pinnacle of technology, if it ain't broke and a 50 cal machine gun ain't broke. No, that thing is, it's one of the most magical sounds that's ever graced the planet. If you've never shot a 50 cal machine gun,
Andrew Go to Las Vegas and pay for the 50 rounds.
Everett And 50 rounds is going to cost you, what, 500 bucks, 600 bucks? Probably, yeah. Yeah. And it goes fast. And it goes fast. But it is, I mean, Tent City, fantastic.
Andrew Yeah. Only surpassed in the way of like personal usage by the Oh shoot, the Mark 19.
Everett I've never shot a Mark 19. Yeah, but I have shot a 50 count. I didn't get 50 rounds. I got maybe 10 and they were glorious. I don't fucking can. So this is a spy plane been going since 1955 and it's cool because it can do cool things. It can go really high for instance. And so because it can go really high, the pilots who drive these things, fly these things, wear pressurized suits, almost like a space suit. Yeah, because they're in, I mean, almost low orbit. That's right. They're in low space or whatever.
Andrew They're at the Carmen line at that space, aren't they?
Everett And these things have this little section on the left wrist where you, it's sort of like a bund strap section in these suits. Anyway, this guy posts a picture of him piloting one of these things, and on his wrist is this Omega, the Speedmaster, and people are like, Whoa, what the fuck is this? Turns out, turns out it is a military only Speedmaster that's being sold only to U.S. military winged aviators, fully certified pilots, RIOs, radar intercept officers, and navigators. And people were like, wow, Omega? That is cool as shit. Well, Omega's made it available to us, kind of. So they released a civilian version. There's one big difference. This thing, I believe at nine o'clock, the pilots version of this has an altimeter. Ours just has a running seconds counter bullshit with a fake, uh, with a fake, uh, what do you horizon gauge? Yeah. Yeah. With a fake horizon gauge. Um, because I don't know because reasons, um, probably money. This thing's terrific, dude. This thing's terrific, so it is a three nine subdial. 9 o'clock subdial the running seconds with artificial horizon indicator. Little Papa Blue at the top. And yeah, the the three o'clock. Let me let me see if I can find the description because I'm not. I don't want to try to do this by myself. Uhm? Okay, so the three o'clock sub-dial, actually a 60-minute and 12-hour counter. So there are these 60-minute hand, but it covers up an off-white 12-hour hand when the chronograph is set to zero, and then that thing ticks at the 12-hour mark. I don't know why this is valuable. but I'm not gonna suggest that it's not valuable. Now, we get a coaxial automatic movement, which makes it thick as shit, 14.85. This is a tool watch. Not a chronoscope case or movement like a Flight Master, which a lot of people are like, oh, the Flight Master. No, it's not a Flight Master. However, it kind of does some of the Flight Master things. We've got full brushed case. We've got this fantastic grain dial. This flight master case is wild. Yeah, the flight master case, I think it's like 17 millimeters or 16 millimeters.
Andrew It's so good, though. This is like a Speedmaster I was wholly unaware of.
Everett The flight master?
Unknown Yeah.
Everett Yeah, it's it's cool. Yeah. And those things are really cool. It's that's a We don't have time to talk about the flight master today, but those things are really cool. I do not think, I think they're unobtainium. I do not think that's something you can really get.
Andrew There's there's plenty of places that I'm sure house one. Yeah, we could we could make it happen We get a hundred meters of water resistance Automatic movement is wild that the Speedmaster Pro can only give me 50 and this can give me a hundred. Come on.
Everett It's two millimeters thicker Yeah, how much are they they're 9500 bucks doesn't matter yeah 9500 bucks that's cheap
Andrew I mean, it's not cheap, but it's cheap. I mean, these are these are baller, super special edition, really specialized like. cool watches. And they're being used for cool functions.
Everett Listen to this guy. Listen to this guy on Hodinkee. It's a commenter. JJJJonathan. Or maybe it's JJJonathan. Listen to this. I love commenters. And I'm calling them out. I hope you're listening. Absolutely ridiculous. You like my Jonathan voice? My JJJonathan voice?
Unknown I do, yeah.
Everett I cannot understand why this is getting so many plaudits. Useless date for a pilot. Equally useless tachometer. Distracting running seconds with cosplaying horizon indicator. Nearly unreadable minute totalizer. Chrono buttons designed to catch, snag, and break on cables, ties, or straps in the cockpit. Give me the easy M10 or the classic NATO Tutima for a flight chrono any day over this. For an exciting looking Speedmaster, I'll take the Mark 40. Two thumbs way down. I bet this guy has logged exactly none flight hours.
Andrew Do you think we could do a segment? Like just ripping people for their shitty comments? Because I don't know how much time you spend in the cockpit of an aircraft, but there aren't loose cables, ties, and straps all over the place. They're pretty sterile because they're tiny, and if there are loose cables, straps, and tie-downs in the inside of your cockpit, you will snag them, you will break them, you will crash. These are like... clinical environments friend. Uh, I've logged also exactly zero flight hours and I'm super confident that the pushers on this chronograph are going to do less damage than your fucking sausage fingers.
Everett I didn't log them, but I've flown a plane. It was really cool. I buzzed the golden gate bridge baller. It was fucking rad. It was one of the coolest days of my life. It was physically exhausting in a way I didn't expect it to be.
Andrew Yeah, I mean, it's, I mean, driving is physically exhausting for the first 10 years you do it and you're driving in, you know, in three dimensions, three dimensions, but in just two planes, right? You're just existing in just in two planes. Uh, not, you know, no pun here.
Everett Uh, when two axis is maybe more appropriate, really kind of, well, I think you drive really in two dimensions, but I mean, by and large, you drive in two dimensions when you fly that third dimension. I mean, it adds a level. you know, things like access, I think is maybe the word more appropriate. You're turning or banking and you have to increase your, you either have to increase your speed or you have to increase your angle so that you don't crash. So, well, so you don't go down. It was, it was just like you, when you adjust one thing, you have to adjust another thing to compensate. It was, and that was, I think, what was physically exhausting. But I did everything. I took off. The only thing I didn't do is land, obviously, because that... You shouldn't do that. Yeah, yeah.
Andrew You'd have lost your shirt tail.
Everett But he had me take off. He had me taxi. He was like, yeah, go ahead and start taxi. Okay, now we're going to do this. Now we're going to do that.
Andrew Which is, I imagine, very much like driving a car, taxiing.
Everett I mean, mechanically very different, but yes, functionally the same. Yeah. Yeah. You do different things, right? You've got pedals and dude, it was, it was awesome. But yeah, I took off and then he's like, okay, now we're going to do this. Now we're going to talk to the tower. Now we're going to do this. Now we're going to, you know, head to San Francisco. Now we need to communicate with air traffic control and get like a, an elevation and And so as I was talking to this person, I was like, oh, this is who we are. We want to do this. And she was like, OK, I need you at such and such. I want you to mark these. planes that are in your neighborhood, like, okay, I see that one, I see that one.
Andrew Do you shine a green laser at them to be like, hey, I see ya.
Everett I did, yeah, yeah, yeah. You have the green, it's like a pen light, yeah.
Andrew Anyway, this is pretty cool. Super cool release, really cool leak, especially the vector of the leak. Correct. It's just a dude who's like, hey, this is the watch that I'm wearing doing cool shit. And people are like, hey, you're doing cool shit and you're wearing a cool watch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, really cool. Leak vectors really, really neat. I have another cool thing. So we have two limited watches that we talked about.
Everett Is that one second watch we've talked to?
Andrew We have two. Oh, no, no. That was four. two limited-edition Ferrer Endurance models in gunmetal and jade. And as we've talked about on this show on numerous occasions, Ferrer is a watch brand that you love pictures of, but you just don't know. Yeah, those are super good.
Everett Drinking a Topo Chico margarita hard seltzer, which we've had plenty of, but the strawberry hibiscus? The strawberry hibiscus? Ooh.
Unknown Yeah.
Andrew Real good. Yeah. And usually hibiscus is not a flavor profile that I'm a fan of. It's like a, just a touch too florally. Because it's a, because it's a flower. But it, but it's too, it's usually too, it's like bitter florally. But with the strawberry, it's super good. I'm about to crack a margarita, a signature margarita. The classic margarita is not as good, but it's also, it's good. It's kinda, it's kinda like the ranch water margaritas. Apologies for the interlude. So Farer is a brand that until you've seen these watches in the metal, you haven't lived. The way they use color and the way you perceive it, like with your human eye in the metal versus through a lens is crazy. So these two editions, these are black with jade colored luminous hour markers. 316L steel, big shocker, 39.5 case, box with AR coating, or box sapphire with AR coating, PVD coated stainless steel case back with a sapphire see-through back, Le Jouperé G101 Sonia, automatic movements, 50 meters of water resistance, $1,050 and so these are two black dialed really, really attractive, fairer endurance. Like this isn't a new watch release for them. These are new dials. First is Arabic numerals at your even numbers. And the second one is a really interesting move using actual Arabic, like the Arabic language numeric markers. And this is an intriguing decision and I'm wondering if they're riding the kind of excitement wave of the Seiko 5 Arabic that went from being like a $65 watch because it's a Seiko 5 with Arabic language numerals that had this moment in the last two years where everyone wanted them, you couldn't find them anywhere, and they tripled in price. And I'm wondering if they're trying to capitalize on this, because this is an objectively similar feeling, kind of got a sport watch. This is lovely. They're super cool, it's kind of an unusual color way for Faroer.
Everett Right, I mean it's probably the most subdued watch as Faroer's ever released.
Andrew Yes, it's the least colorful watch. It's a black dial, it's got white hour hand, white minute hand, white logos, this jade green for the second hand and markers, and an orange tip on your second hand. Just the tip. Just the tip. I think it's it's almost a colorless Ferrer, but the colors are so vibrant and lovely that I'm really on board in these. These Arabic language numerals are.
Everett Gorgeous, you know, speaking of Texas, I think something like. Like, 45% of parents in Texas approve of the ceasing the use of Arabic numerals in schools. I'm just gonna throw it out there. And moving to Roman numerals? Or Arabic language? They just, you know, let's stay away from that Arabic stuff. Okay. The terrorists.
Andrew As Team America would say, Durka Durka, Mohammed, Jihad.
Everett I'm sorry, if you're from Texas, please accept my apologies. I'm gonna talk a little shit.
Andrew For Hera, I mean, we went into that realm too.
Everett Yeah, these are cool. I think they're cool. I think that was on a list a couple weeks ago and didn't make the show. So I'm glad.
Andrew Yeah, because this is this is not a super new release. It's like I guess it's a week old. Yeah, this article. But these are really lovely.
Everett They are really lovely. I agree with you. I agree with you. Uh, Yama. Yema. Yeah, man. I don't own a Yema, but I think it's possible, Andrew, that Yema is my favorite, right now, my favorite watch brand.
Unknown You know, Christopher Ward has been in there for a long time.
Everett Notice has always been really near and dear to my heart, although the actual Notice watches, there have been some I love, some I was like, meh. But I think that right now, Yema may be my favorite watch brand. So Yema has released in the last, what, week and a half, two weeks, three of their Manufacturer Morteau watches, or three, let's just stick with me, three different versions of the CMM watches. So they've released two lines of the CMM.20s and one line of the CMM.10, and I'll speak about them in turn.
Andrew Five watches, colorways, we have five colorways.
Everett So first they released, and this was roughly the end of November, they released a limited edition slim CMM.20. And when I saw this thing, I thought carbon fiber. They released a carbon fiber slim CMM.20. No, no, no, no. What this is, is a like patinated steel, lightly DLC coated steel watch. Now, if you don't know what the CMM.20 is, just stop, stop what you're doing and go look. This is a 39 millimeter, integrated bracelet sport watch that comes in at 39 by 9 millimeters, Andrew.
Andrew Yeah, think PRX but cooler.
Everett And also half the thickness of a PRX. Uh, so they released this, it's got this crazy patinated, like brushed steel. I mean, it's fucking nuts.
Andrew Andrew, the, the carbon or it's not carbon fiber. It looks carbon fiber. The, the DLC coating on it looks incomplete and it creates this like meteorite carbon fiber texture that you know is silky smooth. Uh, yeah, that's wild.
Everett Um, it's it. They they actually what they do is they hand brush the dial bezel and case, which makes it play light as if it were carbon fiber or something like sort of a the hand brush.
Andrew It has to be with a Q-tip torn carbon fiber.
Everett Um. Dude, so the black PVD coating is put then over the top, so it's gonna be durable. Dude, this thing is so fucking cool.
Andrew Now it is- This is what your hands look like after you work on your car. Like after you work on the motor for a couple hours, right? Like you see almost like fingerprint smudges. You see brush strokes. It's uneven. It's inconsistent. It's one of the coolest executions of a coding I've ever seen.
Everett To me, it doesn't, like on paper, I'm like, nah. And then you see it and you're like, oh, maybe, actually, actually, maybe. And I think that that's because the PVD coating goes over the top. Anyway. And this isn't for me. But it is for me.
Andrew But I love it. If I were ever to see somebody wearing it, I'd go kiss him on the mouth.
Everett Roughly $2,000 on the limited edition. I think it's either sold out or soon to be sold out. But they also released three non-limited versions of this fucking watch at the same time. These are what I would call a teak dial version. They've got it in a blue. Sort of a crew.
Andrew Ooh, God, you're getting fancy on us.
Everett And then what I would call maybe a dandelion. So blue, sort of pewter, like light off white and yellow. Maybe. Maybe, yeah. It's grayer than that, but they're exactly the same watch, right?
Andrew I'm having trouble.
Everett It's exactly the same watch, but these are just steel cases.
Andrew The way the light plays on it, this 12 o'clock, which is the only numeral on the dial, shows black in some of these photos.
Everett It's not black. No, it's not. It's silver. It is. Yeah, it's just silver.
Andrew And so you're just getting the color play on this is fantastic.
Everett Yeah. And these are, I think, like eighteen hundred bucks or seventeen hundred bucks on these for the regular ones. So just quickly.
Andrew Uh, the PVD is 1800 pounds.
Everett So like two grand CMM. Yeah, that's right. That's right. CMM means the caliber. More toe manufacturer more toe It's an automatic micro rotor 33 jewels that runs at 4 Hertz with a 70 hour power reserve in-house fucking cool movement These are all stainless steel 316 L 39 millimeters by 9 millimeters with a I can't remember what the lug to lug on these is but it's like I think with the curve I
Andrew It looks like 47.
Everett To the end of the lug, I think it's about 48. But that's because of the way this case is, I don't think that's a meaningful dimension. I think this watch is terrific, Andrew.
Andrew Yeah, and this just joined the most bang for your buck $2,000 sport watches.
Everett But wait.
Andrew In my mind, yeah.
Everett There's more. Oh, how could that be? the new Yema Superman Gilt CMM.10 collection, which at first glance, I was like, meh. And then I was like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, what is this? It's because you don't dig the scaled bracelet. What is this? Dragon skin. So this is a dive watch. A Superman with 300 meters of water resistance that comes in either 39 millimeters or 41 millimeters. That is a Yama Superman. This is a Yama Superman that is 10.7 millimeters without the crystal. It's got a big back sapphire, which is going to obviously add to that dimension, but It's 10.7 millimeters. Also with a caliber, the CMM movement, I can never remember it. Morteau, manufacturer Morteau. This thing is terrific. This is a stunning, terrific watch. It's the CMM.10 this time, which is not the micro rotor, but still their in-house movements. It is terrific. This is the one that was used in the Superman bronze last year. It's a Yema movement in collaboration with Olivier Maury. They're just aren't terrific. This is a absolutely stunning and terrific watch. Now, I'm not going to say too much about the design. It's not my favorite design. I agree. I think you're right, Andrew. I don't love the scale bracelet, although or the guilt.
Andrew Terrific here. I mean, it looks it's an attractive watch. I would never like poopoo on somebody wearing it, but it's not for me.
Everett I think that they need this to be, I mean, I think that this watch just needs to have more colors. Like this CMM.10 just needs to be a full line.
Andrew Non-Gil, and here's the thing, you are not going to find many, like I'd say under 10 watches for under $2,000 with an in-house movement, period. Yeah. Yeah. This is 1790 euros. Yeah. This is nuts. So it's like 800 bucks with the way the euro is right now. Uh, in-house movement with a micro or these aren't micro micro, uh, in-house movement. You're just not going to find that because it doesn't exist. Yema's doing this really cool thing. And I think we have this, uh, I think we watch people have this thing where if it doesn't say Swiss made at the six o'clock, There's a little bit of turning your chin up to it because this is French made right and manufacture francais We're all gonna make fun of France because frankly they deserve it 1790 bucks, but yeah under $2,000 for an in-house movement. This is fucking wild in a trip and it's just a stunning watch, too Yeah, and like I said, it's not for me I don't like the guilt. I also don't like the scales. But if this is a sign of things to come for this line, if they can transition away from the scale and introduce new colorways, this is a fucking... Well, this is a Superman.
Everett I mean, they're not going to change... That is what makes it Superman. Maybe not the guilt, but the scale. Yeah. And anyway. They're doing really cool things. Yema right now, I think, is one of the most innovative brands in the industry. Yeah, yeah. It's my favorite watch brand right now, I think. I need to get a Yema. Yeah.
Unknown I feel good about that one.
Everett Also great pad printing on this. Look at that. Look at the macro on that. I know. It's so good.
Andrew Beautiful. Beautiful. I have one last watch that I want to talk about. Where is it? OK. We're not going to get to all of our watches this week. This is unusual. Last watch that I want to talk about is the. Circular. facet. We talked about the circular facet. No, we didn't. We didn't talk about this dial. Okay. Well, did we? Uh, I think we did, Andrew. Have we had a roundup since Thanksgiving?
Everett Well, yeah, I think we talked about the circular facet on the last.
Andrew Are you sure it wasn't just on our list?
Everett You know, it's possible.
Andrew It was, I, I'm going to include it again. What I, what like through me and, and, and, you know, if it's the second time I'm talking about it, I'm totally okay with it. What got me so excited about this watch. and continues to keep me excited about it, is the detail and texturing on this dial. Crazy. It is wild. It looks like hand laid bricks across the entirety of the dial. The colors are fantastic and they're super subtle. We've got gold outlined hands with a blue loom, gold outlined markers with a green loom and this absolutely stunning, concentric circles of brick. This is just gorgeous. And Circula.
Everett We talked about it two weeks ago. We talked about it on Thanksgiving. I'm sorry Andrew.
Andrew No, click on that link. I think it's different. I think this is a different edition of the, or did I rickroll you on that one? No, no. Anyway, keep going. I don't care. I just, I wanted to talk about it again. Apparently, um, this thing is just stunning.
Everett Worth it.
Andrew Yeah. Uh, circular, another brand that it like, you just don't really get it until you see it in person. Yeah. Cause they don't look like much in photos. They look sort of like go anywhere tool watches. Like, but there's so much more than that.
Everett Yeah, no, I think it's a really good watch. It looks, the top down on this kind of catches me off guard, but
Andrew Because it's kind of a weird top-down case shape. Like the bezel is round and the case is not, which is unusual. Typically you see a round case with a angular bezel or some kind of variation of that. You don't see a round bezel on an angular case.
Everett Yeah. I do think the bracelet to case proportions. A little chunk. Yeah. It's got a bit of chunk to it. A little thick, very pear-shaped. Yeah. Yeah. But it's pretty, I mean, it's a pretty dainty watch at the end of the day. So yeah, it's what 39 and a half. Yeah. 38, 44 by 10. Yeah. Really, really good dimensions on this. Uh, but you know, LJP movement, this is the most expensive watch Circula sold. So, uh, but it it's, I think it's doing its work.
Unknown Uh, you know, Andrew, I think I'm good, man.
Everett I think I'm good. I've got one more watch here. Oh, so you think you're good, but, and then you're ungood. I think I'm good. All right. Other things. What do you got?
Andrew Oh, I have another thing. Uh, so today, uh, in lieu of like proper training, we did a team building day and you know, over the last couple of weeks we've been, uh, Trying to decide, like, what are we gonna do? I'm trying to move this tab around and it's just flying all over the place. Sorry, I build my show notes in flight and organize them as I go. Here we go, we're now there. So, um. You know, the first thing that everyone was like, let's go hike the Butte. And we have several Buttes in town. We do. So we went down to Spencer's Butte. I brought my puppy. He hiked. I don't know. What's it? Three miles up and down. It's not. Steep nor is it flat? It's it's a beaut right? It's several hundred feet in elevation gain And it was fine It was you know, it was a fun hike and then the the next thing that everyone wanted to do was get breakfast Which is amazing because I wanted breakfast afterward because I was hungry and breakfast is good. Yeah breakfast is good so And then the next thing is is a thing that I have like I've done before and didn't wasn't super excited about Today I had a blast and I have totally changed my position on these and they are escape rooms. So the whole premise for those somehow unfamiliar with an escape room is that you get put in a room and you have to solve puzzles to leave. And I did one once and I was like, this is okay. It was like a 10 by 20 room filled with shit. And, you know, like 35 minutes later we've solved the puzzles, like sequentially solve the puzzles. And it was kind of like, this is like clue kind of But like, I just didn't, it didn't get it. Like I, it didn't do it for me. Didn't click the, so the escape room we went to today is called a portal and they have portal adventures and I'm sure there are other escape rooms like this. It was a probably 3000 square foot, Structure it was two stories With it was a it was basically a house, you know built in a warehouse with multiple rooms So they said that the ideal team size is six people. Okay, that's big. It's big and we covered one two, three four six rooms in this mansion for our unique puzzle. This mansion has three puzzles within it, three different things. So the other half of our group in the same mansion is doing a wholly unique and to them puzzle all in kind of the same space. It was a blast. because there's so much to do that no one can have all the answers or all the information. So it's like this huge independent task that you're also working together as a team. And like I saw this thing and I was like at the part of the puzzle and I was like, Hey, I think I have a guess on this. And I answered it and I was like, Oh fuck everyone. I need help. I've unlocked the next bit. Like, I created a problem. Uh, it was a blast. I'm sure anybody who lives in an urban environment has escape rooms local to them. Uh, they're really fun and they're fun to do as like a group of adults. Like, Cause you just, it's, it's just kind of silly, but it's also really engaging. And I had an absolute blast. It was like 35 bucks a person and it was worth every penny. Yeah. I loved it. Uh, I, I think I might start doing more like recreationally. Yeah.
Everett Yeah, I think that the people you do it with is really important.
Andrew Yes Because they also have to be engaged and like want to be there and like I I was telling my nine-year-old He asked what I did today. I was like, what did an escape room? He's like, well, do you think I'd be good at it? I was like, you know, yeah, I The only thing that is like the only requirement to be good in an escape room is to be curious. Yeah, that's right. Uh, like, Oh, I wonder what that does. I wonder how this works. Uh, but it was just fun. And, and they had like the production value of this place was like next level. They had, magnetic locks and they had spring-loaded magnetic locks where you finish a puzzle in one part of the room and a drawer silently opens elsewhere. There's conveyor belts that you're having to put through these. It's clearly some sort of infrared reader, but it has to hit in the right order. You had to put candles and muffins and put it through the conveyor belt. If the candles were in the right spots, it would open, it would, it would unlock a magnetic lock elsewhere in the room. Uh, but the production value was phenomenal. It's cool. It was, you know, Andrew, you're younger than me, but do you remember the game mist?
Everett Oh, I never played it, but I am aware of it. You know, I can, I remember explicitly the first time I played the game mist and it was like nothing I'd ever done before. And me and my friend Adam, this is, I was probably in, I don't know, sixth grade. It was like nothing I'd ever done before. And it was that same thing, right? It's like, oh, if I do this, then this. Yeah, I think that's really cool. And I think it's really cool in today's day and age to do things that involve like 3D space and your hands. And yeah, it's cool. Yeah.
Andrew Yeah. The tactile feedback on it. And, and, you know, you're with this group of people and I work with all these people a lot, right? We, we work with work together on really complex stuff pretty frequently. and to be standing over this like weird little end table with a bunch of, of handwritten notes and, and these laser engraved wooden carvings of, you know, things of, of clues and trying to figure it out. And which is what we all do for money. And we're all getting stumped and like getting frustrated on figure on trying to figure things out. And, uh, it was, it was fun. It was a fun group of people to do it with. Uh, But yeah, escape rooms, like get some of your adult friends, don't get loaded, but get a little loose and go solve some puzzles in like real space.
Everett That's terrific, Andrew. I like that one. That's one of my favorite Andrew other things in a while.
Unknown I can hate you so much.
Everett Seriously, that's one of my favorite. So I've got a, I've got another thing. It is not, it is not like that. Uh, I, I play a lot of iOS games like, uh, like cell phone games. I would say I download one or two iOS games most weeks. They do not make it very long. We do another thing every single week on this show and there is exactly one iOS game that I believe I've ever talked about on this show.
Andrew Talked about Bloons and you've talked about arcade in general.
Everett So Bloons TD6, I've talked about on the show twice.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett And I think it's terrific and I've played it a lot.
Andrew I download it probably once a year, play it for a couple months and throw it away.
Everett I just have it on my phone, I just keep it there. But I've got my second ever iOS game. So I got wind of a game that came out this last year. And it had been recommended to me a handful of times, whether through articles or actually someone in person recommended it to me. And I was like, you know, this just doesn't do it. I'm not interested. I finally took I finally took a flyer and I downloaded this game. It's on Apple Arcade. So for me, it didn't cost anything to download it. Anything additional, I should say. It's called Balotro, or I think it's actually Latin. So it's probably Balotro. You were saying Balotro. Balotro. Balotro. So the game is called Balotro. So this came out in 2024 on PC and then September, It was released on mobile. It's from an indie game studio called Local Thunk. And what it is, this is a poker-inspired roguelike deck builder.
Andrew the, what you do, which is a word that you were, you used a lot when you were talking about it. And it was something that I was totally okay.
Everett Let's talk familiar. Let's talk a little bit about what a rogue like is a rogue. Like is a game that's got like, uh, generated levels, uh, with like RNG or random gameplay elements. typically involves like dungeon crawling or combat and turn, and it's usually turn-based, right? So it stops. You do a thing, and then there's the effect, and then you stop. You get a breather. That's right. That's what that's. And the biggest, the biggest, most important thing about a roguelike is it's permanent. It's permadeath. So each time you play is a, a wholly new game. Now over time you can unlock elements of the game that may or may not appear, right? So you unlock this new, thing, this new weapon, and you use it, and you're like, oh, this is great, and then you die, and it's gone. However, because it's unlocked, you may, based on RNG, find that again. So this is, most roguelikes, or most of the ones I've played in the past, are dungeon crawlers. So, right, you're either a guy or a team of soldiers that are going into a dungeon. This is not that. It is a poker game. you get dealt cards, and you make poker hands, and you've got a deck, and you add to that deck over time. It did, it did, and even now as I talk about it, does not interest me. I have been glued to this game. It is the most addictive and compelling game that I've played in decades. It is fantastic. I love it. If you are looking for a game to put on your cell phone to play for 15 minutes at a time, because that's a game takes anywhere from two minutes to maybe 20 if you win.
Andrew And you need a block charger to travel with you.
Everett Your first hand, you do need a block charger. It uses a lot of battery, although there are adjustments you can make to lower the battery. It uses a lot of battery.
Unknown Yeah, they eat it up.
Everett Have you played it now?
Unknown I'm playing another roguelike game.
Everett So, uh, the way this starts is you get dealt, I don't know, I think it's eight cards. And with those eight cards, you have to make poker hands. You select five cards, you make a poker hand and that's scored your first round slot machine game like that. Your first round, you have to make 300 points, and that typically takes two or three good hands. So like a flush, a full house, and maybe two pair is gonna usually get you to 300 points on that first round. Actually, that would get you way over. But either way, sometimes you don't get to 300 points your first round. It's sometimes. By the time you're done, you are required to get 180,000 points or 120,000 points, depending on what's what.
Andrew And you... Is this like cribbage where if you don't score it yourself, you don't get the points?
Everett No, no, you don't have to score it yourself. It automatically scores. But I mean, you scale, right? And so sometimes you'll get to like 1500 and you're like, I'm never going to get there. I'm just going to restart. But then other times on your second round or second ante is what they call them, you're gonna get 2,300 or 5,000 or 16,000. It's so fun to figure out there are these jokers that supplement your hand and the jokers are either synergistic or sometimes anti-synergistic and using them, figuring out different ways to use the jokers together. Terrific, Andrew. And so many layers. If you download this thing, just play through 10 or 20 or 30 times until you start to get a feel for it. Don't worry too much about it. Just play. Lose and lose and lose. And then eventually, you'll start to see the connections. You'll start to see the synergies. You'll experiment. You'll be like, oh, this works with that. And then it's like, oh, okay. Okay. It is terrific. It is my favorite phone game ever right now. I say that I like it more than Bloons TD6.
Andrew Which is a fantastic game.
Everett Up until about a week ago, if you said what's the best iPhone game ever, I'd say Bloons 2D6, no doubt about it. This has replaced it. I'm certain. I'm certain that this is number one. Ballotro. Fantastic. It's my favorite phone game ever. Here we are 2024, almost 2025. Phone games are a thing. If you're a person that likes games, The phone is the perfect toy for playing games.
Unknown It is.
Everett And this is it for me. This is it. Eight bit graphics. It's weird. It's different than anything I've ever done. And it is fan tastic. I love it. That's all I got.
Unknown It's a good other thing.
Everett I think so. I think yours was better. I like yours. Maybe yours. Yours is more like wholesome. yeah let's go do shit yeah go have fun touch grass or play a phone game one of the two uh hey guys thanks for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20 watch clicker podcast do me a favor go to our website watchclicker.com that's where we post articles including really interesting stuff written by furryristrobide uh check us out on instagram at 40 and 20 underscore watch clicker at watch clicker. That's where we post pictures, sometimes updates. If you want to support us and really stop, support us on Patreon, patreon.com slash 40 and 20. That's how we keep it going. We'd just stop if not for that. 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.