2024 Year in Review (321)

Published on Mon, 30 Dec 2024 10:10:47 -0800

Synopsis

Hosts Andrew and Everett review their favorite watches and watch-related developments from 2024. They discuss several standout releases including the Christopher Ward C63 Valour military chronograph, Studio Underdog's collaboration with Moser, the Sinn U50 Hydro, and Timex's continued resurgence in the enthusiast market. They praise Yema as their "Brand of the Year" for developing impressive in-house movements and releasing well-designed watches while maintaining French manufacturing.

The hosts also touch on major industry developments like the MoonSwatch finally becoming available online and Christopher Ward opening their first US showroom in Frisco, Texas. Throughout the discussion, they reflect on how various brands have evolved and positioned themselves in the market, particularly highlighting Timex's transformation from a mass-market brand to one that increasingly appeals to watch enthusiasts.

In their "Other Things" segment at the end, Andrew shares his experience smoking a crown pork roast, while Everett reveals he's learning to play drums for his daughter's upcoming piano recital where she'll perform David Bowie's "Five Years."

Links

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Transcript

Speaker
Andrew	Hello fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 in 20, the 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	Everett, how are you? I'm doing all right. That was an extended beer tab hiss.
Andrew	When I felt like that initial little break of the seal, I knew exactly the sound that was gonna come, so I just like hung on to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just rode, ooh, that was a pretty good one too.
Everett	I tried to do it, but I couldn't replicate it.
Andrew	It's hard, that's a like perfect amount of pressure. It's difficult to replicate.
Everett	Yeah, yeah, no, I'm doing well, Andrew, I'm doing well. There are a number of nerves that connect to your spine. Did you know this? No, unfamiliar. And I pinched one of them this weekend. So that is specifically the sacroiliac one, which I think is a nerve that many people are familiar with. I'm intimately familiar with it, yeah. And so that has been an important part of my week. Sorry, I'm making a ton of noise. My microphone's loose. You are making a ton of noise. Here, I'll mute you. You fix your microphone. Uh, so yeah, did that on Sunday actually. So I got Kim this sort of her Christmas present is in multiple parts and it's all pretty big. And so there was a lot of wrapping that was involved in that. And is that the lyrical variety or the paper variety, the paper variety. And so about an hour and a half of wrapping and you know, you're on the floor and you're hunched over and blah, blah, blah. And then as I was, yeah, putting presents under the Christmas tree. It was like a, my daughter was like, dad, are you okay? And I was like, are you going to pass out again? Exactly. Exactly. And I was like, no, I'm fine. But then I've been, you know, that first 24 hours was really fairly rough, but then, uh, you know, it loosens up enough. And so now I am at what, what it's Tuesday. So I'm, 48-ish hours later, and I'm feeling decent. Is today Tuesday or is today Wednesday? Today's Tuesday. Today's Tuesday, yeah. So I'm definitely feeling like, yeah, let's say 50%, 60%, which compared to day one of immobility is huge. It's huge. So I'm really feeling pretty good at this point. But that has, like I said, been an important part of my week. Andrew, how are you?
Andrew	I'm also very well. I have a short work week. I took a couple of days off on the back end of my week for an annual, which you're coming to, White Elephant Whiskey Exchange. It started, I don't know, eight years ago or so. We're like, hey, let's do a whiskey night. Everyone bring a bottle of whiskey. And it's kind of like grown and changed and morphed. And now it's a pretty well established night. Everyone, like everyone knows the rules. I think the first year a guy brought a, no, maybe the second year a guy brought a plastic bottle of vodka. He was not ever invited back. Yeah, that's, that's the wrong move. Yeah. Uh, so, you know, it's one of those things that like traditions have to kind of evolve and come into their own. And this one is, is good. Uh, so I have that on Friday. You're, you're going to be my plus one. You know, the rules. I do know the rules.
Everett	No vodka.
Andrew	No vodka. Uh, it's a $50 floor and you have to bring a bottle that you would be happy to bring home. I've I bring I have in previous years. I've brought like tequilas and mezcals. I've come home with Tequilas and mezcals before but generally it's pretty normal kind of not run-of-the-mill, but nice Bottles of rootin tootin scotch whiskey and scotch. Yeah, so I'm looking forward to that I This last weekend I took on a cooking venture. I was at Costco a few weeks ago and saw a rack of pork and I was like, huh, I can do something with that. It's not something I've ever cooked with before. So I'm doing some research and some reading and looking at recipes and decided to make a crown like a smoked. Yeah. Pork rack crown. It's the best thing I've ever made. Oh. It was absolutely phenomenal. Does it eat like ribs, Andrew? it somewhere between ribs and like the juiciest pork chop you've ever had. Cause all that fat just melts in to the loin. Yeah. So you eat the loin with fork and knife and then you get to enjoy the ribs, the ribs. So they smoked for probably like four hours and then like another 40 minutes at a higher heat to give a little bit of crust. Uh, they were, crazy good. Real good. Yeah. Well, I didn't get that many. There's one in the fridge if you want it. I feel like the thrill is gone. I mean, eat it or don't. You don't, I will. It was phenomenal. So yeah, I've had a really good week and you know we're kind of kicking ideas back and forth for this you know I suggested you know a year in review and in previous years we've done like our favorite watches of the year and you know I kind of like the idea of like let's just talk about our favorite things that happened this year whether it be brands or you know discrete releases or just things Because here we are. We are the week before Christmas. I'm wearing a no-date watch today. Yours isn't even wound. I think it's the 18th? 17th? It is too wound. It's the 17th. 17th. So we are a week out from Christmas, which puts us a couple weeks out from the new year.
Everett	Yeah, yeah, correct. And you're winding your watch. It was wound, though. It was running. I mean, look, it's right. It was running. I wind it every day. Um, yeah, no, you know, I was making plans with a friend today and he was like, well, what is, you know, I said, well, you know, maybe lunch this week. And he said, yeah, what about next week? And I said, well, I'm free Monday or Tuesday. Just looking at my calendar. No, I am not. I am not. I had to correct myself. I said, I'm not free on Tuesday. And he said, Oh poop. I don't have anything on my calendar. And I was like, yeah, that's cause it's Christmas Eve. And we were both like, wow.
Andrew	Yeah.
Everett	It happens.
Andrew	Here we are. Happened fast. Here we are. You go get lunch with them on Christmas Eve. I think your family would love that.
Everett	The good news is I have taken care of Christmas. Christmas is resolved.
Andrew	I have, I don't know, a little bit left. a little bit of work left to do. Not much, just a little bit.
Everett	I have bought the things, I have wrapped the things, I have the sciatica pain to prove it. I have wrapped nothing. That is real life getting old shit. Like, oh, how'd you hurt your back? I wrapped presents. I was tying my shoe and I sneezed. Last year it was doing laundry. I pinched my sciatic last year and it was laundry. Laundry. Laundry.
Andrew	It's always something dumb. It's just a weird twist. I learned recently, it's actually like that, that mechanism is just like the final straw. Really? You have to look at the prior two days of activity. Sure. You've done something irregular in the last 48 hours that led to that final mechanism being like, nope.
Everett	Yeah. Yeah. Well, in any event, here, here we are. And, and I thought it was a great idea. Andrew, you proposed it and I said, yeah, That's a great idea. It's, it's a nice opportunity not to just like try to grind out new releases, but rather to like take a moment to think like what was pretty cool. What was pretty cool. So what did we do this year? Yeah. Yeah. Very little, as you all know. Andrew, I'm going to, I'm actually going to kick us off this week. Normally I turn that over to you. Uh, but I'm going to kick us off because I, I felt like there was some tone setting that could happen here.
Andrew	Oh, okay.
Everett	Yeah. I felt like there was some tone setting. Um, I would like to start with a watch from Christopher Ward. Now, Christopher Ward had a great year. C1 Moonglow, obviously Belcanto, the V2 of the Belcanto, or perhaps V3, I'm not sure what we're calling that. But I wanna talk about a different watch, and it's a watch that I don't think got talked about a lot.
Andrew	Oh, was it the Belcanto Red?
Everett	It's not. No, it's not. Rather, I would like to talk briefly about the C63, I'm gonna say Valour. Valour? But maybe there's a different way you pronounce that if there's a U in it. I think it's British spelling, so it's just... So it's just Valour. Valour. Yeah. I wanna talk about the Christopher Ward Valour. So when this watch came out, I know we did talk about it, and I think we were kind of like, hmm, when we talked about it. It was sort of like a hmm, right?
Andrew	I think even looking at it again, it's like a hmm. It's an attractive watch. It looks kind of Hamilton II. So what is a scream Christopher Ward to me?
Everett	Yeah, right. So what is this? This is a I was going to say a 369, but it's really a. Chronograph try compacts chronograph from Christopher Ward, but there's a funny thing here. It's a quartz chronograph. It's a 39 millimeter quartz chronograph from Christopher Ward. Now, what gives, right? Christopher Ward is a brand we know for bringing automatic pieces. And I do believe that this was, if not their first, their first in a very long time quartz watch. They've released this, it's a special release. the first watch in the brand's military collection. And it's notable that Christopher Ward said in their marketing materials, the first watch in their military collection, suggesting, obviously, that there is more to come. You know, a few little details, right? So we've got a red hand on a sub-dial. We've got a dark blue hand on a sub-dial and a light blue hand on the sub-dial. And those are not just pretty colors, although- They are, though. They are pretty colors. Rather, they are the three Majesties Armed Forces colors, red being for Army, dark blue being for Navy, and light blue being for the Royal Air Force. And then we've got the crests engraved on the back. Inside we've got a thermal compensated ETA G10.212 quartz movement, which is a chronometer certified plus or minus 10 per year.
Andrew	You sort of expect that out of a quartz.
Everett	Chronograph movement.
Andrew	Movement.
Everett	Yeah, plus or minus 10 is actually pretty special. It's great. We've got a light catcher case. We've got like sort of this 1960s, like you said, Tag Heuer-ish reverse panda. And it's just a really interesting little watch. from Christopher Ward and all of that in a package that is accessible, 39 millimeters.
Andrew	11 and a half thick.
Everett	11 and a half thick, really pretty affordable. I mean, it's just like.
Andrew	150 meters of water resistance, consort bracelet on this. That's right.
Everett	It's just like hit, hit, hit, hit, hit. Okay. So it's a weird kind of weird quartz watch from Christopher Ward, but it, and you'd be, it'd be easy to sort of like, okay. But then all of a sudden you're like, Oh no, actually I kind of think I want this watch. And it all kind of makes sense.
Andrew	That's right. Yeah. I think it's a cool, I mean, Christopher Ward is doing arguably more cool things than any other watch brand out there. In the diversity of the cool things they're doing, right? They're innovating in the haute horology space. They're dropping military watches. They're doing- Yeah, grab and grow military chronographs. Like what? Cost chronographs. What is going on? They're pumping out great SKUs in their primary collection in the way of the C63 and in that family, we call it the C36, but it's just the 36 millimeter C63. They're just doing cool shit all the time. They're doing cool collaborations, one-off collaborations in the horology area and in their standard line. There just aren't brands working in so many spaces. Most brands have their little space. They're like, this is, this is my sand table. This is where I do my drawings. Do you like it? Cool. No, get away. Yeah. And Christopher Ward's just running around the room. Just, fucking shit up everywhere they go.
Everett	It's really cool. It is really cool. And I think that more than more than most brands, Christopher Ward consistently surprises me. Right. Arguably, 2024 was a not a super surprising year for Christopher Ward. But if you look at their catalog over the last five years, it's just surprise after surprise, and they continue to push the envelope in their unsurprising releases, right? So yeah, I wanted to talk about that watch a little bit, in particular because I think it didn't get talked about enough. I think that it's easy to write off and... A Kask Quartz Chronograph.
Andrew	In a light catcher case is exactly what flies under the radar. This is a B2 stealth bomber, right? This is a thousand dollar watch.
Everett	Yeah. Eight 25, I think, or is it nine nine something on a bracelet on a bracelet?
Andrew	Hmm. Where are we at? Eight 25 on a bracelet. So sub thousand dollar. high accuracy quartz chronograph. That's a banger. It's a banger. And it's something that nobody's gonna pay attention to. Nobody did pay attention to it. We didn't really even that much. Yeah, that's right. Because you don't need to. You know exactly what you're getting into. And it's coming from Christopher Ward, so you know exactly what you're getting into.
Everett	Yeah. Andrew, what's next?
Andrew	What's your, well, since we're on the topic of Christopher Ward, since I want to talk about a couple of things this year that got me really excited. Number one, Michael Pearson joined the Christopher Ward family. He came on our show to talk about it, and he is one of my most favorite guests that we have on the show. The guy is charming, he's funny, he is engaging, and he's one of just the most passionate people that we have ever spoken to. Every brand owner we talk to, every brand representative we talk to is passionate about what they're doing because otherwise they wouldn't be doing it, right? This is what they do for money, but they also love doing it. Otherwise they would find something else. He's so fun to have on. I love every episode we've had with Michael Pearson. This one was no different. And it was just such a joy to have him. It was one of my favorite interviews we did this year.
Everett	Yeah, I'm a, I'm a tremendous fan of that guy. He's, this is going to come, I'm going to try not to have this come across rude, but it might be a little rude. Uh, he's the kind of guy that you might see at a distance and have thoughts about, right? Like impure thoughts. Yeah, well maybe, I guess depending on what you're into. He's got a certain look to him. He's got a certain look to him. And like, you know, with the hair and the clothes he wears, like not someone that I'd like see at a, you know, at an event and be like, I'm gonna hang out with that guy. It's just a lot, but I've never met anyone in my life who like flips that like shitty opinion that you had back at you so quickly because he's just like the epitome of genuine, right? Like every word that comes out of his mouth is genuine and kind and like positive and encouraging. And so then I wind up like, like, how could I have ever thought anything bad about Michael Pierce? No, I suck. No, I suck. Right. Um, yeah, I mean, it really is disarming in a way that very, I've, I've met very few people in my life that I felt this way about would just like completely disarmed almost instantly. and enamored by someone's personality. He's so genuine that it's hard not to be about what he's being about.
Andrew	And he's such a fun choice for Christopher Ward representation in these United States. Yeah. He's a perfect, perfect person for it. As made evident by the next thing that I want to talk about, a Christopher Ward showroom in the heart of Texas. The first time you can see their watches in a retail space in the United States.
Everett	in Frisco, Texas, which is just outside of Dallas. Yes, so Sean Martin, listener of the show, friend of the show says, thanks for the discussion of the new CW showroom in my metro area. Frisco, he said Frisco, I said Frisco. Frisco is a higher end suburb, but not the wealthiest of Dallas. It's grown dramatically in the last 25 years. Our little Watch Crunch group had a meetup at the CW showroom and it was rad. It's right next to one major toll road highway. The speed limit is not 85. That's the 130 toll road near Austin, but it's not far off. And the frequent exotic and high dollar cars spotted sure do not go slow. Dallas Cowboys have their practice field, not even a mile from there. It's a good place to be. Yeah.
Andrew	I drove the 130 a lot, so I do apologize for just assuming that all toll roads in Texas were 85 mile an hour speed limits, because they ought to be. It's a toll road. You're paying to be on it.
Everett	You get to drive how you want. You're paying to be on it.
Andrew	Go fast. I don't know that I've ever been through Frisco. I was in Dallas quite a bit, but I don't know that I've ever been to Frisco. I've never been to either. Dallas is a cool city.
Everett	Yeah. Am I up? Am I up? Are you cool? I'm cool. No, you're not. But it can be your turn. Let's talk. I've got a couple more one-offs here. There's some brands I'd like to talk about, but first I want to talk briefly about a watch that came out this year that I think confused a lot of people, I think flipped a lot of opinions and feelings on their head. Coming from a brand who's no stranger to rolling with two middle fingers up when it comes to people's opinions about watches, Moser, Moser, first just Moser, Moser.
Andrew	I think it's Moser.
Everett	Moser made a collaboration with
Andrew	Studio fucking underdog right this is this is every middle finger in an entire metro area And they were like what $50,000 yeah
Everett	And so like Moser people were mad. Studio underdog people were mad and they were $65,000. And the result is a beautiful. So first this, whatever this, what are we calling this passion fruit? What do they call this? I think it was passion fruit. This Endeavor perpetual calendar passion fruit is a watch that nobody can have. Many, many people want. 100 people have a pair. And that made everybody mad. And that made everybody mad. 100 pieces, 64.9 for the pair. Yeah, that's right. And I, you know, Moser, they made their cheese watch and then they made their like watch that was a copy of every other watch. You know, taking the piss, obviously, a little bit. Tongue firmly planted in cheek is how Moser rolls, while also being, like, perhaps one of the finest watchmakers on the face of the earth. I just love, I love their vibe. They're like, you know, look at this little brand from London. Look at these cool watches. Let's fuck around. Let's fuck. Let's fuck around. And I love it. I love it. I love it when brands do something that piss people off just because right? We're not talking about like, we're not talking about like anything unethical. We're not talking about like poor design choices. Cause there are no poor design choices here. IMO rather we're talking about like a market position that is, that irritates people's expectations. And I love that. They're like, fuck all you look at this cool thing we made. Yes. And, and, and there's a lot of people talking like, Oh, Richard Benz is bank. Bank. I know he told us how to say this. He said it to us a couple of times. We don't pay attention. No, we do. We do pay attention, but I'm forgetful. Uh, you know, people are like, Oh, he's doing his people dirty. Is this 65? No, stop. He's done. No one dirty. He's done. No one dirty. This is. Well he may have, but not related to watches. a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and what cooler, I mean, can you imagine? Can you imagine you get approached by Moser, or shit, maybe you approach Moser, I'm not sure how that went, but can you imagine? I love this watch. For me, it is perhaps, we're not giving awards here, and there was no vote, and I don't have to be official here, but this is perhaps the coolest watch of the year.
Andrew	It's two watches. So it's not, um, I'm going to call it the coolest. I think what intrigued me about this is, was the conversation that it sparked about what does this mean for the future of studio underdog? Cause there were the rumblings of like, you know, Richard wants to maybe go up market a little bit, keep his design and you can't get the seagull.
Everett	movements anymore. Yeah.
Andrew	He can't get seagull movements. Maybe he's going to go up market with movements. Maybe this is how he's breaking the news to us that we're not going to see five, $600 studio underdog watches anymore, but maybe we're looking at like two, $3,000 studio underdogs. And like, what does that mean? This, this grassroots enthusiast supported founded watch brand that puts pepperoni pizzas on a dial. Like, are we going to continue to buy them for 2,500 bucks? I think by and large, the answer was yes. Yeah. And then, and then, and then he, he comes out and is like, Oh, Hey guys, by the way, uh, I know Siegel said they're not going to sell just like a few movements to brands anymore, but don't worry. I got that sorted.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	I I'm under contract with them or they're under contract with me. They're going to keep supplying my movements.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	So this was really just a like fuck around. Let's do the cool thing. Venture for him. It wasn't him trying to, you know, prepare us for a big price tag on future iterations. It was just him doing the thing that he loves to do and doing it really well in a really cool space. Yeah. This was a really fun release. It didn't make sense. Still doesn't really make sense, but I'm, I'm here for it. The best watches ever don't make sense. The pairing, right? Like next thing we know he's going to have dashboard clocks in Bentley. That'd be cool. I'd buy it for a studio underdog. He really proved that both his design, his watchmaking, and him as a business person, he proved himself in a really impressive way this year.
Everett	What's next, Andrew? Oh gosh, it is my turn.
Andrew	It sure is. Um, you don't have to go. Well, I kind of talked about it a little bit, but I want to talk about just a, just a touch more, uh, cause we had some overlap, but our overlap was, was mostly in brands less. So in the thing, uh, the studio underdog partnership partnership contract guarantee with Siegel. is one of the more impressive watch news stories of the year. This studio underdog has no business being such a strong player in the game as to get Siegel to bend to his will.
Everett	Yeah, yeah.
Andrew	But they did it anyway, right? Siegel, you know, they, they upped their MOQs to almost a prohibitive amount. Like they were gonna, like they're only gonna produce weird, what? Like what?
Everett	Yeah, like Chinese numbers.
Andrew	Yeah, and the thinking behind that, I'm sure the numbers are there, like the money numbers are there, but the watchmaking numbers don't make sense to me. It's almost, they have to know. I'm confused by their decision to raise their MOQ to such a significant number, right? It's like, what, 10,000? Yeah, something like that. Which is wild. Right, right, right, right. And for Studio Underdog to be able to come in and be like, That's just not gonna work for me, dog. And them to be, and Siegel to be, Siegel proper, you know, Siegel head, office, to be down to negotiate a contract. You guys can't see, there's a lot of hand motions going on there. And they were, they were graphic. To be willing to negotiate a contract is one of the coolest things that happened in the watch world this year.
Everett	I don't disagree. Yeah, I don't disagree. I mean, especially when you look at these two things, right? When you look at these two things taken together, these two concepts taken together, Studio Underdog, collaborated with both Siegel Corporate, which perhaps doesn't even exist, and- But maybe apparently does? With Moser. Yeah. In the course of a few months. I mean, it's just like Forrest Gump shit.
Andrew	Very much, yeah.
Everett	Forrest Gump shit. Uh, can we talk really quickly about, so if, if the studio underdog is the best watch of the year and the C63 Valor is the most perhaps surprising watch of the year.
Andrew	The sleepiest sleeper of the year.
Everett	The sleepiest sleeper. I think the Sin, Sin U50 Hydro is my like pick for the most badass watch of the year. So U50, just a terrific platform. T50, one of my very favorite watches on the face of the earth. Covet, that watch. Zen is like, hey, we're going to make a watch that's thin, that's quartz, that will never break, that glows like a torch, and that is water resistant to 5,000 meters. Literally Mariana Trench. indestructible. Take it to the place in the ocean where those those animals with the lamps on their head. It'll be fine.
Andrew	There are submersibles implode upon themselves.
Everett	And then and then we're going to sell it for twenty five hundred bucks. And then we're going to sell it for twenty five hundred bucks. I wonder how it does in the vacuum of space. I mean, I bet it's fine. I bet it's fine. I don't think anything could break this. I mean, maybe like a hammer. Yeah. Or like one of those, one of those, uh, pneumatic presses.
Andrew	You just seen those YouTube, like we've stick this thing under a, under a, uh, like a pneumatic anvil or, yeah, not an anvil. Uh, I don't think it's a, Yeah, like, uh, I know what you're talking about.
Everett	I'm out of camera. Yeah. 41 millimeters, 11, eight thick, 5,000 meters.
Andrew	Run those two specs again. 11, eight thick, 5,000 meters water resistance.
Everett	Correct. So it's the same thickness as a Tudor Ranger. Yes.
Andrew	Uh, yeah, dude. These are baller. The colorways they came in with are awesome. The oil-filled quartz edition is really neat.
Everett	I'm honest, I'm surprised you don't have one of these yet. You know, I think I'm, I'm a T 50 guy, the TV, you know, they're kind of expensive. They're a little tricky to get. Um, cause there's in, and you can't get them.
Andrew	Well, you know, watch buys, you can, you can buy them. I'm convinced they don't exist very much like people born in Idaho.
Everett	I not sure they're real. Yeah, this watch came out and I was just like, you know, frankly, I actually don't even want one of these, but it came out and I was like, oh yeah, that's the perfect watch.
Andrew	Oh no, I want, I want one of these.
Everett	I mean, yeah, it's like, oh. That steel case. If you need a watch to do shit with, this is it. Mm-hmm. It's it. A hydro, titanium hydro watch that's water resistant to 50 meters, 5,000 meters, excuse me. 500 atmospheres. 500 atmospheres, which is fucking insane. 50 kilometers.
Andrew	Yeah. It's water resistant from like, like city to city. Five kilometers. No, 50. It's five, but it's. Okay.
Everett	I was like, are we gonna do this?
Andrew	I like 50 better. So I'll write their marketing material for the next release.
Everett	My award for the most badass watch of the year goes to the new 50 Hydra.
Andrew	I think it's a really appropriate decision. Next up for me, the Doxa Sub 200 T. And the reason this is an exciting watch is because they finally gave us bucket load of colors that we really wanted. They dropped their price a little bit. They adjusted their size to make it like a modern, modernly attractive dive watch and not the typical Doxa sizing, right? Cause these are what a couple of millimeters smaller case size on these is 39, 41 and a half long, 10 sevens thick, 200 meters of water resistance. They didn't sacrifice like true specs to shrink the watch a little bit because DOCSIS are big. They're big motherfuckers. And they could see that they were losing the space in the market for this smaller size dive watch. I'm not really sure the adjective I wanna use there. 39 millimeter dive watch is what people want by and large right now. They don't, as good as the 41 and a half is, just shrink it a little bit, just scale this thing back. And in doing so, they gave us so many good colors. All of the colors. That then just became the colors we now associate with DOXA. I love this release. It's one of the, like, Daxa doesn't add SKUs very often. They have bucket loads of special editions and limited editions, but in the way of core collection items, they've added a couple chronographs over the last few years, working off of their base case size and shape. But by and large, they're just kind of like chugging on along and doing their thing. This introduction of the 200T is one of the It's one of the coolest things that happened this year.
Everett	Yeah, Andrew, I'm with you. It's a pretty clever watch. I am inclined to say that this watch is better than I think I originally gave it credit for. So when the Sub 200 came out- Oh, a lot of people poo-pooed right on it. Two years ago, the Sub 200 came out, and I didn't love it then. I don't love it now. I don't think it makes sense. I don't want it. I don't like it. and so the sub 200t came out i was like this is more more they're just doing more more of the same and then i don't like the 200 either and then i had to step back and i was like no you know what there's nothing wrong with this one no it's the modernized 300t They've given, really what they've done is they've released a 300T in a smaller case. And I'm okay with that.
Andrew	And I think maybe calling it the 200T was the problem, because the 200 is not great. Yeah, the 200, I think it's a little poo-poo. Yeah, no, I agree. And you would think based on the 300 and 300T that we're going to have First cousins. I'm not really sure sibling is appropriate because they're so drastically different. Uh, but the 200 and 200 T they're not even the same bloodline. Yeah. But for the logo at the nine o'clock.
Everett	Yeah, that's right. That's right. So, uh, to the extent I pooh-poohed this, or you've heard me pooh-pooh this, or I've said something pooh-pooh about it, I take it back.
Andrew	Matte and gloss colorways of every, like, oh, what?
Everett	Yeah.
Andrew	Sunray, matte. 13 colors of them. Yeah.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	The glossy orange, like the glossy pro is pretty good.
Everett	The Sunray? Yeah.
Andrew	Yeah. Yeah.
Everett	I actually don't love the Sunray dials, but that's just me. I don't usually either, but I kind of dig it on the pro. So nice. I've got the first of two brands that I want to talk about. I wanted to kind of talk about, uh, maybe not in particular any watch specifically, but more just about the brand. The more just about the brand. So 2024, I think was a pretty good year for Timex.
Andrew	You know, the last five years have been really good years for Timex.
Everett	True, Andrew. True. But this year. This year, 2024, the year of our Lord, I think Timex... I don't know. Sorry. Just ignore me. That was weird. Timex finally turned a corner. I want to say the corner. We've been saying that they're now. Stop arguing with me. We've been saying it for five years.
Andrew	They're turning the corner. All right. You're right. What's next? No. Tell me they finally continued to turn the corner.
Everett	No, I don't think so. I think that they completed the turn of the corner. So I want to say it was, what, 2019 when Timex re-released the Marlin. And we were like, we were like, wow. What? Whoa. Whoa.
Andrew	And they released it well.
Everett	And then it was within maybe a year, year and a half of that, that Timex released the Q Timex. And we all know the story there, smash success.
Andrew	Couldn't buy it, smash success.
Everett	That's right, people paying like 600 bucks for them on Craigslist, or not Craigslist, not Reddit. And then of course, you know, we get, we get a few, you know, we get like the, I think the American documents watch that was really kind of weird. This year, this year, we have a collaboration with James brand that sells out instantly. We've got these terrific Pan Am collaboration watches. We've got automatic, tons of automatic watches added to the collection. We've got fantastic reissues that are made with great materials, in particular the 1971 Velocity 36 millimeter sort of tonneau racing diver thing that it's like, doesn't make any sense. And it's just fucking awesome.
Andrew	I have to interrupt you. A couple of years ago, my, my wife went into a, a watch shop here in town looking to buy a watch for Christmas. And the guy was like, oh, okay, well, what kind of watches does he like? And she goes, this might not be right. but I think he likes the speed diver. And he, uh, he very politely showed her a weird tray of weird watches. She didn't buy anything cause the speed diver didn't, it didn't really get him going. Yeah. That is funny. Yeah. Sorry to interrupt.
Everett	But I mean, that's basically what this is.
Andrew	Bizarro. Made me think of the speed diver comment.
Everett	Like, ah, you know, they've got this $1 170th anniversary watch. I just think that Timex has married, they've married the marketing the enthusiast's desire and the actual watches in a cohesive way for the first time ever. For a while. No, let's not say for the first time ever, but since the first time, whereas 2019, 2021, even the Q-Tonic stuff, I'm cool with it. I love it. I think it's great. But it was like, This is a sign of something to come. You know, a lot of these brands we say, yeah, they were all precursors. I think they're about to do, I think that they're about to be, this is the year that Timex put it all together.
Andrew	Yeah, I mean, but they've been showing, they've been showing the promise for the last five years. When we saw the end of the SKX, when we saw Seiko move up market, we talked about this in 2019, 2020, 2021, that Seiko was, or that Timex was perfectly positioned and was positioning themselves to fill that void. And now, a little bit slow to the game, but Timex is a big ship and it takes some time to turn it. They're producing and saying watches for the enthusiasts, I think is maybe a bit of a... I said they're meeting the enthusiasts needs. That's what I said. And that's it. And enthusiasts care about good watches that are made well, that are cool. And Timex is doing that. Five years ago, Timex was... not even on the fringes of the enthusiast conversation.
Everett	And now they're- And they spent a few years straddling. They spent a few years straddling, right? The QTimex, I mean, you own one. We know lots of people that have them. They were straddling though.
Andrew	They were fighting for their place and they were dropping the occasional good thing and then they were shitting in the bed and they were throwing something good out there and then they were smearing the shit on the wall and they were just, missing as much as they were hitting and now they're hitting.
Everett	And this year they're just Robert Ory in game seven of the fucking finals. Like can't miss. Like where you been all year, Robert Ory?
Andrew	Chilling. Yeah, no. Uh, they, I think, I think that- You remember, right?
Everett	Robert Horry, game seven, just can't miss.
Andrew	No, it was horrifying. Like cover his eyes from half court. I remember watching that game and just being like, what the fuck?
Everett	That game, it happened like 15 times. Like, oh, it's game seven, so Robert Horry's gonna score 30. There's one that I just- Averaging eight points a game, 30 in game seven.
Andrew	There's one that I remember that- If you're an LA fan, you can eat shit. He's just like- I mean that with all my heart. It doesn't matter. No, I don't mean it. I hope nothing ever tastes good to you again. But Timex is finally doing it. They finally hit the stride where they're making good watches that are cool, that are well-designed, that are well-specced, that have the right stuff. Buckets. And the enthusiast market cares. Watch people care.
Everett	Oh, and that fucking Enigma watch. I don't know the execution was on that was perfect, but that watch though, you know, the ones where I had the like, yeah, the mystery dial, the mystery dial, the wick it they're banging on all cylinders.
Andrew	They have, they've stepped up on your cylinder. You can feel free. You have a key to my house. Uh, They filled the void that Seiko left and that Seiko, you know, vacated the space, tried to hold ground with the Seiko 5. and just kind of, there's nothing wrong with the Psycho 5 series.
Everett	I don't know if I signed on to this theory. I hear what you're saying. I'm not sure. I'll have to think about it. I'm not sure I signed on to that theory, but, but it's a, it's an interesting observation.
Andrew	I think, I think Timex is stepping up to fill that vacuum and there's more good things to come. And we've been saying that about Psycho or about Timex for five years and now the good things are coming. In droves, what did, did they, they had bad releases this year, undoubtedly. Were any of their like intentionally cool releases bad?
Everett	I mean, no, they don't have an, they didn't have an American documents this year. I don't think it good. Yeah. Uh, what else do you got in terms of, of 2024 things you thought were cool?
Andrew	I, I have a thing that I thought was really cool. Finally, finally the moon swatch.
Everett	became available online. If there is one person I know who has, who has lamented this since day one, Andrew, it's you. You have bitched constantly.
Andrew	Incessantly.
Everett	About boutique only availability.
Andrew	I hate that. Cause I don't live near a boutique. If I did, I would have happily camped on the sidewalk. How far away is Toronto? It's not that far away. I don't have a valid passport right now. And also it's like not close. 4,000 miles or something. I don't know. There's gotta be a boutique closer than that. I don't know. I don't know. There's gotta be one in Vegas or maybe LA. I don't think so. I don't think so. Regardless. If there was one within 200 driving miles, I would have slept on the sidewalk to acquire these watches. But there wasn't. There is not. And it's bullshit that you have to pay secondary market prices for something that's really trying to not be that. The whole idea of the Moon's Watch was this making this really cool thing in a wholly different way, re-imagining the Speedmaster Pro and making it accessible. But making it a boutique-only release didn't do that. It made it somehow less accessible. I can walk into any Omega AD. I can walk into a jeweler today. Well, no, not anymore. They're probably closed. I can walk into a jeweler tomorrow and leave with a Speedmaster Pro. I don't have to find it on Reddit, I don't have to pay double MSRP for it, triple even. I mean, these things are going for wild prices on the secondary market.
Everett	Yeah, for a while they were, but I mean, certainly it's been years since that was true.
Andrew	But they were, and that bugged me, continues to bug me, and now they've stabilized and they're down to like, oh, I can maybe make a little bit on this.
Everett	I mean, I think these go for less than retail now.
Andrew	Regardless, they made a handful of them available online for those of us who are unable to go sleep on a sidewalk to buy it. And they really lived up to what the Moon Swatch was supposed to do, which was make the Speedmaster cooler and different and accessible.
Everett	Right? I'll just tell you, at you at home, I'm not gonna tell Andrew this. Don't tell him I said it. Meet my headphones. Andrew still, still today, complains about the day that Apple ditched Google Maps. And he still insists that Apple Maps is an inferior product. It may be, I don't actually know. I don't think either one of them is as good as other products on the market. But Andrew's still, he's like, this guy holds a grudge.
Andrew	Apple Maps took me. backwards. It took me back towards my point of origin through construction zones. It took me on a fucking forest service road in Wyoming for no reason.
Everett	I told you guys, I told you, I told you this is a guy that holds a grudge.
Andrew	I will. When people send me like a pin drop or a location and it tries to open Apple maps, Better don't, man.
Everett	So I want to say Timex, perhaps my comeback player of the year. My watch brand of the year. Is this your league MVP? My MVP brand. Brand of the Year, founded in 1848 by Henri-Louis Belmont in Besançon, France, and then revived a few years ago. Yama, dude. Yama, yama, yama, yama, yama. I do not know how many times I've said, Yemma is killing it in the last year, but it's been a lot. Dozens. And then last year, our show was called, Yemma Has a Yemazing Week, which I think is a pretty clever pun.
Andrew	It was adequate.
Everett	Okay. Yemma is my brand of the year. I mean, Let's talk a little bit about the CMM movement. In-house, French-made components, winner of the French watch of the year for the Navy Graph CMM.10. You know, I think it was just a few years ago that we were talking about, well, Yem is making really cool watches, they're doing interesting things, their quality control is kind of wiggity-wack. And then they had their like 3D printed plate. I don't know if it's 3D printed, some sort of like mis-colored plate. And I remember you and I kind of like, we're still doing, we're still doing, what do you call that? Like where you had crowdfunding website.
Andrew	Kickstarter.
Everett	We're still doing Kickstarter watches.
Andrew	They were doing Kickstarter for a while.
Everett	And like, well, what are we doing here? What are we doing here, Yama? And much like perhaps Timex, which is like, OK, we've seen signs. This was the year that Yama fucking dropped the gauntlet. yeah they showed up they they tightened their belt and they went to work we got badass basic i don't know if they're cost certified or not but essentially cost certified in-house micro rotor super thin movements they are making the thinnest watches in the world right now, not literally, but like for sport watches, they are kicking asses. I mean, for years we've talked about, hey, if you want thin watches, look no further than Manta. Manta beats many, many brands at two and three times their cost in terms of their in terms of their engineering to get their watches thin and to wear nice, right? All of a sudden, Yema's doing the same thing. And they're crushing, they're crushing. Designs are good, movements are terrific, watches are interesting. Yema.
Andrew	And you know something that I really appreciate about Yema is that they haven't, Uh, they haven't given in to the Swiss. It's cause they're fucking French. Right. But so many of these brands, they decide to get like, they, they turn that corner. They're like, we're going to get big. We're going to do it. We're going to do it right. And they go Swiss made, which is arguably the right business decision. And they're not doing it and they're killing it. They're still made in Francois.
Everett	Yeah, what yeah micro motor movement developed and assembled in-house with French parts at only 3.7 millimeters thick thick with the 70-hour power reserve and It's a like a well under 2,000 bucks.
Andrew	Yeah, every Every watch they're releasing. It's well designed. The language is great. I don't like the scale bracelet Like, I don't like it at all. It's probably for someone, it's just not for me, nor will it ever be. Barring that huge problem, they're doing some exciting stuff and they're still kind of flying low on the radar.
Everett	I'd say so. Yeah, I'd say so. I mean, if, there's anybody else right now who's talking about Yema this way, let me know. But I don't see a lot of that. I know people are saying, Oh, this is really cool. Oh, I like this watch. I, Yema is blowing my mind.
Andrew	They're doing one of the tech, like the watch world technology, coolest things in in-house movements. Oh, and we'll just make it a micro rotor for funsies, which is one of the coolest things you can do to a watch. Their designs are great. They turned a huge corner.
Everett	Collaborating with Silverstein. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's my brand of the year.
Andrew	I have to second your position.
Everett	Love it. Love it. Andrew, are we done talking about 2024? I mean, we, this, this episode could be, could and, and, and perhaps has been 47, 52 hours long. How many hours we should look? I bet we've recorded 75 hours of podcast in 2024. Probably. Yeah. somewhere in that range. And so all of those things are important, but for where we're at today, that's our episode. That's our 2024 Urine Review. And with that, Andrew, other things, did you bring something? What do you got?
Andrew	I did bring something and I kind of spilled the beans on a little bit earlier because I was so excited about it. So at Costco, you can buy uh, racks of pork and they're just, they're just sitting, this is your other thing. Yeah, you, you will know. So it's, it's part of my other thing. My other thing is kind of like two, two sides. So you can buy pork racks and I'm not talking about a rack of ribs. Like it's a, it's a rack of ribs with an alloying still attached. So you've got, you know, bone in pork chops. Uh, like really nice fat cap on them. They're like, I don't know, less than three bucks a pound. So for eight ribs, three bucks.
Everett	Yeah, that's not bad.
Andrew	So for like eight ribs, we'll have a pork loin. You're paying like 15 bucks Yeah, so just like like money wise it's a it makes sense. But so I get this and I'm like, what am I gonna do with it? So I found this website called smoking meat dot-com Yeah, you're gonna link to that one in the show learn how to smoke meat with Jeff Phillips. Don't click on this you guys and And you don't know what's gonna happen. Oh my rickroll sweatshirt came in. That's so good I put it on and I my wife's like what is that? I was like scan it She's like looks at me. I was like just do it scan it She like holds her phone up. She's like you're gonna rickroll me, aren't you? Yo, she scans it never going to give you up. Like, yep, you did that. And I was like, I cannot wait to wear this to a grocery store. And then here, Rick Astley come up behind me like, gotcha bitch. Uh, so get back to pole smoking to this day. My favorite joke that's ever been played by a television show is from Ted Lasso when they Rick roll you through the whole episode. That song just plays constantly. I'm like, man, they just got me again. Anyway, so this website. You're a simple man, Andrew. I have very, very low needs. You're a simple man. I love it. Very low needs. So this website, this guy has like adequate recipes, but tons of them. And they're all smoker based. They're all low and slow, whether it be Traeger or like if you're using wood or if you're like a, charcoal smoking guy but finding websites or like finding people that do recipes specifically around smoking that are pretty reliable is kind of tough because it's a very trendy thing to do. Everyone's got their Traeger now and they're like Here's my recipe, I'm an Instagram influencer now. This guy does good stuff, and good stuff in that it's good information to base your recipes around, because once you cook enough, you kind of like, oh, I kind of like that idea, oh, I didn't think of it like that. You use recipes to inform what you already have in mind. So I sent pictures, but this was the recipe that I based mine off of from smoking meat. Mine was not as gorgeous. I didn't get the temp right for the charring, but that's my thing. Go to Costco. Buy the rack of pork, make a crown roast. It's super easy. You dry brine it for a few hours. You wake up on Saturday morning, you cut it open, score it, smother it with seasoning, throw it in the fridge for a couple hours, tie it up, throw it on the smoker for a few more, and you have this just delicious, smoky, juicy, elegant, centerpiece for your table that you get to eat. Love it. And use this guy, Smoking Meat, Jeff Phillips, because he's got good ideas. Not sexual at all, I promise. Smoke Jeff Phillips's meat.com. Good recipes, like really sound foundational ideas, nothing extravagant or extraordinary, just very simple, like, hey, let's work with what we have and make things taste good.
Everett	That's my other thing. Go to Costco, get a rack of pork. And smoke some meat.
Andrew	And smoke some meat.
Everett	Andrew, I've got another thing. Do me. It's a weird one. This is not a thing necessarily, although there will be a thing. Rather it's so hard to link to your other things. Yeah, this is gonna be a fun one for you And I provide you nothing Rather this is maybe like a bit of a life experience. This is the thing that has been enveloping my consciousness recently, so I went to a piano recital on Saturday, the annual Christmas piano recital. My daughter has turned into quite the piano player.
Andrew	Both of my kids say it for whatever reason.
Everett	And she, for this show, she did one very difficult Bach piece that's got really like a pretty complicated level, you know, just like the three voices and She did a, and then she did two pieces that she really composed herself. And, you know, making musical arrangements is a whole skill, right? You know, composing your own music.
Andrew	People get paid money to do that as a profession.
Everett	And then arranging music. Both of those things are really impressive to me, but require a certain degree of music theory and skill that I find really impressive. So for this concert, Betty actually had done two arrangements that she had put together. and played them and it was beautiful. And I just basically cried the whole time and it's terrific. And she had a really good show. And then after the show, we were having dinner and she told me that she had selected a song for a concert she's gonna do this spring. And she told me, I could just tell that there was like something there. And she said, I'm gonna do five years. which is my favorite song from my favorite artist, David Bowie. And I was like, man, I am so pumped, I can't wait. And she was like, but I think I wanna add drums and I think you should play drums for me. Well, I don't play drums. I don't play drums, but of course, so of course.
Andrew	No, we have the record sound and scratch record.
Everett	Yeah. Oh yeah. Where is it? Uh, there we go. Uh, I don't play drums. Uh, but of course, so of course I said, yes, I will. As one does. So I then quickly had to figure out a whole, I, well, I say had to as if it's all done. I have to figure out a whole bunch of things. I have to think, you know, and Andrew, I've played, you know, this, I've played music in some capacity, most of my life until really headphones.
Andrew	And then from like the back of the head headphones, remember those wrapped around the back and then earbuds back in the headphones.
Everett	So I grew up playing brass and I've played quite a bit of guitar. And so I've got like, I've got like a foundation, but never played any drums. Uh, so like, I haven't even played rock band drums. Like what's wrong with you? I haven't even played rock band drums. So I'm going to have to figure out the piece. I'm going to have to figure out, you know, what the parts are. I'm going to have to figure out fills because Drum fills are a whole thing. And then also, I'm going to have to figure out equipment. So my thing this week is electronic drums. Electronic drums are terrific, Andrew. I started learning about these on Sunday. And I, as of today, am the owner of a probably about a 10 year old electronic drum set. It's specifically a Roland TD-11K, which is a very nice mid-range, probably in the grand scheme of things, drum set. that I just got a terrific deal on locally. And today, for the very first time, I played drums. I wouldn't let anybody else hear what I did on the drums, but I did, in fact, play drums. And that's my other thing for this week.
Andrew	I- Everett playing the drums.
Everett	I'm a drum player.
Andrew	Drumist.
Everett	I'm a drummer.
Andrew	I do expect video of you playing at said recital.
Everett	This is going to happen.
Andrew	Uh, there will be video, but I, I insist that you have, uh, jorts on like homemade cutoffs, no shirt. And I will give you all of the temporary tattoos so that you can look like dad mode, Travis Barker.
Everett	So, so let's be clear. This is Betty's performance. So I'm going to do everything I can to not be visible. That means playing, Competently, but also just shredding it. No, just out of the way. Out of the way, which is nice.
Andrew	Throw the drumstick into the crowd at the conclusion.
Everett	It means I need to practice a lot so that I can disappear. That's the goal. So there will be no jorts or shortless shirts, sleeveless shirts.
Andrew	No, no shirt at all, actually. The sleeves were irrelevant because the shirt won't be there.
Everett	I will let her pick my outfit, but it will be invisible. That's gonna be the goal, to be invisible.
Andrew	Invisible outfit, that's called being naked. I'm saying just jorts.
Everett	And you do need a certain amount of competence to be invisible. But there will be video, it's gonna happen.
Andrew	You need a high level of competence to vanish.
Everett	Yeah, that's right. So I'm going to practice a lot between now and that concert so that I can be invisible.
Andrew	Perhaps more than her.
Everett	I guarantee you I will practice more than her. If there's one thing I can do, Andrew, I can grind.
Andrew	Yeah, you are a grinder.
Everett	So I will grind between now and then such that as much as humanly possible, I can disappear.
Andrew	and you will play one song fantastically.
Everett	That's right, probably my whole life.
Andrew	And have no other concept of how to play the drums. But God damn it, five years, I can do that.
Everett	I am gonna take some lessons. So I have not officially signed up for anything, but I am gonna take some lessons. That's a good idea. So there will probably be a little bit more than the one song, but maybe not a lot. And this may be the full extent of my drum career.
Andrew	Children's piano recitals.
Everett	Yes. Yeah. And in fairness to Betty, she is much, much less a child than a grown, than a, than a young woman at this point. But, uh, yeah. Yeah. That will be the soul. My soul claimed to fame as a drummer.
Andrew	It's not a bad one.
Everett	I don't think so. It's probably one of the great honors of my life.
Andrew	Hookers and blow is not a typical achievement. Andrew, are we done? Never. We got 52 hours left in us. So buckle up, y'all. We're going to take a potty break, go get a new beer, and let's do some work.
Everett	Hey, you guys. Thanks for joining us for this wrap-up of the year that is 2020-24. 2024. I may have taken a muscle relaxer. There will be more, one more show in 2024, but this is our two. There you go. This is our year in review. Uh, do me a favor. Check us out. Check out our website, watch clicker.com. That's where we post every single episode of this podcast, but also articles, reviews, other cool stuff. If you want to check us out on social media, you can do that at watch clicker or at 40 and 20 underscore watch clicker. If you want to support us, and oh boy, we hope you do, you can do that at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. And don't forget to turn back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. But bye.