Rounding out 2024 with Frank! (323)

Published on Wed, 08 Jan 2025 17:18:32 -0800

Synopsis

In this episode of the Watch Clicker podcast, host Andrew is joined by guest Frank while regular co-host Everett is away in Pasadena. They discuss their favorite watches of 2024, including the Vulcan Cricket Nautical alarm dive watch, the Aquastar Benthos 500, and new Seiko Marine Masters. They also make predictions for watch trends in 2025, debating whether smaller watches will continue to dominate or if medium-sized watches will make a comeback. They discuss the potential for college athlete watch brand ambassadorships due to NIL deals. The episode concludes with Frank recommending the Camp Snap digital camera as an alternative to disposable cameras, and Andrew sharing his disappointment with Squid Game Season 2.

Transcript

Speaker
Andrew Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 and 20, the Watch Clicker podcast with your hosts and my best friend, Frank. Here, we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Frank, how are you?
Frank I'm doing well, man. How are you?
Andrew Better now. Everett is on his way to Pasadena. Hang on. I didn't crack a beer because I'm doing something different this week.
Frank I got you covered.
Andrew So, Everett's in Pasadena. Well, he's on his way. He might actually still even be at the airport. So, I shown the bat signal up and who came to our rescue but our partner, my best friend, somebody I'd way rather hang out with than our very own Frank Affronti. Frank, how the hell are you, man?
Frank I'm doing great. I got a new lease on life. We've been sick since Thanksgiving. Babies are disgusting creatures. So we've been recovering from one thing after another, and we're finally back. We're ready.
Andrew Does he go to daycare?
Frank So we'd not in like an official daycare, but we started attempting to like institute some sort of childcare plan. And our, our gym has a really nice like daycare facility. And so we were testing it out and just instantly sick, just yep. Yeah. Sick, sick, sick.
Andrew The diseases you bring home from daycare are horrifying. I'm pretty sure some of them have no known cure.
Frank Yeah, I'm well most of them they're just they have to run their course and like this is a little tinfoil hat E and like maybe a little too early in the show for it But when they announced that coronavirus came from somewhere in China I was shocked that it was not just some random daycare facility that produced that virus and
Andrew Yes, it's just this like Petri dish of kids covered in snot, coughing in each other's mouths, sometimes sneezing in each other's mouths. Like it's not like when people like how on earth could the avian flu transmit to pigs? I'm like, have you ever seen a daycare? That's how it transmits. It's just a horrifying germ factory. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I didn't realize how sick you guys were. I knew you all were under were not even really on the mend. I knew you were all just sick. I didn't realize it had been that long, though.
Frank Well, it was more than, it was like new illnesses, right? And we don't gotta get into it, but if your child comes home from daycare and they have the hand, foot, mouth, do everything in your power to not get that virus. They're okay, the kids are gonna bounce back, they're fine. Really, it didn't affect him at all. When I tell you it was the worst thing I've experienced as an adult, it was God awful.
Andrew I've been super lucky every time my kids have brought it home. I've never gotten it. Uh, Sam gets it every time. Uh, and it, it seems miserable. Yeah, that's miserable. Uh, I always get the colds and for some reason, whatever, when they bring home something that gets me sick, I get really sick. So, uh, yeah, I just, it, I'm ready to be done with daycare. School is somehow cleaner. I don't know. I think it's because they're like, By the time they're in kindergarten, not everything goes in their mouth. And I think that's like, that's the tipping point.
Frank They're definitely just like a little bit, a little bit sturdier too. Yeah, my kid right now is like primo everything in your mouth stage, just the grossest stuff. But anyways, enough about how children are the source of the world's stickiness.
Andrew Unless you can taste it, right? Exactly, exactly. Tasting is knowing. So I guess we can dive into why we're here. So last week, Everett and I talked about some of our favorites of 2024. And today, we want to hear about your favorites, Frank. And if we can get to it, we're going to do some hot takes, some predictions for 2025. But I'm pretty confident that the list of your favorites from 2024 might take us to the end. Because I know you got some good stuff on there. And you span a much wider... space than I really pay attention to uh so I'm interested to hear let's in no particular order unless you want to go in a particular order if you've if you've done the number one your favorite pick and you have them sequentially or if you just have the like I liked all these totally your call I'm not going to put you on the spot and force you to choose your most favorite of the years
Frank Yeah, these are in no particular order and I tried to go with a dive theme for the bulk of them because I think that 2024 had really gotten to the bottom of like the vintage reissue bag and we started to see some unique like funky stuff that that hasn't been reissued before. So this was a release late late 2023 but they didn't really start hitting anywhere until like kind of mid 2024 there was a awesome collab in 2024 so I'm gonna I think it counts we're gonna go we'll count it we're gonna go with the Vulcan cricket nautical are you familiar with this watch and we're gonna I've seen this watch but I'm not super familiar with it so we're gonna pick specifically the Messina lab collab and I am familiar with that one so this is a alarm watch Vulcan is is most famous for their alarm watches the cricket that they came out with in the the I don't know maybe the 50s but they would give them to the U.S. presidents this is sort of that it has a alarm function that's meant to go off underwater and reverberate through the water really loudly. And it has some metric to feet conversions on the dial. The Messina Lab has some faux loom and like, it's kind of aged. It has this beautiful tropical brown dial. I didn't say brown.
Andrew And I was hearing bronze. I was. Yeah. That's where I thought you were going. And then it seemed like you maybe changed. I think I'm good with bronze on that with a little bit of fotina flavor in the markers. Right.
Frank Yeah. Either way, it's it kind of gives off the vibe of those old Tropic watches that age in Vietnam. but obviously this is new. It's like 17 or 18 millimeters thick, but whatever, who cares? The case back is meant to reverberate the alarm so it's even louder, and it has this funky, almost like Swiss cheese look on the case back. I just think it's a really cool watch and I'm pumped to see Vulcan start doing stuff again. I didn't realize that it's the same brand owner that re-brought back Nevada Gretchen. I hope I'm saying that right. That was the same guy that brought Vulcan back.
Andrew Are you familiar with, uh, like the functionality of this conversion on the dial? Cause it's, it makes it look really, really busy. And for a sixties release, I'm imagining there's a lot of functionality there for a diver. I'm just based off assumption. Like if I look at a slide rule, I'm like, man, that's gotta be really valuable and really important because it eats your entire dial. I really liked the way it looks, but is the functionality there as somebody who dives?
Frank Yeah. Honestly, I don't think it's that, uh, that great of a use. I think they're just like, yeah, I don't, I don't know, man. I mean, you're not, uh, you're not going this deep famously though. This like this particular watch in the sixties was brought down to, um, I believe 220 meters, like legitimately was, dove with to 220 meters by this dude named Hans Keller. It was a record-setting dive at the time. It was witnessed by our boy Jacques Cousteau. He verified it, said this happened. Also, this is a sapphire crystal now. Back then it was not, obviously. 250 meters. You got 250? Okay.
Andrew He was down to 250. It's in the story of the watch. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare to correct you on that.
Frank The one I'm reading says 222, but I mean, who cares? Either way, it's ridiculous.
Andrew So this one says in 1966, he wore a cricket nautical, oh, an extreme depth of almost 250 meters, so okay.
Frank Okay, same, yeah, who cares? Deep.
Andrew The guy was way too deep. I'm gonna round up. If I get to 220 meters, we're gonna call it a clean 300. Clean 500, yeah. Yeah, I mean, he really pushed the limit of that thing, but.
Frank just think it's really cool and like the most famous alarm dive watch is obviously the the JLC Memovex which is is cool and also was re-released recently but this is like you got to be in the know I think to be rocking one of these. It's kind of expensive but $4,900. These were limited, the Messina ones.
Andrew Yeah, they only made 25 of them, so you're really in the know if you've got one of these on your wrist.
Frank Yeah, I imagine they sold out, but I think you can just buy the regular one.
Andrew How much less is the regular one?
Frank That's a good question. I'm not sure. Cricket, nautical. I bet probably, yeah, 4,200. There's a few different versions of it, too. You can get one that's all murdered out black. That's pretty sweet.
Andrew Do they have any on a bracelet?
Frank No.
Andrew Or are they all on this rubber? Yeah, they're all on rubber. That's okay. That's all right. I'll survive.
Frank The original ones go for 40,000, though.
Andrew That tracks. Yeah. Because it could be the one that he wore. Yeah, who knows? I don't know. That one's still down there. I don't. It's because so is he. That's that's a people don't come back from that depth for real.
Frank Yeah. Jack, who still witnessed it? He didn't come back.
Andrew He's like, we ran out of rope at two hundred twenty two meters and then he just kept going. So we know we made it that far. Right.
Frank All right. Well, we got next week, too. So shout out ever. Acrylic crystals can do it. Oh, can always do it. um next up we have the uh i don't know if you saw this come out as well this is another chonky boy the aqua star benthos 500 did you we did i think we might have even talked about that on the show there's a good chance this came out I don't know, a few years ago, but it wasn't like a faithful reissue. It was just a regular diver that kind of was in the same style. And what is special about the benthos way back when they were figuring out like what was going to be useful for divers at the time. And this is an elapsed chronograph function. And it has a chronograph hand, but this isn't a minute. This isn't a chronograph second hand. This is a chronograph minute hand, and it's only a 60 minute timer. So you start the timer, and it goes to 60 minutes. And they use, in the new one that just came out, they use a modified, I'm gonna murder this pronunciation, but the Le Jouperie. L-G-U-P-E-R-E.
Andrew Yeah, Le Jouperie.
Frank You said it perfectly. Okay. Cool. Yeah, this is the modified version of the Le Chouperet. It's not a clone of the ETA movements or the Solita, but they claim that any of their 60-hour power reserve movements, these movements will fit perfectly in a case that was designed for an ETA 2824. which is pretty sweet. So maybe we'll see these get used more. So it has 60 hours power reserve and does a pretty, pretty cool 60 minute dive timer.
Andrew Yeah, that's, that's really, I don't, I'm, we might not have talked about this. It was on one of our lists when it did come out. Cause this is like the reissue of an icon.
Frank Yeah.
Andrew And done in the right way. Like it has every bit the feeling of a 50s, 60s, no bullshit. We're going to build the toolest tool watch that has ever tooled. And you're going to go anywhere with it.
Frank Right. At the time, it was the first watch that was 500 meters water resistance. Obviously, that's now, you know, there's a bunch of those. I think they came out around four grand and for whatever reason, I mean, I get why they're like 18 millimeters thick. They weren't that popular. So you could pick one up for like three grand now.
Andrew So this, this benthos 502 founders edition is 15 four thick. And as of, you know, July it's 3,800 bucks. I'm not looking at the, at live pricing on them right now. Uh, 42 millimeter case, 47 lug to lug 15.4 thick 22 millimeter lug width, like a chunky dive watch, but this is like not offensive for a 500 meter meant to be a big ass dive watch. size.
Frank Yeah, I agree. And it's on a tropic. And Aquastar has really upped their quality, I think, in the past couple years. So I would expect this to be, I don't know, you're getting everything you're paying for. This thing's sweet.
Andrew Yeah, Aquastar has done some cool stuff. They did, what was their other release this year? They had another release this year that I was like, ooh, intriguing. Maybe it was last year.
Frank They released their Big Eye Chrono, and then they released one that's like a Big Eye Chrono not Chrono, which I thought was a little odd. Wasn't my cup of tea, per se, but they also came out with their Model 60, which is just a skin diver. I don't know if that was this year or last year.
Andrew I don't know, it all kind of blends together.
Frank That one's cool, though. I'm sure Everett liked that. This is right up his alley.
Andrew What's this on the bentos 500? Is that a helium release valve at the two o'clock or is that an... So one's the crown, one is for the chronograph.
Frank It's a mono pusher.
Andrew Oh, there it is. Yeah. Okay. I like it. This is the feel that I want. I want to see more like, like good reissues of these sixties tool watches. Cause we, we have more than enough skin divers. Now there was a dearth of them five years ago. We have many now. And, and I think more is more, right? I'm not saying don't make them. Cause there's always ways to reimagine and to put cool shit into it. But this is like, I want some, I want some tool watches now, but they don't have to be this big. Right. That's a little thick. A little thick.
Frank I'm glad they're finally getting to like the bottom of the catalog, right? Like nobody, there was no appetite for this a couple of years ago, maybe in like the early 2000s when they were making those big thick like micro brands and they were digging stuff up, but they weren't getting to the bottom of the catalog yet.
Andrew But even then in the early 2000s, this is too simple. Like a monopusher, no register chronograph would be unacceptable. We need three, perhaps four registers. We need a little bit of skeletonizing. The lugs are too thin. Like that big chunky nonsense is what we wanted then. And we don't want that now. This is a terrific interpretation of a modernizing of a really dope watch. What you got up next?
Frank This is more of a standard excitable watch that I think you guys probably talked about, but I don't know. I wasn't listening that close. Did you check out the new Seiko Marine Masters?
Andrew We did. When they actually, when they made Marine Masters instead of not Marine Master.
Frank Am I missing a deep cut there? I'm looking at the SLA 079.
Andrew They did a Marine Master release that just wasn't Marine Master. It was, they just bore the name. Is it, are we about to talk about the same watch? Am I shitting on your selection?
Frank I don't know. No.
Andrew It says Marine Master. I'm not shitting on your watch. There was a, it doesn't matter, let's hear about it.
Frank So this is the new Seiko Prospex Marine Master reinterpretation of the 1968 Diver with all the bells and whistles. And I know there's gonna be some haters for the 430 date window on these. It is color matched and like, I just wanna, caveat why Seiko does this because I get it and I think it's lost in translation. The ISO certification for professional divers changed their specs, I don't know, maybe two years ago now, but they said that you need a full loon plot at every location. So no longer could you put your date window at three o'clock and meet that ISO professional diver spec. Which prompted Seiko to move a lot of their professional divers to have their date at 430. That's why this date's at 430. I get it. I'm fine with it. I understand it's a little bit out of their control. And it's done nicely here. It's well done.
Andrew It's super out of their control. And I'm super glad you bring up that ISO change because one of the things that Seiko prides themselves on is being one of the kind of few brands that actually adheres to ISO specifications and puts diver's watch on their watch. And in order to do so, you have to meet the criteria. that is created by a governing body that has nothing to do with and knows nothing about watches, or watch design. They're like, hey, these are- That does not care about the aesthetic. Yeah, like, no, no, no. These are the rules, play within them. So Seiko has made some changes and people are gonna piss and moan, but that's an important thing to consider when we complain about watches that have ISO certifications. Like you're not going to complain like if a chronometer certified watch required a second crown at the nine o'clock, no one be like, oh, it's so ugly. Be like, oh, no, it's a chronometer.
Frank Right. Yeah. It's you're not complaining when the chronometer has to be tested in X position. Like even though it's just, it's on the back end. Um, I don't know how the bracelet is on these. I'm, I'm a little suspect because of obvious reasons, but the case just is spectacular on these beautiful drilled lugs that like, polished edges on the on the case and the bezel just looks fantastic. It's 42 and a half millimeters. It's only 13 thick. I think it's a home run for Seiko. It came out at just under three grand. I think you're firmly competing with Tudor at that price and I don't know, is a Black Bay better than this? I don't really think so.
Andrew I don't know, I think the big difference isn't just what do you like. These are two very different watches, but spec-wise are really comparable. And price-wise, Seiko wins.
Frank Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And maybe you're not getting the same You know, after you buy it, maybe it's, you're losing a little bit. And I'm probably gonna give the edge for the bracelet to Tudor, but it's just a really good looking diver from Seiko. I'm a big fan. I love the textured dial. And I've always wanted a Marine Master, never had one. So I was pumped to see this come out in 2024. Probably my favorite Seiko release.
Andrew I think I have to agree on, well, I don't know, there was the Tokyo Nights presage that came out that I really liked from Seiko this year. But this is where we kind of expected Seiko to go when they kind of abandoned the truly affordable space, that sub-thousand-dollar space. we'll even go to the sub $500 space. This is the kind of stuff that we were expecting. And we're finally getting it, you know, five years later now. I'm with you. I think Tudor gets the edge in the bracelet just because Seiko at this price point, their bracelets are still not, they're not hitting quite right.
Frank Yeah. So I've never seen this, this nighttime Tokyo edition. This thing is sick looking. I love this dial. yes yeah well I think in line with the Seiko it's time to talk about something silly and I have two watches from this brand on my list the first one is the the dumb one we'll talk about it first this came out at Watches and Wonders this year, and it's from Cartier, and it's the Cartier Crocodile. Have you seen these?
Andrew I'm not, I'm not, I'm looking it up right now. You have to give me a minute to catch up.
Frank Yeah, so this is in line with the Cartier release maybe two years ago That was the Jaguar and it had like the diamond encrusted Jaguar that one on the dial. This isn't a Jaguar. This is a crocodile obviously and you have a It's it's a diamond encrusted crocodile and the tail wraps around the watch Where's the watch Are you looking for like an article on it or you mean like where are the hands?
Andrew I'm just I'm This is This is something else. I don't know how I didn't see this. I do remember the Jaguar and I guess I
Frank The view I hate it the view from the back where the crocodile is like smirking With his green with his green eye is just incredible I'm obviously I mean this isn't a watch for I don't think either of us. I think it's a hundred and thirty thousand dollars But if you had I would thirty grand man.
Andrew I I'd be super proud to take my wife somewhere and she would be wearing that.
Frank Oh my God.
Andrew I would be like, I'd be like, look at me. I'm a, I'm a baller. I wouldn't wear it. Uh, but yeah, no, that's just, that's not for me. Um, Ooh. That is a good dumb one, but that's fun. Like I like seeing Cartier do Like just pure jewelry stuff and they're like, oh, we're also a watch company. Let's throw a watch on there. Why not? I think the crash was maybe intended to be like that But then it turned into this kind of like cult classic beautiful watch that is just phenomenal But they have like they have a bunch of weird weird watches that they're like, oh, it's jewelry, but we can also make a watch to fit in this. And then maybe we'll capture two markets and like, nobody really cares about the watch, but if they do, then they also get it. I don't know. They do some kind of weird things with some of their watches. It just doesn't make sense for a company that's really very conservative in their watch world.
Frank they are and they aren't like and I agree this is this is bizarre there are some bizarre choices in this so if if you're just listening this is an 18 karat white gold case and there is roughly 341 brilliant cut diamonds that's it's over three carats of diamonds 53 brilliant cut sapphires and 22 mother of pearls.
Andrew And the watch- To be the scales of the crocodile.
Frank Right, these are the scales of the crocodile in addition to a mosaic dial. And because Cartier, in their ever pursuit to the bit, they didn't want a crown to set the time. They were like, this watch, we don't want a crown on this. So there's no crown on this. You do the time setting via the case back. And in their ever wisdom decided to put a courts movement in it like they have the means I don't know why they did I I just don't understand some of the choices there But like I love that Cartier just does I just love that they do stuff like this
Andrew It had to be a size restriction. We can't reasonably put another carat of precious stones in this watch to make it big enough to put a proper movement in.
Frank Well, so that brings us to our next watch and we're talking about size restrictions. Let's talk about the Cartier Tank Mini, or as it's lovably called, the Tiny Tank. Have you seen the Tiny Tank release, Andrew?
Andrew I have seen the Tiny Tank release and like, silliness accepted, I could get with this.
Frank Yeah, I'm a big fan of the Tiny Tank. If it was a little bit cheaper, like I just don't, I can't get behind paying seven grand for For what this is but man, it's cool. I would love to to wear this around on like a hot summer day Maybe like a Vegas pool party.
Andrew Just this is oh, this is such a cool watch Yeah, this is this is straight like opulence and luxury feeling mm-hmm Yeah lessons. I really like these I've kind of been dabbling and I wonder if I should if I could do like quartz tank, but I've been like Feeling that out if I if I want to dip my toes in the tank world the solar one so The solar ones dope. I've been trying to one of my friends one say he wants the Seiko tank because he's not Emotionally prepared to like spend real money on a watch, but he likes watches, which is fine He's like he's he's still standing at the edge of the slippery slope and is reasonably And wisely not stepping out onto it and be like, I wonder how slippery this ice is. Because he's watching, he's like, see me, he's like, oh, yeah, no, I bought that. It's only a couple thousand. It's not a big deal. Don't worry about it. So he's he's standing at the edge, like looking over and I'm like, just get it. Get a solar tank, dude. That's what you want. Yes, the Seiko tank will fit what you sort of want, but it's not what you actually want. Just get the solar tank. It's the tank, which is arguably one of the coolest watches ever made. And it's solar, which is arguably one of the coolest powering mechanisms you can have in a watch. Just do it. He's like, yeah, my wife will get mad. I'm like, dude, you make all the money, just do it.
Frank If he makes all the money, I don't see a reason, like, obviously don't ruin your marriage about it, but dude, just go buy this old one and be done with it. Cause the other, all the other watches in this, in this vein, none of them are going to scratch the itch the way that the tank is, unless you're going to buy like a reverso. I get, I get it. Those are slightly different things. And if you want a reverso, you don't necessarily want a tank and vice versa.
Andrew Yeah, I think the similarities are there, but the crossover's not. Right, right.
Frank I think there's space.
Andrew Like those can both be in your watch box, and you're not gonna be like, oh, these are overlap.
Frank Right.
Andrew They're not overlap.
Frank Which they do, but they don't. I could see you justifying owning, know three of those little square washes between the two dial reverso and which i wouldn't get the two dial i like the polio the polo just straight metal backside of the reverso the classic one so good it's for no reason it's just like hey look what we can do
Andrew No, but we all have, we all have, you know, 10 round watches in our watch box and nobody's like, oh, those overlap, those are round. Just because these are rectangles doesn't mean they're the same. Like, shit, I have a couple of 5600s in my watch box.
Frank Did you see the Echo Nutra Rivanera that came out this year?
Andrew Ooh, that's new to me.
Frank Because- ECHO? Yeah, ECHO Nutra slash Nutra. I don't love the name having a slash, a forward slash in the actual name. I think that's kind of silly. But the Rivonera is pretty sweet. It's a great titanium rectangular watch. It's under six millimeters thick. This could be what your boy wants if he doesn't want to spend money on a tank. Although it's not that much cheaper. This is still like 1500 bucks.
Andrew I mean, you can get into a tank for about two grand, like, box and papers, they're out there, good condition. I've been pushing him, like, just do it. Don't ask permission, just come home with it. She'll never know. He does the numbers. Like, she'd never know.
Frank Yeah, I mean, it'll slip right under the cuff. She probably won't notice for months.
Andrew years even he'd be like oh yeah i bought this this cartier tank i don't know in 2025 and she'd be like you spent how much on a watch decade ago i've been seeing this more not to go back to the echo neutral but i've been seeing this more and more this
Frank this year, maybe we can talk about this in our 2025 predictions, but this sort of brutalist design, there was a couple like really brutalist design style watches that came out this year that, that peaked a bunch of lists for, you know, favorites of like people in the know. I like this watch and they look great. Like I, I like this watch when I see photos of it, but there's something about it on wrist that doesn't work well for me. Like the brutalist design meshed with your like soft, you know, squishy wrist. Like your wrist is like the complete opposite of anything brutalist. It just doesn't quite flow together. It's one of those watches that just looks better not on you.
Andrew in pictures. Right. Right. I'm looking at a wrist shot. Yeah. On the, I think it's the, it's almost like the lug to lug is a little short on the, the Rivin era because of that. Like if, if the lugs were, I don't know, like three millimeters longer or maybe the wrist model just has like a way too big of a risk. Cause I've never seen this in person, but uh, it should be small, but it doesn't like doesn't flow into the strap. It's like a little bit of watch. And then the strap is, is almost, there's too much of it visible in this design.
Frank It's this, I like the brutalist looks of, of these watches, especially like the 1970s, I don't know, the, The watch that came out from, who are these people? Toledano and Chan. This is like kind of a new brand as well that came out this year in the same sort of like ultra brutalist design style.
Andrew Yeah, I've seen these yeah, but also like futuristic like very Jetsons II right like it's a 60s watch That's imagining what 2020 looks like right, but you get the same vibe when you put it on wrist It's like it just doesn't go well with your flesh.
Frank Oh
Andrew Yeah, it's a better design idea than it is in practice.
Frank Right. Well, I don't know. I mean, maybe this is for somebody. But I would put it on.
Andrew Can you see the box on that?
Frank The box is a piece. Phil O'Donnell and Sean. Which, right. That's what it looks like it should be. It should be in some sort of concrete silo.
Unknown Stone carved. Yeah.
Andrew That's that's a cool box. I think I'd have to display it in the box. I don't think I'd ever wear it.
Frank For those listening, this is a essentially like a coffin that's made out of concrete that looks like it was salvaged from somewhere in the Soviet Union. And then the watch is inside. It has a I mean, how do you describe it?
Andrew It's a it's an asymmetric kind of sweeping So the one side is flat and the other side is kind of curves out to kind of give it that like, oh, shit, what's that Hamilton LCD watch you view from the side? No, you kind of view from the side. Kind of has that feel where it's elongated away from the left to right. It's I mean, it's the 1960s imagining what 2020 looks like.
Frank Right. Right.
Andrew It's not unattractive with like an adventuring dial like. The Gerard. No, no, the digital one, the one that I. I like that watch.
Frank So when you were describing this, I'm thinking of the Gerard, Gerard Paraguay, Cass, Cass Kat. Okay, yeah the casket it that there's a Hamilton version of it There's another brand that makes a version of it But it has that same like the dials over here, but the rest of the watch is like trailing behind it Yeah, well, I Want to get to some honorable mentions, but and then we can we can move into 2025 I'll touch on this because I know you guys talked about it last week But you got to bring up the studio underdog passion fruit Mozart collab. Yeah, we do is just I mean this guy is killing it everything he puts out is phenomenal and no I never had this on my 2024 bingo card that he was gonna come out with a Mozart collab like I'm at the point in my life where I have his releases on my phone, alarms going off to check because like, do I want to buy this? And then it comes up that it's a Moser collab? Are you joking?
Andrew The flex that he did this year with securing a contract with Siegel, an exclusive contract with Siegel to work under their MOQs, to collaborate with Moser, like, he can do no wrong right now.
Frank Yeah, he's having like a Timothy Chalamet year. But yes, like of the watch brand owners. And I don't know if you've been paying attention to Timmy Boy's PR campaign, but that guy's ending 2024 as strong as I've ever seen anybody. And what's, what's his name? Robert? Is it Robert? Oh, that's embarrassing that I'm blanking on the underdog guy's name. but he's having that kind of year, he's doing phenomenal. Richard Bank. Richard, Richard Robert, British.
Andrew Handsome, he's funny, we like him.
Frank Yep, so that's an honorable mention and then I have the Zenith DeFi A3648. This is sick. I'm a big fan of this watch. If you've never seen one of these, imagine a Zodiac Seawolf, but done as a Zenith Defy series. That's what this looks like to me.
Andrew The Defy was their playground this year. They did, I don't know, what, like eight different releases all on that Defy platform this year, and they were all really good. Yeah.
Frank Yeah. I mean, and it feels like they're finally breaking away from like, man, it just looks like a Daytona ripoff and now all of a sudden they're just they're they're out in left field doing cool stuff and Yes, and on their own legs. This is a kind of octagonal case and incredible orange and black color scheme that screams 60s divers, but with all of the technology of the Defy series, with that in-house movement, 50 hours of power reserve, it's a cool watch. I'm a big fan of this thing.
Andrew I may be a little, oh, I had to restart my computer, a little off base here. I don't think Zenith gets any of the love that they deserve. I know they're a luxury watch brand and that there are people who really appreciate Zenith, but I kind of put Zenith and Breitling in a category unto themselves where they make really cool shit and nobody really seems to care.
Frank I think Zenith deserves slightly more credit than Breitling. Um, and I think we're going to look back on this period of Zenith. Extremely fondly and be like, ah, you know, they were doing something special going out on a limb, every chance they had. And I can respect the crap out of a brand. That's like, I know that we're not the premier brand and we're just going to take swings. Like, but Zenith is a premier brand. They are, but they're not. They're not.
Andrew That's why I put them in a category with Breitling, because they're both premier brands. They're just not. But why are they not?
Frank Well, I mean, I know why Breitling's not, because they burned a bunch of good faith for 15 years of making subpar stuff. Maybe that's a shot at Breitling that I shouldn't take.
Andrew But so did Tag Heuer. And Tag Heuer is a little bit of a darling right now.
Frank Yeah, which I don't fully get that either. Zenith, at least, is, you know, Making new tech like they're in the lab making cool stuff and putting out new ideas and Making new movements and doing stuff tag. I get they get like a new CEO that's doing New stuff, but it just feels way too Nepo baby for me Like even if you do cool stuff if it comes from a place that's rotten, is it still cool? I don't know
Andrew Yes. Yes. Yes. It's still cool. Yeah. I don't know. I, those two brands, both Zenith and Breitling have, have always kind of confused me in that these are legit brands doing like good stuff with some legacy to them and like basically just arms dealers like them.
Frank I always wanted a Navitimer from the time I was first got into watches and then I Tried on one for the first time and I was like, I can't pull this thing off.
Andrew It's not quite for me No, I couldn't either the the one that I want. You can't really find them in working condition anymore. It was a It's a like an 80s edition of the LCD. It's it's not an anodigy. It's just an LCD screen in the middle of the Navitimer dial and
Frank Oh, I am seeing this, yeah.
Andrew So cool. But there's no, you can't get a new module for it. When it's done, it's done. The other throwaway. Yeah, which is a bummer. I would even kinda like to have one in not working condition just to have it.
Frank Yeah, just pretend like you gotta hit the button to turn it on and you just don't.
Andrew I just wear it. I don't care. I don't need to know what time it is. I like to, but I don't need to. I have a cell phone.
Frank Yeah, that is the most effective way to know the time still. So do you got any hot takes for 2025? What do you think, Andrew?
Andrew Okay, so my first hot take isn't isn't really particularly that hot, but it's something I want to talk about because we talked about it when we talked about the notice sector to pilot release in the last couple months. What I take that to mean is that the entire sector line is going to get an upgrade. And not incremental the way that Nodus does, because every single time Nodus puts a watch into production, and I mean like every single month when they're producing new watches, they're making tweaks and improvements. The sector 2 I think, because when we see notice sector two pilot, I think means we're going to see a huge upgrade across the entire family because they're not just going to upgrade the case for the pilot, which I would assume is probably the slowest of the family of four. So I'm excited to see what the entire sector two family looks like. That's my first hope prediction. cool take for next year. And I haven't talked to him about this, I could, but I'm just hot taking right now.
Frank Yeah, we could ask, but Wes is a little busy, just got engaged. I like to just start rumors. I think they're gonna do probably all new every single one of their lineups.
Andrew They do that every time they push the button. They're like, hey, let's tweak this one little thing. And it almost makes me reluctant to buy any of their watches, because I'm like, yeah, but if I buy it in six months, it's going to be better than if I buy it now.
Frank Right. They genuinely make it difficult to pull the trigger. And then when you get it, I don't know there will be some part of it You're like I don't necessarily really love this one part of the watch and you'll ask them about it and they'll be like Oh, yeah, we changed that it's coming Yeah Yeah, the every single time because they're just they're they're constantly improving which which I think is one of their strengths and and
Andrew Frankly, a little bit of a flaw with the brand is that they do constant improvement, which makes it difficult to know when to buy, although you should always buy. I wish they were a little bit more deliberate about, like, these are all the improvements we're going to make for next year or for Gen 2 or Gen 3 rather than incrementally improving across an entire generation.
Frank Yeah, I think it speaks to their broader goals, right? Like they have big ambitions for Notice, for the watch industry, for what they want to do. And I think that they use Notice as a platform for them to make these tweaks and see what they can get away with and can do so that they can push the envelope in other areas. And maybe we'll, maybe that's something we'll see in 2025 is, is notice is big, you know, overarching plans will come to, uh, the public view, but, or not, who knows. But I think that what we're talking about where they are making these constant improvements speaks to, to Wes and Colin's broader goals.
Andrew Notice went from their funding source to what they wanted to do to the playground. Notice is where they get to play and innovate for them and for them only to test methodology for other people.
Frank Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good prediction and I kinda hope it comes true. I'd like to see what happens with that sector, the sector series. I'd like to see the sport, do something, I don't know what exactly. I'm just not entirely in love with the sport, and I want to be, and I feel like some changes.
Andrew I think it's because that mid case is just not quite right for a strap monster, which is what you want out of a sport watch. I think that case shape lends itself to a diver, to a pilot, and less so to other applications. Which is the inherent challenge in creating a single case to fit four applications. Nobody else does that. And there could be a reason.
Frank Yeah, it is a really ambitious ask to apply that to so many different watches. Yeah, shout out, honorable mention, Duality 2, coming in at the end of the year, hot.
Andrew Yeah, yes. Yeah, hot fire.
Frank I had the original duality and it was easily my favorite notice for a long time. I gave it to my wife. She was my girlfriend, I think at the time or maybe fiance, whatever. I gave it to her and we were rock climbing and she took a pretty, a pretty good fall and smashed it. Just, just smashed it. And, uh, that was the end of my duality. And I've been meaning to, did she fall on purpose?
Andrew Was like, did you make her mad and she like crunched it up on purpose or?
Frank No, we were, we were outdoors. Um, and she was lead climbing and, um, I guess for those unfamiliar with, with climbing, when you are lead climbing your, climbing to known anchor locations. So you get to a specific anchor location, you put in your, um, quick draw, which is like a, you know, carabiner, and then you bring your rope up to that carabiner. And then if you fall, you fall to that location. So as you go from one anchor location to the next anchor location, If you fall, you fall from the distance above your last anchor times two, because you have to.
Andrew Plus, and whatever slack your belayer has given you.
Frank Whatever your belayer comes off the ground, so you fall a decent distance. She didn't take like, I'm not saying like 20 feet whipper or anything like that, but she took a decent whipper and came down and came down against the wall. Um, and, and had the notice to add a little bit on risk, smashed it. I think they, that we sent it back to them and there was like some damage to the crown and the movement was all jacked up and West made fun of me and I don't know, I just, it, it didn't work out sadly.
Andrew It's, it's in their hall of fame. Uh, who, who does that? Doesn't it's either Red Wing or Danner that has like a hall of fame boots in there. in one of their showrooms and they like, I don't know why the balloons flew either. I don't know, every once in a while when we do virtual meetings, a hand gesture prompts some kind of screen-wide celebration. I don't know what causes them. But one of those two brands, Red Wing or Danner, has this wall of their boots that have been returned, either to be serviced or upgraded. And the brand's like, hey, we really like how well this boot has held up, we like the abuse you've put it through, can we keep it and we'll just send you a new pair rather than servicing your boots? And they've got a whole wall of these used, beat up, this is what our brand can do boots. So maybe Nodus will do that at one of their meetups.
Frank Which is for watches. Yeah, I think they would pretty much all be my watches. destroyed a way too many note I I Think my my bold prediction for 2025 is that we're going to keep getting smaller I think that 2025 is going to be the year of the tiny watches. We're gonna see you know these ultra jacked dudes wearing two millimeter watches, 30 millimeter watches, 28 millimeter tiny tanks, and it's gonna be sick. You're gonna see ad campaigns with buff dudes and painted fingernails. I'm here for it. I think 2025, put a pin in it, year of the tiny watch.
Andrew I was going to say just the opposite. Wow. Okay. So I don't think, I don't think style wise, we're going to, we're going to move away from small watches. I think they're here to stay for a while. I was going to say, I think this is the year that brands get comfortable doing Medium sized watches again. Not everyone's gonna be competing to make a 38 millimeter dive watch I think we're gonna see 40 to 45 millimeter dive watches 40 to 45 millimeters pilot watches intentionally medium sized watches because I think in the last couple years brands have been reluctant to do like a 42 44 millimeter dive watch and as a new release, right? If it was there, it was there. But I think we're gonna start seeing some brands get comfortable with like, no, no, no, this is meant to be a big watch and I'm good with it. Oh, like Raven. Raven has always been, no, this is our size. This is the size watch I make because this is how big it needs to be for what it needs to do. Sure. And I think we're going to see more of that. We're going to see some brands getting comfortable with people can like more than just a 36. People can like more than just 32. I like 40 millimeter dive watches. I like 38s. Also kind of dig 42s. I want to see some, some cool space, like some cool stuff coming out in that space. And I think it's going to happen. Uh, cause I think the, the chasing of the 36 millimeter trend is perhaps gone. It's just there. It's now a size point that exists and we can accept it and not move on from it, but just accept that it's now a part of it. Nobody has to chase it anymore. So I think we're going to see some cool stuff in the 42 to 45 zone this year.
Frank Could be. I think you're right on that. The people that have liked those watches never really went anywhere. They're still there. They're still buying watches. So there's a reason why Rolex keeps pushing their sizes up by one millimeter. It's not because they're not selling. It's not because the people are... I think the people that are loud and saying they want it smaller are just maybe the most loud, the most vocal. and the people that are showing up and buying it are actually indifferent. And I love small watches. I really do. And then you look in my watch box and it's like all 42 millimeter watches. I don't know why. I want to be a small watch guy. I really, really do. I have a sick watch. Like, do you have a watch like that where you, when you're not feeling good, like you put this watch on because it makes you feel a little bit better?
Andrew When I don't feel good when I feel like not good enough to like Accept that I'm sick. I don't want like I just want to be naked But I just accept that I can't do that in my house all the time. I'm just a hoodie and sweatpants I don't even I don't even put a watch on I don't care about the time Yeah, what's your sick watch though?
Frank It's the notice Contrail 2. Oh, yeah, is it the notice Contrail 2? What's what Contrail are they at now three? I think they're at Contrail 3. Yeah. The Contrail 2, which has the roulette date wheel, COVID years, that's the one I wear for my sick watch. And I use it to, I like the hour, the 12-hour bezel, because I can time when to reapply the medication.
Andrew Yeah, put the new VapoRub on your chest. Right, exactly. Well, did you write our contrail too? Will wrote our contrail too.
Frank I wrote one, but it was for, uh, it was for the Malaysians.
Andrew No, not for us.
Frank No, it was, I mean, it was 20. This was, we're talking five years ago.
Andrew Yeah, September 28th, 2020, Will wrote the Notice Contrail 2 review on the WatchClicker website. That's when he published it, he probably wrote it before that.
Frank I think he bought it, or no, his wife maybe got it for him as a gift. Did she? I don't know, maybe it's in the review. I was just gonna look, but I don't care enough. No, yeah, you don't need to read that review.
Andrew I have one last, oh yeah sorry.
Frank No, I was gonna say the takeaway from the Contrail 2 reviews was that they didn't quite get the application of the lume right on the bezels yet. They've since fixed this in their endless, endless improvement.
Andrew I mean they probably fixed it 30 days after you had one in hand.
Frank Legitimately, he offered to send me a new bezel because they were working on it. This is like, you know, circa 2021 January.
Andrew Yeah, this is, Notice is one of the coolest brands. If you guys haven't had any experience with Wesson Cullen and with the brand itself, these guys are the real deal in the way of brand owners. They're not just pumping out watches because they like to, which they do, they really give a shit about your enjoyment of the watch. Which is just awesome. Here's my last hot take with the NIL. I think we're going to see some interesting brand ambassadors pop up next year from college sports. Cause it's a bunch of dudes who have the eyes of the country on them who are looking to make money, who are kind of the hot thing. I think we're going to see some interesting brand partnerships next year. I'm kind of excited for the prospect of it.
Frank That would be cool. I'm all for college athletes getting paid as much as humanly possible by whoever. I hope that they get all that's coming to them. This is spoken from a former Division I athlete that was of the last generation that didn't get nothing, that just got lifelong injuries and physical therapy that doesn't end.
Andrew And a college education, you know, nevermind. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just the college education. Right, right, right, right. Uh, no, I'm, I'm excited about it. Like I, I, I think Schindler Sanders is, is wildly overhyped, but the focus that was on his risks this year, I think is going to have a, an NIL watch partnership impact next year. And I'm, I'm excited for it.
Frank Yeah. And I don't know what.
Andrew Maybe not NIL proper money, but that they can get paid.
Frank Was it something cool? No. I mean, yeah, it was clearly it's a $70,000 stainless steel busted out Royal Oak.
Andrew Yeah. But like, I don't know. It's cool, but I don't know. I think he could have done better. Like who was it? Who, what, uh, pro player he played for the Browns. He was a bit of a, Problem guy he was wearing a resharp meal on the field and got fined for it. He was like, I don't give a shit I'll get fined for it. I'm gonna wear this watch Yeah, that's crazy. Was that was Jarvis Landry wearing a resharp meal?
Frank I could tell you, but I don't think it's all that imperative. Odell Beckham.
Andrew It was Odell Beckham.
Frank Yeah.
Andrew Yeah. He was wearing a Richard Mille. There's an NFL article. He violated a league rule with a $350,000 watch. Like, whatever, I'll pay the $10,000 fine.
Frank What's the difference between wearing gold chain and wearing a wristwatch?
Andrew What's the I don't understand the I think I think the the concern is You're not gonna be able to club somebody with a gold chain Whereas if you have a watch on your wrist you have like a something that's objectively harder than your bone To knock people with how different that is then the guys that are playing with broken hands and have a lid full cast.
Frank I
Andrew I don't know. That's what lineman used to do. They'd club up their arms before. I don't know. It's a, it's a silly rule, but, and I think, I don't know, maybe it was a statement. It doesn't matter. Uh, but yeah, he was wearing resharp meal on the field and just ate the fines. He's like, yeah, I'm going to wear my watch. That's the watch that resharp meal either gave to me or is paying me to wear or some combination of the two. And as a result, I'm going to wear it. It's pretty sweet. Like Jordan wearing, like Nike paying Jordan's fines for wearing colored shoes.
Frank Yeah, I agree. I do think he could have done better. Shout out to my buddy Zach. He is Shador's personal photographer out in Colorado. I probably could have gotten his ear and maybe we could have lined up Shador wearing something cool. Although, if your style and what you want to wear isn't iced out, Audemars Piguet, you're not gonna listen to, this is the cool watch to wear. That's what you wanna wear, that's what you're gonna wear.
Andrew It's not a... He doesn't give a shit about the watch. It was the price tag that he cared about. And the bling. Right, right. So with that, I think it opened an interesting door into watch ambassadors in college football. Because it's like vulnerable kids that these brands get to exploit by paying and like, hey, represent me. And I don't give a shit who I'm representing. If you're going to offer me a couple hundred thousand dollars to wear your thing on national television, yeah, I'm going to do it. I don't care if it's fossil. I'm going to do it.
Frank Yeah. I think that's a pretty decent take. And if you just like look up Shredder Sanders, every single shot is him holding up his wrist. Like he's built for it. Oh, you've got to work on his posing, honestly.
Andrew Yeah, his posing's not great. He's not gonna be a super competitive professional level quarterback, but it's neither here nor there. He's gotta make his money now.
Frank Okay. What do you got, Andrew? Is it time for other things?
Andrew I think it's time to move on. And as a respect, as my guest, I'd like to know what you have.
Frank All right. Well, I got some other things. I prepared something for you. I've been in the market for a while to get a digital point and shoot camera that's meant to be like a disposable camera, but it's not disposable. And these cameras started coming out maybe a couple years ago. And I bought one of the first kind of like Kickstarter Options that came out that was like this is what we're gonna do. It's gonna be a disposable camera, but it's not you can reload it with your you know with your 27 shots and then you can pick what film type and then it comes back to you and since these people came out with it a bunch of other brands have have come out and made a alternatives. And I've had a couple at this point because I wanted one that was good and I kept getting them and they sucked. And like part of the the draw of a disposable camera is like Kodak put a pretty decent lens in that camera like it's it performs well, right? It's it's fairly sharp. It's not the fastest lens, obviously, but you have a pretty kick-ass flash on one of those Kodak disposables. So.
Andrew What a wild idea in like a disposable camera. Cause the technology, the money in the technology that went into those is just wild. And they had to presume that they were going to recoup all their R and D in the fact that, Oh, you have to throw this away and you have to buy a new one every time.
Frank Right.
Andrew Uh, it's such a wild idea.
Frank It's crazy, it's literally crazy. And it speaks to the hubris of Kodak and why, and I live in Rochester now, right? It speaks to why my community has been so detrimentally impacted by Kodak. And why every single person- We're too big to fail! Right, right, right, right. Let's build tunnels under the city and do nuclear reactions. Okay, Kodak. Cool, bro. Lay off my uncle about it.
Andrew Come on For a digital Non-disposable disposable feel camera, correct?
Frank And so I bought one of these and it sucked about another one it sucked and I'm on my third option of these and I think that I have a the option this is the one to get if you're going to get one and I like it and it's it's relatively inexpensive and I think there's enough sample size now to where I can say that this is probably the industry It's called Camp Snap. They're 65 bucks and they come in all kinds of different colors. You can get whatever you want. And you have an SD card in the camera. You can take as many photos as you want. It has an LED flash that's not all that powerful, but it's okay. You can put it on auto mode. I really love bringing this camera along with my Ricoh GR3, which is like $1,000 point and shoot, and I'll go to our holiday party, and I'll hand this to the children. Go and have a blast. Take as many photos as you want. Because kids get the best pictures. They have a really great perspective and you can tell that it's shot from a photo and like my brother-in-law was the focal point of a few of the images and all of a sudden he's not my brother-in-law, this normal 35 year old man. He is Uncle Dan in that photo. Like the, because it's shot from the little kids perspective and it's uncle Dan standing in the kitchen of the holiday party. Like it's just, it, it really changes it. And I love that you can do that with this camera and not stress at all. Like there's no screen there. They're not gonna do anything to hurt it. It just, they can go and click the button and. And they have the opportunity to take some photos and I think that they come out okay. They're not spectacular, obviously, but I like it. And it does have some quirks. So my minor complaint is to get the images off this camera, you have to plug it in to your phone. or you have to get the SD card out, which for whatever reason, some genius over at Camp Stamp decided to put the SD card behind a like slidable, you know, compartment in the bottom that they sealed with a Phillips screw. You need a screwdriver to unscrew the compartment for the SD card.
Andrew I don't know why you it's because The the tagline when you google this it says camp snap a screen free digital camera for kids at summer camp So I think the idea behind that is to protect the SD card from kids losing it
Frank I mean, that very well could be. I'm a fan of this. Just to reiterate how I'm a fan. I'm gonna buy one of these. You should. I recommend.
Andrew I'm gonna buy one of these, yeah.
Frank It's pretty cool. I got the chestnut brown, but I was really tempted by the Highland edition, because I have a Scotland trip coming up next year, and I'd really like to be there.
Andrew Oh, that'd be, you should not show up to Scotland with a tartan camera. I don't think people get mugged in Scotland in the same way they do in like London But I think that would that would encourage maybe just beatdowns and not maybe proper muggings, right?
Frank My wife is Scottish and I'm excited. We're gonna go see the stone stones of her people Stan stones are graves So I'm excited about that. I'll take some photos on this. To reiterate how bad some of the other options are, the other one that I bought, Andrew, you would take the photos and you get 27 images. You have to unload them to your phone. And then their gimmick was that it takes 24 hours to quote unquote develop the photos. So it would be locked. It would be locked for 24 hours. It gets worse, it gets worse. and to quote unquote develop the photos, they were being uploaded to a server in like Australia. And then you would download the images back. So like whatever photos you took on this camera, you had to give to the company and they would go to Australia on their server. And they were like, don't worry, you know, we're not gonna look at your photo.
Unknown We don't keep them or anything. Right, right, right, right, right. What pervs, man.
Frank Yeah, exactly. So, like, as soon as I got it and, like, when I bought the camera, the app, like, hadn't been finished yet. So, like, also you couldn't even use the camera yet. And you had no idea, like, any of these pervs. This was the Kickstarter one, right? Right, exactly. This was the Kickstarter one.
Andrew Yeah, that tracks.
Frank I started taking the photos. My wife's like, don't take any photos of me on that.
Andrew Can you imagine being the like one-hour photo guy back in the day when you had to develop photos like The things that he's seen right developing photos the audacity to say that we're gonna take 24 hours to apply some sort of you know bogus preset filter to your
Frank four megapixel photo, and it's gonna take 24 hours because of computational speed, but the one hour photo guy at CVS could have given me my images back in one hour in a drive-through in 1995? What are we talking about? What are we doing here?
Andrew That's wild. You could take your shit to Fred Meyer and get it developed while you shopped. Right. Oh, that's that's some next level stuff. I think I like that story even better than this really good find because it's the camera I'm going to get for my kids.
Frank Yeah, I would recommend doing that. And maybe if it's for just children, like protecting the SD card is the way to go. The other camera didn't have an SD card. So like you literally could not get the images off without doing this process.
Andrew Sending it to Australia, right, right, right.
Frank Yeah, so I've had this now for a little bit and I'm having a blast with it It's like a perfect little put in your pocket You know bring somewhere and you can hand this thing to anybody and they know how to use it Like it's not you just click the button. It's all done.
Andrew Oh We've a lanyard for it too so that it's I Less likely of being stolen or lost not stolen. This thing's not getting stolen. No, but lost right? Yeah Okay, if you give it to a kid like they could lose thing they lose things in their room It's bizarre. I don't know how they do it.
Frank I lose stuff in my room, too.
Andrew I Don't lose things I have a thing. Everything has a home. I remember exactly where I put it. And if it's not where I put it, it's because someone moved it, and I throw a tantrum. It's a thing.
Frank Do you have another thing? No, that was it.
Andrew Oh, that was it? I thought you said you had a couple. No, you told me only bring one. I didn't tell you anything about another thing. I actually just assumed that you would know because you're such a recurring guest. You actually might be, you might, you might be in the seat of the most frequented, not me or Everett on the show.
Frank Have I surpassed Mike?
Andrew Mmm. I'm gonna have to look I'm gonna will will This is your fourth or fifth time I have to get like a five timer jacket like SNL we have enough That would be great.
Frank I would love that
Andrew Uh, uh, we'll find a Korean company to do smoking jackets for multiple visit guests. Um, so I, uh, I was really looking forward to the show coming out, uh, the season of the show coming out. Squid Game season two dropped this week, the day after Christmas. Man. So some shows, when you watch season one, you're like, That's great. I hope they don't do a season two. Cause if they do, I don't know how they're going to live up to it. And then stranger things, season two came out and four or three, cause three comes after two and four. And I'm like, okay. Yeah. Cause when they announced stranger things, season two, I was like, what, how are they going to do this? And they did it and I loved it. And every subsequent season I've loved squid game finishes. I'm like, there's please, please don't do a season two. Cause this was fantastic. Like it was novel, it was enjoyable. I just, I don't, I don't want to see what you're going to do next. They did it. I didn't want to see what they did next. I finished it today. It was it just not good. It like almost hurt season one in like how not good it was. I totally get what they're trying to do. The whole premise is that the winner of the previous games has been searching for the people hosting the games to end it once and for all. The season goes into it. It's like kind of the same, but worse, because they're trying to continue on a story that you really don't care about. Because the whole enjoyment of season one was that it was totally new and different. And then season two, you're like, like care. And then at the end of season two, it says season three coming in 2025. So you're on a little bit of a cliffhanger at the conclusion of this season. I didn't need this story to be wrapped up, tied up neatly with a bow. I didn't. And I, I wish they hadn't done it. So watch it if you want, don't, but also be willing to accept that you're going to ruin season one.
Frank We're maybe two episodes in at this point, two and a half. The first episode was good. The first episode was like, oh, maybe they can do this. However, by episode two, and I was, I was watched episode two with my wife before we recorded, I was doing research and like watching, and it just felt cruel. Like it just, at this stage, it's not like the novelty of it is gone. It's just feels too much like senseless killing. Which it was senseless killing it before but now I know that it's coming and I'm like, I don't need to see this Like I have interrupted sleep every single night.
Andrew I don't need It's it's like I mean you don't check your watch during it right it's entertaining but they're not doing anything to add to the squid game legacy, right? It's not like black mirror where every episode, it's an, you know, an anthology where you're like, why, why do we need a second season of black mirror? And they watch it like, oh, that's why, that's why we needed a second season. This is like, you didn't need to tell me this story.
Frank would have liked it if they did like season like season one they went back and showed the first squid games show me the origin of squid games i would like to see that that would be interesting to me but the continuation i was like i don't really even remember kind of what happened here who why these guys are connected also you killed all of the main characters. You killed every single main character. And then you're gonna continue on?
Unknown There was so much potent?
Andrew Yeah.
Frank Okay. Thanks for telling me. I'll probably not finish now.
Andrew or do like, it's just, it's, it's sort of a nothing. It's like turning on parks and rec in the background. You're like seeing that before. Like I enjoyed it. That was fun. But I also don't really care. It's background.
Frank Parks and rec isn't murdering every single person on screen.
Andrew No, but I mean, I guess fair. That's a, it's different, but I don't know. I was just kind of bummed out. I finished it and was just like, I'm glad I did that because I don't like things unfinished. Like I've watched a lot of TV shows that I've watched the last two seasons that suck and I hate watching it just because I have to finish it. Like I can't start it and not finish it. Like I watched the entirety of true blood. That was awful. Highly recommend against, uh, but I did it. And season two of Squid Game felt like, well, I have to finish it. I started this show, might as well know how it ends. I wish they hadn't done it. They had so much opportunity for a season two to do an origin story, to do a point of view of the people running the games, or to tell the story of the people working at the games.
Frank Right. Yeah, no, I, I agree. I had less interest in this specific type of season two. However, I think one thing you have to keep in mind is that however big the audience is in the U S for season two of squid games, like we are a fraction of who this show was made for.
Andrew And this was the, this was and remains to be the most viewed Netflix show ever.
Frank Globally like this isn't just like a like Yeah, right like I don't know how the people of Korea feel about this season 2 maybe Maybe they they like it like ultimately was made for them like it Because you're watching it and it's it's dubbed and you're like this this translation here. I don't quite understand why you're calling him a dog like there's some cultural thing there that I'm missing and
Andrew There's a little bit of a miss here. There's a guy, which one was it? I think it's the guy with the purple hair. He's like a really famous Korean rapist. It's like a cameo for him, but he's in every episode of the series. Um, rapster, I don't know how you want to call it, but, um, it's whatever. Uh, but it was a, it was a good cast. I mean, the acting's good. The writing is acceptable. It's just the story doesn't do it for me. I would have preferred a season two where you get to be Like seeing the story of even if they had retold season one from the perspective of the dudes in the pink suits That would have been more enjoyable Because that's an interesting story like what the fuck did you like? Why are you doing that for work? Are you are you also a prisoner? Because that had been a cool dynamic to add like they're trapped there. I don't know it doesn't I'm not a writer or an expert on really anything, but I don't know, this season kind of bummed me out.
Frank Thank you for sharing, Andrew.
Andrew You're welcome. Sorry to ruin it for you. I didn't realize you were only two episodes in. I have like, when I get home from work, it's like I get home from work at like 2.30 in the morning and I'm not ready to go to sleep. I need like an hour and a half ish before I'm ready to go to bed. So I can't do anything. I can't do laundry or dishes or like vacuum because everyone's asleep. So I just like watch TV.
Frank No, that makes sense. That's entirely reasonable. Yeah.
Andrew Um, yeah. So I, so I ate this season up.
Frank Uh, I'll give you a rec before we go. And then I, I gotta call it. I got a hard, hard.
Andrew Yeah, I know. I get it.
Frank I hear some noising. I think you should check out some anime. I'll send you some, uh, some recommendations.
Andrew I will appreciate and consider your inputs. I might even try them. I've tried some anime shows. I've tried them with my older son. They just don't do it for me. I don't know why. They're just kind of a miss. I'm not... Send me some recommendations, because I'm not even familiar with what the classics might be.
Frank Sure. What I'm going to send you is firmly contemporary. Like, one, the latest year's anime awards, and is totally different than what I would consider classic anime storytelling.
Andrew Okay. I will give them a try, because I have ample time when everyone's asleep.
Frank All right, buddy.
Andrew And with that, Frank, thank you for joining me this week while my good friend Everett is in Pasadena. And I'm just really pleased to spend some time with my best friend, Frank. And thank you to you listeners out there in the world for tuning in for this episode of 40 and 20, the Watch Clicker podcast. Check us out on Patreon. We really appreciate your support. This is, that's how we do what we do because our wives would not be okay with us spending the amount of money that we spend to host pictures and articles and, you know, 300 and some episodes of this podcast so that you can listen to it and enjoy it. Don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Buh-bye.