TAG Heuer and... Delma(?) (326)

Published on Mon, 03 Feb 2025 19:41:56 -0800

Synopsis

In this episode of the 40 and 20 Watch Clicker podcast, hosts Andrew and Everett discuss several new watch releases and personal topics. They begin by discussing their different approaches to hobbies, with Everett tending to jump in intensely while Andrew builds interest gradually. They share Andrew's recent experience taking his family skiing and discuss the rising costs of the sport.

The watch discussion covers several new releases, including Christopher Ward's Dune Field Watch with new earth tone colors, Louis Vuitton's tambour convergence watches, TAG Heuer's Formula 1 collection update, and new releases from Rado, Blancpain, and Nevada. They provide detailed analysis of specifications, pricing, and design elements while discussing the broader context of each brand.

The episode concludes with personal discussions about air fryers and playing cards, with Everett sharing his experience with a new Ninja air fryer and Andrew doing a deep dive into different types of playing cards, particularly focusing on plastic cards used in poker rooms versus traditional paper cards.

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. I was actually just thinking about the fact that, well, I was thinking about just the way I am, Andrew, and I think, you're actually not like this, but you know, I get excited about things, and then I just, and then you were talking to me about, I won't kill the surprise, but your snow day yesterday, and it's just like, I get so excited about these things, and I just like,
Andrew You know, whatever it is, you're, you're quickly excited and quickly burned out. I have a slow buildup, but once I'm there, it sustains. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we're not quite the same level of hobby bouncer or the same type. I think the same level. Yes, but not quite the same type.
Everett you know, I, I do tend to, I'm willing to put a hobby down, right. In a way that I think some people like you could criticize it easily. Um, but, but what I will say to be clear, I'm not, I know you're not, I know you're not, but, but you could criticize it, criticize it. But the, you know, I think, I think for me what I, I get to a place and I'm like, eh, you know what, that, that was exciting. That was fun. But I've sort of like I've reached the point where I'm, Yeah, I'm either going to set this aside or my interest in it is going to be limited moving forward. And I'm okay with that because it means a couple things. One, um, it always new shit to buy. Well, that's, that's a, that's a thing. I don't know that that's the purpose, but maybe that there is some, um, there is some underlying materialism for me, but. Like the things that I love I tend to stick with and and sometimes my My intensity will wax and wane over time, but the things I really love tend to stay with me To different degrees right like like, you know golfing or skiing or whatever So with that said certainly I am willing to pick something up be into it very intensely And and then get rid of it. But yeah, I was more thinking about just the intensity like my Intensity I think is is interesting to me is sometimes I'm caught off guard by it Yeah, you go big right out of the gate. Oftentimes.
Andrew Yeah, I get into it and then I'm like, this is so cool And then I want to share it with people It's you're the type of person to like buy and this isn't a materialism comment just to be clear even though you comment You're the person who like gets excited about something buys the best possible shit And then kind of decides how you're gonna hold that enjoyment of the thing. Yeah. And I'll, I'll get excited about something by the worst possible cheapest shit. Yeah. And then just kind of like slowly build until I also get to the like, Oh yeah, this is the best possible, like this is the shit that you need to have to do this thing. And I'm going to continue doing this thing. Yeah, it's it's a similar place because I'll also drop it just as easily It just takes me like I don't know seven purchases.
Everett Yeah Yeah, no there. It's it's a real thing. I mean depending on the thing Sometimes the like Equipment especially, you know, depending on what you're doing, you know most of the time these things have been developed for years and and You know, so if you get better equipment, you have different options and you can enjoy it more fully or whatever. But I'm definitely, financially, I'm in a place oftentimes where I can get better than like sort of entry level stuff. And it's like, well, let's... let's let's skip that part let's skip that part right but i i i think that's maybe a false dichotomy there is a speaking of snow sports there is a like a tiktok youtube uh snowboarder named ryan pervis And he's phenomenal. He's got a fun personality. And he basically just snowboards and with a GoPro and then uploads these sessions and he talks in real time over the, and he's got a fun, you know, anyway, he showed a video about, people always ask me what, what type of gear I wear. And he's like, well, these I got, I thrifted these pants. thrifted this jacket, the snowboard is thrifted. I did upgrade the bindings last year because it was time, but like, yeah, just go snowboard. That's the answer I give people. And I was like, yeah, I'll never be as good at skiing as this guy is at snowboarding, realistically. But he did it and he's not doing it with the best equipment. So there is- There's something there. There's something there.
Andrew It takes a lot, and that goes for any athletic endeavor. You have to be pretty damn good to be better than your equipment, like to be limited by your equipment. You know, there's some comfort aspects there that go along with it, but you, you, it takes a, there's a big threshold to, for your talents to outpace the capabilities of entry level stuff.
Everett You know, I do think there's some truth to that, but I also think sometimes, sometimes you can, like you said, skip that part. The problem is you don't know what you don't know. And so it's just as likely that you're, let's say skiing, for instance. Let's say you just go on Craigslist, buy skis and with no clue what you're doing and you get something from, you know, maybe 15 or 20 years old or stolen from last year's models.
Andrew That's right.
Everett Boots. Well, if you're buying on Craigslist, you know, maybe boots that don't fit, uh, you know, some sort of binding that has a latent defect or, or whatever, just, you know, you, you just don't know. For me, I'm like, I don't know what the problems are. And so by going out, buying new equipment and spending time to figure out what equipment is gonna give me the best chance, I eliminate all of those uncertainties. I learned just enough to understand what's gonna give me the best opportunities. And so all that to say, the guy who learns on the Craigslist skis is also gonna learn, but they're gonna have a different set of challenges.
Andrew And you're not gonna be as good a cyclist as Lance Armstrong, just because you get on Lance's bike. Yeah, that's that's correct. Yeah, that's correct. You know, in fact, you actually might be less comfortable on Lance's bike because I'm pretty sure that seat is made of like, no, those marble, those carbon fiber, those ultralight carbon fibers hurt your rump.
Everett It's very, very difficult to place. So anyway, anyway, long story short, yeah, I'm intense. I do have an approach to things.
Andrew And it makes sense because then you're ensuring you're not limited by your stuff. You're not being limited by your equipment. You're not using equipment that has known flaws, known limitations. You can just say, you know what? You're eliminating those variables. Those variables are gone. I am the variable. Yeah. And I suck. It's I can't I can't blame this shitty Craigslist thing. That's definitely only me.
Everett That's I mean, it's a good point to write by getting rid of that aspect of things. I also think there's a there's a confidence thing that comes with like and maybe that's the same point. Right. Is it's like when you feel good, like you look good, you feel good, you feel good, you perform well. These boots were fitted to me. These skis are the right length because someone recommended them. They're the appropriate level. Like I know that this equipment is bad ass. And so let's go ski bad ass. Yeah. Right. But it's why it's why we're here. It's why we're here.
Andrew It's exactly why we're here. Six years later.
Everett Andrew, how are you?
Andrew I'm good. My rump is sore. I took, uh, my wife and the kids up to the mountain yesterday for the boys first, uh, snowboarding snow sports, uh, adventure. The five-year-old didn't do great. Calvin's struggle a little bit, which is fine. Like he missed a nap. It was a lot of stimulation. He likes to go fast. Which means that he has no care to learn to turn or to stop to arrest his momentum He just banks on you catching him before he barrels into the woods So he was a little bit of a struggle mark my nine-year-old was absolutely struck yesterday. He said it was the best day he'd had of his entire life. Whoa. He absolutely loves being on the snow. Uh, you can feel free to mute me whenever you want. Cause you have the board. Uh, yeah, it was, it was a fun day. I did not, I fully anticipated losing one of the kids and needing to go to the lodge. So I did not, have any intention of going up the hill, uh, which meant I just wore like jeans and, and Gore-Tex boots up to the mountain. And I'll tell you walking in that like inch of groomed top snow, man, my rump is sore from this, that like weird gate of crunching into the surface that you're walking on. So, uh, somehow I'm sore from having not gained any elevation yesterday. I just walked on flat ground for the most part. And I had like a weird, like trying to coach a kid through like on a snowboard, uncomfortable extension of one leg and a strange twist.
Everett And- There's a lot of physical like manipulation that you're doing in that circumstance.
Andrew Yeah, it's different. And that's why snow sports are so uncomfortable. Cause you're engaging muscle groups in directions and ways that you don't typically do unless you're doing that. But it was a really fun day. Kids had a lot of fun. Sam had a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day. It was like clear blue skies, like 25 degrees. Snow was well-groomed. A little windy, but everyone had their fleece face masks so you didn't get that windburn and like punishment from the wind. And it was, it was a really fun day. It was awesome. Expensive.
Everett Yeah, it's expensive.
Andrew To pay for lessons and to pay for tickets and then to buy like... Did we talk about this last week?
Everett How... I was just thinking about like... I think when I was a kid, I didn't ski when I was a kid because it was too expensive for my family, but like realistically for a middle-class family, skiing was a thing that was in the cards. Attainable. Yeah, and I'm not sure that it is anymore. I mean, we've got we live in a decent not not we're not in Colorado or Utah or something, but we live in a in a pretty ski friendly place. And for a family of four to all go skiing, I mean, you're looking at 350 or 400
Andrew It's leaving our cheap mountain if lift tickets weren't free for the kids. We wouldn't have gone. Yeah, cuz yesterday between like lessons gear rental and tickets The Delta of gear that you have to provide yesterday was $600 day just on the mountain. I
Everett Yeah. And I mean, that's, uh, you know, that's just not attainable for a lot of middle-class families. Like you've got to plan that. And let's say you want to ski two or three times in a year, like.
Andrew But you, you realistically have to go more than that when your kids are little so that they can learn to do it two or three times a year for somebody who knows how to do it. That's fine.
Everett Yeah, I think two or three times a year for kids your age would be would be enough to for them to remember the things for the next season. But yeah, I mean, it's not like the the day a middle class family can't be skiing regularly, I think.
Andrew And that's and and that's all with the backdrop of kids under 12 ski free.
Everett And of course, middle class spans are huge. So I'm saying like, like, you know, that that lower to middle middle class, it's going to be a real push.
Andrew Yeah, it was not cheap. Sam was like, I just saw how much everything costs. And I was like, yeah, don't look at that.
Everett Yeah, it's best.
Andrew Just look right past that. Just think of the memories that were made.
Everett Well, that is that is the truth. You know, everybody says, you know. spending money on memories is going to create, especially for kids, like, like that day of skiing is going to create more memories than that PlayStation, probably, uh, more happy, beneficial, positive, healthy memories. But like the PlayStation lasts, it sure does.
Andrew And it keeps them quieter for longer. And yeah, I don't, uh, yeah. At the conclusion of the day, I was like, man, that was not cheap. And it's hard too when your kids are five and eight, you know, like, yeah, like Calvin didn't participate in the lesson. And he just lost it. So he skied about a 35 foot stretch of Hill that I was willing to push him up and then walk back down just constantly, just, just, I don't know, probably 70 times pushed his little ass up that 30 foot stretch of Hill. And he's like, I want to go higher. I'm like, nah, bro, we're not going higher.
Everett He wasn't interested in the magic carpet.
Andrew I couldn't take him up because I know I wasn't writing. Yeah. Yeah, and I wasn't willing to leave him unattended at the top of it Yeah, I got it without the ability to turn or stop Because there's a lot of other little kids there who are unsure on their feet and he's just like a cannonball. Yeah, okay down the hill. So yeah, it was, I'm good. I'm a little sore, a little worn out, but had an overall really fantastic day on the mountain and really, I did take your other thing advice and got lessons for Sam and the kids. Yeah, great idea. Sam did not benefit all that much from it. She knocked her nugget and had to take a break, but Mark really did and that's, you know, That's why you do it.
Everett Love it.
Unknown Yeah.
Everett Had a blast. Well, in any event, we're not here to talk about skiing. This is not turned into a ski podcast. Rather, this is still a podcast about watches and we are here to talk about watches. Andrew, are you interested in, uh, in, uh, getting us started?
Andrew I would like to get us started. Um, I want to talk about a Christopher Ward release. I woke up this morning talking about Christopher Ward. We got a Reddit post screenshot from Mike. famous writer at Huffington Post who once wrote for us, that was basically saying like, is this accurate? And it was Christopher Ward, somebody posting, don't buy from Christopher Ward, or like, is this a normal experience where your stuff gets held up and you have to disclose personal tax information and all this other stuff for customs? And the short answer is no, that's not the case. The true answer is it's often. Even if your stuff does get hung up at customs, because Christopher Ward honestly ships their product to you and discloses that it is a watch and discloses the true value of it, sometimes you're gonna have to pay some duty fees, because that's how America works. and you just send them an email because then they'll send DHL or whoever kind of their like shipping stuff and then you send DHL some money and it's like a two to three day hang up and a hundred bucks and your product finishes its shipment. So it's kind of the nature of importing goods that would otherwise be taxed. If you order it from some reputable retailers online, their customs sheet will say watch parts and not give an honest disclosure of the price, like the retail price. Uh, ask me how I know. And I'm not going to tell you the reality is not everyone is as transparent, honest, and upstanding. They have found workarounds that work right. Christopher Ward could be doing this. What right or wrong is kind of irrelevant. they're just doing it in an upstanding way that will ensure that nobody gets hemmed up by US Customs. Some places don't do that and they still get hemmed up, but they run a risk.
Everett And you did get hemmed up with your C65, right?
Andrew No, my C63, I didn't get hemmed up, right?
Everett They sent it. It was a relatively straightforward process.
Andrew It was a super straight. It got grabbed in customs and they were like, hey, there's something missing. You owe some duty fees because you're importing a taxable good. And I sent them like, I don't know, it was about a hundred bucks. I looked for the paperwork this morning. And I emailed Christopher Ward, I'm like, hey, this happened. They're like, oh, yep, sometimes that happens. We'll send them the necessary documentation. They sent them the documentation, I sent them some money, and within three days, my stuff was released from Customs. Unlike if they opened up something that I bought from an online retailer that said, watch parts, and disclosed the price to be about a tenth of the price that I had paid for it, if that got hung up in Customs, that would be problematic. or I just probably would never get my shit. I would be out the money that I paid for it and then out my stuff. So going through Christopher Ward, yep, there's some import stuff, which is the nature of buying international goods. That's not what we're here to talk about. I just wanted to mention that, because that was how I started my day. I was thinking about that. And I looked for the paperwork, couldn't find it. I also couldn't find any of the emails from it. Like apparently my email doesn't exist prior to 2020. I don't know. Christopher Ward, Aeolian? Aeolian? Aeolian? Areolas? Aeolian? Aeolian? I think Aeolian. Aeolian? I'm not sure. We've got some new earth tones to the Dune Field Watch, and this is their Dune Field Watch. It's 38 millimeter case, 11.9 thick, 43 lug to lug, 150 meters of water resistance, sapphire front and back. 20mm lugs, all the good stuff. What's the movement in this? It's the SW200. They do have a COSC option and a 330. I think they've upgraded the three hands all to the COSC version. So the stainless steel case is still using the 200, the 200 KOSK in the bronze case, and then they're using the 330 in their GMT. So we've got some new colorways and they're really lovely earth tones, like a gray, a blue, a green, and a tan. I really like this Dune case. This is kind of a, this is a watch that has always really, really spoke to me. But for the dial, I just don't like this wave dial, even though it's really attractive in this application, the ones that these new ones.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew Yeah. I just I don't they don't do it for me. I'm not a texture dial wearer, but I can't be a texture dial appreciator. And these are these are lovely. And they're coming in typical Christopher Ward prices. Nine hundred for the steel case. about $1200 on leather, $1600 on a bracelet for the bronze case, and the GMT is between $1100 and $1400 for for the GMT, and these are lovely. This is a great Christopher Ward release. This is the kind of Christopher Ward release that you expect, right? It's their standard, like, exciting, because it's cool. It's not their revolutionary R&D department dropping space-age stuff that we're kind of getting used to from Christopher Ward, because we've seen a lot of that over the last year, and not so many of these normal catalog skews. So I appreciate seeing some catalog releases from Christopher Ward.
Everett Yeah, I got, and these are novelty releases. I, I, I got the, um, embargo press release on this a little over a week ago, I think. And, um, Yeah, I went through it and I was like, okay Not because it's bad but just because it was like I think just what you said, right?
Andrew It's like we're used to sort of the last year of Christopher Ward has been like, oh Want to see some more? Belcanto, like you want to see some more really cool shit.
Everett Um, I do think these are fun in one particular regard, which is that, you know, wave dials are usually found on dive watches. Wave dials are, are, are the, the, the realm of dive watches because waves are water, uh, and sand and the wave water and sand interact. Yeah, these are perhaps not wavedials, but doondials. Sorry.
Andrew Forgive the semantics here.
Everett No, no, they call them a wavedial. With that said, they're clearly, this is a land-based approach to a wavedial, which I think is kind of fun and a little bit, cute, and I like them. I'm with you, Andrew. I'm not a huge fan of like heavily textured dials like this. It just doesn't work with the way I like watches. With that said, I think they're fun. I do think there's gonna be a trend to my comments about watches today, which these are SW200 movements, which is a fine movement. There's no problem with the SW200. But 11.9 on the 100 meter. Three, 150 three hand, which in my mind, I think we could get that number down. I think Christopher Ward should get that number down.
Andrew But they aren't because they're also fitting that case with a GMT movement. It's kind of the same issue.
Everett Well, but it's 11.9, whether it's a GMT or a three hand.
Andrew It's the same issue that the sector series faces in trying to use the same mid case for multiple applications.
Everett I don't know that that is the case here because for them to have fit the GMT 300, I do think that there was a dimension shift to get that movement to fit. So I... Oh, the dimensions are the same. I hear what you're saying, Andrew. I do think Christopher Ward at this price point at this at this thousand over a thousand price point for a three-hand watch could could do us a few favors and get some of that fat off put this watch on a diet even if it's even if it's a half a millimeter, I think it's going to, especially with that light catcher case, an 11 millimeter light catcher three-hand field watch, I think is a absolute banger. And I think at a thousand plus, at this price point, they could do that relatively easily. And you know what? Water resistance, Water resistance being what it is, they maybe have to compromise, but I doubt it. I think that they could still give us 150 at 11 millimeters. And I'd like it at this price point if they would do that. But that's my only real criticism. It's a cute watch. There's nothing revolutionary happening here. And I will say the GMT, sorry, and then I'll move it back to you. The GMT has the old dune dial, which, It doesn't have this new wave dial.
Andrew For reference, the C63 is 11 and a quarter.
Everett Yeah, that's great. Yeah, that's a lot better than 11.9. I agree. or can we just say what it is? It's 12. This is a 12 millimeter automatic field watch, which I feel is too thick, especially at this price point. If this is a $700 watch, I think you're there.
Andrew Because I mean, also the C63 is a $900 watch.
Everett Yeah, that's that's right. So yeah, I mean it is what it is dimensions Every time I go on a on a thickness rant people are like, oh, it's not everybody feels the same way Okay, maybe but I I think this watch is way better at 11 millimeters than it is I think so too, but then you change the entire dimension and feel the case and that's I
Andrew It's a decision.
Everett Like I said, I think I'm going to be a... I think I'm probably going to... Are you fat shaming today?
Andrew The whole day?
Everett Yes. I think just all day.
Andrew Just looking at our list, there's only one watch that I don't think you're going to be able to fat shame. I don't think you're even going to try.
Everett And maybe we'll just start with that watch. So Nomos is a company that I really, really adore. Every time I talk about them, I am reminded how much I love this company. And it's not always necessarily because of the watch, and this will be no different. I will just start by saying,
Andrew I hate this watch. I don't like anything about it, but I love how thin it is.
Everett I don't hate this watch. I don't hate this watch. I, but it's not my favorite. And there's one good reason for that. I'll get to that later. But, um, what I do want to talk about, Nomos has partnered with, Doctors Without Borders for 13 years now. Doctors Without Borders in German is, I think, Arsthelm Grenzen. You've turned your flashlight on again. Oh man, that happens. But that doesn't matter. I'm just gonna say Doctors Without Borders. I like the German version. That's not what they call it, for obvious reasons. With that said, 13 years, now a lot of times when brands do like watch brands or any sort of product brands do like marketing collaborations with nonprofits, the actual contributions are not ultra transparent. It's like, how much is actually going? Nomos does this, in I think the right way, which is to say we're going to raise X amount for Doctors Without Borders with this watch, and over time are transparent about how much they've actually given. So in 13 years, Nomos has raised over 1.3 million euros that have gone to Doctors Without Borders. So that's 100,000 a year. Roughly 100,000 euros a year, which is not insignificant. It's not an insignificant amount of money. That's a huge amount of money for a smallish company like Nomos. Nomos is not a giant company. So but they're transparent about it. And they've released a new watch, which they're specifically going to raise 125,000 euros that will go to doctors that were like, here's the watch. This is how much we're going to raise with this. And this is how much we're going to contribute.
Andrew Um, so, uh, which is interesting for a watch they're doing development on, right. To, to be, introducing stuff and not just like changing a dial.
Everett is cool. I don't know that they're doing a lot on this. But they're still doing stuff. So what this is is a Doctors Without Borders Ludwig Neumatic. They are making it available. They're producing it in two sizes. One of those is 38 and a half, and then the smaller 36 and a half. Both have the in-house 3001 Nomos movement, which is a terrific in-house automatic movement, hacking, it's got the Nomos swing, it's got their special balance spring, power reserve of 43, and they are, the movement is very, very thin, which allows them to get the thickness of these watches down. So this is a seven millimeter watch. Now, my complaint with Nomos movements are always the length of the lugs, but that is how these watches are built they're built to have long slender lungs lugs that protrude from the case that's just the style of watch they do a really good job with their pin placement though to not have like strap crack Strap gap. I think you have a, I think for me, every time I've tried one of these on, I have felt like the strap gap was unacceptable, so.
Andrew I feel like they manage it really well for how long, and long and skinny their lugs are.
Everett Like they're almost wire lugs, but. The first time I put on a Tangente, I set it on my wrist. I don't have uber hairy arms. I mean, I've got like probably low to average arm hair for an adult man. It's also light colored. I put the tangente on my wrist and instantly a puff of hair came through the gap between the strap and the case. And I was like, I don't like that. And I think this is a very, very similar setup here. However, it's lovely. So these Doctors Without Borders watches have a red 12. That's typical. And for the neomatic Ludwig, that means a red Roman numeral 12 at 12 o'clock. obviously and and otherwise very austere they use their quote-unquote enamel white which you will be sad to know is not actually an enamel white or is not actually enamel it's just enamel white but it looks like enamel which is what they call it and they're very austere black. They're no more printed font. Yeah. So you get a red 12 and then you do get pneumatic and gold at the 12 o'clock text stack. This is conservative. They're beautiful. They are incredibly fairly priced i should say maybe not incredibly they're fairly priced so 36 and a half is at 33 60 and the 38 and a half is 3700 that price to me indicates they're doing some sort of marginal calculation um which is nice whatever the marginal calculation is they're they're charging you an amount of money that is a direct formula off of their cost. That's my guess on that. And I think these are beautiful. And they're seven millimeters. They're seven millimeters.
Andrew They're seven millimeters. Every time I look at a Nomos watch, I'm like, man, it's a really good looking watch. And I have yet to see a Nomos that I'm even remotely interested in.
Everett Yeah, you know, for me, like, they fit, for me, they fit a, a mold that is just not something I would wear all that often. So, and not all of their watches. I could get down with the Club Campus. I know, you love the Club Campus, and I love it.
Andrew But I just hate it, and I would never wear it. I don't want it, but I love that it exists.
Everett I would wear it all the time. This watch, however, is something I think I would wear four to five times a year if I was really working to slam it into the rotation. Like, I'm working hard, oh, this has gotta be an almost night, because otherwise I'm not gonna wear it. But, perhaps, if you have a slightly different style than me, or you regularly attend black tie events, I think that this watch could be a daily banger for you. I just think it's a terrific watch. I think for what it is, there's probably very few watches, this is on a very, very short set, Yeah, there's only 250 of them sub $4,000 watches that are just phenomenal in almost every single way That's all I have to say about that All right So LVMH had their watch week.
Andrew So we got some cool
Everett Wait, wait, can I say something before? I saw an interview with Tom Hanks this week where he was talking about how the voice from Forrest Gump came about. Have you heard this story? Yeah, he met the kid who was- The director was like, you gotta meet with this kid and tell him how to talk. And he was like, why don't I just meet with him and talk like him?
Andrew Yeah. That's terrific. The kid who played young Forrest was the inspiration of Tom Hanks's accent. It's terrific, which is a weird commentary on how that kid talked. Uh, cause I think he was better spoken as a kid then. That's Tom Hanks. Mama. Yeah, he did. Uh, he didn't quite go full, but you know, all right. The, the Tropic Thunder reference for those of you that that movie hasn't aged well, but man, I still like watching it. Uh, I want to talk about the Gerald Genta gentissima or seen fire opal. Cause this thing is something. So this is a 30 years in the making, hearkening homage to a sea urchin. This watch is pure unobtainium. It's coated in yellow gold 3N with 137 fire opal gems individually screwed onto this case using 3N pins. 30 meters water resistance. For a sea urchin, I think you could do better than that. It is, it's something out of a storybook. It's this beautiful blaze orange dial bearing Gerald Genta right at the 12 o'clock with kind of an interesting turtle back. case or excuse me, a dial design wrapped in this urchin, a fire opal majesty. And this is the kind of shit that you expect out of like their novelty special release week. I am all about it. Price is available upon request, which means you can't afford it. You'll never see one in real life. Uh, but in the way of like trend setting novelty releases for the year, this is the kind of shit that I look forward to early in the year from this watch week is, is this just bizarro opulent, uh, absolutely stunning. creative use of materials.
Everett A few notes, Andrew, just about the Gerald Genta brand, if you'll indulge me. Please. So, obviously, Gerald Genta is the epitomous brand of the most famous, perhaps, watch designer of all time, started by none other than Gerald Genta. as you might imagine, sold in I believe 1996 to a small sort of holding company, later picked up by Bulgari, now owned by LVMH. So this is a watch that was released as part of LVMH's Watch Week. I think it's our first LVMH Watch Week of the day, but it won't be the last, I don't believe.
Andrew I think there's two more.
Everett Just to clarify any confusion, this is a company that has for 30 years almost nigh on 30 years, not been associated with Gerald Genta. Um, actually, interestingly, right after he sold.
Andrew Can you imagine having a brand that bears your name that you have nothing to do with?
Everett Yeah. Well, and right after he sold, there must've been a circumstance, right? Because right after he sold the brand, I think within the next year he started Gerald Charles, which still exists. Different. Yep. But that was the brand that he held and actually worked on after the mid-90s. So Gerald Genta, after 1996, no longer Gerald Genta's brand, but rather Gerald Charles, is the brand that sort of emphasized the work from the later years of his life. Anyway, carry on. This is a crazy fucking watch.
Andrew It's bizarre. I don't mean to say that to sort of like Oscar red carpet Like it goes on loan to celebrities and is never actually owned by anyone Yeah, perhaps and maybe they have a hand.
Everett Are there any details about how many of these they're making or anything?
Andrew Just that it's limited and you have to request a price. Yeah So like maybe a dozen people in the world, like maybe some, some Saudis will own one. Uh, but this is like a red carpet loaner sits in the vault. Yeah, there's a, Yeah. Yeah. These are gorgeous. They're stunning, but they're also bizarre. It's bizarre. It looks like an orange sea urchin.
Everett You know, I tried to find a picture, but I couldn't find one. But the very first comment on Hodinkee's article about this is someone says, how are we not mentioning that this is exactly the same? as a Bejeweled Ike pod. The first pod watches were made by Mark Newsome in 1986 and the brand launched in 1994. Pretty coincidental timing that bears investigation. I don't know anything about that but I thought it was an interesting comment. I very very briefly looked to find some information and didn't quickly find anything and so I moved on with my life but It's an interesting, uh, whether that's true or not, it's an interesting, I'm jacked about all the cool novelties that came out of this watch week.
Andrew Yeah. I liked them all. Yeah. Even when I didn't like, Oh, that's fun. That's fun. I appreciate that we have that now. Yeah. What have you got?
Everett Um, I have a watch, uh, another LVMH watch and, and perhaps, Uh, what to say about this watch? Tag Heuer, long known for their Formula One watches. In some way, in some ways, perhaps, the Formula One watches of the 80s and 90s in particular are emblematic of the aspects of Tag Heuer that people most, watch enthusiasts most eschewed, right? Does that make sense? You know, typically big, lots of quartz, uh kind of fast fashioning fast forward to 2025. Tag Heuer has made huge efforts in the last half a decade or so I would say to restore their name. Lots of rehabilitation has gone into the version of Tag Heuer that we know today. And frankly, in the last three years, I think Tag Heuer has almost completely gotten rid of the stank, the taint, if you will.
Andrew I don't know, I think they still bear a little bit of that. I think they're still trying to overcome it.
Everett Maybe, but it does feel to me like they are in a very good place nonetheless. Super good place.
Andrew That's a hard stain to overcome. It's like the 90s, early 2000s Tag Heuer. Stank. Yeah. Taint. It's some skunk. It's some skunks? It's hard to get that skunk off of ya.
Everett I had a I think they've I think they fully recovered and I know that I don't speak for everyone there There's a an evidentiary principle that you will probably know about this Andrew called the the fruit of the poisonous tree I'm familiar. So fruit of the poisonous tree is when evidence is obtained Evidence is obtained in in violation of someone's constitutional rights whether that's eighth or fourth or whatever whatever amendment or just like a unfortunate oopsie And so there's this concept of fruit of the poisonous tree. So when you then obtain evidence based on the evidence, then it can be all inadmissible as unconstitutionally obtained evidence based on this concept that that is not the- You didn't deserve that. That is not the evidence that was obtained unconstitutionally. However, the evidence was obtained because of the ESO. Yeah. So when we, my evidence professor would refer to this concept as taint and I, he's a young enough guy that he knew what he was doing, but there was a, I remember like a two or three class period where he must've said taint a thousand times. And every time he'd say it, there'd be a chuckle from the gallery. Yeah. Anyway, uh, and he just stared right into it. It's with the nose first. It's within this, It's within this context that TAG has done a thing. They have reformed their historical relationship with F1.
Andrew Yeah, I mean, it's now the they've they've reclaimed their position as the official timekeeper of... Correct.
Everett And if you thought On the 75th anniversary of Formula One, upon reforming its relationship as the official timer of F1, the TAG Heuer wasn't going to re-release the Formula One. You were wrong. If you thought that, you were wrong and kind of stupid. Why would you think that? Yeah, no, you're very stupid. You're stupid. I don't know who we're talking to, but if that was you, stop being dumb. So we have a new watch, a new Formula One to debut this 10-year relationship that we know is going to exist and... More of the same, but also really interesting.
Andrew It's updated. It's like they've acknowledged the stank and they're like, you know what? This is a part of us now, but we can do it better.
Everett But we can do it better. We can do it better. So let's talk about the elephant in the room. 44 millimeters, 14.1 thick. This is a big boy.
Andrew It's a big old bitch.
Everett It's like they wouldn't allow that in an f1 cockpit because it's too heavy definitely a barrel shaped case but but then you get like Angles on angles. Yes angles on angles and There's no flat surface. There was no but they're all flat there. That's right. That's right. It's bizarre. There was no chance of that they weren't going to make this big and a lot. I mean, it's going to be big. It's going to be a lot. It's for F1 fans. Tag's like, you know what? You got your glass box. Chill the fuck out. Now we're going to do some Tag Heuer shit. I'm OK with it. I really appreciate when a brand is able to separate out their design principles and execute. So, of course, I haven't handled one of these. I don't know what it is, but it looks really cool. It looks right. The Hodinkee article that I read about this made references to Tutima, which I think is fair, and Seiko Samurai, which I also think is fair. This watch has vibes. It's got vibes on vibes. But it's also an F1 chronograph.
Andrew Really good it is and and they I think they mitigated some of the size by going Titanium whether it be DLC coated or not going titanium. You're gonna lighten this watch up significantly and Make it a much more wearable Comfortable watch even at 44 millimeters a 44 millimeter titanium watch is gonna disappear even at 24 millimeters thick Right, 24?
Everett Yeah, I think that's right. Or 14, yeah. Yeah, 14, yeah. These are primarily DLC. There is one version of the catalog that is not DLC case, but still has a DLC bezel. The one I like of these the most. is the Red Bull version, which is obviously a collaboration with Red Bull. It is completely devoid of DLC, which, thank you. It's got a terrific blue dial. It's got red, as you might imagine, everywhere. There's these anodized red elements, as well as pops of red on the dial and some yellow. It's like, look, it's a Formula 1. There's going to be freaking colors on it, man. And all gray to titanium. I think the Red Bull is 5450, but not limited. The non-coated, so the steel or the one that's just titanium with the DLC bezels, 4700, and the DLC versions are 4900. Um, these are, it's an evolution and I think they're great.
Andrew It's also this thick because it's a 7750 based caliber 16 mechanical chronograph.
Everett That's right. So the, you know, LVMH, uh, being what it is, Tag Heuer being what it is, these are 7750s and, uh, they're cool, man. 28 800 VPH, 7750. We know, we know what this is. This is what this is.
Andrew This is a good release and they're great. This is tag coming into their own right now. Uh, since we're on the topic, uh, we have a new glass box chronograph in purple. Is it new or is it just a new tile? A new color. Okay. And there is a tour beyond version as well. Well, didn't they release the green one last year in a tourbillon? Uh, yeah, but now it's purple. Okay. And, uh, this is the first purple dial that I've seen in a long time that I'm like really into. This is one of those like deep, deep purples that depending on, depending on the light that you're catching, it's going to transition from black to this like beautiful dun dun dun. Yeah. Beautiful, like bright purple that like Welch's grape juice purple. Uh, this is lovely. And, and I think, I think they're putting an adequate amount of effort into the glass box cause the glass box is phenomenal. Um, yeah, this is good. The, uh, they're 6,500 bucks. How much are the tour beyond term? I think the tour beyond is probably 12.
Everett I don't know. Uh, so, so, the the tourbillon version of this i think is really fascinating um i don't know that we have any sort of i don't want the formula one i want the 60 for this is 6500 for the tourbillon, which is it really? Is that possible?
Andrew No, it's not.
Everett That's that's the the. Oh, that's the TH20. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Got it. Well, let me see here. It's a beautiful watch. 100 meters of water resistance on both of these. It's not a skinny or small watch. These are big, aren't they, Andrew? Yeah, they're 40. Oh, so this is the smaller glass box case. Where the hell is it?
Andrew Uh, yeah, 39 by 1386. Uh, the, uh, the purple tourbillons, uh, not 12, it's 35. Okay. Well, there you go. Yes. Yeah. Uh, but that purple's good. I don't know if it's $35,000 good. Um, I think if, you know, if we're in the tourbillon realm and paying that dollar amount, I think I like green better.
Everett Andrew, have we ever talked about, well, did we last year talk about the Delma Midland? Hmm, maybe. You know, this watch is gorgeous to me, and I just would be shocked if it was released and we didn't talk about it. But I'll just say I don't remember talking about it. And so I'm going to treat this as if I haven't talked about it before. So Delma is this old brand, which has always sort of been value focused. They've got a history of releasing like, you know, 5,000 meter dive watches. But over time, they've had, you know, other, not just dive watches, they've done chronographs and field watches, etc. And I think they've even played around in sort of haute or faute horology over time. They released their Midland collection last year, which harkens back to which harkens back to one of their historic models. So there was a lot of historical, perhaps expectation, or at least palette for this watch. And this is a watch that goes back, I think, to the 50s. But what I think Delman did a thing, and I think they were perhaps ahead of their peers on this decision. They made this watch decidedly 80s with this sort of flat fluted bezel and like angular butt. And I think we've seen more of this in the last year, really at the highest echelons. But I do think, you know, When we were getting into watches, 90s was just sort of starting to pick up steam. 70s was definitely the thing. We've seen a lot of 60s, but the 80s, 80s kind of dark ages. I think that there are a lot of materials out there from the 80s, even if we don't get novel designs from the 80s. I do think there are a lot of design aspects that are available from that period of time. And I think we're gonna see more of it. I'll just say that. So this watch, no different. Again, this was the watch released last year, but they've now released it in purple. This is not the same purple as the glass box. It is not the same purple. Lavender-y. You may not, you may, purple, I think is tough. You're either going to like it or hate it. I think this is really, really cool. It is a, guilloche waffle dial. I don't know if it's guilloche or guilloche style, I assume the latter, but it's just terrific. Beautiful handset, beautiful markers, beautiful dial, fonts, I'm gonna take a pass. Integrated bracelet, really nice chamfering. It is a 40.5 millimeter watch which as you know is the historic sweet spot and 10.8 millimeters thick with water resistance of 100 meters. SW-201, which, say what you want, it is $1,100. Between $1,100, excuse me, $1,350 is the price on these. And I think it's the right price, and I think at 10.8, unlike Christopher Ward, I think they have no problem asking that amount of money for this watch. Just really love it.
Andrew I think I have one bitch. It looks like the second hand doesn't or excuse me the minute hand doesn't Quite make it out to the track reach the end of the marker It looks like it falls just a little bit short.
Everett I think you're right. I think that's a an unusual I dimension decision Yeah, well You're right, I I think I've been very
Andrew I think if you're not, if you're not going to get your your minute hand all the way to the end of the marker. You can't go any further than midway, like there's got it can't just be just falling a little short. That's like a misalignment of your bezel. It's a needless oversight.
Everett It looks to me like the way they set that spacing is they went from the minute track and the hour marker. So they set the hour hand a fixed length from the hour marker and the minute a fixed length from the minute track.
Andrew But I think it's uniform.
Everett I think you're right. There's an adjustment that needed to be made to create that consistency. I'm fine. I've long said I very rarely get hung up about I think it's a weird hand length, but but yeah, it's a fair niggle.
Andrew I don't think that's a word you're supposed to use. I know we've talked about that before. I. Next up for me, next up for me, Louis Vuitton. Is getting involved in LVMH Watch Week with a dragging our tambour convergence, and this is I know what that means. stunning. I don't know what that means. So this is a Cutout Design, a digital display of an analog watch with a cutout at about, I don't know, we'll say the 12 to one o'clock to allow you visibility of your outside minute track and your inside hour track in lieu of a digital display of jumping hours. This is going to be rotating to display digitally your time. So it's a dragging, hour and dragging minute in lieu of a jumping rapid switch from minute to minute and hour to hour. And these are lovely. And I think it's cool to see Louis Vuitton really pushing into the watchmaking world. These are all in-house Louis Vuitton movements. One could make a gripe, this isn't a traditional jumping hour, though this is a watch based off of a jumping hour kind of era. I'm okay with it. We have two options. We have a platinum and a rose gold. They are wildly expensive. Rose gold rotor on them. Great size. Size on these is, where are we at? A 37 millimeter case, eight millimeters thick, which I think you could argue is maybe a little bit too thick for such a simple movement, right? We're not dealing with much here, but this is all in house. 30 meters of water resistance and, you know, 30 to 60 grand for a really lovely Louis Vuitton dress watch.
Everett Yeah. I, when I was looking at these and I decided, I decided to go with the platinum just because I think even at the 61,000 francs, it's just a better long-term value price platinum and melt values being what they are these days. So I did go with the platinum version, but I think at 35 or 33.5, the, the rose gold is,
Andrew It's a steal I think. Uh, and these are lovely, right? This is a, this is a Louis Vuitton pushing into their watch world. They have a new shop that they've set up. I mean they haven't announced fucking movement, right?
Everett Like, well, I mean, I mean they're a part of a, like I get it. Louis Vuitton has every single capability at its, but they, they are still doing it and, and these are stunning. Yeah. Yeah. They are stunning, and I actually think they do a really good job making a watch that's appropriate for Louis Vuitton. Louis Vuitton, the brand, Louis Vuitton, probably taken some fair criticism in the past, you know, what, 20 years for like really shifting the way they create and market products. This, to me, feels like this to me feels like an acceptable release from a brand given those criticisms. And when I say acceptable, I just mean like maybe even a good decision. It really showcases what they're good at. It's a movement that looks like it should be really complicated, but it's actually simple as dirt and showcases the finer aspects of simple, straightforward watchmaking.
Andrew And just simple, straightforward, fashionable jewelry. It's gorgeous. Yeah. In terms of jewelry, this is an absolutely gorgeous, horologically speaking. It's not super exciting. It could be a jump hour. It's not. It's, it's, it's just two discs. Yeah. It's super simple. This is a, yeah. But it's lovely. It's well-executed and I'm, I'm down with it. Seeing a brand like this kind of throwing their hat in the market in, in the way that they are because they don't have to, right? They can be absurd. They can be kind of Richard meal feely. They can be like super overdone, but this very understated, if not underwhelming execution is I think a good, a good place to be.
Everett And you know, I don't know, Andrew, I don't know enough about it to say this for certain, but I have to assume for a more casual watch enthusiast, but someone who wants really, really beautiful, nice shit, the more simple movement in this has got some advantages, right? I have to imagine that a jumping hour movement does not have the level of long-term durability or long-term use as this. Certainly not.
Andrew I mean, the fact that this isn't courts is an improvement.
Everett I said that super unclearly, but I think it's going to last longer. I think that movement is going to run very, very well for a very long time, be easy to work on.
Andrew And not be a $10,000 service. Correct. Yeah.
Everett Yeah, it will probably will be, but it not ought to be. Yeah. Either way, it's not going to be, it's not going to be complicated. I actually don't know anything about Louis Vuitton's in-house movements, but I, I have to imagine their, the architecture is not, uh, is not something that is when you look at the architecture work on from, from the case back, it's, it doesn't look to be so. Yeah, yeah, it looks like a really straightforward automatic movement that you don't want to take this to the guy who sells quartz watches down at the shopping mall. Perhaps.
Andrew You probably won't take him to the Fred Meyer jeweler, but you know, I think any any decent watchmaker or watch servicer will be able to.
Everett That's that would be my guess. Yeah. Without without knowing that. So Nevada. Oh, Grenchen. Yes. So Antarctic diver. They've got this watch called the Antarctic Diver, which like all of their watches is a recreation or an homage or a re-release of a historic watch from Nevada's collection. That is what the modern Nevada brand is. They released the Antarctic Diver a few years ago, which is in a matte dial. This may be last year. 2023, perhaps, that they came out with this. I feel like we just talked about this watch.
Andrew It came out a while back. I know, but it doesn't mean that I still feel like we just talked about it.
Everett Really straightforward vintage style dive watch with sort of these like very, very late 60s, early 70s, modern design cues, which fits perfectly. Kind of long, slender lugs. It is, for all intents and purposes, a classic skin diver. Only available in black previously, now available in green with a date and a no-date version. And this time, it does not have a magnifier on the date version, which was something that we saw on the black version, which I actually really like a well-done magnifier, but I think a lot of people- It bothers a lot of people. It bothers a lot of people. um they've released this in a green in a green with sort of a faux tina loom no surprise there but i think that's yellow loom i don't know if that's faux tina it's not brown enough to be faux tina i yeah okay uh potato potatoe I think it's potato tomato in this instance, but as much as you loved the purple from the new glass box, I really love this green. Uh, Nevada does a great job with fonts. No different here. These are the same fonts. There's nothing's changed here really besides the dial. Um, I do think, I do think that, um, I know the handset is the same. The markers are the same.
Andrew No ISO certification, no lume at the three and nine.
Everett They've dropped a, they've dropped a crosshair. There was a, there's a crosshair on the black version. They've dropped that here. Um, maybe the minute track is a little different. Anyway, it's really, it's really attractive. I really like this. It comes with, as Nevada often does, you can get it on the beets rice. You can get on a flat link. You can of course get it on rubber. Nevada is very, very nice. Tropic style rubber strap. It's part of, so I read that this was being added to the permanent collection. However, on Nevada's website, it says 150, that it's limited to 75 dates, 75 no dates. So I don't know. Maybe it's just a first run? Maybe, yeah, there's a question mark there. Is this permanent collection or is this going to,
Andrew Nothing about it says it's a special edition.
Everett Now, I'm going to say a couple things about this watch besides that. So this is a 2824. I'm fine. I'm fine. Oh, no, excuse me. It's a Soprad PO24, which is Festina's 2824. I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that at these prices. These come in at under $1,000, just under $1,000. But this is a skin diver watch, and I'm sure I said this when these came out. It is a 200 meter watch at 12.9. Yeah, it's too big. Okay, so you're using a 28, 24, fine. I do not need 200 meters of water resistance on a skin diver. That is the biggest mistake companies make with skin divers, is they, the whole point of a skin diver, a skin diver is a watch meant for skin diving, AKA snorkeling. But more appropriately, it is a watch that's meant for casual beach slash resort adventures.
Andrew You're just gonna get it damp, right?
Everett Maybe a little wet. This is not a serious piece of equipment and that is the point. That's why we don't just call them dive watches. So these companies that insist on 200 meters of water resistance because there's an expectation, a consumer expectation, for anything even somewhat adjacent. They're doing a disservice to everyone.
Andrew I think it's a misunderstanding both of the consumer and of the brand's trust in the consumer.
Everett This is a watch that needs to fit under a shirt cuff at the buffet
Andrew And maybe a jacket.
Everett Yes, after your beach escapade. Give, stop with my 13 millimeters. Stop, stop. A skin diver under, over 12 millimeters is just a fucking dive watch. I'm sorry, at 200 meters of water resistance. An unrespected dive watch. And meanwhile, I don't think Nevada Grenchen is advertising these as skin divers or marketing them as skin divers. That's sure what they are though. But that is what they are. Come on. This is my biggest gripe with these companies that sort of live in this space, is they don't differentiate. Nevada's got a lot of 300 meter watches and a lot of 200 meter watches. Sorry, don't do that. I don't need it. Unless you can give me 200 meters of water resistance in a truly svelte package, I don't need... No, just shave it off. Shave it off. Make this watch different in an attractive way from your 300 meter stuff.
Andrew Concur.
Everett Because their 300 meter stuff is 13 millimeters. Yes.
Andrew Like what's the fucking point? It's not that, yeah.
Everett And I know that this is not a gripe necessarily this watch, because this watch is a great version of an existing watch. Rather, this is a gripe about the model.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett Moving on. Uh, Andrew, so we are getting long in the tooth here.
Andrew We've got a couple things. I'm not really excited about anything else.
Everett Let's just speed round it. Speed round it. What else do you got?
Andrew Uh, there is a new matte finish of the Rado True Square Skeleton. I really like this case shape.
Everett Me too.
Andrew I really like the case integration into the bracelet.
Everett Sort of classic tv. Yeah dial stuff.
Andrew It's really attractive. The skeleton is cool They did some interesting architecture architecture to highlight the this movement and skeletonize everything It's ugly as sin No, no, it's but it's but it's cool as shit. Yeah It's it's really neat. They're 3100 bucks like for a cool kind of post-modern-y feel with like the 60s, 70s vibe. It's really interesting. It's, I think, one of my favorite Rado releases, which is a brand that I don't typically like. I saw these and I was like, Ooh, this is interesting. And they're in earth tones, like a bronze, a gray, and a, I don't know, kind of a different variety of gray.
Everett Ferrer? Ferrer has classically, historically had their GMT, what they called the GMT bezel collection, which is a GMT watch with a 24-hour bezel, a 24-hour rotating bezel. That has been phased out over the last several years and they've brought it back. They brought it back in two sizes, both a 38 and a 40 millimeter case. Both are 12.5, which I think is acceptable for a bezeled GMT watch, lest you think I'm unreasonable about my thickness expectations these days. It comes in a handful of colors, unsurprisingly, for a fair release. I think probably my favorite is the 38 millimeter maize blue, which has a crispy white dial with bright red hands, or excuse me, bright orange hands, and sort of a navy, a navy and white 50-50 on the bezel. Uh, yeah, these are, um, I think just like 1600 euros, uh, and add 250 euro for a bracelet, 200 meters of water resistance, as you might imagine for a company like fair, they've done everything right here as per usual.
Andrew Yeah. The Mecca 10 from Hublot came out as a 44 millimeter watch, which is way too big consistent with Hublot. They've downsized it. They've re-engineered this movement. This is a 10 day mechanical power reserve watch, which is really cool as shit. They've shrunk it down to fit into a 42 millimeter case that is Given the design of this watch is now super wearable and I think really attractive the architecture of the movement is really cool I think this is an awesome awesome watch and if you're a Hublot person It's coming in king gold, titanium, or carbon. Unobtainium prices, right? 42,000 for the gold, 23 for the titanium, and 27,000 for the carbon.
Everett You know, totally- IMO not unobtainium for Hublot, but yeah.
Andrew Yeah, totally in the price realm for Hublot. And I think to bring such a cool technology into a much more appropriate wearable size is cool. And this is one of the first Hublot watches I've looked at and been like, ooh, shit.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew I think I'm interested.
Everett Uh, final thing for me, Andrew Blancpain has released its, uh, Fifty Fathoms swatch line in pink. So as you know, the Fifty Fathoms swatch line is, um, Blancpain's swatch groups, Blancpain Fifty Fathoms swatch, sort of like the Moon swatch. Uh, these are all named after a body of water or a type of body of water. And also with colorways that refer to nudibranch or perhaps sea slugs may be found in those bodies of water. They've released a pink sea. version of this watch, which I think is it's really fun, very saccharine, but interesting. And of course, color way to resemble some variety of the 80,000 species of nudibranches in the world. But also the pink sea is actually of various is a condition, not perhaps a place, but a condition of bodies of water that they obtained having been affected by algae blooms. So I think it's a pretty neat release. It's definitely pink guys.
Andrew This is a, it's, it's Miss piggy pink.
Everett This is pink, Betty boot pink, various colors of pink, kind of a white ish dial, which is nice. Cause it breaks up the watch a little bit. IMO. Um, but yeah,
Andrew It's still quite pink. If that dial weren't on this pink case, it would be a very pink dial.
Everett A pink FFS for your pleasure. Anything else you want to add?
Andrew No, that's it for me.
Everett Other things. What do you got?
Andrew Uh, so I got a, an air fryer for Christmas and an air fryer has been long on my list of like, ah, do I have counter space? I kind of really want this. Uh, ho hummin, ho hummin, never doing. Uh, my wife got for me a, one of the Ninja, um, air fryers, she got me the, oh boy, I had it pulled up and now it's gone, the double stack. So what I always really liked about this double stack is it's dual hemisphere. So you have your two canisters, it's a vertical thing, it's no bigger than my KitchenAid, two cooking vessels, two trays that you can independently manage temperature and time cook on them. which is really cool. And I haven't fully used this thing to the extent that it's been used. She made chicken thighs and roasted vegetables in it in each of the hemispheres recently. Chicken thighs came out with really good crispy skin. Chicken was well-cooked. I have used it for exclusively like previously frozen stuff, like bagged fries. I've got some Brussels sprouts that are gonna go into it this afternoon. Gotta say this is this thing is like 200 and some bucks. I know you have an air fryer function in your microwave Yep, but it's not the same. It's it's not the same. I I'm fully sold on the air fryer in for the convenience and I'm not like I haven't done anything battered in it yet And I don't know that I will But the the speed and the convenience of this thing has been phenomenal. Yeah the cleaning on it's super easy and The one thing that I've learned so far is that time recommendations are inaccurate. Just like when a recipe tells you to cook the onions for three minutes, it's like, no, cook the onions. You need 15. Yeah, that's right. Or add the garlic in for the last 30 seconds. No, like cook your shit, get the flavor out of it.
Everett I'm a big proponent of only adding garlic for 30 minutes or 30 seconds because otherwise you don't get that bite.
Andrew But I hear what you're saying. No, I do two introductions of garlic. I do like the main bit of garlic to really soak in the oils and then I get like a little bit of garlic right at the end for the last 30 seconds or so. but this all the time on it is typically like five minutes shy of where you really want it to get like a good crisp on it. Uh, and I made, uh, I just threw a bag of fries, like of the Arby's curly fries out of the freezer in there the other day. Holy shit. It's a game changer. It takes up a little bit of space on the counter, but in the way of counter space, if you've got kitchen counter space to have kitchen to like countertop appliances, I'll never go back. Uh, it's, it's so convenient, so easy to clean. It's so fast.
Everett I mean, you're up to 400 degrees and in a minute, Andrew, I want to try a steak cooked in an air fryer.
Andrew I've wanted to do that too.
Everett Can we do that soon?
Andrew We're going to have to, I'm going to get some like cheap sirloins or something from the grocery store, get like a five pack and do some experimentation with it. I think it would be better to get something with a higher fat, but that's just me. But the problem is you're not gonna have it in there long enough to render the fat to get any rendering You need something lean that you're gonna be able to get a good crust on well Maybe let's go get a couple steaks try both ways. Yeah, I did a tomahawk in the smoker the other day. How'd that turn out? It was on the smoke for like $2.25 for two and a half, three hours. Holy cow, it was good.
Everett I got an obscenely priced tomahawk at the Four Seasons in Jackson Hole and it was, oh my God, but I don't want to admit how much we paid for it. It was phenomenal.
Andrew Yeah, but I did it in the smoker and then I got the oven super hot and Give it a hard sear, it's good. But I think there's a way to get good lean steaks out of an air fryer. I don't think a fatty steak, I don't think you have sufficient time for the fat to render and really.
Everett Well, let's try it. You know, when you think when you cook a ribeye, you're really only cooking it for, you know, two minutes, four minutes, maybe seven or eight minutes total. So I think, um, you know, maybe, maybe like nine or 10 minutes total cook time on a, on a, so let's, let's, let's go get some experimentation. Go get one of each and try them out and see how they turn out. Uh, I've got another thing. Do me. Andrew, uh, playing cards, playing cards. Do you have thoughts, preferences, feelings about playing cards?
Andrew Mmm, I hate brand-new playing cards. I love the feel of them like the first couple shuffles I just I don't like the texture of brand-new playing cards And I always get the the just the brand the red pack of playing cards just bicycles or whatever like I have probably a dozen or so packs of bicycle playing cards that are all really well broken in and I don't like the way the edges fray, but I also don't like new ones. So those are my opinions. My opinion is I like used playing cards. I don't, when we don't live anywhere where I can buy like, yeah, lightly used, we don't live near enough to casinos to be able to buy excess or surplus like previously used.
Everett So I recently did a deep dive on playing cards. So I, like you, have used bicycles, I think, you know, any sort of U.S. playing card company cards or whatever. Fine, fine, fine, fine. But probably 15 years ago, I started buying anytime I was near a casino. So I'd go by Spirit Mountain. or whatever, I would pick up a bunch of sort of marked decks, you know, because they use them for a few hands and they pull them. They're still in great condition. And so for probably 10 or 15 years, I've been using exclusively casino decks because they just feel nice. And then I order them on eBay occasionally. So I've probably had 30. We play cards a lot in the house mostly cribbage Some poker we just play cards a lot in the house. And so I'm with you, right? I like them like Maybe for the first, you know, two or three four nights, but then much beyond that they start to get just sort of like they're plump on the edges and it's just like and so I I started to go with like, just, I want a better playing card, right? Maybe not better, but I want something, just, I want to know more about what I'm buying. And I started seeing a lot of references to this brand, KEM, K-E-M. This is a historic brand of, they make cellulose acetate cards. and a lot of you know basically these cards last properly cared for forever ish and and like anything else that's only true to a certain extent i think you can break anything if you try hard enough But well taken care of and reasonably used, these cards can last decades. And in fact, if you go on eBay, you can find lots and lots and lots of Cam cards from the 70s or 80s that have been lightly used and are still basically new, ostensibly. That's what I'm understanding.
Andrew Ripple action during a shuffle.
Everett Well, so I'll get back to that So I and and then you know on reddit There's a lot of people say oh cams are overrated because what you when you buy a set of cams typically you buy two decks a set Uh, of cards and the chems are, they range from like 40 bucks to something that is been used a little bit to 60 bucks to something that's pretty new. And that's, that, that's true. Whether or not you buy brand new or you buy 20, 30 years old, they're, they're all are in this 56, which is crazy. Like I'm going to buy two decks of cards for 60 bucks. Um, shit. Yeah, I am. There are also a number of companies that are making PVC cards. Copac is probably the most famous brand, but there are other brands, Fournier, Modiano, these Italian brands that are making PVC cards. And there are maybe one or two other brands that occasionally release cellulose. But in my searching, I kept seeing references to this brand called J Design is how you pronounce it. But the way it's spelled is D-E-S-J-G-N. So they've replaced the I in design with the J, but you pronounce it J-design. Anyway, I actually don't love that, but it's not my choice. I found a bunch of references to this brand. They sell a pack of cards that are PVC, probably made by an Italian stockmaker. like stocks made by an Italian maker, printed by J Design, and they're really reasonable. So a set of J Design, they only sell cards, they only sell their cards on Etsy and eBay, so sort of like a cottage industry brand, like a very small boutique enthusiast brand, which is attractive to me. I'm like, yeah, this is cool. So I bought a set. JGN. Like the word design, but replace the I with a J. Des J G N. I can't even find them. Uh, I'll send you a link, Andrew. I'll send you a link. So anyway, I just took a flyer and I bought a set of J design playing cards and first beautifully packaged much like you'd expect they come in a cardboard case and um like in a cardboard box like a permanent storage solution the one i bought was poker size standard index So poker or broad size in contrast with bridge or narrow size. Standard index playing cards with red and blue backs in I think they're classic or perhaps they're Victorian card back. And they're really interesting. So they are plastic. They feel paper-like. And these are cards that get used in card rooms. So poker rooms around the country almost all use, or around the world, perhaps I should say, almost all use plastic cards, which is something I didn't know. In fact, I've played poker in poker rooms and made note of the cards, but didn't, Didn't think about it enough to understand they're not paper cards. They're plastic, probably PVC, maybe if they're using chem, cellulose acetate cards. So I picked up very slick. Both I and my kids immediately noticed how slick they are. They are slick in the way a brand new set of cards are, but they're flexible. They're flexible. They don't feel stiff. You know, when you take the new, so like the first set of bicycles and you, you almost have to break the backs a little bit before they start to feel nice. And then there's that like spot that you've probably shuffled them 30 times where they're no longer uncomfortably stiff. They're more flexible, but they're still a little slick and they just run on the table really nice. And, That's where these cards live. Now, if you like a set of cards that's maybe more broken in, I understand that these cards do not change ever. So unless they break or they warp because of heat, which is something that happens to cellulose acetate cards, maybe less so to PVC cards, but unless Unless they warp, they're in their final form more or less right now. And I just thought, well, this is really interesting. I think I paid with shipping like 15 bucks for a set of two, which is much less offensive. With that said, I did find a vintage set of cams on eBay that, it's not a set, it's actually just a single deck, but they sold these cards in the 80s for a period of time in these kind of clever vinyl packages, and I overpaid for it, but I was like, I kind of want to have that. So I've got a pack. I've got a pack of chems coming as well that I will be able to compare, assuming this is not warped, which can happen. And if it's warped, I may return it. I bought it on eBay. We'll see what happens. They made no, they said basically brand new. So anyway, I've got a pack of chems coming as well, cellulose acetate to compare to the J designs, but All that to say, I've now played probably 20 games of cribbage with these two decks of cards and pretty fun. You do want to play on felt. You don't want to play on a hard surface because otherwise they just, they get that air pocket underneath them.
Andrew and they live there.
Everett They just fly. Um, but playing on felt, they stop really nice. They feel really good. They turn up if you just want to look at your corners. Um, and they don't work. They don't work. They just, they go immediately back to shape. I, I'm less stressed about the kids like shuffling.
Andrew Like, yeah, kid thumbs are just so rough on corners of things.
Everett Not that I stress about that. It's a pack of cards. Do it. It's a deck of cards. Do it, do whatever. But, Yeah, that's my other thing for the week. J design plastic playing cards, which I've had my past experiences with plastic playing cards are like either those clear ones or whatever the ones you get for like the pool. Yeah. And I don't like that. They're like novelties. This is not like that. These are legitimate poker room playing cards. They have a paper-like feeling. They feel as much like paper as they can get them, but they're plastic and they're really cool.
Andrew I like it. I didn't realize that professional casino cards were not paper.
Everett Interestingly enough, for most card games, so Pai Gao, Blackjack, Baccarat, they're using paper cards, but specifically for poker because you're turning up.
Andrew Oh, but they're not replacing those cards because they return to form. So even when you buy casino cards, you're getting X-outs of Paper cards.
Everett Paper cards, that's right. So if you're using poker cards, specifically poker rooms, in fact, I said Pai Gow, but I'm not sure if Pai Gow is paper or plastic. I don't know shit about Pai Gow. But if you're, so poker rooms and the poker tables at casinos use plastic cards, World Series of Poker, all of those are using plastic, mostly PVC, but sometimes cellulose acetate cards. Good to know. That's all I got, man. Good day. Uh, anything you want to add before we go?
Andrew I'm out of things.
Everett Hey folks, uh, I want to thank you for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20, the watch clicker podcast. Do me a favor, go to our website. It's watch clicker.com. Uh, you can check out the written works and the photographs that accompanied this show indirectly at the very least. If you want to follow us on social media, you can do that on Instagram at watch clicker or at 40 and 20 underscore watch clicker. That's where we post updates, but also a place where you can communicate with us if you were so inclined. If you want to support us, and oh boy, we hope you do because we need money to keep the wheels on this bus turning. If you want to support us, you can do that at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. And honestly, anybody who's ever been to our Patreon contributed even a single dollar to the show. We thank you so much. And if you haven't, but you've listened to a billion episodes, consider going and dropping us a buck. And don't forget to tune back in next Tuesday. for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Bye bye.