Chatting with Andrew Perez of Astor + Banks (352)
Published on Mon, 28 Jul 2025 22:32:59 -0700
Synopsis
In this episode, hosts Andrew Roberts and Everett chat with Andrew Perez, owner of Astrum Banks and co-founder of Solabs. They discuss the evolution of watch shows like Windup, which has grown from a small intimate gathering to the "biggest watch show in the world." Perez provides updates on his popular Fortitude line of watches and previews the upcoming Terra Scout field watch. The conversation covers changes in the watch industry, the challenges of maintaining brand identity while innovating, and the importance of in-person watch shows for connecting with customers. The hosts also share personal stories about recent watch acquisitions and discuss other topics including the Happy Gilmore 2 movie, iPhone cases, and sneakers.
Links
Transcript
| Speaker | |
|---|---|
| Andrew Roberts | 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, how are you? |
| Everett | i'm killing it you know this morning i woke up and it was like 55 degrees outside 54 degrees i think something like that and i was like no i'm gonna go outside and drink a cup of coffee and i sat on my back porch and i drank a cup of coffee and it was so nice. It was like, the sun was beautiful. It was kind of cool. I had a sweatshirt on, uh, like drinking coffee. I was like, what a nice, nice summer morning. Yeah. Yeah. Like seven 45, seven 30. This is fantastic. Cause it's been kind of warm. |
| Andrew Roberts | Yes. |
| Everett | It's been kind of warm. So, so I'm doing really well. I've had like a, like the, you know, sometimes like the pace of the day is perfect. Yeah. |
| Andrew Roberts | I'm not familiar with that yet. My kids are too young. |
| Everett | Yeah, that might be true. Today was that day for me where just I woke up when I wanted to. I woke up 7.30. I was awake. I was like, oh, I feel great. I got up. I made coffee. I sat outside. Just the pace of the day was perfect. I got to read about watches. I put an Instagram post up, which I don't do all that often these days. It was like today I just felt like perfect. |
| Andrew Roberts | How about you? I'm good. I'm a little tired. I'm on my eighth consecutive work day. Yeah, that's a lot. I worked at our county fair all week, so it was hot. It was cool, though. I got to meet Craig Morgan. He came and did a show here, and he did a meet and greet with the police officers who were working there who were all veterans. So I got to meet Craig Morgan and his stage manager who... |
| Everett | I feel a little bad. I don't know who Craig Morgan was. You were telling us that. |
| Andrew Roberts | He's a country music guy. He's been around for a long time. Like Redneck Yacht Club is his. I think, I mean, you'd recognize songs of his. Okay. Yeah, yeah. But it's cool to meet him. His stage manager is a retired police officer and showed us his guitar vault that had patches from hundreds of police departments around the country. Cool, cool. I touched one of his guitars. I wasn't supposed to, but I touched one of his guitars. Because you don't get... I've been backstage at a concert exactly one time and I was like, I probably won't do this again. So I touched the neck of his guitar. I was like, I did it! One finger, back of it. Yeah! Yeah! I'm sure no one cared. No one cared. No, I could have knocked it over. I'm sure they'd be like, yeah, don't worry about it. We got this. But yeah, just kind of worn out, rolling into my new work week and just going to keep on powering through. |
| Everett | Well, you know, today's fun because we are not, it's not just the two of us. And the folks at home already know this because they saw the title of the show. But today we're here with... I think one of the show's favorite people, to the extent the show has a personality, the collective personality of Andrew Roberts and Everett, which is Andrew Perez, owner of Astrum Banks, also co-owner and co-founder of Solabs, who he runs with Rick Cosgrove, another friend of the show. Both brands out of Chicago. Beloved micro brand and brand owner. Andrew, welcome again. Welcome back, I should say. |
| Andrew Perez | Thank you. Thank you for having me and love coming on the show. It's been too long. |
| Everett | It has. Yeah. No, I looked back. It's been a couple of years. You know, when you think about when you think about the watch industry, I was thinking back specifically in the context of wind up. Andrew and I are making plans to go to wind up New York. And it'll be a few years since we've been. It has been a few years since we've been. And then thinking back even further, I was thinking about back to my first windup when they used to do it at Chelsea. And it was just tiny. And it made me realize how much different our space is now. since we've started doing this, since we met you. I don't know when we met. I think it was shortly after you released your original Sea Ranger. Yeah, that's right. You know, 2019-ish. Just thinking how different the watch world is. I'm trying to get press passes for wind up or press credentials. And I wound up messaging Zach Kazan front. And he's like, OK, well, it's going to be either, you know, Kyle or someone else in the partnership department. And they haven't you know, I don't think they've gotten to those yet. And I was like, man, I remember my very first wind up. It was a DM with Zach Kazan. It was a deal with Zach Weiss, and that was it. Even the last wind-up, they were like, we believe you. And that's not a dig on wind-up. I think their project is taken. It's got legs, and it's the coolest thing. But it's a different world that we're in. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, it definitely is. Yeah, 2019, I feel like I saw you last... with Debbie at Wind Up in New York, but it was just you. Andrew R. was not there. I was. |
| Everett | You didn't go to a New York. I went to two in a row. I think you weren't there the year Andrew Roberts was there. |
| Andrew Roberts | No, you definitely were. I was, because we talked about it. Two weeks later, we had Rick on the show. |
| Andrew Perez | There was another time. It was just me, you, and Debbie. i don't know if even if i was showing at that show maybe i went for fun i don't know yeah that was that was that that was like the second chelsea hall year maybe okay yeah yeah yeah yeah no it's it's definitely uh bigger i mean last year's new york wind up was insane like Dare to say a little too big for me. It's really hard to talk to people. And I think it was over 100 brands. |
| Everett | Yeah, they're calling it the biggest watch show in the world. Yeah. And I don't know, you know, I've never been to Basel. or to Watches and Wonders. I know there's the Hong Kong Watch and Clock show. I've never been to one of these shows, but the biggest watch show in the world makes me think they at least believe they're bigger than those shows in terms of brands. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, they're also very different shows. The Hong Kong show is just for manufacturing. It's not like people go there to look at watches from different brands. You go there if you're starting a brand or to meet your manufacturer. And people from all over the world go there for that. Basel, I went to. I got lucky enough to go to before it closed a few years before that. Kind of the same thing. And maybe Watches and Wonders is probably about the same. But Basel, I went there just as a fan at the time. And you can't, like... you go into these halls and it's huge and it's basically the brands build the boutique yeah for this show you know but you can't get into the boutique you can only see from the glass like you're walking down the street and just window shopping unless you're press and if you have an appointment so i was like well this isn't that much fun because you can't really do that you can't really go in and touch the watches and all that and um But one of the cool parts of Basel, they had an independent section. And that's where they had MB&F and some of these other independent brands that are now much more popular. But I got to see a lot of those brands before they were super popular. So that was kind of cool. |
| Andrew Roberts | Did you get to interact with their stuff in the way that you do at Wind Up? Like outside of the big brands? |
| Andrew Perez | Only on the independent stuff, yeah. You can sit down. Most of the time it was the founder. |
| Everett | Sounds a little like watch time in New York. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, more like watch time. Yes. But that's how Basel is. It's basically just for press and authorized dealers. They open up to regular folk too, but you can't really get the access or see the new novelties and stuff in the flesh. So that's why they do watch time because then you can actually see what came out and then you can see them in the flesh at those watch time events. And then... The other show, there's another show, EPHJ, that's in Geneva during the summertime, and that's manufacturing only. So you go there, you get to see all the manufacturers, dial makers, things like that. You can see who's working with who, movement makers. That's kind of cool, too. But anyway, so Wind Up is different in that I can believe it's the biggest because... so you get to actually meet the people most of the time the owners get to buy the watch try it on chat with them so you don't get that at basel you know as a regular consumer um watches and owners i've never been to but i assume it's similar to basel so um so yeah i You know, Dallas was this year. The first time they did Dallas, I went to that. That was cool. It was great. Only two days, which was nice, too, instead of three days. |
| Everett | Nice for the owners, right? |
| Andrew Perez | Very nice, yeah. |
| Everett | Well, in any event, you know, thinking about how different that first windup I went to was and how different kind of your brand is, I thought, you know, we've got a lot to talk about, man. |
| Andrew Perez | Yes, we do. |
| Everett | So, Andrew, what's been going on? |
| Andrew Perez | Um, let's see. Fortitude line continues to be our most popular. Um, and I think that's only cause I haven't done more of the sea Rangers. Um, and that's just me being annoying to myself and, um, picky about things, you know, pricing, things like that, movements. |
| Everett | Um, and, um, so, and so fortitude is sort of your like anti-magnetic, uh, |
| Andrew Perez | uh everyday sport watch yeah exactly and we have like so not so we have two different you know uh we have the fortitude pro the professional and then we have the light And the difference between the two, and actually our new iteration I just got prototypes of that I showed in Chicago, shows the Fortitude Lite. I wanted to distinguish it more between the two. So the Pro has the anti-magnetic higher rating because it's got soft iron plates that sandwich the movement. |
| Everett | It's like 12,000 gauss or something. |
| Andrew Perez | 20,000 AMs. I can't remember how many gauss that is. |
| Everett | Antimagnetics. |
| Andrew Perez | A bunch. In order for you to say your watch is antimagnetic, it's got a rate at 4,800. This is at 20,000. Significantly higher. |
| Andrew Roberts | You exceed the ISO standard. Are yours ISO certified or do they just exceed the ISO? |
| Andrew Perez | They just exceed. We get them tested and stuff but not ISO certified. And then we do the coating on the bracelet in the case for higher scratch resistance. |
| Everett | And that's like a 12,000 Vickers? 500, yeah. Or 1,200, yeah, sorry. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, and then the pro has the date. So kind of my thought process was the professional, you want a date, kind of like an officer's watch, just a clean, you can put it on, get in the water, 660 feet water resistance. um it's got the anti higher anti-magnetic rating and the coating and the light version is kind of like the civilian version in my eyes kind of like all right you don't care about the coating you don't care about the anti but you just want to put on a nice watch you can wear every day that looks good um and that's the light version and before there other than just by looking at it it's basically like, OK, the date is really the only difference I can see. And then the light version is slightly thinner just because it doesn't have the anti-magnetic plates. But so for the new iteration, what we do or what I did with it now is we're doing all gloss dials on all of them. And on the pro version, it's got the circle stamped on the inside or on the middle of the dial there. And then on the light version, that won't be there anymore. And then we added a little bit of polish on the side of the case, underside of the case, and then also on the bracelet, just a little bit on the edges of the bracelet. And then the biggest thing, so you can really tell the difference, is we did an open case back. So we've got an exhibition case back now on it, and it's about $11. and a half millimeters thick uh with that including the crystal and then we did a custom rotor on the miota movement too so now we have a custom rotor you know it's not just a printed one on the miota movement so and that's versus 10 and a half on the light right so no the light is 11 and a half thick um and then the Pro version is about 12. When you wear it on the wrist, you can't really tell the difference. |
| Everett | You use different movements for that, right? You use 90S5 and 9015? 9039 for the no date and then the 9015 for the pro version. |
| Andrew Perez | That's why the difference. That makes sense. That's what we're using today. We're going to hopefully I'm going to put these into production, the new light version. Cause I just got them a couple of weeks ago and they came out great. So put them into production. We'll have those, you know, I don't know, three, four months back in stock with the new colors. We're doing some limited colorways. I like to do like one or two limited colors, 50 pieces each every time I do a new run. And so one will be, I call it Miami blue, which is kind of like a Porsche color. It's really cool. And then the other one, color, not salmon, but peach, but it's gloss. We'll do 50 of those as well. |
| Everett | Approximately the same prices on those, $6.50? |
| Andrew Perez | Pricing has been a thing with these. Pricing on everything has gone up a little bit, including the mints. Obviously, tariffs. We've been waiting to... I've seen some brands already increase pricing and maybe... I should, you know, do that, too. But we will have to increase our pricing by a little bit, you know, 10 percent or something like that just to kind of help. I'm still eating quite a bit of that. But, you know, yeah, I want to keep it in like that 700 range. And so that's kind of where it's going to be at. And, you know, with a custom rotor, that adds more cost because it's completely custom. Open case back adds a little bit more cost. The little bit of polish that I need tooling, so that adds more cost to do that. And a little bevel on the bracelet. We're going to have the, you know, the Nodex extension clasp on them. That's obviously a little bit more cost. So there's more cost involved, but I'm trying not to, like, make it... a big jump from where it's at today. |
| Andrew Roberts | What'd you do with the custom rotor? Just Asteroom Banks? |
| Andrew Perez | No, actually. I have the little A with the, or also I kind of think of it as a Chevron too. It's just a white painted rotor with that lasered out so you can see through it. So two Solabs and it's just a colored rotor. And then we lasered out the, the logo on the Solabs, but on this one, it's just the, the Chevro. |
| Everett | So, so you can see through the rotor into the, into the movement. Yeah. Yeah. That's clever. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah. So it's kind of just, you know, um, The reason I don't like to do an exhibition caseback with a Miyota movement is because the rotor does not look great. It's not a nice-looking rotor, in my opinion. To do it, I wanted to make sure I did a custom rotor so it's not just that one. |
| Everett | The Miyota movements are great, but they're not the sexiest beasts. |
| Andrew Perez | I talk to them. They're a rep a lot. You know, he asked me for different opinions and stuff on things they're working on. And then last thing I told him, because they're working on something else that is going to be cool, an upgrade to the 9 Series. And I said, look, one of the things you guys should do is do a new rotor for your 9 Series because the rotors make it look cheap. And it's not cheap, you know, and it's a really great movement. I rarely have problems with them. People rarely send them back. I've had issues with other movement makers before. And when I switched to Miota for these, because originally I was going to use a Swiss movement for the Fortitude. |
| Everett | You were using Salidas before the Fortitude Light, right? |
| Andrew Perez | I was using Salida on the Sea Ranger. And I had about 10% of those come back with a rotor issue. And it's a known problem, but it's a pain in the ass. Helicoptering? |
| Everett | Helicoptering. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's not a good experience. It's an easy fix, very easy fix. You just got to clean it. But they're brand new from the factory. It's like, come on, guys. |
| Andrew Roberts | Why is it dirty already? |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, so a couple of watchmakers told me to watch out for that. And so that was kind of a pain because it's not a good experience for the customer. But with the Miodas, knock on wood, like... I'd say I have probably maybe 1%. I mean, it's really low. That comes back because of an issue with the actual movement. |
| Everett | I'll tell you, with Foster, we have had zero movement returns on the 905. We've had other things that have gone wrong with the watch, but zero returns on the 905, which is terrific. Yeah. |
| Andrew Perez | It's going to get better. And the funny thing is like, so one of the things when I'm at these shows, people ask me about, so that's the Fortitude update with the Fortitude Lite is that. Fortitude Pro, we're going to keep making the same. We are going to... not we're going to discontinue the mother of pearl on the pro version and just do it on the light version reason for that is because i want to keep the pro as a pro and like professional watch and i don't want to and we're not going to have like the nice funky colors on that either so i'm going to try to keep a little bit more conservative just to go with that |
| Everett | Real professionals don't like Mother of Pearl. And I think everybody knows that. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, yeah. So if you're looking for those, so it's more of a tool watch, right? And that's kind of... It's orange or nothing, right? |
| Unknown | That's right. |
| Everett | Well, so can we talk a little bit about the... So I'd like to talk a little bit, you know... For folks that are a little unfamiliar with your brand, I think some people maybe, I don't know this for sure, but I think some people maybe think that Astro Bank's debut watch was the Sea Ranger. because the Sea Ranger was like just a smash success. But you've been making watches for a long time. 2012, yeah. Yeah, right. And then I can't remember, you had like your pilot watch, I think was a 2014 release or... |
| Andrew Perez | um so i had so when i first started doing it um it was just it was kind of like a semi-custom experience so what i did is i i got some cases made um in germany at the time they're really expensive and um i was working with this guy yeah i was working with this guy and um anyway so i i got i was doing uh A 42 and a 40 millimeter case. So you can choose between the two. You can choose between a couple of different dials. The first ones I made were very like classic looking, just like a nice silver dial with blue dials. hands it's just very like very german looking yeah um and that's what i liked at the time and so you can pick like uh between like brigade hands or like these leaf hands you can pick like a different color seconds hand because it was just you know i used the unit 6497 or edda 6497 which is very old school very traditional very good movement super cool yeah but yeah awesome you can pick like um you can get it with geneva stripes or you can just get basement so there's different costs it would go from a thousand to two thousand dollars basically and you can pick the strap you want the buckle you want so it was like a semi customized custom experience i don't know what the hell i was doing back then but that's just kind of where i landed and well nobody knew what they were doing you know i think back to like you know you know the is the wild west i think back to like guys like you and bill |
| Everett | Yao and Steve Laughlin, you know, when you guys started making watches, you know, when, when I made foster, I called, I called Steve Romer in Texas and I called Wes in LA and I was like, Hey, I want to make a watch. And they were like, well, yeah, let us get you a bid. Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's not, you guys were, it's the Wild West. You guys were pioneering an industry. |
| Andrew Perez | Definitely Wild West. And the first windup was kind of like the first time And that's how I met, you know, Jason from Haley and who I just saw finally for a long time in Vancouver this year, which was good. But yeah, so that's that's what I started doing. So very like traditional old school like watch watches. And then then I came out with it. I wanted to do a chronograph because I love chronographs in general. and uh but they're so expensive to make uh with the movements and things like that so i did a quartz one i used uh ronda swiss quartz movement i love a big double date window so i used one that had that i like and ronda's that's at it's at a manufacturer right ronda yeah no i think it's its own it's its own thing okay yeah there you go as far as i know i haven't used them in a long time but um So I did this watch. It was 44 millimeters, you know, kind of also, again, German-ish looking, Sin-ish looking, you know, military kind of. And that's when I met Zach Weiss. So when I came out with that watch, he did our first review ever on Warner and Round. And so my watches that I had in that $1,000, $2,000 range, I brought them with me. And they're like, oh, those are too expensive for us. We don't cover those. Because they were only doing $1,000 and under at the time. This was worn around by policy. Yeah. This was when they first started. We basically started around the same time. Because of that, no one ever saw those earlier watches, except for people who bought them around here. Excuse me. I think I sold maybe like... 30 or 40 that first year, you know, doing random shows that had nothing to do with launches. |
| Andrew Roberts | Were you doing assembly yourself? Yeah. For these custom orders. So you have it. Is there a world where there's a tote in your, in your garage that still has the unsold bits and pieces? |
| Andrew Perez | I still have some parts. Yeah. Um, of those watches and some movements and, um, the way, you know, I, I got into it cause I start, I've been into watches since like, when I was 18. So early, like 2001, 2000. And then, so I bought my first watch was the diesel watch. I still have it today. And then that's got me into the rabbit hole. And then I started buying parts. And then for some reason in 2012, I thought it'd be cool to start a watch brand. And, and that's how I got started. So, but I thought. |
| Everett | Before starting a watch brand was cool. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah. Yeah. I found a watch. |
| Everett | Yeah. |
| Andrew Perez | That's right. That's right. A watchmaker who helped me. And I basically I brought on the watch and I was like, you know, I put this together. It seems to be working fine. Can you tell me? And he's like, oh, he's like, yeah. He looked it over a couple of calls me back in a couple of days. He's like, did you do this? Did you do this? Did you do this? I'm like, no. He's like, all right. He's like, I'll show you how to do these things. They're not that hard. And so he basically taught me the basics of doing that. And that's how I started. And so I was doing all the assembly for a while. And then when I came out with that quartz chrono, that's how most people in the beginning knew about Astor Banks because they did a review, a blog to watch, did a review shortly after that, a couple other websites. And so they were introduced to uh, watches. And, um, and so then, you know, the time we were selling those for 575, which today people would crush me and say, why are you selling a quartz watch for 575? Yeah. But, um, you know, I was using Horween leather back then for the straps, you know, so, and those weren't cheap. Um, we were getting those made by Hadley Roma in Florida and, at the time and uh horween weather at horween is out of chicago out of chicago yeah yeah that's cool yeah yeah famous one of the most famous leather makers and um and and i still use horween today um for my watch pouches and things like that you do you have a relationship with those guys then i mean i yes i've been buying from them for a long time but yeah they um they've also changed too where when i first got there i buy stuff, get some scraps of like some really nice leather. And then they started getting so many small makers, you know, like people that weren't buying, like Wilson, you know, is one of their biggest clients. They make their footballs and they make the leather for all that. And they, you know, they, a bunch of shoe companies like Alden and Allen Edmonds and things like that use their leather. So when all these like makers, you know, started coming and making small batch stuff, they're like, we don't really have time for any little guys, you know? So they kind of, then they opened up this side, like another branch and that called tannery row. And that's who they were. They work with all the smaller makers. And so, so anyway, that's, that's so people actually, when the beginning knew about me from a quartz watch, and then I did a, another pilot watch using the unit ties. I was doing that at the time. And then I did a, an automatic with an ETA movement pilot watch, kind of like a baby, big pilot. Cause the big pilots, one of my favorite watches. and I did a black dial and a blue dial. |
| Everett | What was that one? The black dial, that automatic, what was that called? It's called the Pylomatic. Pylomatic, that's a great watch. And actually, looking back at your catalog, I think that's when you're sort of like, when you really kind of hammered in your current aesthetic fonts and your logo. You look at that watch. |
| Andrew Roberts | The brand identity kind of came through there. |
| Everett | The Pylomatic is clearly an Astro Bank's watch. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, and then from there, I did the Sea Ranger, and that took me a little bit too, but I was kind of like, man, you know, it was a little... out of kind of what i was doing a bit not maybe not by a lot but in my eyes i was like oh man i hope this works you know and uh luckily i did and i remember showing it to jason from haley i was like send me a picture and i sent him a picture and he's like dude this is a winner you know and so that was obviously very uh it helped me like be more confident about it. Cause you know, as you know, putting out a watch is, it's very nerve wracking. And even if you've done it a hundred times, it's still, you never know. |
| Andrew Roberts | And I have a, I'm wondering, so, so you're obviously making watches that you like. How much of your design process is informed by what you know other people like? |
| Andrew Perez | I would say not much because every time I go to these shows, people ask me, can you do this? Can you do this? A perfect example of this is stone dials. I get people asking, are you going to do a stone dial? Can you do a venturine dial or something like that? And I said... there's too many people doing them. I'm either too late to the game or I don't want to just do a stone dial on one of my existing watches because there's a lot of cool brands that are doing it already and they look great. I don't think there's a need for me to do one. If I do do one, it'll be on a dress watch. I don't want to do it on a sports model for just personal taste. Yeah, I think, I mean, it's hard. Obviously, you have to listen to what people want and stuff and what people like. And I take that into account. But at the end of the day, when I'm doing a watch, I just try to do something that I think is cool, that I like. But by the time I'm done with these watches, it's kind of like, and I was explaining this at the wind-up the other day, is by the time I'm done with the watch and it's ready to go into production, I'm kind of done with that watch. I'm kind of bored of it. |
| Andrew Roberts | You're over it, yeah. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, because I've been working on it for so long. And, you know, it's kind of like, hey, you're making dinner, you're tasting dinner. And then by the time dinner comes, you don't really want the dinner anymore. But it's just kind of the way it is for me. And so... So anyway. |
| Everett | When you look at the Ranger, the Sea Ranger, the OG Sea Ranger versus the M2 Sea Ranger, I mean, those watches really are as different as two watches can be, I think. Both clearly Astro and Banks, but me, I'm such a huge fan of the OG Sea Ranger. When you released... the m2 as a sea ranger it made me almost a little sad this is not a criticism um but but those two watches are just as different as can be you know the the profile of the original sea ranger has a an aesthetic which is evocative of a different time uh i i think 70s yeah it it's thick um i think probably by today's standards maybe too thick and i think if you redid that watch it would be thinner but but that profile the way you've done that sort of the sandwich uh with that thin slice of mid case i am wild about that profile and you just don't see it very often anymore um it's sort of out of favor i think it is yeah I don't want to mischaracterize you here, but for me, the journey of Astro and Banks is kind of bookended by those two releases, at least in terms of my awareness of the company. Talk a little bit about that evolution. You just said at some point you've got to make the watches people want to buy. What are we looking at there? |
| Andrew Perez | So for me, the Sea Ranger M2, it still has some of the... Like, for instance, on the Sea Ranger, the first, obviously, not having a bezel on the M2 on the top changes the whole look of the watch, right? Totally, yeah. But from the case standpoint, one of the things that I love about the Sea Ranger is the asymmetric case. And when you do a thinner middle case, and this was the case for the first Fortitude, it did the same thing, because visually it gives you the look of a thinner watch. But it doesn't always work great if you have a small bony wrist. It may feel like it sits high. And that was some of the feedback mostly blogs kind of wrote about. I didn't really get a lot of feedback like that from people who bought it. But that's kind of what, you know, some of the feedback that I took and I... And I actually used it, so I didn't do that. On the Sea Ranger M2, I wanted to use a Swiss movement, which I want to keep in the Sea Ranger line. I love a dual crown watch. I have always loved the dual crown watch. This is also very 70s looking, in my opinion. It's got the same markers, same hands. We added a date to this one. And it still has a nice symmetric case. that's to me it was kind of like all right i can't call this a sea ranger uh it's not like the sea ranger right it doesn't have a bezel of course but it's still part of that line that has that identity in my eyes still has that identity with the asymmetric case One of the differences here is on the middle case, I wanted to have a really soft round edge. And like on the crown side specifically, it bubbles out in between the crowns and it's really rounded there, which is one of the things that people point out when they actually... grab and touch and feel it um which is great because i wanted it to to be like that because it wears really nice um and so it's just um and then i use a different movement of course on this one the lejeu parade g100 the the new the the bell of the ball uh yeah right now yeah yeah and you know it's expensive um it's well and you use an upgraded version of the yeah i do yeah i i don't have the blue screws because you can't see them anyway um but i have the geneva stripes on it so it's still very nice it's like the middle version of it and um so it's not a cheap movement as you know and so um could i have used a solid sw200 yes um This is a little thinner, so it's nice. When you're doing an internal rotating bezel, obviously it adds a little thickness to the watch. But yeah, this one, I kind of wanted it to feel more tool watch than the original Sea Ranger, but still have some of the same kind of design language in there. And we added the soft iron plates to this one, which the original Sea Ranger doesn't have. We have the coating on here as well. It's got the, you know, the Nodex clasps, too, which is nice. And so a couple upgrades there. It comes with an F-cam rubber strap on top of the bracelet. And then you get your Horween pouch, too. But, yeah, to me, I still, I think I still, in that same... in the same Sea Ranger family, which is why I wanted to call this You Ain't Around 2. |
| Everett | You mentioned something nerdy I want to come back to. You know, you were talking about... You were talking about this wears, that sandwich construction. I would say the average adult man has a gap in between the radius and ulna on the top of the wrist. This is for you at home if you're wondering what the fuck you're talking about. Those are bones in the arm. They're the bones. And so watches like the Sea Ranger, the original Sea Ranger, or... the original Doxes or some old Omegas, you know, there's a lot of watches that share this kind of construction that have these kind of like, by today's standards, audacious Z measure, Z dimensions, you know, 14 or whatever. And people insist, well, these watches wear really well. And that's why. And to your point, it's not true for everybody. You know, the Ripley sellers of the world, you know, these tiny little dudes, you know, don't necessarily... They've got these tiny wrists. By the way, I love Ripley Sellers. It's the roundness of the wrist. He's this tiny little guy with this tiny wrist. And I'm like, well, the watches don't look the same on you as they do on me. That's a real thing. So in case you at home were wondering what the fuck Andrew's talking about, that's what he said. |
| Andrew Perez | The other thing, too, that I like to do is... is have a short lug to lug. So I like to keep it between 45 and 46. And that helps with, you know, smaller wrists, of course, and things like that. So it's one of the things that people really like is having, you know, at least in the enthusiast world is having that short. |
| Andrew Roberts | lug to lug and also when women try on the watches they're like oh this actually wears really nice even with a big width dimension I mean a 38 is not big but keeping that lug to lug short makes it universally fit and the whole reason I don't own a Speedmaster is because the lug to lug is just like it's two millimeters longer than reasonably fits my wrist |
| Everett | because it's got a long look to look yeah yeah um can we talk so you teased on your instagram uh a couple days ago andrew you teased a watch that i had heard about before uh folks i believe chicago wind up you had a copy of this and so the buzz has started to grow but On your Instagram, you've now officially announced the, and now I'm blanking, the Terra Scout. So all you've shared publicly via Instagram is sort of a profile with these scroll lugs, what appears to be a blasted finish scroll lug, kind of evocative of like old paddock chronograph. You know, it's been a while since Astro and Bank's catalog was more than the Fortitude and the Sea Ranger. And now the M2, of course, a much different watch. But this is something altogether different. |
| Andrew Perez | Yes. Again, I've been working on this for a long time, and when you see it, you're going to be like, why did this take you so long? It's kind of like my mind is what I think. But yeah, the Terra Scout, officially known as the Terra Scout, I've shown a few. The first prototype... at a couple of shows over the last year and I like to bring them I usually like to just leave it kind of to the side or wear it and see if anybody comments or says like what is that and so this year I had it at Dallas wind up and like People were like, they recorded one watch. I'm like, what is that? And I had a couple other samples of other things that I've done that I'm not going to probably get into production, like a 42 GMT, for instance. I had a couple of samples for that. And I'm not making it because it's too thick. So anyway, but everyone came and kept coming back to this one watch. And this is probably terrible to say, but I like to say it because it's just the world I live in. I'm thinking, man. It's kind of like when I look at the watch, I'm like, it's cool. I think it's cool. But people's feedback is like, it's really cool. They really like it. When is it coming out? And so last weekend, I was in LA for Intersect, and I just had gotten the new prototypes of the second variation of it. And so I brought all the colors, and, man, people were really loving it. People were coming back four times, three or four times, just to look at the watch again. And so I was, you know, very pleasantly surprised of the feedback and stuff. So it's just – and I don't want to downplay it, but it's a field watch. It's a field-style watch and kind of just – Made it my own a little bit. It's got a sandwich dial. It's got a triple-layer dial, actually. I did a sandwich dial back in early 2014. That was one of the pilot watches with the Unitaz. So I've always loved a sandwich dial. And so I always wanted to do one again, but I was like, which design am I going to do with it? And I think for this one, it worked out really well. And so, yeah, it's a 38.5 millimeter. It's got a sandblasted finish. There's a couple of finishes. basic one. It's a white dial and a black dial with a sandblasted finish. So it's got that titanium look. It's got the soft iron plates in there. We're using a LeJou Paré movement in it as well. It's got a three-layer dial. So the top layer, basically, it's like this ring, a chapter ring. I got some fun lume on it. And so just kind of to play with it a little bit. And we have a full loom dial. And then we're doing a limited edition. This is the one that people kept coming back to. It's going to be a Cerakote finish. Desert sand Cerakote. |
| Andrew Roberts | It's... |
| Andrew Perez | It's badass. I absolutely love it. |
| Andrew Roberts | What dial color are you going with on it? |
| Andrew Perez | It's like a whitish dial and it's got an orange second hand and it's got a little bit of... It's really cool. And everyone kept coming back to this one and the other one. And then a DLC version. Black DLC. Sandblasted first. Then black DLC on it. Black dial with orange second hand. So it really pops. Kind of like really neon orange from like the 80s and 70s that were on some of these watches um that i absolutely love especially on some of the chronographs with like the lamania movements in it so i was kind of going for that just and uh so that that's the latest kind of watch now that it i'm happy with these prototypes so now we're going to put them into production and, uh, and go from there. But, uh, so yeah, that's me. |
| Everett | For folks that don't know you or don't know, you know, Aster and Banks really well, you're not a, um, you're not shy about sort of the design influences. uh that have motivated you i think um of the of the people we've had on the show or just people we've gotten to meet on this show you know we we've interviewed um you know some at least eric wind you know some people who really know a lot about watches but you are the one who i think surprised me the most with your knowledge about watches, because I tend to think of you as a micro brand owner, but you are in and of yourself like a pretty experienced watch collector and perhaps seller and buyer. Your knowledge about watches is more granular, I'd say, than a lot of folks. looking at this watch you know the the lugs are immediately stood out to me and so i gotta ask the question what's going on there yeah i so with the field watch i didn't want it to look like another hamilton or you know which are great just the the random a11 |
| Andrew Perez | Exactly. Just anything like that or like, you know, any of like the Dirty Dozen, which is like some of my favorite looking watches. So I wanted to still have that look. If you're looking at it from the top down, that looks OK. It's like just a traditional case design. But when you look at it from the side, I wanted to have a little bit something there. So I did a little curve, you know, on that and. Definitely, if you look back at old Pateks, some of them have that kind of curve. And I've always really liked that. And I think in this case, it adds a little bit to this case where it's not a dress watch. They're thicker, so it's not these thin kind of curve that make it look a little dainty. And so basically, I just wanted to have it a little bit different when you look at it from the side. |
| Andrew Roberts | um and and not just be your traditional field case and so uh that's kind of where it looks like like a clawfoot tub that's like right where my mind goes like this thing is going to support you and all the water |
| Andrew Perez | yes yeah it so it comes down quite a bit um you can kind of see that it's got a big crown on it um oh and the the terrific the then i got a box crystal on it lug position too is gonna like suck that into your wrist now you show yeah you sent me a picture that crystal looks sapphire yeah it's it is sapphire um did you consider did you consider uh acrylic |
| Everett | Yeah, no, I didn't delay. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, no, no. You know, I don't know. I don't know that, I mean, acrylic is great. Obviously, I like vintage watches in general. But yeah, I don't know. Maybe one day I'll do an acrylic. You know, the Speedmaster is one of my favorite watches of all time. So, you know, I don't know. I think I just, I like working with sapphires. Acrylic is nice too, but the original version crystal of this was, you know, when you do a box sapphire crystal, you get some distortion around the edges. And because I have this chapter ring on the dial, the first version, you could barely see that chapter ring because it was so distorted. And so one of the changes I did was that I had to make that crystal wider so it's not distorted. You still get a little bit, but now you can actually see that ring, which is kind of a fun part of the watch because that's where every 15 minutes it's like green loom, blue loom, green loom, blue loom. And so anyway, I wanted to be able to show that here with that. And it looks like people really commented on this crystal. they were looking at it and like they really liked the way it looked um and some folks were even like uh oh you know when i was showing the old one the first version People are like, oh, I like the distortion. I'm like, it bugs the shit out of me, and I can't do it. I can't do it, because it really bothers me. Because it feels almost like, ah, whatever, we'll just leave it. And I didn't want that feeling, you know? |
| Everett | You know, we put out a question to our Discord, and in a few other places, just, hey, we're going to meet with Andrew. You got any questions? Jake, I think it's Thebold Spiker, who is... a well-known like watch enthusiast. I think he's actually a moderator for the gray NATO. I heard him on the gray NATO, uh, recently, but he asked, uh, you know, what's, what's going to be your next sort of distinct line. So I think we've answered Jake's question, which is the terror scout. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah. Well, and here's another thing with this is, um, and I see this with the brands and not, not knocking anything against them. Cause you, you do what works right. You make what works. Yeah. and i think one of the hardest thing i struggle with is when i'm trying to work on a new watch is trying to keep that same design dna in there but at the same time it's like but you don't want to just keep making the same looking watch yeah yeah i mean so with the terra scout It definitely, when you see it, it's not reminiscent of the Sea Ranger or the Fortitude in any way. And so it's a little scary at that time, too, because it's like, okay, it's just a totally different watch. But at the same time, I don't... I don't want to be just like, I just can make this and that's it. |
| Andrew Roberts | But it looks like you. So we have now having seen the watch top down, it looks like you. |
| Andrew Perez | That's what I've, like some of the other watch guys in my little chat group, like, you know, Jack Mason guys and notice guys and some of these other, Steve from Raven. The first thing they said is, this is definitely an Astro Bank swatch, which makes me feel really good about it because then I'm like, okay, then I'm doing my job right. |
| Everett | You know you haven't gone too far out on a limb. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, yeah. And I was wearing the first prototype last year. I can't remember where we were, but Bill Yao and I went to the airport because our flights were about the same time. And he's like, what is that? And I was like, oh, it's something I'm working on. And when Bill's looking at something, you're like sweating, you know, cause he's like, and he brought his loop. Yeah. Yeah. And so he's like, Oh, it's like, I think you got something here. And you know, so when you hear something like that, it's like cool. |
| Everett | Bill Yao says you had something there. Yeah. |
| Andrew Perez | And so it's, it's, that's why it's been great to have these guys as friends now. And like, we talk about stuff like this. We show, you know, designs we're working on. And so they saw the first prototype and then that now they saw the second one and it's like, okay, you know, the changes I wanted to make worked. It's so the original one and I'll actually have it here and show you what it looks like. This is this is This is the new one, but this is the, I don't know if you can see that. I can see it. That's the Cerakote. That's the Cerakote. The buckle Cerakote on it. It's got a really bright orange hand. |
| Everett | No, we've just seen straps. Is there going to be a bracelet for this? |
| Andrew Perez | No bracelet for this one. Okay. If you're watching, it's time not to have bracelets. |
| Everett | No, you're not wrong. I'm a bracelet guy, though, so I got to ask the question. |
| Andrew Perez | You can probably find a bracelet. Actually, I don't have it up here. |
| Everett | You know, good segue here. Debbie asks, Debbie, a.k.a. Case and Crown, asks, are you going to have multiple models of the Terra Scout at Wind Up NYC? Also, when you go to Wind Up NYC, are you going to be attending as a vendor or just as an attendee? |
| Andrew Perez | uh or perhaps both and can we get a drink um i don't know if i'm going to wind up either way I would like to go in one form or fashion. And yes, if we go, we're definitely going to go have drinks and dinner. So like we always do. So I want to keep that tradition alive. But yeah, I did a lot of shows last year. Obviously, there's more shows now than just wind up. So, you know, like this month, I had two back-to-back weekends. |
| Everett | Yeah, there's Intersect in LA. And then this last weekend was... |
| Andrew Perez | This last weekend was LA Intersect, and the weekend before that was Wind Up in Chicago, which is still Chicago, which is nice. I don't have to fly, but I still am away from the family because I'm staying in the city versus, you know, I live an hour and a half west of the city now. |
| Everett | And I think there's a show going on right now, too, isn't there? There's the smaller show. |
| Andrew Perez | Minutes and hours. |
| Everett | Minutes and hours, yeah, that's right. |
| Andrew Perez | So I couldn't do three weekends in a row. And then next month, we're doing a little road show. We're in Detroit, Columbus, and Chicago again. And then September is a Kansas City show. I was going to do the Toronto show, but I think that filled up, so I think I was too late on that. And then October is New York, of course. So... I'm always last minute on, on windups. And then November is Austin. So it's like every month I have something. And so I'm trying to like kind of cut down a little bit on that. Yeah. With a 10 and a six year old at home, it's, you know. I'd like to not be away that much. |
| Everett | You know, I talked to I talked to one of the things we talked about sort of as we started the show was just how much watch show like wind up has changed. But I talked to an owner of another brand who I'm actually not going to say who it is, but he this is a person who I've seen it at almost every wind up that that I know of. And he said, you know, like. It's gotten too big, and it's really hard. It's really hard to go and sit there for that many hours, back to back to back. If you're selling a lot of watches, it's great, but you don't at every show, and then you wind up just having the same conversation about... caller versus flyer GMTs 2,000 times. And it's annoying and not something I enjoy doing all that much. |
| Andrew Roberts | And in the early days of windup, when there's 50 brands, you're getting an enormous amount of exposure. I don't even know if there was 50 at the first one I went to. Was there even 50 brands at 2019? I don't think there was even that many. But now, when you're looking down the barrel of 150 brands, you're not getting the same bang-for-your-buck exposure. You're just part of an enormous trade show with a ton of foot traffic, and you're kind of lost in the algorithm the same way you are on the internet. And it's not negative about wind-up. It's just it's a... it's the reality when it, when it scales up the way that it has, you are not going to get the same exposure. |
| Everett | Yeah. And that's not, of course that's not bad because I think it's opened the door for shows like intersect, which, you know, I went to intersect a few years back. Actually it was, it was 20, 24. I went to intersect. And you went last year. And, um, yeah, |
| Andrew Perez | No, I didn't. |
| Everett | No, I wasn't there last year. You know, Intersect, like when I went to Intersect the first time, it was the second year, I think, of Intersect. And it was like me and Wes and it was like a handful of homies in this little pizza restaurant. Like we were drinking beer and like it was just like it was like a hangout. You know, it was like a big red bar. Yeah. Is what it was. And it's not like that anymore. Intersect is a watch show in the same way that, you know, perhaps wind up 2019 circa 21 felt like. So it's so I think wind ups growth has sort of like they've they've created the model. and with their growth have created space. There's the DC, I'm blanking on what the name of the- District Time. District Time, which is a great show. There's other options for people now. And I think we're in way more cities. There's a show close to you, almost certainly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. |
| Andrew Perez | I didn't do District Time this year, but I did it last year for the first time and it was a good show. And so I think, you know, these shows are hard and I'll tell you one of the things, and we've talked about this is yes, the windup is, you know, obviously bigger than all the other shows. Um, but when I still get people come to the table and they say, Hey, I've not heard of your brand. Can you tell me about your brand? And that happens quite a bit. Um, it just tells me that there's more space and more room to grow. Most of my buyers are new customers. The percentage of my customers today, it's higher on the new versus the returning. So I still have a nice percentage of returning customers, but the fact that I have more new customers tells me there's more room to grow. I don't advertise at all. The only shows I have is... all doing all these shows and that's it. So that's why for me right now, I like doing the shows. Yes, it gets tiring. Yes, you say the same thing a lot of times over and over. You see the same folks over and over. The way I kind of judge it is you do get spoiled when you sell watches. And then if you go to a show and you don't sell as much as you'd like, you get a little spoiled. But at the end of the day, I got to think about this is a marketing advertising thing, not a sales thing. If I can break even or make some money, great. But at the end of the day, I have to show my watches to people because I'm not advertising. You don't see any ads from me. And it gets expensive. So you just kind of have to wait out and see what works for you. |
| Andrew Roberts | If you want to sponsor our OnlyFans, we'll wear Astro Bank's watches in our videos. |
| Andrew Perez | A hundred percent. I'll send you some, I have some specific requests. |
| Andrew Roberts | You're going to, you're going to pay for that. |
| Everett | You know, we don't normally do, like, a wrist check on the show, but I am wearing a watch that I kind of want to talk about briefly. I'm really excited about this watch, and I told some people I'd tell the story. So it's Sunday morning. On Friday night, late Friday night, like 11 o'clock, I wound up searching Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, which I often do. I'll just go in and see, like, is there anything... for sale locally that i might be interested in and i will tell you 99 times out of 100 the answer is no it's a quick search but i just kind of do it well uh on friday night i looked and there was an uh omega sea master the quote-unquote peter blake uh Omega Seamaster on a Bond bracelet, on a 930 Omega Bond bracelet, which is the wrong bracelet for a Peter Blake. So this is a 2000 Seamaster 300M. I think a lot of people think this is sort of like the best. uh version of the seamaster 300m uh came out you know right after the the brosnan bond 300 uh and and the pictures are terrible it's a craigslist ad terror there's like four pictures and each of them's out of focus And so I went up texting, I text Will and Andrew and Mike, as we often do when we find ourselves in these situations, and I say, you know, I think 35% chance, or 30% chance this is a scam, 65% chance it's stolen. Yeah, I said 100% chance stolen. And so, blah, blah, blah. It's the wrong bracelet. Well, anyway, I wound up reaching out to the guy the next morning because it was pretty late and he had like left his cell phone and like encoded language in the listing. |
| Andrew Roberts | Which didn't, when I did a US phone book search, didn't come back to the fella whose name it was. Andrew was very skeptical. I was like pretty, pretty confident that we were not going to see Everett again. |
| Everett | Did you go with him? He didn't. I should have brought him. I was at work. I wind up reaching out to the guy and saying, hey, I need you to send me some more pictures. The pictures you posted aren't clear enough. Also, what's the dimension? And he sends back some pictures that were a little bit better, still not very good. It's 2025. I'm just blown away by how is it that you can't take good pictures? Anyway, so this listing was for $999, which is very low. I wind up reaching out to the guy and saying, can you send some pictures? He did. They were better. They still weren't great. But, you know, I was like, no, this is a real watch. I think that it might be stolen, but it's a real watch. So we wind up meeting at a local coffee shop. And he brings the watch. And I can just, he walks in and I can tell instantly the watch. I know instantly the watch isn't stolen. Like I could just, the guy just seems like, he's just like a dude, right? And I'm like, oh, this is this guy's father's watch. And so he sits down. We talk a long time. I open the watch up. It's in great condition. It's beautiful. It turns out it was his dad's watch. His dad was a 30-year-old. army veteran who in his life collected Studebakers and watches and all sorts of other things, you know, probably like... One nice watch, though. |
| Andrew Roberts | When you talked about the rest of the collection, I was like, damn. |
| Everett | Well, you know, I think his dad had a bunch of stuff, you know, and, you know, it's like with all things collections over time, you know, a 2025 watch collection is a lot different than a 1990 watch collection. So... You know, and so guy's name is Martin. Dad's name is Art. We talked a lot about Art and, you know, sounds like a wonderful guy recently passed away. And I'm just so happy to have this watch. You know, I pulled the back off and we looked at it. I kind of told Martin a little bit. He didn't know a ton about the watch. And I told him a little bit about the watch. And then I told him a little bit about what we do. And, you know, hey, I'm going to talk about you this weekend in this watch. And, you know, I got this thing home. I cleaned it up a little bit. |
| Andrew Roberts | It's in great shape. It's got, like, it's got wear marks in all the right places. Like, this was this guy's watch. And he probably wore it since he bought it. |
| Everett | Yeah. You know, the interesting detail. So, it did have a Bond bracelet, you know. And the Peter Blake comes on a, notably, it comes on a Seamaster style bracelet, the 930. And this had an 825, a.k.a. the Brosnan or Bond bracelet. which is like sort of a love it or hate it. I think that people are sort of love it or hate it with the Bond bracelet. And so I'm guessing dad had an opinion on that. Art had an opinion. And that's cool to me. |
| Andrew Roberts | And he went and bought an aftermarket bracelet for it. That's right. |
| Everett | It's a genuine Omega 825 bracelet. And he found it. He wanted the Bond look. |
| Andrew Roberts | Which is a cool story for this watch. Those two can never be separated. |
| Everett | That's right. Yeah, that's right. And the bracelet's like half a link too small for me. So I've ordered a link or I've got a link on the way courtesy of a good friend. I don't know if he wants to be... I'm not going to say who it is because I don't think he wants me to say. But, you know, I'm just so happy to have this watch. And, you know, it was a terrific price. I did... I wound up paying $900 for it, which is a great price. I think it's fair. I didn't know the movement is slow. I'm going to need to get it serviced. It's running slow. And it's been warm, right? No box or papers, I assume? No box, no papers. $900 is a good price, but I'm going to wind up spending $900 on a service is what I think is going to happen. |
| Andrew Roberts | And you're going to be without the watch for three months. |
| Everett | I'm pumped to have it. Minimum. I hope to carry on Art's legacy. I think I'm going to keep this watch. Actually, I didn't know. When I went to meet him, I was like, it's a great price and I may be able to make money. I'm going to keep this watch. I got it on my wrist and I was like... |
| Andrew Perez | yeah no 100 that's a great that's a great price uh i do think that's pretty fair i'm still great price for sure but uh yeah not knowing anything else who you're gonna meet with yeah no boxer papers not the right bracelet um Once you get it serviced and spend that money on the service, you're not going to want to sell it. |
| Everett | I think that's right. I love it. I love it more than I thought I would. I'm so happy with this one. |
| Andrew Roberts | That's been a short list of the next one. I never handled one in person. I put it on and I was like, God! Fucking damn it. I think it just trumped my shortlist. I think it just took the lead. So that and the Pelagos were my two competitors for that big pro. Which Pelagos? The big one. The OG Titanium. What's that? |
| Andrew Perez | The Ultra? |
| Andrew Roberts | The new one that just came out? No, not the Ultra. The OG, what, 42? Yeah, yeah. Because I want like a big pro dive watch. And those were kind of my two finalists. And I put that on. And I've had the Pelagos on. It's like, it's good, but that's better. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah. For me, the Pelagos, I have an Ultra right now that I just sold, actually. But... The LHC is still my favorite Pelagos. That cream markers, a little touch of red, just does it for me. |
| Andrew Roberts | It's a great one. I like the idea of the fixed bars ones. Oh, yeah, FXT, yeah. But I also don't like that. I like that it exists more than I wanted. |
| Everett | You know, and I think that the P39 also is a really popular watch, but I also feel like it's a little bit of a... It's a... Sort of the watered down. |
| Andrew Roberts | Yeah, it's settling. It's like you're really close to what I actually want. And it's sharp, too. I have handled the P39. I'm like, oh, none of these angles feel good. |
| Everett | It's an 80 proof whiskey, which is fine. Which will get you there, but that's not what I want. Well, you know, I think time of the show where we talk about other things. Andrew Roberts, did you have something else? |
| Andrew Roberts | Do you have another thing? I do have another thing. This week, something really important in America happened. Uh-oh. Happy Gilmore 2 was released on Netflix. Oh, I'm so glad we're talking about this. so I saw the tile for it. Like I saw kind of like the, the, the early buzz for it. And I was like, ah, we'll see. Right. This is 30 years in the making that Adam Sandler just hasn't been interested in. And, and like, we'll, we'll see. And then it like starts to kind of become a thing. I'm like, okay, maybe this will happen. And then finally the tile comes out on Netflix, like coming soon. I'm like, this is actually happening. And I was like, every day, I'm like, God, it's not Friday yet. It's not Friday yet. I got home from work Friday night into Saturday morning. And I was like, yes, it's happening. And I watched it. And I thoroughly enjoyed myself. |
| Andrew Perez | All right, so you recommend watching it? |
| Andrew Roberts | I do. And then I read all the reviews. And it's 65% on Rotten Tomatoes. And there's all kinds of dissenting opinions about it. But here's the deal. This is a 30-year-old sequel. You should know what you're in for. It's not going to be a great story. It's not it will not hold a candle to the original because Happy Gilmore came out in 1996 and was like height of Adam Sandler was kind of height of that. The ilk of comedy, right, where it will never be able to be recreated. They brought it into 2025, made it enjoyable. You're not, you're not going to get a good story. It's happy Gilmore sequel, which wasn't a good story already, but we loved it. We loved it. |
| Everett | I mean, it's top two Adam Sandler movies. His production company is named in part after Happy Gilmore. No, Happy Gilmore was a part of the zeitgeist. |
| Andrew Roberts | And so was Billy Madison. These two movies are maybe perfect. And then Happy Gilmore 2 is like a look into the future of Happy Gilmore, which is our present. And it was fun. It was enjoyable. The cameos were next level. Like, it was just like Adam Sandler fucking off with his famous rich friends in Happy Gilmore's character. |
| Everett | We watched it as a family on Friday. And, you know, you really... You can watch it one of two ways. You can watch it as a casual viewer, which certainly I don't think it's disappointing. If you know what you're getting into, like Andrew said, even slightly, I don't think it's disappointing in that regard. But if you watch it as a 43-year-old man, as I did, it is... fucking um yes it is amazing i was like dude i i felt it i was living it because like i grew up on happy gilmore i'm watching it now and i'm like oh shit every scene i mean every scene you're like oh shit it's it's jack nichols oh shit that's scotty shetler oh it's kid cuddy john kelsey plum like daily Every scene, literally every scene, every celebrity you can imagine is in the show. Every time the set changes, you get a new set of celebrities. It is... Yeah. Fantastic. And it was a lot of fun. I will say in terms of the movie, you know, they very clearly and purposefully jumped the shark on the final scene. You can tell they did it on purpose though, right? Like we're going to be as absurd. as possible to take any... Nobody should think that there's going to be a happy Gilmore 3. We're not doing it. We're jumping the shark right now so that it's done. It's done forever and ever, and I'm okay with that. Well, that's what I think. Maybe that's wrong, but... |
| Andrew Roberts | There won't be a three. He didn't want to do a two, but then he got sold on it. |
| Everett | But for that problem with the story, and it does create a problem. The story suffers because of it, I think, a little bit. but besides that it's like perfect and the ending is perfect and the first scene i mean you're gonna if you if you haven't watched it turn it on the first scene my my kids so i've got you know two 12 year olds and a 13 year old and and i don't think they really know what they were getting into it and the first scene i did you did you like prep them with happy gilmore I'm two of them. One of them not, but even then, even then I look over and all three of their jaws dropped in the first scene. And I am, I'm laughing and they're like, why are you laughing? Uh, this is the thing I have to do. It's perfect. |
| Andrew Roberts | And that first scene caused some uproar. And it's like, no, that was perfect. That's perfect. That's exactly what you need to do. |
| Everett | So anyway, watch it. I agree. I've got another thing. Do me. I got an iPhone this week, a new iPhone. I got the 16 pro. I have been kind of trying to hold out for the 17, but I was looking at 17 and it's like, man, I don't think I need to hold out. And also my, my 14 pro was starting to give me some grief. And so AT&T, they're going to give me $1,000 for this thing. So I traded my 14 Pro and got a 16 Pro. That's not my other thing. It's an iPhone. It's fine. I recently got the 16 Pro myself. Okay. It's fine, right? I'm happy with it. But the other thing is I got a case for this thing. So I've always been a leather iPhone case user. In fact, I'm sure the leather iPhone case has been another thing on this show. Yes. So I don't think Apple makes a leather iPhone case anymore, or to the extent they do, it's not very good. And I looked at the silicone case, which I've had in the past, and I didn't want the Apple case. And so then I'm like, okay, now I'm going to look at third-party cases. I looked at, there's options from Spigen are really popular. There's a few other brands that have sort of popped up. I wind up finding in the search, I wind up finding several reviews from this brand called Taurus, T-O-R-R-A-S. It's a brand I wasn't familiar with. And... Andrew was. Andrew was familiar with this brand. And their latest project is called the Q3 Air, and I think it's their most ambitious project based on the reviews. A lot of people say, oh, it's too expensive. It's $65. I'm like, yeah, that sounds about right. |
| Andrew Roberts | It's protecting a $1,000 phone. |
| Everett | And I got this case, and I got to tell you, it is really, really, really good. I did not expect... I did not expect to get this thing and be like, wow, this is something that I really like. Because it's an iPhone case. I don't care that much. |
| Andrew Roberts | Yeah, usually the case is just like what's on your phone. |
| Everett | I want it to be as minimal as possible. So I get this thing and I'm like, whoa, it's good. So the marquee feature of this thing is it's got a ring on the back that can be used as a stand. And it looks just like the magnetic ring. |
| Andrew Roberts | That's right. The charging ring. |
| Everett | It sort of synchronizes with the magnetic function for the charging. It's this multi-purpose. Well, so the construction on this thing is terrific. The mechanics are great. The tactile information you get from it is great. The buttons on this case are perfect. I mean, perfect. Just press buttons. Just press buttons. For a $65 product, I'm not trying to sell this, and they're not paying me. They don't know who I am. I don't know who they are before about three days ago. I got this product, and I was absolutely stunned at how good this product is. And they sell it in kind of cool colors. I was like, oh, I'm into the colors. And it comes with buttons that you can replace if you want to. $65 is a lot for a case. It better be good. |
| Andrew Roberts | It feels good too. |
| Everett | It feels good. And I think it is, they have a bunch of marketing that I don't care about, but about like how like drop protection 12 feet and yada, yada, yada. So I feel confident that it's going to take care of my phone. The lips are all a millimeter higher than what they need to be to protect the screen and the cameras and everything. It's just a good product. Andrew, you've got a Taurus. You just showed us you've got a Taurus case on your phone as well. |
| Andrew Perez | So this is my second one. I went from the 15 Pro Max phone to the 16 Pro. The other one was too big and a little too heavy, so I downgraded. But I had a Taurus one on that one, and I just found it... Browsing on Amazon, I'm like, maybe it was even TikTok. I don't know. So, yeah, the one that you're talking about, I think it's their newest product. It is, yeah. It's almost like having Air Max on the case. |
| Everett | Well, the branding is a little bit evocative of Air Max branding. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I have one, too. I love the ring in the back. Yeah, it's great. I also recommend it. |
| Andrew Roberts | It's like one of the most intuitively designed phone cases I've ever touched. Everything is slick, but for the corners. The corners have like a little bit of friction in it, like to make it stick to things. So you're not doing the like, I knocked it off of the table or I pushed it. Tactile feedback of the buttons is great. That ring integrated into the charging magnetic thing, that's money. |
| Everett | You know, that's a weird space. You've got like Otterbox and Spigen. |
| Andrew Roberts | So I have a Pelican on mine. Pelican. And what I don't like about it is that it has the lip to protect the cameras extends around the entire perimeter of the phone. So I can't effectively use magnetic charging. |
| Everett | It's a no for me, Doug. I was surprised to find that I was compelled by a product that didn't sort of fit in that, like, I'm comfortable with these brands ecosystem. I've never heard of them, but like reading about it, I was like, oh, I'm comfortable with this. And then to get it and be like, well, this is better. I think this is better than those products that those companies by and large are making. And I haven't touched an OtterBox in 20 years. So, you know, maybe they make great products, but they're the same as they are. I think they're the same as they've always been, which is like, |
| Andrew Roberts | I have an Otter on my work phone. |
| Everett | Fine, and probably also disappointing. This is fine and disappointing, right? |
| Andrew Roberts | It does less than I want it to do. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, I think these guys do, right? They have a nice design to it, too, which I like. But yeah, that's funny. I was like, I never heard of the brand either until last year. And it's just because I came up and I was like, oh, okay, I'm going to try that. And the price was right. |
| Everett | Link in the show notes. Andrew, other things. What do you got? |
| Andrew Perez | I've got two things, actually. |
| Everett | That's allowed. That's allowed. Andrew would say it's not. |
| Andrew Roberts | Andrew Roberts would say that that's... You get to. You're the guest. |
| Everett | Well, he tells me I can't have to. |
| Andrew Roberts | You often have to. |
| Andrew Perez | All right. Last time I was on the show, I gave a music recommendation. um i'm gonna do the same this time and then i recently got some i like to buy shoes a lot too and so i recently got some new shoes that i want to shout out but for my music it's um it's a hip-hop artist out of atlanta i think he's originally from somewhere else but he's in atlanta it goes by the name dear silas s-i-l-a-s and um it's just i don't know i just really he's not like i don't think he's like super famous yet um but i just found them on tick tock one day and it's like uh i was like man this is really good I put him in my stories every once in a while, but his newest song called Still Southern Playalistic is really good. Mickleton is the other one that I really like, which is about his dog, which is kind of funny. |
| Everett | That first one, you said what playalistic? Still Southern Playalistic. A little bit of like, there's some Atlanta history in that title. |
| Andrew Roberts | Jackson, Mississippi. Singer, rapper, and trumpeter. And he's a trumpeter too. Is he trumpet? |
| Everett | That's on my list. I haven't heard of this. |
| Andrew Perez | Really good. You can actually understand what he's rapping about. |
| Everett | We would play a sample in the show, but we can't. |
| Andrew Roberts | We can't do that. He might like it though. He probably wouldn't sue us, but Spotify will. He's getting out there. Anyway, he's really good. |
| Andrew Perez | The shoes I recently got, a pair of Nikes, P6000SE in like this blush sand color. Extremely comfortable. I really, really like them. And they very much remind me of a 90s shoe. Yeah. |
| Everett | Yeah, so P6000, I don't know that everybody's a sneakerhead that listens to our show, but I know some of these people are. This is like a shoe that's like probably like at the top of the hype train, right? |
| Andrew Perez | Oh, you know, it's funny. I don't consider myself a sneaker head because I don't keep up with like what's popular or whatever. I just buy a lot of shoes. Yeah. And that grace. And these just kind of came up and I was like, oh, I really like this color. And then I was like, all right, they were on sale. So I bought them and then I put them on. I was like, wow, these are really comfortable. And I had them at the show. I was wearing them at Intersect. And I had a few of the other watch guys who are sneakerheads. They're like, oh, what do you think about the P6000s you're wearing? Like, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, oh, I really like them. But yeah, they're awesome. I really, really like them. |
| Andrew Roberts | And the P6000s are like... The origin story of the Pegasus, and everyone has a Pegasus. Yep. |
| Everett | Well, I think Pegasus might be older, but the P6000 sort of, like, lives in that, like, early 90s space. And the nice thing about shoes like the P6000 is they're, like... Like, really, really topical, but not in such a way that you can't find them. You know, go try to find a pair of Jordan 4s today. Just, like, get online right now. Try to find a pair of Jordan 4s. I mean, you can buy them. You can buy them. But, like, P6000, like, $100, $120? Like, go on Goat, search P6000, and you'll be able to find dope shoes that are in the conversation for, like, $85 or $90 right now. I think mine were $85. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, they were on sale for $85. I get a little military discount, of course. |
| Andrew Roberts | Right now on the Nike website, they're... Oh, the military discount, yeah. They're $125, yeah. So you're still getting a lot. |
| Andrew Perez | Depending on the color, they're on sale. |
| Everett | So send Andrew the link. We'll put it in the show notes. If you at home want to see, we'll put that link in the show notes. |
| Andrew Roberts | The tan that you did get were $72.95. With an extra 20% off with code SPORT on Nike. You need to submit a complaint. |
| Andrew Perez | The ones that I got, the color is called Hemp, Sandriff, Metallic, Silver, and Black. |
| Andrew Roberts | Oh, damn. I don't know where the color is listed here. This is the color I'm looking at right now. Mine are a little lighter than that. |
| Andrew Perez | Right next to it, to the left of that. |
| Andrew Roberts | Oh, these are more expensive on the website. That's a good color. Kind of like gray, white. That's the color I'm looking at. That's a fire color. |
| Andrew Perez | That's cool. Yeah, that's not the one I have. But anyway, they're great. I love them. And I'll probably get another pair because, you know, when they discontinue colors, I like to have more than one. |
| Everett | They've got that, like, Air Max 95 vibe. Yeah. A little bit of, yeah, yeah. |
| Andrew Roberts | And the extra layer swoosh, like, actually stitched on to the outside of the last layer. Yeah. |
| Andrew Perez | They're great, but they're super comfortable, especially when you're on your feet all day for these shows. They're awesome. Anyway, those are my two things for the show. |
| Everett | You're more of a Nike guy than a... I don't know that I've ever seen you in a pair of New Balances, but New Balances has been my jam. |
| Andrew Perez | This is a hot take, and we're going to leave it at this. I very much dislike New Balances. |
| Everett | I know people love them. |
| Andrew Perez | Otherwise, we're going to get in a fight. i know people love them and they're gonna hate me after this but i just i you know what they just don't speak to me i know their quality is great and i'm sure they're comfortable but i just have never uh been attracted to new balance shoes and uh but i i nike for sure uh pumas i've owned a lot of i still have pumas you don't like the 990s |
| Everett | I think it's kind of a DMV. I mean, 990 is not specific necessarily to DMV, but I think that's really... We live in Eugene slash Portland. There's nothing... Despite being the home of Adidas USA and Nike... Portland doesn't have a streetwear flavor. |
| Andrew Roberts | Unless you watch Portlandia, we do have a streetwear flavor. It's put trash in line. |
| Everett | Chicago, New York, DMV, they all have their own streetwear flavors. We just get to share everybody because we don't have our own. We're like the America of America. |
| Andrew Roberts | I mean, people absolutely love New Balance. |
| Everett | That's very true. Andrew just said a very true thing. Andrew Roberts said a very true thing. Andrew Perez said false things. |
| Andrew Perez | I know it's a hot take. I know people are obsessed with New Balance, and especially even like sneakerheads and stuff. I just never... And the ones that I do like tend to look a little bit more like the nike side or something that i like um so uh yeah i just there hasn't been one where i'm like i want those shoes yeah um andrew prez uh what's the website for astro banks astro and banks.com yep for so labs quickly so s-o-labs.co and for and social media At Aster and Banks. And then at Solabs.co. Okay. |
| Andrew Roberts | We'll have to get you back for a Solabs discussion. |
| Andrew Perez | We're working on something new on Solabs, too. So we were just featured on a Matt Farah podcast, which is Smoking Tire, which is cool. So we got some nice little bump from that. And I think good old Mr. Teddy Baldessar. They saw some of the watches at intersect and we're big fans. So might see those on there too. |
| Everett | Love it. Love it. Yeah. Well, we'll, we'll, we'll have you back when, when so labs maybe, maybe you can get Rick to come back on. Oh yeah. I love it. Yeah. You know, that's still like, I think the hardest I've ever laughed while recording a show. Rick is. |
| Andrew Perez | He's so, you know, I call him a hoarder, but he calls himself a collector because he collects everything. |
| Andrew Roberts | It's a fine line. It's a super fine line. |
| Andrew Perez | Yeah, very fine line. But he's got some really cool stuff. I mean, just all over the place. And, you know, his mind design is different than mine. And, excuse me, it's a nice collaboration when I get to work on something with him. |
| Everett | Look for the new Fortitude Light coming out here in the next couple of months. Yep. And then also a little after that, probably our Terra Scout Field Watch coming from Astro Banks both. Andrew Roberts, anything you want to add before we go? |
| Andrew Roberts | I'm out of things, man. |
| Everett | Andrew Perez. |
| Andrew Perez | Hey, thanks for having me, guys. It was a lot of fun. I hope to be back on here soon. |
| Everett | As ever. Thanks for coming. What a nice Sunday morning. Yeah. Hey, you guys at home, thanks for joining us. Thanks for joining us for this episode of 40 in 20, the Watch Clicker podcast. Do me a favor. Go to our website. That's watchclicker.com. That's where we post articles and reviews. We'll probably... See, at some point, a review of the new Fortitude Light or the Terra Scout. You can also follow us on social media, social media, at watchclicker or at 40and20 underscore watchclicker, both on Instagram. If you want to support us, and holy shit, we really need you to support us because we just spent a whole bunch of money. You can do that at patreon.com slash 40and20. That's where we get all the money we need to keep the website going. Podcast going, hosting fees, and it's a lot of money. 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. |