Episode 42 - JDM Watches

Published on Wed, 14 Aug 2019 23:00:00 -0700

Synopsis

Andrew and Everett begin this podcast episode by discussing Everett's recent purchase of an Omega Speedmaster Professional watch after being struck by a vehicle and receiving a settlement. They share their excitement over the new recording equipment they are using. The main topic turns to "JDM" or Japanese Domestic Market watches that are intended only for sale in certain regions like Japan. The hosts express frustration that many of the best Seiko watch models are JDM and not easily available in markets like the US. However, they conclude that in today's globalized economy, watch enthusiasts can likely still acquire these models through gray market sources even if not officially sold through authorized dealers in their home countries.

Links

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Transcript

Speaker
Andrew	Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. This is the 1420 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	Man, I'm doing so good. We are recording on new equipment. We are drinking some coffee. I think we're about to crack some beers. Uh, I've got my run in for the day. Nice. Nice. So it begins. So that was the first time we've ever done a live, a live intro. The very first time ever. We've never done a live intro before.
Andrew	Right. Including the music. We've always edited the music in.
Everett	Yeah. Yeah. We added in post. Yeah. Uh, but we just, we just using our new road roadcaster. This is not a sponsored message. Uh, pushed a button, the music played. I, I pulled a little fader knob down, which I'm getting some muscle memory. Can you hand me one of those bush lights, one of those domestic American light beers? Yeah, girl. But yeah, I'm good. I'm really good. How are you?
Andrew	Terrific. I'm excited to be recording on our new equipment. I'm excited to see some new stuff that we got today, some new stuff that you got over the weekend. I'm not real happy about hearing my own voice in headphones fed into my ears. I do typically feel like I'm okay with the sound of my voice until I hear it recorded. And then it lights up all these insecurities inside of me, like, oh, that's really what I sound like? Great. How does anyone listen to the words that I have to say?
Everett	Yeah, no, I think that's right. I mean, it's a little awkward. You know, it's just sort of awkward, too. You're very conditioned to hearing your voice come out of your mouth and then back into your ears. So you get the internal resonance, which we still get. You're instead of getting this ambient, you're getting this plug directly in and it's just awkward. It's, it's a weird feeling.
Andrew	Funny as you sound the same to me, I guess the problem is just me and my own voice.
Everett	Yeah, it could be. It could be. There's some, there's some sort of, uh, there's some sort of disconnect happening there, but I, you know, we're recording with headphones for now. And certainly anytime we have guests on the show, we'll probably have to have headphones, but I don't know that, uh, we'll have to keep the headphones on all the time.
Andrew	That's okay. I'll survive. We'll get over it. I'll learn to, Deal with it like Gloria Gaynor.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	Yeah. So yeah, we've got new microphones, we've got new recording equipment. Uh, you know, I suspect that the end result product, the product that you guys get in your car is going to be very similar, but the amount of time and labor and effort that goes into editing is going to be significantly different. Um, our ability to, to have people on the show is, you know, We I've played around with this thing a couple times this week, and it's really just a matter of getting on my phone and dialing a phone number or, or hitting someone's name and Skype. And all of a sudden they're there live in the recording and they sound great. And there's nothing else we have to do.
Andrew	I like that.
Everett	Yeah, that's right. So if one of you guys manages to get my phone number and you know, when we're recording, you could probably just get yourself on the show.
Andrew	Yeah, we could do live call-ins, but it wouldn't really be a live call-in. So
Everett	Yeah, I mean, live ish. No, no. Yeah, you're right. No, not live at all.
Andrew	No, it wouldn't be like, Hey, could you turn your radio down back there? Because we're getting some feedback. No, it wouldn't be like that.
Everett	So yeah, here we are Sunday morning. I've got I've got some personal watch news. I've got some personal watch news before we get into the show. I've got to share because, you know, those of you who are faithful Listen every week folks have heard me joke, joke, finger quotes, joking about if I ever get hit by a car in a crosswalk and survive, when I get the settlement check, I'm going to buy a Speedmaster Professional. That's my, that's my made it watch. AKA I got hit by a car and made it.
Andrew	Well, I got run over by a Lexus.
Everett	What you didn't know is every time we've made that joke in the past, Andrew and I have made gaffaws quietly off microphone because what did happen is in December of 2017, I was in a crosswalk and got nailed by a pickup truck.
Unknown	Whap!
Everett	Whap! And just spoiler alert, I'm okay. Clearly. I've got the settlement check in, so I can now say I'm okay. I stopped wearing that foam neck collar thing finally.
Andrew	And he's been out of a wheelchair since, what, Friday? Yeah.
Everett	Um, so no, I'm, I'm okay. And there was some pretty serious injuries at the time, but, um, nothing that was life threatening or permanent or, or anything. So I've been fine for quite some time, but I did get hit by a car and I did get a settlement. And so I am wearing. A brand new, not brand new, almost brand new Speedmaster professional moonwatch today. And some of you guys have probably saw on our, our Instagram story. that I've teased it a little bit because I'm in a teasing mood with this thing. Yeah, I mean you should be. But I'm just over the moon. Oh, oh, oh. We get sound effects now too, you guys.
Andrew	Sorry, they might get bad at first. They'll get better. They'll get better.
Everett	Yeah, no, I mean, I'm just so enamored. I think the thing that surprised me the most is the detail. And you know, people say this, so there's no reason that it should have surprised me, but the level of detail on it is really incredible. You know, I pulled out my Dan Henry 1972, a watch I love, but a watch that has a lot in common with this watch. They share some common themes, certainly. And just looking at those two watches. Now, the Dan Henry 1972 is a $350 watch. So there's quite a bit of price difference, right? Between these two watches. Pretty significant, yeah. Over 10 times as much money. So you would expect that there's going to be a greater level and attention to detail. You'd hope. And there is. And there is. Now, is the price justified when I look at a 1972 or I look at this? I don't know. And I'm not going to worry about it. I'm totally done. playing that game because I done bought it.
Andrew	Yeah. It's here. I have it.
Everett	The most impressive part to me was the box. Oh yeah. You know, that thing is crazy. So I did get one of these new, one of these new release moon watches. And so it comes with the full kit, you know, multiple straps and a paperweight that looks like a case back medallion and a loop with a tachymeter on it. I mean, it's good. It's a kind of ridiculous package. But it's, I want ridiculous packages.
Andrew	Yeah. When you spend that much on a watch, you deserve the amenities. Right.
Everett	So, uh, I did get a practically brand new one. Uh, I think it was originally sold in March of 2018 and this thing has not been worn more than a handful of times by someone who wasn't me. So, um, yeah, I got my Speedmaster and, and now we're, we're going to transition to a fully Omega slash Rolex slash AP show.
Andrew	Yeah. Sorry, y'all. You might as well just tune out now. And since we can only afford to buy one of those, we're just going to be talking about Speedmaster forever.
Everett	All the time. Every week, nothing but Speedmaster.
Andrew	There will be episodes where all we do is just listen to the tach.
Everett	The tachometer doesn't make much noise. But we've done it. We've listened, apparently. You know, the sort of the winding on it and the time change, uh, you know, the time set function and, um, everything is really incredible. It's an 1861 movement, so it's not anything terribly novel. It's a cam actuated chronograph. Um, you know, I've got my ST 1911, 1911, my seagull chronograph and my HKAD and, um, that's 1901s, right? 1911, 1901. It's around here somewhere. Um, and so that's actually, a little bit more classic design. That's a column wheel chronograph. And so theoretically, I've played with mechanical chronographs. So the pushers didn't surprise me the way they feel. And they feel great and fantastic. You know, the one thing that did surprise me about it is that I expected when I received this thing, that I would become cooler.
Andrew	Yeah, your Lexus would get upgraded in the driveway just upon delivery.
Everett	And you know, it's hard to judge for yourself, right? But I mean, you could confirm. I don't think I'm any cooler. No, you're not. Perhaps a little less cool.
Andrew	And that's just that comes with age. OK.
Everett	So, yeah, I got an expensive watch. It's fun. I've been planning it for a very long time since before we even started the podcast, I think, or right around that same time was when it kind of, you know, that that thought crystallized in my head. So here it is. We'll post it on the feed every once in a while. If you're excited about that sort of thing, hoorah. Can I talk about things that disappointed me about it? Yeah, please. You know, because it's, you know, it's not a watch or it's, it, it is not a perfect watch.
Andrew	Hey, number one, it's just a little bit too long for me. The lug to lug or the lug shape isn't complimentary to my wrist size or shape. I put it on and I was like, I want to like you more. And I, I, again, I've, I've tried on a handful of these. And again, wearing this one today, I stand by it. It's just not for me. I don't know what is for me. If this isn't for me, I don't know what could be, but it's just, it's just not for me. Yeah. And then number two, and this is, I think a legitimate disappointment. This isn't related to, it just isn't, doesn't fit me right. The NATO that it came with, the canvas strap that it came with. Oh yeah.
Everett	You know, I think we're in this new world of, of NATOs. And so it's easy to be critical, you know, when we're seeing all these really stunning NATOs come out. But yeah, I mean, $160 NATO that it comes with.
Andrew	And it's like, it's the hardware doesn't feel especially nothing about it was special. Nothing about it stands out against any other quality NATO I've ever had my hands on I've ever worn, or, or frankly, even mid grade straps that it comes with now the Velcro is cool shit. And I hope that you wear it on that a lot, but the, just the, the Omega NATO, it just, it, you're paying for the stamp on the, on the buckle.
Everett	You know, I think when, when Omega introduced his NATOs and I don't know the year. So if I say a date, I'm going to say a year that I think it happened and, and feel free to, to tell us, tell us if we're wrong, but I think it was 2013, 2014 ish that Omega introduced their NATO straps. At the time, I don't think that there was any seatbelt NATOs on the market. And so they were introducing a really sort of top high-end product that you couldn't get anywhere else. And so at the time, I think that there was some justification there for, you know, A, we're NATO or excuse me, A, we're Omega. Yeah. And we have high margins on our shit. So, and you can't get this anywhere else. And so here's this fucking cool thing that if you want it, you got to pay for it. And so, I think that was fine. Now I don't know that there's any excuse. They're still going to sell them though.
Andrew	There's no excuse.
Everett	They can do better and they ought to do better. I don't know that they need to do better because I think it's totally fine. I don't know that they need to do better. Um, you know, so should we move into sort of phase two of this? Yeah, let's do it. So we're going to actually announce something here. We're going to announce our thousand follower giveaway. Um, those of you who follow 40 and 20 on Instagram will know that we,
Andrew	We're nearest to 1,200 now. I promised last week that we would talk about it, and we didn't. And so I broke a promise to you, and I'm sorry.
Everett	We hit 1,000, what, maybe three weeks ago, a month ago?
Andrew	About, yeah.
Everett	Followers on Instagram. At some point, our follower growth ticked. And I don't know what to peg it to. I think maybe nothing. It's just the way these things go. But at some point, our follower growth has kind of ticked. And I think we're posting a little bit more frequently, or at least more consistently. And so that might have something to do with it. But we hit a thousand followers a couple of weeks ago, and we've been kind of trying to figure out what to do. Well, in conversations with Adrian of Barkinjack, um, kind of worked something out. So Adrian is another content creator. Um, if you guys have watched any Barkinjack videos, he's the, an English fellow and he makes wonderful videos and he just seems like a cool guy.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	Like I'd like to hang out with him. Um, he, his videos concentrate certainly on higher end pieces. He's looking at five to probably $15,000 pieces. Um, we're in that 500 to $1,500 range on, on our sort of bread and butter, you know, even maybe a little lower than that. So we're, we're, we're doing different segments, but we've talked quite a few times and just, Hey, you know, love this video. That was really cool. That thing you did. A few months ago, maybe six months ago or so, Adrian introduced a line of NATO straps.
Andrew	They're so good.
Everett	They're so good. I got a recommendation from Instagram user aggressive timing habits to try. I mean, he said, gosh, I think this is my favorite NATO strap. And so I ordered one from Adrian and kind of talking to Adrian about him. And he basically offered to sponsor our thousand follower giveaway. Yep. And he did. He sure did. So we've got some Barkin Jack NATO straps that we're going to be giving away via the Instagram page. Um, probably we'll announce that giveaway the day this episode comes out. So if you're hearing this episode and it's not on our page, keep, keep it, keep on there.
Andrew	Just refresh.
Everett	Yeah. Just hit that refresh or pull down. You know, I think probably Thursday afternoon Pacific time. We'll have an announcement on there, all the details, what you need to do. Of course, you're not going to need to do anything or buy anything.
Andrew	Yeah, it won't be one of those giveaways where you have to like and follow nine different pages. Right.
Everett	Yeah, no, it won't. It won't be that. Although you may need to be following us and you may need to be following Bark and Jack. It would be helpful. Yeah, that might be kind of what we do with that. But yeah, it'll be simple. Uh, follow us here. Basically just want to give back to you guys an opportunity to sort of, uh, get the word out on Barkinjack straps. And, uh, and, and you know what, before we move on, can, can, can you tell me what your, what your initial impression of that Barkinjack strap was?
Andrew	Uh, so initial impressions, hang on, let me grab one, grab two here. Uh, initial impression was everything about it's perfect. It's exactly what I want. It's got square holes. It doesn't taper, but it's rounded nicely and something that's often missed on the finishing of either seat belts or NATO's is that rounded edge that's oftentimes not uniform and not fully finished. Like I look at it, I'm like, well, shit, I know I'm going to lose an inch in the next two months because it's going to fray off and I'm going to lose it. We have to cut and burn it. And then it's going to be all weirdly shaped because I'm going to burn it with a blow torch and it's going to melt. It's going to burn to me. It's going to be this whole thing. You can tell that this is an issue that I've had with, with NATO straps in the past. Uh, It's not like these with this, with, with, with these Barkin Jack straps, the hardware is terrific, nice rounded edges, but still square shaped hardware. Killer stamp on it. Just really subtle. It's, it's not screaming. I'm a Barkin Jack. I'm a Barkin Jack. Just a nice, uh, B N J stamp on the buckle. And I freaking love these. Even the, uh, even the traditional NATO style to, yeah. the tubular, if you will.
Everett	That's what he calls them. I'd call them like ballistic or yeah. Yeah.
Andrew	The same quality, obviously not as soft as a seatbelt, not, not, I don't think as comfortable as a seatbelt, but still has a purpose, has a place and they are money.
Everett	Yeah, no, they're totally killer. Um, I think the thing that sort of struck me the most about these was the, the thinness the thinness of the bark and jack they they are very similar to say a toxic in terms of a toxic shiznit in terms of feel and softness and sheen um but i'd say they're quarter millimeter you know thinner than a toxic i mean these things are are significantly thinner than than my toxic shiznits and and i'm not i'm not selling my toxic shiznit collection or whatever but Um, they can, you know, they go head to head and I think that they're right around the same price. So these are $30. Um, hardware's fantastic. The, the forging on the hardware, you can just tell this is a fantastically put together product.
Andrew	I'd pick this up over an Omega strap every day of the week.
Everett	You know what I suspected when, when he started selling these, I suspected these were going to be, you know, kind of, lower end. And I don't know why I suspected that. It just seemed like, well, you're a content creator and you're making something to support your channel with. I don't think that's what it is. Not at all. This is a legit strap company that's making legit, legitimately good products.
Andrew	Yeah. He absolutely did it right. Cause he could have gone the other way. He could have gone the, Hey, we're going to, I'm going to do this just to, to generate some followership, to support the content that I'm already creating. And instead he went the harder way, which is creating a genuine product that people are going to want and honestly deserves a place in every watch collector's collection. Everybody who wears watches collection. I think if you're overlooking these straps and you're in your search for a new strap, I think you're wrong.
Everett	Yeah. I mean, these are as good as anything else in my collection. So we didn't, we didn't, uh, we don't have to say anything nice about these. Uh, Adrian was super low pressure with this thing. Um, we're not really, Getting anything out of this. We just we just like the product and so I can't wait to give you guys something Yeah, yeah, that's right. So, you know, I've just handed Andrew the Barkin Jack and then the Omega NATO.
Andrew	The biggest difference here is the hardware.
Everett	Yeah, that's right.
Andrew	The materials is better. It's more comfortable. It's thinner. I think it looks better, but most notably the hardware. The hardware on the Omega is cheap. I don't know that it's cheap. It's thinner. It doesn't feel, I don't know. It's got Omega stamping on it.
Everett	I think the finishing on the Omega hardware is beautiful and just fine, but it doesn't give you quite that sturdy confidence. I'm sure it's plenty sturdy. I know there's zero concern.
Andrew	No, I know. It just doesn't feel like what I want it to feel like on a NATO strap. I want it to feel a little bit rugged because a NATO strap is not going to be refined, beautiful, elegant strap. It's got to be a little bit rugged.
Everett	You know, so out of all these straps we have, we've got a number of sort of higher-end NATOs. So I've got a Haviston. They're single pass, and you guys know we love Haviston. I've got a Toxic Shiznit. I've got a Moose Strap Company. And an Almost Spilt Beer. An Almost Spilt Beer. It's not spilt, but almost spilt. a moose strap company, NATO, and then a number of these Barkinjacks. Out of all, oh, and the Omega, obviously. The fabric on the Omega is probably the nicest.
Unknown	You think?
Everett	I think so. Yeah, I think the fabric on this and the edge finishing, you were sort of lauding the finishing, the strap end on the Barkinjack. I think that the Omega's probably maybe uh right there i think they're about the same but besides the omega the bark and jack fabric is nicer than any of the rest of them it's it's smoother it's softer it's thinner it besides the omega the bark and jack is the nicest fabric i like the i like the haviston hardware the best but the fabric on the the bark and jack is the best besides the omega i think
Andrew	I think we're going to have to agree to disagree on that. Fine. I like square holes and NATO's also. I don't like round holes.
Everett	It is what it is. Yeah. All right. So I guess that's it. So thousand follower giveaway. There's going to be three, I think there's going to be three straps in our thousand follower giveaway. And so details probably on this coming Thursday, which will be the 12th, 13th, the 15th, Thursday, the 15th. Is that right? Close enough. Sounds right. And if we're wrong, we're wrong. It'll be the day this comes out. Uh, so. So if you're listening, check out the Instagram. So, so one more piece of watch news, right? Or I guess two more pieces of watch news.
Andrew	Two more. We got a lot of watch news today. Yeah. Our topic lent itself to, uh, being able to be off topic for a while.
Everett	We needed some fluff. Uh, so a lot of you guys know Seiko has reintroduced or has, has revised.
Andrew	Has introduced. This isn't a revision. This is a wholly new release masquerading under a different name.
Everett	That's right. Yeah, they've relaunched Seiko 5. I'll accept that. They've relaunched Seiko 5 with not 5, not 15, not 7. Not even 17. 27 new dive watches that look almost exactly like a Seiko SKX. Yeah.
Andrew	I do like the revised Seiko 5 logo. I will start with something that I do like.
Everett	I like it too. It's controversial, but I love it.
Andrew	I think it looks good. I think it looks... I wish they would choose if it was going to be Seiko or the new 5 logo and just have one of those. Like the way that they used to say Seiko Grand Seiko. I wish they would have reduced some of the redundancy, which seems like a company like Seiko would be doing. But they're not. So we've got the Seiko Sideways S slash 5. They're looking, which makes, I don't know, a little bit cluttered, I think, and unnecessary. But I do like the new logo. So we'll start there.
Everett	You know, I think that it's sort of the opposite problem with Grand Seiko, right? With Grand Seiko, they needed to differentiate to justify the luxury.
Andrew	No, I get it entirely. But why have the Seiko Grand Seiko? Why not just Grand Seiko it? Which they have done.
Everett	But I think the problem with going five is you lose what Seiko, what the Seiko name brings to the brand. If it's just five watches, then you're like any of those other Seiko brands that are not Seiko branded. They're no longer Seiko. That's fair. So I think it's the opposite problem, but you know, these have drawn a lot of comments from the watch public. And I think if you're hearing this, and didn't know this was a thing you're in the minority. Why are you listening to us? Get on the Google box. Yeah. Um, you know, a couple of outlets have chosen to cover this. A couple of sort of well-known watch outlets have chosen to cover this and not refer to the obvious similarities to this SKX. And, and I don't understand why I've pulled up the worn and wound article on this. And I actually chatted with Zach Kazan. I think it's pronounced Kazan. Um, about this earlier in the week because I'd commented about some of these articles that are coming out on various watch publications. And I actually word searched a couple of them and nowhere in there did they say SKX. And I think, come on, how do you cover this watch and not at least say this is the SKX? I mean, not that it's a secret, not that it's something everybody doesn't already know. It just seems silly. So, and Zach said, well, yeah, we, we made the obvious, we commented on the obvious connection and, and they did. And I think that's the right way to do it. But I think Seiko wants to keep this thing its own thing, but it's clearly the SKX. Reimagined. Maybe not even reimagined, just sort of with, without a screw down crown and with a see-through case back. I know. So, so right. That's, that's probably the most important part of this story is They have gelded the SKX.
Andrew	That's such a bummer.
Everett	It is.
Andrew	To take a pro-spec entry-level dive watch and reimagine it into not a pro-spec entry-level dive watch.
Everett	Yeah, no, I think you're right. I mean, it's got benefits, right? I think that long-term, they'll be able to produce this a little bit less cheaply. They don't have to worry about ISO anymore. This is just sort of a watch. And now it's just a good looking watch.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	But some of the, I mean, everybody will say at any time you hear what watch should I get? I want a dive watch. What should I get? People say get, you know, to the extent someone suggests you get the SKX, one of the first two to three things out of their mouths or their fingers on why the SKX is a good value proposition is the ISO certification. So it's, it's a no shit, 200 meter screw down crown ISO certified. Dive watch. This is not that.
Andrew	They do have a murdered out one though. Yeah, it's great. And I am pretty into that.
Everett	It's great. It's really attractive. I wonder what these NATO straps, I don't know what a Seiko NATO strap looks like, but these are coming on pass-throughs. I don't know if they're, they look to me like a double, you know, a NATO style strap. So tons of great colors.
Andrew	They dropped some with vintage loom. I mean, if you have to replace the SKX, if you have to get rid of it, I think they're doing it right. My problem is I just don't want them to really be messing with the SKX.
Everett	They should just sell the SKX for forever. So these come in five iterations. The sports iteration, which I think mostly come on an oyster style bracelet. Suits, which come on, I think, mesh. The specialist, which come on a weird canvas-y looking thing. Street, which, fuck. Yeah, stupid. And then scents, which have these very, uh, I might be getting these wrong, but you know, some of these have odd textured dials and yeah, I don't know. I mean, it is what it is. I think that what they've provided, what they've taken away in terms of legitimacy, they've made up for in terms of variety. So now there is an SKX for everyone, although not an SKX.
Andrew	Does everyone even need an SKX though? Probably not. Yeah, and I think that was a probably a sound business decision to widen their market segment with a wildly popular watch.
Everett	So I think you know, this is a good time to sort of table this discussion. I assume we're going to touch on this a little bit more in our main topic as we move into that we're at a half hour and we still got more watch news guys. So the the main topic is going to be probably a little truncated today.
Andrew	Pretty short, but it's also just going to mostly be a rant.
Everett	So yeah, the so check them out the new you know, I I think I've got a I've got model numbers. I think these are mostly S.R.P.D. model numbers. S.R.P.D. is what you should be looking for. But if you Google Seiko 5 relaunch or Seiko 5 SKX, something like that, you'll find these. There's 27 of them. I don't know. I think October is what I heard in terms of availability and U.S. market, Japanese market. I'm not 100 percent sure. Let's see if Zach. Let's see a sec says, uh, the new cycle five sports collection will make its debut in October and pricing in the U S will range. So it looks like they are going to be available in the U S 2 95 to 3 50. Um, yeah, but you know, and I assume RP will actually be lower than that. I think these will probably be in the two, 200 to 50 range.
Andrew	Freaking better be, you're going to give me less for more. Come on.
Everett	Right. Right. Uh, I think that, that these will settle down at right at that 200 to $2 50 range would be my suspicion. Maybe Amazon for $180. So one final piece of watch news before we move in. And the best piece of watch news, I think. It's pretty cool. Yeah. So there's a company called Synchron Watch Group. And Synchron Watch Group is the company that revived the isoframe rubber strap a number of years ago. And I think something else, too, which I'm blanking on, but maybe I'll come up with it before we're done. Synchron has brought back the Tropic brand, the Tropic strap. brand and they are launching now. I think they've already launched. Um, they've come back with the original Tropic Strap brand. There are some differences between this strap and the Tropic Strap of yore, namely in the buckle, the hardware is going to be a little modernized on this thing, which some folks have taken umbrage with. I think that it's a fine move. Uh, that old Tropic hardware was pretty tinny.
Andrew	Why wouldn't you produce something with the best possible hardware?
Everett	Yeah, nope, that's exactly where my head goes. I think this is a great move. So yeah, you can now buy a brand new 20 millimeter traffic strap, which you couldn't do even just a month ago.
Andrew	And soon to follow, 22 millimeter?
Everett	Yeah, I think they're following up with the 22 millimeter. And I don't know if they'll do a 19 or an 18, I think.
Andrew	I hope they do. Yeah, yeah, me too. These look so great. The taper on them reminds me of an alligator's tail. They look money. I cannot wait to get my hands on these. Do you recall the price off the top of your head?
Everett	Yeah, they're 79 bucks, so they're not cheap. They are definitely in the, you know, that ISO frame I think runs a hundred-ish, I'm guessing. I've not spent a lot of time looking at the ISO frame. These are less than that, but you can, you know, just like the ISO frame, you can get very comparable versions of these right now for 30 to 40 bucks from Watch Gecko and Uncle Seiko and Marod, Marod, Marod. Just struggle with it.
Andrew	I'm not going to help. It's not going to get better.
Everett	Uh, you know, there's, uh, there's some folks doing like comparisons of the, the currently available tri tropic straps. Um, and you know, there's a lot of them that there's Uncle Seiko and Watch Gecko, which in my mind are the two, best that I've had a chance to play with. But Maraad also has a strap that I understand is quite a bit better than either the Uncle Seiko or the Tropic. I settled on the, or no, excuse me, the Uncle Seiko or the Watch Gecko.
Unknown	Right.
Everett	For my own purposes, I settled on the Watch Gecko because it's a lot softer than the Uncle Seiko. But it's also not as faithful to the, to the source material. We're going to have to pick one of these up. Yeah, yeah, I think I'd like to pick one of these up. I'd like to pick up one of the marauds to the hardware on the marauds is beautiful. And supposedly, it is. It is super soft, super faithful, and great. And great. So great. Great. I think Baltic also has one which people rave about.
Andrew	Oh, that sounds familiar.
Everett	Yeah, yeah. So new tropic strap 79 bucks. They look really cool. They're very retro, soft, looks really good on a doxa. And they look killer on a doxa 20 millimeters. Now, if you, if you need one in 22, you're going to have to wait a little bit. Um, but they got colors, right? They got colors. I think I've seen blue. I've seen green, um, black, obviously. Yeah. I'm not seeing, I guess it's just blue, green, all of drab is what they're calling them. Navy blue and black. But I, I suspect my suspicion is that these are going to be available in, you know, five to 10 colors. 2022 and maybe 19 within the year. I hope so. Yeah. We'll see. Time will tell. So the main topic we're talking about watches today, although we've been talking about watches.
Andrew	Yeah. We're going to get into something that, um, it's going to be a bit of a hot take. We're talking today about international only watches being watches that are either JDM or European only or American only. And we're going to talk a little bit about that. And this is a topic I suggested, obviously, and reason being is that a video came out What last week? I think it's about two weeks now. So two weeks ago from Long Island Watch. And you you were the one who tried to get some information. So why don't you why don't you fill us in on that?
Everett	Yeah. So Mark released a video a couple of weeks ago. And Mark from Long Island Watch, obviously not someone I know personally, but I've watched his videos over the years. And he's just one of those guys in the industry who's obviously got a business and is supporting his business. But he produces these videos that are just really informative. Uh, he's always got new, cool products and he's just a great member of the watch fam, I would say. Um, but Mark released a video a couple of weeks ago that was a little cagey. Um, and you know, hard to digest, but basically the gist is that he, by way of Long Island watch watches is no longer selling JDM versions of those watches and the, the internets. have speculated wildly why this might be. We reached out directly to Mark, and he wasn't able to talk to us about it. And he was super polite about it, but just said, hey, really, I can't comment on that right now. And that was fine, and we told him as much. But there's something happening with Seiko where, and we've known this, right? We know that Seiko is playing with its marketability, particularly in the United States. There's been a push to emphasize their US brands to kind of push prospects and presage in the United States. And so Seiko is doing some market positioning, you know, the days of a $60 SNK are gone. I think basically will forever be gone. I think that's right. Yeah, because the SNK has been discontinued. And you know, the SNK is a watch that was probably intended for developing markets. But It seems to me that Seiko is doing a thing where it wants to get, it wants to convince Americans that Seikos are not, are not Sears jewelry counter watches.
Andrew	I agree. And I think, I think the, they're making a trend, a deliberate transition. And I think with the relaunch of the five series, what they're trying to do is break out of their emerging market, cheap watches to start introducing the mid and high end luxury watches that we see in air quotes here, in the JDM watches that we've really been in love with since we were able to find them on the internet. Either this year, I think, is they're dropping a US-only Grand Seiko option. And maybe the JDMs coming off of websites, they're trying to force you to buy from their boutiques, force you to buy, I mean, like you just said, the US-only options. But here's where I'm going to start my rant. Would you like anything else? Cause this could go on.
Everett	No, but maybe we'll just sort of, we'll button up the, the Long Island watch thing. So, so I think that what they've done is they've, you know, Mark is an authorized dealer. Long Island Watch is an authorized Seiko dealer. I suspect, and this is wild speculation, please do not infer any sort of credibility to this, but my suspicion as just a person in the, the watch world who pays attention to these things, I suspect that Seiko reached out to Mark. and said, you got to stop that. I suspect that because of, you know, I suspect partially by way of his reluctance to talk about it, that there is either the threat or a tendency of legal action. That would be my suspicion. And so that's a pretty aggressive move for Seiko to make. And it means that we might see this, we might see this, you know, Seiya is on vacation. So you can't get to the Seiya website right now. I think August 20th, it comes back up. It'll be interesting to see, you know, does Seiya also fall off? I mean, is this going to be something?
Andrew	Is that their vacation? Are they dumping all their JDMs off the website? Who knows, right?
Everett	Do we know? I don't think we do. I don't think that it's going to be impossible to find JDM watches in the United States, but this does seem to signal some shift in the winds. It may not become, it may become not quite as easy. Now we were on Gnomon. Gnomon. Gnomon. Gnomon. I like Gnoky. Gnoky. Yeah. Gnoky. We were on Gnomon this morning. They still have a hundred JDM savers. A hundred and eight. On their website. So it's not a complete blitzkrieg at this point, but at some point, I think, I suspect we may see that tighten up a little bit. I hope not. Yeah. Well, because all of the Seikos that we like are JDMs. That's what we figured out. A lot of them.
Andrew	Yeah. That was, that was the crazy part. And they're all so available. And I think that's where, that's where we're at. And that's where my rant starts. It bugs me a little bit, but also I understand why companies are doing home market only launches. I understand why they, uh, so say JDMs are not necessarily all made in Japan, but they're typically made in Japan and they're released to their home market consumers. lot of companies do the same thing.
Everett	I think that those are probably made in the same place. It's got, it's a, it's a marketing thing. So certain markets, they're allowed to differentiate between country of origin versus country of manufacture. I think that's the only thing going on here. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about watches that are marketed and sold exclusively in Japanese market or, or more generally specific markets, right?
Andrew	Yeah. We'll go, we'll go to specific markets because Citizen has a Euro only one of their pro masters is coming out in Europe only. And I sent you that link and there was what? 10 or so pro master divers that were going to be a European release. Seiko has European release only. And what's curious about it is that it seems to be Japanese companies that are doing this home market only availability. I couldn't find any, any Swiss companies that have Swiss only releases. I couldn't find, I mean, American companies are a little bit harder to judge because they're for the most part, a little bit smaller. So we're here, so it's harder for us to figure that out. Right. I don't know what you're going to be able to find in, in other parts of the world, but I also am pretty sure that if you go on to EMG's website or Shinola's website or Brew's website, you can order their watches and they're going to, they're going to send them to you wherever they send them because they're out there to sell watches. Right. I mean, that's, that's an assumption, but I can't imagine that if you're in Japan right now, you can't go to brew watches. and buy one of their watches?
Everett	You know, I'm not sure. There's a bunch of tax ramifications. So some of these smaller manufacturers have a hard time selling their watches internationally because of the import taxes and duties. I know, I think WatchGage has, gosh, guys, I'm really sorry if I'm screwing this up. I think my memory, and I'm just shooting from the hip, that WatchGage has distribution centers in the United States and Europe. to try to, to try to deal with some of this. And I do think that some companies work that way because there is ramifications. But for us, I mean, most of these companies are working really well with us and we don't do, we don't have a sales tax in Oregon. So we, some of this stuff we're just under prepared to have knowledge of, but I know you see occasionally on the, on the web, people say, in fact, someone was just hitting me up the other day about an EMG Nemo. And they were like, gosh, with duty and taxes, I'm at like 650 for that, which puts, which puts that watch in. pretty competitive territory with some really killer watches. And that was my takeaway. I said, well, you know, I think at 650, I'd be really pumped with an EMG Nemo. Um, but yeah, that does change the conversation.
Andrew	It does. And it's not something I considered during this little bit of a rampage that I've prepared. Fair enough. So with all that being said, I don't know that I'm concerned that online retailers are pulling their JDM watches from their online marketplaces because the We live in such a globalized world. There is so much great market availability. I haven't personally bought any watches off the used market. I know you have. I know many people who have and have had really positive experiences. They're buying these watches. We're so globalized. And specifically for watch people. Because we're not talking about the larger people, the larger market of just folks who buy watches. Because at that point, who cares? They're going to go to Macy's. They're going to go to jewelry shops. They won't know the difference between a watch that's only available by Seiko in the United States, in Europe, in Japan. And frankly, they won't care. They're going in to buy a watch they like. We are the only weirdos on the planet who give a shit if you can buy the J model or the K model and where you can buy it. But we can also go to the interweb where this whole little watch community is linked up and talking to people, talking to each other and buying and selling watches.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	I don't have an issue with him pulling JDM watches. Should I? I don't, I don't think I should. I don't think I care. There's so much out there.
Everett	Yeah. Yeah. You know, um, in, in, in preparing for this episode, I went to the Seiko USA website, which, um, seems like something that guys like you and me would be doing with some frequency. But when I went, I remembered why I don't do that. Because it sucks.
Andrew	It's so dumb. It's like the Orient USA website. Come on.
Everett	I think Orient USA does a lot better job with this. And, and, and, and maybe that's, you know, forgive me if I'm wrong, you know, Orient USA prices, Orient USA website prices are usually quite a bit above RP. They're double. Yeah. I mean, so you're going to, you're going to pay through the teeth if you order from Orient USA, but they have the watches that you might want to see by and large.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	The Seiko website? Not so. Not so. I think I texted you at like 11.30 last night. I was asleep. I was like, bro, all of the watches, all of the Seiko watches that we like are JDM. Air quote JDM. Because you can buy them on Amazon. That's right. That's right. So you go to the Seiko USA website, and they've got a couple of lines that they sell. They've got the Diamond line, and the Prisaj line, and the Kutura line, and the Prospex Um, and I thought, well, so I started with, I think it's the essentials or the staples. I can't remember what they call it, but it's like 150 crap watches or 150 versions of the quartz SNK. Yeah. Well, not even a quartz SNK. I mean, these, these watches just aren't cool. These are mall watches that you go, go to Seiko USA, click on the watches subcategory essentials, I think is what it is. And. It looks like the Macy's counter. It looks like the Macy's counter, which is always just filled with crap. They're not crap. Okay. These are still Seiko watches. They are interesting quartz movements, solar, lots and lots and lots and lots of solar.
Andrew	Lots of solar. That's a big push right now. And I'm pretty excited about it.
Everett	Yeah, no. And that's a good thing, but not interesting watches. Not to me anyway. Uh, these are pretty bland, not interesting watches.
Andrew	It looks like a lot of Movado. Yeah, that's right.
Everett	It looks like, uh, so anyway, that's why we don't, that's why we don't go to the Seiko USA website. I remember, I remembered, um, pro I had really high hopes when I clicked, I saved the prospects, you know, as I'm sort of browsing, I saved the prospects links. Cause I was like, well, that's where the good shit's going to be. And I was right.
Andrew	The recraft line is pretty cool.
Everett	Yeah. You know, uh, I love your green recraft. I love that blue, that sort of powder blue. uh, golf, that golf livery sort of, uh, chronograph. Um, but even then like this, like seven watches on there and they're like, yeah, most of them, I'm scrolling it right now.
Andrew	Most of them aren't very good. Yeah. But I mean, I think you're right. I think this is mall watches and maybe Seiko is trying to be deliberate about breaking into the general consumer market in the United States and they don't want us watch nerds ruining it for everyone.
Everett	When I don't think most of this is new. I don't think that most of what we're sort of discovering, quote unquote, discovering, in this episode is new. I think that this is how it's been for a long time. It's always been the case that Seiko saves its best watches for the Japanese market. The diamond light sucks.
Andrew	I knew it was going to be bad, but it's bad.
Everett	It's worse. And so, and even when you click on the prospects link and you think, oh, okay, well here's where the good shit's going to be. That's right. That is where the good shit is, but it's, it's totally neutered. It's, this is not, these aren't the versions of these watches that I would want by and large. Uh, you know, I think that they have some monsters in there. I think that they have some, um, Samurais, they've got some tunas, uh, and they have some turtles. They don't have the baby turtle, which is, I think the most interesting, affordable Seiko diver right now. Um, they don't have any of the six R or the eight R stuff. I mean, none of the, and you know, these eight R watches, you know, we're not really talking about those watches on this show because they're outside of our price range. but they are the most interesting. They are the most interesting Seiko watches. They don't have this stuff. They don't have the cool shit. On the Seiko. They got a lot of bullshit up here. Yeah, it's a lot of bullshit.
Andrew	I'm done browsing it.
Everett	They've got these Seiko Street Tunas, which, I think what it comes down to, do they have the digital Tunas on there? No. On the Seiko? Yeah. So they don't, I mean, the cool shit isn't here. Why? It's marketing. It's a marketing thing. It is. It's a marketing thing.
Andrew	But with all that being said, we can still find our favorite Seiko's on Amazon. Gnomon. Gnomon. Probably Alibaba. I've never shopped on Alibaba, but probably there. And in the very worst case scenario.
Everett	You think Alibaba?
Andrew	It's like an Amazon competitor, isn't it?
Everett	I guess. I don't know. I actually don't know Alibaba as well. I mean, it's kind of a hard thing. It's hard to buy from Alibaba. You got to like get a broker, I think. I don't know.
Andrew	I don't know. I used to work with a guy who was from China, and he said he never used Amazon. He only used Alibaba. Okay, well, there you go. I mean, that's as much as I know about it. I imagine that the gray market's never going to go away. We still have Watchuseek. We have all these watch forums where, shoot, if someone were to email me, if someone were to hit me up, even though I never check it, so don't hit me up on Watchuseek, hit Everett up on Watchuseek and say, hey, there's this American version only of this watch. I'll buy it, but I need to buy it through you. And can you send it to me? And here's 20 bucks. I'll buy you guys a six pack. We'll do that. One of my favorite parts about the watch community, and it's like every other small community of people who gather around something, is we all connect. We're all willing to help. I mean, shit, people have sent us, they don't even know us. They've sent us their watches and never asked for them back.
Everett	Well, yeah. I mean, I've never sent a watch back. It's crazy.
Andrew	Well, I mean, we give them back, but people have never asked for them back.
Everett	That's true. We do give them back.
Andrew	I try not to. People just trust that Hey, I'm mailing these two weird dudes who just drink beer and talk about watches. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to mail them my watches. All of them.
Everett	And then they can just keep them for, you know, however long. And sometimes they've been like outrageously. We had Eric's watches for like two months. Yeah. Sorry, Eric. I still feel bad about that.
Andrew	That was the longest. Everyone else, you know, we just send them back. No one ever prompts like, hey, I want it back.
Everett	I kept messaging Eric, too, is that I'm going to send him out this week. And I didn't. It's the only time we've ever done that. They were just so good.
Andrew	We could not part with those. There was tears. Yeah. There was a sorrowful goodbye at the post office.
Everett	We've made one of those signs.
Andrew	Yeah. Like one of those World War II movies where all the ladies are standing on the ship dock, white kerchief in hand, waving to their sailor.
Everett	Yeah, that happened.
Andrew	That was real. But that's what it comes down to is this conversation of domestic market or only one market. I, I, I both understand and don't understand why it's happening in that. I wish that it was in this globalized economy that we live in. They would stop fighting with domestic markets only, but I get why you want to do things for your home market. The market that got you stood up and going. Beer companies do it all the time.
Unknown	Yeah.
Andrew	They have keg only, they have home market, whatever's. And I think that's, I think that's similar in the, in the watch industry, but I wish, I wish I could just get all the watches.
Everett	You know, one of the things we do when we do these episodes is we always like to, we always like to pull up a couple of options for you to look at. And, uh, it felt a little silly doing it this week because literally any Seiko that you're interested in is a JDM watch for the most part. Yeah. I mean, you know, it doesn't matter. And so we kind of picked some of our favorites, but it feels a little silly to do so. A couple of these are pretty interesting, actually. Um, some of those are, available now at outlets. Some of them you're going to have to work a little bit harder, but I guess we'll just go through and kind of talk about these. But again, caveat, this feels a little silly. These aren't like recommendations like we make in our $400 watch episode or our pilot watch episode. This is different.
Andrew	These are some watches I wish I could go down to Macy's and buy.
Everett	All of the Seiko divers, dress watches, sport watches, all of the ones that you want are JDM. All of them.
Andrew	Yeah. Which I didn't know. They're all, they're all JDM. I did not realize that until this week.
Everett	SKX is JDM. I do think, I read a few times this, I read a few times in researching for this, that the SKX doesn't have a US variant. I don't know that that's true. I think the SKX 173, 175 were US market versions of the 007 and 009. Um, but I just don't think very many people have them. I know, um, Mike from Two Broke Watch Snobs had a 175, I think the Pepsi version of the U.S. market version. But I think he's the only person I've ever met. I have never met him in person, but he's the only person I've ever heard of having one of the U.S. market versions of that. So the SNK, I don't believe there's ever been a U.S. version of the SNK. I don't believe.
Andrew	Just global versions?
Everett	Just. Yeah, that's right. Just global. Just global versions. Maybe not JDM, but just. international market versions of that watch. So I don't think that Macy's for instance, has ever sold an SNK and, and I'm happy to be wrong about that. And I don't really care.
Andrew	So I've got a good watch.
Everett	Yeah. Talk about it. I like this one. I like this one.
Andrew	It is the S A R G 0 1 3. And it is money. It's coming on the Oyster bracelet. You expect, you expect Seiko's to show up on. Uh, it's one of these, A little bit dressy, a little bit sporty, a little bit of identity crisis, but will fit in most situations. A nice, clean, thin bezel.
Everett	Kind of a Blancpain 50 fathoms bezel.
Andrew	An automatic. 6R, right? Just a date window. Uh, yes. 6R movement. 6R movement. And this thing's money. It's, uh, kind of
Everett	So many cool, so many cool, you know, we, we, we have a little bit of insider information that I probably won't share with you. Just, we won't share it, just talking to brands, but some of these, uh, brands are pretty public. You know, there's a brand that was formerly, I think Mirus and then became Atra. They did a brand change prior to their Kickstarter. They've got a dress watch, uh, who, who, a dress sport watch, you know, a 40 millimeter. Who else? I posted a couple of them just the other day.
Andrew	And they were all money.
Everett	Yeah.
Unknown	Money, money, money, money.
Everett	This is going to be the year of the dress sport watch that, uh, and I don't know if we've ever talked about this on the show, but I've always said if I was going to, if someone came to me with $25,000 and said, Everett, please make me a watch that you think will sell. And that, that didn't happen, but I've always said the, no, we didn't get the $25,000. What I would design is a 38 to 40 millimeter dress, a sport watch sport watch field ish with a flat ground bezel. with vertical brushing and highly polished chamfers on the bezel. And it doesn't exist. Manta has done it, but Manta is very expensive. Too much for me. Too much for me, too. I mean, they're just too much for me to buy on a regular basis. I mean, now I'm a speedy owner, so I'm probably going to buy five or six months. But yeah, they're just too much for me to buy day in and day out. There is literally four or five companies that are going to release late 2019 a watch that matches that specification under 700 bucks.
Andrew	Get ready, y'all.
Everett	It's happening.
Andrew	It is. It was our year. We hit it on next year. We will not get it right.
Everett	Are we are we a part of the conversation? Probably not. You know, I'm not going to call them out, but a brand that we have so much respect for and love and love reached out to us this week and said, hey, you guys did an episode. And when we listened to that episode, we realized that you were right, that there was maybe a gap in the market. And so we had already, I think they'd already been thinking about doing this, but they said, we listened to that episode. And based on the things you said, we set some rules for ourselves and we designed a watch.
Andrew	So next fall, you'll be seeing a 40 and 20 branded Rolex hitting the market. Priced at $250 friends and family discount for Friends of 40 and 20, get ready.
Everett	You know, it was one of those really humbling moments. Like, uh, I couldn't believe it. I sort of had to like, ping them back and be like, are you being serious? Are you joking? It just felt really cool. Which is not to say that we're like pushing the envelope or anything. Uh, but it did feel a little bit like that. It's like, man, this is so cool that that happened. And I'm going to buy one of those watches. Me too. I'm going to have to buy one and just wear it because it's so, uh, I mean, a flattering. you know, one, that these guys were even listening to us and two, that, that, what else do you guys do that lonely and bored? Uh, yeah, super cool. Uh, let's blast through these watches. Shit, man. We're in an hour. How did this happen?
Andrew	God, I don't know. Okay. So we've got the Sarg.
Everett	Uh, yeah, I mean these, so here's, this is a watch that, that isn't even available anymore.
Andrew	No, you'll, you'll have to find this gray market, but I think you'll be, I think it'll be easy to find a gray market, probably 600 bucks.
Everett	Yeah, I don't know.
Andrew	You said you did find new... I did. I found a couple outlets that had them available new at the 700 price point.
Everett	Seiko Brights. And this was... Brights with a Z. Brights with a Z. The SDGM001 is the version you've pulled up. This is the white, kind of creamy, yellow-white dial. This is a... I'd say soft gold.
Andrew	Sure. Champagne. Yeah. Ooh, yeah, that was better.
Everett	Pow! I do this. I do this. We're professional podcasters. Yeah, we are. We got professional equipment and everything. This is a cool watch, man. I think that the big thing on this one is the bracelet. It just has a stunning five-link bracelet.
Andrew	And I mean, for those of you who aren't familiar with this, imagine the Saab, fill in the hands and make it just a touch bigger.
Everett	A touch bigger and just all around finish it 20 times better. I don't know if I'd say 20, but just a little bit better. You know, I think retail on these is about a thousand. I think they regularly, when they were widely available, sold for about 750. Um, I think that you could still probably get these in the six to $800 range. I don't, I don't know.
Andrew	I think probably pretty easy. I didn't, I didn't do a whole lot of looking for it because this, this, if I'm going to get a watch in the style, I'm going to get the Saab. I like the size. I may be more impressed with the finishing here. It's just a little bigger than I want. It's 14 Hyfe.
Everett	I think this watch and one other we're going to talk about really exemplify the difference between American market Seiko and JDM or international market Seiko. The finishing. Oh my God. Oh my God. You can't find anything short of like Astron or maybe some of the Kuturas, which are fucking weird alien watches. You're not going to find something finished this well in the American market. Not out of Seiko, no. The finishing on this thing is like that.
Andrew	Yeah. Like, yeah. Kiss, kiss the air. Like a meatballs.
Everett	And then I'm going to pour some salt. Oh yeah. Down the elbow. Salt Bay down the elbow. Uh, yeah, I, I mean this, the finishing is just superb. That five link bracelet. Uh, and when I say five link, imagine, you know, the bracelet, for instance, if you don't have one, you'll have to imagine it. I'm just going to look at mine, but imagine the bracelet speed match.
Andrew	Everyone go get your Speedmaster on right now.
Everett	Yeah, I feel pretty cool, guys.
Andrew	He's blushing. That's how cool he feels right now. The sweat's about to break on your forehead. I can see it.
Everett	The finishing, right? That's where the difference is. The finishing. And I don't know that this is a true five link. I think that maybe just has sort of a carved and polished piece on it, but better than anything else you can get in the American market.
Andrew	I don't think it's a five link.
Everett	Next up? It might not be a five link. I don't care. So the next up, this is, I think the best, the best diver, um, that's sort of JDM exclusive from Seiko. These are all Seiko, by the way, sorry. Uh, there may be other JDM stuff.
Andrew	We realized Citizen does some, but Seiko is really the one who has the corner on the air quotes, JDM, end air quotes market.
Everett	So, so this is, I, I think that this is the one watch that I should get that I never have. Um, Because I don't know, it's just sort of, it's a tweener, but the Seiko Sumo. The Seiko Sumo. And you know, the other thing that's happened to these, so they just reintroduced these and they're like a fucking thousand bucks, which is probably the right place to have these, but it makes it a watch that I no longer really strongly want.
Andrew	If you want to give them away, we'll take them. Yeah.
Everett	Yeah. I mean, and maybe this is still the case. You used to be able to get a Sumo for 300 to 400. Used, used. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Andrew	I have to change topics real quick. I don't know if you've noticed, but all the ads, the targeted ads on all these websites we've been on have all been Omega.
Everett	I may have, I may have spent some time looking at Omega. Just, yeah. They're all Omega. Okay. You're giving all my dirty secrets. At least they're not porn anymore. Not anymore.
Andrew	I mean, in fairness, mine are also all Omega, but now I know. Not for me. I knew before. You know, there's still the reduced. And we did try the reduced on in Mexico and that was money, money. It was, but yeah, I don't know. I feel weird getting the reduced. I feel like if you're going to get a Speedmaster, get the Speedmaster.
Everett	Remember that guy that I was like, I want to try on the 36 millimeter Datejust. And he was like, no, you don't. Here's a 41. And I was like, no, I really want to try on the 36.
Andrew	And he was like, sir, I'm here to buy nothing. Let me try it on.
Everett	And he was like, you don't want that. Well, you were fatter then. That's true. That's true. Yeah, I was fatter then. Not a lot. I mean, yeah. Yeah, you were a lot fatter. Yeah. The Blumo, I mean, or the Sumo and the Blumo, including the Blumo. But, you know, I think the big takeaway for me when I look at this watch is you can just tell top down, and we've tried these on, but you can just tell looking top down, they've done more with the case finishing.
Andrew	They've done more. Yeah, they've definitely upped the ante on this.
Everett	They've done more. and you know people don't like the sumo for a number of reasons one it's big it's fat yes what 44 she's a pig i think she's 44 uh and they don't like the 20 millimeter lugwut i like that what i what's interesting about this to me is it's like a three and hyfe crown yeah not neither a three nor a four right it's the the 345 crown yeah i love this watch man i love this watch i think that it is a big diver so you're gonna You're going to have to be comfortable with the big diver, but it's got those sort of pillow edges that Seiko does so well. It kind of wraps. It's going to look soft. It's not going to be real boxy and edgy.
Andrew	And these are pretty slim too. They're not, they're not crazy thick, but it's a dive watch also. Like if, if, if you're looking for a dive watch to go under your, under your button up shirt cuff, this is the wrong category.
Everett	And 6R movement, you guys. Yeah. 6R movement.
Andrew	Yeah. Yeah. I've looked at these a lot and the size is really what's turned me away from them.
Everett	You can't get, uh, you know, so people, people often ask, well, what's the big deal about the six hour? A, A nothing. And B everything. It's, it's got an extended power reserve. It's, I mean, it's just better. They're just built better. This is Seiko's 2824 competitor and, um, they're better. Right? There's a, you know, there's a number of subtle differences to make it better. Yeah.
Andrew	I think that's the answer. When you're working off of a movement as good as, as their 7S, the upgrades you make to that 6R movement don't have to be dramatic.
Everett	That's right. Yeah. And the 7S, you know, you can get 90% of the 6R with the 4R. Yeah. Excuse me. Yeah, that's right. I said it the right way. You can get 90%, maybe 95%, which is why, Seiko has made the 4R their workhorse, or the NH15-16. That's why they've done that. But it feels like they're dumbing it down for the U.S. market. Give me some 6R movements in the U.S. market.
Andrew	I mean, I don't know why I care. They don't value us as customers.
Everett	Okay. Last one. This is the cream of the crop, right? And it's the most expensive. Well, maybe not. I don't know this, this and the new Sumo maybe in pretty close competition.
Andrew	Because of this watch, I walk in traffic without looking.
Everett	That's well played. So this is the watch informally referred to as the baby Grand Seiko snowflake. It is not a Grand Seiko. It's a Seiko Prisaj line. S A R X Sarx 055. So this is a watch that is very similar in many respects to the Grand Seiko Snowflake, hence the baby, baby snowflake, uh, titanium case, superb finishing. And it's going to cost you- I think that's a five link. I think it is. I think it is a real five link. It's going to cost you a thousand bucks. This is a thousand bucks. Or getting hit by a car. So come to find out, even if you get hit by a car, a Speedmaster still costs something like four grand.
Andrew	Even if you get hit by a car, you still have to pay for it. Yeah, but the money came from nowhere. It was just a gift from the sky or the road.
Everett	Did I tell you about pushing the button? No. So first, I need to say, I bought this watch from Crown & Caliber.
Unknown	Oh, yeah, you did.
Everett	You did. isn't a sponsor, they're not paying, I didn't tell them who I was, nothing like that, because I'm Everett from 42.
Unknown	Give me a discount.
Everett	Right? I mean, there's none of that. Would that work? Do you think? No, I do not think it would work. You know, I just bought this watch on the website like anybody would. But when I put it in my cart, it was time. It's time. And so it's time I put it in my cart. And then you know, you got to do some stuff, right? You got to tell them where you live and give them your PayPal information. And like, It's a confirmed purchase that came up on my phone. Confirmed purchase. And I came in and Kim was working. She works from home and Kim's working in the office slash recording studio slash guest bedroom. And I said, Hey babe, I need you to push this. And she's like, there's no fucking way. If you give me that phone, I'm pressing the back button multiple times, getting it all the way back. So yeah, I wound up pressing the, but it was like, you know, Kind of, it felt weird, right? It felt weird to spend that amount of money.
Andrew	I've never, I've never clicked that amount of money. I've signed that amount of money. Yeah. I've never clicked that amount of money. It felt weird. It felt really weird. You immediately sent me a screenshot of the, of the map though.
Everett	Yeah, that's coming. It's coming. It's exciting and it's fun. Uh, but it's a little insane. It is insane. It's insane to spend that amount of money on a watch. It's insane.
Andrew	Worth it.
Everett	That's an heirloom now. It's an heirloom. I talked about that. Uh, you know, and I think that's right, but it's insane. So this is not that much money. It's a little bit less, but it's still, you know, if you're anything like me, you're going to get some wiggles when you go to buy this thing.
Andrew	But, or if you're anything like either of us and do it without permission, you'll get choked to death, to death, like bouncing face off pavement and then strangled to death.
Everett	Andrew, we have been going for so long. This is going to be the longest 40 and 20 episodes since, Early. Early.
Andrew	When we. Whatever.
Everett	Yeah.
Andrew	We have new recording equipment. We're celebrating.
Everett	Hopefully the fidelity is not total shit because you guys are going to keep on listening. Other things. My man.
Andrew	Go. This morning when I should have been working on this episode. Yeah. Other work related things. Yeah. I started watching Taboo.
Everett	This sounds.
Andrew	On Hulu. OK. So it's OK. It is an epic show with Tom Hardy. and it is dark, it is grimy, and it is cool as shit. Whole premise, Homie, who has been exploring in Africa in the early 1800s, returns to England after his father dies and gets into this, the drama, sorry, the drama ensues because his half-sister is somehow affiliated with the will that his father, who's a shipping magnate, is passing down the family business. So he shows up back into this mess and it's real corrupt, it's real gritty, and I loved it. It's got the Robb Stark's wife from Game of Thrones. She is Tom Hardy's half-sister. And I saw her and I was like, oh, hello. Hello. I will, yeah. Anyway. First episode, killer. Still working on Black Sails, which I said we were going to talk about. I'm watching a lot of TV right now. For any of you who are wondering, don't judge me.
Everett	Well, you know, I realized at some point that other things just became the shit we're watching on Netflix.
Andrew	Watching on Netflix, podcasts we're listening to. Yeah. Yeah.
Everett	So what do you got? Do you know who Logan Marshall Green is?
Andrew	The guy who looks like Tom Hardy?
Everett	Yeah. So if you guys don't know who Logan Marshall Green is, just pull up a picture of him. He looks just like fucking Tom Hardy.
Unknown	They look the same.
Andrew	Looks like a before and after. Like this is me going into a cage fight. This is me coming out.
Everett	Ashley Simpson. She's her old before and after. Yeah. So excuse me. I watched a movie. I watched a movie on Amazon. I had to pay for it. I had to rent it like, like blockbuster in the old days.
Andrew	Tell me about it.
Everett	It's called Alita. Oh, it's called Alita. So this is a movie. You probably remember the trailers from six, seven months ago. Uh, but this is a, it's a, it's a gal, a young gal in the future with big eyes. She's got really big eyes. It turns out she's a robot. That's why her eyes are so big. That'll happen. She looks like a little, she looks like a, a, a little, uh, young person perhaps. Like a child? That was a weird way to say it. Yeah, I don't know. That was a weird way to say it. I'm sorry. It felt like it was going to get better and it got worse. But she's so right. She's she's an android. Turns out she's some super some super cyborg from the past, but with technology in her brain, heart, body that hasn't been replicated. And so she's badass and she kicks ass. It was one of those movies that you see the trailer for and you're like, is this going to be good? Because it could be real bad. And you paid money to rent it anyway? I had been kind of excited about it. I don't know why when I saw it. And so I'm not that I'm not a comic book guy. Some people are comic book guys and gals and gals. In fact, I have I have I got my ass kicked by a runner this morning who's a gal who's a comic book person, a professional comic book person. Not that she sells comic books, but she studies them and teaches about them. How cool is that? And she runs really fucking fast.
Andrew	She's had to run away from bullies all her life.
Everett	I don't think that's true. But, uh, so, uh, I don't know when I, when I, I don't know the past. I don't know if this was a comic book. I didn't look it up to tell you guys about it. I just wanted to tell you that this is a movie that's got mediocre rotten tomatoes reviews. I think like 36, 37% rotten tomatoes. That's pretty poor, pretty bad. Uh, and when you, and, and, but when you look at the audience score, I think the audience score is like 63%. Okay. So whenever I see a differential like that between the critics and the audience, it's intriguing. It's intriguing. And cause here's why, because critics worry about things that I'm not worried about.
Unknown	Yeah.
Everett	So dumbness, uh, small lapses in continuity, uh, plot holes, uh, you know, general sort of script framing, you know, things that when you're watching, you're like, Oh yeah, come on. But, but, but most good movies or entertaining movies are more than a sum of their parts. And that's where the audience score comes in, right? This movie was entertaining and I loved it. Uh, and that's how Alita was. So I rented it with my wife, my sweet loving wife, and we watched it together and we both fucking dug it. It was so good. And it was that type of movie, which, uh, it didn't tell the whole story. So we know there's going to be more.
Unknown	Ooh.
Everett	And it finished off with like not a spoiler or not a not a cliffhanger. It wasn't a cliffhanger. But you could just tell there's more to this story and it's going to be fucking good.
Andrew	One of those things where they could wrap it up or they could continue.
Everett	That's right. That's right. And I assume they'll continue because it was so good. Entertaining, fun, dynamic. Loved it. Loved it. Super duper loved it. It had like a little bit of a Philip K. Dick feel, although not a Philip K. Dick story. So, so if you know PKD, uh, it's not a PKD story, but it had that Blade Runner future dystopian feel with, with a little bit of bubble gum.
Unknown	Okay.
Everett	Yeah. Loved it. Really, really good. I'm intrigued. Also another one, and this isn't another thing, but it's a sort of add on Tom Hardy because you talked about him, the, the, the movie Venom. Oh yeah. got terrible reviews. Terrible, terrible, terrible reviews. And it's so good. It's so good. It's funny. It's entertaining. It's paced well. There's this idea that all comic book movies have to be endgame or whatever. And that is... I haven't seen it yet. You haven't seen Endgame? Mm-mm. Or Venom?
Andrew	Mm-mm. All right. You know what I did watch? I watched Into the Spider-Verse.
Everett	Super good. Loved it. My kid loved it too. It got really good reviews.
Andrew	Well, I would expect so, but my kid loved it. And I then watched it without him because when you watch a movie with a kid, you miss so many parts of the movie that I had to watch it by myself.
Everett	Yeah. Nope. I get it. I get it. Well, Andrew, we're going to do a live outro.
Andrew	Oh, let's do it.
Everett	Do you have anything else that you want to talk about before we do that?
Andrew	I don't. You know, you're totally done. Well, I mean, for the purposes of this recording. Yes.
Everett	All right. Well, Thank you for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20. Please follow us on Instagram at 40 and 20.
Andrew	If you want to be in the drawing to win these straps.
Everett	Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. If you want to support 40 and 20, uh, become a patron at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. That is where we get the most of our support for the show to pay for this recording equipment and hosting and whatnot. And eventually we may even have a website with reviews and all that good stuff. We'll see. Don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like.
Unknown	Bye bye.