Episode 79 - Life of a Watch Review with The Watch Clicker
Published on Wed, 29 Apr 2020 23:08:00 -0700
Synopsis
The host Andrew interviews Will, also known as the Watch Clicker, about his journey into watch photography and reviewing watches on his website WatchClicker.com. Will shares how he started taking pictures of his watches and eventually turned it into a passion for product photography and reviewing watches. They discuss Will's favorite reviews, watches in his personal collection, and his recommendations for video games, books, TV shows, and movies to enjoy during quarantine.
Links
Transcript
| Speaker | |
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| Andrew (Host) | Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. This is the 40 in 20 podcast with your host, Andrew. I'm a good friend of Everett here. We talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Everett, how are you? |
| Everett (Co-host) | I am borderline miserable. |
| Andrew (Host) | You, you look it, and I don't know if that's just because you are bearded and long haired. |
| Everett (Co-host) | It certainly doesn't help with the put togetherness. |
| Andrew (Host) | Yeah. But, uh, |
| Everett (Co-host) | Why? What happened? Oh, you know, so it just went on a little, went on a little jog this morning. A jog, as you refer to it. Yeah, I ran, we had, our marathon was scheduled for today. Yeah. For today. And that obviously was canceled because of COVID-19 and the measures everybody's taking to socially distance. You know, it just, you can't have, 20,000 people or whatever it is. I think it's fewer than that, but you can't have that many people sort of congregate in a place for hours. |
| Andrew (Host) | And I don't know that it is fewer than that. The, the marathon here is enormous. People come down just to watch that shit. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yeah, that's right. So, and we have a good elite crowd. Our marathon always has a good elite crowd. Uh, Eugene's sort of, it's a Boston qualifier, isn't it? It is. Oh yeah, absolutely. Uh, and Eugene's track town USA. So we always get a number of sort of uh, track legends, right. Uh, or, or long distance legends, folks come in the, the, uh, the meetings and the interviews and the speeches they have before the marathon are always epic. Uh, John Benoit Samuelson, I saw in recent years, uh, I saw Andy Burfoot talk for like two hours, a couple of years ago, you know, these sort of legends of running and running journalism. So it's really kind of a cool event. Well, in any event, they canceled it. So that didn't happen, but what, but they canceled it. We were like, I don't know, 10 weeks out. And so me and my running partner just decided we're going to, we're going to do it. We're going to keep going and we're going to run on the Sunday of, so that was this morning. |
| Andrew (Host) | Did you run the route? |
| Everett (Co-host) | We ran the route exactly, which I don't think very many people did. There was a handful of people we saw at the start. Um, but along the course we saw people, but they seem to be running other directions. They weren't running the route. |
| Andrew (Host) | So I would have expected there to be a large contingent of people running the route. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yeah. We talked about that too. Like, is that, is that appropriate if there's a bunch of people running the route and we find that it's not safe? I mean, one, the optics are bad, right? |
| Andrew (Host) | Like super bad. |
| Everett (Co-host) | You guys are, you guys are just, you know, fuck the quarantine advice and you're doing what you want. The optics on that are bad. And, and two, maybe that's because it's actually just not good, but we didn't have that. I mean, we were able to socially distance in an appropriate way the entire time. Uh, so yeah, no, no big giant crowds or anything. Cool. |
| Andrew (Host) | But also kind of a bummer. |
| Everett (Co-host) | A lot of a bummer. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It would have been nice. I think if there had been a few more, um, a few more sort of people all sort of doing it at the same time, same place. |
| Andrew (Host) | Had I been awake, I would have brought a trash can out and filled it with water and stirred it with a paddle at a couple of your markers. |
| Everett (Co-host) | That would have been fun. You know, I said at one point, you know, like, I kind of miss the cowbells, right? Because that's such a like, that's such a familiar sound as you're approaching the end of a marathon that ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And so not having that was, I mean, not just the cowbell, but you know, the whole, the whole thing, not having that kind of take it away. |
| Andrew (Host) | Andrew, how are you? The 25 mile beer and all that other stuff. That's right. Yeah. Uh, I'm good. I, uh, I obviously worked overnight and I, I planned on having a pretty productive day and I laid down for my Sunday morning nap and got woken up about 45 minutes before I needed to be here. So I was still like, I was, I was texting you super disoriented. I, I went to text you later, like as I was about to leave my house and I was like, what the fuck? When was I talking to Everett today? So, yeah. So finally coming out of it, finally awake. and have a laundry list of things to accomplish when I get home tonight. I gotta mow the lawn, gotta do some yard work, because it's still nice enough to do all that stuff, but if I don't mow my lawn today, I fear that it'll look like my house has been abated. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yeah, no, this is like the worst month of the year in terms of mowing the grass. It comes up, it's growing, my grass is growing like half an inch a day. |
| Andrew (Host) | And it rains for five day chunks, and then it's nice on a Wednesday when you can't mow your lawn. |
| Everett (Co-host) | So tons of nutrients in the ground, tons of moisture, tons of sunshine. We cut back our hedges by the driveway and the sidewalk a month ago, and they're overgrown. They're already sort of scrabbling over the sidewalk. So I do want to stop you there. We do need to stop you. I do want to stop you there because we're talking about watches today. Yeah. And because you don't know anything about watches and, and I'm kind of a moron, uh, who knows very little about watches. We brought, uh, we brought someone on the show who knows about watches. This is a person who's written about watches. Writes about watches. Writes. Writes. Who's, who takes pretty fucking fantastic pictures of watches. And seems like a modestly coherent human being based on my earlier conversations with him. We brought Will the WatchCooker. Will, are you there? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | I'm here, guys. How you doing? |
| Everett (Co-host) | Fantastic, man. |
| Andrew (Host) | Great to have you. Thanks for being here. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | I'm already thinking about mowing my lawn now. |
| Andrew (Host) | Oh, sorry. Thanks for that. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Went ahead and ruined your Sunday too. And now, Will, you're in New Jersey. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Pennsylvania. I grew up in New Jersey. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Oh, yeah. Okay, so you're in Pennsylvania, so you do have a yard. If you were in New Jersey, you might not. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | When I lived in New Jersey, I had a smaller yard, so I was able to upgrade a little bit. |
| Everett (Co-host) | But that's okay, because the whole state is a garden. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | That's right. We have gardens and tomatoes. |
| Everett (Co-host) | But now that you're in Pennsylvania, you do have a lawn that's now growing out of control and will hopefully not keep you awake tonight with its length. |
| Andrew (Host) | It's like growing pain sounds that it makes overnight. It's absurd. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Oh yeah. It's, it's screaming at me through the windows. I can already hear it. |
| Everett (Co-host) | I hate spring. I, you know, I really like spring. Uh, I just love all the, I love the trees before they have leaves, but they have those, uh, buds and flowers and that's right. The buds of the leaves that are about to be, I mean, flower buds are pretty too, but the leaf buds are just one of my favorite things. I don't know why. I think in terms of color for photography, it's really a neat thing. |
| Andrew (Host) | So we're talking to Will the Watch Clicker today. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | I knew we were going to go on a tangent about something. I didn't think it was going to be gardening. |
| Andrew (Host) | Not even gardening, other people's gardens. So, Will the Watch Clicker, why don't you take a minute, minute and a half, and introduce yourself to us and to the folks out there listening. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Sure. Sounds good. So, uh, my name's will, um, I run a site called watch clicker.com, um, which I started a little over two years ago now. Um, but it didn't become what it is until probably the last year, year and a half at the most. Um, I started on Instagram, just taking really honestly crappy cell phone pictures of my watches. Cause I didn't think that anybody really gave a crap about watch photography. Um, it was just something like, Hey, I'll just take a picture of this thing that I have. And, you know, maybe the, the brand of the watch, you know, they'll see it and be like, Oh yeah, this guy took a great cell phone picture. Um, and of course that, you know, didn't happen. And then maybe they'll send me a free watch. Honestly, that's what I thought. I was like, yeah, you know, I followed a couple of people. I was like, they get free watches. Why can't it be me? Um, I quickly realized that was not the case. But I didn't just start taking pictures of watches. You know, just that's how I learned photography. I've been taking pictures for the better part of 10 years, probably close to 12 now, I guess. But I started out totally outside of product photography, I guess, is what you would call watch photography now. Um, I did landscapes and architecture and what I would do is I would either drive into the city, you know, New New York or Philadelphia. It looks pretty close to both. Um, and take pictures, you know, street photography, that sort of thing. Um, and then once a year I would take a big trip, usually out to the Southwest for a week, go camping, hiking, and I would take pictures and I would just roll it all into a glorified slideshow, I guess you could say. And show that to my friends and family. And that's what I did for years. Uh, and then what it quickly turned into, you know, once I had a, a family and a house and you know, you, you can't just disappear off to the wilderness for a week. |
| Andrew (Host) | Oh, but you can. |
| Everett (Co-host) | You can. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | There's consequences. Yeah. Yeah. You might not have a house and a family anymore. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Andrew has been known to disappear for weeks at a time. |
| Andrew (Host) | I, I, I try to hunt about 60 days a year and. It's a strain. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah. Yeah. That's what you tell everybody, but you're really getting out of the house for 60 days a year. |
| Andrew (Host) | Oh yeah. Yeah. No, I don't hunt. I never bring anything home. I just, I just, my bow still has a tag on it. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Perfect. Don't tell anybody. So what I found out is, you know, it's hard to actually go out and do that kind of stuff. Um, you know, that, that's a young man's game, I guess you could say, unless you're making a living in it, which I wasn't. Um, So I kind of gave up photography for a little while. I put all my stuff away. Um, and I didn't shoot anything for a while. And then when I started getting into mechanical watches and kind of realizing, you know, how beautiful these objects were, um, cause I, I've only been really into watches like, you know, you and me are for the past three years. So it's a fairly new hobby for me. But photography wasn't. So I decided to see what I could do with what I had. I started learning more about lighting, because when you're out taking a landscape, the world is your light. You know, you don't control it at all. You just give in to whatever nature wants to do. Sure. |
| Everett (Co-host) | But you use exposure and and shutter times and F stops and you control light with the with the device and spend a whole lot of time in one place. |
| Andrew (Host) | waiting for the light to be right. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Right. Exactly. And then when it's not right, you just get angry and you leave with nothing. Um, but I found that working in the studio, quote unquote, the studio was much easier, um, in terms of being able to control your subject. And so I basically took that and started posting, I guess, more professional photos, I guess you could say on Instagram. And that's really how I got started in all this. |
| Everett (Co-host) | So what was your, what was the turning point for you in terms of your photography? What do you, is there a moment in time or a watch perhaps that you can point to and say, this is when I took the, the watch photography to the next level or, or, or, you know, began the sort of current iteration of what your watch photography is right now. Is there a moment in time? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah, um, I wouldn't say it was so much a moment in time, but rather a purchase, uh, as goes with everything. Um, I was clicking through some stories on Instagram and someone I wish I could remember who posted a behind the scenes of what they were doing with their watches and they had, uh, you know, a soft box. And I was sitting here shooting on my coffee table in my family room, you know, moving the louvers on my window blinds up and down to try and get the light right. I was like, why did I not think of this? Buy a light. Right. So I bought a really super cheap softbox on Amazon. I think it was 20 bucks. And I got this obnoxiously large CFL light bulb. You see a CFL light bulb and they're the little ones that you plug into your lamp or whatever. This thing was about eight or nine inches long. It was humongous. And that's what I put in the softbox is probably ridiculously overpowered. I don't even know where it is now. But that's what really kind of changed my photography where I was now, you know, moving the light around getting the, you know, the Fleck Joe, everybody calls it and trying to get everything lit up the right way. And I'll never forget when I got it. I set I was shooting on my coffee table in a family room. My wife looks at me when I turn this light on the whole room lit up. Right. And she just looked at me like. What the hell are you doing? What the fuck is happening to our marriage? |
| Andrew (Host) | Yeah. Why is my living room look like this? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah. She's trying to watch, you know, Gilmore Girls or something. I don't know. And, you know, I'm lighting up the whole room with this giant light. And she's like, it's six o'clock at night. The sun's down and you're trying to make it bright again. Right. |
| Everett (Co-host) | That sounds familiar. Yeah. Yeah. My wife's favorite is when, is when I'm like, Hey babe, can we just turn the kitchen light off for a second? And she's like, I'm cooking fucking pasta. And I'm like, yeah, but that orange light's really going to mess with my picture. |
| Andrew (Host) | Pasta needs eight minutes in a boil. You don't need to watch it. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Did you throw the pasta against the fridge yet? Is it done? |
| Everett (Co-host) | Uh, okay. So, and you know, uh, I actually, you say you don't have that CFL or maybe you don't know where it is. I actually use CFL. with an umbrella. I've got I've got speed lights that I use from time to time. I actually use still 5600 Kelvin CFLs now with my with quite a bit of my my photography. Is that something that you found wasn't giving you the versatility you needed? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | No, actually, what you're using is a it's a good light because it gets a nice color temperature in terms of what you're going to get out of it. And the brightness is right about, you know, where you kind of want it to not blow out the highlights on like the case or the polished surfaces. Right. Where I moved away from using that sort of setup was I was talking to Ty Alexander photography on Instagram. I'm sure you guys know him. Oh, yeah. |
| Everett (Co-host) | He's like he's like the all hail Alexander photography, I think. Right. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah. Yeah. And he gave me a lot of good tips when I was leaning more towards getting a higher-end lighting setup, because he had a link in his profile at some point, I don't know if he still does, to what he was using. And I asked him about it, and he kind of steered me in the direction, and now I use Interfit Honey Badgers. |
| Everett (Co-host) | I have three of them. I saw that you have those. Those are serious lights. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | I love them. There's a few things they can't do, but I mean, for about 95% of what I want to do, Um, and I'd say probably even more than that, probably a hundred percent of the things I want to shoot now, uh, I can make it work with them. Um, and quite honestly, it's probably overkill. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yeah, no, I, right. Those are serious. Those are serious studio lights. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah. Well, what I found with those is, um, and this is kind of the way I pitched it to my wife when I was like, I'm going to get a couple of these. Is that, uh, they can be used for other things outside of watch photography. And at the time we had a baby on the way and I was like, we can do portraits of the baby in the house and not have to pay anybody. |
| Andrew (Host) | And there it is. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | You're a smart sold. And, and what do you, what do you guys think that I'm going to be doing in about three weeks? And my daughter is about to turn one year old. |
| Andrew (Host) | You're going to be doing portraits of your one-year-old daughter, which you should, if you have the equipment and you have the capacity. Might as well, because those that can get expansive. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Oh, it absolutely can. Figured that out real quick when we did newborn photos. Yeah. Because that was one thing my wife was like, I trust you, but there's professionals to do this. And so we went and did that. I was very happy we did, because after watching them mold your baby. Yeah. Yeah. You know, take those pictures. I was like, yeah, I probably wouldn't have done this. |
| Andrew (Host) | The pictures would have been great. The subject matter would have been like just disastrous. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Oh, you know, I would have been, you know, putting the baby in a position and then like, let's just put the watch on her back. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yeah. Yeah. You know, uh, that's such a, it's such an interesting, it's such an interesting idea that you're not buying this for one thing. Right. Uh, because I think, I think a lot of times with, with watch photography, photograph, uh, watch photography purchases or whatever, it's easy to get sort of in the mindset that I need this one thing. for this one thing and failing to appreciate the equipment that you're getting, right? Something like a honey badger. Does that have the hybrid head where you can do sort of speed light head or the bulb head? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Like a modeling light that's on constantly? Yeah. |
| Everett (Co-host) | So, I mean, the possibilities with something like that are sort of, |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | limitless right especially you got three of them fuck man that you can do anything with that if you if you've got the will yeah and well two things you know the first thing going back to what you said you know about having all this equipment is even though I have all of it sometimes it's just so much easier to whip out my iPhone you know put it in portrait mode or whatever if I'm taking pictures of my kid and just snap off a couple pictures and sometimes I forget that I have this stuff and this week I was You know, we're home with nothing to do essentially. And I, uh, I decided I was like, why don't I bring my camera up? I'll take a couple of pictures of her just doing stuff. And I was happy I did because it just comes out so much better. You know, when you're able to control, you know, the F stop and the lighting and all that stuff, I have a speed light that I can Mount on the hot shoe. Um, and it, it, it just comes out better. And then the second thing is. I have three of them, but sometimes I, and I did it this week, uh, when I posted the picture of, uh, it was the Oris diver 65 chrono. Yeah. I, I backed it out to one light. I was like, let me just get kind of back to basics a little bit and create some like moody artsy lighting. |
| Everett (Co-host) | High contrast. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah. Because part of what I was doing is, you know, shooting for, you know, reviews and that sort of thing is you want people to see the watch as it is, you know, as even a lighting as you can get. Um, but this is something, you know, we can talk about in a minute, but I, I wanted my Instagram to get away from the product stuff a little bit and go a little bit more towards the artsy stuff that I think I originally built my following on. Um, because when you're shooting, uh, you know, real product photography type stuff, even if the watch is beautiful, it can get a little sterile. And I wanted to bring some of the art back. And that's why I was like, all right, kind of, you know, it sounds cliche, but let me go back to my roots. Um, you know, and just shooting with, you know, that one light that I had, you know, a couple of years ago. Right. Cause it forces you to get creative. |
| Everett (Co-host) | You know, I have found that anytime I'm trying to. sort of achieve a presentation goal with a watch that I'm not able to have as much fun with the picture. When I can let go of resolution and I can let go, not necessarily resolution, right? Because sometimes you still want that. But when I can sort of let go of any sort of fidelity goals and tell the story I want to have more fun maybe, and not more fun, But it's something that I want to be doing with my, with my photography. I don't know. I mean, we, we go back and forth, Andrew and I both, you know, we have, um, moments of, you know, months, weeks or months where we're super, super into it. And we're exchanging, exchanging text messages several times a week about, you know, Oh, I got this, or I tried this or that. And then other times they're like, ah, I got to fucking take a picture of a watch and put it on Instagram. I, I'm most into it when I'm letting, when I'm letting my creative side trump my, uh, my fidelity side. Do you, do you, is that sort of playing into the thing you're the phenomenon you're discussing now? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah, absolutely. Um, especially when I have a lot of watches in preview, cause sometimes I have three to five and at a time. And that can get cumbersome when you're trying, cause I try to get out at least 25 to 30 pictures per review, because you have your stage shots, you have your wrist shots, and then I do macros and that sort of stuff. Um, when I'm trying to do all that, I shoot that stuff in batches where I'll, I'll just bring all my watches cause I shoot my basement. Now I'll bring it all down my basement and I'll hammer out a bunch of stuff in like two hours. Right. And that's kind of the stuff where it's like, okay, This is the quote unquote work part. And then I like to, you know, get rid of everything else, bring one watch down and just do some of the more creative type shots. And that's when I'm like, okay, I can move this light here. I'll move that over here. You know, let me try this. I'll put a card over here to bounce the light this way. Um, that's when you can get a little more creative because when I'm shooting a macro shot, I need light everywhere, evenly lit. I kind of know where everything needs to be to get the shots that I need. So those are the ones where I'm like, all right, I'm hammering these out in two hours and I'm done with five watches. And then I can just focus on wearing them and taking the fun shots. |
| Andrew (Host) | So I hate to change the topic, but I think that, I think we've kind of created that bridge. And what I'm wondering is how taking some, taking pictures of watches transitioned into are now, which is reviewing watches at a pretty, at a pretty high level. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah. So when I first started the website, um, I was, I had it built very differently than if you look at it today. Uh, how I had it set up was it was very much, um, if like Flickr, um, made a portfolio page for me, you know, that sort of thing. The homepage was like I don't I literally said at one point. I don't do reviews these are pictures of watches, you know that I have or that I like that I've seen and I'm gonna write a blurb about them basically to have text for search engines, you know to pick me up and How I had it set up was On the left side of the screen or if you are on mobile all the pictures would come up And then below that would be three paragraphs where I'd be like, this is this watch. This is what I like about it. Um, this is what it looks like and I'm done. And what I found with that was it wasn't very interesting. It was just me spewing some pictures out in the hopes of getting, you know, some recognition from, you know, some brands that I wanted to work with or, um, just to build up my Instagram following and |
| Everett (Co-host) | It was Instagram, Instagram with a little bit, with a little bit of depth. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yes. It would be like if Instagram, like if you did a, you know, a multi post or multi photo thing and you swipe to the right, I had some text. Right. Um, what I found was I wasn't getting traffic. First of all, that was, you know, the biggest thing. And then the more I wrote these little paragraphs, the more I was like expanding on them as I was going. And eventually I got to the point, it was after I did a, I don't know, maybe 10 of them, um, where I was like, why, why don't I just actually write a review and I'll see how it does. Or maybe I'll see if I can, you know, submit it to another outlet. You know, maybe they'll pick it up and, you know, publish it for me. And after I did a couple of them, the traffic started coming in. You know, when you have those walls of text with pictures and you actually focus a little bit on the search engine optimization. It's crazy how fast Google will start ranking your site. And after I figured that out, I took down all that stuff that was just, you know, a couple pictures with some paragraphs. And I started redesigning the site to be more like a blog, I guess you could say, where there was a homepage, you could find articles quickly, you could search for things. and it was easy to search for a watch, find a review, and read about it, and see some pictures. So that made it easy in terms of kind of getting the site a little more noticed, because I was basically taking either the watches that I owned or the couple brands that, you know, I'd just become friendly with that would send me a watch to, you know, take some pictures of, and then I'd send it back to them, you know. That was pretty much how I was operating day to day. And it, you know, it was, it was hard in the beginning to get brands to realize that I'm not asking you to send me a free watch. That's not what I'm looking for. I want you to send me something so that I can review it as a small person to build my brand. And then I'll send it back to you. And I, I got to the point in my pitches where I was saying that I'm not asking you to send me a watch for free. This is going to mutually benefit both of us. Um, And as blunt as it sounded, it actually started working where people were like, this guy's saying that he doesn't want us to give him a watch for free. Right. Right. And it's crazy when you, when you start talking to some of these brands, especially, you know, the one or two man shops, you know, like, uh, notice or Trask, uh, carpenter watches, those guys that it's just one or two people. And you talk to them a little bit more, how much they say that they get inundated with those types of requests. sure. Oh yeah, I believe it. Yeah. I totally understand it because if you think about it, just from a common sense perspective, if they're selling a watch that costs $800, that watch has a profit margin and whatever that is, it is not sending you a free watch. Their margins are tight and you know, maybe you get lucky one day and you'll work with a, you know, Invicta or something, you know, and they might send you a free watch. |
| Andrew (Host) | And they'll send you a discount from MSRP. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | If you guys give us a $1, it's 99% off. It's a pretty good deal for you. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yeah. You know, I notice, I think that there are, there are brands that do that on a fairly regular basis. I know Jody, I'm a really big fan of his, and I love his reviews. I think that he's, he's really nailed in what he's doing. And so, and so no disrespect, but most of the watches he talks about, I don't like, uh, I would say upwards towards 65, 70% of the watches he's reviewing. I'm like, eh, uh, but that's not, that's not a critique of him rather. It's a critique of, of, uh, of, uh, of, uh, watch brands, watch companies. I know one of the things he says a lot is this watch was sent to me. They sent this watch to me, uh, and, and I'm going to keep it. And I, well, that says something about that brand. And I don't know, I, this is not a rule that can be uniformly applied, but I think by and large, the watches that you're looking at, or at least the watches I'm seeing on your site or the watches that we get in for review, Are of a different level. They're either of a higher level, just objectively speaking, if not just in terms of price, or they're these brands like you're talking about, you know, they're a notice or, you know, they're a watch where there's a higher margin point or, excuse me, a tighter margin point. And these companies have earmarked two or three pieces to be their press models. And those models, those pieces make the rounds. So if, if I don't send that watch on, then, then it's, then it stops with me and they, and their, their coverage based on that piece ceases. So, and those three watches are their marketing budget. Yeah, that's right. That's right. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah. And, you know, in that same regard, going back to talking about, uh, this brand sent me a watch, um, There are, there are people who, you know, that's their bread and butter, you know, they live in that world. And that caters, I think, to a little bit of a different audience than, you know, probably you or me are playing in. Um, but at the same time, there are, and I really don't want this to sound snobby, but there are brands, there are brands that will beg you to review a watch like to the point where it's annoying. And, um, I've gotten to the point with. those, uh, because I've been burned a couple of times in terms of, uh, okay, I'm going to go ahead and review your watch. Not, not for you. You're going to give it to me. Just you haven't launched yet. You know, you're a Kickstarter brand, you're new or whatever. Um, they send it and you spend a lot of time reviewing it. You know, I put a lot of work into the reviews that I do. I want to make sure that I'm fair. I write a good amount of text around it and I take a lot of photos and that's time. And when. You know, there's a brand that, that does that and they send it to you and, um, they get fully funded or they don't get funded. And all of a sudden that watch isn't launching. Sometimes it's not their fault. You know, there, there are things outside of everybody's control, especially now. Yeah. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Um, but yeah, there's been a few launches in the last, in the last couple of months that have come up and failed and it's not, it's not the fault of the maker or the, or even the watch. It's just. time, time, time of, uh, of uncertainty. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | So, yep. And it's something that, um, I've kind of taken a step back from where, uh, and this is what I mean, I don't want to sound snobby about is I'm not going to review a watch that hasn't launched yet. And the only reason for that is I put so much time into it that i want to be able to do justice to the people that are actually coming back to my website or my instagram and reading about it where if i spend that much time on something that doesn't launch that's time taken away from something that did that i could have done because i'm to the point now and i you know i guess it's a good thing where i sometimes have too many requests that you know i can't handle some things because it's it's just me You know, I can't have 10 watches in at a time and put out 25 photos with, I'm doing video now. I can't do the video and write a review and, uh, have everything, you know, flowing the way that it should, where the quality is high. And I don't want to degrade that. So now I'm sticking with it. If, you know, Hey, if you launch a watch successfully and people have it in their hands and you're looking for some extra press, absolutely. But I'm trying to steer away from the first time Kickstarter watches that demographic as a contrary to that, because we we've done. |
| Andrew (Host) | Not not we're not similar at all, just just to be clear, I'm not drawing a parallel here, but we've done Kickstarters that. Got launched and we've had review pieces in that didn't get launched or that made production and Uh, and I think that's just a difference in our position, but I think for someone like you, that could just be a cool segment in your website of like your cold case files of watches that could have been. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | That's interesting. I never thought about it that way. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yeah. Well, and I was going to ask you specifically on that point, do you, um, do you, you're going to hear, you're going to hear chewing. My wife just brought hot, hot chocolate chip cookies and beer. She literally came up with a plate of hot chocolate chip cookies. Marry her again. And two cold beers. Yeah, I may have to marry her again. She's a keeper. She's what we'd call a keeper. I might marry her. We could share. That's fine. I've always said, speaking of tangents, I've always said, you know, people talk about, you know, Mormons do polygamy, right? I think they fuck it up. Bigamy is way smarter. I would much rather have a second husband to take the pressure off me. Yeah, bigamy is way smarter. Right. Um, do you find that you, you miss opportunities, uh, because of that policy or, or is, is that a new enough policy that that's not coming up? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Uh, I wouldn't say that I've missed opportunities. Um, I think I've been doing it long enough where, um, because it's not, it's not hard and fast. If this is your first watch, I'm not going to touch it. Um, that's not the case. If. someone reaches out to me and says, Hey, you know, I want you to review my watch and you know, here's why. And it's not just review my watch. We're launching Kickstarter, you know, June 1st and you know, that's your pitch. Um, obviously you're reaching out to me because you're looking to generate press for your watch and that's fine. Um, but there are some brands that reach out and say, Hey, um, you know, we've got a Kickstarter coming up, uh, because that's our way to raise capital, which is fine. It's an outlet to do that. , and you made it and you did well, and now we have a nice working relationship for future releases, then like you said, missing out on an opportunity. Yeah. So yeah, it's not a hard and fast rule. Um, it's just, I'm, I guess I'm more cautious about the watches that I bring in now. |
| Everett (Co-host) | And I think what we do and what you do is slightly different. Um, you know, we don't, we, we get fewer opportunities to review pieces because it's not primarily what we do. And so, Not only do we see fewer watches than you do, but we, we are, we, we can be less concerned with that type of thing because really what we do is people and stories, uh, and what you do is more sort of focused on the watch. Uh, which is not to say we don't focus on the watch, but I think that, uh, that gives us some flexibility in that area where I can understand where you'd want to, where you'd want to tighten that process up. |
| Andrew (Host) | You're almost a marketing firm for them. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah, almost. Yeah. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Well, well, okay. So we've talked a little bit about how you came up, how you started doing this. Um, you know, I think that people who aren't following your, who aren't following your website are probably missing out. There's a few review specific sites that I follow, uh, pretty regularly. I think yours, time bum, time bum is fantastic. Uh, I think time bumps sort of the OG, right? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yep. Yeah. There's a time, time bums. Great. There's, um, a guy I know that writes there, Mike from Mike Scott watches. Uh, he does a fantastic job. I love reading his reviews and I just published one of his, uh, for the long Jesus, big guy. And, um, it was, I guess you could say it was a little flattering to have someone that writes for the time bum right from my site too. So. Yeah time bumps great any other any other influences in terms of watch websites that you're tracking right now In all honesty I Would say that some of the things that I have aspirations for is Because this is just my outlook on what I want the website to be one day. I is I regularly read Hodinkee and Worn and Wound, a blog to watch, because their caliber of coverage and how they write is what I aspire to be. And if you read one of my reviews and you go and read like a week on the wrist from a Hodinkee article, you're going to see some parallels there because, you know, I don't plagiarize their style in any way, but |
| Andrew (Host) | That's their content. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yeah. Yeah. You're, you're straight ripping them off. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah. You know, weak on the risk, uh, you know, the black Bay GMT, I totally wrote that first. I think Stacy, she still left me. Um, but I, I want people who read that site to be able to come to my site and say, Hey, this, this is some higher caliber stuff. You know, I read this over here. This makes sense to what I'm reading on a daily basis. And. I go about it that way because I think anybody that's reading multiple outlets within an industry is going to have some specifics that they're looking for something that they want to see in the articles that they're reading that's consistent. You know, and that goes across any industry, right? You know, if you're in the, you know, gaming PCs, right, you're going to read, you know, several articles or several websites and you want it to agree with what your opinions are on that topic. And that's just human nature. But I would rather be slightly similar to those guys to where someone who reads those websites can come to mind and feel familiar than to feel alienated where they read something and they're like, I don't know what this guy's talking about. |
| Andrew (Host) | Do you ever find inconsistencies in your opinion of a watch with folks that have I don't think that I've ever had a watch in where I was just like, I can't write about it. Part of that's a screening process. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | You can shoot yourself in the foot and turn down every watch that comes your way, or you can just be a little bit picky. What I would say to answer your question is, if you read something on my website that's criticizing an element of a watch or something, you're probably going to see that play across other websites as well. I try not to be unfair. I try to be fair also, but I try to call out things that, um, you know, Hey, you can improve this here. Uh, you know, this thing was too big on the watch. This thing was too small. And you're probably going to see that same thing because if you think about it, um, the people who are reading, you know, my website or listening to your podcast are. we're in that that really niche group of watch collectors where we kind of know what we want you know someone doesn't want uh in our world someone doesn't want a 45 millimeter watch that's 52 millimeters lug to lug and the crown is you know you can't even grip it you know the proportions on watches have to be correct and you know there's brands that are just way out there but most of the brands that we're playing with in our world even if uh, the demographic is slightly different in terms of the watches that we're getting are pretty consistent. Sure. Um, they know who their buyer is. There's been some market research there and. Uh, you know, they're not going to reach out to me or you, if they're playing in that world where, you know, the guy who wears a white beater every day with, you know, flaming shorts and has a goatee and a Mohawk, you know, down on Florida beach somewhere is looking to buy his next Invicta. |
| Everett (Co-host) | I am looking at Andrew right now. He's wearing a wife beater shorts with flames. And he doesn't have he doesn't have any hair on top of his head, but it would be a Mohawk if he did. |
| Andrew (Host) | Yeah. Yeah. No, I don't. I could maybe. I think there's enough left in the center that I could get a Mohawk. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah, perhaps. But how many Invictus does he own? Fourteen. |
| Andrew (Host) | But only the really big ones. Only the really big ones. I use them to work out. I put one on each wrist and then I drink beer and I double the weight of my curls. |
| Everett (Co-host) | No, no, that's well, that's well taken. You know, um, I find for us, it makes for an interesting, it makes for an interesting experience sometimes. Um, we, we also try to be pretty, pretty, uh, fair and, uh, and critical of watches when, when watches deserve a critique. Uh, I don't, I don't think that we very often get watches we don't like in. Um, but sometimes there are things we don't like about watches, right? Uh, you know, I, we've had a few, uh, notice watches in over the years and we're both huge fans, tremendous fans of notice. And I think in terms of who's making the best watches in the sub $500 world, I think we're probably on board that notice is in there with the, you know, at least top two or three companies. There's, there's very few companies under $500 that are doing better than them. Maybe Laurier is at that same level. There's a couple of companies at the same level, but they're tops. However, we've had notice pieces in, and we've been critical of things. Well, we've got a really good working relationship with those guys at this point. We've had Wes and Cullen on the show a handful of times. I've done live streams with Wes. I would say that, A, we're friends with them in sort of a, as much as is possible, a real, a real sense. But occasionally that makes for uncomfortable times, right? Where we've, we've criticized, you know, we had the Avalon for a number of years. |
| Andrew (Host) | We both said it's too big and we both- Days, not years. We did not keep it for years, just to be really clear. Yes. Days. |
| Everett (Co-host) | You should have. |
| Andrew (Host) | Should I say years? We should have. You did say years, but I just want to be clear. We don't steal people's watches. You can, you can send them to us. We won't keep them for long. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Sometimes longer than you might want. Definitely longer than you might want. You'll get them back. But, you know, we critiqued that watch. I think it's a fabulous watch, but I thought it was too big. And neither one of us liked the end link fitment, the end link coordination. And we said that on our show. And then later, I remember both of those things now have come up at different times when we've been talking to those guys. And it's sort of like, it gives me a little bit of like, oh gosh, I said this thing that is critical or, or whatever. But those guys are pros, you know, and they, and they take it in stride. And they fixed it. You know, I don't know that they fixed it with the Avalon, but I think. |
| Andrew (Host) | Oh, with future watches though, they fixed it. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yeah. I think that it's something that they paid attention to. Yeah. I mean, fixed, right? Yeah. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | The, uh, the end links on the duality, um, match the contour of the lugs coming in really nicely. So yeah, I'd say that. And that's, that's the thing that's nice is there are brands out there that listen to the things that you say and notice is one of them. Um, what's the phrase you can judge a person by the caliber of their friends. Um, and that's probably why we agree on a lot of things is because I've had a great working relationship with notice as well. They were one of the first brands that I ever worked with. Um, and they're one of those brands that listens to people, um, their, their, their feedback and their criticisms and take them in stride and actually do something about it rather than just being like, yeah, you know, I made the watch that I wanted to make. Sure. You know, and you guys brought up another good point. Um, there, there are brands out there that make a lot of great watches and notice is one of them, but just because you love a brand doesn't mean that you need to love every watch that they make. And I think that goes more for the larger brands than, you know, some of the smaller brands, but even with the smaller brands that are a little more tenured now, that's absolutely true. You know, you can hate Tag Heuer because, you know, they made a whole bunch of quartz watches in the nineties and everybody hates them for some reason. |
| Everett (Co-host) | I fucking love them. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | I'd buy any, I think that tag has come, they're coming back. And the Aqua racer, I think is one of the coolest dive watches that you can buy right now. I'd love to have one. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Like a modern Aquaracer. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yep. I really like. Even with the stupid ass Cyclops, I still think it's cool. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yeah, they are cool. They are cool. One of, you know, I've got, I want both the Tag 1000 and a Tag 2000, 90s Aquaracer 2000 and a 1000, their sort of sub-e 1000. So yeah, I'm, I'm a big Tag fan. I think Andrew's into it. A Tag Link, one of, one of my coworkers has a Tag Link. And it's just kind of an ugly, stupid watch. And I still just think it's cool as shit. That bracelet's fucking bizarre and awesome. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Well, they're, they're a brand that knows who they're catering to, you know, much like, um, Invicta, you know, Invicta does Invicta things. And there are a lot of their watches. I'm not going to touch with a 10 foot pole. I wouldn't go anywhere near them, but. There are people who love Invicta watches. I absolutely adore them. And I would say that their buying group in terms of their, their core collectors are probably larger than the entire Instagram watch community. You know, they have an excellent, they're like, um, they're like Timex. They have a fantastic supply chain set up where they can manufacture something for super cheap and That, uh, the, uh, the 1953, the pro master, 1953, though, it just came out that I, I reviewed a couple of weeks ago. Yeah. Great review, by the way, on that. Thank you. Um, that, that was a great example of them. Stepping outside that boundary a little bit, but still they're, they're placating to what we wanted a little bit. It's almost like they knew that, you know, Hey, if we release this watch all the, all the watch people on Instagram are going to want to buy that watch douche bags are going to be into it. And they were right. You can't find that watch anywhere. |
| Everett (Co-host) | That's right. And when you can, it's like 260 bucks. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Um, yeah, it's crazy. I have, I have one upstairs. I'm doing a giveaway with it. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Well, can you, someone's going to get lucky. You should put my name in a couple of times. Uh, you know, one thing I'll say about Invicta, uh, I don't like 90% of their, probably more than that. Probably a lot more than that. I don't like, Most of their watches, they're not for me. I wouldn't wear them. They're not, they're not the kind of watches I want to wear. But is there another watch brand, modern watch brand that you can think of that has more original designs, more original design watches that they've released in the last 20 years than Invicta? I can't think of anybody. I can't think of anybody else who's released more original designs than Invicta in the last 20 years. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | I guess you could argue Seiko, but. |
| Everett (Co-host) | And for better or worse in, in both, in both of those camps, right. More so in the Invicta camp. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah. Uh, they're doing their own thing. Exactly. And I think everybody goes through their awkward phase. Um, you know, like I said a minute ago, look at Tag, they got so much shit. for the stuff that they released in the nineties and early two thousands that people hate them and they don't know why. They're just like, I, I don't like tags, you know, because they, it's tag above Hoyer on the logo. It's like, do you really give that much of a shit? Like they're, they make cool watches. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yeah. You know, my, I think my favorite nineties tag, my favorite nineties tag is that tiger woods, uh, it's not reverse. So really, but it's got like a little tray you can open up The watch, it's got like a little tray. It's like a Coke tray is what it is. They released a Tiger Woods branded watch. That's got a Coke tray in it. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | That's what I'm talking about. It's well, knowing, knowing what we know now about Tiger Woods, it makes a lot of sense. It was probably a personal request. |
| Andrew (Host) | It's like, look, I just need a little, a little tray that comes out. You don't need to know why it's there. Just, just add that. And then I will, I will rep it. I will golf in it. Yep. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Fantastic. Oh, okay. Okay. Well, so can we do a little speed round? Uh, well, can we do a little speed round? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah, let's do it. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Are you down for it? Okay. So without respect to the watch, like the watch, hate the watch indifferent. What are your three favorite reviews you've ever done? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Okay. |
| Everett (Co-host) | And it doesn't have to be three. It could be one or 12. Okay. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Uh, number one, I would, well, I'm going to say no specific order just as they pop into my head. Uh, the Christopher Ward C65 Dartmouth, which was the blue dial Seamaster 300 inspired. Yeah. Um, I love that watch. It is, it's stupid good. Um, and I don't know why more people don't buy it. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Cause the price is fantastic. They're like 800 bucks. Yeah. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah, and it's got one of the best bracelets in the game. In terms of the technology that's in it's got the quick release spring bar thingy for the bracelet. Right. And it's got the ratcheting micro adjustments. |
| Everett (Co-host) | And the bezel and the bezels on those are fantastic. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah, every Christopher Ward that I've had, especially the Trident series is probably their best bezel. They just I just turn them just to use them. They, they just work great. Okay. Next. Uh, brew master graph. It's probably the coolest quartz chrono. Um, that I think I've had in, and I did a series not intentionally, but last, last fall, and it was a whole bunch of them, uh, quartz chronos and that, that was my favorite one. Loved it. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Okay. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | You got a third. Yeah. The Seiko SBDC061, which is what people call the Marine Master 200. Sure. I actually just read your review on that. I love that watch. It's, I'm really interested to see, cause they're launching the new ones that are like the SBDC051 lookalikes, but they're smaller. I think they're only 40 millimeters now. Yeah. They're coming out in, I think, two months. I want to try and get one of those in for review, because I'm really interested to see what they're like. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yeah, that's just a killer watch. One of our local friends, he's actually not local to us anymore, but Xander, if you're out there, rest in peace, we're pouring one out for you. He's not actually dead, y'all. He had one of those, and I fucking love that watch. Okay. Favorite watches from your own personal collection. Go. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | So my personal collection is interesting because it used to be humongous. I had way too many watches. Um, and then when I started getting more into the review pieces, I started downscaling because I wasn't wearing the watches that I owned. Um, because I, I spent too much time wearing, that's a good problem to have. I spent too much time wearing watches that I had in for review. So my core collection now is the Omega Speedmaster, the Oris Aquus, the Brew Mastergraph. I have a Casio Edifice. It's a quartz. It's like 50 bucks. I haven't done a review on it yet, but I'm going to. Tudor Pelagos. And then one more that is currently in for repair that's new. So I'm not going to talk about it yet. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Okay. All right. That's a killer question. The Pelagos is fantastic. The Brew is fantastic. It's a killer collection. |
| Andrew (Host) | That really speaks to the Brew when put against the backdrop of the other watches in your collection. Totally. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Speedy, Pelagos, Brew. Yeah. Fuck yeah. John Farrow, one of our favorite watch people there are. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah. I had a great opportunity to spend a day with John and One of the coolest people in the watch industry loved hanging out with him. |
| Everett (Co-host) | And he's got really good hair. |
| Andrew (Host) | Yeah. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | He does. I wish I could do that. I might as well just shave my head off next to him. |
| Andrew (Host) | So how many of these watches have you had in for review and were so pumped by that you went out and actually purchased that watch? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | So that's a double-edged sword. On one side, there are many watches that I've had in preview where I was like, I want to buy this. But the budget does not allow it. Yeah, right. We know that. So I know that. Yep. Yep. Yep. I've had to make decisions about, you know, the things that I that I buy in. So there's only one watch that I've bought in. Because I thought it was just a fantastic little watch. It was different from anything in my collection. Uh, and it was something I knew that for whatever reason, I wasn't going to sell it. It, it was going to be a great watch, uh, to just throw on whatever day of the week and it would look good. And that was the Brewmaster Graph. |
| Andrew (Host) | That's what I had a feeling. That's, that's what it was. I knew you were going that way. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yeah. And did you, you've reviewed the Retro Graph too, right? Yeah. So your, your, your take on, on those two is the Master Graph worked better for you? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah. The. There are a couple things that I like about the master graph over the retro and I like the dive bezel. And I like the shorter dial where the dial is more square because I think if I remember correctly, the master graph and the retro graph actually share the same case. |
| Everett (Co-host) | It's not it's not the same case, but the outside but the outside dimensions are exactly the same. Yeah. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah, yeah. That's what it is. And I felt that the the dial proportions with the dive bezel It, I guess it looked a little more traditional, but I felt that it, it just worked a little bit better on my wrist. |
| Everett (Co-host) | You know, we had, so I had the same experience as you. We, we, we had the master graph and the retro graph in for review very recently. Uh, I expected to like the retro graph better and got that master graph on my wrist and was like, holy shit. I really want one of these. And I think Andrew just the opposite. Yeah. I had the opposite experience. |
| Andrew (Host) | Like, like the, uh, the master graph and then turned out loving the retro graph. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah. The Mastergraph is a really special watch. I think John just did a killer job with it. Bang up job even. Yeah. Yeah. I'm really excited to see what he does. I think he, I think his next watch, I think he said he's going to do a three hand automatic. Don't quote me on that. |
| Everett (Co-host) | No, he said that. He said that publicly. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | He did. Okay. Okay. All right. So I knew I heard that somewhere. Yeah. |
| Everett (Co-host) | He's, he's, he's been public about that at this point. So, uh, oh, okay. Final question here. One or two, one or two grail watches that you, you not grail. I think that word gets misused watches that you will add to your collection soon. If not very soon. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Um, the first one is definitely the Rolex OP 39, uh, white dial. Okay. Either on or before my 40th birthday. I will have that watch. |
| Everett (Co-host) | You've got, you've got a couple of years then. Yeah. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yep. I've got some time on that one. So that's definitely going to happen at some point. And I've tossed this one around a little bit and I don't know if it's something that I would actually want to add or not, but it's, it's on my radar and it's a Breitling Navitimer. |
| Andrew (Host) | Do it. Fucking do it. You know, I ever broke one of those once. |
| Everett (Co-host) | That's true. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | I, I've never, I've never tried one on, so I don't know if it works on my wrist. And I think that's the question. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Well, you can, if you can pull off a Speedy Pro, you've got the Speedmaster Professional, right? Yep. If you can pull off a Speedy Pro, you can pull off an Abitimer. Uh, they're not similar. Uh, they don't wear similarly, but the dimensions, the, the dimensional wear is similar enough. Yeah. And I did break one of those in an AD. Yep. With, with a, with a man, with a man standing at the front door with an Uzi, literally with an Uzi. I broke, I broke a Navitimer. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Was that in Mexico? |
| Everett (Co-host) | It was Mexico. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | True story. It was the man with the Uzi at the front door that gave that away. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Okay. Well, on that note, on that note, we will, we will push on, we will push on as we do. to other things. Andrew, my man, go. |
| Andrew (Host) | So I have been finding new and different ways to fill my exceptionally empty schedule outside of work because we can't go anywhere or do anything. So I recently, finally joined the modern era of gaming consoles and I bought a new Xbox. I started playing Red Dead Redemption 2 and I I have vivid memories of Red Dead Redemption. Oh my God. I fucking love like when that game came out, loved it. So I'm in there. I'm at, I'm at the Walmart and buying my Xbox and looking at games. I'm like, you know, I almost bought a new console when this game rolled out. I'm going to get it. That's all I can do. I don't want to spend time with my family. Like I've considered taking the plat, like taking the console into a different room and just hooking up to a TV and playing by myself in the dark. It is amazing. The artistry in it, just the, the design of that game is beautiful. They did such a great job capturing landscapes, wildlife, not so much, but the landscapes, it's, it's like a striking visual experience, even outside of the gameplay. And the gameplay is terrific. I've played it more hours than I'm willing to willing to say, and I'm only about 40% through the, just the story, just the, like the primary story. It's been terrific. If you all have gaming consoles and you for some reason haven't already jumped on this game, it is well worth it and it will consume days of your life. And in quarantine, we need that. |
| Everett (Co-host) | You know, the original Red Dead Redemption was the first game that I remember getting and playing, played through that game. I might have played through it twice, but it's the first game I remember feeling I am doing something in this game that's exceptionally mundane for long stretches of time and absolutely loving it. I remember there is a section of Red Dead Redemption, and maybe it's not a section, it sort of pervades through the game, but there's a few sections in particular where you have to collect wildflowers. |
| Andrew (Host) | Yeah, I've been doing that. |
| Everett (Co-host) | You get on your horse and you're riding through these plains and, ah, that's that. Yeah. I've been doing that. I thought this is so mundane and so stupid that I'm going to sit on my couch and do this stupid thing and just absolutely enjoy the shit out of it. |
| Andrew (Host) | I've been on the hunt for the legendary moose, just wandering around the wilderness in slow motion trying to find moose tracks. Ours. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | I agree with you guys. I think the reason that I do, especially with the first one, you know, doing those mundane tasks is because that game portrayed the Southwest beautifully. Mm hmm. And it was one of those games where you could sit down and play it and be like, this is what it must have felt like to be a frontier guy out, you know, out on the plains gathering wildflowers. And that's a weird statement to make as a grown man. But it's true. I think that's about as close as you're ever going to get, because I'm certainly not going to do that. |
| Andrew (Host) | I'm not going to just go wander in a partially starving mode and be like, man, I got to find some ginseng and, and boost my health right now. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Okay. Andrew, you're good. I'm good. Okay. So mine is another book. I'm sorry. You guys it's books. It's sci-fi right now. I'm in a, I'm in a, I'm in a place. There's some chance that our audio is totally gone to shit because there is a two-stroke motor being run about a hundred feet from us. Uh, if that's the case, we apologize. We're going to plow through them. But there's a book called The Light Brigade by Cameron Hurley that I've started. I'm about halfway through this thing now. Uh, holy shit. This is very fun. When you get into it, it's going to feel a lot like Starship Troopers. Uh, in fact, the first sort of 15% of the book, I thought, you know, this is pretty derivative. And then, before you know it, it's very different and awesome. Totally freaking awesome. And like I said, I'm only about halfway through, I think 57% according to my Kindle app. Uh, so, uh, I, I, the punchline is not there yet. Um, I'm still sort of working towards it, but so far so good. Totally fantastic. If you like modern sci-fi, if you like war sci-fi, cause this is very much war sci-fi, uh, very battle specific there. uh, descriptions of sort of basic training, uh, are futuristic, uh, but totally the same as the experience Andrew, I, or Will, who you are so also an army guy, had in our initial entry training phases. Fuck me. Will you tell anybody? So anyway, fantastic, uh, fantastic beginning to the book. Uh, I think you'll enjoy it. check it out. And last but not least, Will, other things, what you got, man? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | So I'm going to do kind of a mix of what you guys did, because I think a lot of people are stuck at home and need stuff to do. So I'm going to hit up a video game, a book, a TV show, and a movie. America, let's do it. Yeah, this is about as America as we can get right now. So I don't know if it's on all platforms, but let's pretend that it is. I have a PlayStation 4. The Final Fantasy 7 remake is fantastic. It's so good. Even if you've never played Final Fantasy, any of them in your life, you will enjoy this game if you like RPGs in any respect. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Did you play through the original? Did you play through the original 7? Well, you're too young to have played through the original 7. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | No, I did. I think I was Ten or twelve something like that okay i played through once i was a kid and never again so bits and pieces i remember. |
| Everett (Co-host) | I've heard the day i haven't played it but i heard that they have expanded on the story quite a bit. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yes so the the remake that's out now i think it's only one third of the story. Oh so they're gonna be at parts one through three. Yeah. So basically if, if anybody's played final fantasy seven, uh, this remake is basically only the mid GAR portion of the game. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Huh. Okay. Okay. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | But they've expanded upon it. There's definitely more stuff. There's more characters. They, you know, kind of go back to some of the character backstories a little bit more. |
| Andrew (Host) | Do what they wanted to do originally, but just didn't have the technology to do. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah, probably. And I mean, it's cool being able, you know, because that game was, you read texts, there were no voices and it's cool to see everybody kind of act it out. You know, it's like if, if someone made your favorite book into a really good movie, like a really good movie, this is what it is. Fantastic. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Except for the last two episodes. I loved it. I loved the end of Game of Thrones. I'm going to go on record as being Oh, okay. Fantastic. That's a good recommendation. And it's something I've been looking at. So recommended from the watch clicker. What else do we got? Okay. So from, from watch clicker, not the, I keep messing that up. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Recommended by watch clicker final fantasy seven remake, uh, for a book lost the gods and the author is Brom. It's a book that I recommend to almost anybody. It's a really unique take on the afterlife. Uh it's it's fiction it's not well obviously it's fiction but it's uh it's it's just an incredibly interesting story of a guy who um something happens in his life and he tries to take care of it in the afterlife and it's it's a really interesting take on what happens to you after you die it's probably the most interesting take i've ever seen in an afterlife book Love it. So that's, that's Lost Gods by Brahm. Uh, my TV show, a lot of people probably watch it. I didn't watch it until this year. And I don't know why, because the brand of humor is 100% me, Curb Your Enthusiasm. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Oh man. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | How did you just get into that? Oh man. I don't know. I have no clue. I think it's because it started so long ago that I was like, I don't get this show, but I'm watching it now and I'm like, this is the best show ever made. |
| Everett (Co-host) | It's fantastic. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | It's so good. Everything that happens in the show, I'm like, I kind of want to be more like Larry David. I aspire to be that. |
| Everett (Co-host) | You know, Larry David, uh, just such a genius. Yeah. Curb Your Enthusiasm is fantastic. Good, good picks. Good picks. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | And, uh, my movie, uh, just came out on Friday on Netflix is it's extraction and it's got a, I think it's Liam Hemsworth, it's one of the Hemsworth. I'm going to take the one who played Thor. |
| Andrew (Host) | I saw the tile for that. It looked really good. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Okay. So here's the thing. I love the John wick movies. No, this is a good thing. So I love the John wick movies. This is like if someone made a John wick movie set in the, um, I think it takes place in Bangladesh, uh, with a, an American who goes there to do some crazy shit. The choreography is very John Wick-ish where it's, you know, steady cameras, not super shaky. The combat is really kind of in your face and brutal. Yeah. Raw, raw. So if, if you have watched John Wick and you're like, this movie is okay, you're going to like this movie. |
| Andrew (Host) | The John Wick movies are so cool. And I think knowing some of the, of the behind the scenes stuff to the John Wick movies makes it even cooler. Like that's Keanu Reeves doing all that shit. His training videos are fun to watch. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Him learning to combat shoot. You know, on paper, John Wick should be terrible. Oh, this should be garbage. On paper, it should be. Okay. So extraction, Liam Hemsworth. Fantastic. I'll check it out. I'll check it out. We'll report back. |
| Andrew (Host) | We'll report back. We'll watch it this week. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | I'm confident you guys will like it. |
| Andrew (Host) | It'll be much better than our rewatching of, uh, fuck, what did we watch? You said it was one of the most underrated movies. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Um, Cool Runnings. No. I don't know. It's fantastic. It's one of the most. |
| Andrew (Host) | Oh, you said the most underrated movie was A Knight's Tale. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Yes, it is totally underrated. It's people say it's like. All right. |
| Andrew (Host) | No, don't pay the four bucks on Amazon to rent it. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | It doesn't hold up. So good. That's that's because Heath Ledger's dead. I'm just going to say it. |
| Everett (Co-host) | No, no. It's one of my favorites. We made the kids watch it and they were like, God, Dad, this is terrible. Uh, okay. Andrew, anything else that you have to talk about before we, uh, before we, we run this into the ground today? |
| Andrew (Host) | No, I just ordered pizza. |
| Everett (Co-host) | So that'll be at your house when you get there. No, I got to pick it up. Okay. All right. Good stuff. Uh, will anything else you want to talk about? |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Uh, I'll just give a quick PSA. Um, if you've been to the website in the past couple of months and you're like, wow, you're getting really boring. Um, go check it out because I've recently started doing videos, uh, uh, basically closeup macro shots, uh, panning that all that kind of cool stuff. Um, I'm embedding them right in the reviews. So last, I think two or three reviews, I've got a new one going up tomorrow with Chris Ward. Check it out. Hope you like it. |
| Everett (Co-host) | All right. And so, and so if you want to find, well, you're going to find him at watch clicker.com. He's watch clicker on Instagram at watch clicker on Instagram. Uh, please check him out. He's doing some, he's doing some fantastic work. Uh, we brought him on just to sort of shoot the shit because he's, uh, you know, got started sort of at the same time as us in the game, uh, and has come, uh, come up on a similar trajectory. Although I think he's, he's massively surpassed us at this point, which. |
| Andrew (Host) | Yeah, our trajectory for like the first two days was, were really similar. |
| Everett (Co-host) | So, Will, thank you so much for coming on. We really appreciate your time and we really appreciate it. It was a lot of fun sitting down with you. |
| Will (The Watch Clicker) | Yeah, thank you guys. I had a lot of fun. This was a good talk. |
| Everett (Co-host) | Totally agreed. Totally agreed. So again, WatchClicker.com, at The Watch Clicker on Instagram. Thanks for joining us for this episode of 40 in 20. Check us out on Instagram at 40 in 20. Check us out on Patreon.com slash 40 in 20. That's where we get all the support for the show. That's where we pay for microphones and hosting and all that fun stuff. Bye bye. |