The Grey NATO – 315 – Round 3 Of The "One Watch" Tournament – The Final Four

Published on Thu, 23 Jan 2025 06:00:00 -0500

Synopsis

In episode 315 of The Grey NATO podcast, hosts James Stacy and Jason Heaton discuss dealing with extremely cold weather, their respective exercise routines, and treatment strategies for physical ailments. The main focus of the episode is round three of their "one-watch tournament," where they each narrow down their selections from four watches to two. Both hosts face difficult decisions, with James choosing between his Longines Spirit Zulu and Rolex Explorer II, ultimately picking the Longines, while Jason selects between his Omega Seamaster 2254 and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, choosing the Seamaster. They note interesting divergences between their personal choices and the public voting results from previous rounds.

The episode concludes with their "Final Notes" segment, where Jason recommends the novel "Creation Lake" by Rachel Kushner, and James discusses "The Agency," a spy thriller TV series starring Michael Fassbender that he considers one of the best shows currently airing.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacy Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Graynado. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches this episode 315. And it's proudly brought to you by the always growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you're listening and would like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. My name is James Stacy, and I'm joined as ever by my friend and co host Jason Heaton. Jason, how you doing? Capable of keeping loosely warm?
Jason Heaton It's even colder there than it is here. Well, thawing out now. Today felt downright balmy. Oh, it's broken for you. Yeah, finally it lifted above zero Fahrenheit yesterday afternoon, barely. And today was, yeah, I have this like ever increasing or ever heavier, you know, Series of jackets that I that I pull out yeah start with you know this kind of fleece hoodie And then I moved to a light down jacket than a heavier down jacket and like yesterday was Canada goose territory, and oh Yeah, it was it was it was Arctic. I mean it was minus 29 Centigrade so you know yikes man properly cold. I mean, I think that's that's the kind of stuff We used to see I remember I mean not to sound like an old man, but you know 20 years ago or whatever I mean that was more commonplace for you know you'd get like several days at a stretch with sure yeah Yeah, I was posting, having fun posting selfies after the morning dog walks of my frozen face and all the snot-sicles and moisture in my beard and whatever that had gotten frozen. It was kind of fun, but yeah, we're crawling out of it, so I think the worst is over.
James Stacy but nice yeah it's not that cold here it's about between one and two it's negative 17 i don't really understand fahrenheit especially when you get towards zero yeah uh it becomes a little bit more complicated but yeah so it's plenty cold here it's like i think i said this on a previous episode where you can like feel it in the joints of the jeep it's just like an old man oh yeah yeah Waking up and you know and getting going in the morning. You just move a little bit slower I give it more time to wake up, but you know you you kind of Get you know, especially the transmission take some time before you can it feels like it's moving around correctly.
Jason Heaton Oh totally. Yeah, my biggest concern was Getting the defender started and mainly because not because it's it's old. I mean, it's you know, 30 plus years old, but it's uh diesels don't really like the cold much and you know the fuel well they've kind of resolved the whole gelling issue with the fuel but it's just getting that compression up in the in the cylinders and getting the oil circulating and stuff with that with that that's big compression you get in the diesel motor and so one day a few days ago I you know I've got that magnetic block heater that I talked about a few episodes ago that was I believe it was one of my stocking stuffers for our holiday gift guide and I I've been trying to use it on the really cold days here this winter, and I didn't do it a few days ago. And sure enough, it cranked and cranked really heavy. You could just feel the engine just struggling to turn over. And then I cranked it enough that the battery just died. But once I jumped it, it turned over. But the past couple days, I've been using that magnetic block heater and just slap it on the bottom of the oil pan. And it makes a huge difference. I mean, it shouldn't be any surprise to anybody. you know, warming, keeping that oil warm, just just lets the engine turn over so much more easily.
James Stacy I run heavier oil in the Jeep just because of its age, right? Yeah, yeah, nearly 265,000 kilometers or something on it. So I run something a little thicker. And they just these older vehicles, they need to warm up, right? Yeah, yeah. I don't think it's a thing that people love as much, obviously just letting your car idle. But you know, for those of us who want to keep older cars around to maximize their value, and like, you know, the Jeep's a 2011, so we're on the edge of being old. But for Chrysler, that's geriatric. And I think you do still have to let these things warm up. Otherwise, it's just so much abuse if you just turn them on and start going.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Other than that, it's, uh, yeah, just, it felt good today to, to, you know, not have to be completely swaddled in, in, you know, the, the warm skin on my face and the, you know, covering any exposed skin sort of thing. So yeah, we're, we're coming out of it. Um, I did have, I don't know if it was a cold related thing, but I'm fairly convinced. So I, I, I told you I rolled my ankle running. I think that was last week's news and that that's healed up fine, but I've really been struggling with like a tight hamstring and it band and the piriformis, which is this little tiny muscle in your butt. And it was from kind of a combination of running and walking on this unevenly frozen slushy pavement that we're getting here. And I've kind of come to the conclusion that I'm over striding when I'm running, like you'd think when it's icy you'd kind of do little shuffle steps, but I tend to like have this sort of weird stutter step when I'm trying to navigate ice, like jump over sections and kind of dodge the slippery bits. And I think that kind of tweaked my, my hamstring. So I've got a friend who's a chiropractor and she she's also got an expertise in this therapy called dry needling, which I, Oh, sure. Yeah. Really think needs a serious rebrand because it sounds positively torturous. Pretty terrifying. Sounds horrible. You know, dry needling. I mean, just those two words together. But I was hesitant, but I went in for this for this treatment and I just laid on my stomach, pair of shorts on, and she just applied these, I guess, acupuncture needles to to my hamstring, kind of up and down my hamstring. And then kind of I don't know. Actually, I didn't look. So I don't know what she was up to, but like kind of either wiggled the needles around or kind of Manipulated the muscle a little bit and it was this weird kind of electric sensation Which exactly is what it's doing. I guess it's stimulating the muscle fibers and Afterwards my leg felt really fatigued strangely fatigued slightly sore but overnight all my tightness and pain was gone. And yeah, I mean, this sounds like a weird endorsement. Um, I, I swear this is not a, not a paid endorsement or anything like that. It was just, it was such a tremendous change that, uh, I'm a bit of a convert. So if, you know, if anyone's been hesitant or curious about dry needling and, or probably even acupuncture, um, I say give it a shot. It can help. And it certainly did for me. And I haven't had any pain or tightness since. And that was late last week. So, um, yeah, I just thought that was a point of interest I'd bring up cause it's a, It was kind of cool.
James Stacy Absolutely. That's great. And I'm glad to hear that the solution was found for that. And I guess that's a good one to keep in the quiver. If you've been dealing with something that sounds loosely similar, this is an option, something to try. And I guess it isn't as bad as its name. It needs a rebrand. It totally does. I don't know what to call it. I agree. I definitely have talked about this podcast I love called My Brother, My Brother and Me, the three brothers that do like a fake advice podcast. Back in the day, several years ago, one of the small comedy streaming services that came up gave them a show. six or eight episodes. I still have all the episodes on Apple TV because I bought them. Oh, wow. And in one of those, they rebrand tarantulas. They're like, there's nothing wrong with these guys. It's just the name.
Unknown Yeah. Oh, yeah.
James Stacy And they try and rebrand tarantulas as ranchos. Very stupid, but funny. But yeah, so that reminded the dry needling. Yeah, it does sound kind of medieval. Oh, he's been given a sentence for dry needling.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And what about you? Speaking of walking, you're still walking during work hours.
James Stacy Yep. Yeah, I'm trying to do at least three miles a day. Wow. And weirdly, in my scenario, it has led for kind of very tight calves in the last little while.
Unknown Oh, interesting.
James Stacy So I'm kind of adjusting for that. I think I just naturally maybe have fairly tight calves to start with.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy And I used to just stretch them. So I've gone back to doing more of the stretches and that sort of thing.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy Yeah, not so bad. But yeah, I'm absolutely loving that walking pad. It's probably it's like it's the 2025 thing that's working best for me as far as little changes. I've made dry. January is going fine. I made it 22 days. Yeah, still until yesterday and then as because of LVMH watch week and just the advanced pressure and you know, we ran 14 stories and the rest of it. I did want to drink. Yeah, yeah During that one, uh, but I am still dry. I'm just not i'm not thrilled about it is how I would describe it But yeah, things are good sleeps largely, uh improve like the the numbers on the aura ring are are massively different than they were in december Yeah, uh, so that I assume that has to be Yeah in some way valuation, right?
Unknown Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah
James Stacy So yeah, that's good. I feel like if you go back to last year's January episodes and the year before January episodes, you're gonna hear me say this, but I'm a little bit tired of winter. When you get busy enough that you don't have the time to enjoy the snow, ski or snowshoe or get up to the cottage for like a nice outdoor fire or that sort of thing. And it's just this world that you have to drive somewhere to like take a kid to school, pick a kid up from here, go get groceries. It is just this like, ugh, it's a slog when it's that cold. And yeah, you're just, you are just constantly kind of like looking at the number on your phone and going like, well, that's going to need the big Nerona jacket. That's going to need the heavy scarf. That's going to need the like hardcore mitts, right? And that sort of thing. So I'm definitely already looking forward to spring, so. Yeah, that's good. But yeah, otherwise, like since we did this last since we recorded 314, I really been doing anything other than working. Yeah, so that's I don't I don't have like a ton to report on. It's just it's one of the busier weeks of the sort of Q1 calendar for editorial with LVMH Watch Week. So it's a little bit busy. Yeah, I don't think anything came out that felt specifically sort of TGN derived. We've talked about the glass box in the past, the Tag Heuer Carrera Chronograph, which they now offer in a purple dial. I mean, if you love purple, cool.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy Yeah. Other than that, I didn't really see anything that screamed coverage for us. It's, you know, it's a lot of fairly high end stuff from Bulgari and LV.
Jason Heaton I was going to ask you about the, speaking of Tag Heuer, the Formula One chronograph. I didn't see it mentioned anywhere, but is this not the first Formula One chronograph that's actually mechanical? I seem to remember they were all quartz before this.
James Stacy That's definitely possible. I don't really know. I have trouble with them calling it the Formula One. It doesn't bother me that they are now the official timekeeper Formula One. They should have a whole line of F1 watches. But it looks so different than the F1, which they brought back last year with Kith. Yeah, true. And of course, people our age remember as one of those watches that people wanted. They were really cool to have. They were watches that appealed to a younger demographic. They weren't a fortune. They're a little bit more... They're definitely... Not a little bit. They're definitely more expensive now, if you go for one of the Kith ones. Yeah. but my i don't see the aside from their connection to formula one like the actual sport in which they've now you know taken the the throne of timekeeping from rolex yeah but aside from that i don't see any connective tissue between the like legacy of the f1 in this new model. That said, I don't really have a problem with this new model. It's not for me. It's too big at 44 millimeters. The lug-to-lug makes it very much like a... I think it would wear kind of Doxa-like. It's 47 millimeters long and 44 wide, and it's titanium. So I think if this watch appeals to you, I get it. But for me, I would want something that felt more like it came from the same era as the F1. Yeah. yeah for the formula one chronograph but it could be that they're differentiating f1 to formula one or just that they're relaunching the strategy because they have to with with the new timekeeping yeah you know i'm interested to see what they do downstream of this right? Because the brand also still and they have a version of the new Formula One chronograph. Tag Heuer still has a direct connection with Oracle Red Bull.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy You know, championship winning team and all this sort of stuff. And it had a big season last year, of course, and Max is on a solid run. So I'm interested to see how they how they kind of dance that dance and make watches that people actually want to buy. But I think the thing that watch enthusiasts have to recognize is as soon as you're marketing something to the the world of F1, it's an entirely different audience than people who love watches or love Tag Heuer. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Yeah. This is, this is not, I'm not, and I'm not saying they don't know watches. They want a Tag Heuer watch because it's all over every race. Same reason you want the polo shirt from Ferrari for that year. You want the year that Lewis moved to Ferrari or whatever team you want to wrap, or maybe you love signs and now you're going to run a Williams polo. Every year, there are these things that... These are watches for Formula One fans first. They're not watches for people who know all of Tag Heuer's catalog. I just don't think they are.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy And I think that's absolutely fine. But I hope that they continue to make some, you know, just kind of more interesting things that are derived from Formula One, whether it's from drivers or from elements of the car or technology or materials. It's a big world to play around in. And because of Rolex's philosophies towards products, we don't get, it's not like their involvement with Formula One meant that we got some high-tech Daytona with a carbon case and a, You know a split-second movement or you know a 110th movement to go against zenith or that sort of thing like Rolex has like a largely a locked in Point of design and they're not adjusting for the things that they're kind of Involved with we don't see Rolex become go so literal to connecting their brand with the thing like even Tudor goes further yeah, oh for sure with the Red Bull Lingi FXD for example like that's from a sister brand of Rolex but really an entirely different perspective on watch design and sponsorship deals and kind of partnerships and that sort of thing than you would get from a Rolex so yeah you know I think with Rolex it's almost like what are our options if you wanted something that was that literal
Unknown Mm-hmm.
James Stacy Yeah a dominoes Datejust Right, so I think I think it's kind of an interesting thing. I'm interested to see where it goes I think it's gonna be a fun year for formula one With some changes coming certainly changes the driver lineup and the teams and the rest of it and Lewis going to Ferrari and that sort of thing So I'm pumped about it. Like I think it'll be I think it'll be a pretty good good year but the I don't see the the full watch strategy yet and that's because we're talking in January and Yeah, yeah, all of these brands and I don't want to speak for these brands. And if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But like, in my mind, most of these brands have something to release this week. and like Bulgari really went hard in the paint with a mechanical Serpenti makes sense for their audience. Very cool thing. I think a lot of the other brands have to also deal with the idea that oh, but we have to release something in April.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah, the calendar has gotten a little tight because I remember just last year that we saw those cool Zenith divers and whatever but like Do they hold those? You know, they don't do it during LVMH Watch Week. They wait till Watches and Wonders or something to pull out the big stuff. I don't know. I mean, you'd know better than me, but I don't know about that strategy, how they configure that.
James Stacy I would say they absolutely have, these LVMH brands absolutely have a need to have a novelty for the show, or if you're tag, you have eight novelty, something like that. But I would also say that at the same time, they must be focusing on their biggest impact, which would be at Watches and Wonders. a much larger show, much larger connection to Geneva, for example. LVMH Watch Week was supposed to be in LA, isn't because of the fires, is now in New York. It's a two-day thing. I mean, they're up to a week or more with public days for Watches & Wonders. So yeah, I think it's two different things and obviously it takes a long time to get a show off the ground. Watches & Wonders has only been around for a few years as Watches & Wonders, but it stands on the shoulders of SIHH. Yeah. And, you know, Baselworld being gone, I think that was the weird one, was brands that had to deal with Baselworld in March. And then if you remember, SIHH used to be like January. And imagine brands that kind of existed in both of those arcs. Those were two huge shows. Both were huge. Yeah. Yeah. And then I think other brands look at what we've had with Omega Days, right? If you're not involved in this or that, then maybe you want to run your own thing. Yeah. And brands try that. And AP does the social club. which is kind of their annual launch event. In my mind, you're probably better off doing exactly what these brands are doing and having a personalized event, whether it's personalized for your group, like LVMH, or personalized for your brand, like AP, and then, you know, having a presence elsewhere. But my guess is every year you have to kind of adjust and test and see what works and some brands are going to nail it and some won't. And also like the other side of this, look, maybe we look at it the other way. Maybe it's so difficult to get pure attention in April at Watches and Wonders that it makes perfect sense to put out some major watches in January and get some shine then, and then you can keep the pace in April without feeling like you need to keep up with Rolex or whatever. Maybe that's it. I don't know. Neither of us are businessmen. But I did briefly mention that they had to move LVMH Watch Week for the fires in LA, and that brings us to the TGN, the Illustrated Watch Collaborative Firefighting t-shirt. So our buddy John Awada, who is in the Slack as well and is a firefighter, he had this idea. We took input from our friend Asha Wagner, who's also a firefighter on the West Coast. And so the idea was to make a shirt that would have sort of an expression of the TGN logo, but kind of feel like a firefighter's training shirt. And we worked with the Illustrated Watch, aka Tony, who did the Pipette 8 design to make this. It all came together in like a weekend and not because of Jason and I. And look guys, we launched this, a soft launch on Slack and then more officially on the show last week on 314. And by the time we're recording this, so not even a full week, it's been five days, we're at over $5,000. Let's try and keep that pace going and see if we could hit $10,000. I didn't think we would get anywhere near that. I think, Jason, you and I were hoping for $2,500 or something, right?
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I think, you know, the danger with situations like this, like with the fires in California, is the news cycle is fickle and keeps moving. And stories like this kind of tend to get lost. Trickle down, you know below the fold so to speak and you know, this is this is an ongoing concern an ongoing need and I'm just pleased that every day when I get up and I check my mail I get notices of every order and Yeah, it keeps climbing. So, you know Big thanks to those of you who have ordered the shirts and certainly as we mentioned last week You don't have to buy a shirt to support the California Fire Foundation or any number of non-profits. Go back and listen to episode 314. We give a number of other non-profits, reputable non-profits out in California that are working in the relief space around the fires and feel free to donate directly. You certainly don't need a shirt, but if you want one, they're really cool. Mine arrived two days ago, I think. And I love it. It's it's really great. It's very bold. It's it's a beautiful design I love the you know, the color combination and the fit and everything else.
James Stacy So yeah, thanks again to to Tony and John and Asha For their work on that and to all of you who have ordered one and helped to donate It's great hit the site for that the great NATO comm click on the shop It's right at the top pretty easy to find and now that we've got those momentum going I might need to buy a few more for gifts and that sort of thing mine showed up really quickly So there must be printing pretty close to Toronto. Yeah, you got yours really fast. I All right, how about some wrist check and then we'll get into what I think is going to be kind of a nail-biter. Yeah, I think so too. For the one-watch tournament, round three.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and ahead of that, because we're getting down there, I figured I better pull out a watch that was not part of my tournament bracket because once this is over, we're kind of committed to wearing that one watch for a month, if not more. And so I pulled out a really rare bird today. I've got on the... It's actually a watch that was never publicly released in this current form. It's the Aquastar Sealab 300. And if that sounds confusing, it's because, as I said, this watch was never sold, as is, due to kind of a naming conflict, apparently. The name Sealab was being used by somebody else, and so Aquastar had to go a different route. and instead released this very kind of iteration as the Benthos H1 or kind of their first edition kind of heritage re-release of the Benthos. So as you might remember the Aquastar Benthos 500 was a watch created back in I believe 1970. It was a deep diving watch for the time and it had that center minute counter chronograph, single button chronograph. Really cool piece. Obviously Aquastar re-released that I believe just last year in a really cool update. But the C-Lab version, this is actually a prototype that I have, and the reason I have it is because back when I wrote and released my first novel, Depth Charge, the hero of the book actually wears his father's hand-me-down Benthos 500. And when I did a book signing event here in the Twin Cities a few months after I released the book, Rick from Aquastar graciously sent me this watch to give away as a raffle giveaway as kind of a commemorative piece at the book signing. And then at the very last minute, we, you know, he quickly had to say, sorry, can't give it away. It's not an actual released watch. We're never going to make this. You know, and so I ended up, he sent me a different watch to give away. Again, very generous of Rick, which was actually an Aqua Dive, which was really cool. But I've had the C-Lab ever since and it's just a really, really cool piece. You know, I love the benthos, you know, general form factor and big chunky watch. This one's beautifully made, great bezel. Oh yeah, big bold orange sweep seconds hand. So yeah, that's what I've got on today. Fun watch.
James Stacy Nice. Yeah, good pick. I like that one for sure.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy I went with a weirdo from my collection that I bought last year at wind up and this is the autodromo group C. I have the yellow Sarah coat version. So this is their digital chronograph. It looks sort of like a small metal stopwatch for your wrist. I love the idea of a premium digital watch. This absolutely hits a niche for me and I adore the yellow and the black. In sunlight the display is great. If you really want legibility, I would recommend just going with the DLC black, yellow, red. versions or the gray green because or I guess I mean the Cerakote blue as well. Really anyone but the yellow because the negative LCD display is, I would say, quite a bit harder to read than the positive display. So this one with a positive would be ideal for me. And if I could buy a module, I probably would. But I still really enjoy wearing this. It's more of a summer watch for me. But I was kicking around the house and I wanted something kind of lightweight and cheerful and something on a rubber strap. And this is what I grabbed. And I love this watch. Bradley does such nice work.
Jason Heaton Yeah, this is so fun. I'm looking at the website. I remember when you bought it I was sorely tempted to get one myself and and just hearing you talk about it and looking at the website again I'm like, oh man, this is such a cool piece and you know, we were talking earlier about You know 80s 90s Tag Heuer and kind of their connection to motorsport And and this has that same vibe is that I think they called it a chrono stop It was it was their digital digital chronograph stop stopwatch wrist stopwatch that they made back in I don't even know. I mean, you'd have to ask Jeff Stein or somebody more knowledgeable than me about Tag Heuer. You know, probably back in the 70s or 80s, maybe even in the Heuer days. But yeah, this is a fun piece. It's really cool. Glad to see you wearing that.
James Stacy little bit of fun and definitely something totally outside what we're dealing with in the tournament today. All right, do you want to get into it then? Let's do it. Let's get down to the final four. The final four. Okay, so for those of you who maybe haven't been paying attention, I would recommend you go back to 3.13. Jason and I started this one watch tournament. We each picked 16 watches from our personal collections, watches we currently own, and we're whittling down through that bracket from 16 to 8, 8 to 4, which is what we're dealing with today. We're going to go to the final two by the end of this episode. And the idea is to whittle down to the one watch, the watch that feels like the thing we would wear if we had to go down to one from the 16, right? And so far, it's going really well. The other side of this, and this is evolving week over week, which is why I recommend going back to 313. It's not just Jason and I deciding kind of together or on our own, depending on the pick, which one we would go with in any given matchup. We also have public voting and there's two different timelines. We have sort of a multiverse happening where Jason and I have our own tournament and then you have the tournament that's going on in the public vote because it's different outcomes. So before we get into this week's picks, Jason and I are going from four to two watches today each. So looking at your matchups from last week, and this is again, we're looking at the public vote, so different outcomes than what Jason and I picked for the previous week. So it's two different tournaments at this point. We have the public side and the TGN host side, if you will.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy So on the public side last week, your Pelagos FXD beat out the Doxa T-Graph at 82 percent to 18. Not bad. Kind of predictable. Yeah. We also saw the Blancpain Bathyscaphe Houdinki LE lose to Tudor's Submariner Snowflake, your vintage that's been rebuilt for diving. Also pretty predictable. But I will say the margin was closer to half half at 63 to 37 ish. And then we kind of had the first upset. This is where we see something that's different than what you had picked in the same week last week. And that would be your Omega Seamaster 2254 versus the 14060M. And for the public vote, the Rolex one, whereas in your vote, the Omega one. And then finally, for your fourth pick, fourth set of picks here, we had the Vertex M60 Aqualine against the Blancpain 50 Fathoms, the full size and titanium. and the Blancpain in the public vote took three quarters of the vote at about 74, 75%. So that's how that went. That brings us to a public round, which will start when you hear this episode of yours between the two Tudors. So the Tudor Pelagos and the Tudor Submariner, and then a Rolex versus a Blancpain dive watch. So I think a pretty good, tough matchup that will carry out and be voted on, and we'll see that a week. So the public vote is essentially a week behind. That's similar to Jason's two matchups today. Pretty close. Which are the Pelgos FXD and the Tudor Snowflake. And then also the 2254 versus the Blancpain. So the only difference is the Rolex versus Omega element in the second pick.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And then in the public vote on your side, we've got the, um, you had the, the Hallios Universa going up against the, uh, the DOXA sub 300 50th anniversary C-Rambler and, uh, the, the DOXA one pretty handily on that one. 88% to 11, 12%. Then moving on, the matchups of David and Goliath here, we had the Pelagos 39 against the Arcan Alterum, and the Pelagos 39 won quite handily at about 92.5% versus 7.5% for the Arcan. Probably not a big surprise, sad to see the Arcan go down, but it wasn't without a good fight up to this point. And then on the next matchup, it was your Datejust 1601 with the linen dial. Boy, this is a slim one. Wow. This was a close battle against the Longines Spirit Zulu, the Hodinkee LE. Yeah. 51% to 49. I mean, 51.1 to 49.9. That's yeah. I mean, that's a that's a really tight margin with the Rolex winning on that one.
James Stacy Yeah. So that's my upset.
Jason Heaton Yeah, that's your upset. And then, in another pretty predictable one, your Rolex Explorer II 16570, the white dial, the Polar Explorer II, took 93% over the Marathon SS Nav D at 7%. So no huge surprise there. But yeah, it leads us to
James Stacy No, I mean, clearly the public side of the vote prefers Rolex.
Jason Heaton Yeah.
James Stacy They move both of the Rolexes forward. So on the public side, you'll be voting between the Doxa Sub 350th and the Pelagos 39 or the Datejust 1601 versus the 16570. yeah so i i think that'll be an interesting one on the public side what we're actually talking about on today's episode for my picks that i'll be making are is the the sub 50th sea rambler versus the pelagos 39 and then my longine spirit zulu hooding key limited edition versus the rolex explorer 2 very tough picks yeah all right well let's get into it why don't you um Why don't you go first this time with your first bracket there? Okay, so yeah, my first this week is the Doxa versus the Tudor Pelagos 39, which we have talked about. This one I've been, to be fair, I've been kind of stressing over both of my picks today for the last week, because you know, obviously, I knew how it was going to land for me. And I'm delighted that there's some differences in the public vote. But Yeah, I don't know, this is tough because in many ways it kind of represents two sides of my love of dive watches. But I think if I had to go down to just one today to wear as one watch, it would be the Tudor. It just, like as a product, I think it's a more complete product. I do, I have really come to appreciate titanium in a way that I didn't even just a few years ago. I kind of dipped in and out of it. And now when I put on a modern, you know, full-sized, steel watch, I just find them more noticeable than throwing on my Pelagos, even on a NATO, let alone on the bracelet, that sort of thing. So I think it's probably the Pelagos between these two, but it's also just a very tough pick because I really like that SeaRampler. I just don't see it as being the only watch, simply because it feels like it's not necessarily, and it isn't made to the same kind of level as the Tudor. I mean, it is significantly less expensive, to be fair.
Jason Heaton And if we're if we're getting into this notion of one watch and kind of the criteria at least on my side criteria takes into account things like versatility and kind of what you know, can you wear this watch with X, Y, and Z, like this outfit, this, you know, this occasion. And I just feel like the sub, you know, a sub 300 Doxa feels way more casual and it feels so focused on, this is a diving watch. It's a kind of a vintage looking diving watch. It's got the funky bezel, bit of splash of color on the dial. The Tudor is a more sober watch. It's a more kind of modernist look. I think it's more versatile and it just looks so great on any number of strap choices.
James Stacy So yeah, I think I think you made the right call there Yeah, I do kind of wonder what the what the outcome would be if this was a shark hunter Mm-hmm, right black dial the black dial a little bit more sober. There is something kind of beachy about the Sea Rambler. Mm-hmm You know, it's best with it like a hardcore tan and a guy who's not actually sure what time it is Yeah, yeah, but for me, it's it's yeah, it would be it'd be the 39, but it yeah not an easy decision Not as hard as the next call I have to make but not an easy decision for this one. I We'll see. I think the public vote will go that way for me as well. I think so too. Especially with how handily the Tudor beat the Archen.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy But I am interested to see... One, I do doubt that the sub could win in this fight, even in the public realm, but I am interested to see how close the margin is.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah, I will be watching that one closely. For sure.
James Stacy Alright. So for your first of two, where are you going between the black FXD, kind of your darling of the last few years, and then like your quote-unquote like more long-standing your tutor?
Jason Heaton Yeah, yeah. Not as tough a call as one might imagine. It is fun to go tutor against tutor. I mean, there are no losers here, as they say. But, you know, when we're talking one watch, FXD wins out quite easily in my mind, and I think it's... comes down to a couple of things. I mean, as you mentioned with your Pelagos 39, I mean, titanium is pretty hard to beat. And once you get used to wearing a titanium watch, it's really hard to go back. And with the FXD as well, because it's only wearable on a lightweight strap, just by definition, I guess, of fixed lugs or fixed strap bars. You know, it's NATO. It's the OEM kind of hook and loop strap that it came with. Or you can throw a rubber on there or just a regular nylon NATO strap. And it's just a super comfortable watch, not to mention the fact that it's sapphire, it's ceramic, it's titanium, it's anti-magnetic, it's highly accurate, etc. I mean, it's just a modern poster child for a modern sports watch. It's very rugged, it's very accurate, it's very legible, great loom. The Submariner Snowflake is from an earlier era. It certainly was probably, you know, kind of the forebear, the FXD of its day, so to speak, especially if you, you know, you put the shoulderless spring bars on it that it takes with the drilled lugs. Great, great watch and certainly capable, you know, having had it serviced, etc. But if we're talking one watch to wear going forward, you know, something that isn't going to get overly scratched up right away, that can, you know, take a bash or two and, and, um, keep time, you know, really well and be legible, you know, after dark, unlike the snowflake, um, it's gotta be the FXD, uh, is the winner here. So modern versus vintage modern wins in this case.
James Stacy Yeah, yeah. Look, I think maybe one day we'll go back and do like one round of this that's more about it being a watch that, you know, that you have a connection to that isn't because of how practical and versatile it is. Like whether it's a romance or a sentimental watch or something. I think the picks would be quite different in this case. So that's, I think that makes sense. I think that's where I would land. I do really love your Submariner Snowflake and it has been refurbished, but there is just, yeah one watch in my in my mind is almost certainly going to be a modern or at least modern adjacent watch a watch made in the last 25 years that sort of thing and and it'll be interesting to see how people's perspective on vintage changes in the next 20 like when an fxd is a 20 year old watch oh yeah yeah and and thus or let's call it next 30 years so we don't have to have the argument what constitutes vintage or neo vintage or otherwise like how much better is a watch going to be in 30 years as far as an everyday watch that tells time maybe has a date they already keep incredible time if they're within chronometer spec think about how many seconds are in a day the the performance of these watches is very high but you know is it that much higher than than one previously i would say in terms of time keeping probably not like i'm sure the snowflake could be regulated to this a similar extent where I think things get wild is things like water resistance and power reserve and the longevity of the loom and using materials that won't age in the same way, like won't respond to UV in the same way. Yeah. So I just kind of an interesting thing to think about, like, if we did this again in 30 years, and the TGN will not be on in 30 years, I don't think. This ain't car talk, guys. Right, right.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy I think it's an interesting thing that I never consider is like how will people in 20 years think of this watch or 30 years think of this watch as something either worth buying or would you buy whatever Pelagos is being made then? I don't know. Who knows, right? It's kind of interesting.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and it's a bit of a tangent, but I do think it would make for an interesting episode, article, etc. The future of watchmaking. Where will watchmaking be in 20 or 25 years? Because of the high quality of watches currently, what is the next big hurdle to leap, if not accuracy? And if, you know, with METAS certification and some of the synthetic materials used in the movements, the Magnetism has largely been solved. I think the next big thing for me would be Shock resistance, you know, I think I think that is the the Achilles heel of mechanical watches is shock is a Drop on the floor, you know smack on a door whatever can still really throw a watch off So I'd be curious, you know how that could be solved in in 20 years, but that is not my area of expertise So we'd have to talk to somebody about that
James Stacy I think we'd have to call in our buddy from Barrel Hand. We'd have to get Carol back in here.
Jason Heaton Oh yeah, right. Yeah.
James Stacy I'm sure he's got some ideas. Talk about a project I watch very carefully.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy Very, very interested in owning one of those watches.
Unknown I think that's very cool.
Unknown Yeah.
James Stacy Go back to that episode. I'll put it in the show notes and I'd love to have him on again if we get the chance this year. Yeah. All right. So on to my second pick, the last of this round, and I think this would be the most difficult one I've done yet. Wow. This is the Longines Spirit Zulu Houdinki Limited Edition, which is a 39 millimeter titanium flyer GMT with a rotating bezel, good water resistance, chronometer movement, solid bracelet, very under the radar design, a watch you could not only wear every day, but wear absolutely everywhere. I've used it as a dive watch so that that's not slowing me down in any way at all. This is one of my favorite watches of the last several years. I absolutely adore it. I'm thrilled that I was able to afford one and get one and all that kind of stuff because not only were they limited but there's the connection to Hodinkee that I have but also I do think this is the strongest version that they've made. I might prefer some of the coloring on the other versions, but I like the no stars on the dial. I like the yellow accent. I love the kind of treatment for the bezel where it doesn't have a super shiny insert. I think there was a bunch of nice choices made by the LE team, not choices I made to be clear. And yeah, I said in the past, I've said this on every round of the draft so far, it does have a weakness, which is it doesn't have, you know, tool-less micro-adjust in the bracelet. And the moment that Longines wants to make that available. I will buy it. Yeah That's all it's missing for me is is that you know The the Pelagos has T fit and I use it when I have the bracelet on I use it fairly commonly It's why I prefer the bracelet in the summer on the on the Pelagos. Yeah, I would love tutor to fit T fit into the buckle and for the rubber. How they do that, I don't know. Talk to Formex, they've figured out micro adjust in a fold over clasp. But between these two, it is a really tough one because I like this Longines a lot. The other contender, the fighter in the other corner, if we're now switching metaphors and we're going with boxing, is one of my favorite watches of all time. which is the Rolex Explorer 2 16570. It's my favorite five-digit Rolex. It's certainly my favorite of Rolexes made in the last 20 years. This is a watch that I got very lucky. I bought it for my 30th birthday when it was still affordable. It was still a ton of money. I did not have the money when I bought it. I made some concessions. I sold some watches. I stopped doing some stuff. It was just an unbelievable amount of money. And even today, it's more than I spend on most watches. i think i've maybe spent more on the pelagos for example right yeah but this is a watch i absolutely adore i remember the moment that it got into my brain i remember the moment i first saw it on a gray nato that white dial with the black outlines for the hands and markers, the red accents, you know, they say it's 40 millimeters, wears more like 39. If it matters, it definitely doesn't. Mine is a later example with a 3186, but mine is a later example. So you don't have drilled lugs. Drilled lugs would be very cool. I like those earlier 16570s that have lume that tans out over time. I think that's quite beautiful. But mine, if you look at it today, it looks like a very modern watch because the lume is the most modern, is a more modern compound that doesn't age or hasn't yet. Certainly, it hasn't gone like tan. Yeah, like you see on on five seventies from five years earlier, seven years earlier, right? So yeah, I this is just a real tough one for me. And you know, the launch jeans doesn't have micro adjustment, neither does the Rolex. And I think the only thing I could say about the Rolex is it has a profile like we talked about when when you pick the Seamaster over the fourteen oh six. Oh, it's a Rolex. right yeah which means maybe it's maybe it's not something you want to wear to every corner of the world yeah maybe it's not the sort of image that you necessarily want to project when you're traveling to a country you don't know that well right and i think that's worth worth some level of consideration and man i as i'm saying this i'm i'm staring at the screen with my eyes like bouncing from one of the i don't know which to pick This is why I have so many watches. Yeah, yeah. Because I'm much more comfortable in a world where I have all four of these watches that I'm picking from today. It's a pretty solid four.
Jason Heaton Well, and that is interesting because an alternate version of this little series we're doing here, this tournament, could be like getting down to your final four. Like if you had a four watch collection, which would it be? And this would be a pretty solid four watch collection. But it's interesting to me too that your final four and my final four, they all involve two brackets of steel versus titanium. And so, yeah, no, okay, you got to make a call. You got to make your pick. What's it going to be?
James Stacy Where would you land on this?
Jason Heaton I'm waffling here, but Rolex. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I think, um, yeah, I think I like the long jeans as much. I totally get your rationale. And I think the launching is a, and you have the rotating bezel. Yeah. And it's a more modern watch and it's, um, yeah, it's titanium and it's flies a little bit more under the radar. It's Yeah, it's tough. I don't know. I do love, I love a Polar Explorer too. I do think it can travel a little more easily than a black dialed sub or a GMT master. So it mitigates the kind of profile or sort of whatever aspect of traveling with a Rolex. But yeah, I would come down on the Rolex side, but by a slim margin, I think in this case.
James Stacy I don't really know. Yeah, I agree. Maybe the element of a threat to your personal property with the Rolex doesn't really exist with the Explorer II. I've certainly traveled a lot with it. It's 100 meters of water resistance, so I could definitely dive with it. So it really comes down to, I adore a white dial with the black dial furniture. This is, I think, one of the best looking watches ever made. Yeah, I don't know this represents a lot for me because I took it up Baker. Mm-hmm. I probably should have sold it in 2021 It probably couldn't I could have gotten enough to buy a car. Yeah, right with it at the time, but I'm kind of happy I didn't do I don't know.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm And you can't necessarily look ahead to the next round and say well, which would go better against you know, the Pelagos 39 for instance I mean, it's just not this has to be has to stand on its own either of these against the tutors tough I Genuinely hard pick. Wow.
James Stacy Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because now now I'm telling I'm trying to go into my mind of like what one would I buy today? Mmm, and it's the long jeans. Hmm Hmm Wow, okay, and it's not because I don't want the Rolex. I have no interest in selling it. It's my Rolex Like I'll have it for a long time. Yeah, but I don't know if it would be Not that it is a perfect one watch Man, this pick sucks.
Jason Heaton Okay, that point you just raised about which one would you buy today is an interesting one because I would also say that there is not a Rolex that I would go out and buy right now. You know, it's a pretty strong statement. Not a six digit. Yeah, exactly, but they're just... Yeah, I mean if you're going vintage or neo-vintage like I would buy it maybe because I just think they're cool but like if the watches that interest me nowadays like the closest I come to buying a Rolex would be something like you know a Pelagos or whatever like something that kind of has that same vibe of Rolex from the era of your Explorer 2 but with modern reliability etc.
James Stacy Yeah, I don't know. This is the most 50-50 I've felt about something because I adore them for only slightly different reasons. They're both incredible. People are so sick of me talking about this. I'm going Longines.
Jason Heaton Wow. Yeah. I have a feeling the votes are going to differ on the public side for sure. People love their Rolexes here.
James Stacy This watch isn't in the public side. It lost to the other Rolex.
Jason Heaton Oh, right, right, yeah.
James Stacy It lost to the 1601, so I'm derivating deeply from where the public side has gone. This is a, it's 5149. Wow. Maybe it's like a bias based on how often I wear the Longines and how infrequently these days I tend to wear the Rolex. That does tell you something. Man, I am not comfortable that I had to make a call between these two. I'm like sitting weird in my chair.
Unknown I'm all stressed out.
James Stacy yeah i don't know this is tough i don't this is why i'm not a one watch guy i'm you know i'm at the point where i'm picking my kids a joke i made last week yeah yeah i would definitely want to live in a world where i have the the sea rambler the pelagos the longines the explorer and probably the 1601 that's a five watch win right there yeah that was a bummer and i think people will bring this up to me for a while yeah yeah That's great. I don't know. Maybe I chose wrong The margins are too narrow for me to know if I made the right call. Yeah All right.
Unknown Well, I'll let you tell my final Yeah, exactly Give me some of those smelling salts.
James Stacy Yeah.
Unknown Yeah. I
James Stacy But yeah, so my final round for next week will be the Tudor Pelagos 39 versus the Longines Spirit Zulu HLE. I would say two of the best titanium sport watches made in the last several years. Yeah. All right. Fun.
Jason Heaton This is where it's at. This is why this has been fun. All right. Good luck. Yeah. Well, OK, so my final bracket here in the final four pits the Reference 2254 Omega Seamaster Diver 300 meter. This is the sword hands, the so-called Peter Blake edition. Oh yeah. Big triangle, whatever you want to call it. Versus my 45mm titanium Blancpain 50 fathoms automatic. Watch that I adore, a watch I have a lot of memories with, kind of a watch I consider my quote-unquote capital letter D dive watch from a brand I love. Spectacular watch in terms of watchmaking and finishing, just the look of it, etc. It's titanium so that mitigates the size factor. to a certain degree. On the other side of it, the Seamaster, boy, I've been going on about this watch and I've been wearing it almost non-stop for two weeks now on the Planet Ocean style old OEM Omega rubber strap. and that watch is incredibly hard to beat and it is so comfortable and it's such a beautiful watch to just glance down and see. It doesn't have the kind of the movement chops of the Blancpain or even of modern Omega. I mean this is a modified ETA you know 2892 you know great movement but you know it doesn't have the the coaxial escapement, it doesn't have the anti-magnetic properties of modern Seamasters, of which I had one, the white dial one. And actually, while I'm on that topic, I had the white dial one, I believe they might have overlapped, the white dial and this black dial one, which I will say, just for some background, this was actually a gift watch from our good buddy and moderator Chris Soule from some slack. I got this two years ago, December, so just before Christmas of 2023. I had sent him a watch a while earlier, so I guess technically you could call it a trade, but it arrived on my doorstep out of the blue with no warning, on the bracelet, which I seldom wear, but it does have a nice bracelet for its era. But I've loved it on any number of rubber straps, white rubber, black rubber, NATO, etc. Yeah. This one's tough. This is a tough call. I don't think it's as tough as your call, simply because, and I'll just announce it, I'm going with the Seamaster. I'm going with the 2254. It's a bit of a David and Goliath thing, I suppose, just in terms of modern Blancpain, you know, very expensive, high-end piece, prestigious from a prestigious brand, versus an Omega from an earlier era. These are both Swatch Group watches, but The Omega wins on a couple of counts. I mean, I think just its size is incredibly comfortable. It might be, even though it's not titanium, the slimness of it and just kind of the profile of this watch sort of hugs the wrist nicely. And I'll admit that that scalloped bezel that people like to like to hate um does give it kind of a smoother profile it slides nicely under a sleeve you can still grip it okay i mean it's not it's not going to win any awards up against other stuff but yeah it just has such a classic look i i i'm wearing it a lot these days and i think that says something just like you with your your longine it's a watch that that I wear quite a bit. And I think in terms of versatility, as we're looking at a one watch scenario, the Omega is just going to win every time. And that's going to set up a really, really tough final round for me going up against the Pelagos FXD.
James Stacy It definitely is. And the other thing that's interesting is both of us advanced in our second picks, the watches that were canceled out in the previous round on the public draft. So your Seamaster 2254, which you now have into the final round, was beat out by the 14060. So yeah, we've got some differences with the audience. So there you go. Next week, you will be picking between the Tudor Pelagos FXD Black and the 2254. I would say kind of similar watches. I would say so. Black dial dive watches, pretty focused. The Tudor being much more sort of Task derived and the Omega being a little bit more from the like still elegant world of bond if that makes sense Yeah, we're like the watch has all the capabilities But it's got a little bit of shininess here a little bit of this here a little bit like it's just a you know The wave dial is a flourish that wouldn't make sense on a Pelagos that sort of thing and then like I mentioned I'm going titanium versus titanium two watches with matte dials and and that's the Tudor Pelagos 39 versus the Longines, Spirit Zulu, Hodinkee, Ellie. It's going to be a weird round. I'm still like uncomfortable with what I think. It's going to be a fun final round. I hope people are enjoying this and certainly this is my push to tell you to go ahead and vote. You can vote for yourself in the public side of the vote. So both of these brackets are being managed by two different links, one for Jason, one for me. The site is called Common Ninja. I will include this in the show notes, of course, but it's commonninja.site slash TGN Jason and commonninja.site slash TGN James to get into the voting. When you hear this, the voting for the round that we just recorded, for the third round will be open so you will be able to weigh in obviously the public side has different watches in it now than the private side which i didn't necessarily predict but i am kind of happy that we get this we get we do get to see some other perspectives along the way which is fun
Jason Heaton Yeah, and I think, you know, looking ahead, like I'm actually really at peace with my final two that are going to go head to head. I would be very happy to wear either of those watches for a month or even a year straight. And I suspect you'd feel the same. So next week might be, it'll be hard picks, but I think it's going to be a good outcome no matter which way we go.
James Stacy Agreed, yeah. But look, we're already pushing an hour, so why don't we jump into some final notes and put a bow on it? Sure, yeah. You want to go first?
Jason Heaton All right, yeah, I'll jump in first here. I just finished, actually just this morning, on my dog walk. I've been listening to audiobooks and podcasts on my dog walks lately, which has been kind of a nice use of that time. I finished a great audiobook novel called Creation Lake. This is a book by an author named Rachel Kushner. And I believe it was shortlisted for the National Book Award. I don't remember where I heard about this book. I think it was probably like a recommendation list of kind of great thrillers or something. A recent release. It's a it's a hard book to describe You could call it a thriller. You could call it kind of a noir thriller black humor not sure where to land on this one, but It's it's about this American woman who is something of a spy but the story never really explains who she's working for and But she is working undercover for something. It's not a government. It could be like a big agricultural conglomerate or something. But she has been tasked with infiltrating this kind of anarchist rural collective or commune in the south of France. And the object of her mission is not really explained until the story moves forward. And it's full of all these kind of little side stories of kind of this mysterious figure who's a bit of an inspiration or a father figure to this movement that she's infiltrated. The setting in France is interesting. There's a lot of kind of reference to Europe and the cars and the kind of that region of France. I think it's very evocative. It kind of puts you there. And then the humor is great. Her writing is tremendous. There's one scene that sticks out in my mind, this description of this guy and his hairstyle. If you picture a balding man with a comb over, with the hair covering the bald head, she describes that as, instead of something that he's trying to hide, it's a guileless celebration of what remains. I just love that description of a comb-over hairstyle. It's just this sort of really witty, inventive style of writing, and the story kind of leaps from scenario to scenario, and kind of her background is told in the first person. And in the case of this audiobook that I listened to, it was actually read by the author, and she has a great voice for it. So, just a book I recommend. You know, we don't talk about books a whole lot in Final Notes, but it was something that has been in my ears for, I'd say, the past week to ten days as I've been kind of working through it. And if you're looking for a new, good, fictional read, Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner is a good choice.
James Stacy dude that sounds awesome yeah that's good good one for sure yeah that's great I'll add that to the list for the for the Kindle once I get through the heart of the West whatever I don't remember what the books called but I'm reading it I'm enjoying it yeah it's cool Western noir of some sort yeah All right, mine this week is actually something Jason and I have been texting about weekly, and we've been talking about it on the Slack for the last little while. And it's a TV show that will enter its last episode of season one on the 26th. It's called The Agency. It's put on by Showtime, distributed online by Paramount+. If you're Canadian, that means you get it through Prime, I believe. Amazon Prime is how I watch it. And it is a television show based on a French sort of espionage, you know, spy thriller called Le Bureau. And this is the English version of that. It's done modernly. It stars Michael Fassbender as Martian, a CIA agent that's called back out of Africa to London to kind of unravel his undercover work in Africa, that work follows him back to London and causes a bunch of issues and at the same time the UK branch of the CIA loses an asset and they don't know why. So it's about how all of this is actually kind of interconnected. I didn't give anything away there, I think you'll get that in the trailer and it's the trailer that I'll put in the show notes, but I would say it's more self-serious than Slow Horses. and it's simply much more realistic than something like Black Doves or Day of the Jackal. These are other spy shows that we've talked about and have enjoyed in the last couple years. This for me is like peak for a genre. I absolutely love it. I think it's the best show on TV right now. It's definitely the one that most aligns from the last several years that most aligns with with sort of my preferences. It has some action, it has some tradecraft, the dialogue is excellent, the decisions the characters make are largely believable, and at the same time it has a little bit of that Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy where there's four or five people at the center of the show. So we have Jeffrey Wright, we have Richard Gere, we have Katherine Waterston representing these personalities at the CIA that you get to know. And they have a web that emanates from each of them that overlaps with each other. It's great. I can't, I could ramble for a while about it. My suggestion would be just to watch it. It's really good.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and I'll be sad to see it go when the final episode airs later this week, because it's, It's been great and I'm usually someone who binges shows like this, but I just I couldn't wait to like I'm kind of enjoying waiting week to week There's there's this like build-up and then when it comes out, I get so excited to see it So after this week, it's gonna be a real sense of loss when it's over But yeah, it's great. And I would also recommend people check out The bureau sure if you can find it the French version I remember watching that a few years ago and then when somebody recently I believe on slack said that the two were connected That it made sense, even though that the bureau was not definitely not a direct direct inspiration in terms of storyline, but a lot of similarities. Such a great, great show. I love this cast. I love, yeah, I love everything about it.
James Stacy Me too, man. I'm thrilled about it. I really love watching it. You wrote me the other day saying, you know, on the weekends, I think the show goes up Friday or Saturday, you text me and go like, You know the agency like it's a great episode or whatever and then you wrote the one you wrote this past weekend was The penultimate episode. Yeah, I was like, oh no. Yeah, I know I didn't realize we were only gonna get ten nine or ten episodes. Whatever what ten so I haven't watched nine yet Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm waiting until like I really need that. Yeah at the end of the day Yeah, and I'll watch it. But yeah, so I'm super pumped. I really like this if you love spy shows that aren't especially James Bond, but at the same time, or man, if you liked The Killer, go ahead and keep watching The Agency. It's not the same character, but there's kind of like a connective tissue. And I adored The Killer. That was a recent David Fincher film, which is on the TGN Film Club list that had Michael Fassbender as the lead. And you get, he has, his character in the agency has the same like knife edge between the two sides of their personality. The side that is a CIA agent and the side that is like a father or a boyfriend or these sorts of things. And it's that interplay. And the interplay is way less there in the killer because he's essentially just a psychopath. But this brings a slightly different kind of vibe to the Fast Mender thing while still nailing so much of what makes him just very compelling to watch. Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. Very good stuff. There you go. A book and a great show. And if you haven't gotten to the agency, you've got a great weekend ahead. I'll tell you that much. Yeah. All right. Well, hey, thank you so much for listening. Please vote in this round. Obviously, Jason, I had to make some tough decisions today and I will try and edit down my deliberations. to only the parts that feel even loosely entertaining. It doesn't have to be as long as I made it. But please get in there and vote. The links are in the show notes. Please support the TGN, the Illustrated Watch firefighting shirt, and, you know, earn some funds for fighting the fires in LA. And if you'd like to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, maybe even grab yourself a new TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive.
Jason Heaton And we leave you with this quote from Napoleon Bonaparte who said, nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.