The Grey NATO – 337 – Orange & Black Is Back For Summer
Published on Thu, 24 Jul 2025 06:00:00 -0400
Synopsis
In this episode of The Grey NATO (episode 337), hosts James Stacey and Jason Heaton catch up after a brief hiatus, with James recently becoming a father for the third time. They discuss several new watch releases, including the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Tech, a new orange-accented Omega Seamaster, the Doxa Sub 750T Clive Cussler edition, an Anordain with a porcelain dial, a Gene Kranz-inspired Seiko 5, and the Leventure Marine Type 3 chronometer. The hosts also touch on some recent experiences, with Jason sharing stories about a cabin trip in Wisconsin where he went diving, and James discussing his time at his cottage.
The episode concludes with their "final notes" segment, where they discuss two interesting videos: one from Rick Beato about AI in music production, and another from Henry Catchpole reviewing the new Praga Bohemia hypercar. They also mention a New York Times article about Kevin Hines, one of only two McLaren-trained mechanics who services the rare McLaren F1 supercar.
Links
Transcript
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| James Stacey | Hello and welcome to another episode of The Grey NATO, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 337, 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 thegreynato.com for more details. My name is James Stacey and I'm joined as ever by my pal and co-host Jason Heaton. Jason, how are we doing? I'm doing pretty well. Probably getting more sleep than you are these days. Oh, I would imagine. I mean, unless you're going through an extreme bout of insomnia. |
| Jason Heaton | Yes, I would assume you are. Well, congratulations from me and from... Thank you. I can speak for, I would assume, the whole crew listening here. You're... a new father for the third time and um yeah it's uh it's exciting stuff and we we've taken a few weeks off we you know you were able to put together episode 336 that we recorded with chris and and jake uh you know several several weeks ago and i think that was a big hit but here we are with a with a brand spanking new episode |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I think this will be sort of a lighter episode as we get back into the flow. I've got a couple guests on the docket for the next little while. I think you do as well, Jason. So I think we've got some exciting episodes. But for this one, we just kind of wanted to do a little bit of a catch-up. There was actually some fairly interesting watches that came out in the last little while that we didn't want to miss our chance to chit-chat about. And if I sound a little fried, please accept my apologies. I'm I'm a little on the sleepy side, and I'm currently powered by caffeine almost exclusively. |
| Jason Heaton | Are you at least staying cool up there in your basement office there? It's another hot one here. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, it's not especially warm today. It's actually very low 20s. I would say it's quite cool for this time of year. So we're not having the same heat wave that you guys seem to be getting. You know, we've got a couple things to jump into before we get to the chitchat. The first one is, you know, I would like to, in earnest, start to crank out some of the Q&A episodes that I owe the audience. And to be clear, it's entirely my fault that we're behind several months on that, but we will make it up to you. In planning for that, I realize we actually don't have enough questions to keep up with the number of episodes that we'd like to do in the next, you know, two months or so. So if you have any questions for us, please send them in. These are for the subscriber side Q&A episodes. So you can record your question into the voice memo app on your phone and then email that as an attachment to thegraynado at gmail.com. We will add it to the folder and we play them back like a sort of a radio call-in show, if you will. And if you're brand new to the subscriber base, we have a huge rush of subscribers following Chris and Jake's episode, which is not surprising at all. Those guys rock. You can look forward to a bunch of those episodes coming out kind of as surprises over the next couple of months as we're able to find the time and action the questions. So please send those in if you've got a question. It can be about watches. It can be about other stuff. It could be funny. It can be serious. You know, whatever's on your mind that you think might be kind of entertaining or thought-provoking to have Jason and I kind of dig into, please send it our way. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And we've gotten, you know, occasionally we get questions that come to us through, like, I think the other day was like a DM on Instagram. Sometimes things will pop up through, you know, our email, which is fine. But I always like to tell people, you know, this is a perfect question to send in for the Q&A. So if you're not bashful about recording your voice and sending that in or hearing it on an episode in the future, please do that. We love it. And we'll take any questions you've got. So, yeah, we look forward to getting more. Yeah, for sure. We have a couple of other bit of housekeeping notes here, one of which is several weeks ago, I think we talked about some possible implications that we were seeing coming down the pike with regard to the kind of the messy tariff situation that's going on in the world these days. And another issue has kind of reared its head. I just noticed this while I was doing some packaging up of some straps and things yesterday. And just noticing a real uptick in shipping rates and sort of bureaucratic red tape when it comes to shipping products from my home in Minneapolis in the US to Europe, like really expensive shipping for what amounts to basically a strap and a couple of stickers is now costing over $40 to some countries in Europe. And that's just... I'm afraid to say it's just not going to be a sustainable model for us for straps that we're selling on the TGN shop. And so at this point, we will continue to provide the supporter kit, which amounts to a couple of stickers and a TGN signed NATO strap and your choice of 20 or 22 millimeters with new annual subscriptions. But we're actually going to pause the strap sales on the website just because it's just not a sustainable business model. We're losing an equal amount of money that the strap costs are actually more than that. And so we're just going to put that on ice until things get resolved and hopefully be able to turn that back on in the future. Fear not. If you're if you're looking to sign up as an annual member or annual subscriber, you'll still get that kit. And we'll we'll honor that, of course. But we're just going to stop selling them for the time being. So thanks for your understanding. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, that definitely makes it a lot less profitable, but that's not necessarily the goal of, you know, sending those straps out. You know, it's meant to be kind of a fun thing that connects everyone together and you can wear them for wrist shots and that kind of thing. The side of it for selling the straps is more just like we can't predict. So we might take an order on a Monday that is five times more expensive by the time Jason ships it on a Thursday. And very quickly, it becomes kind of untenable to continue doing that. So if you go to the site and the strap isn't available, it's because we're not able to sell them or we're not able to sell them without losing money. We do have a bunch of merch still in the works. Some of it is delayed because of my scenario. Some of it's just simply delayed because we're working out some extra elements that I'm quite excited about. So if you're on the Slack and you were kind of demanding, maybe even voting for something exciting, we are working on that kind of in earnest with some incredible partners. I don't have a timeline just yet, but it'll be done via a pre-order. So if it's something you're excited about, keep an eye on the Slack because we do have some cool stuff coming for end of summer sort of territory. Well, speaking of summer, what did you get up to this last weekend? Because I saw a little bit of stuff on social media and the little bits that I've been on Instagram. And then you and I were trading a few photos as well. What did you get up to? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Uh, Christie and I went up to her family's cabin, uh, which is a couple of hours away over in Wisconsin on a small Lake over there and just had a lovely time. It was, I haven't had that style of cabin experience. I think, you know, as you've described from your time at your cottage, um, that I've secretly been very jealous of over the past few years, it's just that it's, it's completely unstructured time. The weather was suitably hot during the day and cool at night that you know made sleeping okay but then you know hot enough during the day that makes you want to get in the water over and over again and i there's just this sense of um gosh we were there four four full days um and and that was great because it's that routine that you kind of fall into of when you get you know you do something you get hot you get in the water you get out you change out of your wet swim trunks into dry swim trunks until you need those again in a couple of hours then you get back in the lake and it was just this um you know for me it was all about getting in the water and and there was a nice dock and a couple of kayaks and you know so those floaties that you can just lie on in the water and we kind of did some exploring by kayak and i I actually was missing my open water weekly swim here in Minneapolis, so I swam across the lake, and Christy accompanied me in a kayak, and that was kind of a fun little adventure. Oh, I even brought my dive gear. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, that's what I texted you about because I saw you diving, and I was like, well, now I'm really jealous. |
| Jason Heaton | yeah i i just thought you know going near a body of water i was i had um skipped uh wind up chicago and that looked like a delightful time in the wind up in a lake with citizens just a gang of folks you know dressed in 1980s uh regalia which was was fun to see um and i was feeling a little jealous of that so i just thought you know i I kind of got to keep my proficiency up. I haven't been diving since, uh, since February. And so I brought a tank and, and a pretty minimal kit and just decided to kind of noodle around and see what, what's down there. And, you know, predictably it's a, it's an inland Midwestern lake. So the bottom is about four feet of muck and lots of weeds. And, but there was some good fish life and the visibility wasn't too bad. So it was, uh, it was kind of fun and novel to, to, to get underwater for a little while. But, uh, Yeah, it was a fantastic time. It was actually the first time I'd taken Ruby, my dog, on a trip like that as well, and she had a blast. I mean, she put her on a really long leash for walks, and she ran off into the woods and disappeared for about 20 minutes on the first day we were there and concerned me a little bit, but she was fine, and she loves to swim, so she liked to do that a couple times a day. Yeah, it was just a proper... kind of cabin getaway, you know, everything you want and reading and grilling and taking naps and swimming and that sort of stuff. So now I know what you're, you're always crowing about with your cottage time. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, man, we got, we got up, uh, we also went to the cottage very briefly, kind of, this was like the test run, you know, kid was a cooler weekend. Like I mentioned, you know, I think we were topping out in the, in the low eighties, uh, which really does make a difference. But, and then overnight it was actually quite cool. Um, almost down into single digit Celsius. I think the weather station saw 12 Celsius overnight. So we were getting a pretty weird swing of temps for July, but I'll take it. Yeah. Made it a lot easier to go up because we haven't figured out whether or not we really need or want to go with like an AC at the cottage. But the weather was incredible. And pretty much as soon as we got up, my daughters wanted to go in and go for a dive, a snorkel. So we got the gear together very quickly. And, you know, we caught a little bit of okay conditions for maybe a half an hour. And it felt real good. I mean, it's not the same as diving for sure. And I could definitely, you know, grab a tank and take it up there and get back in the water. I don't have anyone to dive with. So it's not... super high on my want to do but we we were able to get in and snorkel around and then at one point the on on saturday my daughters were playing in the water with all of their cousins you know they've got one of those floating foam lily pad things oh sure and they were all screeching about something being in the water near them You know, they thought it was a stick or something. So I threw my mask on, didn't bother with the fins. It was probably, you know, 20 feet, 25 feet offshore. And I swam out and it was a little painted turtle. Oh, wow. And he dove, but he was not fast enough. So I grabbed him as he tried to get away and brought him back to the shore. And he's really cute. You can see the picture in my Instagram stories. um real real cute little guy they're great in the water because they sit down in the weeds right and then they come up for a breath oh yeah but it's you know seven or eight feet of water and they don't they i'll be honest they just don't swim that fast yeah like if i'm already moving i'm gonna get them and once i realized it wasn't a snapping turtle that might you know be able to come around to get one of my fingers really easy uh i just grabbed him from the back and then they all got to see him and we put him back in the water but yeah that kind of stuff's the best |
| Jason Heaton | yeah it was great and and you know and for me it was like it always strikes me as how um especially with this lake wasn't particularly murky the visibility was pretty good but with lakes these inland lakes even though they're usually fairly shallow like you get this pretty distinctive thermocline like below kind of the height of you you know standing so like once it once i dipped below Oh gosh, I think I only got down to maybe 20 feet max, but man, below 15 feet, it was, it was chilly. I, my, I was wearing my Garmin dive computer and it registered in the upper sixties Fahrenheit, which is as opposed to, you know, balmy at the surface. So, um, I did bring like a, like a wetsuit jacket, but I didn't bring, you know, it was just in my, my swim trunks and, and it was, uh, it was cold, but you know, it felt good. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I mean, the diving, the lake is, you know, it's just like an ocean in that, like, the conditions last as long as they're going to last. Yeah. And, like, you might get up in the morning and go down and be able to see the bottom from the dock really easily, you know, find whatever gear you dropped yesterday. We lost a snorkel. I'll find that this weekend. All that kind of stuff. Black snorkels. Oh, yeah, yeah. Bad idea. It's going to take some work. Yeah. But... It can turn so quickly. You know, if the wind shifts on the lake, you'll get a lot of substrate up into the water column. And if you're only talking about seven or eight feet of water, in my scenario, I think most of the average depth of our bay is about 15 feet. And then there's a trench down the middle that I've never swam on just because there's a lot of boat traffic. And that would be something I'd want to do where I knew I could stay down. Yeah. And there's apparently a musky pit as well, which I would be very interested in diving at some point if I had someone to dive with. Maybe you and I can make that happen at some point in the future. They're gnarly guys to be in the water with for sure once they get a certain size like Barracuda. Yeah. So, yeah, you can have a great time in the lake with a snorkel. And certainly my daughters do and will continue to. It's probably one of our favorite things to do up there. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. But other than that, you've been just fighting, you know, fighting sleepiness and just sort of getting by. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | You know, just just, you know, family time. It's a very rare scenario for me to have this much time kind of not at the reins of whatever job I'm doing. And, you know, in this case, running editorial for Hodinkee. So big shout out to my deputy editor. Tim Jeffries for taking over on that, just managing some of the strategy and keeping a finger on the pulse, but not the day-to-day. So that's been a nice kind of change of paces. It's been a very busy eight, nine months since I took over and tried to steer the ship in a manner that I felt it would suit the the resources that we have and that sort of thing. So it's been nice to have that break, but it is an entirely different sort of thing where, you know, really tied to the schedule and the sort of rhythm of, of, uh, of the newborn. So that'll, that'll adjust over even just over the next week or two. I think, I think we'll see a lot of changes there, but you just kind of have to get, get into it and stay there. So that's, that's what we're up to. How about you? Anything, uh, how, how's your August looking? |
| Jason Heaton | August is, uh, yeah, it's, it's, it's kind of, just churning along here. I mean, I feel like there's a little something every week. In fact, you know, you mentioned Hodinkee and Tim and I'm excited to say that I worked on a story that you assigned me and then I worked with Tim to kind of finalize it recently and that goes live, you know, shortly after this episode does. I can't talk about it in detail because of an embargo, but... I was really pleased to kind of get back on the site and kind of sink my teeth into what turned out to be a really fascinating story that was totally in my wheelhouse, so to speak. So yeah, I'm excited for folks to read that. I was really, really happy to work on that. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, the story came to us in a nice way. And it's, I think, a really fantastic story that doesn't have a lot of marketing tied to it. It's just a really cool piece of history from a brand that a lot of us really enjoy. And I just this will be come out on Thursday, the 24th. So shortly after, if you if you listen to this episode right the moment it lists, it won't be on Hodinkee. But after that, it will be you'll see it at the homepage. I read this story several times when you sent it in, and I didn't even have to proofread it because I'm not doing that work currently. I just wanted to read it. I read it, and then a couple hours later, I was like, I want to go back and do a little, and you go back in, and there's additional content tied to the story or that the story is tied to. I think it's going to be one of the best stories that Houdinki runs this year. If you enjoy the sorts of stuff that we enjoy on TGN, certainly. There's obviously lots of great stories that we're running that are sort of outside the scope of TGN. But if you're listening to this show, I think you'll really love this story. And it feels like a continuation of some of the other work that we've done. in this area, which makes me quite happy. I know that all sounds kind of cryptic, but at most, when you're listening to this, you'll have a couple of hours to wait, so I don't feel too bad. Yeah, right. But yeah, I'm super pumped for that and excited to see how it lands. And I haven't seen the visuals yet, so I'm pumped to see that as well. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And other than that, August, um, the one kind of big thing that's coming up in August is, uh, I think it's about the third week of August. I'm still buttoning up some details. I will be in New York city, um, as kind of a guest of pollen. So that's the brand that, uh, that's kind of the sister brand to honor Dane. Um, they're launching a new dive watch, uh, and there's an event, uh, with the, with the folks that wind up at their shop, uh, in the third week in August. So you can keep your eyes out for. details about that if you happen to be in the new york area you can you can come and check it out i think i'll i'll be there um it's actually the project that i was in scotland to help out with back in early may so i'm really excited to see that all come to fruition and how that all came together and uh yeah i haven't been to new york for a couple of years and you know fun i think that's i think their shop is over in brooklyn where i've really not spent any time so i'm excited to go and and hang out there and check it out. So if you're in the area around that time, once it's announced, yeah, come and say hi. I'd love to meet some folks, some TGN folks. |
| James Stacey | Absolutely. And then don't forget, only a month later, literally four weeks later, you will be in Toronto for the Toronto Time Peace Show. We've got a bunch of stuff going on with that. We're actually solidifying a few details for our event with Marathon. We should have those details for next week's show. But tickets are now available for the Toronto Time Peace Show 2025. That's Saturday, September 20th and Sunday, September 21st. They run from 9.30 or 10 to about 4.30. And then Saturday night, there's also the Timepiece World Awards. So the same folks behind the Timepiece show are now starting an awards event that evening. This will be the first time. It's at an incredible theater. It should be a blast. I'm part of the juror team. Jason will be part of the presenting team. So we all have a fun little role. I really don't know what to expect, but I do think it'll be a really good time because I know the people behind it and the way that they've sort of addressed. You know, we've had Jason Hutton on the show before. We'll have him on again for sure. But the way that he's addressed the the timepiece shows, both in Toronto and Vancouver in the past, has led to a huge amount of enthusiast appeal. I think that'll also extend into the timepiece world awards category. which should be exciting and a lot of fun. And then one of those evenings, we'll also have this event with Marathon. I assume at this point, it's looking like Sunday night. But like I said, we will have that information for all of you who plan to attend as soon as possible. Yeah, cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Want to get into a little bit of wrist check? Yeah, wrist check. I have been wearing my Omega, the Seamaster, the 2254. This is the Seamaster Pro Diver 300 meter. I think they still call it that. They called it that back in... whenever this one was made it's the previous generation or a couple generations ago now um you know crowd favorite tgn favorite uh i put it on the bracelet that it came on it's that i believe they call it kind of the speedy style bracelet it has yeah it's not that um bond style bracelet which i really prefer this one And it's great. It's comfortable on the bracelet. One thing I'm finding is, because I've been wearing my Submariner a lot lately too, and switching between the two, and the Omega is just, it feels so much heavier. I think it comes down to the bracelet. I think the bracelet is just, it's solid link. It's a little bit more heavier clasp. Yeah. Because the watch itself can't be that much heavier than a Submariner. They're both kind of from the same era. both 300 meter divers so um but it's just interesting i i've been wearing it and i think you know you and i have talked about um and i see what you're wearing today as well um which is an example of this is that you and i have been wearing so much titanium on our wrists in the past few months that um to put on a steel watch on a on a steel bracelet is just kind of a kind of a different experience now so i'm not sure how long i'll be wearing this or maybe i'll switch it to like a nato or something for a little more comfort but yeah anyway that's what i've got on |
| James Stacey | Nice. Yeah, really nice. That's great. This week, I don't really know why. I've been trying to think about why because I knew we would talk about it. But I put the Pelagos on shortly after the new kid came along, and I kind of just don't want to wear anything else. I can't really describe why. This watch makes me very happy. I have it on the bracelet currently. I considered putting it on the rubber, but I like the bracelet. I'm kind of hunting for another strap option. I might just go with a NATO. Um, but I was kind of thinking like this would be kind of cool in like an isoframe, but it would have to be kind of thicker than this or thinner than the stock isoframe because those isoframes work so well with a big chunky dive watch. And then, but they can overpower sort of a thinner, smaller, you know, this being 39 millimeters, not super thick, that sort of thing. But yeah, I don't know this, uh, this watch just, it just kind of works. It's such a nice summer option. It's nice and light. The T-fit means is, you know, your wrist kind of changes. You can, you can adjust it a little bit. and that sort of thing. But yeah, it might give it a little stint on a NATO or some other strap. I'm not really sure yet. If you have a favorite for your Pelagos 39 or similar, feel free to let me know in the Slack. I might be in the market for a new strap option for this one. Yeah. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | I mean, we can't say much more about Pelagos watches, but I will say I'm probably, I'll probably end up switching back to my FXD after we, after we click off here. I've just, I've just been wearing it so much. I mean, you know, five days out of seven every week, it seems like I wear that watch. So nice, good stuff. All right. Well, speaking of watches, we have. You know, we just did like the summer dive watch episode just a couple of episodes ago. And already it feels like there's a good crop of kind of interesting new watches that have popped up. So we thought we'd just do a quick roundup of a few of our, I don't know about favorites, but interesting ones that have come down the pipe just in the past week or two. Yeah, just in the last little while. Maybe the last month. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. Yeah. And the interesting thing is we're seeing a lot of orange. Orange accent seems to be a thing. Why don't we just start with an easy one because we're just talking about the love of a titanium dive watch. I guess Blancpain has now made the 50 Fathoms Tech a non-LE permanent part of the collection. So that's 45 millimeters. |
| Jason Heaton | in the grade 23 this is a watch that you've seen in person yeah yeah the the le version but this is basically identical other than this quick release bracelet system that they've developed it's a cool watch it's a cool watch and i don't don't be afraid well you can be afraid by the 22 000 price tag but don't be afraid by the 45 millimeter diameter because it it just it doesn't have lugs you know i mean it's just a basically a 45 millimeter circle sitting on your wrist which is quite compact when you think about it |
| James Stacey | It's almost like a Resence or an Icopod or something like that now without the lugs. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. It is truly a beautiful piece. I mean, it's just really a stunning watch. And, you know, the Tech Gum Bessa that this was kind of based on from a few years ago had that sort of additional complication, the three-hour timer and associated bezel for closed-circuit divers. um this one does away with that it's it's got the basic case shape and kind of modern numerals etc the ultra black dial and you know similar bezel etc but it's it's just such a fun it's such a great watch i mean i would love if this watch was affordable because i would i would just love to wear this and a lot of people are scared off by the lack of strap choices but it's uh that didn't seem to bother me it just feels like I don't know. It's just, it feels right on the, on the strap that it comes on and it's a really great, great piece. Good loom, good, uh, um, yeah, super comfortable. I'm just looking at the Hodinkee article now and some of the, the images and, uh, yeah, that's great. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, and I think the other thing we're seeing is like a watch like this feels, in my mind, feels more agreeable because of the advancements in the other sizes of the standard 50 Fathoms. Now that we have them in the smaller sizing, we're still talking about a big price point. Of course, these are very high-end luxury dive watches. and you have to be in that market for the pricing to make any sense. But when these watches were coming out when we didn't have the smaller versions that came out even just since March, this felt more like, hey, guys, could you just give us the thing that most people are asking for? And now that we have both, it kind of makes more sense to me. You can have a flagship when the base is strong, and I think this lineup, the 50 Fathoms, really feels like they're filling out the line. And if you're in the market for a five-figure dive watch, And you want something that feels very different from a Submariner, for example. Really, just in this year, they've really kind of filled out that line to have a more complete sort of perspective. This is sort of the, you know, maybe... F-150 Raptor, SVT Raptor of the lineup. And then you've got the Ranger and that sort of thing on the smaller, somewhat more affordable. Again, we're still talking about a very expensive watch, but it is also Blancpain. That's kind of part and parcel, as you will. But yeah, I think this is kind of a neat thing. I think these watches are very cool. The sizing would keep me kind of out of the site. Well, and the price, let's be clear. But putting that aside, the sizing would kind of keep me out of it. And certainly it would be secondary or much further down the list than these new smaller versions, of which I find quite compelling. So yeah, good stuff by Blancpain. I like the look of the strap. I like the kind of lugless design. It feels more modern. It feels kind of fresh. And it kind of, in some ways, I don't really know how to fully contextualize it. It feels very Japanese. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I was thinking the same. |
| James Stacey | This feels like a shape you would see from Citizen, which I find quite exciting. Obviously, that sort of more esoteric, more interesting, more avant-garde sort of design language, but coming from a traditional Swiss brand. I think if you were really deep into your Blancpain collection, this could be quite a compelling thing for sure. And look, I'm sure we'll see it in Gambessa films and stuff like that in the future, which is always fun. Next up on the orange accent train, this watch kind of seemed to really spark a lot of people's interest despite being a very subtle tweak to a model that now has so many iterations I'm not sure I could sit and list them. In a Family Feud style scenario, if I had to. But we have a new version of the Seamaster Diver from Omega, the 300 meter. And it has a sort of smooth matte or semi-matte dial and orange accents. And man, the orange accents really got people excited. They sure did. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Orange seems to be a thing now. Um, and it's, it's a sharp watch. It is so cool. It looks amazing. It is so funny how the, you know, the, the buzz on these watches just goes crazy at this. They just did something. I don't remember which one it was, but a few years ago or it was just last year, I think. |
| James Stacey | every time they come out with a new edition everybody gets all excited and like it's just a new color folks you know this is yeah well they did that summer blue oh that's a couple years back yeah right i mean this is much more effective for me it's like ultraman but in the yeah in in and then the orange markers that's kind of weird and exciting so the the cardinal markers the the 12369 instead of having a sort of white metal surround for the applied markers have like an orange coloring And otherwise, you have an orange secondhand and an orange Seamaster Tex and then the option of a bright orange rubber, which I think is maybe the thing that makes it work the most for me is the rubber. At least from I haven't seen this in person, to be fair. But from the from the images, the one thing that does surprise me is in my mind, these and I'm not saying they're not worth the money. That's entirely up to you. I'm never quite ready for these to have a $7,000 price point. you know, that's going to be pushing nines in Canada. And for me, I just like, it's still missing the sword hands. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, yeah. And as you were talking, I was thinking like, yeah, that's Submariner territory or it's getting, well, it's not quite even actually, but like this is a legitimate competitor to a Submariner. I mean, this is their version, right? It is their competitor. It's a spectacular movement. It's a great, very capable, very handsome, timeless looking watch. But But I think we're still, you know, here I am wearing my 2254. There's something that maybe Omega is kind of competing with its own past where you just think, God, you know, the Seamaster used to be this, had such high value. It was a Submariner competitor, but so much more affordable. And now we're just creeping up higher and higher in the pricing. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I mean, look, they went upmarket years ago. I think actually, if you went back to early TGNs, we would be talking about Omega going upmarket. And at the time, I think upmarket at that time was like, oh, you know, Planet Ocean with a bracelet, six grand. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Right. Yeah. And we had 2254s and we had Railmasters and we had, you know, you're thinking in a timeline that doesn't exist anymore. And, you know, this this watch feels very 2025 and that this is this has enthusiast appeal. But, you know, it has that modern that modern price tag. And I think this would be a very, very successful watch for them, for sure, especially on the heels of the popularity of the white dial, which you had and some of the more esoteric models like the Nekton. I just think, you know, again, we're seeing brands kind of fill out their lineup and orange seems to be the summer move. We've got more orange. |
| Jason Heaton | to talk about on this episode omega does orange well i mean i think back really well the um the ploprof and some of the orange they've done in the planet oceans they i don't know what it is i don't know if it's there at the hue of orange that they use or there's something about seeing the sea master word the script in orange that just kind of looks good it's cool |
| James Stacey | Well, could you imagine this exact watch, but in that gray they did the 1200 meter ploprof in? |
| Unknown | Mm-hmm. |
| James Stacey | That'd be cool, too. Obviously, we're suckers for gray. Yeah. But this on the hero shot on Hodinkee's on the Milanese-style mesh, I just think it's a good-looking watch. Would I like it more with the sword hand? Sure. Am I a broken record? Absolutely. Yeah. For sure. We record every week, and I probably bring up sword hands about as frequently. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, we're talking about orange, and I think the big orange elephant in the room here is this new Doxa. So they released this sub-750T Clive Cussler edition to coincide with Clive Cussler's 94th birthday, the late Clive Cussler, we should say. Mm-hmm. Kind of another winner, kind of another riff, kind of a watch that we all feel like we've seen, but there's some subtle changes to it. Apparently this one's quite a bit thinner. Yeah, under 12 millimeters. Yeah, yeah. I tend to... Do you remember the previous kind of Clive Cussler version that came with that... gunmetal distressed case and yeah of course kind of an aged dial um and that compass case back and things like that i i tend to prefer that one if i were to go with a clive cussler edition but um this is another one that i so many people have just gotten really excited about um and probably rightly so if you're especially very cussler fan |
| James Stacey | Well, I mean, think about it in 2025. This is a more conventional model than the previous one. They did the more daring, interesting with the stonewashed finish. And I thought a very cool watch. And they did a nice job with those. But I think those were even more like specific to people in that one Clive Kessler Avenue. And then with this, it's only 94 pieces. So... They're barely a production model for a brand like like Dachshund. I'm not saying Dachshund makes like a million watches. They don't. But like 94 pieces, that's that means they they're very specific about who they think would buy this. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | You know, they're not worried about making a ton of money on it. It's it's like a play to the to the romance of the Kussler connection and the rest of it. It's under $3,000, which feels inexpensive for a watch in 2025. It is a Sellita-based watch with fairly conventional specs, but it is 56-hour power reserve and that sort of thing. It comes in the special presentation, and it's a 45-millimeter model. So again... if Doxa didn't have the 200T and the 250 GMT and the 300, you know, anniversary-style models that we love, the 45 might feel out of line, but they have all the bases covered, so why not make one that reflects the era of the Kessler models, which were these somewhat larger takes on the watch? And look, I think this is cool. I think that they made something that... has the Kussler connection, but has also the sort of U.S. Divers Association, the aqualung with the badge at about 8 o'clock, 7, 8 o'clock. I think it's cool. I think this is going to be really successful in that they've made 94, and I have to imagine that they went really quickly. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, they're probably gone. |
| James Stacey | So if you're a collector, this feels like a natural play. In my mind, even more natural than the previous sort of Kussler editions. I think it's cool. And it's very orange. Yeah. As it should be. Yeah. So the last thing I would consider is like, if you're going to make a concession for a larger watch because of its connection to Kessler, like if that's very important to you, this watch at 45 millimeters will not feel like a 45 millimeter watch, just like a 42 and a half millimeter Doxa doesn't feel that big at all. Like with our... 50th anniversary models that we've talked about for the entire history of this show they were a little smaller and then this being thinner that's quite thin under 12 millimeters is you know that's very similar in thickness to my Pelagos 39 and that sort of thing so I love the idea that they're they're making watches that are kind of esoteric in their interest very enthusiast driven and checking boxes like thinner yeah this should be applauded even if we're not buying it I think Much like the 250T, which I might buy at some point, but I don't, oh man, I wore my 200T the other day and I just love it. I put a photo up yesterday. I think it was just yesterday when I say the other day. I don't remember days that well at the moment, but cool thing here. Very, very limited, but a neat thing nonetheless. |
| Jason Heaton | All right, where do we go now? We've got, it looks like three more on our list. We've got one kind of the little bit of an outlier for us. Maybe we hit that first, the Honor Dane. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, let's do it. Yeah, I just think this is kind of cool. It also has like, well, let's be fair, red accents. Yeah, yeah. But it's in the same neighborhood of this sort of like riff we've had with the black and orange. But yeah, this is their new first model with a porcelain dial. And I kind of like the idea of kind of combining a field watch in their aesthetic, which is like kind of rough and rugged and tough and easy to wear. But then with the kind of extra sort of resplendent value of a porcelain dial. And I think this is very, very inordained. There aren't a lot of brands attempting this. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And I think, you know, I have the model one, um, with the iron cream, uh, uh, enamel dial. And I love that watch. And I, I remember, you know, talking to Lewis who we had on the show, you know, a couple of years ago. Um, I remember talking to him about that watch and it, it, it doesn't have loom. It feels dressy. Um, and I just said, I, I, I love this watch, but like my lifestyle just doesn't suit it. Well, he said, you know what? Just, just wear it, just use it. And I, I, I, I feel the same about this one. I'd look at this and I think, geez, porcelain dial. I'd be afraid of smacking it. I'd feel, but I think he, and most, you know, some people might just say like, this is, this is their version of a field watch. This is the model two. It's a little bit chunkier in terms of the case. |
| James Stacey | Um, I mean, dials made in house, they're only able to make 30 to 40 a month. Yeah. 39.5 or 36 millimeters. The smaller one comes later this year. You kind of can't get a more legible looking at this photo. |
| Jason Heaton | That is like if you looked up watch in some old dictionary or something, this would be the photo. It's so legible. Yeah, it is. |
| James Stacey | No, I think it looks really good. I love what they're offering. This is also, again, like a handmade enamel dial from a tiny manufacturer. The dials are made by them, and it's like $2,500. Yeah. Is that inexpensive? No. But is what you're buying inexpensive to make? Also, no, I don't think, right? |
| Jason Heaton | Two to go. We've got a Seiko, and we have a brand I don't think we've ever talked about on this show. Let's hit the Seiko first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. |
| James Stacey | So this one's been super popular. It's popped up on many different sites that cover watches, of course, and then certainly in the Slack. And so this is a new Seiko 5 sports model. The reference number is the SRPL91 and SRPL93. These have been nicknamed already. It's a Seiko, so that's going to happen. The Gene Kranz Jr. So these are effectively modern recreations of a model called the 6119-8460. Jason, do you want to give a little bit of context for Gene Kranz and the watch itself? Sure. |
| Jason Heaton | yeah so gene kranz was you know the flight director for nasa for many years um and most most notably during the apollo era um you know he was the guy the classic guy who you know if you if you watched apollo 13 i think he was played by ed harris you know the buzz cut the the professor that he would that he would wear yeah just great casting yeah um just, just kind of an unflappable character who inspired confidence among the people at, at mission control and helped guide, you know, famously Apollo 13 kind of back, um, from its troubled voyage. And, um, you know, as will, as will happen, internet sleuths have detected that, that, uh, you know, zooming in on, on photos, higher res photos or, or scans, uh, from that era that, that he wore the, the vintage version that you mentioned, the 6619 version of this watch. And, uh, It feels like a watch that would have suited Gene Kranz. He seemed like this kind of no-nonsense guy. He wasn't one of the astronauts, but he was arguably as important and possibly more important than anybody else in the whole team. But here he was wearing this humble watch that kind of did its job for him. and uh it's it's fun to see this recreation and and um and it's it's a neat piece for sure and it's 440 bucks that feels that feels like good solid kind of seiko value territory again yeah yeah it's a four hour movement so that i think that falls within line for the pricing expect expectation but you get a seiko 5 shield on the dial which we haven't seen in a few years |
| James Stacey | Uh, kind of interesting if you're, if you're a Seiko five nerd from way back when you could get like an SNK for 80 bucks, that sort of thing. Uh, this is, you know, a much better movement than a seven S a series. Um, you also get a split color date wheel to be accurate to the original. So the date is one color black, I believe. And the day is white. Uh, it's a hundred meters water resistance, which is more than the original 38.2 millimeters steel. And you get drilled lugs and each version. So there's a flick, a full with a silver or steel tone dial, uh, which is very close to the model that they're referencing from Gene Kranz. And then there's a black dial version as well. And each, I believe, are limited to 9,999 units. So I think that's Segal's way of saying, like, we're not going to make this forever, but we would like anyone who really wants one to get one, which I agree with. This is an okay way of doing it. I don't know that that number even needs to be shared when you're talking about nearly 10,000 watches. But at least people know that it's a limited thing and, you know, maybe in a few years it's not around anymore. Or, I mean, look, at $440 in 2025, it might go way faster than that. There's a lot of guys that seem to be loving it on the Slack. So if you haven't checked those out, keep an eye out for it in Risk Check on the Slack. And we'll, of course, have a link in the show for more details. All right, let's close it out. Yeah. Yeah, we've quite an interesting watch from a brand called Leventure. So this is the Marine Type 3 chronometer. I've been aware of Leventure as like a name brand for some time, but I never really felt tied to any of their designs. And this watch, if you have no clue what I'm talking about, I think you'll just be surprised. It doesn't really look like much else. It's almost brutalist in its case design. It has a little tiny dial, which I really like. It comes in a loom dial or a black dial. It's called the Marine Type 3 Chronometer, and it's a COSC-certified watch, like a field watch. with some kind of dive watch design elements. It has a very broad bezel, for example. But a really cool looking thing. It's type 23 titanium, which is what we also saw in the 50 Fathoms Tech, which is interesting to use that specific alloy. 300 meters water resistance, 38 millimeters thick. The case is only 8.9 millimeters thick, and then it's 11.2 if you include the crystal, so kudos on that. Love seeing a nice, thin, wearable sort of scenario. And then it's a Sellita SW300, so you get your 56 hours of power reserve and 4 hertz. and it's cost-certified. The pricing will feel a little zesty. It's 4,200 Swiss francs for this, but it is 100% made in Switzerland, and they're only producing 100 pieces in 2025. So it's not something that has any economy of scale, essentially. You're kind of buying this specific thing and buying into the idea that it's quite limited. What do you think of the look of it, Jason? |
| Jason Heaton | I adore this watch. I was hoping it would be affordable. I absolutely adore this watch. I love it on the fabric strap. I love it on the rubber. There's nothing about this watch I don't like, to be honest. And I'd have a hard time deciding which dial to choose, frankly. I love lume dials, as you do and as a lot of us do. |
| James Stacey | It's got the double scale, so you get an outer... Like, you have the bezel, which is marked for minutes and says Marine Type 3 and chronometer. It looks very toolish, very field watch. And then on the exterior of the dial, the very outer edge of the dial, you have a minute track. And then you have kind of a full watch dial inside of that with the hour and the branding and these... kind of shortened hands. The proportions here, none of them really make sense until you see it. Like if you're just listening to me describe it, you go, what is this watch going to look like? It'd be interesting to see if they could make a more commercialized version in steel down the road because I think it would be very successful. I'm not saying they won't sell what they're offering here, but 4,200 Swiss francs, you're buying into something very specific at that price point, right? |
| Jason Heaton | The whole thing feels, I feel like every single, and this is the case with a lot of watches, but like with this one, it's so visible that every single element of it was considered. Everything was thought about. You know, you look at the... um you know the design of the case back the crown has an interesting shape to it the as you mentioned the finish i love that the the the text on the on the bezel this big wide chunky bezel is offset you know slightly it's not you know, 12 and three, it's, it's more like 11 and 11 and five, you know, it's just, it's just, um, and then it has, uh, this anti-magnetic sort of, I guess, Faraday cage, I don't think is the correct term to use these days, but, um, you know, this, this iron shield over the, over the movement to protect it against magnetism. Um, you know, even on the back, this little bit of an engraving, it looks like an octopus and the Marine type three, it just, it feels very industrial and, um, I'm just so impressed. I just think it's a beautiful piece. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | If this is the type of thing that Laventure is going to continue developing into, this is a brand to keep on your radar. I think this watch will be something quite memorable from this year. I think it's a really good looking thing. The likelihood of seeing one out in the wild is very slim. So if you do catch one, I think you could probably spot it from across the airport lounge or whatever. You know, strike up a conversation. That's going to be an interesting watch nerd that went and got one. I love the variety of the straps. That stone kind of finished titanium with the yellow, the sort of like mustardy yellow fabric strap is fantastic. The rubber looks really good. uh yeah i think this is an interesting and fun thing and i'd love to see this design language extend into uh into a broader range of watches if it's successful for them cool All right, there you got it. You know what, six really quite different watches. A bunch of orange, for sure. You know, that seems to be the mode, and I'm not going to argue against it. I'm here for it, for sure. But you can hit the show notes for links to all of these watches, and, you know, nice range from, what, $440 to $20-some-odd thousand dollars. So a little something for everybody. And a bunch of them, like, very, very concretely limited between the Doxa, the Anordane, and the Leventure. which is great. And now the FFTech no longer just a limited. So that's great. But how about we get into some final notes so the show doesn't get so long that I can't edit it in the middle of the night before Thursday? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, definitely. |
| James Stacey | You have two, it looks like. I guess I've got two. So maybe I'll go first. So a while back, Jason, you recommended, I believe it was a video from Rick Beto where he was talking about Stuart Copeland. |
| Jason Heaton | Yes. |
| James Stacey | And since then, I've kind of dipped into most of his videos. I don't always watch all of them. It depends on who's on. But I really have come to appreciate not only the way that he makes videos, but the way that he seems to be thoughtful about his videos and the way they're titled, the way they're presented to his audience. He seems to be really dialed on understanding his audience. And this week, a very interesting video from the title popped up in my feed, and I saw it referenced on Slack, so I'm certainly not the only person who is kind of interested. And normally, he's quite supportive. He's pro-music. He's pro-music production. He seems to see his role as being, you know, I'm here to help bring people's education level up so that they can enjoy music even more so. And here's this title. It says, I'm sorry, this new artist completely sucks. And I go, wow, who made this seemingly very nice man angry or upset or whatever? And so obviously I clicked in. And I don't want to give away too much of the video. And Rick, if you ever happen to catch this, a really nice job well done with not so much like link baiting or title baiting, but giving, like expanding the scope from the moment I click on the video. It's just a really, really nice treatment. But it's an exploration of AI tools that are being used to make pop songs. And he builds a song essentially in front of you, explaining the tools and how they're used and where some are being used in songs that you know, and others aren't quite up to the level where you wouldn't tell that the voice is digital or that sort of thing. So if you're interested in this kind of thing, especially this intersection between... You know, there's AI as a tool, which I think a lot of us use and understand, whether it's you Google search something and Google gives you the answer without having to click into a site. Or maybe you use ChatGPT to help you plan a vacation, find the best deal on something or skip through some phase of research. I've certainly talked about my love of perplexity. And as a research tool, I think it's great. As a creative tool, I think they're really kind of terrifying and problematic. And, you know, creativity should come from a human. I still believe that and I will continue to believe that as much as possible. And I think this video from Rick really highlights both sides of that, where there's tool elements and then there's things that kind of replace the human element. And replacing the human element in music is wild, right? Replacing the human element in art is wild to me. Whether you're for or against AI or somewhere in the middle, depending on its application, I think this is a nice video that explains how it's being used in an industry that a lot of us experience music. You know what I mean? And I think it's a good one. So kudos to Rick on it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, good. I'll check that out. I love his stuff. He's a thoughtful guy. For sure. And what have you got? All right. Well, I've got one that's this feels more like a final note that you'd come up with. But and I sent it to you and I think you'd read it. And I think you even know this guy. So you can riff on this as much as you need to. But it's an article behind a paywall in The New York Times called The Secretive Shop That Keeps the Rare McLaren F1 on the Road. And. It's a story about this McLaren-trained mechanic, one of only two, I guess, that were trained by McLaren. His name is Kevin Hines, and he's got a shop somewhere near Philadelphia that is kept secret in location because of the value of the cars that he services. And I think a lot of this story is probably not new information to you, certainly, James, and not even to me, and to a lot of people that are car people or even TGN listeners. Um, it's just kind of neat to see there's some great photos in here, but it's, it's just neat to see the, um, the F1 get this kind of exposure in, in kind of a mainstream publication like the New York times and kind of the description of some of the superlatives about this car, you know, the, the, the gold foil and the engine bay and the titanium toolkit and how much it costs for each tire and stuff like this. And, uh, uh, it's just, it was just a really, really fun story. And you, I believe you told me you met Kevin. |
| James Stacey | No, we traded a little bit of correspondence. So when I wrote I wrote a fairly large story for Hood Inky magazine about the F1 some some years ago. And part of the process of my research of that was a story by a guy who I now know and actually spent some time with last year at at Pebble Beach, Bob Sorkanich. He wrote a story for Road and Track about the only McLaren F1 technician in North America. And so this is Kevin Hines of McLaren Philadelphia. You know, you can't find their address. He's still using, you know, like an ancient Compaq laptop, you know, because it's how they interface with the vehicle, which was cutting edge in the early 90s, not so cutting edge. by the late 90s, let alone now, the story that ran in Hood Inky Magazine was very much trimmed down to fit the pages. And I wrote a ton, including a ton about what the service reality of a car like this is, because it's fascinating. The thing I would say to add on top of this is please read, I'll include Bob's story from 2017 in here as well, but please read this one from the New York Times if you can get past the paywall, of course. And then... If you get excited about it or you think like, man, this is absolutely insane. It's so much money to service this car. Go ahead and watch a video or two about what it is to service like a Veyron or a Chiron. The Bugattis that have worked sort of new millennial takes on this idea of a kind of no compromise sports car. And to be fair, I don't know what the service is on something like a GMA T50 or T33. My guess is quite a bit more reasonable. The tires end up being a lot of the issue with these really, really, really fast cars. I think these are fascinating in so much as I grew up obsessed with stuff like the SR71, which was $300 million a year just to service the fleet. it's a great story and and i like that people are continuing to tell this story and you know you amortize it across what's more in real you know they did make a little over 100 cars uh total um but really it's 64 road cars many of which don't get driven so it is it is just a guy servicing the ones that people are still wanting to keep on the road and running yeah um and and i think it's a Yeah, it is in some ways polishing the brass on the Titanic. You know, this idea of a really, really intense internal combustion car that was designed in a manner that no vehicle had been designed before and kind of. came out a generation ahead of everything else, maybe two generations in many ways. And people still look back and these are probably the most expensive modern vehicle, loosely modern vehicle sold at auction. You know, the very specific models have seen, you know, deeper into the double digits of millions. I believe somewhere in the 20s is sort of the top for these. So when you start to factor that, then you go like, oh, well, maybe maybe what Kevin's up to and what they're charging isn't too bad. But yeah, I think these stories are great for sure. |
| Jason Heaton | All right. What's your what's your number two? It looks like a good one. Car related. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, this one's great. And I mean, it's more a highlight of why I love Henry Catchpole so much than it is the car that he's covering. But just recently, Henry posted a video with his in the driver's seat series with Hagerty. which continues to be excellent. They dropped a fantastic Lamborghini video just before we started recording this morning. But he covered the new Praga Bohemia, which is a really, really high-end hypercar built in the Czech Republic. Henry being Henry, you couldn't just have the car and him being excited about driving this really intense, really kind of wild. I mean, the camera shot of the view out the front windshield is just fantastic. Whoever set up that shot did such a beautiful job of conveying the like, it's like they're in a fishbowl. the view of it. And you can see the top of the wheel arches. You can see the interior of the wheels. It's just a great shot. I really, I've immediately moved to a better monitor to watch this video, which is always a good sign. But he also includes a consideration of a vintage Praga. And this is why I love Henry's videos is the context is there. You know, if you wanted to talk about a brand new... 26 000 50 fathoms tech like it's cool to kind of show off the what a 50 fathoms was when they first kind of hit the world and and what racing whether diving i'm mixing metaphors at this point but yeah i i just thought this was a fantastic video really really cool really exciting it's it's difficult for me and i think a lot of people feel this way to get really excited about hypercars because like you know three million dollars or whatever and and you might never see one and i wouldn't necessarily call it pretty um it's very exciting looking but then to have the context of the old one really kind of helps and the old one's very beautiful and has this incredible roof and a magnesium gearbox and all this stuff that you can get really jacked up about I love this video. So kudos to, uh, to Haggerty for continuing this and for Henry and his team for, you know, kind of telling that whole story in, in such a nice video. Yeah, that's cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Um, two good videos that you recommended today. I mean, we've got Bito on the music side and Henry on the car side, so I've got some work cut out for me. That's great. |
| James Stacey | It's easy stuff to watch for sure. It's a good time, but, uh, but yeah, that's the final notes. And I think that's the, uh, that's the episode. So We'll have more for you all in about a week's time. But as always, thanks so much for listening. 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 thegraynato.com. Additionally, don't forget, we would love your Q&A questions. So record them into the voice memo app on your phone and send them to thegraynato at gmail.com. We will be getting to them in the next couple of months. We have a bunch of these episodes that need to be recorded and we need your questions to make that happen. So please get them to us if you would like. Finally, music throughout is Siesta by Jazar via the free music archive. |
| Jason Heaton | And we leave you with this quote from Gail Ray, who said, perfection only exists in babies and pastries. |