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The Grey NATO – 360 – Slack Crew & A [Part 7: Travel, Watches We'd Never Own, Dalton's Bond, And Watches On The Wrong Side Of History]

Published on Thu, 15 Jan 2026 06:00:00 -0500

Synopsis

In this episode of The Grey NATO (Episode 360), Jason Heaton opens with a candid discussion about the difficult situation in Minneapolis, where he's been witnessing civil unrest and federal agent presence near his home. The hosts acknowledge this isn't typically their focus but felt it important to address what's happening in Jason's community.

Moving forward, they discuss their recent activities, with James sharing his continued success with dry January and his use of the Elro Industries mini phone to reduce screen time. He's been reading "Nuclear War: A Scenario" by Annie Jacobsen and experimenting with 3D design and printing. Jason talks about his watch collection purge, selling multiple pieces on the TGN Slack. Both hosts are wearing their CWC collaboration watch (CWN1). The main segment continues their 2025 Crew Q&A series, addressing questions about complicated watch heritage (specifically IWC's WWII connections), favorite James Bond actors, dream historical adventures, personal travel plans for the year, and watches they appreciate but wouldn't personally own. They close with final notes featuring Pela biodegradable phone cases and Discommon's luxury watch travel case called "The Puck."

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton 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 three hundred and sixty, 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'd like to support the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. My name is Jason Heaton, and I'm joined as ever by my friend and co-host James Stacey in Toronto. James, uh how you doing? Three sixty. That feels I don't know, it's a kind of a nice number, isn't it? Yeah, it's a big, it
James Stacey 's a big round number for sure. It's a maybe the roundest number, depending on depending on how you look at it. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm uh I'm doing okay. You know, it's uh it's a it's a weird time to be, you know, on on the internet. You know, obviously you're local to a lot of sort of unrest in the in the States. How are things there? You doing o
Jason Heaton kay? Uh well, if I'm honest, uh not not entirely okay. I mean it's uh I'm I'm based in Minneapolis for for those that don't know. Um but it's you know, if you've followed the news at all, you'll know that we've had some some pretty serious goings on here uh over the past uh week or two. Um specifically last week someone was shot not far from where I'm sitting, less than a mile. Um and there's there's a huge um presence of you know, what what do we call them? You know, um federal agents, I guess, uh, you know, uh all over here and and it's just it's gotten scary. I mean it it feels you know as someone who exists largely on on the safe side of things um and and remain largely unscathed, it's just been kind of a scary place to live and see what's going on. And knowing people that are affected has just been um kind of rattling. I was out to lunch yesterday with some friends, and um just a couple blocks away, there was a an intersection where these armored vehicles went went straight through the intersection and were kind of lobbing tear gas canisters out in the street. I mean th this is the sorts of things that we don't usually think of happening in our in our home cities. And you know, here Minneapolis has had a rough, rough time since 2020. Um, we had some political assassinations last year and then um kind of the city burning back in in in the summer of 2020. And it's uh we're we're we we''veve said this before, we're not a political podcast and we don't wade into that fully, but I I I can't ignore what's going on here and just kind of admit that everything's a okay when when it's uh it's a little scary. Um and and I'm just
James Stacey wanted to put that out there. For sure. Yeah, I mean there's there's some certainly and on my side there's some privilege in that I have a great distance being in a different country. But man, it's uh it's it's definitely it feels like the opening scenes of like, you know, uh a disaster film. Yeah. You know, where they show clips from the news of yeah, tear canisters and things on fire and doors being kicked in and that sort of thing, and it yeah, it feels um incongruous with with like growing up as a Canadian, what you learn about you know the the foundational elements of the states and what they stand for, uh the last several years feel outside of that scope. Um Yeah. Yeah, it's it's a tough thing to kind of uh contextualize and like you said, we're we don't pretend to be, you know, overly political on the on the show. Um but look, we are uh we are considering, you know, like we did during 2020 and and in the past, uh, you know, supporting some local efforts uh for the population uh in and around where Jason lives. And if you have any suggestions of a great charity that could uh that could use a a little bit of an infusion from uh from the tg and crew let us know on the slack uh we're we're kind of considering kind of weighing out the options maybe maybe a cool supporter t-shirt or something like that would be a good idea yeah uh we certainly you know have the uh have the tools in place to spin that up. But yeah, it's uh it's a tough time. And you know, we we you and I have traded a handful of text messages and and that sort of thing about how it's kind of it feels just right outside your door. Yeah. Uh so yeah, I I feel for you man,. I'm sorry that's uh obviously that's a lot of pressure for that community and and and beyond. Yeah, yeah. Well I appreciate that. And
Jason Heaton um, you know, I I think our our show is is one that um provides kind of a bit of a port in a storm and a bit of an escape for peop for folks and and we're happy to do that and I'm again we'll we'll kinda leave it there and and kinda move on here shortly, but I just wanted to uh to kind of acknowledge what what's happening and how I'm feeling um to as we're we're all about transparency and I think people appreciate that. And uh you know a lot of times what we talk about on the show feels a bit outside of kind of the real world, so to speak, or a bit um escapist and and that's okay sometimes and I think to to prov to provide that I think is So um you know with with that in mind, let's uh let's move on to kind of other news, I guess, in our in our own lives.
James Stacey What uh what have you been up to lately? Yeah, just you know, just trying to fill the void uh with it being dry January. You know, I'm I I kid, it's uh it actually hasn't been that tough. Um I'm I'm sleeping really well. Oh yeah. Uh I mean I it'd be hilarious to look back at like this episode last year and the episode the year before, I'm probably saying, Oh, you know, it's a little boring, but I'm sleeping better and I feel pretty good and the exercises feel good and all that kind of thing. And that's all true. Um, trying to stick to a lot of the stuff we talked about in the past episode with um with our ins and outs. So back on the train with the Elro Industries uh mini phone ultra, uh, I put my phone down in my office Friday afternoon, like after work or Friday evening after work, and I barely touched it, except for a couple things where I had to like check for an Amazon package delivery timing, that sort of thing. Otherwise, I could just have the the L row in my pocket and I could get a text message, I could get a slack if it was important. And otherwise I was very much able to kind of segment the what I feel is like kind of the most problematic scal screen for me, which is like a phone. Yeah, uh down to something that's much less useful um in terms of like killing time. Uh but great just to grab a little bit of information. I still have my weather, I still have my podcasts if I want to uh if I'm you know washing the dishes or going for a quick walk or something like that. So that's great. Highly recommend uh whether whether you do it with the minifone ultra, which is my preference, or just wear a smartwatch or something like that, that allows you to have a certain amount of connectivity, but not the type that feels kind of invasive or or doom scrolly or that sort of th
Jason Heaton ing. Yeah. That's a great great example of uh kind of technology solving a technology problem. You know, I mean it's and
James Stacey I I I do think that we probably maybe not in this year, who knows? But I I am thinking that it won't take too long for the the broader tech world. And I don't mean the smaller boutiques, whether it's an Alro Industries or the people who make some of the the more simple style phones now, the dumb phones and that sort of thing. I mean like Apple, Samsung offering sort of a paired device that keeps you in a piece of the ecosystem. And and maybe for Apple, they think that's the Apple Watch. So yeah, I I think this will be a kind of a growing thing. I wouldn't be surprised that definitely you look at just Instagram for for Ed Jelly's company for Elro and you see all that he's shipping, he's on to something, as are the two or three other people that seem to be making kind of a similar product. Yeah. Um this ability to to kind of really be able to control how much your how much of your attention is going to one of these sorts of devices is is nice. So that's been great for me. Uh I've definitely traded my Instagram scrolling for reading. Uh so I finished perfection, which I spoke about on a on a previous episode. I I enjoyed it. I I you know I don't know, I'll have to read more of the books from Anthony Jesselnik's list to decide if like where it would land for me. Um out uh sort of well outside of my normal, uh, but enjoyed it. Very fast read, maybe 150 pages, something like that. And then I I jumped into something much heavier in topic. Um, over the last little while, the last maybe like two, three months, I've been kind of more and more interested with like the triggers that that bring countries closer to nuclear war. Yeah. And both of my brothers, uh both Grant and Tim, uh two of my three brothers had suggested uh nuclear war, a scenario by Annie Jacobson, and I kind of can't put it down. It's among the most macabre downdrodden, you know, you're basically she's writing about what would happen by the minute from the moment that a nuclear missile was launched. Yeah. To you know, I think I'm 40% of the way into the book, I'm maybe 45 minutes into the nuclear scenario and the world's almost over. Yeah. Wow. Wow. And I I, you know, I had a very low level of education about any of this, about the technology behind it, the difference between an atomic bomb and a hydrogen bomb, you know, the thermal nuclear weapon, the modern. And so I'm I'm finding this book absolutely fascinating. And uh and so yeah, I'm I'm I'm working my way through that. It's not easy reading. It's it's pretty heavy. Yeah. Um, and it paints a a fairly up to date, like you know, they're they're talking in terms of twenty twenty four. And uh I'm I'm I I highly recommend it if this is something that could be of interest. Like I had no idea. It opens with something that I found jaw dropping. And and Jason, if you haven't read the book, I'll ask what 'cause I think I don't know I can't answer my own question. You know what I mean? Yeah. If it let so in the book it proposes a scenario where North Korea fires an intercontinental ballistic missile at the US at Washington. How long do you think it takes for the U.S. to know that that missile has been launched? I'll even give you a cheat. The missile is only really trackable in its first phase. Yeah. Um, at least from a distance when it's still under power. So you have five minutes of rocket. Oh yeah. Before it's essentially hurtling and then it has to get picked up when it's over the US. Oh yeah. So just for fun, that uh it so now you know it's less than five minutes to find the ro to to know that like before a signal is sent to somebody to say a rocket was just fired. Yeah. Yeah. Take a guess at how long that takes. I don't know twelve, minutes? Less than half a second. Oh my gosh. Wow. So uh it's the first alarm would go off. Twelve minutes. Uh twelve minutes the they're into the phase where like the president would be deciding
Jason Heaton Well th as you're saying all this, I think of that show, the movie Um A House of Dynamite. Because it it it sounds very much like what you're describing
James Stacey . I'm I'm not sure. I know that the the movie rights I believe went to Denny Villaneuve for for this, but that that could just be a
Jason Heaton a thing I read on the internet. Okay, because that that movie was Catherine Bigelow and it was it was quite good and it was very frightening and they kept kind of re-revisiting the scenario from different perspectives. And it was yeah, it was chilling. Wow. Yeah, that book sounds amazing.
James Stacey Yeah. So that that's what I've been doing into that. And then oh, I spent the weekend. Um and and again, it it all kind of falls downstream of of Ed and Elro Industries, uh, which sounds like an ad, but I promise it isn't. I paid for it. I'm really happy with the product. I would I would buy it for anybody I know who has uh an Apple Watch that would fit it. Um but because of Ed, I also figured eventually I would try my hand at some three D design. Yeah. Wow. And you know, I downloaded Fusion a while ago and I think I think I sent you some photos. I was like, oh I'll make a handle for a Yeti. Just because it it gave me a measurable thing. Right. Right. A physical thing that I could measure. Yeah. And so I I did that. It didn't go great. Uh it was fine. You know, and it's a good time to like making prototypes and doing that kind of thing. Yeah. Um and then uh Sarah sent me this thing from a company that makes like a a milled metal channel that you put on your desk that holds those kind of cue cards that I write my to-do lists on. Oh yeah. Yeah. And so it keeps it kind of upright and sitting on your desk and you can kind of organize them. And I looked at that and I thought, well, I mean, their design's very beautiful and it's not super expensive, but I feel like I could make that for twenty cents. And so I started designing my own. We did three or four prototypes. And now Sarah and I each have them on my on our desks. And it's this little you know block of plastic of PLA plastic that's printed um that has like two channels for cue cards. Yeah. And uh and you can put the cards in there. It's one of the channels can hold a pen if that's what you would rather. So I've got the CPN one on there. And I had a blast just kind of learning a little bit and there's a couple YouTube videos I watch to figure out how to like start. Uh basically you sketch at least one side of it in three D and then extrude it in other directions, which is quite exciting. And then thankfully, uh, my brother Grant is also into 3D printing and has gone way deeper into like creating and and modeling his own things. Yeah. So if I got stuck, I could give him a ring and kind of share my screen and he would walk me through some of it. So I I'm absolutely enjoying that. Uh I'm I need to find my next sort of problem in my life to solve with a three D printer. Oh yeah. Yeah. That's uh th that was uh that was my weekend. It was a lot of that. Where we my my daughters and I and and Sarah are playing a lot of Animal Crossing. We reset our island. So if you're an Animal Crossing uh nerd, you'll know what that means. We had started one back in probably 2020 during the pandemic. Yeah. And then you know, stopped playing a few years ago and just figured now might be an okay time. It you know, this is kind of the coldest, dreariest season in the next couple of months. You know, we don't spend as much time outside and that sort of thing. But this allows us to do stuff that's kind of together and a little bit less uh again on the phone, on the on the on the small screen, that sort of th
Jason Heaton ing. Yeah, it is a it it's um it is a tough time of year to kind of, you know, if you if you're feeling antsy and you're trying to stay off screens and you're trying to stay off alcohol, like it is kind of the worst month for both. I mean, it's um you know, it's tempting to kind of just you know, go into your cave and and and have a whiskey and um you know binge watch a show and and buy a bunch of stuff online and whatever else. But uh it's it's you know here it's it's it it's we've had this sort of roller coaster of temperatures and whatnot and it's been sort of uh up and down and very um icy and and then it's slushy and and back and forth. So the dog walks have been very interesting. I've been wearing cleated ice bug shoes for a lot of that. Yeah. But um yeah, nothing too exciting here other than the fact that I I kind of furthered my watch purge uh last week. I I uh sold four watches. There's still a fifth on the on the BST as as we're recording this. And and it was it it just feels good. I feel lighter already, you know, I mean it was it was nice and and I'm seeing them popping up on the wrists of the the new owners um on on Slack and you know I appreciate their their easy transactions and it was it's always a joy to to work on on the Slack, you know, selling stuff as opposed to kind of the other methods, kind the of grim back and forth you get on the forums and and whatnot. So it's uh it's been good. And I'm I'm just glad to see some watches going to to homes that where they'll be appreciated and uh also lighten my load, you know, clear out my box a little bit.
James Stacey Yeah I',m down four. Yeah. Um for the year. Uh all stuff that I like quite a bit, but wasn't wearing. So it's gonna go. Yeah. Yeah. And uh I I'm just I'm more happy. Uh I'm happy I sold one. I'm of course, or sold a few I.'m happy that you did as well. I'm more happy that I haven't bought any. Yeah. That that feels like a win for me so far. Uh, you know, the the only thing I've bought so far this year is some PLA for the printer. That's great. Doing okay. We're doing okay. Yeah, right. Yeah, for sure. Um well look, uh how about we get into a little bit of risk check and then we get to carry on the the you know, carry the torch of the crew and a into 2026 from last year's many great questions. I'm actually pretty pumped because some of these were pretty fun questions. So uh why don't we buzz through uh a quick risk check? It looks like we're we're both rocking the same thing
Jason Heaton . Yeah, I'm I've got the crew watch number one, our CWC collaboration from from about this time last year. Um, you know, I've I've been wearing the FXD kind of nonstop and this one isn't far from that kind of form factor. Um, but you know, it's it's great to to pick it up and have the um you know ha have that super lightweight and the accuracy. It's it's running, it's set uh to the to the second pretty much because of that that great movement that's in here. Um and I I did move it on to the the rubber NATO, that uh Benetto Centorini Zulu Diver rubber NATO. Um I've got the olive drab one. Just it's a perfect fit for this watch. And you know the the the fun little part about this strap is that it's uh it's got that vanilla scent to it that just doesn't go away. And some people don't like that, but it's yeah if I even move my arm a little bit, like this this little bit of aroma kind of wafts up. And it's it's this it's an element of of watch ownership that you don't normally get. You know, I mean watches don't have a smell component. They have sound, they have sight, they have feel. Um smell is usually not a sense you're using with your watch, but ideally. Yeah. Ideally, right, right. So
James Stacey that's been fun. And it sounds like you're wearing the same. I'm wearing the same CWN one. Uh I uh I absolutely just you know, what is there left to say? I'm wearing my CWN one. I love it. I've got it on the uh the leather NATO that Chaz made for me, uh, which has become an absolute favorite. It just kind of matches everything. Obviously in the middle of January, I'm not worried about either getting it drenched in sweat or going swimming or diving. Mm-hmm. So a leather NATO on even a dive ish style watch like this one doesn't bother me. I would feel differently if I was going to be, like I said, sweating, taking it to the cottage, that sort of thing. I'd put it on a normal NATO or the rubber for sure. It is really good on the rubber NATO. Yeah. And I I've been very tempted by that anchor rubber one with the nicer clasp and that sort of thing. I just haven't pulled the trigger. Yeah. Uh but I Instagram has me when I do open it, I get that ad a lot. And I believe it's on the CWC, you know, their guide version of this same one. Yeah, I've seen that ad. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. So every now and then kind of catch them and go, hey, did they no no, it's the it's the other one. Yeah. Yeah. So that's fun. But yeah, uh CWN one for both of us. Uh I think it's gonna be a year where this continues to just get a huge amount of wear and in many ways kind of makes a lot of my other sort of sit loosely similar or like, you know, watches you'd pick up and have to set every day, much less appealing. Yeah. Um you know, I'm I'm really treating this like a G Shock or or even a Timex where I'm just kind of throwing it on because I know it's already set. Yeah. And I picked it up today and I was like, uh, you know, let's just double check. And it was like within as close as I could measure to a second. Yeah. Given that I have to look at the second's hand and then look at the number on my phone. Oh yeah. It's close enough. Yeah. You know what I mean? Uh you know, it's we're never never gonna be quite dead on. But yeah, I I uh I'm super happy with it. So so yeah, let's jump into the main topic, which is a continuation of 2025's crew and a what's the fast did we did we ever find a fast way to explain this? If this happens to be your first crew and a welcome to the show. Uh, we're very happy to have you here. Um, I will try to be as quickly as possible with this explanation. Uh crew and a is a text-based question chain from our Slack, which is behind the paywall, but normally we do our monthly QA, which is an audio-based show where you send in a voice note. And some people don't want to send in voice notes. Um, it also kind of removes the ability for it to be like a communal experience. So we started collecting, and I think this list was probably like 70 to 80 questions and we're moving our way through that. Uh, but we started collecting them on an annual basis uh and we just didn't get to all these questions. So if you're listening and you're not part of the Slack, you're not part of the supporter crew,. Uh no big deal there. But if you'd like to be part of it and get into question and answer and threads kind of similar to this, uh, that's the crew and a. And this is uh part seven from our 2025 chunk of questions. And we'll kick it off with one uh a bit of a longer one from uh Jonathan Zalamea.
Jason Heaton And uh he's got a question about uh IWC Big Pilot. So he says one of the watches that got me into the hobby was the IWC Big Pilot owned by John Mayer. His love for the watch, along with his stories wh thatile on tour showed me watches were more than just timekeeping instruments. As I went along my watch journey learning about more history behind watches like the Speedmaster and the Moon or the Hamilton Khaki Field and American military, I realized the origins of the big pilot and the German Air Force during World War II. Ever since then I've had conflicting feelings. On the one hand, it was my first true watch obsession. On the other, I don't really like military history. I haven't heard of many others within the watch community feeling this way, so I'm wondering what your thoughts are about watches with more complicated origins. Has this affected any purchase decisions for you in the past? Would this type of tie-in prevent you from buying the watch if you were in my position? You know, this one's come up. I've I've I've pondered this um a few times over the years, and it does come up on forums uh with some frequency. Um what's what's your take on this? I don't think we've ever discussed
James Stacey it. You have to decide how far you want to zoom out. Right? Um, because this is going to affect a lot of German product. Um, and and I don't I don't want to sit here and have any moral superiority in this world. I talk about Porsche. I like their cars. Uh, if you go far enough back in that family tree, Ferdinand Porsche was very close to Hitler. Yeah. And that also led to Hitler's car brand. I'm I'm making this a simplification, but I don't believe we would have Volkswagen without the impetus from Hitler to make that brand. Yeah. But then let's be clear, what happened about twenty five, thirty years later? It became the symbol of the American hippie movement. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Context for products changes over time. You know, I I I've talked to people before who like wouldn't buy a Volkswagen because of their Jewish heritage but, are driving a Ford where Henry Ford was openly anti-Semitic and an admirer of the Third Reich. Yeah. Um, I think this is an incredibly complicated thing and it largely because watches aren't needed, um, you you get to decide how much it does or doesn't bother you. Um, I don't believe like in and the the difference is what's today's context. Um I I genuinely don't believe having met some people incl,uding people who lead IWC, that they that they have any vestigial connection to that origin. Mm-hmm. You know, there there are exceptions. There are brands that survived in opposition, like Le.ica. Yeah You look back at at the history of Leica. I've been to the Leica house in Wetzlar where they hid all sorts of people that they were trying to get out of country. It's a fascinating, you know, underpinning to the original elements of that brand. But that's not the way it's going to work for everyone, especially not engineering and manufacturing firms, things like vehicles, planes, timing equipment. This is always going to be complicated because you know GWAC is really kicked off right after that. Yeah. Like the idea a lot of the watches that we love and and support and the Rolex, the Blanc Pons, the this, the that, those that was all early fifties is when that really dialed up. Yeah. And over the next fifteen years became like the icons that are largely still being referred to today. I do think it's complicated. I think it's complicated for people who want to collect longa. I think it's complicated for, you know, if you wanted to get into vintage examples of those watches, they you get c toloser and closer that original connection. But we buy watches for emotional reasons, and those reasons will be full of dissonance. Yeah. Yeah. And and I think if IWC or any other brand's connection to World War II Germany bothers you. I would say go for another brand, but again, zoom out a little bit more. Does it bother you that Switzerland remain neutral in the face of the third right? Yeah. Yeah. There's this kind of never ending spiral of complexity and I would say if it bothers you just don't buy their watches that's fine of course it's a very personal watch what you uh personal decision what you buy or don't buy yeah based on reasons of the storytelling behind the brand. And of course, they're going to ignore that storytelling like every other brand will. It's a very ugly part of history. You have to decide what the current day context is for that product and how much of its legacy is still tied to that era. And with something like the the big pilot, its aesthetic is directly derived from that time. For sure. But it's also the kind of thing where like the more I talk, the more I'm just talking in circles. Cause I don't think that there's like a a hard cut answer to to something like this. It's it's largely what is your comfort zone? Does that bother you? I don't think it's wrong for it to bother you, but I also think the context for these things has changed multiple times over since that time
Jason Heaton . Yeah, I think I've, you know, you you've said most of what I how I feel as well. And I I just think I for me personally, I've I've been entirely inconsistent on the topic. So for for me to kind of come down and make a statement about the big pilot, which is a watch that I've I I've li I like the design, I get it. Um it's it's a cool watch, but i I can't get past how how it is as it's a direct um homage to or or you know modernization of of a watch that was worn by Luftwaffe pilots. Um, that said, I I like panoraies. Panerai was worn by Italian commandos, you know, blowing up British ships and whatever else. Um Helmut Sin um apparently was a trainer for Luftwaffe pilots during during World War II. Um you know, so it's uh you know, Stoa, you know, you can go on and on. And but history moves on and and countries uh you know kind of reinvent themselves and and it's it all the things you said. Um so even though I avoid the big pilot, um I still have a zin and I would I I I would still potentially consider a a panorai um if the right one came along. But um I think what for sure what bothers me maybe a bit more isn't the watch itself. And you can avoid buying a watch that nobody's holding a gun to your head and telling you to buy a certain watch, but it's it's a lot of the marketing and the branding um and the photography and all that stuff sort of that goes around it, that it's almost an absence of acknowledgement. I'm not saying there needs to be an apology or any kind of direct acknowledgement, but this almost whitewashing of, you know, Panorai does it a lot where they have these photos of these divers, these kind of grainy old. photos And I think the the way that they present it is in this very neutral way that, you know, the these these guys were wearing these watches, these brave people. And it's like, well, these brave people doing what? Or, you know, there's no mention in IWC's um kind of marketing around around the big pilot about what what they're all about. And I just feel like if there was a little more I don't know how they would do it. I mean, that would be up to them. I'm not going to take that on. Um, but I think that's the more troubling part of it for me. Um But uh yeah, it's a really complicated issue. And I I think if you're going to come down on the side of you know, total boycott of of any of these, you're you're gonna be your list of brands is gonna be very long and you'll be surprised by some of the brands that that are on that list uh if you really do your research
James Stacey . At what point do you say I don't like any of the military history, which is something Jonathan said, I don't like the military history, which is a totally fair perspective. Yeah. But is going to limit the watches that you can, you know, kind of pick from. Yeah. Um, because so much of this is derived or now kind of meaninglessly connected to Top Gun the movie, they didn't even wear a to.p gun front I don't see they they wore they they wore the Porsche design. Yeah. It's it just becomes more complicated, more murky, more you know, geopolitical. Um, and I and I think, yeah, I I can understand if you go, I don't want I, don't want to have any part in this. Um, and you know, do you do you start to consider not just a watch made for a given military outfit, but a watch worn by a political leader, despot, you know, mercenary, or uh dictator, because that's a tough look for a lot of brands, including brands that don't have the World War II history. Think of all the evil people that have been photographed wearing a Rolex. Yeah. Yeah. And if not evil, then just politically very complicated. And uh look, I think it's it's a fraught question. And if you think you have a really simple, straightforward answer for nav.igating it I'd love to hear it for sure. Yeah. Yeah. But I think the reason most people, brands, Jason and I, don't approach it head on is because it's not a clear-cut sort of direct statement and that context could change with the scenario around the world at any moment. Yeah. Thanks uh thanks so much, Jonathan, for kicking things off with a thought provoking question. We appreciate that. Next up, we've got one from Dan Z, who's got a question about James Bond. He says, I personally love Timothy Dalton as Bond. It feels like he does not get the respect he deserves for his two films. What is your opinion on Dalton as 007? All right, Jason, you're more of the the like hardcore bond. Like I obviously I'm a fan, but I think you you extend into more of a scholarly aspect. What what's your feeling on Dalton? It was what that's eighty seven and eighty nine, his two movies? Yeah, um The Living Da
Jason Heaton ylights and Then License to Kill. I think I I really like Timothy Dalton, and I think maybe part of that is um, you know, everybody likes an underdog and and he he's like the underdog bond, and yet he was at at the time that he was Bond, was kind of a transitional period for that whole franchise. And he kind of he kind of missed out on what could have been a bigger run, a longer run, um, maybe some better films. I I think Living Daylights and License to Kill were were fun watches like like any Bond films. I think they stand up fairly well. I think they're um better than some of the Roger the later Roger Moore stuff like Moonraker, which is is a pretty terrible film, if I'm honest. I know some people like the camp, but um I think they kind of rebooted things with Dalton and he became um he became the the more serious gritty bond of of the era and it kind of fit with the times and I think it was it was the model that they followed with Daniel Craig and and Brosnan came in between and Brosnan was kind of a more glib, polished, um suave person or character. And I think Dalton maybe was a little bit premature in the casting. He's a great actor, a classically trained actor. He's got a great voice. Um, I think he had the right look, um, and his delivery of the lines was good. I think the era in which his films were made, it was a bit of a bland time kind of fashion or style-wise. And I think if you go back and watch some of the movies, some of the clothes, you know, kind of the the the the baggy Miami Vice style suits and um the hairstyles and and things just uh make me cringe a little bit. That was kind of my um, you know, early adulthood period and and I kind of cringe and look back uh with with some chagrin at at that. But uh other than that, I I like him. I think you know the the Living Daylights was actually a a fairly ac or fairly faithful um Um uh kind of translation of a short story that that Ian Fleming wrote that that had some of the same elements that I kind of appreciated. And the license to kill, you know, set in Florida with the kind of the drug dealer thing felt a little over the top, a little too close to a Miami Vice kind of ripoff. Um but Dalton himself was great. And I think um if he'd had a couple more films, I think he would he'd he'd go down as a a far more loved um uh double oh seven. So that's my take. I think he I think he's great and I I wish I wish he had had more more films in
James Stacey him. Yeah, I I've seen both of these. I do like him quite a bit. I think he was a great bond. I think he was just maybe seven or eight years early. Yeah. Uh to the timing. Um, you know, Brosnan, not my favorite bond, certainly. I love the first Brasnan film, Golden Eye. Uh is great. But Goldeneye, to be fair, I and I went back and double checked this, Goldeneye grossed more than both of Dalton's movies together. Wow. And I don't think that's because Brosnan was a better bond or because that movie was an exceptional bond. film. It's good It's a very good Bond film for sure. Um, I think it's timing. That movie came after uh the first Mission Impossible. It also had the support of the Nintendo 64 in the video game, um, which I think gave the golden eye world a a much stronger base among people who maybe that was their first bond. Young younger viewers, even children who weren't watching Bonds, were playing like I hadn't I don't think I had seen a James Bond when I had already played hundreds of games of four-player split screen in Goldeneye on the N64. Like you said, Jason, I think that the Daniel Craig scope of Bond owes a lot to Dalton. They're a little darker, they're shot more like proper author style films rather than these kind of brightly lit perfect hair, you know, shiny motorcycle sort of things that we saw with with Braslin. Again, just a different take. They were a little bit less tech heavy. The yeah, the fashion didn't age as well. But yeah, I it was also the first bond. I went back and checked this as well. The first bond that had to kind of deal with a PG13 rating, uh, which apparently changed the scope a little bit in the late 80s. I can't corroborate this as I didn't do a ton of research into the sociological elements at the time, but apparently there was more of a moral panic thing going on. So the the the focus on uh movie ratings was much more tied like tied to their success. Rs were a big problem unless you had, you know, certain people and the right elements may you know, and and I don't know if any bond has ever been an R would kind of surprise me if so. But yeah the, uh I I think it just b poor timing for an otherwise pretty solid sort of treatment of the bond and one that feels for me much closer to the books than the Brosnan Bond. Yeah, good questi
Jason Heaton on. Um always love a bond question and uh thanks for that one, Dan Z. Um next up we've got one from Steve M who has a a two part question. If you could go back in time and participate in an iconic adventure, Everest with Hilary and Norgay, it's North and South Pole.
James Stacey Yeah, I'm not entirely sure what was meant by the second question, but maybe you could fill me in on that. Um with the first one, I thought about this quite a bit. I don't I don't know that I want to do Everest uh Endurance sounded pretty tough. I re'adve that from Brunson.'s book I'm not sure I would have you know. But for me it was could you just put me on the boat for blue water white death? Yeah. Is that what you picked? But yeah, it was it was in my top top two. Yeah. Yeah. I would say like let let me be a cameraman or a producer. Yeah. Or a sound guy or something for Blue Water White Death. Let me tag along. That'd be great. And uh and be part of that sort of an adventure. As much as I I respect the Hillary Norgay, the North South Pole expeditions, endurance, it's amazing. I don't want to be part of that. Yeah. Most of it sounds pretty terrible to a certain extent, especially when you're talking about endurance. Yeah, right. Those men went through. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think I think it would be like Blue Water White Death or maybe uh maybe, you know, put me on put me on the the production team for a cousin film. Something like that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think that general vibe is is is similar. I mean, I think it's it's that idea of kind of an kind of a rollicking adventure where you're you're you're you're together with a team, you know, there's the the folk singer on board and there's kind of, you know, some time on deck, uh having a beer and and then suiting up and and doing something kind of new and adventurous. Uh that's great. So yeah, Blue Water White Death, um, the making of that film was was was up there. And related to that, um I guess another one that I came up with was also Peter Gimbal related, the the kind of the guy who put together Blue Water White Death, in nineteen fifty six he was the first person to dive the Andrea Doria. Oh yeah. Um like I believe it was the day of it. Day after it sank. Well, that was later when he went after the safe, but the first the first dive was the day after it sank. This is nineteen fifty-six, so it was pretty primitive dive gear. I mean, I think it was a single tank, you know, old aqua lung, um, you know, way offshore, no GPS. Like they they found an oil slick and figured this here's where the wreck is. Um and and he dove down 250 some feet, snapped a photo of of like a lifeboat or something or found a suitcase or whatever and and baby basically touched the rack and came back up and I don't know that always kind of struck me as like a really brave endeavor. And I'm not sure that I would want to be, you know, again kind, of like you with you know with the endurance expedition. Um it doesn't exactly sound like fun, it sounds like a proper adventure. But I so I think Blue Water White Death was was also kind of my top pick as well. Um and I think the second part of Steve's question is about like if you were to be able to take one of your current watches and go back to do this adventure, which one would you wear? And for me, for me, I think it's I see, you know, with an adventure like this, it's got to be the submariner. I mean it just it has to be it's or or a doxa. Um you know, both in Blue Water White Death, you get Stan Waterman, at least in some of the photos in the book Blue Meridian, wearing an an orange dialed black lung Doxa. Um but you watch the film and like there's just a ton of submariners on wrists, and I think that would just be a
James Stacey really fitting choice. So that's what I would take. Yeah, I would agree. I mean, the only wrench I would throw in with that context, you get to travel back in time to the exploration thing that we're we're picking. Yeah. And wear watch. Yeah. I would probably either, yeah, let me take my 50th anniversary C Rambler so that I fit in, or let me wear something that like they people look back and go, what is that watch? And it you know, in that case, if you know the photos, yeah, exactly. Let me wear uh let me wear uh uh my my Pelagos 39 and uh oh yeah because it would fly under the radar, sort of. Um, but then you know, imagine somebody looking back at like a grainy photo and the the cameraman is me uh and he's holding up uh you know an old camera and and on his wrist, you know, focusing the the as he focuses the lens is this watch it didn't exist. That would be kind of fun. Yeah. Kind of throw around. But who knows what what would happen to with the bootstrap theory and that sort of thing. Butterfly's wings and such. But uh I love the ide
Jason Heaton a of of somebody you know, you, going back in time and it I feel like there's been a movie about that or something, you know, where you you see this photo and it's like, that's a modern watch in that photo. What is that thing? Yeah, like Ben Affleck and Argo. Oh yeah, right. Yeah, right. With his modern submarine. That's all yeah, yeah. That's egregious. Ye
James Stacey ah. All right. Thanks so much for that one, Steve. Uh fun question for sure. Next up we've got one from Dave N, uh who asks, uh if you get the chance for some personal travel this year, what's on the list? What's on your list, Jason? Any anywhere you want to get to?
Jason Heaton Personal travel. I mean, I think um for you it's probably you're gonna have a lot of work travel. I mean, watches and wonders, of course, and other stuff like that. But um yeah, personal travel I'm I'm kinda I've been light the past couple of years and I think it'll continue. Just trying to fly a little bit less and do more regional kind of um I've got this uh kind of big swim I signed up for in August that's up on Lake Superior, so I'll be up there for a few days. Um love to do more camping this year. Um get some Great Lakes dives in. I I missed out on that last year, so I I need to do that. I in terms of kind of more far-flung adventures, um I did get an invitation recently to do some kind of an adventurous dive getaway out in on the California coast in late April. So I'm I'm considering that. Stay tuned. We'll see if that comes together for me. And then in May, uh Christy and I are really seriously cooking up a trip to Iceland and we're we're planning on on going and doing some hiking and hot springs, bathing, and and I'd love to kind of tick off the the longtime bucket list item of diving in Silfra, the that really clear water that's between the North American and European tectonic plates. So that might be in mid-May. Wow, okay. But that's I mean that's enough. You know, that's a good year, even if I tick off a few of those things. So Yeah, for sure. How about you? Any any travel beyond the kind of work stuff that's on the docket
James Stacey ? No, I mean the next little while for work is uh Japan. Oh wow. New York, Switzerland, and that takes me to the end of February. Yeah, I mean for me, like ideally I I'd kind of hoped and and I'm sure I'm on record talking about on the show, I'd kind of hope to do the tour de Mont Blanc for my fortieth. Oh yeah. Which is uh which is not that far away, uh a couple months out. But you know, with uh that was before taking on the EIC role with Hodinky and also before having a young child. Uh so I think that's untenable, unfeasible, um, given the current scenario. Um, I I would say, you know, if I get time off, if I get some time off this year for vacation, uh I would probably go to the cottage. And if I'm not going to the cottage or it's not that season, then you know, I'd I'd want to go somewhere where Sarah and I could get some dives in. Yeah. Um so I mean I'd I'd go somewhere where it's easy. You know, Cosmel is a great choice. There's spots we've d we've been to before we already kind of have the lay of the land and and yeah we like the diving and that sort of thing. So th that would probably be the be the most of it. You know, my my daughters have uh expressed some interest in more camping. Mm-hmm so whether we do that, you know, on the on the cottage property where we have lots of uh open space and that sort of thing or you know take them to some campsites uh further flung uh that you know there's there's lots of that kind of stuff but as far as like real travel just for the heck of it at this point I travel so much for for the work and then with the with you know my son being not that old that would probably just choose to either stay here or um or you know do something you know more car based in terms of uh in terms of some travel. I'm sure we'll get down to PA sometime this year once or twice and and that sort of thing. So it'll be I'm end up being pretty busy, but no uh no plans for for travel given sort of the the mix of the current workload and and the family responsibilities.. Sounds good Sounds like you got enough uh work trav
Jason Heaton el anyway. So I think I'll be okay. All right. style, budget, or durability, but you're really glad they exist and love seeing them. This is an interesting one. Um how about you? I think we kind of touched on a few of these in the past. You know, this idea of being able to appreciate a watch without not actually owning it. This is a little bit of a twist on that, but uh what what springs to mind for you
James Stacey ? Yeah, I mean the ones that jump to mind that are like that people love and that I understand the love of, but I don't actually feel it, like I don't have it for me. I guess that would be doesn't fit my personal style or or what I like and watches. You know, that'd be the Daytona, the Speedmaster, you know, these like really well known chronographs. They just don't speak to me. The Speedmaster has never really felt like it fit on my wrist. I've I've borrowed old ones, I've borrowed new ones, I've had lots of experiences. They're great watches, all that kind of thing. And then with the Daytone, I find them kind of hard to read. And also they represent this like the original hype watch of our era. Yeah. You know, they were hard to buy when you could buy almost anything. And uh and yeah, I don't I d don't have uh not not something that I I you know I like them. I understand what's great about them. I understand the incredible history and and all that, but it's not not a watch that I would buy and wear. Yeah. And then when it comes to like durability, I mean most dress watches I like. You could and even ones I don't like. Yeah. Like would would make this list. Like I I uh you know I I absolutely adore things like the Cartier Crash. Mm-hmm would look ridiculous on me. I like the Cartier Tank O Guiche. Less ridiculous on me, but also like just not a watch that suits the way that I wear watches. I have a couple of dress watches. I always end up kind of treating them like they're these precious things that and then I end up not really enjoying the experience of wearing them, or I'm worried about, you know, with my vintage ones, I'm worried about humidity and the what's the temperature outside and all this kind of thing. Um so there's that. And then man, when you get to budget, it's a really long list when you get to budget. I like the Chanel J twel cool watch, interesting design that wouldn't suit my style out of my budget. Yellow gold GMT Master 2, the current one. Exceptionally cool watch. Doesn't suit my budget. Would look kind of hilarious on me. Like a could you imagine me showing up to like a a wind up hangout or something with a $40,000 plus dollar, you know, yellow gold C uh GMT master. They're very cool. Yeah, the the like I'm interested in it, but don't have the money and won't. Yeah. And wouldn't if I did. You know, wouldn't buy it if I did. That list is exceptionally long. How about you? What about uh watches that you genuinely like but aren't for you? Well, I
Jason Heaton remember, you know, years and years ago when I was just getting into watches and my first press trip, strangely, was to Langa in Glashutta. And it it just it it spoiled me. Um and I remember thinking, that's the watch I'm gonna get when I'm 50 years old. I'm gonna get the most affordable Langa. You know, sure. Um that's changed. I I I don't have a desire to get a longa. It's a watch I I'm glad they exist. Any longa. I'm not talking a specific one, but um I I don't want one anymore. You know, I just don't I don't feel like I um I need one in my collection, but I I love that they exist. The same thing with the reverso. Um I it would look silly on my wrist. I just don't I don't see myself wearing one that doesn't suit my lifestyle, my budget. Um I wouldn't wear it very often. But they're cool. They're they're fiddly they're they're little kind of fidget spinners they're beautifully designed they're iconic they're extremely well made from a great brand but uh yeah definitely not uh definitely not in the cards for me but um I'm glad they exist. I love seeing them whenever I, you know, someone's wearing them. So yeah, I think that's a great pick for sure
James Stacey . Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's just so many like you know, Pateks at large, Vacheron's at large, longas at large. Love that they're there. I love the chance to experience them. There's a world in which everything goes really well for your boy James and I end up with a long of one someday. Yeah. Um, but it I don't know that that's a real world. It might be a parallel world to the one I'm experiencing now. There I me,an, I wore a very modern, like a 2025 long a one a couple weeks back, and it's it's just a perfect thing. Yeah. Like as a product, yeah, the experience, the way it sits my wrist, it's incredible. But you know, they're like, you know, whatever, 50 grand or something. Yeah. Right. Like the number doesn't matter. You could say it's 20. It's still like it, that doesn't really move the needle for me. Yeah. But yeah. So that that's that's where I kind of land. on that one That's a that's a uh a fun question for sure. Yeah. Uh Dustin. Thank you so much for that. And uh yeah, I think I think just to keep us on schedule for the day, we both have some stuff to get to. Uh we should probably jump into some final notes.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I've got a pretty quick one, and that's actually a recent thing. Um Christy just got a new phone and she ordered a new case for it. Um and uh there was a two-for-one deal actually from this company called uh Pela or Pila. It's P-E-L-L. Um these are um phone cases made from a biodegradable material, I believe it comes from uh flax. And it uh it it they're used in surprising uh things. I guess they're used in some insulation and building products and whatever. And this company has uh you know, they've made it kind of their mission to bypass the use of plastics in in phone cases. And so they make them out of this uh this flax derived um kind of hard material. And um so yeah, we we each ordered one and uh so far so good. You know, we'll see how about the durability and whether getting it wet just causes it to suddenly biodegrade on in my pocket, um, which I doubt, obviously. That's a joke. Um, but they've got a number of kind of cool designs, um, a little bit expensive, I guess, but um, you know, worth it if you're kind of trying to stay away from plastic and something that you know you might just have for a few years while before your phone goes obsolete. So yeah, check it out. Payla. I hadn't heard of them before, but uh it's it's a neat option if you're in the field for that. Yeah, it's Canadian. Right. Yeah based in British Columb
James Stacey ia. Yeah, very cool. Yeah. All right. What do we got? Yeah, mine this week is actually a twofer that both kind of connects into the company Discommon, who I'm I'm sure we've spoken about on the show in the past. The first is a video from our good buddy Henry Catchpole. He gets to drive uh Neil from Discom and has this insane kind of kit car based on the style of a 1960s F1 car, the SV F1 Eagle. It's a single-seater open wheel. He has it played so he can drive it. And, you know, I've seen this on his Instagram before. I don't think I've come across as complete a video both covering like what Discommon and Neil are into and how that extended into the car, but then Henry driving this totally wild car. You know, there's a side of me like it like I understand that in the real world this is a sixth or a seventh car. Maybe if you're Neil, uh shout out Neil, uh, we've traded some DMs on Instagram and that sort of thing, but maybe if you're Neil, it's a second car, which is rad, and that's how I that's the type of person I would aspire to be. Yeah. But uh just an absolutely incredible video. It's it's Henry at its best. It gives you a a cool rundown of Discommon and and some of his uh neat projects and all that sort of stuff. And then interestingly, it gives me a chance to talk about another thing, which is this product they have called the puck, which is a um like a it's it's the most buy once, cry once take on the idea of like a zippered watch case. Oh, sure. So you know those like EVA foam cases or the what was the Oakley one called? The vault, maybe? The vault.. Yeah So it imagine that, but then take it to the to the nth, you know, the disc common degree. So it's 205 bucks. I think I've bought the standard, you know, AliExpress ones for less than $20. Yeah. To my door. Yeah. This case used to be known as the archive and then uh now they're selling it as the puck and it's it's the nicest thing that I put a watch in. It's nicer than most of the watches that go in it in terms of of all the considerations. I've been traveling with it for a little while to be clear, uh Discommon sent me one to check it out. So I didn't pay for it. Um this isn't an ad. They didn't ask me to talk about it. They simply said, hey, you know, you're a guy who could probably appreciate this and give it a try. Um, so I I want to be on the line with that one. But it's it's uh like I said, just kind of the most over-engineered, complete, nice spec of this idea. And if you're looking for that, buy once, cry once, or if you're looking for something, you know, with these, with these ones that don't cost that much, I I've in the past I've bought them like six, seven at a time. And then when I'm selling a watch or something, I'll put a watch in that, zip it up, put it in the box and chip it like that. Yeah. It's nice and easy. Yeah. I mean, this is uh Napa leather. Uh obviously, you know, you have uh compression molded foam padding on the inside for extra protection, microfiber lining,. Uh you know it comes in a couple different colors. I've got the black one with like a blight, bright blue interior. Uh it's it's really the nicest version of something that I'm I've known in sign of kind of all the strata from the ones that are less expensive. We, you know, I think we've talked about the various G ones on the show before, which I think are twenty to thirty dollars. Um I've had ones from brands that are kind of the one step up. And I think compared to to compared those, this would be, you know, if you if you really wanted one and you wanted just one or you've got other disc common gear, I think it would fit in kind of nicely into that ecosystem. And uh it's a it's just a really, really nice thing. And I I think I wanted a chance to a a natural opportunity to bring up the the puck and then seeing Henry's video I thought, well that there's our twofer to uh to close out the final notes. Yeah, per
Jason Heaton fect. Yeah. That's a cool product. I'd love to check one of those out. Yeah. Well, I've got an electrician waiting to shut the power off here, so uh without further ado, thanks everyone for listening. If you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit thegreynato.com. Music throughout a siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive. And we
James Stacey leave you with this quote from Mark Parker of Nike, who says, Curiosity is life, assumption is death.