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The Grey NATO – 378 – On Paper/On Wrist: The Delhi Watch Co. DWC Terra

Published on Thu, 04 Jun 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

In episode 378 of The Grey NATO, hosts James Stacey and Jason Heaton discuss their upcoming Wind Up Chicago event plans, including a Friday night gathering at Forbidden Root from 7-9 PM in collaboration with Citizen. James shares personal news about the passing of his grandmother Jerry, who taught him the importance of adventure and new experiences. The main topic focuses on the Delhi Watch Company (DWC) Terra, an innovative $42 titanium field watch inspired by a carabiner design. James provides an extensive hands-on review of this unconventional rectangular watch with elastic paratrooper-style straps, while Jason offers the "on paper" perspective, examining the watch purely from its online presentation.

The hosts praise the DWC Terra's brutalist aesthetic, extremely accessible price point, and punk rock approach to watchmaking—notably that it was manufactured using borrowed equipment by the Indian brand. James explains the unique purchase process, the watch's distinctive mounting system that eliminates traditional lugs, and its surprisingly wearable character despite its unconventional proportions. They discuss how Delhi Watch Company successfully created significant demand with over 30,000 people attempting to purchase the 5,555 limited titanium pieces, and note that a steel version is forthcoming. The episode concludes with final notes: James recommends the Redux & Co. Paratrooper strap with titanium hardware, while Jason shares a New Yorker video about a Ukrainian stunt pilot hunting Russian drones.

Show Notes

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacey Hello and welcome to another episode of the Grey NATO. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 378, 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 might want to support the show, please visit thegreatog.com for more details. My name is James Stacey, and I'm joined as ever by my friend and co-host Jason Heaton. Jason, how are we doing today?
Jason Heaton I'm doing pretty well. Um yeah, not much new to report on my end. It's just uh you know rolling on into summer here. It it feels properly uh you know, haven't put on socks for a few days and the fast and yeah, it's I'm I'm loving it.
James Stacey Man, I I feel like a lizard.
Jason Heaton Like if I if I if I feel kind of slow or
James Stacey sluggish, I just get outside in the sun.
Jason Heaton Yeah, yeah. Turns
James Stacey out I might just be cold blooded. I'm not sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. You know, just it just feels so nice
James Stacey to have summer kind of here and and we've been we haven't bothered a ton with the AC yet. We've just been leaving the windows and doors open uh to the house to let a breeze through. It's it's uh it's an absolute win for sure. What what a great time of year uh early June is.
Jason Heaton Oh yeah. I have my coffee outside in the patio and and you know dinner out outside in the evening and then like the the big thing for me is you know, I've become such a not a student of the weather, but, you know, just so hyperaware of the weather because of my twice daily dog walks and especially the one first thing in the morning. It I can just kind of gauge the season change by the articles of clothing I have to wear or don't have to wear and
James Stacey it's just I s I finally put away this thin
Jason Heaton pair of gloves that I had kept by the back door because it was just a couple of weeks ago that it was still in the forties Fahrenheit here in the mornings and I was like, ah, do I really have to wear gloves and, you know, a a a jacket and it's just boy, it's nice to step out in you know, shorts and and a T shirt to walk the dog. It's it's great.
James Stacey Dude, it's uh you go the whole day in like a just a like a bathing suit and you're like, I just gotta find some water.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But yeah, no,
James Stacey it's uh it's been great. And and talking about great things for them from the summer, we do have updates on our wind up Chicago plans. Uh so Jason and I will be in town uh Friday through Sunday. Uh we've got a bunch of things going on, but the big one uh for those of you listening would be Friday night. Our event with Citizen will be at a spot called Forbidden Route in Chicago from 7 to 9. And I would simply say stay tuned, likely to the next episode or to the Slack in the next couple days for a forthcoming RSVP. We have room for a lot of people, but we still need an RSVP um uh because there is uh a a not inconsiderable cost per person attached to it. So we want to make sure that we can actually float that cost. Uh certainly with citizens help. Um so stay tuned for the RSVP. Uh Jason, any other details about Forbidden Root? It looked like a pretty solid sort of uh brew pub scenario.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um I I this isn't a place that I'm personally familiar with, but it came on some recommendations through Slack. So, you know, thanks for the crowdsourced um you know mind meld when it came to to sourcing a place. We I tried a few others that people recommended and those were either full up or closed down or not available and uh forbidden root has turned out to be a good option. They're very responsive and the menu looks decent and and it just should be a nice venue for it. And then um you know I,'m not going to give anything away, but we've got some cool swag uh worked out for this. Yeah, that's gonna be fun too.
James Stacey I never realized that to keep up with events, whether it's the marathon parties, the Chicago thing, uh a recent strap launch that went out on on uh on DGN's uh Slack. I never realized how much of my time would be based in ordering and and and kind of helping design stickers or or really I lean of course on Evan at Stakecom Industries and his team to design the stickers and I just kind of say it that looks cool. Let's go this way. I'll do that one. But it's a lot of um it's a lot I do a lot of sticker accounting currently. Where are they? How many do we have? I'm not against it. I may maybe I maybe that's a good business line of business for me is stickers. But uh we do a lot of that. And yeah, we're working with citizen on a real piece of merch or not merch, swag. Uh that should be really fun. So I'm pumped to see that come together as well. And obviously a big shout out to uh to Neil and and Mari and the team at Citizen for working with us on this. Looking forward to it.
Jason Heaton Well, um in other news, you've got um I guess uh if I wouldn't call it sad news, but some uh somber news in the family or or a kind of a change uh on your end
James Stacey She was in her in her ninety-fifth year, uh surrounded by her family, had had a chance to catch up with a lot of people over the last couple of years. So uh she went very peacefully and uh she's a great lady who will certainly be missed. Um, you know, I don't put a lot of my I don't put any of my personal life on social media, but I do dabble here there on the show. And uh, you know, my grandma was one of the first people that that really taught me that uh adventure was important and that uh new experiences were uh this kind of the spice of life. She lived all over the world. And and you know the feedback after her passing has come from um you know all all parts of the world as well. So uh, you know, rest in peace to uh my grandmother Jerry and uh and yeah, so it's it's that's uh that kind of the main thing that happened to me. I was in in New York City last week, but just until Friday morning. Uh we had an incredible time at the Hodinky Happy Hour round two. For those of you who were able to make it, thank you so much for coming out and uh and you know drinking some beer and eating some pizza. For those of you who are on the RSVP list, um please know that for the next round, which will should be the last week of June uh this coming month, uh the last Thursday in June is the plan currently. Stay tuned to the site for details. We will be expanding the RSVP significantly. We're working with with Watches of Switzerland to figure out what a real number is. Um we had a lot of people RSVP and then we had some fall off. I mean it's 4:30 in New York City on a Thursday. Um, and we're trying to kind of zero in on what the right number is. So uh I would say cut me a little bit of slack uh as we sort out the numbers and the costs and that sort of thing. The first time was in excess of 200 people, which has fire code issues, and we did not have enough beer and the pizza disappeared. So we need to zero that in, but also this time we didn't quite have as many as we would have liked, and we ended up with a lot of people on the RSVP list. So if you were on that list and couldn't get approved, you have my sincere apology and also uh my commitment that we're working on a number that should shift to more towards reality. So you can stay tuned for any news on that kind of stuff, both on the show and then we'll always post on the website to verify that it's actually happening. Um, but the idea is the last Thursday of every month moving forward. So that should be my next trip down to the city. And uh yeah, other than that, that that's all my updates.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and before we move on, I just uh you know, your remarks about that kind of bring to mind um some of the um some of the issues we faced even with our our TGN 10 strap launch and I and then this forthcoming citizen collaboration event in Chicago, it's w we've quickly learned. Well, not maybe not quickly, it's been 10 years uh since we've been doing all this, but um it's it it it is difficult it's such an art form um to to work out numbers and anticipated response and then not overshoot or undershoot on offerings or you know he,adcounts and things. And and you know certainly we we try our best and and we appreciate everybody's you know patience and understanding with this stuff and we don't always get it right. But uh um we're working on it. So just wanted to throw that out there.
James Stacey I'm fairly certain that the numbers will work out really nicely for Chicago.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh we have a bit of a history there. We've
James Stacey seen what we can do in Toronto and Vancouver. And w I actually spoke just spoke to Martin recently. Uh if you've been to our Toronto Marathon event, uh it's at Martin's home and he wants more. He said that still wasn't enough people. So we're gonna buy more beer, we'll get more great food, it'll be fun. Um, but you know, you're always trying to balance like let's fill the room, but also what's the actual cost?
Jason Heaton Yeah, and sometimes we have a partner, Marathon,
James Stacey of course, citizen, of course. Um and and other times it's just kind of like like the Hodinky one is just from my editorial budget.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. And uh and you know, it
James Stacey means what one or two or well, maybe more like three less, you know, freelance stories or something like that, maybe a month. Yeah. Sure. I just want the room to be full. And um and and I get it that not everybody's gonna be able to come to everything. Um, but it is uh it's a weird kind of task of zeroing in and and finding the right the right kind of solutions for these things. So um we will always whenever possible we will always try to do something that has the widest, most open door. Um sometimes we're limited by the way businesses operate or the size of a room or the way you know straps are produced or that sort of thing. But you know, we're always doing our best. And uh it it is stressful for sure. Um, but I do feel like of all the places in the states that we could pop in, Chicago's the right one and that we're gonna have a really good time on Friday night.
Jason Heaton All right. Well, with that stuff out of the way, um, let's uh do our risk check and then jump into the main topic, which is uh also kind of a risk check.
James Stacey You wanna go first? Is my mine will take us right in.
Jason Heaton Yeah, exactly. Um yeah, today I pulled out one um that I haven't worn for a while. It's the it's the Paul and Mara. So the watch that um I had a hand in kind of the launch uh collateral so to speak. Um you know the trip to Scotland last year for for this the launch uh uh materials for this watch and uh yeah I pulled it out the other day put it back on the the rubber strap it came on which I'll I have to say is one of the nicer rubber straps around. It kind of feels like one of those um I don't remember what you called them of sort of porthole style rubber isoframe adjacent straps from the seventies. You see them on like a lot of Hoyer divers and stuff this one kind of has that same feel. And yeah, this watch it just kind of feels summery. It was a b it was a little over a year ago that I got to wear one of these for the first time on that trip to Scotland. And it kind of has uh brings back some good memories and it's just kind of a a nice casual fun piece to wear for the type of weather that we described earlier. It's uh it's a great piece.
James Stacey Yeah, that's a good one. Very summary sort of watch. I uh again, it kind of falls into that like Doxa realm with its kind of shape. It's a little it's got kind of some fun elements, it's not super serious. Yeah. Um and and it was one, you know, I got to see it at the Toronto show last year. Pullen had a a table and I got to see it in person. I was pretty impressed by the quality for the money too. Makes good sense to me.
Unknown Yeah. Yeah. Neat piece for sure. That's
James Stacey a fun one. All right. And speaking of quality for money, uh we're we're gonna jump right into the main topic, which is uh a rehash of an old series that we used to do or that we've done a few times over the course of the show called On Paper on Wrist. Um, shout out to seen unseen. I'm not sure it's even existing anymore. And I I know they definitely stopped for some time, but it was a podcast where one person saw the movie and the other host saw the trailer and the poster and the IMBD page, and then they talked about it. And they talked about it from the kind of the two positions. Yeah. And the idea with on paper, on wrists is I have a watch or Jason has a watch and the other one doesn't. And we kind of review it from the way that it's presented online and also the way it actually lands on our wrist. And I mean, there's no reason to uh bury the lead any further as it's the title of the show. We are talking about the Delhi Watchco DWC Terra, which is a $42 titanium watch made by Delhi Watchco themselves for their fifth anniversary. Uh we'll get into more. Jason, why don't you give a little bit of background on Deli Watchco? But I do want to say very quickly, uh, on a previous episode, I was moving fast and not paying attention to my stupid brain. Uh, and I called it Delhi Watchco. It's Delhi, like like the area. Uh, so it's it's Delhi Watchco. Thank you for those of you both insistent and soft in your suggestion that I mispronounced that. So yeah, Deli Watchko's a DWC Terra in titanium. Jason, I figure the right way to start would be a little bit of the on paper. What is Deli Watchco and uh and w w sort of w where what world do they inhabit in in the watch space?
Jason Heaton Yeah, so you know, I think the the obviously um this this is a watch from India um with the given the the reference from the the name of the company. Um and the Indian watch industry has not gotten a lot of press or exposure. Um I've had some time with with uh a watch from uh Bangalore watch company which uh was quite nice and I enjoyed uh trying that out and they're kind of another one in that microbrand space along with Jaipur. Um and then there's some bigger brands out there like Titan, which is owned by the Tata Group, which also owns a huge Jaguar Land Rover, et cetera. Uh HMT is another kind of older brand that's been around a long time. But you know, you just don't see a lot, uh at least um in North America and probably in Europe, um, of watches from India that are that are kind of taken as seriously as the Swiss and Japanese these days. But I think that's starting to change with some unique offerings. And uh Delhi Watch Company was actually founded in 2020. I gotta hand it to these guys. It's a tough year to to to start a company, I would say. I mean given what happened that year. But it was founded by Anish Dandwani. And um at least with this watch and I believe some of their others, the the product design is largely done by um someone named Ishan Vajpai. And um, you know, kind of looking through their website, they're they've got a pretty extensive lineup for a a microbrand. They're an internet only microbrand. Um, so they don't, you know, have retailers or storefront. But they they've got a pretty extensive lineup for for such a small brand. They've got you know pilot's watches that are pretty handsome, they've got uh a pretty sharp looking um Mecha Quartz uh chronograph, the sort of an aviation themed chronograph. The'yve got uh a dive watch that's sort of named after a an island, uh Havelock in the Andaman Islands. Um of course they've got this uh this Terra kind of as a field watch, and then they've got another one called the Everest, which is um kind of styled after the Smith's uh watch that uh Edmund Hillary wore uh in in the fifties, and then they've got some dress watches. And these are all extremely affordable watches, um as as you're as you you can attest. Um you know, largely based on the cost of doing business in India. It's just the labor is less. And uh so they're able to kind of capitalize on that. And they're using um some quartz and Miyota automatics in their in their watches. But I would say, and you know, I haven't followed this brand and I didn't even wasn't even aware of it until you introduced this watch last time. But that this watch particularly, I think is the watch that has kind of catapulted them or will catapult them. It's already sold out. It's really kind of put them on the map. I've already seen there are a couple of other reviews out there about this one. So um I'm really eager to to get your hands-on take on this because um just up front I'll just say I'm I'm quite quite smitten with this one. I just I love how different it is.
James Stacey Yeah. I this is one first of all that I will probably have in my bag or in my pocket anytime you happen to cross paths. If you want to see it in Chicago, I'll have it with me. It's exceptionally cool. I paid for this watch. I paid the full price for this watch. I'll break down every dollar that I spent on it. Not that many dollars. Kind of make some of the straps I buy embarrassing, uh, given I got a full titanium watch of a custom modern design for less than what most straps uh cost, certainly about the cost of uh of what people would call like a premium NATO uh these days, and I have no contact at DWC. I would love to get in contact with these guys. We'd love to chat with them on the show. All of that kind of stuff would be amazing. But right now, I saw this watch online and then I saw it again a few times on the TGN Slack, and I thought, you know what? One, not a big investment. Two, I'm a junkie, and you're offering me a new type of hit for, again, not that much money. I like the style. It's a super sort of brutalist take on a field watch. Um, I don't know a better way to describe it than that. I have shot photos. So if you go to the show notes for this episode, you can go to thegrenado.com, uh, you can go to the substack, or if you're a subscriber to the Substack paid or otherwise, you will have it in your email and there will be a little gallery of images that I shot. And then, of course we will link to their website. This is not a watch that you can buy anymore. Uh, it was sold um as part of a fifth anniversary for the brand in titanium. I'll get into how I bought it. I talked about it on a previous episode. But let's start with maybe just some raw specs. So this is a rectangular watch,, uh a little longer than it is wide. It's grade two titanium. It is 32 millimeters wide, 44 millimeters long, and 9.6 millimeters thick. It is inspired by a carabiner, so the there are two channels, uh, one opens on each side of the top and bottom of the case that you slide uh uh elastic strap into. So think of it, you know, in in really simple terms, imagine an FXD or the CWN1, but with no curvature. And instead of being, you know, kind of like a channel style where you have to go through the lugs, you can take an elastic and kind of route it into each one. They kind of have like a little hook design that keeps it in place. Again, this is something I definitely recommend you go to the show notes and take a peek at what it looks like, whether you check their website or my photos. Uh they actually have quite excellent photos on their website. This case was machined by DWC from Grade 2 Titanium using borrowed equipment. That's incredibly punk punk rock, and I love it. It has uh a standard sort of, I believe, a mineral glass uh crystal and a 316L stainless steel case back. It uses a Citizen Miyota GL32 quartz, uh, which is hours, minutes, seconds. There's no date. It has uh uh kind of a simple loom application that they're calling it vintage Japanese loom, 30 meters of water resistance. It works on it comes on a black parachute style strap, which is you know like a paratrooper with a a uh a sort of tongue or a sort of loop over through a hook um closure. Um I got it on I don't wear a black strap, so I swapped it out immediately for a really nice yellow option from Redux and Co. That also fits beautifully. The quote unquote lug width, although there's not really lugs and there's no spring bars, and you could probably cram a slightly wider strap in. It looks like it's meant for twenty, eighteen would work fine. My guess is twenty two might even fit in, although it might catch on some of the edges. And then the total cost was three thousand nine hundred ninety-nine uh Indian rupees, uh, which puts us at forty-two US dollars. International shipping was another $2,000 RS, so you're at $21 for that. And then for those really keeping score, I paid another $22 to DHL for importing it, but $14 of that was their service fee and they should be embarrassed. Um it was like it was like three dollars in taxes and the rest was uh was like a variety of fees uh and then I think a duty as well on there. Um, all in I gu,ess that puts me at uh about $80, $83 for this watch. And for that, I'm absolutely thrilled. It's a hard watch to describe without looking at images, so I encourage you to go check check images, but it is a square of a chocolate bar, super flat. There's no curvature in the case at all. Um, and the you know, the elastic comes up off your wrist, hooks around the case, and then goes under the back. So that 9.6 millimeters ends up being closer to the very low tens once you factor for the strap going through. And then because you have a strap and sort of like a coin case back that doesn't sit flush. It sits on top or you know, in in addition to the back of the titanium. It doesn't sit very low for its sizing, but it doesn't weigh anything either. And because it's fairly short lug to lug, like 44 millimeters, it's one of the it's a very weird experience because wearing it, you don't notice it at all. It's quite comfortable. It doesn't really catch on stuff. But when you look at it, you go, What is wrong with this thing? It kind it kinda sits up. It's very weird. Um I I included some photos showing the profile uh in in the show notes. So kind of check that out. It sits up kind of proud, but I mean, I really like the aesthetic. Uh and like I said, I I you know I mostly bought this for the buzz that I got from from being part of it. It it's a little awkward aesthetically on your wrist, but it wears quite nicely. You know, how much can somebody really complain about a $42 watch? This is a bit like seeing a band from a genre that you know. I think I know a fair bit about titanium watches, right? But from an entirely different part of the world, maybe even in a different language, like the translation is so different than than what you might expect if you're coming from oh a uh a titanium Hamilton or uh or Bertucci or you know, some of the other international sort of perspectives on a titanium field watch. And so in my mind, this is a little bit more in the aesthetic of like the Seiko Fieldmaster Contra, which were these kind of square units that click together. I've become obsessed with the Contra because I love the Brightling UTC modules that they would make where you you know the bracelet would connect to a little square of metal that had another watch or a digital display in it. They're so kind of funny and and serious or unserious, but also very serious at the same time. And this kind of falls into that same space. Uh and then and then again, you get, you know, for for the forty some odd dollars, it has a signed crown, has a pretty nice style, courts movements, pretty straightforward and easy to easy to deal with. Yeah, I I dig it. I dig it uh quite a bit actually. I've been wearing it way more than how my first kind of five minutes with it was when I first put it on. I was like, oh well, I'm hey, I'm not out that much.
Jason Heaton Yeah. The low price immediately sets you up for to to be not impressed, but it's like if if your expectations are low, y you can just be absolutely wowed and blown away by something that you normally otherwise
James Stacey wouldn't
Jason Heaton Yeah. Like I didn't expect it to wear kind
James Stacey of the way it does, like a little bit lift it up off the wrist. And look, a little bit of curvature would would make it quite a compelling thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But at the same time it would kind of maybe
James Stacey lose some of that charm. Yeah. And I think the stakes are just super low, which is kind of nice.
Jason Heaton Have you um have you had a chance to put this on a scale? I didn't look on the website to see if they list the the weight of it, but um I
James Stacey can go find a scale. Give me a screen. my my scale is covered in flour. Well that wasn't affect the the reading here. I I teared it with with the flour on it. Good. So uh watch with no strap, 34 grams.
Jason Heaton Wow. Add in the strap here
James Stacey at 41. So pretty good.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Pretty light. I'm trying to see what else
James Stacey I've got here by comparison. Aqualand duplex, no strap. 61.
Jason Heaton Okay. And aerospace
James Stacey with the poly mesh. 56.
Jason Heaton Wow. So Aqualand's a little chunky fella. Yeah.
James Stacey But uh man, I love that watch too. I've got a lot of titanium watches here. Things are going good for James these days. I don't know. This makes me excited and happy in the idea that someone out there is making something like this. And look, it could have I think they could have charged more for it. Uh we can get into what it was like to buy it, if that's uh if that's something. I talked about it a little bit on our episode where we were kind of covering elements of the Royal Pop
Jason Heaton launch. Mm-hmm. Because my point
James Stacey to swatch and and and all that kind of thing was like that this could have been sold online. You can sell something very popular online. DWC it said they were expecting upwards of thirty thousand plus people to try and get one of these. Well and I think they made five five five five five thousand five hundred fifty five of them according to my case back.
Jason Heaton Wow, good for them. Jeez. Yeah. Very cool.
James Stacey And basically you had to be on the page at a certain time. It was like 11 PM or something,
Jason Heaton or maybe 10 30, whatever the time
James Stacey was. And then as long as you were on the page, you would then get thrown into like another page digitally, which would decide if you were gonna be within the buyer's group. You'd be given a number. And then you basically just watch that number come down to zero, and that was when you were able to click whatever on PayPal and buy it. It was very simple.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And if your number was high
James Stacey enough, you would know fairly quickly that you weren't going to get one. I found it to be a very smooth process. I didn't have a scenario where it was in my cart and then by the time I paid for it and went back it wasn't there anymore, which is obviously a huge frustration point you read about for some of these kind of limited edition or very hard to buy drops.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I understand that this was in exceedingly
James Stacey large scale demand. Uh the experience I mean, I I guess I got lucky enough to get one. Um, but the experience was really pretty smooth, and if I was going to be selling a watch into this sort of existence, you know, this much demand. I I would probably look to emulate exactly what they did for it. And kudos to them to make a bunch of them. Especially, you know, like they said, like they they made it on board equipment.
Jason Heaton Yeah. That's so cool. Yeah. I you know, I I'm looking at uh your photo. I'm I'm I've got it on a big monitor here. Um the the the the the first image that in your collection is this wrist shot on the yellow strap. And um I'm just struck by um some of the little details, uh, you know, the shape of the crown, and then these these uh besides the the the cutouts for the the strap, there are those uh diagonal cutouts that are just purely
James Stacey two reliefs. Yeah, just two reliefs, just for
Jason Heaton just for visual interest. And and they really make all the difference because without those on there it would look a little more brutish. And and I think that that just adds an element um of visual interest to it. And then you've got this dial, this round dial in this very square case that is it's it's very much like an instrument aesthetic and and the whole thing obviously just looks like a tool. And it reminds me of in some way, um, I'm not I'm sure they're still making watches. Um I used to quite like them. I'd forgotten that I even uh was into this brand before I was really into watches, and that was Nixon. Um sure. I had you, know Ni,xon used to kind of make watches, I wouldn't say like this, but they used to make interesting shaped watches. And I had one, I believe it was called the key. And it had some, I don't know if it was the crown. It had some piece on the side that would use the same key that would or little wrench that would be used to um change the fin on a surfboard because Nixon was kind of a surf culture watch.
James Stacey Yeah, sure. It was a bit of a gimmick, but it makes sense.
Jason Heaton And it had an interesting shape to the case, and I really loved that watch. It had a very sporty appeal. And and this this watch, as I'm looking at it, brings me back in my mind in a very warm, nostalgic way to the time before I was really into watches. And I just liked something for the way it looked. And just kind of the way it the the feeling it evokes. And I think this is like I said earlier, very low stakes, visually interesting, something that you know, y you just didn't spend a lot of money on, but like can bring you a lot of joy um without even feeling like this is a watch with a capital W. And and that I say that with the you know, utmost respect and and admiration for what they've done here. I just I'm I'm just thrilled with this and and I wish I had known about these, you know, when they were available because and maybe I can find one second hand or something. But it's it's just the kind of piece that
James Stacey I um I
Jason Heaton could just see throwing on and just just deriving immense pleasure from just looking down at my wrist. It's just a it's a really, really neat neat uh object, uh not even watch.
James Stacey Yeah, you know me, I I love a good analogy or or metaphor or whatever. And and the one that kept coming back to me is like this is the sort of watch where like I said, you maybe you know the genre of the band, but you've never heard of them before, and you know, maybe they're maybe they're from a different town, maybe they're from a different part of the world entirely, but you get to see the concert for not that much money. It's not like going to see your favorite band, big name band. It's now hundreds of dollars. It's a whole thing to go see it. It's this is just a show down the street or at your favorite club in the city or whatever. And I you know, I I remember years ago I went and saw uh let's see, it would have been Mother Mother and Said the Whale and the Wooden Sky at the Casbah in tr in Hamilton, Ontario for ten bucks. Um I remember cause I think I think it was like I had fifteen dollars and I was able to do I could do the concert and a beer.
Jason Heaton Oh yeah. Uh, 'cause a friend of mine was
James Stacey driving. And I remember seeing that and I still listen to Mother Mother. I'm a huge Wooden Sky fan. And uh and I bet you uh um said the whale still gets sort of semi-frequent play in my home or or on my my phone and that sort of thing. Yeah I think if I'd gone to the brand's website go, oh yeah, they're making, you know, if I'd gone to uh Delhi watch company's website, I said, oh, they're making like largely conventional watches. I can understand most of
Jason Heaton these. But there's not something there where
James Stacey if you're as sort of seasoned or maybe jaded is more the right word. I'm not sure. Yeah. Uh for me, where I go, oh wait, that's that's something I don't know. And as soon as I saw this, I go, Well, wait, well, one more second. I want to take a closer look. I gotta I'm gonna click that link.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I'm super happy that I did.
James Stacey Um and I think they could have gotten away with it costing more. I think they probably could have made weirdly at four thousand rupees, it's it's really in still in maybe neither of those were the point around right in the middle of their price point for some of these. I'm seeing stuff at twelve thousand, seven thousand, six thousand. You know, it they've got a uh the DWC heritage like a dress watch, pretty good looking design there for eighty five hundred uh rupees, which is uh let's see, which is ninety dollars. I mean, like in my mind, this doesn't feel that different than than the times you read about uh you know the the the Chinese chronograph with the seagull movement or uh the the few times that I've I've bought a Voz talk, right? It scratches that same sort of itch, but those are very traditional conventional watches.
Jason Heaton Oh sure. Yeah. What I'm so excited about this
James Stacey is this doesn't look like anything else I've got. It's titanium, it's inspired by like I think quite effectively inspired by a carabiner, which is like who thought of that? A watch isn't a carabiner? Like they're not
Jason Heaton not really I guess up into maybe the royal pop
James Stacey is also sort of a care beaner adjacent. You're supposed to clip that to yourself, I'm not sure. At least this is meant for your wrist. Um, I could definitely see this looped into the strap of a backpack.
Jason Heaton Oh yeah. You know, hanging hanging on
James Stacey your backpack or something like that. So in in the right setting, I could see that being used more like a piece of field equipment or or that sort of thing, or a second watch. Um if you're let's say doing an extended hiking camping scenario that that that sort of stuff. I I'm just super impressed by it. I'm I really, really like it and I'm glad that I got one.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it's great. I'm looking at the rest of their collection and yeah, all very handsome watches, but nothing that that would make me, you know, cue up or or or even pull the trigger on on on the chronographs of the divers, they're they're all fine, but they're that one just in the middle, you know, the the photo of that one right in the middle of all the others that they sell is just it just pops. It just stands out. And um it just makes me happy that there are designers out there that are that are still kind of stretching things and and coming up with stuff like this. And I hope they do more. I hope other brands just take chances like this. When you were talking about the Seiko Field Master, you know, the uh the Contra watch, I um I was trying to remember I know that there is a um uh a brand Redux that's making kind of a version of that that that just looks great. And and as I'm looking at this, I'm like, well I missed out on this one,. Maybe I should you know, look at getting one of those or something. Just something that m that, you know, maybe you don't wear often, but like you put it on and it's just um just pure fun. Um
James Stacey absolutely yeah. I the the Redux stuff is great. That's what the the the actual strap I'm wearing this
Jason Heaton oh yeah DWC on. And and the one
James Stacey thing I would add, and it's the main reason that I wanted to do an on-paper on wrist, because obviously we know and have learned quite first-handedly recently, that people are super sensitive about using their attention for things that they can't even buy or be a part of. Um yes, this titanium one is gone, uh, but there is a steel version uh that is coming up uh in the future. It will be a millimeter or nearly a millimeter thinner, it will have more water resistance, and they're looking to improve the clasp as well. Okay. Uh it looks like they've already said the pricing will be four thousand four hundred and ninety-nine rupees for a sandblasted or vertically brushed, and there'll be a DLC version, which I think might be really cool in full black for five thousand rupees. So that puts us what uh forty eight dollars will be the starting price on that one. You'd probably have it home, even with DHL taking their lion's share of nonsense in the in the additional shipping. You'd probably have it home for under $100. And this is also feels distinctly like the type of watch that you could use to get somebody else into watches. If you're if you're uh whether it's a a young guy or gal who are you know looking for something effective but different, maybe it suits their overall style, or if it's something that you could kind of expand where you've got a friend that likes the Apple Watch and likes their their you know fabric strap or whatever, but this would give them something else to wear when they don't want the notifications. All that kind of stuff. We'll have to see what the you know what the production will be for the steel one. Uh given the size, the shape, the rest of it, I don't think it matters that much titanium to steel. I like titanium for just kind of vibes. Like I just I have a lot of titanium watches and I enjoy it and I think it's such a great metal for a watch. But steel's also great and it has a great history, obviously. So I said this is kind of a little bit like punk rock watchmaking. This is impact over ergonomics, inexpensive. It's kind of challenging in terms of the norms and what you might expect and other watches that you have, it's not going to be like that. But for me, it's like very exciting. I love that it was made with board equipment. I love that this is what they came up with after five years. And I just really dig it. I love that it's from a part of the world. I don't know that
Jason Heaton well, but clearly loves watches
James Stacey and and is part of the community and I think had a real impact with this design and and I'm pumped to see hopefully see more of them around, whether they're the steel ones or or these more initial titanium ones. But a cool thing, and I would say a huge shout out to to the team at DWC. Just impressive and fun and exciting and and really just pure entertainment. Good stuff
Jason Heaton Yeah, and I I I guess my my last point about this too is that that for the price, um you know, forty-two dollars is absurdly low and there's so much that we buy every week, you know, for for that amount of money that is just purely disposable and kind of, you know, you might buy it on a whim and then realize, oh, this is kind of this kind of junky plastic, whatever it might be, you know, gadget or you know even a strap or whatever that you take a flyer on and then you don't like it and it goes in a drawer and you end up tossing it, you know, or giving it away. Like this is this is forty two dollars for something that okay, we're not talking, you know, even probably well, I was gonna say citizen quality, but maybe it is, or or you know, certainly not in the in the high end realm, but like this is something that like is legitimately functional and could last for many years and could be passed on and used by by you or others um for for a long time for that amount of money. And for that, it's it's a very honorable product. I think that's great.
James Stacey Whether or not forty two dollars is the right amount for the watch is is going to be totally subjective. But think about the fervor that we had for $280 for the Moon's watch.
Jason Heaton Yeah. This is a normal
James Stacey quote unquote normal watch from a servicing standpoint. You put another battery in
Jason Heaton it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Heck, I even
James Stacey went ahead and did the research just out of interest. Let's say the movement died.
Jason Heaton Oh, sure. You can buy a single movement
James Stacey for eight dollars. Wow. And just have it replaced if you needed to. Like there's just a different thing where this feels like it was made for enthusiasts and look at the response that they got.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And that's not to say this the the course
James Stacey the moonswatch is made for enthusiasts, but if you had those complaints about oh it's plastic, oh it's can't be serviced, it's this or that, you can get very excited about this for a fraction of the cost. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Like I I said, I think I think'm less on less than
James Stacey a hundred dollars Canadian all in.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um and for that, I'm I'm gonna
James Stacey wear it all summer. I'm gonna enjoy it. I'm in my square watch summer, I guess, between this and the uh Bell and Ross.
Jason Heaton Oh, right. Uh
James Stacey obviously neither are actually squares. Maybe we call them rectangle watch summer. Um, whichever you like. But yeah, I uh I'm just impressed. I like I like being able to get excited about something like this. This is the sort of thing where if my brothers are like, Oh, I don't want to wear this my smart watch or I don't want to wear you know, my my brother Tim has the hoodinky Mito, and if they just wanted a weekend watch, especially if they're upping the water resistance on the steel one, yeah, where I mean I let's be clear, thirty meters, I'm gonna treat it like it's thirty meters. I'm it's going in the lake this weekend.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. But especially
James Stacey if we get to a point where it was uh where you where you've got even more c sort of sport watch bona fides built into it, really impressive thing. And then if there's ever a Gen 2 down the road where they curve the lug down
Jason Heaton at a slight angle, I I think you'd
James Stacey have you'd have a really compelling field watch that would wear like a conventional watch and have nothing like the footprint of a conventional watch in terms of the way it would look on your wrist. I get a little grin every time I I look down to to check the time
Jason Heaton for sure. But yeah, it's a it's
James Stacey a it's a kids like it? I bet they do. My kids almost never say anything about my watches, especially if they're like, you know, dark titanium just kind of wa a watch. It has to be bright, it has to be colorful. And I had it on the yellow strap and the day I went and picked them up from school and my youngest daughter was like, Oh, that's a that's a cool watch, I like that. And I was like, we're onto something here. This is fun. Yeah. So yeah. That's a lot about one watch. I'll eventually have a I'm gonna do a story for Hodinki as well, but this episode kind of allowed me to collect my thoughts and I wanted to talk about it with you because it was a watch that I think I mentioned to
Jason Heaton you. And and if and I
James Stacey I think now maybe you get a better idea and I can't wait to show it to you when I I see you in July.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I I would go out on the limb and
James Stacey say I feel very similarly about this watch at forty or fifty dollars as I do at twenty two hundred dollars or so for the Ming bracelet. It's exciting. Yeah. It's something I haven't experienced before. It's titanium. It represents a different way of thinking and about manufacturing and producing and and and connecting it to a product. I feel very similar about the same two, so which gives you some idea of how kind of messed up my brain is when it comes to dollars in the watch world.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But I think this is an
James Stacey exciting thing and uh and it I'll definitely, you know, definitely keep the developments on the radar. Hopefully Jason, you and some of the folks listening that are keen can snag a steal one when they come out.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I'll keep an eye out for that. Yeah. I guess I've got one last question, and it's uh you know I should have asked this earlier, but it uh you know, given that this is TGN and we're we're kinda loom junkies. Um how is the loom on this? Have you worn it uh at night yet?
James Stacey I have. Yeah, the loom is fine. Uh it's very light markings. We're we're like the Arabic numerals are loomed, the hands are loomed. The hands are quite functional, especially coming in from the sunlight, that sort of thing seems to work fine. I wouldn't dive watch. No.
Jason Heaton Yeah. The markers are quite a bit smaller,
James Stacey uh and there's less loom on it, but definitely functional. And again, at the price point, it could be worse and you wouldn't really fault
Jason Heaton it. Better than I expected.
James Stacey And of course there's leaf blowing uh in the background. So I apologize if that's the case. Uh if you can hear what sounds like a leaf blower and a lawnmower going at the same time. That's where we're at with the DW. Sorry I'm very distracted by the noise in the background.
Jason Heaton All right. Well that was great. Uh thanks for the intro and uh hope people enjoyed that one. I think it's uh I think it's gonna be a popular one in in a really strange way, but uh really fun. And
Unknown with that, um why don't we uh
Jason Heaton move into final notes and uh wrap up this episode? Uh what do you have for us?
James Stacey And mine can actually be quite easy because it's I've already mentioned on the show a couple of times and it's currently on my wrist. It is the RDX Pearatrooper strap with titanium hardware. It is a $59 strap. So obviously I've I've yet again put a strap that's worth more money than the watch. I think I did that with the Ming on the Aerospace and uh and now I've done it with the DWC Terra, but I think it's perfect. It's a great strap with a very simple sort of experience from the your paratrooper elastic styling where you have a sliding metal adjustment keeper with a little tab, like a larger opening, and then a hook closure on the other end, wrap it around wrist and put it on and you're done. I find it quite comfortable. It works really well on a variety of watches. And you know, yes, you you are paying a premium for this over the stuff with the more simple uh closure or like the knockoff erca straps. Um but in this case you are getting titanium uh hardware which I kind of like and definitely if we're gonna match it with the with the Terra again not so much on the price point but definitely on the materials it just kind of wears perfectly. And I I'm absolutely a fan. So that's my recommendation today, the pear trooper strap with titanium hardware from Redux and Co.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I might have to pick up one of these. I I like the kind of the chunkier oversized kind of grain or you know the weave uh on these compared to some others. It it it looks really nice. And you know what makes me think like it's really cool that this will fit on on the Terra because of those slots, um, the kind of the the strap mounting slots. But I I was trying to remember what that Terra watch reminded me of, and I believe there are some of these Paratrooper style straps, not from not from Redux, but um I believe Erica sells them that can be used with something like an FXD that has kind of closed strap channels and you feed the strap through the buck through the the adjustment buckle like the um like the strap channels on the on the Terra. That's what it reminds me of. I was trying to think the whole episode I was trying to think of what that reminded me of and now it just came to me. But um it's a bit of a tangent.
James Stacey I've used this strap for my CWN1 and it works nicely you just have to remove that sliding keeper, take it all the way off, slide it on, then put the keeper back on. And then it just wears like a an open NATO. I'm sure there's other ways of wearing it as well. I don't even use the keeper. Thus there's like a fabric keeper. I remove that and I just tuck the tail.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I have it route underneath rather
James Stacey than over, which I think is probably what they intended. Um they make a they make a handful of nice straps. They they also a while back sent us the reverse whoreween cordovan with titanium hardware.
Jason Heaton Yes. If if it's in your budget, it's
James Stacey that's a really nice strap for the CWN one or or any watch with sort of a channel log or something you like to use a leather NATO on. Uh so yeah, they they make some really nice straps. I haven't checked out their watches, but now I'm keen because you brought it up that they kind of were in the same aesthetic as the the Contra. It's a full size watch to be fair. It's not like a little chainable unit. Uh but I do really like and like I said, if I'm in my if I'm in my Square Watch Summer sort of scenario here uh I am eyeballing this uh honor H O N N R A nine in titanium it's a good looking watch for
Jason Heaton sure. Yeah yeah cool company. Ye yeahah.
James Stacey All right. What have you got for us today?
Jason Heaton All right. I feel like we got a bit of a kind of paratrooper instrument style watch kind of theme going here. And and I've got a video actually. This is um another from a series of of videos that the New Yorker puts up on YouTube, um, free free for all to watch. You don't need a subscription. Um, this one popped up in my feed. It's uh it's called the Ukraine the Ukrainian stunt pilot hunting Russian drones and um caught my eye. The title itself sounded really interesting. Um again, you know, you you you talked about punk rock and and and this just feels like you know there there have been so many stories that have kind of come out of the the conflict in Ukraine and the Russian invasion and kind of the resistance to that, that that feel like such homegrown, um, kind of innovative w workarounds and and ways of kind of fighting back. And and this is just another example of that. It's this guy who was a really talented stunt pilot, you know, flying like these little aerobatic planes who, when the war started, and and you know, the drone warfare that's really kind of devastated a lot of uh Ukraine and and done a lot of damage and and killed people, um, you know, required this kind of innovative solution. And and this guy took his piloting skills to to fly a a plane, you know, w with others that are using um heat sensitive, you know, tracking missiles and things to kind of chase these drones and then shoot 'em out of the sky. And it's really it's really quite interesting. It's I think it's about a six minute video or so. And uh yeah, just uh just a really kind of inspiring and and and cool video. So you can check that out.
James Stacey I I'll be honest, I I'm barely paying attention as you're talking, as I'm watching this video. The visuals are absolutely nuts..
Jason Heaton Yeah Uh I yeah, I I I have it
James Stacey muted, uh, 'cause I didn't entirely miss one the cadence of your voice suggesting it was my turn to speak. But man, this isn't scene. I gotta mute I gotta pause this. Uh this is very exciting. Yeah. What a cool thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I've I've been reading a ton about
James Stacey uh like FPV drones and all the drone technology and then I was learning about the fiber optic drones, which is how they control them uh most commonly as weapons. Uh terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. I I traded just a few texts in the last couple days with uh Robert Spangle, who's just leaving there for I don't I'm not sure how many times he's been out to Ukraine, but he said that most of the front line is essentially inaccessible um unless you're prepared to be part of the battle scene uh because of the the proliferance of these these fiber optic drones and stuff like that. So if you want to see it firsthand you can always follow Robert's uh Instagram. We'll we'll put it in there. Uh he was writing me because he's going from Ukraine to Italy for PD. Uh and we always do the PD Uomo uh watch spotting. So two different topics. Yeah. You know he's a a man of many many interests and concerns.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh but yeah, that's uh that's a fascinating one.
James Stacey I can't wait to uh to to do that. And I love that the New Yorker puts these up for free.
Jason Heaton All right. Well that was a fun episode. Fun to revisit on paper on wrist.
James Stacey One episode about a funky watch for sure.
Jason Heaton All right. Well as always, thanks so much for listening. If you want to to subscribe the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting a show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit thegraynado.com. Music Throughout is siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
James Stacey And we leave you with this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, who said, the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.