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The Grey NATO – 380 – There's a New T.Graph In Town

Published on Thu, 18 Jun 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

In episode 380 of The Grey NATO podcast, hosts Jason Heaton and James Stacy discuss the major announcement of the new Doxa SUB 200 T-Graph II dive chronograph. The watch is a modern recreation of the rare late 1960s T-Graph, featuring a 42mm steel case, Sellita SW510 movement, and available in four colorways (Professional orange, Sea Rambler silver, Shark Hunter black, and Caribbean blue) at \(4,250-\)4,290. Jason shares his personal history with vintage T-Graphs, including the one he still owns, while both hosts analyze the pricing, design choices, and how it fits into the broader dive chronograph market.

The episode also covers their upcoming travels—Jason heading to Washington DC for a Rolex and National Geographic event, and James going to Halifax for SailGP coverage with Rolex. They discuss a new Tudor documentary about Italian aviator Carina Negrone, announce an upcoming TGN event with Citizen in Chicago during Windup on July 10th, and share final notes including a fascinating long-form article about the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage and a video about advances in 3D-printed EDC gear.

Show Notes

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 380, 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 Stacy. James, we've got some exciting news this episode, uh very TGN focused.
James Stacy Yeah, the new new watch new watch season continues this time with a with one that I think a lot of people have been waiting for.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And in an execution that I'm pretty excited
James Stacy about. So yeah, definitely excited to get into the new docs of T graph uh in the next few minutes. But talking about stuff that we're excited about, don't forget that we will be doing a TGN event with Citizen in Chicago on the Friday night of Windup Chicago, which is July 10th at Forbidden Route, 7 and 9 p.m. The RSVP should be available in next week's show notes, so stay tuned for that. We should have room for everybody, and it should be a really great time in Chicago with Citizen. We're very pumped for that. But uh stay tuned either to the Slack where the RSVP will show up first, or if you're not on the Slack side, uh stay tuned to the show notes for the next couple of episodes and we'll be sure to include that link. Uh so uh you've got some uh some travel this week, Jason, so do I. Weirdly, I think we're
Jason Heaton I didn't realize. Wow, where are you headed? I I didn't didn't know you were headed.
James Stacy I'm headed I've never been to Halifax. I'm going to Halifax for the first time.
Jason Heaton Wow. Oh, cool. For sale GP. Man.
James Stacy Yeah. Oh, that'll be awesome. Yeah, I'm I'm quite excited. They um I I met some of the new Canadian Rolex team uh at Watches and Wonders, had a quick, quick lunch with them and really lovely people, and they said, you know, we're we're only doing a few select things, but if you think it might be fun to do like sail GP, we're going to Halifax for that. And I said, you know, how interactive is it? Is it sitting in like a nice spot with a glass of wine? Or is it like can I get on a boat? Can I can I see a boat and dry dock? Like can we tell can we really like speak to what what's going on with the sport? And they said, Oh, let us know. Or you know, we'll take a look at the itinerary and get back to you. And it looks like it's gonna be quite interactive. So packing up all my best gear and uh and you know, my sunscreen and all that kind of stuff and hoping for good weather. Uh but yeah, I head out uh the day this comes up I'll be on my way to uh to Halifax. I was uh considering trying to throw up uh just to preempt what will be the eventual messages. I was considering trying to put together like a hangout. But as you can imagine, the the uh itinerary with uh with Rolex is is uh the basically the full waking day for much of the uh much of the weekend and then I I come home on Friday, so it'll have to be go gone the next time.
Jason Heaton Oh that's great. I I love I love sailing events. They're just there's such a spectacle and and kind of just a vibe around kind of being on the on the water, near the water, around boats, and it's just such a cool sport. That'll be great. I'm uh headed to Washington DC actually tomorrow. We're recording this on Monday, so I I fly out early tomorrow for an event that I can't go into too much detail about just yet, but it's an event with Rolex and National Geographic that's in uh Washington DC. So um yeah, it's kind of been a while since I've done a proper kind of press trip. Um and I'm looking forward to it. I I don't like to say no to Rolex. I think it's a they always do kind of fun stuff. And um this looks like a really promising one, especially with the link up with uh Nat Geo. So I'm excited about that. So I leave fry uh tomorrow morning and then I'm actually back probably about the time you're leaving. I I get back actually Thursday nights. Oh
James Stacy no way. Yeah, right. So short
Jason Heaton trip, but uh yeah, should be fun. It's gonna be swampy and muggy in DC, so I'll have to pack my coolest clothes for that one.
James Stacy For sure. You definitely will. Yeah. Well, that's great. And then uh the other cool thing is uh and the story literally just ran as we started recording. Um, the next in sort of the tutor documentary video series that you've been writing about for Hodinky came out today. You want to give a little bit of a
Jason Heaton Yeah, sure. So um yeah, I I just think it's really neat that that tutors kind of spinning up these stories um kind of that are prompted by um a watch element, you know, vintage tutors being worn by people um doing interesting things decades ago, and this particular one is is very different from the first one, which is about the the Navy divers that that were recovering space capsules during the Apollo program. This one is about a an Italian um kind of aristocrat aristocratic woman um named Karina Negrone, who was uh a record setting pilot back in the gosh, 1930s, right up through the the fifties. And she was a a lifelong tutor wearer, uh, as kind of her whole family was. They they were given as gifts to the kids and grandkids. And um I got to interview her grandson uh last week. Actually the story came together pretty quickly. But yeah, Tudor produced a a a a nice documentary film about her life and her exploits. And yeah, I just think it's a neat story. And and I think the most significant part of this is that that I mean, obviously there are watches involved, but um, you know, for me it's it's always about the stories um about the people that wear these watches and this is one of those cases. So yeah, it was a fun one to write and uh a great film.
James Stacy You know, you look at the splashdown one and then having having taken a look at uh La Polita or Piloda, uh I agree like they are obviously marketing borderline ads to some extent. And but at the same time it's not like it's not like there's a a c a connection to a modern one they're suggesting you buy or something like that And look, if I'm gonna watch some marketing, I think this is probably the way I would want to do it. Uh also, let's be fair, it's difficult for you and I to claim complete unbiased opinions about Tudor, very much fans.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh I've been working on a tutor project
James Stacy for several months at this point. I like to st I like to cover the things that the brand does when I find them interesting and this is one of them. So yeah it's it's cool. It's nice to see the continuation of that program. And I I h hopopee there's other brands like it, you know, the same way that we talk about all the really cool like ocean commitment uh stuff that uh that Blanc Pond does. I hope other brands look at Tudor and Blanc Pond and go, oh, there's like storytelling here that we could put our budget into um that isn't as sort of forceful as like, hey, here look at look at this new watch doing this or or like more more about like building the idea of the brand or why you might like their watches, not you know, a specific watch or or something that you could turn around and and buy today like a direct conversion.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. And speaking of that, I mean I I'd love to see the brand we're talking about today do more of that. I think Doxa, you know, they have such a rich history and one that so many people are aware of with the you know Cousteau connection, etc. But I just feel like there's so much more to be told that the brand itself could be telling. I mean, certainly Peter Miller, the author, has put out a bunch of books about Doxa and
James Stacy some great books. Um Yeah, shout out Peter.
Jason Heaton Yeah, that would be uh be pretty cool to see Doxa lean into that. But uh anyway, before we get
James Stacy I would want to be fair, Doxa of course a very small fan now family owned brand, uh comparing them to the marketing and and video making budget of a tutor or a Blanc Pond a little out of scope, but I don't disagree. I would love to see more storytelling from the brand, more things. And I think today's watch is actually one that could have been a really good and and may continue to be a great sort of platform
Jason Heaton for that sort of storytelling. And some of that
James Stacy is storytelling that you've done in the past about watches that were quite meaningful to you and the history of what's an kind of an exceptionally rare watch in general and also the idea of like a dive chronograph.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Um isn't isn't always
James Stacy it definitely plays like either second or third fiddle to the idea of just a dive watch in general.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. So before we jump into the main topic
James Stacy there and really get into the new T graph too, you want to do a little bit of uh wrist check? I I can probably guess where
Jason Heaton Yeah, indeed. I I pulled out my vintage T graph. I was wearing it a few weeks ago, and you know, I'm I'm one of these people who just really it bugs me if I don't have the dates set correctly, and this one does not have a quick set date. So this morning I was I put it on. I was like, I can't leave it, you know, at the date from a couple of weeks ago, so you've got to do the back and forth spinning between 12.30 and 5.30 kind of thing over and over again. But it's it's set correctly, and I've got it on this uh the the the dive bund strap that rubber bund that Le Fourban had sent me um last year um and you know look this is a huge heavy thick watch um that really doesn't belong on a bund strap, but I I used to wear it on a leather bun and and this just fits it great. So looks wonderful. Um yeah, we can get into more about this watch particularly in kind of the the new version of it as well um in a bit here, but that's that's what I've got on it seemed seemed entirely
James Stacy Yeah, I I absolutely agree. I figure that's what you would wear. Definitely makes sense to me. It's an exceptionally cool watch, and uh we can get into some of the history in a moment. Um I'm wearing my best historical docks, which is the 50th anniversary C Rambler.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I've been actually wearing it a ton because it
James Stacy works so well on the relatively new uh collab strap we did with Strap Habit, the TGN10 NATO, which is in like an orange cream sickle sort of colorway. It's that you know spin on a razzle camo. Uh, and I think it actually works really well with the silver dial and just a little bit of orange.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, I very briefly kind of threw it on
James Stacy my orange monster and it was like jarring. Two different oranges to begin with, and just so much orange. Uh so I went back to the uh to the the Doxa and I I just really love this watch. It's uh it it's not a perfect watch. I mean the loom isn't great. Uh and definitely if you've if you've had experience with more modern Doxes and then into doxes that have larger markers, that gets better. But these 300, these ones that are very faithful to that like original 300 looms a little bit blackluster. Uh but otherwise a super wearable watch. I still think these are watches that that show that the shape of a case can really hide its dimensions in some
Jason Heaton ways. Yeah. Uh, you know, that um
James Stacy that uh 42 and a half millimeter sub 300 case really wears like a much smaller watch and I think it was nice to have the sub two hundred T and and I really do like that size because it again at thirty nine probably wears closer to like thirty seven
Jason Heaton which is kind of delightful. Yeah. Uh yeah
James Stacy so there's there's uh it's it's gonna be a a a good summer for Doxa and I think that's we can kind of kick it off with uh today's announcement or I mean by the time you're hearing this, Monday's announcement of the new T graph two. Uh so this is a neat one originally it could have been sort of like a uh um on paper on wrist like we did just recently for the D W C Terra. But in this case, uh I saw these at Geneva some time ago and and we'll have a hands on, maybe even by the time this episode comes up, I'm not sure, in the next week or so.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um with those photos. And
James Stacy Jason, you got a chance to see at least one of the versions, maybe more, at uh wind up San Francisco, right?
Jason Heaton I did, yeah. Very briefly uh chatting with Rob from uh Topper Jewelers who had one on his wrist and and let me handle it a bit and uh yeah I was I was definitely impressed. I mean it's it's one of my all time favorite watches in in whatever form it comes in. So um yeah super cool.
James Stacy You know, I think you're one of the people who have written sort of pieces about the history of this watch and then you've been involved in the history of actual examples, the one that you still own, I think uh you also owned uh uh C Rambler version if I remember correctly.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. And so let's we can get in into that a
James Stacy moment, but let's do just the raw specs for the new one. So this is a proper essentially recreation of the late 60s uh T graph in Docs's sort of modern formatting, if that makes sense, which is to say very genuinely faithful to the original in many ways. It's forty-two millimeters wide, steel, forty four point five lug to lug, fourteen point six thick, again, it's all steel, bracelet or rubber options comes in uh four colorways currently so you have professional which is orange sea rambler is silver shark hunter is black and then for me what might be the star of the show the Caribbean, kind of unexpected for a fourth color from them, but I think it works really well on the watch and I I love the execution with the orange hour hand and the yellow. It all works really well with the blue.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Printed indexes, uh date
James Stacy at six o'clock. It uses a Salida SW510, uh, so it's a four hertz movement with 56 hours of power reserve. You get a uh uh 30-minute chronograph with central chronograph seconds and then a 60 second running seconds at nine o'clock. And then again, like I said, the date. So it's a two-register uh chronograph. Um the pushers are non-screwdown style. Uh they're just button pushers that uh sit quite nicely in the case, very similar to the original. And um and then pricing is 42.90 on the bracelet or 42.50 on the strap. So we're now looking at essentially from a price standpoint, right up there with a uh with um like a a flagship for the brand and and you know I think that comes from probably it's just doing the chronograph. Yeah. So we're now into a brand brand new case, the movement, the rest of it. Um we can get into the pricing and we will in the next little while, but that's what the new model is. Uh Jason, do you want to do uh a a history lesson, a a classic history a heat and history lesson for uh for the listeners? Because I I do feel like this is one of the right watches for you to do, you know, a clean few minutes on why it's so relevant, why it's so cool that they've brought it back.
Jason Heaton Yeah, so um it was back in uh 1969 when the original um sub 200 T graph came out. And the interesting thing is it's just a really little kind of an asterisk or a little footnote, and that is that um the when you th when you think of the word T graph, a lot of times it's written as T-graph and actually if you look closely on the dial it's actually T dot graph, which uh you know uh just a a little kind of bit of trivia there. But so 1969 they came out with with the T graph. It was their first dive chronograph. It was one of the first dive chronographs actu,ally. Um and they released it in their kind of standard three colors that they were doing back then, which was the Orange Professional, the Sea Rambler Silver, and the Shark Hunter Black. And from kind of reading some history and talking to people that that are knowledgeable about the brand, um uh consensus is that they there were three hundred of each color made at the time. So um less than a thousand watches, you know, nine hundred uh originals exist or or were made and who knows how many still are around. Um it's it's it is amazing how often you see these pop up. Um, you know, every once in a while I get I just got a message from uh an old uh buddy of mine, Ty, uh Ty Alley, who um was was running Aquala uh dive suit company and was the Doxa forum moderator on Watch You Seek all those years ago when I was just getting into watches. Anyway, he just awesome uh sourced a a vintage sea rambler and was asking me about where to get it serviced. Um but uh you know when I got my first one, I had been on I was actually on a dive trip in Bonaire, this was many years ago. And I get an email from uh a watch dealer in Chicago, actually, vintage watch dealer, who said he had a C Rambler for sale. And I just I couldn't resist. I mean, I knew the rarity of them. I they were so cool. So I had that one first, and I had it for several years and it was running well. And um then I uh got the uh the second one, which is my shark hunter. Um so I had two of them for a while. I sold the silver one. This the black one I wrote this long piece for Hodinki back then because I bought it from the original owner who bought it at a dive shop in the Chicago area when he was learning to dive. He he was one of the first people to get kind of patty certified um in the late 60s when Patty was just getting off the ground and he sent me a picture of his certification card with the signatures of the two founders of Patty on it. So it was a really kind of meaningful story and we can link out to that to read. But kind of the I had to have that watch serviced um because it had been sitting in a drawer and it wasn't functioning properly and kind of came to learn more about it when I had this master watchmaker here in town um take it apart and he was kind of learning about it as he was doing it because this wasn't any sort of a kind of a standard off the shelf movement at the time. You know, it wasn't a kind of a Valjeo that everyone was using. At the time, Doxa was under the same kind of umbrella company as as Aberhard. Uh Aberhard obviously still around in different hands these days. So it used an Aberhard cal caliber that then Doxa rebranded as the two eighty seven. So it was a hand wound uh two register chronograph, um slow ticking, you know, beats at 18,000 beats per hour. Um and uh the date at that six just like the new one, not quick set. And um yeah so you know it I think what what separated it from, say, the sub three hundred or the sub three hundred T at the time and and like the one you're wearing is the um if you just look at it, that the the crown, you know, being kind of a hand winder, the crown kind of sits proud of the case, it's not sort of embedded in the case like the rest of the doxes were. It's just a monster watch. I don't have my calipers handy, so I'm not sure if the thickness of this equaled the the one of the previous re edition that they did back in uh twenty nineteen. Um but it's a chunk and I had it serviced. Um he rebuilt it, uh put a new crystal in, water tested it, and then I took it on a subsequent trip to Bonaire. And I took it on one dive, um, much to the chagrin of my watchmaker, who really frowned upon that and uh held up just fine. And I'm wearing it today, and it's running really well. So um bit of a legend, you know, these with these watches, as I said, 900 made and just not many of them around anymore. I mean, these watches often were bought as mine was in a dive shop for use uh in diving. And one of those people that that owned one of these actually was a a professional back then was uh Gene Cernan one of the Apollo astronauts the last man to walk on the moon who famously owned one and it came up for auction years ago and sold. I scoured the internet. I looked around at for pictures of Gene Cernan wearing his, you know, especially like underwater or something. And there was one photo of him like training in a pool because the astronauts, you know, still do that, but they did that back then as well. And um I I couldn't see his wrist in the photo, but I you know, I w I'd I'd love to I'd love to see a photo of him wearing one. But um that's kind of a a rambling history of the of the T graph. It was just it was I I wouldn't even say it was a cornerstone of Dox's collection at the time because they made it only for one year and they made so few of them. Um and I'm not quite sure why. They just maybe they didn't sell well or or just wasn't practical or or affordable or something for them to make. But uh yeah. It's uh it's definitely kind of a legend and and one that I in my own collection, this one will probably be, if not the last to go, one of the the last to go, if uh if it ever came to that. So yeah, cool piece. And then I would say just to kind of update, I mean, just to kind of fast forward a bit, I I mentioned the the 2019 reissue and um the the the current Hodinky story uh links out to it as well. But I I I had written a story for Hodinki back then about the the the reissue of the um the T graph uh in twenty nineteen that that Basel World. I remember the the company had this this uh 13-piece edition that came in solid gold that they were selling for $70,000. But then um there was a a 300 piece limited edition of the T Graph Professional. So, you know, if you were lucky enough to get one of those, they were cool as well, very faithful. They used a vintage value 7734 movement. Um, looked very much like the originals, but here we are today with a non-limited edition um with a more serviceable modern automatic movement. So really cool. And
James Stacy yeah, I mean, and like I said, I'm more than happy to get into the price uh kind of chatter. We can even do that now. You know, these new ones you're starting at what what did I say? Forty three hundred dollars. Let's call it that 4250 strap, 4290. And you have to remember that even in 2019, the uh the limit edition T graphs, the sub 200 T graphs with the 7734 were 4$,900.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, so uh don't get
James Stacy me wrong, I think there is some sticker shock with uh you know four thousand dollar plus doxa. Um I think that we've really started to see the brand in this context of 200 T to say 300 T, which is what, eighteen hundred to three thousand dollars? Somewhere around
Jason Heaton there. Yeah. And I think this is a this is definitely
James Stacy a bump, but I do think it's it's the kind of thing that at least it makes sense in my mind and it's less you know, I think if it had come out to be as most watches are these days, more than the last time they went into the foray. And I think it would be difficult for them to for them to offer this watch as a non-limited edition with a modern movement and have it cost more money. So I think it makes sense for it to be less, but it's also just kind of pleasant in a world where everything is costing more. Um you know, there's there's some comments already on Hodinky from people saying this would make sense at two thousand and I just I don't know what world
Jason Heaton that comes from. Like a two hundred
James Stacy T is two thousand dollars, you know, once you once you pay for the tax or whatever. So yeah, I I I think this is quite successful. I was very excited when I saw it. Um I've already I guess it's a tease. I'm not I don't really love teasing, but like I've already said that this is a gonna be a huge summer for the brand. And this is definitely a big piece of that. Um whether or not in my mind you see this and you go, I absolutely must have it. If you're a Doxa fan, this should be in their lineup.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. It just
James Stacy makes sense. I think that they nailed the proportions. Um I I was worried you see the watch, it visually sitting on a table, it looks quite big. And then you pick it up and like the case is smaller than my three hundred by half a half a millimeter in terms of width. And I put it on my wrist, uh, especially on the rubber. Of course, the bracelet's not going to be sized when you just see a bunch of watches at in Geneva or whatever, but on the wrist on the rubber, that just wears like a nice kind of large watch. Yeah. Not large like a modern Omega or even large. I would say it wears definitely smaller than an FXD for me. Um and it kind of hugs the wrist a little bit better. It's that nice short lug to lug. The forty-four point five basically makes it a square or close to I I'm really happy with this. I love that it's two hundred meters of water resistance. Um one of the comments uh here is asking if you're able to push the pushers underwater,
Jason Heaton great question. Yeah. I will figure that out for
James Stacy my uh from my hands on. I do not have the answer to that, but it is a very fair question because they're not screwed down. I think this is a great looking watch. Um I think I think like I said, if your if your introduction to Doxa was a 200T a couple years ago, or even a standard sub 200, even less money, or even a uh, you know, a post 50th uh you know 20,0. I think, yeah, there's going to be a little bit of sticker shock there, but chronographs are kind of expensive to begin
Jason Heaton with. And I think they kind of nailed
James Stacy it from a design standpoint. Do you have um do you have an immediate favorite colorway of the four that that have come out?
Jason Heaton I'm still partial to the Shark Hunter, but I I agree with you. I think the Caribbean is a nice addition. I think the, you know, the original three colors are great. I would um orange is my least favorite, um that which is the case with any Doxa, actually. Um I'm just not a professional guy um in in uh in several respects. Um uh but no I I I just like the kind of the starkness uh of the of the black dial of the shark hunter with the pops of color. I think these are very colorful uh the word that sprang to mind, but I don't think it's entirely accurate is cartoonish. I mean they just have the kind of the the interesting you know pointers on the on the subdial hands, you know, but kind of big blocky one on the on the just the running seconds, and then that big arrowhead on the on the other one, and then of course the the main sweep hand for the chronograph has the big arrowhead on it. Um lots of shapes and colors and blockiness to them. And I think kind of toning that down with the black dial or um that dark blue is is really sharp. They didn't go too crazy with kind of a you know iridescent, really kind of bright blue, like a royal blue. This is more of a navy and it works really well.
James Stacy Looking at the images, and and I I have the you know self-aggrandizing pleasure of looking at my own images, live images that I shot.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I know it's nitpicking,
James Stacy but this is what I'm good at, and I do it I do to tutor all the time, so I might as well do it to Doxa. I think the shark hunter would work for me if the minute hand was orange. The white minute hand is I think probably specific to, you know, the reference.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And that makes sense. But
James Stacy the um the overall is uh I I think it would just be more exciting if it were orange. I'm I'm not really sure why, but the white minute hand doesn't sit with me as well as you know the Sea Rambler and the Caribbean have the orange
Jason Heaton minute hand. Yeah. Yeah. Which I think just kind of
James Stacy links up nicely with the two subdial hands. Which is a lot of fun. In in the metal, in person, largely because it felt the most cohesive between understanding that the yellow matches the black or the that the yellow matches the blue quite nicely, you get white text, which feels like it works really well with the markers, and then you get orange on the bezel and on the minute hand and on the chronograph hands and the where the subdial hand. Yeah. I think it's the Caribbean is the one that works the the best for me. And yeah, with the professional, I I always like a professional kind of on paper, like uh hypothetically. I enjoy orange quite a bit, of course. But for whatever reason, I've I've owned a Pro 300 and it didn't really stick with me. And uh and then with the with the watches like I I think I I like something a little bit more subdued where the orange is the accent versus the whole story.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um but I I'm just glad that they're
James Stacy kind of back in the catalog and and I guess they kind of join another model uh from the brand, which of course would be the uh 200 C graph two.
Jason Heaton Yeah, yeah. I'm i it's interesting because I I feel like dive chronographs are not terribly common, but it's actually one of my favorite configurations of of a watch. I think it combines both things that I love the most. I I do love a chronograph and I love um I love dive watches, obviously. And I think you put the two together and it's just I'm just in heaven. And I think Doxa has been um maybe the maybe the word is the best word is careful with the the T graph. I think um you know to to do that that limited edition in 2019, they kind of like put it out there and we were all kind of teased by it, but you couldn't get them because there were so few made. Um, but they knew they had something special. But it you're right, it belongs in the lineup, now it's there. Let's hope it stays there because they've had for years a watch that nobody really talks about very much, which is the sub-200 C graph, which I just never warmed up to. I I'm not sure, I don't think it was based on the historical example, but you know, maybe they felt they needed a dive chronograph in the lineup, and for whatever reason, they didn't go with the T graph other than the LE. And the C graph just doesn't do it for me. It's three register, it's more conventional looking with the bezel.
James Stacy Do you have a US price on that? I'm just seeing uh Swiss francs
Jason Heaton here. Yeah, it's uh so the C graph is twenty-seven ninety uh on the bracelet and twenty seven fifty on the rubber. So
James Stacy okay, so same as Swiss francs. Okay. Yeah,
Jason Heaton yeah. Um and that one comes in a number of colors. You know, you can get a white dial, you can get a blue, you can get a yellow, you can get the aquamarine. So it came in a number of colors. It just it felt more like a sort of an amateur version of a watch, whereas the T graph feels like, okay, now we're we're the big leagues, like this is this is the top shelf piece, which obviously price reflects that as well.
James Stacy Well, and I I think the 200 as long as it's been around, whether it's in the standard, you know, sort of core dive watch or the chronograph has always sort of played second fiddle or even be presented in terms of its positioning in the lineup to any of the stuff that's based in well, what are we now we're sixty seven to sixty nine in its design language?
Jason Heaton Yeah. If we go from the 300
James Stacy to the to the T to the current T graph, the new one, the T Graph 2. I I think they both have their places and I can understand, you know, it I think it also helps kind of tell the story of the price of the new one, you know, in that it is that step up. And if you compared certainly uh a standard two hundred to a three hundred, that's a big jump in price as well. Probably pretty similar in dollars to uh or at least within shooting range of of the jump between the the C graph and the T graph. But it it's not it's only competition, of course, is not just another model from Doxa. There are quite a handful of uh of pretty solid dive chronographs out on the world right now. Any other kind of jump to mind that you would go, you should know about these two or three, or I uh you I I can think of one that leaps to my mind that you own and wear with some frequency um that I think kind of works you could have both uh in room in one collection if you really enjoyed them.
Jason Heaton Yeah, for me, I I think the the main competition here and kind of sits equal in my mind. To to find a vintage one would be amazing because they're those are very rare as well. But the the modern reissue of the uh the aquastar deep star, which has come out in a couple of different sizes. You know, Rick Murray, who um was running Doxa for a number of years, um, is behind Aquastar and he kind of knows how to do this sort of thing and and the deep star is is one of my favorites. Um and then one that I know you love that uh I think kind of competes um actually comes in a fair bit cheaper is the the Sazin six one three um chronograph, which on the bracelet is thirty-five seventy. So you know, a full thousand bucks less for um I don't know, would you call that a more interesting chronograph? It's a very, very different piece. Um
James Stacy yeah, the Doxa wears better to my memory. And if you if uh you know Doxa is kind of its own thing. I don't wanna I don't want to like paint you or paint Doxa into a corner where they don't have competition. They have tons. It's a Solita chronograph. You could really expand from there quite quite extensively.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But part of what you're paying for in that
James Stacy is that it's a T graph. There is like a T graph tax.
Jason Heaton Yeah. There was for the the the
James Stacy previous edition, there certainly was if you did it in solid gold. And there is for vintage ones.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So in the world of how watches are priced,
James Stacy if the vintage ones are expensive and any reissues or limited editions have been expensive, then I think we'd still see this coming. And then don't forget, like this is also we had um Doxa made in twenty seventeen, the fiftiet anniversary uh stuff like what I've got on my wrist today. Yeah. And then shortly thereafter, um, after a change in ownership, made the standard 300. And it was, you know, it it it still represented a considerable price jump over a 300T, like paying for the history, the the closer it is to that original, the more it typically costs with Doxa. That's just kind of the zone. The Zen is a whole different concept. It's Teutonic. It's new. It's kind of modern. It's a GMT as well. It's thicker. Uh it wears a little higher. Uh that sort of thing. I I really like both. That would actually be quite a complicated thing to pick one between the other. Um but you also have things like the Vulcan skin diver in chronograph
Jason Heaton is about three thousand dollars and that's an
James Stacy absolutely gorgeous watch. Um also in in a not largely different size range uh but here you're going downwards towards thirty nine point seven and thirteen millimeters. Also just a really nice thing. Uses a seventy seven fifty three. So you know, you're in the in that similar uh two register architecture, no date on the Vulcan, if if that happens to be a deal breaker. And then of course you'd have things like the Tutor Pelgos, the FXD Chrono, the a Lingi Red Bull one, uh, which we Googled around on and not sure that that's still on their on their website necessarily, but that was in the range of fifty five, fifty eight hundred dollars, somewhere in there, I believe. I think it came out around five thousand. I'm seeing listings for fifty six hundred and then into seven thousand dollars for Canadians. So that's probably about right. So that's your step up. Um you also, you know, you you can get into stuff from like a Lashuta original CQ chronograph. Exceptionally cool. I don't think I've ever seen one in person, uh, but that's now you're into multiples of the price of the doxa as you would be with some of the Omega uh dive chronographs and and that sort of thing. But yeah, I mean there it's not like there's it's not like there's no competition. Certina has a nice DS action diver chronograph as well, but it's 45 millimeters. That would be a deal breaker for me, for example. I'll I'll have to dig deeper into the into the direct competition, stuff that's in a similar size range that I think people might cross shop. The one thing that it's the cross shopping part that that I have trouble with because I just don't know how much people cross shop Doxa against another brand, especially a brand with like a more modern bent in their aesthetic.
Jason Heaton Yeah I don't know if that's the way people shop for watches. I mean
James Stacy You want a Doxa, I think, right? I don't think people
Jason Heaton shop in terms of a genre when it comes to you know a watch. I think you you like the look of a watch or the you know the a brand and you you go for that. I don't think you say, I think I need a dive chronograph. Let me compare the top five. And like they're so different, like the certina or you know, a tutor or whatever compared to a docs. It's like you I mean it it it's just a silly way to shop, I think. So you're either going to pay it for it or you're not, depending on how much you really want that particular brand and that watch.
James Stacy For sure. No, I I don't disagree. It it probably isn't like saying I'm you know, I'm in the market for a compact car uh and and going and you know, watching the reviews for all of them. I figure you're either just a big nerd and you read about any dive chronograph that comes out. Kudos, love it. Um, or yeah, you you know you like the Doxa uh and and that's kind of the path you're going. I I'm I'm really pumped for this watch. I think it's very cool. I'm you know I'm curious, Jason, you being such a T graph guy and a Doxa guy, is this something that you would see picking up in the next little while? Do you like it enough uh for that or do you have a functioning T graph that you enjoy wearing and a second one is kind of redundant to a certain extent.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I mean th the price would scare me off at this point in my collecting career, so to speak, but I I you know, having the vintage one that um if I really wanted to take it diving, which I don't see doing much anymore, um, you know it' its's gotten wet. I christened it once. I don't want to take any more risks with it. I can wear it regularly and and I love it and it kind of does what I want, other than the other than the non-quickset date. And but it's it's just such a special piece that I I it would seem redundant to get a new one. But very compelling watch. If I didn't have this one, I'd be I'd be scheming, I think for sure. This is such a dream dream piece.
James Stacy I I'm definitely interested. I could definitely see myself in the market. I don't know if I'm necessarily in the market for a brand new one or maybe one down the road that's secondhand, but I I would like to own one at least for some time.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh and and kind of check
James Stacy that box, if you will. Uh I I'm absolutely a fan. I like these a lot. I'm I'm not I wouldn't say I'm scared away by the price, but it is that sort of number where I go, All right, well that's that that that could be like the big like, you know, I got the docs a lot or the you know, I got the gnomos last year.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. And uh and
James Stacy you know, I don't I don't typically operate in the in that kind of a level with without you know thinking it over and being sure of what I want and that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And with these not being limited, uh,
James Stacy you know, I'd I'd like to see what the market is for them and uh and that sort of thing. And and also if I'm going new, I gotta get it through Rolldorf and that and all that kind of fun stuff. So
Jason Heaton yeah uh I can uh I can think that
James Stacy through but uh I'm definitely interested and uh and yeah I'm excited to see it especially you know within such short order behind the new uh tutor black bay chronograph uh in thirty nine
Jason Heaton yeah so far you know that's a bright yellow
James Stacy dial uh very fun and uh I watch people are quite excited about and I'm just pumped to see a couple pretty interesting chronographs. Like I'm not a guy that gets to be excited about chronographs that often. I usually don't care. Um, but these two and two weeks that that feel pretty pretty cool for me and then having the privilege of of having some concept of what's coming from Doxa uh in the next several months. Uh pretty excited for that too. So it's it's a good one. I'm I'm excited to see the brand making some fun stuff and not just, you know, another great collab or or something like that, like a core product that will sit in the lineup that, you know, if you make it to a Vancouver and you want to see it at Rolldorf, they'd you know, they'd probably have one you could try on at some point and that sort of thing. So
Jason Heaton yeah, yeah. One one interesting note that would be kind of a question for Doxa, or or maybe I haven't seen it listed anywhere, is the the fact that um just looking at the the photos here, the bezel um, you know, that iconic Nodiko bezel is marked in meters and the the back in the day the vintage ones were made with two different bezels depending on which market they were being sold in. So the American ones had feet and the European and rest of the world had
James Stacy A good question, yeah. Is there is there more than one uh more than one bezel and can you run the pushers underwater? I will I will send that email uh before I before I get my hands on on the website. So but yeah I'm sure there's a great thread already going on uh on the the TGN Slack about this. I'm interested to see what people are thinking there. But I'm pumped to see it come out and uh and it's exciting to see it be part of the sort of standard catalog versus that you know that previous model, which was just incredibly limited, like by on by the scope of almost any brand, let alone a brand like Doxa, very limited. All right. Well that's the new uh new T graph too. You want to jump into some final notes?
Jason Heaton Sure. Yeah. I've got one. I've got one that is uh it feels kind of apropos. I mean it it it even the graphics in this article feel like a doxa ad to a certain degree. Um and this is a a link that I came across from the Times of London and uh it wasn't paywalled, unlike a lot of their stuff. So um read it if you can. I will put up the link and hopefully everybody can get to this. It's uh it's it's a very long read um called Sabotage at the Bottom of the Sea. How did a former erotic model from Kyiv find herself on a daring mission to blow up Russia's $20 billion Nord Stream gas pipelines? Um it's the opening graphic alone is worth clicking. Um it's it's done by an uh an illustrator that I had to look up, uh guy named uh Rui Ricardo. Um and it looks like a poster or a an illustrated book of like a James Bond novel or something. Um it it's uh the story is is absolutely fascinating. And if you remember um a few years ago the the the big uh explosion of the the Nord Nordstamre pipeline uh in the Baltic uh that was carrying Russian oil to to mainland Europe, and there was all this speculation about whether it was sabotage or an anchor strike or something like that. And kind of a lot of investigators were pointing to the fact that there was you, know, this mysterious sailboat that left a port in Germany and they followed, you know, the whatever the GPS signal from it and looks like it lingered over the spot where the pipeline blew up. This story actually digs in so deep that that through investigations from, you know, German authorities, et cetera, they've actually narrowed it down and actually know the actual people that carried this mission out. So it actually was sabotage done by divers at I believe it said eighty meters deep. So very deep dive, very technical dive using ad-libbed sort of explosives that were made out of uh repurposed scuba tanks. Um they they actually plotted to to blow up several sections of the pipeline. Some parts didn't work, others did. It's just absolutely fascinating the people and how they recruited them. And it's just, it's got everything. I mean, this story is, it's it reads like a spy novel It's just a really, really cool story. It's one of the neater kind of long-form journalistic stories that I've read in the in the last little while. So highly recommend this one, uh Sabotage at the Bottom of the Sea. I wish I'd written it. That's great. It's great.
James Stacy Yeah, I uh I saw that shared on uh on the TG and Slack, I think I guess over the weekend probably, or maybe on Friday, and I saved it into uh my mind, but I don't I hadn't uh gone back and read it. So that's exciting. I'll definitely have to take a look.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Good stuff. Great
James Stacy uh uh just a fantastic title for uh for for to to draw you into a story. That's uh that's that's fabulous for
Jason Heaton sure. Yeah. Uh so mine this week is
James Stacy a YouTube uh video from a channel called Best Damn EDC, uh Taylor Martin's channel. I've kind of watched Taylor's stuff on and off for years. He does a lot of uh like product and gadget reviews and that sort of thing. Uh but recently he did a follow-up video um that kind of popped up on some uh three D printing chatter that I that I kind of watch online and it's called three D printed EDC Gear Is Getting Serious. And it's just kind of r a review of where the development of being able to 3D print various things at home has gotten as the 3D printing market has expanded. He's done previous videos that showed kind of entry level stuff. And this is like much more specialized, in some cases, customized work for special tools or or special things that you might want to carry with you. I haven't printed any of it, but I I was kind of fascinated by it and and it kind of led me down a bit of a rabbit hole. Uh so I know that we have a lot of uh 3D printing kind of nerds in the audience and that sort of thing. And uh and so I figured it might be worth kind of fun sharing it. But it it's good one. It came out just a couple weeks ago. My experience with EDC is I kind of find uh do enough research to find the piece that kind of crosses a certain line for me, like with what's the Oclip
Jason Heaton oh yeah flashlight that we've talked about for
James Stacy years. Like that I I got that one and it's good enough that I don't go for other flashlights. But I know if you're a flashlight nerd, that's kind of an entry level thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, and certainly I'm I'm
James Stacy fortunate enough to have some machants if I want a flashier, cooler, more interesting flashlight or that sort of thing. But if it's just like for literal EDC use, yeah, I've I've I find that I kind of dip in and out of the world and some of it gets pretty intense. But the 3D printing part, especially the part where you start to see where a lot of it can be fine-tuned for like a very specific outcome because of the level of customizability in the design of 3D printed stuff. Yeah. I I found it quite interesting. Yeah. So if you're into that world, uh could be a fun one to kind of test out or or maybe build something for for the summer, that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. It's a cool share. Could even
James Stacy be for gear you've already got laying around. Yeah.
Jason Heaton All right. Well, fun. Very TGN episode once again. Uh we got Doxa, EDC, um, bit of diving espionage. Uh yeah. Yeah, good stuff.
James Stacy Yeah, and a couple of great trips. I hope you have an a lovely time in uh in Washington.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Very excited to see what see and hear
James Stacy what comes from that. Uh we did a little tech uh tech review uh before we recorded this morning. Yeah. Uh which should be fun. And uh I'm very excited to check out Sale GP. My only experience with it is Andy Hoffman's story for Hodinki from last year, which I I can put in the show notes of course.
Jason Heaton Uh but otherwise like I've I've just started
James Stacy to dip into some like pre-experience research, some YouTube videos that, sort of thing. And it looks very exciting and very technical and and all that kind of stuff. So looking forward to checking that out in person later this week. And I assume we'll talk about it on uh on next week's episode.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it should be a good one next week. Yeah. Hopefully we'll both have some interesting stories to tell. For sure.
James Stacy Well, as always, thank you so much for listening. If you'd like to subscribe to the show notes, get in the comments for each episode, and even become part of our Slack, you can support the show directly. Just visit thegreynado.com. Music throughout is siesta by jazzar via the free music. archive
Jason Heaton And we leave you with this quote from Doug Larson who said, nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.