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The Grey NATO – 393 – Live From The 2026 Toronto Timepiece Show

Published on Thu, 01 Oct 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

This episode of The Graynato (TGN) podcast was recorded live at the 2026 Toronto Timepiece Show, marking the third consecutive year of live recordings at the event. Hosts James Stacey and Jason Heaton explore the theme of sustained enthusiasm in the watch collecting hobby, featuring interviews with several guests from the watch industry and community.

The episode includes conversations with Guy Allen from Elliot Brown Watches (discussing his 45-year career in watches and the shift to direct-to-consumer sales), Ken from Arkin Watches (about tinkering and innovation in micro-brand watches), Rhonda (a watch writer and enthusiast discussing thrifting and diverse collecting), Griffin Barsh from Hodinkee (exploring how enthusiasm evolves with changing tastes), Brock Stevens from Watches of Espionage (on the analog watch resurgence in military communities), and Huey from RZE watches (discussing gear enthusiasm and building heritage brands). The show concludes with a Q&A session where James and Jason reflect on maintaining their passion for watches over ten years of podcasting, crediting their community on Slack and their focus on accessible, tool-watch oriented collecting rather than chasing luxury pieces. They also tease upcoming projects including a potential collaboration and a gear swap event happening later that day at the show.

Show Notes

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacey Hi everyone, James here with a quick note before we jump into this week's show. This episode was recorded live in the theater at the twenty twenty six Toronto Time Peace Show, and Jason and I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who came out for the recording and to Jason Hutton and the Toronto Time Peace Show team for providing a great venue and the platform for a very fun weekend in Toronto. Now, let's get to the tape, which starts with an intro from my daughter.
James's Daughter Hello and welcome to another episode of the Great NATO, a loose discussion of travel adventure drive diving driving gear and most certainly watches. This is episode 393 live from the 2026 Toronto Time Peace Show.
Jason Heaton Right, thank you so much. Couldn't have said it better myself. Yeah, this is great. This is year three. I think we're getting better at this every year, I think. I hope. I don't know about that.
James Stacey Anybody here have no clue what the Green NATO is? You just w walked in because the doors were open. Okay. Amazing. Thank you so much for giving it a try. You won't hurt our feelings if you leave to go do something else if it's not your jam. But uh it's a podcast, uh, kind of about the things that we're interested in: travel, adventure, diving driving gear and most of it is watches for sure. Uh so it works to do it at a show like this. We've been doing the show since twenty sixteen. Like my uh daughter said, uh you know, we are now at the three hundred and ninety three episodes. Um that doesn't count Q and A's and other stuff like that. So it's been a blast. I think that's enough of a of a you know history lesson.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I think so. It's always hard to explain this to to people that don't know. So I'm glad the majority
James Stacey of you already know what we're all about 'cause it' a littles better preaching to the choir. For sure. But the the fun thing was, you know, we d with Jason being in town, we were hanging out in uh in my office and you know, it's just a coffee table covered in watches and Soviet era pedometers and and uh you know the forsner straps stuff for the the gear swap that we're doing in a couple hours which I hope all of you uh come check out if you'd like. And you sit there and you just realize like there's so much of this that I still find really exciting. Yeah it it's sitting and talking about watches, but it it could be things that I don't have any I don't want a Soviet era pedometer. But I we're all very curious as to how it works, uh or if it works. Um and I think that's that's where we wanted to land today is is in the previous you know outing we did community. And for this one I just I kind of just want to talk to people about what they're excited about. Yeah. I want to I want to leech off some of that like enthusiasm for what's happening in very specific spaces, what's happening in the broader space for for watches. And I think that's where we'll probably kick it off. And for our first guy, are you in here? Is that you right there? Oh, look at the timing on
Jason Heaton the guy. It's like a Rocky. All right, buddy, get that. Yeah, somebody play the song. Approach. We need the Rocky team as you run up the stairs here.
James Stacey Yeah. So guy, you were on uh if you don't know guys, this is Guy Allen. He's uh one of the gu people behind Elliot Brown watches. They're out there. Guy was on an episode we did, I wanna say it was like 363, something like that. Um, and he talked about being part of the watch world in many different phases over 40 years. This guy's had an amazing career, has seen some watches that none of us can even dream of. And And uh the I knew we had a blast recording that episode. And we we still get so much feedback about like you guys could have Guy back on. I want to learn more about the emeralds and the the drawers of Daytonas and all that kind of stuff. So we can we can maybe get into that. We got a few minutes. how are you doing? yeah, very
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) good. Thanks. Yeah, um always great to be here. This is our third year uh back in Toronto and uh it's crazy busy outside. So yeah, really nice. We're really enjoying ourselves.
Jason Heaton Yeah, our you know our theme were just coming in as we were kind of introducing what kind of our general theme is here, but we're talking about what keeps what keeps us interested in watches. What's exciting to us after years? I mean, this is our tenth year doing the show. James and I have been in the industry longer. It's easy to get jaded. You've been in a really long time. What keeps you excited?
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Um gosh, I th I think this It' msoney
James Stacey power, and glory. Yes, it is. Absolutely.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Yeah, and the and the women. It's just fabulous. Now uh uh it it's actually this. Um I as as the guy said, I I've been in this industry forty five years this year. Um clearly I started when I was about ten. Um but it um I think the the tr the transition to uh independent brands from whichever country um struggling at retail and becoming uh B2C brands has been uh a a a meteoric change for for all of us. Um it's it's a much nicer environment selling to you guys. Um because you're engaged and engaging and you've come here to to see us wherever wherever we are and you are in the world. Um it's a joy and it's it's something that um that that I think makes us uh as as better brands because you know if you buy an amiga in a in an A D, y you're not going to say to the guy behind the canter, you know, I think they'd be much better if they did this in a blue dial. The guy's gonna look yeah, yeah, off your trotts. Need sword hands. But with us, you know, that th those things can impact. You know, we we're launching um a a watch here this today, which is part of our heritage diver collection, which we sold out in in 30 minutes the entire production this morning, which is fantastic. But we did it because people had said actually what we'd really like to see is a traditional skin diver look, that black dial, black bezel, you know, that r really old school, but made m made more modern. And that's exactly what we've done. And we're doing it again with um with our Canford collection, which is our first watch, which we launched in 2013, which is now four it's it it's always been, but it's a 44mm case which looks a little bit like a dinner plate in today's world. So we're reimagining that um for New York in a thirty nine mil in automatic. So it's definitely that um engagement. Uh it's it's it's being part of this slightly sort of peripatetic gypsy life that we all lead traveling from one place to another around the world. Um but yeah, it's uh it's it's in all the time I've been doing it, the last five years has definitely been the most exciting and and everything we do keeps me keeps me excited about it. it's fab.
Jason Heaton Was there ever a time, you know recently or in the more distant past when you were feeling a little bit burned out or jaded with the industry?
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Yes. I think particularly when that situation occurred about adjacency, which is a word that sucks as far as I'm concerned, where you know y you couldn't be in a window of a retailer unless you had the un unless you were part of the adjacency programme. So you know, you couldn't be if you were Amiga, you couldn't be next
Jason Heaton to so and so and so. You had e each
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) brand had their own um desire to be sitting next to other brands of a of a like mind, which just meant that s trying to sell an independent brand was painful because you couldn't you couldn't get past that. Um you know we uh I at that time I was running the French manufacture brand Pecina and um fabulous watch. And the retailers we got in we sold very well because it was you know we we weren't in that many stores, but trying to get into a lot of stores was just beyond beyond possible because you know we weren't allowed to be in that window with other brands. And uh I just thought that's i it's it you've lost the personality in the in in the industry, you've lost the the the intrigue. It's just about numbers at that point. And you think that just doesn't work for me. and here we are today. And I think actually, in a way, that spawned this because the independent brands, generally speaking, didn't have an opportunity to get into the market.place And I think, you know, particularly lockdown, uh, you know, guys of a certain age realise we don't do a huge amount of socialising. We like collecting stuff, um, you may have noticed. And therefore it was when we when we came out of lockdown it was a nice opportunity to say actually let's let's you know we can be part of a tribe, we can buy things, we can collect things, we can talk about the things we collect and it's just uh it's just a nice place to be. Is
James Stacey the was there a moment in your impressive
Jason Heaton career in space and watches where you knew this is the space I really want to be in? Like where you was it was there a moment twenty years ago where you knew you had another twenty?
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Uh I've I've always loved it. it's never felt like work. It really hasn't. I um I feel so lucky that um by by random chance in a way I hit on a career that um that that's felt like I'd want to be doing this if I worked doing something else, you know, this would be my hobby. So that's been joyful. Um but I think uh I I I joined Elliot Brown um twelve years ago, um the the guys who'd started it had had um they both came from a surfing background and thought that uh Elliot Brown was going to be the next surfing watch that they'd create. and it quickly became obvious that we were going to be a watch watch brand, uh a proper watch brand, not decrying surf watches, but uh you know a retail based brand. And um they didn't really know what to do at that point. So a friend of mine had been talking to them and um uh they were looking for a sales detector sales director to come into the into the business and uh I had a five minute conversation with with Ian and and my my colleague and uh uh he said, why don't you come down? And I literally got in the car at the end of that phone call and drove the two hours to to pool to where our office is and uh had a five minute conversation sitting and they were like, Are we gonna do this? I'm like, Yeah, I think we should do this and he's like, Yeah, I think we should do this. And uh and I I think it was at that point that you think this is, you know, I've been twelve years into this. and and you think that's that's a again an incredible bit of serendipity that that phone call happened and it all happened so quickly. Because you know the the taking progression of an independent brand from almost birth to where we are today, that's been a great thing. And uh, you know, long may it continue for sure.
James Stacey That's great. Well, congratulations on the success.
Jason Heaton I mean you guys are obviously crushing it out there. You've got such a throng of people around. It's a good idea.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) we're we're almost ni getting close to fifty percent of our turnover is now in North America. And uh, you know, lots of military projects and and lots of gen generally cool stuff going on for us. So yeah, it's been it's been so thank you.
James Stacey But that was it's always a delight to uh to catch up and you know uh everybody should go take a peek at the now sold out, but yeah there's one to share
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) All right. I have another favorite
James Stacey to call up onto the stage, my good friend Rhonda. Rhonda, come on up. How are you?
James's Daughter I'm good. Nice to see you. Yes, it's good to see you. Even though we live in the same town.
James Stacey Yeah, it's one of you know you're two hours from everything in Toronto. And we're definitely two hours apart. But we used to be in the same neighborhood. We had a fun day hanging out for a magazine story a while back. I got to know you a little better.
James's Daughter Yes. And uh in as
James Stacey soon as we started to lock in on this idea of like what keeps you into watch what gets you out of bed for watches or this this community, this world, uh your face immediately kind of came 'cause you have such an enthusiasm and one of the broadest ranges of taste I've come across uh in the watch world. You could say
James's Daughter no actual taste.
James Stacey Uh you know, I we were even getting ready for the show this morning and and uh my daughter said oh you remember the woman with the the clocks the crock that had a clock on it I said yeah that's Rhonda we'll see her today and uh and so yeah it's it's a delight to have you on.
James's Daughter Well, thank you. It's always fun to be here. Um, and it's always fun like just hanging out with people and meeting people I've met before last show, last year, different shows. I think when you were saying what gets you excited it's almost the people more than the watches these days. For
Jason Heaton sure. yeah, yeah. Well I'm I'm curious
James Stacey what d dive a little bit deeper into that. Is there anything you said you thrifted something yesterday?
James's Daughter Well yes, I uh so in advance for research. I I love vintage watches, I love thrifting watches, I love the hunt. So I went to uh Value Village and while I didn't pull up anything, uh I got this, this is my unboxing, a swatch from the nineties. And it's got a little, I can't hold the microphone. It turns around. A double tour.
Jason Heaton That's awesome. I tried this yesterday.
James's Daughter You can wear it as a choker. and my other pro tip is uh if you have a
James Stacey Really? There you go. So that's
James's Daughter where I'll be going Monday morning.
James Stacey Well, here's hoping it runs and uh and you get some good wear out of it. That's cool.
James's Daughter Yes. You said it was a swatch. And of course, like there's
James Stacey no way to know uh what you might mean. Oh yeah. So it's a knife. It could be anything.
James's Daughter It's a lime green for people who are listening and not seeing. A lime green, uh I guess the smallest size of a swatch.
James Stacey On like a sixteen inch worth of strap. Yeah. This
Jason Heaton will fit over a dry suit sleeve, I think. Yeah.
James's Daughter See and it's you know, I don't know how waterproof it is still, but
James Stacey maybe one way to find out.
James's Daughter Let's go. Um, but then um, so that was my my research, my pre-show research. But then I got speaking of vintage, Dan Tannenbaum, who you may know from Watch Parts Motorcycles, he's been making these great uh loose site bangles, and inside is a vintage ladies watch. Yeah. Like it's a
Jason Heaton great idea. it's an amazing idea.
James's Daughter If you go to uh his website uh watches parts motorcycles, he has he has them up there, follow him on Instagram. Yeah, it's just amazing because you know part of the reason for thrifting is not acquiring more stuff or adding more stuff to the the world. So this is a great way to take, you know, some of the unloved watches that maybe can't be fixed, but you can still show your watch love. So that's my my vintage tie-in.
James Stacey I love it. I'm curious about your, you know,
Jason Heaton your tastes are very egalitarian and You know, when we talk about being in the industry for a fairly long period. Like there's a there is there are ups and downs, right? Ebbs and flows of interest in your tastes.
James's Daughter Oh, I it's it's totally. I had a conversation with uh another uh enthusiast going home on the
James Stacey subway yesterday. He started off in the high end
James's Daughter and now he's getting his excitement, his
James Stacey uh creative juices are
James's Daughter because of like independence and something new, something that not everybody has. You know, you take your you take your chances, you roll
James Stacey the dice sometimes with a Kickstarter or
James's Daughter a micro brand because they might not be in business in two years and um but i you know i think a it
James Stacey makes me excited to be on the the ground floor of something
James's Daughter as much as i love vintage, my
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) newest sort of passion has been
James's Daughter more for independent brands and just kind of keeping I call it the Halloween economy. Sure. So I buy a bunch of uh uh you know candy and I give it to the kids but then you know then the kids I have will get candy from other people so if I buy independent watches then they keep me as a writer in business. And but it's all keeps the whole community and everybody's passion going. So that's my my third the other watch I have on. Speaking of getting on the ground floor is the the doughnut which came out at Geneva watch days so you know something brand new something very independent um will you know like months old. Who knows what where the company will go where, but you know, it's exciting to be there at the beginning of something. So something old. Something
James Stacey green. Something green. I got
James's Daughter there's so yeah I guess that's to you know to answer your question Jason too it's like the I think I do have a wide ranging diverse collection because a new avenue will open up in collecting and watches and I'll just go down that rabbit hole and
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) I my my question is maybe stupid, but
James Stacey seeing your you know, having spent some time with you and you've got, you know, like me a horizontal
Jason Heaton service is a space to put How
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) do you even pick? Because
James Stacey you clearly you're not limiting yourself to one,
Jason Heaton which I respect. But how do you not pick it pick it in the morning? Like obviously for the Toronto show, you may be a little extra flair.
James's Daughter Yes. It is tough. I it's something I wrangle with. I keep thinking I need to downsize, but then I never do. And I've got, you know, project watches that I found at the thrift shop and they just need a little a little extra love, but then I never get around to doing it. Um I've got I'll go through just a phase of, you know, everything has to be green this month or
James Stacey Okay. You know, I just see I the
James's Daughter answer to the question is I don't I go crazy. Um somebody the guy I was talking to on the subway said yesterday it's a sickness.
Jason Heaton Sure. I have a problem, but
James's Daughter it's a good problem. Yep. And watches
Jason Heaton are easy to store too. Yeah, they don't take up
James's Daughter as much well they're all they're all out and me trying to decide, but um I can shove them all in a d drawer and hide them if you know if
James Stacey you have companies coming over. Well that's great, Rhonda. Thank you so much for giving us five minutes of your time up here on stage. Make sure you check out Rhonda's work. We'll put it in the show notes, of course. Very talented writer. Look forward to whatever book project you probably have coming up again soon.
James's Daughter Open. Good. And uh yeah, thank you guys for having me. An
James Stacey absolute treat. Nice to see you. Thanks for stopping by.
Jason Heaton and watch company. This is Ken's
James Stacey third Toronto Potluck episode. Those of you uh any hands up that were in the conference room from the you know the two from three years ago? It was a pretty good show. We had a good time. Oh Jason, there you are. Hey, nice to see you. Well yeah, so uh Ken, I don't know I don't know where to start because I feel like we've spent the last forty-eight hours just talking about things that get us all kind of pumped up about watches and and new stuff. If you don't know Ken, he's the guy behind Ark and Watches, uh, some of our favorite stuff. Uh he came all the way from Birmingham. And yeah. how you doing? And what what what are you what are you excited about? I'm
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) good, man. Um, thanks for having me on again. Of course. Third year in a row. Um I mean, I'm easily excited. I think that's the like
James Stacey maybe that's a prerequisite. A lot of things
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) excite me, I think just, generally. Um I
Jason Heaton think enthusiasm is kind of like your picture is next to that word in the dictionary. You're just to me, you're just such an enthusiast with a capital E. It's uh it's really inspiring.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) I I really, really like being in this space. I think so many things like never get old, you know, like if I if I if I make something new, if I even if I post a photo or make a teaser or something and then everyone's like, yeah, I'm like like,
Jason Heaton I get really excited about it. Like that feeling
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) is just, yeah, it just never gets old. And I think the longer that I'm in it, and like, you know, with the microbrand scene, there was like this the starting micro brands were like a little bit janky, right? And then the standard and the quality just like reached a certain level. So now like kind of across the board, most micro brands are of a certain quality. We're getting to that point now where I think like those brands are now like no matter the size, are like innovating, which used to be limited to like only the brands that had actual money. And so like constantly being surprised, again, easily excited. And so then I'm like, oh, that's cool. I want to try that. and it's weird because I didn't think that my tastes would change even after being doing the same thing. But like I'm noticing like you know, I used to strongly dislike bronze watches. And then recently I was like, hmm, I kind of wanna maybe I wanna try a bronzer watch, you know? Yeah. And I never thought that my taste would do that. Like I thought I'd be locked in, but yeah, so it's fun.
Jason Heaton you've told me that you're um we were just talking yesterday, I think about your interest in tinkering in and sort of the way things are adapted or people innovate things by just tweaking stuff like maybe in the field or whatever and I think that must drive some of your success with Arkin, but I think um also enthusiasm like you can't can't run out of enthusiasm if you're always looking for ways to tweak and play with stuff, right?
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Yeah, I think like whenever I see something that I like, I'm always looking at it in terms of the potential of it too. Like oh maybe I could coat it or
Jason Heaton like maybe I could like add this
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) to it or take this away from it. So then like I'm never limited by like the thing as it just is. and like I think that keeps me like you said, the tinkering keeps me excited. Um the only problem is like having time or like money to actually do it. But I do it with everything. How
Jason Heaton do you know when you're done then? Like that that's that we don't you don't yeah, that's a bit of a problem. Like
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) once you're done with it, you're like, yeah. And then like a few months later, you're like, I hate it. I need to change it again.
James Stacey Well, and you know, we we went to Bradley Taylor's workshop while we were in Vancouver. We talked about it on a previous episode. But seeing your face as your brain started to do all the math of what you could do with all of these machines and implements and camera controlled measuring devices and and there's just you could see the wheels were really terri like I'm I'm like, hey can I be blasting my pocket knife? And you you're like looking at C and C machines and stuff like this. You know, it's just
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) the first time kitting out a space, like it's endless, right? Like I I I was I was like putting masking tape everywhere to try and like figure out the sizing of stuff because I'm working usually with like such small measurements and now you're like, oh my god, I've got so much space I could like put this there I could put this there and you're like yeah I don't I I I think yeah yeah just like I like making things I like making things my own and it also excites me when I see like people say buy our watches and then they do something to it and I'm like, yes, because that's exactly what
Jason Heaton I would have done. And I I wonder,
James Stacey you know, you you might have something coming in the future and obviously we can't maybe
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) we you know you've you've teased some things,
James Stacey but was there something in that process of of going, you know, into this third model that really there was a moment where you hit a certain level of like this is I've got something here that I'm really I'm gonna be happy with, proud of, excited about?
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) I think like because I had a I had that jumping off point. Like I knew what like the the the shape of the the hole was gonna be. Um it was a lot easier to kind of go in that direction. But again it like took me ages. Like I've been developing it for such a long time and I was constantly changing things. But yeah, you never you never really know. And like with me when it comes to like doing a new model, I I'd never make it easy for myself. And I already I like I know like I need to do something different 'cause like people are expecting it and also like I'm expecting it of myself. So it's okay. It's like a little bit weird. It's just got to be something that people are like that surprises them and then gets them excited. And then they tell me they're excited and then I get excited all over again. So like it kind of keeps that cycle. I've got to keep feeding that that beast.
James Stacey You know, from from the the elements that I've seen the next model feels at home, but then you've showed us other projects you have going that are truly left field. Like from a different part of the world and time than what you're normally making. So I would say with with Ken always watch this space. But man, it's it's always nice to spend a few minutes chit-chatting and looking forward to uh to the rest of the show. and if you need to see Ken's watches they're in a little uh glass case that doesn't have any fingerprints on it. Yeah
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) like everybody's fingerprints don't touch
Jason Heaton it yeah I've cleaned it like twenty times.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Yeah but thank you for for having me and dude it've I've really appreciated hanging out. Every time we get to like, you know, the time to hang out and talk. Sometimes it's not even about watches, it's just about random yeah, random things we come ac come across. So yeah. Thksan a lot.
Jason Heaton Yeah. A pleasure, man. Nice to see you.
James Stacey All right. The next one is an another person I'm really pleased to have on who hasn't been on the show uh but just recently became a colleague of mine at Hodinkee. Let's bring up a Griffin Barsh. Hey pal. How you doing? I'm doing well. It's incredibly
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) red in here. So red. That's true,
Jason Heaton yeah. Yeah, it's very Kubrick.
James Stacey I'm in. So first Toronto Time Piece show? First Toronto Time Piece show, first time in
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Canada in about a decade. Okay. Seems like a nice spot. Yeah, one
James Stacey more traffic, exactly. yeah. And um you're staying at a casino, that's exciting. Staying at a
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) casino that it turns out is largely on strike. Uh and it felt like the most Canadian possible way of arriving. Our Uber pulled up and tried to bring us onto the
James Stacey property and there was a picket line and they weren't letting
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) cars through. And the first thing out of the picketers' mouth was, Oh, I'm so sorry. They didn't tell you we were on strike, did
Jason Heaton that.
James Stacey Yeah, we played a type. What are you gonna do? Yeah. Um so you recently joined the Hodenky editorial team, something I'm absolutely thrilled about. And uh and then you said you were planning to come up here regardless. So I was like, well this will be good g a chance. I'm cu I'm curious because every now and then you drop a little tidbit of like, here's this watch my dad had and I found this one and like your enthusiasm is a spider web where is there a specific home for for what like you love about watches?
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Spy kids too, probably. Like if there's like a really core, it's the idea of um a watch that does everything but doesn't have room to tell the time. Uh I was obsessed with that. But I I grew up with a family that liked watches, but no one was a watch enthusiast. And they were always around. There were always interesting watches around. And I'm sort of joking about the spy gets thing, but the real core of it was my dad had this giant aluminum swatch dive chronograph that I used to steal off his wrist. And like I think I finally realized and I tracked down a mint condition one last year. So now I have the really beat up one and the brand new one. Um the movement still doesn't work in the brand new one. But that's like the Rosetta Stone for everything.
Jason Heaton Interesting. And it was that one that
James Stacey your dad dove with?
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) No, my dad, my dad actually bought it uh when I was young. Uh for most of my life, my dad was a teacher, but when I was young, he built furniture in Maine. So this was his shop watch. So it's beat to hell. It is, yeah. Uh
Jason Heaton there's no corners left on it. There's no corners.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) The there's like these rubber little fingers on the bezel that have all completely worn away. The crystal you can barely see through, um, which is why I felt it was important to get a watch to show people what it actually looked like. But no, he didn't dive in it, but he definitely took it in water. Um, ostensibly you could properly dive with them. 200-meter dive watch.
James Stacey Yep. What um you know
Jason Heaton we may be talking about enthusiasm and what keeps you excited. Um are there areas of your your own watch history or watch enthusiasm that have kind of fallen away and have been replaced by new new types of watches or new elements of the industry or people?
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Yeah. I mean I I've always liked to call myself um an enthusiasm enthusiast. Like I get excited when people get excited. Um and the real through line of my own interest in watches doesn't really have to do with any specific thing on a watch. I get really excited when a watch exhibits a perspective. Like you can see intentionality and thought behind it. But to answer your question more simply, uh I wound up with a couple of dive watches that like I just don't think about dive watches anymore because I have my vertex aqualine, my CWN one, and a couple of others. And I'm just like, I'm set there. Yeah. And though that has led to me like, getting more into old chronographs and weird stuff like that. Uh you know, pursuing you know, you got your club world timer, yeah, and I went out and got the 10-year-old Zurich world timer, and like that is a watch that got me super pumped this year that I would not have been interested in five years ago.
Jason Heaton I like that perspective that you've kind of you know a category you can sort of set it aside and refocus. I I I could take some lessons from that because I I've just been such a dive watch focused person for so long that it's kind of yeah, I kind of get blinders on when it comes to other other genres or other types of watches. So that's a that's a nice perspective.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Yeah I I think the M sixty did the same
Jason Heaton thing to me. Like I'm obviously
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) I'd probably need at least a dozen more titanium watches in the near future. But with for the sealed watch, I feel like it just it kind of hit right what I want, and that's just what I wear and. it's it the looms incredible. The bezel's great. The bracelets, even I'm not even a huge bracelet guy. Bracelet's awesome. Bracelet's amazing. I don't think I've touched the bracelet in two years. I only wear it on the black rubber strap that it came with. It's a little bit more for sure. Yeah, they they make a nice thing, but I I can I can definitely see how it you can kind of come in out of something and if you're if that like plate is covered you get to go it's almost like you're you're cooking several different dishes and you don't have pay to the same attention to them all at the same time. Exactly. Then again, I did just buy the Doxa 200T for Hodenky. Well, what are you gonna do? Yeah. The timing was too good and the watch is amazing. Yeah, if it if anybody hasn't seen that, that's the LE that Hodinkee did with uh with Doxa, the the two hundred army. Uh Sarah has it and and we'd be happy to show it to you if you haven't seen it in person. There they're I'm I'm I mean I wore it constantly for a month. I think this is maybe Sarah's first time wearing it. Uh you know, more recently, you know, you've you've you've made this jump so thankfully from my perspective to Hodinkee. what's been the recent like excitement? We both kind of geeked out over the Strom. The Strom expedition. I sort of feel like that's the first watch on the site that I like grabbed a hold of and like kind of took ownership of. And I'm enamored with that thing. Um, I kind of didn't want to give it up this weekend. Um, we did return it to them. So you can now see all three dial colors at the strong booth, and I would really recommend you doing that. Um, but that watch is everything I'm talking about of a watch that exhibits a perspective, it knows exactly what it's trying to be, it knows exactly what it is, and it executes on it about as close to perfectly as you could. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's a it's a tr it was a treat to see it uh in person finally and just a very successful thing. Uh look man, such a treat to have you on for a few minutes. Uh we'll have to do a proper episode with uh with your podcast compatriot uh Devin shout out. Uh we do a collab episode sometime in the future, but five minutes we wouldn't get to anything. Yeah. And if uh any of you guys find us, Devin and I finally have stickers for our podcast. So show it out. Let them know. Yeah. Just uh come find us. We have a stack. And most of them are, you know, here. There's the gin and tonic themed one because we are who we are. I
Jason Heaton love it. Beautiful.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Well, big round of applause for Griffin. Follow his work on Instagram and certainly on Hodinkee. Thanks for coming, man.
Jason Heaton Thanks. Brock Stevens, want to come up? Brock has been on TGN in the past. Uh Brock is a quite the uh well-known figure in the watch space. Uh
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) he's uh well he's a w internationally renowned model.
Jason Heaton Yes, he is. uh
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) you know yeah, we've had you on for the Land Rover Knucklehead, I say with you know nothing but but uh love and kindness in my heart. But how you doing? great. Thank you so much for having me. It's uh I'm super excited to be here. My
Jason Heaton first time up here. Uh so took
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) a nice nine-hour drive up from Virginia
Jason Heaton with Tyler on time over there. Shout out Tyler. Yeah, shout out Tyler. So no, it's great. Everyone's been super, super nice and it's great to be spend some time uh with the community. So are you here as a civilian? And I don't mean in the military sense, but in the watch sense, or are you here kind of with a brand, or are you just sort of scoping things out? Uh so actually uh about a month ago I started at Watches of Espionage as the head of product there. Um so that's kind of a new development, not really not public knowledge until now, but the scoop. Um but yeah, so I'm here just to kind of hang out with Marathon. We uh watches of espionage just released a a collaboration watch with Marathon. Uh you're wearing here on my wrist. Yeah. Um and uh yeah, we're just kind of excited to show it off and meet everyone up here. What uh you know, going back to our theme about uh enthusiasm, you you're another guy like Ken, I think is just uh enthusiasm with a with a capital E. Um how do you maintain that and what's uh what kind of drives you when it comes to your interest in watches? What gets you up in the morning for them?
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) I mean, honest for me, it's the community aspect.
Jason Heaton Um, you know, I have so many good friends that I've met just just through the community TGN and uh, you know, watches of espionage on those guys, all all my friends in the military that are into watches. It kind of just brings everyone together and that's what gets me excited. You know, when I go to work uh in in Norfolk uh as a Navy diver, it's like get to see my buddy getting in the water with a Zen on or something. It's like that's what gets me excited. Has your enthusiasm, I mean, I'm guessing, has rubbed off on some of your Navy dive buddies, or was it there already that you kind of an underground community of enthusiasts there? Uh yeah, uh it's been the analogue watch kind of shift in the military has been huge recently. I think a lot of that has to do with with with watches of espionage, also kind of my influence with my friends, but but also the the use of of garments is kind of outlawed now. Um and so everyone's been looking for something to wear on their dives for the memories and stuff like that. So uh the yeah, it's there's been a big transition that way and it's really cool to see.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) And from that firsthand perspective that you have in those communities, the Navy divers, you mentioned Xen, what other watches are you seeing?
Jason Heaton Oh, I mean, it's there's been everything. You know, you see Timex, Marlins, or you see a lot of guys starting out with that. Uh but but you know Tutor has made a big name for itself in that in that space with a lot of the military units of my friends, a lot of Omegas and stuff. and it's cool to see because a lot of guys are diving their Omega unit watches, for example. Some of my friends in the SEAL teams, you know, they'll wear them and they they beat them up. They don't care. It's uh that's what they they think of it as a tool. And it's it's that's my favorite thing is to see that, see a few scratches on those bezels.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) What's the weirdest watch you've seen somebody
Jason Heaton Oh that's a good question like any anything
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) where you go like a triple take or you're like well we're gonna have to have a conversation on that
Jason Heaton I did see somebody with one of those like it's like a Luminox watch but it has a bunch of like a flashlight and a few other things integrated into it. Okay. Uh it's it's kinda it's like a big brick on your wrist. I've seen that I've seen that. You know, those those are cool, don't get me wrong, but not really my speed. Sure. Yeah. Probably the weirdest one. It's a number of years ago. Um I was talking with uh with Ben Clymer and I've brought this up in the past on an episode about how when he was kind of getting into vintage cars, he he kind of told me that he was enjoying being a civilian about something. Um, and he was referring to like in the watch space, he became very well known, obviously, and he knew so much about them that he almost saw them through this lens all the time, but when he kind of shifted into the car space, it was something new. And I'm curious, like you're wearing your Land Rover t-shirt. We both were competitors in the defender trophy qualifications. That's another side of your interests. Um, how would you compare the enthusiasm between the s the you know your interest in Land Rovers versus watches. Do y is there a crossover? Is there a similarity or do you see them as sort of separate types of enthusiasm? For me it's very similar. I mean the obviously the crossover between cars and trucks and watches, anything mechanical, there's a lot of people in that space. The vintage Land Rover thing uh just kind of came from my love for mechanical watches and engines and then you know, joining the Navy, working on ships and getting good at working on and not necessarily engines. I have done that, but but submarines and stuff. You like I just wanna tinker with things. And then, you know, m uh being a Land Rover fan my whole life, I I grew up watching the Campbell trophy and stuff as we've talked about. And then that kind of was just like, all right, I'm gonna get a Land Rover, I'm gonna work on it. And then I got it, I bought a series 2A, uh, which then I promptly uh bent a pushrod on. So I've been rebuilding that engine for about a year. Uh and uh but yeah, no, it's it's it's all kind of tied together for me.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) And aside from the collab, anything very specific in terms of product? I mean I finally got a chance back in July for Windup to see the Jacques Bianchi titanium piece that you had done. Anything that you're really excited about? I think you do you have is there more stuff in the obviously with watch of espionage? The if you haven't seen their merch, it's not just the occasional watch. It's also some of the best straps you can buy. The cat strap I finally got my hands on and it lives on my line the titanium uh Zulu. Uh yeah, some really good stuff. And anything you can kind of hint, tease,
James Stacey talk about? my continued relationship with
Jason Heaton Jocks Bianchi will be producing something in the near future, so we can look out for that. Uh it's a very exciting project and probably not what people are expecting. So cool.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Okay. I
Jason Heaton don't I don't know about that, but maybe one day we'll see
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) you must have to wear a tuxedo like once or twice a year.
Jason Heaton it's actually really funny. I I was just at an event uh a little while ago that I like busted out my uh my blazer for and I'm like you know I walk out and this thing is super tight, I look ridiculous. And uh my mom's like, I think it's time that you get a suit and I'm so eventually I'll uh I'll figure that one out pretty soon. Well
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) look Brock, it's such a treat to have you up here. Congratulations on the watch of espionage news. Uh that team it is just full of firepower, so uh that's really exciting.
Jason Heaton Thank you very much. It's uh it's an honor to be here, hang out with you guys, and uh yeah, thanks again. It's cool to be at Woe as well. So looking forward to making some cool products for everybody.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Absolutely. Well look, give Brock a big round of applause. And don't forget to see the watch on his wrist. It's a good one. All right. Are you here?
Jason Heaton Come on. How
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) you doing, man? Nice to see you. Awesome. It was really
James Stacey nice morning. Just uh coming in from uh Kesik and uh
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) loaded up all the things with the gear swap.
Jason Heaton Yeah, how's that uh shaping up? We'll be there in an hour. Yeah.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) We got some cool stuff, you know, like uh pretty excited with some of the things that I brought and uh pretty excited with to see some of the things that other people have brought and uh yeah, it should be a good time. That's great. Well look uh if you don't know Huey, he's behind RZE watches based out of Alberta. Uh they make some of the coolest uh sort of uh digital, you know, unindestructible sort of watches, and then several other designs that kind of follow a lot of use of titanium and that sort of thing. You are a guy where any topic I can bring up, especially if it's watches, EDC gear, uh maybe not boats, but uh you know, that sort of thing, you have a lot of experience that's all tied to how much you love it. Where did this start for you? where did the gear interest? I think just being a young Alberta boy, I think you kinda like look for identity and try to find things and go into it and it's like preparedness and um going out into the outdoors and exploring and really like playing and being outside you kinda w you know being inner city you're as tough as you can be in Edmonton you're kind of like just hanging out and kind of not having the boy scouts, but you make do in the river valley. So you know Swiss Army Knives and Timex Iron Man and stuff. And then like you kind of just go deeper into that gear thing. You look at um all the big adventure brands as like North Face, Patagonia, Arx Terrix, and all these things have like big prominence in Alberta, like in the great outdoors, and you kinda um have something to aspire to, I think, in terms of when you're building a brand. You think uh I want to be at Mountain Equipment Co-op or I want to be at these places where it's not just hardcore users. They get trusted by hardcore users, but then it's like everybody else, like, oh yeah, that's good stuff. So um having that mentality is kind of really important to I think building a brand of like um making sure that the enthusiast really appreciates it, but everyone can look to it and not have to think like, oh man, that's like really spendy or whatever.
James Stacey And where did your journey start in
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) like designing a product that you eventually like held in your hand or put your brand name on? Like what where was it a watch first? Was it a titanium pry bar? I genuinely don't know. I'm I'm asking pure curiosity. I I think um I've always been like an entrepreneur and so like I I first was really into like the idea of wearable art and modifying things and so I actually came into the space of watches again after being a watch enthusiast of like I've been a vintage enthusiast all my life but uh when Casio modding got really big I like came into Instagram because I'm like man people don't need Fugazi fake watches and stuff they, could buy mods. You can get full medals for this price point and you can really go deep into it. And it was just kind of the same era as when um there was all the buzz around the SKX and stuff going out of being available and seco mods was just becoming a thing. Um, I think loom shot on Instagram and YouTube and stuff like that. So I was like, oh, there's this whole world of like if if mechanical is too challenging, you can also do that with digital and uh you can really get custom without having to necessarily go deep down the rabbit hole and that was like a big time of micro brands and and I think independence and um our creative director now, like Kirk is also here and he was a our photographer at the time at RZE and he'd mentioned like to our partner Travis, like why is it that you aren't more involved in the microbrand industry? Why do you as an enthusiast um not purchase micro brands? And I said it's it's really simple. Like the way I collect is based on um vintage and the things that are meaning to full to me. Like um the only day date that I believe is matters is like the 1803, like pie pan or nothing. Cause it's like, you know, it's gotta be slow, it's gotta be easy. I'm not in a rush. Like nobody had credit buying an eighteen oh three. they bought that with hard earned money, you know, or you know, money. Like um, but but you know, then then you think about subs, like I think that they all end after four digits or some of them in five digits. But like when you start looking at machines, it comes down to specs and watches become then like like um selling an iPhone or selling a Samsung. It's like, oh yeah, like it's gotta be twenty mils, tapers to sixteen and like you kinda get a formula. It's gonna be th for sure, this is good. But now it's like your flavor of good. Your flavor's good if you don't like consistency and you wanna like be able to shop around and stuff, but if you were going back two eras, you wanted it to be good forever. And so what I explained to my partner and you know, my now co-founder, was that I don't want to build a brand that's Pinocchio. That'll never be the real boy. If people grail out and they go and get a Zen, man, I'm proud of you. That's you should get a Zen. It's sweet. If that becomes the last watch you ever buy, it should be because a lot of people went that way. But we should still always be building in a a brand identity that everybody that arrives to it is gonna be like able to give it the subaru wave or the whatever identity. And it's like if you can afford or if you decide that you wanna invest in something better, we should all be deep into that.
Jason Heaton Sounds like your enthusiasm for watches kind of mirrors or came out of uh an enthusiasm for just well made stuff and gear. Yeah would you say that's true or was there kind of a watch element that was separate from that
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) No, I think everything I've I've thought about is like really brand related or heritage related in terms of like also a buy it for life mentality. You know, whether it was because we wanted to make our dollar stretch, or because I really invested in like heritage and storytelling, because usually people who do things for a long time build brands that last 100 years. And I explained that to my partner as well, is that if we want to build something that lasts a hundred years, the product has to be something that lasts a hundred years. And if it's not the product, then the identity of it has to be that. So when I thought about things like Carhart or Patagonia or Canada Goose, you can always trade in your product. And I was like, well, it's like if you're developing a hard good, you should always be able to find a way to move it on or get rid of it. Like what if we take trade in on everything forever? It's like not really something that you think about in the watch industry, but then I'm like, there's no reason why you can't do that. And that's something that I think is uh is one of those buy it for life things. And Mount Equipment Co-op is something that I think as a young age, I was like, oh man, you can buy a backpack, like that's basically Jan's port, and you know that you can like absolutely destroy this and bring it back. That's sweet. Yeah. I think that that's something that uh is a everybody in enthusiasm wants that. Like it's the reason why I think Porsche is good is like you can buy parts even if it's a bazillion years old. Like people want that, even if it's like maybe not always the best. It's like you can you can fix it though. That's
Jason Heaton great. Um meant well and I think it's probably a good place to end it um with with a discussion of gear that that lasts for a long time, because you've you've organized this gear swap that we're we're about to head over to in uh in about an hour. Um and we appreciate your your coming up here to talk to us just ahead of that. 'Cause it sounds like it's gonna be a a rocking event over there.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) I read your notes. You said you couldn't bring like boxes and bins and stuff. We have a backpack that is at absolute
Jason Heaton capacity. But
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) man, it's a it's a treat to see you here in Toronto. Obviously, we've we've had some great times in Vancouver and I've really enjoyed getting to learn more about your watches, but also like your perspective on gear. You know, we've talked about making things together uh in in in some realms and and hopefully that's something we can approach in the future. But uh I hope all of you come to the Gear Swap two to four, ask anybody up here around figure it out for you. Thanks so much. All right. We've got um well we'll call it 10, 15 minutes for QA if anybody has any questions. And if it's for any of the guests, maybe run up to the mic and answer the question if you're still in the room. Yeah,
Jason Heaton there's microphones up in front, both sides. Can you tell us uh sorry every,one just kind of state your name if you're comfortable with that? Steve Steve T on the on the Slack. Um the Stones couldn't make it work, uh, and then they did. Uh the Beatles broke up. Um Sonny and Cher didn't even last. Talk about enthusiasm. How have you guys what do you
James Stacey what do you attribute the secret to your enthusiasm for each other and how has
Jason Heaton that stayed true over the years? James is just so handsome. I just Can't get away.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) I mean like it sounds self-aggrandizing, but I never wanted to be more than what I loved. You know, like I've you spend 20 years doing this and and you know, you I've I've had some high profile jobs, I have a high profile job now. And like I just I don't want to collect eighty-five thousand dollar watches. I don't even aspire to it. And I think the the reason that my enthusiasm has persisted is because I didn't outgrow the part of the world that I enjoyed, which is the, you know, it's the micro brands, it's the the Seiko's and the Tudors and the and this sort of stuff, the stuff that feels like you can take it out and beat it, and you it could be the last watch that you wore, and it doesn't have to be precious if you don't want it to be. And I think that's always been kind of my home plate for enthusiasm, and I just tried never really
Jason Heaton I tend to um kind of go all in on things for certain lengths of time and then sort of burn out on them. And I think if I had if if the watch industry and kind of my work in the industry had stayed the same that it that it was when I started for the first five years or so, I probably would have really tailed off and just disappeared and done something different. And I think what we've managed to do with with TGN um and and then with shows like this and just the rise of of you know these these smaller brands that we see here and the people you get to know from them, you know, Guy from Elliot Brown, Ken from Arkin, you know, and and everybody, all the the crew, the TGN crew and the Slack, it's it's you're almost being lifted up by the community at this point and and all the new innovations and the and just the input. I mean when we've done the show for for ten years and every week comes around we're like, what do you want to talk about? And so much of what we're enthusiastic about or that inspires us comes from the people that are listening, things that people are doing. Absolutely. that's really where it it works for me. Yeah,
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) I think and and you may you like maintain that coal of your enthusiasm and then that coal finds the furnace of the slack. And then it's hard not to be pumped about something. And if it's something I've seen 200 times with another titanium dive watch, I'm I'm in, but i you switch a thread and it's something I've never seen or read about before. And then I get a little you get a little hit from that. So yeah, I think it's uh I'm I'm probably it's probably safe to say we wouldn't have done ten years of the show without the slack. It's so true. I just it it it it kinda like the home ended up being in that space. Yeah. So
Jason Heaton yeah. Thanks for that question, Steve.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Anyone else got one? Hello. Chris from Burlington. You've got a milestone episode coming up. I think we're getting up to 400. It's kind of like the odometer turning over on your car. If you can't answer it, do you have anything planned or in the works for it?
Jason Heaton No. We don't we don't.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) That's why I think it's a good
Jason Heaton idea though. We should. We've toyed around with having the
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) idea of like somebody else host the show with us. But yeah, we have we don't I mean if you have a great idea, whisper it to me later and maybe it could be four hundred.
Jason Heaton Yeah, we we've thought about having a you know a couple of guest hosts that just do the whole show and maybe we come on as guests ourselves or something like that. But we'll we'll see. Yeah I don't know if we'll make it by 400 if we're we're a little slow on the uptake sometimes. So
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) it's just it's it's just siesta by Jazar, but it plays the whole way through.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Actually,
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) I'll just say this now. I am I am I've
Jason Heaton located Jazzar and I'm attempting to get Jazz R on TGN. So we'll do that. We figure
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) like we owe him a pretty decent like um donation to his uh you know free music archive free music archive account. So and maybe if the number is big enough you would reply to an email. Any other questions will we uh have a few minutes left? Oh we got Wes. Yeah, just by obviously Wes from Vancouver. Um you know, you guys just had Thomas Holland on and being like a lifelong top gear guy, I know that you know you guys have had questions about video content. So when if ever do you think we could have like a T GN road trip for s T you know, top gear special sort of thing? No pressure.
James Stacey Yeah, for the four hundredth, yeah. might
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) have to check with the accountants on that one. But yeah, I mean it's something that we always talk about and then when it comes time to actually do it, we don't. Um you know, we're good at doing this, and you know, I wouldn't want to get too over our skis. I mean, to be clear, some some of you will remember I have promised video that never came out. But yeah, I like the idea of doing uh an adventure of some sort. I was very inspired by Listers. Uh, the bird watching documentary, if you haven't seen it, uh sadly, it doesn't look to be shortlisted for an Oscar, but it probably should be. Uh it's on YouTube. I'll put it in the show notes if you haven't seen it. But watching that, I was like, if you could find the right goal and and go. Um but as I've learned from my my time with Hodenke video is complicated in many ways uh and I'm not good at several of them. So it would take some some support and and help. And certainly there's folks on the TGN Slack that have offered every time we bring it up. So sometime in the future, you know, let us get let us we're just still young. It's just only four hundred episodes.
Jason Heaton When it comes to wanting to w watch podcasts, I think um the s the big trend in podcasts is to have a YouTube component where you kind of watch two people talking. And I'm just that is not an interest of mine personally. I'm someone who listens to podcasts while I walk the dog or doing other things. And um also I'm a little I'm personally I'm kind of wary about I'm always wary, I guess, all through my various careers I've had of like getting beyond the point of my competency or my personal interest and I feel like I'm a writer who is now a podcaster and I feel like to be on video, like I just I'm I I just if we're gonna do it, we want to do it right. And so I think, you know, that could be knows episode five hundred at this point. Who knows?
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Yeah, we don't have a plan for that one either. Uh but yeah. If there's no other questions and if there is we have five more minutes. Oh sure.
Jason Heaton Risk check. Oh we're forget. I
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) mean, this is also a great option to promote the marathon party this evening. If you're not coming, come find me. I've got a business card with an address on it. You're more than welcome. Um we have a you know we had a a special uh run of beard uh delivered after a five hour drive yesterday. Uh which should be great. I don't know if Kelly's in the audience. Oh, there he is. Hey Kelly.
Jason Heaton Smuggled across the border. Yeah, it's fantastic.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) And uh so it's gonna be a great night, but uh for that reason we're both sporting uh marathon. I I can tell you uh the strap is something special uh that doesn't exist, but if you come to the party, it might exist then. Uh we didn't do a sticker this year. We decided to go a little bit harder. Uh with uh with marathon support. So
Jason Heaton you got the uh stainless steel navigator?
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) Yep. Yeah. I've got the Arctic
Jason Heaton Dial uh SAR with the date. Yep.
Various Guests (Guy Allen, Ken, Huey, Brock Stevens, Chris) I hadn't tried one. Like I'd seen it, you know, like on a table. But I hadn't I wore it for a bunch of it yesterday and it's really good. It's really good. Yeah. Alright. Thank you so much for coming out and holding us down for another live episode. An absolute treat. Thank you so much