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The Grey NATO – 394 – New Bond Watches But No New Bond (Yet)

Published on Thu, 08 Oct 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

In episode 394 of The Grey NATO, hosts James Stacy and Jason Heaton dive deep into the world of James Bond watches and speculation about the next 007. The episode opens with updates on their recent activities, including the successful Toronto Time Peace Show, the RZE gear swap where Jason scored a pristine 1965 Seiko Sportsmatic, and James's trip to San Diego for a Tudor event despite flight cancellations.

The main discussion centers on Omega's newly released Bond-themed Seamaster watches – a navy blue dial version and a matte black Spectre edition, both featuring necton-style relief bezels. While the hosts find both watches aesthetically successful, they acknowledge the mixed reception from the watch community, with many fans expressing "skew fatigue" and hoping for more significant innovation rather than variations on existing models. The conversation explores what an ideal Bond watch might be, with both hosts leaning toward titanium versions or returns to more restrained, classic designs like the sword-hand Seamasters of the past.

The episode's second half tackles the speculation around casting the next James Bond, analyzing the reported shortlist including Jack Barton, Jack Lowden, Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, Paul Mescal, and Harris Dickinson. Jason and James discuss what type of Bond might emerge after Daniel Craig's darker interpretation, whether the pendulum will swing back toward a more charming, witty 007, and how the choice of actor might influence the watch selection. They wrap up with final notes including a K2 winter climbing documentary and James's enthusiastic review of the Olight Oclip 2 Ultra flashlight.

Show Notes

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacy Hello and welcome to another episode of the Grey NATO. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode three hundred and ninety-four, 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 thegreynato.com for more details. My name is Stacy, James Stacy, and I'm joined as ever by my friend Heaton, Jason Heaton. Jason, how are we doing today? A little bit of a bond episode, I think.
Jason Heaton Yeah, we we haven't done one in a while. This is uh I don't know, I feel a bit of a I don't know, a disturbance in the force these days. There must be a a actor announcement coming up here soon. We're gonna talk a little about that. It's gotta be soon.
James Stacy Yeah, I think it's obviously something that has been a a b a major part of what we've talked about in watches over the past decade is like bond stuff. Some of if you go back and look at some of the the biggest episodes when we were getting possibly not accurate numbers from SoundCloud. I don't really know. But some of those are Bond episodes. And it's you know, you're a big Bond fan. I'm I'm a big movie fan in general, and I feel a kinship to the Daniel Craig era more than any other.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I think it's going to be an interesting time. It
James Stacy is an interesting time in Watch It Simply because it's been such a long time since the last Bond film. And then on top of that, you had the COVID delay in the middle. So if you're Omega, the you know, the maker of Bond's current watches. I think it's probably been a pretty annoying time to have that be one of your highest profile. Like they've they've had more Olympics than Bonds. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Right? Yeah. And those feel like, you know,
James Stacy aside from moon landings, which there hasn't been one in some time. It's kind of bond in the Olympics. Like that this is this one of the largest watch brands in the world. And I think it it makes news, it turns headlines. There were two new watches that were released this week to uh a very specific or uh surprising, I guess, amount of ire.
Jason Heaton Yeah. For what felt to me like very convenient
James Stacy conventional sort of watches. But we'll we'll get into that for sure. We're gonna and then we're gonna get into the the sort of rumored short list of who might be Bond. And back in the day we what what do we call it? Like a th like if we were were casting a Bond film, if it wasn't Lena Gold, if it was you or I.
Jason Heaton It was really fun. and I'd like to redo it,
James Stacy but we have a Bond, another Bond episode coming up that we might ask that person with a guest, we might ask that person to be part of some fun stuff, including casting a bond.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So I'm just working on that now.
James Stacy It will be fun. That kind soul who may be listening to this is on vacation uh and couldn't make it into this episode. Kudos for that. So today we're chatting new bond watches and then the possibility of a new bond and kind of where we stand in that realm. But before we get into all the movies and everything else, uh we have a little bit of fun news that that's pretty current because uh we're recording this for an episode that comes out on October eighth. And then just a week and a day later, on Friday, October sixteenth, we have a special chat going on with Marathon at Wind Up in New York. So uh you're flying in, I'm flying in. I'm gonna be there for a big chunk of the week. We're doing uh a Hodinkee happy hour uh Wednesday night. Stay tuned for that RSVP. Actually it that RSVP will be long live since uh this episode uh goes up, but it's going to be a great time. And then on as part of the weekend of wind up and the whole watch time thing and New York Watch Week, it's a very busy time of year that really doesn't have one sort of title anymore. You know, there's a lot going on in Manhattan for watches uh that week, um, which will be, you know, the the week after this episode comes out. We have this great talk with Marathon. It will be uh no no RSVP is needed, uh, but wind up has opened the bar, so it'll be a nice come in, grab a beer. Uh Jason, myself, and a couple of guests are going to be talking about titanium watches. I'm absolutely pumped about this. We've been preparing for it for a little while. It's going to be a really good time and a really fun chat. Uh so if you're in New York and would like to attend, that is going to be at five PM. We start sharp at five fifteenth. So you've got time to come in, figure out where you'd like to be and what you'd like to drink, and then sit down. There's gonna be a really fun QA and uh we would love to see all of you there. I think it's funny we the last so many episodes we've had so much more housekeeping.
Jason Heaton Yeah because of the Toronto Time Peace Show and the
James Stacy RZE the RZE gear swap and then the the marathon hangout. Um but yeah, we just have this one. If you're in town for wind up, please, please show up and hang out. Uh there's lots of space in the room, and I think we're gonna have a pretty good time. Um other than that, Jason, uh I'm I'm pumped to see you so soon again. But it weirdly, it it feels like quite a long time since the end of September.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it really does. I mean, we're now six days into October and um we already have another kind of exciting time, you know, to to meet up here in a couple of week in a week, a little over a week, um again and and that's so unusual for us. We've been uh this year it's been July, Chicago and Toronto and and New York, so it's gonna be uh it's gonna be fun. I don't know uh November's gonna be real, real climax, I think.
James Stacy Yeah, I mean it is weird. We don't commonly see each other three times in a year. Uh this is an added benefit. I don't really remember specifically the last time we were in New York together.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Boy. Long time. I mean if you look
James Stacy way back to twenty I I'm sure it hasn't been since twenty eighteen 'cause when did we have that great Thai food? That would have been twenty twenty maybe.
Jason Heaton Were we there during uh the pandemic? I don't think I've traveled that year at all. Maybe it was late twenty
James Stacy nineteen. Yeah, I think it might be. But then in twenty eighteen you you and I were in the city that you know, for our first ever TGN hangout, which was kind of adjacent to uh Wow Um which is kind of adjacent to Hodinkee ten, right?
Jason Heaton And now we're much closer to Hodinkee twenty. And uh
James Stacy and I'm look I'm looking forward to being in the city and getting to hang out for an evening with you. Um I think I think Friday night should be super fun. I'm looking forward to it.
Jason Heaton Yeah, same here. Say, you know, we uh we had our episode, uh the live episode from Toronto go up uh last week and um I hope people enjoyed that one. But you know, one thing we did was we recorded that just prior to going over to the the RZE uh gear swap and we didn't really download to for folks uh what we scored there and what we got rid of and and all of that. I'm I'm I personally for myself, I uh got rid of a lot of stuff, which was my goal, but I walked away with something super cool. It was um our good friend uh Doc Parsons, who it's always fun to see him. He comes over from Dublin. Uh he's done that two years in a row now for Toronto. and uh uh I made a trade with him for this beautiful I dated it. It's a 1965 Seiko Sportsmatic um calendar watch. It's this beautiful 30 I think it's thirty-six millimeter silver dial with applied markers, just a classic beautiful old Seiko that was in pristine shape. Um Doc, if you're listening, which I I think you probably are, uh I think I made out better on that. deal I'm I'm super excited about that. Christy's wearing it quite a bit. Uh you you know, you uh were kind enough to give me a a a different strap for it. Um the strap that came on it was kind of a a you know faux alligator looking thing, which I didn't care for but, now it's it just looks perfect. It's a beautiful watch.
James Stacy Yeah, it's absolutely gorgeous. I I do think you got away with with kind of the most classic, elegant, cool piece that was there. And that watch was getting a ton of attention.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I think it's interesting because if Doc
James Stacy had stayed near where he put the watch down. So we were at this cafe and and I would say like conservatively 60 people showed up, maybe more.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And it was about 30 degrees. 2,000 degrees. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it was
James Stacy very warm in there. Um there's a ton of stuff. And obviously, like some of the audience was more RZD, some was more TGN, some was in the middle, which is great. And I I just had a really good time. Like a lot of the stuff I just kind of gave away or traded for something my kids wanted or or that sort of thing, but it was an absolute blast. And yeah, that uh that Seiko you got is is is an absolute peach for sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah, well you got you got a pretty special watch there too, that uh Elgin uh Very weird.
James Stacy I put it on I put on Instagram and it got no love at all. Which means I'm I'm on to something, you know what I mean?
Jason Heaton Yeah. One of the fellows there, and if you're listening,
James Stacy I apologize, I uh your name has escaped me. It was such a loud room. Um, but I traded for this titanium algin stealth. Uh so I'll put a story together about it eventually. It is a uh an FK1009 model. It was on a bracelet. Uh the gentleman said he got it out of Japan. And it's essentially like if Elgin made uh aerospace.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But it has a compass bezel,
James Stacy useless. And then it has a lot of features and it's kind of busy and it has guilt marking. So it's like it's a it's a very weird, uh in some ways a very James choice, and in some ways not. But when I saw it and I realized I might have had something this gentleman wanted, I made the trade. Um and uh and I'm very happy with it. But yeah, it's called the stealth and it has two screens. Um it doesn't have the same necessarily the same function set as the aerospace, but it does have one very weird function. You know, it does date and a chronograph, um, it does uh an alarm and and then it has your time as well, like digital time. But the weird thing that it does is you have the ability to I thought it was for the date and you set the date and then nothing really it doesn't change.
Jason Heaton Yeah. It turns out you can set a
James Stacy date, which I think you it has to be after nineteen ninety eight, which must be when this watch is made, or somewhere in the late nineties. I'll double check when I write the story. But you can set a date and then it tells you how many days it's been since that
Jason Heaton date. So when I'm messing
James Stacy around with it, finally I set it to to be um I set it to be January 1st of this year. So I can tell you it's been two hundred and seventy-eight days since January first. that's the tech. I can only assume this is like a deployment or mission timer. So you know how many days you've been in the field doing something.
Jason Heaton And it's displayed in days or in like days, hours, minutes. Really? No, just
James Stacy day just days. Days up to Yeah, it just says days. And then it looks like it goes to five digits.
Jason Heaton Wow. I I can test that
James Stacy at some point and see how like if I set it back to you know 1998, how many days it's been or whatever. Um but yeah, it's a it's a very interesting thing. I I enjoy it. It's weightless, it came on a nice little bracelet, which if I sized it correctly, it was a little small, but then used like the dive extension or the s the sender. Yeah. It kind of worked for my wrist. And then I've I've been wearing it on the on the uh the Ming polymesh, which is kind of fun as
Jason Heaton well. Yeah. Yeah, it's a nice
James Stacy like maybe a hundred fifty dollar watch or hundred dollar watch, something like that with a two thousand dollar strap on it. But uh I got that. I got um a bunch of um like I got a couple travel wallets, Maurice moves who I I had mentioned uh in a pr past episode, s some of his YouTube work, he was there. So he had a bunch of very cool stuff as you'd expect. Uh shout out Maurice if you're if you're listening. Uh I ended up with a very cool um uh like old school US divers wrist depth gauge
Jason Heaton oh yeah uh for a friend's father who
James Stacy collects these um any names possible? I will rectify this on a future episode. I should have sat there with like my phone or a pad of paper or something and made some notes knowing we would talk about this, and I was just i exceptionally overwhelmed by that space. Yeah,
Jason Heaton it was really loud, uh, which my hearing
James Stacy really fails in in those sort of like 20 conversations going on at once. Um, but it it was really good, and a huge shout out to Huey uh and Kirk for helping put that on and uh and splitting the bill for us and the and that sort of thing. it worked out really well and it was an absolute blast. Definitely something I'd want to do again, maybe with a little bit more of a plan for like, hey, whatever's left will go to goodwill or or or that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. I didn't expect that sort of turnout.
James Stacy I didn't level of gear. There were cameras and really great watches and incredible bags and jackets and and all this sort of stuff. But after that, you and I went and had a coffee, kind of lowered the wavelength a little bit or you, know, widened it and uh and then got in a car and got down to uh Martin's uh for the marathon party, which was as it has been in the past, excellent.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. It really was. And it was uh you know, it's funny, we we upped the the number of of people that were possible to come, you know, kind of opened it up to more people and then at the end of the night Martin's like, Let's do fifty more people next year. So if you missed out this year, don't miss out next year 'cause this is this has become this is like the Vanity Fair after party at the Oscars. This is uh it's even better than that, I think. We just have we have such a good time. I I really enjoyed hanging out with everybody and having long chats with uh just too many people to list, but it was it was such a good time.
James Stacy For sure. And a huge shout out, obviously, yeah, but to everybody who came out and had a good time. That's great. A huge shout out to Marathon, who partnered with us on a very cool piece of swag. In the past, we've done stickers and little clip on compasses. This year we did a custom version of their Hank strap, which is a Canadian-made single pass NATO style like strap. And it's made out of high abrasion neoprene Kevlar, so that's called Hank, and it's it's an exceptionally cool thing. They wanted to do something cool, as did we, so we went de definitely the extra mile, certainly more costly than something like stickers. Uh, but a very cool thing, and it has sort of a laser engraving of the TGN 10 and the Marathon logo. Uh so super pumped to have had that. And then of course a final shout out. We drank all of it, so it must have been great. A huge shout out to Kelly Murphy from Fatheads Brewery who drove up with the uh maximum amount he was allowed to bring over the border into Canada of some exceptional beer. And uh in the end we had to Uber Eats a little bit of extra beer and uh Martin kind of broke into the liquor cabinet. I guess not broken, it was his uh liquor cabinet to be clear. Um but everybody had a great time. The food was ridiculous. Those chicken fingers saved me for sure. Mm-hmm and uh yeah, it was a good time.
Jason Heaton That was really, really great. Um I'll be riding high on that one for a while.
James Stacy And then yeah, I took you back to to the airport that next morning on Sunday, went home, packed for my trip Monday.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And got to the airport,
James Stacy was in line for customs, uh, passport control um for preclearance and my flight was canceled. Uh my flight to get out to San Diego.
Jason Heaton That's I've never had it canceled once I
James Stacy was already technically in the US or in this gray zone.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. So I had to like
James Stacy find my way out. Nobody was really helpful at all. And they kept just saying, like, yeah, but the airline will rebook you. I'm like, Yeah, but I have an email from Air Canada that says we're not rebooking you. You need to call us.
Jason Heaton Wow. Yeah. And I was like, I would rather do that
James Stacy from home if I'm not going today. I have other stuff to do.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, and then finally
James Stacy loop all the way back around, go down through customs, like where you would go to return to Canada after a flight. Walk up to a guy and I just go like, Hey man, my flight was cancelled. He goes, Well, you can't use a machine, you gotta go see this guy, go see that guy. And he like fills out a form like I got I was late for high school. Just a piece of paper with a bunch of poorly written, like, you know, doctor scroll on it. I hand that to another guy and then I'm out of the airport and I take I take the Uber home and I ended up getting on the same flight twenty four hours later for this tutor event, which I missed about half of, uh, but the main element was uh a couple of hours at uh in the evening at the SEAL Museum in uh in uh San Diego, uh getting a chance to watch the splashdown video, which Jason you know very well, and then uh do a uh kind of experience a talk between uh past uh TGN guest and of course very well known author and TV producer Jack Carr, uh along with two of the guys from the uh splashdown video, um John and Bob. Uh so it was uh it was a a a great event, uh for sure. But it
Jason Heaton was, you know, twenty two hours or
James Stacy something in San Diego and then I went back to the airport and flew home.
Jason Heaton Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Well that's cool. I saw a picture of you uh chatting with Jack and uh
James Stacy Yeah, he says hi. He says he you know he he'd love he'd love to hear about whatever's going on with the next book and we had a really nice chat, uh had a chance to uh obviously connect with the the two sort of uh elder seals that were there um cole and uh and the team put on a very fun event after you know our time at the at the museum we went on to uh a nice sort of pizza and beer scenario, obviously uh one that works for me, and then the next morning I was able to uh grab coffee with a few buddies that were also on the trip and then zip off to the airport. So there's a a fair amount of flying for a relatively short trip. I gotta tell you, the doesn't matter how long it's been years since I had been in California, but I that sunlight's something else. Oh it just feels great down there. It
Jason Heaton sure does just feel great. yeah.
James Stacy Um but uh but yeah, that's been my and so that would I would have been flying home when the last episode went up. So that that's that rare scenario where we're kind of ahead of the episode. Right. Um and uh and so that went up and then now now I've been home uh for the weekend. Uh I saw on your Instagram that you you were dealing with a a physical challenge in in your in your yard. How did that go?
Jason Heaton Yeah, it was uh it was fun. You know, I'm still kind of kind of riding the high on that one because i i it it was one of those little puzzles that um are are just fun to kind of work out the logistics of. I I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on how to move well, I'll give a little background first. I we're having some uh renovation work, some kind of light construction happening here, a rebuild of a of a porch and a and a set of stairs on the outside of the garage to the loft apartment above it. And the bottom step of the existing structure has been this giant rock. It's this massive rock that was originally put there like twenty years ago by a crane and it must weigh, you know, I d I can't estimate six hundred pounds, a thousand pounds. Unable to even budge by hand. So um I kind of dug out around it and then tried to use just bottle jacks and a floor jack, you know, from from my warm Land Rover collection, um, to kind of jack it up and get some PVC pipe underneath it to kind of m use as rollers, but just could not get it to budge as as hard as we tried. And then I have um I have a farm jack, you know, a high lift jack um that I got years ago for the off-roading course I did in the Defender. And I've just never really had an opportunity to use it. And I knew that you could use it as like a winch or a come-along, and in fact that was one of the the challenges in Defender Trophy. We had to use a chain and a snatch strap to uh to pull a a vehicle actually out of the mud.
James Stacy Sure. And so I rigged up
Jason Heaton a a couple of straps around this rock and around a tree and then just kind of cranked on it and then as it lifted out of the kind of the hole it was down in, we started sliding in PVC pipe and continued to crank and kind of adjust and shorten the the lengths of the straps and uh finally got it out and horizontal and rolling. Um and it was just it was one of those kind of little satisfying chores, um
James Stacy you know, physical but also of kind of a mental
Jason Heaton kind of exercise to kind of figure out how to how to move this giant thing and I watched a bunch of you know YouTube videos on how to you know you watch people I I moved you know an entire six thousand pound shipping container you know by myself using a you know two, jacks and a you know, a couple of straps or something. You know, it's just crazy stuff. But uh it can be done. So it was that was a good time. So that was uh that was over the last couple of days figuring that out.
James Stacy That's exciting. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. And then uh we went to you went for some recreation in in a more old school sense as well. Very old school.
Jason Heaton It might be. It might be my new thing, kind of cosplay, you know, uh time travel sort of thing. I had gone to when I was a kid growing up around Milwaukee, there was like one of these Renaissance festivals. I'm sure you have them.
James Stacy Like a Renfair. Sure. And uh I hadn't
Jason Heaton been to one since I was you know probably single digits age-wise. But Sunday was the last day of the one that happens around here. It's about a half hour drive away out in the countryside. And I had a blast. It was just it was so fun because it it it's the ultimate sort of nerd gathering. You know, we all love nerds, we love listeners, we love our watch meetups, you know, we're all we're all nerds in some sense. And to see people just kind of go out there unabashedly, you know, dressed like you know, a friar, you know, with the the the bald patch on top of the head or, you know, a a knight in chainmail carrying a giant sword.
James Stacy Sure. Lots of kilts. I wore my
Jason Heaton kilt. Um good opportunity to kind of dress the part a bit and uh we watched a sword swallower and some jousting and uh you know had had some beer uh on a on a lovely sunny fall afternoon. It was it was a great time. It was really really fun. I I definitely would do that again. Like I'm not I'm not sure I'd lean into it as hard as some people, but uh it's it's fantastic people watching to kind of see how people pull out all the stops.
James Stacy For sure. I I've never been to a rent fair. Um, but I definitely have had folks that I've known quite well who got pretty far into it and they said there's kind of like two classes kind of where it's people who have their Renfair outfit.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And that's what they wear every year when they
James Stacy go or whatever. And people who spend the whole year planning the next one. Uh which like as you know, as a hobby I've I've taken part in much dumber hobbies for sure. Uh it seems very social, it seems very fun. I love a fair. I could see my daughters being really into this. Yeah. Uh so yeah, uh if you had a good time, I should probably give it a chance and see if there's a a local one to hit around here. I
Jason Heaton think you should. It's good, clean, fun and the it's very you know, other than people with phones, there's like no technology. It just it feels like you know, uh maybe it's a little cliche to say this, but it kinda feels very timeless. It feels like the probably the same just a slightly different version of the one I went to when I was, you know, nine years old or something. It's just it was just a good time. Yeah.
James Stacy Well look, I think that's that's like twenty five minutes or so like that's a a good chunk of just catching up. uh despite the fact that we just saw each other. Um but we've we've done we've done quite a few things since then. Uh so yeah, I figure we should get into the watches of it all. Uh and I see both of us kinda picked, I think, kind of fitting watches for today's conversation. As far as wrist check goes, why don't you dive into dive into yours?
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um I've been wearing my FXD quite a bit lately, but for today's discussion I pulled out the the Omega, the C Master Pro 2264, which is the quartz driven version of the, you know, our much loved kind of two two five four class of of C Master with the scalped scalloped bezel, um, black dial and the sword hands, most importantly. And you know, I think both of us would agree that might be the the perfect omega choice uh for for a a bond watch uh given today's episode, but um you know alas they don't have that in their catalog anymore, so we're gonna talk about some other options, but uh that's what I'm wearing today.
James Stacy That's great. Yeah, I I hemmed and hawed on a few different watches. I don't have an omega in my collection uh these days, and certainly for me that same generation as your two two six four whether it's the five four or the titaniums, the non-AC, the electric blues, all of those, those were all kind of a peak for me when it comes to a certain like a specific version of the Seamaster. Yeah. Which was those with sword hands. Um so for today's episode, I'm wearing my CWN one, which is my good kind of go-to sword hand watch. Uh obviously the design of the CWN1's dial is derived from the same you know need for the MOD as the uh two two five four, which of course comes from the the vintage C masters and and and that sort of thing. So a a similar lineage in some ways, uh if you will, but uh you know, an an entirely different company. But yeah, the impetus for both of us wearing sword hand watches, in your case at least an omega, which is a good choice, is we have brand new Bond watches that came out a couple of days ago as at the point of uh uh when this episode will publish. And despite not having a new Bond movie or even uh a new bond, uh there is a new Bond movie on the horizon, uh a Denny Villanouv uh uh movie, but they have yet to pick the new bond, but for James Bond Day this year for October 5th, uh Omega announced a a pair more in terms of the limited edition sense, but really for their standard catalog, a pair of new bond-themed watches, both in the C Master uh 300 meter kind of version, as you'd expect. The skeleton hands, the the wave dial, that sort of thing. But here we have sort of two new executions, one for Bond and one for Spectre, the shadowy organization that Bond was often uh working to destroy or take down or you know hold accountable for their international crimes. And I d we we should we should start with the watches themselves, but man, these things got a a bunch of hate that I'm I'm not entirely sure I agree with. They're very conventionally nice looking watches. I think people just want so much more. Yeah.
Jason Heaton They want more bond, they want a movie,
James Stacy they want a new watch, uh, that sort of thing. And these are not new watches. These are new dial executions, new bezel executions on a very kind of sort of version of the SM of the C Master 300 uh meter that we already know. what did you think of these? There's the the Bond version, it's the navy blue dial and the sort of the necton style bezel, and then the uh Spectre version, which is a matte black dial with a matte black sort of necton style relief bezel. That's those are the easiest ways to explain them.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I was kind of scrolling the article again to look for like the official name of these, you know, to see if there's just some some shorthand for it. But yeah, uh the the one that appeals to me is the uh for sure the the navy blue dial with the that relief bezel, the the necton style bezel. I it's a really sharp watch. I I I have to say, you know, as you kind of hinted at at the top of the show or mentioned, I kind of feel bad feel bad for Omega. Like they've got to sit and kind of twiddle the thumbs and wait on one of their big marketing angles. Yeah. While you know, for sure. Eon productions now Amazon, you know, gets their act together and picks an actor and, you know, gets the the screenplay done and the director chosen and the movie filmed and they've they've just they must just be like, you know, crawling the walls there. Um and so they have to come out with something like this. And I I just feel like I on the one hand, I feel sorry for them having to do that, but not really. I mean, this is Omega. They're a huge company. They're doing just fine. Um But i it it just it feels a little gimmicky with the the the branded rotors and the the Bond family crest on the twelve o'clock marker on that blue dial. I think that actually is kind of the deal breaker for me. Like if this was just a it doesn't have to have a closed case back, but like if it just had a a little more subtle kind of branding on it, but it feels a little over the top, you know, and this the Spectre one, like maybe I'm overthinking this, but like S Spectre's not gonna you know, there there's no connection. There's no connection in the movies or in the books certainly of you know, Spectre having any kind of official watch and why would it be the same watch that Bond wears and that sort of thing. So I'm I' Im realize overthinking that, but in terms of just the watches themselves, the the dark blue dial, I mean Omega does blue really well. And that that relief bezel, I'm not normally a relief bezel person, but I've always liked the necton and I I think it's a sharp piece
James Stacy my feedback on these would be very layered. Um one, I'm just I feel like these watches kind of became a lightning rod for a certain perspective on people wanting a certain evolution of Omega's product. The nerds want a certain evolution of Omega's product. These are still forty-two millimeter steel watches that are 14.23, 14 and a quarter millimeters thick. And that's a lot. But in in 2026, that's thick. You look back at your 2264, my two two five four, these were much more Svelte sort of watches at the time, much more limited technology in the movement. The 1120 was an ETA-based movement. That never really bothered me. And Omega's definitely pushed the envelope with master chronometer specs and uh and you know more power reserve and more certification and and you know varied beat rates and more functions and and anti-magnetism and that sort of thing. But I think a lot of the pushback is like one, these, you know, are kind of the the bond connection is tenuous because there's not a new bond and there's not a new bond film, which like okay, I would under I would say zoom out a little bit on that perspective because Bond watches from Omega have always kind of fallen into two camps: the ones he wears in the movie and the ones they make about the franchise.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And these are kind of
James Stacy the, you know, the the latter. and I think it was Jackson B or the wonderful mod Jackson B. on the TG and Slack, he said, like, you know, these are more closer to merch than
Jason Heaton yeah something like a watch that was worn
James Stacy and and look eventually we'll have another bond and eventually we'll have another bond movie but we are now twenty years since casino royale it was two thousand six right
Jason Heaton and with casino royale we we essentially saw the
James Stacy the launch of the Planet Ocean, certainly um the the largest kind of push to make it a bond watch and have it be part of that. and obviously there was still a uh a 300 meter in the mix there and and all that sort of thing, but 20 years later, it seems like people want a new watch. And while I think both of these watches are quite handsome, and again, uh bar you know, being fair to my position, I don't want to be unfair. I'm not really a skeleton hand sea master guy. I'm just not.
Jason Heaton But if I were to rank them all, these would be very
James Stacy close to the top for me. I like the necton. I like its colorway. Um, I enjoy the white dial one that you had for some time.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. And I really like both of these.
James Stacy I I think the bond elements, I could take it or leave it. That wouldn't speak to me. I'm not that big of a bond fan to do sort of merch, um, especially at this sort of level. That said, I think both are quite successful aesthetically. I haven't tried them on in person. Forty two by by fourteen and a bit is is kind of larger than I wear most days.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Especially for what a kind
James Stacy of the kind of watch I would want to wear all the time. And I remember the the last one I spent a lot of time with was the no time to die titanium model.
Jason Heaton And the the weight of that was very helpful for
James Stacy its sizing. Yeah, these are steel, so they're
Jason Heaton gonna be pretty chunky watches, especially on that uh on that bracelet.
James Stacy Yeah, the steel mesh is another thing. If you don't have a big enough wrist, uh like a lot of my colleagues at Hodinkee find them to be kind of um uncomfortable, I have no experience with the steel version, but I enjoyed the titanium one on the no time to die for one or two days. Um that said if you're if it doesn't suit your wrist, I think people do find them a bit uncomfortable.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I mean that you're right about this them being merch. it feels like, you know, you're kind of it it goes along with you know, the the t shirt or the you know, even like the you know, the d the d Defender version with the what do they call it, the puddle lamp that that puts the double seven logo on the ground or whatever. It's just it's a little gimmicky, you know? It's just it feels a little crackerjack toy sort of thing. And I think a little more restraint uh would be appreciated at least by me. And I think um you know we'll get in we're gonna get into you know kind of what we feel a a a a fitting bond watch would be from Omega or otherwise and I think um you know I I I would love to just see some more restraint or even just pull up something from the past and just sort of tweak it a little bit. I don't know. It doesn't I I just don't feel like Bond needs like something brand new every single time, but I understand the reasoning behind it. You know, it's it's their big it's their big chance to like spin up a new skew and you know make a gazillion dollars kind of pitching it as the the new bond watch.
James Stacy Yeah, and and you go back to nineteen ninety five when this all kind of started with Goldeneye, that was sort of the launch of a watch that remains, I think, quite iconic in the modern sense.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Watches released since I was born.
James Stacy So let's call it the last 40 years. That's in the running.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Definitely. The blue wave dial,
James Stacy you know, with the with the C Master bracelet, the rest of it that Brosnan wore, I think is is in the running for being like a very iconic watch that a lot of people um my age, a little older, a little younger, uh really have as sort of a a home base for uh an elegant sports watch, right? Elegant diving watch, that sort of thing. Something that does work for Bond.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And boy, when I see those old ones now, like with their lottery, good faded bezel and the uh if they've got the the tritium markers like they've faded to this kind of lovely gold. Um you know really uh they're really looking nice now. I mean they're looking even more appealing uh to my eye now than than they used to.
James Stacy Yeah, there you go. I mean, like I said, I I've always been a sort hand guy, so I'll I'll try and not bring that up ten more times in this chat. As far as those watches go, uh they will always be feel quite dated to me.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. And I think the evolution that that
James Stacy Omega has made of that design, leading us up to these watches they came out this week, has been largely quite successful. I think the problem is people are tired of it.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Especially when when
James Stacy if you're getting a new bond with the last, you know, with with two new bonds ago, we got with Goldeneye, we got the the new Seamaster, with um with uh Casino Royale and Daniel Craig, we got the Planet Ocean. What's next? Mm-hmm. I think that seems to be the the the undercurrent of of there it's it seems both on on the T G and Slack and on other comment threads online, there's a you know quite a quite a lengthy conversation going on in um in the hoodinky chat as you'd expect. A lot of it comes down to why not why go no date and it's no thinner, like why not evolve the proportions to make it in more easily worn something that returns to that kind of thin, elegant aesthetic that we had in the 90s and early 2000s. Or these are these are a mix of things you guys were already doing put into one watch and then you're adding a lot of bond on top of them.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And these are eighty six hundred dollar watches.
James Stacy They're not limited for the two versions. There's a box set that you can get which does have a limited sort of scope. I think it's 77 units of each box, but those are ninety thousand dollars. So that's not really within our scope. I would stick to the you know the these two. I guess I don't I don't really know even where know where to start with these. Like I I was surprised by the push out because I think both are quite handsome, good looking watches. And the pushback's very mixed. Some people are saying like I said, it's the proportions, it's the fact that it's not a new watch, it's the fact that there's not really a bond moment to attach to, despite the fact that these are coming out. Some of those I agree with. Some of them I think are like really tenuous sort of complaints about marketing. Whether or not these are a good watch on your wrists is kind of the core concern or or thing that I would agree with. And if if folks, especially folks who own current ones and would like to see them smaller, thinner, that sort of thing, that all makes sense. They just made a thinner Speedmaster, which you know kind of came to very mixed um approval because of its thickness. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Right? This is something that that the internet seems
James Stacy very, very concerned with for good reason. Um, because it is one of those things where over time, with the evolution of their movements, the watches have gotten thicker, and then you add on display case backs with uh you know the Bond version of this has like uh you know the rifled barrel rotor.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And then the Spectre has like the octopus logo.
James Stacy So there's not a lot of value in the case back aside from the Bond embellishment. And I it just seems to be running people the wrong way. And it and it could be I wonder how much of this is like mixed concerns for the general scope of bond. Yeah. It's the every two months we hear about, oh, Henry Cavill did a screen test four years ago. Watch this, you know, watch his tape now. And you're like, well, but we already know you passed on Cavill. Like, what's the next the next thing? and we'll get to this short list that has been broadly reported in the last month or so. But I I'm curious like for these bond bond elements aside, what what do you think of them kind of as like a a core omega put like they'll sit in there right next to the necton with the relief bezel?
Jason Heaton Yeah. I I the the the I think they're both nice. Uh just you know watches being very subjective, the the the blue dial one speaks to me with the relief bezel. I think it's
James Stacy you'd mentioned, yeah. It just um it
Jason Heaton it it it's a nice looking piece. I think they're both uh I just I I'm suffering a bit from skew fatigue with Omega. Like it just feels like uh I've kind of lost track of where these fit into the collection. You know, you mentioned the necton and then uh somewhere in the article or you know, it's kind of conjures this link with the the sixtieth anniversary of Bond that that
James Stacy was a particularly nice one and I saw
Jason Heaton a story today about, you know, a special version that was made for the the Danish frogman core, you know, that King Frederick of of Denmark was wearing. You know, they're just so many Seamasters. All of them have these appealing traits. I think if I were to kind of lay them all out, all however does many dozens of them there are.
James Stacy Let's see if I can find out how many. I think the
Jason Heaton top of the heap, if we're talking this specific family, not the C Master line in in general, because I I love the um kind of the heritage, the C Master 300 stuff that nobody really talks about much. Kind of family of watches. And uh it's just uh like I said, it's just it's skew fatigue for me. but yeah, I'm
James Stacy seeing 66 watches.
Jason Heaton Wow. Yeah. In the in the
James Stacy 300M family. Yeah. I I assume that yeah. So that's gonna include if it's like a bracelet or rubber.
Jason Heaton Oh sure. So there's there's definitely
James Stacy not six there's definitely not sixty-six core versions.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, but there's there's definitely a lot. There's
James Stacy definitely a lot of models here. Um and yeah, I I guess where I land on these is one it's more Seamasters, which like has a a specific relevancy in general. Um if you're a big omega nerd or a big Bon nerd, that relevancy is gonna go up, but otherwise it's it's a few new skews into a model range that we just you know has at least sixty six versions you could pick from you know less when we get into straps and that sort of thing. I I'm looking at the watches uh again, aside from the thickness, i in the realm of them being a sea master, I really like both.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Like I'm I'm not in the market
James Stacy for one of these. I I I you know, we've we've listed all those reasons, but I think both aesthetically are quite successful, whether or not they are too thick or or too wide, you know, that's that's a conversation that comes up with just about every watch that's made now, right? And uh and certainly Omega is not immune from that sort of feedback from the audience. But I I think both look really, really good. I love the relief bezels. I definitely prefer the like you, the blue with the the full sort of steel bezel rather than the black bezel with the polished uh markings. Yeah. But I think both are quite successful. Both of them feel adjacent to the standard models, like you know, your normal black or white or blue dial with the wave, less shiny, more matte. Uh I saw a few comparisons online of people saying these are you know, this is essentially like they're they're right in the same zone as what Rolex is doing with the yacht masters.
Jason Heaton Oh, sure. Different sizes, different
James Stacy materials, sure, but like an aesthetic of the the blue dial or the the matte black and that sort of thing. and as I if that's the case, I mean that it's those are not bad things to emulate and they're like definitely not top tier in terms of the attention level from Rolex, you know, the uh especially like a blue dial yachtmaster is kind of a sleeper choice. Yeah. And then you just outside of my experience at Sale GP, I don't see the the titanium Yachtmaster, which is an exceptionally cool watch.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um you know, obviously
James Stacy as a a Tutor 39 owner, a Pelgos 39 owner, that's that would be more my vibe, smaller, easier to wear, less money, that sort of thing. But yeah, I think a successful design, but I I I would say from the feedback, not what people wanted.
Jason Heaton Right. So I guess my question is, what do you think
James Stacy people might want? Well uh
Jason Heaton I think you know, this kind of moves into you know we have a bit of an outline for this episode. And I think you know, we were going to talk about some of the actors, and I feel like uh the the watch that Bond wears kind of m plays off of the actor that's chosen. And I'm curious, like, how far in advance, Omega learns of the direction that they're going to go when they develop a new watch. I mean, when you look back at the Brosnan uh Seamaster, like that kind of fit his personality and his and and maybe it maybe I'm kind of reading into that, or maybe he imbued the watch with a certain feel that you know was was more him than the watch. But um when you look at Daniel Craig wearing the Planet Ocean on a rubber strap, like that fit. It was a very he was a very physical bond, a very serious bond, a very kind of tool watch bond, you know. Um and I think these watches still feel from an earlier era and I think maybe people you know, there's some nostalgia going on, certainly with the wave dial and the helium valve and the skeleton hands, but maybe people are kind of looking for something a little fresher, you know? Maybe we need who knows, I'm just shooting from the hip here. Maybe it's like d some kind of an interesting case material. Maybe they go ceramic or you know something like that with uh with sword hands and um kind of pull from you know a big triangle era, you know, maybe we move back kind of a hybrid two two five four esque thing. I don't know. That that's what I'd like to see, but I I do feel like it might come out of where they head with the actor and and kind of the direction they're going to take Bond.
James Stacy You know, I've I've spoken at l I've spoken to people at Omega who would suggest you, you know, their product cycle for something like a new planet ocean was several years.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. So you
James Stacy had you know the last kind of bond that came out loosely on schedule, the three to four years would have been Spectre in twenty fifteen..
Jason Heaton Yeah Yeah. Then No Time to Die
James Stacy was on track, I think, to match a three to four year schedule and then the pandemic. So that came out in twenty one. So that's your six years.
Jason Heaton We're nearly we'll be at six years by
James Stacy the time I believe we see that any hint of the next one, maybe a trailer even.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I just wonder,
James Stacy do they even have enough time to go, okay, so it's gonna be X human being, maybe they're a very famous person, often not,
Jason Heaton right? Yeah. Sometimes a T V actor,
James Stacy sometimes someone who's done two or three movies that you might know if you were really into a certain genre of movies, like with Daniel Craig. Maybe you knew Lair Cake, maybe you saw him in um Tomb Raider or
Jason Heaton something. Yeah. Oh yeah. Munich, right? Yeah, exactly.
James Stacy Um but he wasn't uh they're you know, short of layer cake, I would argue he hadn't really proven a leading man. A lead, sure, but maybe not like the leading man thing. And I think um I think it'll be interesting to I I I don't think we'll ever know. But I think it would be really interesting to learn how much time like do do they have four or five models just waiting just in case that might work for Bond.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Right. Right. Is there an SM
James Stacy three hundred evolution coming out that's thin and no date and m titanium? Right? And has a a full bracelet. Like not not the Milanese style bracelet. Like I just wonder what they're sitting on. If I was them, I wouldn't miss a Bond Day. Like they're they're getting heat for putting out a watch when there's no Bond or new Bond movie necessarily. Right.
Jason Heaton But like if I was I would put out a watch every every
James Stacy October. It's Bond. you get to you're the only brand that gets to play in this world. I wouldn't I wouldn't miss an opportunity.
Jason Heaton Right. Yeah. I would and if I was the car
James Stacy brand, if I was the clothing brand, if I was the sunglasses, I wouldn't miss one of them. You'd go, oh, this is the the Bond Day 2024, the twin twenty twenty five, the and and I would just keep iterating and playing with it and kind of imagining different things. I I like the sort of fanciful nature of pulling on Spectre and the rest of it. I it's not a product I want to buy, but in the bond space, there's so much.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. It's all maximalist. Right. Right.
James Stacy Right? Whether it's clothing or the sunglasses or the cars or the motorcycles or the guns or like what it whatever it is that you might want to attach to, the props even.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So like I I don't think it hur I in
James Stacy my mind it wouldn't hurt to to always kind of be staying part of that conversation of the of the bond space. But when you when it comes to a new movie and a new bond, the stakes are a lot higher than Bond Day. You know what I mean?
Jason Heaton Yeah. And where I think these watches,
James Stacy the ones that we're we've chatted about now for half hour, are successful enough for Bond Day and and if you're a hardcore Bond fan, they might speak to you really directly. Um yeah, I d I don't know what they're gonna have to do for for the movie. I I think
Jason Heaton as a purist I, just I I kind of long for the a a time when you know the the Bond or the creator of Bond, you know, Ian Fleming back in the day or or through the the early films, you know, maybe up through Timothy Dalton. Now certainly there were product placements in the movies and and lots of advertising tied up tied up with with Bond, everything from Jim Beam to you know other things. But um like I I kind of wish that it would be more like here's Bond, he's making his choices about his gear and oh he reaches over and picks up this existing sea master because it's gonna suit his purposes in that environment. Rather than it it it it it just feels so layered with consumerism nowadays where it's just, you know, Q presents him with this omega and it's like, what does this do? Oh, it tells the time. ha Ho ha ho ha. ho you know, and it's like this new omega that was developed just for that movie. You know, it it unless there's a specific gadget involved with it, just just put it on him like a watch. I I like that sort of placement anyway. I like when you sort of are surprised by something. Oh he's he's wearing the watch I've got on. Or he's you know, I saw a guy at the office wearing that watch. I I love that element of it. And I wish they would kind of get back to that. I understand why they don't. But um you know a a guy can dream I guess.
James Stacy I I also kind of have this vision in my head, and it's interesting that you mentioned it because I've thought about it, and I don't know if I'm just conflating it from some of the films. But I would love it if whatever this new bond is, and we'll get to that conversation in a moment. I didn't want to spend the whole episode on pure conjecture. Although granted that's loosely where we're headed. But I love the idea of the new bond interfacing with whatever new maybe new Q, maybe not, maybe it's still Ben Wishaw. But the new bond essentially being presented like a tray of watches
Jason Heaton and picking one like a moment of helping
James Stacy us understand his personality. And I I understand that would be catering to the to the caterers or like to the real nerds. You know what I mean?
Jason Heaton Yeah. But imagine if if they put laid
James Stacy it out and it was a a Seamaster and uh a Speedy and uh Planet Ocean.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And he p and the
James Stacy character kind of picked the one that that kind of suited what they were in for.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I I think that would be a really cool
James Stacy moment. And then before we jump into the who they might be picking, and who knows? Who knows knows? Literally, who? But we'll get we'll get there in a moment. If you're imagining a new bond and we're good, let's start with from the current catalog,
Jason Heaton yeah, what would you let's
James Stacy say you're the prop director for this next Villaneous Bond.
Jason Heaton Yeah. What uh what what would you pick
James Stacy for Bond from their current catalog?
Jason Heaton Well, I mean it's gonna be a C Master. I think the kind of the diving um element is kind of baked in. I mean I'm being kind of Royal Navy, etcetera. But
James Stacy agreed. No,
Jason Heaton I think it's diamonds on the bezel. I think it's gonna be a um I my f kind of my favorite Seamaster that that they're selling that like I said nobody really talks much about is the Seamaster 300 family. And I I'm not sure if they would ever do that. they don't seem to to want affiliate that with Bond. They seem to go for Planet Oceans and for even Aqua Terras in some time. But you know, the steel on steel, black or blue dial slash bezel, uh Seamaster 300, I mean, these are kind of classic watches that really harken back to the sixties. And I, you know, when you look at kind of the story of Lindy Hemming, the the costume designer during the when Bosnan was chosen, like and she was trying to pick a watch, she was like, Well, you know, my father was in the Royal Navy and I used to see his buddies come around the house and they'd be wearing omegas and and you know, whether or not you believe that, I you know, I don't know I think it's it's plausible. You know, this this would be the kind of watch he would wear. And I I realize we're not uh unless you're going back in time. Well
James Stacy the I mean that's what he wore in Spectre.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. Right. the and
James Stacy then we had the limited edition with the twelve hour bezel. I think one of the coolest watches Omega's made in my time of doing watches.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So something like that I. think I think I that's what would choose. I would pull from the the C Master three hundred family. On the other hand, I think um like I said earlier, I think it's it's got to be dependent on what they're going for with the character and kind of the storyline. Um if if it's more of a classic Bond, see Master three hundred, if it's gonna be more young, contemporary, maybe a little witty, more of, you know, along a mission impossible kind of high action kind of film, maybe it's the new planet ocean. I mean I could see them. they've really pushed that. that was a big release for them, the kind of reiteration of the Planet Ocean. Maybe they'll go Planet Ocean. Um which wouldn't upset me too much. I I think they're pretty cool watches.
James Stacy Yeah. If I can venture a
Jason Heaton little beyond this, I I would say and this would never happen, but you know, we saw the vertex uh in uh uh King Zero, the the Charlie Higson book that just came out, um, I think like an aqualion vertex would be super cool or or you know, like just
Unknown give give the guy like a a CWC,
Jason Heaton you know, G ten like army watch. You know, I think that just be on a on a NATO would just be so cool, but it'll never happen. But
James Stacy I'm I mean uh until we hear the news that now under Amazon Omega's out or something like that, but I can't imagine why anybody would want that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I still think I still think the pairing
James Stacy works really well. Yeah. And I think that that there's a lot of lessons to be learned from the you know, Daniel Craig era of Bond watches. But the thing that would lead me to think is they're going with someone new, theoretically it's still a modern story.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Um, un unless I've missed some update
James Stacy that they're doing a vintage bond or something like that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um my money would really be
James Stacy do a do a planet ocean, but do it in titanium.
Jason Heaton Oh yeah. It was it was the it was what people
James Stacy talked about when the watch came out. I I like this watch um in person. I think it wears really nicely on the wrist. It's a it's a little bit big, but so was but the I mean the the one from 2006 was a 42 millimeter, and I think that there's a lot to like about this watch, but if you wanted to make it really special, and let's say you've got a young Bond who's going to be a little bit more 2026 and fresh and you know, what whatever storyline they're backing. And I would agree, there's there's flexibility based on who they pick, but I think there'd be a broad spectrum of imagine you you take the current planet ocean and just make it a little bit more lean into the military derived part of it,
Jason Heaton right? Yeah. Yeah. Um the part
James Stacy that is downstream from an MOD watch.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. But do it in titanium,
James Stacy make it kind of a moment, give it a slightly different dial, give it a little splash of color, maybe. The uh the black dial current fourth gen planet ocean is entirely monochromatic. Yeah, I I think that would be my pick if I was if I was casting one for Bond. Um and then switching brands, I just I I mean it opens the whole world of watches. Then you're really saying what kind of Bond is it?
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Cause if he's you
James Stacy know, right out of training just, about to get his like who knows what story we're telling, but theoretically uh it's a younger side of Bond's arc than what we've had for the last little while.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. And if that's the case, yeah, may maybe
James Stacy he is wearing something that he would have gotten in school. or or maybe maybe we maybe there's a storyline from one of the books where his adoptive parents got him a watch. And maybe that's what he's got. And maybe he switches to an omega in an interesting moment. Who knows, right? Yeah. There's a bunch of different ways that you could play it that I think would still establish bonds like watch acumen that wouldn't necessarily have to be as goofy as the what's that an a Rolex Omega lovely you, know convers,ation they have with uh with Vesper. I think
Jason Heaton it'd be kind of neat if they have if if if they did sort of a reboot and they had Bond kind of I guess they did that in Casino Royale, kind of earning his earning his stripes so to speak his, double O status would be to kind of have him at the start of the movie. Maybe it's a flashback or maybe it's you know, a current scene where he's coming out of military training or out of the military and he's got like a a G-Shock or his issued uh CWC or or you know an Elliot Brown or something like that, and he's wearing it, and then it doesn't get a lot of attention, but you see it in the early scenes, and then there's a point at which he's promoted or given an assignment, and then it's like, hey, we need to I I don't want to use the word upgrade, but you know, we need to kind of outfit you a little differently here, you know, and then like here, you know, swap this for this. And it would it would kind of be an interesting moment to kind of have him transform by moving into, you know, say an Omega or or something a little higher end. But to start out with like I think it'd be really kind of fun to see, you know, Bond start the movie in in like a you know a Gactical Yeah, G ten or a or a or G Shock, you know, and and just kind of see him switch. I think it it'd be kind of a jarring, interesting moment.
James Stacy I'm you know, this is one where I think the conversation whether we encourage it or not will continue. I believe the thread on the Slack pro and against the new models is sort of continuing uh with fervor. Uh but why don't we jump into as sort of a last segment before some final notes, this consideration of the new bond, which this is all speculation, but there there was a widely reported short list.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Which may or may not include
James Stacy the people that Jason and I would like to play bond. Um, but I'll I'll buzz through it and then Jason, you can give me some background. Some of these guys, I don't even know their core works. I know their faces, but I haven't like witnessed their core work, which might be great for a bond.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Jack Barton. Uh
James Stacy so we would know Jack from SAS Rogue Heroes. Um, and he's kind of been lobbied as a front runner because his profile is still growing. He is not a necessarily a fully blown celebrity yet. We then have Jack Loden, who we know very well from Slow Horses and Dunkirk, uh, I think Jack could be great uh in this role. We have Callum Turner, uh, Masters of Air, Fantastic Beast, and then several other movies uh since he's become quite famous, uh, certainly in the span of time since the last bond, most of these guys have become quite famous or or have started their arc. Uh beyond Callum Turner, we have Jacob Alordy, uh known for uh Frankenstein and Euphoria, but also more recently uh one of the leads of uh The Dog Stars, um a uh a Ridley Scott film that didn't do especially well. Not sure how that affects his uh his uh chances. Next we have Paul Mescal, also the lead of a Ridley Scott movie that didn't live up to expectations in Gladiator 2. Um, but also part of the Oscar conversation last year with um Hamnet and that sort of thing. Uh I I think of all of these people, he works the least for me. And then finally we have Harris Dickinson, who's known for uh Triangle of Sadness and Baby Girl. Uh, he's the guy that I know the least about from this list. Any anybody here that you would cross out immediately if the list came across your desk?
Jason Heaton I think I would cross out Harris Dickinson. Um I saw Baby Girl. I just I just don't see I I don't know that he's got the look. Um the same with Paul Mezcal. Um I think the others I'm I'm less familiar with Jack Barton. I've I've I've watched SAS Rogue Heroes. I cannot for the life of me think of which um which character he was. I you know I I was so stuck on Jack O'Connell, who's not on this list. Um either him or another person who's not on the list, which is uh Richard Madden. Um I know he might be a little on the old side at this point. He's forty, but I think those two guys would be on my very short list, my list of two, um or maybe three with j with Jack Louden. Um so yeah. Um Callum Turner, I just I I I don't find him very magnetic. I think you need this sort of bright, charming, you know, you need charisma. And I just don't get that from him. He has uh he he has a look and kind of a delivery that I just don't find very engaging.
James Stacy And where do you land on a Lordy? I can't
Jason Heaton say I don't think I've ever seen him in anything actually. I mean I think he's got the he's got the the the smolder, he's got the looks, he's got the kind of the build for it. Um I think he's six
James Stacy four. Yeah. maybe taller. Yeah.
Jason Heaton So maybe that rules out O'Connell. O'Connell's a bit um shorter, I think, at least I just uh judging from you know when I've seen him in films. But the
James Stacy Lordy would also get them into someone in their twenties now, not when the movie comes out. He's twenty nine.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Uh Australian. Yeah.
James Stacy Right? Yeah. Uh I think where I think an
Jason Heaton O'Connell or uh O'Connell might be Irish, but I think uh uh Loudon is Scottish, um which which would be kind of fun, you know, given Bond's kind of background, um, at least uh historically.
James Stacy Yeah, the the Loudoun thing's funny because he plays kind of an anti-James Bond.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Which would be around the sea. It's kind of like he's
James Stacy constantly getting beat up. Everything kind of doesn't and then you know it's it's a little bit of a I I tease the show. I I love slow horses, but it's a little bit of like an inspector gadget. Like sometimes things just work out for Jack Loden.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh or River Cartwright. Yeah.
James Stacy Um but he you know he has these moments of brilliance when it's really needed, but he's not Bond in that show, which could I think were really work in his favor.
Jason Heaton Well, which is kind of funny because Gary Oldman, who plays uh Jackson Lamb in Slow Horses played um the the all-time great spy, you know, George Smiley and Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy. And there was talk about two sides of the same coin um that is uh definitely uh kind of you get that dichotomy there as well. So it would be fun to see Loudoun move on to a Bond film and just play totally against the type that he is in uh Slow Horses. But you know, but to the age thing, I think going back to Richard Madden, who was in Bodyguard and uh uh of course game of thrones and and it's just he has the look. I think he just has this intensity to him um depending on the kind of bond they're looking for
James Stacy he does look like bond in my mind. I don't
Jason Heaton think age should be that big of a concern. Given the amount of time between films I think we were talking about this in uh Toronto or maybe I was talking about it with uh with Ken Lamb. Um do we you know do we need to have a bond sign on for five films and just have 'em l be bond for you know fifteen years or something like that. Can we can we do a two-film contract where you get a guy who is forty like Madden and just does two back to back and is done at by fifty or by forty eight or whatever.
James Stacy I think I think the other thing we have to understand is like we've had twenty-five bonds kind of made under similar constraints
Jason Heaton and now we have Amazon. Yeah.
James Stacy The other thing that I would say is in the span of time since the last bond that was on schedule, let's call that Spectre,
Jason Heaton we have John Wick. Mm-hmm.
James Stacy Which has just, in my opinion, really changed how you go about you have John Wick and you have what they've managed to do in terms of incredibly complicated, hugely dangerous stunts in Mission Impossible. Those two worlds have only ratcheted up since um since Craig started getting older and since the storyline started being about him getting older.
Jason Heaton Right. Yeah. And I think now
James Stacy we enter a new world where we have Amazon. We don't know if they're gonna want to do a Bond movie every eighteen months or two years. We don't know if they're gonna want to do uh you know, we had Ballerina with Anna Darmus to John Wick. I don't know if they'll want to do an expanded world where like two or three of these guys might end up being other double O's.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Right. It's not like Amazon's short
James Stacy for money. They've got Villeneuve doing the first one. More than just the name. Where maybe where we end this. But more than just the name. What kind of bond do you want? Because the last few, you know, even leading up to I don't want to spoil the ending of No Time to Die, but the title kind of gives it away.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Very self-serious,
James Stacy very internal, very dark. E in even the jokes, like the you know, the way that he might say skewered or one sympathizes or whatever in Casino Royale.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Very hard edged. Yeah.
James Stacy In twenty twenty-six, does it make sense to like you you imagine an O'Connell bond could have a little bit of a a sparkle in his eye.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. A little a little a little
James Stacy bit of lip here there. Patty
Jason Heaton Maine and SAS Rogue as he was yeah.
James Stacy what what sort of bond do you want? As the pendulum
Jason Heaton swings with bond, I think they tend to kind of go back and forth between serious, kind of darker bonds and then kind of the more glib, you know, you go from Roger Moore
James Stacy to to Dalton, who's kind of supposed to be this
Jason Heaton darker darker bond, and he lasted two films, and then there was a bit of a hiatus for a while, and then they brought in Brosnan, this kind of very polished glib, funny, but but you know, competent, handsome bond. And then by the later films, I think they were trying to make him a little darker. And then we get Craig, who is total, you know, realistic, you're kind of wincing as he's getting punched or falling down a flight of stairs. He's I don't know, there's a dark side to him. I think maybe the pendulum will swing back and they're are they going to try to be more you know, witty and and kind of fun with this one. I I I c I like the darker bonds, so personally I would love to see I think O'Connell would would would walk that tightrope quite well. I think he can do both. Um he's not he's not so brooding that that you know, you're just like, boy, this guy's really, you know, you know, can we have a smile every now and then? I think he could crack a joke.
James Stacy Yeah, I I don't disagree. And I I also think that a lot of times it's the storylines that shape how we feel. The Casino Royale storyline is very hard.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Very harsh, very
James Stacy final. Um, everybody's playing everybody. There's no really anyone to trust in that scenario, literally, at all, for Bond, aside from maybe Felix.
Jason Heaton Yeah. and then at the same time,
James Stacy you have these huge stakes, you know, people shorting the the uh shorting the market following nine eleven.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Right. And uh and these
James Stacy big kind of evil moments of of and and then in in other ones it's a little bit more campy. And I think if the storyline is campy, you'd want a bond that can lean that direction.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I think there's a couple people
James Stacy like I think Loden could do that without going too far. I think I I would argue that might be where Lordy suddenly has some some ups. But at the same time, I think Yeah, I don't know, like the some of these guys, it it's always that conversation. That guy doesn't like Daniel Craig's blonde, he's not bond, right? That was that was the the two thousand and four kind of conjecture in the press. Um I'm I I guess the only reason we devoted an hour to this is I'm pumped to find out.
Jason Heaton Right. There's you know, there's what, like three
James Stacy or four leading like uh so far yet to be totally diminished leading roles in for men in movies is Batman, it's superman, it's Bond. Right? There aren't that many. We you know the the they they kind of had it for a little while, then it went away with Jack Ryan?
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think uh do we have a I mean, is there any timeline for for the choice? I mean it it feels imminent, but you know, uh it is there even a a press conference schedule that we know of? I I haven't seen any dates.
James Stacy Not that I'm aware of. I mean I I I hear about it on podcasts. That's how how I kind I'm not I'm I'm at the point where I feel like spending time on on the Reddit that's tracking this carefully or or the the you know bond enthusiast sites have waited so long that I've kind of like lost my my like fingertip need for it. But uh but yeah I I'm I'm pumped to find out who they pick. You know obviously Volonouf's one of my favorites. I can't say that I have a huge amount of faith in uh Amazon versus Eon uh to to not mess something up or or lose some of the plot line, but it seems like they've got a good group of people put it put behind it.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So I'm I'm excited
James Stacy to see where it goes. Definitely excited to see who they pick and what the feedback is and and eventually what his watch is going to be. And his car and
Jason Heaton you know Aston Martin not in the same position
James Stacy it would have been five, six years ago, uh, in many ways. So d it'll be interesting to see what they pick for all these sorts of things to try and modernize or separate or may maybe they're really gonna want to make it feel like a new generation of Bond and and a bunch of the stuff that we take for granted will kind of change.
Jason Heaton Right. Yeah. I can't I I
James Stacy hope we don't see Bond go back to BMW. I feel like that era
Jason Heaton of BMW doesn't exist anymore. I d I don't
James Stacy want to see Bond in an IX uh preferably.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But I guess we'll see, right? Yeah. All fun to speculate. good stuff.
James Stacy Let's do a huge bond thread on the Slack and see what people bring up. I guarantee the the part that we didn't get into. And the part that we didn't get into as far as the people is there's almost certainly like another six or eight people that just aren't high enough profile. That are still kind of they're growing. Maybe they get to invest in this person. Maybe they're in their mid to late 20s and are like ready for that role and have the certain thing that they want, but aren't known or have only been in a show here or there.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I have a feeling it'll be someone we didn't mention. I just have this sneaking suspicion it's going to be someone we you know not that we haven't heard of, but that we wasn't on our list. I I kind of hope so, actually.
James Stacy Yeah, there's no one there's no one on this list where I go, Oh, uh in my mind, home run.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But that's also like I'm not a casting director. Yeah. Yeah.
James Stacy And like whoever picked Craig did such a good job, right? That m I don't even know. That might have been Nina Gold, I'd I'd have to go back and Google. I didn't look that up. But like whoeverver whate little group of people made that decision did a great job.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. and it was met with a huge amount
James Stacy of resistance. Yeah. So yeah. This is this is as close as you and I get to the world of like tabloid stuff. Right. Suddenly celebrities matter. So I guess we'll see. I'm I'm excited to you know to see the conversation on the slack and and I I had a I had a good time uh you know learning from everybody's opinion on the on the new omegas and that sort of thing, but uh it'll be it'll be fascinating to see how the you know bond twenty six kind of comes together in the next little while.
Jason Heaton Yeah. All right, cool. Well, want to dive
James Stacy into some final notes? Sure thing. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Uh I'll go first. Um I just watched uh day or two ago a film on Apple TV called The Last First, K two Winter. Um it's gotten a lot of press. Um it was uh I think written and directed by Amir Barlev, um, who's done other films that that I think I've seen, documentaries, um, but nothing of this sort. And it was, as the name suggests, a mountaineering documentary about the attempt to climb K two, the second highest mountain in the world, arguably the most dangerous in the world, in winter, which had never been done before. Um and I believe this was in 2021. and if you remember from the news and from you know the these circles, we might have even talked about it on TGN, I'm not sure. Uh Nimsperja, the the the late uh mountaineer in Nimsperja now, um, and yeah, and his team of of uh Nepali climbers uh were the first to get to the summit. They did it kind of hand in hand, ascending to the top um in winter, which is just a brutal achievement. Um this film follows not their specific expedition, but the groups of people that were vying to to to be the first at the same time and they were all at base camp and all planning to climb right around the same time in the winter of twenty twenty one. And uh it was a very tragic year, um, very tragic season um for climbing on K two and this film really delves into the reasons and um behind some of the deaths that occurred, I won't give any names away, but there were some higher profile climbers there, and then there were there was one kind of ill conceived and ill fated um commercial group led by a group called Seven Summits that organized a an expedition with some less experienced people, which just seems utterly bonkers to to even attempt in winter on the most difficult mountain in the world. Um, and predictably it ended uh tragically for quite a few people. And uh I, you know, it was a storyline that I've kind of remembered hearing, but I didn't pay much attention to, um, other than the achievement. Um so this this film really gets into it in a very different sort of way than most mountaineering documentaries. So I highly recommend this. it's about an hour and a half. It's a fairly short film, but it's uh it's a good one. Definitely check that one out. It was uh didn't cost me anything if you have an Apple TV membership So it's called The Last First K two Winter.
James Stacy Sounds great, man. Yeah. I uh I saw this kind of mentioned online and in some I think I saw some clips on Instagram. Uh definitely looks like a a must-watch uh add it to the list for sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah, really good. Looks like some good
James Stacy good uh mountain documentaries on the horizon, this one included.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. Then there's the the uh Jimmy Chin one about Jim Morrison and the ski descent of uh Everest, I can't wait for it. Insane. Yeah. Yeah, they both they both look incredible. So
James Stacy it should be great. Um mine this week is perhaps unsurprising for those of you who follow the world of flashlights. Um I promise. I I promise I paid full price. I paid more than I was necessarily comfortable paying for yet another O Light O Clip. So we now have the O Light O Clip 2 Ultra. Um, if you remember back in the day, I I started with a basic uh O clip and then I went to the Ultra, but the Ultra didn't have a red light anymore. It had UV, which is great. This has both, and an articulating head and a rotating clip. it's basically just the the top evolution. We were at the marathon party and I ended up giving my ultra to Tyler. Shout out Tyler. Yeah, he had it on a bag on his wheelchair and it just looked perfect as like sort of a headlight. And I I was like, you know what? I knew I was I had seen the two and, I I was like, was curious. Um, I I figure in some way I have to continue my ambassadorship as a paid full price. Have never gotten a deal uh sort of ambassador for this product. Uh I have no connection with O-Lite at all. I've never conversed with them. Um but I do really like the product. I've been carrying it around on my bag and and uh in my hip and then we had a washing machine installed today and I used it to check some lines. Uh it's it's great. It's the same thing. It's a little bit bulkier, which is fine. I carry this mostly on a bag or in a bag pocket, which is uh okay. It doesn't have to be tiny. If the size matters, just go with the with the standard Oakwip. It's quite quite a nice size. Um, but the articulating head, the ability to, you know, clip it onto the brim of a hat and use it now as a headlight because the you can actually change the direction of the beam is nice. And then as a as a guy who enjoys having both red light and UV for UV for charging watches, of course. Uh really nice feature. So that starts at seventy dollars, which really is only a little bit more than I remember paying for the standard Ultra. Um it it's made out of their aluminum. It has magnetic charging now. So if you have other O lights that use the magnetic base, you can charge it on that. You don't have to use the USB-C port. Really just a nice solid product. It's a little beefier than ever, but with some reason. If you like those extra features, I would argue it's worth the extra weight. And I can't at this point, it's hard to imagine what they would add that would lead me to the Oclip 3 Ultra, but in some number of episodes we may get there. For now, I'm pretty happy with this one. Have been using it for about a week.
Jason Heaton Nice. Yeah. And if they do have a three, I'm sure this will one will show up at the gear swap next year. Yeah,
James Stacy exactly. Gear swap, it'll go to a brother. Yeah. I gave I gave my original one to uh to a nephew or a a cousin of a cousin uh who was uh he was four and was crawling around under the cottage and couldn't see anything. So he ended up with a light. I hope Tyler enjoys the ultra. It gave me an excuse to check out this one and I'm quite happy with it. Uh it is a nice time of year to have a flashlight as things get a little darker and Halloween's on the horizon and all that kind of thing. So pretty happy with it. Continues to be kind of a product that um suits my life and and it's a useful thing. It's that next step up for me from the one that's built into your phone.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Nice. Yeah, it'd be a good one for my now dark morning dog walks. I should check this out.
James Stacy Perfect. yeah. All right. All
Jason Heaton right. Well, as always, thanks so much for listening to our uh fairly long episode. Hopefully a fun one for you. Um if you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode on Slack, uh, which we highly encourage, especially for this one. We'd love to hear your thoughts on uh Bond and Bond watches. Uh, or just consider supporting the show directly and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit thegreynato.com. Music Throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
James Stacy And we leave you with this quote from Douglas Adams. He said, I may not have ended up where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.