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The Grey NATO – 398 – Watches With Staying Power (Long-Term Review of Rolex & Blancpain)

Published on Thu, 05 Nov 2026 06:00:00 -0500

Synopsis

Episode 398 of The Grey NATO opens with James Stacy and Jason Heaton catching up. Jason is working the polls as an election judge the next day and heads to Iceland the following week. His plan to dive Silfra fell through because the operators required a formal dry suit certification. Instead the trip will focus on hiking and natural hot springs. James is deep in research on replacing his six-year-old $200 DeLonghi espresso machine. He wants something repairable, mostly metal, and simple enough that his wife Sarah can use it with one button.

The main topic is "long haul" watches, prompted by Jason's Substack piece on long-term ownership of his Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. Jason received the 45mm titanium Fifty Fathoms Automatique (list price now about $20,700) as payment for work he did for Blancpain, including a product launch in French Polynesia. He has had it roughly three and a half years. He praises the titanium case, crown, bezel, timekeeping and 120-hour movement. His gripes are the size, the specific look, the clear case back and the lack of a good 23mm rubber strap. The watch has become his go-to dive watch because of the trips he has taken with it, and it is unlikely to be sold.

James then covers his Rolex Explorer II 16570 Polar, bought ten years ago for his 30th birthday through Rolldorf for about CAD $3,300 and a bottle of whiskey. It has a 3186 movement, has never been serviced, and still keeps excellent time. He has worn it on Mount Baker and on many trips. He calls it the best Rolex for his tastes, the last era of Rolex built purely for professionals, and says he would buy it again. He admits he never got it engraved, and jokes about wanting a titanium "restomod" version.

The episode closes with gear picks. Jason recommends the Doyle 10-inch rivet nut setter kit from Harbor Freight, which he used to install a catalytic converter guard on a Prius. James recommends a roughly $40 off-brand DeWalt-battery tire inflator, as a cheaper alternative to the DeWalt version Jason featured in episode 159. They invite listeners to share their own long-haul watches on Slack.

Show Notes

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacy Hello and welcome to another episode of the Great NATO. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 398, and it's proudly brought to you by the always growing TGN Supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support, and if you're listening to the show and might want to support us, just visit thegreynato.com for more details. My name is James Stacy, and I'm joined as ever by my friend and co-host Jason Heaton. Jason, how are we doing today? Happy November.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. November 2nd here. Um, yeah, we're recording on a Monday because well, busy times for both of us here in the next couple of weeks, but uh decided I was gonna do my civic duty and work the polls tomorrow. Tomorrow's election day here in the US and I signed up to be an election judge, so I I might regret it uh after the fact 'cause it's uh I gotta start at six in the morning, six till two tomorrow. Um so it's gonna be an early. Type two fun for sure.
James Stacy Look, man, that's important. It's a obviously a crucial election uh cycle uh for American politics, which has an effect on all sorts of parts of the world these days, including up up north here in Canada.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um I'm you know, I'm I'm hoping
James Stacy that your involvement encourages maybe some people who would have stayed home 'cause it's too much of a pain to uh go out and cast their vote.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. too late to encourage people here 'cause this won't air until a couple of days after but uh yeah Oh yeah, true enough.
James Stacy Well fingers crossed. Yeah, right. So yeah, besides that, uh like you said, it's a Monday. Uh I'm fried I'm fried. The weekend started out just fine and then kind of devolved into some uh sickness here at the house. Oh boy. Uh so if I sound a little off or the or the voice is a little bit uh tired sounding, I'm doing my best. Um but we had uh had a fun Halloween. Oh good. Uh you know, my my son's uh a little over one and and kind of had a blast. Just it's the decorations that he was into.
Jason Heaton Oh, sure. he didn't really understand
James Stacy going to door to door and why people were giving him he's never had candy, right? Still pretty pretty little for that sort of thing. So he had no clue what he was getting. Um but he definitely liked all of the you know, the spookier and more extreme the uh decorations, the more he really enjoyed them. So that was that was pretty fun. Oh fun way to uh to get into the weekend. Yeah,
Jason Heaton we had a fair number of takers here. It was uh good weather, which helps always, but uh we
James Stacy For sure. We did a few things. We p
Jason Heaton kind of made a little sort of uh funny kind of dummy to sit in a chair out in front with a pumpkin head and Patagonia jacket and uh set up a lantern and some spiders that would go up and down over tree limbs after when the door would open and close and that sort of stuff. But uh yeah, other than that, um yeah, it was a it was a strangely balmy weekend. I mean, for the last weekend in October, I was out in shorts yesterday in a t-shirt and Christy and I built a section of fence that badly needed replacing before winter set in. Ruby kind of jumps up against it a lot. It was starting to get like ready to fall over and so that was pretty urgent. So we did that. And uh we're gonna have to record next week's episode later this week because I'm I'm in Iceland all of next week. We leave next Sunday. Um actually this coming Sunday. And uh
James Stacy Amazing. Yeah, just uh it kind of crept
Jason Heaton up. I mean we planned this back in July, I think, but now it's uh it's upon us and and you know, now I'm kind of in the thick of sorting out packing and and that sort of stuff. But uh yeah, looking forward to it.
James Stacy Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. Uh I'm very jealous of that trip. I have some travel coming up, but nowhere quite as wild. You know, I'm go I'm going to New York for uh you know some some events and that sort of thing. I'm going down to Florida for uh hours uh to cover something that I will share later on uh but should be a cool story. Um but yeah I'm I'm excited to see photos and to do a trip report when you get back. I've got lots of questions, but I'll have to wait until you've actually been there.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. It looks like such
James Stacy an exciting spot. Did you s sort out any plan for Silfra?
Jason Heaton I didn't. Yeah, I should explain. I, you know, my I for years I've been my one of my bucket list dives was to dive between the tectonic plates at Silfra in Iceland and um I had plans years ago and and went on a it was a press trip I did with Longa there and I went a couple days early and brought my dive gear and got weathered out apparently, couldn't couldn't make it uh happen that time. Um and I was planning to do it this time. Um, but the company that that uh kind of runs these trips or one of the the companies and uh actually all of them kind of have this same policy, is you have to be dry suit certified in order to do it or do your dry suit certification with them. And you know, for all the dry suit diving I've done over 20 years or almost 20 years, I um I've never actually had the formal certification and I just the I couldn't find a way around it, short of cooking up some you know, deceitful, you know, fake, you know, proof or something like that. I mean, I sent them articles I'd written and photos of me diving in a dry suit and kind of, you know showed them logbook entries and whatever but it just uh they weren't convinced and uh I wasn't didn't feel like pursuing it further so that will have to be scrapped until I don't know another trip to Iceland in a few years or something or, maybe I'll just have to give up on that one. But uh yeah, it's a little disappointing. But yeah,
James Stacy I'm sure to hear that. We have other
Jason Heaton fun plans. I mean I think our our trip kind of the focus uh is to just do a lot of hiking and um we're really kind of keen on kind of the natural thermal hot springs that are all over the country there. And so we're going to be uh trying to find ones that you can hike to and you know, take a take a nice hot dip in and you're
James Stacy you're in a real sauna era in your life. I like it.
Jason Heaton I really am. Yeah, we did a we did an eighty minute sauna last night uh near one of the lakes. There's this favorite place that we go, this guy who sets up a portable sauna, wo,od wood-fired sauna, right next to the the lake. And um it's it's kind of nice, but i i we're kind of in that sweet spot when you know that the air temperature here is in the sixties Fahrenheit and then the water temp is probably in the upper fifties, maybe. I don't know it's chilly, but it's like perfect for you know you you do ten minutes in the sauna, then you run down to the lake and do a quick dunk and cool off and then back in the sauna and kind of back and forth like that. And I was thinking last night that Iceland's gonna be the opposite experience where we'll be kind of hiking in what I presume will be kind of raw, windy, rainy, possibly snowy conditions and then getting out of the cold into warm water and then back and forth like that. But uh
James Stacy I like it. Yeah. It should be fun. Yeah, very cool.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Well, speaking of hot
James Stacy water, I'm very far down the rabbit hole on espresso machines.
Jason Heaton Uh-huh. It's been like six to eight months that
James Stacy I've been very casually. I tr I avoided YouTube and I was just trying to read up on well known brands and what differentiates one from the other. And I was really trying to like study the way that Sarah and I use our current machine, which is like a $200 DeLonghi machine, which we bought in 2020. Um, if I remember correctly. So it's been going for about six years. It's thousands of shots at this point. Yeah. And uh we have uh a taker down the line if we were to replace it. So I figured I would just start the process. Buying one something like this for me is a little bit like buying or or thinking about buying a car.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I'm gonna spend as much time as I
James Stacy can beforehand. So I have the the sweetest feeling with whatever it is I buy um after. And uh and so yeah I'm I'm way way down the rabbit hole. I have I've gone very far into the uh into the YouTube channels and Reddits and uh and you know calling around to other people I know that have machines and really trying to decide I don't want to buy more than I need and I'd prefer to never buy another one. I mean like ideally speaking. Yeah. Um, So I want something from like a known brand that's known to be repairable, that's not using a lot of plastic or ideally any plastic, certainly not on the hot water side.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. But then the the where you run into
James Stacy a little bit of difficulty is normally speaking, like in an ideal scenario, I would be making all the coffee from the machine. At which point I could buy almost any machine. It could be difficult to use, it could be kind of a pain to clean. I I would enjoy all of those processes.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But I'm I'm travel
James Stacy a lot. I think we're we're pushing up on probably sixty-five flights this year, sixty-six flights, something like that. By the time we get to the end.
Jason Heaton Yeah. That means that if I
James Stacy buy some E61 machine with flow control, like I have to teach Sarah. And if you don't want to do this, it's like teaching someone to drive manual when they just want to go get their groceries. Yeah. Right? Like it's a pain. And it doesn't add anything to the experience. For some of us, it does for sure. So I am I'm currently working on trying to find a machine that would kind of blend the ability to do things more nerdily, more in in a more nerdy fashion, or program something where Sarah could press a button. You know, obviously learn how to make the puck and all that correctly and then press a button and get the coffee.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Um so still digging around. There's
James Stacy obviously there's um lots of good uh feedback available on the TGN Slack is actually where I'm getting like the most specific um sort of answers to questions. So shout out uh to those guys and uh certainly to Aaron Shapiro uh for what is the start of some advice and I imagine as I get closer to ideas. The w the nice thing is I' Ive bought myself some time because the one I'm the one or two that I'm most interested in probably won't come to North America for another like four or five months.
Jason Heaton Oh. maybe before Christmas.
James Stacy We'll see. They're new models or brand new, yeah. Uh so I've I'm not I'm not weighing in, I don't necessarily want a bunch of emails with how I'm picking the wrong machine uh because it's not the same machine that you have at home. Uh if you're making coffee that you love, you have the right machine for sure. Yeah. Uh I'm going to be laborious about this decision. And then when when I get a little bit closer, or if maybe we I make a espresso friend along the way that would make for a fun episode. If I could have a coffee kev or Lance Hendricks or something on that could be pretty fun, I think. So yeah. Uh but yeah, that that's that's what I've been doing like in my in my free time my free time, middle of the night, that sort of thing. It's just like reading about espresso machines and why one thing might matter or not and and that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton I I've been using the same one since the nineties, and I guess if that if that speaks to its longevity and quality and so be it. I mean it was uh
James Stacy That's about what I'm looking for. Yeah. It was
Jason Heaton from a company called uh Francis Francis, which was bought up by Ely, the coffee company I L L Y or Ely. Um and yeah, it's all all metal, you know, brass uh brass boiler. Um you know is
James Stacy a single or dual boiler? It's a
Jason Heaton single. Um nice. And it's uh So
James Stacy y nice nice size as well. Yeah. Some of the concern for me is where do I put the dual?
Jason Heaton yeah. And it's uh it's been it's it's absolutely been bulletproof. I mean I've just I've cleaned it maybe once a year and you know, or descale it and uh um it steams milk well, which I don't do very often, but uh yeah, it's been it's been super reliable and I I it's kind of one of those unsung heroes. I don't use it every single day, but you know, weekly I use it a a few times and it's uh
James Stacy Sure. You know, just one of those products. I mean
Jason Heaton you know we used to do kind of a series here called Perfect Products and I might have actually used this in one of those episodes but uh
James Stacy I think it's possible, yeah. Yeah, good luck. I can't
Jason Heaton wait to to see what you come up with and and experience it next time I'm in Toronto next year, maybe.
James Stacy Yeah, make an even better cup of coffee. I'm I've got the the DeLonghi doing the Lord's work, I think.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it's it yeah, it makes a good coffee. Yeah.
James Stacy it cannot handle anything more than a dark roast.
Jason Heaton Mm. I've got some really nice kind of medium
James Stacy roast beans that are just it doesn't do the temperature required and it doesn't have the ability to really adjust that temperature.
Jason Heaton Oh yeah. Um so it it struggles.
James Stacy But uh it's it's good though. I mean it's it's I'm deeply impressed by what was accessible for two hundred dollars with really very limited knowledge that still offers a little bit of programming um and and the ability to to turn out a a decent shot once you've got that done. So yeah, I I would recommend it if you're starting out or if the the you always have to think about this, because I think it's why I stuck with this machine for six years, is like, do you will you get anything from going more nerdy into this space? It could happen with watches, you just wouldn't be listening to TGN.
Jason Heaton Yeah. If you're at home using a pour
James Stacy over or uh a mocha pod or a mocha master or an aeropress,
Jason Heaton I used aeropress for years. Yeah. It
James Stacy was just when the pandemic came and I had to make six aero presses a day,
Jason Heaton but I started to get sick of it. Yeah. And
James Stacy uh and that sort of thing. So yeah. Um, but if it if this if this type of interest isn't gonna add something to your life, my only recommendation is don't do it.
Jason Heaton Cause it's a little bit of a sickness. Whether
James Stacy and and not just the coffee thing, just this type of fascination into things that may or may not actually improve uh your your experience in your day to day. Yeah. I really love coffee, so I'm I'm this is very fun for me.
Jason Heaton That's a worthy pursuit, I think. Uh for
James Stacy sure. Yeah. Whol wholesome.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Anything else on your plate
James Stacy or uh were we ready to jump into what I think will be kind of an interesting episode.
Jason Heaton Yeah, let's do that. Um and before we do that, we should mention um that people should stay tuned for something of a special presentation in the TGN world. keep glued to your your TGN feed and that it'll show up like magic one of these days soon. So check that out.
James Stacy One of these days soon. It's all coming together. All right. So today's topic is going to be kind of a fun one. We've done I at least one of these watches. I didn't go back and check for yours, but mine is a watch that was on a former collection inspection. I think one of the earlier ones.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So we've but we've done collection inspection
James Stacy on both of these watches and we were kind of uh fueled uh you know pushed forth by a story that you wrote for your sub stack. Do you want to give a little summary of of the kind of concept behind that story?
Jason Heaton Yeah, sure. I was just kind of thinking to myself uh you know in my weekly quest for a new topic, I was like, what you know, I'm kind of interested in writing about a watch, and I happen to be wearing my my blanc pan fifty fathoms and I I I just got to thinking what's something new I could write about this watch that hasn't been said before. And then I it occurred to me that you just don't read a lot of um truly long term watch reviews like you do, you know, James, you're obviously very familiar with this sort of concept, but the the long term automotive review where for sure a magazine or publication will have a car, a loaner car that they keep for, you know, and they maybe pass it around the the pool of writers um you know for a few a few months uh and kind of go through the seasons with them and then kind of give their long-term assessment about what they liked and what they didn't like and those sorts of things and and I just thought kind of long-term review of a watch would be kind of a fun idea. So I wrote a story about this fifty fathoms and and that's the one I'm going to expand on today. But then as you and I were kind of batting this topic back and forth, we kind of thought, you know, let's talk about kind of the staying power involved with some of these what we call long haul watches, um, the pieces that have stayed in our collections and and kind of how our impressions of them have changed uh over the years and how they've held up, I guess. Um so we settled on two two really great watches. I think people would really be kind of keen to hear about these.
James Stacy Yeah, for sure. So mine is the sixteen five seventy, the Rolex Explorer two Polar, which was on collection inspection volume six back in the day. Wow.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And yours was on collection inspection
James Stacy volume twelve. So six and twelve. Uh and and the idea here is yeah, these sort of long haul watches, these watches that we've had for a very long time and really have no interest in getting rid of them. And I think the reason that these two watches kind of work really well together is they both kind of represent what would be at the top end of our price comfort for a
Jason Heaton watch. Um and maybe
James Stacy even more uh when you think about when we got them versus now.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh which is something I can get certainly get into
James Stacy when we get to the 16570. But this is if I was pushed to get rid of a watch, the maximum value for me would be my Explorer 2. And yet it really is among those very few watches in my collection that I have just have zero interest in not having.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um unless it was, you know,
James Stacy it was the watch or or something my family needed. You know what I mean? Right. Right. Um short short of that scenario, it really has proven to be like a very, very sticky sort of product in my life. and I know we've talked about it in the past, and and I will link to uh the collection inspections, which give you more of um uh you know, a dated look at it. And the idea is to add another date here with the idea of how far back and and how we got to it. And if you haven't been listening to the show for 10 years, do you know the stories of these watches? Maybe so, maybe not. But uh Jason, would you like to go first and I'll sort of interview you about the Blanc Bond or or the opposite?
Jason Heaton Yeah, I can I can go first. I can uh I can jump in on this and and I think kind of riffing off of what you just said about your Rolex being at the top end of kind of your price comfort or you know what you would spend on a watch or what you you used to spend on a watch um when you got this one ten years ago. this Blanc Pan is by far my my most valuable watch in my collection. Um and it's actually a price and was a price when it was new um that w far exceeds the amount of money I would be comfortable spending on a watch. and just, you know, obviously full transparency and part of the story here is that I didn't pay for this watch. I actually got it as a form of payment for some work I had done for Blancpain. I had done a couple of things for them. I'd moderated a panel discussion in Cannes in France, kind of an ocean commitment-oriented talk, and then I helped them with a product launch for the the the fifty fathoms tech that was in French Polynesia back in twenty twenty three. Um where I I they did this really crazy chaotic live stream. We had to record it twice on in once in the evening, once the next day to kind of go around the world and hit all the different time zones to launch the fifty fathoms tech from um Rangaroa et al. So it was a very technically challenging thing and blah blah blah. Go into the details about it. But um it's
James Stacy the exact sort of place where you want to do uh a very technologically advanced webcast.
Jason Heaton Oh my gosh. I don't I don't want to get into it. Um regardless. Um makes for makes for good stories and good memories and and the watch was part of that because uh it was just um a couple of weeks before going there that I got the watch. And um it was a bit of a surprise. I mean I you know Blancpain certainly didn't offer a payment. they flew me over there and and I had a lovely time and got to go diving and interviewed Belesta and we had that as part of a a T GN episode uh back then. Um, but they sent me this watch as kind of a a thank you or a a form of payment for that work. Um and that was in twenty twenty-three. So it isn't a a super long lot lived watch in my collections, three years, although I I've I've done so much with it. I feel like I've had it longer than that. And I um I can go into that in a bit. But just to kind of give some background on the watch itself, this is the it's the fifty fathoms automatic or automatique in French. Um and it's the reference 5015, um, which goes on to 12B30 NABA, um, which I assume indicates the uh the specific model that I have, which is the 45mm titanium version of this watch. And um it's quite the quite the tour de force, quite the kind of high-end watch, uh dive watcher otherwise, because it's uh you know it's a it's got a titanium case. I believe it's grade five, although I couldn't find that information on their website. Um I know they use um type twenty three uh titanium for the the fifty fathoms tech, but I think this is probably a uh a grade five. Um and it's uh forty five millimeters in diameter by fifteen point four thick by by my calipers, about fifty millimeters lug to lug. And um I think the one of the more impressive things about this watch is the movement inside, which is their caliber 1315, which is a well-known blonde-pan movement. Um, that has uh a really impressive 120 hour power reserve. Uh it's a four hertz movement with a silicon hairspring um and it's nicely decorated and and the titanium version of this watch actually comes with a um a clear case back, which you know I can get into in a little bit as far as kind of the appeal or or you know things, I would change. But uh it is nice to be able to see this movement. It is an impressive movement. Um but uh yeah, I think uh you know to not to bury the lead here, I I would I would have loved a close case back on this. I just think there's something kind of uh kind of confident and fun about ha having a really beautiful movement um behind a closed case back like so many other brands do. So those are kind of the main b details about it.
James Stacy Yeah, and I think it also kind of links back to something I'll get into mine, which is especially for a watch you keep for a a long time, case back with a bit of room for an engraving is is pretty nice.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah. You
James Stacy kind of gave us the the standard story of how you got the watch, the connection with Blanc Pond, doing it a bit of work for them, and you know, kind of rendered uh this watch in in terms of you know uh a payment or a a tribute to that. At the time would you have kind of been in the market for such a watch? And if so, were there were you kind of weighing out other ones? Did Blanc Pon send you an email and you got to pick the reference that you were interested in or something like that. This would have even predated some of the slightly smaller models that exist now. This is being the larger at the forty-five. Would you have you know, would you prefer to have had the forty-two or something like that?
Jason Heaton Well, you know, I I had an inkling that they were going to send a watch, but they didn't choices and I assumed it would be from the Bathscaf line, um just being less expensive and and a little bit smaller and more accessible. So when this arrived I, was you know obviously quite quite taken aback, quite pleased um with it to answer your question. No, I was definitely not in the market. Um as I said, you know, this is the uh at the time the the list price on this was eighteen thousand dollars, and I believe now if I look at their website I think that's pushing um I believe these go for yeah twenty thousand seven hundred so well beyond anything I would um I would even consider spending on a watch. So it is a big number. Um so no, I did not have a a a a choice in the matter, and I think, you know, I would have been pleased with anything, frankly. Um, but I was I was especially pleased to find out that it was the titanium watch because for
James Stacy sure. I've handled and seen the
Jason Heaton the the big forty five millimeter steel version of this and it's it's a tank. I mean it's a it's a big heavy watch. And this is a big watch, but it's not really uncomfortable to wear because it's uh the the titanium really mitigates that.
James Stacy And I'm curious, how how do you see this watch kind of fitting into your collection? You know, you have other big steel dive watches, you know, think like a Braymont S two thousand, but this being titanium, that's sort of a different experience, it's also just such a high end sort of device uh with even within this space, you know, the the fifty fathoms is that cut more towards uh the the haute and the haute or laterie sort of side of everything based on the way it's finished and and you know all these other elements from blanc pond and the way they make their watches. how does it sort of fit into your collection?
Unknown Yeah, you know, I I remember
Jason Heaton years ago that was writing for Revolution magazine and I had gotten the tribute to Aqua Lung Um 50 Fathoms, which was a watch I still love to this day. It was a beautiful, beautiful watch. Um, and I I took that diving, I had it for a week as a loner. Um and I remember kind of really being smitten with that watch and just thinking, man, this this is a cool thing. Like I um I love that kind of high low feels a little cliche to say, but this idea that like you can take a watch of this kind of caliber and price and and take it diving and not feel not feel bad about it or not to feel too precious. Um but but it w it was just not on my radar as something I would ever own. And then I was on this um earlier trip that I did with Blancpain years ago for the Ocean Commitment 3 launch um when I did that liveaboard trip to uh the Socorro Islands, and I was with this whole group of uh you know, basically Gombesa team divers that were with Laurent Balesta on that on that boat. And you know, several of them were wearing rather beat up uh fifty fathoms. And there was one guy, I remember before we boarded the boat, we were like having a coffee or something on the in Cabo San Lucas, waiting for the boat. And um, you know, I just he was just he was just gesturing and talking and whatever. He was kind of big strong guy from from French Polynesia. And uh he had this watch on it, and I asked him to take a look at it, and it was just covered with scratches and scars. And I think at that moment, it it just struck me like, okay, this is this is a legit watch. This is a cool watch. I love how he wears it. I loved how everybody on that boat was wearing their watches. There really were no other journalists on that trip, and it just kind of these guys were just there to dive and take pictures and kind of do their cool stuff. And with with little regard for what was on the their wrists, other than fact that this was a brand that was in underwriting their efforts.
James Stacy For sure. And uh it it just
Jason Heaton made an impression on me. You know, we we talk about kind of some of the intangibles with watches that that bring their appeal and that was that was the kind of the that planted the seed for me and I think now you know the week after I got this watch I strapped it on a a long NATO and went ice diving with it and then a week later was in French Polynesia diving with it as well. And I think ever since then it kind of those early experiences as well as that impression that I had of these watches just kind of ingrained in me this idea that that this can be this is a this is a brand that cares about you know as their name suggests ocean commitment I mean they have a commitment to to the oceans that their CEO is an avid diver they sponsor some really cool adventures and expeditions and underwater photography and that sort of stuff. And all of that kind of cumulatively put in my brain that this is like a proper dive watch with a capital D. And it has been that for me ever since. I, you know, I've I've had it in the Philippines diving and the south of France and the Channel Islands on three different expeditions. And so for a watch I've only had for coming up on four years. Um it's it's it's had a lot of bottom time and it it has held up very well and now it just has those memories are just in ingrained in it. And for that reason it, has become kind of my my go-to dive watch. Like if I wasn't going on a press trip or something with a certain brand and I wanted to wear, you know, a specific watch, like this is the watch I would reach for. I think it's it's very capable as a dive watch, certainly due to its size, great bezel, good loom, all the things we like about a good dive watch. But then it kind of add this kind of growing history of of memories that I have with it from all these different trips. Um and that's kind of where it fits in my collection. And I'll, you know, I can go into it a little later, but you know, it it's a watch that I don't wear as much anymore when I'm not diving. Um, which is interesting. It's kind of been an interesting thing for me.
James Stacy And after a few years of having it, I'm curious, what's the go-to strap? What where did you kind of land?
Jason Heaton That's the that's the tough thing. And I, you know, to to talk about I guess some negatives, if you will, about this watch. Um, kind of the the main one for me is I've struggled to find just the right strap for it. I feel like dive watches for me have always been, you know, dating back to the first Seiko or my first Planet Ocean, like a good chunky, high-quality rubber, long rubber strap. Um, just feels right on a dive watch. And there isn't that option that I know of for this watch. And I'm sure there's some kind of nice aftermarket stuff I. could put a an isofrain on it, I suppose. But part of the problem is it's got 23 millimeter strap width, which, you know, if you don't care about that little gap, you know, I could run a 22, might be able to squeeze a 24. Um, but the strap that it came on uh was a high quality, really nice stitched kind of sail cloth. Blanc pen does a really nice job with that. And since then I've gotten some some aftermarket versions from Artem that we've talked about in in the past. Um and you know run some NATOs on it and and Blanc Pan has a a long 23mm NATO, but I I feel like I just want a long rubber strap for this watch and I have yet to find that. So I'll I'll put that out there. If anybody knows of a a good twenty three millimeter long rubber strap that would work well on this watch, um do let me know because I I would love that.
James Stacy And any any other sort of owning notes, uh pluses or minuses, things that people may not know unless they, you know, had a couple years with a watch like this and all these adventures?
Jason Heaton Um it's it it it's comfortable to wear. it's just very big and it's a very specific look. And I think that's why when I was saying that it's kind of become my dive watch, it it fits so well in that environment. Um, over a wetsuit sleeve, you know, with a t-shirt, with swim trunks in the tropics, certainly over a dry suit sleeve if you're taking it cold water diving or whatever. It works really well in those environments. Not so well with you know, uh a shirt with sleeves or a a sweater necessarily. Um it it's it's just such a specific look that that's what keeps me from wearing it a lot. Um unless I'm out adventuring or wearing it diving or something. You know, when I look down at my wrist, I'm wearing it right now and it's, you know, it's 50 millimeters lug to lug, so it's not outrageous. It's just a little actually bigger in that dimension than my Pelagos FXD. But it's just it it's just such a bold look with this giant bezel, you know, really huge markers and and hands. Um i it it's a beautiful piece, but it's just a very specific look. It's just less versatile, I guess we'll say. A couple of things that people you know,, might wonder if if I if bother me, um, would be the four thirty date. And you know, the it's a very divisive thing in the watch Wldor. I don't personally mind it. Um it it does preserve the symmetry of the dial. You still get the the 12369 at the cardinal markers. Um it's just nestled between four and five, and it's got a black background, and it's fairly small and unobtrusive and I I'll admit I wear a lot of no date watches. I w I think I wear mostly no date watches these days. Um and it is kind of refreshing to have a a a date when you need it, but when you don't it kind of just disappears.
James Stacy I it's funny because the 430 date thing I think I might be slowly shifting. Uh I was pretty against it in a lot of watches, but when it comes to a sport watch and and if it's executed like the blanc pon where where the um the face of the ring of the date ring is the same color as the dial, and then you have the text over it. So in this case white on black.
Jason Heaton Yeah. It really does kind of hide
James Stacy okay. I don't it it used to bother me more than it does. I don't know how how best to say it any other way. I have it on a couple of watches that I've been wearing more recently. And it just I when I I think when I saw it on paper went oh 430 date that's a bummer
Jason Heaton yeah um and there's still 430 dates
James Stacy even some very famous ones that bother me a lot I I I have trouble with the one on the on the El Primero
Jason Heaton um it could be because they've kind of flared the window
James Stacy and it's like more of it's like even more intentional. Yeah. Whereas the doing it in white over black, same as the dial color, just kind of tucks it away. You know, over time has really bothered me less than I thought it would. Yeah. Um in examples where I I wore the watch for due to other things I really liked about it.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I the other thing that people kind of complain about with this watch um is the the engraving that says Blanc Pan on the I guess it'd be the nine o'clock side, the left side of the case. Right. Um again, something that that has never bothered me. Um, especially in this titanium version, um, somehow it just disappears because everything is just matte. It's not shiny. the the the steel version of this watch, actually, um at least the the the latest one I saw, um, which has been a while, was quite shiny. I mean, it had a lot of polish on it, and that engraving on the side of the case just kind of stood out a little bit more in relief. And that I didn't care for as much. But here I for one thing I I just don't notice it. I mean it's kind of you know hidden
James Stacy under the wrist usually really broad bezel,
Jason Heaton which is actually wider than the case. Yeah. Um, so that doesn't bother me. And you know, going back to the kind of the comfort of this, uh being a big watch, being titanium, it it isn't bad, but what what really helps it as well, and this goes for the steel version too, is the shape of the case. they've kind of done the that Seiko magic where you know Seiko does that sort of it narrows or kind of it's kind of bold or rounded um
James Stacy uh along the bottom edge and kind of disappears and
Jason Heaton gets a little smaller at the bottom, which uh I think uh makes it a little more comfortable. It's got a great crown. I love the crown. It's got this really wide, chunky fluting uh on the crown. Um super smooth as you as you'd hope. You know, I mean let's face it, with a watch of this price, um you you just you should expect a lot. and this one does deliver. I can't really think of anything kind of um tactile or functionally that it doesn't do well. Um it it keeps tremendous time. I've I've haven't had this one serviced and you know, obviously it's only been three, three and a half years. But um keeps great time. The bezel's good. Winding and settings good. The loom is tremendous on the bezel as well. Yeah. I I think my only I think my only kind of quibbles on it are the specific look and the size. I think the forty two millimeter, looking back, like if times were different and they had sent me a forty two if it had been available on in that year, um, I probably would wear it a lot more. 'Cause you know, having worn the forty two uh on the Channel Islands trip uh what was it last year? Um really fell in love with that. That's a that's a great size. Um and then I would love a um I'd love a solid case back on this. I I mean you you mentioned the the engraving capability of that. this watch, there's absolutely no space. I don't know where I would engrave anything on this watch. There's just there's no room for that on it. Um and then also I don't know, there's something I'm I'm a little kind of uh kind of a purist about you know kind of tool watches and I I just kind of like them kind of fully, you know, kind of functional and uh and this just feels a bit like a flourish. I understand why they do it. It's a great movement, you pay that kind of money you. want to maybe see what they've done. Um but the steel one, I'm not sure if they still do this, but the steel one had a you know a solid case back, which I always kind of liked, admired that about that.
James Stacy Nice. Yeah. And never never tempted to sell it? Is there a scenario, you know, or would it be one of the last ones to leave?
Jason Heaton Um yeah, I've been doing a lot of purging, you know, as I've mentioned um and written about, you know, over the past uh year, I would say, and um this one kind of sticks with me. I uh you know, it was we did our one watch draft um kind of at the beginning of the year and it was um uh it was one of the kind of the the last holdouts uh kind of in the the lower brackets. Um and yeah, so far so good. I mean it's it's gonna stay with me. It's actually my second my second blong pen. I also have the the Hodinkee edition bathasca that um Hodinkee and Ben uh gifted to me for my fiftieth birthday back in uh twenty twenty, the pandemic year, um, which I I absolutely love. Um I and and between the two of them, that one, if I had to make a choice, that one would stay and this one would go. Um just for I guess the reason that it's it was for my fiftieth birthday and it was engraved and it's a very special low, low number, kind of limited edition piece. Um due to the adventures I've had with this one, I think it's not gonna go anywhere soon.
James Stacy Very cool. Well, any uh any questions for Jason about his Blanc Pond? You can obviously hit him up on the Slack or even send them in via audio for a future QA. Uh but Jason, any any kind of final thoughts on that one or or you figure like you pretty much covered
Jason Heaton Yeah, I think I I think I covered it. I mean I think um it's uh it's a a really special watch for me and I uh pulled it out today to to put on and uh I've got a two-piece kind of thinner I guess it's a canvas strap which which looks okay, but um yeah, the the you know, if anyone's got a strap suggestion, hit me up because that would that would probably cause me to wear it a little bit more um if I had just the right strap for it.
James Stacy Might be time to to commission such a thing. There you go. Or you know, maybe maybe we just need some samples, right? Just in case. Good
Jason Heaton point. Yeah.
James Stacy Uh but yeah, so I mean, dude, the it it's a fifty fathom. Yeah. Uh it's it's an it's a true icon of like the dive watch space. It's one of those like very enduring ones that was around the start, you know, often compared in many ways to the submariner. The submariner, which you you have, in my opinion, one of the best ones you can get with the fourteen oh six OM. Uh and then to have this is that it's kind of two different ideas of the same idea, if that makes sense, two different executions.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um one just more leaning
James Stacy towards what Blanc Pond does best and one more leaning towards what Rolex does best. And I I think it's a great watch. And you know, a big watch in titanium bothers me a lot less than just a garden variety big watch in steel. And you know, this is obviously not a garden variety watch and uh the titanium definitely helps with that. So a cool piece for sure and uh a fun one to have around for several years and all those great adventures, many of which we spoke about on the show. Yeah. Um so we can uh we can dig back through some of those and put them in the show notes if you're not familiar with all of those uh Scotland and the Philippines and Polynesia, etc.
Jason Heaton Well let's dig into your uh your Explorer too because um it's uh it's a watch we've talked about a lot. You know, people have heard you mention it in RiskCheck and various kind of other forms on this show. And uh it's a watch I've seen and I love and it's got a great story to it. But uh, you know, in terms of kind of your long term experience with it, um, and you know, I I assume you're wearing it a lot less. I I know you are. Um
James Stacy So you know as I've talked about in the past, I got this watch for my 30th birthday. So that would have been the spring of 2016. Uh, just turned 40 uh earlier this year. Originally, what I really wanted, I knew I wanted to do the 30th birthday, get my first Rolex. At the time, 10 years ago, with a few exceptions, the Rolex stuff was in a much different price category than it is now. It was still hard to get a Daytona. At the time, I didn't want a new one. I really did want one of a few five digit options. Um and and in that s kind of perspective, my taste really hasn't changed over the last decade um when it comes to Rolex. But, you know, in saying that I maybe wear it less or more, this has kind of become my watch for special moments. And also uh kind of the if I if I want to wear something for travel that is just like just it just does a really good job at everything. And I know that I might be getting my photo taken and I might want to look at that photo twenty years from now. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Like this will be one of the watches that goes to my
James Stacy kids. So I I try and be conscious of those memories and maybe having a photo of doing something cool in Geneva or something like that. And if you get a chance to go visit the Rolex HQ, this is what I would wear even instead of my day just because it's just the one that I really like.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And you know, this was right
James Stacy around the same time that we started uh TGN. I actually was able to go back. The first mention of the reference 16570 in my email was in an email to you the week that we started our TGN Slack. Not the TGN crew slack,
Jason Heaton yeah. Oh but the Slack that you and I use
James Stacy to chat. Um so this is December 2015, uh just you know, a month or so before we actually about three weeks before we launched the first episode, but we were going back and forth probably on like Google chat. It's called Hangouts now.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I I'm not sure what we were using to converse.
James Stacy Maybe text message. We've now switched back to text message, but for a long time we had
Jason Heaton like we were using Skype even. I think we might have been using Skype.
James Stacy We were using Skype to record. Oh, okay.
Jason Heaton For sure. Yeah. But I just mean just for comms. Yeah.
James Stacy And I have w in in this final it was a many thread email of of a trip that you were going on that I was going to try and get on, and then we'd see each other at Basel in twenty sixteen. So that would have been March, yeah. Um of twenty sixteen. And then I've got one note here and I I screencapped it and put it in the you have to zoom way in. But it says speaking about Rolex. I think that's my next, I have an itch for an explorer 2 6570 Polar.
Jason Heaton Wow. Probably 3185 for
James Stacy a long time. And I think they're a little bit undervalued right now. Hope to have one before Basel JS.
Jason Heaton Wow. So I I dug
James Stacy around briefly in my huge kind of NAS storage of of my images and I couldn't find like my first wrist shot of it, but if I do, I'll include it in the show notes. But yeah, that was that was in um December of twenty fifteen and then we launched the show in uh early twenty sixteen as well, shortly thereafter I've started this hunt with um with Rolldorf. I I had originally been thinking about so before this email I'd sent you, I'd really been looking at sixteen seven tens uh expl uh GMT master twos.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And the problem was that at the
James Stacy time they were five, six, seven thousand Canadian dollars.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Again, a decade ago.
James Stacy Sorry for everybody who's buying in today's money. Uh there were five, six, seven thousand dollars, especially if you wanted a 3186, maybe even more than that. And then I would want to, you know, I would have wanted one that had all three bezels so I could swap them out, all that kind of fun stuff. And in the process of learning more and more about it, I was also reading a lot of books at the time about, you know, exploring and mountaineering and these sorts of things. And I came across, as I've talked about men on so many episodes in the past, came across a reference in Ed Ves'ers No Shortcuts to the top about this white-faced Rolex that kind of drew him into the brand ended up being the watch that he wore, and now I've got multiple Ed Veser's ads in my office Rolex ads of the 16570. So I'd kind of change my tune. I was spending some time bouncing around various uh secondhand options in Vancouver. I saw uh 16 um 570, a very early one where the you know uh pierced lugs and the the dial had gone very creamy. And in the process, I thought I would I would ask a second person's opinion and I I asked Jason Galla at Roldorf and Co. This is when they were still underground at the original location in uh the Bental Center. And he said, you know, it's he he kind of took a look at some photos on that sort of thing and gave me some advice. He also said, like, I can reach if you're looking for one that's more modern or even just another comparable. Let me reach out to my network and see what I can find you.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I said, yeah, let me let me know what's
James Stacy up. And lo and behold, not that long after, he's like, I've got a 16570 with 3186, so a much later version towards the end of the run, the upgraded movement, and it's ready to go if you want it. I'll service it and make sure that everything's uh above bar. It doesn't have uh boxes, but it has the original receipt and and and the warranty card. It was sold by Monte Cristo in Vancouver. And uh and I said, Yeah, let's let's take a peek at it. And so he opened it up and made sure everything was good. That was ten years ago. I bought it for I think $3,300 Canadian dollars and a bottle of whiskey.
Jason Heaton Wow. It was in that neighborhood.
James Stacy It might have been $3,500, it might have been $3,200. Something like that. It was the most I'd ever spent on a watch. And I just I just love it. I just love it. I loved it then. I wore it all the time. And I I loved that it was this uh this you know this the mountaineering one, the the cave exploring one, the white dial one I was I was and continue to be quite enamored with white dial sport watches, especially when they have black dial furniture like this one does. it just it cuts a silhouette that I think works really well. And then I think a bunch of things about this watch in the in the past ten years have aged really nicely. Obviously, both when this when I got this one and moving forward, the Explorer two's become a larger watch intentionally, forty two millimeters wears quite a bit bigger. Um as far as specs, these sixteen five seventies are forty millimeters across, a little less than that across the bezel, so they wear quite slim. Twelve point six millimeters thick with the crystal and 477 in terms of lug to lug. Mine steel, it's on an oyster bracelet. It's a V cereal. And like I said, it has a 3186 movement, so you get the Paracrom Blue Antimagnetic Hairspring. Um and then slight updates to the movement, like that, you know, the people say that there's less hand wiggle um due to the date change mechanism. But it's cost certified movement that came out in 2005. My watch is closer to 2007. It's a four hertz movement that with about 48 hours of power reserve. I think if you're going to call something a workhorse movement, this one, or at least the 3185 before it certainly counts. And then this is the watch that would have been seen into the six digits of the GMT master and that sort of thing. Um until it was eventually replaced.
Jason Heaton What year did the the replacement explorer to the the the current one when did that when was that release? I'm wanting twenty eighteen?
James Stacy 2011. Okay. Long time ago.
Jason Heaton So So it was it was made from 2011
James Stacy to 2021. Okay. So when you got yours,
Jason Heaton yours was already the previous generation. It wasn't in current production. Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. Didn't remember that. Okay.
James Stacy Yeah, and I I had seen, you know, through like Red Bar Vancouver, I seen'd uh the the the six the six digit the the twenty eleven or later. Yeah. But i the larger case size, and I I even remember reading your story. I wanna say it was the one where you took it to the bugaboos.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. And just
James Stacy thinking like, I love the way this looks, but it's gotta be the the previous gen for me.
Jason Heaton And I mean, look, if if I had been if
James Stacy if it hadn't been twenty or thirty thousand dollars at the time, and who knows now, a 1655 still remains one of my favorite vintage watches.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And uh I think you
James Stacy you don't get a ton of that DNA in the the 16570, but I still just really like the 16570, specifically the white one. I don't really feel any specific way about the black one.
Jason Heaton Huh. Um which uh is a
James Stacy it's very much like a dividing line. People you either love the white or you love the black. It's I don't meet a lot of people who feel str strongly both both necessarily. But yeah, so I've I've had it for 10 years. I've worn it a ton. It's never been serviced. I put it on I put it on my uh, you know, Chinese time graph knockoff the other day, and it's running plus two seconds.
Jason Heaton Wow. Uh across five positions.
James Stacy it's easily my most accurate watch sort of quote unquote out of the box.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Um, short of something that's
James Stacy quartz, I suppose, right? Uh it it's a very impressive thing. I think it wears really well. And at the time, again, ten years ago, there was no Miyota nine oh seven five. So I wasn't just buying this to get a Rolex, which is what I wanted certainly, but I was also buying it because I wanted local jumping versus you know the the Eda base uh twenty-four hour jumping uh twenty four hour adjustable GMT.
Jason Heaton The Paracom hairspring was uh quite an advance, especially the era that yours is, you know, the V serial kind of the early, you know, two thousand knots. Um, you know, this was I I feel like there's there was kind of this t tsunami of of kind of silicon or you know, anti-magnetic hairsprings that kind of came after that. Um but you really scored a nice it's kind of a sweet spot. I I remember before I got my submariner in twenty ten, you know, mine's a Z cereal, so you know similar, not too much different from your V serial, but in terms of its uh vintage. Um but I remember talking to the guy at this at the shop because I wasn't the submariner at the time. I was also looking at GMT Master 2s. And I remember him telling me about the 3186 and how, you know, it it it it it's this kind of recent advancement and it's kind of you know got this anti-magnetic hairspray and it just it you kind of got the sweet spot because you got the kind of the old school five digit Rolex here, but you have this, you know, anti-magnetic properties in the in the movement, which is such a a great advance for that watch.
James Stacy Yeah, I don't I don't disagree. I've been super happy with it. I really have no notes on the movement. Um again, in in my opinion, the the the the the idea of the professional Rolex lives on today it most specifically in the brand's movements where you're you just it does what they say it's gonna do and it's gonna do it and and if it needs to be serviced they can be serviced right and and that's kind of the ideal, but this is never it's never let me down. I it's a nice legible movement. I would say if there's one weakness to the watch, which I've complained about before, it would be the loom.
Jason Heaton Oh yeah. Um it's only okay.
James Stacy Definitely doesn't stack up to a modern dive watch or um or anything in the you know the X series from Super Luminova. Um but thankfully, you know, with the black outlines for the hands and the white dial, you get you get some ability to mess around with contrast and reflections to try and catch the hand position in a darker setting. Um, so the loom is like less important than it might be on something like a dive watch where you expect it, but it's not great. I wouldn't I wouldn't I wouldn't tout it as one of the strong suits of the watch.
Jason Heaton I think what one thing that that that kind of holds I don't say holds these back, because we're you and I are both fans of the Oyster bracelet. It's a very comfortable bracelet. They look perfect on these watches, but they are a relic now. There's so th they feel like an antique, you know, the the clasp specifically. Um any do do you ever find yourself being like, oh boy, this watch would be what's keeping what's keeping it from being perfect besides the loom um would be like a micro adjust or kind of a a a more solid uh bracelet. Do you feel that?
James Stacy I think for me it's probably the only the only watch I have in its price category, or now you know it's worth much more than I had originally paid, where I I'm perfectly happy with the bracelet.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Um, for whatever reason,
James Stacy this watch fits my wrist just right.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um I I don't think I've
James Stacy changed the micro adjust in a decade.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Clasp is super basic
James Stacy and not a not especially expensive feeling, especially compared to the new stuff.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Kind of like you were intimating.
James Stacy But it's also very slim. It has no sharp edges.
Jason Heaton I think it looks of its era with the sort
James Stacy of um pressed stamped link structure into the clasp. Um no, I I like it a lot. it's got enough little micro adjust if you need it. Uh the bracelet fits really nicely. Uh you know, I would say if anything, I would want pierced lugs more than micro adjust, only because one, the Pierce Lux ones look way cooler, any Rolex with Pierce Lugs is cooler. And two, I did I went through an era where I never wore it on this bracelet.
Jason Heaton I would say the last three years it's not been
James Stacy off of this bracelet, maybe to a NATO occasionally. But for a long time I I for whatever reason just thought like this wasn't the look I was going for. I wore it on a NATO a ton. If you go far enough back in in episodes of the show, I wore it on um a uh Everest band, like a blue rubber Everest band.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And then I even bought like a steel
James Stacy knockoff Jubilee. Oh.
Jason Heaton Which there's you know, there's photos circulating
James Stacy around of it on that, which I know I talked about on on an episode, you know, five, six years ago, something like that. Um, maybe even earlier than that. and it was fine, but really I've I've just come it just lives on the oyster. That's what kind of feels right. Uh maybe it's uh I'm maybe I'm just getting old. Probably, you know, it's been a decade. Um but yeah, I uh I I like it on the oyster kind of in that stock format. It it's really nice on a NATO. And I think we've also talked about this in the past. I've never been able to find the video, so it's kind of like a false history that I can't fully prove. But there was that YouTube video where I kind of first fell in love with Greenados. And that was uh a gentleman we I believe just going off of what's almost certainly a falsified memory or memory I've created or adjusted in my mind over time by accident. But driving a Swiss pass or something in what I think was a a red um E46 M3 uh wearing also, I think definitely something on a on a gray Natal, but I think it was a um a 16570. And uh I've always kind of liked the look since I saw that video. And then since I've had it, the the two ways that I wear it now is either sort of on a Grenado or on um on the oyster.
Jason Heaton yeah. When you got this watch, you know, were you where were you at in your you know, the there's this sort of arc of the watch enthusiast when it comes to Rolex. You know, when when we when we all get into watches, Rolex is kind of this this holy grail, this kind of quest, it's kind of the top of the pyramid. And then as you learn more, you're you get a little anti-snobby about them and you kind of seek more exotic or different stuff. You don't want to be kind of like everybody seeking a Rolex, but then you kind of come back around later to appreciate what Rolex stands for and what they're all about. Um I mean, y I just knowing you uh as I have for for many years now, um, y you aren't your typical kind of Rolex guy. Like I don't think you're in terms of prestige or you know wanting to present a certain image. And I I think we both appreciate Rolex for for the same reasons or similar reasons. But where were you at when you got this watch at that time with in terms of Rolex appreciation.
James Stacy Yeah, for me, for me it was that connection with exploring. I love the name, I love the two time zone. I was in a a phase of my life where I was really starting to travel a lot. A phase that has largely continued uh aside from the pandemic. And I think I don't I don't like the sort of um pretense that now comes with a lot of Rolex stuff.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Uh for me, it's just like how well
James Stacy does it wear and how well does it reflect the the type the the era of Rolex that I really like?
Jason Heaton Yeah. Because on paper,
James Stacy everything they make now is higher quality than the five digit stuff. I just but the movements are better, the cases are better, the tolerances are tighter, the loom is much better, the timekeeping's even better. We're talking about green seal. We've got, you know, all these sorts of improvements. It's a company that's always improving their product. Yeah. And I I really like Rolex. I don't always love Rolex's audience, especially as soon as you step outside of watch nerds,
Jason Heaton and it just becomes like the
James Stacy watch you buy de facto to say that you know to kind of suggest that you might be rich.
Jason Heaton Yeah. that part doesn't really appeal
James Stacy to me. Um I like I like that it's not a cheap watch. I obviously I adore cheap watches as well or inexpensive watches. Yeah. But it's nice to have this kind of as a you know, this is how far the evolution could go when there's more money behind it and in it. That said, you know, for me it's a I'm a five-digit guy.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I never had the money to play around
James Stacy in four-digit stuff. And for a brief window of time, thankful to my age, uh and and that sort of thing and and just general timing that was not really up to me, I had a little bit of money to play around in um in the the five digit space. Yeah. And I'm just lucky that basically the one I bought is also the one that if you asked me today what one to buy, I would do it again. Um you know, I I there's all there'll always be a little bit of me that would love the that era's sea dweller, which I think is an exceptionally cool watch. Your 14060 is amazing. Yeah. The um 14270, I absolutely adore. And then you can get into stuff like the Milgos, where you get something both interesting and specific and quite well made. Um, those are all all watches I really like, but I think what I like the most about the five-digit Rolex for me is it's sort of the last era of Rolex that was about precisely about the watch being something for professional before things um in the world kind of shifted that product to become more lifestyle adjacent to professionals or have nothing to do with a professional at all.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And like I said, I believe their their watches have gotten
James Stacy better with that time. I just think that they don't really reflect my sort of core feeling about watches anymore, the same way that that the five digits do. And certainly the sixteen five seventy.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Uh but I mean and and and I
James Stacy like to think I uh at least for a time I lived that. I got this in the right around my birthday, I believe, in the spring of twenty sixteen. And then in June and July I did Baker, we'll call it one and a half times. We got to the bottom of the main wall uh the first time and then I went back a couple weeks later and we summited and I wore it on a gray NATO on my on my wrist. I've I've got this goofy picture of me at the top. Uh I got a Garmin Phoenix three, if you want to age me a little bit, age the experience back to that era on the other wrist. Uh yeah, I uh I wore it like that. I've I've took it on every adventure that I could, any time that I could. I love traveling with it. I love I still love taking it off my wrist when I land somewhere and jumping the hour hand forward, knowing that I know what time it is at home. Even in like Geneva, who cares? It's not that hard to do the math. But like now I I go to Tokyo maybe once or twice a year. I end up in other time zones and where I'm not going to do that math as quickly. Yeah. And then, you know, we're talking one day after the most recent uh DST uh fallback here in North America. And now it's it's no longer three hours to the west coast in Canada. It's two, but it's three to Washington. It's all a mess. Um I I still I still really like this functionality. I still really love travel watches. But for me, this will always be kind of like one of the best. Again, for I'm I can only speak from my perspective, but I've had a now a decade of being really absorbed in watches, right? Mm-hmm. This is the best Rolex they made for me.
Jason Heaton Yeah. There's not like there's not one where
James Stacy I go, oh, if only I had sold this during the pandemic when it was worth so much more money, I could have had this or that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I'd go like if I had sold this during the pandemic
James Stacy and bought a sports car, I might feel okay about it.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. But otherwise, I'd go like, Wow,
James Stacy I really wish I hadn't sold it. They're way more money now.
Jason Heaton You know? Uh I bought it for an amount
James Stacy of money that was a lot for me then and would still feel like a lot to spend on a watch now.
Jason Heaton Yeah. It's not inconceivable to spend
James Stacy a few thousand dollars on a watch every now and then. But you know, I I think during the pandemic I I got sort of a soft offer in like the fourteen thousand range.
Jason Heaton Wow. Uh for the watch. And I can't
James Stacy remember if that was US or Canadian. So it might have been like 11 or twelve US and then whatever that came out too at the time. And I remember not being that tempted by it. I was like, well, what am I going to do with that money? I might give up something that I I can't necessarily get back. And there is a r reality in with some watches where like like kind of like I did I've we talked about this before like my Xin 144 ST GMT.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I sold that for pennies compared
James Stacy to what it was worth a couple years later. And now I just I don't think I don't if that's a four or five thousand dollar experience for me. And I would say that this watch probably isn't, you know, this the explorer. I think they're currently hovering around just under $10,000. It's not a ten thousand dollar experience to me. I'm not sure any watch is. I'm maybe I'm just not that type of a watch enthusiast. But dang, if I don't really like this watch a lot.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. And then the the embarrassment.
James Stacy I'll uh I'm I can't say eat some crow necessarily unless I'm sure we could go back and find the clip where I say that I'm planning to get it in I never got it engraved.
Jason Heaton Oh, really? Huh. No, because the
James Stacy the I was connected to someone in New York who did a really good job with a colleague's several Rolexes and over the early course of the pandemic, they retired. And I just I never I never got the ball rolling enough to find someone else that I trusted enough. I have a design. It's like a little kind of the horizon of Baker.
Jason Heaton Yeah. and a little bit
James Stacy of uh text. Yeah. But I just I never got around to it. There's my embarrassment. You know, I always wanted to take it on the chin on a recording. Um I'm sure there's stuff from nine and a half years ago on the show where I'm talking about, oh, I'm gonna get it engraved in New York and in a few weeks, then yeah, don't and you don't, you don't, and then it's suddenly it's 2019, and before you know it, it's the pandemic.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. Wow. But
James Stacy yeah, I absolutely adore this watch. If you can if you can get your hands on one and you're comfortable with the price and and and you have my sort of taste in watches I think you I think you'd love it too. I we I wear it a lot more in the last year than I did, you know, right around the time that I got my tutor.
Jason Heaton Yeah uh Pelagos. Yeah. Because in that
James Stacy 10 years, and we talk about this a little bit in an episode, a special episode that's coming up soon. But in that ten years, I my taste has really shifted towards titanium.
Jason Heaton Yeah, same. But I do think that these five
James Stacy digit Rolexes were you know, not be not for any reason, but they really did link up what we would get to what people would want to come back to in like twenty fifteen.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Thirty nine millimeters, forty millimeters,
James Stacy not that thick, steel sport watches with sort of a a a mid-century derived appeal. And you know, they were all there the whole time, right?
Jason Heaton Well, and I I if it like if I'm if my submariner was in titanium, I mean, yeah, it'd be cool, but I can't say it would wear much better. I I can't think of a watch in my collection that is more comfortable than my submariner. I mean, uh on the bracelet. They're just not heavy watches.
James Stacy A titanium explorer, a s a titanium sixteen five seventy for me would be like a resto mod car. Like if I had if I had four other cars that did the proper era experience and then I wanted, you know, I wanted a a some car that wasn't great, but you could make it great today with better bits underneath, but it would still look cool. Like there'd be no replacing a steel 16570 kind of has as it was in its era with a titanium one, but if I could you know restomod that I would I would be interested. That'd be cool like that. So there you go.
Jason Heaton All right. Yeah, so that's that's a lot of
James Stacy minutes on uh on the Explorer too. May maybe now a break. Uh with this watch on on the show moving forward. But it's one that I absolutely love. I can't imagine it going anywhere. I would really need the money. You know what I mean?
Jason Heaton Yeah. And when I when I like picture sort
James Stacy of maybe someday down the line becoming like a three or a five watch collection sort of guy, it's somewhere right in the middle.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Well, and and this watch the fact that you got it ten years ago. I mean it it it's uh it's no secret that we're in the tenth year of TGN and and and you you turning thirty that year and climbing Baker that year. I mean it's seen you through a lot and it's it's it's seems appropriate to talk about it today. Yeah, that's great. Yeah.
James Stacy yeah. Wedding. Yeah. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So yeah, all that kind of stuff. But uh,
James Stacy but yeah, if you have any questions for me, you can let me know in the Slack. Happy to answer them. Uh hopefully I didn't miss anything. I certainly had enough minutes to not miss anything there. Um but look with uh with our sort of long haul uh staying power watches sort of covered, maybe we'll do another one of these in a couple years when we've had something long enough. Uh I I guess I could do an even longer one with my SKX double seven, but what what's left to what's left to be said? It's a double oh seven.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. Uh you know what I mean? So
James Stacy that'd be great. But um why don't we jump into some final notes? Put a bow on it.
Jason Heaton Yeah, sure. Um I might have talked about this a a little while ago, but it's uh it's a tool that um I'm not ashamed, but I'm a little embarrassed to to admit that it took me until this time in my life to to kind of discover or to use or to buy. Um and it's a it's a rivet nut setter kit, or what's more commonly known as a riv nut tool. The one in particular that I bought that I'll we'll show in the sh throw in the show notes is um from a company called Doyle. It's called their 10-inch professional rivet nut setter kit. Um I got it at Harbor Freight, uh, which is a kind of a I don't want to call them discount, but a kind of an affordable U.S. uh tool tool seller. if you're not familiar with with what a riv nut is, imagine um kind of a a thin metal panel, specifically like on a car, um or an old Land Rover in this case, um, where you can't access the backside if you want to use a nut and a bolt and you want to hold a nut at the back and put a bolt in. A riv nut operates like a rivet and and the tool um ta uh basically presses in a threaded sleeve and then secures it at the back side um using this tool that uh with which then you can uh use a uh you know the the appropriately sized bolt to put in to hold hold two things together. Um
Unknown Nice. Maybe a little hard to explain. But
Jason Heaton uh it was it was fifty dollars. I'll
James Stacy put a YouTube video in. yeah, good.
Jason Heaton Um it's it's a tool I've read about and I've resisted it it's kind of like an angle grinder. I don't own an angle grinder. I will own an angle grinder. Um it's one of those tools that people talk about getting over and over again. This will they don't say it'll change your life, but it'll say it'll just make things so much easier if you can do this because otherwise in in many cases there just isn't an option. Um I had gotten this specifically, I think I mentioned a while back that I'd put a um catalytic converter guard on on an older Prius for my girlfriend's daughter, and um that required actually the use of of a riv nut. And there is a way to install a riv nut um without this tool using um kind of a socket wrench and uh and a pliers, um, but it's very difficult for more time consuming. Um and this just made all the difference. It just it allowed me to kind of press um these rivet nuts into the bottom of the car and then use bolts to hold the the guard in place that I was installing. So um if you have these very niche or specific um needs for um the type of work I'm describing here, um I I just think this thing worked great. And it's it's fun to use. I mean, it's just it's kinda like magic the way it uh kind of presses this uh this nut in place. So yeah, the Doyle 10-inch professional rivet nut setter kit.
James Stacy Nice. Yeah, uh rivet kit in in the tool um are one of those things where like if you need it there's not really another option.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh it's it's the right thing and
James Stacy they do a they do a very specific thing and they do it well. So a a good shout out there. Mine's also a tool this week, uh weirdly enough. Um I bought this a little while ago, like maybe two months ago. I used it through a good piece of the summer. Um and then I I had made a note to eventually talk about it once I had tried it out. Uh 'cause I bought it having really no idea what the quality would be like. You know, it's a essentially a pistol-style inflator for, you know, tires, balls, bikes, all that kind of stuff that uses the DeWalt battery, but isn't made by DeWalt. So it's made by it's made by some company called uh Levo Waldney, all one word. Um almost certainly Chinese. Uh it doesn't feel like much in your hands, but it's a pretty solid little thing for a fraction of the cost of the DeWalt. So if you go back to episode uh one fifty nine, uh Jason, you spoke about getting the DeWalt inflator.
Jason Heaton Yeah. That's over two hundred dollars
James Stacy here. Yeah. Um, I think it's 130-ish in in the States. And if I'm honest, I don't think it's worth it. Um I haven't been able to I haven't been able to convince myself that that's the DeWalt tool that I need. I have a lot of DeWalt tools. That's all my tools. All All my power tools are DeWalt. And I have a ton of batteries. But I just figured, you know, one, I don't necessarily know if DeWalt makes the one that they're selling. Yeah. So my feeling was it was probably made by somebody else. Let's see what people online seem to like. I don't know how much you can trust Amazon review counts anymore. That feels like something bots could do,
Jason Heaton you know, could kind of inflate the numbers on. Yeah. So
James Stacy I just figured I would pick one that seemed popular and give it a try for a few months. You know, the summers are bike riding season. Um I have a an an older vehicle, so I I like to check the tires uh rather than it being a Toyota. One of the few things they don't seem to do super well is tire pressure monitoring. Uh the light is certainly on on mine. Um but, the tires I know are fine because I check them with some frequency. So this is a gauge check and also the ability to pump it up. It's very fast, it's not especially loud, and it's forty bucks.
Jason Heaton Huh. Yeah. Um, so if you have the batteries,
James Stacy I think they make versions for you know the the Makita, the Milwaukee's, all those. I I don't have a dog in that fight. But I'd I just for the forty dollars, I I think it's fifty five Canadian, but for the forty bucks US that I'm seeing here on on Amazon.com. I'm super happy with it. It lives in the back of the car. It's got a little one of the little like two amp hour batteries uh clipped into it. And I use it with some frequency. It's been very handy to have.
Jason Heaton Huh. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. As you mentioned I've I've got the DeWalt version and uh I've used it quite a bit over the years. I bought it specifically for that off-road driving course I took because they
James Stacy they're airing down your tires,
Jason Heaton you need to air them up again when you're driving back on pavement. But uh yeah, this is cool. I I love the the the size and the and the price. It's this looks great.
James Stacy Cool. All right. Well there you go. ten plus years of watch history. Uh I guess thirteen if we combine them.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh lots of good stuff in this episode.
James Stacy Uh I would love to see folks kind of do the same thing with a a long haul watch from their collection. Something that's been with them for a while, maybe that their taste has evolved upon. Um and that they really don't think, you know, would hit the chopping block very easily. I'd love to see what other sorts of watches. I think, you know, look a blonde pon and a Rolex were very privileged. You know what I mean? Yeah. Those aren't hard watches to say I love them and and we'll hang on to them. Yeah. But I've got some Seiko. I've got some citizens. I've got uh some micro brands that would be very low on the list as far as um you know uh first to leave uh so I I'd be uh very interested in seeing this kind of expand out on Slack. Uh but otherwise, you know, that's a whole episode.
Jason Heaton All right. As always, thanks so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit thegraynato.com. Music throughout is siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive.
James Stacy And we leave you with this quote from Albert Einstein who said, I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.