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The Grey NATO – 376 – The Royal Pop, Omega's New Bond Chronograph, And Climbing Utah With The Overseas Cardinal Points

Published on Thu, 21 May 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

In this episode of The Grey NATO, Jason and James reconnect after a busy period filled with travel and watch industry news. James shares his experiences from Victoria Day weekend at the cottage, complete with cold lake swims and tick encounters, while Jason discusses his Lake Superior swimming training and recent watch collection purge to fund servicing costs.

The hosts dive into the recent Swatch and Audemars Piguet collaboration—the Royal Pop pocket watch—analyzing the controversial launch, retail chaos, and broader implications for watch enthusiasm versus reselling culture. They also examine the new Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Chronograph 007 First Light, tied to the upcoming James Bond video game, discussing how luxury watch brands are increasingly engaging with gaming properties. James provides a fascinating account of his unusual trip to Utah with Vacheron Constantin, where he wore the Cardinal Points watch during an intense via ferrata climbing experience alongside brand clients and comedian Anthony Jeselnik. The episode wraps with reflections on mountaineering tragedies, including the 30th anniversary of the 1996 Everest disaster chronicled in "Into Thin Air," and recent cave diving fatalities in the Maldives.

Show Notes

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton Hello and welcome to another episode of the Grey NATO, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode three hundred and seventy-six 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 thegraynato.com for more details. My name is Jason Heaton, and I'm joined as ever by my friend and co-host, James Stacey. James. How are we doing today? And uh you're back after a long Canadian holiday weekend, right?
James Stacey Yes, sir. Yeah, and back after after the Victoria Day long weekend. Got uh got back from the cottage last night. Uh it was good. It was nice to get up there. I had a a very busy week last week with some travel uh to a part of the world that turns out is very difficult to get to from uh from Toronto. Um but we'll get into that in just a moment. But yeah, I I went up to the cottage, just kind of kicked it off uh for the season. It was a couple of really warm, sunny days, felt like proper summer. Um, and then of course, once you jump into the lake, you realize, oh no, it's still May. Uh I I we we believe the lake to have been about eight Celsius. Uh so we had we had a couple of nice little swims, but nobody was staying in very long. Um but I was I was uh uh pleased and impressed that my daughters were willing to get in when the water was kind of that cold. Some years it's warmer than this. It's it was a very late spring this year.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think the thaw wasn't even necessarily that
James Stacey long ago. Yeah. Um in in terms of the lake thawing out. Uh so yeah, it's uh it it was uh it was a fun one. Great to be up there, uh looking forward to spending as much of my summer up there as I possibly can. So yeah, it's it was good. How about you? How have you been since we chatted last?
Jason Heaton I've been good. Any any any bugs there yet? I uh we haven't really seen any tons
James Stacey of ticks. Oh yeah, ticks. And yeah, I only just turned on the dinatrap, so I can't really comment on its efficacy just yet. It needs time uh to run. But I can tell you that I mean from the knees down, dude, I am one big mosquito bite on both legs.
Jason Heaton Oh man. Wow. Oh boy. So
James Stacey we'll have to look into maybe a couple other options. I've seen those like mosquito buckets you can make. Huh where you drop the kind of puck in with water and leaves and other stuff and and then kind of put them around the property. And those apparently, at least from what I've read, are quite effective. So that that could be an option that I might have to look into as uh as you know, it's it's definitely unpleasant. And the tick thing is is just I think something we all have to live with now.
Jason Heaton Yeah. You you do need to, if you
James Stacey live in an area that now has ticks, you need to become like tick knowledgeable.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Try and keep the kids in in
James Stacey relatively uh short grass unless they're properly clothed, I guess, right?
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah, I know. I've you know we've experienced um tick issues out in uh California a couple of weeks ago and and also um poison oak and uh and not to us to a lesser degree out there poison ivy but
James Stacey not fun. The the tick thing is is troubling
Jason Heaton to me, you know, here in Minnesota. Obviously it's a big thing as well, or we have a similar climate to you and yeah, they're they're already out in force and you're seeing a lot more warnings and I just think uh yeah, spring spring is different these days than it used to be and and there's they're just everywhere. So it's it is a bummer. Yeah. Um yeah, and this this weekend is the the long weekend coming up here in the US, uh Memorial Day of course, and um we have kind of a I guess not not cottage kind of weekend, but we are going to visit um some friends uh just uh Saturday, Sunday for they they do an annual float down a a river called the Kettle River, um, kayaks and canoes and that sort of thing from they've got like a vacation place up there and uh they invite friends and we're gonna sleep overnight in the defender and they're out in their property and uh do some kayaking. So yeah, it'll be it'll be fun, but I'm sure we'll have to keep an eye out for for the critters as well, the ticks. But uh yeah, I I I also jumped in the water uh this past weekend. You know, I've got this uh I talked about it a while back. I'm doing the Point to Le Point uh two mile Lake Superior swim on August 1st and that's coming up. I mean it's kinda crazy to think that you know, 'cause we're having a pretty chilly day here. It's probably ten degrees C here today with a high of about fifteen. I mean it's it's remarkably cool and uh I'm fighting the urge to turn the heat on in the house again, but um I I gotta get training. I've got to get in the water. I've been you know doing strength training and running a lot this this winter and spring, but I've got to get some swim time in. So I decided to swim across the lake uh just down the street from from my house here, uh on uh I guess it was on uh Saturday morning and so I went over there and uh Christy accompanied me, escorted me in a kayak, you know, just to make sure I didn't mowed down by a boat, um, etc. But I, you know, or a wetsuit and neoprene socks and a neoprene hood, because uh the the water was cold, but
James Stacey yeah, for sure. It felt good. I it felt felt pretty good
Jason Heaton to do. I did about two-thirds of a mile. I've got some work to do, but uh yeah, summer's off to a a bit of slow start here. I guess it's not quite summer, but uh after this weekend it's kind of the official kickoff for it.
James Stacey For sure. Yeah we were lucky it's it's quite warm. It's quite warm again today. We're up in the in the very high twenties, low thirties, which puts us in the eighties to nineties here.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh for Fahrenheit. But yeah, the
James Stacey uh the the swim season is is something you do have to prep for. We're prepping in a little bit a different way. My my son, who's now ten months, uh has been in swim lessons for a while, like the last several months. Uh and we're our hope being that by the time his little body could, you know, appropriately handle the cold, he'll be quite water comfortable.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh to to kind of splash around at
James Stacey the cottage. So we'll we'll see how that pays off. He really likes the pool at our local dive shop. So uh that's been a real plus uh for him on on a weekly level. Um he's just a little frog in there, so it's uh it's a lot of fun.
Jason Heaton That's great.. Ye Yeahah, other than all that news, I uh manage to uh you know, we every once in a while we talk about we get that itch to kind of trim down the collection a little bit, the watch collection and sure. I did some of that yesterday. I put a few watches up for sale and um got got some bites and and I'm shipping off a bunch uh this afternoon. So um you know it's it's it it's a weird hobby. It's a weird mindset to be in, you know, that this kind of um begrudgingly um calling myself a collector over the years, but um to to be a collector and then to have this sort of persistent urge to like thin down. Um yeah and and then after doing it kind of feeling just almost almost you know literally lighter you know have for having done that. Um and they're all going to good homes and I'm I'm excited for the the folks that are getting these and there's some some nice pieces in there. But uh yeah it felt good to do that. Um and I m the kind of the impetus for that was I've got a couple of watches out for service that uh as I'm looking at the pending bills um for those, uh yeah, I was like, I need to raise some funds here because you know, watch servicing is not cheap.
James Stacey Got yourself a quote scare. Yeah. It's a I guess a timely thing to talk about ways that we try and keep this hobby fun after some of the drama of this past weekend, uh both within the watch enthusiast community and around it, I gu This year it's looking as though it'll be Friday evening. So I'm sure there'll be other events going on Friday evening. That's okay. We'll be at the show at least for part of Saturday as well, kind of hanging out. But that would be Friday the 10th. Please stay tuned to these programs for more details. And if you're on the Slack, that'll give you the first crack at an RSVP. Just make sure that you're in the meetups channel, which is where we will drop that RSVP or even just details if we're not doing an RSVP, just the details of where to show up. Yeah. But the goal will be to, you know, a couple hours of of a hangout and and some beer and pizza and that sort of thing, or some sort of food. We'll figure it out.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But it should be a nice casual event. If
James Stacey you're used to coming come to at our things, it'll be the same sort of thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it definitely should be fun. I mean we we we we deliberately try to kind of under plan these events just so it's a time and a place to be and then leave the the rest of it to everybody's kind of personalities and allow people to just kind of hang out and socialize and that that always makes it a fun event. So um we do have a meeting with Citizen right after we're done recording here today to kind of start to firm up some details and so that'll be forthcoming on Slack.
James Stacey All right, nice. Well look, before we get into what's sort of uh gonna be a loose, rambly sort of catch up show on a handful of topics and and kind of things we've been up to for the last little while, you wanna dig into some risk check?
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um as part of my kind of watch collection purge, I was, you know, going through um my watch box and pulling out some pieces and swapping straps around to kind of rekindle some interest in a few that I don't wear much. And one of those was um my AquaStar Deep Star, the the original, you know, reissue chronograph from a few years back. And uh, you know, I kind of uh kind of have a renewed love affair with this one again. So, you know, it had been qu quite a while. I haven't worn that watch and gosh, it's probably been, you know, close to a year before I've ever had it out of the box. And every time I look at it, I mean it's never I I never think like, oh, I should sell this because I don't wear it much, because I absolutely adore it. Um I just have found that, you know, wearing a lot of titanium watches, whether it's the CWN one or or you know the the FXD, which I wear most of the time, um, the Deep Star is just it's it's a big heavy steel chronograph, kind of thick and and it's heavy on the wrist. And so um the strap that I actually put it on that I've I came to find quite comfortable was if you remember the uh the uh Garmin Mark, the the generation two kind of adventure version, um, came with a a rubber strap and then it came with a a leather it's a leather strap that's backed with rubber and it's quite nice. Yeah I can
James Stacey remember that strap. Has this like quick release,
Jason Heaton you know, it just clicks onto the spring bar and it happens to be twenty-two millimeters, which is what the the Garmin is. And uh I I wear the Garmin every time I work out, um, but I wear it on the rubber strap, and so this strap wasn't worn. And it works really well on on the deep star. It just it's a good fit. Um, you know, the the Deep Star looks good on leather, being kind of a vintagey looking chronograph. And uh so that's uh that's how I've got that one these days and that's what I've got on today.
James Stacey Nice. Yeah, that's a goodie. Yeah, for me, I'm wearing the Arkin Altarum, my Vancouver Speakeasy. They're launching uh or have launched by the time this episode comes out, kind of the next wave of a colorway for the Alterum, which is steel with like a sage green dial.
Jason Heaton I saw it at the Vancouver show. There's
James Stacey a photo of it in my hood in key photo report from the Vancouver show.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um and then they've started to
James Stacey communicate on that. I think it's one of the best colorways. I think green is an exceptionally difficult color to do well, like in a way that I like. I'm I'm either very picky or maybe green's just not for me.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, but I do really like this
James Stacey green. It's not overly olive sort of drab sort of military, and it's not that like very radiant sort of take that you get from a lot of the big Swiss brands that go for this very verdant sort of deep grass, emeraldy sort of color. This is much more like like it says sage. It has this kind of balanced brownish gray tone in it that I really like as well. So a goodie for sure. But I'm wearing my Vancouver Speakeasy one, which has the green case, the the Sarakote case, black dial, and the the couldn't have gold sand colored uh GMT hand for second time zone hand.
Jason Heaton Nice, very cool. Yeah. And
James Stacey uh and it was one of these weekends, and and look, we can jump right into it if we want. Uh, but it was one of these weekends where I did want to track at least one other time zone, um, given the AP Swatch launch uh sort of scenario. So by now this is all old news. We don't really need to fill everybody in on it, but uh Swatch has done a bioceramic AP pocket watch called the Royal Pop. It essentially leaked to such an extent that they ended the embargo early last week. Um so by the time you're listening to this probably like eight, nine days before. Um, but a good five or six days before the real embargo, which was supposed to be Saturday, the 16th. And all the stories came out, and of course, people who were wanting it to be a royal oak were disappointed. And I think a lot of watch enthusiasts were going, like, what what would I do with this? Well, that was kind of the conversation I was having with the type of people who like the sort of watches that I like, but on a grander scope, an absolutely massive thing for AP to put their name on.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And you can argue the
James Stacey value of putting their name on it, and of course there's some fallout with how the launch went on Saturday because a lot of people really wanted one of these. But the the power of AP putting on putting their name on it, I think is more of a statement than Omega, which is part of the swatch group. AP, of course, isn't. It's an independent brand. Jason, like from a product standpoint, I feel like you and I are probably aligned. This is this is nothing for me. Like a that doesn't do anything, it has no appeal. Like I understand why it's important and why it speaks to a group of people and and why it probably speaks to a younger and more female audience than you and I would represent.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. But like did you see any of these and
James Stacey go, oh yeah, I I could see standing line or or not for one?
Jason Heaton No, and I I think you know a definitely a bold move to kind of release it as a pocket watch um with with a lanyard. Um and you know, I I've been saying for, you know, I don't know, the better part of five or six years that I always felt like pocket watches were gonna make a comeback. I kind of did that tongue in cheek. But um, you know, we've seen a few things kind of pop up in the past few years. And you know, Christopher Ward's done some and some other brands. Mainly kind of limited kind of uh wink wink sort of pocket watches. But um for this one to kind of blow up this big, I I just I kind of left me scratching my head. It's just nothing that that interests I I can't say that even a a standard kind of wristwatch version of the Royal Oak would have um you know compelled me to go go out and buy it. And I think you know the colorways are very um many of them at least are very bubblegum, you know, kind of really loud, interesting kind of color combinations, pop art sort of stuff. Um so yeah, zero interest for me. And then I I feel like, you know, the way the launch was handled was um not great and and a lot of publicity around that just kind of you know wasn't doing either of the brands that that collaborated here uh many favours and um yeah it just it it just felt kind of a bit bit kind of strange and out of touch
James Stacey Like we you and I we don't like to be negative if we feel negatively about something that kind of ruins the fun of being into watches and we don't really that would just be something I'd kind of turn my back on and move away.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But at the same time, I do think
James Stacey that Swatch probably had the data they needed after multiple Omega launches and the Blanc Bond launch to know that this would be big and would put a huge amount of stress on the stores that were carrying
Jason Heaton it. I think that some
James Stacey of the comms maybe didn't make it clear that these wouldn't be in possible to buy in the future, et cetera. I mean, I think I'm not the this isn't a novel take from from old James here, but like why why not sell most of them online and prevent this kind of fallout.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Even if it's not fallout,
James Stacey just a scenario that I don't think is what Swatch would have wanted, with stores having to close, with staff being, you know, in stressful scenarios, with people on the street being in stressful scenarios, all of that feels like it could have been avoided if they had offered even some of the colors online. Like I understand maybe maybe do one or two that are boutique only.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. But I understand wanting people to come
James Stacey to the store and wanting this moment to be yours.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But also, uh you know, j just to use the
James Stacey example, I recently got in line late at night to buy the Dal High watch company DWC Terra.
Jason Heaton Do you know this watch, Jason? No, I don't.
James Stacey I'll I'll have a story on it once I eventually get it. I'll get it at some point. So this is a little titanium watch from Delhi watch company, field style, very sort of modern tech looking. I really like it. I thought it was a cool idea. It's also like forty-five or fifty bucks like I think all in I was in for like 80 Canadian for this watch. And I was just curious because there was a huge amount of interest. And I th I thought, well, you know, the the company was saying we might have 35 to 40,000 people trying to buy a few thousand watches. I thought, well, that's notable. Let's see how they do it. And I thought it worked out really well. I I entered like a storefront
Jason Heaton and then at a given time I
James Stacey was allowed through a gate. As I went through this sort of digital gate, I was given a randomized number and that was my number in line and you had until that number decreased to zero to prep and be ready to uh like to get your credit card out. So I think I waited eleven minutes as my number went from thirty, eight hundred to zero in line.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And then I quickly just went with
James Stacey Apple Pay or PayPal, I don't remember one or the other, and checked out. And it worked out really nicely. And I think you can handle huge demand. I don't know how many people actually tried to buy the watch, and I'll I'll dig in for a deeper story once I get the watch eventually.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, but I'll I'll throw it in the show notes.
James Stacey It's a cool little thing. Um I I thought the design was cool, I thought the story behind it was cool, and then I wanted to experience the sort of retail scenario of how you sell this many watches. Cause look, like Hodinki has battled bots and other things like that for limited editions in the past. You have to be able to think your way through that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And maybe one of those options
James Stacey is to sell things at atri bck and mortar retail, but I think Swatch Learn that I don't know, like I I went down to the Toronto line and the majority of the line were people there to buy to sell or were trying to sell actively in the line to people walking by knowing what the line was for.
Jason Heaton Wow. Yeah. That was the majority of it. You
James Stacey know, I I met I met a few guys in line. The people at the front of the line in Toronto were buying to keep, but with the intention that in 10 or 15 years this would be very valuable.
Jason Heaton I wasn't going to disavow them of that idea,
James Stacey but I I don't agree with that read on the on the idea. It's probably most valuable up until the product doesn't have lines.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Right? Yeah. Um, but
James Stacey yeah, it seemed like um it seemed like most of the people I spoke to in line were there either to hold a position that they intended to sell to somebody closer to launch the next morning or were actively like bartering for what a number for the watch might be. Thousand, two thousand Canadian was the number when we were there. I I'm not like look, I know that this is part of the world economy for high demand goods, but watch enthusiasts have spoken very loudly that that's gross. And we and we don't like it. And moreover, it's not just that it it it that you'd say it's not going to happen. Anything that's in demand will have this sort of flipper vibe to it. Yeah. But like give us some outlet to not have to be part of that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? Right.
James Stacey I don't know. I think it it it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. We saw it a ton in the comments and you just go like wouldn't wouldn't we just be able to do this in a way where more people got the product, more money went to the charity that AP's supporting uh through it. The you know, the i investments in watch making I believe is is the current like we don't know exactly where the money's going, but they are donating their their proceeds from the watch. And I think there's lots of good in this story here. And it just got a kind of got marred by a scenario where watch enthusiasm had to butt up against a different type of enthusiasm.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I've
James Stacey said it before, and it's a difficult nebulous thing to kind of get into, but money will never make something cooler. Ever.
Jason Heaton Yeah. It makes it less cool. And
James Stacey I think that's how it hit a lot of enthusiasts. And I think that's how a lot of enthusiasts feel about the auction world as well. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Or like this is only about the money or
James Stacey the exclusivity or the fact that someone can't have it and somebody else can't, which isn't really an open door for enthusiasm. You know what I mean? It's one thing if something's expensive and you can't buy it, but you can learn all about it. But when something's inexpensive and should be accessible, like a four hundred dollar swatch, and you still can't get it because a bunch of people who don't even care about the watch want to make two grand on eBay, it's just a tough, tough sort of thing for the enthusiast to to sort of encapsulate. But you look at the numbers and like I think this is one of those scenarios where watch enthusiasts, you know, there's a slice of them that are it that would be in the market for something like this AP roll pop. And then that slice has to contend with a huge slice of people who want it for its more broad appeal or it's you know the possible upside of of flipping it, that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and it's it's you know, as someone who's kind of known to to friends and family and you know, just other people about as being tangentially at least uh connected to the watch space as I am. You know, I just I I was g just getting you know people kind of consistently over the past few days like, have you heard about this? What is this all about? And I'm That this
James Stacey is their experience. Yeah, exactly. Like they they so
Jason Heaton they think that this is how the watch world works and like this this one story that pops up with this bad news um is what is what they want to and ask questions about. It's kind of a bummer. But uh
James Stacey Yeah. And I again I think I think it's when you invite a certain non-enthusiast group or or or uh a sort of group going directly for a value upside, a a flipping, a cash, that sort of thing, that it changes the whole tone.
Jason Heaton I'm not saying that's not part of the generalist watch
James Stacey enthusiasm, especially since like the crypto boom. But I think this highlights it more because it's about an inexpensive product becoming inaccessible.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Because of all because of the attention,
James Stacey because of the profile. Well, speaking of Swatch
Jason Heaton Group collaborations uh among enthusiast groups, we have another watch to talk about here that might be a little more interesting to our our crowd. Um you wanna introduce this one a bit? It's uh looks like we're we're lo and behold, TGN is right on the cutting edge of an embargo lift, uh when this episode goes up.
James Stacey I I think uh anybody who's really into video games these days and anybody who's really into Omega, the writing's been on the wall for this watch for a little while, but as of when this episode launches, the embargo lifts for the new Omega Seamaster Diver 300M chronograph 007 First Light. So let me make it really clear: this is a real version of a watch that's based in a video game called 007 First Light. The video game comes out May 27th on whatever system you want to play. It's made by the same people who made Hitman. So if you're roughly my age and you remember the absolute incredible time loss that that happened in your life playing Hitman 2 or 3. That bodes really well. This is one of these games where if I was if I was in a video game playing mode, I would be waiting for it. I'd be very excited to play it. I really like these developers. I like the types of games they make. The idea is that it's a Bond story where uh I believe Bond's in his late or mid mid to late twenties and he's earning his double O status in this story. So you can go online and watch YouTube videos about the gameplay. You can even go online and watch YouTube videos that show this watch, but now the watch is a real thing. It is a 44 millimeter stainless steel C Master chronograph. Uh, it has um some coloring with a PvD bronze gold rings and a black ceramic bezel and pushers. It's quite a contrasty thing. I think it actually looks very bond. Like I think it it works in the scope. It's on sort of uh a a new colorway of the no time to die NATO, um, which is uh black and then gray mid centers and then a gold center or a sandy sort of center, um, which is I guess based in the first light coloring or based in in the watch itself, and then it comes in the same sort of suitcase that's shown in the game. So if you're really into the game, this could be quite a meaningful thing. We wanted to talk about it because there's been just so much um chatter about Bond and no real movement about what's happening next. Obviously, this is our first one with uh MGM Amazon uh kind of managing it, uh, and we have Denny Villeneuve will be the director, but Bond has not been announced, and we're at a point now where Omega, who of course a huge part of their broad scope marketing is tied to Bond, is going into like a video game to to to make a moment, which I I don't disagree with. There's a chance. I mean, if this is a very, very successful video game and the the next bond doesn't do that well, there's a chance this is a more profitable, valuable property than the next bond. You never know, but video games are a much larger business than movies or television.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I think this is something we'll
James Stacey see more. We've seen other swatch groups like Hamilton have done video game tie ins with black ops and with um I'm forgetting what that that other nick game is called. I haven't played it. And those are huge franchise. Like Call of Duty is worth more than Bond. All of Bond.
Jason Heaton Really? Wow. That's amazing. Going all the way
James Stacey back. I if I read a st I wrote a story when that watch came out, uh, the Black Ops uh Hamilton chronograph, which is you can have it in the game. I think it's either DLC or something you can earn or a character skin, that sort of thing. Or and you can buy the same watch room. It's just I mean it's a nice little Hamilton, it's a little overpriced for what it was, but it's a nice little Hamilton field watch. But I'm I'm pretty certain that the you can go back and read that story and then disagree in the comments if you want to, but I'm I'm fairly certain that factor for inflation and everything, you you could make the case that Call of Duty is worth significantly more than behind.
Jason Heaton Amazing. And uh and yeah, so I think I think
James Stacey this is something we'll see more of. I think it's notable that Omega's doing it. But Jason, how does uh let's maybe we start with the watch and then we'll get to whether or not the video game is meaningful and Aaron Powell
Jason Heaton Yeah, I mean uh look, I I'm not a video game person, so I I can I can kind of pull that out of my impression and just kind of take it for the for the watch itself. I think it's a handsome piece. And I think it's it's significant also that um if I'm not mistaken, um well you you have it in our notes here, it's the first ever chronograph in in the Bond Seamaster diver lineup. So, you know, Bond is always kind of just more in the straight up, you know, going back to the Brosnan era, um, just a standard time and date piece or or time only in the case of No Time to Die. Um uh and and this is a chronograph. And it's it's it'ss a handome chronograph, it's big, um 44 millimeters in steel, that I I have no doubt that'll be a very heavy watch. Um it's curious too that the buckle on the NATO strap is titanium, whereas the the watch case itself is is steel, but you know, whatever. Um but it one thing I like about this movement, um this is the uh the caliber ninety nine hundred and iteration of of a chronograph caliber that Omega's been making for a few years. Um I do like that the the elapsed time subdial has the the hours and the minutes, you know, like a uh re read off like a clock, which I I've always found to be a really nice um easy-to-read kind of chronograph uh subdial. Uh so that's great. And um yeah, I like the colors. I like the use of that that bronze gold. I think it um plays off well and and against the kind of the black wave dial. It's uh it's a nice looking piece. But uh again, I you know, Omega must be doing some kind of get some feedback or research or internally they just love big watches, but forty-four millimeters feels a little out of step these days. Um but you know, I don't know, maybe I'm wrong.
James Stacey Yeah, I I think it's a big watch. I'm not again I',m not sure that it's one of these ones that's meant for like the core of the audience and and obviously it's Omega. They make a watch for everybody and maybe this is just the one that suited w the uh you know, a tie-in in the video game. I can include some videos of the of the integration into the video game. Maybe it made sense to have the chronograph for a mechanic of some sort in the game, which is very cool. And also it it definitely makes sense for Bond to want to chronograph. I mean, how many Bond movies uh or movies that kind of are inspired by the world of Bond, like a Mission Impossible, come down to the last couple seconds.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So true. Right? Yeah.
James Stacey So I'd like I think it makes sense. I actually think these are really good-looking watches, the the standard one um on the rubber strap I really like. I think that the skeleton hands for me make more sense on the chronograph. I've enjoyed these watches in previous versions.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um especially if you go back to the
James Stacey late 90s, early 2000s, the kind of that steely flat blue with the red accents. I thought that was a great looking watch. Definitely the kind of thing that was on like my dream list at one point. Um, but they do wear a little big. I think this one is yeah, I mean it's 17 millimeters thick, 17.2.
Jason Heaton Wow. 21 millimeter lugs. It
James Stacey is 53 millimeters for 52.8 across
Jason Heaton like north-south. So that's a big watch.
James Stacey Yeah. You're going to need a big wrist for it. Maybe they're hinting that they know that the next bond is a a burly an extra burly version of Bond.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um or maybe this is also just
James Stacey the sort of watch that somebody wears a slightly larger size of and it's not always uh for the wrist. I don't know the last time I had one of these in front of me.
Jason Heaton I don't know if I've actually ever seen or or
James Stacey strapped one on um of the current chronograph uh collection, the C the CMSR three hundred. And yeah, pricing on the standard models on a strap is ninety-two hundred dollars. So I mean I think right in the world of what Omega charges for a fully, you know, high end chronograph movement and a dive watch all in one, really not surprising at this point from from a price point standing. The watch is one thing. I think it'll be perfectly successful and I think there you get you get a wide leash with a bond integration. It doesn't have to be this like core enthusiast. It can be a forty five millimeter planet ocean.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And people will will can still
James Stacey go nuts for it if it's the right if it feels like the right sort of thing for Bond. And I think this feels like a Bond-esque sort of watch.
Jason Heaton I think it'd be a a wild thing to see him wear with a suit,
James Stacey but you know, with a commando sweater and the sleeve rolled up, yeah, why not?
Jason Heaton Right. Yeah, right. Uh it's uh I think it's
James Stacey a good looking thing for sure. Um I think what's maybe more notable is one, the the world of bond is in such a state currently of unknowns. I'm not saying that they're that they can't pull it off. You know, Villanouv's one of the best directors in the world, they'll have plenty of money. But it's in such a state of unknown that any rumor, anything that happens is of note. And I think it's cool that they decided to go, well, there's going to be this hopefully incredible game from a great studio with great bond gameplay, like something that'll really you know, m maybe it's not gonna be Goldeneye in nineteen ninety-six all over again. Um we won't all be playing this with our friends in our basements. Uh, you know, again hinting at maybe my age versus Jason's. But I think this could be a cool moment, and I like that yeah, it's an expensive, it's an omega, it's a not a cheap watch, it's not an inexpensive watch. Um, but I like that it's a it's cool thing that's maybe tied to the game and maybe maybe if nobody playing the game even goes out and buys it necessarily, it is a touch point where they'll remember it, you know, it re-establishes that omega bond connection, which we haven't had because we've waited kind of so long for the next bond to understand how he'll fit the brand and and all these sorts of things.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I agree. And I think um, you know, w when when you're kind of uh you know in the desert, any drop of water is uh is appealing and and I think, you know, we've been waiting for anything bond related for for quite some time and this this kind of popping up kind of reminds you of of that kind of universe. And and I I did read something a couple of weeks ago that said that they've started the casting. So you know, we uh and they they brought in I can't run I don't know casting casting directors uh by name or anything like that, but they did mention that they brought in one of the better um kind of casting casting directors to to kind of start that search. So we'll see, you know, and then uh the the speculation about who's gonna be the next bond will start to ramp up and people will the rumor mill will start cranking up and uh it'll be fun to watch. But uh this this feels like a bit of a kickoff for that. And I think look um for all any little nitpicky criticism about the size of the watch or whatever else or the price. Um it's a cool looking piece. I mean I I'll I'll take a big chunky sporty um Omega dive chronograph any day. I think it's I think it's good looking and it's worthy of worthy of us talking about.
James Stacey Yeah, and like if it was if it was t you know, four two grand more because it's in a bond video game, come on,
Jason Heaton right? But yeah if it's a couple hundred bucks,
James Stacey like this is this is luxury watches. That's maybe not that crazy in the world we live in. And yeah, just to be clear, that they've hired Nina Gold, um who uh who is the you know cast Game of Thrones is probably the thing that most people would know. Uh so it should be interesting in Game of Thrones, notably a lot of British uh actors. So
Jason Heaton yeah. Yeah. Uh that's uh noteworthy
James Stacey as well. Uh look, you if we can change gears entirely and you'll allow me to ramble a little bit more. You wanna talk a little bit with this wild vasheron trip I went on last week
Jason Heaton Yeah, I'm really curious about that. And I think uh if if if it's leading where I think it is, I think it'll segue into something that I wanted to talk about a little later um as well. So yeah, um yeah, how was that? Uh you you've been you've been quite quite quiet about it. I'm I'm really curious to hear how it went.
James Stacey Yeah, so obviously I've been doing this for a very long time. I've been going on press trips since twenty twelve and I've never been on one like this and that's because it wasn't a press trip. Uh, I got invited by a Vashron. I I'd been kind of kicking around the idea of like, could I take the cardinal points, my current dream watch, which I've talked a lot about, and at this point, I'm I'm not even sure I can be unbiased. So just like the watch.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh as an enthusiast, this represents
James Stacey a dream watch for me. But I was kind of kicking around ideas like could we take one diving, could we take one hiking, could we take it climbing? Could we kind of take it out into the wild and do something that probably most people aren't gonna do with it?
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. And Vasheron said, look,
James Stacey uh, we've we've got something coming up. It's not really for press. Um, but if we can if we can make some space, do you want to do you want to come to Utah to put the watch, you know, quote unquote through its paces? And I said, Yeah, sure, let's let's figure that out. So it turns out it's not that easy to get to southern Utah, very, very close to northern Arizona. And then the hotel that they've got the their clients for this you know client event is the Ahmadgiri. One of the best hotels in the world. Uh I believe, uh certainly one of the most striking from an architectural standpoint. Um I've been to Amandani in uh in Wyoming for uh you know the launch of the Rolls-Royce Culladin. That gives you an idea of of of sort the profile. But you know, Vacheron had um had uh a piece of the hotel kind of reserved for uh this event. And uh and so we got there, I had they had given me two options. I could go on a hike around the surrounding area, which is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Um, this sort of desert mesa uh scenario. Or the other option was this via Ferrada experience. Um and Via Ferrara, for those who uh don't know, is essentially it's a climbing style experience. Uh it's done uh a lot of the Europeans listening will go, isn't this a common thing? It is and it isn't. In Italy, you might come across a via ferrata just on a trail, which would be essentially a ladder of metal rungs stuck into the rock to help you get over a steep part. In some places, they've taken it to kind of a new level of extreme where you are clipped in, you have a harness, and you're using sort of a double clip system, so you're always on a steel cable that runs next to the the rungs of the ladder. And so they said it was a fairly it would be like fairly intense, but a lot of fun, quite vertical. Uh we went up sort of one side of a prominent exposure and then across like a three hundred foot wire bridge over a four or five hundred foot drop and then down the other side into like a a gully of a canyon and then walked back to the hotel.
Jason Heaton Oh, nice. And I
James Stacey remember before we were going, I said, so we're climbing around and I brought my my CWN one, kind of expecting them to be like, yeah, you can't take a forty thousand dollar watch on this climbing excursion where you're literally like hands on rock and and that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah. They gave me a white cardinal points
James Stacey uh at my request uh with the orange strap and I said can I wear this on the and they said oh absolutely everybody's gonna be and so a bunch of the owners had already taken delivery of theirs
Jason Heaton yeah and wore them on the on the client. Oh sure.
James Stacey And I'll be honest like if I had worn my my peligos on this I would have felt like I was abusing it just to give you a baseline.
Jason Heaton Yeah you are you are sucked
James Stacey up against the rock I definitely scratched up the buckle on on the Vascheron. I don't believe I I damaged the the case or crystal or anything like that. But it was definitely was about as tough a physical thing as I've done in several years.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And yeah, it was a it was a
James Stacey a a pretty wild and difficult thing. I mean I think my leg stopped hurting two, three days ago. Um, from uh mostly probably from the down climb. I think I kind of blew out my quads on that one. Uh but yeah, it was uh it was a delight to get a chance to really kind of again. I I the watch was soaked in sunscreen and and sweat, and like I said, if if it had been like I flat out wouldn't have done any of this with, say, my gnomos.
Jason Heaton Oh, sure. It would have felt too abusive,
James Stacey too, too kind of hardcore. And uh and you know, the the folks from Vascheron, uh up, to and including uh their president, uh US president who was there, uh were adamant, like this is this is w how we designed the watch. This is, you know, Corey Richards, who we've had on the podcast before. He was there kind of hosting the event. And he was like, Yeah, I mean this is this is a watch we designed in twenty nineteen to be fully capable of an Everest push. He's like, we're not going to do anything in the next couple days that it can't handle. But it is, you know, they they acknowledge that it's you know it's kind of a weird thing to do. Maybe not just with a Vashron, but with a watch of that sort of caliber.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I'm trying to think of other notes.
James Stacey Uh oh, weirdly enough, you know, uh Jason, several times uh in the past I've mentioned Anthony Jesselnick, he does the book club that I like. He's a stand up comedian. I'm a big fan of. He was on the trip. Oh wow. Oh
Jason Heaton wow. So I got to meet him. He was on the
James Stacey climb with me. Yeah. Uh, which was very cool. Given that Hodinky doesn't specifically cover like the world of luxury necessarily. We obviously have luxury watches and occasionally we do like photo reports from events that would be in that world, like F1 or that sort of thing. But outside of that, an exceptionally strange and rare you, know, opportunity to see how the client side of this works. Like if you're a big enough client of a brand like Vacheron, you could get invited to something like this. And uh yeah, it was it was fascinating. Uh it was really cool to to just kind of spend some time with the watch, uh like a more meaningful than a couple hours because I think my other option to do a hands on was going to be maybe a couple hours at the office in New York.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Um but instead I was able
James Stacey to see all four of the new colorways. I was able to see a 2021 prototype, which I have photos of. I'll have a whole hands-on experience thing with um with Hodinky soon. And I was able to see Corey's uh sort of long-standing chronograph.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Uh version of the Everest
James Stacey chronograph that he's been wearing for years and years at this point. So it was cool to see some of those things. Corey's keen to be back on the show. He said to say hi to everybody listening. It was a busy schedule for him as sort of the host and center of the event uh to try and get away um from from some of his things to to chat for an hour or whatever but he said he'd be keen to be on uh in the next few episodes so stay tuned for that. Obviously, uh fun to catch up with Corey. But yeah, at this point I feel like I've actually spent some meaningful time with that watch, and it's definitely that is without a doubt the hardest I've ever treated a luxury watch. The only thing that came to my mind was your you remember your story of climbing I want to say it was in the bugaboos with the Explorer 2?
Jason Heaton Yeah that was via Ferrado as well. Yeah and I remember having the same feeling of And
James Stacey you scratched that watch up, right? Yeah and I I have I
Jason Heaton remember having that same feeling. I mean you know there's a lot of Everest might be a little different thing. You've got, you know, maybe it's under a glove and it's largely snow and ice, but yeah, rock climbing, like you're sticking your arm against a your you know in a crevice in some cases, or uh you know, just even just casually just moving around rocks, it's just feels very unfriendly towards uh luxury watches. But um yeah, that's really cool. And I' Im'm curious, like so how many of the clients joined for that? Because I I'm envisioning kind of the typical Vacheron client, if they're kind of repeat customers. I don't want to be unkind, but maybe not the most outdoorsy sporty type if they're kind of typically going for more of the high end I think you know, dressier complicated watches.
James Stacey I think the cardinal points kind of brought that out in people. Um and and I think they you know anybody who was who felt like they were below a certain line in their mind could go on the hike. And it turns out the hike was very difficult. So no nobody really got out scot-free uh from a bit of sweat. Uh so everybody was pretty dialed. Um and it was a really nice group of people who were just kind of there for an adventure. Um and like I said, the majority of them, like I got I got most of the way up the first kind of push.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So you're maybe a couple hundred meters
James Stacey above the on on sort of a the nose of a of a formation where they have this sort of route and it feels like you're going straight up.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And then if you look back, it feels like you're
James Stacey really going straight up. Yeah. Yeah. Uh this pitch. And the gentleman behind me, who's a a director, uh his name is David, um uh he's TV show director, that sort of thing. I said, Oh, you're wearing one too. And he goes, Yeah, yeah, I just got delivery of it a few days ago, so I was obviously gonna bring it on this trip.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I was like, man, that's that's pretty
James Stacey baller. Yeah, good for you. Yeah, that's great. As far as the watch goes, uh I would say the main thing I learned is it it it's a little on the big side on paper, but once it's on your wrist, especially on the bracelet,
Jason Heaton I swear it's smaller than the CWN
James Stacey one. Huh. In almost every dimension. It wears really nicely. Looks great. Looms fantastic. I was happy to learn.
Jason Heaton Wow. And then weirdly, the um
James Stacey I think I've over s after spending time with all four of the colors now, I think I've kind of like rearranged which one I prefer. Huh. Weirdly it's the brown the brown might be the one. The white's awesome. Um the blue is so classic Vachron and it's the closest to the kind of purpley gray blue of the original from 2021.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But then that brown,
James Stacey if this makes sense, it's the least brown brown watch I've ever worn around.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And it's such a nice match for the
James Stacey titanium. And in some lights, there's like a purplish red hue, just ever so slight in
Jason Heaton it. Yeah. But the brown is very gray
James Stacey in a tonal fashion. So it just w especially on the bracelet, it looks fantastic in the brown.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I'm not sure that this is consumer advice. Like
James Stacey I can't go and tell you to buy a $40,000 watch because it's just an unbelievable amount of money for a watch, right? And it's kind of outside the scope of what we normally chit-chat about. But as far as a dream watch goes, you know, we've talked about Royal Oak offshore divers in the past and Ploprofs and that sort of thing. And in my mind, it kind of slots into that sort of pantheon up there with the the some of the wild Blanc Pond creations and that sort of thing where you go like, oh, this is a a different thing. And it comes from a brand that doesn't usually do this like titanium's not uh titanium's not Vashron Constantin's forte
Jason Heaton yeah but I do think they just did such a good job
James Stacey with it and you know it comes from starting with a a pretty solid watch to begin with with the overseas dual
Jason Heaton time. But yeah, this is one that'll be
James Stacey on the on the dream list, the the lottery list, even for uh for a long time. So again, I don't have any like hardcore buying advice. If you have the money and you can get in line for one, I have a doubt you won't absolutely love
Jason Heaton it. But it's also, you know, my
James Stacey collection all totaled probably isn't worth half of what this watch costs.
Jason Heaton So yeah. Wow. Wow. Yeah, that's great that you got to spend time with it in in such a kind of a cool
James Stacey And if they had loaned me one, I wouldn't have had the guts to like even
Jason Heaton yeah to take it on like a hike to Jefferson
James Stacey Forest like you and I went on with Sarah when you were here. Like which is a walk in a park
Jason Heaton basically. Wow. Yeah. The thing that
James Stacey was really ridiculous is I don't know that area of the world very well, that sort of uh Arizona, southern Utah desert mesa vibe. And I just like it's it's absolutely jaw-dropping out there. I I don't I don't have any specific need to get back to that hotel, but I would absolutely go back to that area and car camp or you know, you know, do the do an overlander sort of thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I was just I was blown away by the
James Stacey scenery and the verticality and the colors and it's just so different from where I grew up.
Jason Heaton Was it was it warm? Was it hot?
James Stacey Very. Yeah. We're I think we were over forty Celsius on the on the when we came down on the hike.
Jason Heaton Yeah. We were just kind of baking on the rocks
James Stacey for sure. Lots it was one of those like lots of sunscreen days. I had the uh shout out David um my my connect at at uh Arterix, but I had this Arterix Sunshirt I got last year, which is like one of my favorite things because it's weightless. You cannot tell you're wearing anything. But it's like really good sun cover, and you have the hood. So I had like the hood, the helmet that you had to wear,
Jason Heaton yeah, the full getup, and the big glasses,
James Stacey and then like any bit of skin that was uh especially on my face was just like white with the like mineral
Jason Heaton sunscreen. I'm not
James Stacey sure I'll publish any photos of of me in the story uh on the side of the mountain.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, but it was cool. And uh and yeah,
James Stacey it was nice to meet a few people, obviously a a a very weird almost parasocial thing to meet uh Anthony Jesselnick uh on the trip. Um and uh not something I expected, but even some of the other folks that we kind of hung out with for the thirty-six hours of the event or so,
Jason Heaton they were all very interesting people who weren't
James Stacey necessarily like kind of like what you were positing, not exactly what I expected of Fashron's clients.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh way more people took
James Stacey up the the via Ferrada experience than I expected. Um so we'll have a story about that on on Hodinki in the future. It'll be largely a hands-on with the watch. I've got a ton of photos to get through and that sort of thing. But uh yeah, that's the update from uh one of the weirder trips I've ever had. It or more uncommon, maybe weird's the wrong wrong thing, because it was a lovely trip, but just uncommon sort of the last time I felt like kind of that level of experience would have been Longa with uh Villa Desta
Jason Heaton Concorso della Ganza back in 2017,
James Stacey 2018. Um, and that that is also a sort of a once in a lifetime trip. So
Jason Heaton yeah, there you go. And uh apparently it's a couple
James Stacey year uh wait for uh cardinal points if if you're if you'd like to get in line.
Jason Heaton All right, time to start saving. Yeah. Yeah,
James Stacey exactly. Exactly. Yeah, start start savinging, bank robb for sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right, right. All that kind of stuff.
James Stacey But uh uh I kid. If I get caught, I kid. I w I wouldn't I wouldn't steal from a bank and get caught. Um so it was quite a bit of travel down and then I got back Friday morning, like literally I think my plane landed at six AM in Toronto and kind of immediately started packing for the cot like unpacking one bag packing for the cottage to try and get up there Saturday morning to get make the most out of the weekend. So it's been kinda go go go. Um yeah. And I I now I'm home for a week. I I go to New York next week. So we'll do the the beer and pizza hangout at Watches of Switzerland uh the final Thursday of May, which is the twenty eighth. Uh so if you're listening and you're keen on that, just pay attention to Hodinky. We are running an RSVP this time because it was way too busy last time for the store.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um so we are running an RSVP
James Stacey this time. Uh so just pay attention there and uh get your name on uh on that list. It's not a small RSVP, it's a good group of people. It won't be quite as insane as what we did in March, uh, which was a little bit unwieldy, if you will.
Jason Heaton Yeah, you don't want you know, you don't want the AP swatch uh sort of scenario of people lined up around the block uh fighting to get a spot inside or anything like that.
James Stacey I I I believe we will see increased sensitivity uh in retail ac activations in terms of making sure people don't have sort of a negative experience. Anyways, that's a lot of James talking.
Jason Heaton And we can, you know, start to kind of segue into final notes. And I guess the a couple of notes I wanted to talk about are in essence sort of final notes. Um, but uh I I I think it's a good segue from your discussion about Corey Richards and the Vacheron trip and and the Via Ferrata, in that um I guess as of we're recording this nine days ago, the tenth of May would have been the the thirtieth anniversary of the the Everest tragedy that was the subject of John Crakower's book Into Thin Air. And you know we, we've've talked about Krakower in the past and and we both are big fans of his writing and Iger Dreams and Under the Banner of Heaven. And you know, he's he's just such a phenomenal writer. And um, you know, kind of uh as a tie into the kind of mountaineering climbing culture. Uh I had a chance to kind of listen to a couple of interviews with him in the past week. Um one of which was was an interview that was done through the I think it's the ninety second street Y in New York. They run kind of series of talks and and in this case it was um Krakower being interviewed by David Grant, who wrote Lost City of Z and and The Wager and several other great nonfiction books. And I I have to say I I was um I signed up for it and and you know paid 20 bucks to kind of sit in on this uh you know streaming uh interview and it and it was fairly uh disappointing, I guess I would say. I think you know cra Krakaur h his delivery during that talk felt a little jarring, a little bit um he felt a little I don't want to say addled, but you know, um a little anxious or something and and Gran wasn't the best interviewer in my mind. Um, so I was I was left wanting more and kind of a little bit disappointed. But then um a a few days later I stumbled upon a really good interview with Crack Hour by none other than Alex Honnold and and I discovered Alex Honnold's podcast that he does with Fitz Cahal, who was an editor at Outside magazine and another climber, and it's called Climbing Gold. And if you're into climbing or even climbing adjacent kind of culture it.'s It's worth it's a worthy podcast to listen to. I've listened to a couple now. I l uh walking the dog recently I listened to one um with it where Honnald interviews uh Charlize Theron about her climbing experience in the movie Apex, which is out on Netflix now. Um bit of a guilty pleasure. I watched that movie recently and it's it's it's kind of a fun view. What'd you think? Fun viewing. Um n nothing to write home about, but fun. It was, you know, uh outdoorsy and you know, a crime
James Stacey one oh one scenario. Yeah Yeah, exactly. Right.
Jason Heaton So but but but Honnold's interview with Krakow was really good. It's an hour long and they really kinda dig deep and it was it was a well edited show. It was Krakow seemed a little calmer. I think, you know, talking to one of his peers in the climbing space uh kind of helped and um the impression i get you know coming away from it was i i remember reading into thin air you know first as a story in outside magazine and then when it turned into the book and you know kind of back in the day. Um, and it still resonates. I've I've pulled the book off my shelf. I'm I'm planning on rereading it here shortly. Um you know, Krack Hour along with Sebastian Younger were just two incredible influences on me um as I was kind of coming of age as as someone who was an aspiring writer and um to this day I I still enjoy following them both and and Krakow has kind of stepped away from writing as of about ten years ago, he said. Um he he has kind of come to dislike writing and kind of the the life that it is meant for him. He's he's spent a lot of time defending himself, um, as well as he suffered from some pretty serious PTSD from all of the death that he witnessed on Everest um back in ninety-six. Um and he talks about all of that. He talks about the writing life. He talks about being an introvert. He talks about um you know kind of the blowback that he got from that book. And then also um uh into the wild and and and you know, the Pat Tillman story and under the banner of heaven. I mean he's he's just got this incredible um lineup of books that he's written, and he's just such a talent. Um and and yet he comes across as this very honest, very flawed human being. And I really appreciated that about him. So I just wanted to throw that out there. I mean it can we can call it a final note and we'll put put a link to that podcast in the in the show notes. But it's definitely worth listening to.
James Stacey I'm glad you added the the one with Alex Honnell does uh I definitely would like to give that a listen. It's really I think the last time I the last time I dug into to Crack Hour, he was also talking about some of the pain that he had experienced in writing and how he he kind of didn't like it or want to do it anymore and I found it kinda sad and and I kind of stepped away from tracking some of it. Some of it, you know, obviously he's a a guy that's dealt with a lot of controversy um surrounding his uh you know his coverage of of various events and and his opinion on other events. Um and I, you know, it's a shame that uh that that's had that sort of an impact on him, but I I you could definitely feel it um even a few years ago. So hopefully Alex is able to get uh get something a little bit more core personality out of them.
Jason Heaton Yeah, yeah, it was really good. And then um just to kind of moving on to kind of another tragedy that's uh far fresher, um uh it's these these deaths uh of these cave divers or these um divers in the Maldives uh that's still playing out these days. Um uh you know for those unfamiliar there were five Italian divers that were um diving to you know close to two hundred feet deep in a c in a cave underwater um in the Maldives um and uh none of them made it out alive and so there's been um a lot of activity around recovering bodies and and there was a a Maldivian navy diver who died um during a recovery effort. And so now they've brought in a couple of um kind of crack cave divers from Finland to help out with the with the recovery. Um and as I was reading the story about this and kind of following this, I I realized that these were two guys that were kind of the main figures in that documentary that was probably a final note or something years ago called Diving Into the Unknown. Um and uh so I I rented that last night. It was ninety nine cents on Apple TV. Um this was this the story about these this team of Finnish divers that were diving a cave in remote Norway uh in the winter and um lost two of their uh colleagues um who were kind of had become trapped in a very narrow obstruction and actually blocked the way through the cave and then they went back to to recover the bodies. And it's quite a a gripping, very sad story. I I wouldn't say the movie is particularly great. I think it could use some some better editing. But the story itself was was quite good and it was it was interesting to kind of see those guys in action knowing that they're now assisting with the the the diver recovery in the Maldives. So not to not to you know close out here our main topic stuff with with a couple of downers, um, but uh I just felt like these were kind of relevant topics to some things that we've talked about in the past. For sure.
James Stacey Yeah, yeah. No, I think that's a a good one to cover and and a decent one for final notes. Good story that's also developing and continues too. So uh it keeps it noteworthy and and definitely kind of speaks into that diving
Jason Heaton yeah pillar. Um mine this
James Stacey week is actually just a TV show that Sarah and I have been uh really enjoying we. We're actually buzzed through the first ep uh season in probably less time than we've ever watched that much TV. Uh so much so that it, you know, it ruined my sleep for a couple of nights. So it's not a brand new show. It's actually, I believe, just finished its second season. It's called The Pit. And it's about the emergency room at a Pittsburgh hospital, which is you know the term they have for it, is the Pit. And it's a really, really solid medical drama that plays out over the course of one shift, so every hour of T V show is an hour in real time in the ER. I would say it's so good that you you tend to not even pay attention to that element until you get to the end of an episode and you go, Oh my goodness, that's been an hour. I need to go to bed.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh it's 12 30.
James Stacey And you go, I I gotta see one more. I gotta know what's going on here. Uh the first season was great. It's one of the more bingeable things I've ever watched. Uh fairly well written. I'm not a doctor, so I can't tell you how accurate it is. But it's definitely very watchable. It is not in the same vein necessarily as a Scrubs or a Gray's Anatomy. It's sort of a different thing. It's a little bit more serious, but at the same time it has these moments of human warmth and kindness and the right. It's just nice. It's a good show. Uh and the fact that Sarah also likes it means it's I'm not just there because it's quite gory at times, which is of course among my interests. Uh you know, I I especially from a medical standpoint, it's fun to see some of these things shown in kind of gr quote unquote grave detail.
Jason Heaton Um so if you're squeamish on that sort of thing, you
James Stacey will there will be a few points where you look away from the screen for sure. Uh but it is a really good show that I think kind of manages to extend beyond being just one thing. Um so if you're if you're looking for it and you like the idea of a of a medical drama, they're two seasons in, I'll be done second season, you know, by the end of the week, I bet. And uh have been really enjoying it. It's called The Pit with two T's.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Uh Christy and I watched a couple of episodes of the first season a little while back and I'm eager to get back to it. I'm I'm kind of a sucker for medical dramas and you know they're right up there with police procedurals and heist films and that sort of thing. It's uh that's uh that's a good one. So and it's got uh Noah Wiley who was who was you know the star of ER, you know. I mean he's kind of revisiting.
James Stacey Yeah, he's uh he's great. Uh the the cast is is solid. They a lot of them feel like very real people. Or like versions of real people that you've met in your life, which is great.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And uh, you know, I'm I I think
James Stacey I will forever have a soft spot for house.
Jason Heaton Oh, sure. Yeah. Uh house MD.
James Stacey Um, but this is much more serious than that, a little bit less kind of medical mystery that you know, maybe you get one of those in in one of these shifts versus you know, there's kind of every episode of house you we're not doing as much sleuthing and breaking into people's houses and that
Jason Heaton sort of thing. So uh different take,
James Stacey but uh one I've really enjoyed. So if you haven't seen it and it sounds interesting, yeah uh jump in.
Jason Heaton All right. Well, this turned into kind of a long episode for a little kind of catch-up uh session here. But uh yeah, it was good.
James Stacey Sure did. Apologies for for those of you who don't like a James Ramble. That was a James Ramble for sure. Well
Jason Heaton interesting. But it's you know it's been a busy week with lots
James Stacey to kind of chit-chat about. All right. Well,
Jason Heaton uh, 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 jump in on the Slack where we will be updating folks with uh news about our forthcoming Chicago meetup during wind up. And maybe even grab a new TGN sign NATO, please visit thegrayNATO.com. Music throughout a siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
James Stacey And we leave you with this quote from Mahatma Gandhi who said, there is more to life than increasing its speed.