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The Grey NATO – 377 – The Watches We Wear The Least

Published on Thu, 28 May 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

In episode 377 of The Grey NATO podcast, hosts James Stacy and Jason Heaton discuss their recent activities, including Jason's long weekend spent kayaking and doing body work on his wife's Prius, and James's celebrations for his father's 75th birthday. They announce an upcoming event with Citizen at Wind Up Chicago in July and are seeking venue recommendations.

The main topic explores "the watch we wear the least" - inspired by a meetup organized by Oliver and the Watch Hang crew in Vancouver. James discusses his Seiko Orange Monster, which holds significant sentimental value as it represents his early days in watch collecting, though he rarely wears it due to its weight on the bracelet. Jason shares his Bremont Super Marine 2000, a watch with special meaning (prototype #3) that he once wore constantly but now finds too heavy and has lost connection with due to changes in the brand. Both hosts express openness to finding the right strap solution to bring these watches back into rotation. The episode concludes with final notes including book recommendations and sunscreen tips for the summer season.

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 377. 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 and might want to support the show, you can visit thegraynato.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? Doing pretty well
Jason Heaton coming off a long weekend. You know, as you were reading the uh the intro there that's so familiar now, um I spent a couple days on this long holiday weekend. Uh Christy and I went and and did some kayaking and hanging out with some friends that have a cabin a bit further north from here. And inevitably, you know, there's new people in the group that I hadn't met, and they're like, What do you do? Oh, I co-host a podcast, and then what's it called? What's it about? And then there are just so many questions to answer that I I still don't have a good a good elevator pitch. I just don't have a good reply. I don't know about you. Do you run into that a lot? Or it's just
James Stacy not that often. I mean one, I'm not an uh not an immensely social person. Uh most people have some idea of of what I've what I'm getting into, uh the people I hang out with. But I would say you know, when it comes up, I usually just say, Oh, I you know, I host a podcast for people who like watches.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And usually unless like
James Stacy if you're if that's interesting, the next question will make sense and we can have a conversation about it. And most people are just kind of like, okay.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Move on. Yeah, right, right.
James Stacy You know, it's not that the door is closed, but it's a you know, a door with a specific sort of key. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. And and you mentioned watches and some people like draw a blank and then move on or some people then wanna they've got some great story about some oh, I've got my dad's watch. Do you know anything about this? And then lo and behold, it's some interesting old thing. It's so it can go one of two ways. But yeah, it's uh
James Stacy Yeah, for sure. Like they they they remember the last big celebrity watch story, or their boss has a a cool watch, or their grandpa did or yeah that sort of thing. It's
Jason Heaton fun. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I don't I don't
James Stacy typically I don't typically go through the you know the what do we call them the the accolades, the the TGN uh sort of pillars uh with everybody who might be wanting that pitch.
Jason Heaton Right. Uh but yeah, we've got a little bit of housekeeping
James Stacy before we dive into what we've been up to. I want to hear more about your your long weekend. Uh I saw some uh some fairly extensive body work that you did at in the home garage. Uh we should dig into that for sure.. Yeah Um but just wanted to highlight we have uh an upcoming event which will be at Wind Up Chicago the Friday night um of that weekend. We will be doing an event with Citizen. We're still working on finding a spot. Uh so far we haven't had a lot of luck uh finding a place that can kind of suit our needs. Uh if you're in Chicago and have a spot to recommend that could hold uh a good number of people and and you know do beer and and food and that sort of thing, let us know. Thegreenado at gmail dot com or if you own such a place uh like that. We'd love to get in touch. But yeah, Jason, with uh with that out of the way, definitely looking forward to being in Chicago in July and and seeing you and and seeing a few other folks obviously and and holding that event. Speaking of a good weekend, how was your how was your long weekend?
Jason Heaton Yeah, it was good. And but before we move on from the event uh in in Chicago, maybe you know, I just had a brainwave that maybe we should just host it at the uh our favorite sushi place.
James Stacy We just it'll it'll be like uh uh you know um a mass social event, you know, maybe around
Jason Heaton In the submarine that yeah for sure.
James Stacy I don't know if I could I don't know if we could get a liquor license to serve on that submarine. Yeah, that's true. That might be a difficult bit of paperwork. Yeah. Right. But yeah, we're we're working on it. If you have any help, let us know. Send us an email. Uh but I'm sure we'll sort it out in the next little while and we're definitely looking forward to that.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Body work uh this weekend. So we we did this kay outing uh we strategically chose Saturday into Sunday and then drove home Sunday just to avoid the traffic on both ends of things. Um and it was nice. We camped in the Defender, we did some kayaking on the Kettle River, which is a kind of a lovely, easy float, um couple hours north of here. Uh, and that was great, although the weather on Sunday was far better than the day we paddled, but that's okay. And then Christy had a bit of a run-in with a snowbank this past winter in her Prius, which has minimal ground clearance, as as you might know, and cracked the bumper. And so I had ordered this is this is the beauty of, you know, coming from the the Land Rover world where, you know, parts aren't aren't unavailable. I mean there's plenty of Land Rover parts in the world because there were so many made for so many years, but like to go from that, from ordering from one little supplier in Vermont that imports Land Rover parts to the Toyota network of parts where I could order a a bumper cover for a 2014 Prius and pick it up at the dealership for two hundred dot you know, two hundred dollars and buy you know the matched spray paint um was just such a revelation. It just brought me such joy to be able to like do this project um you know fairly easily with this this ease of finding the the parts and so I had put it off for a while. I I bought the paint and I painted it a couple of weeks ago in my garage and did a fair job with you know just a rattle can um custom color and finally got around to to taking the old cracked bumper off, which just I mean, I I'd love to say that it was difficult and kind of pat myself on the back, but it was a pretty easy job. And and I've d I'd done the rear bumper last year. There was a bit of a dent in it that um I took the bumper off and and pounded it out, you know, the plastic just to get that dimple out and put that back on. And now I've done the front bumper and I'm starting to feel like I could pretty much disassemble a Prius and put it back together, at least the the body work pretty easily. I I'm I'm really pleased with how modern cars, you know, for all the lamenting about all the plastic on modern cars, um they they sure do come apart easily if you have to replace parts. I mean it's just a bunch of plastic clips and a few screws and and a disconnect the the wiring from the the turn signals and then put it all back together within I was done within two hours the the whole job. So it was uh it was great, very satisfying.
James Stacy That's awesome. Yeah. I I do like the the clips are like a a double edged sword for me. Like they're good because they're obviously they fit, they can fit quite nicely, they're easily replaced. But also sometimes you get a stuck one.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Or say all of them are stuck. Yes.
James Stacy Um and uh you have to basically break or drill them all out.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I did find and
James Stacy and this took me a too long, um to be fair, but over the course of taking things on and off of the Jeep, uh the right set of tools for pulling those little clips out makes a big difference. They'll sponger or or yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. They do, you know, if you get in there with a flathead,
James Stacy you're gonna crunch one of them or or just snap off the top, especially once they've done ten cycles of you know, winter winter, summer
Jason Heaton in this part of the world. Uh but I do
James Stacy I have found that the clips and mostly the way the clips are positioned make more sense on the Toyota. I have a Sienna currently of a similar generation to to the Prius than it did on on the the Chrysler. Perhaps that's not that much of a surprise.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and and you know, I I put the new bumper on and then I realized that there were a couple of um little apertures that were cutouts on the on the bumper, the new bumper, that weren't on the old one. And I I looked it up and it looked like they were for like parking.
James Stacy Parking sensors maybe? Parking sensors and then
Jason Heaton also I think jets for the headlamps, I think. I'm not sure but um so then this morning I was like looking around thinking like, Okay, how can I fill those gaps? Well sure enough, for sixteen dollars I can get a set of two blanks that I can pop in there and I've still got some leftover sp spray paint. I'm like this is it's it's such a joy, you know, to
James Stacy yeah. To kind of play around with this thing. So
Jason Heaton anyway, that was a that was a satisfying yeah. It was a kind of a good mixed weekend of some outdoor adventure and some camping and um exercise and that sort of thing and then some productivity and then plenty of downtime to sit on the patio at the end of it and drink a beer and that sort of stuff. So it was great. And you've had kind of two long weekends in a row, right? You had the Victoria Day last weekend and then uh uh US Memorial Day this this past weekend.
James Stacy I did, yeah. I just need to close a window. There's a uh actually I don't even need to remove this from the episode. There's somebody l uh blowing leaves near my home.
Jason Heaton Oh boy. Uh one moment.
James Stacy Yeah, I've had a pair of long weekends. The first one here in Canada, I'm on an American schedule uh for work. So worked through that one, but it was a good time at the cottage like we talked about last week. And then uh this week with Memorial Day, I I had the day off. So I I had a fairly busy weekend. It's my father's 75th on Saturday, so we were able to celebrate that and cook a ton of food and had most of my family at my parents' place for the Saturday. That was a really nice day. I had intended to go and get the Jeep, which has been living in my parents' driveway. Uh I was I intended to go jump it and then take it to the cottage uh the next day on Sunday where it'll live for the summer so we can use it to do cottage stuff. Use it more like a tractor uh for the next little phase of its life and it wouldn't start. Um I put the battery on uh a tender and could just barely get it running on a jump. So either the battery is incredibly low, like there's no it has a surface charge but can actually crank. Or or there's an extended problem from it sitting for the last six, seven months. Yeah. Uh so that'll take uh some other that's gonna take some more troubleshooting, the first step being a new battery. Um and then in the end, uh S Sunday was such kind of a crummy day for weather
Jason Heaton uh that we didn't end up going to the cottage.
James Stacy Uh we stayed home and and kind of got a few things, you know, that late spring, just before summer, tidy up the garage. Uh Sarah went to the uh garden center and and got all the vegetables that she wanted to plant. So the planters are up and running now. And uh and we even picked up a little bit of patio furniture for sitting outside the the previous set we had bought like second hand from somebody selling an older IKEA set, it looked like wood, and then after I think maybe one winter it all just kind of disintegrated
Jason Heaton like like fully. Uh it
James Stacy was wood of some sort, it just apparently not the type that you could even conceive of leaving outside. So we got a simple metal table. And then Monday was really beautiful weather. So uh it was it was nice to kind of kick back. We finished uh on a previous episode. I talked about the pit,
Jason Heaton yeah, the TV show. We finished the second season
James Stacy of that. I I all I don't I don't dislike it enough to say like I want to rescend my final
Jason Heaton note. Mm-hmm. I'm not
James Stacy sure it would have made the final note if I'd watched all two seasons.
Jason Heaton Oh uh the second season felt very
James Stacy um not disjointed, but like it couldn't decide which point it was trying to make.
Jason Heaton Huh. Yeah. Yeah. We're recording
James Stacy this Tuesday morning as we normally do. Uh I head to New York for a couple of days in the city this afternoon. So uh finally shooting the the the main elements, the main two camera elements for this tutor project I've been working on for several months. It's tough to record some footage before Wchesat and Wonders. And if you don't get it out before Watches and Wonders, there's going to be a huge delay. So we we've we've got it down to three pretty solid episodes. And I'm looking forward to having those go live in June, but I'm going to shoot those in person uh properly down in New York City uh tomorrow. And then Thursday we have the hooding happy hour hangout, uh, which is gonna be great, and otherwise just a few meetings and that sort of thing. It's nice to get down there. And then I'm jetting back s Fridays with the hopes of it being great weather and we'll be at the cottage for the weekend. So
Jason Heaton nice. That's uh that's the travel schedule
James Stacy for the next few days. It's been it's been pretty good. It's been nice to have some warm weather to be outside to feel too hot.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I was uh we had uh we
James Stacy had a lilac bush fall over in our front yard during from a storm the other day.
Jason Heaton Oh wow and I drove a
James Stacy spike into the ground and then like ratchet strapped it back up and I didn't realize I don't own a sledgehammer or if I do, it's at my cottage. And even that one I might have bored and just not given back from an uncle. Um so I was trying to get this big spike in the ground that I had made from a piece of wood in my garage and I ended up using a kettlebell.
Jason Heaton Oh nice. a Like forty pound kettlebell.
James Stacy Yeah. And after three or four hits, it was it was like warm and muggy. I was like, man, it feels really good to be kind of overheating.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Um just based on like
James Stacy the environment. It feels like I just been cold for so long.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it's d it's downright hot here the past couple days and this week looks uh looks up there um around ninety degrees Fahrenheit. So it's um instant summer compared to Saturday when I was wearing you know a sweater and a and a stocking cap uh in the evening. So feels good. Well
James Stacy with that out of the way, you want to jump into some you want to get into some watches? We've talked about a bunch of a bunch of other stuff. Uh automotive repair is definitely interested in our you know the the the superlatives and that sort of thing. But uh but yeah, you want to get into some risk check?
Jason Heaton Sure. Yeah, I I pulled out I sort of along the lines of our today's theme or main topic, um I pulled out a watch I haven't worn in quite some time and it's my uh Royal Navy diver uh from nineteen ninety-five. This is the CWC um was issued in ninety five. It's got the circle T tritium dial. Um I did have the the movement actually replaced and the seals all redone uh about a year ago and really haven't worn it since. You know, we had the CWN one come out and that kind of took But I saw this in my watchbox when I was doing my purge uh a couple of weeks ago and uh kind of had a soft spot, so I pulled it out and threw it on a gray NATO, of course, and yeah, I've been wearing it for several days now. It's uh it's just uh I don't know. I'm you know, the the the C W N one, the titanium, et cetera, the the twelve hour bezel, uh you know, I love that watch, of course, but there is something about these old steel um CWCs that I I just have such a soft spot for and they're just so great.
James Stacy Yeah, it's it's funny that one made your list because and I and I texted you about it the other day, I my the nineteen eighty three reissue that you gave me wasn't running. And I was like, oh, maybe I'll sell it. And so I I fitted a new battery and you know made sure it was running okay. And in the process, I was like, ah, I'll put it on a strap and throw it on. And I put that, you know, it has that tan sort of luminous treatment
Jason Heaton yeah and so I put it on like a tan NATO
James Stacy and I don't know I don't think there's for the for the few hundreds of dollars that I'd get in selling it I'd rather hang on to it. It's a great one for my
Jason Heaton yeah uh you know to give to a sibling
James Stacy at some point or to loan out to people who might want to experience the brand.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And it's you know the bezel's awesome. It's
James Stacy a polished case which gives it a whole different feel than the the CWN one.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. And in many ways that,'s
James Stacy you know, between that and the CWN one, that's my that's my only real guard against buying a sword hand seamaster.
Jason Heaton Right. Yeah, the titanium or the two two five
James Stacy four or something like that. So I gotta hang on to that just in
Jason Heaton case I you know, I don't want my defenses
James Stacy to get too low and I end up buying yet another titanium uh you know dive watch with uh with uh with sword hands
Jason Heaton right. Yeah, but th those are great
James Stacy watches. I just and I still think like even at the even at the list price, they offer great value, but they're also well enough made that they they make a really appealing sort of second hand option. Yeah. Um in especially I think an automatic. Of course you and I I I'm I'm rocking a quartz one, which I'm fine with. I actually really kind of like the idea that you set it and then it's it's you could be your weekend watch, could be your jumping off the dock watch, that sort of thing. The loom's great, the bezel's awesome. Yeah, they're they're solid pieces for
Jason Heaton sure. Yeah, yeah. I mean just
James Stacy that spec, like not just CWCs, but like that spec that informed those sorts of watches, whether it was of 5517 all the way up to a CWC or you know the the Omega C masters, uh I just I think it it really has led to some really fantastic watches in the last, you know, forty years.
Jason Heaton Oh, yeah, totally. Yeah. I mean there's the the the the sword hand remains my I think my favorite handset configuration. Although you could argue that the watch you're wearing today has a equally iconic and appealing handset.
James Stacy Yeah, I think this the when we're talking about my Pelegos thirty nine, I I've been wearing it quite a bit the last week as I rewrote all these sc scripts, several, you know, pages and pages of scripts for these videos we're working on.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh, because it's kind of telling the story of
James Stacy how that watch was made, uh, which I'm excited about. And with the 39, I really like the the snowflake hour hand, but I get a I see constant feedback anytime you write about a tutor that has such a hand or you put it on Instagram, somebody will be like, Great watch, don't like the hour hand.
Jason Heaton And uh and so I I th I think it's I I think there's
James Stacy a strength in that. You know, some some design elements can be divisive enough to be to feel characterful, which I think this does. But I understand if it's definitely less conventional than a sword hand. And as a guy who really doesn't like the skeleton hands on, you know, the 95 post the majority of those seamasters. I totally get how a hand, if it doesn't hit you right, kind of does kind of makes the watch not not something for you.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. So I understand that.
James Stacy But yeah, I'm I'm wearing my my progressively more and more worn and proper looking uh Pelgos 39. So on the bracelet. Uh it's just right. I love it for travel. You know, I'm I'm not changing time zones, so that's not a big concern.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And uh and you know, I have and
James Stacy we'll get to this when the videos finally come out. I already loved this watch, so it's like it's very much preaching to the choir, but being able to see the case be made, elements of the bracelet be made, you know, all these elements, seeing them assembled by somebody by hand, it just brought me a different level of respect for a watch. It's a very expensive watch. It should be made very well. But I just always assumed, and I think I've said this on past episodes where I alluded to these eventual videos. But I always assumed that most of the industrial process behind a tutor was a machine.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And like they're using the
James Stacy machines where they make the most impact, but in scenarios where they still need hand-eye, they still have it. And uh and I think that's the thing that kind of surprised me the most and it definitely kind of rewarmed my appreciation of the watch. It was a watch that I wore all the time and it kind of became my default. Yeah. But it like upped my my overall like emotional impact to the watch for sure.
Jason Heaton Well, I'm I'm glad you're you haven't completely gone over to the dark side of analog digital watches uh after your recent flurry. No, I I
James Stacy would say I'm I'm largely split. I mean I'm I'm wearing the aerospace a ton. Um I you know it's it's that friggin' polymesh bracelet is so good. Oh
Jason Heaton yeah. Um it's so much fun and it just
James Stacy weighs nothing and it wears really well. But definitely I'm not sure I would have worn I guess I was wearing the CWN one when I was slamming the spike into the ground with the with the kettlebell.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I'm not sure I would do that with my aerospace. Oh
James Stacy they just don't they don't have a reputation for being super robust. Um and and I am prepared for this one to break at some point and it will have to go out to to Brightling. That's that's the life of that experience. I would lean on the the Pelagos or the the CW ed one for that kind of work for sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Yeah
James Stacy it's good stuff. All right. Well look speaking of watches we wear a lot and in some cases less, you want to jump into the main topic, which is uh where did you get the inspiration for this? You said it came from uh a meet one of our meetup or one of the TGN Slack groups?
Jason Heaton Yeah, I was um intrigued by this idea. Um and I apologize to the the organizers of this meeting and the the attendees I because I I looked through Slack extensively last night and today, trying to figure out which kind of local or regional meetup group uh inspired this. Um but the topic here is the watch we wear the least. And it was a it was a kind of a theme for um some meetups that a a group of our TGN crew were having in uh one city. And if if if if this is your if this is your brainchild or your thing, uh do let us know in the Slack and we'll give you full credit here. But um I just love the idea that that these guys would show up wearing the watch from their watch box that they wear the least. I think it's such a i a fun theme because you kind of tend to see the same same, you know, the usual suspects when you go to a watch meetup. It's kind of what's popular those days, what's being talked about. Um and so for for someone to pull out it's kind of an oddball out of their collection that they they don't sell and they hold on to for whatever reason and then wear it to a meetup's a great idea. And I thought we could kind of turn that into an episode where we each talk about a watch or, you know, m a few watches or just candidates and then maybe the watch we do wear the least um but we probably will never sell or or would be at the bottom of the list. Um, I thought it'd be kind of a fun thing to do. So that's where we are.
James Stacy Absolutely. So I I definitely have too many watches. So there's a lot of watches that I don't wear a ton. Yeah. But when I look at the box, some of them have a um some of them have like a specific connection to a person or they were a gift from a family member. Like there's watches that I don't think count regardless of how much I do or don't wear them, if they have like a a family background and heirloom quality or a a lot of um sentimental value, would you agree on that front?
Jason Heaton Yeah, definitely. I I think I I'm in the same boat. Um and so to a certain degree, I guess the criteria for this might not be the watch the truly the watch we wear the least, 'cause I you know, I've got like some old I've got like my grandfather's hand wound timex that's just it it's just not me, it's tiny, it's it's kinda whatever. It's just not a not a great daily piece and I'm that's not my taste. And
James Stacy like the benefit of wearing a watch like that. I've I have that you know, the the Boulevard that I had Roldorf restore.
Jason Heaton Yeah. That w that is, you know, f of the lineage
James Stacy of my grandfather, great grandfather, and uh the benefit of wearing that watch, like on like you know, I I might wear it to a family wedding or something like that for a few hours.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Beyond that, if you break it, like what
James Stacy did I dunno, like it's I'm I'm so not like uh treat your stuff like a museum
Jason Heaton yeah except when you get to these certain watches. Yeah. Yeah.
James Stacy Where you go like that's nah that one's in good shape. Let's keep it that way so it can be passed along. Like I feel my I'm more of a steward of that watch than a user. Right. Does that make
Jason Heaton sense? Yeah, definitely. I kept my pick
James Stacy to watches that I use or or it would be classed as watches should just use and enjoy.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. For instance, I've got like I've got an Accutron space view that um someone from our crew uh kindly sent to me um a couple of years ago. Like a
James Stacy vintage one? It is, yeah. It's from the late sixties.
Jason Heaton Um it's a space view. It is very cool. It's got the gold case and uh I I''veve got got it it on on a a
James Stacy even cooler I've got it on a blue um
Jason Heaton do you remember the I can't remember that what they called it but the the the strap the nylon pull-through strap that uh the windup shop was selling for a while there I think they still sell it because I I bought it 'cause it was narrow enough and it's kind of this nice blue and it just it just goes well with that. And and Christy wears this watch more than I do, but I just I haven't worn it much. But every time she wears it or every time I pull it out and look at it and listen to that hum, it's just a beautiful, cool watch, but it's it's tiny and it just doesn't look great on my wrist. But it's it's just one of those pieces that's just fun to have and to look at. And I think we both have a few of those. I mean, you've got some vintage stuff and your chronograph suisse and stuff like that that you know you probably wear a a couple times a year at best, but then um they they tend to sit. But I like your I like your distinction that you know these are watches that we we would use and that do are kind of in our wheelhouse but that we just don't wear very much. So
James Stacy yeah, and when when it comes to something, oh, and I did want to say I I searched back uh through the meetups channel, least worn watch was a watch hang event. So that's Oliver and his crew in Vancouver.
Jason Heaton Ah, okay. Uh big shout out to those guys.
James Stacy That's rad. It looked like a really well attended event. Um if you search least worn watch in the Slack, you will find their coverage of the event. It looked like a great time. But I did want to I I was like, well, I think we can maybe find this. Slack will keep us at least probably sixty days. Oh,
Jason Heaton sure. Uh going back. Uh so I dug
James Stacy around and yeah, shout out Oliver for a great idea. And Oliver has uh a very broad taste in watches, so it wouldn't surprise me if he has some that he enjoys, but maybe doesn't wear that often. So I I I like the impetus. It's a it's a good one.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. And you know, when it comes to and I'll
James Stacy get to my pick in a moment, but when it comes to something like the uh the chronograph Swiss, which is a little outside my normal, I really like that watch, but in very specific settings. And what I found is there's another way that I can enjoy a watch like that, which is to loan it to somebody who hasn't had the experience.
Jason Heaton Oh, sure. Because it's not a super expensive watch.
James Stacy Arguably most of the value of the watch is cause I got it from James Lambdon.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I and I really like James.
James Stacy And when I put it on, I kind of think of James, and that makes me happy. Uh, I think it's a pretty watch. It's not a overly fancy or expensive watch. Um, but it it runs nicely. It's a cool thing to have, and currently it's on loan to Tim Jeffries.
Jason Heaton Oh, nice. Uh my my colleague at Hodinky.
James Stacy It you know, he wears a suit most of the time. I think if it's under ninety-five Fahrenheit, he's in a suit. And I thought, you know, if there's a guy who should probably check this out, it's it's Tim.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. And uh and so he's had
James Stacy it for a little while and look, I you know, he's he might maybe wears it around New York, maybe gets all fogged up. We'll sort it out. It's okay. Uh I'm not precious about the the stuff that I'm precious about, you know, you know, I wouldn't I wouldn't wear. Uh everything else. Uh sometimes you just go, Hey, I'm not wearing this. And maybe that's what'll happen to the 1983. Yeah. It's a nice legible watch. Maybe it goes to my dad for a bit.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Or goes to one of my brothers to to
James Stacy kind of experience something else. Yeah. And uh and so I think that's also an option. But weirdly, the the my main pick, my the one that immediately leapt to mind is a watch I really like that I have no interest in selling, that I don't really want to loan to anybody, but I also don't really feel like wearing it much more than probably once or twice a year. And that's my uh Seiko Orange Monster.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I was surprised by this pick. I for some reason I thought you wore it more than you did. Because I mean you you've talked so fondly about the the monster, um mainly in with a hint of nostalgia. I mean I think uh correct me if I'm wrong, but it feels like your your love of this watch um kind of brings back kind of the early days and and kind of that that warm feeling you get you know that you when you remember the your first days of collecting and getting into watches, right?
James Stacy No, I think you're definitely right. For me, the the the way uh you know, I tried to think of a of a analogy for the way that I think about the orange monster because I still really enjoy it. I like it. I like seeing it in my watchbox, I like knowing that you know my first automatic Seiko was a black monster.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Right. And then when the opportunity
James Stacy came up to get another one at a good price uh through uh you know a a little group connection I was able to get another one and then I was able to trade Chris Soul for the orange one. So this one does have a some a sentimental underpinning to
Jason Heaton it. Um that said it's not like
James Stacy I don't think Chris Soul would would disown me if I flipped it or sold it off. But for me it's a little bit like um like if you go through your your music collection and there's some albums in there that you don't listen to anymore or at least you don't they're not like part of a playlist you're you've been rocking for the last few years. Like for me, if I go back through my my old iTunes, I you know I'm mostly on title now, but if I went back through my old iTunes, you know, folder, you'd find like some 41, an MXPX, and uh and you know, maybe some blink one eighty two and and and that sort of stuff. And like I don't listen to that that often now, but I also I deleting it would be nuts. You know what I mean? Like I was I was ups I well, it's it's more just that it would feel like I was betraying where I started to a certain extent. And I like having that footnote because there's a bunch of of watches that I sold back in the day be when two, three hundred dollars meant I could get another watch to learn about.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. And that would include my, you
James Stacy know, my my Black Monster, which probably lost out to my SKX double seven, which is now on my dad's wrist. Oh sure.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And he wears it all the time. I saw
James Stacy it. That's what he was wearing this weekend. On a tanned NATO, the one with the twelve hour bezel.
Jason Heaton Oh, nice. It's great. Yeah. Oh well. But
James Stacy I don't still have my Orient Red Beast. I don't have uh my first Citizen NY0040. Mm-hmm there, there's a bunch of watches that I had back in the day. I had a Yemma C spider. It's like 39mm with a really cool dial. Wow. I uh and I sold that one. I remember I bought for like two. It was the only time I ever like made money on a watch. I bought it for two, three hundred bucks on poor man's watch form, and then somebody saw a photo of it on Watch You Seek and sent me a DM and offered like 800 bucks for
Jason Heaton it. Yeah. US. And I was like,
James Stacy this is nuts. I gotta do it. Right. And I kind of wish I had kept it.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I don't want to put myself there with the monster.
James Stacy Like for me, the monster is kind of like um it's like if you may again, here's another analogy. If you if the music one didn't land for you, if you really don't like uh, you know, k semi Canadian or or North American pop punk. It's like when when you have uh a house and you see like that one brick that has a little signature in it.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Or like a little you know, or
James Stacy or the the sidewalk that has the handprint of yeah of a family member in it or something like that. Or or you go down, you know, I remember the first house I bought when we redid the basement, there was like people had signed one of the rafters.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Like I probably the original owners.
James Stacy And like for me, that's kind of when I opened my watch box. I need to see a uh a humble, cool, characterful, really fun, not too serious Seiko in there.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or or to to to hone the analogy um of the house, um, you know, the the height markings, like when a kid you stand in the door doorway and they they like mark your growth. This this almost feels like your growth in the watch hobby, you know. Like I started if you look down low here, there's a Seiko Orange M Orange Monster hash on the door door frame here. So it's uh yeah, it's kinda like Yeah,
James Stacy you gotta have it. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Uh and and that's how I see it. I still really like the watch and I would say I wear it I find it quite heavy, especially on the bracelet, and I find that the monsters doesn't appeal to me as much off the bracelet.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Although I have been flirting with
James Stacy buying like a higher quality expression of their rubber strap.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Um I think maybe Zulu Diver
James Stacy makes one or Uncle Seiko, probably both. Um, and then wearing it this summer 'cause the loom's amazing and and all that kind of stuff. But really it is a yeah, I don't I don't yeah, like a I don't need another analogy. It's one of the two that we've made already. Uh uh, but I I still really like the watch. I just feel no impetus to wear it or get rid of
Jason Heaton it. Yeah. Yeah. So um besides it being heavy, like why why do you think you don't wear it um more often? I mean, is it is it a style thing? Is it just like you've your personal style has moved on?
James Stacy No, I don't think so. Um I s like I still I still like the way they look. I like when I see them. I love those gen ones especially. I think it literally is kind of the wearing experience.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. Um I'm so used
James Stacy to the titanium stuff. Even titanium on a bracelet.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Um is is kind of the home
James Stacy home plate currently that it it feels wild to it's so heavy. Yeah. Um with the steel bracelet as well. Yeah. Um but yeah, I'm not I don't think there's I don't have like a a thing I don't like about it. I guess I just I'm in a mode of of liking listening to other stuff, you know what I
Jason Heaton mean? Yeah, yeah. Well that that's a good segue for for mine because um you know we you talk about a heavy watch um and kind of the wearability of something.
James Stacy Oh yeah. So so
Jason Heaton my pick is, you know, I've got I've got several I've got a couple of old Seiko divers kind of in the SKX mode, um 7002, you know, etc. from the eighties and nineties that that I just don't wear anymore. Um but the the one that I picked to discuss here is is my Bremont, my Super Marine 2000, which is a watch that if you remember, I used to wear a lot. I mean that that there was a time when that was like my one, it would have been my one watch pick. I I love loved that watch. Um and it it came with some with some kind of sentimental value to it, um, kind of a special meaning because it it's actually the the uh on the back, it's hand-engraved S3. It's like the the sample three or prototype three um watch. It was like literally the third made. I think the first one was like Nick English's, and the second was Mike Pearson's. And I got number three. And the reason I did is because at the time Gashani and I were vacationing in the Bahamas and we happened to be on a dive trip, and Bremont had a a launch event for that watch for the S two thousand in Grand Cayman the same week and they wanted some underwater photos and video to show at their event and so they sent me this watch and said, if if at all possible could, you take some photos on your trip and email them to us and we'll show them at the wherever they were, some jeweler in Grand Cayman. Um and so we did that and I sent the the photos and video over to them and they used that stuff and um it and and then they said you know you know please you know thanks you know keep the watch and whatever and I wore that thing on the rubber strap excellent rubber strap you know great watch but you know this is a 45 millimeter steel watch with 2,000 meters of water resistance. So you can imagine it's thick, it's got a thick crystal. It is so heavy. And then for whatever reason, years later, I bought the bracelet that went with it because I thought it looked good. And it does look good.
James Stacy Yeah, I remember when you got it. But the bracelet
Jason Heaton on that watch, and that's how I've got it currently. Part of the reason I don't wear it, it is so heavy. I should weigh that thing. It is so huge and heavy. And I've just moved on. I just I I used to be such a proponent of big heavy dive watches, thinking that's how they all should be. And
Jason Heaton it's part of the reason I'm I'm you know I keep flirting around
Jason Heaton with getting a panerai, but every time I see photos of the ones that I like, I'm like, could I would I really wear that if I owned it? Because they're just big and heavy. Even, you know, even like a 42mm steel luminar or something, it's gonna be a lot of watch on the wrist. And so I just don't wear this this Bramont at all. And then I think, you know, as we've discussed uh quite quite a bit over the past couple of years, you know, with the changing of the hands of the of the company and um kind of the new direction they've taken, I've just kind of lost my attachment to the brand. They're they're just um they're not what they used to be. You know, there was this personal connection with Nick and Giles and when Mike Pearson worked there. And um we we did some special stuff with them, you know, even uh even um on TGN, you know, at their uh townhouse event in London, you know, we we recorded there. I mean, we we've just had some fun with their ambassadors and and the watches were great. We we both were such fanboys of of Braymont. Um and the old stuff is still so good. And this watch is really an excellent watch, but I just I for a number of reasons I just don't wear it. Um and yet because of its sentimental value to me, it's one that would be one of the last to go in my collection. And so it sits. Um it just it's tuck I actually took it out of my watch roll because it was kind of weighing down one end of it. So I put it in one of those kind of zipper Oakley style vault uh clamshell cases and it just kind of lives in that um in the bottom of my watch box. But uh
James Stacy yeah yeah, that's that's the one. It's it's a
Jason Heaton pretty watch, but man, it's it's tough to wear.
James Stacy Yeah, I mean, I I for me of my last Braymont was the S302,
Jason Heaton yeah, which I absolutely adored
James Stacy and uh and really liked. And then for a litany of reasons, many of which we've talked about in the past, some of which you just covered there, I kind of lost my affinity for uh for the brand behind it. It felt like it wasn't the same scenario that brought me to the watch, if that makes sense.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, and maybe that sort of highlights something
James Stacy with with the Seiko monster where I don't think that has changed for
Jason Heaton me. If I wasn't
James Stacy doing this at a professional level, I'd probably have a Seiko or two, and that's what I would wear, or a couple of citizens, or w an Aqualand and uh Slim Willard or something like that. And then that, you know, I'd be covered, right? Yeah. Um I still think they they make a great watch. I don't really think that they've largely you know, the price point has moved up, but find me anything in your life that hasn't at this point in the last 20 years, right? Things get more expensive. I still think Seiko offers a lot, and certainly the criticisms you could level at the Orange Monsters movement have been progressively addressed uh with further generations of of Seiko's movement development. Uh the scope of Seiko hasn't changed that much in my mind over the over the years that I've been doing this and have been interested in the brand. I've been fortunate enough to make a living in this world, then there's a certain laddering effect of you're just kind of always spending more, or at least you feel like you might to get the net the next experience, you might have to spend more.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um so whereas maybe you know, maybe
James Stacy maybe I've gone from the occasional Seiko to the occasional tutor. That doesn't mean that I I feel that much differently about the about the Seiko, but certainly it it in some cases that's what went on with uh with Bra the Braymont, the S302 I had, which is it remains an absolutely fantastic watch.
Jason Heaton Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um what other candidates? I mean, do you have any others in your collection that you you just when you were weighing the the choice for this episode? Or was that just a clear, clear pick?
James Stacy I think that's probably the clear front runner. Let me take a quick look at the box here in case.
Jason Heaton Yeah, for me I've I mean I've got a I've got uh several doxes that I don't wear. I mean I've got I I actually have the full trio of the black lung collection from the Sub 300. And um, you know, I j I j I just for whatever reason I just don't wear those watches as much. Um the the one dox that I do wear on occasion is my is the vintage one that I have, which is the the 69 or 70 uh Shark Hunter T graph. Um I just feel like I've got the the attachment to that and and for some reason when faced with a handful of doxas, like the the vintage one just just leaps out. I mean it's the one I always want to pick up if I want kind of a doxa experience. So
James Stacy for sure. Yeah and you know just taking a peek at the watchbox in case in case I glossed over something. You know I've got an older Halios tropic that I like, but don't wear that often. If I was going to throw a Halios on, I really have a very strong connection to the Vancouver LE C4th that they did with Rolldorf, of which I have one of those, and then the current titanium seaforth on the bracelet. Again, I just I've become very it titanium has become the uniform in many ways. And uh and so I don't I don't get a ton of wear of the tropic, but when I throw it on, I I really enjoy it. There's not it doesn't really wear like anything else, has a lot of character. The case is quite interesting still, all these years later. Um, and then as far as Doxa goes, man, I I sold my 200T because I I was it was losing out to my 300 50th anniversary C Rambler. I just I love it. I wore it the other day. I'm gonna wear a ton this summer. I, you know, if if I have one complaint about that watch is that the loom isn't that bright, so it makes it a slightly less appealing watch for the cottage, where it's nice to wake up in the middle of the night and you know, a very old farmhouse that doesn't have a lot of power.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um and just be able to glance over and
James Stacy see what time it is. You know, the vertex is nuts for that sort of thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah. But it's definitely still part of the rotation.
James Stacy And I I don't I don't I don't even think I've lost one two percent of my love for the the the fiftieth anniversary doc so I just think it's a a fantastic
Jason Heaton watch. Yeah, yeah, definitely. All
James Stacy right, well a giant a giant Braymont uh that represents an older era and certainly uh the Seiko Orange Monster, which kind of represents my start. Uh like I said, no no real interest in um in uh in getting rid of of mine. Would you would you plan to one day move the Braymont on or or it's with you for good?
Jason Heaton I wouldn't say for good, but it's i i it it's still gonna i'll still hang on to it for a while and i'm i'm tempted you know as we're talking i'm like maybe i should pull it out and put it on today but i know what'll happen because it it happens every time i would do that with this watch is i'd put it on and a couple of hours in I'd just I'd feel it on my on my wrist and I would s switch it out for something else. May maybe
James Stacy on the rubber? I think on the rubber is kind of the way it came
Jason Heaton and that was uh you know Yeah. they even released the the bracelet version. Um and so it it I think it looks best on the on that rubber. It was such an excellent rubber strap. So yeah maybe I'll maybe I'll give it some wear. It is it is a such a fantastic watch.
James Stacy It is I mean the the S500 was my kind of introduction to Braymon. I still look up back on it very fondly. Maybe once every few years I get r kind of randomly served an image that I shot of that watch back in the day for watch report. Um, and I still think a great looking, very distinctive didn't look like everybody else's dive watch at the time or now. And uh I think you see that in the 2000 as well. You know, the the one thing that I think we could kind of do to to put a bow on this part of it is I I'm open to the fact that since I had my black monster and even got the orange monster, there might be a strap that suits this watch so nicely that I just don't know about. Maybe it's one of these Uncle Seiko's or otherwise. Let me know in Slack. I will buy a strap for it and I will wear it this summer. Uh sort of revisiting a classic. Maybe it's a cool story. Maybe it's just something we talk about to follow up on this episode. I'd be more than happy to wear the watch, but I think my time with it on the bracelet is very much an aesthetic choice and not uh ergonomic
Jason Heaton one. I would I would prefer so
James Stacy I'm I am open to a strap suggestion and if you're in the chat and you have an idea for a strap that might help balance out the S two thousand.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Let us know and we can
James Stacy try them out for a while and follow up this episode with wearing the watch we wear at least.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a good idea. I love that idea too.
James Stacy May maybe we're just a strap change away, right? Yeah. Because think about my ex our experience with the Aqualand.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. I think that rubber strap that
James Stacy it comes with makes a lot of sense if you're putting it over a wetsuit.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. It makes less sense if you have a seven
James Stacy inch wrist like me and and kind of bony and it's a it's a lot of strap even for a big watch. But then you put it on that Wochi strap from Amazon or a NATO and and I think it wears quite nicely.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And it really makes the watch uh very
James Stacy comfortable and easy to wear. And may maybe there's a solution for our two watches that that put get them back on a wrist, get a back in rotation. Yeah. Because I I would be happy to wear the Seiko uh more than a couple times a year if I had what felt like a real nice kind of grab and go, not too heavy, easy to wear sort of solution for the mount.
Jason Heaton Yeah.ah, ye And uh thanks again to uh I guess it was Oliver and the and the gang in Vancouver, right, for for this idea for this episode. Um, you know, they didn't contact us and we didn't contact them. I just kind of remembered it from seeing it in the meetups channel on Slack and and thought it was kind of a neat idea and I I enjoyed this. I thought it was a it was kind of a a a different take than we usually have on the on the show, which is we're we're tend to talk about watches we love and wear a lot and
James Stacy um not that we don't love these watches, but uh yeah,
Jason Heaton just kind of a fun spin. All right. Yeah.
James Stacy Thanks very much, Oliver, and shout out to uh the Watch Hang crew. Uh hope to cross paths with all of you soon. Uh help with some final notes.
Jason Heaton Yeah, sure. Um I've actually got two and and one is um a a a book that I just finished, which is uh from one of our favorite authors that we've talked about in the past, and that is Patrick Radden Keith. Uh he I just finished his his most recent book, which just came out, I don't know, a month or six weeks ago called uh London Falling. And it's um again, true story. You know, he's a he's an incredible investigative um writer. Um and and this book was spawned by uh from a New Yorker article that he uh wrote a while ago, also a long New Yorker article, and I've listened to some interviews with him lately. Um and the interviewer's like, your New Yorker article is quite long. How did that turn into a book? Um and when you when you read this book, and in in this case, I listened to the audiobook with him narrating it. You you can tell why. I mean, he he gets into such detail and such I would call them tangents because you're listening, you're like, how does this relate to the actual story, the main storyline? But it's fascinating. You don't mind. You just listen along or read along and and it's great. But anyway, it's it's a pretty tragic story. It's about a a teenager in London who um falls to his death from from a balcony on a uh luxury apartment overlooking the Thames. And kind of the investigation around how this came to be, um, turns out that that he was nineteen and he was um kind of purporting to be or or living uh kind of this fake existence as a Russian oligarch's son, even though he's not Russian and his parents were not oligarchs. Um and so his parents who were grieving his death w started to kind of dig in uh to the circumstances around his death and it just unraveled into this web of um intrigue and and you know, shady characters and whatever. And it's um it's a sad story. It's a it's a really interesting story and uh um you know, Rad and Keith's just so good as we both know. So that uh that's really good. So that that's my first one.
James Stacy Man, that's great. I uh I haven't read that. Happy to add it to uh to my list. Sounds like a heavy topic, but I I can't say that it's a final notes necessarily, but uh for for those who are the Arthur C. Clark fans in our audience, I was just recommended uh rendezvous with Rama, uh which I I'm I'm maybe twenty percent into and I cannot wait to sit down and read more of it on the plane tonight. Oh nice. I'm so excited. Uh great story. 1973. I guess maybe a short novel. I'm not really sure. I'm wa I'm reading it like on my Kindle, so I'm really sure how big it is. Um but it's uh it's it's really, really good. I'm I'm pumped to read it.
Jason Heaton Oh, that's great. And then my main one
James Stacy this week, this may seem like a basic one, but it's meant more and more to me the more I've used it in the last couple of weeks. We talked at the top of the show about summer being back and being out and being warm. I am prone, at least for the first part of the season, to some pretty solid sunburns. Uh once I get that base down, things are okay. And I really uh find sunscreen to be a pain, especially the stuff that's like a cream.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, I don't really like what it does to
James Stacy watch straps. I often don't like what it does to clothing or to the arms of uh of uh sunglasses, if they have little rubber pads, all that kind of stuff, it gets kind of gross or it can deteriorate, all that kind of thing. I switched recently, uh, I bought it in advance of the trip I talked about last week in Utah to Blue Lizard. And some of you will know this brand. They seem to be quite popular. I've now used it for about a week. It comes in like a little, you know, look like a miniature version of like a deodorant applicator.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh so it's very easy to travel
James Stacy with. And it goes on so cleanly and relatively dry, and it doesn't leave my hands all oily, so I'm not looking for a spare t-shirt or a towel or whatever to wipe it off. Yeah. I'm just super happy with it. It works really well. Um, you know, I'm I'm prone the the the ones that bug me the most are when I burn the backs of my hands.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. I'm out on a bike all day
James Stacy or in in the kayak or whatever it is. Um I could find that to be quite and it's so easy to be able to applicate just to the back of your hands, just to the bridge of your nose or the back of your neck. Highly recommend. Is it a very exciting thing to recommend? No. Um, but it it it does mean that I can be outside without worrying that I'm just contributing another tenth of a percentage point to my eventual skin cancer. So I highly recommend the Blue Lizard stuff and uh I included their website. They seem to have a ton more products than I was even aware of. I just bought this little travel one on uh on Amazon and I'm I'm really impressed with it. Uh they again, uh this is not a sponsorship or an ad or anything. I bought it with my own money at whatever the street price was on Amazon.
Jason Heaton Nice. Yeah, good. I'm always uh always looking for new sunscreens. Yeah, it's great.
James Stacy Dude, and small enough to carry with you and it can't get crushed in your bag and, then you open the bag or and your sunscreen's everywhere.
Jason Heaton Yeah, that's it. It's just like you avoid
James Stacy all these little problems by just getting away from the cream. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Cool. Yeah. There you go. And
James Stacy uh how about yours? What's your second? Yeah, I've
Jason Heaton got a quick second one. It's a bit bit uh bit of a self-shill here. Um well, not quite, but it's uh it's a story um on Worn and Wound called A Fistful of Jade, Wind Up in a Bay 2026 with Marathon and Prometheus Design Works. This is a story that um Warren Wound put up uh covering that dive that that I took part in out in uh Big Sur a few weeks back um with with some good buddies, you know, Chris Sowell and Ben Lowry and Asha Wagner and Brock Stevens and some others. Um, and it's uh it was a story that I believe was written by uh our our friend Kyle Snarr along with uh Chris Sowell. They put their heads together and and collaborated on this story and some great photography in here um about that adventure. So, you know, if you remember that episode a few uh weeks ago that I talked about diving for Jade out in in Big Sur, um you wanna read a little bit more and see some really cool photos of marathons and Prometheus design work stuff and diving. Um check it out. So we'll put a link in the show notes.
James Stacy That's great. Yeah. Uh looking forward to it for sure. And a nice follow-up to what we had talked about on the on the previous episode just after that adventure.
Jason Heaton Yeah. All right, cool. There we go. A
James Stacy whole episode. Bumper repairs and uh watches we don't wear that much, but maybe should and and all that kind of stuff. So a a pretty solid one for sure. Yeah,
Jason Heaton definitely. And uh as always, thanks so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for Music throughout a siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive.
James Stacy And we leave you with this quote from Socrates