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The Grey NATO – 388 – New Watches From Omega, Blancpain, Ming, Doxa & More

Published on Thu, 27 Aug 2026 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

In this episode of The Grey NATO (episode 388), hosts James Stacey and Jason Heaton dive deep into new watch releases and upcoming events. James is preparing for a trip to New York for the Hodinkee Happy Hour and mentions a mysterious side quest involving a "possibly dumb purchase." Jason is in the midst of moving houses and dealing with the overwhelming task of decluttering years of accumulated belongings.

The bulk of the episode focuses on new watch releases, including the Albishorn Marina Graph Classic (a 39mm mono-pusher chronograph regatta timer), the Blancpain Bathyscaphe 70th anniversary limited edition, the Doxa Frogger (a collaboration with Belmont Watches), and the Ming 5705 Comet world timer with innovative DST functionality. They also discuss the Oris & Weiss Early Bird 24-hour watch, a lost Smiths military diver prototype from the 1960s, and Omega's new Speedmaster 38. The hosts share their excitement about the upcoming Toronto Timepiece Show on September 26-27, announce the restock of their TGN 10 dazzle camo strap, and confirm that Fathead's Brewery will be providing beer for the marathon party. The episode closes with recommendations: Jason suggests the Metrolog Ruler from Craig Hill, while James enthusiastically recommends the Apple TV series "Widows Bay," a comedy-horror show set in a cursed New England island town.

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. Especially today. This is episode three eighty-eight, and it's proudly brought to you by the Always Growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support, and if you'd like to support the show, please visit thegreynato.com for more details. My name is Jason Heaton, and I'm joined as ever, by my friend and co-host James Stacey. James, it's uh Monday this week that we're recording. You feeling fresh or you're feeling kind of burned out?
James Stacey Oh, I'm feeling pretty fuzzy. Uh I'm feeling feeling pretty fuzzy. I uh I had kind of a slower paced weekend at the cottage. It was rainy, so we just kinda laid about and uh didn't really get up to a ton. I got home and and just you know, one of those weeks where you just go, I'm definitely not ready for what this week will entail. Um
Jason Heaton I'm just having one of those. I'm heading to New York to early
James Stacey tomorrow morning and I'll be there till Friday. We of course it's the end of the month, so we have the hoodinky happy hour, which I'm really pumped about. But my usual partner in crime for those, Tim Jeffries, it's August. He's on vacation uh before Geneva Watch Days. So I'm flying solo for that and uh and so I gotta figure out a way to I might have to recruit somebody else from the Hoodinky office to help me lug, I don't know, about two hundred and fifty pounds worth of beer a couple blocks over. Um it's always a very weird Uber to order. I need the biggest Uber possible and we're going like about eight hundred meters.
Jason Heaton Oh my gosh. And
James Stacey so it's it's always a lot if you're trying to get them into the back of like a a Tahoe where the road the kind of load height's kind of high.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Other than that, it should be great.
James Stacey Uh always looking forward to a little trip into town. It's kind of cool here this week.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. And but it's it's uh looks
James Stacey to be w wicked hot in the city, so uh I I I have to I have to pack for that. And then I have a little uh it's not something I I think is time to talk about uh today, but I have a little side quest happening on Friday
Jason Heaton uh to go to go look at a a a possibly
James Stacey dumb purchase and uh and so
Jason Heaton maybe next week we'll yeah yeah
James Stacey so that that's kind of the scene but uh yeah heading heading down to the city and looking forward to it. How's uh how's your last uh week been? Lots of lots of continued shuffling of things both from one house to another and from one house to the great beyond.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah, a rainy weekend at a cottage, uh just chilling out. Sounds awfully appeal 'Cause I'm definitely tired of uh moving house. Um it's been a slow motion process. I mean I've been doing it for the past several months, but I've got a someone who's gonna be renting my old house starting this coming weekend and now it's uh getting down to the wire and I really need to get every last bit out of that place. And you know, I I'm just uh I'm just cursing myself as I, you know, dig into yet another drawer or a box And I just think, why did I keep that? Why did I buy that? Why do I need fifteen pillows? Why did we save all these candle holders or, you know, whatever? Why do we need so many lig?hts Why
James Stacey do I have so many light bulbs? Yeah. Yeah. It's
Jason Heaton just I think my mother used to give a lot of hand-me-down sort of pillows and bedding. And I I kind of have this joke now that that old house was like insulated with bedding because it's just, you know, quil quilts and comforters and pillows and stuffed into every closet. So it's a lot of that sort of thing and then um I've got uh a service coming to to clean the place uh midweek this week and uh yeah we had some family visiting you know l over the past week and that kind of kept us busy and uh and then to to top things off I'm doing a very abbreviated 24 hour or actually it's less than 24 hour trip to Chicago uh midweek this week. So it yeah, it's uh it's it's kind of an unusual little side trip down there that's uh uh kind of throwing a little wrinkle in the middle of the week. But you know, other than that, it's uh it's things are going well. the days are getting a little shorter and and like you said, uh in the Toronto area, it's uh definitely been cooler here, uh which makes for good sleeping. And I went for a run early this morning, which felt good. So all in all things are going fine. Yeah, and we've got uh we've got a very watch heavy episode this week.
James Stacey We do, yeah. And but but let's get to the news or the the you know the what do we call it? Um housekeeping or whatever. Uh first up we've got the Toronto Time Peace show coming up. We are now essentially a month away. September twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh is uh are are the main two days. And on the twenty sixth we will be doing a live show event from the show itself. And then I'm actually working on setting up a gear swap with the folks from RZE. I had a good call with Huey the other day uh, put,ting some plans together for that. So that would give us something to do to go get a bite to eat and trade gear.
Jason Heaton Oh, nice. Uh whatever you've got that maybe you don't
James Stacey need anymore, but somebody else might find value in. Uh Jason, I I'm not sure how much you can bring up. Uh maybe a full suitcase of stuff, uh, given your current scenario. Uh but we should be able to we're we're just looking for a spot to host thirty soap or so people uh to do the gear swap. Um so that that should come together and I'll have all those details on the slack as soon as it's locked in. And then in the evening we'll have the marathon party. It'll start sometime after normal dinner hours, you know, seven or so. Uh but that RSVP will come out in the next week and have all the details. Uh we should have room for pretty much anybody who would like to attend and certainly if you have any issues with that once the RSVP's out, just let us know. I'm very excited for that. And we have um a very cool sort of evolution in the plan. Uh, this year, you know, I I think I mentioned on a previous show that I wanted to switch up what beer we were carrying.
Jason Heaton Um, as I've gotten more and more into the craft
James Stacey beer, I I kind of like collective arts less and less, especially when it comes to their IPAs'.re very They heavy.
Jason Heaton And I'm enjoying some of the lighter, you know,
James Stacey hazier stuff, which I know isn't everybody's taste. I also wanted to expand into you know more loggers, more pilsners. Essentially, stuff I've learned from doing these happy hours, um, is that you know, my taste is not the average taste in beer. Not everybody wants it to be a meal or you know, kind of uh a a very good sort of dank experience.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So I reached out to our buddy Beer
James Stacey Nye at uh Fatheads Brewery and he's working on figuring out how to get enough beer for everybody up from there. We uh we had this beer on the boat after the dive uh in Chicago for wind up in a lake and I mean, uh again as, a fan of Hazy's, the Hazy's excellent. Uh, but all the beer is great uh from them. So that's uh something I'm very excited about. We're just locking in those details, so really hoping that all works out um in the future. But uh we'll have great beer, great food. If you remember last year and uh and you were you were hooked on the donuts like me, I may maybe eat donuts once a year and this would be uh a good option. Uh Martin assured me that they will have the uh the donuts again. So it's gonna be a great evening, uh, one that we're all looking forward to. And then uh the other thing to talk about would be our strap habit TGN 10 dazzle camo strap is back in stock. Um so a couple months ago we did uh a special strap um for the tenth anniversary of uh the show. It's a thirty-five dollar, pretty straightforward nylon NATO style strap. Um, but it has our dazzle camo, the sort of orange and tan uh camo pattern, uh uh an amazing design of that pattern from our friends and helpful designers at Staycom Industries. It has a cool sort of Easter egg if you flip the strap over uh where you get uh a little bit of text uh kind of built into the patterning of the NATO. And yeah, so it sold out immediately. We thought we had enough. We even added extra at some point, and it still sold out like in minutes. Um, so this is now the restock. I believe everybody who had signed up for notifications of restock has had a chance, and now it's just available on Strap Habit's website. So a big shout out to Nick from Strap Habit uh for being a great partner on that. And if you'd like to pick out a really fun, kind of wild, expressive NATO, I think it works best on like your most demure stoic black dial sport watches, that sort of thing. Um, but I've seen some great combos on the slack and uh I've really been enjoying wearing mine. Nice quality, simple strap, fair price, all that kind of stuff so. a nice way to celebrate uh the 10th anniversary.
Jason Heaton Yeah, definitely. All right. Well speaking of watches uh and straps, um let's do a wrist check before we dive into more watch talk. What are you wearing?
James Stacey Uh I had to give I had to give a little bit of love to the Seiko Monster after last week's episode. It was feeling pretty down. Uh if you know, if it felt a little beat up by uh by some of some of the the a couple of the strays that it caught in in our episode about uh you know great watches uh that we don't like, uh, which is what we drafted in last week's episode, some really hilarious conversations on Slack over that. Uh people listening essentially all sorts of watches that I that I love, or Jason, maybe that you love too, that maybe hate. Uh so yeah, I sometimes you wonder how how we all manage to get onto one uh digital platform together with such disparate tastes. Yeah,
Jason Heaton the aerospace took some heat. I saw I saw a thread there. The
James Stacey aerospace took some heat for sure. Annie Digi in general, Doxa uh took some heat as well, which of course I just I don't get any of that. I'm on the opposite side of that line for sure. But yeah, so I I figured I'd throw on the the monster. I've got it on the bracelet and I I still dig it. Uh I thought maybe I'd put it on and and you would have talked me out of it to a certain extent. Um but no, I uh I I really like it. I think I might take it down to New York with me. It's a fun kind of compliment for the the two hundred T Army, which has the the sort of orange element as well. Uh but yeah, I think I think I'll I'll at least wear it for the day and see how it feels like with this. Yeah, I've I've we talked about this in the past that it's a watch that I enjoy, but I don't always enjoy wearing it for more than a short period of time because of the bracelet. But I'm I'm gonna give it a another run and and maybe that'll be my watch for the week. You know, I don't often well I guess I do often 'cause I get to go to New York, but New York's one of the rarest scenarios where I travel without changing time zone, so I could take any watch that I'd like Oh
Jason Heaton sure. But
James Stacey yeah. How about you? Because I know you you don't have anything more to say.
Jason Heaton I do not. No, I'll I'll hold my tongue this week. That was last week's uh rant. Um yeah, I pulled out something I haven't worn in a while. It's the the Elliott Brown, the Holton uh GMT auto. Um as I'm you know, in the middle of moving and everything, my watches have kind of taken up a backseat. I've just been kind of wearing the same stuff uh week in and week out. Um and I opened the watch box uh I guess yesterday and and pulled out the Holton. It had been a while. And uh it's it's striking though after wearing um you know titanium stuff like the FXD and whatever to put on this this watch, which is really a hefty piece. I mean it's it's an automatic mechanicals tend to weigh more anyway, but then it's it's it's a big steel-cased watch. And I've got it on the the rubber that that came with it and Elliot Brown does a nice job with their rubber straps and um it's a very handsome watch but boy it's a it's a brick. I mean that it's uh it's a it's a hefty thing so um adds adds to my you know like you with the hauling the beer you know hauling stuff to goodwill and loading up the back of the defender with stuff to move. Um, I don't know that I need the extra ounces on my wrist. Um so that might get swapped out later today.
James Stacey I I definitely need the exercise, so I'll I'll keep the uh the uh full full steel effect of the monster on wrist. But yeah I, agree. After wearing the Doxa, which is just a small watch, um in in steel on a on a like a nylon two piece uh sort of strap and or you know any one of my titanium's really become the kind of cornerstone of what I wear. And uh and switching back to a steel watch, a steel dive watch on a solid steel bracelet is super noticeable.
Jason Heaton Yeah, we could spoil, don't we? I mean, um I love
James Stacey titanium. Yeah, I do too. And I
Jason Heaton I I never I don't know, for for years I was kinda neutral on it, but I've uh I'm I'm I'm wear it wear it more often than not these days. I'd
James Stacey have to go back and double check and it'd be like going back and double checking on the my own stupid lore, but I think like like the Pelagos thirty nine kind of changed it for me. It's like I hit a zone where that's that's what I liked and I started trying to seek it out in other formats, like the aerospace, like the CWN one uh and that sort of thing. So
Jason Heaton yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. Yeah.
James Stacey All right. Well, uh look, that's a couple of watches uh already crossed off the list. But really, what we're here to talk about today is new watches. Uh we are uh in essentially the start of uh like the second phase of a the annual calendar of new watches. Uh, you know, we start to see new stuff in as early as January, and then of course uh March, April is full of new watches uh leading up to uh watches and wonders, and then in the start, uh, you know, end of the summer, very start of the sort of fall season, we kick everything off with releases around and in uh uh Geneva Watch Days. So that's uh kind of what we're starting with here is kind of the wave of watches coming out just before uh Geneva Watch Days kicks off in very early September. Uh Jason, anywhere where you feel really like let's start on a high note, something we're kind of pumped about. Anything you like from this list?
Jason Heaton Why don't you get us started on this, Albashorn uh Marina Graph classic, which um just it's just one of those things like a L'Aventure or you know, th these kind of brands that we don't talk about a lot, but I I just feel like they're right in our wheelhouse. Um and this one is so so cool. Ye,ah
James Stacey Albushorn's one of these brands that I kind of knew about because we cover them, but as guys like Mark Koslerich and Tantan Wang, my colleagues at Hodinkee have such sort of a fandom for them, they really appreciate the watch. They're made in very limited quantities. Often their pieces are less than a hundred in in an addition. So they made one called the Marina Graph Classic Racing, which was sort of a a take on a uh regatta timer.
Jason Heaton Yeah. This is essentially just a
James Stacey new sort of evolution of that. It's not a huge change. Um, but I like the styling better here than on the racing version. This is just the marinagraph classic. And I think it I think these look really good. They're 39mm steel uh mono pusher chronograph regrata timers that have sort of um I you know it's a it's a Blanc Pond 50 fathom, like a classic 50 fathom style bezel, I guess is is sort of the at least the footing of that design. And then the dial I think is harder to describe, as are the hands. Nothing really looks like this watch. Um, I guess another Albishorn might, which is like you said, kind of the laventure thing, uh, which is quite impressive. Um, they're using uh essentially uh uh like an uh a heavy modification of a 7750 architecture, but of course you have uh mono pusher and much more uh power. I think it's sixty three, sixty-four hours. Yeah, sixty-four hours. And uh and then you have uh both the the crown and the uh pusher are on the left side of the case, so away from your wrist. Um and especially for the pusher because that's where my thumb would fall if I pinched the watch. I always kind of like that, you know, if you grab the watch, you kind of hit at nine with your thumb and at like two o'clock with your index.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. And it makes sense, especially on
James Stacey a mono pusher where you could just have everything right there with your thumb.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I I mostly put this on for you
James Stacey because I know you're you're very much a regatta timer sort of guy. And I think that this kind of lands in a zone that's very uh interesting, but doesn't really depart so far from any one element of the classics that it it loses the plot, if that makes
Jason Heaton sense. Yeah. Yeah. which dial um color do you like? There there's a white and a black dial.
James Stacey Yeah. I'm drawn to
Jason Heaton the white. I Oh okay, cool. Um I I'd skip the red rubber strap that they showed on. Um just of a color strap guy, but um it this is such a dynamic watch. This is a watch that if I was kind of in acquisition mode these days, um I w I would pretty make a pretty hard run for this 'cause I I just think it's such a cool piece. Um not
James Stacey really anything quite like it. Yeah, and I love
Jason Heaton the uh uh that style of pusher. Um it's just it's everything is just done a little bit differently. And I I I'm I've just come to really kind of appreciate that with um you know something like the the Doxa Army, the 200 that that you've got that we've talked about and just a little bit left and center with some of these. Yeah, a little bit of quirk. Um the pusher, the it's got a r uh you know running seconds or kind of a running indicator in kind of a small aperture on the right side of the dial and then those funky cardinal markers um and even the hand shape. I mean there's just that combined with the you know I'm a sucker for a Blanc Pan style, kind of fifty fathom style, that sort of domed sapphire bezel. Yeah, I don't know I.'ve nothing bad to say about this watch. I think it's it's beautiful and it's you know hard to get, I'm sure, because it's uh such uh low quantity, but it's uh it's reasonably priced, you know, under four thousand looks like. So um yeah. Good stuff.
James Stacey Yes, four thousand bucks. They're making ninety-nine of each colorway. So there's under two hundred out there. And I know that this went on sale like by the time you're listening, this more than almost two weeks ago.
Jason Heaton Uh so I don't know what availability will be
James Stacey like, but it is this feels like a brand, like you said like Laventure which is just like should be on your radar. Um it's it's that late I maybe this is a silly thing to say, but it feels like a even a fourth generation of what we would remember as like a micro brand.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And now we're talking about a heavily
James Stacey modified sort of proprietary movement, mono pusher functionality, interesting pushers, just like very little that feels like they're going, Oh, we're making an expression of this type of watch, but for the sub thousand dollar crowd.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. And yeah, it's not a cheap watch,
James Stacey certainly. Actually, very, very little on this list is that we're chatting about today. This is you know starts under just under four thousand uh Swiss francs. Um but definitely at least one to have on your radar and kudos and kudos to Albishorn for just kind of consistently making interesting things that I I it make me want to click in and read about 'em.
Jason Heaton Yeah, definitely. Why don't we um since we mentioned Blancpain, not that it's exactly the same, but uh in looks or anything, um they released this uh 70th anniversary limited edition Bath Escaf uh in I think it's just about 300 pieces, so it's uh who knows, they're probably all gone by now. But uh this is an interesting watch as well.
James Stacey Yeah, I you know I think this watch was meant like I think this is the sort of watch that people do want in many ways from BlancPond. Um, but uh in 2026 the, pricing there',s always some sticker shock, I think.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And this is $18,300
James Stacey dive watch. That looks let's let's just call balls and strikes. It looks a lot like a Seiko diver from the sixty-two mass. And this is based on a design from sixty-five. So yeah. Yeah. That makes sense.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's where
James Stacey it took a lot of heat is people saying, like, you know, whether it's an SPB, uh, you know, a 143, a four five three, or up into the SLA stuff, this watch doesn't exist in a vacuum.
Jason Heaton Yeah. and you're certainly uh
James Stacey you're certainly you need to want that absolute highest level execution to go after something like this where you're sure it's a you know it's thirty seven point four millimeters, it's twelve point three millimeters thick. We're big blong pong fans. I think it's a gorgeous watch, but I also think the Seiko's are gorgeous, so this isn't surprising at all. Um but yeah, I think I think that's you know I, wouldn't say there was controversy. I just saw lots of sort of folks teasing that I mean, like this is this feels like an exceptionally conventional sort of watch for today's like faux vintage expression of watches. Uh so much so that that it almost doesn't feel like special enough to be a Blanc Pond.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I would I would I I can see that perspective
Jason Heaton and I I did see some of those comments about it looking like a sixty two mass
James Stacey Which isn't it's just there's a huge delta in price.
Jason Heaton Yeah, and even if you go with kind of a grand Seiko or or kind of the SLA kind of high high end kind of Seiko divers that that play on this design or this kind of heritage. Um you're it's still a definite jump in price up to eighteen thousand three hundred. But um I I it does bring to mind the kind of the the whole argument about what makes a watch worth a certain price. Um and and this one certainly has brand prestige and of course the finishing and the the movement quality and whatever, but is it is it that much more than than a Grand seiko diver. I'm not sure. I think this is it's such a subjective thing. And I think if I consider my own Bathscaf, the Hodinkee limited edition from several years ago, you know, six, seven years ago, um you look at that watch and it' its a's a little 38 millimeter watch that looks incredibly conventional. I mean it it looks kind of like to the to the average person, you know, on an airplane or at the Starbucks or something like that, if they saw that on my wrist, they'd be like, you know, this guy's wearing like a cheap old dive watch or whatever, you know, it just kind of looks whatever. And it's so it's probably you know a topic for an article or a whole separate episode, but like what why is a watch like that worth what it is, or why is this one worth what it is? But uh that's for a different different different episode. But uh
James Stacey yeah, I think I think it's mix of pricing category. It's limited edition. You can look at the history of their other LEs that they've done for blo for fifty fathoms, one of which got you and I out to an island, a a penal colony of some sort off of uh off of uh Khan uh a few years back. Um but yeah, I I think this is an absolutely gorgeous watch and and you know it's going to be uh incredibly well made and and with Bang Pon, you're paying for finishing that you don't even see, like both sides of the movement, and all these sorts of things. I just think that in a world where this watch looks so much and is so similar in many ways to a much less expensive watch that is beloved.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. It just puts you in in in a bad
James Stacey stead. That said, with 300 pieces, I I think that a lot of the audience, myself included on the stuff we I've just said, a lot of the audience that has that feedback isn't necessarily part of the buying audience.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. It's two different things. Yeah.
James Stacey Um, so while the while there's feedback there that could be valuable, um, this is an LE, it represents a blip on the on the radar, not a core model or something like that.
Jason Heaton But I I think it looks great. I I would love to
James Stacey see one in person, uh certainly before I had any any sort of final thoughts. Awesome looking thing. and Blanc Pond's 50 Fathoms have never been cheap watches. Um So while I think it's a lot of money for the watch, it it's also not a lot of surprise. You know what I mean?
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Should we stick with dive watches and move to the the the Doxa, the Froger?
James Stacey Yeah, sure. Uh so this is a uh a new Doxa LE, and uh obviously Hodinkee just did an LE with Doxa, so I like I like these things, I enjoy them. And it's kind of an uh an unexpected one, and maybe the first time that this format is starting to work for my dumb taste. This is called the Frogger. It's made with um Belmont watches in San Diego. It's like a retailer special edition. It's a hundred pieces, and it's based on the beta, which is like a um sort of modern more design forward expression of a 300T or 300. So it's a forty-two point five millimeter steel case. These retail or will retail, these go uh these will be have launched a day or two before this episode comes out. And uh and they're retailing for about twenty eight ninety, um including uh a bracelet, and they've basically taken the normal beta and removed a lot of the shine. It has sort of a textured green dial, a lot of orange accent,
Jason Heaton very minimal text where it kind of just says doxa
James Stacey on the dial. And I think in many ways this is this is kind of like the beta pushing toward almost like a like a pelagos aesthetic,
Jason Heaton where it's a little bit stripped back. Obviously the Pelagos
James Stacey not known for its light use of text. Uh but in this case, there's it just says Doxa. I like the orange accents. I enjoy the green. And for me, this is the first beta that didn't feel kind of too shiny or too sort of uh, you know, detailed in its design. Like it just stripped back a little bit and I think it works pretty well for it.
Jason Heaton Yeah, I would agree. Um and I one thing I'm particularly like about it, although I'm not sure I'm not sure I'd like it day in and day out, but is is the you really get a sense of the the the bezel um I think that's that's kind of neat. Because I mean that bezel is Dox's calling card and and the texture dial is really cool. The beta's never been one that I've been drawn to. I always just kind of pass it over, but this one does make me kind of linger a little bit. Yeah, it's cool.
James Stacey Yeah, and it's it's all matte, like it's all a bead blasted finish. It's meant to be connected Frogger, I think, to Frogman to a military aesthetic, that sort of thing. Hence the um whether or not that part speaks to you is is is up to you, of course. Uh I I think the watch works as well as any beta I've come across. And this is another one where, and I'm sure at some point in the future at a TGN thing or a hoodinky happy hour, I'll get to see one in person. I I I I think these will be quite niche and kind of remembered fondly down the road as far as an LE. So kudos to Belmont. Uh Doxit does a handful of these ones with retailers. I guess uh uh Hodinkee via watches Switzerland isn't that different. Um that that really do kind of maintain interesting small footprint, whether uh obviously the I think the the banner ones would be the uh topper LEs, the you know the three generations of the great whites. Yeah. You know, it's nice to have that lineage. But they it it's a nice way for them to explore something that really changes up the format. And maybe it's the maybe it's the n the dial with with no additional embellishment that I like the most. Um but I do really like that the full orange coloring and and markings on the bezel, on the the uh elapsed time element of the two scale bezel.
Jason Heaton yeah. Yeah, nicely done. Where
James Stacey do you want to go next? What are you feeling? I let's
Jason Heaton let's take a let's take a big big turn here and and tell us about this uh this Ming comet because this is uh
James Stacey showed it to me this morning, and that's it's pretty crazy. Yeah, so this will have come out yesterday by the time the show drops. Uh it is uh it is timed for August 26th. And this is the Ming 5705 Comet, it's named after the De Havlin Comet, which was the first commercial jet airliner, and it is a 40 millimeter steel world time Ming. And I I think it's just exceptionally cool. So you have uh kind of a Selita-based movement with Ming finishing that gives you jumping hour set for the uh the world time ring. That's pretty standard for a world timer, it's one of the things you would need. But the trick here is the uh you have a a a very wide, almost like Katier style, if you go back to early Patek world timers that had these quite large bezels to make room for all of the cities. Um, but they've built in a little trick where it's actually not all one bezel. It's a a ring around the crystalline dial that is fixed with cities that don't observe DST. And then the outer ring um can be adjusted one click, one hour, and has a little aperture. So when you click it into DST mode, all of the cities that observe DST move forward an hour. And then you also have uh a little flag so a little color goes from DST on or off. So if it's off there's no red and then if you click it on there's red. I think this is awesome. I'm obviously a big fan of Ming. I think what they do is interesting. I definitely would like to own one at some point and this And this has jumped way to the top of the list. Uh they're doing 200 pieces. Like I said, it's 40 millimeters. It's 10.3 by 47.8. Uh and it starts at 7,000 Swiss francs more if you want to order it with a poly mesh, but it is steel and the poly mesh is titanium, so that would be up to you. I I just this is the sort of watch from Ming that makes me very excited. Doesn't look like all the stuff I'm used to, and I love the the world time function. Sure, it's it's a few more bucks, uh well not a few. it's a good jump in in cost from something like uh the gnomos world timer that I have, but it also gives you that like more classic decoy world timer, but then with the Ming spin on it. I I'm I'm in. This is very cool.
Jason Heaton I'm always surprised at you know, yes, these are expensive watches, but how how relatively affordable Mings are for what you get for kind of the inventiveness and the craftsmanship. And I think this is a a great example of that. And I I think um the functionality of this is just outside the box thinking, which is great. And I could see this maybe being applicable, you know, the thing I always wondered about for years. And we we've seen um uh one example of this and I can't remember you brought it up on an episode, probably another new watch episode of a watch that showed the time zones in countries that are off by half an hour from the kind of the standard uh and I don't remember what it was. It had that unusual, unusual set of hands, if I remember right. I can't remember the brand. Maybe some people will remember that one, but um I I could see this, you know, this potentially being used for something like that in the future. I'm not sure if if Ming would want to develop something like that. But I think the thing about world timers, uh I'm not one that is really in the market for one or or really want one, but one thing that's always appealed to me about them is it is this sort of romantic, exotic sense of of travel. You know, you get you get all these airport codes or these city names on and some of the older ones that they just kind of hearken to the the the age when people were just starting to travel the world and and I've always loved that about world timers. And this is a really very modern take on it with the with also a very throwback element with uh with all the city names around it.
James Stacey Yeah I totally agree. And the two things I would say is one, the the watch that you mentioned with the 30 minute and forty or fifteen minute offset, forty-five or fifteen minute offset hand is called the Ardra Labs Delta.
Jason Heaton There you go. Uh the Delta type, uh, which
James Stacey is very cool. I'll include that in the show notes. Tantan tan wrote about it back in March. And the second one is even if this isn't necessarily a watch up your alley, the the Ming, the comet, at least hit up the story on uh on Hodinkee. Uh again, it'll be in the show notes and see the loom.
Jason Heaton Uh Jason, it's it's image
James Stacey five in that package I sent you. And I just uh it's two color loom, it's blue and orange depending on
Jason Heaton day night for the 24
James Stacey hour display. And then the DST flag are are in red uh luminous paint and I just think it looks really, really cool.
Jason Heaton Oh, that is great. So yeah. They just
James Stacey make a very neat watch. And this is this is something I feel like I can get excited about and and would be, like I said, on my list for a hunt one down in the future sort of scenario.
Jason Heaton Yeah, definitely. Yeah, good stuff. Well let's stick with kind of travel watch kind of thing and and I'll talk about one that uh I actually had got some hands-on time with uh a while back um before it was released, and that's the uh the Olick and Weiss early Bird. They're calling it the numbered edition. This is You know, we don't talk about OW much on the show. I do think it's kind of in the TG and Wheelhouse a lot of their stuff because they make some kind of cool dive watches. And I remember when I was just getting into watches, kind of mechanical watches back in the early 2000s, uh OW was only available through like some really old-fashioned very low-tech website where you could order um in the US at least. And you know, I think it kind of goes to their long-standing tradition. It was a it was a company founded in Zurich in the 50s and um they they used to do mail order kind of sales at kind of affordable prices. And they became pretty popular with kind of military soldiers and sailors and things in the Vietnam War who would order these watches. And they developed this watch in the 60s called the Early Bird. And the EarlyBird was named after a geosynchronous satellite, you know, one of the early ones, one of the first ones to kind of orbit the Earth. And this watch kind of plays on the same idea as the Glycine Airman in that it's a twenty-four hour movement with a rotating bezel that's on a twenty-four hour scale as well. So it can track two different time zones in twenty-four hour mode. So you never have to guess AM or P. M. It takes a you know, those of you that know 24 hour dials know that you know it takes a little bit of an adjustment to kind of read properly. So if it looks like it's uh you know 10 o'clock, it's not. Um it's you know like, nineteen hundred or uh sorry, twenty hundred hours. Um and uh so it's uh it's a unique piece. They it's it they weren't made, they didn't make very many back in the sixties 60.s The, they were kind of favored by, I think the, you know, the, as the lore goes, you know, kind of helicopter pilots in Vietnam or whatever would wear these. Well, OW kind of listened to the collector community and has uh made a reissue version of this with uh a modified soap rod movement. And it's uh kind of based on their their dive watch platform. So it's got 300 meters water resistance, which is obviously impressive and very uh functional and useful. It's a 39 and a half millimeter case. Kind of a cool watch. Comes on a on a bracelet or you can get a black leather strap. And uh yeah they've got uh they're taking orders now but there's a delivery weight for about four weeks. So kind of a cool thing.
James Stacey But every time that I come across an O and W in person, I'm always impressed by kind of the quality to the price point.
Jason Heaton Yeah. I I don't know if if you
James Stacey know working up around two thousand dollar or two thousand Swiss francs is the is necessarily the norm in their current uh but in the past the stuff I've seen from a a a lower price point or in some cases a a higher uh I thought looked pretty good.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Yeah it's it was a nice piece and when I had it I I enjoyed wearing it. I the one thing I wasn't that keen on was the bracelet that it came on. It was sort of this multi-link. The bracelet just felt a little fancier than what I wanted for the watch. Um but you know watches or straps and straps and bracelets are easy enough to swap around. So um and the price USD they've got it listed in in Swiss francs, but you can adjust for for USD and it's uh 2443 uh USD. So not not a cheap piece, but um definitely something unique that you won't see on many wrists.
James Stacey Yeah, there aren't many out there doing the 24 hour thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh glycine, uh air
James Stacey nautic, if you remember the Mitch
Jason Heaton from Ocean 7 back in the day. Oh,
Jason Heaton there you go. Uh he also had air nautic. I had I had
James Stacey one of those watches for I think back in the watch report days, uh in for review. And again, like I think we've talked about before, the 24 hour thing is exceptionally strange until you spend some time with it.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And then it just makes so much sense. Mm-hmm.
James Stacey Because you start seeing the day as a whole rather than two halves.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um and I I think it makes sense. it's
James Stacey a it's cool way to get around it. And uh and yeah it's I understand why it's not common because I mean even the act of knowing how to tell time is becoming less common in in the like the analog sense on on watches. So I guess this didn't necessarily survive the pre quartz, you know, aerospace and digital watches and all that kind of stuff. Um, but I you know, looking back into the kind of classic aviation, I I think it's kind of a neat thing.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah.
James Stacey All right. You want to do uh this cool Smith's lost Diver and then we can grab uh we can close it out with a a new smaller uh option from Omega.
Jason Heaton Yeah, this isn't actually a new watch. It's actually a very old watch and it was actually just a one-off. Um but it's a story that kind of has surfaced recently um thanks to Christopher Herbert, who owns a really cool retailer/slash website called the uh finest hour timepieces. Some people might have heard of that. Sells uh distinctly and specifically vintage British and German military watches from World War II and on. And Christopher wrote to me and said, you know, this might be up your alley, and certainly is. He wrote a story called The Smiths that never was Britain's Lost Military Diver, and it's gonna be published in Time Piece, which is the magazine of the British Watch and Clockmakers Guild. And um it's about you know, Smith's was the what commonly people refer to as the last kind of fully British um watch manufacturer. So they they I think they went out of business in 70 or 71. They for many, many years they were making watches you know that were worn on Everest with you know Edmund Hillary in the 50s and British military pieces, famously, you know, a W-10 kind of army watch. Apparently in the mid-60s, they were commissioned by the Ministry of Defense to look into the development of a diving watch. And so they did. They took their W ten, which was their standard army watch with the movement, hand wound movement, and put it in a beefier case and uh and did some tests on it. It's a 42mm case. It's definitely beefier looking if you look at it. The only known prototype doesn't even have a rotating bezel, but uh Christopher um kind of superimposed sort of a digitally created um dive bezel to see what it would look like. Um it's kind of funny to see a Smith style in kind of this beefy case with fixed lugs and kind of that classic old timey Smith's midcent-ury uh military dial on it. Um and this was actually put through some some testing by the the Royal Navy's Admiralty Experimental Diving Unit and um never s came to fruition. So it's it's kind of one of those w what if or what might have been stories. Um, you know, we think about the mill sub and the the C Master three hundreds that were issued in the sixties and seventies, and if Smiths had kind of continued uh in business, maybe this would have been the the the replacement for the mill sub instead of waiting till nineteen eighty with uh CWC. So just a a cool story I wanted to bring bring to people's attention and and we can throw a you know a link to uh to some stories here and and you can read a little bit more and and also to check out finest hour. They aren't selling this watch by by any means, but uh it's just a cool website in general.
James Stacey Yeah, definitely a cool thing and a neat a neat piece of um what what do they call it sliding doors.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh where you know, co
James Stacey what could have been wasn't, but they made it they you have to wonder, especially with so a lot of these British brands, or in some ways I I you know, I always wonder what's in the drawer from a lot of major Swiss brands from like 1970 that they were working on in like 1972 to 1977.
Jason Heaton Yeah. when quartz really
James Stacey caused everybody to change course. Yeah.
Jason Heaton We were just kind of working our way into an integrated s
James Stacey bracelet sport watch and then hit this wall, this this like C change with with quartz. And I I just wonder what's sitting in some in some spots uh that that has kind of left, or in this case, you know, they made one watch with the hopes that it would it would be uh uh something you know kind of long standing and made in in probably into the thousands.
Jason Heaton Yeah um and you know just things
James Stacey didn't work out. Uh it's it's an interesting piece for sure. So
Jason Heaton Yeah. All right. Let's clear it out with uh with an omega.
James Stacey With an omega, yeah. So uh not to bury the lead, one of the bigger watches announced this week just a couple days ago is the ne sw Speedmaster thirty eight. And, you know, not necessarily the sort of watch we would always cover, I think, since the Speedmaster thirty eight kind of picked up where the reduced had left off, but I think it was the better part of a decade between the end of the reduced and the start of the Speedmaster thirty eight. It's always been a little bit fancier, a little bit more, you know, likely to have a diamond bezel or something like that. And I think a little bit more tuned towards uh Omega's generalist female audience. Probably not their enthusiast female audience, but I thought this one was worth highlighting uh one because it's it's the latest evolution and I think that they are moving it's evolving back towards the the moon watch.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. The standard uh the standard speed
James Stacey master, uh which I think is a good thing. Um, you know, the the oval dials are now back to being more circular. You have options with a date and without it's starting at about sixty five hundred bucks. And it's thirty-eight millimeters. it's a little under fifteen millimeters thick. Uh should be a nice wearing watch. I this is another one that I would love to see, and you know, we're working on this at Hodinkee, but I'm excited to see a a photo of it next to like a standard modern Speedmaster.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um, because you know, I I always
James Stacey kind of get pumped when I see somebody wearing a reduced because they're strange, but they're strange in kind of the right way where they are that much more wearable than uh you know the speedy's forty two millimeters, which today is considered kind of a on the on the start of a larger watch. Yeah. And I think it wears every millimeter of that. It doesn't hide any of it. Uh you know, obviously a hugely iconic watch that is beloved by uh the vast core of both watch buyers and watch enthusiasts and and you know and the overlap between the two. But yeah, that's the that's the new 38. Jason, did you ever have a reduced? I don't I don't remember you having one.
Jason Heaton No, I've only had the the pro um you know vintage professionals, and I I I think you know I've I've come to the realization that I'll never have another. I've kind of had my time and they just didn't stick. But I there's something about this one that um is appealing to me because I think it moves you away from the all the heavy weight of history in you know this idea that this is the moon watch and kind of takes it back to uh a really wearable like 38 millimeters um and you get a hundred meters water resistance, which you know, the Speedmaster Pro has just never been, you know, it's always been its Achilles' heel is this idea that it's just not you can't wear it around water. And this one you could. And it's just kind of takes it back to sort of more of a generalist uh great chronograph, you know, whether it's a kind of a motorsports chronograph like the like it began its history as. Um and uh yeah, it's a nice looking piece, I think. It's uh
James Stacey yeah definitely in a a step in the right direction
Jason Heaton for them. Yeah, I think I think there's
James Stacey seven new versions and for and for you and I, Jason, I think it's the black dial on the bracelet, like the the speedmaster looking one.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um a lot of the other ones get into
James Stacey uh into you know other dials and diamonds and that sort of thing, which is you know par for the course with the thirty-eight. Um but yeah, I I think there's definitely a cult following for the reduced. It's kind of like the cult following for the mini sub.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Or, you know, the the smaller tutor
James Stacey subs. Uh and and I think it's out there and you see them on enthusiasts. And I think those are watches that are largely cared for now by like pretty hardcore enthusiasts about Omega and and about the speedy um but wanting something that's just that much more wearable or a little bit unless common, a little bit more interesting, that sort of thing. So you know, time will tell if this watch appeals to that audience at all. I I like that they were maintaining I think it's the base model of this watch is within a couple hundred dollars of the current, you know, of the base model of the previous generation.
Jason Heaton So not a huge jump in price, which
James Stacey uh I think is good uh in uh in twenty twenty six. We'd like to see these things stabilize and uh and yeah, uh we'll yet to be seen how it's kind of received by the the greater audience. Um I don't think it's like a groundbreaking change in any way, but it is, I think, a strong evolution, especially for that core black dial option.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And actually as as you mentioned that, I've just kind of scrolled down to the very last page of the press release and there's a there's a blue bezel white dial version with date that yeah that really appeals to me and I think it's kind of going back to what I said earlier. It's like it's such a departure from the Speedmaster Pro moon watch that um that might be the one. I mean if I were to if I were in the market or shopping these, um I think that I'd probably go that direction just because it is so different and yet similar kind of design codes but uh but just different enough that it would stand out.
James Stacey Yeah. New speedy, gonna keep people interested, good time of year for them to launch something. So I think that's uh that's a good collection of a handful of new watches that have kind of caught our attention in the last couple of days, last couple of weeks. And then we're right on the edge of Geneva watch days. So there'll be another sort of look at all these cool watches from Geneva Watch Days sort of stuff. There's actually some things I'm very excited about. Um, assuming uh that the pricing details we've gotten are real. There's some stuff that's uh significantly less money than we were kind of expecting. Um so excited to see some of that come out. But uh yeah, some pretty solid watches from uh from big brands and smaller brands, uh, you know, a range of price points, all all kind of more on the the higher end for the the uh the sort of T GN realm. But uh I I wonder if they'll if they'll make some sort of a tribute version of that Lost Diver, the Smiths.
Jason Heaton yeah, that'd be cool. I I uh apparently in the story, um Time Factors was uh had got one of this years ago and had made um some had some ideas for for making a newer version of it. Sadly, um Eddie Plattz, the founder of Time Factors, passed away a few months ago and we'll see what what what happens with that. But uh yeah, it's uh it's definitely an interesting thing. And I as I look down this list, other than the doxa, everything as far as I can tell is is uh less than forty millimeters or forty millimeters or less, which is um something. You know, I think we're we're kind of in that in that space nowadays with uh watches being more reasonably sized.
James Stacey Yeah, absolutely. I th I I would agree there. It's interesting to see some of the trending um in terms of sizing. Lots of stuff in that 38-39 uh as brands kind of catch up with that popular wave. But um you want to jump into some final notes? Put a bow on the show?
Jason Heaton Yeah, sure. I have one that uh yours
James Stacey looks so cool. I don't have hands on with
Jason Heaton this yet. This is this feels like one of these feels like a watch release, actually, because I'm really excited about it, and I did pre-order it. This is a company that I've been following on Instagram that I just find fascinating and I finally bit the bullet and placed an order because this product in particular looks really, really cool. It is a company that people might have heard of called Craig Hill. Um I believe it's someone's last name. And it's this product is called the Metrolog Ruler. It's $98 pre-order. Um it's due to be shipped sometime in September. Um and it is a combination ruler and caliper um made of aluminum. The only downside, I think, is and maybe this isn't that big of a deal, but it goes up to eight inches instead of a full foot. But what's cool about it is that it incorporates a uh caliper within the same you know form factor as as the ruler in a very clever way that's sort of nested in the in in the ruler itself so that you just kind of slide the ruler up and down, and then it has imperial measurements on one side and you flip it over and the equivalent metric is on the opposite side. So if you want to know what four and an eighth of an inch is, you just flip it over and there's your immediate reading in terms of the caliper. And it's just um it's got this kind of dimpled texture. It has a small kind of colored dot that indicates kind of the, you know, the the point on the measurement for the caliper. I mean it's it it's just a a beautifully designed um product and I can't wait to get my hands on it. It's made of uh anodized aluminum um and uh all CNC milled increment increments so it's very tactile or I I imagine it will be. um I don't know. It's it it just looks great. And I I think I would encourage people to um and I apologize in advance because if you do start to follow them on Instagram, you will get inundated with lots of uh videos and and kind of teaser ads and stuff from them. But the the guy who founded the company does some great explanations of all of their products. They make a really cool kind of lighter um they they make kind of knickknacks for the desk, useful objects. Um but this one really stood out and uh I can't wait to get it. So I'll I'll do a hands-on uh when it actually arrives. But uh I thought I'd just throw this in there so people can start checking it out.
James Stacey Man, this looks so cool. I uh you you may have just cost me ninety-eight ninety-eight bucks. Uh, I think this this looks rad. I uh I I clicked in to buy and then I went to Apple Pay and then uh I realized I was not paying attention, so I I I backed out, but we'll we'll take care of that. Uh I I'm I'm a sucker for a great caliper, obviously constantly kind of measuring uh things like watches and and now more and more often things for three D printing. Uh so it could be very handy to have. I I love my vernier, but these would be uh much more travel friendly uh certainly than than the verniers which uh do kind of look uh a little bit more imposing um and and don't fit in a bag all that well.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. All right. Where are you at?
James Stacey Yeah, mine this week is a TV show that Sarah and I just finished. It was a recommendation from my brother. Not my normal uh genre, but it's uh on Apple TV. I've I've seen some talk of it online, but not a ton on the Slack. So I thought maybe I'd I'd give people the heads up if they had skipped it. It's called Widows Bay. And I'll just read the intro from uh from Wikipedia. Widows Bay is an American comedy horror television series created by Katie Dippold for Apple TV and stars Matthew Rise, Katie O'Flynn, Kevin, Carroll, Dale, Dickie, Kingston, Rummy Southwick, and one of my favorites, Stephen Root. The series is set in a fictional New England Island town of Widows Bay, which happens to the afflicted with a centuries old curse that brings various supernatural evils upon the island. It's awesome. It's very it has equal parts, lighthearted and very human elements. And then they play around with a lot of like horror tropes, um, be it both slasher and gothic and you know supernatural and um like uh historical horror all wrapped up into various episodes it is at times like laugh out loud funny uh it's ex it's expressly well written. It's beautifully shot. It's very artful in its delivery. I highly recommend it. I don't know that there's anything in here that would really disappoint any. There's some bad language, you know,
Jason Heaton heads up on that, of course. I'm a huge
James Stacey Matthew Rice fan, uh uh you know, but probably best known for The Americans, uh, which was a show I absolutely adore and highly recommend. Um, and yeah, this is great. Uh, like I said, a little outside my genre, but really, really funny, at times a little scary, beautifully shot. And I I highly recommend it if you've got uh Apple TV or or if I don't know, maybe you go into your phone and they're offering you three months. it's a very easy um several episodes that you could put down in a weekend if you wanted to.
Jason Heaton Huh, that's good. i it's always good to get recommendations on on shows like this because this one I was on the fence about, I was like, this could be really good or kind of really cheesy. Um so it's always good to I think
James Stacey you oh, I think you would especially like the the sort of town.
Jason Heaton Oh, okay. Nice. Which is like kind of a a beat
James Stacey up old um like fishing town.
Jason Heaton That they're trying to turn into like a Martha's Vineyard. Oh, okay. And M
James Stacey Matthew Rise plays the beleaguered um mayor. Oh
Jason Heaton perfect. And then he he doesn't necessarily
James Stacey buy into all of this curse stuff, but there's people on the island that do and and have lived on the island for a really long time. And like, are you even allowed to leave the island if you were born there? It's great.. It's really fun
Jason Heaton Nice. Um and I I'm I'm
James Stacey a very easily scared type of horror fan.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Um so you know, we've talked
James Stacey about uh weapons and and um and backrooms and stuff like that in the past, that's kind of as maximum scary as I can handle before I'm uncomfortable. This never really put me in the uncomfortable space. Anytime it really leaned into the horror element, it did so in ways that still felt like a more thriller or more comedy than core horror, if that makes sense.
Jason Heaton Yeah, that's good. And he's driving he's driving
James Stacey like a perfect, a perfect uh Jeep XJ, uh a Cherokee.
Jason Heaton Oh nice. Uh which it just looks perfect
James Stacey in the setting and and there's all these beautiful shots of uh the water and yeah, it it's it's a really I it's just we we enjoyed it a bunch. And Sarah doesn't like horror at all and enjoyed it. So there's your there's your sign-off. I think if you watched one or two episodes you'd know exactly what you were getting into and you could keep going if you want.
Jason Heaton All right. Perfect. That's yeah, it's just big shout out
James Stacey to Steven Root. Please be in more stuff. But yeah. All right. Well there you go. A whole episode in uh a little less than an hour. Not bad.
Jason Heaton Yeah, perfect. Well as always thanks so much for Oh yeah you perform.
James Stacey Well, I should we read it.
Jason Heaton Yeah, three two one. Uh as always,
James Stacey thank you 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, where you can even grab yourself a new TGN sign NATO or even just access to
Jason Heaton And we leave you with this quote from Charles Bowden who said, Summertime is always the best of what might be