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Seiko Releases an Awesome Dive GMT and a Less Awesome Dive GMT (374)

Published on Tue, 30 Dec 2025 13:07:26 -0800

Synopsis

In this episode of the 40 and 20 WatchClicker Podcast, hosts Andrew and Everett reunite after Everett's two-week absence. They discuss their holiday experiences, with Everett reflecting on traveling with his now-teenage children and Andrew describing a busy Christmas season visiting multiple family locations. The hosts then dive into watch discussions, covering several new releases including Seiko's Spring Drive Prospex GMT models, the SPB 534 Seashadow, and various other pieces from brands like Pragma, Autodromo, Fortis, and Jacques Bianchi. A significant portion of the episode focuses on their admiration for Kwame Tokyo watches, particularly praising the brand's exceptional quality at accessible price points. Everett shares his hands-on experience with a Kwame Tokyo piece loaned by Mike Razak, calling it potentially "the nicest $700 watch on earth." The episode concludes with other things, including Andrew's recommendation to watch Stranger Things Season 5 and Everett's discussion of his new Oak Street Bootmaker Trail Oxford shoes.

Transcript

Speaker
Andrew Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 and 20, the WatchClicker Podcast with your hosts Andrew and my good friend Everett. Here we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Everett, I've missed you. How are you? I'm doing well. Thanks for having me back. Um I left the front door unlocked and the lights on. Uh yeah, no, it it was uh it was it's always i interesting. I think I've only taken two weeks off now. They've both been in the last couple of years. Um and there I think there was a time Oh Andrew's never around. He's always missing episodes. I think there was a time where it would have felt bad, but I um it feels nice now. It it's not not like uh oh god glad I didn't have to do that, but it was like it's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine. We did publish a little late. That is not on Will or Andrew, that's on Everett completely. Oh, entirely on Andrew. Uh because I couldn't send you my audio. My computer wouldn't read the audio off of the card. Well, if it's it recognized there was a card there. It recognized there was audio on it, but it would not do anything with it. Well, it's like a dog looking at a piece of food it didn't want. Like I think maybe there was a a uh two days on you and and a day or two on me as well. So I don't know w when we published, but I know when it became available to you. So I'm gonna take the blame. In any event, um yeah, no, you did really well on the board. Your outro was artistic and I liked it. You know, I'm known for that. I've just learned that I've just learned that maybe that there was an audio break. I haven't listened to the whole episode. There is. You'll know. You'll know when you hear it. I've just learned that maybe there was an uncreorcted audio break, which is fun. You guys get us get to hear a little bit of sausage making. We we showed you inside of my kimono. It was very small. I I will say that this episode, although we are recording this on Monday night, this episode will likely go up sometime later on Tuesday because I'm not gonna be able to publish tonight. So um probably Tuesday morning, maybe Tuesday midday for this episode. But it will be on Tuesday. It's the holidays. Give us a break. We're all full. We're a little overweight. And we're we're just a little sluggish. The holidays are tough, man. Yeah, the holidays are tough. Know just with all the moving around and moving pieces, so um, I don't feel bad. This one will go up Tuesday. I'm sorry, Joe specifically. He's the one who's going to tell me that it's late. Um, but yeah, uh other than that, I'm doing really well, Andrew. Um Joe, if you want us to publish faster, give us more money. Well I don't know that that would do it, Joe. It might. Yeah, I can't say it won't. I guess it depends on how much money. Um no, um uh I was gonna say I was gonna say something. Oh, I took a trip to California, which is why I wasn't here to record. And um man, I'll tell you, it was it felt really different. I think I've hit a new season in life, Andrew. My kids are all pretty old. They're all, you know, teenagers now. Um, except for the youngest, and he's months away. Um and so they're really, you know, a couple things. I'll say a couple things about their age. One, they're all pretty independent. They can all do almost everything, right? And and for a prolonged period of time, everything would go to crap because they're still kids. But on a day-to-day basis, they're relatively self-surfacted. But but the second part of that is they're all just so delightful to be around. Um traveling with quote unquote kids has in the past always caused a little stress for me because you know there's just a lot of moving pieces and then and then you know you're managing these kids and they've got, you know, I need I need a snack or I, you know, you need a nap or you know, whatever, whatever it is. This trip, more so than any other trip I've taken with my kids, felt like: um, hey, do you want to go do this thing? Or do you guys want to do this thing? Um not like they're friends, but like they're humans and like I'm interested in doing those things with them and I'm not doing it for them because they're kids to entertain them. I'm doing it with them. I'm doing it with them. And uh you know, that means obviously that they're you know becoming the people they're gonna be, but also means they're growing up. So that's a little bittersweet to have that thought. But um yeah, it was a really interesting trip and really fun for me. Uh I'm I'm sad to think like, oh well, I only have a few years of this. Uh but you got a good few though. I do. I do. And of course, even after they're quote unquote adults, I'll have some more years even then. So yeah. But it was an interesting trip. I definitely felt that for the first time like in a I was like, whoa, this is weird. They were like off with the cousins doing things a few, you know, at one point my daughter went to goodwill with her cousin and they were like gone for a couple of hours and it was like, well whatever. Yeah, whatever. Let us know. It was cool. It was it's fun. I'm not living that not yet. Not quite. You're a few years out from that. Andrew, how were you? How was your uh how was your Christmas? It was busy, man. Uh with a lot of divided families. We did Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, day after Christmas Day, uh, and then Saturday we will have or no Friday. So today's Monday on Friday we will have one more. So the kids love it because they're like, man, we get four days of Christmas. It's like, yeah. Yeah. I guess that's a I guess that's that's the that's the world we live in. Uh but good. Uh you know, kids obviously out of fun. Uh they're exhausted, but because we don't live near to our uh families, it was a lot of time in the car. It was like wake up, get dressed, get breakfast, get in the car, drive, do the thing, drive home, go to sleep. Repeat. I'm surprised you guys didn't stay up in the Portland area. Well, so we didn't actually go to Portland proper. We spent one day in Dallas, one day in Forest Grove. And then and we you know we had our Christmas Eve here. Uh so there wasn't enough period of time where you were in kind of the same place. Yeah. Yeah. Well. And and you know the kids sleep well not at home. You need like two nights. And then you can go home. Yeah, so yeah, we're in different stages of kid life. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Night one is tragic anywhere we go. So uh yeah, it was it was fun, it was busy, it was uh kind of like a a bittersweet um Christmas celebration. Both of my wife's grandparents are uh like every time we see them could be the last kind of age. Um so getting to see them was really special and uh yeah, it was just busy and I'm I lament that it's over because I love how much joy Christmas and the holiday season brings to kids and brings to my kids because my wife like really cranks up the heat on Christmas. Uh, but I'm also really glad to like slide back into the status quo and like stasis. I get it. I get that. Yeah. Well that's, you know, normally this is when I say we're not here to talk about those things, but I actually feel like those are pretty uh two pretty uh sentimental feelings and so I I would hesitate to say we're not gonna talk about those things, but uh in any event we are gonna talk about watches at this point of the show. We we are gonna get there. Can I start? Uh well, it it'd be weird, but I guess just this once. Okay. Uh has Seiko done this before? Had they dropped a spring drive and a prospecs? I can't I do believe they have, but not very many times. So so we have a new spring drive powered prospex GMT, the US Special Edition, the SNR058. I feel like they could have done USA 058 if it's gonna be a USA special edition, but that's not for me to decide. Uh and it's kinda so so we have a so the SNR oh two nine is a spring drive, which is like a Marine Master. Sorry, carry on. I'm just having thoughts in li in real life, in real time. As always. So what we have here is a um forty four forty four point eight millimeter case, fifty point nine lug to lug, and in classic spring drive fashion, fourteen point seven millimeters thick, which based on the case width and length, I think is finally an appropriate thickness for a spring drive watch. They've nailed it. They finally got the proportions of thickness right. 100 meters of water resistance. So this is a 5R66 manual winding automatic hacking quartz regulator 72 hour power reserve 30 joules plus or minus a second day movement. Titanium case, titanium bracelet, root beer-esque-ish, definitely colored bezel with kind of a reverse. I'm gonna call this a reverse root beer, like an upside-down root beer, because the uh color scale on the dial looks like if you turn it upside down, the top of your root beer kind of fuzzing. This texture on the dial is like really fantastic that almost looks like a carbonated beverage, power reserve indicator, uh bronze, uh on the bezel, bronze crown. This is for everything but size, really cool. And unfortunately, it's still spring drive money. $6,600. What's the thickness on this? 147. 14.7. Okay. Well, you know, the SNR029, I I'm looking at these two watches and they are very, very similar, but I don't think they're exactly the same. Um the SNR29 is also forty four point eight, uh, but it's fifteen seven high. So I think these must slightly different. Um you know, I just gotta say, uh I I don't like either of these watches. Um and either of these, meaning the older SNR O two nine or this US market sort of root beer um you know uh it it's beautiful i think it's interesting like that they're pushing spring drive outside of grand saco and and dabbling in the prospects realm, which is especially weird because prospects are more often than not well sized and spring drives are not. I'm confused by it. As much as I like looking at this watch, this is never a watch I would wear. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's it's a big chunky watch. 100 meters of water resistance is kind of weird for a dive GMT, um, especially one that's this thick. You know, frankly, I I just don't I just don't, there's nothing about this that is calling to me. Spring drive is cool. But 6600 bucks is an expensive watch. It's you can get thinner Gram Secos. A big yeah, well they're yeah. Um Yeah yeah, it it's interesting. It is uh undoubtedly interesting. I'm just having a hard time thinking this is something I'd ever be interested in. I really do like the dial. It does look like an upside-down cup of soda. Okay, you turn your phone over. Yeah, yeah, I'm seeing it. I'm seeing it. Yeah. Okay. You know that they don't drink root beer in j Japan. Oh man. A we do that here and B, please don't ever do that. Please never say that again. Um That's what you put on the rice, right? Yeah. That's right. Yeah, that's right. Oh boy. Um it is uh it is medicinal in a way that does not uh that does not sit well with the Japanese audience. You know what sits well with the Japanese audience and us? I'm I'm I'm fearful after your last contribution. Uh go ahead. Furikaki. Oh no. Egg salad sandwiches. They do soft boiled eggs for their uh I like how you're pretending it was just boiled eggs for their egg salad sandwiches and it is magical. I made some uh day before last and so good. You're kicked off the show. Now for a seiko GMT Prospex that is not terrible. The Seiko Prospex 1968 Heritage Diver GMT SPB 534 Seashadow, not Spring Drive, but rather a 6R54 Marine Master-ish GM. And this watch, unlike the other one, has lots of water resistance, 300 meters to be specific. Um, and it is gorgeous and beautiful and delightful. Uh, unfortunately, it is limited to 500 pieces, which in Seiko terms is extremely limited. Uh yeah, it's like non-existent. I I do think that this is got some similarity if not being very, very the same as the um oh what are we calling these hold on. I I have have it it.. It's right the SPB 381-383 models, the black and green that came out um last year. This is uh golly i think that this one is really really really gorgeous so 13 3 thick 486 lug to lug 42 millimeters across not, including the crown. Four o'clock crown, as you might imagine, for all of these, for both of these watches. Uh we've got a gold tone bezel, just like the other one. But this is a yellow gold. This is better executed. Um, gold tone hands, obviously a great stoplight second hand, um subtle gray in In the mix here. So we've got a black ceramic insert, which has dive graduations, and a pretty glossy, shiny black dial. Um and then the 24 hour hand comes in in gray, which sort of contrasts with the rest of what we have here, this gold brushed, and gives it like, I don't know, it gives it a little, I'm gonna say a French phrase, uh, gene sequoi. This is a really, really gorgeous watch. And it is on paper. If you just describe the watch without talking about dimensions, it is very similar to that root beer. But it is just excellent where that root beer is not. Yeah. Um, and pricing, we're looking at, I think US prices are like 2200 on this. Look at this case profile. Yeah, it's a classic Marine Master profile. Yeah. It it and and the good style. The good type. Yeah. Yeah. This is unlike that other watch that we just spoke about. This is a great watch. And I really like it. And I would wear this. It's not six thousand six hundred dollars. It's not absurdly sized. Um I do think it's not a spring drive either. I do think it's sold out. Oh, yeah, you can't. I do think it's sold out. You couldn't have gotten one even if it is something that you're gonna be able to get on the secondary market and I think it's terrific. This is a watch that you should buy on secondary market anyway. You know this this is an interesting release in that it has it looks like it's brand new in box new old stock. It does feel very much like everything about it. Feels like new old stock. And I think that was also true of the SPV381 um watches that came out. Although I'm not sure what the difference is, but those had a slightly different vibe to them. That's the 381. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, very, very similar. You know, in fact, I don't I don't want to say they're the same because they're not. I'm trying to find the differences though. Um, you know, obviously we have gold here in a way that we didn't um and maybe that's it, but maybe that's what gives it that new old stock vibe, Andrew, is the gold. Maybe. Either way, this is an excellent watch. I feel like if they did a two tone uh five link, that would have just You know I think that's I think that's too much for me. That would have made it like actually new old stock. But I I I like this bracelet choice on it. This just very subtle gold addition, like as a as an accent rather than a component. You know, but is a good execution. But for the movement, this feels like an altogether better watch than the spring drive. I mean, it's just I mean, I think even with the I I think even with the movement, the limit like as cool as spring drive is the limitations that it presents almost I don't know what those limitations are. What are the limitations? It has to be 19 millimeters thick to execute. Well, maybe there is maybe there is a thing. That's what I mean in the way of limitations. It's sizing. It's a big old bitch. Every single watch that Grand Seiko produces requires the internal space to house a 7750. Uh and it shows, right? You get these beautifully designed, sleek, felt, refined watches that are way too thick. And as cool as the spring drive is as a movement, it's perhaps Grand Seiko's only limiter. If Grand Seiko was working in purely automatic and mechanical movements and just askewed the spring drive, they could be making the best watches in that price segment. Well, you know, Grant Seiko has 9S springdrive watches that are like under 12. Under 12 is not impressive. Well, but it's I mean this is a hundred meter watch I I don't know. Yeah. I I I don't know. I maybe don't understand I don't understand all the things that are happening here. So for for a sport watch to be north of eleven, you gotta be doing something really interesting. And they can't get anything under twelve, really. Yeah. And I and I mean, whatever. I mean, the the spring drive is exceptionally cool, but it creates a limitation in in design that Grand Seiko just can't seem to overcome or maybe just accepts that exists. Yeah, but oh okay. So we what we've got here yeah, this nine the nineRA5 Spring Drive Caliber is in the SLGA007, which is a hundred meter watch, and it's sub twelve millimeters. So it can be done, they just don't do it there. There. Thank you. Next. Tantalum. Tantalum is back. We're seeing it again with the Pragma P1 Perseverance. Uh I saw this watch and I was I was immediately interested because it's it's a stunning watch top-down. So it's a titanium case and a tantalum case, like dual metal, and it looks like it should be a 12 and 6 by compacts chronograph. It is not. It is a 12 o'clock date window with a sub-dial and a six o'clock running seconds with this really lovely purpley blue. I'm gonna leave it to you to name the color. You're you're a better Pantone 325 name art. Okay, corn flour. That's where we're gonna go with. I would have said periw.inkle I don't know what that means. Just when I look at it, I I think of periwinkle, so I assume that that's probably an adequate description of the color. And you will probably get with me on that. So this is a I was gonna say I think periwinkle's a bit more purple, but keep going. Okay. It's a 39mm case, 47 and a half lug to lug, 10.4 thick the case is solar stainless steel and tantalum for the intermediate case case back and crown the dial is an azerite blue brass. Oh Azurite. Yeah. The chemical composition C U Z N two eight with white gold indices, superlun Luminova, BGW9, and rotating subdials. The movement this is unclear. So it's a pragma 103- or 103-1-1. It's a four hertz 60 hour power reserve movement. So what I'm getting is that this is all done in-house. It's chronometer certified, fifty meters of water resistance. And here's where it gets kind of interesting. This is a wild case composition. So as I'm looking at this and I see rotating subdials to indicate date and running seconds, I I am like I'm I'm kind of I'm intrigued, right? Everything about this says it's either gonna be wildly affordable or wildly unaffordable. This brand is using eighty-two percent recycled materials to make their 100% Swiss-made watch. So then you get to the bottom. And this is wildly unaffordable. It's 34,000 and a half Swiss francs. I was like, oh, all this makes sense. What blew me away was that they could achieve a 82% recycled material bill. And if you go onto their website, they're like, this is where we source this, this is where we source this, this is where we source this. They're really proud of their very ethical recycled materierial sourcing methodology, and boy, you gotta pay for it. Ah, this is a cool watch. I'm never gonna see one. I think it's really cool to see a uh a brand in this price segment being so beholden to responsible manufacturing methodology because that's not always the case for luxury items. Uh really lovely watch, and also really cool their uh making it out of junk. So I don't know I I don't know anything about that. I don't know where we get recycled tantalum. Maybe that's where the nine percent comes from. Anything about this brand, um nor do I know anything about the manufacturer. This feels to me like a Japanese watch. It does. Uh though it's Swiss, so I don't know if this is a Japanese company. I, you know, whatever. Doesn't matter to me. Um, but it feels to me Japanese. It does not feel to me to be particularly sensical. I think neither the case construction. You said titanium at first. I was like, why the fuck did you use it's titanium and tantalum? It's steel and tantalum. What? Um but it's got titanium in the movement. Oh yeah. Um which is probably because they added a bunch of weight to the case. I I don't know. It I it just it it almost seems like they're doing things to do things. I don't find it particularly appealing aesthetically. I don't they're dumpster diving for materials. They they get what they got. Yeah. This really feels uh like a a watch that was made for a person. And maybe some of the best watches are that way. I don't think this is gonna I don't think this is a hit for me. I think I might be the person. Okay. Yeah, it is a weird watch. And and it's too expensive. And based on the photos we're seeing, I don't think the finishing justifies I don't think the finishing justifies the price either. The movement looks nice, but the case has these like it's got like joinery, which I think is part of the reason I think it's Japanese or feels Japanese. It's got like joinery in it. And the joinery is not good. Right? Like it's not These are renderings though. No, this is a photograph of a wall. This is a photograph. This isn't very good. You you if you're gonna take product photographs photographs. Photographs? Photographs? Get the dust out. I know. Yeah. It's interesting. But maybe not in a good way. Oh, that's a weird the movement looks great. I'll get the I will say that much. That's a manufacturing defect. That that bend. This has to be a prototype. Yeah. I don't see what you're saying, but you can see there's a gap right in the middle. And there's not at either edge. That's not something that should be gapped. Uh the movement looks terrific. And the dial color is great, even though it's more cornflower than whatever you said. Periwinkle. What's periwinkle? Um yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. I it I I hate yuck in someone's yum, but yuck. Uh I think you can go fuck yourself. No. That's like from the from the like rot of paint because lumacore? Why'd you present it as if it was meaningful? Uh it's a website. It has a dot com behind it. Uh the same color. Fortas Stratiliner S41, this is the watch that Fortas sent to space despite We just talked about this. Uh despite not having anybody to take it to space or just the balloon took it has been released in new colors and i like all of them um it even though i was kind of like what what what are we doing here so first let's talk about the straddle line s41. It is a spacewatch. They sent it to space. It's done G forces and other spacey things. Exitry. Reentry. That's right. That's right. Um vacuum of space. Which is cool. They can't put, you know, the only watch qualified for space travel or anything like that on it, but they can say we actually did space things uh which is cool fortis has like this i think fortis has a bit of a culty following the people who talk about uh the people who talk about fortis talk about it in if you know you know tones. Um, I think this is a cool watch. I think it's an expensive watch, but I do think it's cool. Uh with that said, it is a 7750 architecture watch uh with a Le Joupre movement, which means it's thick. This is a 15 millimeter watch, 41 millimeter case, uh, 200 meters of water resistance, which is better than some space watches that exist, and an entire luxury brands rankings. Um and yeah, it's cool. Also made of recycled stainless steel, Andrew, I will just say. Um where are they finding all this space junk? This thing is pretty cool. So there's three new dials. One of these dials is a natural titanium dial that's been heat treated to sort of mimic heat staining on the titanium parts on spacecraft upon re-entry. So you get heat shield. Yeah. You get like purples and b and bronze hay colors. And they do a good job focusing it. So it's it's h uh unlike the previous edition, that the kind of the whole dial was that burnt heat applied this just kind of is in certain places. It's just in in it's really concentrated. And they're all unique. So each one of these you get is going to be unique and different. Um, and then they've got a a black dial that is in a DLC case. And I think of these three, this is maybe my favorite, especially given the price. But it's got like a blue. I'm going to say uh perhaps a cornflower, but not a periwinkle blue. Not lumicore periwinkle. And uh I think it looks great. It's a matte black dial with a sort of very light sandy texture that doesn't really come across as sand, but more just lightly textured. Lightly textured uh matness. The pushers on this thing are great. If you've seen an S41, this is the same, but this colorway in particular, I find really attractive. And then the third new dial, which is almost certainly the most attractive, is a gray. And it includes um it includes gold markers, a gold crystal gasket, um, a gold colored gasket, and the gray and the gold is two tones of gray, a lighter and a sort of medium gray work with the gold really well. This thing is very, very cool. Uh, I think. The darker gray has uh tricompacts black subdials and lighter gray with white subdials. Yeah. Um flat three link. This is I I like this darker gray and black. So the DLC does give us some extra hardness if you like that sort of thing. Uh if you like it really diamond hard. Um 4500 Vickers on that one. And that comes on an FKM. That's a lot of Vickers. The Stratoliner Supernova, this is the cool gray, or excuse me, this is the cosmic gray. With the gold accents, comes on a three link. Um all of these have the work 17 caliber, which is an in-house caliber for uh or a manufacturer's caliber for Vortice by Le Jou Pre based on 7750 architecture. Um 5,150 for the black, 5,500 for the re-entry edition, uh, and 8,450 for the cosmic red. And if I understand it correctly, the re-entry and the gravity aren't limited to 13 pieces or they are they're not limited. Unlimited. So it's just the supernovas that are limited to thirteen eight. The sou yep, the supernova cosmic gray and cool gray. Is it because those are the ones that actually went to space? No. You can only send so many. I think it's because they have gold. Yeah. Why are they like making thirteen? Well, I don't know, Andrew. I don't know these things. I think I think this is a cool watch. I think it's expensive. So you kinda gotta like what you're getting. Um I think the other thing about Fortis is that it doesn't for me feel you you're not gonna get that sort of like blang blang risk. These are my favorite Fortis for that reason. You've got to know. Well, even for I mean, it it's more just like nobody's gonna like you can't go to the bar, nobody's gonna be like, oh, is it so to Fortas? There's nobody's fucking heard of it. So um you've gotta be like You're not gonna have that happen to you at wind-up. Very comfortable with you. Cause this does not scream luxury to me. You know, I no, not by a long shot. So uh which is not to say it's not excellently made and s just a superb watch. And I I think it probably is those things. But um yeah. This screams to me like reach back into nineteen sixty-five, grab a brand new inbox and pull it forward and put it on your wrist. Perhaps, yeah. And it's beautiful, it's fantastic. I don't People don't know Fortis. Even watch people don't know Fortas. They should. This is the best Fortis. Yeah, I I mean there are other they had other watches that I really like. I I like this one. I think it's just hard. It's just a it's just an expensive watch. And they don't get a lot of play in our enthusiast world. But the people who have them and who like them have that, like, if you know, you know feeling about it. Because they're great. Yeah. And they're they're an interesting company the c like in the way I think even Monto or Christopher Ward are in that they're they're on the cutting edge of technology and development and are just doing cool shit and kind of what edge is Monta on the cutting edge of? Monta is doing so much proprietary shit in their manufacturing processes to to manufacture better. Right. Like you're not seeing Belcanto. You're not seeing space watches. You're seeing, hey, we've kinda we we've invented this way to make this bevel on our handset better. Right? I'm not gonna I I think they're doing some stuff with the bracelet. It it it's hard for me. I I don't see I don't see Monta in that way. I think Monta is doing existing things as well as you can do them. I don't feel like Monta's pushing that needle. But I but I hear what you're saying. I know that certainly they they do talk about those things that they're doing. And they're not presenting in the way that Christopher Ward, For Max, Fortis, take your pick of cutting edge brands in the in the way of pushing technology into the watch are. I agree. My microphone is blocking my phone, reading my face. Uh next up for me. Oh Autodromo. It's a brand we've talked about a few times. Sure. Yeah. Does cool stuff. Yeah. Auto world inspired stuff. We have the mobile one group B Pegasus edition, which is a feel of the nineteen eighties racing world. So this is a 39mm case, 9.9 thick titanium inner core surrounded by a stainless steel case with a black DLC coating, 50 meters of water resistance. Just this amazing integrated flat link black DLC bracelet, Miyota 9015 movement. Man, I just don't I don't have a single thing to say about this watch that isn't really positive. This feels like a watch you would see featured in Stranger Things, in Alien, in any 1980s movie, but is still modern enough to fit. The colorway is great. So it's this amazing black DLC case that's uninterrupted into the bracelet that's almost like almost like alien-esque, like fingers wrapping around your wrist with a really good contrast with the stainless steel bezel, a white chapter ring with red red font around your chapter ring at your five-minute intervals, great fat minute track at your five-minute intervals with thin uh uh minute markings, good handset, the uh auto dromo logo at the 12 and the six, half red and half white. Second hand, this thing is just like perfect. Under a thousand bucks. They're only making seventy of 'em. Uh man, this is good. The only thing that I would uh have a little bit of question about is how that bracelet sizes with that interesting butterfly clasp. Um But I do think that would be worth the risk. Because this thing is good. Yeah, I don't know. I think that this is, you know, they came out with the group B, the type series two group B's a few years back? Four years ago or so. Three, four years. And and I think this might be the same watch. I don't want to s say that and be wrong, but I maybe just have to at this stage. Um I think this is just the same watch. 39.5 by 50 by 9.9 with 20 millimeter lugs. Miyoda 9105 inside. So we've got 39. It might be there. It could be it. Yeah. I mean there's there's some differences in the DLC coating and the steel, but like it could be it. Yeah. I I I'm not sure. This actually maybe looks like it's slightly less angular than than that series two. Anyway, I I really like this watch. I think it's gorgeous. I'm with you, Andrew. I have a hard time saying anything bad about it. The dimensions are so good. The shape of this is really good. Um, I do think this watch I've tried it on. I I I've tried on the series two and it was a little long. Um and I also felt like the bracelet was not as comfortable as it looked like it was gonna be. Um it's really hard to nail that flat link that way. I think so too. But I I understand why uh he's he's doing it this way. Um but yeah I I I really like the type C's. I think their monoposto is about as cool as a a watch can be. Um, so i yeah. That red loom on the bezel is cool. It almost looks like LEDs. And I don't know when the Monoposto Mobile One came out let's see uh January of twenty twenty of this year so January twenty twenty five that watch came out um I I like some stuff about that watch. I think it's a really, really cool watch. Also a mobile one. So uh uh this watch is more modern to me. But that watch is maybe a little cooler. I don't know. They're great watches. This watch is also less modern, right? This looks like it could just as easily be a squishy rubber case straight out of 1984. They're well priced. Yeah. I I have a hard time criticizing these. His he's nailing dimensions. Um yeah. Good good good watch. It was on my list as well, uh, which I think is why you sniped it. Um yeah, I'm gonna talk about the JB300 Pool Pro, which is uh my list. Which is a watch we talked about recently. Um we talked about this in the context of the deep C.edc uh collaboration, which I wanna say, um, which I wanna say was more expensive than this watch. Uh this is a I want to say eleven hundred dollar version of that watch. It was more expensive, and you said if it was eleven hundred dollars you would have bought it, and this is one thousand and seventy-nine euros. I think it's about eleven hundred US dollars too. Um I've talked I've talked about this watch with a few people because I I find it a really interesting watch but there's something about it that turns me off. I figured out what that thing was. It's the stone tumbled titanium case. Yeah, it it's that it's that stone wash. I think it is a bit crude. Um I think it's done that way on purpose. But for me, it maybe just reads slightly too crude for me to jump on this watch. Um because I really, really like this watch. And I want to just give a full-throated endorsement, but I struggle with that. I I think I think you have to really like this watch to get it. And that includes that finishing. For me, I think the finishing is a turnoff. It it doesn't do it for me either. It it looks you know, Doxa has done this with some of their Clive Cussler editions. Uh you see this um warn uh distressed design from time to time and it it it doesn't do it for me because I'm gonna fuck up my watch. I don't need your help. In fact, I don't want your help. I'm gonna be able to do it myself. Um, and as cool as it looks in pictures, I think the moment you get it and you put it on your wrist, you're gonna be like, uh I it I really should have less left the acid wash jeans behind. It unlike acid wash jeans, they're not actually ruining it by doing these this. And and I think in fact this finish is probably gonna hide scuffs and dings really, really well. But you're not gonna get very much of in brush titanium I think you might it uh in any event I I really like this watch for me the finishing is takes away from it. But I think for some of you at home. Hey, so that thing that you've got in front of your face, it's a microphone and if you bash it I just thought, you know, since this is the third time you've done it in the last ten minutes, that's that's closer than usual I think,. Uh yeah. I I w I like this watch. I really want to love it and I just don't. I just I just on it. I everything uh everything about it says I should like it. And I'm sorry, Jacques Bianchi. I do like it. I just I just give me a brush titanium titanium Don.'t don't put it through the dryer first. Andrew, I think you're too young for this, but there was an Oregon lottery commercial, I want to say in the late 80s. Um it and it was just zoomed in on a cocktail drink, and the like a tiki drink and the tiki drink had a scuba diver and a mermaid and someone was holding them like you could see fingers holding them and it was talking and and I can't remember what the mermaid said but she said, you know, oh and then someone the scuba driver, the person held him up and says, I am Jacques, famous Oceanagrofer and TV star. And then the mermaid went, Oh, Jacques, do you remember this? I think it's too I don't know. I I I think I think it it's reasonable that you want to attribute it to age. Uh I I think you that commercial was just really informative to you in a way that it wasn't to me. Golly. I still think about that commercial. I brought it up to my mom recently. I was like, do you remember this? And she's like, Oh yeah, I remember that. Uh no, I am Jacques. Anyway, when I hear when I s this brand always makes me think of that commercial, although he was clearly Jacques Cousteau and not Jacques Bianchi. Moving on. If you're listening and you remember that commercial, please, please, for the love of God, message us. Okay, I I I will cease my hunt to watch that commercial. Uh monochrome is teaming up with Habring Squared or Habring Habring. Did team up. All sold out. Half tumbed up. For their montre de suscription for second morte. So we're really sorry. Monochrome has been in a uh collaborative effort through this year uh with independent brands to make cool watches. And this is the final of the year, presumably. I can't imagine they're gonna drop one in the next uh two days. They might. There's always room to be surprised. Um they won't. So this is it. This concludes 2025's monochrome collaborations and it is good. 38 and a half millimeter case, nine thick, thirty meters of water resistance. The Habring and Habring A11S movement, 48 hours of power reserve, it's a hand whining only, not chronometer certified. Um these are coming at six thousand bucks and honestly everything about it I think makes perfect sense. Really good Roman numerals at the one three five four one two foour, six, eight, ten, cool like uh spade markers at your odd numbers, really good handset, just this perfect long spear second hand, this lovely, lovely, almost like lacquer appearing finished dial. Man. It's a they call it the glossy black, but it looks almost like lacquer. It's lovely. It is lovely. Can I make some additions to the things you've said? Please. I hope you don't mind. So I just I just want to clarify for everybody at home. It's got Roman numerals at the evens. That's what I said. And it's got But I can't count, so I had to amend myself. And it's got markers at the odd Okay. But the markers are like these lovely spades. They are. They're they're beautiful, but they're at the odd numbers. Um As I said. It was okay. One, two. Okay. I was distracted, man. I was still trying to look for Oregon lottery at the same time. Uh it's cool, man. It's cool. They're sold out. You can't get them. They're out of the way. Yeah, they only made how many did they make? Uh seven. Oh yeah. They so they were available for two weeks. Yeah. So thirty three individually numbered. So they were available for two weeks or thirty three, whichever comes first. Thirty three went.. Ye Yeah.ah Um, you know, it reminds me a little bit of the kawame Tokyo kind of watch that came out a few months ago, which is 38 millimeters, nine and a half thick, uh a hot hell of a lot cheaper, and just as beautiful. And and Andrew, and Andrew, and Andrew, guess who has, just guess, who has an Ioao Sumi Kwame Tokyo black styled watch. Guess who's got one in his hands and he's holding it up right in front of you? Who we know who famously writes for The Atlantic. Mike Razak. Uh yeah. Mike Ray Zek came into one of these and then he sent it to me. Uh he did not say everything you can keep this, but I pretty sure insist that you send it back. He has actually insisted exactly that. With that said, I don't think it deleted that text. I don't believe he has I don't think he knows how to like sue someone, for instance. I don't think and I think he would have struggled to figure that out, especially in Oregon. Well and and from the Atlantic. I got a Kowame Tokyo, you guys. I don't own it, and I do have to send it back. But Probably won't. Quickly, so I know you and Will talked about your sort of highlights of the year. Not necessarily your favorite watches, but highlights of the year for you guys. I can sum up my favorite watch and brand of the year with just this watch that I'm holding in my hand. I think Kwami Tokyo is the coolest brand on earth today. I think they make nowhere near enough watches, which is hopefully something they change in the relatively near future. Um, and I gotta say, Andrew, you've had some time to uh fondle this watch as my fingerprints are all over it. As have I. Um, I gotta say it it lives up to the hype for me in every way. So, reminder: this is a \(700 watch. The first thing I noticed about this watch was the really, really thoughtful pinbuckle. It is sort of curvy, a bit Gary-esque uh has some sort of it and the printing is really good um the strap is not wonderful it's fine um but reminder this is a 7\)00 watch. It is tip to tail. Very well made. Um, we sort of poured over this thing, Andrew and I did. You can't really find where they cut any corners. Yeah. You know, I I I can criticize a few things here, as can you, but they don't feel to me like major problems. There is the transition at the very tip of the lugs is the tiniest bit soft. Just and when I say the tiniest bit, I mean the tiniest bit. But that's the difference between a really well-made seven hundred dollar watch and a really well-made two thousand dollar watch. The nicest $700 watch that I've ever laid hands on. I don't feel all that much trepidation saying this is the nicest $700 watch on earth. Um, I because I think it probably is. And I'm thinking that you may be able to come up with some arguments and we may have to do a competition and it'll include, you know, daily daily immunity challenges, etc. With that said, I I think it would be pretty hard to argue too hard that this doesn't at least deserve to be in that competitive competition. It's certainly in the competition. I I think when you think of the that sub thousand dollar category, is the C sixty three still under a thousand? I don't think so. It's over a thousand. And this is nicer than the C sixty three. I mean, this is just better finished than any sub thousand dollar. The Alpinist is still sub thousand. This is the a billion times better than an alpinist. I think when we're talking about the conversation. Like what's kill the fuck out of the way. Of like what exists in that space. Uh I think you have in in that space specifically, and that sport, like that dressy sport watch you have. 995 on a C63 on a bracelet, so. Okay, so I think you get the C63, you get the Alpinist, you get the um what else is coming under a thousand? I think you put the uh and just to be clear this is nicer than those watches it and it comes in an under 10 millimeters the finishing on this is like I said, we found one place where we both agreed it's a little soft there. But everywhere else, the grain on the brushing is phenomenal. I went through all my watches. I went through all my watches. The grain on the grain on the brush surfaces here is as good as anything else in my collection. And that includes Mata, Forum X. Um you know, I don't have my my Speedmaster, of course, the uh I I don't have anything outrageously good in my collection. I don't have a Panamatic Lunar or something to compare it to but I I mean we're talking about a very well put together watch. Now I don't think there's anything, you know, the markers. We talked about this a little bit. How was it next to the triumph? The brushing side by side. It every bit is good. Every bit is good. The hands in the markers aren't fancy. And you can tell that that's I think the dial is where they save money here, but the fact that they were able to, but also it's probably where they had to spend all their money. I just think that this watch is It the fact that they were able to even be in the conversation is the C63. I think where they're saving money, much less lose it, is crazy. Is this thick bezel? Right, this is a really easy to execute bezel. But it's still under ten millimeters for the whole But relative to the case, like if if you're if if they're trying to make this razor thin. I it's just it's just proportional dimensioning though you you can put the thickness anywhere you want yeah i'm i i'm confused by how this is so good and we talked about it right this is this is like uh like gm lay except they actually went to production and made watches and it's still confusing. Yeah. And GM Lang folded because they're like, oh, wait, we are actually losing money well in the introctiondu. In the GM Lang was I mean a cool company. Not I mean that just wasn't that that those two watches don't compare with one another. But but I mean in the way of like a watch that we were really confused by. Like how did they do this? How did they do this? This is a watch of how are they doing it? And and I I like kinda hoped to see it in person and have the thing jump out and be like, oh, there it is. There's the problem. This is where they're nope. This is how they're making it possible. That's not happening. This is sorcery. This is actual. If you watch Manang and you're like, what's GM Lang? Don't Google it. Don't, it just doesn't matter. It's fine. If you're really curious, go ahead. But they were a company that prototyped, Garrett Lang was the guy, seemed like a very nice fellow. And then they just sort of They just couldn't make it to production. They weren't We don't we don't know what happened, but we know that that brand kind of poof and we never heard of them again. Yeah. Uh yeah, it's crazy good. I do have to send it back to Mike. I'm gonna get some pictures of Prague get a review up on the website, but it's crazy good. It's gonna get lost between your house and the mailbox. It might. You need to just can't know where to predict these kind of things. No. Packages get intercepted by reverse porch pirates all the time. All the time. All the time. Um, yeah. I think that's all I have for watches. Did you have any other favorite things of this of this year? I had a few, I had a few other things. You know, I I of course that Geraldenta, single lug, gold watch just is maybe the watch that has captured my curiosity more than any other watch that's ever come out, at least since we've been doing this. Um another sort of obscene expensive watch those Ralph Loren watches with the with the hand carved silver hand and grade silver the buoy watches I forgot to mention those last week. Yeah. Maybe not the thing that interests me the most. Although they are cool. Yeah, you know, I it was a cool year for watches. Uh uh I I I think the brand that sort of showed up on my radar, although they've been on my radar before, but the brand that sort of like nudged its way into my consciousness, two brands that nudged their way into my consciousness in a way um that kind of took me by surprise. The the first is Serica. Mm-hmm. Serica has, without really changing anything, um bumped its way into my Yeah, they're going elbows out. Yeah. And and and I'm here for it. Sereca was the mailman this year. I'm here for it. Uh but then also Yemma. I am just I I'm when people write me or or text me or even call me and say Everett, what do you think? This is kind of where my head's at. I find myself going back to Yemma so often, um, you know, they came out sort of been a few months ago, maybe October, maybe September, they came out with their new solito watches. Yeah, I talked about that last week. I think that's one of the coolest things they've done. And you did talk about that last week. And I just thought, you know, this is great. This is great. Here's a brand that is cutting ground, breaking ground with its CMM in-house manufacturer. And then they micro rotor, like coolest possible thing. Yeah. And and you know, ultra thin, super sexy, um, and really sort of defining a new space for itself in what I think is like the coolest in space for enthusiast watches. Doing so in an affordable, cool way for that brand to also then at the same time say, and also, hey, look at these Solita versions of our watches. They're a little thicker, but they're very similar and you know what the trade-offs are. And you can get them for under a thousand bucks. And if you don't care about the cool movement stuff we're doing, here's all of our cool design stuff. Here's our yeah, yeah, that's right. That's right. Um, so yeah, between uh you know, I think between Kwame Tokyo, Sarika, and Yama, for the reasons just discussed, uh I feel really confident saying kind of that's where my head's at in watches. Obviously, I found an appreciation for some neo vintage stuff this year and I've talked about that over time. And Jacques Bianchi no I'm Jacques. Um you know the the Neo Vintage C Master that I picked up this year and how much I've appreciated. I've to admit that since I bought that watch early summer, I've probably worn that 70% of the time compared to all other watches in my collection, and that includes the speedy, right? Uh, it has just dominated my wrist, and it sort of has me looking at other watches of that ilk, I think that the nineties, despite the nineties really being a weird time for watches, we have some really cool dim,ensionally cool watches that came out in that time. You know, you can't get a Peter Blake today because if you go get a Seamaster today, it's gonna be a coaxial and it's gonna be thick, and it's not the same. It's cool. That's kind of what has held me off from getting a C Master is the coaxial movement. Is it makes it big. It's like the spring drive, right? It makes it it's it's not just like dim case width and lengthwise a big old bitch. It's thick. Yeah. And you know, that's a that's a consideration. And so I think that experience has kind of changed the way I think about watches and the watches that I might look for in the future. Um you know, like I I want an IWC, but not a Mark 20. I want a Mark 15, you know, and it's just kind of it which is kind of hard to get, right? It's kind of hard to get a good condition Mark 15 on a bracelet. Um It's not hard, but they exist, but they're they're expensive, right? It's probably more money for a mark for a good conditioned Mark 15 on a bracelet than it is a Mark 20. So um it's it's been an interesting year for me the way I look at, you know uh the way I look about watches and what it what interests me and um but those three brands have kind of brought it home Kwame Tokyo feels like a a return to what I really really liked about watches in the first place. You know, look look at this look at this thing that is really giving you what what you you'd get from a much much nicer watch it and and maybe it's because like the brand is really like understated um you know nobody's heard of it, you know, and still you're getting this just really terrific thing. They wrung out every single bit of value out of every dollar of that watch. I think so. Yeah. This feels to me, you know, like a bit of a return to the days of the objectively best watch. You know, if we did what we've talked about for a long time, which is to put that to put price considerations on the objectively best. Um, you know, w if we were to reintroduce that or bring that back into the foray, we'd make changes. I know we would, because we know more about what we like and what's interesting, what's good. And when I mean good, I mean like objectively good. Um with with that said, like this watch, this watch crushes it. That's a hard watch to beat. It crazy. It's got a hundred meters of water resistance. And it's ten under 10 millimeters. I mean, that's the only point that it gives up. And then, you know, X factor, it's a, you know, it's a five out of five. Yeah. So um shoes. suck That's a two. It the shoes aren't great. But this make the class brings it back. That's why I get the the two points are derived from the fact that it's got a great three all on itself. Because you can get I've got a strap at home that I could swap this out, and all of a sudden. Anyway, long story short, I that this was a cool year, and I think my appreciation for this watch, but also Serica and and maybe even Yemma, I I think has me back to maybe where I was in 2016 or 2017 or 2018 when we started the show. Oh. It and and not all the way back there, right? It's dewy skinned and starry-eyed. I'm different than I was then because I've been around longer and I've seen more watches and I know more about watches, but it has me sort of back in that place where I'm like, there's value that we're not talking about out there. And maybe we're talking about it, but it's we're not talking about it enough. If you go and watch a city today, you're still gonna see most of the things that are on Watchicity or Hodenkey or name pick your poison. These are watches that people don't won't ever buy. Yeah, a lot of people have a lot of sponsored posts too. No one you're gonna ever know. Zach Kazan wrote an article and and published it. You can go find it, but it was sort of about how watch media has changed given AI. And he made some good points, right? He says, You're not coming to us, us being worn and wound, to read about the best watches under 500. You're you're writing that phrase into Google and reading the results that the AI is giving you. And it's an interesting thought, right? It's like, what do we, you know, Andrew, we' were're we're uh stuck in time, right? We're still doing the same thing that we were doing in twenty eighteen, you know, and we've seen people come and go, you know, obviously by design we did that on purpose Mike and Kaz are are still doing their thing not quite as frequently as they were back then and uh uh you know the greenado guys are still doing it the cats are not gone. They're still with us, but they're nowhere. Yeah, they're not dead. They they didn't die. I've talked to them both recently. Yeah, I saw them both. Um but yeah you know we're this is this format is antiquated already. Like in the time that we've been doing this, this format's antiquated. And so it's fun for me to feel in 2025, seven years later, that joy of watches. So for for me, that's been the biggest callback. Uh the biggest thing that's happened. I I'm I'm enjoying watches in a way that I didn't maybe last year or the year before. Right. Which is cool. I like that. Feels good. I like it too. Yeah. Well uh we'll maybe next year's episodes will be informed by that reinvigoration. Andrew, other things, what do you got? Oh shit. I have another thing. Uh oh my gosh. Y'all, y'all. Stranger things season five. Yeah. Yeah yeah. First four episodes drop. What a month ago? On two weeks ago. Is it that recent? Yeah. Uh maybe a month. Cause then on Christmas, the next four episodes drop. Three episodes or however many it is. Yeah, it's four. Uh three? I think it was three. And man, I have been on a roller coaster, not because of the story. But because of the execution, I'll go through an episode, and it's just like the last episode of Game of Thrones or last season of Game of Thrones, where it's like, I know you're trying to wrap it up, but what did this episode accomplish? Where are like how are you getting me to the end? And then the next episode, I'm like, okay, I get it now. I get it. You guys are freaking geniuses. And I I'm on like a roller coaster of enjoyment, and the whole season so far, then last episode drops two days from now, and I thought it was gonna be four more episodes when I realized I was actually about to watch the finale in a couple days. I like had this deep disappointment because this is a show that uh very much like Game of Thrones, where I've been watching it it as came out for years, excited for the next release. And I was talking to my in-laws about it over Christmas. They're like, oh yeah, we just never, we never watched it and they're not like media uh avoidant people they're typically up with pop culture things like oh yeah, we just never watched it. I was like, are you did you watch Sopranos? Like, how have you never watched this? This is a global phenomenon. Have you did you watch Squid Game? Like, oh yeah, we watched that. I'm like, then watch this. It so it my other thing is both that I'm gonna share in my uh community, my like sadness that this thing that I've loved for a lot of years is about to come to an end. And I'm gonna say, if you're out there, one of those people who just has never gotten into it, do it, binge this show for the next several days and just enjoy this like really, really well done look back into To 80s Americana, where they just they hit everything right on the head. They bring like these 80s ideas forward and they make them modern without compromising this really good classic 80s feel of modernity and modernism. Uh, watch this show. And this season has been so fun. Andrew, I've run into this a few times in the last month in different contexts, but there is this thing that people do sometimes where they they like where having not done something like a badge, right? I think for years it was like I've never seen any Star Wars. And maybe it's still this, I don't know. Or let's say, you know, Mike Razak. Oh, I've never watched the Sopranos. Like he's proud of it. And uh like oh I'll never watch it. He's like teetotaler. Like what like why? Why just it doesn't interest me. Like well you're that's fucking dumb. So and this guy writes for the Atlantic. He's not dumb. I don't wanna say you said you should watch it. Like I'm not gonna say that. I'm just gonna say that if you're not watching it, because you're like, oh, it's just I too many other things. Shut the fuck up. That's what I want to say to you. Just shut the fuck up. Watch it. Jesus Christ. Pay the $10 a month. You have Netflix. Or whatever. Or don't. I don't care. But like the like that thing I was talking to this guy he lives, I was talking to this guy online. He lives in Detroit and I brought up Sharon Moore recently and he's like, Who's that? I'm like, you're fucking lying. I just you're lying. You just want you're like, I don't even know who sports ball is and it's like you're a liar you're a liar you just want you're wearing the badge that you don't care about sports and you're lying you're lying that that was on CNN yeah that's right I was like it's been on the front page of every fucking newspaper in the country. What the fuck you talking about? Like a division. You're a liar. Yeah, yeah. Like you live under a rock and you know nothing about modern like And this guy's perpetually online too, by the way. Perpetually online. So he knows who Sharon was. He knows who it was just a lie. It was like this is a blatant lie. Anyway, shut the fuck up. That's what I want to say. Uh that was wild. I've really liked the shut the fuck up. No, no, the Sharon Moore thing. That was wild. It was wild. I I it like developed like in real time. You're like, whoa. One of the the the one of the fantasy leagues I'm in, it was like somebody sent uh a twitch Twitter link. And then for the next like four hours was just like deep cut internet sleuthing Reddit X like links. So before the news broke, I was aware of what had happened somehow. And look, if you're like uh you know, if you're like and Harbaz is like whatever if you like live in New York or Florida and you don't care about sports and you don't follow it at all, like maybe you missed it. But this guy lives in fucking Detroit. Yeah. It's like you know who Sharon Moore is. Shut up. Yeah. Uh I have another thing. Detroit is in Michigan. Sharon Moore was the head coach of the University of Michigan football team. He was recently arrested. You're in the mitten, you know what I'm talking about. Um, I have another thing. Oh, do me. He didn't send me a link, so I didn't. Um, I'm gonna leave you to Google. I have been looking at a shoe for a long time, and it's something I haven't bought because Because just because it's kind of expensive. Um it is the specific shoe that I've been looking at for a long time. Is that it? That's it. Is the is the Rancourt Ranger mock. Andrew, you should not Google yet. Um I'm already Googling. And for my birthday, my wife said, Hey, I spoke with my folks, and we want to get you that Rancourt shoe that you've been looking at for a long time, the Ranger Mock. And I was like, shit, yeah, I'm into it. Well, if you and your parents are buying, then we're going up. That's really cool. Um, and I'm into it. I want to get that, and thank you so much. And this is a wonderful gift. So we went to we went to get it, and I found that I could not find my size in the color I wanted. And I was talking to some people about this, and they said, well, you should get I'm kind of a Rancor guy, right? I've got a bunch of Rancords. And they said, Really, you should get the Oak Street Bootmaker trail Oxford instead. It's slightly more expensive shoe, but it's they do a better job, the fitting is better, and their leathers are slightly better. And so I said, well, you know, Oak Street Bootmaker is a company that's grown a lot recently, and I think their customer service has gone down slightly, but they still make shoes in the United States. They still make really high quality shoes. Um, let me look at them. And I started looking at these shoes and I was like, yeah, I really like these. So I picked up for my birthday, November 30th, a pair of Oak Street Boomaker Trail Oxfords. They came in about the time of my birthday, and I had ordered them a half-size small, because that's what everything on the internet said to do. And when I put them on my feet, they were a half size small. So I sent them back. You fuckers. And then this week, the appropriately sized, which is not a half size smaller than my normal size, but just my normal size. Oak Street Bootmaker Trail Oxford came in and the brown Chromexels. In the brown chromexel, uh, which is a whoreween product. It is luxurious. Really, really nice leathers. And uh I got them and I put them on my feet, and I thought, you know what? I love these. Not that much more expensive. And I've been wearing them, and then I saw Andrew today and he said, I really like those shoes. And I thought hot damn. Mission accomplished. Uh, I love them. I love them. I want to wear them every day, and you can't. You can't wear leather shoes every day, and you can't wear any shoes every day because then you look like an asshole. But um I love them. I love, love, love them. They are a rubber soled moccasin, lace up moccasin. Um and they are just beautiful. The leather is really nice, the silhouette is really nice. I feel like the laces are a touch long. They are a touch long, and I actually cut an inch two inches off of each of the laces, and they're still a touch long. So I'm probably gonna take another. I think it I think in I think two inches more. And and and that's fine too, right? You'd rather have leather laces come in too long. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Um and so of course I can just cut them until they're the right size. But uh I love these shoes. They're super comfortable. They're rubber sole, which is great. It's a it's a rubber cane. How's the uh arch support? You know, I don't know. It's fine for me. I've got kind of flat arches.. Let's see Um I've got kind of flat arches. Um which is to say it's not something I think about, but I think if you were in need of more arch support, you could sort of like get an insert for them. Um if that's what you wanted. I don't think that they're uh an orthopedic shoe if they're not. Well obviously not. You're not they're not okay. Yeah, acceptable like low the loafer arch support. It's i they're they're uh yeah, sort of a um a casual loafer with terrific American construction. It's a Blake Stitched shoe. Uh gosh, dude. They're lovely. These are so nice. I'm so happy with them. Uh 325, I think. Which the website is 328. Okay, there you go. And and the uh ran courts are two 88 I think so you're not yeah really going that much up I don't think that these are you know of course I haven't had I haven't had the Rancorts in hand to compare them one to one. I've got three or four pair of rain cords at the house and they're built, I would say comparably. I don't think that they're a I I do think that their Chromo, the Chrome XL that they use is slightly thinner, maybe? Feels a little less sturdy. Um but I mean those look every fantastic shoe. Those look every bit as durable and wearable as my My Danner work boots. And they're resolable and um recraftable and Oak Street bootmakers will do that for you. And I I mean it's just a great shoe. And I'm so happy about them. It's I I've bought shoes in the past where I'm like, oh, I love this, but this is a shoe that probably for like years, two years, I've like been like, I should get that, I should get that. And I haven't for whatever reason. And I'm just so happy now that I got them them. I would wear every day if I could. That's a that's a real bang for your buck. Like everything about that is wingtip or not wingtip, uh red wing, Danner, super durable, super wearable, uh, but more befitting of the shoes that you need to wear. It's more of a trad. It's more of a trad casual than a work. It's not work wear, but but it all it has all of it has all of the characteristics of durability and build, which is often lost in uh business esque attire. And you don't have to spend $330 to get a shoe that looks like this, at least for a period of time. Someone said, Oh, I I like those shoes. Someone at work are those sperries. Yeah, because sperries will look like that out of the box. And I tried not to have an offended look on my face. And I said, Oh no, but they're they look like some sperries. Um yeah, so from a company out of Chicago, really cool company, and I kinda left it at that. Uh but there are other shoes that look like this and these are more than that. If you wanted this look and didn't want to spend three hundred and thirty bucks, I think Sperry would be a great place to start. I wore a pair, a couple pairs of Sperries, wore 'em right out. Yep. And then I just bought a new one because they're 60 bucks. That that's right. You're gonna spend 100 bucks on sperries, and when they go bad in three years, you just chuck them. And you yeah. Versus these, which I need to put shoe trees in, and then in three years, when the I wear through the souls, I'll have to send them out and won't have them and pay a hundred plus bucks for to get a new soul. So I I you know the economics don't necessarily work out. The math doesn't quite math. Uh with that with that said, they're are great and I love them and I'm very happy to have them. They look good. Thanks, man. Yeah. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm happy. And that's all I have. Good. Um is there anything you feel like we should talk about before we go? No. Well it's good because it started the music. Uh hey folks, thanks for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20, the WatchClicker Podcast. Do me a favor, go to our website. It is watchclicker.com. That's where we post articles and reviews and written things and also pictures to go along with those written things. If you would like to follow us on social media, you can do that at watch clicker or at forty and twenty underscore watch clicker. Both on Instagram. That's where we post pictures, but also updates about things we're doing on this podcast or on the website. If you'd like to support us and oh boy, we hope you do. U,h you can do that at Patreon.com slash forty and twenty. 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