Latest / What's on Your Riste? A Watch Podcast / S01E14: A Reset Button - The Tool Watch Episode (G-Shock, Citizen, Seiko, Marathon, CWC, Sinn, Tudor, Damasko & Hamilton)

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S01E14: A Reset Button - The Tool Watch Episode (G-Shock, Citizen, Seiko, Marathon, CWC, Sinn, Tudor, Damasko & Hamilton) · What's on Your Riste? A Watch Podcast

0:00
Pop Quiz You're going camping for a weekend.
0:03
Three days, rains in the forecast.
0:06
You're going to be cooking over a fire, sweating, sleeping in a
0:10
tent, getting in and out of a lake.
0:13
Which watch are you going to be wearing?
0:16
I'll bet a lot of money it's not the watch that we spent a ton of
0:20
time talking about last week. Let's get into the other end of
0:24
this hobby today. Whoa.
0:32
You wear it on the road. You wear it in the smoke when
0:38
the grid goes dark. That old steel still knows G
0:45
Shock on your wrist. CWC by the Seal Marathon in the
0:52
mud ticking through the real. Welcome back to What's on Your
0:58
Race Day. I'm Wachovsky.
0:59
We spent 4 episodes, Rolex, Renault and Poppy.
1:03
We call them R&P except and, and we spent some time on the
1:08
philosophy that kind of connects all of them talking about
1:12
watches and whose value kind of lives in your understanding of
1:15
them. Watches that you take seriously
1:18
that I take seriously the the community takes seriously
1:21
watches whose meaning is kind of delicate.
1:24
And today is the opposite. You can kind of tell that I do
1:28
this palate cleansing when I deliver this information.
1:32
That's sort of the way that I think as well.
1:34
So today is about the watches that ask nothing of you, the
1:38
watches you don't really take off, the watches whose value
1:41
lives entirely in what they let you stop thinking about.
1:45
So today's kind of the reset button tool watches, the ones
1:49
built for actual work and actual world.
1:53
So I'm going to cover 6 full brands, not all the way down
1:56
their entire lineup. And I'm going to give you a
1:58
couple of honorable mentions because it hurts my feelings to
2:01
leave out brands that I really like.
2:03
And then a thesis about why this category, which I think the
2:07
watch Internet sometimes treats like the kiddie pool.
2:10
And it's not. It's actually, I think, one of
2:11
the most important categories in this entire hobby.
2:14
So settle in. We're going outside today and we
2:17
need to get some sun. I think it's good for you.
2:19
Go touch some grass so segment one we're going to call the
2:22
reset button. Why this episode exists.
2:25
Let me set set this up before we start running through brands
2:29
because there's a particular reason I wanted to start this
2:31
episode, you know right after the reccep one if you've been
2:36
listening to the show again for 13 episodes and one thank you so
2:39
much for that It does it means a lot.
2:41
You've heard me talk about watchmaking that asks for your
2:45
attention. You know, hand finishing on a
2:47
chopic movement, the clock tower Romantoir on the Gronenfeld, the
2:52
Bombay Bridges of the Recept Recepti, right?
2:54
The the kind of watchmaking that is kind of the apex of this
2:59
hobby. It's also in a real way, in a
3:02
real lifeway. It's demanding you take those
3:06
watches off when you load the dishwasher.
3:09
You take them off to mow the lawn.
3:12
You take them off when you go to the gym.
3:15
You don't wear them on the camping trip.
3:17
It definitely not in the rain. The watches we're going to talk
3:21
about today are the opposite of that.
3:23
They're watches built under this single, unembarrassed promise.
3:29
You don't need to take me off. You wear me to do the dishes.
3:33
You wear me to load lumber into the truck.
3:35
You wear me to soccer practice in a hailstorm to watch your
3:38
kids. You wear me to the airport
3:41
through TSA on a long flight, off the plane into the rental
3:46
car, right? Loading luggage in and out in
3:49
the rain, all of those places. Guess what?
3:52
This watch is going to work without ceremony.
3:55
It will just work without you having to think about it.
3:59
And that's not a lesser kind of watch.
4:01
That's a different relationship in watchmaking to the point
4:04
where some people, that's all they wear.
4:06
And if you're one of those people, again, I envy you.
4:09
And here's the thing, I want every listener to internalize
4:13
about this category because I think the watch Internet
4:16
sometimes gets this wrong. And again, you'll see me having
4:20
these conversations with you about the mass amount of
4:24
information that we get and how people are supposed to do this
4:27
or supposed to do that. And then everyone kind of
4:29
follows that trend and I just don't like it.
4:32
I think the tool watch doesn't compete with the dress watch.
4:36
The tool watch makes the dress watch possible.
4:39
Let me say that again, the tool watch does not compete with a
4:42
dress watch. The tool watch makes the dress
4:45
watch possible. If you don't have a beater on
4:48
your wrist for the messy parts of life, the camping trips, the
4:51
workouts, the times you get, you know you generally don't want to
4:54
think about your watch. You would only have the precious
4:58
watches and then you'd either take them off and you'd or you'd
5:03
damage them or you'd take them off and you'd be entirely
5:06
without a watch, which for some of us in this hobby is kind of
5:10
suffering that that suntan spot that we've got them.
5:13
The the patch that's circular on our wrist is, is insufferable.
5:17
Mine is actually dented, right? It's it's shaped.
5:20
I have a watch shaped indentation on my wrist that
5:23
just begs to put a watch on just to fill the void.
5:26
The tool watch really frees up the rest of your collection to
5:29
be precious if you wanted it to be.
5:32
And so today we're going to walk through 6 brands that do this
5:36
category, I think at the highest level.
5:38
And again, my category is not your category.
5:41
I'm just I'm mentioning the ones that I think are significant
5:44
enough in Myspace to discuss, but not the be all end all.
5:49
So don't think that this is me. A ranking system of like this is
5:51
the best. And if they didn't get included
5:53
here, they they don't exist. That's not that's not how it is.
5:56
It's I only have so much time and, and honestly, again with
5:59
the three kids and, and all that other stuff, I do my best to
6:02
just try to get a good survey of some of this information.
6:06
And so climbing from what I would consider the most
6:09
accessible to maybe the most technically sophisticated, or at
6:13
least what I would consider technically sophisticated.
6:15
We're starting with the watch that most of you have already
6:19
owned probably in your life, and then ending with something that
6:22
I think is kind of the engineering apex of what modern
6:26
tool watches kind of look like. So segment 2, we're going to
6:29
call G shock, the watch that made the category.
6:33
Let's start with G shock. G shock, I'm not going to insult
6:38
your intelligence with a long history lesson here, Casio.
6:41
It's actually Kazio. It's Japanese.
6:44
And again, my maybe I'll do better with Japanese than I did
6:47
with with French. And you know, probably not.
6:49
I injured definitely not German. They launched the original G
6:53
shock the model. It was the DW5000C in 1983, so
6:59
like, you know, 42 years ago and it was designed by an engineer.
7:04
And here goes me messing stuff up, right?
7:06
Kikuo eBay. It's KIKUO.
7:10
And then Ibe, who reportedly went through more than 200
7:15
prototypes trying to build a watch that could survive
7:18
basically a 10m drop and then also had 10 atmospheres of water
7:23
pressure with a 10 year battery life.
7:26
And basically what he called this was the Triple 10
7:28
philosophy. Maybe I taught you something new
7:31
there. You never know.
7:32
He famously tested these early prototypes by dropping them from
7:36
the window of his Tokyo apartment.
7:37
And the G shock had since the part makes me giggle because I'm
7:41
visually, I just, I can see somebody who's an engineer for a
7:45
company, right, bringing these prototypes home.
7:46
They're just dropping them out their window, which is just
7:48
that's rad. So the G Shock had since 1983
7:51
become by some measures, the most successful tool watch line
7:55
in human history. Like hundreds of millions of
7:57
units sold. The watch is on the wrists of
8:00
military operators. And I know we have, you know,
8:03
military friends and family, the gentleman that have served
8:06
overseas, folks that are swats and sheriffs and that kind of
8:10
stuff. They're on their wrists.
8:13
So military operators, professional photographers,
8:15
Mountaineers, NBA players, oil rig workers, probably like half
8:20
the kids in any given American middle school.
8:22
It crosses every demographic that exists.
8:25
If you were to go to an A sporting event, for example,
8:28
you'll probably see one on somebody's wrist.
8:30
So for the purposes of the day three references, I think that
8:32
kind of matter most, the DW5610 and its variance this the
8:37
square, the original kind of shape the the watch most people
8:41
picture when you say G shock, it's about 50 bucks like $50 or
8:44
a watch that is functionally indestructible.
8:47
World time stopwatch alarm countdown timer as it yelled
8:51
backlight. You know, 200 meters of water
8:54
resistance now and still the 10 year battery life.
8:56
And then there's really no scenario in your daily life that
8:59
the 5610 won't do its job. Then there's the GWM 5610.
9:04
It's the solar atomic radio variant.
9:08
It's again same square case, but it's solar charged and so you
9:11
never need a battery again. Picks up radio signals from
9:14
atomic clocks around the world and it auto corrects it's time.
9:18
And this one you're going to jump up a little bit.
9:19
Now you're at about 150 bucks again, solar atomic watch for
9:22
150 bucks. And in other industry that
9:26
basically would be impossible. And then this is where it became
9:30
kind of the watches Internet obsession a few years ago, the
9:32
GA 2100. We all we all know this one as
9:36
the Kasiok. The kasiok.
9:38
That's that's my worst Mr. Miyagi impression ever, right?
9:41
Walks on, walks off. So because of the octagonal
9:45
case, the integrate, I'm going to be a second to process what
9:49
just happened to you, because the octagonal case, the
9:52
integrated strap designed, I think it's unmistakably evokes
9:56
this auto Mars PJ Royal Oak about for like 100 bucks.
10:00
And so there's an analog digital hybrid, there's a carbon core
10:04
case and genuinely, it's like a beautiful object in its own
10:07
merits. And so regardless of the whole
10:09
Royal Oak comparison, the GA 2100 is it's a cool watch.
10:14
Now, if you don't own AG shock right now or like any G shocks,
10:17
I think you're missing kind of the fundamental tool in your
10:20
toolbox. So maybe start the podcast over
10:23
order a 5610, which I don't normally tell you to do that
10:26
kind of stuff, but like 5610 from like Amazon will be on your
10:29
wrist by like, you know, a couple days and then move on
10:32
with your life. And then we'll just you know,
10:33
we'll just wait here while you have your 5610.
10:35
OK, I will pause this moment. I'm just kidding.
10:38
As a segment 3, let's get into Citizen Promaster, every man's
10:41
professional watch. So next is interesting.
10:45
The Citizen pro master Pro, as in PRO master Citizen's, the
10:50
brand that in my view is the most underrated big name
10:54
watchmaker in the world for a variety of reasons.
10:57
They make over 1,000,000 watches a year.
10:59
They own Bolova, they owed own Frederick Constant Alpena, and
11:05
then also Arnold and Son. And Arnold and Son is a is a
11:09
it's a big player, as is Frederick Constant.
11:13
And so there they're the parent company of quietly in this
11:18
enormous watch empire. And almost nobody outside of
11:21
Japan really even talks about them.
11:22
The promaster line is citizens tool watch arm.
11:25
So launched in like I think 1989.
11:28
Somebody correct me on that one if I'm wrong on that.
11:31
And they, they, they were built around 1 specific technology
11:34
commitment, the eco drive. And most everyone here knows the
11:37
eco drive, right? So it's a solar charging system
11:40
as developed by citizen that uses basically light, sunlight,
11:43
indoor light, a desk lamp to charge this watch's internal
11:47
battery. It does not typically it doesn't
11:48
care what kind of light it's getting.
11:50
It just needs light. And the battery is designed to
11:52
last decades. Now, in practice, you may never
11:55
service the power source on the eco drive in your lifetime.
11:58
I have watches that are from the 90s that were I found after when
12:04
my parents had passed away and I went into old drawers and was
12:07
helping clean out the house. I found my high school and
12:11
college citizens and one of them actually both of them were, they
12:16
were both old citizens and one of them needed a battery a pop
12:19
the new battery in and guess what popped right back up.
12:22
And now it still works and I still actually keep that watch.
12:24
And so again, these references I think are fascinating.
12:28
People have reported that the the units that eco drive from
12:31
the 1990s are still running on their original batteries, still
12:34
using rechargeable ambient light.
12:36
So it's just it's been great for us.
12:38
Three, I think pro master references are important.
12:41
So there's the BN 0150 and that's known as kind of the pro
12:45
master diver and it's lovingly called the Fugu at FUGU.
12:50
Who thought I was going to say the letters FU on this podcast,
12:53
but there you go FUGU the Japanese.
12:58
It's it references a Japanese puffer fish.
13:00
And because the crown guards look like the spines of this
13:03
fish. And it's interesting because you
13:06
know, 44 millimeters this it's a 200 meter diver.
13:10
It's got eco solar. It's it's actually ISO 6425
13:14
certified as like a real dive watch.
13:16
And again, about 250 bucks, $250 for a fully certified ISO diver
13:21
with solar power that you probably never need a service
13:24
on. The Fugu is the watch I
13:25
recommend to people who ask me, hey, I want to dive watch under
13:28
300 bucks. And it is, I think dollar for
13:30
dollar, one of the best tool watches that's ever been made.
13:32
And and again, no one talks about it.
13:34
And then when you go and actually talk to people who are
13:36
in the water a lot and divers, a lot of them are wearing
13:39
Citizens. Then there's the Aqualand.
13:41
It's a QUALAND and it's still the watch that Citizen launched
13:46
in 1985. And technically it was the first
13:49
wristwatch with this kind of integrated depth gauge and so
13:52
like a real integrated depth gauge.
13:54
So the dive community took the watch seriously the moment that
13:57
it landed in the modern Aqualand.
13:59
It's now, I think in its third generation and it remains one of
14:02
the most mainstream watches with a integrated depth sensor.
14:07
And then finally there's the Skyhawk, the aviators Skyhawk,
14:11
they call it the the Promaster and it's a multi band atomic
14:15
radio. It's a world time has a slide
14:17
rule bezel, A perpetual calendar and this around 600 bucks and
14:21
the it's a kind of watch that a working pilot might genuinely
14:24
strap on their wrist as a daily. And I am my brother actually has
14:29
1 he had I'm going to go reach across my desk real quick so
14:32
hold on one second. So the watch that my brother
14:35
actually wore was a citizen eco drive nighthawk R200.
14:40
So this was the watch that was on his wrist when he passed
14:43
away. And so I, I have this watch and
14:45
it's very, very special to me. So I keep this watch with me.
14:48
It has the normal crown at 3:00 and it has a crown on the
14:53
opposite side to rotate the inner bezel.
14:56
And that one's around 8:00 on that side.
14:58
So I keep that watch with me. It's super, super important.
15:01
So whenever I hear Skyhawks or even like the Nighthawks, I just
15:05
there, I have a special place for those in my heart.
15:08
And so the reason I think the promasters specifically is kind
15:12
of this the most adult tool watch choice, anything that you
15:16
can make at this price point is that it just it just does its
15:18
job. So I would say G shock is kind
15:22
of like the wild kid in the family and the pro master is
15:25
kind of the older sibling who studied engineering, drinks
15:28
coffee, you know, he's been quietly doing serious work for
15:31
decades. And so again, I can't recommend
15:34
the Citizen Promaster enough, nor can I recommend the the G
15:38
shocks enough. They're just wonderful watches.
15:40
OK, so now we're going to get a segment for let's get into Seiko
15:43
prospects, the Japanese workhorse.
15:46
All right, so third, the Seiko prospects and it's PROSPEX if G
15:52
Shock and Promaster are kind of the gateway watches, prospects
15:56
or prospects is where enthusiasts start to take tool
16:00
watches more seriously. So quick housekeeping, the pro
16:04
specs. It actually stands for
16:05
something. It's not just right, the the
16:09
catchy phrase. It actually stands for
16:10
professional specifications. And again, hopefully maybe you
16:13
learned something just now and it's Seiko's umbrella for their
16:16
tool watch line. They launched this with this
16:19
very distinct designation in around 2014.
16:22
And again, correct me if I'm wrong there, but I believe it
16:23
was 2014, but the watches in the pro specs line, the references,
16:28
the architectures, the design DNA, they go back like decades.
16:31
And we're really talking about Seiko's kind of modern tool
16:34
watch lineage. So it's just fascinating to kind
16:36
of know that. So the names that you need to
16:38
know, this one's going to be the most obvious if you're in the
16:40
space, you know this one. So the SKX, yes, technically it
16:44
was discontinued in like 2019. I apologize for bringing it up
16:48
if you're still sensitive about that.
16:50
The prices on the used market have gone up.
16:52
The SKX 7, the SKX 9, those were like direct successors to the
16:58
legendary 7002 and then early the 60 three O 9.
17:02
And they're watches that I think on any other single line, they
17:08
taught a generation of watch enthusiasts how to love
17:12
mechanical dive watches. And then fun fact about the SKX
17:15
7, that bracelet that fits on that actually fits on The Smiths
17:19
40mm that they don't make anymore.
17:21
They had a 40mm Everest with a plexiglass crystal and those
17:26
bracelets are inter interchangeable.
17:28
So if you have one of those, just a heads up that that's an
17:29
Easter egg that I've millimeter Smiths for a while.
17:32
So OK, so getting back to this, this is interesting.
17:34
The seven S 26 auto movement. It's it's not again, it's not
17:39
the most accurate movement on earth, but it's it's absurdly
17:42
durable and it's hand windable. And then on from like 2019 they
17:47
via the 4R36 and then the SKX kind of this spiritual ancestor.
17:52
They're 42 1/2 millimeters, the hands, the dial, the case, the
17:55
jubilee on the SKX 009 they're fantastic.
17:59
So every single watch enthusiasts that came up through
18:02
like the 2000s and the early 2000 and 10s probably has a
18:04
story about their SKX, whether they love the bracelet or they
18:07
hated it or whatever. It was so jangly and this and
18:09
that. But then they would complain
18:10
about it, but then they would love it because it was
18:12
comfortable, right? And so the turtle is the next
18:14
one. I want to talk about the
18:15
references. Typically the ones that you're
18:17
going to see is SRP 777 and then all the successors after that.
18:22
And there's so many variants cushion case for kind of this
18:25
modern revival of the Seikos 1976.
18:28
They had a 63 O 9 and it wears huge on the wrist and it looks
18:33
like nothing else. They they are, they're I
18:36
wouldn't say dinner place because they're not circular.
18:38
They're very much turtle shaped and they're just I, I love those
18:42
watches. They even on smaller wrists.
18:44
I think when you put those on, it's like people, it's sort of
18:47
like a panorama. I think once you wear a turtle
18:49
or something like that, the millimeters kind of go away and
18:53
you just kind of enjoy the watch.
18:54
And then also the the way that the lugs are designed as they
18:57
basically go straight down. So once you have those, your
19:00
bracelet or your strap or whatever, you're not really
19:02
going by case size. You're just going from lug to
19:04
lug, which is it's, it's a more manageable size.
19:07
So the the monster people who've when I when I get into bigger
19:10
case sizes, we'll talk about the monster, the SRP three O 7, the
19:14
SRP three O 9, the SRPD 25 again, a long lineage way more
19:19
than I could mention. It's the most aggressive Seiko
19:22
diver has sharp teeth like sharp teeth on the bezel, has these
19:26
oversized indices. It's completely like unsubtle
19:31
and it's honestly a cult favorite for like it's been a
19:34
cult favorite for years. There's the sumo that SBDC line.
19:38
It's kind of more of the mid size they they carry more like a
19:42
defined kind of refined diver, kind of a feel.
19:46
And what I think some people call the sumo is kind of the the
19:49
budget Grand Seiko diver. And it's by people who get kind
19:52
of carried away on forums. But I think it can carry the
19:55
weight and and it does it should get some praise as well.
19:58
There's also the samurai. It's an angular, more modern,
20:02
kind of a bit polarizing visually.
20:04
And again, it's, it's enormously well built.
20:07
It's it's sport for me again, one of the more beautiful
20:09
watches. But again, we all have our
20:11
different tastes. And then sitting above all of
20:15
these is the newer SPB series. And these are built around
20:20
Seikos more improved or new newly kind of refined 6 arm
20:24
movements and they have a longer power reserve and they have
20:26
better regulation that's a little bit tighter.
20:29
And they start to creep up into like the 800 to $1200 range in
20:33
US. And they've kind of genuinely
20:35
gone into this like Swiss mid tier money.
20:38
And I think the watches earn it. Now again, a lot of people will
20:41
complain that Seikos prices have kind of crept up as well.
20:45
And I think their MSR PS have crept up.
20:46
But again, when you buy, when you buy pre owned or if you buy
20:50
from an authorized dealer, typically you're getting
20:52
discounts and that kind of stuff.
20:53
And then a lot of times when you see MSRP, that's not the price
20:55
that you're paying for a Seiko. OK, so where the, you know,
20:58
underrated thing about the let me phrase this correctly.
21:02
So I think here's the thing about underrating prospects.
21:05
For example, most Western enthusiasts, and I will include
21:08
myself in the Western enthusiasts of thinking about
21:11
Seiko tool watches. They think of them as like cheap
21:13
mechanical alternatives to the Swiss divers.
21:16
They are not. I see them as parallel in in
21:20
this tradition. Seiko has been making
21:23
professional divers since 1965, literally.
21:26
The 62 Moss for example, independently developed their
21:29
own dive watch and their own design language in Japan on a
21:33
completely separate track from anything in Switzerland.
21:36
And so the fact that you can buy a Seiko tool diver for a few 100
21:39
bucks doesn't make it a budget alternative or a version to
21:42
anything. It makes it its own thing.
21:44
And I think it's funny too when people talk about, you know,
21:47
well, I want to get an in house this or that.
21:49
I'm like, well, basically all of the movements that you're
21:51
getting from Seiko are in house because they're coming from
21:53
Seiko. And so I think it's fast just
21:56
because other movement manufacturers are using those
21:58
movements. I mean, yeah, they're they're
22:00
sourcing movements, but Seikos movements are in house.
22:03
They, they are literally making every component for their
22:05
watches. And so it makes, I think it
22:08
makes it its own thing. And so priced according to what
22:11
Japan's manufacturing model is versus what Switzerland's model
22:15
and marketing is. And so that's a very different,
22:17
they're two different things. So again, the prospects line, I
22:20
think in my opinion, it's this enthusiast tool watch.
22:24
And so if you only had, you know, to pick up one mechanical
22:27
tool watch in your collection, like under 1500 bucks, you'd be
22:30
very, I think, very hard pressed to find something that would be
22:33
better in that lineup. OK, segment 5.
22:35
I'm going to get into marathon the watch that's actually on,
22:39
you know, soldiers wrists. So we're going to pivot a little
22:42
bit from the civilian favorites and get into more of the
22:44
military focused 1. So our 4th brand.
22:48
And here's kind of where my think my my episode's going to
22:50
take a turn a little bit. Until now, we've been talking
22:53
about brands that make tool watches that kind of look
22:56
military, you know, G Shock Pro Master Prospects, and some of
22:59
them, some of them do actually get in there.
23:01
But there's tool watches. And again, those are tool
23:04
watches that consumers buy because again, they're tough,
23:07
they're capable, yes, military's use them, you know, sometimes
23:10
informally. But now we're going to actually
23:12
talk about brands that actually hold contracts with military
23:16
forces, brands that are literally used by soldiers.
23:19
So Marathon Watch Company, again, from Toronto, Canada.
23:23
They were founded in like the 1930s, so 1939, I believe
23:27
Morris, I think was a gentleman's first name.
23:29
And then when it's WEINI believe was his last name.
23:33
And he was making watches for allies during World War 2.
23:37
And so the brand ever since focused on like one specific
23:40
market. Specifically, they were
23:42
supplying watches to military forces and government agencies,
23:45
and particularly they were supplying them for the US
23:48
Department of Defense as well as Canadian Armed Forces.
23:51
And they've done this continuously for like 80 years.
23:54
So if you've ever in your life met an active duty American or
23:59
Canadian service member who was issued a watch and they get
24:03
issued particular units and roles, this isn't like every
24:06
soldier. There is a very real chance that
24:08
that they were issued a marathon.
24:11
The brand is, I think in the strictest sense a defense
24:14
contractor that happens to make watches.
24:18
So the references that kind of matter is the is is known as the
24:21
G SAR. It's the GSAR government search
24:23
and rescue. It's a 41 millimeter automatic
24:26
200 meter water resistance watch.
24:28
It's it's typically runs an ETA 2824 and this technology is kind
24:34
of defines the brand. It has genuine tritium gas tubes
24:38
on the hands indices and then typically on like the bezel pip.
24:42
And then tritium is a radioactive isotope again, if
24:45
you know the stuff for my, my or my organic chemistry majors
24:49
here, hydrogen 3. So it's H3, so radioactive
24:53
isotope hydrogen dash 3H3 and it's sealed in these teeny tiny
24:58
little glass capillaries on the watches dial and hands and they
25:02
glow continuously. They don't need to be charged.
25:04
They there's no charging required and they run for 12 to
25:08
15 years. Again, no light sources
25:10
required. Dark room, total darkness in a
25:12
foxhole, in a submarine, in a tunnel.
25:14
The watch just glows. It does not depend on you having
25:18
to charge the loom or go outside.
25:20
And so there's different variants of the gases, for
25:23
example, ones that are working in like total darkness.
25:25
You don't want your watch glowing.
25:26
And so sometimes you use darker ones like Reds, for example, and
25:30
you can kind of just, they just glow just a bit.
25:32
But if you're in total darkness, it's just enough, right?
25:35
For other ones, they will obviously use different,
25:37
different colorings and you can get brighter ones.
25:39
So then there's also the M SAR, the medium search and rescue.
25:44
It's smaller to 36mm, again, same tritium tubes, quartz
25:49
movement in this one. It's designed as a more wearable
25:51
version of the GSR, and it's really for like everyday duty.
25:54
And there's a Navigator, It's a pilot's watch.
25:56
Again, tridium tube, smaller case, lighter quartz, designed
25:59
for like cockpit use. And then there's the JSR.
26:02
It's the jumbo search and Rescue 46mm automatic.
26:07
It's kind of the big wristed version of like the Marathon.
26:10
And so here's the thing that makes Marathon, I think special
26:13
and the reason it belongs in this episode, Marathon doesn't
26:17
mark it. They don't have, again,
26:19
celebrity ambassadors. They don't run sponsored
26:22
content. They don't pay watch Youtubers.
26:24
The brand sells through specific defense and government channels.
26:29
And the same watches that are made available to civilians
26:32
through a a number of small authorized dealers are basically
26:35
essentially the same watches that are going on the, the
26:37
military risks and the watches that are on the risk of Coast
26:41
Guard rescue swimmers. And like the North Atlantic,
26:44
it's literally the same watch. It's going to be issued to a
26:47
civilian that they could order today.
26:49
And that's the kind of authenticity I think is rare,
26:51
like genuine military supply, not military aesthetic, right?
26:56
I think in the that space, you sort of, you know, there's
26:59
almost this like cosplay type stuff of, of folks that sort of
27:02
look military, right? Versus the brothers and sisters
27:05
that actually have served. And so again, it's, it's rare,
27:08
it's not military aesthetic. It's, it's, that is the line.
27:11
OK, now, now segment 6, we're going to get into CWC.
27:14
It's the, the British insider's choice.
27:16
And it's one of the, I think it's one of the, the good
27:18
stories that we can get into this episode where CBD CWC
27:21
actually replaced the Rolex mill sub.
27:23
And so I'm going to tell, tell a little bit about that story.
27:25
And so the 5th brand, we're going to be switching
27:27
continents. It's Cabot Watch Company and
27:30
it's CWC, known to most everyone, founded in 1972 by a
27:34
man named Ray Mellor. It's Mellor, and he was in the
27:39
UK. And the story of CWC exists, is
27:42
one of kind of my favorite stories in this entire genre.
27:45
So Ray has served in the Merchant Navy during World War
27:49
2, and he was on the HMS Queen Elizabeth.
27:52
So he was ferrying American troops across the Atlantic.
27:55
And after the war, he went into the watch industry and
27:58
eventually he became a managing director of Hamilton in the UK,
28:02
the British arm of the American watchmaker.
28:05
Obviously Hamilton. And for folks they don't know,
28:08
obviously they think Hamilton is, you know, it's under the
28:10
Swatch group. So it's a Swiss brand.
28:11
Hamilton was originally AUS watch brand.
28:15
And then in that role, Ray became the man responsible for
28:18
supplying watches to the British military's defense.
28:22
So the Ministry of Defense, so they call them typically the
28:25
MOD. And M is capitalized little O
28:28
and then capital D and so in the early 1970's, the quartz crisis
28:33
hit Hamilton and it hit Hamilton hard.
28:36
And the company decided to close its UK operations and the MOD
28:39
was about to lose its watch supplier.
28:41
And so so Ray's response was to start his own watch company and
28:45
specifically to keep supplying the British armed forces with
28:48
watches. And so he named named it Cabot
28:51
watch company after Cabot, you know, after John Cabot.
28:54
He was an Italian born explorer who claimed Newfoundland for or
28:59
England, I think in like the 1400s, fourteen 90s.
29:02
I could be wrong. I'm I'm going to throw it in
29:03
14971498 somewhere in there. So my Laura put it on the dial
29:07
because in his words, you know, the company would do for British
29:10
military watchmaking what Cabot had done for British
29:14
exploration. And so by you know, and then in
29:17
like 1980, and this is the part that's interesting.
29:20
CWC won the contract to replace Rolex the the Rolex Submariner
29:25
as the official issue dive watch for the Royal Navy.
29:28
Now I need you to sit with this for a second.
29:31
OK. The Royal Navy has been issuing
29:32
Rolex submariners or had been issuing Rolex submariners,
29:35
specifically the mill sub like the iconic military spec
29:39
submariner to their divers since like the 1950's.
29:42
The mill sub is I think in the collector circle today is one of
29:45
the most coveted watches in the entire vintage Rolex universe
29:50
and original examples they sell at auction for like the price of
29:55
houses. OK.
29:56
The MOD looked at Rolex's pricing in the 1980s and decided
30:01
they needed a more cost effective option and so CWC won
30:04
the contract and the Rolex mill sub was replaced, replaced by
30:09
the CWC Royal Navy diver automatic and then in 1982 by
30:14
the courts Royal Navy diver. So CWC has, you know, been the
30:19
Royal Navy's divers official issued watch for watch suppliers
30:24
for like 50 years. And so in 1987, the MOD, they
30:28
commissioned another CWC dive watch the the one specifically
30:33
for special boat service. And you see this as a like SBS
30:38
and it's Britain's elite maritime special forces.
30:41
Think of them kind of like, I guess for us who would like the,
30:44
the Seals, right? So equivalent, they're roughly
30:47
the equivalent of the US Navy Seals.
30:49
And it's the watch that that that resulted.
30:51
The, the CWC is the watch that you should know if you take this
30:55
category seriously. It's 43 millimeters, 300 meters
31:00
of water resistant to the black PVD case.
31:02
It's courts. It's issued to every SBS person
31:06
that's in in that force. And it's been, if they've gone
31:08
into conflict, for example, they've they've used those
31:10
watches since like the 1980s, like the Gulf wars, Afghanistan,
31:14
ongoing operations. They're currently issued active
31:16
duty British special forces are wearing CWCSBS divers like
31:21
today. There's probably somebody in the
31:22
water with one right now. And here's the thing about the
31:26
CWC that I want to leave you with.
31:27
They, they don't flex. The brand is owned by like
31:30
Silverman's. It's a London military equipment
31:33
supplier. They found it in like 1946.
31:35
Their website like looks like a website.
31:38
Their marketing is non existent. Their watches are sold direct to
31:41
consumers at what I would consider fair prices.
31:43
Some people would say CWC watches are, are a little bit
31:47
expensive for what they are. And I think when you know some
31:49
of the history and you also know the brand, you're basically
31:51
paying I think somewhat direct prices.
31:54
Now, other folks would disagree with me there and say that
31:56
they're they're overpriced. I don't think that they're
31:58
overpriced. I think they're fairly priced.
32:00
And again, alongside with these military contract productions, I
32:04
think that's pretty wild. Now, if you want a genuine
32:06
documentable currently being issued to Special for Forces
32:10
provenance, then the CWCSBS is one of the very few options I
32:14
think in the entire global watch space.
32:17
That is not military aesthetic, it's military issue.
32:22
So the, the, the other CWC to know is the G10, the, the
32:26
general service quartz field is so watch has been issued to
32:30
virtually every branch of the British armed forces since like
32:34
the 1980s. It's a, it's a tiny case.
32:36
It's about 36mm. I say tiny.
32:38
It's a smaller case has fixed bars.
32:40
And a lot of the those CWC watches that you're going to
32:42
find will have fixed bars. So just be aware of that.
32:44
If you're, if you're not a strap person, you need to figure out
32:47
a, a system that will clip on to that bar similar to like the
32:51
quick release system that they have on like some of the Zenith
32:53
pilot watches. And so they began fixed, fixed
32:58
bars, military spec down, down to like the gasket.
33:01
And then hundreds of thousands of these have been issued to
33:04
British soldiers and civilians can buy one for around £300 is
33:09
what they would say 300 bucks, right?
33:12
And that's the same watch that is on the wrist of British armed
33:16
squatty's like in basic training right now.
33:19
And so the CWC is quietly, I think one of the most legitimate
33:22
brands in this entire category. And most American collectors
33:26
really haven't heard of them. And, and they should.
33:28
And, and for me as an American collector, for example, I, I
33:32
have a soft spot for CWC and it's, it's, it's grown.
33:34
So I didn't for a while. And slowly that appreciation for
33:38
that brand is growing. Segment 7, we're going to get
33:41
into Zinn. Now people will say Zinn as it's
33:45
spelled Sinn, and I've heard it pronounced Zinn and I've also
33:49
heard it pronounced Sin. I believe the Germans actually
33:53
say Zinn with a sound at the beginning, but then it has a
33:56
little little hint of AZ in it. So if you say Zin or sin, I'm
34:00
good with it either way. I will probably say Zen because
34:02
that's how I was. I was I was trained in this
34:05
watch space. We're going to call this the
34:08
kind of the German engineering. I'll say that the apex.
34:10
Now there are other apexes obviously, but this will be
34:12
mine. So Zen and then we're going to
34:14
get into the specialist and I don't know, it's the specialist
34:18
version. So the Zen specialist watching
34:20
and you'll see that's SPEZIALUHREN specialist urine,
34:27
something like that. The Zen specialist watches,
34:30
they're based in Frankfurt and they're still in Frankfurt,
34:33
Germany. They were founded in 1961 by
34:36
Helmut Zen. And he was a former pilot who
34:39
started making watches for working professionals.
34:42
And so if you remember Helmut Zen from like my episode 9, he's
34:46
the man who personally his personal collection of 1950s at
34:51
a caliber 1120s, those movements ended up in the Dornbluth
34:54
Yasmine models. That's the Helmut Zen I'm
34:58
talking about, founder of Zen Watches, friend of independent
35:02
watchmaking. And he's a post war German
35:06
aviation legend. And he sold the brand in 1994 to
35:10
a watchmaker named Lothar Schmidt.
35:12
And he was formerly the IWC is is part of the IWC engineering
35:18
team. And so Schmidt's been running
35:20
the company ever since and that was in 1994.
35:22
Now under Schmidt, Zen has become the engineering LED tool
35:26
watch brand. So every Zen watch is built
35:29
around solving specific problems that, you know, working
35:33
professionals encounter. The solutions that Zen has
35:36
invented have been adopted in some form by like half of the
35:40
industry. And again, it's similar to one
35:41
of those scenarios like where you have some Mercedes-Benz, for
35:44
example, and some of their safety features and then a lot
35:47
of the other brands in the the space use those patents or they
35:51
have permission to use patents for safety features.
35:54
Now for Zen, we're talking about the the solutions that they've
35:58
created. And then again, some of the
36:00
other, the rest of the industry are using some of these things.
36:02
So again, three technologies that I want to cover that Zen
36:05
kind of defines themselves by now.
36:08
Teggement teggemented technology, it's basically a
36:11
surface hardening process that takes standard 316L stainless
36:15
steel and it takes it from around 220 Vickers, which is
36:19
like a hardness rating. That's kind of a standard
36:21
hardness rating for stainless steel and it's going to push it
36:25
to 1200 vicars. Now in some reports it goes well
36:28
beyond 1200, but that's what they're they're rating it at.
36:31
And So what ends up happening is these scratches that would
36:34
normally occur on a normal stainless steel case, they don't
36:37
affect the 1200 Vicar tegimenting process.
36:41
And So what ends up happening is you get a watch, it's a bit more
36:44
durable. And again, it's not a coating,
36:46
it's not like a plating. It's actually like a molecular
36:48
surface of the steel is restructured.
36:51
And so like a Zen 856, for example, it brand new will look,
36:57
you know, off the factory shelf and then 15 years later it will
37:00
look very, very similar. Now, some other people will beat
37:04
them, you know, within an inch of their lives.
37:06
And so yeah, they'll get Dings and that kind of stuff, but the
37:08
scratching and stuff is a little bit more difficult to do.
37:11
And again, long term owners have reported this across a lot of
37:14
forums. And so it is, I think without
37:16
exaggeration, A1 of the more successful case hardening
37:19
technologies in the watch industry.
37:21
Now there's another one called AR dehumidifying technology.
37:26
And so for many tool watches, they fog up internally when they
37:29
experience rapid temperature or pressure changes.
37:32
And so if say, for example, you're diving in cold water and
37:36
then you know, you've been flying out of a jet, for
37:38
example, you get jumped, you jumped out of a plane that you
37:40
jump into cold water and then you get out and then it's 100°
37:43
on the beach, right? These massive, you know,
37:47
pressurization changes, depressurizing in a cargo going
37:51
from fast altitude descents in a sense, for example, since solved
37:56
a lot of this by filling the case with argon gas.
37:59
So AR you'll see that on some of them you'll see it on the
38:02
periodic table, you'll see it as a capital A and then little
38:05
little R and so there's basically this inner dry
38:08
material and it will displace oxygen and moisture.
38:11
And so they also include this copper sulfate drying capsule
38:16
and it's actually inside the case.
38:17
And so the result is that a Zen does not fog like ever in any
38:22
condition. And so magnetic field protection
38:25
is another one. So many Zen watches, they
38:27
feature this like soft inner iron case and you may hear this,
38:32
you know, they hear like you'll hear terms like magnetic cage,
38:35
for example. And it creates this basically a
38:37
Faraday cage around the movement and it protects the movement
38:40
from magnetic fields up to like 80,000 amperes.
38:43
And so it's kind of well beyond what any consumer environment
38:48
would generate. And so originally they were
38:50
engineered to keep pilots watches running near some of the
38:54
cockpit controls, you know, and like the watches are just, I
38:57
think they're fantastic. And so I'm going to get into a
38:59
couple of them. The 556, for example, is kind of
39:02
Zen's entry point and I don't consider it an entry point
39:05
watch. It can very much be your one and
39:07
done kind of watch. The 556 is a 38 1/2 millimeter
39:11
watch. It's a typically a three hand
39:12
automatic. It runs a 2824 ETA and it's the
39:16
watch that I recommend to folks who were saying like, well,
39:18
what's like the gateway into Zen?
39:20
It's about 1500, but you can get them now with the adjustable
39:24
clasps and on the fly adjustment and they're built.
39:27
It's hard to explain a Zen build to people unless they've
39:31
actually held them. They just have a very sturdy,
39:34
solid feel. The, the, the way that the, the
39:38
bracelet is constructed, the way that it's finished, it's very
39:41
tool looking, but on the wrist it's very, very comfortable, but
39:44
it's also a substantial. And so they will use, for
39:47
example, some might have a pen and collar and some watches,
39:51
Other people may use screws. They're using opposing basically
39:55
going to be using opposing Allen wrenches to, to lock in the, the
39:58
bracelet on both sides. And So what ends up happening
40:00
is. You can spin the the bolt that
40:03
runs through it and so your bracelet will never essentially
40:06
back itself out. Those screws will never back
40:08
themselves out, but they're also just really well constructed
40:11
bracelets and so on, like the 556 for example, or the one O 4.
40:15
Those bracelets that have like the H length, they're just,
40:17
they're just awesome and they feel sturdy.
40:20
They feel German as I guess the the way I would say it is, if
40:22
you ever shut the door on like an Audi or a Porsche or a
40:26
Mercedes, that that thud kind of a feel.
40:28
It translates that into a a watch.
40:32
The 856, for example, it's kind of the daily that defines the
40:35
brand. It's a 46mm, it's a bead blasted
40:37
tegamented steel, has the AR dehumidifying.
40:41
It has a 2824 and it's around 2 grand.
40:43
Prices have all crept up. So as you're listening to this
40:46
thing might be more than this, obviously as as things get more
40:48
expensive in the world. And it's a watch that I would
40:51
point to as kind of the arc, the archetype, the the sort of a
40:55
modern tool watch. It's a reasonable size, It has
40:57
maximum tech and it's built to last forever.
41:00
But it's again, it's nothing flashy.
41:02
So when a lot of people, sometimes they they are not fans
41:05
of Zen. Sometimes they say, well, they
41:06
just look like regular watches, right?
41:08
They just they just look like a regular watch.
41:10
And I think for a lot of people, that's exactly what they want.
41:12
They want a simple watch that they can tell time that's very
41:14
legible, that isn't flashy. And the one O 4, for example,
41:19
the 856, the 8, the 556, they're just they're just solid,
41:23
reliable working watches. They're not flashy though.
41:29
And so then there's EU series, the letter U as in U-1 and U50.
41:33
They are Zen's professional dive watch family.
41:35
They're made from German submarine steel yes like the
41:38
that's actually like a real material designation and it's a
41:42
steel that they would use for building the holes of the German
41:46
submarines and then they take that steel and they tegement it
41:49
and it becomes very highly like water resistant.
41:52
So EU 1 is this 44mm and then the U50I believe is a 41
41:58
millimeter and you can correct me if I missed that.
41:59
But again, same engineering just for a smaller wrist.
42:02
And the watch that I want to get close with on this segment is
42:06
the UXG SG-9. And it's the watch that's issued
42:11
to the the German federal Police, specifically their elite
42:17
counter terrorist unit. And it's formed kind of after
42:22
the Munich Olympics, the hostage crisis.
42:25
It's a 5000. Now remember again, before I get
42:28
into more of my specs, Zen was a brand or they are a brand that
42:33
that works to what they work to solve problems.
42:37
And so when the Munich Olympics, the hostage situation happened,
42:43
they basically created this watch.
42:46
It's a 5000 meter water resistant watch.
42:49
It's has this hydrotech, which basically is the case is filled
42:53
with a colorless silicone oil that makes it both reflection
42:58
free underwater and pressure resistant to depths that no
43:02
human will ever reach. The Teguemented submarine steel
43:05
is included and it's quartz because tactical units need
43:09
specific accuracy without daily winding.
43:11
And the watch that German counter terror operators are
43:15
issued and you can buy one again as a civilian at several €1000.
43:19
But it's, it's like nothing you've ever seen before.
43:22
There is a 0 glare. And if you ever seen this where
43:24
you take your watch and you're underwater and you kind of tilt
43:27
it a certain way and then the the dial completely disappears
43:31
and all you see is like a mirror.
43:33
That does not happen on these oilfield watches.
43:36
You can completely see it at basically every single angle.
43:39
Now Zen is again in, in my view, the most technically
43:41
sophisticated tool watch brand in the world, like every other
43:45
brand in this episode does one or two things kind of well.
43:48
And that's worth for the consideration to consider
43:52
picking one up if you don't have one already.
43:54
I think Zen does like 8 things well and it does like all of
43:58
them really, really well. And they keep inventing new
44:00
ones. And so if you've ever wanted to
44:02
like consider this engineering apex of tool watches, I don't.
44:06
And you, you know, you don't need military issue provenance.
44:09
I think Zen is really the the claim to fame.
44:13
Zen doesn't really claim any of this stuff.
44:15
They just do it. They've gotten to the point
44:17
where they have some machines, for example, if they've worked
44:20
to test their watches and the watches can break machines
44:22
because they just, they just keep pushing them in and as a
44:25
result and they go, OK, well, now we have to build a better
44:27
machine that that's kind of how their their brains are.
44:30
Now let me get into my honorable mentions because there's going
44:32
to be a lot that you're going to go whoa, whoa, whoa, dude, you,
44:35
you forgot like a bunch of them. So I'll do my best to throw a
44:37
couple out to to keep the hate comments down.
44:41
Honorable mentions before I go, I'll throw out the Tudor
44:44
Peligos, the FXD, it's Tudors professional diver.
44:48
It's on a fixed bar strap. It's it's kind of their military
44:51
spec variant. And the FXD was actually
44:53
commissioned by the Marine Nationale, the French Navy in in
44:56
2021. It's actually issued to French
44:59
combat swimmers. So yes, Tudor, which is owned by
45:02
Rona Rolex is now a genuine military supplier again, right?
45:06
So 42mm in house MT56-O2 movement.
45:10
It's a titanium case to run 4200 bucks or so.
45:14
But again, they're creeping up in price as a, you know, this
45:17
recording and they actually may be out more already.
45:20
And this is kind of the watch that proves that you can buy a
45:23
kind of a luxury tool watch, but it'll still have military
45:26
provenance. Now there's also Damasco, it's
45:29
Zinn's, I think quieter German cousin, their family owned.
45:32
They're based in I think Regensburg, I think, I think I
45:36
could be wrong about that. They have ice hardened steel,
45:40
again, submarine steel bracelets and then their own in house
45:44
movements that are on the higher end models.
45:46
And they have, you know, they're smaller.
45:48
They're less famous than Zen and the watch enthusiasts, really,
45:51
they know who they are, so they know they don't know they know
45:54
Damasco, for example. There's also the Hamilton Khaki
45:57
Field. That's a pretty, pretty obvious
45:59
choice for most people. It's the same American brand
46:01
whose UK operations ended in 1972 and they they were kind of
46:07
leading to the foundation or the founding the origins of CWC and
46:11
so still they make the khaki field line has a direct lineage
46:15
back to those watches that Hamilton supplied to the
46:18
American GIS in like World War 2.
46:20
Again, mechanical around 600 bucks.
46:22
They're moving up a little bit in price.
46:24
The H5, the H50 is a hand wound version of it, but they also
46:28
have them with the the powermatic 80s in them as well.
46:32
And so you can get you can get tool watches with tool watch
46:35
heritage, you can add accessible prices.
46:37
And then there's a bunch of other ones.
46:38
There's marathons original field, there's the Seiko 5
46:41
sportsline, there's the citizen tough series, there's bell and
46:44
Ross tactical pieces. So tons and tons and tons of
46:48
those watches that that are available.
46:50
And I think as you kind of get into this, you can also get into
46:53
like Hanhart, for example, and Hanhart making the preventer
46:56
models and the specifically these ones that that have not
47:00
just hardened steel, but they've actually changed the steel
47:02
itself so that it's, it's not just a coating or anything
47:05
that's been applied to kind of the surface of the steel.
47:07
It's all the way through. So the HD 12, for example, you
47:10
should kind of check those out. OK, now let's get into kind of
47:13
the reset button of this episode.
47:15
So we're going to get back to this thesis.
47:17
So we talked about 6 brands, kind of the, the, the honorable
47:20
mentions that I threw out. And we really went from like 50
47:23
bucks to, you know, around 4 grand or maybe a little bit
47:26
more. We went from a plastic G shock
47:28
to, you know, the German federal counter terror units
47:32
commissioned diver. And I think that's the range of
47:34
what a modern tool watch is. So here's what I want you to
47:37
take away from this episode. There is a particular kind of
47:40
relief and I think every enthusiast feels this, even the
47:44
ones that don't admit it. They have a watch on their wrist
47:48
that generally they don't have to think about a watch that they
47:51
can drop without panicking, a watch you can take into salt
47:55
water, a watch you can wear in conditions that anyone else in
48:01
you know any, any other watch in your collection, you'd have a a
48:05
challenge to do. And so again, if you don't have
48:08
these tool watches or at least a tool watch in your collection,
48:11
it may be worth something to consider.
48:13
Think about a watch whose entire job is to remove itself from
48:16
your consciousness that you can just go grab it and then do
48:22
whatever you're going to do for your day.
48:23
And I think that is the reset button.
48:26
And I think every watch collection typically should have
48:28
something like that. And I don't typically say like,
48:30
oh, your watch collection should have this and this and this and
48:33
this. But I think you should have, if
48:35
you go outside and you do things or you're with your kids and
48:39
you're pushing them on swings or you're like me and you're
48:42
wrestling with them and we're gardening and jumping into the
48:45
pool and, you know, taking dogs on walks and all that kind of
48:49
stuff. I'm probably not going to do
48:51
that with a high horology watch, right, specifically jumping into
48:56
the pool, right? So again, there's a reset
48:58
button. If for your collection, there's
49:00
the watch that you just kind of grab and go.
49:02
And so here's the thing I want you to consider, especially if
49:04
you've been deep in the philosophical content of this
49:07
show, and that's been kind of that I've been throwing out for
49:11
the last couple couple of episodes.
49:13
The the reset button again is not a lesser of any watch.
49:17
The G shock on your wrist while you're hiking, for example, is
49:20
not a downgrade from the Rexep Rexepi.
49:24
You might have worn that to dinner, for example.
49:27
It's a different tool. It's doing a different job in a
49:29
different moment of your life. And so this is also watchmaking.
49:34
Watchmaking is in the service of a different relationship of your
49:38
time. So most healthy collections, and
49:40
I mean like really mean healthy as in like episode 10 and we're
49:44
talking about it, have at least one of these in their
49:47
collection. AG Shock, a pro master
49:49
prospects, a marathon, a Zen ACWC or a brand that I didn't
49:54
mention, right? Something the brand doesn't
49:56
matter the function, the function matters.
49:58
Something you can put on without taking off that you can take off
50:01
without ceremony, that you can just, you know, let the rest of
50:04
your collection rest and breathe.
50:06
And so if you don't have one, I would say maybe consider right,
50:09
if you, if you are or if you're someone that is just you just
50:12
don't wear watches sometimes because you're doing something
50:15
that that could damage your watches.
50:17
Maybe this is a moment where you consider picking up a maybe a
50:20
pre owned one for 15 or 20 bucks, right.
50:22
I know my my dad, he had an Armatron that he wore for
50:27
decades. And so I remember when my dad
50:29
passed away, I actually kept and I actually repaired, I got a
50:33
different module for his Armatron.
50:35
And I, I have that watch now. Again, that's like a $12.00
50:38
watch. And again, very important to me,
50:41
one that I haven't brought up in any of the episodes before, but
50:43
it's super important watch to me.
50:45
And maybe that's why I didn't bring it up because it was so
50:47
important. But it's, it's a good place to
50:49
put it here because it was a tool watch.
50:50
My dad worked in construction. He, he ran a residential
50:54
construction company for decades.
50:57
And that was the watch you wore every single day.
51:00
And so just something to kind of think about.
51:02
So now segment 10, let's talk about what's next in the next
51:05
episode. We're going to keep this
51:07
momentum, I think going, but we're going to pivot the lens.
51:11
I would say hard. We've we spent a lot of time in
51:15
the past episodes inside Switzerland and Geneva and the
51:17
Loch or Le Loch La SHO Dafon. We're going to go to we spent
51:21
some time in Germany. We even went to the Netherlands,
51:24
but you know, in Japan, I think implicitly through like Seiko
51:28
and citizen and then we briefly went to Britain with CWC.
51:32
So in the next episode we're going to go someplace that this
51:34
show has not gone. Guess what?
51:36
We're going to America. So this is going to come up with
51:40
the, or what I'm going to do my best to discuss is American
51:43
watchmaking. And, and I think one of the most
51:46
extraordinary and then also painful and quietly hopeful
51:50
stories in this entire industry. I'm going to be again, trying to
51:54
do my best to tell the story properly.
51:56
I'm going to go from like the late 1800s to the 1900s.
52:00
I'm going to talk about American watchmaking.
52:02
Maybe I'll cover Waltham or Elgin or Hamilton or Illinois or
52:06
Gruen or Howard, maybe others in the United States and how they
52:11
out produced Switzerland for decades, right?
52:14
And a brand that people didn't even discuss, right.
52:16
And one of the ones that I could have discussed for tool watches
52:19
might have been like Timex, for example, right?
52:21
You know, we, we invented, I say we as, and I was part of it, but
52:24
as an American, I guess the, the production line, we invented
52:27
railroads and railroad kinometers and these factories
52:32
that were the size of city blocks that were turning out
52:35
millions of watches a year. And then across the 20th century
52:39
it died almost completely. So by the year like 2000, for
52:44
example, American watchmaking, the industry was for practical
52:47
purposes gone. And I think in the last 15
52:50
years, it's started to change. Small number of independent
52:54
makers have started to rebuild this industry from scratch.
52:58
And some of them are doing like extraordinary work.
53:01
Jay and Shapiro, for example, in Los Angeles made the 1st 100%
53:06
American watch in modern history.
53:08
RGM in Pennsylvania, for example, they've been quietly
53:11
running like the longest tenured American independent operation
53:14
for like 30 years. Cameron with Weiss watches, you
53:18
know, they launched in Los Angeles and with their own in
53:21
house American caliber and then have moved over I believe to
53:23
Tennessee. Now Vortec watch company in
53:26
Colorado. They're they're literally
53:28
rebuilding modern watches that that they found and they kind of
53:32
restored 100 year old American pocket watches movements.
53:36
There's Cincinnati, like Cincinnati of all places,
53:39
there's a small brand that's picking up the heritage and the
53:42
historic feel of Gruen Watch Company.
53:46
The old factory still stands just a few miles from their
53:48
their new workshop. And then I'm going to throw
53:50
again that hopefully a couple of other honorable mentions in
53:53
there as I do my homework for the next episode.
53:55
And in the middle of that, I think I'm going to spend some
53:58
time and some real piece of American watchmaking.
54:01
And I'm also going to get into some of the scandals of 2018.
54:04
There was an FTC investigation that forced an entire industry
54:07
to figure out what made in USA actually means because we're not
54:12
allowed to put made in USA if it's not 100%.
54:15
And unlike the Swiss, where they can get away with having a bulk
54:20
of it being completed in other places, the US doesn't play like
54:23
that. So that's going to be coming up
54:25
in the next episode. OK, so that's episode 14 of
54:28
what's on your Reese Day. If you found this episode great,
54:33
awesome. And lightning, maybe not a
54:35
lightning if you're on this episode and you feel like it
54:38
gave you permission to go love a tool watch again or one that's
54:40
been sitting in your box that you haven't put on for a while
54:42
and you've been quietly maybe side eyeing another one.
54:45
I think that's the whole point. Order the G shock, buy the the
54:47
fugu, get that SKX off the used market if you still can.
54:50
Or go find a marathon to put on your wrist for a month and see
54:53
what you think. Tool watches are fun.
54:56
They're useful. They make the rest of the
54:58
collection I think makes sense. To everyone who served or is
55:01
serving in any of the military contracts that give us these
55:05
brands, thank you, genuinely thank you.
55:07
Thank you for people keeping people safe on this planet.
55:10
And thank you for protecting people who you know may not even
55:13
appreciate the work that you do. Know that you're appreciated
55:15
here. And my, my little ones and
55:17
myself, we, we, we have you guys in our thoughts and prayers
55:19
constantly. And so many of you, I know
55:22
possibly you're listening now because I've gotten some
55:23
messages from military folks. And so I think the hobby is
55:25
richer because the work that they do is serious enough to
55:30
require serious watches. And we get to benefit from that.
55:32
So I am watch Offski. Take care of yourselves and wear
55:36
something good. Maybe a tool.
55:38
Watch this week. You wear it on the road, you
55:55
wear it in the smoke when the grid goes dark.
56:01
That old steel still knows G Shock on your wrist.
56:07
CWC by the seal. Marathon in the mud ticking
56:14
through the real you jump from the door, hit the surf, hit the
56:19
sand. The strap stays locked like a
56:22
promise in your hand. You don't ask for much, just
56:25
time that holds under fire, under waves and the cold is
56:31
rolled to watch on my wrist, to watch, to watch build for the
56:40
hard days, to watch a moderate, to watch, to watch it.
56:49
Stay, stay, stay when it counts, when it counts.
56:54
You crawl through stone, you climb through rain.
56:57
You swing back home and laugh with the kids again.
57:01
Build a campfire ring. Teach them how to bait one eye
57:04
on the sky, one hand on the gate and the next Car comes and
57:09
you've gone before dawn. Pack light, move fast.
57:12
Keep your reasons on. From the place to the dive to
57:15
the long black track. That watch takes the hits and it
57:18
brings you back to watch it on my wrist to watch, to watch
57:24
built for the hard days, to watch it on my wrist to watch to
57:38
watch. It stays, stays stays when it
57:41
counts when it counts. Deep down blue, hot up wind,
57:54
same hard heart, same steel skin if the mission.
57:58
Calls if the world. Turns wild.
58:00
You trust that face like you trust that child to watch on my
58:08
wrist to watch, to watch. To watch that on my wrist, hold
58:22
to watch. To watch on my wrist, hold.
58:34
To watch for the jump that swells in the whole loud house.
58:40
To watch.