Latest / The Deep Track / The Deep Track, Ep. 111 - The Future of The Deep Track, Ming 57.05, & Straum Expedition

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The Deep Track, Ep. 111 - The Future of The Deep Track, Ming 57.05, & Straum Expedition · The Deep Track

• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Deep Track Podcast, an exploration of watches, trends, and culture with a few adventures in between.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Blake Bettner.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is a solo episode this week.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: There have been a lot of new releases that I wanted to talk about, and I wanted to address uh the future of the Deep Track website and the podcast here.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you spend any time online, if you follow me at all, you may have heard some news, some rumors about me accepting a new role and taking on the uh head of content duties for collective horology.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: I can confirm that those are indeed true, and I will be helping out over uh at Collective.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: I have known Gabe and Asher for a long time.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: They have both been guests on this very podcast.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, Asher was, I believe, the third or fourth uh guest that I ever had on the podcast.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's how uh supportive he has been of my endeavors over here.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh of course I've known he and Gabe for uh far longer than that.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And these are a couple of guys that I've always gone out of my way to spend time with whenever we would find ourselves at uh the same shows or anything like that, because they're just genuinely good people and I enjoy talking to them about watches.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: They are passionate dudes, they are authentic.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you have ever listened to their podcast, Open Open Work Podcast, you undoubtedly recognize this in them that is kind of the appeal of what they are doing uh at Collective Horology and how they are going about it.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: They're not your typical kind of sales guys.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, they champion uh the independent watch scene because they truly believe in these brands and what they are doing.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And the independent watch space is a very exciting space right now.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'll get into my history here a little bit with uh with the independent watch space, but I first want to talk about what this move will mean for the future of the Deep Track.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in short, the Deep Track will continue to exist and operate.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: However, the scope and scale may shift a little bit moving ahead.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is a very good thing because it will allow me to put a greater level of focus on really what I've been talking a lot about lately, a lot of the uh adventures, a lot of my kind of side passions that I get into and uh and how watches fit into those worlds and how I use the gear, uh including watches in the kind of things that uh that I enjoy doing.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the things that I hope to explore further and deeper here moving ahead on the Deep Track.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, I'll still be talking about watches and and and providing my feelings on uh on new releases and things like that.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll also be doing a lot of watch coverage over at Collective Horology.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: So if that's not an outfit that you followed before, uh definitely head over to Collective uh Horology on uh online.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'll put the links to all this stuff down below, of course.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you can you should go follow them on uh on Instagram if you're not already and you know follow the podcast, all that kind of stuff, which I will be kind of slowly taking part in and be a part of moving ahead.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's important to note, though, you know, everything that I'm doing over here on the Deep Track, uh this is not a part of collective virology.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: I do not speak for uh for the business or anything like that.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this is its own separate thing.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, if I'm lucky, Gabe and Asher will still come on to do the podcast and talk about things a little bit.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, I think you'll you'll see me appear on uh on some of their channels as well.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, naturally, I'll be uh creating a lot of the content that you will be seeing from uh Geneva Watch Days, for instance, which will be next week, and uh Watches and Wonders down the line, uh as well as just kind of overall telling the stories of the independent watch scene.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of interesting brands and even more interesting people operating in the independent watch scene right now that uh that really make it a wonderful space.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: It really make the hobby of watches, enthusiasm around watches interesting, especially if you've been around a while.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you probably hear me talk a lot about watches from the 80s and 90s around here and why I love them so much.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I talk about how there was an era where we saw a level of creativity uh being expressed from a lot of the kind of Swiss legacy brands that we just don't today.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think brands are in a position of um, you know, I don't want to say playing it safe, but I think they are they they largely are very kind of evolutionary in nature, and now that they've seen that, you know, kind of pulling the threads of their history works really well.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I think there's there's been a lot of great watches, obviously, that that uh that have resulted from this, but we don't see the kind of uh big swings maybe that we used to see back in in the 90s from some of these brands.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to find that kind of stuff, if you find that that kind of design uh and innovation compelling, the place to find it now is in the independent watch scene.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, this spans from uh from you know more or less entry-level prices all the way up into uh deep into the six figures and beyond.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there are just a lot of really great ideas being expressed in this space.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's been that way for a long time, of course.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been paying attention, if you've been around this world, you know that.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but now it feels like it's it's really kind of broken into a broader level of awareness where people are paying attention uh more and more.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think part of that has to do maybe a little bit with uh culturally, we see these watches appear on the wrists of you know, tech bro billionaires.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: They are exclusive and hard to get, so of course they say something about that.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: But it's also an area that has matured into being, again, like a really exciting place to find interesting ideas being expressed.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, people young and old, wealthy collectors, not wealthy collectors, you know, I think they see a lot of this stuff and they they find something to love uh here in this space.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: And at Collective Forology, again, they they celebrate uh this world and the people um b behind a lot of these brands.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, this is something that I've always felt strongly about.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, if you uh if you go back and look at some of my coverage from from old Basel Worlds back to 2010, 2011, uh stuff like this, you will find a lot of uh of my writing focused on this area.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'll remember uh the first Basel World I went to, um they had uh I think it was called the Palace.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: It was kind of like this tent area that stood outside of the of the big halls that they had there.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and and if you remember, Basel World was was huge, and it also encompassed a lot of the jewelry industry as well.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it occupied uh quite a quite a few of these big halls in this exhibition space in the town of uh of Basel, of course, which is uh very close to the German border of Switzerland.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh but outside of this, they had this tented area that had this pop-up area, and this is where some of these newer brands would exhibit.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So this was my first exposure, for instance, to uh like the first time I saw an orological machine uh was in, was in this space the first time I saw uh an Urwork.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And there was even brands there that I saw that, you know, I was really excited about in the time that uh you know that that are that aren't around today, but you know, they helped kind of inform how I think about the space and shape how I would study how watches work because they were doing really interesting, weird things.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: From obviously the the likes of Urwork and MBNF, but even beyond that, there are uh there was one brand, uh the Heritage Watch Manufactory, I remember.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: This was my first exposure to um uh to uh a c of uh constant force escapement, for instance.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I remember kind of really taking the time to understand what that meant and uh and trying to write this whole in-depth thing for for Hodinki back in the day uh about this, and and you know, there there were watches there that kind of had this uh, you know, they were really exciting to discover, I guess, because you you felt like something really special was going on under the hood of these watches, and you could meet the people that designed them, and you could meet the uh the the engineers that that developed uh some of the complications or any like weird movement uh elements that made the watch work.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, yeah, all of these people were were there kind of shaping this world as I was entering it, and this was a big part of my first uh real exposure to the watch world.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I've always felt quite strongly uh about watches like this, about brands like this.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've always written about um, you know MB and F's of the world and people like that, and I've always had a real soft spot for them.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, to be in this position now where I will get to really dig into a lot of um both kind of the new and the old uh independent watch brands and makers out there is really exciting for me because I want to be telling these stories, and these are stories and people that I find genuinely compelling.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, these are the spaces that uh that I want to be taking the time to to explore and really bring to life in a way that uh that they haven't been yet or that they aren't now.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, if you've been around the space for a while, these are these are people that that maybe you kind of take for granted, but you know, I think peeling back some of the layers really reveals uh something uh something interesting about the space, and and I want to make it more accessible uh as a result.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that will be you know a big part of my goal in in helping to build the content world over at Collective Horology.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: So again, if all that sounds interesting to you and uh if you like the idea of discovering new brands that are able to have uh a lot more creative freedom than maybe you see from the likes of you know Omega and IWC and all that kind of stuff.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, if that is the kind of thing that you find also interesting and compelling about the watch space, then uh then you should be paying attention to to people like Gabe and Asher and Collective Orology, who are working to, you know, really bring these kinds of brands uh you know to life and to more people ultimately uh here at the end of the day.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: So with that, you know, I guess all that to say, I'm I'm I'm I'm very excited to be a part of what Collective Orology is doing.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not only because I very much like the people involved there, but also because, you know, fundamentally I believe in the independent watch scene.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that it has a very large role to play in uh the future of you know this space as a whole, of enthusiasts, of young enthusiasts coming in, of old enthusiasts kind of uh you know finding new and exciting things.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really uh important kind of part of the bedrock of uh of watch enthusiasm, in my opinion.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: So that is ultimately why I uh accepted this role over at uh Collective Horology.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I do hope you'll follow along uh with everything that's going on there.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: And once again, uh the deep track is not going anywhere.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I do want to use this as um as leverage to kind of lean into uh into the kind of other spaces that that I feel strongly about and that really inform how I think about watches at the end of the day.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you keep an eye out for those kinds of changes.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I'll be kind of feeling my way through uh this a little bit.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: So uh any feedback or any comments that you might have on uh on the the types of content that you will be seeing from the Deep Track moving ahead uh will certainly be helpful.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of you do reach out and talk to me about what you like, what you don't like, and I really appreciate that uh as well.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and a final note there, a big thank you to everyone once again who has ordered uh the hats uh that I that I that I made.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they are all entirely uh sold out.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: So um so that's it.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: There will not be another run of those uh of those hats being made, but there will be something else coming into the shop uh here in short order, so keep an eye out for that.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And your support really means a lot, and once again it kind of allows me to continue to operate the site uh the way that I want to and keep it independent and and really kind of my own thing and other people um whose whose voices that I really respect that I try to you know kind of bring into the fold here.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you'll notice uh there has been some new content from uh Devin Pennypacker, who recently shared his experience uh of a three-day sailing trip uh all around this old Hoyer Regatta watch, which is really stunning watch.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: I really love this thing.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but definitely an experience worth reading there.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh a link to that down below as well.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, with that out of the way, let's uh let's get into talking about some of the new watches that have come out over the past week.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually been a pretty lively uh couple of weeks here with uh with some of the new releases.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: And there's just a few that I kind of wanted to call out here and talk about.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get into that, I am wearing an Omega Speedmaster Professional Moon Watch uh with a Heselite crystal, uh the 3861 movement.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I still enjoy wearing this thing.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and that is what is on my wrist heading into the weekend here.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, the first release that I want to talk about is from Strom, and this is a new watch called the Expedition.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually a new collection uh called the Expedition.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: There are three watches that they released into this collection.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, one of them is a limited edition, and two of them are regular production.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is kind of a familiar framework from Strom.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's that kind of bead blasted texture, titanium, integrated uh, you know, bracelet and case style, but the bezel and the dial design itself is a whole new design language for them.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it really kind of feels a bit more kind of rugged and instrument in nature.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I think it's it's one of those designs that um, you know, might be a little polarizing, like it's bold, you know, and and I I personally uh quite enjoy it.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: I like this watch quite a bit.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think all the dials work really well.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um if I was gonna go for one, I would probably do the white dial, which of course is a loom, a fully loomed dial.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and these come on full bracelets or uh FKM rubber straps.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's something about the the design of the dial with these kind of big oversized applied um numerals at 12, 3, 6, and 9, and then these you know confident hands.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it everything kind of feels like it's uh unapologetic in nature, and uh obviously it's all done kind of in service to this great legibility, and it kind of speaks to the you know boldness of the design and its capabilities and all that kind of stuff.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, I think beyond that, it just is kind of an interesting, weird design to me.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: I like that it opens up kind of a new avenue for Strom to be exploring uh with their designs.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: I've always liked Strom watches and their designs, and uh, you know, some of the dials they would use, these um, you know, kind of textured surfaces, heavily textured surfaces and and color treatments are all inspired by by nature and and very beautiful, of course.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think a lot of brands do this, and and and I find them, you know, objectively really handsome and beautiful to appreciate.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: But when I confront the prospect of like wearing it on my wrist, I just feel a little bit different about it than I do like a normal watch.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like I would engage with it a little bit differently.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's almost like uh something that I would and I feel this way about like a lot of Grand Secos as well.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's a watch that I would want to like have on my desk and like look at and appreciate.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to a watch that I would want to, you know, wear, like put on my wrist and go do something with, uh, I don't feel quite as strongly about it in that context.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I think context matters a lot for these kinds of things.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: And in this kind of more straightforward, um, you know, flat matte dial with the big, chunky, ultra-contrasty dials, like that kind of speaks more to me as uh, oh, I would want to strap that on and go about my day with it, or go on this trip with it, or go do whatever with it because you know it just feels like it's it's better in that kind of a context.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: So um, so that's that's kind of how I feel about this expedition.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I like these watches again quite a bit.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they are using an automatic uh Le Jou Pure movement uh G100.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're starting to see a lot more of those things out there.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's a 38.2 millimeter uh case, it's uh 11 millimeters in thickness, including the crystal.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it's got it kind of like hits all the the notes that you want a watch like this to hit.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure it wears really beautifully.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, it's titanium, so I'm sure it's it's lightweight.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: And you can have it on a strap for under$3,000.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess uh, you know, in 2026 value dollars, I guess this is this is kind of like in that reasonable territory, but but it still seems like quite a bit of watch uh for the money, relatively speaking.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so nice job to Strom for that.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm hoping to get a sample of one of these at some point in the near future so I can do more of a deep dive on it.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: So keep an eye out for that.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, another watch that I wanted to briefly comment on is a new 38mm speedmaster, a new generation of uh of a speed master in 38mm.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, this was the uh the speedy reduced uh is what it was called.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you've listened to me for any length of time, you know that I'm not entirely fond of uh the speedy reduced, and that largely comes down to how the uh how the dial, how the proportions of the subdials fit into the smaller dial.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Just doesn't quite sit right with me.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it doesn't feel particularly well balanced because it seems like the size of the sub-dials has not changed at all from the uh the regular size speed master, which is 42 millimeters, but the dial itself is a bit smaller, so they feel kind of jammed in there, and frankly, they just kind of feel uncomfortable in the dial.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: I I I wonder what it like it feels like they need to be rescaled for uh for the for these smaller dials.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: I know a lot of people do love the uh the speedy reduce though, so uh so I'm glad to see that they're still doing these and bringing out a new collection for people that uh prefer their speedmasters in this scale and that like the dial.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's a it's a subjective thing, I suppose.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: So um so if you like these, great.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think you know, just the base version in steel, black dial, um, you know, can be had for uh maybe just a little over six six six thousand bucks, sixty five hundred bucks, something like that.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: So uh so once again you're getting you know steel speed master for for that price, that's not too bad.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think it might be a little tanky on the wrist, but um again, you know, it just kind of comes with the territory with uh with these things.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know, am I alone in that thinking the the the dial design of the speedy reduce just doesn't quite hold up at this size?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh something about it has always just kind of rubbed me the wrong uh way.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: But again, that's just me, and I am happy to see Omega continue to make these things because I know that they have a huge market of people that do like uh and swear by the Speedy Reduced.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh all right, the final watch that I want to talk about, and this is a watch that uh this is probably my my favorite release uh here in recent weeks is from Ming.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and this has nothing to do with with uh collective virology or anything like that.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Ming is a is a brand that uh um you know that that I've enjoyed quite a bit.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: I've owned a few of them over the years, and it's a brand that I've written about for for quite a long time.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, um, you know, I feel like some Ming watches can be kind of hit or miss, but when they hit, man, they like really hit.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, this newest Ming, which is the 5705 Comet World Timer, really hits.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: I love a big weird funky bezel.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: And this has a big weird funky bezel, and it has all of the uh the city codes uh kind of set into these two uh planes of the bezel, and there's a reason for that uh that we'll get into here.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is a world timer, so it has the 24-hour ring kind of on the uh outside portion framing the dial, uh, which of course rotates every 24 hours, which you can align with whatever city you you want to in the world, and it will give you uh it will give you the time in that time zone, of course.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so the one thing that uh watches like this have not accounted for in the past are the parts of the world that that observe daylight savings time.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Ming have found a way to incorporate that into this watch by putting the cities of the world that uh observe daylight savings time onto a separate layer of the bezel that can be rotated about 15 degrees, uh so adjusting them uh to by by an hour so that uh when daylight savings time is being observed, you can make an adjustment on the bezel and still have uh correct and still get uh a correct time in those time zones, while the cities that do not observe it are left unaffected.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I think this is a like a deceptively just simple yet kind of brilliant solution to this.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of those things that you see and you're kind of surprised that nobody else has done something like this.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I think it works really well here.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of those fun things that like of course it came from Ming.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like it just feels very natural uh there.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: I really like the design of the bezel.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh once again, it's kind of just big flat steel pieces out there just hanging out, and uh and there's something about this design that I just find like endlessly appealing.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this does use their fifth generation uh design language, and it gets that like crazy art deco three-tier lug design, uh, which is actually quite a few pieces uh of the case that all come together to form this.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, the whole thing kind of reeks of this old world design charm, which you know generally I feel sits at odds with uh with all the qualities that we generally love about Ming, which are, you know, this kind of like unapologetic, forward-looking, you know, almost like futuristic style, a little uh, you know, I I that's that's kind of why I I I like Ming, and I'm sure is why a lot of you like Ming as well.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: This, you know, it's got a bit of that, but it puts it all in the context of this kind of old-world stylings.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, the even even the bezel is like that.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's uh, you know, I mention it in in my article, there's a little Patek 1415 kind of style vibes here, and uh and that works for me.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the only thing that's like makes it almost a little jarring is the uh the our kind of chapter ring that's etched into the underside of the crystal, which is kind of like conceptual in in nature, and of course like the Ming hands and this the middle of the dial are these uh kind of lattice pieces of layers that rotate.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, one of them rotates over the other, so it's it's kind of constantly shifting in its appearance.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And uh that is of course more the kind of stuff that you associate with Ming.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it I think on paper it kind of feels like this this feels very out of place in this you know, I don't want to say throwback, but this kind of like old school approach to a watch.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: But it kind of works as a whole.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think if you if you spend any time kind of digging into one individual element, it might seem kind of strange or you might feel like ah this is gonna compete with that.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like there is a lot going on here, but inexplicably to m to my eye, it all kind of works uh and like better than it than it probably any has has any right to.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, but no, overall I think this whole thing kind of really comes together uh really well.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's 40 millimeters, uh it's just over 10 millimeters thick.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: You get on a strap, or you can get it on the uh the titanium mesh uh bracelet.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now this is a steel watch.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure how I feel about pairing a titanium bracelet with a steel watch that feels a little strange to me, but I haven't seen it in the flesh, so maybe it works.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but I do love that bracelet, and I do like this watch quite a bit.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: I do feel like maybe uh, you know, I could they have made it in titanium, then the whole thing would have made more sense.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like this case is a lot more complex though.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, could they make this in titanium?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but whatever's going on here, um, you know, it works for me.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and I'm a big fan of this watch.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: And this might be the first new Ming uh that I seriously consider purchasing in uh in quite some time.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: So uh so hats off to them.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, that is gonna do it for this week's episode of the podcast.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh keep an eye out for much more to come from Geneva Watch Days when you will be able to see that coverage uh over on Collective Horology.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, maybe we'll do something, a little something on the D track of Fort as well.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: Or I might do something.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm gonna take like a film camera and maybe I'll be able to peel off and do something kind of along the lake there.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Or I don't know.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: We'll we'll find something fun to do while we're there and we'll talk about it on an upcoming episode of the podcast.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: All right, thank you so much for tuning in, and until next time, take care.