The Deep Track
The place for watch talk, from affordable watches to high end luxury watches and everything in between. The home for humble, honest watch enthusiasm.
Exploring watches and more through culture, adventure, and personalities. This is a discussion of how curiosity drives enthusiasm, pushing us to explore and even confront our own boundaries. Interests explored will cover a deep field, Hosted by watch industry veteran, Blake Buettner.
The Deep Track
The Deep Track, Ep. 103 - Tudor Black Bay Chrono 39, Vacheron Dual Time Cardinal Points, Barrelhand Monolith & More
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This week, Devin Pennypacker returns to the podcast to dig into all the somewhat controversial releases of the past week. We chat about the Barrelhand Monolith, the Vacheron Constantin Dual Time Cardinal Points, the Tudor Chrono 39, and more. Did Tudor finally find the right formula for their chronograph? Turns out, it’s complicated. We also touch on the 007: First Light video game, and how the newest Omega chronograph is handled in the game.
Show Notes:
Josh’s Castelbajac Sport Quartz Chronograph (In Post)
Vacheron Constantin Dual Time Cardinal Points
Barrelhand Monolith on Hodinkee
James Bond 007: First Light / Omega Seamaster Chronograph
Hello and welcome to the Deep Track Podcast, an exploration of watches, trends, and culture with a few adventures in between. I am your host, Blake Bettner. I am in studio today with Devin Pennypacker. Devin, how are you doing? I'm doing very well. Thank you for having me in here. We've got a lot to go over today. So I appreciate you joining me today. We are also with Super Producer Josh. Josh, it's good to see you, man. How are you?
SPEAKER_02Likewise. You guys are the last session of the day, and it'll be the best one.
SPEAKER_00All right, yeah. Off to the pub after this, right? Or go watch the um basketball people do their thing. The jump and shoot, yeah. At the garden. At the garden. It has been an eventful week, week or two uh here. I feel like it's been kind of like a a lull, and then when it rains, it pours kind of a thing. And we've been in the middle of it all, including today, which a new release from Tudor. Which is called surprisingly enough, a black it's another Black Bay. All right, it's a Black Bay Chrono 39, which is great. We're gonna talk about all that kind of stuff. We're gonna get into it. Uh, there's a few other things that I want to talk about first, though. There's a few things I gotta get off my chest, uh, maybe uh a little bit. And uh and I I had my my full body lookover at the derm today. So I got everything cleared off my chest, ass in the breeze, the whole, the whole thing. So I'm so I'm I'm clear, runway, ready to ready to ready to go. Uh before we get into any of that though, maybe we get into uh we get into a wrist check. Josh, what do you got on over there, man? Um, what is this thing?
SPEAKER_02Um good story. I forgot what I was wearing today. Um it looks kind of like a fairer from way over here. It's it's got it's kind of a long story. I'm gonna try to keep this short. So um this is a Castle Bajac sport. Okay. Um if few what if you watch people might know that name because he is a French like clothing designer. Like I know him for that. He used to be the designer behind Iceberg. I don't know if you guys remember that. He made like sweaters, like these large sweaters that are sort of like I would say they're sort of uh Ralph Lorraine-esque, but with like uh big oversized prints of um cartoon characters and stuff like that. Various other things, he has his own line. Um, but he actually did a collaboration with MBNF for the Mad One, like I think two years ago in 2024. It was like his three colors, which are like red, blue, and yellow, yeah, which are like reflected in here. But this is I was looking for one of his sweaters on eBay, um like one of his vintage sweaters from like the early 2000s, and I just put in his name and then this watch came up, and I was just like, oh, I've never seen this before. And I found the seller, of course, they were from Japan. I'd actually bought from the seller before, and he said that Seiko made this, but I'm not sure he's correct because I've never seen this case before. So I really have no idea. It has a Seiko movement in it, it has it, so it's got it's got a chronograph movement that is probably the worst feeling chronograph I have ever seen uh or I've ever felt, and uh and the hands I can barely tell what time it is, but um, it's one of those watches where you just love the aesthetics.
SPEAKER_00I love it. All right, there's nothing wrong with that. We'll have to uh get a picture of that thing and put it somewhere in the show notes. If you're listening to this, like I gotta see this thing. Uh we'll have a link for it down below along with everything else that we talk about uh as well. Mr. Devin Penny Packer, what are you wearing today?
SPEAKER_03Uh I'm wearing the new Vashron Constantin Overseas Cardinal Points, Dual Time, Dual Time Cardinal Points? Dual Time Cardinal Points, yeah. The West Dial, which is the green dial variant. Uh I have it on the orange rubber strap too because it just looks better. They give you the bracelet, they give you a green strap too, which I threw on the table. Uh and they do even if you buy the if you buy the watch, you get all three too. Yeah, when you buy them, you get all three for $41,000 for the low, low price. Yeah. Uh but yeah, they give you all three, but the the rubber, the colored rubber, I think, matches the hands a little bit better. When you put the green on there with the orange stitching, it doesn't quite look right. When you put the titanium bracelet on there, it looks amazing, but you don't get that vibrant pop that you really want from this collection. Uh so I've been wearing this for a couple days, and hopefully we'll be uh wrapping up a review in the near future.
SPEAKER_00Nice. Does it live up to all the hype, uh all the tremendous hype?
SPEAKER_03Uh no. From all the tool watch sport watch guys. No, not at all. No, but it's great.
SPEAKER_00You say that for the pro what if it was twelve thousand dollars?
SPEAKER_03Well, you'll have to tune into the review. Just what yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I've got some thoughts. All right, all right, all right, fair enough. Uh it looks the business though. It does, yeah. It looks fancy. It feels great. It's uh you know everything that you want it to be, kind of in the in the middle and more. So yeah, very cool. I look forward to I look forward to the review. No hacking seconds.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, minus five points right off the bat, right?
SPEAKER_00So wow, I don't know about you guys. Like I I've gotten in the habit of when I sent set my watches, I go into time.gov, get that second chance park right up at 12 o'clock, wait for the side the the minute to roll around, and and then uh not that I'm like that much of a stickler about my watches being like super accurate, but it's mostly for like, you know, four days later, so I can go back onto time.gov and see, uh, it drifted six seconds this way or that way or forty seconds or whatever. This thing is messed up. Come on. Yeah. Wow, that's um that's almost shocking.
SPEAKER_03It it threw me off a little bit. Uh I mean I do the same thing. I set all my watches to exactly 12 when I'm watching the entire clock roll over, and then I put it down, don't wear it for three days, it dies, and I have to do it again. So I've pretty much set my watches every single day. But the first time I set this, it it threw me off. You just don't anticipate it to not hack.
SPEAKER_00It's a little weird, huh? Well, we'll chalk it up to character. Yeah. 41,000. Yeah, that's exactly what I was about to say. A lot of character uh in this in this watch. Uh I have a dual-time watch on as well. Uh so, you know, and it's not a $41,000 uh watch. It is the now discontinued uh GMT Master 2 B L RO, uh, which I wear relatively frequently. Uh actually, I don't think even if it was a $41,000 watch, mine would be worth that much because it's kind of beat to hell and back. Uh it's it's at the point where I need to get uh like maybe a spare toothbrush and some soapy water and do that whole business uh on it, but I haven't yet. Um keeps great time though. And the second sand hacks. So, you know, there you go. Maybe a value pretty sweet, yeah. Pretty sweet. Yep. And uh, you know, I don't know, whatever they trade for. I don't really keep track of it. Uh but it's a retail price. Nine grand, ten. I don't know what these if they're even gone over. Good luck. Yeah. But it was a retail price. Pretty cool watch, uh, I think. And I think it's an important context to keep in mind. Uh you know, this is this is maybe I don't know. Most people maybe handled one of these things, uh, GMT from from Rolex. Pretty solid build, right? Pretty bulletproof, super accurate, in-house all that, uh all the bells and whistles you expect from from from Rolex. But we're certainly at a point now where I think a lot of watches, like that ten thousand dollar mark seems to be like the demarcation of is this a reasonably priced watch? Which feels ridiculous to say. But I think you know, I I would say that when it comes to like, you know, luxury watches, right? Like if an IWC or a Zenith or a brand of that ilk releases a watch, like a sport watch, and it's under $10,000, people are like, not bad, you know. But if if other brands, it's still kind of like, I don't know, it's hard to gauge. And and I and I say all this because to set up a discussion, uh a brief discussion at least around this watch from Barrel Hand called the monolith. Uh I've been very impressed with this watch from what I've seen. They did a lot of the uh there's a lot of documentation around the testing that it's been through. It's 3D printed with uh scalmoloy, this uh special like aluminum alloy that's made specifically for 3D printing. It's got this uh like airlock inner case thing that the movement sits in. There is no paint or glues or anything. It's like a one-loom ring. It's a cool like it's got a lot of cool little details that have been very well thought out, right? And uh the monolith was formally, I believe, released maybe last week. Uh I wrote about it for Hodinki, and I I've been always kind of enamored with this just because you know, to take a step back, a lot of us I think are cynical about the modern state of tool watches like the one I have on my wrist as being look, you're not fooling anybody with the whole tool watch, sport watch thing. That's a luxury watch, and you know it, right? I won't deny that. And I think a lot of tool watches are that way from you know brands like Rolex IWCs and all the all the ones that we talk about a lot. You know, not there's anything wrong with that, but you know, they've there's this kind of like um subcontext underneath them and like how we talk about them and treat them that way. And guys like me like call them tool watches and sport watches. And when I say it, I really kind of mean like the whole heritage of the line, right? Like, okay, it's got this this these great stories and all that kind of stuff, and I like that kind of like the Speedmaster, right? Yeah. Um not that I have any claim to any of that, right? Because I'm not associated with any of that.
SPEAKER_02You didn't go in space?
SPEAKER_00I did not go in space, uh full disclosure. Not yet. Not yet. We'll see. Uh so but it's it's it's really kind of like the idea of these things being developed with the kind of like laser focus for something specific, like the C Dweller was developed for the C Lab guys, or you know, the Plotproff, same the same thing, or you know, all the Alaska project, right? The whole impetus of that was to kind of make specialized devices, tools, watches for for NASA, right? Uh you know, the idea of that is seems to be kind of like long gone, right? Like like you know, the brightlings of the world are they they call the things the dive watch or the pilot watches, and obviously it's not really made for any of that. You know, so I'd like to see a watch brand today finding that like next frontier if we can call it that, right? Sure. And and maybe I'm being a little romantic here, but like let's let's let's call it that. If we if we take the look forward to the next you know 40, 50 years. And they are taking that same tack that we saw brands at one point, maybe in like the 50s and 60s, developing watches for like highly specific use cases. So they had to be able to withstand XYZ, all these kind of things. Nobody really does that anymore. So to see Barrelhand come along and say, well, we're gonna do that for this explicit purpose of this, and then document every step of the way all of the testing that it's undergone. And sure, some of the testing might be uh informal, right? Like the inside of the washing machine to test the G force. Yeah, but whatever, they're doing it, right? And and you it's something that we just don't really see very often at all. So they took all of the kind of old and modern flight qualification standards from NASA and put it through all of that stuff, and we're very transparent about how it worked through all of these things. So it's not like a trust me, bro, situation. Like this has been developed with this metal and it can withstand these G's and whatever. Like they actually went through the effort of doing all of those things with the watch. Theoretically, but like they they they they did the testing to show that yes, even though it's it's it's first party, obviously they need third party to validate, which is great, and they are very open about asking for it's all open source. I think this is all really cool stuff. Of yeah, maybe this is like how it would have felt back in the like 50s, 60s of brands developing like highly specialized tools and and all the testing, the rigorous testing that they have to go through, all that kind of stuff. So I appreciate it for that. Now, a lot of people have have raised an eyebrow at the price, yeah. Of course, me being one of them. Yeah, it's just under $10,000, you know? And it this isn't a brand that has like um it's it's not a well-known brand, right? But they've been around for a while. They've been around for a while.
SPEAKER_03But they don't have the pedigree that usually a $10,000 brand would come with. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00So so it's it's asking a lot for the average person to look at this watch and find $10,000 worth of value. But if you've been following along, if you care about all this little nerdy stuff, you might see it and be like, oh, of course, that sounds about right. $10,000, you know, whatever. Especially again in the context of you know, the engineers, the DeFi's, the the all these other things of the world that are just kind of like um, I don't know, they just are that price. You know, in the brand is very much a lot of our brand has the heritage, right? Like they're at least like kind of showing a lot on their end, and they're very transparent about it, which I think is pretty cool. So, you know, for me, do I think it's a little high price? Sure. Um, but do I find something like endlessly cool here? Yes. And uh to me, this is like the kind of watch that I wish IBC was making. Yeah. That's right. Or, you know, right now, this is like an actual, you know, like um I don't know, like a like effort to make a space watch in a very different way from like the vast, which is also cool in its own way and all that kind of other stuff. But that's like a luxury watch. Yeah. You know, that's like in the guise of like a space tool, right? Where this other thing, like, no, this is actually like a space tool, and here's everything that we've put it through to try and get it to be that.
SPEAKER_03So would you would take this over the new Braymont space watch?
SPEAKER_00I gotta say, probably. As hard as that may be to uh to believe. Uh yeah, I I don't know. I like and to me, like the cynicism that I saw around this watch was really a bummer. And a lot of the comments around it and a lot of the kind of just sentiment around it was was like a real bummer. And uh, you know, yeah, okay. I think they need to kind of like establish the brand a little bit more.
SPEAKER_03Um Do you though? Like it's kind of like buying into a founder's collection, right? Like you're you're an early adopter, you're going to potentially pay a little bit more, but in the long run it might pay off. You're getting the Mona Lisa on the back of the case.
SPEAKER_00Aaron Powell Well, it's it's like it's kind of like, you know, if they'd come out of the gates with this thing at like six grand and get and like people would have been really excited and then maybe work your way up, right? Like uh because it's such an unknown brand, it's like really a leap of of faith that they're asking people to take with this thing in some ways. But again, everything else is like very transparently documented, everything that it's been through. So, like, yeah, it is exactly what it says on the tin.
SPEAKER_03But that's the problem, right? Most luxury brands, they will swap the rotor and call it an in-house movement. That kind of mysticism is not happening here. And because of that, enthusiasts don't necessarily know how to take it. So the conversation got very narrowly focused to $10,000 for a Solita. Whereas like so many other brands are using Solita, they just put their own rotor on it and call it an in-house or change the caliber name. This is a T100 and it's just a Silita.
SPEAKER_00Or even worse, they make their own movement totally original, and it's worse than a Salita. It probably is worse than a Silita stuff.
SPEAKER_03And they don't service it, it costs a lot of money.
SPEAKER_00That's a good point, though. There is no like mysticism. There's no like uh surpr I don't know. Like everything is right out there on the table. I hadn't thought of that.
SPEAKER_03It's a bit weird. It's also so there's a lot of space watches that have come out because of Artemis and because of the kind of renewed interest in going to the moon for all of the reasons that are out there. And we're getting more spacewatches now for the first time in a very long time. We've been doing dive watches for, well, almost a hundred years now. We've been doing space watches if you consider the moonswatch or moon watch for what, sixty years, roughly, seventy? Something like that. Yeah, whatever.
SPEAKER_001965 uh uh yeah, in that realm, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, a little over 60 years. But actually bringing out new space watches, that's a new thing. That's unexplored territory, and it's gonna feel weird, it's gonna feel clunky. You can argue that the Omega X33 has been you know a newer development and has been around for a little while now, too.
SPEAKER_00That's a lot more than $10,000.
SPEAKER_03Exactly, right. And it might be more of a tool watch, too. You know, you have more bells and whistles, you have something more than it's a deeper feature set because it's a um digital. Yeah, there's there's a lot of things going on there that you can use for different purposes. I think that some people also maybe looked at this watch and thought it feels a bit more like a novelty than an actual tool for space travel. Uh when you're considering, you know, you pull out the microscope to look at the case back and read a book. That those are things that like I think people maybe latched onto a little too hard in thinking, okay, cool, but they don't have time for that. Maybe they do, but they might not do that. It just it feels almost like an interesting technique for a novelty rather than a serious tool watch, and the thing is built as a serious exploration sport tool watch. So it there's a little bit of juxtaposition in the uh the storytelling there too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I suppose I I could see that. And you know, for for me, I feel like it's it's kind of them developing it again like from the ground up for this purpose. The the the kind of cool part of the mystery part, I guess, would be the case back thing. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Which is kind of like the plaques on on the Pioneers and Voyager. I I think that's really cool. It is neat. Symbolic, of course, not in any way practical and all that kind of stuff. Uh but you know, like the Speedmaster wasn't developed as a spacewatch. Like it came out in 1957 and it was automotive and whatever. It just like happened to withstand better than some of the others. All the tests. You know, this I I like the idea of something being developed explicitly to for this. To me, it maybe it feels a little bit like where the Alaska project left off. Yeah. Even though none of those watches really saw you use in the ironically, yeah. Use on in in any like space programs type stuff. Uh but I I don't know. There's something like really uh like especially in the context of how we talk about a lot of other new watches that get released that are 10,000, 15,000, 5000, whatever. And if I feel like people were like really drilling into this one. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Like it to almost like a weird degree. Aaron Powell The comment section was fun in the article that you put out there. Uh yeah. And they jumped into the comment section and defended themselves to a very high- I haven't even looked. It is wildly entertaining.
SPEAKER_00So I saw a comment, you know, it was like, oh, this is just the press release, and you're probably paid by them. I haven't been paid. Uh I I can tell you right now. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_03But we're open for sponsorships.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, really. I I don't even know them. Like I haven't I haven't had any conflict.
SPEAKER_02Always open for sponsorships.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. I I haven't been in contact with these with these people. It's just something that I've like genuinely been and I suppose if I'm writing about something, if there's a lot of like um metrics that you have to put in and like names of it's hard to kind of do that.
SPEAKER_03Oh, so the is the brand that actually hopped into the I believe it's the brand founder under the name Valley, I think is their username on Hodin Key. Uh and yeah, they are in there fighting the good fight for the brand. It's not spicy.
SPEAKER_00But at the same time, it's like I don't know. Like I saw a lot of comments that made me like deeply roll my eyes that I'm okay, I'm not gonna dive into the weeds here and like nitpick and correct people or whatever.
SPEAKER_03Metallurgy and melting points and scratching.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, not not you know, not my place. I I I just I like the idea of what they're doing. Yeah. You know, and and I think that we should be like encouraging something or watches like this. If we want to bicker about price, fine. And you know, I think that's a fair that's a fair argument.
SPEAKER_03That's the modern argument right now, anyway.
SPEAKER_00Um but I don't think it should just boil down to it's got a sleet in it. You know, it like hey, the sleeve at SCP 300 is a great movement. It is. And there's a lot of other, like, I think all the other work that's gone into every the other literally every other bit of this watch is equally pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02Call me crazy, but like based on the story that you told me behind the watch, because I'd seen, I don't I didn't know much about this brand, but I'd seen the pictures of it, thought it was a really cool watch. Yeah, didn't know what the price of it was. I actually thought it was gonna be more than what you actually said it was going to be.
SPEAKER_00If you read like the whole thing, like this is this huge document. If you read like all the methodology, all the tests, yeah, I you you would end up thinking like, oh, this is gonna be some specialized like thing, you know. And uh yeah, it's uh so it's it's hard to judge. And I myself, I'm sure you do as well. I have a hard time putting it in what in into a context with like other watches.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, you can't. It's in its own character.
SPEAKER_00Like this thing, for instance.
SPEAKER_03For now, anyway. We might see more in the future that start to come into this category, and all of a sudden ten thousand dollars looks really cheap compared to the rest of the watches out there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I don't and and and full disclosure, I have not handled one of these things. So I don't know. It th there are some watches that I really love the idea of you handle it in the flesh, and it's like, oh, this does not feel anywhere near. Like uh I won't name any names. Uh and then there's also like you know, it uh it it goes a long way. Like that quality, like how everything comes together, how it feels in the hand, all that kind of stuff that makes a big deal. But I just wanted to give that watch a shout out and just kind of say my piece on it because I think it's just a really cool thing, and I think we should be doing more to celebrate this kind of watch being made. Yeah. That is kind of outside of the, you know, okay, here's dive watch number, you know, 400,000, 300,000, you know, whatever. And or here's a luxury, here's a what like no, there this is being designed around a very specific purpose, and to me that feels like again, uh old school, true to a watch. It's a re-f. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03It's not um, we made this for a movie to sell you adventure, we made this for adventure to make you imagine a movie in your own brain. That's what old watches used to do, and and we've gotten away from that. It's more marketing now than anything else. Uh to your point, you know, dive watch number 30 was made for I don't know, Jack Ryan to wear on screen rather than to actually be taken to the bottom of the ocean.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And uh you know, and not that I'm like a huge stickler on all that kind of stuff, but uh yeah, I I that somebody is is like kind of making the kind of stories right now that we romanticize about watches from back then I think is important. And they're doing that. You know? Like that's a this is could be a cool origin story that that that you know people are celebrating that are watch enthusiasts in in thirty, forty years, fifty years, whatever. So, you know, more power to 'em, I say. And uh you know, don't let the haters get you down their land if you're we'll see you on the moon, Barrel. Yeah, exactly. Uh Uh with the with the watch. Yeah, I wonder if that will be the big thing now. A lot of space watches. Fortis has been doing it for a long time and has had a partnership with the ESA. And um uh but I don't I I just don't know of any of others that have gone through all of the like NASTA testing procedures, like that, or even tried to.
SPEAKER_02To me, like it's really cool, it really adds to it. Like for me personally, like just listening to hearing more about the brand and everything like that. Like, I am definitely you I think you know this about me, that the heritage does not mean anywhere near as much to me. I I much more connect with somebody that is starting something new and and is building a brand now versus like you know, you know, a tried and true brand that's been here forever and ever. And that's not to knock any of the brands that have been here for forever and ever, because I love plenty of those brands like we all do. But I also when whenever one of these newer brands or brands that maybe just doesn't have the same sort of cachet, wants to make something brand new, puts a lot of time, energy, and effort into making something cool and then prices it and prices it what I feel is actually pretty accordingly. I don't have any problem with it. Like if I had I'll be honest with you, if I had 10 grand, that would I that would probably would be a watch that I would consider getting. Like I don't even feel crazy saying that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's and and I I I personally think it looks pretty cool. Um I do do you think it should have like uh any kind of like icon or logo like on the dial or something? Like being like a kind of an ostensibly new watch from from this brand for like the average show. I don't know. Or or does it feel cool like more of an an instrument that it doesn't have anything on it?
SPEAKER_03It feels more like an instrument, but at the same time, too, when we see watches that don't have logos, we immediately think Sago Mod. And that's where it gets a little tricky too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's true. Yeah. But it's it it ditches any kind of like pretense of you know, well, we're building like this br commercialized br I don't know. It like the it I like the the feel of it. If like no, it feels like it's just explicitly made for this thing, so why put a lot of I mean it is super distinct.
SPEAKER_02You're not gonna mistake it for something else, but at the same time, I that's a good question. I'm not sure whether I'd prefer that with logo or not.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I wouldn't blame them, certainly. Uh if they did. But uh I don't know. And the you know, I call out the name kind of with the parallel to Arthur C. Clark's uh 2001 Space Odyssey uh monolith uh right and the symbolism of the of that. And I'm a big Carl Sagan fan, so of course, like the the quote unquote plaque on the back going into long term like to me this hits all like the nerd notes.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. You're the client. Yeah, you are.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know about the plaques on like Voyager and like Pioneer 10 and 11, I think. Uh that are like it's traveling out into space right now. I'm gonna nod my head up and down. Okay. So you know, a billion years when some alien civilization finds it.
SPEAKER_03When it lodges into the side of their house.
SPEAKER_00Now they'll know who to blame. I'm coming after you. Uh all right. Well that's that's that's the that's the bar that's the barrel hand. Um watch. Uh again, keep doing you barrel hand, and I'm I'm excited to see how it evolves and what it might turn into, what other watches from them might look like, what other complications uh might look like. I think it's a really cool design language and the whole like nifty 3D printed case. Pretty slick, uh pretty slick stuff. So all right. What else do we have to move on to uh to talk about before we get to the tutor? Is there any other and is there anything else that you need to?
SPEAKER_03I mean, there are a lot of things that have happened over the past week, two weeks, whatever. But I feel like this morning or yesterday, whenever it happened, it all I think it was this morning, right? It feels like it's already been a week since the tutor released the chronograph.
SPEAKER_00And this episode was going live the same day. Right.
SPEAKER_03Have you guys talked about the Formex? No, we should do Formex, because that is actually very important. That is actually an important one. See, but the the chronograph came out and my brain just melted. Everything else just fell out of the back of my head.
SPEAKER_00All right, well let's get the let's let's get the Formex out. Because this is another watch that I think has caught some shade about its its price. Yeah, everybody kind of fo and it doesn't use a Solida movement. Um it uses something else. And uh it's an integrated steel watch from our friends over at Formex. Is it steel or titanium? I think it's titanium.
SPEAKER_02I think it's grade five. I'll check while you guys are. I think you're right, actually.
SPEAKER_00And it's uh it's very thin, seven-ish mil. Um you know what came to mind when I saw this? I think it's called the Ari Aria. Aria? Aria area, something like that.
SPEAKER_03It's called the Formex Integrated Bracelet Sports. Yeah, the Aria. The Aria.
SPEAKER_00I think it's Italian for light or something like that. Sure. Uh anyway, the first thing that that came to my mind when I saw this thing was uh like a pair of like Oakley sunglasses from like 2001.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Right? Like it's got kind of like or um I don't know. You remember the movie, like the movie XXX with Vin Diesel or this like this this is that kind of You're the only person who doesn't call it triple Xbox. Oh I thought that was the wrestler guy. Uh XXX.
SPEAKER_02And you're right, grade five dead dating. Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_00You guys want to go see an XXX rated movie after this? Only if Vin Diesel's in. Sorry, so it to me it had that like kind of like late 90s, 2000s, early 2000s kind of like organic looking vibe.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00A little bit uh to it. And the kind of like claw-like structures kind of coming up through the dial, that kind of stuff. Like it's very different from their other what watches with their other kind of you know, established design language, which is very kind of like bold and chunky and unapologetic, which is great. It's it's their own thing, it's either for you or it's not. This is like a very different thing from them, which is fun to see. And uh, you know, it's I don't think it's a design for me, but I like that it's a design that's kind of like makes you step back and go WTF uh uh about it, or like what's going on here, or or to see it. And you know, I I know that they are capable of very high-end manufacturing. If you know and follow Form X, you understand that as well. So I'm assuming it probably feels pretty nice in the hand, in the bracelet and all that kind of stuff. So uh, you know, so to me when I saw it, what it was, and then what movement it had in the back, uh, and then the price, I thought, uh, that sounds about right. Um again, just kind of knowing the caliber of manufacturing that they do for themselves and other brands um that can't be named, right? Like uh they they know their stuff when it comes to this. And you know, to me the price felt like, yeah. Yeah, I think the tricky part is that if you are a Formax enthusiast and buyer of Form X watches, you might be bummed because this is in a different like kind of price realm than you used to. So there could be a little bit on their end of like we have to go and find a new consumer for this. Yeah, this feels like a different buyer. Like I'm sure some of them will be, but I think on uh you know, for the most part, a lot of them are they like Form X because it is a very like tricked out high-end watch for $1,500, $2,000 in that realm.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh maybe they've been getting a little higher late. Because they do like ceramic stuff, right? Uh but again, the manufacturing tough is like top, you know, top shelf. And uh, but still, you know, I think they were kind of seen as like the down-to-earth kind of like value play if you wanted like kind of semi-exotic stuff.
SPEAKER_03But Solita movements.
SPEAKER_01Oh good God. God forbid.
SPEAKER_00Uh but this thing does not use it. Uses um uh uh you know a quote unquote manufacture movement that to is is is sourced from a partner um of theirs. Did they name Oraj? Yeah. So they've been developing it with Orage, yeah. Okay, I didn't know if they were like public about it.
SPEAKER_03If you look at it, it's like, oh yeah, that's the one. Which makes this watch actually pretty attainable for uh Orage keys. Yes, which is pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And it's a cool movement, you know, and it's one that they've been working on for for for a long time. If you follow watches on microbrand space at all, I'm sure you're aware of Orage and and and their their watches, which are some of them priced even higher than this. Uh but they have uh you know, I like seeing some of their movements go into other uh watches like this. So, you know, to me, I was like, oh, this is this is a good like development path for them to like explore new creative ground in. So I don't know. That's my take. But all that said, not a design for for me.
SPEAKER_03But it's a watch that I respect. Love it. It's cool, but you know what? It's not my watch. Um that's fair. I think I would say the same thing, unfortunately. The dial, uh what's going on around the indices, the way that the indices are sunken down in, but then you have those ridges that lead down to the hands. Yeah. Makes me feel weird. Uh there's something visually about it that like makes me a little uncomfortable. And then all of them being they're like copper tone kind of with the colored loom as well. Not into that very much. I wish it was a little bit more stark. The design language, though, you mentioned it being like very different from a lot of their other stuff. To me, I do see a lot of the finishing techniques from their ceramic line kind of brought in here. I think they maybe learned some lessons. Yeah. Uh, but then their field titanium line. I see the design language from that watch, which is a very attainable $1,000 titanium watch.
SPEAKER_00Uh I like that watch quite a bit.
SPEAKER_03It's it's fantastic. It's under $1,000 for titanium with a SW200, I believe, inside. Uh, and it has like a sandwich dial, which is weird. They have a new version which isn't quite the same. Uh the Stratos, is that it? I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00It's the Stratos.
SPEAKER_03It's it you can get it on like a Velcro strap. It's got like a purple one.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03So I I owned one for a long time and I loved it because it was just it was such a rugged, fun, cheap and cheerful tool watch, right? Yeah. Or sport watch, I should say. There's no tool going on here. And I I see a lot of the design language from that piece carried over into this one, but then amped up a little bit to celebrate the movement because these are this is a founder's edition. We talked about that a minute ago, you know, maybe paying more for a founder's edition. This is a 100-piece limited edition, and I believe it's a hundred total, regardless of, you know, there's three colors, and I think it's a hundred eight. Oh, so it's not a hundred each for each one. I don't think so. I think it's total, which is a bit strange. Um, but all in all, we saw Universal Genève came out, relaunched all of their stuff, and talked about micro rotors being inside of their watches, and they used micro rotor movements as this staple for quality and high price points and you know modern technology. And here we have Formex kind of doing the same thing, but at a fraction of the cost, which I think is pretty impressive for what you're getting. Yeah, and that's their thing.
SPEAKER_00Like all of their watches, I think, have a bit of that of like, oh wow, that's a and or like totally novel thing, like their case suspension uh type stuff. You know, I always say if like Hue Blow did something like that, it would be they'd they'd call it something sexy and it'd be like, you know, 50,000 hours, some a Richard Miller, yeah, I don't know. But like I I like that they do things in a very like no fuss kind of kind of way. Uh that's interesting. And I I I'm curious if we you know if if they had different dial variations, um what it would look like if I if I'd be more keen on the it just felt like a more organic shape than I'm used to seeing uh from from them. Uh you know, because like the the field watch, there's like some slight angularity to it that kind of like feels uh right to me from them. I don't know. Maybe it's just like all this context, the years of context that I have around the brand. Uh and and again, full disclosure, I have not seen one of these things in in the metal, so I I I can't speak to it. But I've handled pretty much every other Formix watches and uh and I know those guys well, and I'm I'm happy to see this and them doing something like this. And um and yeah, I had no big major like qualms with it.
SPEAKER_03I it could have been a hand wound movement for all I care, and I would have I wouldn't have it's not like I see a microwader movement, I'm like, ooh, you know, if you put an enamel dial or a uh I don't know, a grand fumet dial inside of this watch, it looks very Moser Streamliner-esque.
SPEAKER_02That's what it is. It gave me that and like Parmigiani, uh was Parmigiani uh Parmesani. Yeah, Parmesan Fourier. Uh yeah. Yeah, it gave kind of reminded me of that to a certain extent too.
SPEAKER_00But Moser is the streamliner.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, Moser's the Streamliner, yeah. But the thing I was thinking the thing that I actually really like about it though is the fact that it doesn't say Formex on the dial. I was like very, very dial.
SPEAKER_00Because that logo looks like it's a sports team or something like that.
SPEAKER_02That's like the one thing that just kills me about uh because I love Formex watches, but that's the one thing that's probably one of the big reasons why I would never pick one up. It's just like I just don't like the way that that it's it's one of the few brands where the logo where the text like literally just kills it for me because I know people have talked about the name of Formex a lot for for for how it sounds and whatnot. But the I like the fact that they just went with their I don't know what kind of infinity on the side logo type thing that they have going on there, but just having that on the dial I thought was was really smart on their part.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, yeah, I you know, again, I I I'm I'm excited to see how this like evolves from here and in this line of watches for them. So and I like seeing br brands like that get out of their comfort zone uh with a watch like this. I know they've manufactured bracelets similar to this for for other brands. Um so you know, to see them like no, we're gonna come up with our own original design and take advantage of all this know-how and uh and and stick it out there is great. Um so and I don't think they'll have problems selling you 100%.
SPEAKER_037,000? Is that the price? Sorry, I'm making you do a lot of research. That's fine. That's fine.
SPEAKER_02I'll invoice you later. Perfect. It's it's uh just a share, it's 7,900.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so eight. Yeah. Um interesting. Yeah, I think they'll sell every piece that they make, which will 100 pieces, I'm sure they're probably mostly spoken for already. Formex iterates very slowly, so I don't think we'll see version two for like a year and a half. Yeah. Maybe. Um, I pray to God it doesn't have a gold meteorite dial, and that we can like maybe do something different. Um, not here for the space ghost or anything like that.
SPEAKER_02No adventure, no adventurine for you. Please no.
SPEAKER_03If stone dials come out for this watch, uh I'm coming for all of you. No, I I will be excited to see a more probably toned-down version uh with V2. And at that point, I would consider it because this is a watch that actually speaks to me in every way except for the dial. I like the movement, I like the form factor, I like integrated bracelets, uh, and I like form X. So this is just it's that close, which I say with pretty much every watch that gets released, but it's that close.
SPEAKER_00Especially about the brand we're gonna talk about next. Uh right. This could be this is a very like dial, controversial dial-heavy episode, uh maybe maybe. Uh so let's just get over the tutor and then we can uh uh uh get it over with and and and see what happens. Uh Chrono 39. They finally build the chronograph that all of us have been asking for. A 39 millimeter uh frame with that's uh 13 millimeters thick, 13.1 with domed uh crystal. So, you know, the platform, it's like, yep, that's that's that's what we all wanted. And in typical Tudor fashion, like, okay, let's put uh let's put the most polarizing vowel we can think of on it. Yellow and black. I know you and I are very fond of yellow colors, as we've discussed in the in in the past. Uh and uh and I'm very much being sarcastic there if that doesn't come through in the audio. Uh you know, I I I think you as well. I'm not a huge fan of yellow, um, pretty much on anything. Yeah. Um really. So uh you know, I I don't think that's really as much the story, though, with this watch. What I found the most interesting about this watch is that it's not a it didn't it's not like they developed some new movement to accommodate this case. So it's it's so if we re if we rewind a bit and look at uh some of the uh GMTs that they've come out with. The uh the FXD GMT came out and that had the exact same form factor as the time-only FXDs. So which is under 13 millimeters. You know, it's like, oh wow, why uh same exact movement as the Black Bay GMT, which everyone complains about being so so thick. And then the 58 comes out and it's got a different movement in it. Uh I'm not sure why, because it's the same thickness as that as well. So I'm not sure what's going on here strategically with these movements. But the the point is all of these movements were capable of fitting into much smaller cases from the get-go. So it was a conscious design decision to make the case the way that it was. And then maybe in response to, oh, it seems like some people want some thinner cases, okay, it can do that too. You know? Uh and it's the same situation here with the chronograph. This is the same movement that's in the existing Black Bay chronograph, 41 millimeters, which is like 14.
SPEAKER_03It's like 14.4, 14.5. Yeah, it's crazy.
SPEAKER_00It's you know, notably thinner, right? Almost one and a half millimeter. Not that like I think chronographs need to be super felt and thin and all that kind of stuff. But like I think in proportion, a wearability factor goes a long way. And this feels more like in proportion to everything. And now, seeing this, there's no reason that even the 41mm versions couldn't have always been 13 millimeters thick.
SPEAKER_03Right. That's the headline. We could have been doing this the whole time. It makes me so angry.
SPEAKER_00And like it could still be a hefty watch, all that kind of because I know for some people, as I as I mentioned in my article, like it's a it's a feature, not a bug. Like they want they want that that heft or whatever, but like they certainly could have made a more consciously designed case for wearability. And I think you can still have a hefty 41, 42mm watch and and and have it be 13 millimeter, and it's not gonna feel like a paperweight or something like that. Like you're still gonna get the heft that you want. It's just gonna be like a little bit more comfortable on your w wrist, which I think all of us should want. Even if you want like a larger watch and a hefty watch, it should always be like wearable, right? Like that's the most important thing. So, you know, I I when I saw this come through, my first instinct was what's the movement? You know, knowing, and then of course, it's the same, it's the same, it's the same one.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, 5813.
SPEAKER_00It's the same one! What's going on here? What is going on here? Uh all right, what was your thought when you saw this thing uh come through this morning?
SPEAKER_03I got really excited because of the new size and the you know, shrinking the thickness down. And then I saw the movement and exactly like we could have been doing this the whole time. Screw all of you guys. Yeah. It feels like the joke that they've been playing on us for five years now. But then you start to pour into all of the details of it. And this watch is the first tutor chronograph that I actually would consider buying. That I think is wild to say because I never thought I'd actually say that out loud. But you have the the pushers have been redesigned, so they're more neural. That the crown has been redesigned. Right. The the rose is gone and the crown is now uh covered with the the shield on the shield. That's more neuraled as well. The lugs, because it's thinner, now have better geometry. It just proportionally looks better. Yeah. And then the bracelet doesn't have the dumb fake rivets.
SPEAKER_01No rivets.
SPEAKER_03Which, if you can't tell by how I just described them, I cannot stand the fake rivets.
SPEAKER_00It's a mature design.
SPEAKER_03Like it feels like a more mature design. It's an evolution with T-Fit now, too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I feel like we asked for this in the last episode we did in predictions.
SPEAKER_03And it's almost a thousand dollars cheaper. Well, it's like $750 cheaper or something like that. Which when is the last time a brand came out with a more refined watch? And it's cheaper.
SPEAKER_00And it's cheaper. What is going on here? Yeah, and I mean I'm exactly with you. I I I I love pretty much everything about this watch. I will say I've never been, I think I've I'm on record as saying this, I'm not a huge fan of the dial design of the Black Bay chronograph. And this is pretty much that. So I don't like love that, but I I I really love everything else about this watch. And uh I noticed in the release they mentioned that they've redesigned the handset for legibility of the sub-dials.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It was a kind of a throwaway line, but they don't specify what that is.
SPEAKER_03I think this is fake. So Tag Hoyer redesigned the Aqua Racer solar graph recently. And in that press release, they said we've redesigned the hands for better legibility. And you put those photos next to each other, it is the same hands. And I just the only thing I can think of is maybe they're slightly thinner, maybe they're slightly shorter, maybe they're more loomed. I have no idea. But like when you look at them side by side, they look the same.
SPEAKER_00Aaron Ross Powell Yeah, I was trying to f to figure out the only thing I can come up with is that the subdials themselves aren't uh indexed to the like minutes and seconds. Like it's it's only the main kind of cardinal points that are indexed. Yeah. So they've removed some of the finer detail information that you would be expecting to read were it obscured by hand. And maybe that's why they're like, well, now it's more legible because you don't have to hunt down the individual index.
SPEAKER_01More addition by some traction. Right, exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00So it's like, well, I guess. I mean, it looks like a cleaner. I like that everything is has a black outline. I mean, honestly, if that was if it was like a white and black, this would be like immediately like the release of the year. But that's why they didn't do it. It's like the the monkey paw crow like uh, you know, you get all your wishes granted. Oh, but here is the Josh. What do you think of this thing when on first sight?
SPEAKER_02Um I think for me, I didn't have a whole lot of thoughts about it when I saw it uh early this morning. But my what's it called? It was really seeing other people's reactions to it that made me feel like, you know, it's was one of those moments where I was like, I'm very happy for all my friends. That's that that's what I that's how I really felt. I'm just like, I I I similar to you, I've never been a Really big fan of the dial design. Like, I don't hate it or anything like that, but I was just like, it's never really been for me. Yeah. Um, but I saw people just being like, similar to what Devin was saying, finally, we're getting what we wanted. And it just makes me feel like, you know what, I'm happy for y'all. I'm happy y'all are getting what you wanted. And and to be honest with you, similar to also what Devin was saying, like, if I was going to buy, this might be the only chronograph that I've ever seen from Tudor that I would consider purchasing now that they've fixed all the things. Because even though like this wouldn't be for me, all the things that I would have wouldn't would have made me a potential buyer now make me a potential buyer. I just the the yellow part though did make me laugh. Like I was just like, I don't know why y'all did this. Um it it really feels like you were you were doing this to be mean almost because I'm just I'm really trying to find the logic behind it. Um other but I'm just like it i it just it's kind of funny. Um not to say that it looks bad, it doesn't look bad in yellow to me, to be completely honest, but um, but I also know that's yeah, this is not the color that most people want, but that's generally my reaction. I'm just happy for all the the tutor fans that have have been waiting for this day for a long time. And and they're probably just gonna have to wait just a little bit longer until the new iterations and new dial colors come out for this, and when then that happens, I'll even be more excited for you guys. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You say that, but we've been waiting for a blue P39 for a while.
SPEAKER_00This is the next thing I was gonna bring up. Like if I had a nickel for every time I've seen it, oh, that's the great one. All they need to do is just add this or do it in this way. Surely they'll do that next year. I'd have like uh and it never comes. I'd have a handful of nickels, probably, you know, right? Like, like I feel like I always comment on this. Like the the um uh the the Black Bay 58 when it first came out in blue. I thought, oh, the next few years we're gonna see all kinds of different iterations of the Black Bay 58. Never came. We got one in you know silver, we got one all this weird. So it's kind of like, you know, they zig when you think they're gonna zag. And uh, but this is like, you know, they've showed their hand. This is exactly it. Like they got they gotta they I it would almost make it more frustrating. You know, I've been harking on hoping for like that heritage, like a Monte Carlo design or something to come back. And now I've like seen, oh, and they're making the package for it. Uh and now like we're now like it would make it all the more frustrating if we never see it. Because I'd already kind of like ruled out we're probably not gonna see something like that. They're pretty set in their in their case language. And now I'm like, oh, they've done it. They've made the first perfect package for it. That's how they marketed this watch on their Instagram.
SPEAKER_03They're like, this is where it started, and this is where it's at. And it's like, wait a minute. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00In the press release, they have the old like kind of vintage flyer with that watch in it. And I was like, what? You can't do this. It's right there.
SPEAKER_03This is an abusive relationship.
SPEAKER_00It really is. And I listed all my the rest of my tutors in biasel trade immediately after I'm this close. Uh you see my CWC. I'm like, dude, I'm all about that thing. I don't need any of these FXDs anymore. Wow.
SPEAKER_02Uh if they're gonna do this uh with the chronograph, it's like watch the next iterations be a pastel pink and like a Carolina blue. Tutor, I dare you. It'll be mud brown.
SPEAKER_00Like the the chronograph, the black bay chronograph does seem like a very like commercial watch of theirs. Yeah. And that is what makes me feel like surely. But I again I thought the exact same thing with the 58 in blue. I thought, oh, this is gonna be gangbusters, we're gonna see half a dozen variations of this within two years. And I think if we did, they would have sold great. Because like everyone was wanting that like different, even just like a plain black with white, uh, you know, different. Yeah, yeah, I think eventually we got the red with the sun ray. Not my thing at all. But uh, and then of course the the GMT that we have now, but even that has the kind of like weird yellowy stuff in it. I mean, there's there's I think we all could probably list off like three or four watches in Tutor's lineup that are like one big click away from being like perfect. Yeah, perfect watches. Yeah, here we are again. Here's another one.
SPEAKER_03The best part about this release though, no one's talking about the monarch right now.
SPEAKER_00Nobody's talking about the monarchy. It's my favorite part about it. I would have been I would have been totally cool if they come out with a monarch in like a with a black dial. I so I kind of like low-key like the monarch. Uh I'm one of those guys. Uh it is um it feels a little like I and again, I haven't handled one in in person. If it was like 38 millimeters, like for me, just because it seems like it has a lot of like really big, bold surfaces on it.
SPEAKER_03It wears fantastically. Does it be a good one? Which I hate to admit.
SPEAKER_00Maybe never even mine. You just don't like the design.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But is is it because like have you seen some of the like, you know, enthusiasts make these AI renderings? Yeah, but make them worse. No, you guys stop. Everyone I see them like, oh, it's like better than the last one.
SPEAKER_03No, no, no. Use your tokens for good.
SPEAKER_00I'm here for it. I don't even know how to use AI stuff, so I would I don't know how to do any of that in the first place. I but I would like uh, you know, just like make a monotone version and it'd be like, oh yeah, maybe get rid of the um California dial.
SPEAKER_03Add a bezel and you know, like maybe an oyster bracelet. Uh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00I don't even personally I like I know some people get like really offended by uh California dial. I don't I'm kind of like neither here nor there on them. And I think when I see a cool one, I'm like, oh, cool. When I see a bad one, I'm like, you probably didn't need to do that. This one I don't find particularly offensive, uh, but I like the hand design. Like it to me, like it I I I think it's cool.
SPEAKER_03I I I think it's cool. Exceptionally well finished. It is it wears very well. Just not for you. It's just not for me.
SPEAKER_02Do you like it then? I what's it? I like it, but like similar to what you were saying about how it's just like one click away from being perfect to me. I think the handset on it just bothers me. I can't figure out why. There's something about the handset that just doesn't work for me. And there's a in at least from what I've seen in pictures too, um it kind of looks like even I've seen pictures from people that I know, like people who have taken really good pictures of it, and for whatever reason, it feels like AI designed that watch to a certain extent. And I can't, and there's just something about that that I just I don't know, but like I I'm I I am still like curious to see what it's like in person because for me it's like 80 to 85% of the way there uh in terms of something that I would like potentially want to own. But yeah, but there's still just like a few things about it that are just a little bit off to me. I'm curious to see what they would do. Like uh you said like a monochrome version of it, I think would be dope, right? Would be really cool. Like if it's just like a gray dial or something like that.
SPEAKER_00It still has the vertical brushing. Brushing, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I think that that would look really, really cool. And I'm not anti-the sort of what copper slash salmon-ish dial that they have on there, but a monochrome look, I think, would be really cool on that, though.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I like I will say that is there's a lot going on with the design. I think if it was gonna just tighten up, brought together a little bit. Redesign for legibility. Better We took all the hour markers off.
SPEAKER_03You don't even have to worry about reading. There's no hands, there's no hour markers. Look at this brush dial. Exactly. Monochrome.
SPEAKER_00I look I there's there's there's something there though. And I I I hope that they keep evolving uh the concept of it.
SPEAKER_03So what I think that this release for the Black Bay chronograph, I think that what this tells us is that Tutor's not done. Right? We all said that after Watches and Wonders, we all said okay, that was great, but we know you have more. And this is a pretty big release pretty quickly after Watches and Wonders, which I feel like they don't typically do. It's usually a few months in between. We get to the fall and then things start rolling out. But this was, I mean, a month-ish.
SPEAKER_00I think that that's a good point. And I think there is more on the horizon from them uh this year. Uh and not just them. Like we didn't see um it's also an anniversary year for the ingenuaire. We didn't see an like an adverse I I bet something is coming from the I don't know um uh at all, but I it just feels like okay, they're gonna they're gonna do their own thing on their own time like throughout the year. I hope. Yeah. Um I hope so too. Uh and overall, I like this release from Tudor. And it it just it gets uh you know it's it it brings a dangerous amount of hope uh uh to the situation. Just enough to crush you. Just enough to crush me. Yeah, yeah. Um like Andy Dufresne and uh and uh Shah Shank Redemption. Yeah, the hope like I'll never stop. Yeah, so we'll see. Um I don't know. Overall, though, um you know I applaud them for for releasing this watch and and really kind of responding in some way, shape, or form to what people have been have been asking for. Including the price point. Including the price point, exactly. All right, uh we gotta set that aside because there is one other thing that I wanted to talk to you about. And uh and I don't know if you I don't even know if you play video games at all. But uh but there's a there's a watch from Omega that was released around the release of video game, uh 007 first light video game by I.O. Interactive, who famously developed the Hitman uh series, which are uh a great series of games. The game is out. It's been out for a week and a half, something like that. Have you been playing it?
SPEAKER_03No, I'm playing Forza. God damn it. Uh you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah you like my my son is playing a lot of Forza. Yeah. Uh Forza 6 also came out around the same time. Uh so it's in Japan. Uh Forza Horizon 6, I should say, which is their open world um you know, quote unquote racing game. Uh it's it's more kind of like an arcade. Quote unquote open stuff. Look, if you're used to uh like iRacing or Grand Turismo or or a set of like, you know, those are more like sim-like racing. And then if you hop over into Forza, yeah, flames are shooting out the back and the car is kind of bending all over the sideways the entire time.
SPEAKER_03You're going through trees with your car. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's fun, don't get me wrong. Uh but uh but yeah, my son has been playing a lot of it. He's he's really enjoying himself uh with it. I have been playing um uh the 0007 First Light. Uh it's generally not my style of game. I mean, I like the like the Uncharted, it's kind of in that vein a little bit, um, where it's it's you know telling a good story, but it's all very linear and like structured, you know, so you kind of have your path. There is some freedom in how you can solve some of the problems that you're you're thrown, um, like how you can access certain parts of some of the set pieces that you're a part of. It's a great looking game. Uh yeah, I like that it's a totally original bond, not based on any kind of theatrical bond. And uh and it's got this watch in it, which is a uh Seamaster chronograph. And uh it's a pretty cool situation in the game how they present it to you. So you go into Q's office or Q's lab or whatever, right? And he and he opens the thing and it's got a whole selection of them. I originally thought, oh, it's gonna be there's gonna be like a whole bunch of different Omega watches, maybe, that I'll get to choose from. Like ones from maybe like the Brazen bonds and ones from whatever. Like I thought that would have been pretty cool. Oh, that really would have been cool. Yeah, that would have missed some. It was all the same watch with just different straps.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's it. That was the only different watch.
SPEAKER_00Just different straps. Because it it is that it's that new with the gold eye, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh yeah, how many watches were in that case?
SPEAKER_00Seven?
SPEAKER_03Six? So you got seven strap options. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Because you know, like if you go to the bottom, if you go to the product page on Omega site and you scroll down, there's a there's a section where you can you can look at that watch and scroll through different straps. It was like a physical manifestation of that.
SPEAKER_03Interesting.
SPEAKER_00So uh so I was a little bummed that it wasn't like all these other kind of awesome omegas um uh there, but um, but all the straps were cool and they have the kind of the throwback Bond style strap that you can put it on. Um you you use it in one of the early missions, uh, so you have to get a new one like later on. It's actually the functionality of it. There's uh pretty much everything that you do to like you know, hack a computer or laser a door open or something. It's all through the watch. So the the like dial design of the watch is a part, is like your HUD on the screen. So it's like a part of how you play the game all the time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm watching like a sort of uh a sort of promo video on it now, and it looks pretty cool. It's cool. It is it is it is cool.
SPEAKER_03Josh is playing the game right now.
SPEAKER_00Can you guys wrap this up? So so I like the again, if you like the uncharted stuff or any of that, like I think you would like, or if you played any of the Hitmans, obviously, I think you'll you'll find a lot to like here. Um but uh and it's been strange not to go like too deep into video games, but I've been playing, had been playing uh Crimson Desert. Oh, interesting. Which is like the total opposite. Yeah. Like huge, massive, beautiful open world game. Uh total sandbox. You know, you can kind of approach it a million different ways, do what you want. I generally like games like that because I don't play a ton of video games. So the ones that I do, I like to just kind of hop in and poke around at my own pace and doza what I want to do. Exactly. Like like Forza Horizon. Uh or that in like um Gran Turismo is the only kind of consistent game that I that I play. Uh, but anyways, the the the kind of like Crimson Desert, I can kind of use my imagination to fill in the blank and roleplay, write all that kind of stuff. Whereas going into Bond is like this highly structured, you know, paced out kind of uh experience. Um two very different things, but I enjoy them both for uh just very different reasons. If you enjoy video games at all, I would recommend giving it a shot. Maybe wait for a sale if you're a little unsure if you like the linearity of it all.
SPEAKER_02How much is the game? I think like $70. Oh wow. Your prices went up. Wow. It's been a while since I bought a video game. And I say a while, like decade plus.
SPEAKER_00This is why this is why I don't play a ton of video games. Like I try to be kind of choosy with and if I do We have to buy watches. Look, I gotta buy my watches, right? Like, like if I do, um, I have to make it feel like it's a game that I could spend like hundreds of hours in over the course of like years. Because, you know, if I think about if I, you know, if if my wife and I go to a movie and get a drink or something, you know, that's like three hours and it's easily over 70 bucks right around here. So that's like three or four hours of entertainment. So if if I think about my $70 lasting me like uh spread over hundreds, you know, three or four or five hundred hours over the course of like five years, then I feel like, okay, I'm getting my but it's also like a video game, so it's like kind of a silly thing to I do the same thing, but I also treat it kind of like solar panels where I've been playing FIFA for a year now, so I'm actually selling credits back in.
SPEAKER_03So I have a whole bunch of stockpiled credits to buy new video games with now. Right? So I can buy a game that only takes an hour, but it's okay because I've spent 300 hours on a game that costs 50 bucks or 60 bucks.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, it's a weird value proposition, I think. Uh like you know, Crimson Desert, I think you could easily spend three, four, or five hundred hours in no problem. And uh and maybe not even finish the story in a you know, this Bond game is a much tighter experience. The story is like it's a better told story, but you could probably finish it in like 30 hours.
SPEAKER_03That's still a long time. That's still like a long time. Yeah, especially for a story-durven game.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03A lot of them now are like maybe 10 to 20, but I mean that's but it's still a lot of time.
SPEAKER_00Like sometimes I like to like read a book or something. Like I don't want to feel like like if I if you spend the money, then you're gonna feel like I I have to make time in my evening to play this game because by golly, I spent $70 on it. You know, so I'm gonna like get my money's worth. Uh, you know, and then if it sucks like five hours in, you're like, oh shit. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You have to keep going. I gotta muscle through this thing. I gotta muscle through this thing. So you're playing the game, the case opens up. It's not five or six Seamaster chronographs in there. You have all of the old Bond watches and the new chronograph. Are you still picking the new chronograph? Are you gonna pick something different?
SPEAKER_00Not a chance.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna be the same thing. No.
SPEAKER_00So this is that's so that's a new chronograph from Omega uh right, of adjacent brand to Tutor in in some ways, right? Sure. Times two. In some ways.
SPEAKER_02I feel like I know what you're picking, and I would probably pick the same thing.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I'll take the the tutor chronograph over this thing for sure. But like like the the it's I think it's a good comparison that these two chronographs come out within like a few weeks of each other. You know, the Seamaster. Yeah, there's there's no consider I'd be really curious to see what's the smallest case that movement could fit into, because that thing is like 17 and a half millimeters thick. Yeah. I mean, it's totally it's like a it's like a it's like novelty status. With a functioning bezel. Look, it's got a functioning bezel, it's got a a chronograph.
SPEAKER_03What else do you need?
SPEAKER_00And the hour and minute totalizer are in nested in the same um in the same subdial, like that's omega style. So I don't know. I don't know, man. That I don't know who's buying that thing. And it's like 13 grand or something like that.
SPEAKER_03It's a lot. There's also like the case that it comes with, the special edition case, is pretty wild, and there's all the advertising around it too. And I think that that it's kind of a weird thing with this game, is video games are commercialized now, especially more more than ever. Uh and they're moneymakers. But this game also feels more commercialized than any other video game that's ever come out, right? I'd be surprised, or I guess I wouldn't be surprised if I saw Bond drinking a Mountain Dew in one commercial, and then listen he's eating Cheetos and whatever the case may be. But we have Aston Martin, we have Omega, and from my understanding, there might be a few others that have kind of snuck their way into the game.
SPEAKER_00The mission I did just the last mission I did, I walked past uh um uh the new the Jaguar OO, like kind of like highly conceptual Jaguar car. Like they fit that into an area that I happen to be walking by, and of course the people that I was walking with like commented on it. It's the new Jaguar OO. And uh I was like um But it was very like obviously highlighting it.
SPEAKER_03There's a golden glow around it. Don't you wish you had this instead of the Aston Martin?
SPEAKER_00Which that kind of takes you out and you know, I'm in this like you know, war-torn area of a desert or something. What's going on here? What is this? You know, like a warlord pirate, it's part of his collection, so I don't know. That's kind of cool. But it takes you a little bit uh and that car itself is kind of like highly offensive, so yeah. Otherwise, though, it's great.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's interesting. Well, it is I'll pick the game up probably in like a week and I'll start playing it. I I just need there's something about a game like this where this could have been a 10 out of 10 or a 1 out of 10, and uh I have to wait and see what it's gonna be like for a lot of people. And most people are saying that this is pretty good, maybe eight out of ten-ish.
SPEAKER_00It's it's good, but every time you play it, you kind of gotta be in the mood like you're ready to like watch a Bonda movie. I I'm always in the mood. Like it's it's that kind of like how the story is thrown at you and how it unfolds, and it's in you know, sometimes you're playing parts of it, but there's a lot of times that it's you know like it feels like a bond. Like you just gotta be in that mood.
SPEAKER_03It's happening to you rather than Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And that's that's all I'll say. I know like people, you know, people shit on Crimson Desert for its story and all that kind of stuff, but like, hey, I can jump in at my own pace and play it and wander around a world in any way I want. I I appreciate that about the game. You cannot do that in in Bond. So you'll be guided.
SPEAKER_03Well, and that's kind of how the watch feels too. Right? Like, it feels like the watch is doing things when you're not looking at it because of all the weird things that are going on and because of how big it is and in your face it is, and all of all of the things that surround this massive chronograph. Not the first Seamaster chronograph that we've seen from them, but uh Yeah, that's been around for a while. Right. But now there's a there's a lower reason for it to be that big.
SPEAKER_00It's shooting darts at people, it's uh laser and shit.
SPEAKER_03I think the bigger well, so the Seamaster Diver professional was in older Bond games. So if you go back and you play Agent Under Fire or Nightfire, you have the Seamaster Diver that you can shoot lasers out of. I've done that attention.
SPEAKER_00Even Goldeneye.
SPEAKER_03Watches are in there. Like it it's cool. And at the time, I think we all loved that and thought it was like this amazing thing. And we probably didn't even register the marketing behind it at the time because we're playing a bond game. It's a cool thing, yeah. But now we very much are. It's very different now. The the entire landscape has changed. Yeah. Uh well, and the watch is now almost three times what that watch would have cost back then. So it changes the conversation in a weird way that is not the most comfortable conversation to have. But I think the bigger conversation is they're putting this watch in a video game and not a movie.
SPEAKER_00I I think I was just gonna say the like I think they're working on casting, all that kind of stuff now. Like a movie will come out rele you know, not soon, but in within you know, like it's it's in the works. I think that's when we'll see like the good, the good stuff. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You don't think that this chronograph will be in the movie?
SPEAKER_00I would be surprised. I don't know. I don't think it will. Because this is it's um you know non-canonical to that universe, I guess I would say.
SPEAKER_03I don't know. But the new movie will also be its own wholly new universe. Yeah, we're in uncharted territory.
SPEAKER_02I think I doubt I would see it. I don't think it'll I think it'd be something else. Yeah, I think it'll I hope so.
SPEAKER_00Because they've been on a pretty good streak. Like the no time to die at Seamaster. Pretty sweet. So good. Pretty sweet. So, yeah, and more of that, please. Uh Omega. Uh all right, well, that's where we'll leave it with uh with this episode. If you have any thoughts uh on any of the things that we've talked about today, you can send us a note, send us a comment. You can go to the articles over on Hodinky, over on um what's it called? The deep track. That's my thing. Uh leave a comment there. Uh we're we're we're all about it. I'd love to hear from you on this one. Thank you so much for tuning in, and until next time, take care.
