Skip to content

The Twenty-Teens Watch Collection Fantasy Draft

Published on Mon, 18 Jan 2021 11:00:00 +0000

Our editors pick their favorite watches of the last decade – and controversy ensues.

Synopsis

In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, host Stephen Pulvirent is joined by colleagues Cara Barrett, James Stacy, and John Mayer for a fantasy draft of the best watches from the 2010s decade. Each participant builds a five-watch collection by selecting watches in specific categories: a sport watch, a dress watch, a complication, a budget pick (under $1,000), and a wild card flex pick.

The draft reveals the dramatic transformation of the watch industry over the past decade. The hosts note how watch media evolved from a handful of blogs in 2010 to mainstream coverage by major outlets like CNN and The New York Times by the decade's end. They discuss how watches went mainstream during this period, with significant changes in brand strategies, collector culture, and the rise of hype around certain models.

Notable picks include Cara's rainbow Rolex Daytona and Bulgari Octo Finissimo, James's Tudor Black Bay and Grand Seiko tribute, Stephen's Rolex Pepsi GMT and AP Royal Oak Jumbo, and John's Tudor Black Bay Burgundy and Credor Eichi II. The group also highlights important trends like the emergence of micro-brands (represented by the Halios Seaforth), the resurgence of accessible mechanical watches (Hamilton Khaki Field, Q Timex), and landmark complications from houses like Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin.

The episode concludes with an invitation for listeners to vote on their favorite collection at Hodinkee.com, with results and a deeper discussion of overlooked watches promised for a follow-up episode. The draft showcases not just individual preferences but a collective snapshot of a transformative decade in horology.

Transcript

Speaker
Stephen Pulvirent We've got four collections, five watches each. We left dozens of absolutely awesome watches on the table. You know, we could each pick a 15-watch collection here and still not scratch the surface of everything that's come out. There there are some people who are angry. I know. There are some people who are angry listening right now. Yeah. Uh who made us do this anyway, Stevie? Hey everybody, I'm your host Stephen Polverin and this is Hodinky Radio. Alright, it's been a while since we did our last Hodinki Radio Fantasy Draft, so we thought we'd start 2021 off the right way and get one in ASAP. And since we just rolled over from one decade to the next, now seemed like as good as time as any to look back at the last 10 years and some of our favorite watches from the decade. So today you're gonna get the official Hodinki Radio 2010's fantasy draft. I assembled Kara, James, and John to draft along with me, and we'll give you all the rules up front so you don't need to worry about those quite yet. We cover sport watches, dress watches, budget-friendly watches, and a whole lot more, and I know that there's not gonna be a single one of the 20 draft picks that's not gonna drum up some kind of controversy. As always though, you all, the listeners, get to pick the winner. So head over to hodinky.com after you've listened or check out the link in the show notes and vote on which of the four collections you think takes the day. We'll be doing a recap show in a few weeks to reveal the winner and to recap the draft more broadly. So also be sure to drop your questions in the comments on the website so that we can answer as many of them as possible in that recap show. Alright, I'm not gonna hold things up any longer here, and without further ado let's do this. Hey team, good to see everybody. Hello, friends. Good to see you too. We got Kara. We got James and we got John. We got Gray in the background. Pressing the background. Pressing the buttons, turning the knobs. Master in the mix. Gray's always in the background. If anyone's hearing my voice, Gray's in the background. Otherwise, nothing's being recorded. You're not gonna hear this. It's it's just me uh talking into the void. How's everybody doing so far? Twenty twenty one. It's a doozy. I can't wait for 2022.
Cara Barrett I'm really excited. It's definitely gonna be my year.
Stephen Pulvirent I think we need to entirely just divorce ourselves of the Gregorian calendar. Yes. Okay. I think it's December 39th, 2020. There's a good meme circulating. I dig that. I think we just I think we rebrand everything and just say these are the good days and we So there's good B B C B C A D G D. Okay. I like that. Sorry about your perpetual calendars. It's a really optimistic way to look at the future too. Like every day is an opportunity for it to be another good day. For sure. Dates don't make any difference. You don't need a date on your watch anymore. You can't complain. I mean, we're sitting here recording a podcast trying to watches, so I feel pretty good. Yeah, me me too to be honest. And we we've got we've got kind of a doozy for people today. It's good it's good day number one. Of course you feel good. It's good day number one. We'll make sure to put when we when we set this live, we'll make sure to put which which day on the good day calendar uh this is this is launching. Yeah. Uh so we got we got a fun one today. Uh this is one we've we've kind of been chatting about for a while and uh I'm glad we can finally do this. So this is gonna be the first fantasy draft of 2021, and depending on how you count the decades, if you count them the way we're gonna count them today, it's the first fantasy draft of the decade. Uh which makes it sound, I guess makes it sound like a big deal, doesn't it? I I don't know, maybe. It makes me feel old. Oh, yeah
Cara Barrett . Yeah, I'm I still think that the nineties were like ten years ago
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah. Well uh I was a little weirded out when I realized that like, you know, we're looking back at watches of the decade today and it was a little weird when I realized like I remember when everything on this list came out. Like nothing on this list predates me, uh, which is a little weird. But uh yeah, so that's what we're doing today. So we're gonna do the 2010s' fantasy draft, 2010's fantasy draft, whatever you want to want to call it. Um it's been a crazy decade in watches. Uh I think if we looked back at like what watches were like in let's say 2010, uh I think they'd be like almost unrecognizable from from what we've seen today in terms of like the culture and the hype around it, the way that brands are working and developing new products. Uh so I think we're gonna get a pretty nice range of stuff here uh as we look back over the last the last 10 years of watches from 2011 to uh 2020. Yeah people did some cool stuff. Yeah it's been a it's it's been a really really uh really great decade actually for watches looking back at it. Very robust. The other thing I noticed just just before we jump in, the other thing that I know and I wonder if you guys noticed this too is um it's really fun when you went back, depending on how far you went back, in the last ten years you could literally like it took me maybe a couple hours to prepare for the for the this recording. And over that couple hours I literally watched the entire landscape of watch media change. Where like if you went back to if you go back to twenty ten, if you go back to 2010 and type in best watches of 2010, there's nobody wrote that post. And then if you fast forward to like 2015, 2016, suddenly there's like there's six or seven players. People are talking about best watches of Basel World, SIHH. There's like people doing recaps of of, you know, it's December and they're looking back at the year. And then you move like just into like 2017, 2018, and now it's CNN, Business Insider, uh, New York Times, like people are getting in on it. Um and and and it's funny to see it go from like a couple of blogs that I remember reading um when I was first getting into watches, then stuff that has like my name or my colleagues' names on it, and then stuff from like you know, banner uh English language uh media houses. Yeah. And that was all in ten years. Yeah. I mean this was the decade where watches went I think went really mainstream. And I mean that's basically the point you're making about it's uh yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm not gonna lie, my favorite thing I found, because James, uh like you, I spent a couple hours kind of like just digging through everything I could possibly find. Uh and I found a pretty incredible picture of a beardless James Stacy shooting photos in a booth uh at Basel World. Basel World 2013. Pretty awesome. Yeah, you know which picture I'm talking about. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. There's only like 10 pictures of me out there. Yeah. Uh but yeah, cool. So let's let's get into this. Let's let's set this up and then let's spend most of the time talking about the watches 'cause let's let's be real, that's what people want to hear about. So we're doing the twenty tens, twenty teens fantasy draft and we're each going to build a five-watch collection. So we're going to build a collection that includes a sport watch, a dress watch, some sort of complication. It can't be a time only or a time and date watch. Those don't count. It can be something like a turbine that counts. Uh don't come at me with ultra thin. I'm not I'm not playing that game here. The the classic Jack Forester ultra thin is a complication. We're not we're not playing that game today. He's right. Is that why it's right, but we're not playing that game today. So that's complication. Then we gotta do a budget pick. So something under a thousand bucks. A lot of people just don't want to spend four figures on a watch. So there's plenty of cool options out there with two and three figure price tags. And then we'll let you have a flex spot, a wild card. You can pick anything you want to kind of round your collection out. So five watches. We're gonna do it as a snake draft, like we always do. Uh and in the end we',ll end up with 20 watches that we think uh hopefully accurately represents the last uh last 10 years in watches. Does that does that sound good to you guys? Sounds great. Super good. Perfect. And then as usual, everybody will be able to vote. So if you're listening to this, go to hodinky.com, find this post. It'll be linked up in the show notes. Uh, and go vote. Tell us which collection you like best. And in a week or two, we'll uh we'll unveil the winners here uh live on air. We'll get the four of us on and Greg can tell us who the winners and I was gonna say losers, but maybe like not so winners. Is that fair? I'll be I'll be all snowflakey about it. Uh the the winners and the less winners of uh of this fantastic. As someone likely to be a less a less winner, I do appreciate you know the the the participation badge effect of this. Yeah that's that's what we're here for James. We want everybody to feel good about watches. This isn't uh we're not drumming anybody out here. Uh cool. Well, great. I think that's your cue as our producer to come on here and randomly generate the draft order uh so that I can't tamper with it and set myself up for a win. This is a tamper fee process, super official, super ceremonial. Thank you to the good people at randomlists.org for uh for helping us out with this. Oh, technical. The order of this draft is as follows. Come on, come on. Number one, Miss Cara Barrett. Ooh. Draft to get number two, Mr. James Stacy at three, the host with the most, SJP. And wrapping up at the uh the turn is Mr. John. There you go. Ooh, the turn the turn is tough. That's that's pressure. Oh man, John John and Carr has got the hot corner. That's all that matters. That's that's strong placement. You get pick protection. Exactly. Uh I think this is gonna be good. I like this order. I feel I feel good about this one. I think this is gonna generate some wacky uh wacky stuff here. Good luck, drafters. You're all winners in my book. Let's just go for it. All right. CB, you're gonna kick us off with the 20 teens, watch collection fantasy draft. Pick number one, you're on the clock. Let's do this. Okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna start with my wild card
Cara Barrett . Okay Okay.
Stephen Pulvirent Just to be clear. Yeah, because I'm gonna pick the rainbow. Oh, damn. Honestly, I was gonna take it just to snipe Kara. I know because I'd be glad to stop that people.
Cara Barrett All right, rainbow. So I picked rainbow, which feels like a little obvious for me to pick because we everybody knows I love it. Um but I do actually think that it's a very important piece for the decade and the way that it rounded out the decade. And I believe it was launched in 2018. So you're you're talking about the Ever Rose. I'm talking about the Ever Rose one. Are we talking Pave or no Pave? No Pave. Okay. No Pave. Because I think so hear me out. So like there's always been rainbows. There have been rainbows since the eighties. I actually learned that today. Eric who posts this like insane date just in rainbow on Instagram. I don't know if you guys want to it's amazing. So cool. Um those were like kind of the that was the first time the rainbows kind of came out or in the 80s, but I think it the one from 2018, people really started talking about it more and, it was more than just Italian watch dealers and celebrities wearing them. It was like people really started to notice them and respect stone gem set watches, which I don't think people in the enthusiast world necessarily did before. Um and I I really you know I chalk it up to those indexes. Just gonna throw that out there. Those little colored sapphire indexes that match the bezel and just kind of made it perfect, in my opinion. So also I just really liked it. So that's my wild card. Pretty sick watch. It's a great wild card. This this strategy could backfire on me big time. Most likely it will, yes. It's okay. It's okay. You're allowed. But also, do we know that this is carte blanche? Like any we can there's no price except for the budget pick? Correct. Correct.
Stephen Pulvirent Okay. Just want everyone to make sure that Exactly. Yeah, there's no price here. We're just trying to find the best of the best. We're not worrying about budgets. We're living in a pretend world. Yeah, exactly. Let's go to the next pick. Mr. Stacy, you are uh you are up next. On the clock, pick number two. Okay. I'm trying to decide what on my list is most likely to get picked by someone else. I don't have many on this aspect of my list, so I'm gonna start with my dress watch. And I'm going with um what I think is kind of the ultimate Grand Seiko. Uh it also refers their first model. So this is the 2017 L E, which they've kind of remade a couple times since then. So if you couldn't get that one, you know, it's in the details, but it's the SBGW two five two. I'm a huge fan of this watch. I think it's absolutely gorgeous. This is the gold uh the uh the the yellow gold version uh with sort of an opaline white dial. Uh it refers back to uh you know what's typically called the thirty-one eighty, um, which is the first uh first grand seiko. And um I I absolutely love this. I got you know, Enry, our CO has one of these and he kindly lets me wear it occasionally when I'm in New York and used to kick around the office. And it's a fun thing to have on wrist. It's absolutely gorgeous. And it's also um I I like a dress watch, not unlike what I've got on here, but I I like a dress watch that doesn't have to be just for when you're doing the suit I like a dress watch that is still very comfortable. Um I don't want to give up other names, but of course other brands do this really, really well that where where the watch is just comfortable being a watch. Yeah. I totally agree. I I absolutely love that watch and I'll be uh I'll I'll tip my hat here a little bit and say I was going to put the Grand Seco SBGW033, which is the 2011 first reissue, because they've done multiple series of these, it's the little steel one. So it's 36 millimeters instead of the larger 38. Uh I'll change that pick now just so we're not overlapping too close there. Um but I think these Grand Saco first revivals are just absolutely just like perfect stunning watches. Yeah. They nailed them. Yeah. And like you said, James, in yellow gold is just like it's I hate the word classy. Like I think it's a terrible word. Uh yeah, classy'ss like clasy is like saying fancy. Yeah. It's almost dismissive at this point to say that something's classy or fancy. Yeah, but like I like it that they managed to kinda is classy. I think it is kind of classy. Yeah. Yeah. I also find that like personally speaking, I know this isn't opinion that's shared by like the the wider watch enthusiast world. I find a lot of Grand Seiko's to be quite fussy. Um they have a lot of fanciness to them. It's these amazing markers. And it's like they they just kind of pulled it all back to make to to redo this watch. And that's where they started, which is kind of nice.. Yeah And it also comes from a fantastic time for design in general, the early 60s. Uh be it Japanese, Italian, American, whatever. Yeah. Totally. All right. I'm gonna go next. Uh pick three before we get to John, who's in the uh the turn. Uh so John will pick twice back to back after this. So uh I'm gonna I'm gonna go for something here that I have a funny feeling John was going to take 'cause if I don't like I'm I'm screwed here. Uh I'm gonna pick the Rolex GMT Master 2 1267 10 Pepsi on Jubilee. Uh I will preface this by saying: if I had to buy a modern Rolex from the last 10 years, this is not the one I would buy. I would buy the white dial 39mm Oyster Perpetual for me. I have a smaller wrist. I like super, super minimal watches. However, uh, my first vintage Rolex was a vintage Pepsi GMT. Uh, I think if you go outside of maybe the sub and the date just, or maybe the sub and the date date, the Pepsi is so unique and it is so it has so defined Rolex over the last you know over half a century. Now now we're talking like you know two-thirds or three-quarters of a century. And to think that there wasn't a like modern Pepsi GMT for a long time blows my mind. Like the idea that there could be a Rolex catalog without a watch like this in it uh shocks me. And I think, you know, when we got it uh in white gold on an oyster bracelet, it was kind of the same people had the same reaction that they had when Rolex released the platinum uh Daytona before the steel Daytona, where everybody was kind of like, What the fuck are you doing here? Like, why are you messing with us like this? Like, you know what we want. Just give us the damn watch we want. Uh, and the fact that Rolex did it and did it with the Jubilee bracelet, which I think looks awesome on Rolex sport watches. Uh, I'm like currently hunting for one for my explorer actually. Uh I just think this watch is killer, and I I know quite a few people who own them, including some folks on the team. And just like, I I don't know. To me, this is this is one of the the like serious contenders for best watch of the last ten years uh in in my book. Great pick. Stevie cutthroat. That's a great pick. He got to. 'Cause honestly, I'm I'm gonna take a wild guess, John. If I didn't pick this, you were gonna pick the Batman on Jubilee, weren't you? I was uh well yeah, I was gonna pick actually the original Batman because I think it was like it was it was mute and it um and it brought a totally new kind of look to to the GMT, right? Because there hadn't been another um you know, the black and blue just hadn't hadn't been a combination uh that had appeared on a bezel in the past, uh for for the GMT. Uh so I was going to pick it for its novelty. Of course I you know I have the one on the Jubilee. Um but that actually wasn't the first one that I had on my list. It was uh interesting. It was on there for sure for my sport watches, but I had something else. So I'm gonna go ahead and take my first choice. Yeah, wait, so sorry, before you go, just to clarify, I'm picking that as my sport watch. Uh to be to be clear. That's not my wild card, that's my sport watch. Okay. Um all right, John, let's let's go. We got picks four and five here. So hit us hit us with pick number four. And just one other question, just for like rules and clarification purposes. Since your taking the Pepsi takes the uh all GMT masters off the table, it sounds. Um does Cara's selection of the Daytona take uh the rainbow take all Daytonas off the table? I would I would say here let's let's not set a hard rule let's just use common sense here so I would say like if you pick a steel Daytona with a ceramic bezel that',s different. I would say like picking the Batman on Jubilee is like that to me is like a dial color bezel color variation. And I I think it also falls into a different category. I think the ceramic Daytona is substantively different from the rainbow Daytona. That's a fair point. And it serves a different it serves a different purpose, I think. So if you want to go ceramic Daytona, the the eleven sixty five double zero is still is still open for you. Cool. So I I'm I am gonna well here's what I'll do. I'll start with my sport pick, uh, and I'll take what was my number one sport pick, and it's actually not that watch, and I think it may surprise maybe all of you. It's the original Tudor Black Bay Burgundy from 2012. Ooh. That's a strong pick, man. Thank you. Yeah, I mean so this is a uh this is uh a more affordable watch, obviously. Uh but it's a watch that really set Tudor off uh and and made it into the enthusiasts kind of darling that it that it uh has remained. Uh and this came out in twenty twelve. Uh and yeah, I mean I I don't own this watch. Uh I do own a Black Bay, a different version, but I I you know I I wouldn't own the Black Bay that I currently own if this watch hadn't come out in twenty twelve. And so I think it's an incredibly important watch uh you know for for the watch industry, for collectors, uh, and definitely for tutor. So that's my first pick. Uh and then that's your sport watch. That's my sport watch, yeah. It's a good it was a good pick. That's a great pick. Probably one of the most important watches of the of that decade. Yeah. Certainly for Tutor. Yeah, I mean I I I would agree. I think it's probably their most important watch of the decade actually. Just in terms of the uh would it allowed to come after it right yeah return to the US the return to the US actually was yeah it was pegged to that return and yeah so I I I think that's it. Uh in terms of my wildcard, uh I, am gonna go with the ceramic Daytona since it's still on the table. Ooh, interesting. Yeah. So we have no so the black bay, the standard 41 millimeter black bay is off the table. The Rolex GMT is off the table and the Rolex Daytona is off the table and we're at pick number five. Yeah. I mean you knew the the the big picks were going to go fast, right? We knew that. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Uh and so I'm picking this one really for for a very similar reason to uh why Steven took uh you know the ceramic Pepsi. Uh this is a a watch that um, you know, as Stephen mentioned, uh, you know, the platinum version with the blue dial and brown ceramic uh in platinum came out first. Uh enthusiasts were maybe a little bit disappointed by that because it wasn't um kind of bread and butter commercial cut type uh watch that they were hoping for. Um but then I I I think that would have been in like uh I guess it was like four years prior that the uh platinum one came out, then you finally got the uh steel ceramic Daytona. And um I mean it's arguably the the hardest to get, you know, mainline uh uh Rolex sport watch there is, right? Still, years later. Like you still can't get them, which is insane. Even more than the GMTs. I mean it's it's the it's the hard watch to get. Yeah. Yeah. I think those are great picks, John. I think that that's a strong that's a strong start. Greetona and Black Bay is is a good foundation. Yeah. All right. So I'm I'm back on the clock as we snake back the other way in the draft. Um I'm gonna go with my budget pick, because I think it's the highest likelihood of getting taken. Um I struggled with this category because there are so many good options, uh, which is was like really heartening actually. Uh, I feel like we spend a lot of time focused on like the higher price point stuff. And by that I mean, you know, anything three grand and up, you know, is is really predominantly what we spend our time focused on. And it was kind of nice to just go back and see that like, you know, whether whether it's because you're younger or you just have a smaller budget or whatever, like you don't have to spend a stupid amount of money to get a watch that you can enjoy. And so I'm gonna take the Hamilton khaki field mechanical, which came out in 2018. They came out with some some additional colorways in 2019 and 2020, but the original came out in 2018. My first thought when I looked at this watch was where the hell was this watch in like 2007, 2009, when like I could have saved up and bought one of these, you know, like when I was in college uh or like when I was looking to buy my first watch, I wish this watch had existed. I didn't know enough about vintage at the time to like search for like a vintage LL Bean Field watch or whatever. I also sure as hell wasn't able to buy a Rolex Explorer. And this is this is that happy middle ground. It's a modern watch, it's hand-wound, it's time only, it's made really well, it comes in a couple different colors, it looks good on basically any strap, and you get all of that for a grand total of like between 450 and 550, depending on which colorway you want to buy it in, whether it's a PvD finish or not. Um I don't think like pound for pound there's a better deal out there uh in this category. That's my take. Um but I just like I absolutely love this watch and as I was putting this list together uh just kept coming back and back and back to this this piece as my budget pick. So that's where I'm at on this one. You got me there, Steven. That was my number one budget pick. I had a funny feeling. That's a good one. It's a classic. Modern classic, if you will. No doubt. Yeah. Solid pick for sure. That brings it to me, and I'm gonna go with my I'm gonna go with my sports watch. It's also a tutor, and it's the Pelagos Blue. Launched in 2015. I absolutely adore this watch. I've had a chance to dive with it. I have a chance, I've had a chance to uh wear it around, take a lot of pictures of it. I think it's uh I think it's perfect in in many ways. It the weird thing is it's one of those things where um I I think the only reason I don't own one is because I I I keep holding out hopes that they'll make a GMT version. But of course I I could have I could have had the last six years wearing one. Uh if I if I had just uh if I had just you, know, looked beyond you know some of some of the niches in which I like to play. But yeah, for sure. I I just uh it's incredible on the bracelet. It comes with one of the best rubber straps in the world. It arguably has the finest uh buckle fitted to any sports watch in existence, like clasp. Um, it's that the self-sizing spring fed. It's like it's an incredible dive watch, but also doesn't weigh enough to make any difference day to day. If if if you dress like me and exist in my world, you could buy this watch and wear it for 40 or 50 years and be perfectly fine with it. Um I've seen a couple that take uh that have taken a lot of scratches. And once you get through that titanium zone where you have two or three scratches and it turns into like 40 or 50 or 100 scratches, they're gorgeous. Because the br the the bezel doesn't age at all. You know, it's this matte crayon blue in ceramic. Uh I think they're really beautifully made. I like that they're the flagship from a Rolex dive watch standpoint. Like arguably that it it's it's I I you could say that something like a like a sea dweller or the deep sea is is a is a it has a more storied history than the Pelago, so I'll give you that. I don't I would necess I wouldn't necessarily agree that it's any more better as a dive watch. Yeah. I just think they I think they made something super cool. And now the I the funny thing is is they've made they only made three versions, right? Of the Pelagos, the black, the the blue, and the LHD. And I think they don't need to make a fourth, unless it's a GMT, but they don't need to make a fourth. It's just time and date. Because I I feel like that covers their bases super well. The black one's gorgeous. The blue one in my opinion is just more special. Uh and it's a little bit of color. And I like a a watch that's you know has has some color to it sometimes. And then the LHD is is absolutely the the like oddball. Uh so I think uh uh not not as important as what John picked to to the company itself, but I think if you want if you're Rolex, if you're tutor and you want to exist in in the world of super high end dive watches, you kind of need a flagship and and I think this one's perfect. And that cla that clasp alone too. I mean it's just so so nice. So nice. Awesome. I think that's a great pick. Yeah, I think so too. Um CB, you're up now and you're at the turn, so you got two picks back to back. Okay. I have you all of you chosen your sports watch
Cara Barrett ? Uh yeah, I think all of us have picked our sport watch. I have not. I've only picked my wild card. Um I'm gonna pick my complication next. Actually no. I'm gonna do my budget next. And then I'm gonna my budget because I haven't decided what I want to do for complication. For my budget watch, it's going to be any of the Hodinki swatch limit editions because they were a first in this decade, I think four years ago. 2016, Stevie, you were there. Stevie was the was the steer, what was the captain of the launch of the first Swatch limited edition Hodinky. Um, but for aesthetically, I'm gonna pick with the one we just launched because I'm biased and I I just really like the California dial. So that's my budget pick and swatch is just iconic, so you can't really go wrong there. And then I'm gonna pick my complication
Stephen Pulvirent . So before you do that, I I want to go back to the system 51. That was on my short list for budget picks too. Uh and I think I mean I I don't know about you guys. I remember when the system fifty one came out, it it completely blew my mind. Like it was it was such a huge deal, and I think we all kind of take for granted now that this like robot-made, hermetically sealed, all plastic, affordable mechanical watch exists. Uh, but like this came out, I think it like this thing totally changed everything earlier in the decade. Like this, when this came out, everybody was like, holy shit, like Swatch Group has done change the game again, and it's gonna go crazy. And this laid also the system 51 laid the foundation for a bunch of movements that they're now using in like Tissos, and I think there's even a long jeans or two that use these movements. So like the system fifty-one, not just our LEs, but like the system fifty-one in general, I think is actually one of the more like underrated pieces of watch news from the last 10 years. It's an icon. Yeah. Let's see how many times I can use that word in this episode. Car's car's entire collection is icon. Like from the moment it launched from the moment um the system fifty one, that was something that like like everyone I remember being super excited about and it was bec it was affordable enough that like people were buying them like crazy. But it came out uh right around SIHH when it came out, right? And I remember like you could only get it in Switzerland and I remember buying one at the Geneva Airport and my boss of the time buying one and like everybody was just like getting these watches if they could, you know. It was a thing where like when you went to Switzerland, it was people would be like, Oh, oh hey, can you bring me back a system 51? Yeah. All right, C B, what's your complication? Have you made your pick? I've decided
Cara Barrett . I'm gonna do the 5270p from paddock, which is the salmon dial with the black Arabic numerals on it. Um the perpetual calendar chronograph. Obviously not like a new complication for paddock, but aesthetically this watch just really sealed the deal for me on that complication with them. Um obviously they're one of the best when it comes to making that complication. But the black numerals and the they're not black hands, they're kind of like super dark silver and they reflect black or something. Anyways, I just think it like they hit that one out of the park. And it it still it still remains very like fresh and modern while also like a the vintage era when they really kind of killed it in my opinion. So that's my that's my complication. So that's the I think twenty eighteen
Stephen Pulvirent ? I believe I wrote it down. Yes, 2018.. Right So the salmon. Why that one over the I think it's the 15 or the 14 2570 white dial, black onyx markers, no chin
Cara Barrett . I just love the salmon dial with the Arabic numerals. I'm a big Arabic numeral gal. Those black orx markers kill me. Yeah. They're amazing. And that's like something I th I think it's what I what really got me was that it it looks really sporty while also being highly complicated and in precious metal. And I like that kind of juxtaposition and hybrid of kind of like I feel like you could wear it anywhere and so I also like that little diamond in between the lugs.
Stephen Pulvirent Same. Well that's why it's the little diamond in between the lugs is maybe the most gangster thing Paddock does. It might actually it might actually be my favorite thing about the tech. And like like more than the watches, I just love that they put the little diet in. I know. I love pretty round. So that's my pick. Alright. That's that's that's looking good. Uh so then it goes back to I had the fifty-two seventy as my comp. Um I hit the uh hit the lower button on my chair with my calf. All right. We can take that again. We can take that again. I'll stop dancing under the desk. Uh so I had the 5270 on on for my comp as well, but of course I have a backup. Um and I don't think I can get through this list without a travel watch of some sort. Uh, because I gave usually my sport watch would be the travel watch as well. I would have bundled together. Um but um the 2010s doesn't you know, didn't it it there were some excellent travel watches that came out um but not any that that kind of melded th those two together in a way that I I would really want. So this isn't going to come as a surprise to most people, but it's the uh Patek Aquana 5164A. Uh I absolutely I mean it's it still remains probably my it's not realistic. Some sort of a grail watch uh out there, maybe if you know, if the right bank uh happens to be held up by the right person, maybe maybe I see one of these one day. But I I think I think the just the the uh as much as the R isn't credible, I think I would I would want steel I would want it in steel and and then if you had the ability to do so uh I think on the green rubber uh would essentially be I I don't know if I could take it off. Uh I just I I love that watch so much. I totally agree. Uh I saw somebody wearing one of those uh a couple weeks ago uh in line to get a breakfast burrito in Malibu. Uh and was like and was like, that's that guy's fucking doing it right. You know, like this this guy just like went on a hike and is grabbing a like chorizo and egg breakfast burrito, rocking that watch. Like, that's that's my guy. Uh yeah. Almost made a new friend. Sorry, by the way, I just realized saying I saw a guy wearing a Patek in Malibu getting breakfast greenhouse one of the man, I uh uh yeah, guys, I I I appreciate all of you not hanging up on me, uh as I said that. That that was a that was a charity. Um Wow. All right. Well uh I'm I'm passing on to uh to you, Stevie. You got your third pick. What else do we need in Now a boo. Uh none of none of these things. Um I'm muting you again if you do that. Yeah, yeah. From now on you have to call it the boo. The boo. The boo. Cool. The boo. Uh it was up in the boo. Otherwise you get muted. Alright. I'm gonna pick I'm gonna pick my wild card because I think it's the thing most likely to get taken. Uh I think the other two are pretty safe, I think. If not, I'm gonna be real mad. But um as my wild card, I'm gonna take the 15202. Uh the Royal Oak Jumbo 15202 ST, the basic steel blue dial, like no bullshit, no limited editions, no precious metals, just like give me one perfect unit of Royal Oak, please. Uh and this watch was released in 2012, for the 40th anniversary of the Royal Oak. First time I ever saw this watch was on a Houdinky back in the day when it was Ben like I think still at his desk somewhere, uh working as a consultant probably. Uh or in journal actually be in journalism school. And uh this watch is just so damn good. And again, it's another one of those watches that like the the Pepsi I just like can't imagine AP's catalog without this watch, despite the fact that it's another watch you can't buy, like you can't walk into a boutique and even see one in most places. But like I don't know. I think A P over the last ten years has completely refocused its personality and its its kind of uh character away from the like bright, blingy, limited edition, everything offshore chronographs, back to like more reserved, it's about like interesting uses of materials, interesting movements. And like this watch, the fifteen two oh two, not only served as the platform for stuff like the white gold one with the salmon dial, which is awesome, or the yellow gold one with the matching yellow gold dial, I think even more awesome. Perfect. Um, but it also laid the foundation for stuff like the open worked double balance wheel. Like it it laid the foundation for like all of these amazing things that AP's done. Uh and I just like I don't think AP is what it is today without this watch. Uh and I can't imagine the last ten years of watches without AP the way they are. So I'm gonna take that as my watch. I mean there's no ro there's no AP without Royal Oak. Agreed. Yeah. And I and I think the Yeah, they're not around they're not around at all. And I think without the jumbo, the royal oak isn't what it is today. I don't think it's as popular now as as it as it is without the jumbo. Yeah, I would agree. Agreed. That's my wild card. Taking the jumbo. Solid pick. Uh John, you get to pick two times back to back, and then that's the last time you get to pick until the last pick of the draft. Oh, okay. Um I think I'm gonna change something up. This is one that I actually it just honestly I what for for whatever reason I didn't have it on my list, but I really should have uh when we started. Um but I just added it and I'm gonna say for my dress launch, the Credor Ichi 2. Uh I think this is thank you. Yeah. I mean I I want I need I knew that I wanted to have something from like the Seiko family. Uh in my among my picks, uh because I am a Seiko lover. I love Grand Seiko. Uh Credor is something that I can kind of like only dream about. Um, but I think the Ichi Two is um you know it's it's just like a watch that um sets such an incredibly high bar for what is uh possible in terms of what i would say is like that you know credor slash uh very high end great grand seco approach to watchmaking, um, which is just like finishing to an unbelievably high level. Um you know, it's just like but then it also brings uh an innovative movement into the uh that is something that you just you can't get a movement quite like it from any Swiss watchmaker that might be able to uh finish the watch to a comparable level. So it's uh it's a it's a beautiful dress watch uh with uh you know a really beautiful dial um in all of that, all of the the requisite um uh focus on on dial finishing that you or that we would c you know tend to expect from a very high-end Grand Seco or a credor. It's an original movement that's finished really to the nines. And um yeah, I mean I just think it's a very special watch. So I'll take that for my breastwatch. Alright, so are you going platinum white dial, platinum blue dial, or are you going rose gold white dial? Uh I'm gonna go rose gold white dial. Okay. I think that's the choice. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Especially our uh friend friend of the show, shout out to Matt Jacobson, uh wears that watch on like a taupe, like textured strap, one of those like marbled calfskin straps. Uh, and it is just like it's absolute lights out. Yeah. It's it's it's a such a cool watch. That's a that's a real dream watch for me. Um so yeah. Uh I'll take that one for my dress watch. For my what do I have left? I have to pick a I've done sport, I've done dress now. Okay, uh I'll do my complication next. Uh and I'm going to do I'm going to do the Vachron Constantine uh Kevin O T Kevin of T A Celestia Astronomical Gram Complication thirty six hundred. Okay. Because that is a complication. John is going b John just big timed all of us, everybody. Well I mean well if you think I I used my flex on a watch that is I guess, you know, complicated. It's a it's a uh it's a chronograph, but uh it wasn't you know uh it's a flex more like hard watch to get kind of thing than than that super flex. So this is this is my complication, but um you know it's it's also kind of like my flex, I guess you could say. Um yeah. But it's you know this is uh I think it's like 45 millimeters, which is big, but like very wearable, you know, compared to I mean there are there are there are so few watches in the world that even come close in terms of uh how complicated they are, but you know, those watches all tend to be much bigger than this one. This is uh uh I believe it this one came out in like twenty sixteen I think um and it was really um it was a watch that uh showed that this type of uh highly you know complex multi-complication could be packaged as a uh a fairly discrete looking, I mean for for what it has, um uh very wearable wristwatch. And uh yeah, for all of those reasons, uh I'm I'm gonna take this one for my complication, but also my flex. Wild pick. That is that is a wild pick. That was not on any in like any of my notes of like possible backup options or like options at all. But I think that's that's a pretty strong pick. And I think also it it touches on something bigger, which I I I don't know. For me at least I tried to make all my picks like at least have some relevance to like what happened over the last 10 years. And Vashron has like quietly just been kicking ass with complications, inventing new ones, doing really interesting combinations of complications, making these unique pieces through the Cabinetier program. I mean, don't forget they made the most complicated watch in the world, that massive pocket watch. Um so like I think I think a very complicated Vacheron is is quietly like one of the better picks of the draft so far. Oh thanks. And I you know you mentioned you mentioned the that extremely complicated pocket watch in I mean it was so long ago when that came out, but uh if memory serves it, it was kind of was part of a I believe kind of like part of a a plan, right, to to make a watch with all these complications and then um and then be able to kind of like roll them out uh individually or in different you know packages kind of over time. I could we I may want to fact check that, but I I kind of I think they I think that was something that was talked about when it uh came out. I remember when the pocket watch came out, I was working at Bloomberg at the time and they brought it to the office so that we could do like a segment on Bloomberg TV with it. Uh and they had me hold it on Bloomberg TV, like showing the camera. And I was just all I could think is like, God, I hope I don't drop this fucking thing on television. Like that was all that was in was just like, don't drop it. Don't drop it. Please please don't drop like I'm like just like shaking trying not to drop this thing uh on live television, but I didn't, so I'm here instead of in instead of in debtor's prison. So uh cool, cool on that one. Uh I guess it's back to me, right, John? Uh it is, yeah. Sure is. You've all right. You've got uh a what do you need? A dress or uh a complication. Yeah, dress and a complication. I'm gonna take I'm gonna take my dress watch first because I want my complication to be my last pick mostly 'cause I also think it's the thing least likely like it's the le it's the thing least likely to get stolen. Um I will say that I had the I had the Ichi2 on my short list, like my very, very short list. Uh it was that was kind of a toss-up between that and what I'm going to pick for my dress watch, uh, which is the Acribia Chronomet Contemporane. Uh it's a 2018 watch. This might be the watch made over the last decade that I want the most. Um Reg uh it's made by Reg Rjeppi. Uh he's like the nicest dude. He's like m about my age. Like we've had beers in Geneva. He's just like a good human being who also happens to be a spectacularly talented watchmaker. Uh and this watch those watches are bonkers. They're insane. And like most of what he does under the Acrivian name is not my style at all. It's like it's beautifully made, but it's like crazy turbions and like everything's a little bit over the top, I would say. Uh this watch is a very modern take on what a simple dress watch can be. The fact that the movement architecture is perfectly symmetrical, it's finished, I think as well, if not better, than like a Dufour Simplicity. I don't know. Like I and I think unlike a watch, like a simplicity, like I don't know, I could I could I could wear this watch on a more casual strap and wear it with like a t-shirt and be perfectly happy. Uh so yeah. So I'm gonna take the the chronomic Contemporary and I'm gonna take it in platinum with the white dial, not the rose with the black dial. The rose with the black dial is absolutely beautiful. Uh but I think that's like a real dress watch. I like that the other one you can kind of dress it up and down. Good p It's a winner. That's a great watch. I've also very you. You've been you've been uh you've been about that watch for a while. Yeah. It's I think a very predictable pick. Uh I just noticed that three of my four picks are from twenty eighteen. Uh quietly twenty eighteen. No, it was a big year for me. Oh, twenty twenty seventeen was my year. Interesting. Yeah. Interesting. Ton of stuff went down in twenty seventeen. Okay. Uh so James, are you are you like my next pick I was gonna say, are you picking another twenty seventeen watch here? Nice, nice segue. I am, yeah. Uh yeah, for sure. Professional journalist James Stacey. uh my budget pick is uh is a watch that's probably the the uh a brand and certainly the model that would link up to like the closest core to my development as a watch writer and that would be the Halios C4. Yeah uh so this is a easy sub thousand dollars, a six hundred and eighty-five dollar watch when it came out. It's also like you know, I I followed and and was kind of uh birthed into the stream of micro brands back in the early 2010s, uh very early 2010s, I mean end of the two thousands. And this kind of for me was like a turning point where we hadn't become this thing where everything had to be Kickstarter and very flashy and and highly produced and and and and the rest of it to become popular. But it also wasn't something that was just being sold on forums. Instagram was old enough by the time the C4th came along, and the C4th is the fifth or sixth watch in Halios' kind of legacy, their development, but I think it's where they like where Jason really nailed the size, the spec, the price, the color, is we started to see a lot more kind of color variations. And of course these were watches where I I had a series one which we auctioned off for uh for charity. Um a series one pastel dial, no date, 12-hour bezel. I think it's just about a perfect watch, super wearable, not very thick. You could get them in in a more reserved, like black dial, more simplified. And these are watches that like dropped his website, dropped his Spotify, or dropped his Shopify, like could could not keep could not sell them. He had to figure out different methodologies for dealing with the level of of interest in um far further away time zones from Vancouver. So he would drop them in two batches and and it's just not something that was common to the space where a great watch could come out and and maybe the company had the money to make a hundred of them or two hundred of them. And it would take a couple months, they would sell out, then they would start to trickle into watch you seek. This is something else entirely where where he had built up a following across all these other watches. And I I I was, you know, one of the first watches I reviewed um a as a watch writer uh was a very early, the earliest uh halios stuff. And and to see it kind of coalesce to to something that felt like you looked at it and you go like, well, this could stand next to a lot of what I like from Swiss watches at a certain price point. So definitely a bigger price point than what we were paying for it. I absolutely adore it. I do miss that watch. It went to a great home for charity. And I also have um uh a very limited version that they did with uh a retailer in Vancouver called Rolldorf, uh which is a like a black DLC case in this really gorgeous uh metallic green over cream tuxedo dial. Uh and and that that's a watch that I absolutely love. It makes me think of Vancouver, which I feel is my you know kind of my my emotional home. And uh and yeah, I I absolutely love these watches. I think they're they remain huge value. And then that that watch, there's no more seaforths being made, but the aesthetic and and everything that Halley has learned from the Seaforth is paying fourth into the Universa and the Fairwind, which are their you know upcoming models. It was also the the first thing I wrote for Hodinky under my own byline. There you go. Was uh was a uh uh hands on with the the C fourth pastel. So that was way back in twenty seventeen. Thank you. That's a watch I immediately associate with you. I'm I'm glad it made it in the sick watch big fan definitely I'm also glad we got a micro brand in here. Like I, think that's another one of the like trends over the last 10 years that we we haven't really touched on here. Is there's just been an explosion We should do a microbrand draft for sure. Yeah, for sure. But there there's been an explosion of small brands popping up and people who were just passionate about watches who found a way to kind of make this either a living or a hobby or whatever. And uh yeah, I had a couple little micro brand watches on my uh on my list, on my long list. For sure. I mean uh to to pick the Halios that there were a couple and and I don't know if has everyone else made their budget. I have not no So I I won't bring this up because John I hope you pick the one that I couldn't because we could only pick one. Um, because there there were some I I think hugely influential watches. There is a a hugely influential watch in the sub five hundred dollar space that we haven't talked about, um uh that I that I think kind of brought a huge wave of people back into um entry-level watches. And uh but I I think that Halios has to has to be seen on on a list like this. Definitely in for me, uh I want one in my collection. And if we're talking about five watches, it would be my budget pick easy. Grit money well spent. Nice. All right. Uh CB, you're gonna make your last two picks and then each of us will get to make one more pick and that that rounds out the draft. So what what are you using to round out your collection? What are your last two picks? I have dress and sport.
Cara Barrett Okay. Um so my dress choice is Not how do I say this? I don't think it's like a groundbreaking choice, but if we're picking like watches for our a collection that we would hypothetically wear, um I would pick the Cartier uh Mayon de Cartier, which they actually just came out with last year. I have been secretly harboring a big crush on bracelet watches, like ladies dress bracelet watches. Um it's been kind of I feel like I look back at like how I like started with watches and it was like men's only and then now I've kind of like circled back to kind of more jewelry focused pieces because they have their own merits and I think that they are worth talking about. This one is something that was inspired by the 70s. It's really simple. It's just a gold bracelet. And if I have to wear it with a cocktail dress, then I think it looks best as a bracelet. So that's my pick for dress. I know you guys were vying to choose that for yours, but that's a great that's a great
Stephen Pulvirent watch though. Yeah. It's a great watch and it's and it's I'm I'm glad that we got Cartier on the on the draft as well. Yeah. I mean they're kinda for me
Cara Barrett Cartier is like dress watch, no like the braininer. like no bra Um and then I left my sport to last. And this one was tricky for me because obviously there's so many amazing sports watches that have come out in the past decade and like we're living in the era of steel sports watches, so it's kind of impossible to pick just one. Um, I think you know the OP39 was there for me, but I didn't upset too many people because it's it's been discontinued. I don't want to ruffle those feathers. So I wanted to pick something that was a little bit more um kind of representative of of of the past decade design-wise. Uh so I went with the optofinissimo in titanium. Super thin bracelet, really comfortable. It's a luxury sports watch, to say the least, but at the same time, it's still a sports watch. It's really lightweight and durable. And I just think that design is so different from anything else. Um, you could argue it's similar to the Royal Oak, but just the profile of it alone makes it a completely different. That's it. And I think that it we it wouldn't be the twenty teens without mentioning Bulgary's um kind of foray into the men's watch market and how they really have been like pushing the boundary not only technol technologically but also aesthetically. So that's my sports pick. Good pick. Not what I expected
Stephen Pulvirent . I know, but you thought I was going to go there's a big one hanging that nobody's picked yet, and I think I think everybody's sports picked are made. I think so at this point. So I'm I'm kind of blown away because I didn't even bother putting it on my list because I assume it would be the first pick by one of you guys. Which one? Yeah. I mean we quit. Yeah, there's a game left to play. There's time on the clock, Kara. No no name it no name and picks until we're done. When we're done, we'll we'll talk about it. And we'll we'll also do when we recap the results of this, uh, we'll also do a little bit of a post-mortem because I think it's worth looking back and saying, like, okay, what didn't get picked? Uh, what would we change about our picks if you could add a sixth watch? So we'll be doing all that in a future episode so keep keep keep those notes in mind. Okay, okay, okay. I just want to like to be well rounded. So totally. Yeah. It's a good stack for sure. James, you want to take your last pick? Yeah. So mine's my wild card and if I'm honest, I I'm I'm still really, really split on what I'm picking. Uh because one is I think the natural pick for a the wild card I think there is one natural winner for the wild card watch of the 2010s. Um but there's one that means way more to me. Okay. Uh and I think I'm gonna go with that one. And that would be the one of one Vashron Constantin dual time prototype. Oh yeah. Uh so they made it in titanium with uh with a a wove sort of fabric style strap and Cory Richards who was kind enough to come on the Grenado, uh who's a an exceedingly talented photographer and adventurer, uh and and fun enough they,'re actually redoing this project now. But uh back when when that came out in uh uh twenty eighteen, um he and a partner were were attempting a route of Everest that had never been done before, a virgin route. And then on top of that, we're doing so without Sherpa support and without uh uh supplemental oxygen, uh, which is a an a remarkable task. It didn't work out as these things quite commonly don't. Um if if they done it on their first try, it would have been remarkable, but also, you know, just how the dice go. Um anyways, I got a chance to see this watch in person. I I like that it's a one of one. It's worth a fraction of the other one I was thinking of. And it recently sold at auction. So someone out there does have it. Maybe someday it'll be mine. Who knows? I love this watch. I really love Corey. He gave a fantastic interview that an interviewer such as myself does not deserve, which is very kind of him. And uh and I really I've I've been following his work since then. So that that one's more of a personal pick for a a fun moment from the last decade. I was down in New York, you know, it was a nice night in Brooklyn and getting to hang out with some neat people and and so often um you guys can appreciate this because you'll hear me complain about it occasionally on the slack or whatever. When I'm assigned to deal with third party figures in the watch world, they're usually athletes and I don't know anything. about sports James, I thought you were Mr. Swords. For sure. It's always it's always, well, this this guy's a very famous person who's like a very important person. And I'm like, I've never heard his name before. Uh it happened like two one meeting ago. Someone brought up someone's name and they're like, this is a huge get. It's incredi. And I'm I'm like, I'm nodding. Uh-huh. And I'm like Googling the person's name. I'm like, oh, he's a basketball player. Okay, cool, cool, cool. He shoots shoot shooting the threes Three pointers. Move the chains. Only threes. Move the chains. Yeah, you got it. It's a it's an offensive game. Um but yeah, that it's fun for me that it was from a a world that I have endeavored to understand. I've read a lot of books about mountaineering. I've done a little bit of it myself and to meet kind of like a an alpinist photographer with this really rad watch from a company that I simply adore. I would love to one day own a Vascheron Constantine, even if it's not this one, just a Vashron Constantine. Yeah. Uh I it was it was just a special moment. It's one I think of uh with some frequency. Yeah. I think that's an awesome choice. I love that. That uh was another one not on my radar. Uh but keep keep notes on what you think was the perfect wild card pick, because we'll do that in the recap. I'm I want to know what that is. Oh, I think uh no, I guess we can't pick it. Okay. Also, let's say let's save it. Alright. Alright, so for my last pick, uh I'm gonna pick a watch that I don't I don't think would be on anybody else's radar. Um I purposefully tried to come up with something that I thought was was kind of out of the ordinary. Um I am not somebody who owns complicated watches. You know, I've owned a couple of them in the past, calendars, chronographs. I always end up selling them. I just don't I just don't need them. Like I just don't enjoy it at the end of the day. Uh so I was trying to think of what would be a a like very me complication pick. Uh and I picked the Longa One Turbion Handwerkskunst uh from 2014. I was in Dresden for the release of this watch. Uh and it is it's a total bomb. It's unbelievable. And I've I've since then only seen one in the wild. They made 20 of them. Uh, and I happened to be chatting with a collector at an event we hosted in maybe like 2017. Uh and I knew he's a big manga collector, and I was like, Oh, what do you have on your wrist tonight? And he just casually was like, oh this. And like my jaw hit the floor. Um this watch is it's the first time Langa ever did a black enamel dial. Uh and they made them in-house. They made them themselves. Um it looks like a pretty basic Longa One if you look at it quickly. Uh and then you notice this huge sheet of black enamel, which is crazy. It essentially just looks like black glass, um, because it is essentially just black glass. Um and then the longer one turbion, I love that you can see the turbion on the front, but only kind of. Like if you want to see the full view, you have to turn the watch over. But from the front, there's like a little cutout and you get this beautiful sort of like swooping mirror-polished bridge. I just, I love Longa. This watch to me is Longa flexing about as hard as they possibly can, but doing it in a way that feels very them. Like they're not trying to compete with anyone. They're not trying to prove anything to anyone. They're just like, yeah, we're a long and zona and we make some of the best watches in the world. Duh. Like it's uh I I just love it. And this one's really, really stuck with me. Again, I I like I saw it in twenty fourteen in December or yeah, I saw it in late twenty fourteen when it came out. Uh and then I didn't see one again until twenty seventeen and haven't seen one since. And somehow this is still a watch I find myself thinking about probably more than I should. More than is healthy for a $200,000 watch that I couldn't buy even if I had the money. It's a solid pick. I've never seen I know I know the watch you're speaking of. I've certainly never seen it in person, but I had the the Longa One refresh, the twenty fifteen with the new you know, uh from the outside being a Longa you wouldn't necessarily know, but they're they made some significant movement changes and such in in twenty fifteen and and kind of relaunched the the one. But for to to go to go complic I mean go complicated, right? So I get it. Let's killer watch. Thanks, man. What a brand. Yeah, what a brand. Uh you wanna take us home, John? You wanna you wanna close this close this thing out? Let's do it. Um so as we've gone through this, I think one kind of category of watch that we haven't uh selected yet uh is the quartz watch, right? That's true. No quartz picks. And those are those are they're on the table. We can they're they're available to us if we want to pick them. So for my budget. Oh that's true. The Mayon Decartier is courts. Oh that's right. Okay. So this so this will be the second one then. But uh for um uh for my budget pick I'm gonna go with uh a QTimex. Um which uh I happen to have the the Hodinki one. That's the one I have. But you know, this could be any of them. The one that I was actually thinking of when I when I put it on the list was uh the one Cole wrote about, the like the original one that they came out with. Um not not the original, original, but like the uh the one from I think twenty nineteen um and kind of s you know set the internet on fire when he when he covered it. Um uh when I got the the hodinky one and and and started wearing it it's it's honestly was one of the few watches I own that my wife ever like stopped me and grabbed my wrist and was like, that is a great looking watch. Um you know, I the the bracelet and um just kind of like the the small form factor uh or the uh the very wearable form factor. I mean that that bracelet is great. Um and it's a watch that really kind of snuck up on me. I I got it because I just wanted to wanted to have it um when it came out. I thought it would be a nice thing to have. But then I put it on and I ended up wearing it uh a lot toward the end of last year. Um and I've been wearing it a uh well, I haven't worn it yet in this new new year, but uh I I imagine I'll you know be wearing it a lot in 2021 as well. Um it's a good good budget pick. Uh and you know I don't want to hate on quartz watches. I think they they can be cool too. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. That's a great pick. Um I think that that does it for us. We've got four collections, five watches each. We left dozens of absolutely awesome watches on the table. Like I feel like angry. I know. There are some people who are angry listening right now. Yeah. Blame for so many. I know. I I kinda honestly hard. I was going back over my list this morning as w as I was doing like final, final prep for this and I was like, oh shit, what can of worms did I open here? Like this is Yeah. Uh I think we each could have been a little bit
Cara Barrett do another round with other editors because honestly there were so many level people and I think they're
Stephen Pulvirent uh it was hard. I agree. This could be the East Draft. We'll do we'll do a West Draft. Oh, that's a good point. Should we do divisions here? What? Uh let's let's save I I only know East and West Draft. I didn't let's save let's save most of the recap stuff for the the follow-up episode. Because we've we've got plenty here for people to listen to. Let's let people digest this and vote on their own their own ideas. Um let's do this in the order we draft it in. So, Kara, how about you go first and just walk us through your five picks? Tell us the category and the watch, and then we'll move on. And it'll go Kara, James, me, and John. And that'll that'll close us out for today. Okay
Cara Barrett . Um, okay, so my draft picks are were, I'm not really sure the tents. Um sport was octofenissimo in titanium with the bracelet. Dress was the uh Cartier maillon de cartier maillon maillon i'm not really sure how to say that complication was the 5270p and my budget was any of the swatch in Key System fifty ones, but specifically the one that came out last year. And my flex was the rainbow from 2018. All right. That's a that's a very carabaric collection. It is. I it it almost might be it might be too much. It might be too much car
Stephen Pulvirent . All right. We'll see. Let the we will let the people decide. Not up to us. Not up to us. Up to fate. My five in the same order. Uh sport was Pelagos Blue. The dress was the SBGW252 from uh Grand Seiko. I had uh my complication is the 5164A, preferably with a green strap. My budget was a Halio C4th. Pick your series. I don't think it really matters. They're all great. And finally, my wild card was the Vacheron Constantin Dual C's Overtime One of One in Titanium for Corey Richards on Everest. Man. There's the five. Again, a very James Stacy collection. Yes. Oh, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh I think I'm going to end up falling into the same trap, which is uh my sport watch is the Rolex uh GMT Master 2 with the Pepsi Bezel on the Jubilee bracelet from 2018. Uh my dress watch is the Acrivia Chronomec Contemporane in platinum with the white dial. My complication is the A Longenzona Lange One Turbion Hansbergkunst. Hopefully I can get through that word. Also from 2014. And then my budget pick is the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical from 2018, probably just the basic one, the bead blasted case and the black dial. Uh and then my wild card's gonna be the AP Royal Oak jumbo, the 15202 ST, the original jumbo from 2012. Alright. So my sport pick will be the Tudor, uh, original Tudor Black Bay uh with the burgundy bezel uh from 2012. My uh dress watch will be uh Creador Ichi2. I'll do the white dialed uh version with a gold case. Um and that's from 2014, I believe. Uh uh my complicated watch will be the uh Celestia, the Bash Basharone, this incredibly complicated uh complicated uh uh wristwatch with you know calendar functions and uh all kinds of um celestial complications, etc. Um uh but it's still you know a very wearable package. I think that was 2016. My budget will be uh QTimex. Um I happen to own one and I love it. And um you know it's one of the few watches that uh my wife tends to compliment whenever I put it on and she sees it. Um and then my flex uh is uh a steel ceramic daytona, we'll say with a white dial. Um maybe not a flex uh in the expected sense, but you know, I mean it's an incredibly hard watch to get and um you know, it's so I I i I think it qualifies as a flex. So I'll I picked uh it's a it's a literal flex. It's a literal flex, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Uh awesome. Well, I think we got four good collections here. Again, we left a ton on the table, but it's because we're picking twenty watches from the last ten years, which is is a fool's errand to begin with, but uh it's a fool's errand. Who made us do this anyways, Stevie? Who made us do this anyways? Yeah, it's my fault. It's my fault. It's all right. It's cool. I could blame it on Gray, but I won't. I'll I'll take I'll take full responsibility for this one. But uh this was super fun. It was good doing this with you guys as a reminder to everybody listening. Hit the show notes. There will be a link to the post on hodinky.com or you can just go to hodinky.com um and vote on which collection you like best. Um we will then in a couple weeks come back and do a little like recap episode here. So we'll tell you who the winner is, who the what what do we decide is the less winner is what we're calling it, who the less winners are. Uh and then we'll uh we'll talk through some of the the kind of like idiosyncrasies of taking on a a project like this and you know the watches we we didn't get a chance to talk about today. Um so thank you to everybody for listening. Thank you to you guys for participating in this. Really appreciate it. And uh this was this was a fun one. May the best uh best collection win.