Geneva Watch Daze¶
Published on Tue, 7 Sep 2021 10:00:00 +0000
The Swiss are back and at it again. Here's our recap of the big trade show.
Synopsis¶
In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, host James Stacey takes over from Stephen Pulvirent and brings together a panel of Hodinkee editors to discuss the major watch releases from Geneva Watch Days. Joining James are Senior Editor John Bughes, Editor Cole Pennington, and Brand Editor Logan Baker. The team dives deep into the biggest stories and most exciting watches from the show, despite none of them being able to attend in person due to ongoing pandemic restrictions.
The conversation covers a wide range of releases, with Bulgari emerging as one of the standout brands of the show. The team discusses the new Octo Roma world timer, a central tourbillon that hints at the Daniel Roth legacy, and the return of the Gerald Genta Mickey Mouse watch. Other highlights include the Oris Aquis Date Upcycle with its innovative recycled PET plastic dial, Grüebel Forsey's final GMT Earth in titanium, and the new Doxa 600 Ti in Pacific blue. The panel also explores Ulisse Nardin's new Chronometry collection, H. Moser's asymmetric perpetual calendar Streamliner, and Parmigiani's refreshed Tonda PF line.
Beyond Geneva Watch Days, the discussion touches on Audemars Piguet's new Royal Oak Offshore chronographs in 42mm, which harken back to the original 1993 design, and Hublot's recent signing of tennis legend Novak Djokovic as a brand ambassador. Cole Pennington shares his experience attending Couture in Las Vegas, noting how quickly the industry has returned to pre-pandemic normalcy. Throughout the episode, the team brings their individual perspectives and expertise, creating an engaging conversation that captures both the technical aspects of watchmaking and the broader cultural context of the luxury watch world.
Links¶
Transcript¶
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| James Stacey | Hey everyone, James here again. Just a heads up for anyone that missed last week's episode that I have taken over Hodinky Radio from my good pal, Stephen Pulverant, and we're trying something new. Pulling from all sides of Hodinki's impressive pool of talent, the next several episodes will bring you inside Hodinky with in-depth chats about our biggest stories, conversations from all over the world of watches, and all the enthusiasm that you can expect from a revolving group of our team. Heartfelt thanks to all of you who reached out in support of Hodinki Radio's new format and would-be host, myself. Each and every message was so kind and your support means so much. But hey, as it's probably too early to start phoning it in, let's get to it. It's the first show after Geneva Watch Week, so today we've got watches and more watches and then, you know what? Even more watches. To go over all of this with me, please welcome my panel of esteemed co-workers. First up, Hodinky Senior Editor and my consiglieri for all things food and drink, the ever affable John Bughes. How are you, John? Doing well, man. Uh thanks for having me on. Uh next up he goes by Iceman. I lovingly call him Chili P. Don't let the stern demeanor fool you 'cause he's got a heart of pure gold. Another editor, it's Cole Pennington. How we doing, Cole? I'm doing all right. Thank you for saying I don't have a heart of Ice either. So thank you. Nah, pure gold, I know you. Finally, I like to say he's got the flow and the no as his watch knowledge is easily as impressive as his truly incredible hair. We've got brand editor Logan Baker. What's going on, Logan? Hey man. Excited to be on the show. Yeah, it should be a fun one and you know I'm I'm thrilled to have you fellows on the show to uh chat about it with me. So I mean what we're talking about on this episode is arguably the big return of the Swiss watch fair with Geneva Watch days after, you know, an extensive kind of international break from these sorts of things, at least at at the level we were used to previously. John, you spearheaded a lot of our coverage of the show. You know, from your point of view, how are you feeling about Geneva Watch Days? How how do you think the show has gone? Yeah, I mean, I think it's been uh a pretty strong show. I think um, you know, the number of brands showing and the number of watches that we saw, I don't think quite matched what we saw from Watches and Wonders, but we did see a lot of participation from a lot of big brands. We saw Bulgury dropped a lot of stuff. Ulist Nardin dropped a whole new collection. You know, overall, some really neat watches. You know, MBNF had a had a cool clock. I mean, I'm sure we'll get into all of like the specifics of the stuff, but I think you know, for a show that is not in one place that is both digital and um physical but is kind of like spread out through uh throughout the town of Geneva I thought um it was pretty well organized and um with you know some cool watches. So what stood out for you, I know you covered a a lot of it firsthand. Uh w what was kind of the stuff that actually you saw the assignment or picked it put your name next to it on a spreadsheet that you're actually kind of excited to read about and learn about? Yeah, I mean I think you know for me the big brand showing here or you know certainly one of the big brands showing here was Bulgary. And um yeah, so I mean I think you know they had uh some new Octos uh in the Octo Roma collection, not the Octo Finisimo, they they did finissimos earlier in the year. But you know, the Octou Roma world timer was very cool, uh, featuring a you know a new in-house world time movement from those guys. They had a central Torbion, which, you know, while very much a bulgary, if you look at it, it kind of hints at uh the old Daniel Roth legacy uh of the Bulgari brand in a way that you don't see a lot. You tend to see the the the Genta side of things coming through more on that side. And and granted, it is an octo, so you know you see that as well. You know, and then of course Bulgari had a bunch of ladies' watches too. They had uh the Divina Mosaica watches and the Diva's Dream, which are really all about, you know, Bulgari as a jewelry maker, which, you know, they've been really doing amazing stuff as a watchmaker, but you know, you have to remember that their core competency and where they came from is jewelry and uh they really kind of hit it out of the park with those, including um some really nice gem set pieces. Yeah, that's them kind of sticking to their roots but also still a flex in the watch space. So that's what we'd get it in uh in Geneva rather than through some other release. That's uh some of those are really cool. And it's another one of those things where the it's another yet another example of like watches that I think if you just saw them quickly in your feed or maybe on your Instagram, you'd scroll right by. But they're worth a closer look because even if they're not maybe meant for you, they're still really fantastic uh pieces of watchmaking and examples of what makes a company like Bulgarie so talented and capable of doing stuff like that. And then probably, you know, for me, like the most fun watch was uh the return of Mickey Mouse uh to the Gerald Gento watches. You know, Bulgari in the last few years has uh made a habit of of releasing one Gerald Genta branded watch per year to keep things fun. And uh this year it was you know arguably the most iconic Gerald Genta uh watch of them all, uh Gerald Judd a branded watch, I should say. Nine Yeah. That's uh there's a lot of icons there. Yeah, he made some other icons too, but they they would be under other brand names. In Mickey Mouse. And yeah, of you know following character watch week, you know, to have a a brand new kind of high profile Mickey Mouse watch. And it's a pretty c I mean, I I don't have a lot of a taste for Mickey Mouse on a watch dial, but it is a good looking watch, you know, regardless of what the say the handset or the characterfulness of it is. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I I think think, yeah, the thing that's always stood out to me as kind of cool about the Genta Mickeys is that they're so like undeniably high-end, whereas many uh many of the character watches and Mickey watches in particular that you see out there, uh while really cool and fun, they're they're more like um you know three digit prices. Uh but the gentle ones from the beginning, you know, the first crop of them that came out had like diamonds on them. They're they've always been, you know, trying to elevate cartoon kitsch kind of uh you know, mass market entertainment fun in a in a you know really resolutely um luxurious way. And I think James, you brought up a kind of fun point there that it did come on the heels of Character Watch Week and that was a total coincidence. I mean, I I I'm'm not sure who came up with the original idea for character watch week, but we didn't know about this bulgory until you know right before Geneva Watch Days. And that kind of that worked out really nicely, I think. You know, maybe maybe uh the LVMH brass is keeping keeping their eyes on us. They're like, oh, get it out quick. |
| Cole Pennington | Slap Mickey on something. Or it's the other way around. And they s had a secret meeting with our executives unbeknownst to all of us and they planned everything. You know, you never know. Shadowy Mickey watch. There's a shadow government within Hodin |
| James Stacey | . The Mickey Mouse cabal. The conspiracies abound. Yeah, for sure. Okay, so if we if we look at the the wider b,ulgary kind of spec, what what do you guys think of the world timers? I I I think I mean I love a world timer and a the a modern take on a world timer will always be interesting to me. And I I think it really suits the watch nicely. Yeah, I thought it was really really quite nice. You know, the the first thing that I'll say I will say when I saw it was it reminded me of a another world timer that came out uh about a year or two ago, and that was the the Shopard L U C World Timer. Yeah, for sure. Um it kind of played with the same kind of finishes. Obviously, the Okta case is very different, but I just I kind of saw that and I saw some, you know, kind of inherent similarities, and I I really like both of those watches, but um I did kind of notice the that comparison. But overall I thought it's a successful watch doing kind of what it needs to be for someone that wants a complicated Octaroma. I think it works. Yeah, and pricing i is also under ten grand, which John like that's kind of the line that the Octo kind of sits at, right? Like sometimes a little over, sometimes like substantially over, but for the most part that's the zone. Yeah, I think so. I mean I think uh yes, I mean sometimes it's we have like six figure watches, right? Yeah, yeah. But like I think generally speaking, um there are good deals in um Octoroma, Octofinissimo, you know, I can think of competition for those watches that would cost more, you know. So uh they they always feel Yeah, and I I guess if if you wanted to spend more money, you could always go with the uh turbion, right? Exactly, right. I do think it's really cool just to see how many uh central Torbions we are seeing these days. I mean, we we saw the cross studio one uh a couple weeks ago that really builds on an interesting patent that Marco Tadeshi worked on. Um I spoke with him recently and kind of learned more about that watch that I'm hoping to put into uh a different story soon. There's the the Kerbidons Whirly Bird that uh is the largest Torbion in uh current production. Uh there's of course Omega, who kind of uh has their own central Torbillon patent and now we have Bulgarian the mix. So I think there's a really interesting mix of kind of two major label brands in uh Omega and Bulgari with you know producing an option in the Central Torbillon genre or category. And then we have kind of these two smaller independent firms in uh curbedons and cross studio. Um you know formerly Romain Jerome RJ, but uh kind of doing their own things under the cross studio uh banner. And Cole, I don't know, may maybe you stand in a similar position for me about you know generally not caring a ton about turbions. But this is a good looking watch. Where where do you land on the on the new stuff from Bul |
| Cole Pennington | gry? The truth of the matter, I didn't really have enough time to really think through it and I haven't seen the watches. However, I will say before joining Hodiki didn't re after the Octo did. So now every release I think about more and more. And I at least look forward to kind of working through it mentally. And I would say I don't know. I I like the watch overall, but there were other watches in this show that I think stood out to me that I have more more thoughts on. So take us there. What what what uh what stood out for you from the list? Well I'm gonna leave the doxa for you to talk about, but that certainly stood out to me. So it's great, great looking thing. And I covered the predecessor during eighties watch week. |
| James Stacey | So that was a good Aubrey era story I used uh to link back when I wrote mine so I didn't have to write a history. Well |
| Cole Pennington | you're welcome, James. Yeah, yeah. I think uh some of the Of the Auris pieces stood out to me. And we'll go from bulgary all the way to the other end of the spectrum. I was assigned to write this one on Rega, which I thought was super fascinating and again is represents the best of what Aurus tends to do, which is storytelling and encapsulating an idea, an organization, a cause, something in a watch. And it kind of sent me down the Rega rabbit hole to understand what what exactly they were, because they're an organization that's unlike anything else in any country that I'm aware of. It's actually a a non-profit, sort of like a what I finally landed on was that it was like a um a private security force that a community might hire or something. There are members and everyone pays into it. And then if you do end up getting stranded in the mountains, have a skiing accident. Keep in mind this is not a publicly funded thing at all. So you can call on the service and they will rescue you. Right. Well they they let the Saint Bernards loose, right? I didn't see any of the Saint Bernards, but I know that is a big Swiss vote. It's too bad. Because you wouldn't want those things getting blown away by some of the choppers there that Yeah, well that's that's the thing. So the Rega is just absolutely cool. And I really enjoyed seeing that. It was blown away that a country or a nation, rather a community, let's say community, can come together and figure out how to privately offer a service that usually the public sector picks up. And um I just thought that was absolutely fascinating. And it only works in a community like Switzerland. So that was the thing that stood out the most to me was that Oris Rega watch |
| James Stacey | , which this is the second one they've done. I remember the uh watching that uh the Red Bull sponsored documentary on YouTube called The Horn. Yep. Um which was I that was Zermat, right? Yeah, I think so. There's yeah. So those guys apparently were are funded in a similar in a similar way. Where a lot of people who want to use the backcountry in the mountains and such have to pay in not like an insurance policy as much as a like a support it so we were around when you're around. It's a neat idea. Right. And that makes total sense. Yeah. Very Swiss. Uh very functional. Yeah. I got to write up the Oris Aquas date up cycle, which uh is kind of the brand's second foray into using PET recycled plastics. Uh the previously was for uh ocean conservation limited edition and they put like a little medallion of the plastic in the case back. Now for this new model, which is a Salita-based unit, so to the lower price point than some of the the more expensive in-house Aqua stuff. But the new model is um actually uses a PET dial. I actually think it's a really fascinating way of of incorporating an aesthetic of something like recycling or conservation into a luxury product rather than have it be the box that it came in or the you know, some of the proceeds go to this or that. It's a little bit more like you get to not a little bit, it's literally you get to take a piece of it with you. That's cool. Uh what did you guys think of this? It's in a thirty six point five millimeter and a forty one point five, uh about twenty three hundred bucks for either one on a bracelet. So I recently have been |
| Cole Pennington | on a quest to find and this is you'll see how this all comes together, but recently I've been trying to find bar tape from the nineties for my bicycle. Okay. It looks exactly like the dial of this auris. So I finally found it, wrapped my bike and I was thinking, damn, that auris really matches the bar tape perfectly. You know that sort of confetti pattern, like rainbow, it it looks exactly like the dial. So yeah, for sure. When I saw it, I was thinking, wow, that's super, super cool. Would love to ride my bike with that bar tape and that dial. Yeah, |
| James Stacey | for sure. What do you guys think? Yeah, I've got to say I absolutely love it. You know, I I wasn't sure when I first heard kind of the the plan behind it that it would translate, but I think I think it was a huge success. I I really like it. Over the past couple months, I've kind of been hitting the menswear sales a little little harder than I should be and I've found myself kind of going in a more uh rainbow direction with like my clothing options. Finding more color. Yeah, finding more color, like really leaning on like pinks and purples and kind of paisley and stuff like that. And you know, I found that this dial really spoke to me in kind of the the direction I've been going with, you know, my my other clothing and and whatnot. And you know, I just picked up my first Oris, uh, you know, the the Hodinki Caliber 400 Diver 65 Oris. I'm wearing it right now. How do you like it? I well one, I love it. Uh we can talk more about that later. But even though I just bought this one, I'm already thinking like, you know, my second aurus needs to be the the aqueous upcycle because it is just such a striking design that really is fun, different. It has a story behind it, kinda like what Cole was talking about with the the Riga Rega. How how do you say it, Cole? You're gonna have to ask someone from Switzerland to be honest. But my you know, I'm um need to see how the thirty-six and a half millimeter fits because you know we all know that the aqueous wears uh smaller than its dimensions usually say, thanks to those um the lugs. So I'm I'm wondering if that might be too small for me. So I might have to go with the forty-one and a half millimeter. And then, you know, I I feel like since each dial is different, I would need to like see like twenty of them and then pick my favorite one. I don't want to just like buy one and then have it show up at my door and you know, I I'd really want to pick the the one that kind of plays with color in the way that I I like it the most. So well it's helpful that we uh we carry that one in the shop so you might actually get a chance to see more than one in one place. So that's that's the hope, right? John, what what'd you figure on these? I think the it's it's the dial of the show, in my opinion. Uh if you know if you're looking at all all the dials of all the watches that that came out, I think it's the certainly the most visually arresting one. And um I think it's I think it's really cool. And I think you know you guys all make a good point about how so often it's like the packaging or maybe a strap. I mean Oris has d has done the that where it's that's tie-in and and to have it be the dial, I think is just very cool. For sure. And yeah, Cole, I know you went to Couture and Oris are showing there and and at least I'd seen on an Instagram post that someone had taken a picture of like a board that listed all of the kind of conservation spec models. And you don't realize in my mind it was six or seven, and it's like twenty. It's really impressive. So it's it's definitely something that brands are working their way up to. Uh it came up in the comments, somebody was asking like what happens with UV exposure because it's plastic, right? And uh I was able to go back and check with Oris and it turns out they like had an independent lab actually, like do UV exposure and heat exposure and things like that to the to the dials, and apparently they don't they don't discolor in any uh conceivable way. The other thing that that that kept coming up to me as I was editing the the images is the choice to go with the gray ceramic insert to avoid more color that might compete with the dial, I think was like kind of just the perfect little touch was to go with that uh with that insert. Um speaking of kind of gray tones, we've got a couple interesting titanium watches. Do we want to start at the top end? Logan, you can talk about uh the the end of this uh kind of line from Grubaforzi. Oh yeah, for sure. I mean I love this watch. I love it in titanium too. What a neat idea. Yeah. No, uh James, I think you and I are kind of the the biggest Gruble Forcey fans on staff. I mean, everything that Grubble does I find interesting. There is kind of no I don't know, it just everything they do pushes the limit aesthetically from a traditional finishing standpoint, from uh kind of I don't know, just just everything is so entrancing, I find, and there's no bullshit to it. You know, it's everything is out there and is worth kind of thinking about and exploring. And um the GMT, you know, it it kind of puts you know, to get a little out there, it it kind of puts our place in the world on display. And you know, I know that our work has been doing that with the UR one hundred coal, which you wrote up the most recent one. Oh yeah. But I think the the group one is kind of even more effective in a way uh because you you literally see uh the entire world uh of this very detailed globe and you can see it from all angles. There's literally kind of a sapphire inset on the case band so that you can see the equator and then you turn it around and you can see the um, you know, lower hemisphere. And it's just such an interesting piece. And um, you know, this is supposed to be the kind of them retiring their GMT watches. The GMT Earth, of course, is kind of the most uh recent evolution of the GMT line from Krubal 4C, which started all the way back in 2011, so 10 years ago. I can't imagine, you know, this is probably the their most identifiable watch. I can't imagine this is the end of it for all, you know, for for good. I imagine we'll see kind of the evolution of the GMT concept maybe in a different way. You know, maybe they'll expand the globe, you know, like we've been seeing from Arnold and Sun in a in a different way, of course. Oh right, where it's the yeah, more more like the whole dial. Or you know, we'll see it paired with a different complication. But I I can't I, just can't imagine that this is the end of GMTs at at Gruble. And it goes back to something I I talked about in my story, a conversation I had with Stephen Forcey a few years ago, where, you know, when they first when Robert Grubbel and Stephen Forcey first first started working together, of course they're um graduates of the Renault uh Puppy School. I probably just butchered that, but um you know, when they first started working together at their own firm, they were told that everything had already been done, that nothing they could do would be new, nothing they could do would be exciting enough. And they kind of keep that mantra close to their heart with everything they do. And you know, as they were going around back in the the late 2000s, everyone wanted a GMT watch much like they do today. And so they they came up with you know their original GMT watch as a way to prove that showing the second time zone, there are still new ways to do that. There's still new ways to illustrate our relationship with traveling, with kind of the world around us. And I find what's so interesting, especially in these times where we aren't traveling, but many of us own GMT watches and kind of you know wear them just around the house or outside. They're one of the most popular complications for a reason. It's a way to show our relation with everyone else around us. And when you have that whole globe in front of you, I think that's about the best way to do it. Yeah, that's a a romantic take, but a very cool watch. Eleven piece limited edition, no price. I'm assuming not cheap. But 11 people, I'm sure, will be very happy. Looking at another titanium limited edition, different price point, little under two grand, 10 bucks under two grand, if you will. Uh is the new Doxa 600 Ti. Where do we land on this? It's an 80s kind of Aubrey era look, but now it's in titanium. It's very blue, not Caribbean blue. It's this Pacific blue, it's a little bit brighter, the orange accents. It's a nice size. You know, they're they're only making two hundred. We don't really know what that means just yet, aside from those two, whether they'll do steel versions and different colors. Doxer doesn't usually do anything in just one color. Usually we get the core three colors. Where do you guys land on this? I I love it, but I'm I'm inclined to enjoy a dox. I'm I'm wearing one now, for example. Same. Let's just say Aubrey era forever. That's what I say. We've been waiting forever. Yeah. Some pretty cool stuff. There's also a lot for them to pull from there. Yeah, no, I was just I was just going to kind of add to the chorus of affirmation. I uh absolutely love the the look of this watch and uh to me it's you look at it it screams eighties fun, you know. My only regret is that it's coming out a little bit late in the summer, you know. It yeah, that's a good point. It is a little late on the uh on the summer parade for dive watches. You just start stocking up for for uh next year. Or hey, you know, uh maybe at some point we we'll have to chase some summer and actually get on a plane, uh, do this thing of going outside, like Logan was talking about. It's a it's a scary place these days. Beyond the Dox, uha, you know, there's some big news from um Ulysses and Ardain. John, why don't you walk us through this? It's it's not quite maybe as evolutionary or revolutionary as the Parmigiani side of uh of the Geneva Watch Days news, but it was a lot of new watches, right? Yeah, I mean it was a it was a ton of new watches. I think by my count it was five new overall references, I think. And then within some of them, if I have that right, I I might have to go back and double check that. And then um within some of them there were there were up to four different versions. But it was uh it's a new uh collection called chronometry that uh they're coming out with and there's just a bunch of marine torpillar. Am I saying that right, guys? I think so. I've actually uh I'm not 100% sure. But it's you know very Ulyssino looking watches, many of them, a whole collection, and the through line is that they are referencing you know Ulyssino's or you know probably the best known part of Ulysses Nordin's history, which is making uh Merc And so you have a lot of like very legible, classic, uh yet also like clearly uh inspired by maritime watches. The thing that's always so interesting to me to me about Ulysses Nord is that it I think it's one of the like the most kind of classically designed watches, but they're also one of the very first to use um silicon components in their watches. They really innovated in that in that direction. And you know, of course that',s all thanks to the the former owner of the brand who um is no longer with us. But you know, you listened in uh they just they dropped a lot of watches at Geneva Watch Days and um they included some enamel dials from uh Donzai Cadron, which is um uh really wonderful dial maker that has made dials, enamel dials for like some of like the biggest names, the best names in the industry. So they included uh a Torbillon with uh a really nice Grandfo enamel dial. Uh another one. They did a nice blue Grandfo and Amodial on a on a you know simple time and date watch. So really a big range of classically designed stuff from Ulyssino Den. It's nice to see UN doing something. You know what I mean? I feel like they're kind of they're a pretty quiet brand even at at the best of times. And I think they went through a long time where they were kind of showing something that they planned on doing in a couple years and then we never actually saw it come. I I can think of a couple things that stand out in there. But it it's just fun to see them doing stuff. I think the enamel dowels look really good. These are watches that I think also are worth seeing in person if you get the opportunity, uh, because they are they are kind of a fit and finish sort of maker of watches. It's it's it's an execution level watch. I really like the um kind of marine chronometer inspired look for a number of reasons, but I think it's one of the true uh this is not the right word, but ambidextrous designs that really works well from both a classical dressy standpoint and kind of a sportier look because one, you know, obviously looking at it with the spade hands, the black Roman numerals, the um, you know, very kind of white classic dial, the vertical, um subdial orientation. You know, it it looks dressy, but then you know, at the heart of it, it it is a sport watch at the end of the day. I mean, I think it's two hundred meter water resistance. Um if not two hundred, then you know, 100, which is more than, you know, you need. Uh screw down crown and the history. The history is all there. Like I can I think they they always sell these watches on, you know, either croc emboss straps or crocodile, um alligator leather straps. But I think, you know, throw one on a NATO and you've got a summer watch right there. Like that's that's a cool piece. And I I really, really like the look of the annual calendar chronograph. You know, there's something about it that speaks to precision to me, just how you know long the spade hands are and uh how they reach out to the kind of minute track. You can really see time passing that way. It's not just like glancing at I mean, you know, with with so many dive watches they, have like either squared off hands or kind of ladder hands with like big arrows or something like this. This is kind of a nautical influenced watch, but is all about accuracy at the end of the day. And um, of course the the movement inside John I think we were talking about it has the Ludwig Auxlin um annual calendar. Right. Which again here we have this kind of the Ulise Narden of the 2000s, which has been so influenced by Ludwig Auxlin and um you know Silicon Watchmaking and and the freak. And then you have Elis Nardin of the Past, which is this very classical inspired brand, um, with their marine chronometer series. And there's a really interesting kind of melding there. But I uh the annual calendar chronograph really spoke to me. And that that has the horizontal dial orientation compared to the vertical, which I think is kind of a fun twist on the traditional marine chronometer uh layout. So do you think the size is gonna hold them back at all? Forty-four millimeters? A little big for today's taste, but it doesn't not suit the watch in at least in in the images, right? Yeah, no, I think well one, you know, there's these these watches don't really have a bezel, so that that is gonna be a a lot of dial on your wrists. Yeah. But two, I think, you know, if we if we consider the Yuli Snarden's typical you know, maybe not typical, but their their clientele is more I would say Europe facing than American facing. And I I think, you know, there are large parts of Europe which are still kind of riding the the large watch trend, you know, not necessarily like the UK or or France, but you know, Germany and kind of the Eastern European nations, I think uh we still see a lot of larger diameter watches over there. You know, I could be off base there, but that is some of the trends that I've been kind of seeing, you know, online and and whatnot. Of course I haven't been uh I'm not on the ground in Eastern Europe these days. No, I suppose not. But I I am in Texas and you know, we do like a a large watch down here. Oh for sure. I mean it and forty four isn't like a traditionally super large watch. It's just a little bit bigger than where we've seen some of the core manufacturers, enthusiast manufacturers operate in the last little while. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. You know, you're speaking of that annual calendar uh chronograph. It's not the only interesting sporty calendar watch that came out. What'd you guys think of this kind of wild Moser perpetual calendars uh steamliner? Love the placement of the date |
| Cole Pennington | . Yeah, I think it's it's uh visually jarring in the way that it it you look at and you're like, whoa, what's the date doing there? And then you just want to look more and more and discover all the details of the dial and so forth. I think it's one of these things that it's beauty in sort of like asymmetry, putting something where it feels like it doesn't belong, but maybe it does. Maybe that's what makes this watch interesting. Maybe that's why we're talking about it right now |
| James Stacey | . I think it's really interesting. Um, you know, for me when I think of Moser, I I still tend to think of that perpetual calendar just because I think it was like one of the first Mosers I ever saw it. Like the the endeavor. Yeah. Like the just that very simple display. You know, that's just like it's a perpetual calendar, but you really wouldn't know it just by glancing at it. You have to kind of be aware that it's a perpetual calendar to see, oh yeah, okay. I see how how that that how works and you'd read it. And so for like what is ostensibly a sports watch, to me, this type of perpetual calendar makes a ton of sense, you know? Not that you can't do a really cool, you know, steel sport luxury watch and have all of the displays and all of the kind of uh animation uh of uh traditional perpetual calendar, but I think that it's a it's a it's a nice pairing that we see here from from Moser. Yeah. I like the colorway quite a bit as well. There's also a little little splash of like uh speedy racing in the Riot. Uh so for those who may have skipped this or thought that what they were looking at was a normal streamliner, this is a a different sort of thing, it has a full perpetual calendar and and like John hinted to it,'s it's kinda hidden in that it's the most kind of subtle execution of a perpetual calendar you're gonna find. There is a date at four thirty, which uh Cole likes and uh I do not. Um I guess it's more at four to be fair than four thirty. But the execution of the date I like quite a bit. It catches the light nicely, it's right on the curvature of the dial. I just think that that general placement always kind of gets under my skin. And then you have um uh a very interesting power reserve meter that's kind of where the 10 o'clock marker would be, but it also comes inwards of the dial a little bit. And that's kind of your only hint that you're looking at something out of the normal. And then if you happen to capture the right image, you can actually see the perpetual kind of calendar hand, which is is this itty bitty hand that that operates right from the center of the dial. And yeah, if you're if you're familiar with the endeavor perpetual uh that we've seen in the past, it's that similar sort of thing. And then it's all wrapped in this curvy, smooth, beautifully brushed sort of steel vibe that blends right into the bracelet. My guess is these are super fun to wear. I've never held one or seen one in person. Have any of you? I have, yeah. The the original streamliner I got to wear around for a little bit. And it's about the same size, the original, the uh about 42, 43. I think this is forty-two point six, something like that. Yeah, I think so. Does it wear nicely? Does it it does it it probably feels really ex |
| Cole Pennington | pensive? For lack of a better word. Yeah. Super expensive because uh I think and if I'm remembering correctly, even the the bracelet has like radial finishing on it or something. And it just uh it's it yeah, the bracelet feels expensive. |
| James Stacey | Well I'll I'll kind of jump in here on uh kind of a different note here. I mean I'm first I'll I'll front run by saying this is I'm not uh as high on Moser as, you know, a lot of people are. I I respect 'em a lot and I think they do some really interesting things that are different than most people in the watch industry, but the the aesthetics are just usually not kind of to my taste. Um but I do think that the Perpetual Calendar, the original one, is one of the most interesting watches they've done. And I've also really like the Streamliner collection. So those are two of the my favorite things about Moser. But I I feel like when you mixed them together here, it something about it didn't translate all the way. Like i i I think the the use of the dial space doesn't feel correct to me. I mean I th I think it's a wonderful watch and and I mean look at that movement. That's that's beautiful. Yeah. But I I feel like it was something that in theory works better than it did in practice. I think it's a neat thing, and I would love to see one of these in person. If a watch of this kind of caliber get passes muster from Cole, then uh I'm I'm it must it must be a fun thing to uh to have on wrist for sure. Uh let's see what else we've got on the list here. Oh, I mean there's uh a range of new news from Parmigiani. Uh Logan, you had covered that. Uh where do you land on on you know the new Tonda and and some other stuff from the brand these days? Love it. Yeah. I I mean I think it's one of my favorite the the Rotcher Pont uh limited edition for the brand's 25th anniversary. Um is probably one of my favorite watches of the year. You know, it's right up there with uh the Vascheron platinum split seconds that we saw at uh watches and wonders. I'd love to kind of see those side by side and compare and contrast between the two. Um but as a whole, I think the the Tonda refresh, the Tonda PF line um is really smart. It's it looks really nice. Yeah, they do, for sure. Yeah, I think the kind of bracelet integration works really well. The chronograph, um, if you look at the design of the lugs on the chronograph, kind of it's the same design as the pushers. So you have this kind of continuous flowing uh the case profile, which is just really, really attractive. And again, I haven't seen these watches in person. I really want to. I'm a long held Parmigiani fan, uh a a long suffering Par Parmigiani fan, I should say. You know, I think the brand is very individual in the watch industry, of course, speaking about how they they own all these different subfactories from geez, I can't pronounce them at Ocalpa Elwin for the screws, the screw factory. Uh Cole I, know you've been there. You did the full suite, didn't you? Full suite, full Monty. All of them. Okay, nice. I've just been to the restoration workshop and I it's just the most incredible thing to see see what they do. And so I I I don't know how you can't be a fan of that operation. And especially how they support the broader watch industry through, you know, uh Vosche with the uh hairspring manufacturer. And you know, they do so much for the the it's so underrated how much they do for the rest of the watch industry. Oh yeah. And for anyone listening that again, maybe you just saw Parmigiani and you're like, this isn't relevant to me, go in and just take a look at the full photos of the split second chronograph. It has this like frosted silvery matte dial with a little bit of gold accent and just a a really, really interesting non it doesn't look like other people's watches, which is I think a a strength that this brand has had for a while with the Tonda and that they're making something in the same or higher price point as a lot of other really well known, popular kind of sporty chronographs. And they make something that's very distinctive and you you And that that split seconds, it has a pulsometer scale, which is you know hot stuff by itself. For sure. All right, guys. What else kind of stood out for you? You know, we've we've dropped some stuff in here. The fun thing is is there's also some stuff that has come up that's not of Geneva watch days kind of specifically, but came out at the same time. And one of them is a a line of watches that I really love. One of my favorite, like I always joke, kind of one of my favorite rich guy things is the Royal Oak Offshore. And now we've got we've got some new AP Royal Oak Offshores. I I really like these. Where where do you guys land on them? I uh uh John, you wrote them up, right? That was uh just recently. Yeah, it was just uh yeah, very just recently they dropped. Um so basically back I think it was back in March AP came out with five forty-three millimeter Royal Look offshores along some other stuff, some some Royal Look offshore divers. They had these five chronographs in the 43mm size, all with you know megatap dial and um this new strap system that they came out with the interchangeable strap system which is you know as many many brands have had for for a while now but AP is just coming out with it for the offshore. More recently, uh they added five additional um Royal Oak Offshore chronographs in 42 millimeter size. So only one millimeter of difference, but you know, like the 43s, they also have uh in in-house chronograph movement, something that we saw first with the uh code 1159. However, whereas the um you know the the offshore chronographs from several months ago had uh the horizontal presentation of the uh of the chronograph subdials. Now they're back in that traditional kind of 12, 9, 6 vertical presentation with the date at three that were that is kind of like the that is the original actually, uh Royal Oak Offshore chronograph design. And so they have a steel one that looks you know basically like the original offshore from 93. They've got a gold one also with a blue dial, kind of in that similar vein to the original from 93 and uh a titanium one I believe with a with a gray dial. And so you know if you if you love that kind of 42 millimeter size, that early 90s original offshore, these are definitely like all they're pointing right back at that and uh I think they're super cool. Man, that titanium don't l let's be clear it's forty thousand dollars. Yeah. But that titanium that that speaks to me in a very big way. I like that a lot. It's so it's so Logan was previously talking about adding color to his life. I r I just routinely remove it. So a titanium chronograph with a gray dial. I also I love to to to your point, John, that they went to the to the extent to which these new forty two millimeter ones look like something from the very early days of the Royal Offshore chronograph. Yeah. I I think these are I think these are a win. Well I mean y y'all wanna hear something the that I personally miss. You know, so back in the late 2000s, early 2010s, when the offshore was really kind of still all the rage, they they did all these kind of limited releases that, you know, when you talk about wet wacky rich guy stuff, you know, these tied in directly to it. And one of one of my favorite ones was the the Montauk Highway limited edition. I mean, who who the hell does a limited edition on about a highway to a you know oh this is cool to Montauk. A P does. It's it's a hot it's a hot watch. James you're looking at it right now I need your so it has uh what looks like a silvery white megatap dial, but with um like uh cerulean blue, like really bright blue accents, and then it's got a matching brown with blue accent strap. This has a this is a vibe for sure. I don't know Montauk Highway that that those words don't mean anything to me. |
| Cole Pennington | Actually, James, you would love the car spotting on there. Really, really good car spotting. So that's something that's cool. Uh Log |
| James Stacey | an, when you mentioned this watch, it's so funny because I actually put it in the article because that's but this was my mind like kinda like went there. Uh when I saw these watches, my mind went to like, you know, Jay Z, Schwarzenegger. Oh sure. Later on LeBron, all those Formula One drivers, including Schumacher, but of course, but many others even before that, just like to me, like to see 10 Royal Oak offshore chronographs dropped in a year kind of like put me back in like the early aughts, you know, which for me was when I w uh or mid-auts when I which is when I kind of like started started doing this. And um yeah, it was it felt like a little bit almost like a flashback. And I was thinking too about the um the 57th Street Boutique Limited Edition uh they did. So, you know, I mean some people love the limited edition, somes people like hate on them, like whatever. It's just uh it's just brought back a lot of memories for me. Yeah, and and the point that I was gonna make there was was similar. You know, I mean there's all these what I would call like definitive w wacky rich guy things, which I Which I am definitively not. You know, I'm uh what what's the alternate there? Uh straight laced and you know poor? I don't know. Fun and frugal. Fun and frugal. There we go. Um Mackey and Rich is uh that's of later stage. Yeah. I'm working my way up there and so when I saw the this blue dial with the orange accents, you know, which I think is the first image in your article, John, uh it brought me back to those kind of really when the the offshore was the hot watch. And they to celebrate that they did all these kind of wacky releases. And uh so I I I like them. You know, I'd probably rather have a normal Royal Oak. But uh like you said that um titanium model with the gray dial, the black subdials, uh petite tap you know, I I think that's that's great. Yeah, for sure. You know. The uh of these drops, which one speaks the most to you? Is it titanium gray? You going with the the bright blue, orange, black? I have to tell you. Or maybe one of the forty threes, which are also really cool |
| Cole Pennington | . I would say titanium gray, simply because that's the most interesting. I'm not a royal oak guy. I I I could learn from you, to be honest. I know you are. I know. I |
| James Stacey | just can't do it. I mean I'm not a royal oak guy either. Like Logan, I'm deeply in my fun and frugal stage. Yeah, me too. Yeah, there we go. Same, |
| Cole Pennington | same. But yeah, I would say yeah, titanium gray. Just interesting. If I |
| James Stacey | had to pick, you know. Casio's making one with a metal case now. Won't be too long until they do one with a bracelet as well. Although I I have it on some level of authority that the only reason they don't do the 2100 or they haven't yet with a bracelet is it won't pass some of their stress tests. That makes sense. The way that it mounts to the case. I love that they're that specific. Like they won't they won't bend to make something that people are buying kits on Alibaba to you know modify their their Royal Broke or uh whatever whatever nickname you've got. There's some pretty good ones for that. We should uh do a list at some point for the show. But yeah, these uh these work for me. I re I know that these aren't they don't typically exhibit the same level of like old school enthusiasm that you get for a a 15202 or or an earlier Royal Oak, even some with complications. But I like the offshore. The divers long been one of my favorite watches. Uh you know, I think the ship has sailed on on those being a deal. But they were for a little while, a few years back, and uh I've always thought they were really, really cool watches that were surprisingly wearable, the forty two millimeter sizing with a rubber strap. It just kind of fits and it works, and they kind of they have a t shirt and vacation vibe that also has this thing where like you could be anywhere and it's still an amazing watch. And I think those two things together have always kind of entertained me at some level. Uh let's see what else we've got on the list here. Oh, Logan, you wrote a kind of prescient article about a uh poor athlete that couldn't find a sponsor. And then only sometime later, was it what, weeks? Ten days? Like three and a half weeks later. Three and a half weeks. There you go. Turns out, boom, sponsorship. I'm just wondering how big was the check from Huba when it arrived? Well you know, we were talking earlier about the the the L VMH cabal, you know, making uh making judgments and and keeping keeping a close eye on on what we're doing and and I think uh that was one of 'em with Hublot jumping in and signing Novak Djokovic. Um you know, I mean I'm I'm a big tennis fan uh you know varsity in high school and all that that jazz. Um I got kicked off the high school team, which is a story for another time. How fast was your serve? Great question. It was the best part of my game. I could hit triple figures with my serve. Damn. With using the least number of words possible, how did you get kicked off? Oof. Keep it real vague. Or or just you know uh reasons redacted from your permanent record. I'll I'll update my masthead and you guys can find out my masthead photo. It'll be on my or on my LinkedIn bio. It'll be on my LinkedIn bio. Okay. Everybody uh search out Mogan on LinkedIn uh and figure out what that's up to. But yeah, so this is this is kind of an interesting move, right? Is um what is Hublow's I don't know tennis that well. What's Hublow's presence in tennis? Because this is a big that's a huge start to go for. Yeah, they don't shoot, you know. I mean, I might be missing someone, uh maybe there was someone a couple of years ago, but I can't think of um any kind of Hublow tennis connection, other than the fact that they kind of collect um, you know, really prominent athletes that are arguably the the greatest of all time in their respective sport. They ha uh Pele and uh Diego Maradona on uh the soccer side. Um they had Kobe Bryant, you know, the late great Kobe uh on it. They did a couple LEs with him in the early 2010s. You know, they've they've always had an eye for these kind of partnerships. Uh, you know, I think Mike Tyson, they've had a bunch of boxing partnerships over the years, and Novak makes sense for them as one kind of a flamboyant personality, even though I think some of it is overstated. Like, first of all, you know, he is as much as I love Roger Federer, Novak is gonna be considered the greatest tennis player of all time. Like that's not even a hot take at this point. He he's just incredible what he's doing over the past decade. I don't want this to divulge into to a full tennis podcast since I think I'd just be talking to myself there. But, you know, I think this is we're gonna see a lot of interesting Hublow Novak stuff to come. You know, I think that's there's a lot of room for that partnership to grow as kind of the greatest tennis player of all time, uh and kind of the watch brand repping him. I mean, if you look at his the other tennis players, like they they all have the other major tennis players, Roger and Rafa, they have watch partnerships that are like right there with them. I mean, we've heard Rolex is gonna keep Roger forever. He's their definitive watch ambassador. Like he is when when you think of a watch ambassador for Rolex, Roger Federer is their guy. And I think the same could be said with uh Richard Meal and Rafael Nadal. I mean for a while for sure. Yeah. And uh so Novak, the guy who's arguably, I'll say arguably for now, uh eclipsed both Rafa and Roger to be without a tennis sponsor is something that shocked me. That's what I wrote the original article about. And I I reached out to Seiko to confirm when their original deal with uh Novak expired, which was January twenty nineteen. And before that, he was with AP back in the early 2010s. And he was just without a watch sponsor. Like that's that's wild to me. Like, why why didn't someone jump in and sign him? And we can say like who cares? But like as a guy that watches tennis oh I think a lot of people probably care right yeah I care you know like it's it's interesting to see the the inner dynamics of how these things work. And sure Novak's a bit of a fl flamboyant personality a little bit you know over the top uh in some ways, but I don't know. That's valuable risk real estate. If I was running a billion dollar watch brand, I would have signed them yesterday. Yeah. So I don't know. That's I think the match makes sense. It's not one of the ones I originally predicted. I thought it was gonna be one of Tag Horrier, Roto, Longine, uh, had a couple others. And the one that I thought would be the best fit was Gruble, um, because they have shown uh kind of to like tennis by working with uh Gail Montfils before. Um, but they they don't really do traditional ambassadors. And I just thought, you know, this watch brand that kind of goes over the top in everything they do, being Gruble. And uh Novak Djokovic, who is, you know, arguably the greatest of all time, you know, would make a perfect fit. But I think Hublot works for a similar way. Um, you know, because everything Hublot does is kind of over the top and uh fun. So Yeah, I remember I saw him play at the French Open finals in 2012 against uh Nadal. And uh it was uh it was something else. We only the the match went so long due to rain delays and other things they ended up finishing it the next day when I was on my flight home. But it was my first ever press trip was to check that out and and I remember having an entirely different respect for the sport after seeing it played at that level. But like it's not the same sport. It's like what it's on it's very similar to watching a lot of non team heavy sports where there's one or maybe two people to a to a playing field where you see the difference between the way one person may move and the way a professional moves and then the way the best in the world move. And and just a c the amount of power required to play for hours and hours and hours. And I also was, you know, as a North American, I've, you know, I've been to my fair share of hockey games, basketball games, baseball games, like the kind of the pillar big team sports from here. And the the level of composure among the crowd is something I'll never forget. They all got quiet at the same time. Everybody's being like very respectful. And I was like, oh, this is a complete departure from the complete debauchery of most uh the sports that I've witnessed growing up. I'll add one more thing about tennis. I mean, I think um tennis and you can say boxing and wrestling uh are are you know the very few sports where it's really kind of mono imano and it's you know you're fighting the other person till one of them goes down, uh till you win. There's no one else that you can rely on. I mean that's why most of the time people say tennis is a mental game because you'll end up defeating yourself. All you have to do is return the other person's shot and you you'll win eventually. You know? There's a lot more that goes into it, but it's it's one of the very few sports where it's really all about kind of you. Yeah. We saw that with Richie Tannenbaum's famous famous match that didn't go his way. He had to take his socks off at one point I did want to circle back with Cole about Couture and the Las Vegas show simply because we're we, you know, have been talking for the better part of an hour about Geneva watch days and none of us went to it and Cole was uh you know available on the West Coast and was able to get down to um Sin City to check out some watches. Cole anything from the vibe to specific models like stand out? Yeah. Interesting |
| Cole Pennington | , interesting question. I think you could do an entire podcast on this. Something that stood out to me was the absolute normalcy of everything. It was like just like things went right back to normal. The same people, the same things, go out to dinner with brands, go to their booths. And I thought, ah, well, well, you know, we spent the whole pandemic talking about how how will things come back afterwards or is this a monumental shift? Do you remember all these even like Joe Thompson weighing in? How will trade shows change? Yeah, we have the um fidgetal trade show, which is the uh you know Geneva Wash days physical digital that's a cursed word I'm just gonna use it I mean they came up with it so um we have these fidgetal shows in Switzerland and here, Kutor just it's business as usual. Las Vegas is the place for that. I mean, they're pretty um they're interested in getting things done. So they definitely the vibe was just like it was. Last time I went to it in 2019 |
| James Stacey | So but the w like the the energy didn't feel like people were thrill like it wasn't like um like going back to camp the next year and seeing your camp friends. It wasn't like that people weren't kind of like did you did did people just hit the bar way too hard? Did they you know like nobody got any sleep? Like everybody's been sitting at home on the couch thinking about watches and suddenly, hey, watches in Las Vegas and and uh you know expensive budgets and stuff like that. Like uh I have to I would have assumed that people were kind of champing at the bit uh to to be out and doing watch stuff again. I |
| Cole Pennington | mean, I think that's definitely true. There was that energy on our side of the business. Everyone's you know messaging everyone in the lead up, like hey you're gonna be there and so forth. And yeah, it was. It was nice to see everyone again for sure. There was an excitement. I think the Couture's such a small show, really, at the end of the day. And it's also set, you know, to the back trap of Vegas where there's lots of things to do and and go out and and see. In terms of the actual watches, I think the stars of the show were well, it was the the trio of Grand Secos that John wrote about, the limited edition Oh yeah for sure awesome those are they're still beautiful. They're sold out so I'm not gonna get one but if I could I would like these I it's okay the secondary market's really soft these days you'll be fine. Well, yeah, it's funny you should say that because this is something I spoke with Grand Seiko at length about. Like all right, there there's another benefit. People will say things at trade shows, and I'm not saying that Grand Seiko divulged anything crazy or whatever, but brands will say things and give you insight that they just wouldn't type on an email because it's bad form or you just don't want these things in record. So I think from our perspective, going back to the trade shows, we're gonna have much more informed, interesting stories. I learned a ton about those watches that I wish we had known prior to writing the piece, right? I mean, those specific watches and and where Grand Saco's headed and so forth. But yeah, those things they stood out to me. Put them on the wrist and it's like, oh man, this is like Grand Saco at its absol |
| James Stacey | ute best. Yeah, it it's it's encouraging to see that it seems like a lot of people were willing to go back like investing in getting back to the pace. Yeah. And it it seems to have come pretty quickly. I spoke to a couple of folks who uh were operating kind of on the other side of the show and they were just saying, no, this is great. Like it seems like people one actually want to be here, two are really excited to actually see and handle things and like be part of the conversation again and the rest of it. So I I think that's great. I think it's a bit of a bummer for certainly for the four of us on on this call, but for the greater team that none of a that we weren't in Geneva. It would have been fun if this was like a you know a possible and safer and less logistically problematic thing. But on the other hand, you know, we're thanks to the wonders of the internet and the fact that all of these brands had the last roughly two years to get up to speed on launch We were able to keep uh stop. Oh figital. Uh sorry. It took me you said that word a couple times and my brain was like, what what two words are being put together there? Uh I did eventually get to it. I'm gonna le and not not give it away for those of you uh in the audience who are a little bit slow like me. Yeah, the uh the the fact that they've been prepared to to have the the two sides of the fidgetal coin covered means that we've been able to uh where I'm losing Logan here. I'm wrapping up Logan, I promise. But yeah, it just means that we we're able to actually experience the show and and in some way see all the watches. Uh I know that for those of you like John and Logan in New York, you'll probably get a chance in the next few days even to start seeing a lot of these in person as they come through the office and and that sort of thing and and availability and the rest of it. Uh so maybe we can do uh another circle back if there's anything really exciting. But other than that, uh fellas, thanks so much for coming on the show. It was a treat to have you all on. Yeah, it's awesome. Thank you for uh being the new host, James. This is fun. It's great being here. Oh I'm doing my best, but it's a it's a four it's a four way co host is the is the best way to look at it. And uh yeah, I appreciate it a bunch. Uh if you're listening and you have any questions, any follow ups or the rest, put 'em in the comments below. And if you're loving the show and enjoying the new format, uh share it with a friend. That's all I would ask for. Until next week. Thanks so much for listening. |