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Do Watches Make Good Gifts?

Published on Mon, 29 Nov 2021 11:00:00 +0000

The ins and outs of gifting a watch (and a few handy alternatives).

Synopsis

In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, host James Stacy tackles a timely question for the gift-giving season: Should you give a watch as a gift? He's joined by colleagues Danny Milton and Nora Taylor to debate this surprisingly complex topic. The discussion reveals a fundamental disagreement, with Danny enthusiastically supporting watch gifting as a way to introduce people to horology, while Nora takes a more cautious stance, arguing that watches involve hyper-specific personal taste and can burden recipients with expectations.

The trio shares personal experiences with watches as gifts, from family heirlooms to entry-level Seikos. Danny recounts gifting his brother a Seiko SKX007 that became his favorite watch, while Nora describes getting her mother a customized Swatch MoonSwatch collaboration. They discuss the challenge of buying watches for non-enthusiasts, noting that unfamiliarity with mechanical watches can create obstacles, and that surprise gifts miss the educational opportunity of helping someone discover their own taste.

The conversation evolves toward safer alternatives for watch-adjacent gifts. The panel recommends coffee table books about watches, quality strap-changing tools, and interesting watch straps as thoughtful options that support someone's watch hobby without the risk of missing their personal preferences. They conclude that while watches can be meaningful gifts in specific circumstances—particularly among family members or fellow enthusiasts—the safest approach is often to provide tools, knowledge, or accessories that enhance someone's existing interest rather than making assumptions about their taste in timepieces.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacy This episode of Hodinki Radio is proudly brought to you by Grand Seiko and the G HPG award winning SLGH 005. Part of Grand Seiko's Heritage Collection, the SLGH005 has a dial meant to invoke the graceful serenity of white birch. Please stay tuned for more information later in the show or visit granddashseco.us.com for more. Hey, it's me, James Stacy, and today we're asking a relatively straightforward question. Should you give a watch as a gift? Given the onset of the gift giving season, it's a topic that has come up more than a few times around the water cooler, aka Slack, and it's one of those quandaries that doesn't exactly have a single resolute answer. To wade through this annual mire of sales and gift receipts and endless rolls of colorful paper, I've asked Nora and Dandy to take a break from their holiday shopping and to dig into the question at hand. Danny, Nora, welcome back to the show. It's a it's a pleasure to see your faces, even if only digitally. How we doing? Hey James, doing well. Hey James. Grat great to be back for another low stakes episode. Yeah, it should it should be, I'm hoping just that. Low stakes. What went and I've already said it in the intro, but of course we're we're talking about whether or not we should be giving people watches. We know a lot about watches or at least that's kind of how we we present ourselves out to the world. And it's one thing maybe to be asked to buy someone a gift or or a a spouse asks about this watch or that. That's one thing. I think this is more direct. Should you buy a watch for another person? And then are there scenarios where that's the right person or the wrong person? Where do you guys land on the idea of giving a watch, even just in general? Blanket, no other, no other concepts. They make a decent gift So Nora and I
Danny Milton have had this discussion before, not in a podcast, and I firmly believe it is a fantastic idea. The best idea. Because we operate in this super niche environment where a lot of people that we know outside of the watch world are not watch people by any stretch of the imagination. A watch is either an afterthought or something they don't think about at all. So either they're either not wearing a watch, or the watch that they're wearing is probably either an Apple Watch or some form of a Timex or Casio digital watch, which they're great watches, by the way. But it sort of falls upon us and our friend groups or our little universes to be the ones that sort of share watches with them or open their eyes to the world of watches. And it can be hard for somebody to get into it. I mean, you start on Amazon and it's that's a difficult endeavor. I mean, you have no idea what you're looking at. Um, so I think it's great, especially if you are somebody who knows even a small amount, to be that kind of gift giver. And it's an amazing gift because if you get the right one you're giving somebody something that they can have for the rest of their life. I kind of think about it as like you give a niece or a nephew their first um stuffed animal or something like that when they're when they're a child, they'll have that and they'll remember it forever. So a watch is kind of of I'm a different sort uncle than you. I want immediately like a fireworks
James Stacy , pocket knife, uh you know. I guess I guess I'm a lame something loosely dangerous, possibly illegal. I'm a lame uncle. Total, total lame uncle over here. Wallet chain. Like we're like, come on, like let's add, let's add something to the little title. Want to see something blow up, kid? Warped tour tickets. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, for sure. There we go. They still did they they probably still do the warp tour. Sure. I wouldn't know any of the bands unless it was like a classic revival warp tour. That's coming, I'm sure give it give it time, I'll be able to see some forty one and sometime in my forties. There you go. When you're forty one yeah, exactly. Yeah.' Thats it links up. Nora, where do you land on this? Do you think we should be given watches as gifts if if just because we we kind of know a little bit more, or is it a pretty high risk way to spend some money and maybe maybe miss the plot? I think as usual, Danny, it's
Nora Taylor dead wrong. I think it is a terrible gift unless you are specifically asked to get someone into the world of watches. As usual. As usual. I think it is in general, people's tastes are so hyper-specific. And the exact reason that Danny brought up, which is that we are so in the weeds, we kind of miss a more general view of what people might want. It is also, I think, it puts a lot of pressure on the receiver. Like if you were like, oh, my friend who's really into watches gave me this watch, like does he expect me to go read hodinky now? Like if you gave, if you, you know, I think it comes with an expectation that this is an entry point into this world that someone may or may not want. And it's a really expensive way to give someone a gift that they might just treat like a hat. So I think that if someone is has asked for your advice and has hinted that this is something that they want, go ahead, talk to them, figure them out. But if someone is just sort of like, yeah, I don't have anything in particular that I want for Christmas, like give them a gift card and keep it moving. So in some ways you
James Stacy you might think the the gift is some advice if they're at that point in their life, and less so you actually making the decision for them. Yeah, I I could see that. I mean for me I I'm really mixed on it because and I'm sure you guys have done this before. One I'm I kind of side with Danny because if if I could buy myself, if I could go back ten years and buy myself a watch gift, I'd be I'd buy a great watch for myself ten years ago and maybe even save myself buying, say, ten watches that I I had to learn why I didn't like them or why they didn't work for me. But I don't think that's necessarily a fair way of looking at it totally. The the other side of it for me is even if you're not talking the gift angle, if you're just talking um helping somebody pick their first watch or a watch, a new watch, something like that, I find that unless they're enthusiasts, they they you can usually find that they have a weird attachment to a specific thing. I hate blue dials. And you go, well, why? No real reason it has to be black. Okay, cool. That that's fine. You know, lots of black dial watches out there. Or they don't understand, you know, w what the aesthetics of a dive watch represents. So there's there's some things you kind of have to ease people in, and I think it's almost impossible to do when your, you know, a gift I would say usually includes some sort of a surprise element. And if you're surprising that with that person, and like Nora said, not only are you surprising it, but you're good friends being good friends or family members or whatever, they're probably not going to open it and go like, woof, right? And and you definitely don't want like something that devolves into the gift giving scene from the first season of I think you should leave. Um I don't know if you guys have caught that one or not, but the you know, don't tell that my wife touched the receipt, right? But the the whole scenario does kind of ask a lot of somebody and and watches do represent a kind of a deep personal taste. I don't think it's like buying somebody a t a great t-shirt or or even a hat, um, but you might force someone to interface with it like that, or or or it becomes the kind of thing they only wear when they see you
Danny Milton . Well it's an easier gift than I have a a a sticking point when people buy me art as a gift because it's like, what am I supposed to do with this? I have to hang this. It's huge. And if I don't, you're gonna be offended. And if I am I now removing art from my wall and replacing it with this piece of art when I invite them over for dinner. So it's similar to that. So I definitely see that side of it. But I'm thinking of this more from like I'm surprising somebody with a watch. There's no discussion. There's no preamble. This is the kind of gift where they have no idea it's coming. They have no expectation that you would buy them something nice, and you just sort of do. This is a strange sort of watch related fantasy of mine that somebody would just like gift me a watch that I may not have picked out myself ever, wouldn't have considered it, but because it came from a specific person, it means more despite any of the aesthetic features of it. Um we're not talking like an Omega Plowprof or something, because that's very specific. Um, but even so, maybe if somebody did that for me, if it was a a relative or a parent and it's this is the watch I got you for ex occasion or Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever, I would never buy it, but I'd probably wear it all the time. Um and I there's something about that where the ability not to have to think or choose or make a decision is so appealing, especially when it comes to a watch, a nice watch.
Nora Taylor I get that. I think sort of the like someone close to you marking in an occasion with a gift where it is more of like a totem rather than the watch itself. I could see that happening. But then also, wouldn't you rather have something that feels like this person saw you and saw the thing that you wanted and marked this occasion with something that like represents you as a person. And if you're not a watch person, but you're somebody who loves really nice, like you want a really nice Tiffany necklace, like I think there are ways where it's like that's great. But if there is a more personal option that speaks to you as a person and your tastes and interests, you should go with that. Have you ever received a watch as a gift, Nora? Yes, but I specifically asked for it. It was my mother's watch that she wore all the time on special occasions and I started harassing her from like the age of eight to give me the watch and then she gave it to me on my thirti
James Stacy eth birthday. And I assume you like that watch quite a bit, but n it could have almost looked like the way it looks or or the size or the rest of it is less important than who it came from and why. Yeah. I mean I'm very shallow. If it was ugly, I would have not loved it as much. Yeah, I mean the watch is uh it's most of a watch, you know, its appeal is gonna be in the way it looks. Danny, you ever get a a watch
Danny Milton as a gift? Not in the conventional sense that I fantasize about, you know, that I've been talking about. It sort of was and I'm not gonna throw shade on my dad on this podcast, but I am a little bit going to throw shade on my dad in this podcast because the That's what we're here for. I mean it's the holidays. Let's just like start fights with our family. So it was a uh my two-tone date us that I wear all the time. My grandfather left it uh to me and it was gonna be given to me, I guess, on my eighteenth birthday or something. It was being saved and I I knew that it existed, but my dad had forgotten, sort of sort of give it to me. So there was no occasion. There was no like high school graduation or whatever. There was just like sort of a day of like, oh yeah, like I was supposed to have given you it's downstairs in this in the storage room. Here's the key to the drawer that it's locked in. You can just go grab it. And it's just it missed a little bit of the pomp and circumstance behind, you know, the the feeling of the gift giving. You know, in the whole scheme of things, it is a gift for sure. Um it's just, you know, it I missed the the moment that sort of cemented it um in my mind. So thanks, Dad. Appreciate it. As a beautiful gift to be sure. If I had to fetch anything out of the basement, a two-tone Rolex would be great. Just go
James Stacy down there there,'s the key, open it up, it's there. Just it's sitting there. Yeah, normally it's just you know boxes and Christmas decorations and that sort of thing. Have you ever uh given a watch as a gift?
Danny Milton So I have and this is the this is why I love this so much. So I bought my brother a Seiko SKX 0007 uh for his birthday maybe five or six years ago. So when they were still a normal watch. A normal watch.atch W, what is it? Like it was it 1$300. $18. Yeah, $180. Yeah, Canadian. Yeah, yeah. So he now has graduated to uh tutor Black Bay, you know, that kind of thing, but I see him all the time wearing the Seiko. He's told me it's his favorite watch. He's my younger brother. Um maybe it's something to do with the fact that, you know, older brother, younger brother, dynamic, but it's his favorite watch. No matter what the price of other watches he owns are, um he'll wear it on the Jubilee, he'll wear it on that really weird rubber strap that it comes on. Um, but he loves it. And I think that is exactly what I'm talking about. We've got a hundred and thirty dollar watch versus what was that? At the time, were you pretty deep into watches? I was a f I was that would have been before before your tenure with Hodan Game. It would have it totally. Um and I and I was for sure. I knew that that watch in terms of where I was in my life and what I could afford to give as a gift to somebody, that I was getting something that was worth way more than it cost, you know, in monetary value, and that it was something that he could keep forever. I mean, ostensibly. I think that their highest viewed story on Hodinki is literally about the SKX 0007. So everybody knows, you know, what that watch is now. But yeah, no, I was very keenly aware of what that watch represented at the time. I don't know that it necessarily had sort of the the weight that it carries now, but for sure. Nor, have you ever uh given a watch as a gi
Nora Taylor ft? I gave my mom a swatch. I'm obsessed with my mom, clearly. Because she mentioned that she always wore one when she was teaching and that she sort of missed having it around in retirement. So I knew that she wanted a swatch and then I heard through a press event that there was going to be that MoMA collab and it was like, oh, this is right up her alley. So then I let her know that was coming and if she wanted, because it was one of the ones where you could like pick and customize, and she's like, oh, you pick and customize it. And now she wears it every day.
James Stacy Yeah, moms are moms are great. Mom sounds like a jam. We couldn't be more thrilled to have Grand Seiko supporting another episode of Hodinki Radio with the new SLGH005 from their heritage collection. Supporting a steel bracelet and a 40mm steel case, the SLGH005 is a truly special watch that recently won the men's top prize at the 2021 Grand Prix de Horelagerie de Genève, meant to invoke the look of the white birch that grows near the Grand Seco studio where the watch is made, the SLGH005's textured dial glints in whites, silvers, and light grays with an astonishing effect. Tucked beneath that dial we find Grand Seiko's latest high-beat 9S A5 automatic movement, which ticks at 36,000 vibrations per hour while supporting 80 hours of power reserve and excellent daily accuracy. Plus, you can see it all through a gorgeous display case back. With a retail price of $9,100, the SLGH005 is a handsome, subtle, and special watch that draws inspiration from Japan's own natural beauty and the fine craftsmanship inherent to all Grand Seiko timepieces. Check the show notes for more or visit granddashseiko.us.com for more details. And now back to the show. So I mean I, guess in this case, w both of your examples are family members who kind of already knew that you had some taste in what was coming your way. And and I've I've uh I've advised and given watches as gifts to other family members, and I think that I'm trying to think of this. I was trying to consider a way of saying this that doesn't sound rather self aggrandizing, but I think that my family understands how deep I am into watches and that the me picking something means something, like like that I have a level of taste or a level of understanding, etc. And I think if you went to my friends, ev even close friends, I don't think they care two rips what I do for a living. And I don't think it I don't think the idea that like getting that advice kind of c from an expert can mean something. And I don't think it tr it translates. I think I could pick a friend and I I've tried like you know my starting point when people ask for watches typically used to be SKXs, but now they're 600 bucks or whatever, and it's not a $600 experience, in my opinion. So now it's the SNK 8 series, the you know sub-100 Seiko 5s that I think are pretty sweet. And uh and that's kind of the starting point. But I know that if I just went out and had bought one of my friends an SKX back when they were under two hundred bucks, they would have been like, This thing's kinda too big and like I I don't understand why it has this ring around it and it it can be really hard to account for someone's taste if especially if they don't put any weight necessarily in who it's coming from. And then on top of that, if they're not even watch curious enough to know the basic formats of uh of the guys. I do think you can do really well buying a watch for another watch person. Like like if you've got somebody on your list that also really loves watches, that's probably a pretty safe bet. Uh but I think you get into really dangerous territory when you're buying a specific product for a general level of taste and understanding.
Danny Milton I think that is such a true statement. I'm not going to spoil a story that I have coming on the site, but I did sort of advise a friend on buying his first automatic watch and it was an SNK Seiko, uh the blue dial, blue bezel on the bracelet. And the discussions and the questions that and this is not me making fun of someone. It was just at a very basic level of how a bezel operates, how to operate the crown to move the date and the day, how to set the time, the fact that it isn't battery powered. There's so many parts to it that it's not just a lack of familiarity, but it's sort of um if you're not into it, it's not going to excite you and you're most likely not going to want to engage with that. I mean, we're talking about a glorified version of wind-up cars is what we're into. You know, like now there's there's there are remote control cars now. Like you don't have to wind them up to make them go. And so if you don't love the idea of the mechanics, the whole notion of this is going to sort of fall flat
James Stacy . So I do I do agree. Well, I mean, is is that where a Fitbit or uh even an Apple Watch. I don't want to get into budgets because everybody spends differently on when it comes to gifts. But I mean if you can you can get uh the equivalent of a digital watch that would you know connect to your phone for fifty bucks maybe and then take it all the way up to several hundred dollars for a current Apple Watch or a a Phoenix, you know, a Phoenix Garmin. And for the right person, that's a marvelous gift. Sure
Danny Milton . But then what happens to us? Yeah, what what what are we doing in that scenario? What aren't we supposed to not be doing that
James Stacy ? To be giving somebody a smart watch? Right. I don't know. You give somebody a Phoenix, you might save their life. Uh a few different ways. Heart health, maybe maybe the maybe the watch saves them. I've had I've had 'em save me in the backcountry getting lost, uh, as I want to do. Where do you land on that idea, Nor? Not getting lost in the backcountry. Uh uh the idea of of maybe going with the consumer equivalent of the most general product, the most popular watch
Nora Taylor . I think that that is a safe bet. I think it is a little impersonal. With a non-smart watch, you run the risk of like missing their taste. And with a smartwatch it is almost a bit too generic. But if somebody has been like, oh, I really wish I was counting my steps. Like, go for it. To follow up on the gift giving thing that Dandy was talking about, I have found in my six months in the watch world that the most fun part about it is talking with someone about what they want. And I think it's fun for them and it's fun for you. And giving them a surprise gift is you miss out on that. Like prompting them to find their own taste, prompting them to understand the level of which they want to do they even care about whether it's a mechanical watch or they find with the quartz. I think that like that can be when you give someone a surprise, you miss out on the fun part of that and the potential to like that's what'll get them into watches. It's not just like having to watch that they necessarily have to go out and Google on their own, but sort of being like, oh, this has sort of opened up this whole avenue of the hunt. Also, to circle back to your point about giving a friend a watch that they don't care about, there's nothing more annoying than like the January slump of being like and now I have to figure out how to return this. Logistically, I think gifts that then can like that you don't like that feel like a burden are kind of the worst version of receiving something. Especially
James Stacy when you know it's valuable. And that it came from somebody like matters, and you don't you don't want to have this on your shelf for the next two years thinking like I'm loading them down. Yeah. Haunting you. Yeah. You're like
Nora Taylor Edgar Allan Poe, uh talisman. So unless you want to sell your watch in clown and caliber, um, it can be a uh I think sort of a difficult again, a difficult gift to receive. Y
James Stacy ep. And and you run into the the idea that some of them aren't returnable The other thing that comes to my mind is let's say you have to buy uh a watch for someone who's not into watches. Um let's say it's uh 200 bucks or less, or even just whatever kind of comes to mind. And the goal isn't necessarily to get them into watches, but to get them a watch that they would want to wear every day. Where do you start that sort of flow chart? Brands, style, whatever. I mean, like like in many ways, I think the more you get into watches, the more you're able to personalize the watches to your expectations and your personal style. But you also see a whole lot of people who wear their watch as a generalist state statement on w on style, whether it be um uh it could be a Cartier tank and you don't know anything about where that watch came from or what it was made for or any of that, or it could be a Daniel Wellington or a uh what was the one we saw for five years for a Michael Kors, something like that, where you're buying it because it's the same one that's in all the magazines you read or whatever
Danny Milton . I like to to have someone dip their feet sort of in the shallow end of the pool. So in that regard, if I'm not going to go the obvious, which is Seiko, because in many ways Seiko is a very specific aesthetic. I think it's actually, more a watch nerds entry-level watch than any other watch out there. And so for me, the Orient Bambino, oddly enough, there's one with that has the applied Roman numerals that are on the dial. It's a very accessible automatic watch, and they think they they go for basically under 200 still to this day. You get it on a leather strap, which I've also learned that a lot of people that I talk to, a bracelet is a huge step for them, um, especially for a lot of guys that are getting into watches for the first time. Leather strap is more familiar. Um, and that's sort of what kind of pops to mind if I have to think of something that if you are gonna wear a watch 'cause you wanna wear a watch to work a lot, but you could also wear it in any other occasion, that seems like a really good place to start. Swatch is a good option. G Sho
Nora Taylor ck is good, a gold timex I think is kind of fits with my my friend group. I don't know. Like a Q or a Marlon. Oh yeah. And I don't a single outdoorsy person. So I think I would actually do a lot of hunting for I've been looking at a lot of like vintage long gene. I think I would go the vintage route. Even there's some like quote unquote vintage secondhand Seiko's that you can get that um I think would really appeal to people who are kind of into watches purely from an aesthetic standpoint and be like this is a watch that like you probably haven't heard of Seiko if you are mostly seeing your watches at Nordstroms necessarily. So it would kind of be I think a vintage, I would go the vinta
James Stacy ge route for most of the people that I know. Yeah. The vintage thing is an interesting idea because that's that's where I would lean to if I knew I had to buy a watch for somebody. Assuming they had a taste for anything that was even not in some way modern, I do like the idea of giving a vintage watch because it they could treat it as just being their special watch. It doesn't have to be something they wear every day. It kind of gets them off the hook for some of the concerns we chatted about earlier. You know, the the other thing that comes to my mind is I've seen people uh mention on Reddit and and and such where they they said that they were given a watch because somebody in their family saw them not wearing a watch. And that feels like a really bad way to look at the math to to see someone who's an adult who's not wearing a watch and be like, well, they're not wearing a watch because they don't have a watch. Like they must want something in that real estate, right? Would you do you think if you had a family member say early 20s, something like that, that ne you never saw them wear a watch, by now they know what a watch is. Like it's not like it's not like it giving it to a five-arye-old, right? And being like, this is a watch and now you get to learn how to tell time. Yeah, that's not somebody I'm
Danny Milton surprising with a watch. I think usually it's like they've they've got some manner of wristware on where I'm like, okay, we could we can work with they're they're okay with the idea that something's on their wrist and then we're gonna go from there. But I th I I would think the exact opposite. They're not wearing a watch because they don't want to wear a watch. They've thought about it, maybe they've tried it, and it's not there because they're they're just because you can buy a watch at at any local CVS or Walgreens if you really wanted to for twelve dollars. So if they really wanted a watch, they'd have a watch. So I mean I I'm totally with you. And just to add on to the other point, I wanted to add in I also my first um sort of nice automatic watch when I had my first job out of college was a Hamilton because under a thousand dollars, I felt like I was spending a lot of money for a watch that I think is fantastic. It's the Hamilton khaki pilot day date, it's a lot of words. Um, it's the the non-Murf watch from Interstellar. I still wear it. And it's it's fantastic, you know, to be able to know that you have something that's nice because I think anything like six to eight hundred dollars is very nice. But it's different than buying somebody a Rolex out of the b
James Stacy lue, you know? Yeah, you know before I got into watches, I was given, you know, two come to mind. I had uh uh a girlfriend in college gave me a Columbia field watch. I still have that, it's perfectly fine, little quartz watch, and in many ways it's what kind of led me down this path, because one day it stopped working and I was like I suddenly realized that oh these things have a battery, I guess. I don't know. I'd worn like Timex's before and they would last a couple years and then I'd bash them on something and you buy another Iron Man. And then I'd stopped wearing watches for a while. And and when I got back to it with the with the Columbia, it was it was a neat kind of way to get into it. The uh a field watch, I think, is a very style agnostic sort of look. It has a little bit of that vintage military charm, which is kind of always popular and certainly has been for the last several years. And it's not quite as heavy as you, know we,aring camo or uh pants or something like that, which I've I've never really felt I can pull off. So I do like I do like a field watch and I think the the Hamilton stuff works the same way. And the other one I was given was a very strange. I still have it. I I don't ever wear it because it um it has uh proprietary lugs and a pin broke and I've never really been able to find a pin that would uh fit it correctly, but it was uh it it must have been a white level watch. I think it's LEET L E I C H T is the brand, but it kind of has a loose Cartier vibe to it, but more like a Ballon Blue without the weird crown. It's crazy thin. It's you know back in that era of like wildly thin quartz watches on a two-tone bracelet. I think my opinion's on two tone uh do not mirror Danny's, not my fave. Uh but that that one really came to represent the person who gave it to me. And it the idea that sometimes it was like I was probably twelve when I was given it, maybe thirteen, and it was almost like I'd been given a retirement watch. So if I knew we were going if I knew we were going to dinner, right? But if I knew we were going to dinner and we're gonna see see uh the person who gave this to me, I would make sure I wore it, not on just out of respect, but to because I was kind of building memories into this. And you know, a kid who grew up in a farm town in southeastern Ontario, like you there's not a lot of fancy options in your life. You don't have a n a need to wear a watch like a Timex Iron Man made a lot more sense. And uh and those are kind of the two that they have a lot of memories built into them. But I I think it'd be harder to thread that needle now for you know somebody in my friend circle or my family circle or whatever to be able to buy a watch that I would wear in a manner that wasn't simply out of respect for who gave it to me. And to try and remember them and and you know pay deference to the gift and and the rest of it. So I it's a tough needle to thread, I think. And and I think there's cases where there's a lots of good reasons for it, and there's some where it's just it's a bad idea. For people who are sitting in the audience going like, No, I can give a watch gift, it's a great idea, but now maybe we've we've shook that foundation, that belief a little bit. Let's say we you believe the person to be loosely interested in watches. Maybe they don't they don't wear a watch, maybe they have a watch. What might you do to push them on the road to getting their own watch? They could pick it on their own someday. We think of like a different strap, books, tools. Books was going to be the first
Danny Milton thing that came to mind. But books because I'm like, I mean, right now we just moved into a new apartment. I'm furnishing it now, getting the coffee table set up, the bookcase, and and it's the books are a huge especially like great coffee table books or great reference books. A nice hardcover book is a r with you know high quality imagery of watches is just an awesome gift to get somebody that isn't the watch itself. Just sit down when you're bored and leaf through it and, you know, then come on to Hodinky and read some more. It's a perfect gift. And it has that same kind of elevated level of style to it because a really good watch book kind of feels like a watch sometimes. And
Nora Taylor it outlasts even if you're like, you know what, I'm actually not interested in watches, but I do love having this like beautiful book.
James Stacy And I, you know, when I was first getting into watches that maybe Danny you'll remember what these are called. There used to be an annual like giant heavy magazine. Yeah, yep, yep, yep, yep. And they sold it at a Canadian bookstore here here called Chapters, but I'm sure they had an indigo or whatever. But it was like, you know, maybe thirty bucks. And it basically had like 10 or 15 watches from almost any brand you could name, the specs, the prices. It was the equivalent, I think, of like um hockey cards. If you're into watches, you could this was kind of like an annual package. And I still have um boxes of these. And that's how I first kind of developed an understanding for, you know, Alane Silberstein or uh you know Richard Mill or or even before that, something like um Girard Perigo, brands that would have never hit my orbit, I think those can be really valuable as long as you know that you're leaning on something the person's already interested in. If if the if you see that little glimmer of their nerdiness, I think uh a sort of a compendium that can ease people into the water, show them the breadth of the the technologies and the the the sizes and the colors and the metals and the rest of it. And I've given a previous host of this show, Steven, co-wrote a another issue of a book called The Watch. And I've given that as a gift a couple times to people who like know what I do and maybe interact at it on a couple inner Instagram posts or something. And it's great because it gives you you get to understand why. Why would somebody care about this to the extent that this guy, I know it's whole his whole job is to is to talk about these things. He doesn't make watches. Lord knows he can't fix them. But he spends an awful lot of time with them and why. And to to have the background context to it, it kind of opens that world up a little bit. And I don't think it opens the world up in a way that buying a watch for somebody does. I agree. I have that book on my bookcase right behind me. It's like a it's a perfect entryway. Yeah, it's not expensive, it's a nice size. I've got a couple of those books of you know credit to the Hodinky Shop Library. They sell some real heavy books. Some stuff that'll really challenge uh uh you know secondhand MCM coffee table for sure. It's it's testing the integrity of my TV unit. It's it's it's it's it's bending. There's a bend in it. The other thing that I like for people that I do know are already into watches and probably would even enjoy a watch is is um just a a decent watch tool. I think is a great option. I'm a huge fan, I don't see people use them that often, but I'm a huge fan of um Singpr bar pliers rather than using single-sided tools. This is made by a company called, well it just says Swiss Quality. That can't be it. Ooh. That's how you know. I think I got these on like Horafix. But these are great 'cause they'll work with uh like Rolex bracelets, like really tight tolerances. And it's always nice to put fewer scratches on your watches. I can't ever promise that it'll be zero if you like to strap change straps as much as me. And then I think straps are one that if you see a friend with watches, I think a new strap does what a new watch does for someone who's who doesn't have a collection of watches. It changes the whole game for how that watch wears. And I think a strap and a simple strap changing tool and a couple spring bars would kind of really open open the world up. And uh I think yeah, straps have always been uh a bit of a move for me as well. I think straps hit the
Nora Taylor gifting sweet spot, which is like something you would want, but falls just outside of like your regular budget or what you feel like is it okay for you to spend. Like I would love a lavender strap, but I feel like I can't quite justify it. That makes it like the perfect gi
Danny Milton ft. I mean I don't even have a good strap changing tool myself. And I do like changing straps. And to your point, I have this old 34 millimeter C master that used to be on this patent leather, black leather strap that I just it just didn't work for me. It wasn't until I got um like a new green strap on it that just like opened the watch up for me. I d I was not a green leather strap guy ever in my life, like at least in my own mind. But I wear that watch all the time. I think it's a it's an amazing gift and that that combination, it opens up everything to be honest. Because if if you if you can simplify the act of taking a bracelet off a watch and putting a strap on it, and vice versa, I mean, you're gonna have so much more fun in this hobby than you could ever have otherwise. And I think
Nora Taylor it sort of speaks to one of the things that the watch world talks about, which separates watches from other gifts, is the longevity of it. And I think part of the reason why I'm like, don't give a watch is because it could lead to being wasteful. But if you give a strap, you give a strap that's and a strap tool to someone you are just prolonging their enjoyment of this watch. It sort of like leans into this kind of like continuation of something that they already have rather than adding onto piles of junk that they may not need
Danny Milton . Can I just say that for anyone out there who does ever receive a watch from me as a gift in the future, I will not feel bad in any way if you don't wear it. And then you come up to me 30 years from now and you say, Last year, I found that watch in a drawer. I just left I left it in there. And it just hit me. Like now it means something. Now I wear it. I would be so I'd be so happy. If you didn't wear 30 years and put it on, fine by me. It was st
James Stacy ill there. Yeah, the finding it in the drawer does kind of trigger a memory, especially while we're talking about straps. I I I think I've had at least I can think of two examples, two different people where a bracelet on their watch broke for whatever reason and they didn't realize that you could just put a even like a ten dollar strap on it, a a fifteen dollar NATO. And I was you know, you'd be over and and a couple times I you get together with friends and bring a bunch of watches, just kind of show it off or see if people, if it strikes anyone and they're like, Oh, I've got I've got a couple old watches on this one, the strap broke on this one and now I don't wear it. And you're like, you just 20 seconds later, you got to like a strap on it. So I think I think there's a lot there that that could hit someone who's at different stages in appreciating watches. And you don't have to spend that much money. I mean, you can get a fantastic strap for $150 if that's what you want to do, but you can get it my favorite NATO's twenty-four dollars. And if we're talking about a sport watch, it's a lovely way to wear a sport watch. That's one would I got on now. And uh and there's just a lot of flexibility there, and you you can get into weirder stuff. Obviously, I think people's knowledge of straps has kind of changed in the last couple of years because Apple made it so easy to change them and and change the feel of the watch and that sort of thing. And I think that's kind of crucial, especially if you came from something like Nora had mentioned uh previously with with Swatch where you don't really change the strap on a swatch. In many ways when, that strap breaks, you're gonna that's kinda not the end of the watch necessarily, but you're s kind of starting over with hopefully the same strap again, because usually it's all one design. But with uh with something like an Apple Watch or certainly with uh anything from Hamilton, I mean the like anything from the khaki field line would take any strap you could imagine. So I I think that gives you a lot of flexibility. And they have lug holes in the case, I think. You can just you can just poke that right through. We need to get back to a world where all all lugs are drilled. Then we wouldn't need as many tools either. It'd be uh it'd be a a small time paradise. Just a paper clip. I didn't say that. Please not a paper clip. Uh the the tool cost I I mean I've literally bought straps and spring bars and they throw a tool in. Don't use a paperclip. I'm I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. All right, guys. This has been a treat. I think we got somewhere closer to it. We don't necessarily advise buying uh watch for someone because they don't wear a watch. Uh uh that we think that's a bad idea. We think you run a risk of of putting someone in an uncomfortable position if you buy them a watch and they're not big watch fans. You know, they haven't really expressed interest in this avenue of life's fascinations. And then as they get deeper into the knowledge, that should also reflect in their level of taste, which might make it easier to pick the right watch. But you can always do the safe play, go with books, tools, or straps. I think that's that's uh where we would leave it. A any consensus? Did you guys feel like you you you started out really on on opposite sides of this uh event? Did we find a middle ground anywhere? I think I have to agree with Nora only because she ed
Danny Milton its my stuff. So if I don't say something nice, I don't know what'll happen to my writing. Yeah, you got to see the way the system works for sure. Hell yeah. I'm giving Danny the gift of keeping his job
Nora Taylor . I'm curious what your go-to phrase or reaction is when you open something and you hate it. Oh it's mine's a combination
Danny Milton of oh wow it's something in that universe you know there's like a long there's a lot of like dragged
James Stacy out words. I'm trying to figure out if any of this might be on record. Anyone could go back and like pull pull a Christmas video. Pull a Christmas video and like plug in some ancient DV camera and be like, I knew you didn't like that. Uh I'd probably like, hey, look at that. Right? Like, oh, okay. Hey, look at that. Well look at that. This is awesome. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, I I gift giving is an art. It it really is. Maybe at best this episode gave you a couple more paintbrushes or a few new colors to try if you want to get somebody a watch adjacent gift. It's a pleasure to have you both on the show. Thanks as always for your time. I know it was just right before the holiday. Uh Danny's uh car is warming up outside where it it will sit and not move as he attempts to leave uh a very congested island. That is right. We'll we'll be warming up the entire way. All the best to you both on this uh you know holiday weekend and uh for everyone listening, happy Thanksgiving if you're celebrating it. Uh I'm Canadians, we did ours a little while ago. And uh thank you so much for listening. And if you've been enjoying the show, uh tell a friend. Otherwise, we'll chat to you in a few days. Thanks, James. Thanks, James