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Our Fav No-Hype Watches of 2021

Published on Mon, 20 Dec 2021 12:00:00 +0000

A look back on a year's worth of accessible watches that you can actually buy (and probably should!)

Synopsis

In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, host James Stacy brings together editors Nora, Jack Forster, and Danny Milton to discuss their favorite non-hype watches of 2021. The episode focuses on accessible timepieces priced under $5,000 that are actually available for purchase at retail, avoiding the hype cycle that has dominated much of the luxury watch market. Each editor presents four to five watches, with one "flex pick" allowed that could be vintage or pre-owned.

The conversation covers a diverse range of watches across various price points and styles. Highlights include the Brew Copper Retromatic (\(450), the Oris Big Crown Pointer Date (\)3,400), Hamilton's Khaki Pilot Pioneer Aviation Automatic (under \(1,000), and Seiko's SPB213 (\)1,200). The editors also discuss Tudor's Pelagos FXD (\(3,900), Tissot's PRX (\)675), and various Cartier Tank models. The group emphasizes watches with genuine character and value rather than those driven purely by social media hype and inflated secondary market prices.

Throughout the episode, the editors share their perspectives on what makes these watches special—from unique design elements and accessible pricing to proper functionality and wearability. They discuss everything from micro-brands like Brew to established players like Omega, Seiko, and Cartier, demonstrating that compelling watches exist at every price point. The conversation also touches on the importance of availability, noting that many hyped watches have become impossible to purchase at retail, while their selections remain attainable for actual watch enthusiasts.

The episode concludes with the team noting this is the final episode of 2021, with plans to return in January with new content. The overall message emphasizes that great watches don't require massive budgets or years-long waitlists, and that the watch world offers plenty of exciting options for those willing to look beyond the hype.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacy This episode of Hodinki Radio is proudly brought to you by Accutron and the Space View twenty twenty sixtieth anniversary limited edition. With sixty pieces being made in eighteen karat gold, this is a huge anniversary for a game-changing watch. So stay tuned later in the show for more on the brand's iconic space view timepiece, or visit AccutronWatch.com. Hey, it's me, James Stacy, and with last week's episode focusing on a rather inaccessible side of watch enthusiasm, I thought it might be fun to bring things back down to earth, or you know, at least to my own personal comfort zone. As such, I've collected Nora, Jack, and Danny to chat about our favorite non-hype watches of 2021. It's not a draft, but rather a push or a focus on great watches that are available at a variety of price points below the luxury segment. In short, each of us was asked to bring four to five watches, none over five thousand dollars, and all have to be available at retail or via like a predictable wait list, pre-order, that sort of thing. Each editor is also allowed one option that is not rooted in 2021, be it vintage, pre-owned, or otherwise. So keep your pretty pennies where they're at. Nora, Danny, Jack, how are we doing this morning? Doing absolutely fantastic. I've I've never felt more stellar in my life. Thank you for asking, James. Doing great, James. Doing so so good. Yeah. If you notice there's a a lag on some of the we don't normally record uh I don't normally record podcasts in single digit hours. That's against the rules for for me. It's not that I'm not a morning person. It's that I'm not really an any time person when it comes to these things. So it's a little bit easier to uh to do it uh somewhat later in the day but to make the schedule and and to get uh these specific co-hosts on, we went with a somewhat earlier recording. Uh but I am thrilled to see all three of you uh digitally and I think this is gonna be a fun episode. Uh I love more or less accessible watches and I think uh that goes for pretty much everyone at some level. Uh we've got a really killer kind of list of options that I think we're gonna bounce around between and and the the key here is you know we're trying to focus on things that you can actually buy and things that don't necessarily operate on a on the hype cycle that we've been seeing. So why don't you start with uh Nora how about you pick one uh from your list and we'll we'll kick this off okay so then I will start with there's a
Nora wait list but it comes back in February the Brew Copper Retromatic. I first discovered Brew when the metric came out earlier this year. And I thought that was just such a cool watch. If I someone had described it to me, I would have been like, that's absolutely not my taste. That sounds not great, but I was very into it. But I do think when I went over and took a look at what was on the site, the copper retromatic was really just kind of more my style. It's a little dressy, a little sporty. Um it's got a beautiful colored dial, it's got a Seiko movement, which you know everyone's kind of really into. And I just really like the storytelling behind a brand as well as a coffee fan. So I'd say that's my first pick, $450 coming back in February. You can
James Stacy 't go wrong. That's a good one. I don't I also don't think it's going to be the only brew we see uh brought up today because I I have a favorite from this past year. I really love what Jonathan's up to. I think he's doing really good work at a really fair price point. And that the kind of explanation of when you'll be able to get it if it happened to sell out, you know, where he's doing these kind of batches, I think makes things a little bit easier for people to understand. And with the supply chain thing, I don't think you can really hold back this whole idea that any that like even anything that's of of interest or or made by a a relatively smaller brand like um like brew would be always available. But I I think it's fair at least as long as you know that that it's on the horizon and there's some timing there. So I think that's a solid first pick. You guys have any any uh special feelings on the the brew retramatic copper. N
Jack Forster ora can you give us or like a little bit of an explainer on what the name actually means
Nora . So it was originally the story James wrote a really good introducing where it was the storytelling was that he was sitting in a coffee shop and was like, oh, it'd be cool to time your espresso with a watch. And so it's sort of this really like, I don't know, I think it's just a cute natur
James Stacy al tie-in between the two. And they usually put an indication on the seconds counter for where the optimal range for a pull of espresso would be. So it's it's a little like almost like an Easter egg. But I I also really love the way they do the branding. A lot of the watches are really lightly branded. And they also just don't really look or feel like other watches. Like you don't buy it and think like, oh, I could have had a Seiko that was pretty similar to this. Whereas if you buy a dive watch from most micro brands, you're kind of competing against Senko, whereas I think the Bruce stuff, they just kind of doing their own thing and I think he's doing a lovely job with it. So that's a solid pick. I think they've managed to
Jack Forster do something that's kind of difficult. I mean you sort of know you're looking at a brew watch when you look at a brew watch. I mean the designs are really distinctive, but they it's not heavy-handed. I mean they've just lent lean you know they've leaned pretty hard into creating their own identity but, without making something that looks, you know, sort of outlandish. And um, you know, the the chronograph I think is really uh a great example of that. I've always thought that chronographs have the potential to bring out the worst in watch designers. And it's just a nice, clean des
James Stacy ign, good use of color A clean chronograph that's still useful is a I think a genuinely difficult task for any brand at any price point. They can't all look like Nava timers. I I don't have that much time. And then sometimes you see them and you go like, but I wouldn't have minded a minute track. Wouldn't have minded knowing if I was looking at minutes or hours, you know, at a glance, that sort of thing. Uh, you know, so that we can keep on uh a certain level. Uh I'll quickly add in that I had uh mentioned in my list the brew metric which is a watch I absolutely adored from earlier this year. It's about four hundred dollars. Next batch again will be up in February so you can always hit their website or the we'll put this all in the show notes of course. But that was one of my favorite kind of genuinely accessible watches that came out this year. I love the colorway. I love the the kind of 70s funky integrated bracelet look. Uh it's really charming in person. I'll I'll include, you know, but to toot my own horn also my hands-on with the uh with the metric as I it was one that I really enjoyed writing this year. So uh that way we don't have to uh spend too much time on uh on one brand in here. Jack, how about you uh uh give us one from your list. I think one of my all-time favorites this
Jack Forster year was the Oris Big Crown Pointer date. I thought it was just a it's just classic Aurus, you know. I mean, the movement's uh fantastic, the design is terrific, the just sort of overall kind of like classical take on designing a wristwatch with a date. I mean if you're going to do a date, you know, date windows can all can a lot of the time look sort of apologetic. It's almost as if they're saying, look, we know that you want to know what the date is because you're really disoriented with respect to space and time than,ks to uh working for Mob for two years straight. But I like a pointer date really becomes an integral part of the design of the watch. And it also shows you kind of where you are in the month, which a simple date window doesn't do. And um it's a signature complication for Aurus. It's not something that a ton of other brands do. Usually when you get uh pointer date complication, it's on a much, much more expensive watch. I mean, Vacheron does a really beautiful one um in the lazy historique collection. But uh you know that's a much, much more expensive wristwatch. And I think we you're getting so much bang for the bug here with Oris. It's really kind of um if you have more sort of traditionalist taste, but you want something a bit bit distinctive, this is a great way of getting something classic that's not classic
James Stacy to the point of uh torpor. Yeah, I mean I I I got to check out this watch and shoot some photos that ended up in Robin's write-up about it. And I I'm I'm absolutely a fan. I think this is one of the best iterations of the pointer date that they've made yet. I like the 38mm sizing. The proportions are very similar, but the case feels a little bit more modern. And then you have the kind of change in the gen, not a layout, but in the execution layout with the new hand. It's no longer the crescent hand, which I like because it gives it some differentiation between the the 40 millimeter stuff that they're going to keep making, the stuff that's based on non-in-house created movements. Yeah. And so that's uh thirty four hundred dollars, and that's also one that's uh uh carried by the shop, full disclosure. A great pick, Jack, for sure. Thank you, James. Danny, what are you feeling? Got anything on the list there? No, I just decided to phone it in. N
Danny Milton ice. Uh no, I'm gonna I I uh the first one that I went with was a watch that not only I thought would be a great gift for anyone during the holidays, because it's not a hype watch necessarily, but it was a watch that surprised me when I saw it for hands-on coverage. It was the Hamilton khaki pilot pioneer aviation automatic. There's a lot of words in there. It's basically Hamilton's new 38mm pilot's watch with a countdown bezel, which is just this really delightful little watch with a big crown, textured dial, kind of this overtly vintage aesthetic to it, you know, the classic sort of Hamilton cathedral hands. It kind of combines almost every skew that Hamilton makes into one watch, but like a size that everybody would always ask for, which Hamilton wouldn't ordinarily deliver, or really any watch brand would ordinarily deliver. And um yeah, I just found that this watch was one of the most wearable pieces I've put on in recent memory. You sort of put it on your wrist and it disappears, which is the best thing. Uh you forget that it's there, but you look down, you're like, oh that's very cool and it's not overbearing and doesn't look like I'm wearing a a literal, you know, machine on my wrist. I don't know. There was something totally even though I literally wrote probably a thousand words on it, I couldn't actually, put into words what was so particularly endearing about this watch. I think the pictures speak louder than my words do in this case. And what's interesting about this is while it's definitely not a hype watch, I know that we do carry it. So another full disclosure there. But shortly after that piece went up, we don't carry it anymore. I mean it's sold out on our site, but I know that it's still very much attainable in the world. But I think it's a great entry point because it's sub one thousand dollars. It's like nine hundred and ninety-five dollars, something in that range for anybody that wants to get a taste of what you know vintage watches feel like or proper sizing for a watch if you can't really get into it at a higher price point Kind of
James Stacy like a blend between a dive watch and a pilot's watch. The copy here says it's based on uh pocket watch used by uh US soldiers in World War Two. Yep. Uh yeah, thirty eight millimeters, hundred hundred meter water resistance. Uh I mean eighteen millimeter lugs, you can put any strap on it. I dig it. I think that's a solid pick for sure. It has that kind of vintagey coloring as well with the matte dial and the the kind of gold y gilt look.
Danny Milton It's definitely that whole I know Logan mentioned this when he wrote about the and if someone's gonna pick this watch, I won't say, but it has a sort of uh a Tudor Black Bay fifty eight kind of vibe to it at just a you know, a much lower price point, which I think is a great way to get people into this,
James Stacy you know, at all levels. I would agree. I mean, Hamilton's always been uh a brand that I think owns at this price point, like really strong especially if you're looking for Swiss. You know, we're we're trying to stick pretty, pretty firmly under five thousand dollars on on these picks, and uh you'll find most of these are under two thousand. Really a good pick, Danny. I like that one quite a bit. Actually, you know, something I'm curious about is uh the the this
Jack Forster is this is sort of the anti-hype watch episode. But on a certain level, I mean I don't think anybody minds a watch that kind of goes viral. I think what people really mind is a watch that seems to be so hyped that there's a disconnect between the perceived uh price and the perceived value. And when you start to see pricing driven, you know, more or less purely by hype, more or less purely what a watch can do for you is a kind of um what do you kids say these days, a flex, I think you call it. Right. You know, I think that that's I think that's I think that's when uh when people start to feel that things have gone off
James Stacy the rails a little bit. I I think that's a fair comment, Jack. Absolutely. And and I think the distinction can be made in in the in the watches that we're picking. You know, in my mind, it's one thing for a watch to be popular and even be popular enough that it's not necessarily super easy to buy. Like you might have to wait for a brew or something like that. It's another thing where the price you're paying is because it's popular. And I think that's where it becomes kind of a pain. And and I think I can actually highlight that with my first pick, which is actually I I bent my or I didn't bend my rules, I skirted my own rules with this one because I wanted to pick my my beloved SPB143, but it came out the year before and I didn't want to use it as my flex. So I picked the SPB two one three, which is the white dial blue bezel version, which I very much would like to own and have no need to own two of an almost identical watch. Actually, have you guys ever seen this? I'll cut this out probably. Have you guys ever seen the meme of like the grandpa getting a shirt and it's the shirt he's already wearing. That's that's I think my watch buying process every time. I don't know why this is it should be leftist. This should be leftist. Yeah absolutely. If we leave I keep I have I have it in my folders, in my meme folder, so I'll put it in the show notes if we leave this in, but it's like a guy like happily presenting his new shirt and it's the exact same shirt he's wearing. And that's how I feel every time I talk about one of these prospect Seiko's agenda. That's that's called collecting. Yes, I suppose so for sure. Um so yeah, my first pick uh in in in a suggestion of a watch that you can buy. I did make sure that these are in stock at several retailers. Unfortunately, this isn't one that the shop carries currently. I think we should carry this whole line if we could. But this is the SPB two one three, and like I said, it's the one four three uh that c you know that I I really loved and have written probably too much about over the last little while. But now in uh it's a technically a limited one, but you know, uh saco limits are are pretty high. And I did find one or two US retailers that had them available to buy immediately on their site at list price. So twelve hundred bucks for a forty point five millimeter steel dive watch with like nice sixty styling that's not over rot. And then when you get to the two one three, the white dial is incredible. And then you have this kind of steely blue bezel. Uh I'm a big fan. I'd I'd be surprised if I can hold out forever on this one. Does it come on the bracelet, James, as well? Like the others? It does come on a bracelet. Yeah. $1200, you get a bracelet with these ones. And and I think the 147 is the one that came on the rubber with the sort of browner style. I could have that number off by one digit, embarrassing. But that one uh came on a strap and was like I think nine ninety five. That's great because I think
Danny Milton at that at that price, the Seiko bracelets, generally speaking, when I'm handling Seiko, that's the one thing where I'm just like, eh, why? 'Cause usually it's some kind of stamped clasp scenario where I think at this price point they're a little bit higher qual
James Stacy ity. Yeah, it's it's a heavier bracelet. I I mean I'm not I'm not so much a bracelet guy, especially not when you're talking about bracelets that are getting like chunkier to become more solid. I almost want my bracelets as like rickety and and jangly as possible. But then with the with these you get drilled lugs so you just pop that bracelet on and off and put whatever strap you like on it. They're not bad on the bracelet. It's
Danny Milton different jangly though, right? It's it's it's a more that's a like when we're talking about the I don't know the 500, 300 to $500 Seiko range, it's more of like a plasticky jangly, which I'm not so into. A little bit, yeah, like the the bracelet
James Stacy that used to come on the SKX 0007s. You could hear you could hear someone coming down the hall wearing one of those for sure. I I mean I love it. That's probably one of my most favorite bracelets, but they uh you know especially with the the rolled links and and the rest of it. So
Jack Forster yeah yeah I mean you do kind of sound like Marley's ghost when you're wearing one of those things, but I always kind of felt like that was part of the charm.
James Stacy I I absolutely agree. I don't I don't I literally don't even mean it as a dig. Like I think they're great, they're super fun. I have my bracelet for my SKX somewhere for sure. We're thrilled to once again have Accutron supporting another episode of Hudinky Radio. As we mentioned earlier this fall, Accutron is celebrating a special anniversary this year. 2021 marks the 61st anniversary of Accutron's introduction, and in honor of their 60th birthday, the brand has announced the Space View 2020 60th Anniversary Limited Edition. More than half a century on from the original, the Space View 2020 takes its name from the open dial Accutron that inspired a generation of watch lovers to think differently about what a fine timepiece could be. This special edition is limited to just 60 examples cased exclusively in 18 karat yellow gold. The SpaceView 2020 60th Anniversary Limited Edition recreates both the technical and the aesthetic as though Accutron reached all the way back to 1960. Tucked inside that precious case, we find a detailed view of Accutron's innovative electrostatic movement, with a smooth sweeping orange seconds hand set against vibrant green accents that recall the look and feel of the original Accutron space view. American watchmaking tradition and cutting edge technology, all wrapped up in a very limited creation, the SpaceView 2020 60th Anniversary Limited Edition marks a special chapter in Accutron's history. You can learn more in the show notes or by visiting Accut With a big thanks to Accutron for their continued support, let's get back to the show. All right. Uh Nora, I think you're up again. You want to give us another?
Nora Ooh, okay. I'm gonna pick another food-based colored dial watch that's very different in spirit. I am really intrigued by these auris cotton candy watches that came out in April, I think. They are bronze and I've never owned a bronze bronze watch. I'm really interested in the idea of a patinid watch, but then they have these kind of pastely, really um kind of cartoonish colored dials in like a lipstick pink and a um sky blue and wild green. I think it's just such a fascinating comb like combination of this material that is going to change over time with these kind of very on trend bright colors. I do like a pink dialed OP, but I feel like I am new in the world of watch collecting. And if I were to kind of figure out if I were actually going to wear a watch with sort of that kind of funky off the beaten path color. This would be a good way into it. Yeah, I just think it's such an interesting combination of things. And then it's also a dive watch, like a pink dive watch. Great. Let's do it. I love the fact that um
Jack Forster Cole Pennington is the one who wrote up the uh I just noticed that 'cause I pulled it up. Yeah, the Oris Cotton Candy and you know, for the benefit of our um listeners, uh you know, full disclosure, Cole is really our go to guy for all uh
James Stacy candy themed watch coverage. Right, that's right. It's true. Yeah, it's true. He's got the candy beat and like the deep military beat. Lipstick pink. You just think Cole Pennington. Absolutely. Yeah. Love you, Cole, for sure. No, I I think these are rad uh uh for me I, I just love that we're seeing thirty eight millimeter dive watches that like are meant for people to wear and just have fun in them. They don't have to be this kind of mock serious thing, they don't have to be this tactical thing. Like you look at Oris, they make a fantastic dive watch and they have a a huge line of watches that fill that role. And then you get this, which is kind of fun. It's still just as capable. I I think we what we should probably do is try and see if we could borrow one of these and give them to someone like one of us, and then see what the I w I still am genuinely curious what the bronze bracelet does to your wrist like over months. Because I love the way it looks. It gets you the the the space of a solid gold watch in the heft and everything. But like this is the most common question, and I don't like seeing questions in stories I write that I just flat out can't answer. Like what does the bracelet do to your wrist? You know, does it turn your wrist green like a like a good like I I just genuinely don't know. I know that they all use kind of alloys that are meant to suppress some of that. Uh and then the other bummer I guess is even if you try to do it would depend on what part of the world you live in, uh how close you are to saltwater, that sort of thing. Uh and then even some stuff like your own sweat and and whatnot. So I I think this is a solid pick though. Man, I really like that blue one. Yeah. Is there such a thing as blue cotton candy? Yep. Yeah. Really? Oh sure. Oh. It's a pillar of cotton candy. Yeah. Jack, I've been saying this for years, man, but
Danny Milton you gotta get to more county fairs. Yeah. Or at least stuff at the county. It's a strict' its a's a it strictly pink cotton candy uh area though. They won't have blue there. Sorry. Dang it. It's regional. Yeah. Blue's region
Jack Forster al. Uh all right, Jack. Let's give us another. Oh well, um I I mean one of my all-time favorite watches this year and uh surprisingly affordable for what it is was the Pelagos FXD. So um that is 3,900 bucks. And uh, you know, I was really sort of uh you know, kind of like eh you know when I saw it when I saw it in the pictures I was like, oh this is just this is kind kind of reminds me of the what was it, the P01 prototype? You know, it just seemed a little too um what do we say in the movie business? Seems a little too high concept for its own good. You know, it's like something that was kind of built around an idea or an ideology of what it was supposed to be rather than around actual needs. So you know, and then I um I actually asked Twitter to send me a sample to to wear for a few days, and I I have a story coming up on what my reaction was when I took it out and put it on. But you know, it was like so comfortable to wear and it looked so cool. And I kind of loved it the fact that like, you know, that it really was just sort of rewrote the book on, you know, what what a quote unquote dive watch is. So, you know, it doesn't fulfill the international standard on the you know count of it, you know, it has a a bidirectional countdown bezel instead of a unidirectional timing bezel. But it was really designed for a specific purpose and it was informed by that purpose. Uh every detail of the watch is, you know, it's sort of there for a reason. And I mean, look, I I'm I'm not likely to need actually, you know, find myself in a situation where I need a watch that can be used for dead reckoning underwater. But that's sort of doesn't matter because you know, dive watches are all about kind of like the Walter Mitty fantasy life that you don't lead anyway. It just it it looks great. It f it feels so fantastic on the wrist. I mean, you know, you look at that lug to lug distance, which I think is fifty two millimeters or something, and you just sort of say to yourself, Oh, well, this uh you know, I'm at best going to be non subliminally aware of the fact that I'm wearing this watch the entire time that I'm wearing it, but it just
Danny Milton feels good, you know? I couldn't agree more. We all were just together at an undisclosed off-site location somewhere in the United States for an editorial retreat. Definitely not in Bolivia. And um Tiffany uh had that, uh our esteemed photographer Tiffany had that uh there with her, and I got to take a look at it for a a second. I couldn't agree with you more, Jack. I mean, looking at it in photos is one thing, seeing it uh in person is a whole other thing. I mean, it really is while it's high concept in the sense of sort of the lug construction and how you know limited it is in terms of strap options, the design and the style is so simplified and it actually looks what how a pelagos should have always looked in so many ways. And I think what a huge thing for me is the dial. I mean as cool as that sort of um design where the the markers were kind of you know recessed and and and angled. I love the sort of yeah now I like how it's all just flat to the dial and I love the the new construction of the actual bezel, which is sharper, um a little more aggressive, and a lot more like the old subs, and still what Rolex does today. I just think it looks so sharp on a tutor.
Jack Forster Yeah, I mean like the default decision that designers would make with a dive watch nowadays, if they're sort of like tuned into what consumers want is oh well we have to put uh spring bars on this sucker and we have to make them as easy to remove as possible, because we know people love to put on, you know, different kinds of straps and different kinds of bracelets. But you know, the truth is like the purpose of the strap slots is to make sure the watch doesn't fall off. It's not, you know, I mean it's it's to to sort of make something that's a concession to what an enthusiast, you know, wants to do when he's playing around his with his watches at two o'clock in the morning, you know, after watching the hunt for Red October, the 57th time. You know, that's like but there's a lot of watches out there that, you know, are sort of fine for that, and it's a fine way to have a relationship with a dive watch. But you know, the fact that this one was just like, no, that's we won't the I mean we revere fixed spring bars and vintage military watches because they're a sign of authenticity. And I don't know why we wouldn't um, you know, in this
Danny Milton case. Yeah, I'm I'm curious. I know Jack, you had it with the textile strap and James, did you see it on that on that rubber? I'm so interested what that rubber feels like. I mean, is it just like
James Stacy a a really high end thin piece of rubber. Okay. Um, you know, I've I've bought like uh the Z D three twenty eight, the I can't remember the last name, but the but watch gecko carries then there's a there's a supplier for rubber NATOs. Mm-hmm. Imagine that just like thicker and less kind of springy in its retention. So it doesn't you don't tighten it and then it suddenly goes whoop against your wrist. Like it it just kind of it it's uh it's nice. I mean like Tudor understands straps really well. They've been doing this really well for the entirety of the Black Bay line. It doesn't surprise me that they can do it. And look at the rubber strap on the standard Pelagos is one of the best ones out there. Simply, simply a great watch. I think Jack, that's a great pick. I would put an asterisk on it because when I saw this watch weeks ago, they said it was available in store. I don't know what that scenario would be like today. But I would think if you're patient, you could get one next year. Because it is kind of a niche thing. I just don't know how many they made that are going to say twenty-one because they came out in November. But once the twenty-two start rolling, then I I think you're probably in a in a bit of a different scenario. So good pick, Jack, for sure. Danny, you want to toss us a second
Danny Milton one? Yeah, I would love to. Um, I'm gonna go in a totally different direction. I'm going Bulgari, the aluminum GMT that came out this year. Oh, yeah. I think that's an interesting watch because uh Bulgari has a distinct design language that it sticks to. It's uh rare, I think, in a in a world where a lot of watch brands are making watches that look fairly similar to one another across brands. They are appealing to a certain consumer that wants something that is vintage or is old, but you know, this looks like it but isn't. But here we have an entirely modern watch. And I think that the aluminum I think that came out last year or twenty nineteen, I forget, was it was kind of a a low key hit. And um when this one came out, I think a lot of us didn't roll our eyes as people might expect us to, and instead we're pretty excited about it. I mean, obviously, you know, it pays homage to classic GMTs with the the color, the colorway chosen for the internal bezel, but overall, I just think that it appeals to the distinctive bulgary design and especially at a price point of thirty five hundred dollars, it's really hard to go wrong. You get sort of this balance of fashion and watch making. Yeah, and I just think it's a great,
James Stacy a great watch. Full disclosure, that's another one we carry in the shop. So if you're keen on that watch, we can make that one real easy. Might even be able to get it to you, you know, before the turn of the year. I think this one's fascinating because this is a watch that I only have one cultural touch point for. And Jack will be the only one not to be surprising. Danny, you know too. Actually, you know what I probably blathered on about Heat with all three of you at some point. But that's what Vincent Hanna wears in Heat of Al Pacino's character, not a GMT, but an older version of the Bulgari and there's a few scenes where you know he's doing cop stuff and you can see it on his wrist. He's wearing like 20 bracelets and just very, you know, angsty uh Al Pacino whirl. But uh that that's always what what I kind of think of when I see this watch. And hey, I love a GMT. This is one I'd love to see in person. I like the matte coloring. I like the sizing. I love the idea that it's not just made out of steel. So yeah, that's a cool pick for sure. And that's about thirty five hundred
Danny Milton bucks. Yeah, thirty five hundred bucks. And thank you, James. It's coming soon to watching movies in 2022. Oh yeah
James Stacy . There we go. All right. I'm gonna throw out uh the next one here. Let me see. Oh, I'm actually gonna throw up one I haven't seen yet, but it's in the mail, and I'm very excited. And this is the new uh Dox is 600T. I've been so busy with the podcast that I haven't that this watch came out and I didn't even have the time to write about it. So earlier in the year they did a limited edition of the 600 Ti, which is a titanium dive watch, based on a design from the Aubrey era of uh of Doxa, so the kind of late, very late 70s and into the 80s. And when it came out, you know, this was done with uh time and tide, and it was this gorgeous Pacific blue, but it was limited. And I we said in in many conversations, I, you know, I I kind of think this is a good design and they should put put all the colors on it and do the thing. And well they've done the thing. You can get it in a steel or a ceramic bezel, every doxa color, rubber or bracelet. It starts at 1450. And I'm absolutely on board. I'm so excited. I don't know that I've been this excited about a dive watch since the SPB came out. I love that it's under 1500 bucks. I love that it's the right size. I love that it doesn't look like anything else. Um so that's yeah, the DOX is six hundred T. I'm pumped. I've got I think I have two coming, one with the steel bezel, one with the ceramic, because we I wanted to get pictures of both. Yeah, what is this case shape? This is actually like wild looking to me. Yeah, so th there's an era of Doxa where they they kind of transitioned away from the 300 case and into something that was a little bit more angular, a little bit more sharp-sided. And typically when you get a case of that form, they're larger. But the nice thing about this is a 40 millimeter case. It's not super thick when a dive watch is concerned. And it's matched by this like almost brutalist bracelet that at least in photos looks really good. A good bracelet's so hard to do, especially fifteen hundred bucks. The bracelet should almost be not throwaway, but the part where you go like this is why the watch was fifteen hundred dollars. Like we were talking about with the Seiko. I genuinely don't know how the bracelet will be, or or maybe maybe I'll change my mind and I won't like the watch and we'll put that in the write up. But I'm I'm really pumped for this. I love a new Doxa. I love that you can get it in all the colors. And that you can still get a steel bezel. I like my scratches. Yeah, I'm pumped for this one for sure. You know, it's fun
Jack Forster ny. I've uh I I've every time look at a Doxel watch, I think to myself, wow, that's a sharp looking watch, I'd really love to own one. This has been going on for twenty years and I've never actually pulled the trigger on anything. And I and not for any particular reason. It's just I mean, we could probably do a whole separate podcast on like watches we've been admiring for our entire life as a watch enthusiast, but for
James Stacy no particular reason never got around to purchasing. So that's Doxer for you, that's like gnomos for me. I like pretty much everything they make, but uh it's just like I can't pick one that I would actually buy and not feel like I had. What if I had gotten that other one? Yeah, I I mean I don't know. Like Again, it's the gu
Jack Forster y with the shirting. I mean Nomos is a great example. I mean, like I love the Tetra. It's like it's bit but it it's been around for years. There's really nothing standing in between nothing comes between me and my Tetra. It's a super, super cool looking watch. And you know, like I look at it and I think to myself, I'd really love to own one of
Danny Milton these and then I don't know, then like the phone rings. Yeah, it's the same for me, Jack, with Doxa, because my favorite one of my favorite examples of a Doxa I wrote about this the the first watching movies ever is Robert Redford wearing a shark hunter. And ever since I saw that, I'm like, Well, I mean but then I'm not Robert Redford and it becomes a whole other thing. That's a whole other level of
Jack Forster my life that I don't need to get into. Can we just pause a moment to appreciate the uh Barry White quality of James's oh yeah, just there? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. But I mean
James Stacy let me be clear though, that that so that's three days of the Condor, right? That is right. Which is an incredible movie, one. Um, two, uh, a great watch, but I think the watch, you don't realize just how much it's supported by the maybe the finest fit in that era of cinema. His outfits throughout that whole movie are next level. We'
Danny Milton re talking wool blazer. We're talking sweater. We're talking oversized plaid, you know, button up. And then we've got the the best peacoat in the game and then the aviator glasses, not sunglasses. Yeah.
James Stacy Red red Reddit was out there playing chess. Ye
Danny Milton ah. Everyone else is just a chest checkers. And je
James Stacy ans. And jeans. Let's not forget just wearing blue jeans. What a guy. Yeah, for sure. No, I I'm a huge Doxa fan and I get it. Um we should we should try and see if there's a way to uh to at least get you guys uh something to borrow. Uh you can get the vibe a little bit. They're like just peak peak summer watches for me. Yeah, especially like with a big silver dial, the orange dial, something like that. So good stuff. Doxa six hundred T uh right up coming imminently. Let's let's say that.
Nora Uh Nora, you got a third force? Uh yeah. My most straightforward pick is probably this Timex Marlin California Automatic Black Dial, Rose Gold, just a solid combination. I love a California dial. It's 40 millimeters, which is a little bit big, but beside from the fact that I don't know what your uh preference is, it's very like subtle, I imagine disappears kind of with whatever you're wearing, very like in line with my taste, just a simple, nice looking automatic watch. And
James Stacy it's two hundred and fifty dollars. I think that's a great choice. Yeah, no, I I and I think time ex just crushes this price point. I mean, you you can even spend a little bit less money, but go with the same sort of level of execution with an Iron Man. Uh we saw some of those ones that were like really fun different colorways I wrote about earlier this year. I I think there's a there's a you can go on their site and just kind of get lost. Like some of the designs are a little busy, some of them feel a little bit on the mall watch side, but I think when they
Danny Milton Yeah, I agree. I th yeah, I think it's an awesome pick. I think James is right on the nose with when Timex gets it right, it gets it really, really right. And in this case, the design speaks for itself and these watches are what most people are wearing in the world. Um and that's for very good reason. Did I win? Yeah, you win. I think you won. It's over now. We
Jack Forster can go. All right, Jack. Give me another watch. Alrighty. Let's see. What have I got left? Oh, one of my uh big, big favorites this year, the TSO Power Matic 80 PRX 675 of your favorite dollars. And I just think um, you know, it's like it's a really, really great movement, fantastic power reserve. I mean, you know, I I feel like every single time I describe a watch, I'm like I, you know, describe a watch I like, I'm like, uh it's got a really great movement and everybody's like, next. Uh but it is. It's a really great it's a really great movement. It looks fantastic. It's got a you know, this wonderful sort of seventies ish vibe, at least to my eye. And um, you know, so it it makes me feel young again. And um I just think it's a really, really handsome watch and just a screaming bargain for the money. You know, I mean it just goes to show you how much value you can create for consumers if you're thinking about it a little bit. And if you have uh, you know, sort of a uh
James Stacy significant industrial base behind you? I don't track TSO really carefully. That is that one that we have in the shop? I'm pretty sure it is. Yeah, I think so. We do. Yeah. So there's another one. We can make that easy for you too. I think it makes sense that we we should start seeing these brands that are capable of making really solid watches like Tissot, even Hamilton, like there's a lot that we've already talked about that could play in this game where obviously we're talking non-hype watches, but if you you these are referencing the hype watches, right? The concept behind the background behind this watch is you know leans into the idea of the integrated steel sports watch from a luxury brand uh and the kind of general versatility of that design. So I think that for six seventy five you want you want to try your way into uh the you know royal oak life, but you don't want to do it with uh uh what are some of the funny terms for the G-Shock ones? Royal broke. Royal broke Cassio, Cassio. Cassiok, there it is. Yeah. So if you don't want to do it that direct Aaron Powell I mean, one of the things that I realiz
Jack Forster ed, uh, you know, trying to sort of come up with a list for uh you know for this episode of the podcast was like there's a lot of really great quote unquote affordable watches out there. Yeah, you know, and irrespective of how much they cost, they're just great looking watches. They're that are a lot of bang for the buck. I mean, you know, you could almost do a whole separate, you know, you could build a whole website around uh, you know, white watches at this price point. There are so many of them, and so many of them are so good. And like you do that and you know, write about vintage watches, maybe a little auction coverage, and uh, you know, give the website uh a name that means wristwatch, but like in a language that nobody would quite recognize.
James Stacy I think it could be the next big thing. I don't disagree. Yeah. I mean the the thing is is like hype costs something, but charm doesn't. We saw that for decades in v in the vintage world before the you know hype got involved. But yeah, so I I I don't disagree at all. I think that's a solid pick, Jack, and a good one for the list. Keeping us on track here, Danny, you got another? Can
Danny Milton I venture into the the vintage pre-owned world at this point? Feel free. So I wrote about this watch this year, so it conforms to my twenty twenty-one selfishly. It is the Omega Dynamic, either in the chronograph formation, which I wrote about on the site, or there's a time and date. Both watches are in the $2,000 to $2,500 range. There was no hodinky bump. Sorry, audience. That the watch is still very much uh attainable out there on the internets. And Jack, I'm gonna totally butcher the pronunciation here of what I'm about to say. But where a lot of people cry foul of the omega dynamic chronograph, it's because it has a Dubois Dupras chronograph module. That's yeah, Dubois Dupras, yeah. And I think um in I mean, Jack, you could probably speak to this more than I I can. don't know how that would take away from the value of the watch or someone's enjoyment of the watch, but people seem to think I'm not this isn't gonna become sort of the next speedmaster because because Because of that, and only because
Jack Forster of that. Trevor Burrus Well, I think the problem is that any chronograph Omega makes for a lot of people sits in the shadow of the Speedmaster professional and variants. I mean, I didn't buy an Omega dynamic chronograph many, many years ago when I saw one on sale at uh I think the Zales. There used to be a Zales near twenty-third street. And I would walk by it on my way to the job I had at the time and uh you know, again, like it's another watch, another one of those watches like the doxa that I've looked at and admired and didn't you know and then didn't buy for no particular reason. But you know, I mean Dubois de Press modules have been used across the industry. I mean they were in um they were in offshores uh you know for for quite a long time. It's a it's a solid piece of kit. It's you know, quasi not serviceable. And I think that there would be more of a reason to qu you know, I mean, people sort of said for years for years, and it didn't stop the offshore from being a success, but people said for years there really should be an in-house automatic chronograph movement in there. Um, which you know is true in theory, but you know, the reality is that in a watch like the dynamic at that price point, it's fine. I mean, it's the reason that they could make a a chronograph at that price point. I think it's cool look
Danny Milton ing watch. It's very cool. It's very of of its sort of uh mid to late nineties time in terms of its design. I think it's aged particularly well, some of them more so than others. There's um but has a particular charm to it that's different from your normal vintage fare. And it's out there, people. I mean if you're looking to get people into vintage or neo vintage or whatever you want to call it, I mean that's right there. And there's there's a you know, there's plenty more like them, but that's the one that I picked. Dan
James Stacy ny, I think that I think that's a solid pick for sure. I do think that, you know, we're in our last ten minutes to here, so I wanna try and get to as many of these as possible. So that's kinda lightning round the next few. Mine is gonna be the Orient Bambino. I think it's easy these days, or not easy. You you're kind of spoiled for choice if you want to find a sports watch under say 300 bucks. But if you're not going to spend the money to get to the Hamilton and Traumatic or or some of the more defined, you know, to eight, nine hundred dollars, that sort of thing. I think it's special to be able to have something that's accessible and you could still wear in a business sort of environment something a little bit more classic in terms of its sizing and its coloring and the and uh and such. And yeah, Bambino uh currently I check their website's $150. I don't know how long that'll last. I don't know if that's always how it is. It's always on sale or whatever. Uh 160 gets you the one with the gold case. You know, that's where your boy James would be going. I I think these are kind of a no-brainer. They're kind of classic. If you've been around watches for 10 years and and existed in the kind of really accessible side, then you there's a strong love and and reverence for Orient. You know, that that was in my start on the poor man's watch forum 12, 13 years ago, and that one of the brands they carried was Orient, and I've owned you know everything from Red Monsters to uh to you know Mako 2s and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, I I I'm a big fan of the uh the Bambino for sure. And I think Danny you, brought it up on a previous uh episode as well.
Danny Milton Yeah, they they it's great. I think the one I brought up with had the applied Roman numerals. Um I think it's uh gre
Nora at watch. Fantastic. All right, Nora, give us another. My flex pick is I've been really intrigued by the fact that uh Gen Z is all about um Y2K style and someone who lived through it very unsuccessfully. But the one thing I do sort of uh look back with with well and with any sort of fondness is that I had a baby G and there's uh baby G you can get the reference number, VG169R-7E. It's clear, it's got a purple dial. It is just like, you know, go listen to InSync in your bedroom. Just a fun, nice watch, seventy nine
James Stacy dollars. That's my flex pick. Avoid all the boys with uh wallet chains and gene codes. Exactly. But the ones with the crossed tips, those are the ones you talk about. For sure, yeah. They're l less dangerous. That's what the col that's what the coloring tells you. All right, that's a solid pick. I like that a bunch. Uh Jack, you got another
Jack Forster for lightning round? Yes, and I'm gonna do this as an actual lightning lightning round reply, so I'm gonna be fast. Uh the tackler, Aqua Race McNight diver 2700 bucks full loom dial. Who doesn't love a full loom dial? I just think it's a super
James Stacy fun watch. Absolutely. Yeah, solid pick. I think that's also one, at least we carry tag. I don't know if a note on that one. Uh Danny, you got another for us. We can uh wrap up our lightning round pretty so pretty soon. Yep, I got the
Danny Milton Seiko 1959 Alpinist Reimagination. But I also there was an L E that I also wrote about, which like we said earlier, Seiko's LEs are large. So this is a four thousand piece LE, so I'm quite certain that it's still out there. Good for them. Um with sort of this mesmerizing blue dial which was supposed to be evocative of the cobblestone streets of Japan somewhere. But both both beautiful watches. Great picks. They're kind of um in the in the normal production run, Explorer adjacent. In the LE, just sort of something very cool. Also like seven seven hundred hundred to nine dollars
James Stacy . And uh just it didn't necessarily feel like buying another Seiko just to write about it. But who knows, it might break down over the holidays if I have so much reading time. Uh you know ang angsty you know board inside james buys watches you know how it goes. I'm gonna get to my flex pick because this is one that I'm pretty jazzed about. I I do this is one that the the pricing has really remained solid so I don't feel like we're blowing anything up here. But take a look back at the pre you know before the Planet Ocean, they're GMTs. So they made one that people call the Great White, which is a um uh two five three eight dot two zero on the bracelet. And then the black version is the two two three four.50. I think the dot fifty and dot two zero the bracelet code, maybe. Uh I think both of these are great. It's about $3,000. And I think what you're getting is it's an Eda GMT movement that Omega modified for local jumping. So for three grand, you're less than the price of, say, a BBGMT, but you're getting that proper like flyer functionality. I like these. They're not too big. They're not too thick. I think they're kind of weird. The white one's extra weird. It's got really strange markers. And uh and I just think these kind of haven't seen necessarily seen their time or they're old enough now that you're almost certainly gonna have to be concerned about service on something like that. But you know, being a modified movement, you'll have to go to the right person.
Danny Milton If you feel like you missed the boat on the the vintage explorer too, this is kind of a pretty sweet alternative because there's still Yeah and you get
James Stacy some dive watch chops in there as well, which is kind of nice. All right. Everybody, uh, I think you each have at least one left. Buzz through them and then we're done. Uh
Nora cardio tank solar beat. You have to call England to order it, but that sounds like a lot of fun anyway. Um about two thousand nine hundred dollars. W
James Stacy ho knows how much it costs to ship? It's a tank. It's a cool solar tank. I think that's great pick. That's a watch that I I was definitely gonna put on my list, but then I couldn't figure out if they were actually selling them or not. But Nora with the inside scoop, you gotta go through the the UK connection, as it were. Good
Jack Forster one. Yeah, I just kind of want to second that one. I mean, I I I know that's kind of cheating a little bit, but it's uh there were there were yeah, it is. I mean, there were production delays on it. Um now they're they're just starting to trickle out into the market. And um yeah, it's a tank. Fant
Danny Milton astic. Danny, you got a final one for us? Yeah, this will be embarrassing. I'm going with a Cartier, a tank, a must, but not the solar beat. I'm going with the the tank must in the the three colors. There was the red, the green, and the blue. Um, and and I know that I think this this skirts around Hype Watch, because I've seen people picking these up often um around me. I have not, but I think they're great. I don't disagree. What before we uh
James Stacy we'll wrap up right after this. What do you what do you feel for the color? I'd go red. I would go I'd go green on this one. I think well the blue's pretty sweet. I can't make a mistake. I'd go red. Yes. There we go. Yeah. Blue never mind. Well you know, maybe buy all three. I don't know. All right, guys. This has been an absolute treat. Jack's got to run, so I want to try and respect that because I've already blown blown our time over. This has been great. I think we we highlighted w just how much there is under five thousand dollars. A lot of this is under a thousand dollars. Thank you, James. And if you're listening and enjoy the show, all we ask is you tell a friend, send them a link, let them know we're chatting about watches you can actually buy. And uh and otherwise if you think we missed a great watch, I'd like to hear about it. Put it in the comments and uh we'll get back to you. Thanks so much for listening. This is the last episode of the year. We'll be back the second Monday of January with uh a really exciting episode that I'm looking forward to uh putting together. So we'll chat to you then and a happy new year from everybody on the team.