Skip to content

The GPHG Nominations And An RS-Themed Chronograph From Tag Heuer

Published on Sun, 16 Oct 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Racing towards award season with Danny and Logan.

Synopsis

In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, host James Stacey is joined by colleagues Danny Milton and Logan Baker to discuss recent watch industry news and the 2022 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) nominations. The show begins with important disclosures about Hodinkee's business relationships with Tag Heuer and LVMH before diving into the main topics.

Danny shares his experience attending the Tag Heuer and Porsche collaboration launch in Paris, where he had the opportunity to drive in rare Porsche 911 Carrera RS models, including a valuable lightweight version worth over a million dollars. The new Carrera chronograph watches pay tribute to these iconic cars through subtle design elements like the Carrera script engraving on the case side and period-appropriate colorways in steel and rose gold. The watches feature the Heuer 02 movement, are limited to 500 pieces in steel and 250 in rose gold, and are priced at $7,750 and $23,550 respectively. Danny notes that while some design elements like the case engraving could be considered "on the nose," the overall execution avoids the common pitfalls of automotive-themed watches.

The majority of the episode focuses on analyzing the GPHG nominations across various categories. Logan provides background on the GPHG Foundation, explaining that it's a Geneva-based organization established around 2001 to honor excellence in watchmaking. He clarifies that while brands can enter watches or be nominated by the Academy (of which both he and Danny are members), there are fees involved in the process. The hosts discuss numerous categories including Ladies', Men's, Complications, Iconic, Tourbillon, Divers, Chronographs, and the Challenge Prize, offering their picks and predictions. Notable watches they highlight include the Parmigiani Tonda PF, the Akrivia timepiece, the Grand Seiko Kodo Constant-Force Tourbillon, the Tudor Pelagos FXD, and various independent watchmaker entries. They express some criticism of certain category definitions, particularly the "Iconic" category, while praising the overall diversity and quality of the nominated timepieces.

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacey This episode of Hodenky Radio is proudly brought to you by Accutron and the SpaceView twenty twenty collection, the first watches powered by electrostatic energy. Based on Accutron's history of innovation and groundbreaking technology, the SpaceView twenty twenty collection is a modern take on a legacy that is more than sixty years in the making. So be sure to stay tuned for more details later in the show. Hey, it's me, James Stacey, and today I've invited Danny and Logan onto the show to look over a few of the nominated watches for the 2022 outing of the GPHG and a chat about Danny's latest test drive of an automotive themed watch from Tag Hoyer. As always, thanks so much for listening. Let's get to the show all right guys it's a pleasure to have you back on the show it's been a little while since we've been able to sit down this is uh digital hopefully we can do one face to face sometime in the coming months. But uh this is kind of a busy time of year for watches and then we've got a return of a lot of travel. So it feels like it's been a little a little while since I've kind of sat face to face, face to monitor with you guys. Um uh Danny, how are we doing? You've been uh traveling a little bit? Travel
Danny Milton ing a little bit, trying to just keep chugging on. There's uh plenty uh plenty of releases to cover and uh it's been good been busy but good that's good and Logan you were traveling
Logan Baker not a bit but a lot I I think you're back in New York. Yeah yeah I'm finally back in New York. U yehah the past, three months have been pretty uh pretty constant uh in the US and and around Europe. Um but finally back in New York and have a clear couple weeks to uh you know, actually do my job, which uh
James Stacey which is exciting. Well, who doesn't like New York in the fall? You know, there's there's a bunch of stuff with that we could talk about. I tried to pick just a couple things to kind of catch up on this show. The the the the main one I think is going to be the GPHG selections because there's a ton of watches. Uh they have a lot of different categories and and I think it'll be interesting to give uh provide a little bit of background on what the GPHG is for those who are kind of new to it and and kind of how it functions. I think we'll get to that in a minute. So I want to chitch out a little bit about the tag hoyer Carreras that Danny saw, but we do have to make a disclaimer clear at this top. Not only does the Hodinki shop carry Tag Hoyer, that's one thing to keep in mind. The other thing is is Tag Hoyer is part of LVMH and LVMH Luxury Ventures is a minority investor in Hodinky. We maintain complete editorial, you know, independence. We can say what we want to say, but we have some burden to make these sorts of things clear. So now they're made clear. Let's get into it. Where I wanted to start with was uh Danny, you recently went and took a look at um not only some really nice cards And I've been on record actually quite recently with my opinion that there's no bigger challenge in making a cool watch than trying to make a cool watch that also references a car. Yeah, I got to
Danny Milton go to Paris last week uh for the launch of what I guess is an obvious collaboration that really just didn't happen until now, which is uh Carrera Carrera. Um so basically the fusion or the most recent version of the Porsche and Taghoir collaboration has come through in uh a very interesting, not even vintage inspired, but just like a a very on the nose um car watch, you know, and it's it's for for all tents and purposes, it takes great inspiration from um the Porsche 9-11, the first time Carrera was ever associated with Porsche, the RS models. And so you get a lot of these vintage vibes on the watch from the car, whereas the watch itself is a modern watch. It's kind of hard to describe in that way. But the best way to that it's sort of um illustrated is on the side of the case is the Carrera engraving in the sort of Porsche scri
James Stacey pt. Right. So the side of these cars, these are kind of legendary collector Porsches. Uh 73 uh 27 RS, these are worth you know, these are seven-figure cars now, easily and uh super collectible, rarely made. They're kind of the that day's race version that you could drive from your garage to a racetrack, race it and then drive it home was the idea. Even rare still, the lightweight versions, it's my understanding you got to see both, which is a pretty special I
Danny Milton did. I got to drive in a lightweight for of all the cars I got to drive in and to drive, I drove in a lightweight for the longest amount of time thanks to Paris traffic. Just what you want with a nice racy clutch and yeah. I I I know. There there were there were times to open it up a little bit, but I have to say, like knowing that I was driving in a million dollar plus car was an experience and getting to understand why it is that way. Because those cars are incredible. Um and and this is the sort of watch release where I wouldn't have understood it and I probably would have passed it off as nothing more than sort of like a kitschy sort of release had I not seen the cars up close, experienced them. Um what was neat about the fashion in which they were there was that I was riding around with the owners of the cars. So they brought collectors from around Europe to Paris with their personal RS and we just sort of got to spend time with the drivers sort of going around the city and into the countryside of France and and really it it's great to see that passion that I know and recognize from watch collecting. And I know that it obviously it exists and the parallels that exist between cars and watches, but to see it, you know, firsthand was was something special for sure.
James Stacey Yeah, absolutely. So I mean it's it's two models. If you're you if you're a fan, if you know the kind of traditional look of a Carrera from the 60s, uh it's in that vibe, but it's still pretty modern. And I think what I would commend tag hoyer for is avoiding any of the like more goofy pitfalls of making your watch look like a car. You know, there isn't it's a chronograph. It's a two register chronograph. Oh sorry, a three register chronograph running seconds at six uh with a date and there's no dial that looks a little bit like a tachometer or speedometer. It's a little bit more chill than that, which I like. How did these hidden person? There's a red-gold version with sort of a white-red dial, and there's a steel version with sort of a blue-white dial. I actually have to say, like I I I can be pretty hard on Tag Hoyer, especially Tag Hoyer designs at some level, as being either kind of goofy or kind of missing the mark. On paper these look a little on the big side, but I really like the dial
Danny Milton . Yeah, they're not they're not small. Um I would say that they they register as as what you would expect from a tag hoyer today. And you know, I was a I lament a little bit because on the steel version, uh, which is really it's a cool watch and and the strap has sort of extends that Carrera, the Porsche Carrera branding out by having sort of uh the same uh script that'd be on the side of the car, sort of on the side of a NATO strap. But it also comes on a steel bracelet, which I didn't get to see. Um, but seeing it on a steel bracelet in in images, in press images, it it looks pretty, pretty good. Like it looks it looks really nice on a bracelet, a little more um subdued. But I gravitated toward that rose
James Stacey gold um modeling person. I Which was was shocked to do. And they're 42 millimeters, 100 meters water resistance, and they're using a um uh Hoyer O2. So decent movement, a movement that like is is worthy of a watch at this price point, that sort of thing. 80 hours power reserve, four four hertz, the rest of it. And it's a a 12 hour chronograph, which I like as well, especially when you start talking about automotive stuff and vintage racing. If for those of you who don't know, I'll put it in the show notes, but like typically speaking the Cray R Ss' and even modern ones, you can get this script on the side of the car that says Carrera. It's usually in double relief. That's it, they've put it on the case band, the nine o'clock case side. Was it goofy or was it subtle enough that like you could notice it when you want to and then not see
Danny Milton it other times. It strikes me as like the equivalent of the faux rivets on a Tudor bracelet. You know, once you're wearing the watch you don't really notice that that's there, especially especially on the rose gold because it's it's completely there's just no paint. It's not filled with any lacquer, whereas on the blue model there's blue lacquer on the side. So it's much more subtle on the rose gold, which maybe that's why I I gravitate a bit towards that. You know, you never know with a watch over time what's gonna happen, you know, scratching that up or whatever. I c I can't speak to it, but it's the one part that feels a little too on the nose for me. At least it's not on the dial. Right. But I mean tha that's not on the dial but, technically speaking it is on the dial because they had the script. Yeah. And so like in a way it it is. So it's it's I don't think it looks out of place. No, I mean and it's it's kind of why why I said like if if you're gonna have a partnership like this, this is the most obvious way of doing it, and I think like the the words the word Carrera comes sort of from the same place in many ways for both brands, and this could have been one of the messier collaborations, and it really feels like they were able to strike the balance while also having some riskier elements, like having the the text on the side of the case, too. And
James Stacey did you get an impression from the folks that were there that brought out their, you know, six, seven-figure cars, what they thought of the the watch. I mean the stakes in my opinion are pretty low. They're making five hundred in steel and two hundred and fifty in rows gold. You know, like the that's not that many. It can just be a little flagship for that kind of partnership and the connection to Porsche, right? So
Danny Milton I mentioned that in my in my story that it's the the the truly limited nature of of the production of this watch, I think gives it a little bit more room to do whatever they want design wise. I think that's what makes a limited edition watch, a limited edition watch. Like really make it something different, which these feel like to me. And the drivers were responding to it. We talked about it in the car, and that I got to drive with two different um guys, and they both were gonna buy one. Yeah. They're very into it. Interestingly enough though, because these guys are are pretty deep in this world, um it's you know you can look in my story and see the variety of cars that were there, but they're they made a blue and white and a red and white for the watch, which I guess was supposed to be evocative of the two most I guess iconic colorways for the car. But the drivers were really keen on seeing one in uh green and white. Um and I think that's one of the more limited runs uh if from a car perspective and they would they thought that'd be pretty cool to see
James Stacey I could see the color thing you you would want it in the one that your car is I mean if you have a signal orange or Bahama yellow or whatever like you you might that might be the one that you would want on the watch and and obviously that I guess that falls outside the scope of what they're planning to do. At that point you're making something custom. Right. Um, which would be uh you know kind of an interesting offering for a brand that makes as many watches as tag. But uh Logan, these hit you in any specific way?
Logan Baker Uh yeah I, I like the color. Um I I'm a big fan of the the caliber hoyer O two. I think uh at that price point it's uh just about the
James Stacey best chronograph movement thing you can you can get. Yeah, no, I guess we didn't say the uh the price point. It was 7750 in steel, 23550 in rose gold. Uh you can get the caliber Hoyer
Logan Baker O two for uh I think the kind of standard Carrera Sport or the um one of the other Crayers is maybe around six. So, you know, I think around that price point, it's uh just about the best chronograph movement you can buy. James, like you mentioned, four hertz, uh, it's a fully integrated architecture, uh, just uh, you know, column wheel, uh just really smart design overall, um, fully in house, uh just really high high high quality chronograph movement like Hoyer Tag Hoyer should be um should be known for. So that's great. You know, I take the subway, so I'm not a big uh Porsche guy necessarily, but it's cool. I I think it's uh thoughtful and that's one of the most important things. I don't see much fault with it. I I I like it as what it is. Um I'd be interested to see the red gold version in person just because looking at the images, um I feel like the red and the on on the dial and the red gold kind of clash. But uh I believe Danny when he says it uh it uh made him
Danny Milton swoon in person. That they really do compliment each other in a way that I didn't expect. And I saw the press images first and was a little dubious, and it's one of those things where it's it sucks to always say this, but it it really does make a difference when you see this stuff in person
James Stacey . I think they work. I mean, I don't I don't necessarily know how big the market is for someone who really wants a Carrera that references a Carrera and and then in into the specificity of a such a limit But I think the watches uh they make sense to me. The price point seems normal for for what you're getting. You know, I and and and like I said, I think what's most impressive is I'm I'm I always I think it's always worth chatting about any brand that can do a car watch without making it a car watch. You know what I mean? Like like find it finding the ability to make that happen without yeah, making it goofy or making it too hard to read or something like that. So Okay, it's time for our ad break and we're thrilled to have Accutron supporting yet another episode of Hodinky Radio. This week we're taking a look at one of the latest editions of the Space View 2020, which offers a modern expression of the classic mid-century space view formula. Offered on either a leather strap or a steel bracelet and measuring forty three point five millimeters wide, the space view 2020 has a three-hand movement with an open dial that shows its proprietary motor and turbine system, which captures the power of human motion and stores it in a special accumulator. This in turn powers a pair of motors, one electrostatic motor for a smooth seconds hand sweep and one step motor to control the hour and minute hands. Tucked safely behind a sapphire crystal, the movement and its specialized technology are in full view on wrist. Its American watchmaking tradition and cutting-edge technology all wrapped up in a vintage-themed design with unique appeal. You can learn more in the show notes or by visiting AccutronWatch.com. And now back to the show. Alright Logan, let's make the jump to GPHG. You know, this is kind of an annual event that has competing brands kind of thrown into the same ring on a variety of categories. They want it to be kind of like the Oscars of Watches or the Academy Awards of Watches if you prefer. Their selects are now out. So I figured it'd be fun to go through the various categories and kind of say which ones we thought were interesting for being in there and which ones we would pick if we were uh voting. Uh does that sound like a little bit of fun? Absolutely. It sounds like a lot of fun. A lot of fun. So first of all, Logan, why don't you give us a little bit of background on what the GPHG is and what its function is and why these uh kind of selects uh matter within the watch space. So the GPH
Logan Baker G um is a yes, more or less an award show uh that is operated by a uh foundation that uh the Canton and City of Jun Geneva actually, oversees. It's um part of kind of the Swiss watchmaking culture. Um, but it was only founded about 20 years ago, I think 2001, maybe. Um, it's an official public interest organization for uh supporting Swiss watchmaking. And it's about the best thing that the watch industry as a whole, because it's not just Swiss watches that can be honored, Japanese and German and wherever else can also be honored.'s It it's about the best we have for kind of a uh you know a big showcase. Like yeah, exactly. It does have some limitations. You know, the GPHG Foundation doesn't do it uh for free. The brands that are nominated, um, they they can enter a watch so they can send their watch for consideration or they can be nominated by the GPHG Academy uh which it's worth noting um that Danny and I are both members of, we're both part of the the Acadademyemy. The Ac members can nominate a watch, but if the whether or not they're nominated or the um brand enters the watch specifically, the brand has to pay to uh actually like receive the consideration. Um, and then there's a jury that's composed of academy members, but not the entire academy that I think is about 20 people, and those jury members vote on uh who actually wins the watch. Right. But it's selected out of the pool of nominated watches. And the brands do have to pay if their watch uh to to move their watch forward uh and to be part of the pool that gets selected for final consideration. And so right now where we're at in the process is the final nominated timepieces. So six watches in each category have been announced. The jury will make their decisions and there'll be a big award show uh about a month from now, maybe uh first or second week of November is when it usually happens. And uh, you know, it's not perfect, but it is fun to see what is out there to kind of make your picks um and see see who wins. Um
James Stacey it's the best we got, y'all. Yeah, absolutely. And I mean there's there's a a wide range of Academy members, um notably not me. But it it is kind of an interesting thing, and it's a chance to to see what brands believe are their sort of markers. What are their flagships? What should hit a zone? What represent the best of what they do. So if you want to scroll along with us, we're looking at the nominated time pieces. You'll find the link in the show notes. This is the sort of filtered down list from the competing options. And uh and there's quite a few different ones. We've got everything from ladies and ladies' complication to men's, men's complication, calendar and astronomy, chronograph, divers, jewelry, artistic crafts. There's there's a handful of different ones. We may not get to all of them while we do this, but let's try and hit some of the major points. Uh Logan, you're you're quite a bit deeper into the indie space than I am. When you're looking at these ladies' options, there's six options here. Anything stand out immediately? I mean obviously the Constantin Chaik and Harley Quinn stands out in any lineup of watches, but uh it it's definitely making some form of eye contact with me. W w what what do you kind of favor here
Logan Baker ? Uh, you know, I think uh I'd love to see the Parmigiani uh take it because I think the Tonda PF is a super strong release. I think this is the 36mm option, I want to say. Uh, you know, diamond hour markers. Um, I I do, you know, I think it's a bit outdated, uh, as we've talked about quite a bit, uh, to have separate ladies and men's categories. I I think it makes sense to it, it doesn't really make sense. Okay, I'll leave it there. Um but um yeah, I mean I would pick the Parmigiani out of here. I'd love to see um I'd love to meet the the badass uh you know woman collector that's wearing the constant shake and Harley Quinn. Cool watch. But I think the the Parmigiani kind of stands tall as the most uh interesting, attractive and impressive watch here. What do you think, Danny? You got you got a vote
Danny Milton outside of the Parmigiani? I mean just 'cause it's not gonna appear later as far as my scrolling abilities can show, I I'm gonna go for the Alpine Eagle 33. I just think it's uh that dial paired paired with the diamonds looks pretty sick. I'm not gonna
James Stacey lie. Yeah, but it's not a watch in my mind that needs a lot of diamonds. Like a gold alpine eagle is is saying a lot. And uh and so I agree. I think I think those are great picks. And then the next one we go to ladies' complication. Why is the RD3 in here? Is it just because it's a purple dial? It's is that feminine? That's not a watch that has any any um uh gender statement at all in my
Logan Baker mind. Yeah, it was uh I mean I guess just because it's a thirty-seven millimeter size, but I I would love to wear that watch myself. Oh, for sure. It's super
James Stacey cool. No, the RD3's rad, we'll put the story. If you don't know what that is or the legacy of the RDs, it's worth a rabbit hole. They are these sort of cutting-edge technical work within a specific wing of of AP's development, and uh, and there's been some cool ones even just recently, one of which is this purple dialed RD3. I don't think this needed to be in men's or women's, but I guess put it somewhere. You know, obviously there's some tough competition because the Van Cleaf and Rpels, Lady Arpels, Ore Florals is one of the most ridiculous watches I've ever seen in person, mechanically speaking. Yes. Um if you if you just look at the image and you'll be like, James, but you love pelagoses and uh and and and you know citizen dive watches with digital I do. I love all those, but also this thing's dope. It's uh it's really high-end watch making. The other one I'd mentioned is that Aramaz is such a cool watch. Every time we get to see one in person, it kind of blows my mind. I don't know if I'd want it on my wrist more than an RD3. And of course the Van Cleef would not work for a guy who's currently spent his entire day in um in you know a fleece jacket. But I do like that RD3, and there's some cool stuff in here for sure. To definitely take a closer look at that. Uh next up we're at men's. Uh I mean this there's also some stacked uh options here. That trilobe is super cool, like crazy cool. How do you how do you
Logan Baker not kind of give a nod to the Acrivia, right? Yeah, this is um the men's category is probably the most uh prestigious out of the entire um out of the entire uh show, I would say. Um it's the closest thing to best pitcher. I mean, that sounds a little bad saying, oh, the men's watch category is the the kind of the top one. But I I think it's the one that is most valued by the the watchmakers themselves. And it's the one that's generally kind of the with the the most uh fierce competition. I mean, because looking at this is a bit of a murderer's row with uh Sylvia and Panault, the Crivia, uh, and that uh the Parmigiani's great, which I already talked about a bit. Uh, and then the Zenith, which I just wrote about um recently. Was it the one three five piece? Yeah, it's the Carvutulan did the the the work on reviving, restoring the vintage caliber one thirty-five, you know, with the Guillaume Balance, um basically more or less the most one of the most accurate wristwatch calibers ever uh developed. It won more chronometry observatory um competitions than any other movement in history. So the they brought it back. Um Phillips, the the auction house applied some of their uh, you know, curation, um, aesthetic guidance. Um, Zenith provided the movements and Kari um restored the the movements um without work uh messing with the their screwed regulation uh and his dial in case manufacturers made um th those aspects of the watch. So it's it's really cool. Uh one of my favorite stories of the year, but I I I don't know what I'd pick. I mean, I think then the the Academy might favor that Sylvain Pinot just because um it's gotten a lot of hype. It's really impressive. Um I don't know. I I I'm kind of leaning toward that for my pick. Uh this Sylvain Pinel. How about you, Danny? Where where are you putting your marker
James Stacey ? I I'm in the Acrivia bucket for this one. There is a hype play to the Acrivia, like it's a known quantity. Sure. But I I think that's why it works in the men's category. Like I feel like they've earned their space to to to sit with those six. Again, this is gonna be way more helpful if you open the link on your phone and scroll with us when you're listening, because we're not necessarily gonna talk about all of them. We I do want to try and move quickly. So let's let's jump into a men's complication. The standout here for me, for what I would want on my wrist is the Parmigiani. I think this is a really cool travel watch. I love uh twin time or or dual time time travel, uh depending on the brand, but it's two largely identical hour hands, one of which can be nested if you want it to. And then you have the ability to essentially jump to a new uh new time zone uh when you land. I've seen I got to see this in person briefly at Watches and Wonders. And yeah, I mean the other stuff here is is is all pretty impressive. That's a really wild 1159. And and then again we have the uh the Airmaz uh I guess the men's version of a similar a similar watch. What uh what do you guys favor, Danny? Where do you land for men's complic
Danny Milton ation? I am drawn to the code. Uh the code eleven fifty nine, um I know that's a controversial. The turbion open work. Yeah. All blue. Very cool. Very cool. Um yeah, this is these are tough categories because they they couldn't be more diverse in in kind of the the most interesting way. Um I think you covered the Armin Strom, didn't you, James, earlier this year? Or Yep. That
James Stacey 's and that's an interesting watch with it kind of a uh an uncommon indication of the date that can also be zeroed to get out of the way.
Logan Baker I I gotta say, I just I love the balls of Armin Strom dropping a date complication for the men's complication category. So I'm
James Stacey kind of all all in on that. So it's like a pointer date, but you can also return the hand to just point at date, I guess if you don't want it to show you the date. Uh like Armin's Charm for me is a wa is a watch brand that does a lot of stuff because they can. And I think this is another effort of this. It's distinctly a sports watch versus some of their watches that feel more dressy. Um I d I don't really understand the market for it, but I also don't in any way want to say it shouldn't exist. I think it's kind of a fun idea. In my mind, they didn't press release so I'm drawing between the lines, but in my mind there's a little bit of this like argument about having a date or not having a date on a sports watch. And this you kind of do both in some way. It's one measure of of how you could, I suppose, do both. Um if we jump to the next one, this is kind of a cool one. It's iconic. Yeah. So we've got my favorite spread of watches. This is good. This is your favorite. So we've got a Nava Timer B01 chronograph 43. I I like the LEs they've done previously on the smaller case size, but I think you can say a Nava Timer is iconic. You've got the uh Girard Pergot Casquette two point oh, a wild thing that I had hoped to have in for hands on, and then they weren't able to send one, so I didn't end up getting to see it in person. But I'm a fan. I think these things are are funny. They're those um kind of side timer digital watches with the red display. Again, you should be just following along visually. So there's the big pilot 43, so the small big pilot with the green dial, uh, the golf coloring of the Monaco from Tag Hoyer, a Zenith Refy a Zenith Defy Revival, which is a very cool watch that an aesthetic I can't quite get with. And then finally we've got a Royal Oak Jumbo Extra Thin Open Worked, which is a cool watch, but in many ways I feel like if I went Royal Oak, I either want a lot of little subdials from a QP or I want that tapissary dial
Logan Baker . I just gotta say, I mean, this category I find to be pretty nonsensical. The the rule behind it is the watch had to exist like twenty years ago, I think
James Stacey . So it could be anything. But it feels like like in my mind the Defy and the Jar Pergo are not icons. I agree. They're great. I'm not saying anything about them being great watches or not great watches. I think I think they're fine. They're very cool, especially the GP. But no one wanted
Logan Baker that the vintage examples five years ago. I I think they're great for what they are today, and I particularly like the Zenith a lot. I did uh some cool stories on it. And was there
James Stacey a forty-three millimeter big pilot twenty years ago? There was not. I think that was like new as of last year. Yeah. I mean that this certainly this model is the the standard one. I think it's a good idea to have it in forty three instead of the larger size. But uh I don't know. I mean for me from these from these six it I mean on aesthetics it's probably the monoco, but they never really work on my wrist. They don't sit correctly on whatever's wrong with my wrist for a monaco. But I do like seeing them, and of course now we've got the world the 2022 world champion and Formula One, Max Verstappen, Sports of Monaco, uh, whenever he's on on camera. And it's kind of cool to see that watch like continue to to have an automotive connection, you know, even even if he's uh an ambassador and the golf coloring's pretty rad. I don't know. From these six, like none of them really um I I enjoy all of them at an academic level. I don't know that I would want to wear any of them. You know what I mean? Ye
Danny Milton ah, I also think this is an unsustainable category title. I mean there there's no way you could fill it if you were to get it perfectly right every year with an icon. I mean that's just an absolute misuse of
James Stacey the phrase. Yeah, it could be it could be, you know, attaching to how much of the watch world's design impetus is based on whatever was big or or in some cases ignored 20 years ago and is now kind of cool or 30 or 40 or 50
Danny Milton years ago? I mean like my choice in this category would be the zenith, but my understanding of Zenith even reviving this watch is that it was sort of like a an off the beaten path sort of model that really was a sleeper in its day and and kind of like a collector deep cut that they brought back, not something that was, you know, these are kind of like new icons. Yeah,
James Stacey I I I suppose. All right, let's let's turbion. Forget this. Let's go to Turbion. We've got a bunch of Turbions. In my mind, it's gotta be either GF or the Grand Seiko. GF for me is Turbillons, uh, at some level, but that Grand Seiko is still the thing that I'm so bummed that I was in the place where I could have seen it and I was too busy. I couldn't make the meeting. Uh this year when they showed it, the uh Koto Constant Force Turbion, even in photos, the thing just looks incredible. Logan, you've seen it in person, yeahah. Ye, so I actually think this is
Logan Baker gonna be one of the most um uh difficult to choose categories, and I do not envy the jury. Um, you have two really, really interesting Torbillon designs with the constant force Koto from Grand Seiko and then the cylindrical Torbion from Moser, which uh is probably my favorite Moser ever. Okay. The Torbion from Parmigiani is great. Gruble, like you said, is all about uh Torbillons and the 24 second uh incline balance in the the nominated watch is really impressive, and that also is an important watch for Gruble in it's kind of inaugurating a bit of a new design language. Um I wouldn't be surprised to see I I feel like Grand Seiko would be the favorite um of most like journalists and people visiting, but um I I don't know. I I I'm guessing either the Moser or the Teo offered, um, which is kind of a pretty wild watch. It's it's insane. Uh I haven't seen it in person, but it seems like something that the jury might kind of gravitate toward uh if they have everything in person. Um I I but I wouldn't be surprised if either the Mozaric and Seiko win. But for some reason, knowing how the jurors operated in the past, I feel like they might lean Swiss.. Okay Yeah, fair enough. Even though the Grand Seiko, I think, is probably the most impressive um mechanical object out of here. Um and I'd almost I mean, it would be cool to see it when the the Aguido or kind of the top prize
James Stacey . So I mean we've got a few minutes left. I don't think we're gonna necessarily get to all of these. Uh I know you're you're a big crayon fan and and they're in the calendar and astronomy section. Uh, you know, there's there's a lot I think to look at. Anything else here stand out for you guys that that you've seen in person and you're happy to see in the list or something that now especially now that it's in the list you really wish you could have seen it? Kind of like me and the Kodo? Like I I got to see the Chapik Ratrapani Ice Blue and we shot it for a story, and that thing's wild in person. Very cool watch
Danny Milton . I will say that for uh looking at the jewelry category, uh, and how that tag hoyer Plasma sticks out in that category is pretty hilarious. Um I did get to see that watch uh when we were at Watches and Wonders. It's a it's a wild thing. Um, you know, with the diamonds that are set into the case. It is it is w one of these things is not like the other. It's one of those scenarios. It is really funny. Like if if if the listeners are are scrolling with us, that is it that is the one that you're really gonna stop and pause and wonder if somebody accidentally put the wrong image in the wrong place, but it truly does technically belong in that category. Do I think it'll win that category? Probably not. But it's still if we're talking about what stands out, that stands out. Yeah. So let's do, let's do some really fast round picks. What's what where are you going for divers? Uh for divers, let's go um I'm gonna go FXD. Just just in terms of like the way that it it sort of shocked everybody this year. Right. Logan?
Logan Baker Um I think the Grand Stake was a better watch. Uh but I think FXD will probably win and I do love the FXD that countdown bezels.
James Stacey I'm also on FXD, but only because Doxa made a steel version of the army that isn't limited and is an incredible price at like twenty two thousand fifty dollars. Uh as much as I like the ceramic limited edition, um, I would lean towards the uh the Pelagos from these six and probably in the background I would actually buy the steel uh army that's what a favorite. Uh how about four uh chronograph
Logan Baker s? So this is uh alongside the Torbion I think is gonna be one of the most hotly uh contested categories just because you have the MBNF sequential Evo and the Gronfeld Gronograph, not to mention like you did the Chopic Ratra Pont and uh the another Parmigiani Tonda PF. But that I I don't even know what I would choose between the MBNF and the Gronfeld. I'd I'd choose the MBNF. I personally would too, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the jury opt for the Gronfeld. But I also I wouldn't be surprised if either of these also won that. The Grunfeld's rad
James Stacey though. There's some really cool watches. Chronographs a tough category. I love that cosmonaut. Twenty four hour time display is pretty cool. Oh yeah. I mean, and wh why isn't that an iconic? Yeah. Well, because there's another one. I think we've I think we've learned that iconic's kind of a confused category, maybe. All right, so there's a handful more categories, but I did want to get to the challenge, which offers uh a somewhat more price conscious options. So there's six in here. There's a Corono, a Louis Erard, the MAD one red, which is a pretty cool watch that you pretty much only see on Instagram, a Messina Lab, a Taghoyer Aquaracer Professional Solar Graph, and then the Tudor Ranger. Any of these six stand out for you? Specialness feels like the the mad
Danny Milton , right? Yeah. I mean if I w if I'm talking about like what I think will win, it's the mad. If I'm talking about what like really piqued my interest and what I would consider kind of wearing around this year, it's the solar graph. Okay. Um, but but the I think the mad will win this category.
James Stacey What do you think, Logan? You got you gotta pick either way with the
Logan Baker the uh I'm guessing the mad will win. I mean I want to shout out uh Messina Lab. Yeah, really good looking watch. The United Racer is a pretty cool watch. But uh uh I mean Tudor basically wins this category every year, I want to say. So that's also the Ranger is uh good competition. So yeah,
James Stacey that that's kind of a a brief overlook at uh at the GPHG. You'll notice none of us attempted to say the entire name in full. Not not always my my favorite, as I get about six syllables into there and it falls apart. So we'll have additional coverage leading up to the November 10th kind of ceremony, and then of course we'll probably have some sort of coverage coming afterwards. It's kind of an industry event, it's fun, and it is a nice spotlight for a handful of watches that maybe you don't commonly hear about on Hodinki or elsewhere. So we thought it would be fun to uh to kind of take a a look over the uh the watches that are up for contention. Danny, Logan, thanks so much for being on another show. Thanks, James. Absolutely anytime. Alright, and if you're listening to the show and enjoying it, you know what I ask. Send it to a friend, leave a comment, share it around, uh let people know about it. And we thank you so much for listening. And we'll chat to you in about two weeks' time. Take care.