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21st Century Fantasy Watch Draft

Published on Wed, 24 Apr 2024 16:55:00 +0000

Hodinkee editors choose their favorite watches of the 21st century, so far.

Synopsis

In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, hosts Tony Traina, Danny Milton, James Stacy, and Jonathan Mowder reunite after returning from Watches and Wonders in Geneva to conduct another watch draft. Feeling exhausted from covering new releases, they decide to have fun with a specialized draft focused on 21st century watches—any timepiece released from 2000 onward, excluding the just-announced Watches and Wonders releases.

The draft operates under unique constraints: it's a snake draft where each participant builds a four-watch collection across categories (sport, dress, complication, and budget under $1,000). The key restriction is that once a brand is selected by any participant, no other watches from that brand can be chosen by anyone else. This creates strategic tension as major brands like Rolex, Tudor, and Omega are quickly eliminated from contention.

Jonathan, making only his second podcast appearance, opens with the Rolex Explorer II 16570, immediately taking Rolex off the board and causing consternation among the other drafters. Danny follows with the original Tudor Black Bay, James selects the Omega Seamaster 300 2254, and Tony chooses the Bulgari Octofinissimo and the rare Patek Philippe 3670A chronograph. The selections reveal each participant's philosophy—some choosing historically significant pieces, others selecting personal favorites, and some attempting to represent the most important developments in 21st century watchmaking.

Throughout the draft, the panelists debate the rules, engage in good-natured ribbing, and discuss the broader landscape of modern watchmaking. Notable omissions and alternative picks are discussed, including various independents, JLC pieces, and Omega Speedmasters. The episode concludes with a call for audience voting to determine whose four-watch collection best represents the era, with results to be announced in a future episode. The conversation captures both the excitement of watch collecting and the challenge of distilling 24 years of horological innovation into just four carefully chosen timepieces.

Transcript

Speaker
Tony Traina Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Hodinky Radio. We are all back from Geneva. And to be honest, guys, after Watches and Wonders, we're all a bit exhausted by new watch releases. So we decided it was time to do something fun. Another watch draft. And this time we're tightening the parameters a little bit in hopes of getting some more variety on the table. Before we get to all that though, I'm gonna bring in today's guests who are gonna be drafting and building four watch collections with me. First of all, Danny Milton, fresh off a plane from Geneva and what, like two months in Europe, back on American soil. How are we doing, Mr. Milton? I'm still adjusting to the time zone, Tony. Got a recoil on my mouth 'cause I just I like the way they feel and I'm feeling good. He likes the way they feel. Mr. Stacy, James Stacy, calling from the Great White North. How are you doing today, sir? Couldn't possibly be better. You know I love a draft and uh I'm here to party. Let's go. Let's go, baby. Okay. And then he made an appearance in Geneva. And that's right. We saw the comments, folks. We're bringing him back. Fan favorite, Jonathan McWarder. I don't know his title. He's a video producer, extraordinaire of some sort, which maybe he's his official title now. Jonathan. Senior vice president video producer Jonathan McWarter. How are you doing today? Uh can you see the fear in my eyes? I'm uh actually terrified. I made a spreadsheet. I forgot everything I know about watches, um, and I hope I don't let down all three of my fans that re
James Stacy quested me to be here. We'll see how I
Tony Traina never forget about more watches than when we do a draft. So I don't know. You're good. I don't know any watches now. The real draft comes in the recap episode in like three weeks when we think of all the things that we forgot. Like uh I think last time we forgot Omega and AP existed and and other such brands. Stop seeing picks. Uh I built half my team. Uh okay. I guess I don't think it matters if he says picks. We talked about Omega for 15 minutes before that draft, and none of us said a single Omega watch during the draft. That's right. That's right. Well, like I said, guys, we're a little tired of new releases, but we're we're doing a draft this this time around focused on 21st century watches. So watches released 2000 and beyond. So that's this is what we're gonna do. Any watch released in the year 2000 or later is eligible, except for the releases we saw at Watches and Wonders last week. Um, again, kind of like last time, let's stay away from Peace Uniques or anything weird like that. This is the big one, guys. This is the big one. So pay attention to this one, Danny. Once a watch has been picked from a brand, no other watch from that brand can be picked. I e once a once an omega has been picked or any other brand has been picked, no more omegas for anyone. So that means each of us are building a four-watch collection, right? So that means there's gonna be 16 different brands represented, I think, if I'm doing my math correctly. What if James picks a Cellini? Could I pick a Rolex sports watch? Sure.
James Stacy No. I do have a question though. I do have a question, a point of clarification. I understand that we can't that a brand is exclusionary. So once a brand is used, we can't use it again. When you're picking a watch, um, let's say the model in question came out in the nineties, but the exact version generation some spec came out later. Is it when the original like let's say for fun, I'm picking a Rolex sports model that came out in the late 80s, but they made an evolution in in the early si in the early 2000s. Is that a late 80s watch or is that a 2004 wat
Tony Traina ch? And what watch would you be talking about, James? As long as the watch was being produced in the 2000s or beyond, that's fine. I don't want to get too specific about it. That would be so it's not about necessarily when the watch came out, it's whether or not you could have bought it in the 2000s. Yeah, yeah. If you could have walked into a store and bought it new in the two thousands or later, I would consider it eligible for this draft. Okay. Does that make
James Stacy sense? Well that's a lot of that's a lot of leeway. I don't know if some of the other people on this draft, but su
Tony Traina re. It's too hard to be like, oh, the watch over your shoulder, for example, for those watching on YouTube was released in nineteen eighty-eight or whatever it is. Uh and then you also get into weird things like they changed the loom in this year, da da da, like I want this watch and you know what I mean? So I think um as long as the watcher naming was was produced in in the twenty first century, we're good. Otherwise we're gonna we're gonna be splitting hairs pretty quickly. That's what we're here for. Split hairs. Okay, guys. And then we're gonna keep the categories the same as last time. So it's gonna be a sport, a dress, a complication, and a budget watch under one thousand dollars uh is the budget category. Does that does that make sense to everyone? Oh yeah. But not not not actually though. But I'll ask questions as we go. Man, we could have a number of podcasts about what each of those categories mean, right? So let's I'm not gonna get too sort of uh too sort of restrictive on what it means to be a dress watch. We're not gonna go with this old fashioned definition where it has to be in precious metal and there's no running seconds and it's gotta be ultra thin and all these things. We're not going to get too sort of prescriptive about those things. Uh, you know, we're we'll keep them a little bit broad. Okay. As always, we're going to do a snake draft. And since our our friend Jonathan is a newbie. He's gonna be going first. After that, we're gonna be uh going in order of finish from the last draft, which means Danny will go next, and then James, and then I will be going last again. Uh and I think those are all the rules. Guys, have I clarified this enough or have I just added confusion to the matter? Both, I think. Great. That's what I'm going for. The goal, the goal, guys, might be just to discombobulate you so much so that I win this draft. Uh
James Stacy just so just so we're clear, I'm f I'm picking third. I'm in the middle of nowhere. You left me in the desert
Tony Traina without a cup of water. Uh that's right. You're not getting the hot corner like me and Jonathan, which is which is always tough. I know you liked that last time around. I love the hot corner. Okay. Well, Jonathan, we're keeping it with you, my friend. Uh for one one, the first overall pick, you've got four categories to choose from, any number of brands. It's a lot of pressure for well, your second podcast appearance, but you know, your first sort of absolutely episode where there's not 10 other people. I'm trying to stall to give you a little bit of time here to make sure you really think about this this pick while you're on the clock. But do you have a first like is there a pick clock? A first of well, if you take too much time, there might be. Uh, but do you have a pick for the best the best the your watch that you're gonna pick for the 21st century that it just epitomizes this century of watches for you. Wow the amount of pressure um so I do have a pick uh and I there was a great number of brands that I could have chosen from. And I won I was doing everything in my power to not pick a certain brand, but given my first, you know, I get the first pick. This is like my second appearance on the podcast. Give into the dark side. I really want to take it from Danny. Yeah. Um, I feel like my best move here is to be an agent of chaos in a sort of way and like if we're eliminating brands. Are you gonna pick a watch? I'm gonna pick a watch. Uh but we're on a podcast, Danny. Is this it's not it's like is this not the purpose of a podcast? Is to just filibuster. Specificity is the soul of narrative. Yeah. Uh I'm going with the Rolex Explorer to 16570 Black Tile. I I quit. So I what better way to start it off than to eliminate Rolex. I'm out. Rolex, gone. Danny, gone. I've lost in the entire draft. Yeah. Danny might hang up. Uh, you know, James set up that pick for you a few minutes ago. Uh, I can tell he's devastated. I was talking about a different watch to be fair. Oh, or you doesn't matter now. It's also gone. Yeah. Uh man, it's funny to me, Jonathan. I mean, let's just talk about this for just a second. This is the relics we're gonna we're gonna choose from the last 24 years that's gonna be the one representative from the crown for 21st century uh watchmaking. What's the just unpack the thinking for just a moment? Yeah, unpack unpack it for me. Unpack that okay. Let's unpack it. Well, my understanding of the rules was it this not wasn't necessarily best or this is my four-watch collection, and this is this is a watch that I I really do like. It's one it's probably my favorite Rolex. Um I love a GMT. Um, you know, the the school of James Stacy. Uh I'm a big GMT fan. This is this is the one. Great size. Um you can't miss. Come on, Danny. It's a stinky pick. Jonathan, don't you wear it don't you wear a a certain other Rolex like kind of a lot? I do, but that would be too easy for this pick for this draft, and I wanted to make some waves. Well, listen, if you want to trade your Daytona for an explorer too, I I know a guy. I'm happy to make that trade for you. If you just want to do that straight up, maybe we can sort of make your fantasy watch draft dreams come true. We could talk after the show about that. Uh yeah, we can talk about it, but it's definitely not gonna happen. Uh okay. Well, it's an interesting first pick. Rolex is off the board. That brings us to our our second selector of the day. Danny, you're on the clock. I know this is going to be difficult for you. Uh what what do we got i feel like there's like a there's a methodology difference between all of us how we're approaching this thing i i still don't really understand the rules entirely but what don't you understand i'm not sure. We'll get there when we get there. You don't know what you don't know. How could I have made it any clearer? Listen, listen. I'm gonna go sports watch first. Okay. Since I couldn't since I couldn't choose Rolex, I'm gonna choose the other Rolex. I'm gonna choose Tudor and I'm going the OG Black Bay Blue bezel black dial. What? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Weirdest draft of all time already. Let me explain let me explain my point. Yeah, unpack this, Danny. Unpack this. So I'm I'm approaching this draft as like watches that actually mean something to the last twenty four years. And I think the Tudor Black Bay is meaningful. To you know, I mean you say what you will. I'm on board so far, but then you take some sort of weird turn and I think I fall off the back of the the turnip truck. Does it matter which color I pick really does it really matter? Danny It matters to me, Danny. Because it sounds like you want me to pick the burgundy one. It sounds like that's what you'd like me to do. But I don't want to do that. Cause it cause then I'd have to it it's got to be something I'd wear, right? So taking the watch that sets the stage. I'm talking about the Edda based smiley situation and just the one that I'd wear. Mm-hmm. So there's my pick. Uh okay, here's where I will give you uh your flowers just a little bit, not too much. I do agree if you're going to choose a tutor, it's you know it's got to be the wearable one for you. Uh, but man, what an interesting pick. James, you wanna you wanna add anything? I j I just like I I I
James Stacy I I mean like sure. Sure. It's a don't get me wrong. It is a great watch. It's just it it's wild to not go with the watch that like you own a fifty-e
Tony Traina ight. I know, but that's not you like I said, different methodologies. Like for sure, fifty-eight's great, but fifty-eight wouldn't exist without the black bay. Fine. We there's tutor off the board. I can't believe it. Oh man. 58 was I had tutor on my you know if I tutor fell to me it was going to be the 58. Uh but anyway. I had a tutor as well. Yeah, you can make a case. You can make a case for a few other ones. Six
James Stacy Rolexes. What are you gonna do? Come on now. I mean y you're you're what you could do is start by understanding the rules. I mean just start there. I thought I could pick Rolex in every round. Six is way too many.
Tony Traina So a four watch draft. So I th thought we had bonus picks. Did he spent his entire time? He spent his entire time thinking about like the most important Rolexes of the past twenty four years and forgot about the rest of the draft. James. Okay. My
James Stacy pick for I'll go with sport just to keep with the format. And this is uh admittedly a bit of a tough option, but I I think I think I'm landing on this one and I'm happy with it. It came out in the year 2000. I needed at least one that was timed perfectly, and it's an Omega, so that's going to be off the board, and it's the C Master 300-2254. Uh, it's my favorite modern Omega. Uh, I've owned one, I absolutely love it. I don't really know why I sold it. I wish I still had it. Beautiful sword hands, kind of the um the last vestigial wave of the MOD design. Uh, you know, matte black wave dial, aluminum bezel, the slipperest bezel you've ever come across. Yeah. Just very difficult to time anything with it, but it was thin and it had uh, you know, an Edda, an Edda derived caliber. Uh these are still to to today fantastic watches in the secondhand sense, and I just I absolutely love them. If you can get one with a non-AC dial, obviously it's not a 2-2-5-4, it's something else. Uh after that, uh, that one I also really like. But that that's my pick, a 2-2-5-4, sword hand Omega
Tony Traina . Yeah, great pick. Uh it sort of brings Rolex Tutor Omega. Uh probably three of the brands we would have expected to go off the board quickest. I'm bummed I'm not gonna get a speed master now. I'm bummed that no one else is gonna get a speed master, but other than that, great pick, James. Great pick. Guys, are you ready for my first pick? Well, I've got two picks actually. I guess this will be my sports watch. I'm going to go with the Bulgari Octofinissimo. Probably my favorite sports watch of the past I don't know, 10 years, however long it's been now. Can you believe it's been that long, guys? Uh, I'm gonna do the sketch one, the original 10th anniversary sketch from 2022, I believe. Uh, I think that's a cool watch. I saw a sketch in person for the first time at Watches and Wonders, not this one, but the new one with the movement. Uh, but I like the original sketch that's just the the standard automatic with the sketch dial I think is cool it's a cool o to the to the designer and you know to me I think my goal for this draft this is kind of what I'm setting up here is I want my collection at the end of this. We'll see how it goes, right? But I want it to really represent what the last 24 years of watchmaking has been. And to me, the bulgary octofenissimo is like perhaps the biggest success story from a design and new collection perspective. So I'm really glad that this is sort of the sports watch in my collection. It wears a little bit big on my wrist. It's this gladiator cuff sort of situation, but eventually they're going to release a smaller one for me and I'm going to be the first in line to buy that. But in the meantime, I'm glad to have a bulgary octofenicimo in my collection. That's a cool pick, Tony. That's nice. Great choice. That's very thanks, guys. Thanks, guys. Means a lot to me. It is a wonderful bracelet on that watch, I will say. Oh, yeah. There's something else on wrists. They really are uh a treat. Yeah, they are. I wasn't really worried about Bulgared being taken off the list. I was worried that someone would take the octofenissimo, but I guess since all of you guys took sport, maybe I shouldn't have been super concerned, though there are complications in the collection that you could have taken. Um, the second watch I'm gonna take is a deeper cut, guys. I'm gonna take paddock off of the board. I'm going to take the paddock 3670, guys. This is a a deep cut pick from 2011. As the story goes, paddock found 16 old caliber 131, 30 movements, I believe. These are the old sort of Valjeo-based movements they used in like the 1463, the 130 chronograph. So they found these movements from 1955 and they said, hey, we should put these in a modern watch. So they cased them up in 16 steel cushion case watches, sold them for I can't remember $250,000 or something like that. But an absolutely awesome, awesome sort of concept for a watch. Uh it and you know, I'm not to gonna be able get a vintage watch because this is a 21st century watch draft. So this is as close as I could come. One of the coolest paddocks to me released in the past 24 years, and that's what's gonna take paddock off the board for everyone else. Danny, you seem to be smirking the entire time I was I was saying that. It's a great pick. I was literally scrolling through paddock as you were making the p
James Stacy ick because unlike some people in this draft, I didn't make a spreadsheet. I'm winging it. Oh, what a flex. That's tough for you considering normally winging it, you'd only have to go to one website. I thought those were the rules also that we were all winging it. I thought that we made an agreement before we started the pod. We were all gonna Tony, that's a a uh deceptively cool pick. Great choice. Very cool. Fun story, cool watch. One I hadn't thought about
Tony Traina it in several years. Uh you know, I will say I I texted an old friend from Hodinky this morning, and I said, Hey, what are the best PadX release from the past 24 years? And they gave me this idea, and otherwise, I would have forgotten about it. So, you know, I used my phone a friend on this one. Uh, shout out to them. Uh okay, James, your next pick, my friend
James Stacy . This is real tough. Um Tony, was yours yours was complication, so I'll I'll follow suit with complication. And we are going I can't go Patek, so fifty-nine thirty-five A off the caliber, off the board here. Let's see. Um, I'm gonna go uh JLC. And this is uh, yeah, that was the look I was looking for, Danny. I'm trying I'm just trying to see what websites you're on on the on the other tab there. Uh and and I'm going with a favorite JLC. It is complicated, but it's not what you're probably thinking. It's a chronograph and it's the deep sea chronograph that they made uh and stopped making a few years back. A watch I wanted and will definitely own at some point. A favorite of mine. Imagine if you took uh kind of a mid-century sports dive watch and crossed it with a chronograph, uh, you get a a pretty cool watch in the end. I I'm I've been a fan of these since they came out, which I want to say was about 2012. Um, but I could be off a little bit in that in that vein, but definitely after 2000. And uh yeah, I love these a lot, so that's my pick for uh complicated, and it takes uh Jaeger off the board. Yeah, great p
Tony Traina ick. I had a few JLCs on my list, so bummed to see them being being pulled, but a worthy, a worthy choice, I I must say. Uh Danny, were you on the JLC website after you're just kind of racking your brain for brands, I'm sure. I was I was literally on the JLC website when James made the pick. This is not great. Is it my choice yet? My is it my turn? Uh yes, it is your turn, actually. It is your turn. So what website are you on now? What do you want to pick? I'm not gonna tell you. I'm just gonna tell you. I'm gonna go with my pick. I'm gonna take complication. I'm gonna take AP off the board for the crew here. Anyone on the AP website? Anyone? Not anymore. I'm going with the RD two. Nice. Great pick. Ultra thin perpetual and platinum. Just really sick watch. I think a watch that is um emblematic of the mid-teens. Is that what we'd call that these days? The teens. In what way, Danny? Because it it strikes me as that next evolution of um AP's sort of I don't know revival in the modern context. So like obviously like Royal Oak, auction darling, vintage darling, um, from a concept perspective, I think the brand going hard in the paint on the on the like actual Royal Oak design template with an ultra-thin perpetual calendar just shows maybe the early stages of doubling down um on that watch as um sort of like a platform prior to the um code even being something it was probably thinking about at the time. Um and I just think that we've seen so much development there over the years. Probably there's some fatigue, but when this watch came out, the fatigue had not even begun to set in. It was just kind of pure excitement. Um and I still look at that watch with sort of the same the same feelings I had when it when it came out and um man if I could get that platinum that platinum ultra thin perpetual on my wrist it'd be it'd be quite a thing. Deeply cool watch. Yeah. Yeah good pick. I had in my notes, I had APRD, whatever, and I was going to make a sort of a game time decision on whether I wanted the two or the three or a sleeper pick, even the four, the universal from last year. But I think it's a a worthy choice for complication. Uh and that brings us to Jonathan for his for his second pick. All right. So second and third. That's right. So I thought we were going at least the way your sheet shows it, sport dress complication and then budget. I guess we clarification of rules. I guess we just pick whatever category we want. You're good. Play into whatever category you like. Yes. All right. Well, at this point, uh I I'm set up for a good uh one, two, two, three uh pick. My complication pick is going to be um from Vacheron. I'm gonna take Vacheron off the table. And I was torn between two watches, either the corn devash uh chronograph, um, but you know, a beautiful watch, uh, very cool. We actually did an LE at one point, but it felt a little simple as far as a chronograph uh being my complicated pick. So I'm actually choosing the nineteen forty-two steel triple calendar with uh the cool like bathtub, flaw lugs, kind of an eggshell, like white dial, triple calendar. It's just a really cool watch. And if I'm picking four watches from the past 24 years, can you believe it? Then uh that that's got that's gonna be my my complicated pick. Nice. Good call. Yeah, decent, decent choice. Uh I saw you throwing shade at my chronograph when you said, oh, I don't want just a chronograph for my complication yeah don't think we didn't catch that i had a a note in my sort of my big board i said revasion i said choose a lay history something or other and you certainly did that so so i commend you for that. I commend you for that. Uh thank you, Tony. I appreciate it. Do you wanna do you wanna make your second choice as well? I sure do. Um third, to be fair. Third. Your second choice in this particular hot corner. Third overall. Third overall. We're both right. Jonathan, with your third pick. My second third pick. The Longa Saxonia Thin, the sparkly dial, uh two oh five dot zero eight six. This is one of my faves of all time. I've seen this watch a few times. An incredibly cool watch. And like my my emo is usually something old and gold for a dress watch. I've said that before. Second time I'm gonna say it. Uh but we can't do old here. So as far as a newer dress watch, uh white gold, what it like what the heck is that dial made of, anyways? Dreams. Made of dreams, Jonathan. It that's what it that's what it feels like. And that's what I feel like when I look at it. Like it's like really, really, really cool watch. Um and as far as a dress watch goes. Yeah, Saxonia, you know, apparently there should be a Saxonia in every draft, and it's always going to be sort of the correct choice for uh just a simple classic dress watch. So yeah, you can't miss. You can't miss. Well chosen, well chosen. That brings us back to um Can I make a point of clarification? Please. Maybe a maybe a question. Cartier is still on the board, yeah? Ooh. Not for long, it sounds like. With my first pick in this round, my third pick overall in this draft, I will be selecting the Cartier Santos Dumont lacquer edition from 2022. Uh the rose gold. I guess you would call it maybe taupe, tan, whatever color it was, uh, green strap. Um this was a watch that I wrote it in my headline for that show. It stole the show. I still believe that. It was like a hot, hot, hot watch in the face of a lot of hot watches that year. Good friend of ours, shout out Zach Blass, owns this watch. Um, so whenever I see him, um I get jealous because he that that's uh it was a tough watch to come by limited edition, you know, whole thing. Um just a killer watch. This is my dress watch category to be clear um i consulted a wrist shot james took of me at watches and wonders 2022 and it would be a great great dress choice for me if i could ever get my hands on one pillar choice uh i saw one just the other I saw one the other day and I thought to myself, is this the best modern Cartier? And I think your pick, Danny, sort of solidifies that it it may be. It may be the best the best one of the past 24 years. Certainly there are more complicated watches from Cartier, but this is the dress uh category. Are there better looking ones? I'm not sure. I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't I don't think so either. Hey, do you like it better than the lacquer ones that they did this year? Way better. I like them way better than the lacquer ones they did last year. Yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah. I agree. Sometimes they get it right the first time. James. James, your next pick. You've got you've got two left. You've got dress and budget. Where are we going? Dress and budget. We're going for
James Stacy dress. Okay. Uh I was I was trying to figure out which way Danny would go if it was gonna be Cartier or maybe uh maybe something else. So I had to knock my cardi off the list, but that's okay. Um I'm going Grand Seiko. It's a dress watch that I pick in most drafts, so it can't be really surprising for those of the draft scholars. And this is the SBGW252. It's the you know, like 2017, 2016 recreation of their the brand's original dress watch. I absolutely adore these. I get you know every couple of years I get a chance to see one and try it on again. The case size is perfect, the dial is beautiful. Um, you know, in in a world where we're talking about things like Longa and Cartier, it was in the same list with all of those. And uh I'm thrilled to have it. I think it also kind of like lines up nicely with uh the little collection I'm building here. Is that the same dress watch you chose last time around? Alm
Tony Traina ost certainly. I mean it's possible. It was definitely on the list. I'm a big fan. Almost certain, man. Almost certainly. Okay, we love that. Uh yeah, Grand Seiko finally off the board. A worthy choice indeed. There were a few others that I had on the list as well. Okay. My next pick, guys. I've got two more picks, and then I'm done. Uh so this is gonna be really interesting. I've got dress and I've got budget. I guess it doesn't really w matter what order I go in. Um I'm gonna do my dress watch pick first. I'm gonna see if you guys will allow this. I'm going to choose uh a Jorn Resonance. So this the subscription resonance was uh released in 2000 or introduced in 2000. So you can get like a a really important perhaps one of the most important technically speaking watches of the past 24 years released in 2000. Uh still a dress watch to me, right? I mean I think that thing slips under a cuff as they say. Uh the subscription one, so like the original one that like it's where the story began. To me, is there a better story in watchmaking? I don't know. So that would be my dress watch if if you'll allow it. I allow it. I think a dress watch is whatever you want
James Stacy it to be. I think this watch is dressy to be fair. I I don't necessarily agree with with Danny, but I do think that this is a dressy watch. I agree. I agree
Tony Traina . I agree with Danny. I think I agree with Danny in this particular instance because it allows me to have that as my dress watch. Okay. And now now I'm gonna choose my my budget watch, guys. And this is this is a spicy one. I'm looking at my notes to make sure I've got something I can pick. Again, again, these are my rules. So I suppose I'm allowing it by sort of saying this, but I'm going to choose the Seiko SKX013. The mini the mini 007. The mini 007. Look, guys, it was one of the first watches I bought way back in the day. And the 0007 is a bit of a big boy for me. So I'm going 013. Sorry to the purists if that may offend anyone. I don't think so. It's the same watch, just a little bit smaller. Uh so that's that's my my budget pick and that fills out my twenty first century draft. That's a fun four watch you got there. Thanks, man. Yeah we'll we'll do a recap here at the end when everyone's got their four watches uh all all set and ready to go. But first first before we do that James has to has to choose his budget watch it looks like
James Stacy . Gotta pick my budget. So I also had a Seiko, but thankfully it wasn't the only thing on the list. So Seiko's off the list. Kudos to them. Uh SKX013 is a great choice. I like that quite a bit. I'm a little torn between the two and maybe we'll do a little segment at the end about the ones we couldn't get or couldn't pick. Uh you know, I've got four watches. I will have four watches of three I've got now are all mechanical. Uh I really enjoy having a quartz watch, whether it be to set my other watches against or to have some other options, and certainly in the budget category it makes lots of sense. So I'm going with a deeply me watch and one that I know none of you guys have on your list, but it's the uh Citizen Aqualan, the two thousand and seven seventeen W, the loom dial. I wear mine almost like probably weekly. I'm very fortunate to have like a a lot of watches laying around but, that's a watch that like it never even makes it back to the watch case. It just sits on a desk or on a night side table. It's the most comfortable giant watch in existence. It's absolutely massive, but it's really easy to wear. Um, I love the loom dial. I love that if I want the chronograph for the second time zone, the date, it's all there on that little thing. I've got a real soft spot in my uh in the in the the enthusiast side of my heart for like analog digital combined displays, any digi watches, and this one's very high on that list. So I felt I needed uh a a cool quartz kind of oddball watch and I'm I'm not sure it gets cooler or weirder than an Aqualand. So that's where I landed
Tony Traina . Yeah, you know, James, the last draft we did a few months ago, your collection that you built was was kind of wild. It was kind of out there. You had a Haldeman, Torbillon, some other things. You threw us all off at the end of that draft, James. Never let never let him know what's happening. You know, we'll go through it in a second here, but we've got a very James Stacey collection. We're back to we're back to basics this time around. So we love to see it. Um that brings us thank you. Great pick. Danny, your last and final pick. I will say, like last time, we have all saved our budget for the very end again. Seems to be a common theme among these. But Danny, your last pick and your budget pick. Mask a point of clarification. I knew this was a good to pick a Rolex and you can't get one for the first. Yeah. And and I I I feel like it's fair. Is it whether it's it was a thousand dollars when it r was released or what it's at No no no no it's whether it's two if it's two brands and one of them is off the board but one of them isn't Oh you're going moon swatch yeah. I I think to be fair I, I if can weigh in on this, it's a swatch. Yeah, I think it's a swatch. I think that's a fair choice. I think this is like no-brainer for me budget watch of the last 24 years. So I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go moon swatch. I'm just gonna for the sake of fun gonna go Neptune because it's just a fun, fun colorway. Uh but that's the that's my choice. I don't really I don't need to say any more words about it. I've I've emptied my brain of all thoughts on this watch, but it is like it is the it was it was a moment that has not been replicated by any other watch that I can recall in the last twenty four years. So yeah, this is my choice. Yeah. Jonathan, you are closing us out with your final pick and your budget pick. All right. Um, you know, I was worried we would get all the way to this point and I would have nothing to I I would be strapped to to think of something. Um mostly because well I think I'm gonna go with a G Shock. It was my first instinct and I love mine. I I never thought I would own a G Shock and then now I have probably five or six, all from Hodinky, all all LE's, except one, my first one. Uh the DW 5600, just little little square case, nice and small. I got a little baby wrist, so I I need a a smaller, smaller watch. Um but can do anything, can go anywhere. And James brought up a good point uh in my four watch collection. If I have no other watches, I need something to set the other watches against. So uh the the DW5600, I can't remember which designation, but the one that resets itself um against like the atomic clock every night, as long as you have a line of sight or signal. Cool watch can't do anything and it'll help keep my other ones in line. Well guys it's a classic. A classic. You guys have all chosen quartz watches for your budget pick, so that kind of gives me a leg up, I think, in the voting process here. I mean if you're into that sort of thing.
James Stacy I I I don't know if I'd really say that. That's weird. It's really strange thing to say as the guy running the podcast, but o
Tony Traina kay. Uh you know the, campaigning starts now, I suppose. Okay, guys. Point of clarification. This is not necessarily is this up to a vote? Is this best? Or is this just best for us? The people vote. The people will vote. Yeah. Oh boy. Yeah. And I was in last place last time, Jonathan. So I've got to really sort of up my game and I've tr I I've tried contesting the last election. Um I'm not sure what was going on there. I'll let me just say Mark went on a trip and while he was on the trip, his votes skyrocketed through the roof. I think I think there was some some illusion happening. Some collusion, some lobbying, various activity. I don't want to get into it. Well, I can I can go down knowing at least I stayed true to myself, I guess. Okay, guys, we've got a couple of things left to do still. First of all, we've got to recap our collections and how they look, and then we've got to talk about anything that was that was missed throughout the process. Uh let's just do it in order. Jonathan, you want me to read off what you got? Go for it, Tony. Okay. So with the first overall pick, you took the Rolex Explorer 16570 with a black dial. For your dress watch, you took the Longa Saxonia thin, the white gold one with the blue dial and white gold sort of speckles in it. Uh made of dreams, as Danny so eloquently put it. For your complication you took the Vasharon nineteen forty two triple calendar. And for your budget to wrap it all up, you had the G Shock DW fifty six hundred. Uh okay, what do you guys think? Anything you want to say or critique about Jonathan's collection? 1657 white dials much better. That's no not even a question. Also just like not the Rolex of the last twenty four years. Just also gonna say that. Maybe not, but this is like I point of clarification on the rules. Is this supposed to be representative I still don't fully it is
James Stacy I I want to be I want to be clear with you guys. It's too late to go over the rules. Okay
Tony Traina . I think you guys are getting hung up on the rules and trying to use them as an excuse for putting together mediocre collections, if I may say. Speaking of mediocre collections, Tony, would would could I could I read Danny's pics
James Stacy ? Please. Oh, please do. I'm gonna lose I would love
Tony Traina nothing more. I have a sick list, just just saying. It's it's a winner.
James Stacy Well let's let the audience decide, Danny. So with Danny's four picks for sport, he went with the original Tudor Black Bay with the blue bezel, a great choice from Tudor, a weird choice within the family of the Black Bay, but we understand the concept. I've watched the last twenty four years. Next up for dress, we've got the Cartier Santos Dumont lacquer rose gold. This is a fantastic pick. I absolutely adore this watch. I really genuinely love it. Uh next up we've got for complication another great choice, the APRD2. Um kind of the peak of the brand's work in perpetual calendar Royal Oaks. Hard to go wrong there. I'm a big fan. Perpetual calendar of the last 24 years. Okay. He said it. Um I may not agree with it. It may not be true, but he did say it. Um finally we have uh Danny's budget pick, which is the Moon Swatch in the Neptune colorway, very uh Daniel Craig. Uh and uh those those are Danny's four. And I think largely like a a pretty solid four watch pick, if I'm if I'm being fair. I think the dress watch is the kind of standout pick in my mind that that uh we'll be hit the show notes if you don't remember that watch from a couple years back. It's a a real stunner for sure. Thank you for allowing me that, Tone. That was fun. Yeah, I'm not gonna allow you to do your o
Tony Traina wn collection. Nor should I. Speaking of rules. Well, I make the rules, James, so do whatever we want. Okay. James for his sports watch chose the Omega C Master three hundred two two five four black dial sword hands uh slippery bezel as you as you put it V slip for his dress watch he chose as you may remember he chose it from his last fantasy draft as well. The Grand Seco SBGW two five two. That is a anniversary watch in gold. Is that right, James? Yep, correct. Yellow gold? Yellow gold. Okay. 37 millimeters, maybe just a sort of a classic Grand Seiko. Okay. For your complication, you went with the JLC deep C chronograph. And then finally for your budget, you went with the Citizen Aqualand. It's the 17W with the sort of a Loom dial JP two thousand and seven seventeen W. Yeah, that's what I said. Aqualand Loom Dial, I think will probably be okay. Aqualand Loom Dial and a very James Stacey collection. Let's see. We could probably critique it in places if we wanted to, but why would we? Why would we do that, guys? Uh Danny, anything you want to say about your colleagues collection? I didn't know we could pick I mean again I'm unclear about the on the rules. I didn't know we could pick a watch that we picked in the last draft in this draft, but that's fine
James Stacy . I mean it It's fine. It's allowed simply because the rules are in a in a on on a
Tony Traina dra Like James, you know, why don't you put yourself out there a little bit, choose a new watch? But also a good watch is a good watch. You know, you can sort of argue it both ways.
James Stacy I I've been out there for too long. I'm look what's the opposite of out there? I would like to retreat. She's our hodinky turt
Tony Traina le So I guess I'll present my own little collection here at the end. I had the for my sport watch. The Bulgari Octofinissimo. This is the 10th anniversary sketch edition. Some have called the Bulgari Octofinissimo the the best, most innovative sort of new sport watch of the past decade. So that's a good addition to the to the collection for me. For my dress watch, I had the FP Jorne Resonance subscription that was introduced in the year 2000, and some have called sort of the defining complicated dress watch of the past 24 years. So another great addition to my collection. Next, I had the Paddock 3670A Chronograph as my complicated watch. And finally, finally, I had the budget watch, my Seiko SKX013, kind of the enthusiast pick. So that's my that's my collection. Guys, we chose a great variety of watches, 16 different brands, 16 different watches. Surely things were left off the list though. Is there anything you guys want to call out as as being kind of blatant omissions by us, uh, that we that we should talk about before we close off this thing. When you say that, do you mean brands we didn't say or watches we didn't say from brands we did say? Yes. Yeah, I I mean both. Nice. Of those things
James Stacy . So if Omega had been taken, I probably would have gone AP for sport watch because the Royal Oak Offshore Diver remains a watch I would very much like to own someday. Interesting. Uh I love the early one, the simple black dial one, but the funky colors they did a little later, the boutique uh ones where they did one in navy blue with yellow accents, that was pretty hot. Yeah. If if I was allowed to pick
Tony Traina Rolex, I would have been in two places. I would have probably gone ceramic, Daytona, and Steel or Batman. Right. For what I would consider to be emblematic of the last twenty four years by my metrics that I devised five minutes into the draft after I figure out what the rules were. Right. The tank OG. I had that too actually. Just such a cool watch. Oh, that's really cool. They're so much fun every time you see them. So I was Googling that to see if there was one released, and there was a limited edition Rose Gold in 2004, is what I had in my notes, right? James. My two JLCs were gonna be the geophysic or the master control sector dial that that Ellie in blue. Both of those were the chronograph? No, just the time time only. Is that the geophysic with the the dead second? True beat. Yep. Yep. Oh, gotcha
James Stacy . Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's really cool. I also had the tribute to nineteen thirty one. I had that one. Which I think was like a a pretty fun moment in post two thousands watches, kind of the the early moves in the revival scene. Oh, I also had the uh this isn't really surprising to most people, but if Vasheron had stayed on the list a little longer, if I needed something else for complication that uh Everest duel time remains a fave. But talk about something I've picked in other drafts. So Yeah. That's a great that's a great, great watch. Zach our friend Zach Pinha has that watch. No? That's I believe he had. I'm not sure that he still does. I haven't seen recently, but very cool watch. Shout out to Zach. Good guy. Shout out Zach. Good. I've shouted out two Zach
Tony Traina s on this podcast and no one else. This is Zach Attack for sure. Yeah. I had a number of independents we could have listed. You know, uh MB and F. I you know, I had the the sequential chronograph.get Bud pick for sure. Right. Yeah. I was thinking about that for budget. I had the sequential chronograph. I had the Ellen Perpetual. I ended up going Jorn instead, I guess. Could have obviously gone with Rec Chap. Could have gone with the Simplicity, uh you know, Richard Mill, you could take it on with any number of any number of directions. You know, yeah. I had some RMs on the list. I had an Rwork one oh three on the list. You could go on with the independence. Like you're never gonna run out of independence. There's been a real boom in the past 24 years. 24 years is a long time. So it is, it is. Uh I'm curious, did anyone have Omegas on the list? They went off the board pretty quickly, obviously. Second overall pick. Uh I was gonna choose the caliber 321 Speedmaster and stainless ste I would have chosen the Seamaster Railmaster from like 2013, 14, 15, whate
James Stacy ver that was. Okay. Okay. Early Planet Ocean stuff I still remain a pretty big fan of, the 42 with the Grey Basel. I thought was pretty fun. Um I briefly considered a Planet Ocean. There's they make some some great stuff. I mean that's a brand that you could you could do a draft of just Omega's um and and maybe that's something we do in the future. They just make a ton of different models. But that two two five four is always kind of stuck with me. So I feel you talked about that one for years. It comes up on a lot of podcasts. You and Cole used to
Tony Traina wax were logical about that watch quite often. It's a winner for sure. Hey Tony, I got a question for you. A few podcasts ago, you wrote you wrote a letter into the podcast. I wrote an letter into the podcast. An anonymous an anonymous letter. Uh uh a collector collector's advice about travel watch. I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. Did you ever did you ever get it? No, not yet. Oh, that's too bad. Yeah, I know. I suppose Geneva would have been a good opportunity. I thought about buying a moon swatch. I feel like everyone bought aon mo swash except me last week, but I did not. Um they they were also stocked. Yeah. Do you want to see what I bought instead? Uh we've got a minute, I suppose. You want to see what I do instead? At the little uh one second, I gotta go off camera for just a second. See ya Tony. I've actually got my my moons watch on today. Haven't haven't taken it off. What's up? What's up? What's up was Thank you guys again. Yeah man. Danny, is that the first moons watch you've owned? Second. I bought was that a was that a serious question? No, it was serious. Yeah. Yeah, no, I I I only only I only ever owned one and I bought it like two years after the watch came out. I bought it literally at Swatch uh Omega or yeah I guess Swatch HQ in BL last year. Oh gotcha. Yeah, sort of cement the occasion. Gotcha. Uh this is what I got at a little just like they have lots of flea markets over the weekend in Geneva. This is a it's like an omega money clip situation. Oh right, it's kinda cool. I don't know. The dial's kind of beat up, but it's got these like nice brigade numerals at twelve, three, and nine, I suppose. It seems to be running. Was it that big flea market like in in that park with the nice like little like stone gate out front? I forget where I think I uh I won't try to pronounce the the location, but surely we're talking about the same thing. I think we are. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Uh but it was it was bumping because I think a lot of sort of people were just there for the weekend because of uh all the shows and stuff. But anyway, anything else we want to say about the draft before we before we leave it, guys? Any any overarching thoughts about the 21st century of watchmaking? It's been a crazy twenty-four years, guys. I'm I'm just glad we were here to witness it. I agree. It's been great. Yeah. Yeah. Can you believe it's been so long? That's what I'm saying, guys. Uh I think who didn't have to worry about why it's UK was the mechanical watch industry. I mean that is just for certain. Yeah, well you guys with your quartz watches, maybe you had to uh on some level. I'm not sure. I'd have to really think about that one. But yeah, I mean those clocks keep on ticking, baby. Are we going to do a vote on this one? I guess we should probably do a vote like we usually do with these drafts. Leave it to the fans. I mean I think James tried to fanbag my collection and then while reading it realized it was quite good. Uh which was one of my you got one or two gems in one of my favorite moments of the pod tod
James Stacy ay was sort of like can I read it? And then while reading it was like, Wait, this is quite phenomenal. I mean it's a g it's a good collection. I'm not sure it's one that would win. It's one of the best of the I think it's one of the best ones. It's in the run
Tony Traina ning from today's draft. Yeah, top four. The issue you have, you know, the James fanboys are gonna come out because he he chose a very James Stacey collection. So so they're going to come out in full force in a way they probably didn't when Haldeman was on the on the board or on the team. The issue you have, Danny, is a lot of people, a lot of people don't like the Moon Swatch. A lot of people don't like Milton Milton Moon Swatch Milton, I should say. Uh so that's gonna that's gonna divide the people a little bit. Let me unpack that last one. If if my nickname is Moonswatch Milton, then a lot of people don't like me. Uh no, no, no. Uh it this is listen, I just gave you this nickname, I think. I'm not sure people are actually calling you that. Sure, sure, sure, sure. But maybe it'll stick. I don't know. I mean you try things out on these podcasts and sometimes they stick. Let's just let the voters vote. No, certainly, certainly. So if you're if you're listening, if you made it this far, then first of all, God bless you. And second of all, go to the article on hoding gee.com and you'll see a you'll see a poll there towards the end. It'll have all of our names. And you'll just want to click the drop down and uh go to probably the fourth one will be, will be Tony. And you'll just wanna click that name and vote. And we'll announce, we'll announce the winner in a few weeks. Does that sound good to everyone? Does that sound like that sounds like campaigning
James Stacy at the ballot box? There's a little bit of a glitch in the the thing that measures the votes. So you what you want to do is the first one doesn't count. So go in and just pick James, click submit, and then go back and then now you're primed and you can actually like vote for the one you want. Doesn't get it. Doesn't understand the system. Vote once, but to test that vote, vote on my name to make sure the voting system works. I wouldn't give Danny a vote for telling you to do exactly what I just told you to do alm,ost like it's a novel idea. I think we
Tony Traina covered it, guys. So thank you all for listening. And of course, thank you to my draft doors and the panelists for for building their collections, representing the best, representing some of their favorite watchmaking of the 21st century. And we'll be back again. We'll be back again next week, guys. And I will say we're not going to talk about new watches again next week because it's going to be auction season. So I'm going to have a different panel on and we're going to be talking about we're gonna be talking about auctions uh and and everything to expect from from that so so look forward to that everyone but thanks again for listening thanks tony thank you thanks guys make sure you vote for Jonathan, by the way.