Our Favorite Watches Of 2024 So Far + Talking Hodinkee's Porsche Design Collab¶
Published on Wed, 17 Jul 2024 16:55:00 +0000
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Synopsis¶
This episode of Hodinkee Radio is presented in two parts. In the first segment, editor Tony Traina speaks with Ben Clymer and Jeff Hilliard, Hodinkee's Director of Limited Editions, about the company's limited edition watch collaborations, with particular focus on their recent partnership with Porsche Design. They discuss the Chronograph 1, originally designed by F.A. Porsche in 1972, and the careful design process behind creating a modern homage that respects both Porsche Design's heritage and Hodinkee's community. The conversation explores how the collaboration incorporates subtle references to the Japanese market, where both Porsche and Porsche Design have passionate collector bases, and why they chose Tokyo for the launch event.
In the second half, Tony is joined by James Stacy and Mark Kauzlarich to review the first half of 2024 in watchmaking. They begin with a "six-month wrist check," discussing the watches they've worn most frequently (Mark's Rolex GMT Pepsi, James's rotation of the Pelagos 39, Longines Spirit Zulu Time, and Citizen Aquland, and Tony's Tudor Black Bay 58). The trio then discusses their favorite releases under $10,000, including the Doxa Sub 200T, Grand Seiko's manual-wind titanium dress watch, and the white dial Omega Speedmaster. They also highlight standout high-end pieces like the Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra and the Audemars Piguet John Mayer Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar, before concluding with overlooked watches of the year, such as the Singer Reimagined Track1 dive watch and Raymond Weil's vintage-inspired sector dial piece.
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Transcript¶
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| Tony Traina | This episode is brought to you by Hodinki Insurance. Collecting watches is fun. Insuring watches is not. But with Hodinki Insurance, we've teamed up with Chubb, the premier insurer of valuable collections, to offer a better and more seamless experience to ensure your watches and even jewelry. Minimizing the paperwork and maximizing the protection so you can stop worrying about your watches and focus on enjoying them. Hodinki Insurance, protect what you love. Visit insurance.hodiniki.com for more details. Welcome back to Hodinky Radio. I'm editor Tony Traina. Today's episode is coming at you in two parts. In the first part, I asked Ben and Jeff Hilliard, our director of limited editions, to come on to chat about Limited Editions and Hodinki's recent collaboration with Porsche Design, a take on the original Chronograph 1. Founded by FA Porsche in 1972, Porsche Design has made a number of contributions to watches, which we also talk about. After that, James and Mark joined the show. Since we're already halfway through 2024, we decided to do a little recap on the first half of the year, our favorite releases, overlooked watches, and the watches we've been wearing the most. Without further ado, let's get to the show. I wanted to bring on Jeff Hilliard as well as Ben Clymer to talk about limited editions because it's something we haven't done in a while, but obviously is one of the parts of our business that people know best and people continue to look forward to all of our limited editions. Jeff Hilliard is kind of the one to thank or to blame perhaps for all of our limited editions, I would say. Uh, over Jeff, how long have you been here now? I' |
| Jeff Hilliard | ve been with Sodinki for five years almost, and I've been doing the limited edition uh projects for three and a half. So most of my time at Odinki. And Tony, you sound amazing. I need one of those microphones |
| Tony Traina | . Jeff is generally known as the best dressed man in all of the Hodinkey office, if not all of New York. He's he's calling in from a Michigan fishing cabin, I suppose, that that he must own from uh from from something. And then also we've got we've got Ben Clymer, of course, calling it as well. Ben, how you doing today? I'm doing great, man. How are you? I'm doing well. Thanks. Fresh off of uh, you know, it's it's mid July at this point, the the the dog days of summer, but it's a beautiful time in Chicago. So so thanks for asking, Ben. I'm feeling good, man. Um but I wanted to bring both of you guys on because this is a project that you're both involved in. Ben, as we were just talking about, I think you are going to Tokyo to help with the the release of of this limited edition Porsche design collaboration that Jeff, you've been cooking up for what, probably going on two years at this point. So it's something I I thought it was a good opportunity to just bring you on the podcast to talk a little bit more about what goes into some of these releases |
| Jeff Hilliard | . Yeah, Ben is going to be our uh our representative in Tokyo. And like you said, this is something that um really we've been working on directly for two years, but in a way, uh portion portion design have been kind of indirectly integrated into Odinky for way longer than that. And you know, Ben, you're really the one that has kind of championed that. Yeah, I mean, look, I I think what when we do limited editions, it it's all about kind of like teasing out a story that already exists within somebody's history. And you know, when I think back like the skipper with with Hoyer, you know, nobody was really thinking about vintage skippers back then or the thirty one forty seven date of forty five. And when I think back to Bashron, I mean the history X line was basically dead and the fact that we wanted to do a money-based chronograph in two thousand seventeen really kind of like I don't say changed the portions, but changed the path of how people viewed that that bashron line. And I think Porsche design is is often frankly misunderstood as almost like a like a fashion brand, like something that like they think that like Porsche created the stuff to like sell alongside their expensive cars and showrooms, which it's like not at all, right? I mean, this this this wash, the Chrono One, was designed by F.A. Porsche, who designed the nine oh four, who, you know, if if you're into Porsche, that's like one of the most beautiful, most amazing sports cars in history. But also the nine eleven, right? It's like the idea that the the Chronograph one was was basically the follow-up to to F.A. Porsche's work on the 911 is really remarkable. First watch in black, uh, you know, working with IWC and Orfina and others, the history of the of the chronograph one is is really profound and and really deep, and it's long been kind of a favorite of mine and others. Actually, I'm friend up here that collects uh vintage portion design chronographs because there's so many different variations done for different military units and different uh driving teams, et cetera, over over history. There's so much there and there's so much fun in this category. And for us, you know, obviously a fan of of Porsche uh you know, the the the car company and Porsche design, like this is a real design house in a in a very traditional sense. And the Chrono One is is really the thing that that got the whole thing going |
| Tony Traina | . So for those who don't know the story, FA Porsche uh kind of split off from the family business. 1972 started Porsche design. And then this was the first thing he designed, right? I mean, this was the first thing to come from his pen for for Porsche design. And then it if you like look at the history of watchmaking at Porsche design after that, you could have a ton of fun just collecting Porsche design watches if you wanted. Uh there's this watch, the collaboration with Orfina, and then after that uh a lot of the IWC stuff that came after that the first titanium the first titanium watch uh the dive watches a lot of those for the German military as well are are just super cool but Jeff I kind of wanted to ask you because as I said, 1972, which means the 50th anniversary was a couple of years ago, you kind of hinted at the fact that this has been a project for at least a couple of years. So maybe you could just for those who might want to know more about how this kind of actually works, what uh what a project like this has actually looked like from from your perspective on on the ins |
| Jeff Hilliard | ide. Yeah, absolutely. You know, each limited edition of project is is a little bit different. Um but a lot of times we start with what you might consider is a brief of some sort. Um there was so much history involved with this with F.A. Portia, even with Hodinki, you know, 9-11, one of Ben's 9-11s was featured in volume one of of the first Toniki magazine. So we had a lot to pull from. Sometimes it's too much. And we always say on the limited edition side, the hardest watches to do are the ones that are already the most well designed. And this kind of fell into that category. Um so we created a brief to base our design off of. And and the brief was really uh we want to honor Porsche design, we want to honor Porsche and we want to honor FA's legacy. And the way that we thought about that was okay, what if you took a watch that he designed from seventy two, seventy-three, you had bought it, you placed it in a drawer and forgot about it for fifty years. And then fifty years later, you open the drawer, maybe it's you know, your son or a relative, they open it up and they find the watch. What would that watch look like? Um, what kind of tweaks would maybe uh FA make if he was still around to that design. And that was ultimately kind of how we landed in our design brief is we took a watch that was already incredibly well designed, tweaked it a little bit, um, put a few Easter eggs in it, which was a lot of fun. Um, and really just kind of showcased what what was best from it so um you know there's a couple nods to horsha there's a couple nods to our history um we have a little nod to our partners in Japan on the the day date disc. Um we have a little nod to to Hodinki at the six o'clock sub register. Uh and then we also have a nod kind of to the US market because obviously that's where our core bases. In the early days when Orfina was making these, as Ben mentioned, there was a million different versions of them. And if you look at them, it's pretty cool to see all the different ones that they made. And one of the um slight alterations they made for the US market uh was the tachometer scale was actually done in miles instead of kilometers. Um so the version that we made features that little tweak uh among a few others. Uh so it is so that, you know, kind of pulling it back to your initial question, Tony, um, it was it was something that we knew we wanted to kind of put a few core elements in that kind of were referential to original versions and to kind of modern day uh Easter eggs for Odinki. |
| Tony Traina | You know, I mentioned Ben's going to Tokyo, Japan, and then there are some winks or nots to the Japanese market on the watch itself. Is that because there's a specific tie-in with with Porsche design to the Japanese market or it was an especially important market to to the design f |
| Jeff Hilliard | irm? Absolutely. And even to this day, I would say, and Ben, feel free to kind of hop in here, but the Porsche community in Japan is incredible. Um you know, they are incredible at collecting anything. Um, but when it comes to Porsche, they really dig deep. Um so there's design houses. You know, one that pops to mind is Nitope. And they do hardcore restoration of original 911s all the way through to to modern cars. And the culture in the community of of the Porsche of the of Porsche, you know, Porsche Design Watches as well as Porsche cars um is just huge there. And so we with our partnership with Hurinky Japan, with the community that's there. We've always kind of wanted to to do an event in Japan and Tokyo to kind of celebrate that. And this was effectively the perfect opportunity. Yeah, I think I mean nobody would be surprised to learn that like if if there's like a number one market for for collecting you know obscure portrait design washes and items, it is most certainly Japan. Uh and so that was the thinking in in not only creating the product that was kind of Japan centric or a nod to Japan, but doing the launch there. And so, you know, there there are people that have, this is not an exaggeration. We we've I've been in touch with somebody that has 500 different chrono ones. Some duplicates of of of some obviously, but like that is how how deep people go there. Um and so as Jeff said, there's a lot of little nods like the Asian set of three H on on the six o'clock register on the Chrono One, the Japanese uh day date, um I'm sorry, date disc, um, and then the mile marker for US. So it it really is in many ways kind of like combining the Hodinki of the US and and Hodinki Japan, but also catering to, as Jeff said, like what is absolutely the most rampant collector base of of Porsche and Porsche design. And you know, historically we we try to do everything, everything has to have a story. And the the first 964, which is a an early 90s, late 80s, 911 that I owned, was actually a Japanese market car. And the Japanese market nine eleven's are can considered like I I don't I don't I wouldn't call them the holy grail, but like the there's definitely a certain appeal and charm to Japanese market cars because people in Japan tend to keep them in much better shape than than others. You get some really interesting specifications on the cars um for for the Japanese market. Um so doing it over Japan over in Japan makes makes a lot of sense. Uh I'm gonna be really tired because I'm flying over there. Um, but it's gonna be a lot of fun for sure. And I think you've taken me for a ride in in that spec that you had and it's one of my my favorites. Interior is amazing on that car. Yeah, yeah. I mean look the the the the the cars that that were spec'd for Japan or or or allocated to Japan always have something interesting. And that you know, but certainly true with Porsche, but not only true with Porsche, like Mercedes is famous for doing kind of Japanese special car uh you know centric cars. Uh obviously BMW as well, although the Europeans have always been Ferrari for that matter. Um everyone has understood just how special the Japanese market is from a tastemaking perspective, from a collecting perspective. So it it only made sense to go to Japan for our wash lunch |
| Tony Traina | . Jeff, in sort of discovering the history of Porsche design, washmaking, which I kinda we kinda referenced at at the top here. Anything else you kind of learned or really took away at a high level about their uh uh their importance to Swiss watchmaking over the past fifty two years, I suppose it's been now |
| Jeff Hilliard | ? Absolutely. Um it's a good question. Um a couple of things come to mind. You know, in 2022, when this project was initially uh being discussed and developed, they uh po they being Porsche and Porsche Design invited us to uh Switzerland, Austria and Germany. And we got to see everything from their watchmaking facilities in Solothurn all the way through to um uh Zell MC, which is kind of like where Porsche design was initially started. Uh once, as you mentioned, FA broke off from the family business, he kind of created a hub um in in ZellMC and uh we got to see the level of watchmaking in Solothurn. Um it really is kind of an in-house um you know manufacture. Uh they have their own movement uh that will be featured in the watch that we do cost certified. Uh it's it's serious. It's a serious design house. And then all the way through to kind of the legacy of FA Porsche design, we got to see the original um, you know, basis for his company. We got to see FA's office, which they've largely kept the same. It's almost like a museum at this point. I think Ben and I and some other colleagues, James Stacey, spent about an hour in there when we initially visited. So it's an incredible place and you can kind of see the legacy that he's left all the way through to the modern day. Obviously Porsche design is not known just for watches. They make incredible products outside of that. Um, that are all super well designed. Some ones that I didn't even know about, they had designed a Blackberry at one point. Um, so the the design house and the people that work there, uh it was a pleasure to get to know them and and to get to work with them because it really was kind of a collaboration, which doesn't always happen with limited editions. We we often kind of present our designs and it's either a thumbs up or a thumbs down. This was really a back and forth. And to be able to work with designers that have so much history um was a special treat. So yeah. And I I think also something that that that I've seen, I'm actually I have one here, but like there's been such kind of like a refocus on the Kornel One over the past few years through Furry Porsche's ice race um program, which we've covered on the site a few times in Naspen and in Austria. Um, you know, the these watches again offer so much value and history for kind of what they are. And you see so much of like what we kind of think of as like almost an IWC aesthetic or like a real like traditional, like almost Eastern European or or or Europe like kind of central European um tool watch uh theme in these things and a lot of it comes from from Porsche design. And I think if you look at a lot of the IWCs of the seventies and eighties that that most people are into collecting, a lot of them were really derived from from Porsche design concepts. And again, I think that one of the most compelling things for somebody that's interested in in design or the history of of really anything is again just how close this product, and actually have ours here, how close this product is to the original without being duplicative, without being like completely derivative. And the fact that the heritage of this watch goes back to F.A. Porsche himself. And again, I think like that is, you know, uh H Huriki is all about education. Like everything we want to do is to inform, educate, and entertain. And I think this wash, you know, for for the lover of of Ursha out there, and we know there's a lot of them in our community, this really combines the world of Porsche and Hodinki in such a neat way. Um that it's just it's just a really compelling thing. And of course, it's titanium with titanium carbide coating. So it's real black, super light, great bracelet that's very easy to adjust. Uh it's just awesome. It really, really is |
| Tony Traina | . As someone who's been working on these for for three years and been at Hodin Key for for more than five as you said. I'd be remiss not to ask Jeff if if uh I could ask what your favorite sort of L E's, if you could choose one or perhaps a few uh uh R |
| Jeff Hilliard | . Yeah, I can't give you just one. Um everybody. Okay. Everybody regrets not getting the skipper. Yeah. I wore mine this weekend. There you go. Fourth of July. I wear it every fourth of July. As Ben mentioned, it's the wash of the summer. Um I think that's what you said in that post every summer. Yeah. I mean, my a long time favorite has been the Vash Round. Those are two watches that have been just brought up. But I think most recently, you know, if I can pick one from from we'll call m my era, the era that I've been hoping with. Um last year we did a a limited release with uh Ublot. That was at a point when limited editions across the industry were kind of at their peak. Um you started to see maybe some people spend their money a little bit more conservatively. You really had to kind of shock the industry a little bit to to make a big to make a big kind of you know a big push. And I think we did with that one. Um I love the campaign, but also I wore the prototype for that watch for like six months and like actually fell in love with it. And I am not really a Ublot person, but there's something about that watch that is so simple, easy to wear, and it it kind of feels like a watch you could wear to everything. So that that's kind of my pick. |
| Tony Traina | Yeah. I've been cooking on an early Hub Leau article for a while, sort of the original MDM watches from the 80s or whatever Cool watches. Actually watches |
| Jeff Hilliard | . A little anecdote. Um when we were working with them on that, the MDM obviously came up and there's a version of that watch that has 20 screws or I don't know if it's exactly 20, but it's a lot more than than the eight or so that are on there now, eight or ten that are on there now. And we we we didn't sample it, but we did some pretty high res renderings. Um and we were close to actually moving a little bit towards the MDM with the with the multiple screws, but ultimately we thought kind of the not for sale nod was was the best thing to go for |
| Tony Traina | . Yeah, yeah, totally. Well it's it certainly shocked people, I think, a lot. And you know, all of it was so well done. Ben, you know, we've had this conversation before, but any LEs that Jeff neglected to mention there that you want to give a shout out to? I'm sure they're all so near dear to your he |
| Jeff Hilliard | art. They meant for me in the business are super super powerful. Um, the Dennis, I don't know if you guys remember that one. Like that one, like we we have a new crown on that. Like, we really went to town on that one. That was a cool one. Um, the MBNF, right? The LM101, which was MBNF's first thing with steel watch, the first MBNF to sell above retail ever. You know, really a great, great. I I have I have that one and I keep it near dear. Um but I I no no BS, I love this Porsche design uh for what it means. I mean, like it is such a cool watch. I I own two of the kind of more recent Chrono ones in different different guises. Uh I've got a vintage one here as well. Um, it's just a great watch to wear. And like you get actually, you know what it reminds me a little bit of one of my other favorites, which was our IWC, which is the the titanium black to black case. People love that watch, including myself. Bliss really feels like a sister to that watch. Like it really feels with a titanium matte finish, obviously black. Um similar kind of pan tone for for the for the loom on it. Um it really does feel like a companion to that watch, and that that feels good because that IWC was is absolutely one of our one of our favorites, and still to this day one that people It's funny you mentioned that because I was wearing the the Porsche sample, um, which was effectively finalized uh like two weeks ago for the entire week. Uh the IWC is a watch that we get requests about very frequently, with people asking if we still have some. Obviously, we don't. It's a number of years ago and it was very popular. But I agree when I put the Porsche chronograph on, it gave me a very similar vibe and I expected it to fit the portion design chronograph. Um I expected it to fit a little bit bigger, but actually it is super well wary. Um the numbers are are somewhat deceiving. Uh it wears probably like a straight up 40 it wears like slightly sub smaller than a sub, actually. So yeah. I was pleasantly surprised um on how it felt on the wrist. Yeah I I I agree. I mean I think this is a really expertly designed case. I mean I I was kind of going back and forth between this and a and a modern speed master which of course 42 millimeters this weekend. Like this is a much more elegant watch on the wrist and of course it being black just kind of fades away. But Porsche design does a lot of really neat stuff that people don't talk about, like the ability to just change out a bracelet like this, it's just amazing. And so you can get kind of creative with other straps and other bracelets like I've got this one here. Uh this has a has kind of like a matte rubber strap on it. You can just pop it right off. Yeah, things like that. Like Porsche design is is always thinking of obviously function uh and form, but I mean this really nails it and again it's just got some really subtle knots. The the Japanese day uh disc is just so cool on this one. Jeff, before I let you |
| Tony Traina | go, anything else you want to sort of tease or just stuff you're excited about from the LE side of the house for the rest of uh the rest of the year or the the near future more more broadly |
| Jeff Hilliard | ? Absolutely. Yeah, we are gonna have a pretty busy summer into the fall. So usually the end of the year is where we kind of hold a lot of our um premiere releases. This year it's a little bit different. Where it Porsche is kind of going to kick off a series of releases that we've been working on for a number of years. So uh from July through August, September, October, you're gonna see watches that we've been working on pretty much since I started doing limited editions, I'm really excited about all of them. Uh, but it's really nice to have kind of Porsche Design kick everything |
| Tony Traina | off. In the meantime, go to Hodinky.com to learn more about the full release from Porsche Design and Hodinky. It's a limited edition, so make sure to do it relatively quickly as well. And hey, Jeff, perhaps we'll have you on again uh towards the end of the year with that excellent tease. Uh but thank you so much to Jeff and Ben for joining us and I'll talk to you all soon. Thanks, Tony. Thanks, Tony. Do the best. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of Hodinky Radio. I'm editor Tony Trena. We're already into mid-July, which means we're already halfway through 2024. Watch releases are slowing down a bit for the summer, so I thought it'd be a good time to bring in a few of my fellow editors to talk about the watches we've seen so far this year. Our favorite releases from new brands, overlooked watches, even some of the biggest stories in the industry so far. We're also going to talk about the watches we've worn most. So I've got James Stacy and Mark Kowslerich here to talk the year in watches 2024 so far. First of all, James, how you doing, my friend |
| James Stacy | ? I'm very well. Thanks for having me on. Always a treat to be here and chat over uh what's been kind of an interesting year for watches |
| Tony Traina | . Oh James, I'm just so excited. We're gonna get to our our things we're excited about in the second half of the year. But I'm excited to see James here at Wind Up Chicago. It'll be in the past tense by the time this airs, but excited to hang out with James nonetheless. Dinner with Tony. Looking forward to it. That's right, baby. Next up, we've got calling in from the New York office Mar.k Mark., how are you doing? Doing great, Tony. Thanks for having me on again. Oh, my pleasure. So, guys, we're going to talk about some of the releases we've seen, new brands we've seen, overlooked watches of the year, but we're going to do not quite a wrist check, but a a six month wrist check, if you will. Uh I wanna ask both of you guys the watch you've worn most so far in twenty twenty four. Mark, maybe we can start it with you |
| Mark Kauzlarich | . Yeah, I don't think people will be super surprised I'm wearing it right now. I think I've said it probably every time we've done a wrist check on the podcast this year, but it's the Pepsi. I mean, you know, I have I have interesting watches that I like wearing for periods of you know a few weeks or something like that or even a few days. But my watch box right now at home is not placed in a place where I can like easily access access it and like open it up and put something else on each day. So when this goes down the wrist, it goes on my bedside table. The next morning I put it back on and that's that's always it |
| Tony Traina | . You know, I could have probably penciled this in already. No surprise, but we love to hear it nonetheless. I have a friend, Nick, who runs Ad Patina here in Chicago. He does a thing where he wears a watch for one month at a time. Shout out to Nick, I suppose. But I've always thought that was kind of a charming idea. And you know, look, Rolex GMT Pepsi is as good a James, watch you've worn the most so far in 2024 |
| James Stacy | . It's kind of tough. I mean, like I think I think it's probably like a two or a three way tie. I'm I'm pretty much down to three watches these days that I wear like with extreme frequency and the you know the Pelagos thirty nine I adore uh our longine spirit Zulu time, the Hodinki L E. Uh I just when I want something that's not necessarily a dive watch when I'm traveling, that sort of thing. It's just perfect and super lightweight and easy to use. And I think it looks amazing. And then finally the, you know, what I've got on today, which is just the uh JP 2007 edition of the uh Aqualan, the Citizen Aqualan with the loom dial. There's pretty much the three that I wear most frequently. They're always in some state of changing a uh, you know, bracelet or a strap or or something like that. But uh especially in the summer, I like a watch that I can just kind of put on and do whatever I'm gonna do without really being too worried about it |
| Tony Traina | . You guys are nothing if not predictable and I am about to join it and make it a threesome of predictability because the watch I've worn worn the most so far is my Black Bay 58. Uh, it's a sort of a special or limited edition, I suppose, for a retailer uh uh here in the States. But I got the watch probably a year and a half ago now. I've been wearing it on a tropic strap all summer. It's the most boring watch in the world, but I've owned a number of them since 2018, as I I've probably talked about here. But it tends to be the watch I reach for, especially during the summer. There are a couple others here I've got on the desk in rotation. Not the most recent Mercy we did, but the the first one we did a few years ago. What I need to dress up. Oh, those are nice. I wore this to a wedding actually a few weeks ago. It's a nice watch. Got it on a leather strap, put it on a bracelet a lot. Uh this is a uh kind of an overlooked release if we're going to preempt the question a little bit. But the the 50th anniversary Cassiotron, like kind of a reissue of the original Cassiotron, is cool. 500 bucks, it was a little overpriced, but it's a cool watch nonetheless. I've been wearing that a lot too when I just want a a non-mechanical or digital watch that I I don't want to think about much. So those are the watches kind of in the rotation, but it's always the Black Bay 58 for me. And we're I'm gonna talk a little bit more about Tudor when we get to favorite releases of the year so far. But the 58 on a tropic is so good. It's the best, James. Look really nice way to summer that watch. I uh I have issues with the original. I have the original 58 that's been since been been out since 2018. I don't have issues with the rivet bracelet. Uh, but I just especially during the summer, kind of wish I had a T-fit to be able to on the fly adjust it basically. And the bracelet's a little heavy and these types of things. Uh I I looked into kind of getting the, you know, I think what you can do is go in and buy buy a bracelet uh just a bracelet that has t t t fit but it's like a thousand bucks I wasn't ready to just spend a thousand dollars on a bracelet so tropic strap for the summer for me on the 58. So we're going to talk about some of the favorite releases we've seen so far in 2024. We're going to start with our best or favorite watches we've seen. So just to set it up for a second as a reminder for those who may not follow along too closely, the main release event of the year so far was Watches and Wonders back in April. You may remember some of the shows we did around it. That's when we saw releases from Paddock, Relics, Cartier, dozens of other brands in and around the show. We've talked about this a little bit. We talked about it at the time. The general sentiment seemed to be that releases for the year were more tame or conservative than in years past, especially 2023. But I think we've still found some stuff to get excited about. And as I think I'm going to talk about a little bit. There are watches that I've thought about more and more since then that didn't necessarily grab headlines at the time, but I am increasingly excited about them as I see them again and again and I've seen people buy them or I've seen them in the market as it were. So as we're going to get to uh we're going to talk about these in in two categories. I asked you guys to bring two watches or two sets of watches uh of your favorite new releases. First of all, uh I define it roughly as the under $10,000 category. So more run-of-the-mill commercial watches. And then after we talk about those, we're going to talk about just the high-end crazy watches we've seen, the ultra-thin record setting whatever's things that we saw at the show that grabbed headlines that honestly we might never see again in the wild, but are are crazy pieces of often complicated watchmaking. So, James, let's kick it off with you, maybe, and talk about uh maybe your favorite, maybe there's a few you want to mention uh but your favorite watches under the sort of ten thousand dollar category you've seen so far this year |
| James Stacy | ? Yeah, for sure. I mean my my bread and butter has always been like more like under five, uh is is a nice comfort zone. And I think uh we're entering a world where especially after the last several years we're seeing a lot more price sensitivity so I'm gonna even go less than well less than 10 grand and the two watches I'm most excited about I've actually bought uh both uh the first one um I'll say is the Doxa Sub 200T, which I've talked about on other Hodinky radio podcasts. Uh I just think the idea that you can get into um a smaller, more easily worn, but still with, you know, there's thirteen or fourteen different colors um uh of an iconic dive watch for twelve hundred dollars when a lot of its um kind of historical brethren would cost multiples of that, if not more, and might even be less fun. Uh, but yeah, the uh the Doxa Sub Sub 200T is probably among my favorite watches uh released this year at any price point, but at you know under fifteen hundred dollars on your wrist. Uh it's not every day that we see Seiko and Doxa kind of sitting in in a very similar price point. And I just think it makes the Doxa super competitive um at that price point because we're so used to seeing, you know, a 300 uh thin case for twenty-five, twenty six hundred dollars. Um, which I think can be a bit of a hurdle for folks, understandably. Uh that's a lot of money, especially if you can't you can now in the States, it's nice you can walk into a store and actually see a Doxa, but in the past you had to just buy it online and hope that it worked out. And now to have it in the thirty nine millimeter case and like I said, tons of different colors. Uh I I think it's an absolute winner for |
| Mark Kauzlarich | sure. James, do you think that is is a good entry point into Doxa? Because we were sort of debating that very topic last night. There was a bunch of uh watch folks in town um from across the country and I met up with some and Doxa was a big point of conversation and I'm still trying to figure out what my first DOXA should be, or I think I know, but it, you know, I second guess every time |
| James Stacy | . Yeah, I think if you want to hit the core, it's gonna it's it's always going to be a 300. And I mean a 300, not a 300T, simply because the 300 does wear, in my opinion, significantly better, uh, being a little bit thinner and having more of the vintage style rather than the more modern Doxa take. But at forty two point five, while I would say that it's a watch that wears much smaller than that, much smaller than you'd expect, uh for being you know roughly the the on the larger size of a midsized watch these days, uh I do think the two hundred T when you when you consider both the thirty nine millimeter case sizing and the massive reduction in upfront price and no otherwise otherwise no no real loss. You can still get the color you want if you want your first oxid to be a pro, which is the orange dial, I think that's a great option. The they all look really good. I'm I'm a big fan. I went with yellow. It's one I haven't owned yet. It's called Diving Star. If you don't know your Doxa color names, uh, but I haven't owned, I've owned a s I have a C Rambler 300, which I adore and wear a ton, and I've owned a pro. And so it really came down to the Caribbean, which is the blue-orange great colorway, of course. But I wanted to try and push myself a little bit outside my comfort zone. And so I went with the diving star. But I I right now I would suggest you pick up a 200T because you just significantly drop your like how the stakes of the game. It's just a much more uh reasonably priced watch. And I think it's very similar, if not exceedingly similar, in terms of the um in terms of the uh the experience of wearing a uh uh three hundred as well, a thin case. |
| Tony Traina | I love docs. So yeah, really long answer for yes. I love docs and naming conventions. There will be a quiz at the end. I think you got all the color the color names I've got. I think I've got the colors locked in. I think I'm pretty good. You certainly do. Uh I I don't, but think he sort of you mentioned all of them. Mark, favorite release of the year under ten grand or so |
| Mark Kauzlarich | . Okay, so I originally put down the uh the SLGW003 from Grand Seiko. Um it's their manual wine titanium. I think it's brilliant hard titanium is is the material, and it's only found otherwise in the Grand Seiko Koto, but the the manual wine sort of dress watch thing is something that I don't really have in my collection right now. So this is actually one that I've thought very seriously about picking up myself. And I actually was at Grand Seco's boutique in New York maybe last week or two weeks ago, and they did a demonstration of actually putting together the movement. They had a watchmaker come from Japan and put the movement together in front of everybody. And it was impressive to see this guy do this in like 20, 23 minutes or something like that. But the movement is designed in a way that specifically they wanted that tactile feeling of the click when you're winding to be really, really strong. Um, which is just a fun little addition, but otherwise it's a great, great option. The only problem is when I wrote that down, I actually thought it was sub 10,000 and it's actually 10,700. So I'm gonna hedge and also mention uh a watch that I did for my first week on the wrist, which was the uh white dial speedmaster, the new white lacquer dial omega speedmaster professional moon watch or whatever order those words go in appropriately for Omega, but that's another one that I've actually I put my li name down on a list um at an AD to try to get that. And originally they said it could be up to two years. They didn't just don't know when these watches are going to come in, but he said they actually accepted the purchase order for the watch from Omega. So hopefully at some point soon I'll I'll be able to pick that one up |
| Tony Traina | . Yeah, I've seen a number of those in the wild since they were released earlier this year and then tease with the whole Daniel Craig thing late last year. It's cool that they're kind of making their way into the world relatively quickly. But I mean, is there any you know, you did that week on the wrist a couple of weeks ago. Anything else to say about that watch before we close on the Sedpemaster? I mean, there's kind of everything and nothing to say about a white dial Speedmaster. You know, it's just like one of the best watches ever. And you know, this is a a great addition to the to the collection, I suppose |
| Mark Kauzlarich | . Yeah, I mean I'd I still go back and forth on the whole debate in in the story, which was like should your first speed master be a black dial if that's sort of the heritage going back to the the moon watch thing and and I still am not exactly sure like uh I guess I'll have to make a decision if if a watch comes in for me and I have to put down the money, I'll have to finally make a decision about it. But I think it was just really really fun. I don't I don't know any other way to put it. Like it's just a fun watch, and it's it's a watch that got me thinking about Speedmasters for the first time in probably five years. It's not something that I've ever seriously considered before. So I think that alone is a success. And and I don't know. I I was expecting more people to have sort of negative feelings towards messing with a speed master in that way. Like putting a white lacquer dial on a speed master is honestly pretty big for just a dial swap, but um I've been surprised how many people have liked it. I've been surprised to hear how many people have like put their name down or been able to get one, which I'm happy that they are coming in. But um it's just a fun watch |
| Tony Traina | . Yeah, there'd be stronger opinions. Yeah. There'd be stronger opinions if it weren't so freaking good, honestly. But it's just a great watch. And it's cool to see after a couple years of Moon Swatch. This is kind of one of the first big stainless steel Speedmasters we've seen, and this is the way they're capitalizing on moon swatch momentum, perhaps in a way, with with just a great release. So can't knock either pick there. The one that I was going to talk about for just a second, guys, is uh it's not gonna shock anyone here, but it's the tutor Black Bay 58 GMT. I at the time yeah, we talked about it when it was released uh back in back in April at Watches and Wonders. I think a lot of people had strong feelings about the the rich sort of guilt bezel, uh blackened burgundy, basically. Uh it didn't strike me one way or another, but I've seen it a few times since then. And then I was in London a few weeks ago, swung by bottoms, and they had a Rolex GMT 6542 there as well. And that was the first time I I kind of thought to myself, hmm, I kind of do like what Tutor's doing with the Black Bay GMT 58 bezel. And also it's all the always with Tutor. If you don't like the color that they're releasing now, have no fear because in six months they'll have the one you want, or in another six months, they'll have the one you want. But beyond that, I think it's since twenty eighteen, I mean, I talked about my Black Bay fifty eight at the top when they released the GMT alongside that. We've been waiting for them to cross-pollinate these two watches and it it finally came and it's, you know, the exact dimensions we wanted, 39 millimeters and 12.8 thick, and it's still 4,600 bucks. So well under the $1,000 mark arbitrarily set for ourselves. But it's a watch I've been thinking about a lot that I just feel as though it uh people obviously took note of it when it was released, but since then I I've gained an increased appreciation for it, especially seeing it a few more times outside the shock and fluorescently lit halls of W Watches and Wonders. |
| James Stacy | I think it's a really good product. Like the coloring, like the now we're really getting into the weeds. Like I get if it if that's enough to like delineate it is for me. I would I would I would be more interested in one that has the coloring of the monochrome or just no guilt or whatever. But there doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with that watch. It's just Tudor likes to do this where they release one and people kind of get into a frenzy for a while and then eventually we some more see some more, like you mentioned. Uh I would be fascinated to see them put this movement and employ this movement in more watches. Um uh especially stuff in the Pelagos range. I think a Pelagos GMT still remains a very like appealing idea to me, despite the fact that it would be a very complicated thing because I just simply adore my standard 39. It's as in my mind, it's about as good a sport watch as is available on the market right now in terms of what you get for the value and for the watch enthusiasm aspect and the rest of it. The the one thing that I did want to point out or um the one thing that I did want to say while we were talking about watches that were well under the ten thousand dollar budget is a watch that came out yesterday. I bought it immediately. It's uh I think it's still available on the pre-order price, which is like $260. And that's this Momentum Clip Solar UDT. So uh Momentum is uh a watch brand under the St. Moritz umbrella, and their previous owner, or their current owner, previously owned Chronosport. And the Chronosport UDT is a watch that I have really adore. It has a really cool uh background both in pop culture and in the special forces, and it's really just a cool design to begin with. I remain in the niche of really loving analog digital watches. I'm I'm wearing an Aqualand now. I just I find them endlessly charming and kind of geeky. It makes me feel like a kid getting my first Swiss Army knife. It's just all this functionality. They're almost always great um not all not always, but generally they're really good examples of the idea of uh function before form design. And with the original UDT, the especially the UDT two, uh, it was really just a fantastic looking watch. I own a bright lane Pluton, which is actually in some ways a cheaper way of getting into the UDT world, uh, because classic, well can good condition, well-running UDTs are quite expensive for quartz watches. Um, and then yesterday uh marathon finally took or and then yesterday momentum finally took the wraps off of the new UDT uh and it uses a Seiko source like, an epstein uh movement, it's solar, it has 200 meters of water resistance and screwdown crowns and a ceramic bezel. It's still forty-two millimeters and pretty thin. And I think for the price, as long as you're the right type of nerd, like if you're in my nerd camp, I guess, or if I'm in your nerd camp, however d you want to describe it, I think this is a genuinely compelling watch. And for me, it's currently probably budget watch of the year. Um to be fair, I want to make it clear that I I have not held this watch, but on paper. Uh it it was good enough for me to buy one immediately and uh I'm definitely excited to uh to get my hands on it and give it a try. I think that'll be more like September. So if you're waiting for the story, apologies, you'll be waiting a little while and I don't know what the actual ship date is on those ones, but maybe I can get a crest loaner beforehand. But I'm pumped for that one and I hope it's successful because then they'll make more versions. And I think a watch like that could be a lot of fun with some color |
| Tony Traina | Guys, we kind of talked about the real budget end there, but before we move on to the most overlooked watches, are there any just super high-end, crazy, complicated, uh, whatever it is, independent watchmaking, large brand watches that have really stood out to you this year |
| James Stacy | ? I mean for me the the hardest my jaw dropped so far in twenty twenty four was that bulgary octofonissimo ultra. You know, it's like 1.7 millimeters thick and it still looks like an octo, like it it's still they still manage to make it feel like it's part of that lineup. You know, it's it's point oh five of a millimeter thinner than the Richard mill, but I think what's more notable is the Rechard mill doesn't one doesn't really look like a watch. And two, doesn't really look like a Richard Mill either, kind of looks like a Ferrari credit card. Um and then the Octo, like if you put that next to any other Octo, which they're all pretty special watches in my opinion, but this thing's flat out insane. It's this ridiculously thin watch with a ton of really interesting engineering and this really incredible box that it comes with that that you know that can control the watch to some extent and that sort of thing. I highly recommend checking out the uh the story on uh on Hodinky. We'll have it in the show notes of course but that was I I'd like I mean I think I said this on when we were doing the the uh lucid podcast from Geneva. It's like it's like physically holding a magic trick. I I still have no clue how it happened. I held I held it physically in my hands. It's it's absolutely crazy. It's such a cool experience. I don't I'm not saying I want to buy one or that you should go out and spend your six hundred thousand dollars or whatever they cost for something like that. But if you get a chance to go to a store and they have one and and you can even just see it in profile, let alone try and put it on your own wrist or whatever. Like, even the clasp is probably more impressive than any watch I've ever owned. Like the clasp on the bracelet. It's just this genuinely incredible piece of like engineering and design and art all wrapped up. It's like what I want from high-end watchmaking, even if I'm never gonna like personally be able to buy it or would probably buy it even if I could. Like it I just love that it exists. It feels like something you should see in a museum |
| Tony Traina | . It's a watch I haven't seen. Uh, you know, just appointments or schedules didn't work out or whatever it was. But I've got to say, James, your way with words, describing it as a as a magic trick on the wrist or whatever you said, makes me feel like I was there. So so that's good enough for me. Mark, high-end watch for you that's most stood out this year |
| Mark Kauzlarich | . Yeah, I haven't seen that watch either. I actually am hoping to see it during Geneva watch days. Uh it's something that I I've told them I would love to have a chance to take a look at. I think, you know, this this sort of might be cheating because both of these watches are versions of of things that sort of already exist, but the two that jumped out to me were the Automar P Gay, John Mayer, Royal Oak, Perpetual Calendar, um, for a couple reasons. And I think it's it's no shock to people that um, you know, I I picked up a guitar when I was a kid, largely because of James Taylor and John Mayer. So I've got a soft spot there for that. And then I got back into watches thanks to Hode Binky and uh Ben and their talking watches with John Mayer. And so it was uh it was a pretty cool experience to be able to be there when that watch was unveiled. But I think look it's the Swan song for the 21, 20, 2800 movement series of calibers that have powered the APQPs for decades now, you know, in different variations. And so it's the last one that they're they're gonna do. Um the dial is phenomenal. That crystal sky dial is is pretty cool and and I'm hoping that, you know, maybe it'll show up in some more more releases in the future. So that was a that was a big one for me just because I think it's such a great great watch. Um and then the other one was the the datagraph perpetual turbion honey gold lumen ridiculousness that that Lana put out earlier this year. What was the price? Something like six hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Which is a big it was a big number. Yeah. It was something that just like you just kind of had to laugh. And then, you know, I d I don't even remember how many they were making, like fifty or something like that, fifty or a hundred and and like at a certain |
| James Stacy | point when it's when it let's say it was six hundred fifty thousand dollars. At this point you don't even have to tell me the currency. It's too many digits. Yeah. For your boy. Just say it's a lot and we'll move on and I |
| Tony Traina | can just enjoy the watch. James, you'd be uh doing uh you know, you've got some yen in your pocket though, James. Don't sell yourself short. Come on now, man. I could I yeah, I could th |
| James Stacy | row a few yen around for sure. But it's it's you know, current currently a little weak, but let's let's not be unfair. Canada's dollars head in that direction as well. |
| Mark Kauzlarich | It's I mean, these are this is the thing, like I I can't with a straight face really like look at anybody whenever viewing a watch like this and tell you that I am like trying to give you a sense of the the value of this watch compared to other things on the market. Like I don't think that people that are buying that watch are really thinking about it that way at all. And so um I'm I'm never gonna afford something like this and I have no frame of reference for like saying I'm gonna throw down that much money for for a watch. But it's but it's it's absolutely incredible. And like it was just I got to photograph it twice, I I think, and spend probably to total it two hours with that watch, which is um probably the most I'll ever see that watch ever again in my lifetime. But yeah, it's incredible and it's like the peak of everything that you would want from a lama. So it has to be on the list, I think |
| Tony Traina | . So guys, that's enough of the high-end stuff. Uh we've got one more category, I think, to talk about as far as our favorite watches. We're going to talk about the most overlooked watches. So maybe this is a watch from a small brand. We've kind of talked about some of these smaller or more out of the radar brands already. Or maybe it's from a bigger brand and you feel like the watch was just kind of overshadowed by a bigger or splashier release, but the most overlooked watch of the year so far. James, I'm gonna kick it back to you. I'm sure you've got all kinds of overlooked watches that you you want to give a little bit of shine to. So give us a few |
| James Stacy | . Yeah, I do I do have a few st like a stack it some of it's just stuff that like I didn't get to see in at Watches and Wonders or we didn't get to see. So like the first one that immediately came to my mind because I caught up with this watch like the week after Watches and Wonders, I look back and I go, Oh, wait, that's not even the dial's not even showing the time. How does this watch work? And it's this dive track from Singer watches. So Singer's a car brand that you know quote unquote reimagines 9-11s, and uh they entered into the the watch world several years ago with the track one and uh which uses this fabulous movement and they designed the case and the dial and the rest of it. And then now they have this uh dive track, which is a a you know, crazy high-end dive watch that I don't know that anyone will ever necessarily take diving. But it has a essentially a 24-hour chronograph, and then the time is read from this crazy aperture on the side of the case, like the active time of day, is read from a sort of peripheral view on the side of the case. It's just a cool thing. This reminds me of like Blanc Pom with the fifty fathoms X, uh, where you get something that's kind of just made because they could make it and and because somebody had an idea. This feels like something that somebody, uh a great designer kind of drew and then said, I wonder if this is even possible. It almost feels a little bit like um like a sports watch crossed with something from MB and F all at the same time while still feeling kind of singery. If you happen to have missed this one, which I definitely did, uh and I I definitely desperately hope to see one in the future, uh, I highly recommend checking out. Uh again, hit the show notes for it. But I I think this is a very cool watch. I'm I guarantee it's uh got a big uh price tag, but uh I'm not that cause I don't I'm not looking to take one d take one of my own diving or something like that. I just like to appreciate it. And I I think it's a pretty cool thing. And I I kinda like that singers sticking to the watch thing and now expanding beyond sort of automotive adjacent or even watches that are designed to complement specifically their cars. And this feels like more of a standalone product that that almost feel feels like it would sit in the same space as Resence and Ervork and MBF and all of that kind of thing at the same time, although still being a pretty like grounded sort of industrial design |
| Tony Traina | This thing this is the first time I've spent more than a couple of minutes thinking about this watch. And this is proof that sometimes if you see a wild thing, maybe take a second longer just to figure out what the hell this thing is all about, 'cause this is a a wild watch and look, I started the show by talking about how things felt relatively tame or conservative this year, but Singer Reimagined has kicked the door down on that theory because this watch is absolutely ridiculous. And James, thank you for highlighting it. This thing is awesome. |
| James Stacy | Yeah, I slept on it. Maybe maybe the maybe the our great audience didn't, but I did, so that's why I'm bringing it up. Um I'm gonna try and put it out in the world just in case anybody else missed it. I think it's just uh unique and very cool th |
| Tony Traina | ing. Uh Mark, most slept on watch for for you of the year so far |
| Mark Kauzlarich | ? I mean, I I wouldn't say that this is something that probably the world slept on, but I certainly overlooked, which was uh the black bay chronograph with the pink dial uh was something that I completely overlooked. I thought it was sort of just very niche, uh, maybe even a little kitschy with the inter-Mamiami tie-in and this pink dial situation from from Tudor. And I guess I overlooked it because apparently the prices for these things on the secondary market are absolutely wild. Um I think you know fifteen plus thousand dollars for a tutor chronograph is is pretty crazy. I only know of one other chronograph from them that trades above that, which is a limited edition with Eastern Arabic numerals that was done for our friends in uh Dubai. But yeah, I I just I didn't get it. I still don't know that I completely get it. I I kinda want to because I kinda wanted to see if I can try to get one and you know, have this thing that's apparently gonna be very limited production and that's part of why it's it's hard to get and the prices have gone up. But people seem to either really dig it or see that it might have some value in the future and that's why the prices are so ridiculous. But I definitely overlooked it. And maybe you you guys can help fill me in on what I'm missing here, but um I I'm still not sure |
| Tony Traina | . It's cool to see Tudor first of all doing more of these collaborations with their sports sponsors. We just saw the the blue ceramic black bay, which kind of is an extension of what we saw them doing with Formula One or what they have just started doing with Formula One really. But yeah, it's it's hard to divorce a watch like this from what we're seeing itself for in the secondary market. I saw one sell on eBay for something like sixteen grand a week or two ago. At the same time though, yeah, good for good for someone, I suppose. Uh at the same time, I have seen private collectors, folks on Instagram that feel like sort of real enthusiasts, whatever that even means, I suppose, getting these watches, posting about them. I've seen this, you know, multiple times. So it is cool that real people are seem to be getting them more than just the David Beckham's and the James would know better than me, but the F1 drivers that that race on Tudor's team uh are Yuki Sonoda and Daniel Ricardo |
| James Stacy | . Hey, how how'd they do in uh Silverstone last week? Uh not amazing, but not terribly. I mean, Ricardo's not not really holding up his end of the deal necessarily on most races, but uh, you know, they're still occasionally into the points. It was a it was a better weekend for some of the other teams. Certainly a great weekend for uh the UK drivers. |
| Tony Traina | Uh okay. Hey, did Lewis Hamilton win? He did. Whoa, I had no idea. Congratulations, Lewis. Sort of a swan song going out with that. Big win. for sure That's huge. Uh hey, anything to say about Tudor though uh on this subject? Or you just want to keep talking F1 |
| James Stacy | ? No, no, I don't I don't think our audience necessarily wants us to expose on uh you know expound on on Formula One uh any more than is necessary. I like the blue watch quite a bit. I also I like that they're continuing the ceramic and the metas and the rest of it. I would love to see them do fifty eight ceramic. I think that would really blow people up. I think people would go nuts for that. I think that'd be r uh just an exciting watch to see. Um but the the the retail version of their V Carb watch, the that's the the team that they're aligned with, the the Visa Cash App Red Bull team uh is an interesting thing. It's cool. Uh as for the pink dial chronograph, I I think that it's neat to see that because Tudor really does a good job of aligning with um the current perspective of enthusiasm in watches. Uh, or at least they're within the a close time frame. Sometimes you have to wait a year or two for the exact 58 that you wanted or whatever. But for the most part, they're making watches for watch enthusiasts who have who have experienced other brands and all that kind of stuff. And when the brand does decide to play around with that formula, whether it's the, you know, for V Carb, they also did like a chameleon dial, which links up with a certain credit card that Visa offers, like with this kind of color changing finish. They did that for the Miami uh Miami Grand Prix. And um I think when they when they kind of break format and play with some color or play with the case material or something like that, it's quite exciting. Uh and and I think that's why we're seeing that in the in the price point is they've kind of nailed the conventional watch offering. And then when they kind of um yeah, just play around with their formulas. I think they they occasionally come across things that be get people pretty excited. And I guess that's where this pink chrono kind of falls |
| Tony Traina | . James, you had one more watch on your potentially overlooked watches list that I wrote about towards the beginning of the year. There's an expansion to the collection coming, and it comes from an unexpected source, Raymond Weill. And the do you want to help me with the French pronunciation there |
| James Stacy | ? I I'm actually I I looked at this word several different times, so there's no way I'm gonna pronounce it correctly. It it's either French or Italian. I'm not sure. I think it |
| Tony Traina | 's French. I believe it to be French for vintage. I believe this is what they told me. Uh but I'm I'm wondering why you decided to address the good looking watch. It |
| James Stacy | is. Yes. One, I think this is a a brand that doesn't typically enter into the enthusiast conversation all that often. I think that they try, they make a conventionally strong product. Um you know that there's nothing wrong with the quality of the watches or anything like that. It's just that, you know, sometimes brands are part of the sort of meta of watch enthusiasm and sometimes they're not. And I think this is probably the strongest offering that they've made into a really handsome, good looking watch that carries the brand in a direction that I that I would support for sure. So I I wanted to highlight it simply because I don't think it's a brand that comes up that often on a hoodinky radio or or otherwise, and it's not a brand I spend a ton of time paying attention to. But the the sort of JLC Patek vibe that they've wrapped into this and the case looks quite lovely. The dial looks good. I think the maybe maybe the hour hand is a little long if I was getting like how picky do you want me to be? I think this is a good watch and that they did a nice job with it. And it's one I would love to see uh like in person and and and and try on my wrist. It's just a handsome kind of good looking thing. Yeah. So they |
| Tony Traina | won a GPHG award for the under $2,000, under $3,0000 price point last year, whatever it is. And that was what put it on my radar. I I called this watch in the it's a white dial, basically a sector dial, melee as you so brilliantly put it, James. And they're actually expanding the collection later this year. You know, James, you'll be happy to see I've got I've got three Raymond Wild boxes right here on my desk right now. So they're really dedicated to expanding the line. This sort of I think they know they've kind of hit on uh hit on something for enthusiasts like us. So I think it it deserves to be recognized. I was glad you kind of called it out and expect to see more from them on this front in September. More sizes, complications. I think they've realized that they've hit on something uh that and they've kept it at a good price. They're using Solita movements, so things are, you know, this sector dial watch, the time only one is about fifty. It's just just under two grand. Yeah. |
| James Stacy | Just under forty millimeters. Yep. I I think this is a thing where you know we we see a lot of this aesthetic in like long jeans. It's like among their core is taking something quite elegant and wearable and nicely sized and and and quite um subtle on your wrist. You wear it and you just kind of forget it's there until you glance down at it. Like longines are really good at that. And I think this kind of takes that format um and and still kind of feels like it has a sporty feel to it, that sort of Calatrava adjacent sort of very mid-century t take on uh on something that's dressy, but I think you could you could wear pretty much any time. So yeah, I I don't I don't want a brand like Raymond Wheel to not get the shine that they deserve when they do something that I think enthusiasts could get excited about |
| Tony Traina | . With that, James, Mark, thanks for joining me to talk about some of our favorite stuff from the first half of 2024. Thank you all for listening. Thanks, of course to Vic Autominelli for the help with the editing. And we'll see you all again next week |