Howie Kendrick & Revisiting The Tudor Black Bay GMT¶
Published on Mon, 6 Apr 2020 10:00:28 +0000
From a World Series victory to a world-class watch collection, this guy has got it all figured out.
Synopsis¶
This episode of Hodinkee Radio features three main segments. First, host Stephen Pulvirenti and James Stacey revisit James's Tudor Black Bay GMT review from approximately a year and a half ago in a new segment called 'A Week on the Wrist Revisited.' They discuss the watch's continued relevance, its unique features including the local jumping hour GMT movement (MT5652), and why it remains one of their favorite reviews. The Tudor Black Bay GMT stands out for offering Rolex GMT Master II functionality at roughly half the price point, making it an exceptional value proposition in the luxury sports watch market.
The second segment features an interview with Howie Kendrick, the Washington Nationals second baseman who hit the World Series-winning home run in Game 7 against the Houston Astros in 2019. Kendrick discusses his remarkable playoff run, including his grand slam against the Dodgers and his NLCS MVP performance. The conversation shifts to his watch collecting journey, revealing that during the World Series, he acquired both a Rolex GMT Pepsi and a Patek Philippe 5726 Nautilus at retail prices. Kendrick shares his philosophy on collecting, emphasizing Tudor and Nomos as excellent entry-level brands, and discusses his other passions including Leica photography and vintage cars. The episode concludes with Jack Forster discussing his choice to wear an Apple Watch Series 5 during quarantine rather than mechanical watches, reflecting on how different timepieces serve different purposes and how mechanical watches have connected him to memorable experiences and people throughout his career.
Links¶
Transcript¶
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| Unknown | You know, I've been a paddock fan for a long time. Um, it was kind of a luck of the draw thing where I went in and was putting my name on the list at a local uh DC jeweler. Didn't really expect anything. They ended up calling me and said that they had a 57-25. |
| Unknown | That's that's how people can know you're you're a real diehard watch collector is you're in the middle of the world series and you're going to visit your AD to get off the wait list for uh GMTs and Nautilus. Hey everybody, I'm your host Stephen Polverant and this is Hodinky Radio. That work from home life is starting to feel like a new normal and I can't quite decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but either way, we've got a really good show for you this week, hopefully to break up some of that monotony. First up, we're debuting a new segment that we're calling A Week on the Wrist Revisited. I chat with James about his review of the Tudor Black Bay GMT from about a year and a half ago, and he talks about why this watch is still something he thinks about all the time and why it's a review that you definitely need to see. We also talk a little bit about the watch madness bracket. Everybody's been asking, so we've got a little bit of an update for you there too. After that, our director of video, Will Holloway and I chat with Howie Kendrick. You might remember Howie from his episode of Talking Wat Watches, or you might remember him for playing second base for the Washington Nationals. He was a huge part of the Nats runs the World Series last year, and even hit the World Series winning home run in Game 7 in Houston. His big year wasn't just limited to baseball though, his watch collection added a pretty stellar piece or two also. We get into all of that and much more. And to take us home, our own Jack Forrester tells us a little bit about the watch that he's been wearing while working from home. I know I say it every week, but we have three awesome segments this week. I hope everybody's hanging in there. We're all going to get through this together, so let's do it. Hey man, how's it going? Good dude. How you been? I've been good, you know? Lots of zoom calls today. I'm sure this will not be my last, but uh well it's nice to see you digitally nonetheless. Yeah, same. I I think at some point when maybe when our countries reopen the borders we'll uh we'll get to see each other again. But uh Yeah, for sure. Uh so thanks for joining me here. We're we're gonna the main thrust of what we're gonna talk about today is it a new segment we're trying. Um it's called A Week on the Wrist Revisited. Uh and I wanted to kick it off by talking about one of your all-time great reviews, one of my all-time favorite reviews we've ever done, uh, which is your review of the Tutor Black Bay GMT. Sure. It's uh it's a super cool watch. People loved it. Uh I think you did a great job kind of demonstrating why it's so interesting and important. Uh but through this segment, we're we're gonna kind of break your review down and go through some categories and talk about kind of now, I guess a year and a half later, what what your thoughts are on this watch and why it's still important |
| Unknown | . Absolutely, yeah. I'm looking forward to it. It was a fun really fun thing to shoot and something we've been uh kind of perennially proud of since it came out |
| Unknown | . Awesome. So before we do that though, people have been asking a lot about Watch Madness, our talking watches bracket. And we have the results for the first two quadrants. So uh you want to run through those real qu |
| Unknown | ick? Absolutely. Yeah, it's been an exciting game to watch from uh definitely from my armchair far to the north. Looking at the the kind of results from those first two days, the only one that really stands out to me is uh Aziz taking out Waco. Um I I don't disagree with the uh with the win at all or or contested in any way. It's just I think that was kind of a tough matchup where you were going on one side with um you know a kind of a beloved celebrity and on the other side with kind of a beloved personality within the watch space. So it was kind of hard to guess where we went one way or another with that. And uh I I think uh you know to see to do mayor and sorry is is going to be a fun second round matchup. And then I mean the other ones I'm seeing here like Daniel Day Kim that makes sense to me. Uh Reza, obviously Eric Coo is kind of obvious again, Farinstan uh Farston uh d definitely uh makes sense to me. And then on um on the other side on the you know on day one um no real surprises in my mind. I think this makes sense. Moki made it into the next round. I think uh he's gonna go a long way. Uh Bayer as well. Uh yeah. What do you think? Anything stand out for you beyond that |
| Unknown | ? Yeah, I mean I think uh one that I was watching really closely was Andretti Nicholas. Um that to me is another one where it was like, you know, somebody with a ton of watches who's really been passionate about this for a long time as a hobbyist and as a professional. Up against somebody who has one incredible watch with an incredible story. Um and to see Andretti win is is interesting, especially because kind of on the other side of the bracket, like you said, uh I think Aziz, you know, it's personality and it's it's uh it's the sort of personal nature of the collection. You know, I think it it says something nice that the winners aren't all the people who have the most expensive watches. It's not the people who have the most watches. Uh it's people whose watches are are meaningful to them, which I think is what, you know, when when we did our preview show, Will talked about how the idea behind talking watches was was always about people and about collectors and about what drives people to be into watches. And I think we we see here there's a lot of really passionate, interesting people who made it made it through to the second round. For sure. I I definitely think you know |
| Unknown | Nicholas being uh maybe not an upset because it's it's Mario Andretti and he has some incredible watches. Yeah, totally. And with some of my favorite, like I mean he has one of my most favorite watches from all of Talking Watches, the eleven fifty eight uh solid gold Carrera, you know, which was given to him by uh uh Jack Hoyer, which is I mean, this is all awesome. Um the um the the other side of it, I th I wonder if it's it was if the Nicholas thing was a little bit of like Nicholas fatigue after all of the the auctions uh late last year and that sort of thing. I just wonder if people had kind of felt like, well, we saw this, you guys made us watch the video again on a Sunday rewind, which I'm sure I wrote and and that sort of thing. And now people are kind of kind of like, oh Mary Andretti, or maybe maybe they did the right thing and they went and Googled him running Monaco uh like a complete madman in uh in you know during his heyday and and you and and maybe that weighs in. I'm not sure how people come to these decisions if they just kind of like scroll click click click click click they're four and they're done or if there's more um there's more to it as as the rounds kind of progress. I'm hoping people if they don't necessarily know everything they get maybe just even give them another Google like like watch what Andretti did in his day. Watch what you know in this case Nicholas did in his day. And and then obviously in with some of these, there's gonna be a lot of people voting who haven't even watched the the talk and watches episode itself. And that's the only thing that came to me is I had some friends write back and say, like, do I have to watch all these? And I was like, Yeah, you have to watch them all. Yeah, I'm definitely can't be voting. Like just th it's not like what you you don't have time in the evening to watch uh Goldberger sit there and talk about watches. I've watched rewatched almost all of them in the course of this process. Uh I think it's uh I think it's great. And uh I think it's going really well. So far um the the rounds that I've seen the results to have it uh followed my predictions almost uh I I was off by one and and uh uh I think I think I'm I'm gonna expect that to continue. I think I know who's gonna take this |
| Unknown | . Yeah. I wonder who's who's the person who got knocked out in round one who you're most disappointed to see not make it to round two |
| Unknown | . I think nobody. I don't think I'm disappointed by uh by by the outcomes. I I think that they're nice, honest outcomes. I think that they're, you know, this is again like a cult a little bit of a cult of personality. And I don't see anything here where I'm kind of like there's a couple where I think it'd be fun to do n another video with some of these folks. Like I think another video with Way would be great. It would be s would be really fun. Um but I don't think I necessarily like think that it it didn't |
| Unknown | go the way it should have for any of these rounds. I do think you know, Tony Fidel getting matched up against John Mayer too in the first round, that's a tough matchup for Tony. It's real tough break. Tony's an incredible collector, super, super smart guy, uh has a great perspective on on watches and watch collecting bummer that he he drew what was maybe the hardest first round matchup um absolutely and then similarly for Ahmed Rahman um awesome guy super passionate and a great a great uh a great video. Yeah, great video. Arthur did an awesome job hosting it. Um yeah, his his taste level is just like off the charts good with with watches and everything, to be honest. Um and so he's another one who like going up against Renee Bayer in in the first round, you know, Bayer's a real real collector, and he's got some like actually historically significant watches uh in a way that I think was gonna be tough to beat. So again, not that I think Some real tough matchups for sure. Alright, so we'll have tons more on Watch Madness. We're gonna be talking about this for a couple weeks. I'm not gonna drive people crazy and I don't think we need to break things down, you know, matchup by matchup uh this week. But let's dive into a week on the wrist revisited. Uh we had this idea that you know, just as we're kind of revisiting talking watches through through this bracket challenge, it might be fun to go back to some classic reviews and see kind of how these watches have aged both in in terms of the actual watches and also in in our own minds. Um some of these watches are watches that we talk about frequently and I I think there's definitely more to say than we could fit into a single video and review. So we want to kick things off with one of my favorite reviews we've ever done, uh, which was your review of the tutor Black Bay GMT. Mm-hmm. Uh super popular review. People loved it. Tons of comments. Uh one of the highest trafficked reviews we've we've ever done. Um so yeah, I I think you know we'll have some categories that we'll go through to really break things down bit by bit. But to to start things off, can you just kind of remind people what the deal is with this watch? Like what is the watch? What's kind of the context to uh to this watch's release |
| Unknown | ? Sure. So the reason we wanted to do a um uh week on the wrist with uh with watch like the blackbay GMT is because arguably for 2018, it came out in Basel World 2018. I mean, I think our first post about it was March 21st to put a timestamp on it. But the the big thing here is this is this is like Tudor's year for Basel World. They they put out a GMT watch that instantly everyone wanted and then like three minutes later they put out a thirty nine millimeter black bay that still everybody really wants. These are like two of the hottest you've got you've got for right now, yeah. Rad. And uh I would say like definitely in in that space and this is a space where like Rolex had a really good twenty eighteen as well. But I think that they like there was some milkshake being drank between the family there and and and I think a lot of that came down to these two watches. And and that's not like a there's no take there that it came down to these two watches. There's not really another way to to look at it. But in in this case, you're looking at a um uh a steel 41 millimeter um you know 200 meter water resistant uh sports watch based on the entire Black Bay GMT family we already know. Uh the BB41s, and and in this case it's it now has a 24-hour bezel. And most notably, and and the thing that really kind of blew a lot of people out of the water who understand the whole sphere of GMT watches is Tudor went ahead and made their own movement. And then with that movement, they offered uh local jumping hours, which is the feature set you would find on something like a GMT Master 2, which watch that would cost more than double if you were even able to say walk into a store and buy one. Uh 15 millimeters thick to about 50 millimeters lug to lug. So I would say in the in the span, in that sweet window of of watches that that kind of the Hodinky overall audience, the sizing metric that everyone uses. It's just slightly on the on the larger size, but it's not that big of a watch. Uh forty one's very wearable. Uh fifteen's pretty much normal for a dive watch, especially one with two hundred meters water resistance and a in a big crystal and all that kind of stuff. And then fifty millimeters lug-to-lug is going to be good for just about anyone's wrist. And like I said, the the big point here wasn't so much that they made another great dive watch that had been going on for four or five years before that with the black bays, but the uh it's the introduction of the MT5652 uh that really meant that the watch had no comp competition. There's no peers to this watch. There aren't other local jumping hour uh GMTs I can sit here and start listing ones that have existed previously at this price point. Omega used to make some. But now Omega's GMTs are more money, they're even thicker, they're typically larger, and um and and they're they're you know Omega's aesthetic has moved away from simply the Tuolish and into more polished surfaces and that sort of thing. And and with the with the BBGMT, what you really get is a black bay, something that people already really know and like a blue and red bezel that's in kind of a muted tutor-esque sort of color way, and then a simple matte dial and a a very useful travel complication. And a watch that you don't have to take off in the pool, you wouldn't have to take off if you were diving, like you just wear it. It's a like a a born one watch for sure |
| Unknown | . Before we get into the categories, can you can you give us the TLDR version of of the week on the wrist review? Like for somebody who hasn't seen it, first of all, you should go watch it. Like pause this and go watch the review it's a couple minutes long uh the video is you can do the deep reading later but uh yeah what what's the TLDR version of this review for people |
| Unknown | all right if we're gonna step into the review I I do need to do a bit of a costume change for you because this is a video medium so just give me one moment |
| Unknown | . we go. For people listening and not watching this, James has just changed into the clothing he was wearing when he did the review |
| Unknown | . So um this is something that that like annually is probably one of the most the this this piece of work, this this post that a lot of people put a lot of time into, and it's my face and my name on. But the uh the one thing that I will consistently get is from people who write it and they'll be like, I really like that GMT review. Um, I I love that watch now, or some people say I even bought the watch, and they don't have a question about the watch, they don't really have a question about the review. They just want to know where I got my green jacket. Uh it's a very common DM that I still get, and uh and and maybe this will slow slow some of you down, but it's from the gap. I think I paid 35 bucks for it on a rack. Great. Uh it's not fancy. You know, it's it's uh I don't baby it. It is one of my more favorite things to wear. I pop up in all sorts of uh little bits of content and photos and certainly you see the green and lots of wrist shots, but it's uh it's a reoccurring theme in my Instagram DMs. Yeah. Uh since that came up. But uh the T L D R for the review is simple. We wanted to um we wanted to take a travel watch and actually do some traveling. Um it's not ironic, but uh whatever the word would be, uh we didn't actually change time zones. We were heading north-south. It's true. Uh but we were already planning on being on the west coast to do a series of podcast recordings, the very early days of Hodinky Radio. Yeah. And uh and along with that, we knew we had uh Gray, who's actually on this call, uh quietly and and invisibly, um, and as our producer and and so we decided to take what was gonna be maybe a a calm, peaceful sort of tour of San Francisco and LA and make it a few really terrible days of work for everyone. Um and by terrible I. mean it was really only hard on Gray. I I basically just hung out in front of a camera and talked about a watch that I really like. And uh yeah that that was basically the the premise is we we you know we went from uh San Francisco down to LA we we shot mostly in San Francisco and the idea there was simply to suggest that this is a sort of watch that kind of slots itself into the sort of person that likes to move around. And whether you're doing some tourism or or just some general appreciation, even of your own city, the idea was more about movement and uh and flexibility, which is you know what this watch does so well |
| Unknown | . Let's get into the categories. So first up, we're gonna do elevator pitch. You've got 30 seconds to kind of explain this watch and kind of pitch it to people. So thirty seconds on the clock, go |
| Unknown | . Yeah, I mean it's a it's it's a t it's a tutor sport watch that has the same movement functionality as a ten thousand dollar Rolex sport watch. It wears the same way. It offers a ton of water resistance. There's not like it kind of s it sells itself. You either want a GMT or you don't and if you do this one had better be on your list |
| Unknown | . Great. You managed to pull that off in like twenty seconds, so I think you get some you get some bonus points there. Well I'll use it up later in the chat, I'm sure. What's uh next category is uh first thing. So we talked a little bit about you know your first experiences with this your initial reactions but for somebody picking this watch up for the first time what is the first thing they're gonna notice about this watch yeah I think its most notice |
| Unknown | able overall feature is the bezel color uh because it and and it's not so much that the color is or isn't good. I I honestly don't doesn't matter. I think the coloring on the bezel is very good. Um, but it's the fact that they went blue red, which connects to the history of the GMT master, which while there is of course this very close connection between Rolex and Tutor being essentially sibling companies, um that's not necessarily Tutor's history. Uh that's that's Rolex's history, but they were making a direct connection. And I think if they had done that and then put um a normal twenty-four hour GMT hand movement and edit a twenty eight ninety-three two or their version of of that sort of functionality, it would have seemed so half baked. But to have done uh the blue red bezel, which is kind of like that's like going up and picking up the big weights off the rack, putting a blue red bezel on your on your GMT watch, and then also having the ability to like sit back and actually throw a rep down with that movement. I I think that's how |
| Unknown | Alright, up next we've got uh the best design choice. Uh what's what's the thing that Tudor did here that it could have easily gone south and instead they made a really smart conscious choice |
| Unknown | ? Yeah, I think I think for me it's funny because the watch is in many ways fairly minimal. I mean, obviously you have a bezel which some people will use and other people won't, depending on if they understand how how it's used, how it's best used. Um but I think it's the long GMT hand. If you look at it, it it goes right to the edge of the dial. And I think you you there's tons of GMT watches where it's this little like half measure hand, which makes it feel a little bit more balanced or in a photo looks great. And then when you actually go to use it and you're talking about reading 24 hour time from it, it's a huge pain. Um and and then in this case, instead of doing a small hand in an internal scale, a 24-hour scale that sits inside. They really just went with like, oh, how can we communicate the most information with the least amount of stuff on the dial? And the end result is you get this big long red uh GMT hand with a nice luminous, you know, diamond at the end. And then what that does is is not only does that communicate a lot and it's super legible, but it leaves the rest of the dial to be very minimal. And of course, if you've seen um a lot of modern watches now, certainly other watches from within the Rolex and Tutor lineup, there's a lot of text happening on the dial. And I think that they w they went a really nice direction by just saying, like, nope, this is a GMT watch and you will understand that because the bezel is blue and red and has a fourth hand that's bright red. And and they said the rest could just be like basic. The watch photographs beautifully because there's very little going on in the dial, the dial's not reflective. The date displays very unobtrusive. I think that the overall design is is uh for me what what would stand out, but the the starting point, I think what you would your first hit would be the GMT hand |
| Unknown | . Nice. All right. So we've talked about what's good. What's something you'd change here? It doesn't have to be something you think is bad, but what what is the thing that you would want to change if you could redesign this watch |
| Unknown | ? I'd put the entire thing in a BB58 case, make it 39 millimeters and I would go with a colorless bezel and I mean that specifically in like an engraved steel bezel. You love an engraved steel bezel. Yeah it's just like it's the it it's there's no color. Leave some color on the GMT hand so I can see it. But otherwise like uh I the blue red is fine. I'd go full red, maybe bring back Burgundy, like call on something else from Tudor, but I love the BB steel. I I think that's such a cool look. And I think that would translate so well to uh to a watch like this. And then it the other thing that's nice about these is there's something about GMT watches where I think you they they are legitimately meant to never come off your wrist, which means they're gonna get covered in scratches. And a steel bezel, like with a nice thick steel insert that's engraved, will take those scratches so well uh without having to worry about anything flaking off or or damaging a numeral so you can't read it anymore or something like in twenty years a watch like that look incredible. Okay. I I uh I'd I'd I' |
| Unknown | d take a look at that watch. Let's put it that way. Yeah, I think it could be cool. It's a little Photoshop project. Yeah, all right, cool. Um all right, the next category we're calling it branded. Um if you were to challenge another brand to make their version of this watch, who would you want to see give it a sta |
| Unknown | b? Hmm. Um I mean the first one that comes to mind is Doxa because I adore the GMT watch they used to make. And if that watch was made, so that was the 750T GMT, specifically the Caribbean, which is a blue-orange colorway. Um they also had one of my favorite GMT hands, which was the if you take the outer dimension of the our hand and then skeletonize it. So it doesn't matter how the hands overlap, you can always see it. That's cool. I I absolutely adore that watch. They are discontinued, very hard to find. You've you can't imagine a watch at forty two and a half millimeters that wears this small, like any doxes. They just disappear when they're actually on your wrist. So I'd love to see that functionality come to another sort of like travel dive watch, whether it was a Doxa or I mean, man, I I I wouldn't it be sweet to see something with this functionality come out from like longines. Yeah. Like a really slick 40 millimeter steel dive watch, kind of no nonsense, and then boom, this like killer movement. And you'd think with the like the way the whole swatch network goes together, they just the right people would have to kind of be in line to kind of make that connect for. And then you'd you'd have that movement. They could make anything in the world. But I think like yeah, like a long jeans, a doxa, like if like if if tutor's gonna literally own an entire marketplace at say forty five hundred dollars for this, I'd love to see someone come in at 2,000, $2,500, something like that. So more than the cost of where we see the EDA twenty eight ninety three stuff, which is say a thousand to two thousand bucks, but lesser than four. Co |
| Unknown | ol. Uh we're we're gonna call this one uh fantasy island here. Uh somebody hands you this watch, and I'm this is probably anachronistic, but and a blank check, sure. Uh and says, do do with this what you will. Like what's what's the perfect scenario for this watch? If you could take it anywhere, do anything with it, where where are you taking this wat |
| Unknown | ch? Yeah, I I think you're you're loading up a plane with a little bit of dive gear, crossing a few time zones to head to the Caribbean and landing on some like dirt track and then diving off of some island where nobody's going to be around. There's nobody else in the water. I think like a remote kind of like flying then diving scenario would be where the sweet spot would be for this watch |
| Unknown | . Yeah. Yeah. I mean you've you've touched on it a couple times, but I think that really like narrows in on it, which is that one of the things that makes this watch so interesting is it's it's a travel watch, but it's also a dive watch. Like it really it is good at both instead of sort of like being a halfway point between the two. It is both a great dive watch and a great GMT watch |
| Unknown | . Yep, and I mean in in a lot of these cases when a company they go and they make it the travel watch, they drop the water resistance to a hundred meters, the i in some reason in some ways for no reason sometimes. But with this it's so tutored to just be like we can do it, so we're gonna do it. The other ones are the one we're basing it on is two hundred meters, so you get two hundred meters. And sure it doesn't have the bezel, I wouldn't call it like a proper tool dive watch. You can't you can definitely still track a lapse time. You're just gonna have to do a little bit of five minute math in your in your head. But as as a backup to a dive computer, this is a totally appropriate thing. And it's gonna be it's gonna be awesome. Again, like coming out on dive gear covered in sand and that kind of thing. Like it's perfect. Look at right at home in a small plane full of dive gear, heating, you know, taking photos out of the windows. I'm f I'm assuming I'm flying. I don't know. You're flying the plane? Yeah. |
| Unknown | Uh all right, last last one for you here. This is the uh this is the lifer question. Could this be your one watch for life? |
| Unknown | I think easily. Yeah, yeah. Like if I didn't already own a couple really nice dive watches and a couple really great GMT watches, this would have been an instant buy for me. I don't have room for it in my collection. I don't like to own too that many watches. And if I ever find myself, you know, without an explorer two or without a doxer or whatever to it is that kind of like it is that kind of like it it's not a you know, because Tutor doesn't really do quirky typically, they do like very not so much sto I mean the Pelagos is quite stoic, but they do very like refined objects. Yeah. And uh and with with something like this you get that kind of overlap of that what makes Rolex great and then what makes dive watches just the general world of dive watches great is all kind of comes into one place, as it does throughout all of the black phase. It's one of the things that makes them such great watches |
| Unknown | . Yeah, totally agree. Um cool. Well this this has been fun. We're gonna continue to do stuff like this. We'll probably refine the the process and the categories a bit as we do it, but uh this felt like the right way to kick it off. This this to me is an all-time week on the wrist. Uh we'll link it up in the show notes. If you haven't watched the video, go watch it. If you have watched it, go watch it again. It's great. I don't think I've watched any week on the wrist more than this one. Um I got to be involved in the shoot, which was very, very nice, very fun. Um did a little behind the scenes stuff, but uh this is just like this is awesome. It's it does the the video does a great job of showing how a watch can be a great companion. Uh this watch in particular, but great watches in general. Like if if you wanna understand if you don't understand already, which if you don't, I don't know why you'd be listening to this, but if uh if you don't understand why watches can be like romantic and exciting, like this this review does a great job explaining it |
| Unknown | . Yeah, I think it's a nice um a modern tool watch that's ready for kind of whatever you want to throw at it. It looks great. There you know, I can only imagine a couple scenarios where it wouldn't seem quite right, black tie or something like that. And at which point, you know, just drop drop it in your jacket pocket for for the for the dinner you got people to talk to anyways. Yeah. Um but otherwise I think I think that this is uh like what it's absolutely one of my favorite modern sport watches without exception. Awesome.. Cool |
| Unknown | Well, thanks for doing this, man. Really appreciate it. And uh see you on a another Zoom call, I'm sure, very soon. Oh, minutes, I'm sure, yeah. All right. See you, man. Awesome later, dude. Up next, we've got my conversation with World Series winning baseball player Howie Kendrick. Thanks so much for joining us, Howie. Good to uh good to have you back |
| Unknown | . Oh yeah, that's awesome, man. I'm glad to be back on. Yeah, I really enjoy working with you guys and you know it's a blast and always fun to to get on and tal |
| Unknown | k watches with you guys. And uh we got for the for the second week in a row we got Will Holloway on the show too. Coming for your job, Stephen's just not |
| Unknown | that hard, Steven. I'm coming for your job. It's not that hard, right? It's not that hard. And we and |
| Unknown | we have Howie here, so this is a special uh a special one. So I That's true. I have a funny feeling how I have a funny feeling how he could host this show and uh nobody nobody would miss me, but that's uh that's all right. You know what? I'm I'm new to this |
| Unknown | , so we'll we'll hold off that for a while. But uh you know I'm definitely excited to be on. You know, I get invited to do these these podcasts and different things every now and then. But this is actually the first one I've d |
| Unknown | one. Oh, well thank you very much. Really appreciate it. We're we're we're big fans of yours on a lot of fronts, but uh you had uh you had a pretty big year this past year, didn't you |
| Unknown | ? Uh yeah, you know, to say the least. I think we uh had a good time. You know, winning the World Series I'd say is a dream come true. You know, playing my whole career and you know, we I've been to the playoffs I think about eight eight eight times and you know, this was the first time I've ever made it to the World Series. So, you know, to be playing major league baseball for fifteen years and you know, have this be, you know, one of those moments that you can put that puts a stamp on your career and you know I'm getting ready to retire soon and you know to be able to do this and experience this befor |
| Unknown | e I'm gone. I mean it's truly amazing. I mean the the interesting thing is you guys entered the the Nats entered the postseason last year as a wild card team, right? Like you guys were not the favorites to win the World Series |
| Unknown | . Yeah, by no means. I mean, we were I mean people were after we started 19 and 31 to start the season, people were already counting us out. But you know, I try to tell people that uh every game after that 19 and 31 start was like a playoff game. We were just playing to survive to make the postseason. And uh you know we had a lot of guys that weren't afraid. You know when you get when you're down like that early in the season and you're battling your way back even, to make the playoffs. I mean, you got a lot of guys that step up and you know you you build a lot of character in that time and I think that was key for us. And you know, being a |
| Unknown | wildcard team, I always say wildcard teams are dangerous. And you guys were uh you guys were dangerous. Will and I were talking about it before we uh plugged the mics in and that was that was a wild, wild run |
| Unknown | . Yeah, it was. I mean, uh you know, even the Brewers game when you look at the balance of the ball took uh around Grisham there. And uh just things just fell in our lap. You know, things happened. Like I said, we had some big plays. And you know, if you would have told me in a million years we'd sweep the Cardinals in the NLCS, I mean I would have told you you were crazy. And then uh went in the in an LCS MVP, that was another thing for me I didn't really expect, but you know, it was awesome. And you know, the rest is history because you know, going into Houston, we won two games there, we lost three at home, and everybody's like, oh, this series is over. But, you know, uh one of my teammates out of Eden, we're on the plane ride back. He gets on the microphone and he says, Hey man, you know that the uh the Capitals were down in the same situation three games or two. And you know, and they brought it home and ended up winning the Stanley Cup. So when you look at it like that, you know, the odds were obviously against us, but we never thought we were out of |
| Unknown | it. Moments from you know from that postseason. You know, just as a baseball fan, I I have to ask. Game five, deciding game five, extra innings against the Dodgers, against your former team, tie game, bases loaded grand slam to to to to win the uh nlds uh what did that fe |
| Unknown | el like you know what it it was one of the most amazing feelings uh you know, being able to lift your team up. You dream about those moments as a kid, being able to uh come up to the plate with the game on the line and you know, we had some big hits before that. A lot of guys stepped up, Anthony Rendon and a couple other guys, but being able to put that that dagger in the game, being able to come up with that hit. I mean that signifies my whole career too, you know, having those moments like that. I always remember that my kids were there, you know, my wife was there. And you know, I got a million calls after that game because that pushed us to the next level. You know, and I think we were the one team that could compete with the team like the Dodgers because of our pitching staff. You know, we had really good pitching staff. We had three guys that were just really dominant. And you know that whole series it was blow for blow and to be able to come up in that moment and deliver a blow like that that put the game away I mean it was huge for us |
| Unknown | . Yeah. And then in the next round against the Cardinals, as you said, you were the MVP. I think every time I looked up, you were standing on second base doing the baby shark. Uh the baby shark thing |
| Unknown | . Can you talk a little bit about that? Man, the baby shark, I'll tell you, when we got Gerardo Para over, uh, he brought that with him. You know, his kids love that song and loved that show. And he he had it as his come out song. So it just kind of caught on, and guys started doing it on bass, and you know, even in that series I mean the energy that we had and you know being able to come up and it's like you're playing out of your body. You know, you get locked in and get put in one of those zones and you just feel like you're doing things that you're like, man, I you know, you dream about these things. You practice them over and over again, but now they're actually happening. And it's like being in a surreal moment. And you know, you get to relive it every time you run into a friend. Um, my kids still watch the videos from that postseason run, and my wife as a gift made me this book and it's uh it has this audio like this video audio section right when you open the book and it replays the postseason and a lot of the key moments and it's all the moments that I had during the postseason. You know, so every time I go in my into my like little pool table room that books in there. And then I had a friend of mine do a painting as well of me with pieces from the postseason. And when he did the painting it, has pictures like painted into the painting of different moments throughout the postseason. And you know, the NLCS moments are there and all these other moments, you know, throughout the trophy or throughout the picture are unbelievable. And like I said, you you know, thinking back at it, standing on second, you know, I can still see to this day that me doing the baby shark in that in that final game. How many times do you think you've heard that that that song? That song, you know, I hated that song. I'm not even gonna lie to you. My kids used to listen to that and I'm like, what in the world is going on? And then you know, it kind of just grew on me. You know, it Mike and Jorar are part of so much, having uh Parra have it and liking him so much, it kinda just became something that was uh more just caught on with everyone. And it was pretty cool. It was really cool. So, you know, we got to enjoy that and uh you know, like I said, I d I still really don't wanna hear that song, but if |
| Unknown | I do hear it, it brings back memories. Nice, nice. And then the the the big one was was game seven against the Astros, uh, down two to one in the seventh inning. Um come up to the plate, runner on first and hit one off the off the foul pole in right field. That must have just been the |
| Unknown | most amazing thing for you. You know what it was? It was phenomenal, man. Having the you know, I was on deck in the Dodgers series and I had the same conversation with myself that I had in the uh in the Astros game as I did in the Dodgers series. I was just talking to myself. And funny enough, I'm uh I'm uh I'm I'm very spiritual and I was talking to God too. And I said, Hey man, if you have anything for me at this time, now's the time. But yeah, that whole uh that whole experience was uh it was unbelievable man to be honest with you i just you know you can't you you dream about things and you you wish you could uh you know it sounds seems like a fairy tale in a sense but you know for the most part you know you you wake up and're like man that really happened I mean the day after we won the World Series and the home run and everything it's like you're still on cloud nine you're still floating and you're like man did that really happen like it's almost like waking up in this dream only to find out it wasn't |
| Unknown | real. But this time it was real. It's gotta be crazy too, because y you know, you have the moment against the Dodgers. It seems totally otherworldly. And you've got to at that point think like, okay, this is this is my moment from this postseason and then you have the moment against the Astros. It's just like it just keeps it just keeps going |
| Unknown | . Well and you get the outpouring from the fans. They're like oh you're the reason we won this championship. I'm like, well, it's a team, first of all. And there's a lot of guys that actually had a lot of big hits. And it, you know, I just happened to have some hits that came in key moments that that made the difference, but everybody makes a difference on a team. And, you know, it it was just really cool to see every player in there that, you know, everybody had a moment throughout the postseason, I felt like on our team. And our team was built of such great guys and such um selfless guys. And that's tough to find in any sport. You know, that's how you win championships is you have a lot of guys with the right chemistry and we had the same goal in mind and we act we truly cared about the other guy. And I think, you know, regardless of who was playing or who was in what situation? I mean, it really didn't didn't matter as much. You know, we just wanted to win. And I think that was what the b |
| Unknown | ig key was for us. Just to bring this into the present moment, um, Howie, we talked a little bit about this earlier in the week. Is there gonna be |
| Unknown | Uh you know, it depends on the state of our country. You know, I think uh for us to have baseball, there's gotta be you know, a clean docket around for fans to attend games, you know, uh for players not to worry about getting sick because what we do is a lot of it's based on being around fans. And if you don't have the fans around, I mean we we thrive off that atmosphere with people around. And you know, that decision ultimately comes down to the owners, the players and major league baseball, you know, all together making a decision. You know, I know if there's no other sports, it's gonna be hard for us to get going too when nobody else is playing. You know, I think we, you know, hockey was the first ones to really shut it down, then went the NBA and then we shut it down and then next you saw golf. So um it, you know, it's truly a tough time when there's nothing to distract you from the current situation. You know, the this coronavirus thing, it is very serious, it affects a lot of people. And you know, I think health's health's the key. And you know, you see a lot of young people running around taking it for granted because they're like, oh, well, I'm not gonna die from it. You know, and in the beginning, I was like, Oh, you know, I'm pretty healthy guy. I don't think I'll die from it or whatever. But you know, I kind of took it lightly too. But then as you get deeper into the situation, you're like, man, this is real serious. So you gotta really do your part. And I think as uh major league baseball, you know, as the players, the owners and you know, our union, we've all tried to do our part in keeping the players healthy as well as our duty to keep fans healthy too. You know, because if you're gathering with forty to fifty thousand people in one place and one person's got it. You know, this spreads really rapidly, more rapidly than the flu. So, you know, you got to do your part in keeping people healthy. And if we have games, people are going to want to attend those games. So I think until you know we can get this thing figured out, get a get a cure for this virus, and you know, hopefully we can get back to baseball sooner or later. You know, with that being said, when we started, I don't know, it was originally supposed to be May, but you know, I know that' deadlines got pushed back uh considering the situation |
| Unknown | . So your job at this point is to stay in shape for whenever that does happen and maybe, you know, collect some watches, you know, take shoot some pictures, uh, you know, go for a drive. Uh how do you spend your |
| Unknown | time? Uh you know what my kids are doing online school. So I've been doing that. So I've been back in school again. So that means them being in school means I'm in school, so I'm learning what uh quadrilaterals are. You know, I'm relearning all of this stuff. So I get to go back through uh third grade and fifth grade, you know, science projects. Um but we're also, you know, we have fun. Like we get out in the yard. I have a little gym and we have a batting cage. So I I head at home. You know, I've been working out a little bit. Um, you know, and I just try to stay busy with the kids, you know, in the pool and just little stuff because it's tough to keep them entertained. And then, you know, I think I've seen more people walking the neighborhood than I've ever seen since I've been here. I've been in this house for about six years and, you know, I haven't seen this many people walk in a long time. So we get out, walk the dogs around the neighborhood and do our best to do our social distancing part. Been washing my hands more than I've ever done. I've probably washed them more in the in the past few months than I have my whole li |
| Unknown | fe. Yeah, it's uh it's a big, big adjustment, I would imagine, being a uh teacher and uh full full time uh at home as opposed to running all over the country in season |
| Unknown | . Yeah, you know what? B doing this is harder than playing baseball. I'll tell you this. I I'd give my wife that credit all day long because you know when you have kids and you know they're they're more work than our actual real job to be honest with you. And I give kudos to my wife because she handles it like a pro. I |
| Unknown | would agree with Howie. This is not easy. I'm ready. I you know I'm ready for this to be over. I have a four month old and we're you know, we're juggling and we're going back and forth and we're jumping on Zoom calls and you know, we're both working from home. Uh it's it's a challenge uh for sure. So much respect to those people who do this uh you know all the time |
| Unknown | . Yeah, seriously. Uh well, Howie, I do I do want to make sure we get get to talk about watches. Uh because I think Will and I could sit here and just chat with you about baseball for a couple hours probably. But uh I think I think some of the folks listening probably want to hear about watches at some point. Um You you've since we did our Talking Watches episode with you, which was I can't believe it, it's been almost four years, but uh you've you've added some uh some stuff to the collection, right |
| Unknown | ? Uh yeah, I've added a few new watches to the collection. I mean, um w as collectors, we're always changing stuff and, you know, adding new pieces. Um I think one of the biggest pieces I've added is the paddock Philippe fifty seven and twenty six. Um Oh, that's a cool watch. Yeah, that one's awesome, man. I I you know, I've been a paddock fan for a long time and wanted to own one for a long time. And I think uh with that playoff run we had, I wanted something to uh commemorate that run, but didn't know it would come that soon. Um it was kind of a luck of the draw thing where I went in and was putting my name on the list at a local uh D C jeweler and uh or a watch store and you know didn't really expect anything they ended up calling me and said that they had a Pepsi in stock uh the Rolex GMT Pepsi and you know so I told them I wanted that and I went in picked that up and they told me that hey you know by the way um we saw that you were on the list for a 57 eleven or fifty seven twelve but you know we do have a fifty seven twenty six in the back and I said oh cool but they told me it was with a you know a steel case obviously, but uh with a leather strap. And I wasn't interested in a leather strap. I wanted the steel bracelet. And they go in the back, check the safe, and they're like, hey, you know, uh, you're you're in luck. We actually have one with a blue dial and it was uh all steel, you know, stainless bracelet case and uh you know I told him I would take it. So it was kind of the luck of the draw thing and you know being in the right place at the right time and you know I know those watches really go for a lot and you know I wasn't really willing to pay over market value over retail for a watch that I know I could probably get for retail if I just waited for it. So, you know, like I said, I kinda got lucky, but at the same time, you know, I was in the right place at the right time and I was able to acquire the watch for retail. And this was all happening in the middle of the World Series. Yes, it was. It was kind of like uh everything was just being handed to me at one time. I was like, Man, I'm in the World Series. I got a Rolex GMT, and then I ended up getting the paddock at the same time. And I was like, Man, this is crazy. And I even told my wife that I was like, you know, can you do you really believe that all this It was like it was all meant to be all of this one |
| Unknown | time. That's that's how people can know you're you're a real diehard watch collector is you're in the middle of the world series and you're going to visit your AD to get off the wait list for uh G |
| Unknown | MTs and Nautilus. Yeah, you gotta have something to keep you distracted. I mean, if you don't, you'll go crazy. I'm not gonna lie to you, I was a little stressed. I was worried here and there and you got to do everything you can mentally to try to stay stay on a on an even playing you know and just remember that hey man this game is the same game you've been playing you know I know there's a lot more focus on it but I try to do things that keep me distracted from thinking about the game and you know watches is one of those things, photography is another one but the watch thing, you know, if you ask my wife, I'm always looking at watches. I'm always on the Hodinky website doing my research um which I've been slacking on lately. But uh yeah I know you guys added another a lot of new features, some new watch things that you guys are doing since this virus has hit. And uh you know you guys always have really cool content. So that's how I actually learn about the watches I want to collect, the watches that I'm interested in. I try to do my homework on your website. So for me it's huge that you guys always update the content and I'm always looking for new stuff because I'm in the market for I want to get an AP Ultra Thin and I know uh Longa and Zona, they've uh released a new Zeitwork date. Um, so those things, you know, I've always been a fan of the Zeitwork, so those are two of the watches, you know, especially the Ultra thin that I'm really looking forward to trying to acquire soon. So I'm not gonna pay over for 'em. I'm just hoping I can come across some retail. So I'll probably get on some lists the same way I did with the paddock and see what happens |
| Unknown | . Nice. Yeah, you mentioned some new some new stuff that we've been doing. And one of those things is uh this thing called Watch Madness. Have you uh have you seen this on the on the site yet? You know, I haven't. Will mentioned |
| Unknown | it to me the other day and I've told him I said man, I've been a little busy since I've been home man, but I need to get on there. I've been slacking off a little bit. You know, this virus is throwing everything off, but um normally I'd be playing baseball right now and doing watches on your site in my spare time. But um I'll probably get on there today after we get done with this and check that out because I told them I would. And you know I'm always interested in new things. So I'm always reading and you know, just you know, trying to update myself, keeping myself updated on what's out there and, you know, trying to get as much knowledge as I can. |
| Unknown | Yeah. Just to give you, Howie, the the brief overview, uh, you know, as a way to kind of create some fun content, you know, during this time, we created kind of a March Madness style talking watches bracket with all the episodes and kind of match them up against each other and and to to kind of let our readers chime in and say, okay, this is my favorite episode in this matchup, and this is my favorite episode. And then you know, in the end, to crown a you know, favorite episode of you know of Talking Watches. Uh, I will note in the first round, you are matched up against the Admiral David Robinson. Oh, wow. Yeah, he's the man. I grew up watching him. That is quite a matchup in the first round |
| Unknown | . That's a hell of a matchup, yeah. Oh, yeah. And that was Will, that was random, right |
| Unknown | ? Yes, it was random. Um these were seeded by the publication date of the episodes, so you know, one through fifty-three, and then assigned uh, you know, to the bracket in in that sense. So essentially random, yes. |
| Unknown | Oh that's cool though. I mean we'll see how we do. You know, the Admiral, I mean, man, that's a tough bid right there. But you guys got some heavy hitters on there, like all together. I mean there's some big time guys on there, but everybody's got this uh their cool watch collections and everybody collects different things. A lot of guys collect a lot of the same, but they have different pieces. So I think that's always really cool. And you know, one of the uh the talking watches you guys did, I believe it was with a chef and uh he was the first guy I ever really saw um with a oh man I'm drawing a blank right now they're also a German brand as well they're also gnomos. Yeah, glass shoe. Nomos. I'm why I was drawing a blank on those guys. They're probably one of my absolute favorite brands, just because of the simplicity. You know, and I think he was he had one in his collection. And then I researched them a little bit and I finally have owned one and uh I love it. It's the their they're uh their GMT. So you know it's a fun watch. That was when I first really started understanding who they were and what they were doing a lot of the in house movements and you know just very simple and like I mean I think there's what how many German brands are there too? Yeah, there's mi just a handful. Yeah, so I mean I thought that was cool that they weren't uh Swiss. You know, I like the fact that they were there kind of standalone doing their own thing and I I I just find that really |
| Unknown | interesting. Kinda like Longa. Yeah, I wonder what what are some of the other brands that you're most interested in now. I mean when we when we did your talking watches, you know, you your collection at that time was it was a lot of tool watches, a lot of vintage Rolex, vintage Omega, vintage Tutor. Uh is that kind of still where most of your collections are, or have things kind of evolved and changed? |
| Unknown | I've been collecting more Rolex stuff lately, mostly the steel stuff. I mean, I've got a mail gas with a white dial that I picked up not too long ago. I picked up an 80s Explorer, um, you know, not too long ago as well. Uh, I've been interested in that watch for a really long time. And you know, it just happened to be a good time to buy it. I got a good deal on it, and uh, you know, so I picked that one up. Uh I've been looking at uh Seiko is another brand that I've kind of gotten more interested in. You know, some of their I picked up one of their digital divers not too long ago off of eBay. It's a M726. It's a 200-meter diver. It's like I actually have it all right now funny enough it's very simple watch nothing like crazy to us big you know it definitely stands out but uh I like it I wear it around the house a lot when I'm doing work around the house. You know, it's an easy watch to wear. Um, I do some fun stuff here and there. I have a um, I believe it's a 7548 uh Seiko. It's a 79 that I picked up off eBay. I think I got that one for like 300 bucks. I mean, it's nothing, it's a Pepsi, and it's nothing like ridiculous, but it's a cool watch. I mean, I like that it was vintage and just something that I really enjoyed. Uh, you know, I don't know what else I'm gonna be looking for here in the near future. Some things just pop up. I know uh a few other companies are coming out with some things, but uh AP is really the one thing that's really interested me just because it kinda goes hand in hand with my paddock. You know, that case designs it,'s uh classic and you know, it just it'll n I feel like they'll never get ol |
| Unknown | d. It's inter I think the way that your collection kind of spans modern and vintage is really interesting. I mean it's something that a lot of the folks at Hodinky I think have come around to. You know, some people were like diehard vintage guys, and then we had a handful of folks who only wanted modern watches, and I think everybody's kind of like crossed over at this point, uh kind of appreciating both for for their own their own reasons. Uh do you find that you, you know, some days want a vintage watch and some days want a modern watch? Yeah, I agree. I mean, some days I feel like I want something old school. |
| Unknown | I mean, you know, people who know know watches what you're wearing. And it's funny because I have a friend that he's an AP only guy. And I'm like, dude, why do you only wear APs? I said, I know they're really nice. And I said, I love them. I said, they're never get old, but I said, I like to have different things. Like I'll wear paddock. I'll wear, you know, old school Seiko. I have a old school Tudor small rose that was on, you know, on Hodinki. I still have that watch. I kept that one. I got rid of a lot of the other vintage things, but I still have a lot of them. I have the slow chronos still. I'll wear those watches and people like, what is that? You know, people always ask me when I have the old stuff on, like, oh man, what is that? And you'll know if a guy's a watch guy just because they'll go, hey, you've got such and such, you know, or if I'm wearing a uh you know the bronzo or if I have on my paddock, they'll guys are like, man, I know they'll they'll come over right away. It's like is that what I think that is? You know, so it's really cool because any given day you can find me wearing like this watch. I think this watch is like a $400 watch. And I don't care. I love the watch. You know, I have a swatch jelly that I bought for like a hundred bucks. And I wear that thing. And people are like, man, that thing's cool. What is that? You know? So to me it doesn't really matter what watch you're wearing, as long as you love it and you like it and you have fun with it. It's about like just being into watches, you know, and about enjoying what you're wearing and not because of w how much it costs or you know whether somebody else is gonna like it. I I think it you know I've seen watches that people like oh man this thing costs six hundred grand I'm like yeah but it's terrible you know like it but that guy might love it you know, so who am I to say you know it's uh you know uh just because I don't like it doesn't mean that they that they love it. You know, obviously they paid for it. So, you know, they think it's special. And I think that's what's interesting about the the watch world is that you know, something you might like, the other guy might not necessarily like, but some watches I feel like don't look as good on me, but they look great on another guy. You know, so you can different people can get away with wearing different things. And I feel like different guys have different styles. And I think that's what's ins interesting about the times we're in now is cause you have all these new age guys that like all the newer stuff. But then when they learn about vintage, because I was that way, I liked all the new stuff. And then when I learned about vintage, I've always been into antique things and you know whether it's uh vintage bobbleheads or you know old cars things like that I mean you know I like all that old stuff but I think you know somebody else they be like man that's that's terrible. Even when I'm driving an old car people, are like, man, that thing's terrible. But you know, that's that's their style, that's their taste. And you know, who am I to tell them differently? But I like what I like and you know I can agree on things with some people, but sometimes I don't Howie are you known as the the watch guy uh you know on your team yeah I get a lot of conversations about watches uh especially some younger guys this spring they came up to me mostly pitchers um they've come up to me and they're like, hey man, uh, we noticed that you had this, this, or this, and they'll ask me about different watches they should buy. I'm a big fan of Tudor too, and I think they're a good entry-level watch for guys that will hold. I feel like they, you know, not necessarily about holding value, but it's a great watch that you know is gonna last. And people ask me about them all the time. I'm like, you know, I own a few of them. And I said I wear them quite a bit just because I said I I appreciate the design. I like what they're about. And if you're a guy not looking to spend a ton of money on your first watch, I think they're a great start. You know, and that's one of the things I love about Gnomos too is because you're getting quality, but not, you know, the high price. I mean obviously gnomos goes up there in price but I feel like you can get something at that lower price point that's gonna be quality, that's really well made and that's gonna last, you know, and I feel the same about Tudor, feel the same way about Seiko. And even with some of the vintage stuff that uh that tag's doing, um, you know, it looks just like the vintage watch, but it's a newer watch. And, you know, sometimes, you know, not a lot of us wanna pay the prices for the the real thing, I can get something that looks just as |
| Unknown | good. Yeah. I think I think that kind of recommendation strategy, you know, when somebody comes up to you having something that's, you know, maybe two grand, four grand, six grand that you can recommend to them as their first like quote unquote like nice watch is so important because if they come up to you and they say, Hey man, like what should I buy? and you tell them, Oh, you should buy a 5711, and they go try to put their name on a wait list and it's, you know, 30 grand and whatever, like maybe that frustrates them and then they get turned off and they never have the chance to even fall in love with watches. Whereas if they go to an AD and they buy a gnomos or a tutor or something from tag, like that's a great way to get them hooked and and show them kind of like what a great watch can be all about. And then there's plenty of time for the other stuff later if they if they want to. Well, yeah, and I agree with that. I tell gu |
| Unknown | ys that all the time. I'm like, hey, you you know, you don't have to go big right out the gate because you know everybody thinks just because we play major league baseball that our salaries are through the roof early on, and we make good money out the gate, but you don't really start making really good money until you're like probably fourth year, fifth year in. And that's when you start making more money. So guys come to me like, man, you know, I'm not making money like you. Can I what what is there that I can acquire that's a nice watch? You know, and I've actually, you know, given guys watches as a gift before saying, hey man, I know and they I I have to know the guy and know that they're really into watches. And you know, I've had few guys like they're really searching watches but they can't pull the trigger and I say and you know I'll gift things to people sometimes as a gift because I know they'll appreciate it. And you know I've gifted a horrier before um one of the uh one of the original uh black bays, the tutor actually it was a tutor black bay, sorry, not a hour. Um I gifted that to a guy and he's to this day he still has that watch. And he will still, you know, and then he asked me, he's like, hey man, how can I change the look of this watch? And always tell people, hey, you know, adding a different strap to your watch, I said it'll make a huge statement. And you know, this guy went out and he was asking me for sites to buy, recommended the Hudenki site for straps because I b straougpsht from you guys as well. And I said, hey, you know, changing your strap, you can have probably about four or five different watches to go with different outfits depending on what strap you're wearing. So a lot of guys like that idea too versus just buying a different watch. So I said, you know, if you go out the gate and buy a watch that's a particular color, I said it won't go with as much stuff. You know, so I said, you know, you can wear it as much as you want, but at the same time you got to get something that you know will go with it whether you're in a suit or if you're dressed down and casual. So a lot of guys take that to heart too. They're like, man, that makes sense. I can wear it both ways |
| Unknown | . That's great. Yeah. I mean it's funny. In your in your talking watches episode you said that you you don't really wear straps uh you don't really wear watches on bracelets, that you're really a strap guy. But it sounds like you know with the GMT and with the Nautilus, you're kinda you're kinda coming over to the the bracelet side of th |
| Unknown | ings. You know what? On a lot of those watches, I actually strip as uh switch back to the the stainless bracelets on them. I wear them in their original form. I stopped switching the straps out on a lot of the Rolexes, but any of my vintage stuff and some of the other things, I still wear them uh with straps. So I still have a lot of straps. And I actually will wear a lot of like the uh my tutors. I switched the straps on those watches quite a bit. And actually the Seiko that I have on it came with the original rubber strap and the box and everything. But I actually switched out the strap for a canvas one. So I'm wearing a canvas one on here. I have rubber ones that go on this that are more comfortable than the original. So I'm very much still into changing out the straps and uh, you know, I'll still do that. You know, even though I I pr I prefer the metal bracelet on most of the watches, I will go back and switch out the straps. You know, it just depends on how I'm feeling |
| Unknown | . That's great. I I guess, you know, the la last real watch question I got for you, and then I want to talk about a couple other things too, but uh are you going to get the paddock engraved for theld Wor Series |
| Unknown | ? You know, I would like to, but I don't know if I want anybody to engrave it. I think you would have to s I think I would have to send it back to them, right? I'm not I'm I haven't done that before, you know, unless I just do the class. Um so I don't know. I have a local dealer or uh like watch guy that does it, but I don't want to mess up the warranty or anything by doing it. So I don't know if I could have them do it. I guess I'd have to find out on that. But it would be nice to have it engraved as a you know, as a piece. Cause I don't ever plan on selling them. I have two boys, so I'm gonna hand down all my stuff to those guys. I have watches that I'll trade out and get, you know, uh different pieces that I'm interested in, but you know, I have certain pieces that are gonna stay with me until I'm gone |
| Unknown | . The Howie Kendrick World Series Nautilus is uh that's that's got a nice ring to it |
| Unknown | . I like the sound of that, you know, and the funny part about that is I have that watch, we don't have our rings yet. We were supposed to get them on the second day in the season this year. Uh-huh. And uh, you know, we haven't even gotten those yet. I haven't even seen the design, to be honest with you. So, you know, a lot of guys are itching to get those things and uh you know, it'd be a nice go together, those two. Yeah |
| Unknown | , for sure. Uh you you mentioned it already a little bit, but in addition to being a watch guy, you're also an avid photographer, you're uh big car guy. Uh what what other sorts of things are you are you collecting or are you super into these days |
| Unknown | ? You know what I haven't really been been collecting anything else. I just do mostly watches cars and you know, just uh doing the photography thing. You know, I've been a Leica guy for a long time. You know, a friend of mine mentioned it mentioned Leica to me. I was like, man, there's no way I'll start shooting with those guys because they're manual lenses. And they you know, I was like, well, you know, let me try it out. And then once I started trying out the like a thing and learning that you know you're more involved in the camera in the picture making process, I mean I was hooked, you know, because it's more of a process and you know I miss a lot of shots. I get cool shots that I didn't think were cool at the time because a lot of times in camera you can't really tell. Uh but it's it's about getting out on the street and seeing the cities, you know, New York's definitely one of my favorites just because of the culture of the people. And you know, I'm always out of the hotel every morning. You know, I get up early, eight o'clock, nine o'clock. I'm out on the subway, and I usually go over to your side of town. I'm over Soho area. You know, I go over to the Brooklyn Bridge. I'm always out and about walking around. And then I know on Saturdays over by Paragon, they have a farmer's market. So I'm always over there at that farmer's market. I go to Washington Square. You know, so for me, photography was always a way to get out of the room. When I first got into the major leagues, I'd just sit in my room. I wouldn't really do a whole lot. I'd just be bored, you know, on the computer searching stuff. And you know, I got the camera, got out of the room, and you know, it just became something that I didn't really think I was gonna fall in love with, but I did. And now I have pictures of my kids from when they were babies all the way through to their my oldest is 11 now my youngest is nine and i have pictures all the way through and it's been so cool and i've been able to document kind of part of my baseball career with the cities and you know over time I can go back and look at photos from back in the da |
| Unknown | y. That's awesome. What's uh what's your standard rig these days? What uh what are you shooting with |
| Unknown | ? Uh I have a like a Q2 that I run with a lot just because it's probably the easiest one to carry around and it has autofocus. So if I'm with the family or if I'm out in the city, like I can take that with me. But I do run the SL two or the SL, I haven't got the SL two yet, with a uh Naughty Lux. So I run that on my SL because I love the way that the lock Noctilux Noctilux looks, especially with the 0.95. I mean you can blow everything in the background out and you can just get high detail for such a it's such a sharp lens. I mean, if you want to get one eyeball and focused, I mean you've got it with that. And then the other lens, that's my favorite. I run 35mm lens quite a bit too. N |
| Unknown | ice. Very cool. So when can we expect the Howie Kendrick coffee table book of uh photography? |
| Unknown | Yeah, I've had that question quite a bit. Uh I've been debating on how I could do that. And you know, I think when I'm done, I'm gonna sit down and really go through all the images and I I don't know how I'm gonna figure out what to pick because I have a lot of good ones in there. But sometimes when you look at your own work as well as you know Will you do photography too, you don't think it's as great or it looks the way you think it should and other people come in and go, man, that's a great image. And you're like, man, that makes me feel good because you don't really think it's gonna be that great. Yeah. And uh Instagram's helped me out a lot for that. That's the one reason why I'm always on Instagram because I'll post something that I'm like, man, I don't know about this photo. And people go, oh man, this is great. You know, like thanks for sharing this, you know. So I get a lot of feedback from people through Instagram on my photos and and sometimes you just have to take that chance. A friend of mine told me, like, man, you know, just put it out there and people let you know what it is. And you know, being in photography and being that open about it and really you kind of have to just not care and just put it out there and find out what's really gonna happen. And it's opened my eyes to a different world and, you know, the creativity is you gotta get creative when you're doing photography too. And you just gotta have your own eye and you gotta know what you're w wanting to shoot and what you wanna do with the camera and I think that's a process. You know, I miss shots all the time and you know there's a lot better photographers than me but I like what I shoot and I have an idea of how I want to shoot it. I think at the end of the day, as long as you like it, I think that's what really matters. Ye |
| Unknown | ah. One thing that's that's fun about your photography is that you have a unique perspective as a as a pro athlete, you know, these sort of behind the scene shots that you can capture of you know guys in a cage taking, you know, you know, hit hitting baseballs. Uh some beautiful shots that you've taken of of some of the you know some of your teammates |
| Unknown | . Yeah, that's the stuff for me that a lot of people really love because they don't really get a chance, even with the team photographer, they don't get a chance to see guys sitting on the couch in the locker room or doing their cage work. And, you know, that's how I've learned over the years too, is from team photographers that are like, hey man, what are your settings? How'd you shoot this? And I have some guys like, you know, people from Leica Academy, different people that I talked to from going into the stores, 'cause I go into different Leica stores in every city, you know, the guys of San Francisco or LA, New York. I know people in most of the cities. So I go in and ask questions, you know, and you meet different pro photographers and they're like, all right, man, I this is how I shot this shot or this is what you should think about when you're shooting this out on the street and it's always a learning process. I'm always trying to acquire information, whether that's watches, cars, you know, photography. It's always a learning process for me. And people call me uh I'm like a walking encyclopedia is what they say. And if I see something interesting, I always try to learn a little bit about it. I don't know everything about it, but I'll try to learn at least a little bit about it. That way I understand what's going on or have an idea. So when I have a conversation with somebody, I can ask a question about it and they can teach me a little more. Or sometimes I end up teaching younger people some things about something that I might know because I learned it from you know, whether it's from you guys or whether it's from a photographer or whether it's from a car guy, I might have learned something that |
| Unknown | might help somebody else out. Well, I don't want to take up too much of your time here, but uh really appreciate you talking to us, man. This is uh this is great. I think, you know, I think Will and I again could probably sit and chat with you about photography and baseball and watches for a very, very long time. But uh yeah, hopefully hopefully we'll get to see you soon. Hopefully you'll be uh back out on the road playing ball and uh when you come come to town we'll have to uh hang out, go shoot some photos, shop for some watches, all the good stuff |
| Unknown | . No, yeah, definitely, man. I definitely enjoy coming to NYC. So hopefully, you know, it'll be sooner or later but I always enjoy stopping by seeing you guys and you know last year I don't think I came by I might have came by early in the year last year but uh you know hopefully I get in and you know it'd be good to catch up with you guys |
| Unknown | . Yeah, Howie, let's make a deal now that you know when you guys do start playing you're in town to to play the you know, bring along some of these pieces. Let's uh shoot an episode two of uh of Talking Watches with Howie Kendrick. Oh you're wrong. Definitely. I'll take that up any day. Excellent. Perfect. Excellent. In the meantime, uh, you know, check out the site, uh, check out the bracket. You're in a tight tough matchup with David Robinson in the first round. So uh, you know, you can chime in and vote as well. Uh so oh I'll get on there. I'm definitely gonna get on there. Okay, okay, excellent. A |
| Unknown | wesome. Thanks, man. All right, fellas. Thanks for having me. Thanks, Tommy |
| Unknown | . To close out the show, we've got our own Jack Forrester talking about the watch he's wearing while working from home |
| Unknown | . So Gray asked me to do a little recording from home on what watch I'm wearing most during the quarantine. Here in New York it definitely feels like a quarantine, even though strictly speaking it's not. You can still go out, you can go grocery shopping. And uh unless you are in one of the medical professions, so far at least, you can kind of pretend that things are normal. Except they're not. The streets are generally pretty empty when you go out. People you do see are more and more wearing masks, most of them probably not the N ninety fives, but we're increasingly hearing that anything is better than nothing. And that even a bandana over your mouth and nose might not be a terrible ide One of our sons came back from college for spring break and doesn't know when he's going to be back, which means that on any given day we have two to three Zoom meetings going on at the same time. Everyone's on headset. Everyone's staying connected to the outside world largely thanks to the presence in our lives of all the screens that gave us so much anxiety back in the days just a couple of weeks ago when you could go outside without a sneaking feeling that you might be taking your life in your own hands. When we went home from Hodinki for the last time I wasn't sure when I'd be back, so I brought a few of the watches I keep in my office with me. There were just three that I took along as it turned out, plus a very beautiful oversized vintage Minerva mono pusher chronograph a friend had left with me and which I haven't had a chance to return yet. And the funny thing is I haven't been wearing them. They're all sitting on a bookshelf and giving me a lot of comfort and pleasant memories, but the watch that I've been wearing every day is a watch a lot of you listening to might not even consider a watch. It's an Apple Watch Series 5, ceramic case, and I find it oddly reassuring. It's on my wrist first thing in the morning when it's usually pretty dark, and I use it to time my morning exercise routine, which has become something I rely on more and more to give a sense of structure and sanity to the day. I use it to time how long I've been out on a supply run, and I'm not unhappy to get news alerts on it, were to be able to easily see when someone sent a message from home. This is not so much an abandonment of mechanical watches as it is a different way of appreciating them. I see hundreds of watches a year probably, and I don't necessarily feel at this point like I need one on my wrist all the time in order to have a sense of connection with them. Right now, in a time of isolation, a watch that produces a sense of better connection with other people, and that delivers information in a fast, flexible fashion, feels like the watch I actually need to have with me. Mechanical watches for me go very deep. They're part of my character at this point, and always will be. In foregoing wearing one for now, I'm actually finding myself remembering more and more what they mean, and the people I've met and the places I've seen because of them. I remember o seeing the inside of the clock in the Duomo in Florence, thanks to Panerai, the workshop of Philippe Dufour filled with a lifetime of tools and memories and accomplishments. I remember realizing finally at Montblanc Minerva in Villeray, why Gentian Pithwood specifically is used to polish steel work. I remember watching an old man with a shaved head patiently blewing seconds hands one at a time over a gas flame at Grand Seco in Japan and so much more. That is one of the beautiful things about mechanical watches. They can be fascinating in themselves, but they connect you with places and people. And in that respect, they're not so different from an Apple Watch after all. Stay safe out there |
| Unknown | . This week's episode was recorded remotely by our group of editors and was produced and edited by Grayson Corhonan. Please remember to subscribe and rate the show. It really does make a difference for us. Thank you for listening and we'll see you next week |