Pay that $2500 dental bill? Or just get a Grand Seiko Quartz and call it a day? This is just one of the many questions we tackle in this week’s episode! Plus Kaz is going strong with his #watchfast with the Casio MDV106 dive watch.
#Watchfam we’d also love your opinion on how we do press coverage on the site – should we stretch the $1000 review margin to be more flexible for pieces we offer press coverage of? This is one of those moments where it’s crucial that your opinion is voiced because we want the site to really be catered to you and what you’d want to see in a horology community where you really feel a part of! So totally let us know your thoughts in the comments below, on IG, or by email at [email protected].
Also in this episode we talk about the history of the GMT watch and some pretty cool and affordable options out there for anyone looking to add one to their collection!
Show Notes
Vostok Watch Amphibian SE 650521S
Marathon Military Navigator Pilot
In regards to prices in regards to press releases and press coverage: I trust your opinions, and I trust your judgment, and if you find something interesting or something unique that’s worth covering, I’m all for it. I’m in my nascent watch collecting period, so I think at least for me, exposure to different watches I would never even think of would be good for me: good for learning about different features, different designs, different brands, and different histories that I would have never discovered otherwise. As long as you don’t neglect your core price point and values in the process — watches under $1000 — I think it could be potentially a good thing.
Especially cover Richard Mille. Definitely. (I actually enjoy the awesome absurdity of Richard Mille in the same way Kaz enjoys the Ulysse Nardin Freak – and ironically I never would have heard Richard Mille without your podcast!)
Regarding GMTs: my dream watch is a Grand Seiko Spring Drive GMT SBGE015. The SBGE001 would probably even fill that need for a dream watch for me (whoa, I was drafting this comment as I was listening to this episode and Michael mentions this exact watch! Yes!) #springdrivemoney
I would definitely consider an affordable GMT someday though — I have no use for it, but it’s just a cool thing.
Enjoyed listening to the episode! Thanks for the shout-out at the end!
Hey, Ben!
Totally hear what you’re saying on the press release thing – and I agree. There’s value as long as we stay true to ourselves and the core of what we do – well said, man. Thanks for your feedback there!
Dude that SBGE015 is damn incredible – saw one in person at the Seiko Boutique in Miami and its just gorgeous. Although, it’s a lot of cheddar for one watch – but I supposed that’s what makes it a great dream watch lol.
Honestly very few folks have the need for a GMT but there’s something very attractive to us (for some reason) about a tool purchase complication like that.
Really happy you liked this week’s show, man!
GMTs make date windows cool.
I suppose? Lol I honestly never thought about it 0_o – I just like using mine to know what time it is where Mike is lol
Great episode! I could not keep from bursting laughing at work while listening. Made my day anyhow!
Unexpected bills suck, just had to drop 1,800 on my wife’s car as she ran over a bag of garbage with a cinderblock in it…. I spent the weekend welding in an entirely new exhaust in and replacing the exhaust manifold…. My orion and poljot plans will have to wait… My wife did get me a vintage diver at a local antique store a few days before though, and has possibly set me down a path of collecting and restoring old divers. Their just so cool!
I honestly would like to see you report on watches you find interesting, even if over the 1k broke ass normals standard. I really enjoyed your article on the Longines 1945, very cool watch I would probably not have seen had it not been for you guys.
Also I think maybe Kaz, you could start a great philharmonic charity project 3d printing teeth for all the orphans who lose them to the millions of shitty spring bar tools hitting the market #tbwsgiveback I mean it would be excellent material testing, design prototyping and short term health affects for your finances teeth replacement…. 😛
Well I must head to bed but thanks for the great show and great site! Really looking forward for what’s to come!
Great episode! I could not keep from bursting laughing at work while listening. Made my day anyhow!
Unexpected bills suck, just had to drop 1,800 on my wife’s car as she ran over a bag of garbage with a cinderblock in it…. I spent the weekend welding in an entirely new exhaust in and replacing the exhaust manifold…. My orion and poljot plans will have to wait… My wife did get me a vintage diver at a local antique store a few days before though, and has possibly set me down a path of collecting and restoring old divers. Their just so cool!
I honestly would like to see you report on watches you find interesting, even if over the 1k broke ass normals standard. I really enjoyed your article on the Longines 1945, very cool watch I would probably not have seen had it not been for you guys.
Also I think maybe Kaz, you could start a great philharmonic charity project 3d printing teeth for all the orphans who lose them to the millions of shitty spring bar tools hitting the market #tbwsgiveback I mean it would be excellent material testing, design prototyping and short term health affects for your finances teeth replacement…. 😛
Well I must head to bed but thanks for the great show and great site! Really looking forward for what’s to come!
Oh, man that sucks about your car!
That’s cool about the diver though – how do you go about restoring them? Like, just cosmetic touch ups or complete overhauls?
And thanks for your thoughts on the 1k watch press coverage thing, man – super valuable feedback.
And wow… that’s a lot of joke-call backs to previous episodes lol! Funny story, I was using that orphan tooth spring bar tool because it was the one in closest reach to me – was applying pressure to remove a bracelet and the damn thing slipped off the watch and sliced into my thumb… orphan’s revenge -_-
And thanks for the support, man! Really happy you’re digging the show and the site!
FWIW I don’t think you guys should stress at all about covering watches over $1,000. I don’t even think you should worry too much about setting strict rules about it. It’s not about the money, it’s about the perspective. I think you guys already instinctively do a great job of it – like the average WIS, you’re not gonna shield your eyes and pretend Rolex doesn’t exist, but you’re not gonna act like it’s a casual everyday purchase on the way to your yacht in the Maldives. Bringing that dose of reality to the watch world is what makes the podcast so relatable.
BTW speaking of unrelatable watch content – this is apropos of nothing but is anyone else annoyed by how boring Hodinkee’s “Talking Watches” video series is? They have the most notable collectors in the world, sharing the most incredible watches in the world, and pretty much the conversation never gets any deeper than “this one has the blue hands?” “yeah, the blue hands” “beautiful. What about this one?” “this one is made of gold” “That’s a rare one” “yep, it’s rare.” C’mon people, where’s the passion?! Where are the stories and the fun facts?! Maybe it’s because Ben Clymer has all the charisma of an orthopedic shoe insert.
Dude, very well said and great points – pretending to live in a vacuum to horology news is sort of retroactive. A venue for us to cover this stuff but with our own voice and perspective will be super valuable and completely worth doing, which looks like will be the plan.
Oh, man – idk lol. Some of those Talking Watches episodes are watchable, but I tend to agree with you. After a bit they all sorta feel like unenthusiastic reruns of the same episode – I stopped watching a while back.
Mike and I are hoping to do some video content down the road – one to two minute hands on videos with pieces to accompany text reviews. My goal is to be able to verbally offer an entertaining review of the watch while offering a complete visual presentation of all the watches angles. But, based off what we’re talking about here, I’d hate for that to become formulaic to the point of orthopedic shoe insert boringness lol
Yeah, I mean, the Jean-Claude Biver one is fun, but that’s just because he’s a delightful piece of Swiss chocolate and he completely takes over the interview. That one would be great even if you replaced Ben Clymer with a cat in Warby Parker glasses. Most of the rest of them are just rich guys pointing at piles of money in watch form.
Excited to see the videos! I bet they’ll be great. Just be your two broke watch snob selves and they’ll be fun.
Thanks for the episode. I travel a lot and dig GMT watches. I’m even thinking of just building a collection of only GMT/dual time watches. Anyhow, I was a little disappointed not to hear more about the functionality of the GMTs you discussed, especially whether the GMT hands or the 12-hour hands are quickset. Basically, high-end Rolex/Omega GMTs have a “jumping” 12 hour hand that is super useful if you travel and a GMT hand that you use to monitor home or GMT time. This setup is really great and makes tons of sense because when you land in a new place, you can jump the 12 hour hand to the new timezone without stopping your watch and home time remains on the GMT.
Unfortunately, more affordable watches (especially mechanical ones) often get the feature backwards and they have a quickset on the GMT hand. This is much worse for a traveller because when you land you have to stop the movement and reset the hour and minute hands to local time from scratch.
There are lots of great quartz watches (Seiko!) that get this right, but few mechanical ones. I think the Orients are all the backwards variety. Honestly, I don’t really understand why so few affordable mechanical watches get this wrong.
Anyhow, appreciate the podcast, just wanted to chime in with some thoughts.
Thanks for listening Robin! Good points. While I love GMT watches, my time with them has been pretty limited. I agree that stopping the movement at all would be pretty annoying and I’ve actually never even traveled with a GMT watch. Still on the hunt for a good one so maybe we’ll revisit the topic once I make up my mind. That said, I believe the Rolex cal. 3186 functions as a true GMT like you mentioned. Once again, my experience with it is limited but I also think the independent hour hand makes for the only way to cycle through the date as well.
Hey guys, long time listener first time commenter, well here at lest. 🙂
I think any watch news regardless of price is news and it is really your overall perspective that will be of interest. This goes for watches, reviews, quick takes, and general WTF were they thinking to Holy Cow did you just see this piece just drop?
As for GMT’s, I like the feature, but on my piece I have frequently used the T2 digital window to set the time of my destination or of the Eastern Head office so I know what time it is there at a glance.
So would the natural progression episode be on under $1k world timers?