Another enjoyable episode. Cole provides a great lifestyle angle on watches and gear - much more interesting/entertaining than just watch nerdery backed by no other interests. I also enjoyed the Inside Baseball discussion on the genesis of Cole's Watches in the Wild series.
Speaking of watch nerdery, I totally disagree with James' impression that nobody cares about yet another watch dimension. After the episode I went back to look at watches I have that "wear smaller than their size" and "wear bigger than their size", and I think the dimension under discussion may in fact be the key to nailing down this phenomenon.
I'd like to submit that "stance" is too vague. Here's a suggestion: call it Springbar Standoff and measure it as follows: Take a watch head with springbars installed but no strap. Place the watch face up on a flat surface like a table. Measure how high above the surface the springbars are. This is the Springbar Standoff.
A few examples: My Seiko SPB183 wears smaller than its 42.7mm diameter, which I like. It turns out to have a very low Springbar Standoff. I have several Confusing Fall Warblers (aka Hamilton 9219 field watches) that just disappear on my wrist. They also have very low Springbar Standoffs. I have a Longines (modern) Marine Nationale that has both long lugs and a high Springbar Standoff. It wears much larger than its 38.5mm diameter would suggest.
Kudos to James for giving us another watch dimension to spend too much time thinking about. I expect all brands to give us measurements for "stance" by the end of the year!
Nice to hear from Cole, always happy to see him on the guest list. I would love to hear both of your thoughts on watch value. It’s a subject important to me as a guy who can’t afford multiple high need watches; I MIGHT be able to afford one Rolex or Omega someday. So finding the best value is something I’m very interested in.
Always a fan of Cole, here and on Hodinkee and I adore his new series. It was great to have him as co-host.
I do think perhaps he is a bit off on the price thing, though. It's great that as writers Cole, James et al are able to put price aside and enjoy the object for what it is, and the articles are better for it. And certainly I read and enjoy articles about watches that are way out of my price range. But I think a lot of people are feeling like they're getting priced out of the whole hobby, and a company asking $1800 for something that seems to have $500-level quality just rubs salt in a bit.
I agree. While I understand Stephen Pulverant's opinion that you can enjoy a watch like you can enjoy art in a museum but that's not accurate. The Museum doesn't exist to sell me art, advertise to make me want the art but then make it unattainable or limit production.
Just finished the episode. It’s really interesting the VAST difference between the TGN crew and the comment sections here vs the comments on the Hodinkee website. It’s incredible how toxic it can be! It’s just watches. It should be fun or interesting. Just because you don’t want to spend your hard earned money on something being discussed doesn’t make it bad. I don’t know about you guys, but I kind of enjoy the inside-baseball conversations from these guys. It’s hard to put so much effort into a creative endeavor and writing about this very esoteric thing like watches only to have salty commenters bashing the product.
Great episode! Random memory inspired by final notes: a few years back I was in a Northern Virginia grocery store that's very near DARPA's headquarters, and a guy in a DARPA flight suit walked in. Of course it made sense that someone who worked nearby was stopping in for lunch, but what kind of inter-dimensional spaceship did he park on the roof that he needed to wear a flight suit??
Anyone have a similar experience to James with his white G-Shock? I watched every YouTube review for the Sinn 556i, saw every post with #Sinn556 on Instagram. I wanted one in the worst way.
When the watch was finally delivered, I opened up the little black box, and said "ehhh... nah, not for me" and had it shipped it's next new owner in about 24 hours. Kind of funny how you can love a watch online, or love the idea of a watch, but not have it work out when it's actually on wrist.
For me it was the Seiko 5 Sport Turtle. I bought it to wear on a a trip to Mexico. Loved the green dial but the case finishing was very cheap an the watch was just too big for me.
Seiko Sumo for me, I’d be looking at them for a while and decided to go for it (I got one with a great discount!). It arrived, I took it out the box put it on my wrist and said nah! Boxed it back up and sent it back within 30 minutes of its delivery
Fortunately it hasn’t happened to me with a watch that I bought but there are multiple watches that I loved in pictures and then I lost all interest in when I saw them in person.
I completely agree with James’s observations on the relation between lug hole and caseback locations but somehow there are some watches that I have that really go against this but I still love. One is the Doxa 600t and the other is the IWC 3536 Aquatimer 2000. The fact that both are titanium may help a lot.
Seems like a perfect storm, coming from a known BaT dealer and the CRs have been selling more/less $100k since late 2019. I think not everyone realizes it's not just some regular S2000 but having said that it's still a lot of cash!
Haha, I love the „unless you run a museum“-argument. However, it‘s a slippery slope. I sold most of my watches based on it as I concluded not to run a watch museum „the SKX and it‘s complete genealogy“.
Great episode, enjoyed the behind the scenes talk and the loose style.
The Yellowstone/Gallatin Gateway area is the best. We visit annually for snowmobiling out of West Yellowstone, across Two Tops into Island Park, Idaho and anywhere else we can venture in a day or two. It's the only recurring travel we do, and it never disappoints.
Another enjoyable episode. Cole provides a great lifestyle angle on watches and gear - much more interesting/entertaining than just watch nerdery backed by no other interests. I also enjoyed the Inside Baseball discussion on the genesis of Cole's Watches in the Wild series.
Speaking of watch nerdery, I totally disagree with James' impression that nobody cares about yet another watch dimension. After the episode I went back to look at watches I have that "wear smaller than their size" and "wear bigger than their size", and I think the dimension under discussion may in fact be the key to nailing down this phenomenon.
I'd like to submit that "stance" is too vague. Here's a suggestion: call it Springbar Standoff and measure it as follows: Take a watch head with springbars installed but no strap. Place the watch face up on a flat surface like a table. Measure how high above the surface the springbars are. This is the Springbar Standoff.
A few examples: My Seiko SPB183 wears smaller than its 42.7mm diameter, which I like. It turns out to have a very low Springbar Standoff. I have several Confusing Fall Warblers (aka Hamilton 9219 field watches) that just disappear on my wrist. They also have very low Springbar Standoffs. I have a Longines (modern) Marine Nationale that has both long lugs and a high Springbar Standoff. It wears much larger than its 38.5mm diameter would suggest.
So there it is... Thoughts?
Interesting! I believe the Seiko Tuna - which has to have the most smaller-than-the-measurements-ness ever - would also have a very low standoff
Kudos to James for giving us another watch dimension to spend too much time thinking about. I expect all brands to give us measurements for "stance" by the end of the year!
Nice to hear from Cole, always happy to see him on the guest list. I would love to hear both of your thoughts on watch value. It’s a subject important to me as a guy who can’t afford multiple high need watches; I MIGHT be able to afford one Rolex or Omega someday. So finding the best value is something I’m very interested in.
Always a fan of Cole, here and on Hodinkee and I adore his new series. It was great to have him as co-host.
I do think perhaps he is a bit off on the price thing, though. It's great that as writers Cole, James et al are able to put price aside and enjoy the object for what it is, and the articles are better for it. And certainly I read and enjoy articles about watches that are way out of my price range. But I think a lot of people are feeling like they're getting priced out of the whole hobby, and a company asking $1800 for something that seems to have $500-level quality just rubs salt in a bit.
I agree. While I understand Stephen Pulverant's opinion that you can enjoy a watch like you can enjoy art in a museum but that's not accurate. The Museum doesn't exist to sell me art, advertise to make me want the art but then make it unattainable or limit production.
Just finished the episode. It’s really interesting the VAST difference between the TGN crew and the comment sections here vs the comments on the Hodinkee website. It’s incredible how toxic it can be! It’s just watches. It should be fun or interesting. Just because you don’t want to spend your hard earned money on something being discussed doesn’t make it bad. I don’t know about you guys, but I kind of enjoy the inside-baseball conversations from these guys. It’s hard to put so much effort into a creative endeavor and writing about this very esoteric thing like watches only to have salty commenters bashing the product.
Great episode! Random memory inspired by final notes: a few years back I was in a Northern Virginia grocery store that's very near DARPA's headquarters, and a guy in a DARPA flight suit walked in. Of course it made sense that someone who worked nearby was stopping in for lunch, but what kind of inter-dimensional spaceship did he park on the roof that he needed to wear a flight suit??
Anyone have a similar experience to James with his white G-Shock? I watched every YouTube review for the Sinn 556i, saw every post with #Sinn556 on Instagram. I wanted one in the worst way.
When the watch was finally delivered, I opened up the little black box, and said "ehhh... nah, not for me" and had it shipped it's next new owner in about 24 hours. Kind of funny how you can love a watch online, or love the idea of a watch, but not have it work out when it's actually on wrist.
For me it was the Seiko 5 Sport Turtle. I bought it to wear on a a trip to Mexico. Loved the green dial but the case finishing was very cheap an the watch was just too big for me.
Yep I had an almost identical experience with the all white NASA G-SHOCK, just couldn't pull it off.
Seiko Sumo for me, I’d be looking at them for a while and decided to go for it (I got one with a great discount!). It arrived, I took it out the box put it on my wrist and said nah! Boxed it back up and sent it back within 30 minutes of its delivery
Fortunately it hasn’t happened to me with a watch that I bought but there are multiple watches that I loved in pictures and then I lost all interest in when I saw them in person.
I completely agree with James’s observations on the relation between lug hole and caseback locations but somehow there are some watches that I have that really go against this but I still love. One is the Doxa 600t and the other is the IWC 3536 Aquatimer 2000. The fact that both are titanium may help a lot.
Chilly P back on TGN??? I'm here for it!
Over $100k for a S2000 that's been sitting since 2009?
You'd probably have to change the rims....never be true after all that sitting.
The car market itself is nuts but the market for barely driven cars is absolutely insane.
I can't quite figure it out. Great car, even more special as the CR, but unless you run a Honda museum it's a head-scratcher
Seems like a perfect storm, coming from a known BaT dealer and the CRs have been selling more/less $100k since late 2019. I think not everyone realizes it's not just some regular S2000 but having said that it's still a lot of cash!
Haha, I love the „unless you run a museum“-argument. However, it‘s a slippery slope. I sold most of my watches based on it as I concluded not to run a watch museum „the SKX and it‘s complete genealogy“.
Great episode, enjoyed the behind the scenes talk and the loose style.
The Yellowstone/Gallatin Gateway area is the best. We visit annually for snowmobiling out of West Yellowstone, across Two Tops into Island Park, Idaho and anywhere else we can venture in a day or two. It's the only recurring travel we do, and it never disappoints.