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The Best Microbrand of 2025 is Japanese (372)

Published on Mon, 15 Dec 2025 22:04:37 -0800

Synopsis

Andrew and Everett host their weekly watch podcast, covering recent news and releases in the watch industry. They begin with personal anecdotes about attending a jello party with mid-century themed dishes, setting a lighthearted tone that carries throughout the episode.

The hosts discuss several notable watch releases and industry news, including Studio Underdog founder Richard's acquisition of Orologium assembly services, Maurice LaCroix's new watch customization platform, and various limited editions from brands like Alba, Seiko's Pink Panther collaboration, and William Wood's gold chronograph. They express particular enthusiasm for releases from emerging brands like Kiwami Tokyo, whose sub-$700 dress watches with exceptional finishing have quickly sold out, and Serica's new tuxedo dial field chronometer.

Other highlights include Frederick Constant's collaboration with Time and Tide on an integrated bracelet moonphase, a unique Laco and Circula partnership where each brand designed a watch in the other's case, and Constantine Chaykin's provocative "Birth of Venus" themed watch featuring rotating disc complications. The hosts maintain their signature blend of genuine watch enthusiasm tempered with honest criticism, particularly regarding availability issues with hyped releases and questioning certain design choices. They close with "other things" recommendations about buying primal cuts from chef supply stores and the merits of quality bundt pans.

Transcript

Speaker
Andrew Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 and 20, the Watch Clicker Podcast with your hosts Andrew and my good friend Everett. Here we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Everett, how are you? I'm alright. It was uh it was a nice weekend. I had a nice weekend. Mm-hmm. Uh the weekend's come to a close at this point, or for all intents and purposes come to a close. Yeah. But for a few hours. But for. But for pooping. But for yeah. You know, you got some time. Uh no. Nice weekend. Uh I honestly just can't think of anything all that amazing. I did go to a jello party last night. Go on. It's a holiday party with a mid-century jello recipe theme. Okay. So the instructions are to bring your quote unquote favorite mid-century jello dish, which is to say find a recipe from the Any jello recipe. Yeah, that's right. Um and you know, of course there are still we, you know, with still some jello recipes, but I I think there was a period of time in which that was a thing. And it's really not anymore. So we did do that. Uh that was fun. Um there it's it it's very tongue-in-cheek, and of course, there's a lot of sort of uh uh uh nothing nobody's taking anything too seriously. There's a lot of phallic dishes for whatever reason. I'm actually not entirely certain why. Just I I mean uh uh besides just penises are fun. Yeah. And people are like, oh, it's be silly. And the silliest thing people can imagine besides jello is penises. So when you combine the two, you kind of have comedic gold. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I did a dish. It was a it was I think the recipe was called celery and nut ring mold, jello ring mold. Oh, that sounds pretty good. Which is chopped celery, chopped walnuts in a lime jello, which is like 50-50. It's split between like a clear jello, like you'd imagine, and then a sour cream jello mixture on the bottom. Um, you suspend that you fold the celery and nuts into the jello. And you put just a little bit of vinegar in. It was actually a pretty nice dish. Yeah, it sounds light and like a little, like very uh ooh, what's the word I'm looking for? Effervescence, not it, but uh like I think that's gonna be the word that I choose. Like just that kind of light, uh aromatic y it it wound up being pretty good. Um I served it with um I I served it on a plate with um pretzel cigarettes. So I took that's exactly how to do it. Pretzels and dipped them in white chocolate and then you you know dip them in some red dyed white chocolate and some black sugar, some bla black granulated sugar. They look just like cigarette butts, like a lit cigarette. And then you do some of them shorter and you kinda stub 'em out in the middle of the anyway, that's what I did. That was my dish. And it was delightful and kind of funny. Um and yeah. That was the that was the dish. Here I can even show you a picture. I I look forward to seeing the picture. It looked like a big ass spider, but it's actually just a cobweb on the blanket over the window. Uh that sounds really fun. Uh I I like uh fun jello dishes. Oh, money. Yeah. Right? That's the yeah. And it's like s yeah, it just looked kinda trashy, but also funny and everything was delicious. It looks like something that wouldn't be funny circa nineteen eighty five. Right. It looks like something that would have been real. Like something that would have been honest to God brought. And and and would have been proud of. Yeah. Yeah, that that's right. No, it was it was delicious. Uh and the pretzels are it's white chocolate pretzels. That's super easy and they taste good. They taste good. And it it's kind of people pick them up and Andrew, how are you? Uh I'm good. I so I I also have a forthcoming Jell O concoction. Uh so every year we have a big friend's uh white elephant present exchange, like a Christmas party that includes white elephant. Uh and the rule is it has to be something in your home. Like you can't go buy something for this white elephant gift. Uh last year I got a ridiculous jello mold. And every year I do something horrifying with hot dogs, like to bring as one of the side dishes. Uh, like I I've made a couple hot ver versions of hot dog salads and which is really just condiments mixed together with various sizes of hot dogs. This year, for my white elephant gift, I'm using my jello mold from last year and making a jello hot dog Hot dog like molded hot dog jello dish. So I have clear gelatin and I'm gonna use beef broth instead of water. I'm gonna get hot dogs suspended in it and I'm gonna I'm not sh uh I don't know how the consistency of it's gonna come out when it's needs to cool, but I'm gonna try to add veins of ketchup and mustard through it as it solidifies. I think you're gonna have to do layers. I think I am gonna have to do layers and I think it's worth the effort. I think so that's gonna be magical. Yeah. Do you have like a uh a some sort of cooling system. Besides a refrigerator? Yeah, like a swamp cooler or something. Something that will do accelerated cooling. No, I th the only thing I can do for that's perhaps a freezer, but yeah. I might the veins might not work. Um I think they will. Well, that sounds fun. Are we each doing the thing where we talked about we're changing this to the Jell O podcast? I think so. I know we've talked about it in you know off air and well for years now at this point. So that's uh that's where we're at. No, no, no. We're not here to talk about Jell-O. We're here to talk about watches. And and we should do that. We should talk about watches. Not because I thought there was anything that was like, oh my God. But there were things. And this is actually just what we do. There were things. There were a couple nothing like nothing, you know, blew my hair back or anything, but um some things. Well why don't you get us started? I am gonna s I'm gonna sk get started with some watch nudes. Carry on. Yeah. Uh carry on. Studio underdog. Richard is doing some things. This guy is moving and shaken. Uh he has well studio underdog, so Richard has purchased Orologium, which has been his longtime assembly servicing company. No, he's he was a minority owner in it since uh last year, but finally completed the acquisition, which kind of begs the question um, are we gonna see a retail space of some sorts? Uh and I and I think that's he he kind of hinted at it in in the interview I read that he he's it's something that's perhaps in the works. Uh and I think that'd just be super fun. I can't imagine well I can imagine what a studio underdog uh retail space would look like. And I know that my imagination of said space won't even come close to what he's got in the works. And I think it's currently cool. I'm I'm really excited to see this brand that that we've you know known and um been familiar with since day one. Yeah. Uh to see this trajectory of growth, to see his huge contract with Siegel, to see his awesome collaborations. And now this um really big move in stepping outside of just design, but becoming you know, getting pretty damn close to an entire in-house operation is really neat. Yeah, couple couple notes. W one, I I think Richard himself has hinted at the possibility of retail spaces being possible through this. Uh and two, the second note I have um i is that we we actually don't know, Andrew and I don't know what the ownership of Studio Underdog is. So we don't know that it's we assume it's Richard. Yep. Well, I actually assume it's not because of the way this article is phrased. I I assume that Richard is an owner, um, but I assume that there are other people who own parts of Studio Underdog. The way this is r written, you know, Richard being the founder. With that said, um I I think this could I I mean this really could mean very little in in terms of what this is, but it actually could mean something. And and so Oralogium is assembling, producing. I think I think Studio Underdog actually gets quite a bit of power for itself here, but also becomes um sort of the the marquee brand of uh a group that's services So you know, it's this is not this is not insignificant. This is actually r a relatively large piece of of market news, especially for that world. Yeah, exciting. Very cool. And that's all I have to sell you about that. All right. I guess we'll move on. Um Maurice LaCroix. Mm-hmm. The icon is not a watch that I am very excited about. I I it comes out the release versions of the icon is uh I'm like, okay, yeah, it I think it's cool. Maurice LaCroix, not a brand I'm all that excited about. I think for me, Maurice LaCroix feels a little like Real LaCroix. A little like Real LaCroix. That's right. Um and yeah, I mean really that's all you need to say about it, I think. Uh no, there's more. I don't know what Maurice Croix feels like. It just it feels like a little I I don't know, they they just for me, they miss, right? It's not like the brand isn't cool enough. The watches aren't neat enough. Their design cues kind of miss me. The way just the way they they are. The way you are, Mo, I just don't like it. Uh with that said, I think they're doing something kind of neat here. So they have introduced so a few years ago, they did a collaboration with label noir, which I don't really know what label noir is besides a design house. Anyway, they released some limited editions with label noir, and now they're doing something a little different. Label noir and Maurice LeCroix have teamed up to do a customization project the the Maurice LeCroix Lab powered by Label Noir, uh, is an icon customizer. You can now go to the label noir or Maurice LeCroix Lab by label noir and customize a icon all of your own. So uh case strap, obviously the big things, but all the way down to uh hands, the dial stamping, uh, the the dial layout, the dial color, the date location, or or no date at all, what the date looks like, the case color, um I really you can make a one-off Maurice LaCroix icon to the extent that's something you're interested in. Um I mean I guess I think this is kind of cool, Andrew. I'm making it right now. You're making your watch. I'm making one right now. And it isn't Uh it isn't bad. It's very much like the the wild one where you get, you know Three f three ish options per uh component. Yeah. I think it's cool. I mean, uh it's like customizing a character in Tony Hog Pro Skater 1, right? Exactly. You're gonna get some choices. They're not gonna be the choices you the choices aren't gonna drive you crazy. Um but uh it's kind of neat. It's kind of a neat concept, it's kind of a neat idea. I do understand it adds, you know, some some money to the watch, you know, uh upwards of a thousand or maybe a little bit more over a stock watch. With that said, you're getting a one-off custom watch. And it's it delivers in six to eight weeks. I mean, so base price on this is forty one hundred bucks. Uh let's see what if you go titanium. Titanium is forty five hundred bucks, ceramics forty-seven. I mean, really that's the cool part, right? It's like with Christopher Ward. I feel like every time Christopher Ward comes out with a watch I like, I'm like, oh, finally they release this watch in the way I want, but all the dials are butt. You know. Yes. I mean, it's if Christopher Ward did this, I'd be like, yeah, thanks, Christopher Ward. Now I can finally get a watch from yours that I'd buy. Um that's I'm being a little a little facetious because a little bit. Yeah. The Arctic White C63 is cold fire. With that's it. I mean here's the like you don't have to like you're not limited. Like, oh the 38 only comes in that awful tote. Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. No, you think I didn't whatever fucking color you want. Whatever color you want. This is neat. Um, it does add some price. And frankly, it's a watch that I'm just zero percent excited about, which is it is what it is. That's it does create the scenario where this could be the most interesting icon ever released because you get to make it exactly what you want. Yeah, each of them, each of them will be the most interesting icon ever. Um yeah, you know, I I know uh icon's not the or Maurice of Corey's not the only company that's ever done this. Uh I know I think Porsche Design has done this. Um with that said, it is cool. It is cool. Uh I I like it. It's like uh you know, Tony Hart Pro Skater one customization watches. Well I mean Anne Ordained it out with or Norcain did it. Oh did they? Who's the Wild One? It's An Ordain. Did they do that? No, no, you're right. Yeah. Yeah, that's Narcane. Yeah, the Wild One was uh they did a release where you could you could basically build it out. You had, you know, the three case colors, the three dial colors, the handsets, and um I can't think of anybody else who's done it, but that was kind of their whole shtick around the the release of it was it that you got to make your own and be it it could be your wild one. Cool. Yeah. What's next? Uh oh next up for me. Hmm. Hmm. We have to talk about this Constantine Chiken watch. Let's have we ever talked about a Constantine Chikken on this show? Um maybe perhaps in passing. So I saw a picture of this watch. Uh in like a little uh just a thumbnail of it. And I was like, that watch has boobs. And obviously there's a watch they have to look at. And then I like look at the title of the article, and I'm like, oh, it's meant to be it's literally boobs. So this is a Constantine Chiken. It is a watch that is inspired by Sandro Botticelli's Birth of Venus. You know, I um they use the quote art inspires art. And I I you know, I just I don't see the um I don't see the inspiration coming through if you look at Birth of Venus, the color palette's really different. It's this, it's like a this is like a warm, kind of fiery, sandy 90% of the dial with a moon phase face for Venus's face, uh, which is it it is perhaps one of the cooler moon phases I've ever seen with a sapphire cap on it with the face uh painted onto the sapphire so that you you get the moon phase rotating and the face never changes. Um and then as you go down the watch, you have the neckline of the character, and then the hands and or the hours and minutes are rotating uh booby discs. Um with her hair surrounding kind of the out entire entirety of the dial, which is this really lovely kind of sand like windswept sand texture uh to recreate hair. And and there's no arguing that this is an absolutely gorgeous watch. Uh I don't see the birth of Venus in it. I understand that uh uh you know y you get inspired by something. I I don't see it. I it's a wholly different color palette that just doesn't doesn't work for me. I if you just if you want to make a if you want to make a watch that has boobies for your hours and minutes discs. Just make it. They rotate independently, which means at some points during the day it's like very funny. I will say that the I think the line work on the face is one-to-one between this and the original. And then the hair. I can see it. I'm okay with it. I don't take quite as much offense to the inspiration as you do, but um It's not offense. It's I just don't I just don't see it. I know you're not offended, but you know what I mean. Yeah. Yeah, there are some pictures where the nipples are just everywhere. That's funny. Like googly eyes. Only 99 of these being made, uh 20,000 bucks, uh Legisper G200 movement, uh 40 millimeter case, uh yeah, 40 millimeter, 12-9 thick. I don't know who this is for. Did I say it's 20,000 Swiss francs? So that's actually not a you know, not isn't that a four like isn't that cheap for a cousin check? It's not terribly expensive. I don't know. I had it in my head that these watches were like a lot of money. The first comment on monochrome booys. Yeah. It they probably locked it down after that. It's all that needs to be said. We're all children. We're all children. Yeah. I don't know. I had it in my head that Constantine Shagan. Maybe this is like uh it's the Le Jouper movement, so maybe that's the deal. This is like uh production grade, Constantin Shagan. Maybe, yeah. I uh It's interesting. And I'm glad that when I looked at it and saw boobies, it wasn't it wasn't just like me being a child. It was like oh no, these are boobies. Yep, that's right. Yeah, that's what this is for. Um oh okay, so I I think I think let's go through the boring ones and then we'll like we'll amp up. We'll ramp up the watches we're excited about as we get do you do do you feel me? Do you feel me? This was the most exciting watch I had to talk about today. Okay. Um okay. It this is a cool watch, but it's not uh something I I think that I'm personally excited about. With that said, it it's cool. So uh it's not terribly erotic either. The uh Parchitime a few years ago, Kara Barrett's like kids watch brand um released a handful of delightful aluminum watches meant for children. Um and and they've now released a new set of of uh a pair of watches uh with with Hodinki uh which makes sense. Kara Barrett was a Hodinki editor for a long time and has uh used that as the launching ground, I think, for her for her watch company. I don't think that's unfair to say. Um so they've done a collaboration of a space-themed parchy watch. This is available in both 32 and 36. They're calling it the Parchy Lunar Time Limited Editions for Hodinki. Um and these are clearly watches that are targeted at kids, young people. Um, or I guess anybody who wants to wear a watch. Uh, but with the sizes and just with the the way these watches are. They're they're meant for kids. Um, these come in this new limited edition is fully red anodized aluminum, um which is evocative of sort of NASA NASA red, right? Um NASA red anodization. Red bezel uh with uh uh white hour numerals. Um you know it's it's a fairly nondescript watch does have loom I believe it's got a uh a hodinky a, loomed Hodinky logo at six, which take it or leave it. I'm fine with it. Obviously, super legible on this. It is a three-hand watch. Um, Velcro strap is a space themed and and it's for kids. Is it a rotating bezel? I don't believe the bezel rotates, no. Um I think it's just a bezel. Uh 75 bucks and 85 bucks. 500 pieces each. Um truly a kid's well. I just they uh uh they they did this right. I I think the only Seiko quartz. Yeah, that's right. Cycle court's. Yeah. The only problem I have w with this watch is that because it's Karabaret and Hodinky and this whole it it's sort of a hype beast, right which which takes away from which takes away a little bit for me takes away from the accessibility on this thing now I do think um I do think that these will be available when when do these go live? It isn't say when do these go live? Well it it it's either that these haven't gone live yet and we don't know when they're gonna go live yet, the article doesn't say, or they're just sold out, which to my point is the problem with a watch like this, right? Um yeah. Hodinki will retail at $75 for the 32 and 85 for the 36. 500 pieces of each are available for purchase via right tier. You go and you go to right here at Watches of Switzerland, and for both the 32 and the 36, it says sign up to be notified if this product becomes available. Yeah, so I I think these may be sold. And and so that for me, that's a bummer, right? It it's like the idea of these is accessible kids' watches and it's like, well, I can't get one for my kid. I You can't get one for you. Never mind your kid. Yeah. That's right. So we've turned this like I think cool thing kind of sweet into an asshole hype beast thing. And and I'm not blaming anybody, right? This is just the the nature of the beast. But I I find it disappointing. Like it it sort of sucks for me, it sucks the coolness out of what should be a really, really cool project. Anyway, more of them. I do uh Andrew, I I think that that's a fair comment. Who I don't know if they were able to predict 500 seems like a a dangerously low number of of them to have made it. With a hodinky partnership and the kind of long standing knowledge of Parchy, the you can you can reasonably they obviously wanted to sell out, but like I uh I uh yeah, it is what it is. I I hate judging people's business decisions, but for m like I said, for me it kind of sucks the coolness out of it. Yeah, it has a little bit of that effect for me too. A little cooling effect. A c a oh oh or perhaps a warming effect. No, the warming effect. That's a that's a structural that's a that's a tempting effect. What's next? Uh Alba Shorn. Back at it with their, oh, what's the word they use? Um imaginary the imaginary uh line. What are they calling them? The imaginary vintage. Imaginary vintage. Creating watches that maybe should have been and then a story to go along with them. Certainly that could have been. Yeah. So this is the type 10 officer chronograph with a cream dial. Uh this is the uh descendant of their type 10 chronograph. And it's lovely. I love this. Yeah. This it's got this really good cream dial, almost like um I think the texture on it makes it almost look like aged paper. Uh Fotina loom in the hands, subdials on the bezel, a good, like a cool mono pusher 1030 crown, and a flat uh kind of puck pusher. The size on it's really good. This is a 39mm case, 41.7 or yeah, 39 on the case, 41.7 on the bezel, 12 millimeters thick, 47 lug to lug, 100 meters of water resistance. Uh it's based off of the 7750 movement. They're only making a hundred ninety-nine of them over the next three years. So these are gonna be kinda I think a little bit challenging to get your hands on. 3,950 Swiss francs. Uh Uh take the story or leave it, take the kind of uh alternate history view of this vintage-inspired watch that's not inspired by anything that actually existed. And put all that aside because this is a cool vintage-inspired chronograph. With a 7750 platform, it looks good. It looks every bit of a 1950s pilot's chronograph. I if you're just tuning in, uh the type 10 is a fictional ancestor to the type 20 pilots chronograph uh watch which which actually didn't exist it is a flyback mono pusher type 20 ancestor um and the execution on these is is really good their first two their first two type tens were the um thunder graph and marina graph uh with the thundergraph being sort of like a navy really sort of like denimy beautiful um dial and the marina graph being I don't know this jade green. Anyway, uh so this is yeah, so these are just cream uh really lovely i i really love the execution and and they and they do some interesting things right like this one's got like a bronze crown and this red pusher it it's just even without all the the story, it's just a terrific watch. And and the 12 o'clock has a uh chronograph actuation marker. Oh, yeah. So you got a little red dot if your chronograph is running and a white dot and a I mean a white dot if it's if it's not. Did you talk about the size of the vessel? Yeah it's a it overhangs by two millimeters, two almost three millimeters. Yeah. So you're having this really tight 39 millimeter case with a nice big bezel hangover. It it get for me, it really gives uh especially on the top down, it really g it's like a a disc uh more so that than most watches. Like you really just have this disc. I I don't know. I just love it. I think it's uh I think that this w uh the the concept The Albert concept would be would be cool almost no matter what. They they could have really but but you can just imagine a world where they're phoning in these watches horologically. Oh, they could. And and it would still be cool. It's like, oh, this is cool. But like these are actually really, really cool watches. Like really excellently designed and interesting orologically interesting watches. I just I can't say enough good stuff about this. The profile on this for using a 7750, this thing looks thin. This mid mid--ccasease. The might actually even be thinner than the bezel. Yeah, I think just 12 millimeters, including the crystal. Uh they have to be hiding move like m case space under that bezel because the the bezel is is almost like a like a pie tin. Yeah. And then and then concaves back in. Uh so it it just it from the profile it almost looks like a triangular hourglass shape on both ends. I'm sure that the bezel has a like a what do you call the like a shroud in there to it's got a connection point that sits outside of the m movement so that the movement can be pushed up into the Yeah. Cause this is this mid case is way too thin to house a 7750 you call that anyway, there's a word that I'm looking for that is evading me. Great watch. Yeah. I I just think these are are fun. Totally good spectacular. Uh we've got a uh Pink Panther 5KX, uh uh Seiko Vorts, aka what I like to call the 5KX in the 5 Sports SKX line. Uh, and it's Pink Panther themed. Uh apparently, Pink Panther is an IP that is being sold right now or licensed. Uh which wonder if that means there's something on the horizon. You know, I I just I don't know. I mean I I I I kind of Googled I didn't see anything that seemed immediately apparent to me. But um yeah, we've got a Pink Panther themed 5KX. And and what that means is you've got a pink dial and pink bezel writing, but it's it's got like sort of a 50s sign painter font. Did you notice that? Which is maybe the thing I like the most about the watch. The thing I like the least about this watch are the embossed Panther footprints on the dial. Because they don't look like Panther prints either. I hate embossed. I I ha well, I think that the the those prints are part of the Pink Panther but they could have skipped that on the dial and just left it on the strap and and it would have been great. I think so too. I do not like impost dials this like this. This is not my thing. With that said, it it's whimsical and cute and w really puts a point on it. I don't know it are people into the Pink Panther? If you're into the Pink Panther, they're these are okay, so these are limited to just nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine pieces. Uh which I think means you should be able to get one. Um they're expensive. Brand new every year in January for the next 25 years this will be brand new in box. Right. May maybe. Yeah. I I think I think you're right. I think there's gonna be plenty of these available for for some time. Um but I if you like it, it it's pretty pretty cool. You do get a out of nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine piece mark or piece stamp on your case pack. So well there you go. Uh the you it's signed. It's it's a numbered. Uh 460 bucks, which or 450, which I I think it's expensive for what you're getting with a five KX. Um it comes with a cool box. Where's the box? Right here. Oh, it is a cool box. It comes in a cool box. Yeah. Uh it's like a Pink Panther house with artwork on it. A little man. Little man and Pink Panther. And it comes with a Seiko bracelet or you get a uh a pink nylon strap with uh panther prints coming up of it, and then on the inside NATO style double pass, yeah, a little uh same font, uh, wet paint warning on the inside of the strap. Uh yeah, it's fun. This is really you warming up, like getting more and more excit Yeah, no, I forgot this one. Yeah. I missed that one. That one's pretty. Uh I think we have bangers from here though. I think so too. Uh I'm trying to decide what I want to talk about. Uh yeah, no, I very much could have led with that one. Yeah. Um I like the parching more than that one, except that there's n you can't get it. Oh boy, Andrew's really, he's struggling. Yeah, so I I want to talk about the a Frederic Constant and Time and Tide Collaboration Watch. Um Freddy is not usually a brand that gets me gets me going. Yeah, like Bruce LeCroix. Yeah, very similar. And this um this one changes it for me. So time and tide, uh the high life moon phase onyx moon, which is a six o'clock moon phase with a date, a pointer date around the outside, and just this beautiful blacker than black markerless dial with the FC logo at the 12 o'clock and it is sexy. This thing is great. It's an integrated lug, uh, kind of tonne-y case with an integrated bracelet. I mean, it's it's an integrated sports watch. I I I'm not going to try to explain it any further. That's all it is, okay? But it's really good with an like this lovely Onyx dial 39 millimeter case. I don't understand why it's 1279 thick, but it is 100 meters of water resistance. Um, of note, this is the first ever integrated five-link that Frederic Constant has done. And it's it's really good. They're only making a hundred of them, five thousand six hundred ninety-five US money. And I like save for the the kind of inexplicable thickness of this watch. Everything else just has my number. Ye yeah, no Andrew, I feel about the high life exactly the same as I do the icon, which is to say totally meh, if you ask me, design doesn't do it for me. I don't like that weird sort of angle on the bezel. Uh it's too thick for what it is, I think. Asksk a me. I think it's too thick. Although this one, I think 10-8 on the high life is what you get. You've got this Cosk certified SW200 that's ugly as sin. With that said, with that said, Andrew, they've fixed for me the huge sin of the high life, which is that embossed globe, latitude, longitude, globe thing that I just fucking hate. And this bracelet is a billion times better. Maybe two billion times better than that original bracelet. Yes. This is a really good looking watch. I'm with you. I I still think I think is this 108 10.84 or is that what they no it's 12 something. It's 1279. 1279, yeah. 1084, and I and I'm I'm start I'll liquidate to to get this. Well, I they must be they must be making space for the moon face. That's okay though. It's a moon face. I I and and these things do have a nice case. This is for me, especially with that onyx dial, like you said, this is for me the nicest looking high life that's ever been made. I I just I think it's terrific. In the in the product photos you can just you can see just how supple that bracelet is. Yeah. You can see like good flex in it. It like it it looks lovely. Yeah. And and the the end length, the way it it sits into the case is done really well. This is a really good version of a not great watch, if you ask me. Yeah, I think that's a yeah. Beautiful. How much are these? Fifty six hundred bucks. Yeah. That's a lot of money. Fifty seven hundred bucks. It's a lot of money. Yeah. But man, that pointer date is cool. It's it's cool. Okay. Yep. I like it. I like it. I didn't think I was gonna like it when you started talking about it. I wasn't sure. I I when I started reading about it I was um less than excited and then I I looked more at it and was like I'm I'm I'm I'm smelling what you're stepping in. I don't like that new book strap. No, I could do without that. Um but you get it on the s you get it on the bracelet. Who cares? Yeah. That's right. And it never comes off. And that bracelet. Uh yeah. Man. That is a really well done watch. Oh thanks, Freddie. Appreciate you. Just make it thinner next time. Put it on the treadmill and then send it back out. Um okay. So I've got two watches that I don't that I that I that I have to save because I am really excited about him. This is not one of them, although I am excited about this because I think it's really cool. William Wood is uh Johnny Garrett, British watchmaker, Johnny Garrett's company named after his late grandfather, who was a celebrated firefighter. Uh, and William Wood watches are all firefighter themed, which is cool. We don't have that. This is the only firefighter themed watch company, I think. I'm pretty sure, yeah. They are known for upcycling or recycling um products from firefighting and and this watch is no different. What this is, is the William Wood vintage triumph. Uh and and what it what it is is a chronograph it is a all gold gold on gold on gold triple gold uh chronograph and it's and it's terrific so um sort of a uh like a stout 41 millimeter case that's gold plated with a hundred meters of water resistance. The Warner Round article on this had a funny quote about that. What did I say? Uh should the wearer ever trade fire for its natural opponent? I thought that was fun. Um it's got sort of a diamond-cut, I think a CNC guy dial. That's like this nice champagne hue with polished gold numerals, a gold, I believe aluminum bezel, and um yeah SW510 chronograph with three and nine subdials, 48-hour power reserve, uh, and this like firefighter check on the minute track. It's just really, really clever and attractive. I will tell you, I think the thing I like about this the best are the pushers. Mm-hmm. The shape on these pushers is so interesting. They're like sort of rectangular pushers that push out from the case. Yeah. They're like geometric. And they really like they sort of like integrate with the Crown Guard. And it's a vibe, man. They look like they could just be Crown Guard. That's right. It's a vibe. And it's gold plated. Who does gold plating in 2026? Thanks. What year do you think it is? I forgot. Um You know the only thing I can't I I've struggled with Bullying Wood I.' Ive've liked all of their watches that I've that I've seen in person. I I've never been like bl about any of their watches. I can't I just can't get down with the the um hybrid strap. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what it is. They do make a rubber textile made from fire hose straps. I just I can't um I can't get down with it. And I I don't fully understand why. And this one's got a big, I think, kind of ugly plate at six. Yeah. Which I sorry. I'm not a huge fan. Maybe that plate is actually the keeper. It's yeah, that's the it looks like it might be the keeper, but it looks stitched in place. It's not the keeper. Yeah, it's it's a fixed uh yeah, not a huge fan of that. With that said, I like everything else. I do wish this was on a gold plate on the page. Bracelet. I don't Is it? Mm-hmm. Okay. Oh yeah. It's in different placement. It's a sliding keeper. I s I I still though don't like the plate on the keeper. Yeah. It it it is cool. It's gold. But yeah, I'm not a huge fan. I think if this came on a gold plated bracelet, I'd be bow chicka bow wow. About 4,000 money. Yeah. US dollars. Three thousand nine hundred and ninety-one. Uh really, really, really cool chronograph. The execution on this case is terrific. Yeah, the color the color combination, all of it looks it just evokes that that classic uh early century firefighter helmet look. Well, and so the crown on this is actually made from melted down firefighters. Uh firefighters. Firefighter helmets. Shit. I've had exactly one sip of scotch. Uh maybe I should have more
Everett . Oh. I don't know why that one was that one got me though
Andrew . Helmets. Bronze firefighter helmets. Oh, that makes more sense because I was trying to figure out a way they would like get the human goo into the thing. Uh Locko and Circula have done something uh super fun and super cool. They basically traded cases and then designed a watch. So when you look at these at you and you're like, oh, this is a Locco circular collaboration, the watch that looks like a circular is actually a Locco and vice versa. So these brands decided to do a collaboration wherein they took each other's and it's for their 70th and 100th anniversaries uh circula being 70 this year, Laco being a hundred, uh, and did a joint endeavor to do a single box release of two watches. And I love it. I love it. Everything about it. These are both co they're both co-branded right yeah because it's the loco did a watch in a circular case and circular in a loco case and they kind of like the the whole idea was let's like let's do ours and yours design through our own perspective and these come as a set. Right, I see. And it it doesn't super make sense. The dial designed by circula is in the lock case. Okay. Alright. Yeah. I see you. Ah. They both have the circula and the Locco branding too. Yeah. These are really cool. They're both really, really good. Uh and and for a pair of watches, you're looking at hang on 2390 euro uh they're 40 millimeter cases the I'm seeing so both 40 millimeter, one's nine eight, one's eleven one, hundred and fifty meters of water. The Locco case is is nine, the circular is 11 water. And you're getting over 100 meters of water resistance on each. Uh SW200 in both. And both are 40 millimeters. Yeah. Perfectly sized. The sorry, Andrew. Sorry, the Laco has 200 meters of water. So I said over a hundred meters in both. Got it. Got it. Okay, I'm sorry. Carrie. God, I hate you. Carrie Carry on. If you check LinkedIn later this week, there's gonna be a posting for a podcast co-host. I lost my train of thought. Good luck logging in. They're celebrating aniversary big anniversaries this year. Nothing about this partnership makes sense. And yet it's such a cool collaborative, like a true collaborative release. Yeah. And coming as a box set, I think this is this is just terrific. Yeah. Well and and a throwaway here, this isn't my watch, but Loco also introduced a thirty-eight millimeter hundred anniversary dress watch limited edition. It's 38 millimeters. It's IP coded and I think it's like nine millimeters thick. Uh and it just looks incredible. It's dog bowl sort of construction. It's terrific. Yeah. Um, like sort of art deco with yeah. Uh and not that expensive. Under two grand. Yeah, yeah, inexpensive. That's right. Uh Kiwami Tokyo was, I think, for me, um probably the coolest brand to debut in this last year. And um and And in their second release, I think really puts a point on this. This was the Japanese micro brand. I actually think maybe I'm saying this, maybe I'm saying this as like optimistically. I think that there is room in the market for a Japanese micro brand movement I think that we've got space for it. I think that there's space for a movement for for a number of brands to come out, especially if they can do things like fucking kawame Tokyo. So uh l last year they released the Kalatrava, Kalatrava inspired Kurutsuki and Usuki dress watches with brega numerals, and I just loved them. They were like 600 bucks. It wasn't long ago. That was this year. Or it was this year, excuse me. That's when it was 2025. It was like six months ago. And they were just like sold out immediately because they're they were just fucking perfect. So they have reused that case with two to to release uh two new watches. Uh the iwow ginkkai and the iwao sumi uh uh the ginkkai is a silver dial and the sumi is a black dial these are both like kind of sectory cases with like a like a big textural contrast. So you've got a a matte, like blasted inner surface, and then a uh like a polished or or cnc'd outer surface. We've got these like really beautiful 12369 Arabics with bars at every other number. Really cool handset whereas their original lease release was pretty dressy with the bregay numerals. It felt very sort of austere. This feels more rugged and sporty. We've got an applied but also still really elegant. That's right. Very, very egg el elegant. We've got this applied plaque logo at 12, right under the 12 o'clock numeral that just looks bespoke. It looks absolutely high-end luxury, and it just says Kwame Tokyo Asakusa. Um man oh man. So same case, which is to say we've got a a three-part case with polish, brush, polish, uh, very much Calatrava inspired on the case, um which is means it's boring in exactly the right ways. Uh and you know me, the thing I like the most is we are at nine and a half millimeters thick on this. So 38 millimeter case, nine and a half thick, uh, Miyoda 90 39, because why the fuck not? And Andrew, Andrew, Andrew, Andrew, Andrew, 690 US dollars excluding taxes. Yeah. Six hundred and ninety US dollars including taxes. They will be available on December twenty-fifth at ten thirty A.M. for the time. I think that's right. Tune in on Christmas, whatever 10:30 a.m. Japan time is. I don't know. Uh, because these things are gonna go. This is one of the hypiest brands of the year. These things are gonna be gone immediately. And I I don't think it's not a hype watch. It's just an insanely good watch at an insanely good price. Yeah. So Tokyo is plus 17 hours. If this if they sold this watch, Andrew, if they sold this watch at five thousand, if people would still buy it, it'd be easier to get, but not that much easier. Yep. Not that much easier. And and honestly, even with a ninety thirty-nine, they could be selling this watch for 2000 and no one would bat an eye. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, it's at 5,000 they'd have to they'd have to up the movement. Yeah, I think I think that's fair. But at 2,000. Go le juper. Yeah. But at 2000, people people are gonna be like, oh, it's a 9039, but everything else is awesome. At 5,000, they just use the LJP. Yeah. It's the same movement. Uh it is these are crazy, man. Uh I sh I don't get it. I I don't I don't I mean I underst I get what's happening. I just I don't get how it's happening. How much how much do these cost? How much how much is six hundred and ninety bucks? Yeah. Did I say six ninety? Yeah. Did I say they're less than seven hundred bucks? They're less than seven hundred bucks. Oh my God. Um these things are crazy, dude. I I I'm so excited about this company. I hope that they make so many more watches. I I I just can't I can't believe what they're doing. I mean, if every release you make sells out, there's no I don't see a world where you stop. Uh yeah. Yeah. I these these well. Unless they're just not making enough money. Yeah, I mean it's seven hundred bucks. I don't know you're making money on something manufactured like this. Just is so so stinking good, man. Uh what's next, sir? Uh I can kind of skip the rest of mine. I've got one more one more watch, I want to talk about. Okay. The uh uh Serica. Oh, yeah, I should have dang it Serica and you slurped. Oh Serica has brought back a uh a fan favorite, the tuxedo dial, and they've done it now in the 6190 field chronometer, which is one of their, you know, one of their three series. They've got the diver, they got the parade, and they've got the field chronometer, which is just a terrific release. They've now brought back a tuxedo dial, which I think Sereca does insanely well because of the way they deal with dial colors. Okay. You're not gonna get any sort of like jewel tone CNC engine work b uh ombre dials from Sarica because they're like, that's stupid. That's not for that's dumb. It's not for them. This is a black and sort of beige gold beige tuxedo with crisp white loom on silver markers and it is fire. This watch is fire. Yeah. Hot. Hot. Yeah, white hot fire. White hot fire. It is it is still just a field chronometer. So that means 377 chronometra. Chronometra.e 377 millimeters in diameter, 10-4 thick, 46 and a half lug to lug, 200 meters of water resistance. How the fuck do you do that, Sarica? Uh and oh yeah, that 10-4 includes the crystal, which sits above the bezel. Um yeah, we've got a uh SOPROD M100 with, of course, uh cost chronometer certification. Um man, they just do it. It's not, it's not even a terribly expensive watch. It's 1200 bucks. Yeah. You know, I think one of my favorite parts of this dial is the horizontal six o'clock marker. Yeah. Yeah, it's fantastic. I I'm with you. Just stunning. Great, great handset on this, that big arrow hour marker or hour hand is fantastic. And that actually works really well in the non-tuxedo dials too, that that horizontal marker. Um it's just such a delightful, it's like such a whimsical little detail. Yeah, this is good. Yeah. I I'm I'm uh I'm about as high on those last two watches. I I'm so glad that they showed the the restraint of keeping the the loom white. How easy And then they weren't tempted to to faux Tina it to match the How easy the beige ring. How easy would it have been for them to screw this up? This is such a lovely watch. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I actually don't know why I don't own a Sereca at this point because uh I I think I am as high on this brand as you could be on a watch brand. Uh I think it's just it's sort of for me, it's just never felt super accessible. Um, but maybe this is this is the year. I th I think I need a Sereca. You've only got about 14 days left. Well, when I say this is the year, 2026 is the year I'm referring to. So okay. Yeah. Uh this is the year for me, especially with the release of the new bracelet. Um I I I think I'm a I'm a buyer in 2026. So I I have when when you go to their website you can je accept or zhe refuse your the cookies until your until your phone translates the uh the web page. Oh gosh, what a great watch. Andrew, I understand you're done talking about watches. I'm done. What about other things? Uh so for Christmas, I a couple years ago started doing Poor Man's Prime, uh Poor Man's Prime Rib, um, which is just a really long sous-vie soak of chuck roast and then a hot sear on it. And you keep the temperature pretty low on the sous-y bath. So it just kind of starts to break down all the sinew and tissues and stuff in a chuck roast. And then when you pull it out after the sear, it is like wall-to-wall, medium rare, and super tender steak like a prime rib, but for four ninety nine a pound as opposed to right fourteen ninety nine a pound. Uh and it's it is objectively not as good, but it's really, really close. Like n anybody eating it is not going to be able to discern the difference. Anybody that I'm dining with is not gonna be able to discern the difference. So I'm like, okay, yeah, that's what I'm gonna do. Um but I I had a couple big events around Christmas that were Christmas themed, and I was like, I'm just gonna do that for all these. I was like, well, why don't I just get a chuck roll and do it myself? Like just butcher that and save even more money when I'm doing all these chuckross. Uh so as one does when you're about to undertake something that you've not done before, you spend a lot of time on the YouTube. Uh and I found this uh YouTube channel called um Certified Angus Beef Test Kitchen. Okay. They have a website, Certified Angus Beef. Uh but this test kitchen, oh I should send you the link. I'm uh I'm not gonna send you the link to the channel. I'm just gonna uh so this test kitchen is excuse me. Geez the beef recipes, uh primal cuts of beef butchery. They do it in and and I watched a hundred or more different v people's videos butchering a chuckroll. Theirs was the most consumable, the most like it was one of the shorter ones, and you got all the information out of it. Like no advertising in it, no like product placement, no needless fluff. It was just this guy who's like, hey, I get a lot of people who come in my shop looking for a job. First thing I do is tell him, like, break down this chuck roll. Like, that's your interview. And is it he goes, this is how you do it. And five minutes later this whole 30-pound chunk of beef is processed into you know eight different cuts i didn't i didn't do that i didn't process it down into into chuckeye into denver steaks and to all this other junk. just I needed Chuck Roast. So my butchery process was pretty easy. But so that was mine. Angus beef test kitchen. They do cool stuff. And then kind of part two of my other thing is go to your chef supply store and buy meat like buy big primal cuts. Yeah. It's like it's a fun activity to break down this enormous chunk of meat. It's forgiving in so much as like if you fuck it up, just cube it or grind it. And and it's it's like it's not a big deal. Uh we have a chef supply store two minutes from our our house. Right down the street. Uh they sell New York strip there in the full like primal cut. So you're you you gotta carve your own strips out of it. Um same with the ribeye. Uh find a find a chef supply store and and save even more money when you're doing like big beef purchases. Uh because it's so I I paid four four eighty nine a pound, I think, for for that. 30 pounds of beef. Yeah. Did you watch the new Alton Brown video? No, I haven't, but it it's it I was gonna watch it tonight actu,ally. Um the it's the rib roast. Oh, Brown does his Christmas rib roast. Uh so I I've got a bit of a story for my other thing. It's quick. Just rolled his eyes so far back into his head. They they yeah. Um they came all the way around. So I think about three months ago, I I was talking to Kim. We had uhurs who uh when we were much younger, pre-kids, used to make she called it wine cake. And it was just it's like this vanilla pudding cake mix thing that's it was a family recipe for her and um and I said, you know, Kim, we should text Michelle and get the wine cake recipe. Um and and I said, you know, and the other thing I need is I need a bump pan. I need a bunt pan. Yeah. And Kim said, yeah, I'll text, I'll text Michelle. I haven't talked to her in twelve years, but you know, she'll appreciate hearing from me for this recipe. Yeah, that's right. And then and then yeah, we should get a bunt pan and make a So anyway, that's the end of that conversation. Move move along. Maybe Kim texted Michelle, maybe she didn't I don't know. Uh so the other day I'm in I'm in the front room and I say, gosh darn it, Kim, did we ever get a bunt pan? And she said no, no, we didn't. You said you wanted one. So it's on you to get one. You can't just make declarations and have me Yeah, yeah. In the context of that conversation, it would have made sense that she would have come up. I said I said, Did we ever get a bunt pan? And she said, you know, no, we didn't ever get a bunt pan. And I said, okay, well, I need one now. And Kim was like, seriously, you need one right now. And I was like, Yeah, I need I need a bump pan. Um, did you already send in the Walmart order? She was gonna order some stuff on Walmart. And she said, No. And I said, Okay, well, and I sh I shot her a text message that had the bunt pan I wanted. So I just had I'd kind of done a little bit of research and I picked a bunt pan and I sent it to Kim. And she was like, Seriously, you need this today. And I was like, Yeah, what's the big deal? Just put on the fucking Walmart order. You know, like you sh you're not even having to go find it. It's just, it's like just put it on your order. She's like, she's kind of pushing back on me. And I'm like, what in the world? Like just put on the order. Like, yeah, I need it. I don't know what's the problem. Do you want me to go get it? And she's like, no, hold on. And she like gets up and goes into the closet and she comes out with an Amazon box. This this is the type of year where the closet is full of Amazon boxes. I see the I see the push. Okay. And and she was like, here, Merry Christmas. And you fucking asshole. It is exactly the same butt pant that I had picked, like just ten minutes earlier and sent to her. Like we hadn't talked about a bunt pan before. And I was like, oh my gosh. Anyway, the the the story is that she had So now you you don't have two bunt pans? That's right. The story is that she had gotten the exact one that I would have picked two months later. Anyway, long story short, I have a bunt pan and I used it and it's perfect. It is perfect. Um, so my other thing for the week is the Nordicware Proform Bunt 12 Cup Gray. Andrew, I will send you a link because I've got it open and I know you're waiting for that. Um but yeah, it is so it's got handles, which is I think for a bunt pan something you really want. A lot of them don't have handles. I I think handles are are best. It's just a good safety measure. And it's a pain in the dick. Like pulling them out and like handling them and turning it over. But also, it's a it's like a thick walled aluminum with a non-stick coating, so it releases really well. It's a light colored it's a light colored coating so you're gonna get really nice even bakes. Uh it's just a perfect bunt pan. If you've not ever made a wine cake, uh, we will in a future episode, I'll put a recipe in the show notes for a wine cake. Uh, but yeah, 12 cup Nordicware Bunt Pan. Go get you one. They're 18 bucks. You can order it on Amazon. Uh 14 at Target. How about that? How about that? For the same thing? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Cheap. Cheap. 20 from Nordicware. Yeah, well it's they're gonna gouge you. I you know, I don't have a bunt pan. Uh I've I don't do much baking. Like I do bread, but well here's it here's what I'm gonna do andrew you and everybody at home you listening order your bunk pan just do it now and the reason I tell you that is so in two weeks when I or maybe even a week. You don't know. You better order it. When you hear the wine cake recipe and then I talk about how good it is, you'll just immediately be able to go make you a wine cake. Well, you can have some of mine too, but you're gonna want your own. I know you. I know you. I don't I maybe maybe. It's not it it's not what you're th it's not like a cake. It's not like lay it's just it's like bread. It's like a sweet bread and it's so good. You just eat it by itself. You just take a slice and you eat it and it's I love it. Anyway. Uh so order your order your bunt pan. I'm talking to Andrew, and I'm talking to you. Order your bunt pan. I'll I'll I'll give you the recipe in a week or two. You have anything else you want to add? I don't. Not about wine cakes. Not today. Or bump pans? Butt pans maybe. Poop watches. Yeah. Hey folks, thanks for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20, the WatchClicker Podcast. Do me a favor, go to our website, WatchClicker.com. That's where we post articles, pictures, words, and uh watchclicker.com if you want to follow us on social media you can do that on instagram at forty and twenty underscore watchclicker or at watch clicker that's where we post mostly pictures but also updates about things we're doing on the website or the podcast. If you want to support us and oh boy we hope you do you can do that on patreon patreon.com patreon.com slash forty and twenty that's how we get all the money for hosting uh and the other expenses that we have for the podcast, which is not nothing. Um, patreon.com slash fortyand20, go check it out, maybe maybe drop a buck. And don't forget to tune back in next Tuesday for another hour of watches food life drinks life food watches and other things we like. Bye-bye.