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Timex, Doxa, and Serica (385)

Published on Tue, 17 Mar 2026 22:55:10 -0700

Synopsis

Andrew and Everett host their weekly watch podcast, beginning with casual conversation about Everett's coaching youth baseball at the 90-foot level and Andrew's struggles with spring allergies. They celebrate drinking Guinness Extra Stout for St. Patrick's Day while Andrew shares his successful corned beef and cabbage dinner made with Blarney Stone pre-brined brisket.

The hosts dive into watch industry news, covering British Watchmakers Day's successful sold-out event with 1,850 attendees and discussing the resurgence of British watchmaking. They review numerous watch releases including Timex's controversial ocean plastic Expedition Free Dive Solar, Snoopy pickleball collaborations, Awake's Son Mai collection in Atlantis blue with Vietnamese silver leaf dial craftsmanship, Doxa's Sub 200 Gran Roma edition, Farer's new 35mm cushion case models, Serica's tasteful 5330 dive chronometer with date, the F.P. Journe-inspired F-77 Mark II with aventurine dial, and Raketa's Baikonur 24-hour watch celebrating Yuri Gagarin's space flight. They also briefly mention Shohei Ohtani's Grand Seiko ambassadorship. Andrew concludes with an enthusiastic other things segment about discovering Nebbiolo wine at an Italian restaurant in Ashland, Oregon, praising both the exceptional food at Osteria La Bricola and the eye-opening wine recommendation from their young but knowledgeable server.

Transcript

Speaker
Andrew Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to Forty and Twenty, the WatchClicker 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 doing really well. Did I just turn your headphones up uncomfortably loud? They're a little loud. I I meant to bump mine and I think I bumped yours. That's okay. Andrew, no, I'm doing well. You know, we had a like last week where I was screaming in my own ears. We had our first two proper baseball games, um, which has been wild, man. Um you know, we we practice, practice is fun, um, but there's never enough practices before the game start, and then the games start, and you know, this is the first year at 90 feet, so we've got 66-foot pitching mound and, you know, whatever that is, like 400 feet from third base to first. And um, you know, this is it, and everybody's in the same boat, right? It's like all of these kids, barring, you know, maybe a handful of them, are like graduating. They've either just graduated last year or they're graduated this year. And so there's you know, it's a playing full size ball. Playing full size ball, right? It's not like going back to to t ball or anything, but there's like uh you know these kids are used to playing at a really like high level and they're struggling again. You know, it's good it's cool to see I I don't mean it's cool to see these kids struggle, but I mean it it's it's it's sort of cool to like see these kids like realize like, oh I'm not I'm not the god, you know, I'm not Bryce Harper. And work out the nuance of like suddenly your center fielder is responsible for like eight hundred square feet of earth. Right. That's a huge difference. You know, we've got this kid and he hits the ball a mile and he absolutely tagged one tonight. Just tagged it. Call that a dinger. And it is just like directly to the center fielder, right? I I mean he it must have gone I don't know, 250, and just the center fielder kind of took five steps back. Gotcha. And it was like, oh, oh, we're playing baseball. You know, and the key, you know, and and that sounds like a bad thing. And and and to a certain extent, it it can be. And I think there's some morale issues, but it's been good for the kids to see oh, it's them too, right? It's not just us. I think they're feeling really like, oh gosh, what are we gonna do? Well suddenly they're tired on their on their sprint to first base. Totally. In a way that they w have never been before. Stealing second is like It's an endeavor. It's a jaunt. You know? So it's more than a little a little hustle. But you know, they're having a lot and pitchers have to be struggling and totally. And pitch counts are hard. Catchers are struggling. I bet you see a lot more stolen bases off of errant catches at the catcher. Total. Uh not as many as you think. I mean, you do see that. Uh we are to we we had our second game So we we have games Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We're kind of a small team. We're only eleven kids with like three kids that can play up. Um and we've got like five pitchers. So like we're we're pitching everybody, basically one inning, right? I get 35, we get 35 pitches out of a guy, or he can't play tomorrow. So you know, 35 pitches, if we're lucky, we get two full innings, but that's not happening right now. You know, so we're looking at like an inning per guy, basically. It's rough. You know, we get to the sixth inning, and it's like, all right. You've thrown a ball. All right, buddy. Buckle up buttercup. And we got this kid, he's a good pitcher, really good pitcher. He's a smart kid, good kid, good baseball player. And he tagged three guys in the first inning today. And you know, it's just like I went out and I was like, how you feeling? And he was like, I feel like I'm struggling. I was like, well, don't think about that. Just just keep throwing it at him. You know, like just trying to like lighten the mood because he's like I'm like I A for me as a coach it's like I need all 35 buddy So I can't pull you you're gonna keep on throwing them. Um and and you know he calmed down and and it was fine but uh yeah, it it's fun. This is a really fun developmental age. Having a lot of fun. Andrew, how are you? I'm good. Uh it's uh it's our first real week of spring. It's it was seventy some degrees today. Yeah, it's still not spring. It it's not it's not spring for three more days. That's right. Uh it was seventy some degrees yesterday. So tree pollen is wrecking my world. Oh, I'm sorry. It is it like I took cold medicine and allergy medicine because I wasn't sure what the problem was. Yeah. Uh it's allergies. Um so I I'm just I'm struggling a little bit, but I'm enjoying that like I can go outside and not you I know you know how to use that. You know, it it it's's got a little bit of an interesting nope, close it. Close it. Okay. Oh yeah, yeah. Backhand it. We're doing uh we're doing beer opening uh tricks here. You know how to use a wine key. Yeah, but it's like a fancy, my wine key, this is oriented the other direction. So the beer opener on Andrews, it opens to the That's like the industry standard server. I've got two of them at the house and they're opposite. I have like ten. Mine opened towards the hinge. Okay. Yeah. The one I got at uh the one I got, I've been using the one I got at uh King's Estate last year and it opened. But you can look at that and also like see what's just. Sure, I was fine. It didn't we would have got there. You just you just made a big deal about it because you like to make a big deal about it. Yeah, that's the one. Uh other than that, I'm really good. I'm just, you know, chuggin' on along. It's St. Patrick's Day, so I made uh corned beef and cabbage with potatoes for dinner tonight. And in honor of St. Patrick's Day, uh we're drinking some some Guinness extra stout. Oh yeah that and that's nice too. That's nice. You were talking about Guinness and cans versus bottles. And I do like Guinness in a can, but uh I think the bottle you get a really nice flavor. It's funny the way different beers behave in different packages. Sure. Like I'm I know you've done side by sides of maybe unintentionally, of let's say like butt light, can, bottle, draft. Sure. And they're all unique. Totally. Yeah. Uh and when I was selling beer, there were people who were like like, Oh, I Bushlight out of a bottle only. Like, Okay. And try bushlight out of a bottle. Wholly different drinking experience. Yeah. Same with rolling rock from cans and glass. Rolling rock out of glass, phenomenal. Out of cans, skunk butt. Uh yeah, it's uh the extra stout out of glass is really lovely. I was looking for just regular Guinness and cans, but when you buy things on March 16th, you can't find Guinness in cans. Yeah. Uhci espeally when you live in vicinity of uh a university. Yeah. Um so well and Guinness is one of those beers too. You really I mean Guinness goes to shit out I feel like in a very short period of time. Uh I do not think it sellers well. Um yeah, no, I'm I'm with you. You uh do you know coanda crema the Yes which is what's the name of that brewery? Uh uh Pelican. Pelican Koanda Creme. If you've never had it,. uh Uh it it's good. But but here's what I'll say: it's amazing on draft. You can find it in a bottle. It's just fine. I don't even like it. I don't even I think it's below just fine. I will pass in a bottle. But Kwanda cream on ale draft. I'll get it every time. Oh, it's really good on draft. Yeah. Have you had it on nitro? Yeah. Yeah. That's where it's really good. Yeah. Cause then it's like a you're actually drinking like milkshake. A milkshake. Yeah. And it's not like a dark beer. Anyway. Uh no, it's just an ale, but it's like creamy and in any event, we're not here to talk about beer. Gosh, why are you rushing this? We're having a really nice time. Baseball or bottled versus canned? Rather, we're here to talk about watches, and I think we got a like we got a whole bunch of watches to talk about. Do have some things to talk about. First, I want to just briefly touch on uh British Watchmakers Day happened uh on March the 7th. It was a sold out show, eighteen hundred and fifty people. I know that doesn't sound very big when you consider the size of wind-up events throughout these United States. Um, but it was a sold-out show. There are some picture reviews of it, and I am just I I love British Watchmakers Day. Uh and one of these years, I think in the next five to seven years I will be in attendance. That'd be cool. That'd be a fun that'd be a fun trip. Yeah. Yes. So like I said, five to seven years, uh one at least I, Everett may also join, will be attending the uh British Watchmakers Day because it looks like such a fun event. I love celebrating like the British national watchmaking kind of revolution that we've seen in the last several years. Maybe not revolution, revitalization. Uh uh what's maybe a better word resurrection perhaps uh just this new and revitalized industry that's taking root in the United Kingdom. And we're seeing really cool stuff come out of the UK in the way of watches. Um, and I I love that they are, and especially that big brands and small brands are like are coming together to support each other, to support this national identity of British watchmaking. I think it's really cool. Uh pictures of it are really fun. And that's British Watchmakers Day. Another note that it has happened. Um And yeah, that's that's what I wanted to talk about briefly. Take a look at the pictures. You know, I think uh Great Britain is roughly the size of Oregon, which is to say it's about a hundred thousand square miles. Yeah. Uh, which, and of course it's spread over it it's spread over a few different land masses, right? You've got England, Scotland, Wales, but um it it's it's relatively it's relatively a tiny area. I mean, I think it's like less than half of the size of Texas. Uh yeah, it's way smaller. Which is which is it in this context, in this context, it's really cool. I I think that you you bring up it you know how cool this revitalized and and I and and frankly I'm I don't know enough about it to say that that's a totally appropriate word, but it I it seems right to me. As we sit here, it seems like a relatively accurate or apt description of what's happening. But like it just seems like Great Britain is this incredibly cool, you know, between the population and the you know buying power that they have, the economy that they have. They've just got this really cool opportunity for collaboration for something like the British Watchmakers it's Guild, right? Uh Guild or Association? I don't know. Uh to just be incredibly successful. And I think that's what we've seen. You know, the United States, we've got you know, I I think something like 80 or six between 60 and 80 Britons in terms of land mass. Uh y you know, and so dis despite the fact that we've got this American identity, we've got we're we're just spread to all hell and gone. And the the 40 times larger. Uh 40 times larger than oh we're 40 we have 40x landmass. Uh you know, which is actually kind of surprisingly less than I would have thought. But the reality is for us to work with someone in say Louisiana, in any meaningful sense, outside of like telecommunication, teleconference, is just it's impossible. Like there's no proximity. There's no um there's even there's like wildly different culture and even language. Like you talk to somebody from New Orleans. And that's true. And that's true in that's true in Great Britain as well, right? The w the Welsh people and the Scottish people and English people are all different cultures. But I think because they're so close and unified by that Brit British identity, I I don't know. I I'll stop babbling. But I just think it's a a really cool opportunity and I think that they're doing a really neat thing with the way they're pushing their their industry, their national industry. I love it. Agreed. Uh does that mean I have to talk about a watch? You could, or you could talk about the thing that I figured you were gonna talk about just briefly. Oh, I don't know what that is. Shohei Otani. Oh yeah. I'm not interested. He's a he's a Grand Seiko ambassador, which I think is cool. Uh yeah. I mean we could talk about it. I love Shohei. I I I I mean, look, look. I've been on the Shohei bus for years, right? Uh I even one time got in a in a third party argument with one of Mike Rezak's friends who's a sports writer. Uh I never have actually talked to this person, but I was like, Shohe Otani's the greatest baseball player y you know, maybe of all time, and nobody's talking anyway. This is a long time. Or Sammy Sosa? No, of course. Um I I just I've been on I've been on the uh the the Shohei bandwagon for a long time. I think he's terrific. He's now a uh Grand Seco Ambassador. A Grand Seco Global Ambassador, which is interesting because it's an like a relatively newish thing for Grand Seiko to be doing, and to be doing it with one of the most highly paid baseball players of all t all time, one of arguably one of the more recognizable global athletes is an interesting move. Not interesting, weird, but it's an interesting, it's a little bit out of the norm for Grand Sako to be partnering with somebody like Shohei Otani. And I'm wondering if they're trying to uh kind of carve a path and chart a path forward into a more zeitgeist-oriented keep that luxury uh good label, but to the people who follow baseball. Like they're they're m they're they're trying to break into a new market in a market in a in a way that we haven't really seen Grand Seiko do. Grand Seiko has just kind of been like, hey, here's our fat watch, take it or don't, and it's expensive, and I hope you like it. But now they're pushing toward baseball fans and people who care about Shohei Otani. And I think that's interesting. Yeah, and and maybe it is. Andrew, uh I I I will have to admit fully to knowing very little about the economics of ambassador marketing. I I just don't know the first thing, right? You know, it it there's obviously something to it. You know, these brands Rolex, Omega, Brightling, etc., uh, are very aggressive about getting the sexiest, coolest, most interesting people on earth to be ambassadors for the product. And and and Shohe Otani is a really lovely man. And they're paying people they're paying people obscene amounts of money to do this. So uh the reason I say that is there must be something to it. But I have a hard time I have personally have a hard time believing that anyone will be more likely to buy a Grand Seiko given this pretty fucking obvious ambassadorship. I I struggle to see the financial value in any watch brand ambassadorship. Right? Like just because David Beckham wears it, I'm I'm not gonna buy it. But I think we're maybe exceptions to that rule because we're people who uh obsessively research things before we buy them. Like by the time we buy something, we're almost bored of it because of how much we know about it, how how like meticulous we've been about the decision-making process to get there. It's now just sort of like the thing that we decided on because we wanted a thing. I think that we're a little bit out w we are absolutely people outside of ambassadorship influence You know, Andrew, we're uh I I think you're right. I think you're right. With that said, I also think we are both people who um have uh you know, a a pretty sort of diverse set of uh experiences and and I think we've got an ability to sort of understand human nature. Um not not uh supernatural for either of us, but mine is. But you know, I think we understand people. My my my point here is that uh like some things I get, right? I I get um I get a classy billboard, for instance, or I get product placement in movies. I really, really get product placement in movies, depend especially you know if you get the right movie holy shit you can you you can you know make the same shitty pistol for for uh uh over a hundred years and people will fucking just keep buying it, right? Sorry, Walter. But Sean Connery used it. God damn. But uh But yeah, I don't see it. I don't see this. It doesn't it it doesn't feel to me like there's that same. Yeah. Anyway. I think it's I think it's doing a thing. Timex has released a giant green ocean plastic field watch that looks like a dive watch. It does because it's made of ocean plastics. So uh yeah, they're calling this the I think the expedition free dive solar because it it's a uh it it's a solar movement so the expedition free dive solar is an ocean plastic case and bezel and strap ocean plastic band um that you'll probably throw away and it will end up back in the ocean. It is green. It's it's it's green everywhere except for uh zero to twenty on the rehot, which is kelp green. What yeah, it I think gold. I think it's kelp green. Like when those when the big like uh what's the what are those bulbous top kelps that you can smack and pop or uh uh it's i it's still oceany green it's not gold it's not yellow i'm just gonna disagree with your uh disagree with you here but um we'll we'll we can leave it at that so so green on green on green on green with a bit of yellow and or it's that color green that fucking that's green okay I do I do see what you're saying. Andrew's pulled up a picture of Coast Kelp that is yellow and he's calling it green to prove his point. It's green. I think you're colorblind. Okay. So everybody knows what we're talking about. I would like you all so if you can figure out a way to communicate your disdain for Andrews calling this green to me, I will give you Andrew's cell phone, and I'm not joking. I will give you his cell phone number to say your mean things to him. With that said, it's green. This watch, I think, should be really cool. It has all the makings. I think all the trappings. Should be really cool. But it's not. I I mean it's not not cool. I don't know. At 159 bucks, I think I'm good with it. I think I I like the materials being used. I think it's interesting. The design leaves a lot wanting. But I'm fine with the design. I'm fine with the design. Look, uh I don't I actually don't mind the design. I hate the waves on the dial. I don't even mind that. I think the the weighs on dial are fine. Doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that it's 46 millimeters wide by almost 15 thick, and it's got 50 meters of water resistance. It's a problem. Like the say you know, uh this is obviously not a galley designed timex, and nobody's suggesting that it is, but it is absurdly dimensioned that I mean it just it just almost doesn't make sense dimensionally. Like you made a dive watch that's 50 meters of water resistance and it's still 15 meters. Because it's made out of ocean waste. There's no o-rings in ocean waste. I mean it's got steel and a and a solar movement with silicone and silicon. It's uh Timax, man. What do we expect? They're not they're not gonna slam dunk everything. If this thing, if this thing costs 35 bucks or $49.99, A, we wouldn't be talking about it on this show. And B, it would be like, yeah, sure, whatever Timex. But they're marketing this. No, if this costs 40 bucks, I would absolutely talk about this watch. They uh we wouldn't because you and you know how I know that, Andrew, because Timex releases roughly th ten thousand SKUs per year that are that. This is different. But this is ocean plastic that this is different. This is a watch that they've got marketing ass behind that they're pushing out to watch publications that they are making a show of and they're selling for a hundred and forty bucks. It's a miss. We get a s if they're miss. If they're pushing this out to us, I get to say time X, you fucking swung at a miss. Yeah, they missed that one. Because you could go to you can go to Walmart right now, Andrew, and get the watch that you're just talking about that came out this year. Yeah, you could do it in the new Iron Man for 50 bucks. It's probably also out of ocean plastic. But I like this. I want to really like it, but it needed to be different than it was. It needed 100 meters of water resistance. I'm fine with that. I'm fine with that. Even big, even at 46, 100 meters of water resistance, I accept. Right? The Corona Tokyo we talked about last week with its diver shroud. What was it? 48? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it was huge. It was enormous. Yeah, it's huge. Uh it's not the size. It's it's the entire package. No, 46 is fine. I'd be fine with this at 46, because it's it's cool. I mean it's cool looking. It they just missed, right? That that's all I think it is. Um big crown guards. It's got a sexy crown. I like the hands. I actually don't mind the wave dial. I don't like the wave dial. I'm not a huge fan of the digital font. I'm not a huge fan of the shape of the bezel, but I can deal with all of the. I don't know. The shape of the bezel kind of makes the the plastic feel like mid-90s. It it does feel nineties. But but look at this. Look at how it dips down between 50 and 60. There's a recess, but between zero and twenty, there's no recess on the bezel. Yeah. Do you see what I'm talking about? Yeah, it's just a flat timer. Yeah. I mean, I guess that you could I I mean, I guess that you could like if you can't see, you can touch on the touch feel. Yeah, yeah. But if you can't see, like you're not gonna I mean maybe Well, but you could still use it to keep time, right? If you could see the hands. Sh well sure. I mean these hands are gonna be loomed, I'm you know uh but if you've got enough loom to see the hands, you you're likely getting enough ambient light off of the loom of the hands to illuminate your twelve o'clock triangle. This isn't like a watch and braille. It's a miss. I understand the design. It's meant to be like a touch feel, but unless that that ring is also loomed, it's it's a another swing and a miss. What's next, buddy? Okay. Since we're talking Timex, uh, Snoopy, for all of you who live near parks and have been terrorized by pickleball. Timex is honoring that with three Snoopy pickleball releases. Uh and I say terrorized by pickleball because in the last several years, uh pickleball obviously has made a an a a big explosion in uh the world. I've never played it. It looks kinda dumb. I think I understand why people like it, but pass for me. But the amount of noise complaints that are generated generated by people who used to like living near parks where people didn't play tennis, but now they play pickleball is hysterical and I love it because it's so dumb and so funny. Uh that being said, Timex has released a weekender, a Marlon Quartz, and a Marlin automatic, uh, all with versions of Snoopy playing pickleball. And it's just wild to me that this ridiculous tennis-adjacent sport has taken Americans by storm to such a degree that Timex has taken notice and is releasing Snoopy pickleball things. I drove to Portland uh a couple months ago. There's it what's it was called like pickleball world. It replaced an old sporting goods store in a mall and is just indoor pickleball courts and like a pro shop. I do not understand how that's financially viable. But people love it. Is that at Washington Square? Where is it? Uh shit. What's where did G.I. Joe's used to be? Town center. Uh Eastport Plaza? Clackness Town. Bridgeport. Bridgeport, oh okay. Yeah. Oh interesting. Okay. Yeah. Bridgeport, right? That's what it's called. Bridgeport, yeah. Tannisborne town center? No. Just south of Portland.. Yeah, Tannis. GI. Joe's, wherever that fucking used to be. Sure. Yeah, Tannisborne. Okay. Yeah. Cool. I I they're fun. They're Weekender and Marlins with Snoopy playing pickleball. Uh, and they're all priced how you'd expect them to be. No, they're not. 169, 240. Uh I think they're like 150 bucks right now. Like MSRP from Timex, hundred and fifty bucks. I mean I think you can get it a weekender for like fifty bucks. Can you? I mean you can get versions of the weekender probably I mean, what are we talking about here? Uh yeah, I think that's crazy. I think that that's the Marlins 250 bucks, the the the quartz and the and the automatic So the automatic is what 350 and the quartz is 250? Yeah. Um I how much is that off of MSRP? For non-Snoopy. What do you mean? How much are these? Yeah, yeah. Okay, so I've got a $73 Timex weekender on the website, and it that appears to be MSRP. Okay. So that's a lot.. Yeah The thirty seven millimeter case. Well and the two and the two fifty the two fifty quartz the Marlin quartz is Weekender is a brass cased watch, but this is why it's cheaper. The Marlin is a stainless cased watch. And so that delta makes sense, the delta between the weekender and the and the marlin quartz, but it's still that 250 is a fuck ton of money for that watch. These are fucking Timex special editions. This is what you pay for them. Fucking lame, I say. I don't disagree. Who's gonna you pay $150 for a brass case time X week weekend or I'm gonna slap you in the face? Promise? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's nuts. Uh yeah, yeah, not. But these aren't the the is this brass case weekender? It's brass case. Yeah, whatever. It's Snoopy Special Edition. These are what you this is what you pay for special editions. It's Timex. I don't like that. The brass case Marlin's got a cool got some cool details. The the the or not brass case the the quartz marlin has some cool details. The automatic also kind of fun, but I think that number is absolutely insane. I think it makes sense. The second the second's hand on the quartz marlin, I think really gives it the gives it the poop um but the pricing. Fuck that pricing. I want to price I want to watch the doesn't that that's not that's uh I said it before we started 170 bucks? What do you mean you don't know what I want? Tell me what you want. That's 170 bucks for a brass case. Dude, it's a let's move on. What do you got next? I I'm I'm like a little like that you don't think that's absurd. I think that you have to turn in your host credits. I I don't think it's not absurd. Sorry, you have to retire. Oh well. Is there a pension plan for like a buyout talk to will Will um awake last year was it last year or has it been two years now when they released the Son Mai collection. I think it's been two years. Um Awake. So i if you don't know the brand awake or the Son Mai, um I I think well, I think you'll have to go back and look. Uh, because it it it it's a really cool brand, really cool watch. With that said, a few years ago they released their first permanent collection, which is the Son Mai. It's Vietnamese, so I'm not I'm not December of twenty-four. Okay, so just a little over a little over a year ago. Um I'm not I'm not precisely sure certain on the pronunciation, but Sonmai is how I would say that. Um which was just a gorgeous set of watches. They've released it and some really interesting details. You know, I don't know if we ever talked about the Sun Mai on the show. I think we like had it on the list several weeks in a row and just never got to it, which is too bad. Um, but what these are is a sort of dress sport watch that's got this very sort of traditional look at first glance. But it's also kind of cushiony and like fveled. Yeah, a hundred. And and as you get closer, as you get closer to this watch, uh you you start to see other things that are just kind of like so so first things first the dial texture. So what this is is an applied silver leaf that's been coated with a transparent see-through uh uh sand and enamel, like multiple layer sanded. And the tears of an angel. Oh my god Oof. Um the the loom on these is printed superluminova, but it's capped by really excellent faceted polished stainless steel uh markers, the hands are built the same way. So when the loom is activated in the dark, it appears like a halo out from underneath and the sides of the the markers and hands. Um it's just this really wicked traditional looking watch that as you get closer, like you realize the bezel is, as Andrew mentioned, sort of like cushiony and round, but also really precise. And uh you've got great angles here, but they're also like softened with like this Gary-esque like illusion architecture. The lugs have kind of like this really gentle shoulder coming off of the case. Woo! Yes. So, anyway, really cool watches. I don't think we ever got gave them the proper treatment the first time around. Um and and and maybe this isn't the proper treatment either, but we alas are going to talk about it because they released a new silver leaf in what they're calling Atlantis blue. Like all of the Son Mai's, this is uh LJP G101 movement. This is limited. Am I colorblind? Is this a me thing? It's teal. They're calling it Atlantis blue, but it's definitely teal. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it's I was just about to admit that I'm wrong regarding the green. No, that I mean to me also does have some green in it. It's a teal. I would say this is a teal, uh, which is to say, sort of in between green and blue. Um the strap is blue, it's got this beautiful blue strap, uh, like all of the silver leaf sonmai's it's got an ombre which is not the term they use, but it sort of fades from a very bright uh uh color in the middle to almost black at the outside. Golly, this thing is gorgeous. Uh limited to 100 pieces. These are not, these are not super cheap. These are twenty four hundred dollars. Smoky gradient is what they call the the dial. Gradient. I thought there was another term that they used. Um with that said, uh with that said, you know, at $2,400, I think you s you have to decide if you like this watch before you're gonna get it. I'll give you some details. 316L seal, of course. It's a 39 millimeter with a very nice 45.6 lug to lug, 20 meters at the lugs. Uh we've got a width crystal thickness at 11.8, but a very but uh it's a prominently domed crystal that comes down to just under 11 at the top of the case. Um I think that this is absolutely fantastic. Made with traditional Vietnamese uh uh techniques on the dial, uh, and and crafted as well. So you know, a lot of production in the case of this watch, but these dials are crafted. Uh I just think this is terrific. Have you watched the video on on the the dial crafting? Yeah, I have. It runs on a loop and you could watch it for an hour. Just watching him just press the silver leaf onto the dial is what dreams are made of. And and and then, you know, the application of the the application of the enamel and hand sanded, I think it's like a ten hour process. Uh actually hands on this thing particularly. Yeah, because this is this has to it's something like this has to be hand assembled. Yeah. Um man, this is I've never seen that the silver leaf application before. I obviously it makes sense how they do it, but I I never if you were to say, hey, apply a silver leaf to this dial, it's that that's not the solution that I would reach. Really just a a really stunning watch. And Andrew, what's next? Uh how about the Doxa Sub two hundred grand Roma edition? Uh so this is a new edition for um Doxa. Right? This is the sub 200. And I can't think of the first if of any collaborations. I'm sure they've done oh, who's that Florida retailer that they've done that they do uh doesn't matter. They do all kinds of collaborations with that Florida retailer and they do special colors. This is an Italian collaboration in the Gran Roma, and it is coffee bean colored and it's lovely. I like the two hundred as a platf as a platform for uh collaborations. I I I think the entire Doxa catalog is perfect for collaborations because they have such a finite and recognizable color palette across the entire catalog that when you see any deviation, you know immediately that it is a special edition. And I think that's something you don't get with a lot of other brands doing collaborations where they have a hundred different colors and a hundred different SKUs and they're constantly iterating and doing limited editions. Doxa has like 12, 13 colors across every single model. And if you if it's not one of those, you know it's a special edition. I think that's kind of a cool thing that they do. Because you could see a notice special edition, and you might not recognize it as a special edition, or take your pick of brands that do a lot of collaborations that maybe just do a tweak on color or they change the handset or you know whatever. Uh I think because of Dox's color usage, it makes their special editions a lot more recognizable and I think maybe more fun. And I like the two hundred. And I I challenged you that if it wasn't anything other than a Doxa brand on the two hundred, I think you'd like it. And yeah, I mean I I've been uh I've been sort of negative about the two hundred. I I don't feel strongly different, but I I think when you challenged me on that I said you might be right. Um it it just doesn't feel like a it it just doesn't feel like a doxa to me. With that said, with that said, you know The 200's well spec'd though. I mean their recent release of the 200T uh I I'm sort of all about right. That's true. That's true and the 750 T which I really like. I I I do too you didn't like it that much after I tried it on. It it was a little bigger than I think I would want to wear regularly. You know, I had the opposite reaction. I I mean, really, uh I I put that thing on my wrist and I I was pretty positive about that watch on paper, and then I put it on and I was like, oh, everybody needs to try this on because agreed because it is way more comfortable than the size spec sheet would yes suggest. Yep. Uh it's just I think a little bit bigger than I would want to wear regularly. Yeah. Well i in and that in that makes sense to me. Uh but I think I think some people, m maybe a s not a small percentage of people might find themselves surprised putting that watch out. Doxa just has kind of a the way the that C case pulls itself together it it it tends to wear pretty well even at those bigger dimensions. Oh absolutely as a as a doxa owner I can tell you that it doesn't wear big at all. Yeah. I'm wearing a C63 today and I I think that it doesn't wear any bigger than this. Oh. At all. In the way it feels, it doesn't feel any bigger. And it is not s smaller in like a by a significant amount. Yeah, I mean I think there's gotta be a little bit of like like detachment from the dimensions. And we've talked about this a number of times, but I think we get hung up in the dimensions, right? But when you like look at the uh look at the watch like the uh Cartier de Santos, right? That that's a watch that like if you tried to on paper choose which Santos to wear, y you might struggle because I think most people would get the large and I think that they would find, oh, this wear is bigger than I wanted to w when really you know I think most people are better suited by the medium. I I I guess the point I'm just trying to make the point I'm trying to make is with with many watches, with many watches, the dimensions just don't tell the story. Yes. And and that's not controversial for me to say it, or nor is it novel. I'm not I'm not No, but when we when we spend all of our time online, you know, like best case scenario, we get a try it on first PDF to print it out the true size to dimensions and print out a sheet of paper and tape it up to our wrist. When we don't get to handle ninety-eight percent of watches but for special occasions you you kind of like you you build this this profile around dimensions and what you want to wear and what you like based on what you already own and what you've tried on. And it's it is kind of an impossible task to make these significant purchases without like feeling things in the metal. Because honestly, if I had if I had not had the opportunity to try on a medium and a large Santos, I likely would have gone with the large, and I would have probably been almost, if not, just as happy with it. Because Because it wears so svelt and so tight, but the I think I don't think you'd be happy with it. The medium is just like I put it on, but but I also knew like I'd put on a medium before. And I love it. The size on it is just perfect. Sucks down into my wrist. I think if you had the large, you would you would regret it. I think if you had bought the large, you would regret it. Maybe. Maybe. I mean it's a it's conjecture, but it's academic for sure. Um speaking of speaking of watches that should on paper work really well, but uh turned out for some people didn't. A few years back, Farrer introduced its cushion case collection, which is a lovely watch. Um, but it winds up in the way of sort of vintage tag hoyer feeling big. It was a 38 and a half millimeter watch that wore every bit of 43 because it's square. And um I think that many people's reaction uh upon seeing it, I think many people's reaction upon seeing it in the metal for the first time is, oh. Oh. That's a bigger watch than I expected it to be. Ferrer did, I think, the thing that they probably should have done from the get, which is release a second size of that, specifically 35 millimeters. Um, and they've released two colors of the cushion case collection, and both of them are terrific. Yes. So um these uh they're really different too. These are titled the Furneaux, which is a sort of raspberry color named after Captain Tobias Ferneau, an 18th century navigator and royal Navy officer who really, unbeknownst to most people, really enjoyed raspberries. Uh the second one is they they prevent scurvy. The second one is a teal. It's the Farer Teal. Belzoni, named after Sarah Belzoni, who's an English traveler and writer who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries. Uh I I don't know anything about Sarah Belzoni, nor do I know anything about Tobias Furneaux. I I besides that he likes raspberries. That was made up. No, it's real. Okay. Um on account of the scurvy. And they're gorgeous. These are gorgeous. I mean, they look they look exactly like you expect. If you know the thirty eight and a half millimeter, you will not be even slightly shocked when you see these. Uh indistinguishable perhaps. But you will like them. You will like them. These are gorgeous. And I think I I haven't seen these, uh, but I think you will find that the size of these is going to be excellent. These come with the hand wound Salita 210-1 movement, which is a 45-hour 4 hertz movement. And it's beautifully decorated. It's not. This is not, I'll just say this is not the most handsome movement. Uh, but Farer, as as they are wont to do, has done a terrific job decorating this movement so that it looks lovely. Um, the crown of, course, we've got that fair A laid into the steel. Uh that this is a hit from me. 1,165, which is an incredibly fair price on these, I think, given what we know about Ferrer. Great texture on these dials. The texture on the the Furneau pink. So it has a pink arrow tip on the second hand. And then a much more red dial, but the texture on it is like almost severe relative to that gentle red. It kinda likes looks like looking at like a brain uh like really deep dark lines in it it is gorgeous yeah uh but you have to appreciate a texture dial to appreciate it uh because the teal is very differently textured. Uh no, that's right. Yeah, it it's it's a it's a lighter texture. It's it's a much lighter texture. And and rather than being kind of randomized, like almost topographical on the red, it's it's a it's closer to linear on the teal. Yeah. Uh, which is an interesting decision to have such drastically different texture patterns. So dimensionally, we're at 35 millimeters across by 38 millimeters long. If you've seen these cushion cases, they've got a very short, a very uh discrete and short lug-to-lug, 18 millimeter lugs on this, which is appropriate, although I don't think 20 would hurt it design-wise. It might make it harder for them to fit. It might make it harder for them to get the crowns to a meaning to a good size. Um and 10 millimet 10 millimeters thick, which is terrific. Only 15 meters of water resistance on this, but that's appropriate. That's what these really should be. That's fine. Um I just I think they hit this they hit they hit this out of the park, even though it it's really just a new size. I I think this is the right size. I I genuinely believe that they should have led with this. This is a or at least done a contemporaneously Cartier Santos Sitch. Yeah, I think so. Yep. Maybe maybe a bigger gap though than the than the dimensions on the two Santos. Even though I think millimeter for millimeter, it's it's probably pretty close to identical. Yeah. Yeah. Really cool. Really cool. Good release by Fair. Smart release by Fair. Serica. Fuck yeah, dude. 5330 dive chronometer. Now with a date window, uh, which is not something that I care about, but some people do. And it is great, they did such a good job. So this is the 5330. It's a whole new reference. It is a 39 millimeter case. It's the same case as the 5303, 12.2 thick, double dome sapphire 46 lug to lug, just like a perfectly sized compact felt dive watch, uh two-scale bezel, ceramic insert. It's all the things, and it comes on Bracelet options that you could possibly want, three o'clock date window, and a cost certified uh what's the movement they're running? Uh it's the Kinessi. It's the Kinesie. Kinisi? I think so. Isn't it? Am I am I just thinking the Soprod M100? Oh, I'm sorry. It's the Soprod M100 Cosk certified, not Cosk plus uh 300 meters of water resistance. Why does that keep powering up? Yeah, I don't know. Andrew's got uh ghost in the machine. In in my printer. Is it gonna print something? Should we just unplug it? Hard to say. Can you hear that at home, folks? Can you hear that no andrew uh uh how many so i i am struggling wait wait sixteen hundred and ninety bucks on this for a cost certified 300 meter dive watch. Yeah, but that's just Serica stuff hold on. But it's no, but that's a that's a good like that's good. Well, that's just Sereika stuff I I mean that's right. That's right. I the I I think what I was what I was hoping that we would get to here with this is it is this is how bizarre a release this is. How how many brands can you off off the top of your head think of that could release a watch that and we'll talk about the differences, but it's virtually indistinguishable from their prior releases. And they but they added a date window and we'd be like, A, that's cool. And it's notable. B, they really did a good job with this. And and C uh I didn't didn't make me feel like shutting my computer and crying. Tudor released blue and broke the internet. And we made fun of it because it was kind of annoying. And then Will bought one and he was like, hey the Will's the the blue's pretty okay. Will go away. Tudor, go away. Uh no. So uh uh first I you know, I never even considered that it was lacking a date window. It never even occurred to me. Here's what I'll say. This is done in a perfectly stereo way, which is to say not outrageous, not bold. In fact, opposite of bold might be appropriate. It is tasteful. Right? It's tasty. Tasteful. They have added this thing tastefully. It is just a three o'clock marker date window. It's got slightly rounded corners on the date window. It's a rectangle with just ever so slightly rounded corners, which if you never thought if you if you didn't know you needed that, go look at the spotch and now you'll know. They did it in red, which in terms of uh that's pretty wild for Serica. That is the the wildest thing they've ever done. There's a couple of other things that are notable here. The uh Serica dive watches in the past have all come with a glossy dial. This has a matte dial, which is beautiful. Uh furthermore, the case on this is all satin versus the the brushed and polished combinations that Serica normally runs. So a little bit different feel on this watch. I I'm pretty impressed by how restrained this release is. And I don't mean that sounds a little stupid. I realize that and I'm sorry. But I'm I'm actually I saw this and I was taken aback by the restraint and the tastefulness of this release. I feel like that's everything Sereca does. Yes. It's just an exercise in pure restraint. Like they take it right up to the edge, back it off three notches, and release really, really attractive, really refined, familiar, but innovative watches. I love them. Sereca can do no wrong. I yeah, you might be right about that, Andrew. Um that this is this is perhaps proof of that um andrew there we're we're getting long in the tooth here um uh there's at least one of your watches that I haven't read about and so I can't really talk about. Um but but I think we should talk about uh but that means you have to talk about it. The the F-77 Mark II. Oh, yeah. So um I I feel like I'd seen this watch before, but I don't remember us ever talking about it or thinking about it. So the Mark II is this sort of bizarro integrated sportswchat, octagonal bezel that we all know. And it's a 38mm case, it's 12.1 thick, 46.2 lug to lug. So it's like sort of the goldilocks sizing for an integrated sport watch. It's 100 meters of water resistance, so prod p024 automatic movement, 38 hours of power reserve. Uh these are 1500 ish Euros and this is now on they they've released now an Aventurine for it which is something that I never thought that I would need in this like linear polished sport watch case with a venturine that just like makes me feel like I'm looking out of the uh cockpit of the Millennium Falcon. This seems like maybe the most densely packed Aventurine dial I've ever seen. And that's what really really caught my attention. Uh is Aventurine is variable. This is dense eventurine. And I'm smitten. So sorry, I I do think w we talked about the stone dial releases a few weeks ago. I did we? We did. We talked about the green adventuring. Um Yeah. I'm struck you know what? When I saw this, I thought, is this different? I think that this may just be a release in that same line. In fact, I think this was announced at that time. Um I I still glad we talk about it again because what a great release. Up to 38 millimeters on the diameter of this, down to 12.2 from 12.65 on the thickness. Great. price We did talk about that. Yeah. And that uh Andrew, that Aventurine, you know, I think on their product photos it looked really dark. But on the hands-on photos that we've got from time to time. Right. Yeah. It it's got a really lovely sheen. And you know, of course, Aventuring is gonna be, you know, unique piece to piece. And so maybe there's some color variations, but um I'm glad we're talking about this again because the it's sort of mind-blowing. It's 1360 if you're in the market for if you're in the market for uh almost integrated steel sport watch, yeah. Man. It's got like a collar to make it look integrated, but it's not quite. Yeah, and I think it still is, right? You couldn't just jam uh you couldn't just dan jam a 20 millimeter dress strap in there or it's a 22, and I think is it 22 across? It's 22, and I think you could, because if you look at the if you look at the strap twenty two across. That's what it says. It says in the spec sheet. It's 22 across. So it's got like a collar on the bracelet and they have integrated straps for it, but I think if you were to just put this on a 22 millimeter I mean based off of their maybe they're measuring 22 to the outside of the of the lug width but that does not look like twenty-two to me. I I think it's worth a a consideration that if I it looks like eighteen to me. It looks like fourteen to me. But if I yeah, if if you were to put it on a strap, I don't I mean I don't know. I need somebody to put some calipers to it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I I I'm and clarify because I think it's probably twenty-two to the outside of the strap. Okay. But if cause if you look at the underside. I think that's what it is. I think you're right. It's twenty-two to the flank to the outside of the flanks on the strap, is my guess. Yeah. Cause even like it's like a false collar on the if you look at the underside of the bracelet handlink. Well uh co cool watch. I saw it on your list is phenomenal. I saw it on your list and I thought, well, I I'd I I kinda like to talk about that. Um I the only other watch that I really want to talk about today is the new Raketa. So when I got into watches, there was like Seiko, there was Orient, there was Vostok, right, and then somewhere along the way, there was also you know, as a TWS guy, like uh Russian watches come up frequently in their early shows and perhaps still now, I I I can't say for certain. Um and Raketta came up quite a bit and I was always interested, I was already sort of like adjacently interested in Rakhetta, but didn't really ever get there. Turns out Raketa still just humming along. And turns out Raketa making kind of rad yes. Making kind of rad watches. Um they just released a watch to celebrate the sixty fifth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first man in space flight, which is to say, first man to reach outer space and orbit the earth. I don't, although to be in orbit of the earth, I guess, is more appropriate. To orbit the earth, I think is the is the way it's phrased. And so they've released a twenty four hour timekeeping watch to celebrate that. And it is really excellent looking. Uh, it looks like it's incredibly well made, which if maybe if you're anything like me in looking at this thing, that is a slight surprise to you. No offense to the raqueta folks, none none intended anyway. Um 20 read in a 24 hour timeout. They're calling this the by Coner, which I'm sorry, I don't know what that means, and I should have looked it up and I've got it. My guess would be the by time zone. Um it is a 24-hour dial complement by a second 24-hour interbezel. Uh no fourth hand. The Baikonar Cosmodrome is the world's first and largest operational space launch facility located in the southern Kazakhstan. There you go. Local time tracked on the on the primary dial on the 24-hour scale. The second crown is used to adjust the inner bezel to set a second time zone. We've got daytime and nighttime hours that are indicated on both, executed in white and black. Huge and bold red accents here. And then we have a what what is it? It's got a solar calendar that you can use theoretically if your instruments are fucked and you need to like hand navigate from space back to Earth. So I think at that point you just accept that you're gonna die. Your Raquetta is not gonna save you, man. We've got um we've got superluminova on the hour markers for the night time of local time, but not but not for the daytime of local time, which is cool. Uh and then we have a solar compass. Well the idea is that if you're traveling in space and you're returning to Earth, you just point it at the Earth. And have damaged equipment, this compass could, you know, sort of like allow you to get your bearings when you land, you know, in who knows God knows where. Uh oh okay, fine. Thanks, Rackett. Um, it is an automatic. Interestingly, automatic watches don't work in space because of gravity. So they've got a decoupler that can be used in hand-wound mode that decouples the watch from the automatic function theoretically to prevent excess wear and tear. It is an in-house movement. The caliber 2624 CA. I'd be lying if I told you I knew even the first thing about that caliber. What I can tell you is it's not a bad-looking caliber. Um, it's lovely. And these are, you know, about three grand for a 42 millimeter dual crown 24-hour format watch with 200 meters of water resistance. Uh and I I want one almost just because I'm like, yeah, I mean, you nobody you'll never meet another person that has this. Unless you meet Soviet cosmonaut. It maybe even then. Yeah, they probably don't have these. They probably can't afford it. They get mandatory gifted them because it's named after their launch pad in Kazakhstan. I I don't know that that's how Russia works. I mean I don't know either. I've never been. I think it'd be cool. I'd love to see the red square. This is a really cool watch. It is a really cool watch. The internal rotating bezel, the the kind of novel GMT functionality that they have applied here is cool. The design on it is just it it looks very, very Soviet. And it's not it doesn't look Russian. It looks very Soviet, like very Raketa, very 80s Soviet with all the modern flourishes, some novel design ideas. Uh I don't understand the solar compass, but I think it's just because I'm not smart enough to understand space flight. I feel like if you're lost, you just point it out. I think it's just a compass. It's not a space flight. It's just a compass that uses the light to tell you where to go, right? It's like a compass bezel. I don't think it is. I I accept, but I I feel like it should be. Yeah, fair enough. Right? Like if you're gonna call something a solar compass, like point it at the bright thing is not a solar compass. That's just that's that's just being a moth. Andrew, I think you've gotten through about half of your watches. I got through about three fourths of mine. I'm done. Okay. I mean, there's some other really cool stuff on your list. I already close the tabs. Okay, fair enough. Uh other things, what do you got? So as I said earlier, today is Saint Patrick's Day. So as with every Saint Patrick's Day, I made corned beef and cabbage. Uh I typically brine my own brisket flat uh I just I lost I didn't even know I just didn't know I lost track of time and didn't get a chance to go buy a brisket didn't get a chance to get a brine made uh so I bought a pre-packaged brisket flat from a company called and it's a it's a brand that I bought before and I'm always a little embarrassed from a blan a brand called Blarney Stone. They have it at Winco. It's like 20 bucks for enough brisket for dinner for four and then like some leftovers. It's almost as good as doing it yourself. You just put it in the slow cooker, add some water, add the seasoning packet. It's already brine. Because all a brine is is just salt and seasoning. You need to do nothing. I threw it in my slow cooker. My actually my wife threw it in the slow cooker this morning because I forgot to do it before I left to work. Uh she turned it on and low. I got home from work. I threw the cabbage and potatoes in, turn it on on high for like three more hours, and it was fantastic. As much as I will always advocate for doing it yourself and doing the scratch thing, because it feels better, even if it doesn't necessarily taste better. If you're not in the mood to give up uh you know five pounds of space in your fridge for a week, Blarney stone, flat, pre-corned beef is terrific. I I'm all about it. I'm embarrassed to say it's almost if not as good as mine. It's indistinguishable in my family, so that makes me think that it's maybe just as good. But I don't feel as good as about it. I can feel that. Yeah, I mean you you said like it's almost as good. And I was like, I'm sure it's exactly as good. It's different. Sure. Because you didn't do it. Well but it the the the the nuances aren't there and what I will say too is that when I slow cook mine, the vegetables come out better seasoned. Fair enough. I don't need to season the vegetables at all. Yeah, yeah. When you slow cook this one, you do need to season the vegetables after they come out or before they go in. Take your pick. But it's just it's not as it's not quite as well seasoned, but the brine is there, the curing is there. Um but it just has less like the peaks and valleys are are narrower. Andrew, how much do you know about wine. Wine? Yeah, wine. Like how to drink it? Sure. I mean, just like well. I am above average knowledgeable about wine. Because of your because of things that I've done in the past like experience in the industry. And then subsequently the interest that evolved from that and just kind of like m maintained um Um, I am not unfamiliar with wine. I'm not unfamiliar with wine, uh, but I'm also not A wine aficionado. Yeah. Which is to say, like, I know the names of a handful of wines. I know that I like this with that, and I like this with that. Um and by this, I mean there's like five wines that I'm familiar with. And so when I open up a wine menu, you know, it's anyway. Long story short, Kim and I went to an Italian restaurant in Ashland this last weekend. And I'm just gonna I'll just start by saying and then I'll and then I'll end that part of the conversation. I'm gonna start by saying uh this was the best Italian food I've ever had in my life. Pictures looked amazing. Uh it's called uh Osteria La Bricola, and it was absolutely phenomenal. They have a carpaccio appetizer that's served with uh like a like a fawn du drizzle on top. Holy shit. Like I could just eat that. Like if you were like it looked like a carpaccio plate that you should just roll up and eat like a beef roll up. I mean there was a there was a half a mind to do that. Um pounded just as absolutely thin as it could be, but not beaten through anywhere. It was terrific. I don't it didn't look pounded. It looked like it was probably like pressed, maybe pressed, like sliced and pressed. It might be. Because there was not any texture to it. It was just so thin. Yeah, it looked really, really good. It was so fucking good. And anyway, I'll leave the food alone for a second. But um I was looking at the wine menu and you know, of course I'm looking for like the half dozen things that I'm familiar with, right? And our gal came out, so first our server was probably like 11 years old. And I was like, How the fuck is this person old enough to serve alcohol? You're in Southern Oregon, man, they ain't no rules. And she comes out and she's like, if you have any questions, I'm pretty familiar with our wine menu. And I'm like, Yeah, right, lady. Uh, but she was like a little aggressive, like, let me help you pick wine. And so I we were like, fuck, sure, whate And uh you know, go ahead. Like I I was almost like a little irritated. You know, I wasn't irritated, but like it like it I didn't want to defensive because you felt like she wasn't old enough to actually know enough to talk about it to help you. And so anyway, she starts she's like, Well, what are you gonna get? And we're talking about what we're gonna get. And she sort of brings us to the section of wines. Which and you had a diverse menu, right? Like to move from carpaccio into like a pasta dish and I don't remember what the other thing was. Yeah, we had the wild boar tagliatelli and a like a dark mushroom uh risotto. Uh so but why did you do that? The way you said risotto. Rizzotto? I hate that. I mean, I think that's how you say it. I'm gonna flick you right in your nuts. Continue, but I think that's how you say it. Yuck. What what do you what do you affect about? You don't speak Italian. You don't have to like accent things. It's Rosotto. Alright. Uh Rizzoto. And uh anyway, she came out and she was like, uh this wine nebbiolo. I've never heard of this. You know, there was a couple different kinds of Barolo, but there's Nebbiolo proper, and she said, you know, based on what you're getting, I think this is what I recommend. It is really light in color, like because I said, well, I like a pinot noir, but you know, it's a it's you know more for a lighter meal. We're kind of going heavy tonight. I do like a Syrah, but I think that's too heavy. And she's like, I want you to try this wine. I think you'll try it. Uh we spent too much. We, you know, got the upgrade version of it. And uh she gotcha. Dude, this was it so not knowing anything about wine, this is my other thing for the night. I I think I think my other thing is maybe like i it wine's really interesting and if you if you've ever sort of been wine curious, it it was a lot of fun to have a new wine from someone who knew about wine who was recommending it to us. Um, but also like Nebbiolo kind of blew my mind because it's very light, but it has this like it has this like brightness and acidity that felt really light, but then like at the end it got like really like earthy and licorice flavor, like it's this full like roller coaster of wine and it I just think it could pair with a billion different meals. You know, like I would drink this with steak, I would drink this with oysters and not even think twice about it. It is my favorite wine I've ever had. It it so I and I'm not gonna say what I got specifically, although Nebbiolo is interesting because it's kind of familiar flavor profile to like but like most Americans are not familiar with like Spanish and Italian wines, right? We drink a lot of French wines and a lot of American wines because they grow at similar latitudes, right? Latitude, similar latitudes. So we're really familiar with French and American wines that are derived from French wines. Italian wines are phenomenal. Nebbiolos are closest comparable to like a Pinot Noir, but they have a much they're they're punchier, I think, um in in the ways that you want them to be. And I think a like just a little bit deeper. I think Pinot Noirs are like I I think they're kind of flat. I don't super dig Pinot Noirs, they sort of seem one dimensional. Nebulos are not like that. Definitely not. I I mean I I don't think Pinot Noirs are flat, but I do I I was really blown away by this wine and now I'm like everywhere I go, I'm gonna be like What Nebbiolos do you have? And then pretend like I know anything about what they have and order the one that's the price out of the way. They probably don't because Italian wines just aren't that popular, at least where we are. Even at Italian restaurants, but they they tend towards French wines because that's what people are familiar with here in the Pacific Northwest because all of our big Oregon vineyards are French wine or French grape derived. Um and I think that's a a big loss for a lot of Americans because the French wine industry has like has the real stronghold here and we lose out on uh a lot of really great wine culture throughout the rest of the world because Italian and Spanish wines are fucking phenomenal and they're so different and familiar, but they're they're just really different and exciting. And I I'm I'm really glad you got to experience an exciting new wine because very much like experiencing an exciting new liquor that's virtually the same, but different. Yeah. Like you just tried a a slightly different grain bill in this in this wine. You're like, oh fuck, this is wholly different and amazing. And I've been missing out. That's awesome. Yeah, that's it. I'm like. But your palette has been trained by you know a lot of different whiskeys to coffee and whiskey and beer and and cigars and tobacco and and and these things that you try and experience and learn about to isolate flavor profiles and to like find the line through your tongue. Uh yeah, I th I think that's really cool. But I was like, I'm like, oh, you know, can I get like you get that little licorice on the end? And she was like, No. No. I get carpaccio on the end. It's like there's no licorice. And I'm like, well it's not licorice, but you know it's a little, and she's like, well, a little fennel-y. Yeah., No no., I don't That's that's just training your your palate. Uh I I have had a couple Nebbiolos. I don't know what bottle you had, but I've I've only had a couple and uh I I really liked them and I was I think they're most easily comparable to a Pinot Noir. Yeah. It uh very, very good. Like a Pinot Noir, but like with a little bit more little junk in the track. Are you ready for it? Terroir. I hate that. Hey folks, thanks for joining us to this episode of 40 and 20, the WatchClicker Podcast. Do me a favor, go to our website, watch clicker.com. That's where we post articles and reviews and things about watches that are usually written. And also pictures. If you want to follow us on social media, you can do that on Instagram at watchclicker or at 40 and 20 underscore watchclicker. That is where we post uh photos and uh other things of about watches or what we're doing on the website and this podcast. If you want to support us and oh boy, we hope you do, you can do that at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. 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