In the 256th episode of 40 and 20, The Watch Clicker Podcast, we each create a 5 watch collection with a $5,000 budget. The wrinkle is that Everett must select only used and I select all new.
Andrew:
Everett:
Hamilton Khaki Field Chronograph
Other Things:
Andrew: MiG 28
Everett: Swimming Goggles
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This Episode’s Sponsors:
Escapement Media: https://escapementmedia.com
Foster Watch Co: https://fosterwatches.com
Frank Affronti Photography: https://www.affrontography.com
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Intro/Outro Music: Bummin on Tremelo, by Kevin MacLeod (incompetch.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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Episode Transcript
Hello fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify.
You're listening to 40 and 20, the Watch Click the Podcast with your hosts Andrew and
my good friend Everett.
Here we talk about watches, food, drinks, life.
I don't know if things we like Everett, how are you?
I got beer on my leg.
That happens.
It's better than other things you could have gotten on your leg, especially sitting this
close to me.
Skate, skate.
Andrew, I'm doing well.
I'd be skeatin' through the entire episode.
I'm doing well.
Yeah, that's it.
That's all I've got to say.
I'm doing really well.
He's not busy, he's not tired, work hasn't been crazy, he's just well.
None of those things are true.
No, I did start working out in earnest this week.
I've got like Tuesday.
Yes, that's correct.
My body is feeling a little bit of like, wow.
I mean, it's been like, since I hurt my knees, since I've really been working out.
You're swimming or are you doing some light weights?
Light weights, swimming and light weights.
But it's like a good, I can feel my body, but it feels nice.
It's not a bad.
Your muscles are like, oh, I like that.
It hurts so good.
Like, spank me a little harder next time.
That's right.
Andrew, how are you?
I am good.
I had one of those days.
I've had just a ringer of a couple of weeks.
So today, I just didn't want to have an idle mind and just kind of like dwell on things.
So in an effort to mitigate that, I just got productive.
I knocked off shit from my to-do list that's like months in the making.
And it felt great.
I got so much stuff done today.
On the end of it, I didn't feel good because I was just like, man, still sucks.
But look at all this great stuff that I accomplished today.
It felt good about it.
Unfortunately, by way of accomplishing some tasks, it like very much like, what's the,
the, the dragon you cut ahead off the hydra?
Hydra.
Yeah, very hydra-esque tasks today where the completion of one yielded.
Oh, fuck.
Many others to be completed.
But got a lot done today.
I'm feeling really good about it.
The good news is the shower is super clean.
The bad news is we need all new grout.
Yeah, exactly.
I did remove all of that.
The mold was too deep.
I also, I, I made, I was smoking a chicken because like it was a really good way.
You were out of weed.
Yeah.
You know, it was weird, but I liked it.
So I spashed a chicken, threw it on the smoker and was like, man, I got shit to do.
I'm already smoking one.
So I like dug through my freezer for all the gallon bags of chicken carcasses that have
just made their way into various corners of the freezer and spent several hours simmering
into a stock.
How many corners does your freezer have?
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, eight corners between the top and bottom.
How many corners does yours have?
Mine has four.
Your house just smelled delightful.
It does.
It smells like chicken noodle soup.
I think I a little bit over seasoned it because the problem is now I can't really use it for
just kind of like a deluder.
It's got, it brings a lot of flavor to the game.
You could cut it a little bit.
So I condensed it more than I usually do.
So I took what was a five gallon pot with all of the vegetables and carcasses and pulled
it down to just over two gallons of liquid.
So it's super concentrated, which is what I intended to do.
And then I've got it split out into freezer bags so I can cut it.
That was my intention for this go around.
You just go straight in your pweir.
Do you do like a fancy, fancy soup?
I just did a mere pweil.
Like just a simple one.
I did like a bunch of like just skin on smashed garlic and two.
Because the other thing is like all the chicken carcasses are just like varying degrees of
chickens that I've made.
Like some have been smoked.
Some are like have a dry rub on them.
Yeah, you got there's some smoke in the air.
So there's in the air.
Well, because my smoker was running all day too.
So like I'm in and out and I'm smoky from having been in and out with like over the smoker.
I did some smoked mac and cheese too.
Ooh.
What do you do?
You smoke the cheese or you smoke the.
See you al dente the noodles.
Make your roux and your cheese sauce.
Mix it all together.
So it's you have undercooked pasta.
You smoke that.
And then top it.
That's a casserole.
And then I topped it with some panko and then the shelf stable like pizza parmesan.
Uh huh.
And just threw it in the smoker to let it brown up and crisp up.
Okay.
So I just rode with the chicken for a couple hours.
Rad.
Yeah.
Rad.
That's almost good.
I'm a little jelly.
It does smell good.
Well, Andrew, in any event we're not talking about Mirapawas or smoked chicken.
We could though.
We could we could do entire episodes on.
Certainly we could.
On the things we make.
You know, I was talking to someone today about commuting over food and how your life is
actually enriched by more deliberately commuting over food.
Not with not focusing on the communing, but focusing on the food that communing is a is
it improved.
And I thought that is such a interesting idea.
And I don't know if it's accurate or not.
And it doesn't really matter.
But the theory was by concentrating on food with other people, you make better friends
and you have better relationships.
I thought it's worth a try.
I always had this idea for a restaurant because I hate cell phones.
Like I just hate them and I hate email.
I always had this idea for a restaurant that you'd open it up.
And if the if the party was willing to lock their phones in a safe in the middle of the
table for the duration of their meal, they would get some kind of like discount or bonus
or comped something or other.
It's you know, I like an in theory, but I think it would just feel heavy handed.
I don't know you could do that without being heavy handed.
No, you couldn't.
But that's what like you lock it and your server has the key.
And it's not heavy handed.
It's just like you accepted your face like going into an escape room like motherfucker,
you're in there.
I went to a party like that once, but it wasn't our phone.
We all put our keys on the wall.
Yeah, it had a different outcome than I expected.
It was weird.
Yeah.
We're talking about watches, Andrew, especially when I pulled your keys.
Like that was like that was surprising to all of us.
I'd set that up.
We are talking about watches today, Andrew.
And well, this is your episode.
This is my episode.
And I love it.
As per usual.
So tell me about what we're doing today.
Okay.
So one of the a comment that we got, it's probably been a year was that folks wanted us
to folk a person recommended that we kind of revisit some of our early style episodes.
And that like that always kind of resonates when I'm thinking about episode ideas.
What are we doing this week?
Shut the fuck up, Everett.
I'm telling the story.
Thank you.
So when I think about.
Well, that felt like active listening, but you know, nothing about active listening.
You know about active talking.
Our early episodes, we did a lot of kind of listical things, like things that we liked.
And it was partly because that was what we knew.
We were like simultaneously exploring this for ourselves and sharing our kind of journey
with folks.
And we've taken some turns along the way.
But something that I thought of was what about doing because we used to do collections
for a certain amount of money.
So my idea was a five watch $5,000 collection with one big huge wrinkle.
Everett, when we do these lists, it's always cheats.
He's like, yeah, well, you can get this one used usually for like 450.
Yeah, it's a $900 watch, but I've got this.
It's usually 450.
So the asterisk said Everett had to go all used watches that you could click by it now
today.
So every watch that he picked had to be available today.
But you can usually find it in this range.
It's no, I found this watch on whatever website.
You don't have to cite your sources.
I'm not, you know, not crazy.
I'm going to trust you here.
But I believe that every watch that he has picked, he found a reputable website from
which or source, you know, whether it be Reddit or eBay or could buy it today.
Sources have been cited.
They will be links to these watches in the show.
And I am going all brand new because that's how I like to buy things.
I like to buy it brand new.
I don't want anybody else's fingerprints or tongue marks on my watch before I buy it.
Thanks, Frank, for now making me concerned about how many people have licked my watch
before I buy it.
So that's the premise of our episode.
Five watch collection, $5,000.
I'm going all brand new.
Everett is going all used.
All of them you can buy today.
But each collection had to be a collection, right?
It's not just five watches.
There had to, it had to be curated because I think I can say, at least for me, my first
seven to 10 watches were not curated.
They were very much like butterfly catcher, like Pokemon hunter.
Just I like this.
I want it now.
I would argue that all of your watches are in that realm.
But I think now both of us are much more deliberate in the purchases that we make.
So when we're looking at a $5,000 collection for five watches, we're thinking $1,000-ish
dollars a watch that's going to be up and down on the scale.
But this is a deliberate collection.
There's a theme, a theme, an idea, a reason behind it.
Because if you were to go, if all your watches are lost in a fire, and you get your insurance
money for them, I would venture to guess that you're not going to buy many of the watches
that you've lost.
Some a good handful maybe.
You know, it's interesting.
I'll get more to this when I unveil my methodology.
But I actually had to kind of pause at one point and change some of the watches that
I'd come up with because they were watches I owned.
And I didn't feel beholden to that.
But at some point I was like, this is boring because I own 60% of these.
And I'm likely to pick up the others.
It's interesting that you say, you know, my watch, my collection is so scattered.
I think done a pretty good job of finding the watches and procuring the watches that fit
the holes in my collection.
After your first 10.
Yeah, no, maybe even 12.
You're right about that.
You're right about that.
So you know, my experience has certainly, my experience owning watches has certainly guided
how I look at watches today.
I don't know that that's ever been quite as evident as it was as I was making this list.
And I was actually pretty like almost tickled that like, you know what, I've done a really
good job.
I've got these watches and I actually have five watches today that I don't own.
But my list, I had to work a little bit to get there.
My list that I went with are watches, no watches that I own.
Yep, same.
I came up with five lists.
I was working on a sixth and then it got derailed.
But five really deliberate lists.
And obviously it was picking like plug and play throughout all the lists.
And then I finally got one where I was like, this is a list.
This is a collection.
All right, let's try again.
So who's leading us off today, Andrew?
Let's hold your used watches for the end.
I'm going to start.
Okay.
Yeah.
So I want to hear about your methodology because you told me this that you had come up with
like five totally distinct and discrete lists.
Totally distinct lists.
So what I started with was kind of a cornerstone watch.
And in most cases, it actually wasn't even the most expensive watch on the list, which
kind of surprised me.
Yeah.
So I went with, let's build this collection out from, I'm going to make my first grown-up
watch purchase.
This is what I like.
Okay.
That's the pick.
Now let's build around it.
So I'm going to, one watch was, one list was just kind of a ridiculous list.
Was like the baller list.
I tried to see what I could make around a BRO5.
Okay.
And it's actually not a bad list.
Okay.
Because I sent you that one.
Yeah.
You did.
It's not a bad list.
You're looking at it and you're like, that's only $5,000.
Yeah.
That's really manageable.
So what I wanted to do was create a cornerstone with, this is the style of watch that I like.
And maybe this is a really thoughtful researcher, or maybe this is somebody who's been in the
game for a little bit and it's kind of refined to the things that they like and do a total
liquidation and start over.
The watch that starts my list, and this is, this is just, this is a me list, right?
All the, all the lists that I made were lists of collections that I would want to have because
otherwise I wouldn't have picked the watch.
I started out with the Monta Triumph.
It's $1,700.
That's my, that to me is probably one of the best value watches on the market.
It's clean.
It's dressable.
It's super sporty.
It's super well made.
The finishing's fantastic.
And you're getting the Swiss bit to it.
It's a full on grown up watch.
Which is kind of, we've talked about Swiss and whether or not it matters kind of at length.
It matters and it doesn't.
But it's just kind of a flex.
It's nice to have.
So that's where I started.
I started with a Monta Triumph.
I love it.
What color?
In black.
Okay.
So I'm going to show you your straight utilitarian, I can wear this watch anywhere.
The only thing I'm not going to do in it is swing a hammer.
And even then you probably could.
I do.
Next up.
My black Monta Triumph.
Next up.
I wanted to get something a little bit fun.
Kind of like just not silly, but a little fun.
We go with the brew metric.
So is that the, so just backing up for a second.
So you're starting with the Monta Triumph.
Yes.
You've, I think it's a great place to start, right?
Because it's sort of like the steel sports watch is going to be, it's kind of a cornerstone
to any collection.
That's right.
You're going to get more use out of this than probably anything else on your list moving
forward.
We know that.
Just more day to day.
You can do anything on this watch.
And you're probably going to wear it a lot.
So you're definitely going to wear it a lot.
Walk me through.
So we know what your next pick is, but walk me through.
Where's your head at as you, as you move forward?
So my head's at now I have a steel sport watch.
There's some holes in the collection, right?
And for me to have a well-rounded collection, you want some, some, some things, right?
You want, for me, I want to have a sport watch.
I'd like to have a dive watch.
I want to have a chronograph.
I want to have a GMT.
And I want to have a watch that I, I don't think I could destroy without going out of
my way to do it.
I think I watched a video for Tello did a stress test of a yellow G-Shock recently.
They ran it over with a go-kart after throwing it off a bunch of stairs.
It's like, well, that's, I'm not going to behave that way with my watch.
I'm not going to, like, I'm going to bang it into things on accident because I, because
I do that because I live, I'm a normal human person.
I crash into things.
I tip over.
My kids are crazy.
Like, both of my kids have bit my watch.
I don't know why.
It was like grabbing by the hand and bit it.
Like, what the, what the fuck is that?
All right, kids.
Yeah, get sticky little barbecue sauce fingers on it.
But that's what I want.
I want a well-rounded toolbox of watches.
Watches, a watch that I can wear all the time and that's going to be the triumph.
The triumph is going to be probably you're like 70% of your life.
Watch.
Certainly you can wear it for 70% of your life.
Yeah.
You're, you're going to be hard pressed to find situations you can't wear it in.
So I wanted to bring in a chronograph in the way of the brew metric because the brew is
well finished.
It's super attractive.
It's fun.
It blends well with this really classic, I mean, boring triumph.
Yeah.
It brings some spice, some color, a little bit of flavor.
It's maybe the seasoning.
It's the paprika to the dish.
That's right.
So we've got a brew metric.
And now we've rounded out two of the most important things, right?
You've got a chronograph and you've got a steel sport watch, which you could probably
get by with just these two watches.
So the triumph has what 150 meters of water resistance 200 meters?
Yeah, 150.
Yeah.
It's more water resistant than I.
So we're good there.
Now we've got a chronograph, which I think the metrics at 50 meters of water resistance
sitter 50 or 100.
It's not that great.
Yeah.
But it's a good.
It's fine.
It's totally fine for the application because now you have a fun chronograph.
You've got a colorful watch.
You've got kind of like a party watch.
You've got your, you know, we all know it.
And I went with the retro dial because I love that dial.
Same.
So what do you got now?
You're at 17 plus five.
17 plus 450.
So that's 450.
Okay.
So 2150.
Yep.
Thank you.
So now I'm going to go with the, with, with what I went with my, my indestructor.
I chose the Casio Pro Trek.
I'm sending you the link right now so you can see it.
Not you guys.
You're listening.
I'm sending it to average.
I'll be able to see it.
I went with the Casio Pro Trek PRW 6600 series specifically the 11 Y dash one.
Yeah.
These are nice.
And I went with this because it still kind of fits the sport watch mold.
It's an anadigi with a primary analog dial.
It's got sort of a steel bezel on it.
It's obviously a big motherfucker.
It's like 50 some.
No, it's not that big.
It is 51 six.
It's huge.
Yeah.
But if you're wearing a watch like this, there's a purpose behind it, right?
This isn't a 5600.
This isn't an F 91.
This isn't any of the G shock series.
This is your tool utility ABC Pro Trek banger where it's indestructible.
This is I'm going to take into the woods for a week and it's going to not only be my watch,
but it's also going to be a tool for me for the things that I'm doing.
I like analogs in this because if it fails, you still have some functionality there.
So this is my indestructor pick.
I love Pro tracks.
It's kind of it's a little bit surprising to me that I haven't bought one yet, especially
given because it's on Casio's website at 420.
It's available other places for like 200 bucks.
Yeah, which is you know, Andrew, we've talked about Pro Trek on this show.
I don't know.
A dozen times.
Yeah.
I don't know that I've ever heard anybody else in watches talk about Road Trek.
I don't think I've ever heard another podcast reference Pro Trek.
You're not seeing them written about on the websites.
I do think Mike did a write up on the Pro Trek Pendleton.
Oh, yeah.
Mike, my Grace Act did.
Yeah, that's right.
For Fatello.
In any event.
Sorry, Mike.
I know you're right.
Thank you.
Oh, we love Pro Trek.
Yes, there's nothing not to love.
Yeah.
That branding.
That's great branding.
It carries the heritage of the brand while still incorporating all of the modern features.
They're too big.
But for how much their technology they're packing into this, I mean, at the point now
where the Apple watches actually extend over most people's wrists and they're going to
have to start incorporating a curve into them.
Can I just quickly, I'm looking at the website here and they've got these pictograms and
they're narrated.
It's got a picture of a guy in front of a clock keeps yourself in time.
Yeah.
It's stable solar power.
Oh, yeah.
That's the other.
It's also a solar watch and I think that's a cool technology to be able to incorporate
into a collection.
Let's you know your direction.
But that guy's climbing up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And also indicating north.
And I suppose you could be walking north while also ascending.
It's just unusual for that to be occurring simultaneously.
But it's an ABC.
The altitude temperature, barometric pressure.
Is this the same watch as the Pendleton?
Oh, it might be.
I think it might be.
I didn't look into that.
I like this because it's coming on rubber and as much as I like the Pendleton strap, I think
coming on a non biodegradable of fabric strap.
Yeah, is good.
But this also has exterior lugs with screws.
So you could put it on something else.
But it's also like this is not an offensive watch.
Even for its size, this isn't a watch that you couldn't wear a lot of places.
Like anywhere you could wear your G-Shock.
You could wear this watch.
Yeah.
So I'm curious.
What I'm trying to do is curate a really, really versatile collection where almost anything
that you have in this collection can be worn in most circumstances.
So we've got a Monty Triomphe which could fit inside of your Casio Pro track.
I think two of them could fit in there for being fair.
And we've got a broometric retro dial.
All right.
And now we've got this.
Oh, no, you mentioned all three.
Last up.
No, not last up.
Fourth up.
We have the Seiko SSK 001 which is the GMT SKX 5KX sports.
Great pick.
Baller watch.
Again, all of the same things that you're getting from every other watch.
You're getting great water resistance.
You're getting a really attractive versatile watch.
You're getting the GMT functionality.
And as useless as the GMT functionality is for most of us, it's still a really nice
complication to have in the scope of have a collection.
It rounds it out.
You know, we've got a three hander.
We've got a digital though.
It's an anti-digi.
We still have a digital.
We have a chronograph.
Now we have a GMT.
You got them all at this point.
I love the 5KX GMT.
These are terrific.
This is such a cool introduction to the market.
I have some other things planned.
Otherwise I would pick one of these up.
Yeah.
I mean, they're so affordable.
475.
You might as well just get it.
Yeah, some other things planned.
I like the SSK 001.
I like the colorway on this.
This is the all black.
Yeah, so it's got like the two tone black and gray dial, but other than that kind of ghosty.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I like the navy one too, but this was I think this is my favorite.
Yeah, this is the one for me.
What you'll notice here is right now the metric is the only thing with color.
And if we're being fair, the metric retro colorway doesn't really have that much color.
Yeah.
It's got a lot of accent.
It's got some accent colors.
So my last watch up is your dive watch.
Not your dive watch.
It's the dive watch for the collection.
In the way of the Doxys sub 300 T in professional, which is the classic orange.
And this rounds it out for me.
This brings your professional spec dive watch with way more engineering, way more technology
and water resistance that you could ever need.
This is your overbuilt, still like classically styled, bringing orology chops dive watch to
the collection.
I'm feeling it.
This is it.
This is a five watch collection that can rule them all.
Yeah.
I think that's right.
I mean, of my five lists that I made that I kind of I labored over probably more than
a person should have trying to plug and play make dollar amounts work.
This was it.
This was my five watch collection.
You've got all the things that I think are important to a well rounded curated collection
of somebody who wants to wear most of their watches anywhere they can go.
Any one of these watches, you can pick it up.
You can put it on in 90% of the scenarios that you are going to encounter in life.
I'm curious.
So for this collection, the the triumph was your anchor.
Mm hmm.
How much does a 300 T cost new?
1890.
More than the anchor.
That's crazy.
So we're at 4935 total cost for this five watch collection.
It's not on a bracelet?
Yeah.
That's great.
Yeah.
1890.
I feel like you can't even get those things used for that much.
No, you can't.
You buy them used for more than you can buy them new right from the docs website.
That's phenomenal.
Yeah.
I do the docs is the kind of the outlier here, right?
This is it's a big color way.
It's the only vintage designed watch, but that's kind of why it well, you know, the
brew is kind of there.
That was maybe the bridge between the triumph and the brew for me.
But it's all in my mind is cohesive and works together as as a watch box.
Totally.
I love this.
I love this collection.
You've got you've got a little of everything like I don't know that I get the pro track,
but that's secure or there.
Everything else on this list.
I'm like, yeah, like if if I had to just get your collection, I'd make it work.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm really pleased with it.
This was option.
This was the my second build list.
When I finished it and I looked at the numbers, I was like, do I need to keep going?
You're right.
How much was your total spent?
49.35.
So you're right up against the right up against it.
The pro track was the last pick for me on this list because I wanted to find.
I wanted to find a watch of that ilk that fit the bill.
And I was looking through all manner G shocks.
I was looking through basically that whole digital resin case world and then finally came
upon that pro track and I was like, duh, that fits perfectly with this.
You know, I'm trying to think of a criticism for you because it wouldn't be acceptable
to let you completely off the hook.
I've got one for you.
You do not have a cheap.
Kick around watch.
I think that's what the pro tracks for.
It's not cheap.
It's not a good kick around.
Right.
It's not replaceable.
Big.
I don't be a cheap kick around.
It's like I don't.
I think maybe the the SSK001 might be in that.
And you don't have anything very dressy.
The triathlon leather is.
It'll work.
Pretty work.
Pretty appropriate.
Those are your two limitations.
You don't have something low key kick around.
Motherfuckers wear G shocks on their suits.
You can like do whatever you want.
I'm just saying.
No, it's not whatever they want.
It's that the art of I'm really trying to like rip out criticisms here because I really
love this collection.
This is a good collection.
I'm going to give you one more.
You've actually for going completely new, I think you've got an incredible amount of
value here too.
I mean, the Triumph at 1700 new is a lot of money.
But the Docks at 1890 almost feels like a fucking steal.
That's what it is on the website.
I went to company websites for these prices.
Yeah, which means that you could actually probably get all of these for a little bit
of money.
You're going to be able to get the pro track for less.
You're going to be able to get the SSK for less new.
Everything else you're going to be able to get like new.
Well, you get the Triumph like new for probably 1500 bucks.
The metric like new for 400 bucks.
Docks holds its price.
If you go to Chrono 24, you're only thinking you're going to pay more.
You're looking at brand new in box Docks at 300t's for like 2000 to 21 bucks.
So silly.
I don't get it.
It doesn't make any sense.
And that's before shipping or customs are available.
It's not even like they're hard to get.
No, I don't fully understand what's happening there.
And I ran into that when I was looking to purchase my Santos.
I was looking at if I buy this direct from Cartier, I'm actually going to pay less than
if I buy it from any of these reputable dealers, like online dealers.
And I'm wondering if a lot of them are actually dealers selling through the website who have
a markup to kind of cover the loss of the exchange, right?
You know, certainly the projects, the outlier for your collection.
And I think you could swap a dozen different watches into that spot.
But short of that, I don't think that would be my choice in that spot.
That's kind of a whatever short of that everything on here.
I really do think you've maxed it for going new.
Yeah, that's a great.
I love your list, Andrew.
I appreciate that.
I worked really hard on it.
Okay.
I had I had some good lists.
This was a hard choice choice for me.
Well, yeah, you sent me two lists that you didn't go with and they're both also fantastic.
I like this list better than either of the ones you sold me.
I didn't know where you were going to go based on the information you had already shared
with me.
I think you did better here than either of these others.
You sent me all those.
Those list got scrapped and those lists were good lists.
Yeah, good.
I could I could roll with these.
Like a Zinn 556, a Kingsake OSPB, a Trasker commuter, PX 35, NSC 63 GMT.
That's a fucking good list.
Yeah, I'm with you.
The BRO 5 list wasn't that's good.
Well, because you got a BRO 5 and then a bunch of kind of junk.
A Bambino, a sector dive, a venturer, and then a gold all golded out Casio.
Yeah, that's a that's a rich man poor man.
Very much so.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
I'm going to go into mind.
I obviously had some links.
I will send you all the links, but I'm going to wait until I unveil the watches.
So I went about this a little different rather than picking some watches to be corner pieces
of a handful of lists.
I started with a set of rules for myself.
And I and I kind of like I was like, what's important to me?
So if I'm only going to have five watches, what's important to me?
So I came up with this list of seven things.
One, I need a serious dive watch.
Serious is in quotes.
Black dial.
I don't know what that means.
Or is it like helium release valve?
It's got to be serious.
I need a quartz kick around watch.
Okay.
I need a chronograph that's hopefully automatic.
I need something for travel, which means GMT dual time in my mind.
So we took the same approach.
I need a true dress watch.
Okay.
I need a big.
What's your current dress watch?
What's my current dress watch?
Yeah, that you own.
Um, I've got a couple of different things that I were for dress.
I've got the 1963 on a really nice leather.
Uh, okay.
It's pretty dressy, dude.
It is just because of the high polish.
High polish.
The size is good.
Um, I've got a old Seiko that I wear in that slot sometimes.
I yield.
Okay.
Fair enough.
Um, I've got.
Oh, so I need a true dress watch.
I need a big go fuck yourself.
Watch.
So that's six and then seven.
This is the most important one, even though it's at the bottom of the list.
Everything has to be rad.
Those are my rules.
All right.
So doesn't matter for good as long as you look good.
Everything has to be rad.
So I'm going to, I'm not going to start with the watch that I led with.
Okay.
So I picked a watch kind of a real watch.
I'm going to start with the watch that I led with.
Okay.
So I picked a watch kind of early on and there was actually two watches that were in this
spot.
Okay.
So you like we, you found watches to fit the requirement.
Yeah.
So I've got three watches at the bottom of my list that are struck through that I decided,
Oh, you know what?
I got to move on from that one.
And those were hard.
Those are hard to strike.
They were hard to strike.
That's right.
So first.
I'm going to, I'm going to go from, I'm going to go in ascending order of price.
Okay.
So first, believe it or not, I'm going to start with my dress watch.
Okay.
At $345.
I'm going to go with a vintage 1967 gold capped Smith's Astral.
Ooh.
So Smith's Astral is a predecessor or a successor to the Smith's Everest watches.
These are mostly in the 60s.
They have phenomenal movements made in Great Britain.
These are really, really great watches.
So let me, and they're just gorgeous, gorgeous.
I went with a specific Smith's Astral.
So one of the things you have to watch out for these is date complications.
They're problematic.
Don't get that.
I went with 12 numerals.
Gold capped because I love, so if you don't know the difference between gold capped and
gold plated, gold plated as like an electro vapor process where a thin layer of gold,
gold cap is actually a hunk of gold that's molded around a steel case.
Go back to our gold watches episode with Evan.
With Evan, that's right.
And you'll learn all about it.
So these things generally had kind of cheap dials and the dial on this one is patinaed.
A lot.
Yeah, but that's like a really, really lovely patina.
It is gorgeous.
This whole watch is gorgeous.
It comes on a crappy strap, but just the worst.
Who cares?
This thing is totally gorgeous.
They're 35 or maybe 34.5 millimeters.
This is 35, but I actually don't think they made this in a 35.
So I think this is a 34 and a half millimeter.
It's probably 35 to the crown.
Perhaps.
Yeah, they have negotiable under their price, which suggests they maybe don't know exactly
what they have.
That's right.
So this is on crown of 24 for 345 bucks.
Buy it today.
These are stunning watches and they're available all day long of this.
This is not like a crazy buy.
You can get these things for this price.
The gold on that is in such great shape.
And it's gorgeous.
And it's gorgeous.
This has been a drawer.
So I've got my dress watch, which seems like it was going to be the hardest one to get.
You know, though, there's so much available from the 60s and 70s that were this style.
This is what people wore as watches.
Like we consider them to be dress watches now.
They were really small.
They were gold plated.
They were gold capped.
They, daily bangers of the 50s, 60s and 70s are our current dress watches.
Yeah.
So they're available in conditions like this where this probably set just based on the
patina of dial.
This has been sitting on a dude's dresser for the last 50 years and worn like a handful
of times.
If the gold is in such good shape.
Yeah.
And you can find these in really.
So if you are going to get one of these, watch out for date windows.
You don't want that you want Smith's astral.
There's a couple of other watches that came around right around the same time.
Smith's astral is always going to be a great value.
Okay.
So second.
395 bucks.
I'm going to fill my quartz kick around.
I played with the idea of a 40th anniversary G shock here.
Oh, okay.
For 300 bucks.
It ultimately went away from that.
That felt like a bit of a cheat to me a little bit because it's so new.
And wow.
And it's just, you know, in a five watch collection, I don't really want that one.
Anyway, I want the $85 GWM 5610.
So I quickly got that one out of the list.
Instead for 395 bucks, I'm going to go with my custom DW 5600 and I'm going to sell it
to you right now.
I used CWC issue G 10.
Oh, quartz.
I will share this with you now.
Isch Andrew quartz issue.
Is this small or issued?
Like is this a dude selling his G 10?
I believe this is issued.
NSN number broad arrow.
Cabot is the current supplier for the G 10 watches for the British military.
And this is one of those watches.
This is cool.
I'm the owner of a pulsar G 10, which is the prior supplier or maybe I've got this backwards.
It's among the suppliers.
Yes.
Yeah.
So I'm an owner of the pulsar.
I really like the case on the pulsar, but I think almost everybody who knows these watches
agrees the cab is better made.
It's certainly more valuable.
It looks very similar.
The case is a bit different.
These are fixed lugs.
You're sticking on a pass through and you just wear the shit out of this.
I did a 40 mile backpacking trip wearing my pulsar.
I never regretted having that watch up by wrist for that trip.
I think this is going to be the same.
A guy I work with is great high tech or high torque movements in these as well.
A guy I work with was in the British military and to this day wears his on a pass through
at work.
Does he have a cabot or a pulsar?
A CWC.
I've seen it close up.
I've never asked him about it because I know he doesn't know.
He's like, I don't know.
I asked him one time.
I was like, what is that?
He's like, oh, that's the watch I got issued was in the army.
I'm like, fuck right off.
That's awesome.
What do you want for it?
Yeah.
Well, you know, and you can get these for under 400 bucks.
So I admittedly got one of the less expensive ones I could find available, but it seems
to be in really good shape and that's sort of the range, right?
You're looking at about 375 to 500 for these.
Always available.
There's a billion of them in growth in circulation.
Because they're still being issued today.
The dude is like, I don't want to wear this.
I'm going to wear my Suentoe.
How much is this worth?
Oh, I can sell for 400 bucks.
Right.
Deal.
Talk about beer.
And then they offload their issued watch and then they go wear their Suentoe.
So I've now got a quartz kick around.
Yeah, you do.
I've got a true dress watch.
You've got you're rounded on how to pretty good collection so far.
And I've only just started.
Three.
This is the left field.
I had to pull this one out.
This is the GFI.
Nope.
Oh, okay.
No, nine hundred and forty five dollars.
I am going to get a watch that I'm not super familiar with.
Well, I wasn't super familiar with the beginning of the day.
I'm going to get a Hamilton khaki field 3828 chronograph steel case with a Vaujous 7750
and 40 millimeters for under a thousand bucks.
Vaujous 7750 in a Hamilton case.
This is the prior version.
There's a new version of this available with, I think, a better bracelet.
But the five link on this is very attractive and it's a 7750.
So it's probably like 15 millimeters.
What is it?
I do believe it's 15 millimeters.
So it's chunky.
But the profile on this is great.
What was this made?
This one is made.
I know your production.
Yeah, we don't know.
I believe they switched over from this to the newer version in like 2015 and it's unclear
to me how many of these were in circulation prior to that.
But it's an automatic chronograph.
It's relatively recent just with the font on the on the class.
Well, and the box makes this look relatively recent too.
So yeah, this is a classic looking chronograph.
You've got a 1269 layout, which is not for everybody, but I think it's a really nice
symmetry.
It was especially with your pushers on the on the right side of the case.
Exactly.
You've got a tachometer.
It's a 7750.
So you know, you know what you're getting with this movement.
And it's super easy to replace if something happens.
And you're not gonna.
That's right.
So with this watch, all I'm getting, I was hoping to knock out a couple birds with this
stone, but I'm not gonna.
All I'm gonna get here is the chronograph, but a baller chronograph, a baller chronograph
and I got auto.
Yeah.
So I'm still well under 1000.
I'm still well under budget and I've got an auto.
Got lots of room left.
So, so just a review.
I've got my quartz kick round.
I've got my chronograph.
Hopefully auto check.
I've got my true dress watch.
I'm missing a few things.
I'm missing a serious dive watch.
And I go fuck yourself watch.
I'm missing something for travel.
I'm missing a big go fuck yourself watch.
So I'm wondering how you're going to combine.
What's going to get the for $1275.
I'm going to get a Monta Atlas with a blue dial.
Very, very easy watch.
So interestingly enough, I have one of these.
I own a mind Monta triumph with a black dial and who owns an Atlas with a blue dial.
We've both chosen each other's watches.
There's that just speaks to Monta.
There's something to take away from that.
I will send you a link to your straight fanboys, although you know this watch very well for
$1275.
This one's in fantastic shape for $1275.
Geez Louise, still under warranty.
This is the newest watch on my list.
Oh man, still under warranty.
You're offloading for a $500 loss.
Yes, correct.
Shit, I might buy that.
So now I've got now I've got my dual time travel watch.
I still don't have a serious dive watch and I still don't have a big GFI watch.
But you've got a fucking baller GMT.
So let me tell you about what I love about this watch.
It does the same things as the Monta triumph does.
And it gives me dual time functionality.
I know you know this because you own this watch.
It is slightly thinner.
I think a half a millimeter, slightly thicker.
I think half a millimeter thicker than the triumph.
But these things still razor thin.
Razor thin.
I mean, this is I was kind of stuck on.
I knew I needed a steel sports watch.
It's not my rules.
But you need one.
I need a steel sports watch.
And based on the things I needed that meant either a used triumph or a used essence.
And as I got to this part of, okay, what do I need?
It's like, well, the triumph doesn't check a box.
Yeah, you're going to have trouble checking the GFI serious dive and dual time functionality.
I'm not sure that it exists.
So Atlas is it?
Yeah.
So Atlas is it.
And this is like, this was my first big kid watch, right?
My first like really deliberate, expensive purchase.
And I put it on and never seen one in person.
And I got it.
I put it on and I got it.
And my world was changed forever.
Yeah.
Right.
It's like, I don't know, if you don't like Monta, you've never seen one in person.
Or you've decided you don't want to like Monta.
That's all I think.
Which is fine.
But if you don't like Monta, it's because you decided you don't like Monta.
So not because of the watch.
I am at this point, $2,960.
You've got some space, which gives me a bunch of money for a serious dive watch.
I have a GFI watch.
And the GFI watch.
But I got the perfect watch.
I've got $2,040.
Okay.
For $2,037, I am going to buy a Seiko Marine Master 300.
Yes, you are.
Available right now.
I will say this is an absurdly low price for this watch.
But I've just sent you a link.
But you found one.
It is available now.
And it's on a reputable website.
Because I was kind of concerned.
We were like, can I use that you were going to find some like sketchy pseudo dark web,
like definitely stolen shit.
And you've not done that.
So this is a private seller, but via Quoto 24.
And it's everything's here.
This is exactly the watch you want.
We've got original box, original papers, 2019 production.
If you want this watch.
Just getting a divorce.
That's the only.
The only option.
If you want this watch and you're hearing this, you may want to buy now.
We are not selling this watch to be clear.
We're I'll link these just for the integrity of the episode.
But that's all.
This has the prospects markings.
It is a new Seiko 300 black dial.
2020 production with the guilt.
I now have my serious dive watch, Monica case, full meal deal, 300 meters.
And I've got my big GF.
Why?
Sky takes really good pictures.
We should reach out to them.
Maybe replace will.
And when they take these with, you know, I kind of.
Tomagotchi.
I kind of knew early on that I wanted this watch in this collection, but it was a little
tricky to get there.
There was another version of this list with a 300 T and a, uh, no, most a club campus.
Yeah.
You told me you struck the, what did you?
A 300 T.
A club campus.
G shock and a club campus.
Yeah.
So.
I really wanted this watch because as much as I love the 300 T, there's something about
a marine master every time I see one.
It's kind of the next level.
You know, Steve Laughlin wears a marine master 300 and then if Steve Laughlin wears it, it's
good.
If it's good for Steve Laughlin, it's good enough forever.
I love this watch.
I really do love this watch.
It feels to me like, I don't know that I could wear one.
It's a big watch, but you could wear it.
It wears really well.
It's only 44 and a half or so, 44, three.
It's just so big in every other dimension.
It's heavy, it's thick, it's, I mean, it's baller.
It's G.F.
Y for sure.
Yeah.
You know, Andrew, I was thinking based on our different approaches that my list was going
to be easily cooler than yours.
I do think the watches themselves are slightly cooler, but I am actually really surprised
by how well you did.
Like, I don't think there's a huge delta here.
I don't think there is at all.
I mean, if we look at our, at the caliber of watches we're dealing with, you know, you
have a dress watch, which is kind of the wrinkle.
And I think if we cancel out the Pro Trek and your dress watch, then we just cut it down
to a four watch collection each, mind being the 300 T, the triumph, the, the retro and
the 5K X GMT and yours being the G10.
Yep.
Cabbage the 10.
The khaki, the khaki field chrono, the marine master and the atlas.
These are really comparable lists.
And even buying used, you're not like, I think if you're buying new on these, you're
only looking at like $1,500 more maybe.
Yeah, you can't get, I mean, so you can get a cabbage, a G10, I think new, but you're going
to overpay for it.
You can't get that Smith's new.
A marine master is insane right now.
Yeah, but you're right.
I mean, it's like, it's like another, I'm probably like 8,000 retail.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That Hamilton khaki, the new version of the Hamilton khaki with 70, 70, 70, 70, those
are, those are pricey.
But you want the 70, 70, 70, 50.
Yeah.
Because they're not using that anymore.
They're using their own.
I think they are using an in house, aren't they?
You know, Edabot Valjou, so they just are, I think it's just an Edda, 70, 70, 70 is what
they're using now with their own.
Yep.
It's just, it's just an ETA.
No.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's really, it shouldn't be a cabin new.
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, go get one of these issues.
Yeah.
Buy it from Joe who's looking for beer money.
That's right.
That's right.
Um, but you know, I guess the other thing I note Andrew is we did a good job.
I can, these, these lists feel like us.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We both still have a lot to, we just have to trade.
Yeah.
I'm not trading.
No, I'm not trading.
I also wanted to be deliberate, not picking watches that I owned.
Well, like I said, so it's interesting because when I made this list, I had a pulsar GTAN.
I had a triumpf.
When I started kind of going through watches.
I had a Victorinox 7750.
Mm-hmm.
You know, going through these things, I was like, you know, I've done, I've purchased
the watches that I want to fill these places based on the budget I have.
I, you know, we had talked about different numbers for this list, maybe 10,000.
This amount, 5,000 felt like the right amount for us.
Yeah.
Because you had to work for it.
You have to work for it.
It feels like these are realistic watches for us.
I think our collections, like these are watches that fit in our actual real life collections.
My options would have changed drastically with a $10,000 limit.
But if you pull the high dollar watches off of all of my lists that I used as cornerstones,
those would have comprised my final list.
Do you, so say you have 10,000.
Can you make a couple quick changes?
If I'm going to go to 10 from mine, I'm going to hold the triumpf and the 300t.
I'm going to add the, um, the zen, the news in 356, uh, aviator.
Yeah.
I'm going to go to a, um, in lieu of the 001, I'm probably in the way of a GMT.
I'm going to go toward, uh, maybe like Akoskov zone or maybe one of the fairer, uh, the fairer
GMTs kind of coming in that same zone, like between 1000 and 1400.
Um, and then to replace the metric.
And we've already done that.
Oh yeah.
No, so there we are.
If I'm, I've replaced the metric with the, um, the zen and the SSK with, uh, one of those
chronographs.
So I'm, I'm like at the $10,000 range.
I'm actually working harder to try to spend more money.
Right.
That's right.
Right.
Like I, I think ideally my, my five watch list comes down to probably like 8,000, 8,500.
Just just natural point of landing.
I think I'm probably, I'm probably keeping the CWC.
I'm probably keeping the Marine master.
I might look at Omega, some like bond era, Omega's.
I am getting rid of the Monte Atlas in favor of a GMT, BRO five, which you can get those
for under three.
Yeah.
Um, I'm probably getting rid of that count khaki chronograph in lieu of something else.
I don't know, probably like the zen, the, the zen Porsche or Fina looking.
What?
Oh, an R Fino would be a good fit there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think you get the Orfina is in the like in a, in a realm that would fit in the under
$10,000 range.
I think so.
Yeah.
I think you can get those if, if you work hard, you can get them for three to 3,500, but
that takes a little bit of work.
You'd also get a Monaco and that zone, not really easily.
And a Monaco is not North Fina nor is it an analog, but it's also a baller photograph.
But I think those are my moves.
I'm going to go BRO five GMT for that spot.
And I'm going to go or Fina for that spot.
Yeah.
Cause the BRO five could also could check your dual time and GFI watch.
I think a BRO five is straight G F Y.
I'm keeping the, I'm keeping the, the master is the master.
Yeah.
You just have two of them.
That's right.
Yeah.
That's what go fuck yourself is all about.
Andrew here.
We are in an hour.
I think we've done everything we came to do.
Other things.
What do you got?
Oh my gosh.
So you told me the other day, we were talking about the missing F 35, which was just like
mind boggling for two people who have spent some time in the military who are familiar
with the importance of equipment accountability.
Have they found it?
Yeah, they did find it.
For example, I spent one time about 24 hours at work longer than expected.
Not by choice on what's called a lockdown for because we were missing a GPS unit.
And this GPS unit is not small.
It's about the size of a VHS tape.
Yeah, right.
Call it a dagger.
They're not good.
Terrible, terrible pieces of equipment.
They're, they're bad pieces of equipment, but they're what's called a sensitive item,
which means they're both serialized and locked up at all times.
And at the conclusion of a field exercise, all sensitive items are checked in, verified
their existence and accountability.
And then high fives all around and go home and shower because you've been living outside
for three weeks.
Like best case scenario, you had a buddy stand up on top of your truck and pour a water can
on top of you to shower.
So how the fuck do you lose an F 35?
Right.
And that prompted a conversation around.
MIG 28.
I said, Andrew, do you know the MIG 28 never even existed?
It's not a real plane.
And that obviously prompted a like reality shattering Google search.
So if you're not aware, the MIG 28 is the op for plane from top gun opposing force.
That is Charlie.
He is the bad guy.
The MIG 28 is the bad guy.
I don't think we're supposed to say Charlie anymore, but carry on.
Or a lot worse things I could have said.
The MIG 28 is the bad guy from top.
He is the bad guy plane.
He's the bad guy plane.
He flies inverted.
But here's the thing.
It never existed.
And it never existed because for well, for a lot of reasons, but in production, it would
have been really hard to procure, you know, in the 80s, a Russian made MIG aircraft.
So they used F five's painted all black because black is scary to look more opposing.
And this prompted like an enormous rabbit hole for me.
I didn't stop when we stopped texting.
So the F five was the and there's also kind of like a little Easter egg in top gun where
they kind of clear the air.
We're not using MIGs.
Yeah.
We're using F five's for their training exercises.
They're not going to use real MIGs.
They're going to use F five's, which is it's just like all it's it's.
Thank you, Charlie.
Even lower level than in passing.
It's like a line that you don't even remember until you've re watched the movie looking for
that line.
Now it's there.
MIGs.
So another Easter egg here, MIGs post war were odd numbered.
So them even using MIG 28 was kind of like an Easter egg to like this is a made up designation
for this aircraft.
But it got me digging into aircraft production for developed nations.
So the, um, Miconian, uh, company, the MIG company, otherwise known as MIG is a Russian
defense manufacturer or contractor and they make aircraft.
They've been producing aircraft since the thirties.
1939.
They started producing aircraft.
Which tracks because that's the time of the second grade war and everyone's putting all
of their ass into military industrial complex stuff.
Um, but it also got me thinking like we consider Russia to be a near peer adversary, which is
to mean this is a military force that is about there with us.
Yeah.
Well funded, well, tech, like high technology.
The MIG runs on an operating income or a, of a, of a revenue of 1.3 night or 1.37 billion
and an operating income of 27 million, which is a lot of money.
And then this F 35 crashed and we're talking about way more than their like annual operating
income.
Yeah, well, they're like 122 million or something for each one of these.
We have a trillion dollars tied up in the F 35 and, and it's, it's continuation and
north of Grumman and Boeing who are both longstanding aviation contracts and producers
from military aircraft.
And I just, I'm still trying to wrap my head around how we consider Russia to be a near
peer when they're prime aviation producer.
I mean, in fairness, they can find their aircraft when they crash, but the, my other
thing, my true other thing is air tags is air tags.
And I'm going to pitch this to United States military.
I have a meeting set up with the Pentagon.
Greeders.
Uh, but this all got started because it's F 35 crashed and they have found it.
I'm kind of intrigued.
Like this, let me down another rabbit hole.
If there's a bunch of F 35 series mishaps, we're about six or seven nations have just
inexplicably had them crash and then subsequently lost them for, you know, an ill defined amount
of time.
Circling back.
The real other thing is Top Gun, the OG, the F five is the MiG 28 movie trivia.
Other thing this that, that like, that led me down a very deep rabbit hole.
I'm, I'm, I have like that rabbit hole led to like other like secondary and tertiary rabbit
holes that I still have tabs open on my phone that I'm actively reading through because
of the curiosity that, uh, that drives me.
The Rangers have the thing for the week brought to you by Everett.
Yeah.
Would you have thought about that as an interesting enough other thing?
Cause it blew my mind.
I love it.
That I never caught it and that when I did catch it, I caught it a bunch of other times
and then subsequently have lost myself in fixed wing aviation.
Cause fixed wing aviation has just never been my jam.
I've never really given a shit about it.
It's not like, like if it's not the A 10, I don't care.
Just cause the A 10 is the voice of God.
And on a more than one occasion, I've heard it and I really appreciate it.
Fair enough.
Andrew, I've got another thing.
Do me.
I alluded earlier to the fact that I've been working out.
I have, I've decided to start swimming.
So, uh, if you're a long time listener of the show, you will or may remember that a
few years ago, I tore my meniscus, which was about a four month ordeal.
It was about 35 months total dealing with insurance companies and referrals and surgery,
surgery and it's not a fun thing.
A meniscus tear can be everything from a relatively minor injury to like your life is sort of
stopped.
Mine was the latter type of meniscus tear.
At the end of the day, the repair is pretty easy and very effective.
But ultimately is a little alarming in that they don't repair it.
They just remove the heart, the heart parts.
And so at the end of the day, you're left with less meniscus than you started with.
And if you know anything about the anatomy of a knee, you will know that your meniscus
is the padding.
That is the impact protection.
So one of the stories my doctor told me before I went into this procedure was Joe Nameth won
a Super Bowl after having both of his meniscus completely removed double menisectomy, no meniscus
won a Super Bowl.
Joe Nameth wasn't running.
And so that's great.
And he said, well, there's some bad news about five years later, he had double knee replacements.
So long story short, long story short, you can operate without a meniscus.
You just can't do so for very long.
Yes, shouldn't.
I did not have a full menisectomy.
They removed just the damaged portions and left the rest of it.
With that said, I've got less meniscus than I started with.
So percentage wise in the coverage area of your meniscus, because you had a bucket handle,
was it, were we talking like a 60 40?
We talking like a 30 70?
Or we talking, what do we, what do we deal with here?
Something like a 20% removal of the effect of meniscus.
So okay, I can still do things.
But if you, if again, if you're a long time listener, you may know about six months before
tearing my meniscus, I ran a 40 miler.
I was a distance runner, a long distance runner.
He ran it on purpose.
He didn't get lost.
That's right.
He ran 40 miles on purpose.
So I've had to rethink that.
Is that something that makes sense for me to do long term?
I've been a little leery to get back and running.
I decided if you can't run, you swim.
And so I have a long background in swimming.
I was a very competitive swimmer as a young adult, like top 50 in the country at some
point in my life.
And so like it makes a lot of sense for me to get back in the pool.
So I've started swimming, but there's a thing, a really important thing that's changed between
the last time I swim and now, which is fully shaved, like top to bottom.
No, I don't think that is a seal.
What has changed is that my eyes don't work.
And so while I normally wear corrective lenses, I cannot do so in the pool because I've got
to have goggles.
I can't wear glasses and goggles.
I tried it.
It doesn't work.
And we're glasses over your goggles.
I could try that.
I didn't try that, but maybe that would work.
But what I did find is that in everything you do, so whether you're riding a bike or
you're snowboarding or whatever, if you need corrective lenses, there are options for you.
And they are without exception, extraordinarily expensive.
So to get a pair of inserts for snow goggles, for instance, you're looking at about $400,
which is about a 4X over like just.
Do you not still have your sand dust mask from the army that has like clip inserts?
That prescription doesn't work anymore.
So you try that.
Yes, have tried that.
So it's just really expensive.
Riding a bike, same thing.
If you need to get inserts for bike glasses, which I don't do that, you know, it's just
a lot of money.
So I thought swimming is going to be the same thing.
Not so.
I don't know why this is the case size, but with swimming goggles, you are able to buy
pre graded diopter goggles for swimming.
Do they have bifocals?
I don't know, but I didn't look at that.
What I did find is that I was able to just go to Amazon, Andrew, and buy negative three
diopter goggles for this is the best part.
$16, $1, $6.
That's what?
Okay, look, that is.
I find this fact out and I'm like, there is no fucking way.
You're going to be wearing swim goggles 24 hours a day.
So I have an astigmatism.
So when you get your prescription, you've got both a spherical correction and a cylindrical
correction.
The a spherical correction is how I don't know.
But the question is, the astigmatism is corrected by the cylindrical correction.
They do not correct.
They do not make goggles that correct for cylindrical, but I'm reading about this and
it said, just try to half your cylinder correction and add it to your spherical correction.
So I did that.
I did not have optimistic hopes.
Well, at 16 bucks, who gives a shit?
That's right.
I got paid more than 16 bucks for a burger that I hated.
So I go and order some 3.5 to correct for my cylinder and some 3.5, negative 3.5 diopter
goggles.
They come in.
I put them on my face.
And it is like a pair of glasses that were made for me.
It's nuts.
You are going to be wearing swim goggles for the rest of your life as glasses.
I just may.
Because for 16 bucks, I put them on.
I could just see.
I was like, what in the world, why do they not have this for everything?
And it's not just one brand.
Speedo makes some, TYR makes some, every brand you've ever heard of makes diopter goggles.
There is not another industry where you can just on Amazon, Andrew, go by corrective lenses.
It's like choose your size.
Yeah, they drop down menu.
That's what it is.
Literally, you click the size and you click negative 3.5.
This is exciting for me.
I don't need corrective lenses.
Buy it now.
I bought them yesterday, Andrew.
I have them in my house today.
That is absurd.
I haven't swam with them yet.
They're going to be fine though.
It is absurd.
So if you're thinking, if you need glasses, you're thinking about getting into swimming,
that's my other thing for the week.
Or if you're swimming and crashing into the wall or like, well, so that's what happened
to me.
It's very first day, kind of can't see anything.
I hit the wall.
I like with my hand, kind of messed up my finger a little bit.
It's fine.
It's fine.
It's not your face.
But yeah, just one day shipping from Amazon, I have prescription goggles.
Why do they have?
No, it's the most bizarre thing ever.
Is it maybe because the lens of the goggles already so small?
That's all I can figure.
It's hard to make snow sand, the dust goggles.
Yeah, because they've got without an insert.
So they have to custom cut that into, so it's like a secondary effect.
I think it's two things.
One, on goggles, the nose piece is always adjustable because it's got to be a really
close fit.
And so really the way the goggle fits on your head, it centers the lens.
And so I think that that's probably a big part of it.
Yeah.
Because that's not true with anything else.
With sunglasses, they sit on the bridge of your nose and the lens is where the lens is.
And it's huge with snow goggles saying, or with an insert saying, they've got to figure
out where your eye is and put the correction there.
With goggles, they know where your eye is because the-
Because you put it there.
That's right.
It's actually- If you can't see with your corrective lens, that's a U-problem.
That's right.
They're actually self centering.
And so I think that's got to be part of it if I had to guess.
But it is the most mind-blowing discovery I've made this week, which is why it's my
other thing.
You're just going to be walking around like a dude just got up a tanning bed.
Just take their last extra wrap off, rest them on the bridge of your nose.
Yup.
$16 bucks.
Fuck you.
$16 bucks.
And I can see.
I put them on my face and I was like, fuck me.
I can see.
I need to get my prescription updated.
Oh man.
It's the craziest thing.
It is a little different because they don't actually correct for the astigmatism.
And so I can tell there's a little bit of like, it's a little weird.
There's some depth issue that'll- But it's really residual.
It'll be residual.
It's almost a nothing burger for a negative one cylinder correction.
It's almost nothing.
For $16 bucks.
Who cares?
That's right.
It's crazy.
Andrew, you got anything else you want to talk about today?
A lot of things.
Hey, you guys.
Thank you for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20, The Watch Clicker Podcast.
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