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- [00:01]
A
Welcome to Scottish Watches Podcast. If this is your first time here, be sure to subscribe. If you Watch this on YouTube, click that notification so you find out every time a video gets uploaded. And if you're only listening and watching us on YouTube, you're missing half the story. Because we actually do two shows a week, but we only put one in a visual medium. The other one is usually an interview show with a brand founder, somebody that's in the watch industry, the watch community. So check us out on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere that people listen to podcasts. And you can listen to us when you're at the gym, walking the dog, doing the household chores or just lazing back. And we get tons to talk about in this show. Something we've been doing recently is to try and pack more of the additions into the show. Instead of talking at length about individual ones, maybe only getting three or four in, we're now fitting at least four, five or six in. It's like Bonnie Blue here. So we're going to crack on and see how things are going. And the first place we're going to stop is across in France because it's not too far away from Scotland. Easy to get to, even though we've not managed to convince that guy, Sikon Sakon to come on the show.
- [00:55]
B
Well, there is a new release of our collaboration watch with Sakon Sacon. Well, that's what he's most famous for. So without the other part of it that is the watch brand, it probably wouldn't be quite as popular as he is, albeit he did start out making components that allowed you to semi customise your own watch. But in this case he has a lined up or tagged. You'll see why I said tagged, but it's not a tag, isn't tag Heuer, but tagged Gemma's Jtingraf, which is a bit of an iconic watch from the historical archives of Yema, but he's brought a graffiti flair, hence the tag bit. See me trying to be a cool kid. I'm an old guy, let's be honest in reality. But yes, he's brought a bit of graffiti flair to this watch. The original dates back to I think around about the 1960s and it was their answer to a purpose built chronograph for yacht racing. Something that seems to have been pretty popular again in the 60s, 70s, but it's kind of going out of fashion a little bit. Omega have got a few yacht mastery type watches. Of course, the name or the clues in the name Eurolex also have one. Whether anyone actually uses them for that purpose anymore, who actually knows? Because I can't afford a yacht and I don't think Ricky can either. Anyway, what did they do? They tracked five minute countdowns. That original was fully mechanical, based on a Valjoux 7730 chronograph. But this modern one, now I'm trying to pronounce that it's in French. I think the model name is a Croissier. Might be wrong, might be right, who knows? Leave us a comment if I'm wrong, probably am wrong. But it's positioned in a much more affordable end of the watch spectrum these days. It's a mecha quartz calibre that's in there as opposed to that fully mechanical watch. But of course you've got all of that goodness that seconds brings with that kind of graffiti twist on there. Now they've cleverly called it a yachting graph. Sounds exactly the same, but it's got two Fs in the end and I guess that's leaning into the word graffiti. You've got a stainless steel case, 38.5 millimeters, 10.3 millimeters thick, 100 meters of water resistance. Kind of ticks the boxes for a watch that you're going to use in and around water. Maybe unlike something from a more premium brand that we talked about not that long ago. You've got mirror polishing and you've got brushed on the case on there as well. You've got some cool little hints, colored little rings that are on the pushers that almost make them look like the little spray can head that you would use for doing graffiti. Any brown rings, we're going to talk about brown themed watch later but in this case, no, we're going to go with brighter colors. The dial at first glance maybe doesn't look like what you might expect from second second, but look a bit closer because all the sub counters look like they've been done and graffiti are hand painted. So you've got the counter at 9 o' clock that's been hand painted and it looks like it's been kind of graphic graffiti artist tagged. That one acts, I think is the 60 minute time with Countdown Sectors. You've got the 24 hour counter that's also hand tagged and you've got the chronograph hands that have been kind of loomed up to make the watch really legible at night. You've got really cool little drips of paint coming off the sub registers. It looks like they've just been freshly Painted as well, fitted up to a black tropic rubber strap. Of course, that kind of makes sense if you've got a water based watch. The movement is a Seiko VK63. You could probably have guessed that one. But price point is very attainable. US$449. I think that makes it pretty cool. Meca Quartz. What is it? Well, it's a watch that's battery powered, but it also has mechanical components which allows the chronograph to sweep nice and smoothly that you would expect out of a mechanical one. Solid case back because let's be honest, there's not really that much to show off inside with that movement. But you've got a little mic drop phrase that's a consequen news. That's La Croissiere Mamuse, which apparently means the cruise. My muse. So yeah, cool little watch, nice attainable price point. I think these will disappear very quickly. Ricky, you're probably going to kind of like this one, especially at that price point.
- [04:27]
A
Really cheap and you don't have to spend a lot of cash to get into second. We've talked about his other releases in the past. Too many to mention, but off the top of my head, I can remember maybe more expensive ones like Moser in the past. And then he's done a Christopher Ward, which is more attainable, more affordable. And then he does Spinnaker, he did the 50 Phantoms. He's done a couple of releases of that. And I hear on the Grapevine, speaking to guys behind the scenes, that there may be another limited edition coming down very soon. But there's also going to be another limited edition from Spinnaker to do with Scottish watches. So you want to stay tuned to find out more about that. Now, we met the guy behind second over at Watches Wonders last year, not this year. And he's a very shy and retiring gentleman, which is strange because he's so outlandish when you see what he does, his collaborations, his artwork, the way that he always brings his A game. He's like one of those guys in the watch industry, like Studio Underdog. You're just waiting for them to falter, to slip up, to make one mistake. And he's not done it with any of his collabs. Neither has Rich at Studio Underdog. So the creativity just keeps going, the juices keep flowing. And this at this price point, yeah, it's Mecha Quartz, but who cares? There are tons of cool Mecha Quartz watches out there. And to be fair, you get the bulletproofness of quartz, so it's more reliable. You don't have to constantly set it, you just forget it. And if you've got lots of watches in your collection, the worst thing is waking up, grabbing a watch, heading out and forgetting to wind or set the thing. So I think this is fantastic. And the little, I don't know the nuances that he includes, the little tiny graphic touches, the little tags, they're always extremely fun. The best one I think he's done of late is definitely the Christopher Ward the Snake watch, where he took all the ideas of the Nokia snake game from 3310, the 7250i, all the old phones of the past. I remember I had it on my 6250 and it was just a great little game. Everybody remembers Snake, even the younger generation remember Snake. And in my managed to emblazon that in a Christopher Ward 12 dial. Well, if you missed out on that one, this is something you can look at and what we're going to look at next.
- [06:21]
B
Well, we've got some communications coming into Scottish Watches hq. Of course this has not been sent as a DM because if we keep telling everyone, if you do that, we'll not see it. Hi there everyone at Scottish Watches. I'm a regular listener and love it. You might have spoken about this earlier, but I couldn't find any info on this. I didn't know of anyone else who I could ask other than you guys. Question. Can I just show up at all the exhibitors at Geneva Watch Week or should I register etc. On their website? There is no info and it just says coming soon, but flights and hotels are getting expensive and I need to be quick. Thanks and I hope to see you there if I make it. Love from Goa, the Hague.
- [06:55]
A
I think you mean Geneva Watch Days and if you do, then you just have to independently get in touch with all the different brands. We did comment on this a while back, but I've been trawling through the backlog of emails that have been coming in because it has just been hell for leather. It's been crazy here getting things set up. As you can see if you're watching this on YouTube, the studio is starting to come together. One of them, Dave's obviously been working there. He's got a new microphone, I've got new lights, new cameras, new lenses. We're getting there slowly but surely. Thank you for your patience. It has been a while and yeah, Geneva Watch Days is going to be with us sooner rather than later. There's a Whole squadron of folks coming from Scottish watches tours, myself, Dave, Simona, Sarah might make an appearance. Gav will be coming across. Might even convince Ted to come across as well. And the Dallart as Chris, he'll be there. So there's a whole squadron of Scottish folks, the Tartan army on tour for watches. That's what it's going to be like. But to answer your question, yeah, get in touch with the brands that you like, get in touch with them early because places will fill up and if you want to book an appointment with them, figure out which days you're going to be there and then just create an Excel spreadsheet, put in the days, the times. Usually appointments are run about 45 minutes each, half an hour at 45 minutes, and then work out how long it takes you to finish up and travel between the different locations. Because it's independent, because you're across maybe three or four different hotels are all within walking distance. If you finish at half 12 and then you pencil in for quarter to one for your next one, you have to figure out how to get there and get there quick. And taxis and Ubers, yes, they work, but it is very, very busy during the days there, so getting across, it's actually easier to walk, basically, if you've.
- [08:24]
B
Got folk that you really want to see, you want to get a bit of hands on time with them, definitely reach out to those brands. They are always generally quite busy, so it's always good to lock in that appointment if you can. The others, if you don't manage to. It's always worth a polite stick your head into the room, see if they've got a little bit of time. Don't be offended if they say, really sorry, we're totally sold out, or we're totally kind of booked out. That might be the case, but there's always sometimes a little bit of manoeuvre, especially at the start and the end of the day when it's a little bit quieter. So, yeah, as long as you're polite and well mannered, you might be able to get a bit further than you might do otherwise. But yeah, it's a pretty laid back affair. But yes, of course, the big brands, as you would expect, are usually fully booked up. So make sure you get a little message off to them well before the event.
- [09:06]
A
Couldn't agree more. And the next thing we're going to talk about is a brand that very rarely appears on the show for multiple reasons. They don't make a lot of watches. We've never actually been sent One, because they probably don't trust us enough. Probably because they heard what I got up to a number of years ago by accident over in Geneva when I dropped one of their movements on the floor. We are talking about Roger Dubuis. They have got a new collaboration out and the previous times we have talked about them is because we've managed to sneak into one of their, I don't know, seminars, lectures, show and tells at Watches and Wonders. But the watches they produce, there are so few and far between all of them. I remember the last meeting that we actually had and the gentleman said, I don't know why you guys are all here. We only ever made eight of these things and they're all sold anyway. But they have a collaboration that potentially you may get your hands on if you have deep pockets, deeper than myself and Dave combined. But what have the guys at Roger Dubuis been up to?
- [09:54]
B
Yes, indeed. This is actually the third collaboration with the same artist. Now, by artist, he is a tattoo artist, not a graffiti artist, but a tattoo artist. And his name is Dr. Wu. Apparently he's one of the tattoo artists to the rich and famous. But they've brought out a watch called Ink, a bold mono tourbillon. And this is, I mentioned, the third collaboration between this watchmaker and this tattoo artist. He's based in Los Angeles. He's tattooed people such as Drake, David Beckham and Amir Emilia Clarke. It's based around the Excalibur mono turbio, this watch being first released back in 2021, and there's lots of things going on here. The first collaboration was released back in 2021 and it had showcasing of this tattoo artist both on the dial and the case back based around his slim single needle tattoo style. 2023, two years later, the second one came along and had much more of a planetary nature and had things to do with the planets, the solar systems and such like. And that was based on the Excalibur Balancier. Now, this new mashup which comes out is much more cosmic in nature. It's leaning into things that are Dr. Wu's signature styles, spiders, arcane language, runes, and also a starship in flight. But he has also envisaged himself in what is called the Tourbillon galaxy, which is actually a real galaxy. It's actually officially known as the Messier 51A, which is apparently 31 million light years away. And it was first photographed by the James Webb telescope only a couple of years ago. They've used a 3D galvanic growth on pink gold Detail metall on a dial crystal. That sounds pretty complicated. It looks pretty complicated as well, I have to say. And you've got lots of additional details on there. You've got a Spider at 10 o' clock and that's been filled with the actual black ink that they use for tattoo art for a bit of authenticity. On the bezel you've got laser engraved alien runes running alongside the Excalibur signature triangle which is cut out from a pink gold bezel. And on the bracelet links on the case back you've got a swirling semi transparent checkerboard planar pattern that kind of sucks you into a black hole at the 9 o' clock position on the case back. But on the dial front you've got lots of kind of little hints towards this galactic journey which start at around 1 o'. Clock. The case is actually in titanium and pink gold. It's a bi colour construction, 42 millimeter case. It's got their in house RD515 manual wine movement, 72 hours of power reserve. Of course, it's a flying tourbillon. There are only 28 pieces and it comes in at a bargain price of US$158,000.
- [12:21]
A
So this. Dave, let's do a little bit of a school trip here. What are the differences between all the tourbillons? Because you work for a company that makes tourbillons, so flying tourbillons, gyro tourbillons, what's the difference?
- [12:31]
B
That's probably a whole episode in itself. But a flying tourbillon effectively is pivoting only on the bottom and it's free at the top. There's no bridges or anything to hold it in place. You can have a bridge tourbillon that's supported top and bottom. You've also got a giro tourbillon where you have of course, the tourbillon spinning 360 degrees, but it's also spinning on multiple axises. You've got two axis, three axis, lots and lots of various variations of it. The original is the flying tourbillon. That's the one that most people will have access to. When you start moving into giro tourbillon territory, you're into a whole world of hurt when it comes to price. As if tourbillons are not already expensive enough.
- [13:06]
A
I quite like it. That's the reason I included it. It's weird at the moment. One week there are absolutely tons and tons of new releases and we managed to cram them all in the following week. It's a little bit thin in the ground. Not to say this doesn't deserve us to talk about it because it's different from their previous releases. And sometimes people say we talk about the inexpensive GU a little bit too much. And I disagree. I think we talk about everything across the board from inexpensive Casio G Shock right through to Grubel Forzy and everybody in between MB and F Mozart. Everybody. Every single person is out there. We talk about. And Roger Dubuis, they don't sell a lot because they don't make a lot. But every time we've seen them, they've been really good to us. They've shown us what they produce. They've let us try stuff out. They've let me almost break something that's really expensive. So I'm still trying to pay that back. And the look of this one is great. It almost looks like it has gone not tattoo art, but engraving art as well down the center of the bracelet. It all worked really well together. You said it was lasers. Obviously it's not been hand cut, but everything about it is really nice. The back of it is probably the least attractive because it looks as if it's had some kind of car vinyl checker flag in gold leaf applied to the back. Not the biggest fan there, but the front looks great. And the images of this. Oh, you should check the show notes. We probably didn't mention that at the beginning of the show. You should check the show notes for pictures of this. And if you're watching this on YouTube, as Dave likes to say, you'll see the pictures right in front of you. But is it time to hear from people that aren't us again?
- [14:30]
B
Yes, we have more peoples.
- [14:32]
A
Okay, well, I'll read this one out since you did the last one. And it starts off, hello, Scottish podcasters. What do you mean you do not use auto captions for your podcast? See attached. I know what you meant regarding Instagram, but still funny to read it on the auto captions. Cheers from Helene. And this is a long time listener that has written in numerous times. She's commenting on the fact we were taking the piss out of Fratello because when they put stuff on Instagram and it creates the AI auto captions and they were talking about the Seiko 5, it kept saying Psycho on it and unfortunately for us, it turns out people actually read the captions that are created in podcast players. So yeah, it was a little bit of an Inception moment there. But a brand that is not having an Inception moment is Konstantin Chaikin and co. And it should be said people think of Konstantin Chaikin as an individual. But even Roger Smith isn't an individual anymore. There are a team of helpers, people that don't just make the coffee and tea behind the scenes. And when it comes to Konstantin Chaikin, he has got collaborators, not just in other companies, but in his own business. But this time around, for a third outing, he's pulling out his little monster.
- [15:32]
B
His little monster's popped out for the third time. Who, er, misses? But yes, he is working again with Louis Erard, the brand that has probably, over the last couple of years, really set its doll out as a brand that leans into collaborations with a variety of watchmakers, brands and themes, I have to say. But this is the third outing of the Time Eater, this of course, being called the Tie Meter, the third Shock Horror. But this is the close of this collaboration, or the collaboration in this iteration, and they have clearly stated that. So we have the Le Regulateur, Louis Erard, Konstantin Chaikin iii, and there's two versions. There's a blue and a red color variation on it as well, pretty much retaining the Cyclops regulator dial that you will have seen if you've seen any of these previous collaborations with them, but of course in different colors. You also have two different sizes in here as well. The blue version coming in at 42 mm, that's only going to be available from Louis Erard. And you've got the red model, which is in a slightly smaller 39 millimeter that will be sold only by Konstantin Chaikin. It's effectively a cosmetic tweak on the earlier editions, but it's a pretty good concept. People love those ones. They did disappear pretty quickly. Most of the watches that come from Louis Erard are generally limited to, if I remember rightly, around 178 pieces. So not a lot of them to go around, I have to say. You've got the regulator case that you've come to know and love from this brand. It's a little bit too thick, but we'll get to why that is as well. The first editions were seen in green and purple, two colors that are very synonymous with Konstantin Chaikin, especially if you know the original Joker watches, which kind of are the muse for where these watches are coming from. You've got that polished stainless steel case on there. The 42mm is 12.25mm thick. The 39 is 12.82mm thick, based on a Sellita SW2661 movement on there. But you do get that height because they've had to modify it for the regulator style display, 38 hours of power reserve as you would expect. Unusual strap wise. The 42 millimeter has a toad leather strap. Poor toads for getting licked and then skinned alive. The calfskin on the 39 millimeters and 170 examples of each model. Price point wise, definitely at the affordable end. If you want something that has Chaikin's name in it. 4450 Swiss francs, excluding taxis that is. So you might need to add between, well, whatever your local taxes is. But in Europe, typically around the 20% mark on top of that as well. I said these were cool from the start. A little bit of me says have they overdone it a little bit? But at least we know this is the last two models so that will be six in total over the series. They have said that there's something coming in the future that they will collaborate on a new model. I think it's just as well maybe that these two are going to put this general concept to bed. Both look good. Smaller one for me, Ricky, what say?
- [18:24]
A
I like the purple one? Not just because I could keep making jokes about a purple headed monster and it's a great way of getting into Joker territory for a lot less cash. And you were one of the first movers to get a Joker watch when they weren't massive amounts of cash, they were not inexpensive when you picked yours up. But they've definitely increased a lot there. And I suppose it's a little bit like when you think of MB&F and the MAD galleries and MAD1, MAD2, MAD1s, etc. You can get a little bit of that luxury at a fraction of the price. And with these ones, if somebody sees it on your wrist, it's probably going to get the same amount of attention as a standard normal Joker would one of the Wristmon series. So I think it's a win. It isn't much of a departure from the last one, but I think if you didn't get one of the previous ones, maybe purple wasn't your color or the first iteration then. Yeah, for less than 5k, it's a big, huge win in the fact it's got the regulator moving and it doesn't look anything like the other Louis Arabic. They've got DNA in them but Chaikin has absolutely blasted that out. And something we're going to blast out next is the wrist check. We remember to do it so Mizio will not be on our case. Dave likes to go second. So I'm going to go first and I'm going To take it back a few years and I'm going to take it back to pre Dave territory. So today, not in Dave's honor, but because Dave is here and I've actually not set this to show the 10 to 10 or the 10 past 10, this is showing the correct recording time on a Sunday because Dave is away, he is off in his international travels. But today in his honor, kind of, and also because I have been to the safety deposit box in Glasgow, I have taken out my tourbillon and we talked about tourbillon earlier on today. This is my first and only tourbillon. Got this one back in 2021 after putting my name down with the guys at Raj. Well before Dave was on the scene with Arage there and they had announced this inexpensive, generally speaking, tourbillon that was completely Swiss made. Originally they were going to be doing something with the folks at Le Joux Paris, but that didn't really come off. Something better happened. They actually decided to take all their prowess, their ingenuity and their knowledge of creating movement such as the K1 working on the K2 and produce their complete own in house movement. This is the K thou I believe it is. Dave will correct me later on if I am wrong. And this is the Gen one, I believe. And it was designed by a female watchmaker that does the rounds between Norqain Oraj and Armin Strom. She's been on the show before. That's Marcella. And the details of that episode, which is fantastic, will be in the show notes. But the reason I wanted this, the reason I like this, apart from being my first Swiss made turbo Tourbillon or tourbillon at all, is the fact it's got this waffle arrangement, a grid on the front and you could pick it in a multitude of different colorways. You could go really crazy. You could have an anodized candy blue effect on the front. I kept that for the back and the handset. Later on they released a model that came with a stainless steel 904L, very similar to Oystersteel. So if I turn it round and show you the back, it's a little bit tricky because the bracelet is obfuscating. What I'm trying to show you here. It has got all kinds of cool stuff. Again, again, it's a lattice arrangement on the rear. These things sold out and it's annoying. It's like when we did our limited edition with Formex. It took a wee while to go and then after it did sell out, people got in touch to say, hey, can we get this, can we get that? And I know Dave, you get emails every week asking if any of these have been found in the back of a storeroom, if you're going to redo them, etc, etc. Well the news is no they're not because they only had a couple left that was made from the spare parts bin, a bit like Johnny five did in the back of that van in Short Circuit one. But this is absolutely stunning. It's never on the wrist because we get too many watches to play with, but it's going to be on the wrist over the next little while and maybe you can give us a little bit of information on this movement since you actually work for the company now.
- [21:59]
B
So the movement is k2 but not a number 2 t o u obviously short for tourbillon but its official name inside is the KT one. So this being the original version of the Tourbillon movement that was used. And of course the Tourbillon one watch, you've got, the one where it's I guess skeletonized we could use. But you've got a waffle style plate on the top and on the bottom there as well. And you could as you rightly pointed out, choose what color from a kind of suite of colours you wanted for both the top and the bottom main plate on there as well. Of course a flying tourbillon using our in house ceramic bearing runner which you could see on the back there as well. You went for I would say a pretty subtle but nice colourway. Some people went for the full blue. You've got those blue hands on there with the blue case back and when you flip it over you can obviously see straight through the movement as well. So it's not as sc skeletonised maybe as some super sculpted watches, but it definitely lets a lot of the kind of light through it. Power wise 120 hours. It's a hand wind calibre on this one as well. And all of that original batch of course were also COSC certified as you said, 904L steel going on there as well. I think it's a watch that's in demand. We get regular communication from people saying I want one, can I get one? When in fact it was a one edition. So they are long gone unfortunately. Although the odd one or two do pop up on the pre owned market. In fact you mentioned Ted. Ted actually sent a picture I think round about a year ago as he was transiting through Heathrow Airport and there was one in the cabinet of pre owned watches within the watches of Switzerland in Heathrow Airport of all places. So they do get around the world and they do pop up sometimes in the most unusual places. We did release a follow up version, a Tour beyond two Skeleton, which has got some of the same design language but maybe not exactly the same as that original one. But for people who are maybe trying to get their hands on something similar, that is potentially an option for you. But yeah, you've not worn this one for a long time. Good to see it back on the wrist.
- [23:58]
A
There we go. That is my wrist. Check a watch that should get a little bit more wrist time. It doesn't, but it's now time to ask Dave what he's got on the wrist today.
- [24:05]
B
Well, what's Dave wearing? Well, we were talking about something from Konstantin Jaikin, so I decided, well, a watch I also don't wear very much and should definitely wear more, go through little phases of wearing it and then not wearing it. But what am I wearing? I am wearing the original Joker. Well, not quite the original because the original was in stainless steel, but this is the edition in titanium and as we can see, caseback clearly states titanium. This is number 30 of 88. They only released 88 of this edition, so somewhat hard to come by. You get the odd one again that tends to pop up, but they go for frankly redonkulous money. This has got of course the hours and minutes as represented by the eyes with the moon phase being the tongue on there as well. Two crowns that represent the years. This crown is for adjusting the time as you would expect, but there's a little internal pusher hidden in the opposite crown to allow you to adj the moon phase. I've got it fitted to the official Konstantin Chaikin strap but with the suit. So he's got his collar and tie on there and he's got his crazy hair going on there as well. So that is what David is wearing today.
- [25:10]
A
Wrist checks out the road, really good ones this time and people ask if we think of these things ahead of time, if we collaborate and conference beforehand, we don't. We just pick what we find lining a watch box. And as I say, since I've been into Glasgow, I thought, yeah, I'm going to take this one out and actually wear it for a little bit of time. But it's time to talk about watches you can actually get a hold of. Now, the folks at Space1, we catch up with them again when we're over in Geneva. They are at all the different events, all the different shows. I believe in the uk they're actually working with Pietro Sam and co at limited edition details will be in the show notes if that is correct. But they've got something new to talk about. It's not the Tellurium, it's not the original, what would you call it? Laptop mouse watch that they brought out a couple of years ago. They've got something brand new and they've just pushed envelope evolution further.
- [25:53]
B
They have the new Space1World timer. Now this is a watch of course as the name suggests, will give you time zones around the world based of course firmly on planet Earth. This is a brand that is generally producing pretty futuristic looking watches. They're definitely in the avant garde end of the scale but they are generally relatively affordable. This is their third model, the WorldTimer. Previously they've had the Tellurium we talked about which was that kind of planetarium style watch. And of course they've had the jumping hour watch.
- [26:21]
A
Every time somebody says planetarium I think of that episode of south park at the very beginning where they couldn't pronounce it properly.
- [26:28]
B
They're friends with us because we are typically not very good at pronouncing things but yes, indeed, I know exactly. Well yes, speaking to for yourself, no problem at all. There is a brand that does have certain things that are similar De Bethune. You will see they utilize quite a lot of a blue coloration on their titanium cases because to my knowledge, and to my knowledge all of the cases that they've used so far have been grade 5 titanium do quite often have have a nice blue coloration option available on them which is of course maybe more typically known from De Bethune. But on this one you've got three different displays all in one case. At three o' clock there's a minute and second display. At six o' clock there's an independent hour display and at nine o' clock you've got a large circle display giving you the world times. You can of course sync your current time zone with the dial and you can track time zones all around the world. Excluding of course those with quarter or half past intervals. I have to say most world timers don't track those ones, they're just thrown in the there to really annoy people to be honest that own world timers. But you've got a three position crown here that allows you to make all the adjustments first position for your manual winding. Second allows the quick setting of the city disc and the third allows you to simultaneously set both the 12 and 24 hour discs on there. Movement is based around a Soprod P024 movement and you've got that in house world timer complication on there as well. 38 hours of power reserve. You've got that grade 5 titanium case with polished, brushed and sandblasted surfaces. And you've got the silver and blue treatment on there and a little bit of black coating as well. It's a big one, this one. 41.9 millimeters lug to lug, 52.7 millimeters across, the longest sides of this watch and coming in at just under 16 millimeters thick. So not for the faint of heart. They will open for pre order starting from June 26th at 4pm French time. And the price in my opinion is a bit of a bargain. They start at €2,700, excluding taxes, with the first batch of 600 pieces, expensive, expected to be delivered before the end of 2025. This is a brand that really, in my opinion is delivering really great looking alternative watchmaking in terms of aesthetic and style at really attainable price points. No, not super entry. We're not talking Swatch and G shock money, but with a little bit of. I want to get myself into one of these. Most people, I think given a little bit of time could probably scrape the pennies together to get one of these. This is a lot of watch for what it's offering at €2,700, which is. Ricky, I know you do like these as well. I like them. And yes, you are right. Before I pass over to you, the guys at the limited edition are indeed having a little event in the uk. Check out the show notes because they have very kindly extended the invitation to Red Bar and anyone that might be interested. So you could always drop us a note if you were interested and let us know.
- [29:14]
A
Got to show Pietro and the team there because folks again might be mistaken in thinking they only deal with watches. 10 grand, 20 grand, 120 grand. They do all kinds of stuff, they deal with all kinds of brands from, as you can see, see here, two and a half thousand pounds there or there around all the way up. And it doesn't matter the cost, it's the ingenuity. It's getting something unique. And you could almost say that this is a bargain. Now these guys, you could look at it and say this may be a scam, this could be some kind of shady deal going on here because it's too inexpensive for what you're getting. But they've proven themselves, they've done pre orders before and they're not one of these brands that's going to rest in the laurels. They have changed the game, They've moved things along. And you mentioned the Bethune. I heard a small rumor, allegedly that Dee Bethune were not super happy with one of the releases that came out because it showed the complete contrast and disparity between a watch that's a couple of grand and a watch that's a couple hundred grand. But do I like this? I do like it. I don't like it as in the aesthetic. I like the way the ingenuity has brought together lots of different complications in a watch for an inexpensive price point. And I was trying to work out, looking at the images of it, how they managed to connect the winding stem across to actually interface with all the different parts, to actually pop the back off. Look at the movement and the way that everything is connected together. I think that would be quite an engineering feat to have a look at myself. The watch looks good. It's not for me. It's very or work. It's very MB and F. It's lots of different things mixed together. But again, at a price point that is more attainable that you could save up for, that is around a bit. Tudor money, Inexpensive Tudor money. Not the high end. Definitely not Omega, definitely not Rolex. So if you like this one, I am not sure if there will be any left because I believe the pre orders start on 26th of June. So depending when this show comes out, you may be in luck, you may not be in luck. And there are only 600 pieces, as Dave probably mentioned there, but I wasn't paying attention to what he was doing. So. Yeah, that's that.
- [31:03]
B
Well, I will just correct you there. The first batch of 600 will be available for delivery this year. They have not said it's limited edition. It just means that if you get your order in a bit later, you may have to wait a little bit for it as well. But they have made no noise about it being a limited edition release. So if you really do like it and you're willing to wait and you missed that first 600, definitely get your order in. But yes. What have we been up to? Ricky, you can go first because you've actually for a change been up to a lot.
- [31:27]
A
Yes, I do a thing once a day, year. Part of what I used to get up to back in the day, there's a Scottish band, techno rave band called ttf and every year they do a concert. Not a rave, not a warehouse experiment, but an actual concert. They've moved between different places, constantly getting bigger and bigger. They're now at the Hydro where all the big acts come and play at. And I was there last night doing a bit of filming work for them. Nothing to do with Watches for a change. And it was really good. If you're in the uk, if you're in Europe and you know some of the techno act from the past maybe 20 years, there was lots of folks there to support. You had Alice, DJ in the past, you've had the Venga Boys. Yeah, all these kind of crazy Eurodance and even Base Hunter. Yes, Bass Hunter turned up last night and did a Swedish rendition of Flower of Scotland. But that's what I've been up to yesterday, getting all prepped, changing the camera equipment to work at a concert at a venue versus recording the footage we usually do. So that was the first thing that I did. Other stuff we actually had Ted visit Scottish Watches Tours to record the show he will be on imminently. We've got a couple of things in the bag that are going to get released first, but it's always great to sit down with a young enthusiast collector who has been doing this since 15 years of age. He was telling us that when we were recording the show, so it'll be good to hear from him and what else We've been up to watching the world talk about Apple and iOS 26, which is probably a couple of weeks old by the time this ends up in the airwaves. But it's really strange to look at how they have changed things around so much and gone back the way to Windows Vista. Other stuff I've been up to usual foray into YouTube territory, finding this at night. Other But I was reading up on something then I looked on YouTube to find out more about it and there was a device called the Thing and it was gifted by the Soviet Union to the Americans way back in the day. And it was a surveillance device that had no battery, no power source and it was fitted in the back of a plaque, a commemorative thing that was handed across and it was hung in an office, didn't do anything until a certain radio frequency was blasted at it. And a little bit like an RFID NFC tag of current technology, then it would kick in into life and it would start to emit something so you couldn't find it with a bug scanner. And when the Americans actually finally figured it all out, I believe with the help of the British, instead of telling everybody about it a little bit like the Enigma machine, they just kept it quiet and then reused that technology against other people across the world. So I Love a little bit of CIA surveillance, spy tech, enemy of the state. So yeah, that's pretty much what I've been up to. Dave, how about you, what have you been up to?
- [33:56]
B
Car acquisitions. I'm in the car acquisitions mode. My current car is running up to its three year old birthday, which of course in the UK means it has to get an mot. The car's done hardly any miles and will pass with flying colours. But I typically get rid of my cars in and around the three year old mark.
- [34:12]
A
Is that because they're French and the electrics start to go?
- [34:14]
B
No. Yes, maybe. No, actually the electrics have got much better over the last ten years or so. I think most cars, let's be honest today, are pretty much the same under the skin, just different panels and badges stuck on them. They all pretty much belong to one of two or three groups. But yes, I've finally bitten the bullet and I'm going full electric. I and I've jumped into the pool of the brand that is Alpine. You may have heard us talk a little bit about that because of course the Alpine Formula one team are being sponsored by Mozart and last year we were very kindly asked along to go and see the team in action at the UK Grand Prix down at Silverstone. So I happen to be looking at the Renault 5 because, Ricky, you'll remember the original Renault 5, especially the Renault 5 GT Turbo.
- [34:57]
A
Yes, they featured an Alli GT the movie, racing along at exactly 30 miles per hour.
- [35:02]
B
1980S hot hatches. Bit of a thing if you're British, even probably European. During the 80s and 90s hot hatches were a big thing. We all went for relatively small engined, very light, probably not particularly safe cars that actually had a little bit of a good power to weight ratio in them, but they seem to be making a bit of a comeback. They are no longer light because batteries surely are not at the light end of the weight scale. But yes, Alpine have released a hot, heated up version of the new Renault 5 electric. So I have got one coming outside of that, not a whole lot, just get myself ready back over to Switzerland the day after. We're recording this for a few days to get some work done because, well, you know, we all have to do some work outside of that though, not just getting ready and recording shows for you all to listen to.
- [35:47]
A
Speaking of Switzerland, let's talk about MB and F, the second mention in today's show because we talk about, talked about them just previously with Space1, but they have got something. Well, it's actually purple It's a purple version of a watch that's been out for a little bit of time, but it's one that me and Dave really like. It's one of our firm favorites from the guys there, and of the same kind of look as maybe the Amida and the genre Perregaux that Dave owns. This one is one of the OGs when it comes to recreating something from the 70s, using current technology, modern ways of thinking. And it's in purple, so what's not to love?
- [36:19]
B
The MB&F HM8 Mark II. It's a driver's watch and they've got a new edition of it out. Essentially the same watch, but in a new purple colorway. Now, this is a very heavily stylized take on the driver's watch debuting back in 2023. Both myself and Ricky were over in Geneva and we got to see this at Geneva watch days. There was the standard production colorway, which was white, definitely. I like that watch. But they also did a British racing green. That was that year's limited edition version. In fact, maybe check the show notes out because I had it on my wrist for quite a long while. I really was troping. They didn't notice, so I could leave with it. But of course they did notice. 2024's limited edition colourway was a glossy blue. And for this year, the 33 piece limited edition is in a vibrant metallic purple. A little bit about the watch, it's got a kind of grade five titanium, we'll call it case, but it's more like kind of mounting areas. And you've got panels on the top and the bottom of the watch which are made out of carbon Macleroy. These sandwich effectively a really complicated sapphire crystal. If I remember rightly, they said it took a huge amount of machining hours to get this crystal to the shape they want it to be. And of course, that gives you this top view where you can see into the movement. The carbon macleron, what is it? It's a polymer base with carbon nanotubes. This is, for a change, a fairly technical material, not just calling it carbon something and hoping to get away with the fact that it's plastic. This results in a material material that's eight times less in weight than its equivalent part in steel. You've got metallic pigments quite similar to what are used in the automotive paint industry. And these are used to put that color in there as well. In terms of the movements, the base movement is a Girard Perregaux movement, which has been paired with an in house module to facilitate the jumping hour and trailing minutes. Running at 28,800 vibrations per hour, power reserve of 42 hours and coming in at US$88,000. If you like driver style watches, this is probably at the pinnacle of what you can get in the market today in terms of technology, avant garde watchmaking and haute horology in this genre. Love it to bits. I still think that original British Racing Green is my favorite color that they've released today, but this purple one is pretty punchy.
- [38:33]
A
One of the standouts. And if you're interested in coming to Geneva watch days, get in touch with the folks at MB&F because looking at their cool watches, getting to try them on, including this model is something that always look forward to. The guys are so down to earth considering how they float in the upper echelons of watchmaking. They are amazing. Right from the top. Max Busser right the way through the whole company. Great folks. We've had one of their creative talents on the show. We had Steve McDonald for an amazing episode. We'll link in the show notes as well. This watch purple. Love it. The model, love it as well and that's why we wanted to talk about it. We will talk about color and variations of materials when it's something we think that stands out and deserves a little bit of attention or maybe bit of a refresher and a reminder, something that's come out before that you can get in a different colorway. And we should probably go through a little bit of the feedback we got from the last edition that ended up on YouTube. As we mentioned earlier, if you listen to the podcast and audio format, there's a slightly different version that comes out at the weekend thanks to Gav. He puts in some jokes that generally don't appear in the audio version because they work better in a visual medium. And likewise there's some jokes that only appear in the audio version because they don't work visually. Dave, do you want to hit the road running? Tell us what we people have been saying.
- [39:41]
B
Indeed. First message is from rickb6365. Incredible risk check. Gentlemen, both beautiful watches. Thank you very much. I think last week's show we did have some pretty punchy watches on.
- [39:52]
A
Next up from Von Kruel. The Amida Open Sapphire is far and away my favourite of these watches. The Lime Rado Amaton does look good to me as well though.
- [40:01]
B
Mjcruiser4238 says I'm waiting for Mike Myers to yell if it's Not Scottish. It sucks. Well, yes, he's absolutely true.
- [40:09]
A
I'm sure it used to be. If it's not Scottish, it's crap. But we'll let him away with that one. Next up, Sean McLaughlin says Revolution magazine get a lot of watch collabs, right? I have one of their Zinn collabs and the Isotope X Revolution is just, in my opinion, stunning. We did feature that on the show last year, plus Zenith and others. That Czapek isn't usually my thing, but is absolutely superb.
- [40:30]
B
Thomas Burnett says another great show as always, fellas. So disappointed with Casio's first mechanical watch using a Seiko NH35. Movement is such a letdown. A more expensive watch with some movement development would have been so much more interesting. Like the two of you. I don't really understand why they've made it.
- [40:45]
A
And long term listeners to the show. Gran Phelps says. Great video, guys. I remember when Jaws first came out. I was scared shitless about going in the sea after seeing it in the cinema. Especially when that head dropped out of the boat in the beginning of the film. Popcorn everywhere. It was a real game changer of a film.
- [41:02]
B
Absolutely. And of course the 50th anniversary of that is as we speak. And we had that little Seiko that was celebrating the 50th anniversary, but another brand close to the heart and another brand that is merely across the road from where I'm going to be in the next 12 to 24 hours of recording. This is Armindstrom and they put out a new version of the Armin Strom Gravity Eco Force.
- [41:25]
A
Yes, Armindstrom. No strangers to the show. They've been on twice before. We should probably get them on for the return for that hat trick because they're just great guys. I remember when I was across meeting the folks at Araj with Dave before he got the job. And we just stumbled into Armin Strom. We had no meeting. They didn't know where we're coming. They didn't know we were in the country. We just appeared at reception and said, hey guys, we're here. You busy? Obviously they're busy all the time. But they took us behind the scenes. They gave us a whistle stop tour of everything from development, from sketching and 3D prints. They showed us watches and technology that didn't appear in the market for two to three years. From that moment they showed us they're finishing industrial processes, how they actually create things on premises. The fact that they've got all these machines and probably not any longer because they've outgrown them, but they do all these machines in the basement level because that was the area where nothing would move and they could actually get down to the tiny resolutions required to produce all the different components and parts. They're known for doing crazy complications. They've invented a couple, but this time around they've changed the color slightly on an existing model.
- [42:27]
B
Well, yeah, I would say what they've done here is they've brought a more refined, elegant offering to the range of watches that have definitely, definitely got a much more technical kind of modern feel to them. This is the Armstrong Gravity Equal Force. This model being the ultimate sapphire Rose Gold version as well. Back in 2019 was when this collection made its debut and it had the gravity equal force system 78. That system was designed to deliver consistent torque and chronometric precision across the entire range of the power reserve of the watch. And the that was done through a few innovations that they have patented and trademarked. Since then the series has evolved through a different variation of steel cases, titanium cases and of course an open work version as well. But we now have this new version using gold and copper alloy to make that 41 millimeter case. It's crafted from 18 karat rose gold. It measures 12.65 millimeters in thickness and 48.09 mm lug to lug. You've got lots of brushing and polishing and of course the brand is well known for using lots of high end finishing techniques that you would expect from that horology area of Swiss watchmaking. You've got of course those sapphire crystals at top and bottom that are really opening up and showing off the movement. The off center sapphire time disc with the integrated small seconds sub dial on there. You've got rhodium plated pink gold hands filled with Super Luminova. But you've got a general hue and palette of browns and copper colorways. Of course you've got hand turned guilloche in there and you've got that very discreet power reserve up between 4 and 5 o'. Clock. It's their in house ASB 19 calibre. It's a micro rotor powered 72 hour power reserve calibre and it's matched to a matte brown nubuck leather strap with beige stitching with a rose gold pin barrel buckle. It's not limited edition but it's limited in as much as they will make 20 pieces per year and it's going to come in at 39,400 Swiss francs before taxes, which is a lot of money. But maybe not quite as much as you would expect it to be, considering it has got high gold content in there. If you like the general feel and vibe of this brand, but feel of maybe always been a bit clinical or a bit too technical looking, this is definitely worth a look. It kind of softens, softens and warms the look of the watch and I feel it just takes a little bit of that clinical edge off of their design language. I personally am a big fan of their traditional design language, but if you want it just soften slightly, this could very much be for you.
- [45:01]
A
I was hoping Dave would shut up maybe about a minute ago so I could say that last part because that's exactly how I feel about this. It's like seeing a Batman or a Sprite from Rolex and then seeing the root beer version of it. It's more earthy tones, but it's made of metal. Don't know how that works, but in my head that made sense. And you're right, it's a little bit more somber. It doesn't jump out like the space age look of the titanium, the steel or even the purple number that we got to see this time around at Watches and Wonders, which was their entire presentation. It was really nice, it was really cool. But it punched you right in the face because it was just so outstanding. This one. Yeah, it would subtly disappear into the background and only when you paid attention would you actually notice what was going on. Because these guys know how to do it. There are three bridgers arrangement on the front. The way they've got mixes of finishing guilloche, engine turning, rose turning. All these different elements are fused together in a way that works. And then when you look at the price point, yeah, it's not 10 grand, 15, 20 grand, it's 30 to 40. But the gold content, as Dave mentions, that's where the money goes. And gold does not seem to go down in price. So even if you had this watch for a while, you're probably not going to lose your shirt. You can get in and out of it because it has precious metal and you could melt the thing down. That's what I'm saying. But no, the guys there are really good. Probably should get back in touch with them because it has been a while where you're based with Araj, everybody's kind of connected together. You've got Christopher Ward division out there in bn, you've got Araj, you've got Armin Strom and various other players. Are you guys still working quite closely with them?
- [46:31]
B
Of course. A lot of the brands that are in Beel do have overlap. Sometimes staff move between brands, but also some brands may have access to to a machine that others don't and vice versa. So there's quite often a little bit of scratch your back and scratch my back to get access to infrastructure and materials and technologies in terms of machinery that you may not have yourself, but you might have something that they need as well. So yes, those guys have always been very open to having a kind of great working relationship with other brands. And as we know, great friend of the show, Raphael at Formex is based just around the corner corner as well. They obviously lean into their family business in terms of their OEM supply chain. But again, they are also touching with lots of other brands in and around the Beale area. So yes, watchmaking is a relatively friendly endeavor. Everyone's got their own little take on it. Everyone's got their own way of doing things, but they all do tend to give a lending hand where needed to each other. So yeah.
- [47:26]
A
Well, there we are. We're at the end of a show. Time to tell you if you have time remaining to go through the back catalog. We've got tons of of episodes in recent history. We've had the Dell artist, we've had Mike France, the CEO of Christopher Ward on. We've had iwc, although they've got some stuff happening because of the Formula One film, so I believe. And they've also got a new and they've got a new boutique we're probably not allowed to talk about just yet. So pretend I didn't say that. Yeah, they may be on to talk about some new cool things as well. And I'm pretty sure there are lots of things in the background that Dave is working on that I'm working on that you guys will love. So go through the back catalog. Make sure you subscribe. Follow us on YouTube. Make sure you're actually subscribed. You turn on that notification bell on there as well. That's it. Thank you for listening. We'll catch you again soon.
- [48:05]
B
Take care, Sam.