January has been busy, and a longer break between recordings turns into a chance to slow down and catch up.

Cold weather across the country keeps Aaron home for a few days, which opens the door to reconnect. Marc is braving the Denver cold with Cuban-style coffee and thoughts of Miami, while also reflecting on the passing of Bob Weir. His influence is impossible to overstate. The connection many of us share to Grateful Dead music runs deep, but it is especially personal for Felix and Brian, whose relationship with that music has been a constant thread. 

This episode centers on timing, service, and why relationships still matter in this hobby. Marc is back in his Oris after a mainspring repair handled by Right Time Watches. The work was done quickly and graciously, with no pressure for a full service. Just the right repair at the right moment.

That experience flows directly into Aaron’s latest purchase. A used King Seiko with a gorgeous silver sunburst dial, bought from Right Time during a FaceTime call with Marc. What started as a fun, slightly impulsive moment turned into a masterclass in customer service. A brief concern after the watch arrived, led to thoughtful back-and-forth, reassurance, and a simple fix. No issue at all. Right Time for Seiko, in every sense.

The conversation widens to Aaron’s growing Seiko lineup, spanning from Seiko 5 all the way to Grand Seiko. Six Seikos with six different movements, and a reminder that meaningful collections are built through stories. Still, the new year wasted no time. Aaron already has his first Seiko of the year, and Marc somehow beat him by two days with a used Seiko sourced from Australia via Chrono24 (story to come!).

The heart of the episode lands with a story from Berea College. Students in Aaron’s Student Craft program, all of whom attend tuition free and work on campus, expressed interest in mechanical watches. Aaron carried that curiosity to the The Grey Nato Slack community.

The response was generosity beyond expectation. Members didn’t just offer inexpensive watches tucked away in drawers. They donated them outright.

The students were fascinated by mechanical watches, grateful for the kindness, and excited by the idea of something tangible and lasting that wasn’t tied to a phone. In a moment when anger and unkindness feel easy to find, this became a bright spot. A reminder that a shared hobby, a generous community, and the right conduit can create something meaningful that stays with you.

Good timing. Good people. Right time.

Aaron and Marc are back from the holiday break after crossing paths in opposite directions. Aaron visits family in Denver while Marc trades winter for Miami and the Florida Keys.

They settle back in with travel stories and time away, and how a reset reshapes perspective on life and on watches. Aaron’s Seiko 5 returns from service with new hands and crystal, naturally opening the door to an unplanned state of the collection. Field watches, versatility, and the quiet influence of the Seiko 5 become a thread, especially as Aaron realizes he now owns more field watches than actual fields he plans to explore.

Marc checks in from the tropics, where his Black Bays take in beach days, art, sunshine, and an unapologetic amount of seafood, Cuban food, and key lime pie. Time with family includes hands-on moments with his brother’s heirloom Datejust and reflections on travel, family, and reconciling feelings about his hometown, its culture, and the constant presence of creativity.

The conversation drifts where it wants to, touching on gifted watches including a Vostok Amphibian with Cold War roots, the evolving shape of Aaron’s collection, and the kind of watch curiosity that shows up when schedules loosen and expectations disappear.

Loose, unplanned, and very much back in rhythm for the new year.

Marc and Aaron record after coming off a professional Zoom call with Danny, Marc’s longtime friend and frequent collaborator on Crosshatch projects. The three of them are quietly amused that they managed to resist doing a wrist check during the meeting, only to open another Zoom later to do exactly that. Beer check makes an appearance, and the conversation eases in from work to watches without much resistance.

Straps are very much on the mind. Aaron has been rotating watches when he gets home from work and spending time with Veblenist straps, gifting a couple, experimenting with blue leather on a bead-blasted Seiko, and appreciating what an upgrade good leather can be. Marc, still loyal to bracelets, admits a strap has been sitting in his cart longer than he would like to admit.

The guys talk about an unexpected trip to Kentucky to hear Felix play guitar publicly for the first time, holiday travel ahead, and the realization that this is likely the final episode of the year. Along the way they cover seeing the new Tudor Ranger 36mm and Omega Planet Ocean in person, a detour into helium escape valves as brand language, Aaron’s 100-meter rule, Jomashop finds including a Seiko 5 Marc helped track down for Adelle, old Seiko 5 logos, watch rules, Blundstones, and the watches that are still quietly lingering in the back of their minds.

They wrap up without a formal year-end list or big retrospective, just a moment to pause, reflect, and say thanks for listening and joining the conversation so far.

The guys recap Thanksgiving, a week filled with family time and a rare chance to hang out in person. Months earlier, Anne, Brian’s wife, had asked for help choosing a mechanical watch for him after he began reading Wendell Berry and started looking for a way to step back from screens and reconnect with the natural rhythm of the day.

After weeks of talking it through, Marc and Aaron finally landed on the right solution. And because Marc happened to be in Kentucky for the holiday, the timing worked out for him and Aaron to be present as Anne gave the watch to Brian in person. It was a meaningful moment to witness and one that made the choice feel even more fitting.

They also talk about letting certain watches move on, including another one from Marc’s own collection, and how pieces sometimes eventually find the right wrist.

The episode wraps with a conversation about movements from brands like Tudor and Rolex, and why it's so hard to find clear, unbiased information that explains the production differences behind two high-quality Swiss calibers with very different price points. The lack of real data becomes a point of curiosity for Aaron as he continues learning what actually sets one movement apart from another.

Last week Marc and Aaron were talking about how perfect the Ranger would be if it were 36mm. And what does Tudor announce this week? A 36mm Ranger. Maybe they’re listening.

Aaron gives a NA Sierra Nevada a try and decides it is not very drinkable. Marc goes in a different direction with some single barrel Old Forester. Between sips, the guys dig into the new Ranger lineup, including the Dune colorway, which neither of them can quite warm up to. Marc is also convinced that Tudor is mocking him with a 19mm lug width.

Next, the guys work through the 2025 GPHG Awards. They find the whole event hard to relate to, but a few pieces stand out, especially the “Challenge” category winner, a $700 Dennison that proves how strong value can be under CHF 3,000.

They wrap with a look at the new Planet Ocean by Omega and circle back to the Pelagos, which might be their ultimate (or Ultra) choice for a modern, tough diver.

Next week is Thanksgiving and Marc will be back in Kentucky. It may be a while before the next episode but there will be plenty to talk about when they return.

Marc is back from Kentucky, fresh off celebrating Brian’s son’s wedding, a weekend packed with family, stories, and those reminders of why friendships matter. The guys settle in with a fall-appropriate stout and dunkle and pick up where they left off: Vaer.

This week, the new Vaer × Worn & Wound × Topo Designs release takes center stage. Marc argues it’s the perfect watch for people who care more about the outdoors than watch forums. Aaron, meanwhile, has been “testing” the accuracy of his A7 with two straight weeks of wear and has discovered it runs six seconds fast. He is now debating whether to regulate it, even though once it goes back into regular rotation that adjustment will never matter. Marc can’t help but poke fun at the level of obsession.

That launches a familiar discussion about the dream “do-everything Explorer.” Would we ditch most of our collections for that one perfect field watch? Short answer: no. But the conversation leads Marc to imagine a more compact Tudor Ranger, and Aaron to float the IWC 36mm Pilot, something he hopes to try on during his next trip to Denver.

A little family, a little beer, a lot of field watches. The good stuff.

Aaron picked up another Vaer, so we crack open some beers and compare his newest field watch to the one he bought back in Episode 17. How does it stack up in day-to-day wear, and does it justify a second look at the brand? We get into it.

Marc also has a new addition. He has been refining his collection and letting pieces go, but he added a second Black Bay 58, this time in navy. The BB58 continues to be a nearly perfect watch in Marc’s world, and owning two just makes sense at this point.

The conversation takes a turn thanks to a Blancpain Villeret sighting at Keeneland, sending us down a small, gold, vintage dress-watch rabbit hole. We talk a couple Grand Seiko ref. J14070s and then bring ourselves back to reality by landing on the Seiko Alpinist Champion ref. 85899 as a more practical “wear-once-or-twice-a-year” piece.

A new Vaer, a second Black Bay 58, and a little trip through elegant vintage watch territory. Grab a beer and join us.

Felix skips school for a good cause: Berea College’s 150th Mountain Day... and runs into Aaron there, who immediately approves of the decision. Both are, unsurprisingly, wearing Seikos.

Meanwhile, Marc’s daughter Olivia and Felix spend the week exploring Colorado: catching the fall colors, touring a college campus, and making it all the way to Great Sand Dunes National Park.

On the watch front, Marc is still pining for the perfect “one watch”... the 36mm white-dial Oyster Perpetual (Ref. 116000). The guys also take a detour into watches they wouldn’t necessarily own, out-of-character picks that still have their attention. Marc’s intrigued by the Christopher Ward Loco, a Limited Edition collaboration with Worn & Wound: The Brooklynite in warm gray (naturally, Marc’s always in favor of warm gray). Aaron’s drawn to the Santos de Cartier in titanium, complete with a bead-blasted case and bracelet... probably no surprise, given his current bead-blasting kick.

Marc returns from Texas with stories of barbecue, tacos, indie beers... and even a stop at the Alamo, where Pee Wee’s bike really is on display now. He wraps the week with the full-on spectacle of a Texas A&M football game, complete with endless traditions and an absolutely wild fan base. After all that heat, he’s glad to be back in Denver.

With the wrist check and beer check out of the way (seriously, beer sponsors call us), Aaron surprises us yet again with a new pickup from the TGN Slack buy/sell/trade subgroup: the Vaer C3 Tradition Field—36mm, USA Solar. That sparks a long dive into three Explorer-inspired field watches in the 36mm sweet spot, all powered by the robust, reliable, and affordable Miyota 9-series movement: the Vaer, the Traska Summiteer, and the Lorier Falcon.

Marc finds himself clearly drawn toward one, and now Aaron owns another... but the real fun is in exploring what separates these three very different brands while they’re making such similar watches.

The guys are catching up after Aaron’s trip to Denver, starting with wrist checks and beverage checks. Marc shares his love for Forstner bracelets on the Black Bay 58, while Aaron preps for DC with his Grand Seiko and talks about missing his SARB, which he shipped out for a new crystal and a full bead-blast. 

The two dig into mid-range Seiko releases, Lorier’s new quick-adjust clasp, and Hamilton’s latest field watch. They also retell their stops into Topo Designs’ flagship store and Denver’s Right Time watch shop (where Aaron spotted the Doxa 750). 

Beer, bags, bracelets—and even a music recommendation from Marc (Making Good Time by Ben Bridwell and Sam Beam)—make this a true return to form.