The HourTime Show

Hello everyone, Nicholas here. Your pals have taken the week off to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families, but rather than leave you hanging we've decided to re-run our interview with John Gruber from earlier this year. Have a great week, and we'll see you next week. -Nicholas

**Original Show Notes Follow Below**

Hello and welcome to yet another exciting edition of The HourTime Show, the official podcast of WristWatchReview.com. Your hosts this week are John, Victor, and Nicholas. Also joining us this week is fellow watch aficionado and longtime Apple observer John Gruber of Daring Fireball.

We start this week with a quick wrist check: Victor's got an Ollech & Wajs C-1000, Nicholas has his gray CasiOak, and John has his Seamaster Chrono GMT. Gruber, who joins about one-third of the way through the episode, is wearing an Apple Watch (though he notes that he'd just as likely be wearing his Rolex Submariner ref. 14060M).

Nicholas has a brief follow-up to a topic we discussed several weeks ago: whether or not the photos for the Hodinkee edition Oris (which we liked!) were shot on film or not. We now have confirmation that at least some of them were, and that the video was shot on Super 8. This leads to a mini rant from John on the state of media today and a critique of some very busy-looking Omegas.

We then move onto some Apple talk, focusing on the newly released iPhone 13 and 13 Pro. Should you upgrade? That depends on where you're coming from, iPhone-wise, but certainly the macro photography mode of the 13 Pro would come in handy if you take a lot of watch photos. Instagram, here we come.

Gruber then joins the pod, sparking a wide-ranging discussion of the Apple Watch, Rolex price creep, getting into "real" watches, and more. It's a great chat with some real watch geeks, so you're in for a treat!

And that, as they say, is that.

Big thanks to John Gruber for taking the time to hang with us this week. Be sure to read Daring Fireball, listen to The Talk Show and Dithering, and follow him on Twitter.

Thanks once again to Andrew Haworth for producing this week's episode.

Keep it locked to WristWatchReview.com and @wristwatchreview on Instagram for more fun watch content.

Thank you for listening, and have a great week!

Hello and welcome to yet another exciting edition of The HourTime Show, the official podcast of WristWatchReview.com. Your hosts this week are Victor and Nicholas.

First, apologies for missing last week. Both John and Nicholas were unavailable to record at the usual time so it was easier to skip a week.

Moving on, we open this week with a very quick John rant on the evolution of watch media and whether or not people are merely chasing money and fame on social media or are actually into watches. It's hard to tell sometimes. 

The main topic of the week, however, is the new Tudor Pelagos FXD. Our perception is that it received a mixed reception online, and that's our reaction too: mixed. Tudor had a pretty good year with some of their earlier releases (like the silver BB58!), but this one doesn't quite knock it out of the park for us. Ah well.

John then brings up a really nice looking new Casio, the MT-G MTGB2000YBD1. The name / model number is a little much, but we're super impressed. The price ($1,200) is perhaps a little high for what amounts to a nice G Shock. That then prompts a discussion on the "right" watch for a good long backpacking trip in Europe. Producer Andrew had a good suggestion: this Citizen Promaster. Technically it's a diver but it could be a good choice.

Hilariously, John then casually mentions that he just bought a Speedmaster. This is what's known as "burying the lede," folks! John then takes a minute to go over some of the Speedmaster variations for folks who may not be familiar with them.

John then makes a last-minute request: What's the last watch you'd be prepared to buy? Tweet your answers at @johnbiggs.

And that, as they say, is that.

Thanks once again to Andrew Haworth for producing this week's episode.

Keep it locked to WristWatchReview.com and @wristwatchreview on Instagram for more fun watch content.

Thank you for listening, and have a great week!

Hello and welcome to yet another exciting edition of The HourTime Show, the official podcast of WristWatchReview.com. Your hosts this week are Victor and Nicholas.

We open the pod with a bit of smartwatch news. Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, appears to be working on some sort of smartwatch, one with what looks to be a built-in camera. Why would you want a camera in your smartwatch? We discuss, including Victor telling a story over the time someone threated to beat him up (!) because he was wearing Google Glass. 

Next we do a wrist check: Nicholas has on his Seiko Samurai (SRPD09) on a navy blue NATO that he claims matches his outfit. Victor, meanwhile, discusses a Michael Kors watch he bought for the sole purpose of harvesting the links for use on his Sandoz diver. Victor then discusses a Soner square watch he's got on. These looks pretty neat, but they're huuuuuge. Sigh. The Kickstarter for the automatic version is here, by the way.

And that, as they say, is that.

Thanks once again to Andrew Haworth for producing this week's episode.

Keep it locked to WristWatchReview.com and @wristwatchreview on Instagram for more fun watch content.

Thank you for listening, and have a great week!

Hello and welcome to yet another exciting edition of The HourTime Show, the official podcast of WristWatchReview.com. Your hosts this week are Victor and Nicholas.

Let's start with a wrist check: Nicholas has one of the recently released green CasiOaks that he got for retail while Victor has a Sandoz dive watch.

More importantly...

The AliExpress Zenith that we've talked about at length over the past few weeks has arrived. And boy, it's a hunk of junk! Look, it's a $25 watch that A) works and B) very vaguely resembles the Zenith Chronomaster Sport, but that's as far as we're willing to go. I love a storyline that pays off.

Moving on, we then discuss a new Rick and Morty edition G-Shock. Ehhhh. It's not terrible, but as Victor details it just feels sorta lazy? It goes on sale tomorrow for $170 if you want to add it to your collection, or are shopping for a big Rick and Morty fan.

Our last topic this week is a just-announced partnership between PC gaming accessory maker Razer and Panerai; they're making a watch! There's a short teaser video we found that gives hints of what to expect. Weird, but we're here for it.

And that, as they say, is that.

Thanks once again to Andrew Haworth for producing this week's episode.

Keep it locked to WristWatchReview.com and @wristwatchreview on Instagram for more fun watch content.

Thank you for listening, and have a great week!

Hello and welcome to yet another exciting edition of The HourTime Show, the official podcast of WristWatchReview.com. Your hosts this week are John, Victor, and Nicholas.

We forgot to do a wrist check but we make up for it by discussing our first "big boy" watches: John had some sort of mecha-quartz from Seiko, Victor had a Swatch Irony, and Nicholas had a Citizen Flieger.

This leads into our main discussion this week, which is somewhat of a continuation of what we've talked about in recent weeks: What are good first watches for folks getting into the hobby? John thinks it's perfectly fine to get some no-name watch from AliExpress nowadays because the traditional brands have all but abandoned the entry-level market. We touch on this interview with the new Seiko CEO in the Financial Times discussing the brand's move upmarket. 

Honestly, we've been doing this incarnation of The HourTime Show for nearly a year now and I (Nicholas, I write the show notes) think this is among our best extended discussions.

And that, as they say, is that.

Thanks once again to Andrew Haworth for producing this week's episode.

Keep it locked to WristWatchReview.com and @wristwatchreview on Instagram for more fun watch content.

Thank you for listening, and have a great week!

Hello and welcome to yet another exciting edition of The HourTime Show, the official podcast of WristWatchReview.com. Your hosts this week are Victor and a traveling Nicholas who, by the time you're listening to this, has seen the movie Dune at a screening. It was amazing!

Let's start with a wrist check: Nicholas has his JDM Seiko King Turtle (though he's been eyeing the Citizen Super Titanium Armor over the past few days), while Victor technically isn't wearing anything but is patiently waiting for an AliExpress "version" of the Zenith Chronomaster Sport that came out at the beginning of the year. Sit down, grab a drink, and listen as Victor and Nicholas spend the next 67,000 hours shopping live on AliExpress!

Eventually we move onto other topics, including the Apple Watch Series 7 (which sorta gets a "meh" from us, at least in the context of "Should I upgrade from a Series 6?") and alternatives to the Apple Watch. Victor suggests looking into Garmin and Withings.

Our final meaty topic of the week is a discussion of good introductory watches (which is hilarious because John suggested this topic and he's not even here to talk about it). Nicholas votes for the Hamilton Khaki Field Mechanical, Victor votes for Vaer and Kuoe, and producer Andrew suggests the Tissot Le Locle and the Tissot Visodate.

We'll talk more about this next week, but here's that Financial Times interview with Seiko we reference at the tail end of this episode. This browser extension will help you get around the paywall if you run into it.

And that, as they say, is that.

Thanks once again to Andrew Haworth for producing this week's episode.

Keep it locked to WristWatchReview.com and @wristwatchreview on Instagram for more fun watch content.

Thank you for listening, and have a great week!

Hello and welcome to yet another exciting edition of The HourTime Show, the official podcast of WristWatchReview.com. Your hosts this week are John (eventually), Victor, and Nicholas.

We start this week with a wrist check. (Yes, sometimes we forget.) Nicholas has on his bog standard Islander (ISL-02), which is on an Uncle Seiko waffle strap, Victor has a Rolex Explorer ref. 114270 that he's been trying to fix. This, in turn, sparks a discussion on daytime running lights and other wacky DIY exploits. In this house we believe in science, and so on. John joins a bit later and has some sort of GMT Tudor.

Onto the main topic of the week: Seiko's new automatic chronos. We generally like the release, but we're slightly skeptical (OK, super skeptical) about the $3000+ price tag. 

John then joins the show and walks us through his thought process for buying a new watch, or buying anything of value ("any number of things"), including guitar pedals, cars, Willard homages, and more. ProTip: Want a Willard-ish watch actually made by Seiko? Consider the recently released 1970 Re-interpretation, which you can find for roughly $1000 on Chrono 24.

We wrap up the episode with a homework assignment: What, in your opinion, is the definitive "first watch" for someone just getting into the hobby? We're open to considering homage watches like Heimdallr or San Martin in addition to original brands. You can email us your answers at [email protected] or let us know on Twitter (our names at the top of the show notes link to our handles).

And that, as they say, is that.

Thanks once again to Andrew Haworth for producing this week's episode.

Keep it locked to WristWatchReview.com and @wristwatchreview on Instagram for more fun watch content.

Thank you for listening, and have a great week!

Hello and welcome to yet another exciting edition of The HourTime Show, the official podcast of WristWatchReview.com. Your hosts this week are John, Victor, and Nicholas. Also joining us this week is fellow watch aficionado and longtime Apple observer John Gruber of Daring Fireball.

We start this week with a quick wrist check: Victor's got an Ollech & Wajs C-1000, Nicholas has his gray CasiOak, and John has his Seamaster Chrono GMT. Gruber, who joins about one-third of the way through the episode, is wearing an Apple Watch (though he notes that he'd just as likely be wearing his Rolex Submariner ref. 14060M).

Nicholas has a brief follow-up to a topic we discussed several weeks ago: whether or not the photos for the Hodinkee edition Oris (which we liked!) were shot on film or not. We now have confirmation that at least some of them were, and that the video was shot on Super 8. This leads to a mini rant from John on the state of media today and a critique of some very busy-looking Omegas. 

We then move onto some Apple talk, focusing on the newly released iPhone 13 and 13 Pro. Should you upgrade? That depends on where you're coming from, iPhone-wise, but certainly the macro photography mode of the 13 Pro would come in handy if you take a lot of watch photos. Instagram, here we come.

Gruber then joins the pod, sparking a wide-ranging discussion of the Apple Watch, Rolex price creep, getting into "real" watches, and more. It's a great chat with some real watch geeks, so you're in for a treat!

And that, as they say, is that.

Big thanks to John Gruber for taking the time to hang with us this week. Be sure to read Daring Fireball, listen to The Talk Show and Dithering, and follow him on Twitter.

Thanks once again to Andrew Haworth for producing this week's episode.

Keep it locked to WristWatchReview.com and @wristwatchreview on Instagram for more fun watch content.

Thank you for listening, and have a great week!

Hello and welcome to yet another exciting edition of The HourTime Show, the official podcast of WristWatchReview.com. Your hosts this week are John, Victor, and Nicholas.

Victor and Nicholas open the show with a harebrained scheme to buy Breitling, which Nicholas had spent the past few days admiring after baaaasically paying less than zero attention to it. Do we keep the brand's established dealer network or try to go direct to consumer? It's an interesting question that we spend some time thinking over out loud.

John then joins the pod for some quick watch-adjacent commentary regarding capitalism and his disappointing experience with a Seiko Baby Tuna that ended up with condensation after a trip to the beach. Ridiculous!

We then cast our eyes upon the just-announced Apple Watch Series 7, which has a slightly larger screen and is now dustproof. But is it a good upgrade? Sorta depends on where you're coming from, but if you've got a Series 6 or 5, eh, why not try to get another year out of it? Nicholas has a Series 4 and intends to keep that around for at least one more year. If it ain't broke, et cetera et cetera.

We wrap up this week with a chat on the latest Casio G Shock smartwatch, which John has been reviewing over the past few days. He likes it!

And that, as they say, is that.

Thanks once again to Andrew Haworth for producing this week's episode.

Keep it locked to WristWatchReview.com and @wristwatchreview on the ol' Instagram for more fun watch content.

Thank you for listening, and have a great week!

Hello and welcome to yet another exciting edition of The HourTime Show, the official podcast of WristWatchReview.com. Your hosts this week are the returning John (!) as well as Victor and Nicholas.

John is back with a vengeance and immediately calls out the shenanigans needed to buy a Rolex nowadays. We can all agree that Rolex makes nice watches, sure, but are they any nicer than AP or Patek that warrant jumping through so many hoops? Or, for us mere mortals, something like an Oris? We debate!

Next up, we discuss Patrick's recent review of the Islander ISL-38, a Datejust-esque (or is that SARB-esque, as Victor suggests?) piece that is available from LongIslandWatch.com. (If you're not familiar with Marc from Long Island Watch's YouTube channel, well, you should be. Good stuff!) Nicholas owns an Islander or two and thinks they offer good value for someone who's just getting into watches or has a more modest budget. 

We then move onto the Timex x Todd Snyder MK1 Bootcamp, a field watch we also recently reviewed on the site. Folks, we've got some mixed feelings on this one, which John describes as a pastiche along the lines of an anime version of a World War II watch. The strap looks cool, but otherwise? Ehhhhh. Hey, at least it's cheap ($138).

We close the episode with John explaining his philosophy on watch journalism and why he prefers highlighting smaller, lesser-known brands that are still affordable rather than focusing on high-end such-and-such you see highlighted on a lot of other websites. Once upon a time, Hunter S. Thompson wore a Rolex not because "it's a Rolex" but because it could do a job while taking a beating. 

Thanks once again to Andrew Haworth for producing this week's episode.

Keep it locked to WristWatchReview.com and @wristwatchreview on the ol' Instagram for more fun watch content.

Thank you for listening, and have a great week!