Scottish Watches Podcast #789 : The MB&F Robotic Future, The 8 Bit Ace Past and Much More

Ricky

Welcome to the Scottish Watches Podcast. We're all happy in Scotland. Wonder why. Wonder what could possibly make us happy after 20 years or 36 years? Dave.

Dave

Oh, the sun's come out. The sun has got his hat on. Hip, hip, hip. Hurry. 28 years since the sun was last Scotland. Is that the thing?

Ricky

Were you screaming as part of the Tartan army last night at around 4am UK time?

Dave

Certain things happened overnight. We don't talk about things that happened overnight.

Ricky

Did you lose a bet? Did you have to swallow a lot of stuff?

Dave

Cough syrup. That's what we'll call it. Anyway, yes, um, Scotland, well qualified for the World cup, as everyone knows, because to be honest, we've not sharp about it since we qualified and we've descended on the US for, well, our first game in a long time in the World cup and we actually managed to win. And not just win, Brazil are also in our group and we are on top of our group, which is somewhat setting ourselves up for a fall, I think, is the phrase. Anyway, yes, my voice is shot to bits because I've been at vents for about the last three or four days and I've talked way too much, which is no surprise to anybody. But, yeah, my voice feels like a bit of sandpaper now. Anyway, we will eek our way through this show. Ricky will do some more of the talking, probably, and we can go on with things. So, Ricky, I'm sure you're fine. We've got lots of watches to cover, so should we get on with the first one?

Ricky

You're sure? I'm fine. I'm glad you're sure. I'm fine. Don't think anyone else is sure. I'm fine. Yes. But let's go on with things. So, 36 years, 28 years. But if we go further back into the past, we could celebrate maybe 260 years or something. Our good friends at Limited Edition, Pietro, Sam and co down there, they have been doing far better than anyone expected. And when I say that I'm not being detrimental, I'm actually saying what they told me they never expected. Pietro's, the new place they opened this year to be such a massive success to the point where they're already casting their net a little bit further and wider than before. Can't let too much out of the bag just now, but they're doing amazingly well. And if you've not already been down, if you've not already checked things out or been in touch to see what they've been up to, you are missing out because lots of Stuff happens in London. Unfortunately, I don't get to travel as much as I'd really like to, because someone has to be at headquarters to answer the phones, answer the emails, do the editing, do all that kind of jazz. But our roving reporter Dave was down. He actually saw this new release from Arnold, Son and Tle.

Dave

And it's not just Arnold and Son's 260th anniversary, it's just past Limited Edition's 10th anniversary. So both of the brands got together to well, celebrate this in a way that, well, brought London to the frame. Because, of course, Arnold and Son as a brand that was a British brand based in and around London.

Ricky

Are you going to take a stab at it, Dave? Is your voice feeling a bit better?

Dave

Yes, I'm going to take a stab at it anyway. Are we ready? The watch is called the HM London skyline. And as mentioned, 260 years of Arnold and son, 10 years of limited edition and they both that deep link with British horology. Arnold and Son, English watchmaker from the 1700s. Limited edition. They've just opened their first physical lounge location, as Ricky mentioned, in central London. It is a mere stone's throw from the time and tight studio as well. So there's a nice little area of London building up to be the hub of independent watchmaking. So what is going on with this watch? It's definitely all about the dial. Arnold and Son watches have lovely movements in them. They've all kind of got lovely movements in them. And this one is definitely, for me, about the dial. It's a subtle mother of peril. You kind of have to move it around in the light. It's not excessively coloured, but it has got very precise images of iconic London landmarks. So in the foreground you've got Tower Bridge in the background, kind of obscured by fog. And the fog is really that effect that you get from that Mother of Peril dial. You've got the Houses of Parliament, you've got Big Ben and you've got St. Paul's Cathedral. Lots of historical buildings within and around London that people will be well aware of. But of course they wanted to bring the modern in because the Limited Edition are very modern when it comes to their new location. And they brought in a different skyline that only becomes visible within this kind of super Luminova effect when you hit it with that UV torch and it pops up with the Gherkin, the Shard, the London Eye. And they are much more contemporary London skyline, things that you will see and enjoy when you see them. But the Clock face of Big Ben has also loomed. A little bit of extra detail in there. I mentioned they've got lovely movements. This is Arnold Son 1001 manual winding caliber, 90 hours of power reserve. It is simple in that it's an hours and minute function. Nice size in my regard, 39.5. It's only 7.82 millimeters thick. Comes in either steel at 15,000 that's UK or in red gold at 23,500. Please note, both of those prices are excluding tax. It is a great looking watch. It is a little catch, don't get me wrong. It's not something that is run of the mill. You have to like the idea of the London skyline being on there. There's been some watches that has been done in the past with that on the case back maybe, but this is definitely front and center and it's extremely well executed. As long as you like that aesthetic. There's only 20 pieces of this watch being made. I was lucky to get hands on with it a mere two days before we're recording this and I can tell you it's not my cup of tea per se aesthetically. But the effect on the dial is unbelievably good. There's also a watch, Ricky, that we're aware of that might have a similar party trick.

Ricky

There are many watches that have similar party tricks and this may not be your aesthetic, but hopefully it's my anesthetic from your soothing dulcet tones. I love this. And the price point 15k. That doesn't sound expensive in this day and age. And the dial, the lume, everything about this, the nine hours of power reserve that is packed into this watch is incredible. And we have done stuff in the past. We do a lot with Pietro, we do a lot with Limited Edition. We've got more things planned this year and we've done things with Arnold and Son Angelus. Those guys, they just do amazingly good things. And they're independent, but not independent. They're part of a larger conglomerate citizen group which is Myota, Le Joux Paris etc etc. Tons and tons of cool, different brands packed together but they've each got their own design philosophy. They're not shackled by the larger group. Think Ailing and Zona. They've got somebody that's behind the scenes but they get away with whatever they want. They are free reign to get on with it. Similar idea here. And there have been collaborations in the past, but the price point I always thought was a lot higher. Collabs are about 2530 50. And obviously we can do things in precious metal for slightly more money. But the stainless steel model for 15k, I think this is absolutely incredible.

Dave

I love the brand. I love them so much that I put my hand in my pocket and bought one of them. We've actually used it as a wrist check on many an episode, so I have lots of good things to say about the brand. This watch from an execution perspective is superb. It's just maybe not my esthetic, but then we talk about it a lot of the time. Watches shouldn't be. Everyone loves them is what makes them interesting. Very well done. Really glad I got to see as well because there's only 20 and once they're gone it's probably going to be hard to get a hands on or an eyes on with one of them. And it should be getting eyes on because of that effect that they've got going on with it. Yeah.

Ricky

You know what people should be doing? They should be getting their eyes on our show notes because Mizy l didn't f up all the show notes last week. He didn't screw anything up. He didn't get the wrong names, he didn't misspell anything. Gav won't even have to roll out the speak and spell graphics this week. Good boy, good boy, Miz. Although he's off to Las Vegas for something to do with you and Araj and all the rest of it. You boys are out playing again. But the show notes are your friend. That's where all the information, tech spec links, product pictures and all the rest of it are found. If you're listening to us on YouTube, the link is in the description at the top. If you're listening to us on one of the audio platforms, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc. Then will be linked in the episode description right at the top there as well. That takes you to our website page designated for this show in the show alone. And next up we're going to go from the lofty heights of 15k to the wrist friendly $300.

Dave

And whilst the show notes here friends, the character on this watch is definitely not your friend. We're talking about a couple. Well actually three, not a couple. A triumphant of watches from Spinnaker. And as you may be aware, they have done some spongebob squarepants orientated watches over the years. Ricky, I think got one of them. It may have been acquired by his more pertinent other half.

Ricky

No, she has got her own one. I have got my one and she has not stolen that as of yet.

Dave

As of yet. Well, that's the. We'll leave that as of yet. But anyway, what have we got here? Well, I'm not into spongebob world because, well, I'm old. But if you are, there's one of the characters and it's called Doodle Bob. These are the SpongeBob SquarePants Doodle Bob Limited edition capsule. Now, who is Doodle Bob? He is the evil doppelganger. He goes around beating up inhabitants of Bikini Bottom, which is the kind of world where all these characters live and reside. And he causes a mischief. That is until spongebob traps him in a book. Now, this mischievous character is now causing chaos across the dial of three different spinnaker watches. We've got the 42 millimeter. It's a cushion case. That's the hull California automatic. That one's got a California dial layout. Of course, that being the Roman numerals at the top half and the Arabic numerals on the bottom half. Doodle Bob is standing proudly at six o'. Clock. He's holding his magic pencil.

Ricky

Sounds a bit like you, Dave.

Dave

A bit like me, yes. Surrounded by a pile of Krabby Patties. That's crabby. Yes. They're all around them. They're all loomed to glow in the dark. Now, interestingly, across the three models, we'll get to the other two shortly. There will be six in each of those three variants that will feature additional UV activated lume graffiti on their dials as if they've been tagged by Doodlebob. It's going to be a kind of lucky dip type affair to get one of these six piece special editions within the broader limited edition capsule. That watch is 42 millimeters by 14.4. 100 meters of water resistance, and it runs on a Miyota caliber price point wise 425 US which is in and about 320 pounds that one. There are 500 pieces with those six ultra special ones in there. Next one up is a Spinnaker Croft. That's their kind of mid sized automatic. And this is called the Minute Sketch. The minute sketch. 150 meters of water resistance. It's a 40 millimeter case. And again in this one we see a wonky spongebob typography across the dial. This one has got circular hour markers. It's a dive watch and it's got kind of Mercedes style hands on this one. The minute hand has been replaced though by the magic pencil, hence the name of the watch. Doodle Bob is on the watch again at 6 o'. Clock. But here he's holding a little Spinnaker logo. And the final one we're nearly there is the Spinnaker floose automatic called Ripped Reality. This is the third and final one and it's got an open heart display. Usually a thing that turns me because I'm not a big fan of open heart display watches, but on this one Doodle Bob has burst through the dial from the inside and it reveals part of the movement below. But it's not like a clean round window. It's like someone's exploded from the inside out. You've got a two tone 60 minute bezel. And this one interestingly has a Seiko movement on it. Slightly more expensive, 525 US in and around 400 pounds, 43 millimeters by 13.2, 150 meters of water. And as I mentioned, the Seiko caliber NH70. And again, this one is in 600 pieces.

Ricky

Probably the one that you like the best is the one that stands out to me. But they're all very similar. You'll see in the pictures in the show notes. And obviously if you're watching YouTube, you'll have a good idea of what's going on. I just love the fact Miniker can take something and then iterate on it again. It's like Studio Underdog. You would think they would run out of ideas. They've done spongebob a number of times. We've collaborated with them on multiple different iterations of Scottish styled watches. Maybe something is in the wings. You just have to stay tuned for later on this year. But they never drop the ball. Everything that comes out, it's not just a color change of the last one. The only time they've ever done something a little bit like that was the 50 phantoms. And the only reason for that is because they vastly underestimated demand. And when they brought that out, there were so many people that emailed in and said, we want, we want, we want. And they stick to their numbers. If they say they're doing 300, 500, 1000, they don't then do more. They will completely change things up so that the people that bought the original ones are not pissed off. And these are just fantastic monochromatic. They remind me of the Seiko 5 Snoopy Edition that I picked up for the wife a couple of years ago. Very simple, very basic. So if you look at it, tell the time somebody looks at your wrist, they don't think you're wearing some kind of cartoon character there. And it seems to be a lot of cartoon characters these days because obviously we had a bit of a feature on the Beano and Dennis Jimena celebrating 75th anniversary of that cartoon character and his pet dog. So yeah, nice to drop spongebob back on a dial, but the next thing we're going to do is to drop you into our YouTube channel and ask you to obviously watch us there. If you listen to the audio podcast, the video version is slightly different. Some of the jokes are in a visual medium, some are in audio. So we slightly edit depending where it's going to end up. And we would appreciate it if you subscribed. It helps us out and if you leave us a comment and like the video, that'd be great. But something really weird happened with last week's video and I can't get my head around why it got shadow banned and that means most people didn't get to see it. Instead of thousands, 10,000 views etc over the course of a week, 20,000 over the course of a week or a couple of weeks it got a few hundred and I couldn't quite wrap my head around was there something I said inside it? So I actually went back and edited anything that I thought was a little bit. Bit iffy, shall we say. So for instance, I took out the part where we talked about Marine Corps spelled Corps as in corpse. I thought maybe that's a bad thing. Removed. That removed a couple of things where we talked about the alternative horology alliance in case alliance for some reason was a bad word. No, took all that out. Took out some of the graphics that were a little bit cutting and yeah, same thing didn't work. So no idea what YouTube are up to. That's why I love the fact that we actually host the audio podcast through our own website because we can say what we like. We don't have to be careful with the wordage. But when it ends up in YouTube I've got no idea because it's not like we did something and we figured out what went wrong because we didn't talk about anything that are in the big list of things you're not allowed to talk about. You're not allowed to talk about harm, self. Harm, self deletion, weapons, narcotics, nothing like that. And don't worry, all these words I'm using right now will be deleted from the video version. Hopefully next week's video still ends up on YouTube and doesn't get banned. But just a weird one. If anyone's got any ideas on what that could possibly be around if you listened to last week's episode or you managed to watch last week's video, drop us a message infocottishwatches.co.uk because we have no clue what is going on.

Dave

Even search out every Saturday over the Saturday or Sunday just go onto YouTube and search for our channel and you will find it.

Ricky

Usually around about 9 to 10am it depends because the way the system works. Bit of inside baseball for you. I send Gav, our video guy and he's been super busy, lots of family things going on in the background and blah blah blah. But I sent him all the stuff across and he rapid fire edits pretty much a one hour 4K TV show with graphics, videos back and forward. All the rest of it sends it back to me for final approval. I go through and nip and tuck a few little bits and pieces, maybe drop in some images if I've got them and he doesn't and then I have to render the full thing out. Then it gets uploaded, then it gets checked by YouTube and during the checking process that's when I thought we might be alerted as to anything that's untoward because you have to tick all these boxes that say that you don't have anything that is nefarious within your video and we never really do. So strange one that. But anyway, speaking of video and live stuff, we are going to be doing something with the folks at ebay and we've got an episode coming up with the folks at ebay. But this is a little bit different. This is separate, this is the live system that they have implemented over the past few months. We're going to be taking a trip down to Newcastle to meet some people to get involved in a live auction. If you're thinking qvc, if you're thinking the Home Shopping Network, things like that, where it is rapid fire. The way these guys are going to be doing things is to bring on a watch, talk about it briefly and then then it goes up for auction. And the guys we're talking about are Watch Trader and company. I've not met them in real life, spoken to them on the phone. I had a quick zoom meeting with them but I didn't want to know too much about them. I wanted to go down and just absorb what it is they do, get involved in the action and it's not going to be like the usual stuff that they've done in the past. If you've maybe tuned in before, we're going to talk about the watches, we're going to go through a number of them, discuss the positives, the Negatives, a little bit of market information and then obviously the real auction is going to happen. So it's going to be a bit of a weird hybrid system. I think they're going to last around 90 minutes each and it will be at half six on Wednesday 24 June. So if you're available, log on to ebay. They're hopefully going to put it in the front page. If not, check the show notes because the link will be in there. But this is something new that we're going to give a bash to because we've been doing tons of live stuff and I think potentially the one we talked about maybe traveling a little bit of water in the near future, that one looks like it might be coming to be. So, yeah, tons and tons of cool stuff. Dave's obviously doing a lot of stuff with Raj. He will be coming with us on many different travels. And we've got Geneva watch days coming up, things in London happening, perhaps more things that we've done in the past we'll be revisiting as well. But it's time to visit some new

Dave

watches and just remember that time is 6:30 British Summer Time. So if you're somewhere else in the world, align your watches. Perfect opportunity to use your GMTs if you have one. Next watch up though, it's another collaboration and this one is with Christopher Ward. We've got a C60 pool diver ex. Second second and, well, this one is interesting and I actually really like it. So Romarek Andre, also known as Second Sigant, he has collaborated in the past with some very successful sellout watches. The most recent was the Desk Diver. That one was based on Christopher Ward's Trident and, well, it was all about guiding you through a day at work. But the pool diver is all about relaxing and holidaying. So in this watch, just inside the minute scale of the dial, there's a secondary scale and that kind of portions out or divvies up your day into activities to achieve the ultimate holiday relaxation. At 12 o', clock, start with some reading, followed by some sunbathing, followed by some relaxing by the poolside, then flexing for the camera, and lastly, some time for some contemplation and consideration of your life choices. And as a proper holiday watch, it does include some advice. He always likes to put a little word or two on the watches. Some of these are rather inadvisable, I have to say. In the sunbathing section, there's a nice tan skin damage. Instead of the normal date window, there's a martini glass with an inscription of maximum units of alcohol. Maybe suggest towards the end of the month you're fine to have 31 units of alcohol each day.

Ricky

So he's Scottish?

Dave

Well, he sounds like a Scottish football fan on a plane, but yes. Christopher Ward at Trident Reef is the base of this watch. It's 41 millimeters to be precise. 200 meters of water resistance. So easy and happy about the pool. It's a stainless steel case with a matching solid case back. And on the case back you have a stylised picture of a diver, but they're wearing flip flops instead of flippers. The oxygen tank is also a tube of sun cream and they're holding a martini in hand. And below that diver it reads how to decompress from your 9 to 5. And then around the edge it says, please don't drink and dive. PowerPoint wise. It is a Sellita SW201. 30 hours of power reserve. Price point, 895 of your UK pounds. And that's on a choice of a white, blue or orange rubber strap or just over a thousand £1,060 or a three link steel bracelet. It's limited by a window of opportunity to buy one. So from June 11th at 3pm UK through to June 24th at 5pm UK, all in British summertime. Deliveries expected from mid July. Basically just in time for you to go on holiday. Personally love this one. I think all the CWs that Sekonsicon have done are exceptionally well executed. These will disappear. Well, not disappear, but if you don't get into it, you'll disappear. The opportunity to get one, I think they're going to probably sell quite a few because that's a reasonably good window to give people an opportunity to get one on order. Ricky, I know you like the last one. Do you like this one as well?

Ricky

Okay, gotta be careful what I say here, but I'll be honest because I always am honest. I hate people that say I'm honest with you because it almost implies that they're generally not honest. And now they're going to be honest with you, but I'm going to tell you how I feel. This is not my favorite second collaboration. This is not my favourite second Christopher Ward collaboration because a little bit like Studio Underdog, where the original was my favourite. That watermelon has not been bet, in my humble opinion. Perhaps maybe the one they did for us for an auction for charity three years ago, that one, perhaps because it's my favourite colour, blue, but the OG is the one for me when it came to Last year, I fell in love with the Christopher Ward Snake edition. And that was to celebrate Year of the Snake, Chinese New Year, all that kind of jazz. And the way that he took something that meant a lot to me, and that was historic mobile phone tech. Playing the Snake game on the Nokia back in the day, that just appealed and everything about it. And I remembered my favorite part was at the bottom where it usually says Swiss made on the dial. It said his maid. And for a guy that doesn't have English as his first language, the fact that he could come up with these things, produce them, put them together, and that wasn't the only thing. There was tons of little Easter eggs hidden. And he always does this with his releases. That was a standout for me. That's the one I got for myself. So this one, I can appreciate it, but it ain't for me. I think this one is better than the last one, which was the desk diver. I thought that one was just a little bit too far out there. This one with the martini for the date window, the wordage on it, scuttling across that line of, oh, that's a little bit dodgy. Talking about skin cancer, things like that. Then winding it back ever so slightly, just keeping it within humor levels. I think it's a great watch. I think people will love it, but a little bit like, maybe Mr. Jones and things like that. It has to be for the right time. And I'm so glad that this comes in at under a grand on the rubber strap, slightly over for the bracelet, because it's a playful watch. And we've been saying for months and months, two grand is a new one grand. But here we have Christopher Ward with a collaboration watch where each individual part has had time, R and D invested in it. So it's not like it's going to be the normal price, because more than just Christopher Ward have been involved in the design process and the production process. Everyone has to be paid for it. And the fact they've not loaded the price point point is phenomenal. So, yeah, well done on this one. Not for me. I'm super happy with the Snake. And maybe one of these days, maybe one of these days, we'll convince us dude to come on for a podcast because he's hilarious, he's fantastic. We talked to him at different events. I remember sitting with him for maybe nearly two hours in the Moser booth last year at Geneva Watch Days and got a real understanding of the way he thinks. And there was a lot of alignment with the way that my creative Brain works when I'm awake and can be bothered using it. So. So fingers crossed. This one is a massive success and keeps the road flowing for those guys.

Dave

I agree with pretty much everything you've said there, except I think this is one of my favourite collaborations that I've done. I think it's whimsical and fun, personally. It also just looks good color palette wise for me. Kind of works some of the colours. I like oranges, I like yellows, but they're not overdone. It's a good looking watch. I think it's definitely one to be worn on a rubber strap rather than a bracelet. More about the pool. Chilling out, relaxing in the heat.

Ricky

I thought you were going to break into the French Prince of Belly.

Dave

There's a no. No.

Ricky

Well, why don't we break into some news from the industry and we've got the guy on the line here who works for a company that makes movements. We talked last week in depth about Liga Tech and all the rest of it. You wouldn't believe how many takes it took Dave to pronounce all the different parts what Liga stands for. But you know, we'll just leave that in the editing room floor. We're going to talk now about another manufacturer that you don't really hear too much about, which is strange because they've been around for a very long time. They produce a lot of Swiss movements, but predominantly in my eyes it's always been quartz. They feature in the likes of Elliot Brow with Air quartz modules and various other players. But they're now making a big play back into mechanical movement. So Dave, tell us all about Ronda.

Dave

Oh yes, Ronda, you may not have heard of them, but if you do buy any watches that run on premium quartz movements, especially Swiss ones, you will definitely have heard of them. They are possibly the largest supplier ex party to third party brands of high end Swiss quartz movements. But they're back in the mechanical movement game with their all new R01 movement. Now it's fair to say that not a lot really happens in terms of newness in the world of OEM. Third party mechanical watch movement manufacturers. The ETA 2824, it was the king of the crop for, well, decades until Swatch Group decided that they weren't so keen in supplying too many people with them. And of course brands such as Sellita, Soprod, La Joux, Perret more recently have kind of pushed through on the Swiss side and Miyota and Seiko on the Japanese side. Standards were typically in things like 3842 hours. You do get cost certification but there was lots of other things that were lacking, maybe things that could have been updated and this is trying to address that. Sellita have tried recently as well. They've of course pushed out their new SW202 power movements pushing power reserves up into the mid 60 hour areas. They've got new gear trains, they've got other improvements put in there. Lajioux Paris have made noise about their upcoming GT200 caliber 72 hours of power reserve and anti magnetic properties. Now ronda, back in 2016 they launched a movement called the R150. It didn't go great I think would be the way to say it. They pushed it out there. It didn't really get taken up. It was designed as an entry priced 2824 drop in a replacement for that for the market. But it didn't really get picked up and over the preceding years slowly faded into obscurity and has now been deleted from the range. This new R01 has got lots of high end features in there in a package that's not really offered from many if any other movement manufacturers. Definitely not within the OEM sphere. It has a full silicon escapement and the hairspring of course silicon gives you anti magnetic properties, temperature, thermal compensations, shock and deformation and low friction advantages. It's got a free sprung balance on there. They're going to offer a it in four grades. Elaborate. Plus minus seven seconds a day. Top plus minus four seconds a day. Chronometer minus four plus six seconds a day with certification and excellence. Chronometer minus two plus four seconds a day with certification. 80 hours power reserve runs at 3.5 Hz. That will come into play in a minute. It's not sized to be a drop in swap for an eta or an SW200 for example. It's 28.2 millimeters. There'll be two variants, the R0101 and the R0102. The difference being the 0101 is center seconds. The 0102 is small seconds at 6 o'. Clock. Now you may see some similarities and some technologies incorporated into this movement that I may have talked about a lot because we as a company, that being a raj, had lots of engineering involvement with this project over many years and they have spent the last year or so industrializing it to make sure that they can make this in high volume. And it's going to start in and around 150 Swiss francs for the basic version in a labour a grade and moving up from There. So I think it would be fair to say you will probably find this in watches that are in and around $2,000 plus. So great to see Ronda making their way back onto the field with a premium product. Really lifting the bar. Yes, using some underpinnings from the system K from Araj. But they've taken it and they've brought things forward, which is more than can be said for some of the others.

Ricky

I wondered how long it would take Dave to let the cow out the bag there, and that's why I landed that one on his lap. And I remember going to an event with Araj in a place called Ronda three years ago, and there was no reason for it being in a place called Ronda whatsoever three years ago. But no, it's good to see Araj doing things that you would not expect. People know that them for the watches supersede the photography. Watches that have done amazingly well over the past few years. Obviously the greatest tourbillon that I own, I only own one, but the fact they created this thing in Switzerland using the latest tech and brought it out at an amazing price. And we don't just say good things about them because Dave works there. We said good things about Raj since we first met them in 2019, probably three or four years before Dave actually signed on the dotted line and we transferred the him away from Scotland. Now it's good to see the fact that they're getting integration. Obviously back in the day they did stuff for the likes of Bremont with the renamed ENG300 based on the K1, and the K2 is doing phenomenally well. We talked about it at length over the past few weeks with things appearing in the Form X stable with different bridges and all the rest of it. And we've talked at length about the fact that when you take away the bridges, you look underneath, you see the technology, and then you look at the price of a watch that it's featured in compared to an Antarctic or a streamliner or a whatever it is. Amazing value as well as amazing technology. So this is just another big tick to say look at Arage, not just because Dave works there. Now, you should be thinking of emailing us because we love it when we get interaction from people in the audience, followers, people on YouTube, people listen to podcasts. We appreciate it when you get in touch and tell us good things and bad things. If there are things we get wrong, tell us, because we like to remedy that on forthcoming editions of the show. And if you've got suggestions, maybe you're coming across to Scotland as somebody did recently, although the timing wasn't quite correct. Maybe we can help out, maybe we can gauge you slightly. So drop us an email infoocottishwatches.co.uk well,

Josh

hello, this is Josh, the organizer of the Watch It Watch Fair and you may remember my voice from a few weeks ago where I had a jolly good chat with Ricky. Well, I'm back and I'm here to remind you that the Watch It Watch Fair is happening this Saturday. So we have 52 watch brands making it one of the biggest watch events in the uk. It's super easy to get to. It's on the outskirts of Birmingham, perfectly accessible from all across the uk. It's going to be an amazing time. Loads of giveaways, watches From Christopher Ward, MD, watches Maystone, loads of swag, loads of goodie bags as well. A cool experience app that you can, you can try out for yourself at app.watchitfair.com and if you haven't got your ticket yet, then I, I implore you to join us because it's going to be one of the best events going. So hopefully I'll see you there. I'll certainly see Ricky there. Thank you for listening.

Ricky

It's time to talk about a watch brand that used to feature heavily in Scotland. They used to be involved in something up in Dundee until things didn't go quite according to plan. They are a big name. It's not Rolex, it's not Formex, it's the other one, Dave Timex.

Dave

And of course Timex are a brand that are well known to most people. Quite often a gateway when someone's young. They may have got a Timex watch and it gets them into the hobby.

Ricky

Are they not the guys that made the tagline takes a kicking and keeps on ticking?

Dave

I believe that may be accurate. They also made a lot of watches, as you mentioned in Dundee, albeit with very basic mechanical calibers, but you can still pick them up and they do have a Made in Dundee or a Made in Scotland marking on them, which is, well, a nice little film in history. Well, yep, probably made from girders because maybe the movement wasn't the most reliable or serviceable or high precision. Anyway, moving along, they've been well known, of course, for introductory price points within watches, but they have, have decided to move things up a little bit and not that long ago, a few years ago, they introduced their atelier collection and they've added to that suite of watches with the atelier chronograph automatic that's the M1A tie. Coincidentally, there is also a version in quartz called the M1Q. So as I mentioned, very much about accessible horology, but they're dipping their toes into slightly more luxurious pools of water with this atelier series. Back in 2025 they released the Atelier Marine Dive. But this one in titanium, it measures 42 millimeters by 15.75, so it's a chonky one. Brushed lugs, recessed flanks on there, you've got rectangular chronograph pushers there. At three o' clock you've got the crown and you've got a double domed sapphire crystal. Now that's probably something we'll talk about in a little minute because we have someone that is loosely associated in various chat groups with the show that has experience of this watch. It's got a flat bezert with a tacky scale on there, of course. Course you can go timing your escapades. It's very minimalist. It's a bi compact reverse Panda color scheme. You've got running seconds and a 30 minute timer. Movement wise, it's running on a Swiss Landeron L72 automatic movement, 43 hours of power reserve running at 4 Hertz. It runs at a 10, 18 seconds a day, which is a little bit random. And of course as I mentioned, there is that second quartz model, a bit more wearable in my opinion. 40 millimeters by 12.7 millimeters. And that's in steel. Its dial is not so pretty. You've got a hobnail pattern on there. Don't like it so much. Price point wise, 1850 or fractionally less on rubber for the automatic and 600 if you want it on rubber. On the quartz, slightly more on a bracelet at 650. Good looking watch is my first comment. But the experience that someone had of one was that domed sapphire is a little problematic when it comes to reflections. It's not particularly great from a visual visibility perspective was his feedback, and he sent us a few pictures to show that it was almost impossible to get a picture of it without having a huge reflective mark on it. Price point wise as well. Not terrible in my opinion, but me feels for nearer £2,000 there are probably more interesting options out there from the likes of your Christopher Wards, from your studio underdogs and lots of other things that may provide similar specs. A little bit more interesting all round and probably even a little bit cheaper. Ricky, say you what you think?

Ricky

I have a dilemma because I've been telling people for the last few weeks to look at Form X and not look at the name, but look at the tech. And here we have a Timex where we're approaching two kids and I'm thinking, would I spend 2k on a Timex? And I wouldn't. And the only thing running through my head to try and pull me back from what I've been saying for the past few weeks is I don't think I'd buy a kia for £200,000. So I wouldn't be buying a TMax for £2,000. I think it's a little bit pricey. It has, funnily enough, it's got a Ronda quartz movement inside it if you go for the quartz number. And I believe it's got a land drawn inside it for the mechanical one. It looks really good in the renders because we've not seen photos of it. The sapphire looks okay. It's very Paul Newman Daytona styling, but by Compaqs, not triple register. Everything about it looks good. The pushers was something that caught my attention when I looked closer at them. They have got almost like a stroking inside. So you've got the rectangular shape and then you've got an etched out rectangle within and the crown has got a slightly different logo, obviously bringing in the atelier name. I'm confused. I really don't know. I like what they're doing. I love the fact they're pushing forward. We featured a watch recently from Filippo Loretti's Atelier, which is the next evolution of their brand, where it had an inexpensive tourbillon inside and it was around about, I think 800, 900 bucks, which was pretty decent. Go in the back of it. Obviously it's all machine works and the rest of it. But it looked fantastic. We had it out in sunlight in Scotland, which is rare, and it looked the part for the money. Incredible Aventurine dialogue. Everything about it was, I wouldn't say perfect because that's the wrong word to use. Everything about it played above its price point. With this one, I think it plays under its price point in my opinion.

Dave

Would I pay 2,000 for a Timex? Yes. If it was value at that price point, I. It deserved the spec. I had the spec that deserved that price point. This one feels if it'd been 1200, even possibly pushing 1500, I can maybe see where the value would be in the spec. But towards two is just something's not quite fitting for me. I think Timex should and of course I'm sure will try hard to push their price points. Into these areas as well. And there's nothing wrong with that. We talked about that with Formex. And of course, many other brands will be doing the same. Nothing wrong with it. Don't think it's an issue. I just think they need to make sure what they're offering for the price is a solid package. And I don't think this quite hits the mark.

Ricky

I think you fixed my brain. Well done. It only took nearly 800 episodes. You're right. I wouldn't mind buying a kia for 200 grand if it had the power of, I don't know, a lucid sapphire or something like that. Placid, cool tech, left, right and center. Looked amazing. Blah, blah, blah. Carbon wheels. I wouldn't mind. Then you're right. It's not the name, it's the price differential. And when we talked about the Formex, it's the value for money. What you're getting the tech under the hood. The Lotus car with the Lotus badge not on the front of it, the Vauxhall badge instead, or the Ford Escort with the Cosworth lump inside it. So, yeah, I think it's definitely that. And they can't play the game of, oh, well, it's titanium. And titanium takes a lot of cash because you need to do different tooling and things wear out quicker. Because Zelos over in far flung places, they produce titanium watches and bracelets with automatic movements, forged carbon for around about 5, 600 bucks. So it is not that. So, yes, it's definitely a money play. It's not a name play. But this is the part of the show where we play around and we tell you what we have been up to and we do our wrist checks. Do you think this would fit in my wrist?

Dave

I think that might be wearable, but not very practical.

Ricky

Ah, okay, so I'm not Shaq o', Neill, right? Two seconds. Do you think I could fit this in my wrist?

Dave

That looks more like what you're used to, which is a cuff that's worn around your ankle because you're not allowed to leave the house because you may have been up to nefarious activities.

Ricky

Okay, well, but maybe this is for the rock. Two seconds. Would this fit in my wrist?

Dave

Well, look at that. I think it might.

Ricky

Ah, so we found the Kevin Hart edition here. So what are we talking about, audio listeners? Yeah, that was a gag that will appear in the video version. What we're talking about here is the latest creation incarnation from the folks at Farnswort. Not Swift and not. These are guys that have been on the show before because they have produced a ton of fantastic wristwatches at super economical price points. We're talking Swatch money, we're talking Casio money, G shock money even or less. This I believe is less than 50 bucks USD. I have no idea what the exact prices, although it is available right now. And I have to be careful with my wording because I have been advised by legal counsel to be careful with my wording. So Castro went back to the 80s and we had a thing called the console crash. Not the Quartz crisis, but the console crash. That was when atari had the 2600, Pong was around, Space Invaders was around and everybody and their dog was duplicating, creating their own versions. And before you know it, Argos Index, Littlewood, Great Universal, all the American places including RadioShack, etc. They had clones and copies, decimated the market. Everybody got pissed off with it and things died off. Then what happened was the folks at Nintendo over in Japan went ah, we see a way of moving into a different direction here. They launched Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as a Famicom, and they launched it into America and Europe with a robot called an educational device. And that was the lynch print into actually breaking into these markets. The markets they have looked after and run ever since, all the way through maybe stumbling a few times. Who knows if the GameCube was a good idea or the Wii U. But for now it's been pretty good. You know, the Switch, Switch two, blah blah blah. Now I'm not mentioning that for any other reason rather than I just like video games. So this watch here, it's gray, it has got little bits of gray on it, it's got little bits of black on it and the logo sits in the top left corner in red in an interesting font and it says far and swell wrist entertainment. That's about all I'm going to say about it. Dave.

Dave

Yeah, I think that, you know, like what did they say in art? Sometimes people take inspiration from things. Let's leave it there. Cool looking watch. If you know, you know, and even if you don't know, you'll probably guess quite quickly. Looks really cool doing what these guys do best, which is taking something from popular culture and well, bringing it to a wrist. Wearable form factor.

Ricky

Dave has been talking offline about the packaging of these watches and he hadn't even seen the packaging yet because I've just popped in front of the camera. This comes in a tiny little box that maybe, I don't know what a games cartridge from the 8 bit era would appear in. And in typical far and sweat tradition, they have created something that plays right into the styling of the watch. So this could be a cartridge that would be appearing from any video game manufacturer. We're not going to say exactly who. And on the front we've got some pixel art of the 8 bit generation pushing into 16 bit. And this is called the 8 bit ACE and the Quest for the Perfect Time. Looking on the side, looking on the back. It totally looks like a vintage video game cartridge box. You've got everything you'd expect. You've got screenshots from the game, you've got the BS above it, you've got the barcode. And then inside you've got the watch. Obviously the watch is now on the wrist because I had to pop it back on. It's been sitting down there waiting patiently to appear. And this is just fantastic. I've got a video games thing coming up, mentioned in the show before. So I may wear this one. I might wear my 2600 or I might double rest and wear both of them. What's your thoughts on this one then, Dave?

Dave

Yep. Like it. Love what these guys do. They just kind of a little bit tongue in cheek. Probably sailing fairly close to certain boundaries, but they seem to be able to get away with it. Packaging is part of the deal in this. Really genuinely inexpensive watches that are good, fun, wearable. Well, what more can you want in a watch? Something that you don't need to think too much about to get on your wrist. And it puts a little bit of a smile.

Ricky

Dial 100% right there before you go. On the wrist or on the table.

Dave

The not on the wrist, but beside me because, well, wrists and sides. I have the Girard Perregaux. The Girard Perregaux Casquette. I just love this. I honestly, genuinely love this watch. Press the button to show the time. Different functionalities going on there. We've got time, we've got. I can't even remember how it works. We'll just keep pressing buttons. Seconds. We've got gmt. Lots of things going on. Ceramic and titanium. This being the OG model. Absolutely love it. I have regaled detail of how I came by this one when I thought I had missed out on the opportunity. And it is definitely in the regular rotation for David. I wear this one far more than many other watches that I should probably wear. But I love it. It's a great wearable watch and a funky little form factor. And this is Girard Perregaux doing also what they do best, which is they are one of the the well more traditional bound watch manufacturers who also provide their movement bases to some very large and popular brands at very high price points. But they do these whimsical things as well. Which yes, is expensive for a quartz watch but at the same time is fairly attainable if you wish to spend not huge sums of money. The only fun thing with it is working out how to size the bracelet. As you see, no pins, no screws on the side, nothing obvious when you look at it, but it turns out this little rubberized insert you have to pop the out to get access into those little pins that hold it together. Extremely well executed in ceramic and titanium. Love this watch to bits. No more needs to be said. Done and dusted.

Ricky

This watch always reminds me of the movie from Disney called the Black Hole end of the 70s. It came out bit of a hidden gem but weird when you watch it. But a pretty decent movie, decent flick and it had these dark colored robot cyborg type things and it always reminds me of it. So yeah, there'll be a picture in the show notes because I'm showing it to the camera just now.

Dave

Well, I can see exactly where you get it from. It's got that slightly dystopian look about it if you want to look at it that way. But what we should move on to is what have you been up to? Because I kind of know what you've been up to. And apart from me losing my voice, which I'll talk about shortly, what have you been occupying your non podcast time with this week?

Ricky

Well, I mentioned that the wife has been on her travels which meant well, I was left to my own devices which is always a bad thing in the household. I decided I was going to get back into a little bit of dicking around with cars and not, not in the way that maybe would be performance related or repair related. I thought I would detail my car and not in the usual way. I thought I would do it properly. Clay bar decontamination, tar removal, iron removal, all that kind of stuff. And I read on the packaging for some of the products that I got test a small area first so hard Toyo Igo was lying there and that's quite a small area. So I decided to test everything on that first and it actually turned out really well. I learned how to machine polish to compound to use different products including wet sanding, a de nibbing tool that's made of tungsten. So I took this scrappy doo little vehicle that has been amazing too. I make the best vehicles ever. I had an Mr. 2 Turbo back in the day and it was brilliant until it wasn't. And the guys at Top Gear managed to take a Hilux and obliterate it. And it was still running for years and years and years. I know what they're doing. And this little car, it's picked up some battle scars, let's just say that. And I decided to try and remedy those battle scars. And I did so with some pictures in the show notes, perhaps in the YouTube video. And I just, I don't know, it felt like things therapy. Because as much as we're all connected in the digital age, everything's Internet and online and apps and now AI to actually take a step back, I felt the way probably somebody would have back in the day, just sitting down at the river, fishing for hours, letting their mind wander, or working with wood, just carving away and doing something where at the end of the day you produce something, there's a result, a tangible result that you can see. And I think that's kind of missing these days. I listened to some podcast from some person I can't remember and they said everything we do nowadays days we don't get that feedback loop. If we produce something and we email it to someone, we don't get the kudos, we don't see the reaction from the human being and it's almost lost. It's like an open loop system. So this was a grounding effect. I don't know if I'm getting a bit sentimental my old age, but speaking of old age, Dave, what you were up to?

Dave

Well, you know, I did a little bit of a similar thing as well. I find things like cutting the grass, washing windows, cleaning the car, polishing the car, things that you don't necessarily want to do, but you kind of get into them mode, chill out, listen to some music when you're doing it, don't need to talk to anybody, but you see an instant result at the end of it. That usually is quite a good feeling, Quite cathartic, I would say. But I got my car. Well, deep detailed as well. Mine being, well, not that old, but it hit its one year old birthday, which I couldn't quite believe. It's a year old already, not done too many miles. But yes, it got its service, I got it back and I thought I will give it a good price. Proper deep clay bar, as you mentioned.

Ricky

Did you take it to the clay bar? Clay bar, Clay bar?

Dave

No, please stop. But yes, moving on from that little distraction. Yeah, I did a lot of that as well. And it's kind of nice because I like it when it then rains after. Not immediately after, hopefully, but it rains later and you just watch all that water running away from the car.

Ricky

I think it's called beading. I mean, really like beading.

Dave

Beading, I think is the correct term. Yes. But outside of that, I've been down in London because of course it was a hands on horology show, which is one amongst a couple of others of very excellent shows that now take place in the uk. Many brands there and a few pop up sideline shows also happening over the weekends. Because the shows have become so popular they can't get every brand that wants in to be in. So things happening in London. We also did a little cinema showing of our film again in London just before that. This is also why my voice is in tatters. I also have to fly out a mere few hours from when I record this to Switzerland for a week to go to a show to talk all week to people. I think it's going to go badly, but nope, not a lot going on outside of that. Maybe we can squeeze another watch in. Or maybe we can't. Ricky, what say you?

Ricky

Well, it turns out I don't own a genuine MB and F, but I've got MB and F Junior or MB and F Lite. And that is my Mad one Red. The second iteration that came out after the blue one was only for the friends of MB and F. But the. The main guy, Max Busser and the other people behind the scenes there, all the creators, the designers, the folks that have got bigger brains than me and Dave combined, they put something together that is out of this world.

Dave

It's a bit out of this world. Like Guardians of the Galaxy, but not Guardians of the Galaxy. This is the HM12. It's the watch that has a robot guardian from a different galaxy. Now, this watch is titanium. It's very much what you would be expecting in so many ways from MB and F. A bit out there. You've got rotating discs for the hours in the middle minutes. These double up as the robot's eyes. There's a flying tourbillon, but it's not at 6 o', clock, it's up at 12 o'. Clock. Because it's acting as the brain of this watch and you'll see why later. You've got a battle axe, micro rotor for the mouth, the back of the HM12. I would say it looks a lot more like a traditional MB and F. That being something like the legacy machine. More than one of their horological machines. You've of course got carryvuta linens finishing on the reverse of the roof rotor, the traditional gold coloration of the rest of the movement. And you've got a few party pieces going on. You've got the shield. That's a bit of a party piece. This is something where the shield will come out and be engaged when you put the robot's head into battle mode. Because the watch itself acts as the head of a bigger robot, you can use a second crown to engage over 200 components that move. These colored shields builds in different stages from fully retracted to protecting parts of the face and the eyes. Now, the robot part of this HM12, that's the Guardian. It's 38cm tall, it's 755 components. It's got arms that can make huge different movements and shapes. You've got a loop shield and you've got the UV light as one of the arms that says a weapon. Price point wise, it's 280,000 Swiss francs, excluding taxis. They're only making 36 pieces. Pieces. But you have to see this to understand what's going on. It's a piece of art. It's a clock, it's a watch. It's all MB and F. It doesn't just sit still, it moves. It's unbelievable. And the price point is unbelievable as well. But if you put some of their other robots and clocks together with some of their watches, then actually you're not paying a huge amount more than you would pay for those things separately. Albeit this one becomes, well, an all integrated robot system. Classic MB&F. In the respect of you weren't expecting it. You can't believe how well it's been done. Yes, it's expensive. You'll probably never see one unless you can get yourself past one of the mad galleries where you might get a little sneaky peek at it. But if you ever get the chance, take the time to, well, check out what's going on with it. Super cool. Would love one in my house. Never going to happen, but we can all dream.

Ricky

This is my favorite MB BNF ever. Back on Jamail. The moment I saw it, I couldn't believe how good it is. Let me try and paint a picture for you. Vintage Doctor who, BBC series from the God knows when it started, Was it the 50s? It came out Cybermen. Look at the Cybermen or the Cyberman's face and then make it better, make it modern, make it up to date. That's what this looks like. We've had a lot of robot watches in the last few years and some have been amazing. The Chipank last year probably was my first favorite up until this. JPEG one's a lot cheaper, so let's put that to the side for the moment. This one is phenomenal. Everything about it is great. The only thing I think is maybe it's a little bit large, but then again the amount of componentry that is inside to make all these separate parts function cohesively together, it's required. You know, you have to have space to have things move around. This is a win. It doesn't matter the price point. It's cheaper than the Grubel Forzy. It's cheaper than an electric Ferrari, it turns out. So the fact this is what, 280,000 Swiss francs? There they are. Roundabout. I think it's a win. Massive win. This is a great episode. Closer we'd always get comments on YouTube from people saying first watch great. Fantastic. Looks amazing. We like to change up. Sometimes we'll start off with something that's budget friendly. Sometimes we'll start with something that's crazy. Last edition it was the Ming watch which wasn't budget but it wasn't 100k plus and now we're closing on this one and I'm really looking forward to Geneva watch days going and see Man Max and the crew over there. You've got Harris, you've got everybody that's behind the scenes. The nicest bunch of folks ever. Always get the time to chat. Doesn't matter if it's us member of the public or Hodinkee or a massive collector. Doors open policy and we can't wait to speak to them. Any closing thoughts, Dave, before we let people get on their way?

Dave

No other than check out our back catalog. The show that we recorded live at Glasgow Watch show is now up and live to the world. Check out that one. Of course Formex have been on the show talking all about that watch that they did with quite a cool movement. Wink wink, nudge nudge. The episode with Buchera, another live recording where we had the guys from Norqain. We had people on from Moser and well Jing who heads up retail operations for Bucherer. We've got episodes with Duckworth. We also talked all about Christopher Ward. Mike France has been on recently. Pietro. He always comes onto the show regularly to tell us his thoughts. We also talked all about a watch that they've released in conjunction junction with Arnold and son and so many more. Yes, I keep saying it. We're getting closer to 800. It's more a reminder to ourselves that we probably need to think of something cool to do for that 800th episode. But outside of that, I think check out our YouTube channel. If you want to contact us, please only email us infocottagewatches.co.uk. outside of that, Ricky, I think we just need to do that word that tells people that we're leaving.

Ricky

Yeah, and I forgot to say in the what we've been on up to, I got a delivery of a new toy. Ooo yeah, Turns out the world is changing rather quickly. Camera of the year a few years ago. It's really helped out dramatically for the podcast the DJI Osmo Pocket 3. The 4 came out recently, didn't look that good. Insta360 have just launched a dual lens 8K gimbal, 32 bit audio, internal recording with a snap off back where you can control everything. It's got the screen on it, the joystick, and it's got a microphone built in as well for around about 600 quid. So yeah, this is going to be helpful in the coming months when we're going to be doing a lot more content. So stay tuned for that. And as Dave mentioned, If you're on YouTube like comment subscribe. If you're listening to this on a podcast platform, we'd really appreciate if you left a review and apologies for this episode being a little bit scrappy. Some people were up until half four in the morning watching the foosball and other people are under the weather and sound. You can figure out which of the two we're talking about there. But listen, thank you for joining us in this episode and we'll catch you you again soon.

Dave

Take care. Sam.