Why It's So Hard to Buy a Rolex (Gruber Guest Appearance)

09/27/21 • 37 min

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!

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!

Previous Episode

How Many PancakeSwap Tokens Would It Take to Buy Breitling?

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!

Next Episode

Watches: The Primary Driver of Our Happiness

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!