Aaron’s in Denver for a quick trip, which turns into exactly what you’d expect. A little wandering, a little watch talk, and a chance to catch up in person.

They get into the watches that stood out from Watches and Wonders Geneva 2026, including one pick from Aaron that no one saw coming. Marc, unsurprisingly, keeps circling back to Tudor and the feeling that their 100th year can’t possibly end with just what we’ve seen so far.

Aaron also brings a new addition to the table, the Vertex M36, and talks through what had to go to make room.

Watches, wishful thinking, and a little bit of Denver.

Bonus Episode: Marcos and Aaron sit down with Zach Weiss, cofounder of Worn & Wound and Windup Watch Fair, to talk about his new venture, OraOrea.

This could be the season finale.
It’s been one year since Marcos and Aaron started this podcast. They’ve been busy working on another project together, which has made it tough to record, but they found a little time to catch up and reflect on the past year.

The conversation starts with a comparison between Aaron’s King Seiko and Grand Seiko. Which one is dressier and which one is arguably the finer watch? Interestingly, those are not the same watch.

They also talk about a few watches that have caught their attention lately: a sub-40mm white Orient Mako and the Timor Dirty Dozen for Marc, and a Vertex Dirty Dozen and a Seiko SUS for Aaron. Marc also realizes that in the 90s, he was probably the exact target audience for the Seiko SUS.

They wrap up by talking about a new release they both really like, the Baltic Heures du Monde Worldtimer, and reflect a bit on the next season, which will hopefully not include such a long gap between recordings.

Not taking a break.

It’s been a long minute since the last recording. Marc and Aaron have both been buried in projects, including the launch of the new Berea College Student Craft website with full e-commerce, designed by Marc for the Student Craft team. The timing worked out perfectly, as Aaron and his team were recognized with the Cooper Hewitt Award for Product Design. Huge congrats all around.

On the watch front, Aaron has been obsessively regulating his Seiko 5 and getting it to run within one second a day. Marc is in the middle of a second honeymoon with his Black Bay 58, now fitted with a Steel Reef “Silencer” James Bond bezel insert, and he finally adds a long-admired Seiko “Gene Kranz” reissue to the collection after a patient wait from Australia. The guys talk about why this release hits so well, how faithfully Seiko nailed the original design, and why it feels like an easy enthusiast favorite. Seiko, if you’re listening, more reissues please. Yes, the Pogue.

They also get into a new Benrus chronograph and the Bark & Jack collaboration with Christopher Ward. The Adrian Barker designed version is the one they prefer, leading to a broader conversation about design evolution, community reaction, and why Barker does not deserve criticism for standing behind and promoting his own work.

Marc closes the episode reflecting on seeing Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy perform Lifes Rich Pageant live. It was moving to hear songs that have meant so much to him played live, with new life breathed into them.The album title comes from Inspector Clouseau’s line, “But it’s all part of life’s rich pageant, you know?” and that idea tracks well with the show, watches, travel and everything else they end up talking about.

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.