July 24, 2025 • 18 mins
Hey Watch Fans,
To Ice or not to Ice. That is the question.
the world is trying to bring some value back into real natural diamonds. we also look at cool watches that may or may not have diamonds. hmmm.
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AND
Please check out Carol at
IG: @spassense
AND
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IG: @watchfanatics.ca
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Well, you're listening to watch fanatics podcasts. Here we talk
about watches, either myself or with my two watch collecting friends. Subscribe,
like and give us a five star rating if you
feel appropriate. Enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello everyone, hope you're all well. This is coming out
either slightly before, during, or slightly after the minute and
hour show La. I saw the list of brands going
down there. I wish I could be there. Unfortunately I'm not. Obviously,
I love watch shows. I wish I could go to
(00:46):
all of them, but this one has been on my
radar forever. I love La, love watches, and is hoping
to actually combine the two. Unfortunately, timing never works. My
schedule is nuts, but I believe there's one in Austin.
I plan on you know what, after I record this,
(01:07):
I'm gonna look at my calendar and try to book
some tickets and maybe go to Austin. I do recognize
all the brands going, and I mean it's going to
be a fantastic show. I did speak to a few
of the brands you've heard of me talk about Varrio.
(01:28):
I like them a lot. The man behind Varrio is
really cool guy to talk to. I like the Designs.
I also spoke briefly at the Toronto time Piece Show
with Herron and that's a French Canadian micro brand. You guys,
they have some great pieces. I don't know which ones
they're bringing down, but worth checking out. Have on Tuvali,
(01:54):
I spoke about them briefly. They refurbish old news stock,
but old vintage watches, so you're getting a vintage watch
that's basically fresh out of a box, never touched. They
do make sure it's running fine, and it's cleaned up,
it's ready to go and if it needs to be said.
(02:17):
I saw a review about them, and one of the
criticism was the bracelets on some of these pieces. These
bracelets are also old new stock, never been worn, but
they're from the past and bracelets can get a little jangly.
I think it adds to the value of the watch
(02:37):
because you're getting the original bracelet with the original watch.
If you do find those pieces interesting, do not let
the bracelet hold you back, because you always talk to
straps Co and get replacement strapped very easy, customize it.
But they have very cool watches. I did talk about
(02:58):
the compass watch, the Into Volley Compass watch, and it's phenomenal.
I wish I got one, but hopefully they all went
to good people who can appreciate those watches. Another watch
brand I want to mention, and I'll probably post on
my IG next my next post or the post shortly after,
(03:21):
very soon, I don't know when. And it's an Italian
micro brand, Veny Ciannico. I tried on one of their
dress watches and it's stunning. It's very simple as a
black watch with their logo at twelve o'clock, which is
a four point cross beautiful watch. Someone commented that look
(03:46):
like Vason Constantine. I don't know at a quick glance.
Maybe if you're really deep into the watch world, you'll
know up close, definitely not vastron and fact different, very
different and very charming. It's a very charming watch. They
have great designs, they have other watches. They use nice materials,
(04:07):
great materials. Talk to them. They're super friendly. They'll be
happy to talk about the watch to you. Now moving on,
I have a friend that bought to Cartier tank and
she bought it with diamonds on the side of the case.
And I got to tell you, those diamonds change the
(04:30):
look of the tank so much. I've always liked the tank.
I would like to have a tank one day, but
with the diamonds on it, it looks out of this world.
Obviously elevated, right, obviously more pricey. But my quick question
is to you listeners, do you know if CARTI uses
(04:52):
real diamonds or lab grown diamonds. I have a feeling
they're real diamonds, but I'm just curious. I know that
tag uses lab grown diamonds, but they call it something else.
I think they call it eco friendly diamonds because they're
not digging up the earth or mining, so they call
them eco friendly diamonds, but their lab grown diamonds. So
(05:16):
I'm pretty sure cart uses natural diamonds and not lab grown.
But if you guys know, let me know. And then
also like, what is your opinion on lab grown diamonds.
I know, for my cell, I prefer natural diamonds, but
these lab grown diamonds are identical to natural. They have
(05:38):
the same look, the same hardness. They could be used
for fashion, jewelry and industrial. These lab grown diamonds is
a game changer. And to further that conversation, there's a
man I speak to at Canadian Acid Spire he's also
owns American assets Spire. Very knowledgeable man. He's a gemologist,
(06:03):
and he's saying to me there is virtually no difference
between lab grown and natural diamonds. It all comes down
to personal preference. And for somebody you watch flippers, your
concern is resale. In resale, both natural and lab grown
(06:27):
diamonds do depreciate, so it's something that it will not
necessarily appreciate the value you watch. That all comes to
brand and marketing and demand and supply for resale based
on materials like gold, silver, platinum. Diamonds being a lab
(06:48):
grown or original diamond, they do depreciate, whereas if you
look at the markets these days, gold and silver appreciate.
Something to think about now, one of the problems that
lab grown diamonds had done. And sorry I'm going on
(07:09):
a tangent, but it's important for watch buyers because so
many watches out there do have diamonds. The thing about
lab grown diamonds, it's actually cheapened or reduced the price
of natural diamonds. That's probably because of how diamonds are graded,
(07:30):
and presently, or until very recently, lab grown diamonds and
natural diamonds were graded equally with the same scale, so
lab grown diamonds were always you'd always find a better
quality diamond cheaper, but that's changing right now. Diamonds are
(07:56):
graded by the GIA, which many of you are familiar with,
but also graded the same way by the I G
I G I A is the Gemological Institute of America
and they are a nonprofit and the IGI International Gemological Institute.
And basically the diamond grading that we're familiar is the
(08:21):
four c's cut, color clarity, and carrot white. So the
cut can be excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor
color can be which is graded with alphabets d e
F is colorless, g to J is near colorless, en
(08:43):
to R is very light, and s z is light clarity.
You have flawless, near flawless, vvs one vvs two, which
is very very small, included vs one vs two, which
is very small included, then there's slightly included, and then
(09:06):
there's included I one, I two, I three. This is
a scale that applies to natural diamonds and lab grown diamonds,
so you can get the top of the top like excellent, colorless, flawless,
a one carrotweight diamond that has the same grade lab
(09:27):
grown for considerably less, and that's screwed up the diamond market. However,
the GIA, if you remember, the Gemological Institute of America,
is going to remove the four ce's for lab grown diamonds.
Lab grown diamonds will now be measured as premium or standard,
(09:52):
and they will be inscribed with laboratory grown on it,
and they will be identified as CD or HPHT, which
is how they are made. So a CVD is like
a chemical vapor treatment, it's a little bit cheaper to produce,
(10:14):
and the HPHT is like a high pressure, high temperature
production of the lab grown diamond, which actually mimics the
Earth's natural process of creating diamonds. So they're going to
add a new scale to lab grown diamonds, and I
think that will restore some balance to natural diamond prices.
(10:37):
It won't be so low now. But honestly, if you're
buying a watch, go lab grown. It's not like you're
going to sell the diamonds individually. You can get ten
zero point five carrot lab grown diamonds that are perfect
for probably a quarter of the price right now. As
(10:59):
a perfect set of diamonds that are natural, and like
I said, they both depreciate, so you don't want to
sell them individually. Anyways, Anyways, that was a long tangent
on diamonds. Do you guys like watches with diamonds? Do
you think it's crazy? I like them? I do. And
(11:24):
it's also a cultural thing. Like the hip hop culture,
they believed in iced out watches. So you can find
watches that are covered in Cubic Zirconian stones, which look great,
by the way, for cheap, cheap, cheap. One website I
like to look at is Hello ice Watch, and you'll
(11:48):
see some watches that look very familiar to some of
these luxury brands, but covered with Cubic zirconians. But I
got also add a while back. I was looking at
a few watches and I'm gonna bring them up today
because we're talking about diamonds. And there's the James Bond
(12:12):
sixtieth Anniversary cannapis gold. It's a forty two millimeter dial
and it's got green to gold diamonds around the bezel.
Is beautiful. Reference numbers two to one zero dot five
to five dot four, two dot two zero dot nine
to nine dot zero zero one has a Caliber eighty
(12:35):
eight zero seven and for in Canadian dollars, it's two
hundred and twenty five thousand, six hundred dollars. Beautiful watch.
I don't think I'm gonna buy it. It's way way,
way out of my budget. Is gorgeous, it's James Bond,
it's Omega, it has diamonds, and it's a sixtieth anniversary
(12:57):
great combination. Highly highly recommend checking it out. I mentioned
Vacheron in comparison to Venicianico, so why not talk about
a Vacheron Constantine watch that also has sapphires which look
(13:18):
like diamonds without the price. I'm not saying it's an affordable watch.
It's still crazy expensive, but if you're interested in taking
a look at it, it's the Vacheron Constantine Metier Dart
Tribute to the Celestials. It's two hundred and forty thousand euros,
but there's twelve designs. They're gorgeous and each one is
(13:41):
a tribute to the twelve astrological signs. But the Metier
Yart is a gorgeous watch, and they use blue sapphire
which looks like the illusion of blue diamonds. And if
you've ever seen a real blue diamond. Blue sapphires have
an I feel Richard blue to it, So check it out.
(14:04):
I strongly google it, or if you know a Vacheon
Constantine store, please stop by check it out. I'm sure
they like playing with the watches as much as you do.
You can see this thing up close and personal. And then,
of course, besides hello ice watch, why not talk about
something still expense in my opinion, but far far more
(14:29):
affordable than the Omega and the Vacheon Constantin that I
talked about is the limited edition the Cassio Oceanis Manta.
This thing is about three six and ninety three Canadian dollars.
It is limited edition. I believe they came out with
(14:49):
it before, but this year I think it might be
Japan only. But hop on Chrono twenty four you'll find it,
you'll have access to it. You could google it if
you just want to see it. Basically, what I like
about this watch is that the bezel is in fact sapphire,
(15:13):
but it is carved in such a way they call
it detailed concave cuts, and they have sixty of them
on the bezel, so actually, from a bit of a distance,
even up close. At a glance, it looks like they're
all blue diamonds and stunning. In fact, when I first
(15:35):
saw the picture even I thought it was either crystal
Swarski crystals or sapphires or I was not for that
price sinking real diamonds. But I actually thought they were
separate stones. But this watch, they are. It is just
the illusion that it's one sapphire piece cut sixty concave grooves.
(16:01):
Please again google it. I think you'll find it a
cassio that is unrecognizable in the sense of what we
think of cassio. But honestly, let me know what you
guys think. Do you guys like diamonds on your watch
(16:21):
doesn't matter if it's natural diamond or doesn't matter if
it's lab grown diamond or who knows. Do you care
if it's diamonds at all? And you don't mind if
it's sapphire pretending to be diamonds or cubic zirconian or
Swarski crystals. For me, at a lower price point, let's
(16:46):
say one thousand and under, I don't think it matters.
Maybe two thousand and under it doesn't bother me. But
when you start going above that I do think I
like natural diamonds more just because of maybe my generation
I'm a gen xer, but also knowing that it came
(17:12):
from the Earth, is formed by the Earth, just makes
me appreciate it more. But if you're looking for execution flawlessness,
probably aesthetics lab grown right. I don't know anyways, That's
just my opinion, you guys, really, just my opinion. Really,
(17:37):
I would like to know what you guys think. But
I think that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed the show.
I hope you're all well. Let's talk real soon. Take care,
Thank you for listening. If you do want to reach out,
you can find me at watch fanatic David on Instagram
(17:57):
or Carol at Sense and you'll see the description in
our show notes below.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Thanks. Enjoy your day.
Well, you're listening to watch fanatics podcasts. Here we talk
about watches, either myself or with my two watch collecting friends. Subscribe,
like and give us a five star rating if you
feel appropriate. Enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello everyone, hope you're all well. This is coming out
either slightly before, during, or slightly after the minute and
hour show La. I saw the list of brands going
down there. I wish I could be there. Unfortunately I'm not. Obviously,
I love watch shows. I wish I could go to
(00:46):
all of them, but this one has been on my
radar forever. I love La, love watches, and is hoping
to actually combine the two. Unfortunately, timing never works. My
schedule is nuts, but I believe there's one in Austin.
I plan on you know what, after I record this,
(01:07):
I'm gonna look at my calendar and try to book
some tickets and maybe go to Austin. I do recognize
all the brands going, and I mean it's going to
be a fantastic show. I did speak to a few
of the brands you've heard of me talk about Varrio.
(01:28):
I like them a lot. The man behind Varrio is
really cool guy to talk to. I like the Designs.
I also spoke briefly at the Toronto time Piece Show
with Herron and that's a French Canadian micro brand. You guys,
they have some great pieces. I don't know which ones
they're bringing down, but worth checking out. Have on Tuvali,
(01:54):
I spoke about them briefly. They refurbish old news stock,
but old vintage watches, so you're getting a vintage watch
that's basically fresh out of a box, never touched. They
do make sure it's running fine, and it's cleaned up,
it's ready to go and if it needs to be said.
(02:17):
I saw a review about them, and one of the
criticism was the bracelets on some of these pieces. These
bracelets are also old new stock, never been worn, but
they're from the past and bracelets can get a little jangly.
I think it adds to the value of the watch
(02:37):
because you're getting the original bracelet with the original watch.
If you do find those pieces interesting, do not let
the bracelet hold you back, because you always talk to
straps Co and get replacement strapped very easy, customize it.
But they have very cool watches. I did talk about
(02:58):
the compass watch, the Into Volley Compass watch, and it's phenomenal.
I wish I got one, but hopefully they all went
to good people who can appreciate those watches. Another watch
brand I want to mention, and I'll probably post on
my IG next my next post or the post shortly after,
(03:21):
very soon, I don't know when. And it's an Italian
micro brand, Veny Ciannico. I tried on one of their
dress watches and it's stunning. It's very simple as a
black watch with their logo at twelve o'clock, which is
a four point cross beautiful watch. Someone commented that look
(03:46):
like Vason Constantine. I don't know at a quick glance.
Maybe if you're really deep into the watch world, you'll
know up close, definitely not vastron and fact different, very
different and very charming. It's a very charming watch. They
have great designs, they have other watches. They use nice materials,
(04:07):
great materials. Talk to them. They're super friendly. They'll be
happy to talk about the watch to you. Now moving on,
I have a friend that bought to Cartier tank and
she bought it with diamonds on the side of the case.
And I got to tell you, those diamonds change the
(04:30):
look of the tank so much. I've always liked the tank.
I would like to have a tank one day, but
with the diamonds on it, it looks out of this world.
Obviously elevated, right, obviously more pricey. But my quick question
is to you listeners, do you know if CARTI uses
(04:52):
real diamonds or lab grown diamonds. I have a feeling
they're real diamonds, but I'm just curious. I know that
tag uses lab grown diamonds, but they call it something else.
I think they call it eco friendly diamonds because they're
not digging up the earth or mining, so they call
them eco friendly diamonds, but their lab grown diamonds. So
(05:16):
I'm pretty sure cart uses natural diamonds and not lab grown.
But if you guys know, let me know. And then
also like, what is your opinion on lab grown diamonds.
I know, for my cell, I prefer natural diamonds, but
these lab grown diamonds are identical to natural. They have
(05:38):
the same look, the same hardness. They could be used
for fashion, jewelry and industrial. These lab grown diamonds is
a game changer. And to further that conversation, there's a
man I speak to at Canadian Acid Spire he's also
owns American assets Spire. Very knowledgeable man. He's a gemologist,
(06:03):
and he's saying to me there is virtually no difference
between lab grown and natural diamonds. It all comes down
to personal preference. And for somebody you watch flippers, your
concern is resale. In resale, both natural and lab grown
(06:27):
diamonds do depreciate, so it's something that it will not
necessarily appreciate the value you watch. That all comes to
brand and marketing and demand and supply for resale based
on materials like gold, silver, platinum. Diamonds being a lab
(06:48):
grown or original diamond, they do depreciate, whereas if you
look at the markets these days, gold and silver appreciate.
Something to think about now, one of the problems that
lab grown diamonds had done. And sorry I'm going on
(07:09):
a tangent, but it's important for watch buyers because so
many watches out there do have diamonds. The thing about
lab grown diamonds, it's actually cheapened or reduced the price
of natural diamonds. That's probably because of how diamonds are graded,
(07:30):
and presently, or until very recently, lab grown diamonds and
natural diamonds were graded equally with the same scale, so
lab grown diamonds were always you'd always find a better
quality diamond cheaper, but that's changing right now. Diamonds are
(07:56):
graded by the GIA, which many of you are familiar with,
but also graded the same way by the I G
I G I A is the Gemological Institute of America
and they are a nonprofit and the IGI International Gemological Institute.
And basically the diamond grading that we're familiar is the
(08:21):
four c's cut, color clarity, and carrot white. So the
cut can be excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor
color can be which is graded with alphabets d e
F is colorless, g to J is near colorless, en
(08:43):
to R is very light, and s z is light clarity.
You have flawless, near flawless, vvs one vvs two, which
is very very small, included vs one vs two, which
is very small included, then there's slightly included, and then
(09:06):
there's included I one, I two, I three. This is
a scale that applies to natural diamonds and lab grown diamonds,
so you can get the top of the top like excellent, colorless, flawless,
a one carrotweight diamond that has the same grade lab
(09:27):
grown for considerably less, and that's screwed up the diamond market. However,
the GIA, if you remember, the Gemological Institute of America,
is going to remove the four ce's for lab grown diamonds.
Lab grown diamonds will now be measured as premium or standard,
(09:52):
and they will be inscribed with laboratory grown on it,
and they will be identified as CD or HPHT, which
is how they are made. So a CVD is like
a chemical vapor treatment, it's a little bit cheaper to produce,
(10:14):
and the HPHT is like a high pressure, high temperature
production of the lab grown diamond, which actually mimics the
Earth's natural process of creating diamonds. So they're going to
add a new scale to lab grown diamonds, and I
think that will restore some balance to natural diamond prices.
(10:37):
It won't be so low now. But honestly, if you're
buying a watch, go lab grown. It's not like you're
going to sell the diamonds individually. You can get ten
zero point five carrot lab grown diamonds that are perfect
for probably a quarter of the price right now. As
(10:59):
a perfect set of diamonds that are natural, and like
I said, they both depreciate, so you don't want to
sell them individually. Anyways, Anyways, that was a long tangent
on diamonds. Do you guys like watches with diamonds? Do
you think it's crazy? I like them? I do. And
(11:24):
it's also a cultural thing. Like the hip hop culture,
they believed in iced out watches. So you can find
watches that are covered in Cubic Zirconian stones, which look great,
by the way, for cheap, cheap, cheap. One website I
like to look at is Hello ice Watch, and you'll
(11:48):
see some watches that look very familiar to some of
these luxury brands, but covered with Cubic zirconians. But I
got also add a while back. I was looking at
a few watches and I'm gonna bring them up today
because we're talking about diamonds. And there's the James Bond
(12:12):
sixtieth Anniversary cannapis gold. It's a forty two millimeter dial
and it's got green to gold diamonds around the bezel.
Is beautiful. Reference numbers two to one zero dot five
to five dot four, two dot two zero dot nine
to nine dot zero zero one has a Caliber eighty
(12:35):
eight zero seven and for in Canadian dollars, it's two
hundred and twenty five thousand, six hundred dollars. Beautiful watch.
I don't think I'm gonna buy it. It's way way,
way out of my budget. Is gorgeous, it's James Bond,
it's Omega, it has diamonds, and it's a sixtieth anniversary
(12:57):
great combination. Highly highly recommend checking it out. I mentioned
Vacheron in comparison to Venicianico, so why not talk about
a Vacheron Constantine watch that also has sapphires which look
(13:18):
like diamonds without the price. I'm not saying it's an affordable watch.
It's still crazy expensive, but if you're interested in taking
a look at it, it's the Vacheron Constantine Metier Dart
Tribute to the Celestials. It's two hundred and forty thousand euros,
but there's twelve designs. They're gorgeous and each one is
(13:41):
a tribute to the twelve astrological signs. But the Metier
Yart is a gorgeous watch, and they use blue sapphire
which looks like the illusion of blue diamonds. And if
you've ever seen a real blue diamond. Blue sapphires have
an I feel Richard blue to it, So check it out.
(14:04):
I strongly google it, or if you know a Vacheon
Constantine store, please stop by check it out. I'm sure
they like playing with the watches as much as you do.
You can see this thing up close and personal. And then,
of course, besides hello ice watch, why not talk about
something still expense in my opinion, but far far more
(14:29):
affordable than the Omega and the Vacheon Constantin that I
talked about is the limited edition the Cassio Oceanis Manta.
This thing is about three six and ninety three Canadian dollars.
It is limited edition. I believe they came out with
(14:49):
it before, but this year I think it might be
Japan only. But hop on Chrono twenty four you'll find it,
you'll have access to it. You could google it if
you just want to see it. Basically, what I like
about this watch is that the bezel is in fact sapphire,
(15:13):
but it is carved in such a way they call
it detailed concave cuts, and they have sixty of them
on the bezel, so actually, from a bit of a distance,
even up close. At a glance, it looks like they're
all blue diamonds and stunning. In fact, when I first
(15:35):
saw the picture even I thought it was either crystal
Swarski crystals or sapphires or I was not for that
price sinking real diamonds. But I actually thought they were
separate stones. But this watch, they are. It is just
the illusion that it's one sapphire piece cut sixty concave grooves.
(16:01):
Please again google it. I think you'll find it a
cassio that is unrecognizable in the sense of what we
think of cassio. But honestly, let me know what you
guys think. Do you guys like diamonds on your watch
(16:21):
doesn't matter if it's natural diamond or doesn't matter if
it's lab grown diamond or who knows. Do you care
if it's diamonds at all? And you don't mind if
it's sapphire pretending to be diamonds or cubic zirconian or
Swarski crystals. For me, at a lower price point, let's
(16:46):
say one thousand and under, I don't think it matters.
Maybe two thousand and under it doesn't bother me. But
when you start going above that I do think I
like natural diamonds more just because of maybe my generation
I'm a gen xer, but also knowing that it came
(17:12):
from the Earth, is formed by the Earth, just makes
me appreciate it more. But if you're looking for execution flawlessness,
probably aesthetics lab grown right. I don't know anyways, That's
just my opinion, you guys, really, just my opinion. Really,
(17:37):
I would like to know what you guys think. But
I think that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed the show.
I hope you're all well. Let's talk real soon. Take care,
Thank you for listening. If you do want to reach out,
you can find me at watch fanatic David on Instagram
(17:57):
or Carol at Sense and you'll see the description in
our show notes below.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Thanks. Enjoy your day.
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