Jason Heaton - freelance writer

Live from Geneva

jasonheaton — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:25:23 +0000

Next week I’ll be in Geneva for the annual Salon de Haute Horlogerie event, where many of the top watch brands showcase their new timepieces for 2012. I’ll be going under the banner of HODINKEE, the watch blog, and be trying to keep up with the all the happenings in as close to real time as possible. To that end, I’ll have my laptop, Nikon SLR and Canon videocam in tow and try to squeeze off missives between meetings with watch company reps and nightly dinners and cocktail parties. Not exactly war correspondent but it won’t be as glamorous as it sounds. Check in at www.hodinkee.com daily starting on Monday for all the watch news that’s fit to print.

A milestone: quoted in the New York Times

jasonheaton — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:32:47 +0000

I was recently interviewed for an article about sports watches in the New York Times. I guess my online musings about dive watches caught someone’s attention! Here’s the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/fashion/10iht-gear-web10.html?_r=1

Summer was a blur

jasonheaton — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:36:40 +0000

This was a busy summer, with trips to both coasts and adventures in between. Great fodder for writing though. My proudest moment was the publication of my dive watch review in Revolution magazine. I know magazines are a dying breed and the Web is where it’s at these days. But as an old-fashioned writer, I still tend to feel that magazines hold to a higher standard and to be published in one is a greater prize than my usual blog fare. I posted a PDF of my article in the Portfolio.

Another piece I’m proud of was the write-up I did of a factory tour I did at the Red Wing Shoe Company. Being a former tech writer, factory tours remain close to my heart and over the years I’ve seen how everything is made from Oreo cookies to Mennen deodorant to $100,000 wristwatches. This Red Wing tour was extra special since it was in my own backyard, here in Minnesota. That article is posetd as a PDF in the Portfolio as well but here’s a link to read it in its original format:

http://gearpatrol.com/blog/2011/09/26/last-made-made-to-last-a-visit-to-the-red-wing-shoe-company/

What do fall and winter hold for me? More dive trips – Lake Superior and Honduras, a trip to the North Woods, some cabin weekends and a trip to a watch fair in Geneva in January. Looks like life isn’t slowing down anytime soon.

Trip reports

jasonheaton — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:16:54 +0000

As promised, some travel pieces I wrote are now history. I got a lot of mileage out of my Bonaire trip, with a trip report (with video!) on Gear Patrol (http://gearpatrol.com/blog/2011/07/29/7-days-in-diving-paradise-bonaire-caribbean/), an underwater dive watch review (again, with video!) on Hodinkee (http://www.hodinkee.com/blog/2011/7/6/a-week-on-the-wrist-the-audemars-piguet-royal-oak-offshore-d.html) and a magazine piece forthcoming in Revolution magazine, probably my biggest writing break to date.

Seattle was a great trip and my writeup of Olympic National Park went live today on GP: http://gearpatrol.com/blog/2011/08/16/gp-excursion-enchanted-valley-72-hours-in-olympic-national-park/

Other than travel, I did another bike review video, which turned out to be surprisingly challenging due to some camera hijinks and a very warm day. And I’m astounded by the play my Dive Watch Deconstructed article has gotten. I must have struck a nerve.

http://gearpatrol.com/blog/2011/07/20/timekeeping-the-dive-watch-deconstructed/

More fun to come. I’m off to New York to meet my editors this weekend. Should be fun and hopefully inspirational.

Over and out.

Travel. Writing. Repeat

jasonheaton — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:35:05 +0000

I’ve fallen into a pattern. I take a trip someplace for a week, then come home and spend the next two or three weeks editing footage and photos and writing articles spawned from the trip – gear reviews, travel pieces and videos. It’s not a bad groove to be in.

My latest trip, to Bonaire, was fodder for a number of articles, including some shorts I reviewed for Gear Patrol, two wristwatches (IWC and Audemars Piguet) for HODINKEE and Revolution magazine and a travel piece + video for Gear Patrol. All will be published in the next few weeks.

Next up is a trip to Seattle and points west – San Juan Island and Olympic National Park for some kayaking and backpacking. It remains to be seen what will come out of it but surely it will bear fruit. Stay tuned.

LOOK here!

jasonheaton — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:24:33 +0000

I spent over a month with a beautiful road racing bicycle from the French company, LOOK. I rode it in all conditions and many miles and Gishani shot photos and video on two different days. I’m pleased with, and proud of, how it turned out. Here’s the article. And here’s the video:

Diversifying

jasonheaton — Mon, 09 May 2011 00:52:34 +0000

Odd title for a post considering all my work lately has been for one venue: Gear Patrol. But the breadth of topics I’ve been covering in past weeks has been challenging but fun. I visited a 100-year old canoe pack outfitter in Duluth, MN, then hopped a plane to Vegas the next day for a Jack Daniel’s media launch. Meanwhile I’ve been reviewing products from bed sheets to bike clothing to energy bars. I’m just finishing off an exhaustive review and video of a $3,000 road racing bicycle.

Upcoming though, my portfolio expands to AskMen.com, where my series of watch complications starts running May 16th and then at the end of May, I head off to Bonaire to SCUBA dive and do an in situ test of an IWC dive watch.

Check back for updates!

Prolific

jasonheaton — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:21:30 +0000

Just because I haven’t been posting to my blog doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. I’ve been cranking out the product reviews for Gear Patrol, AskMen and Hodinkee the past few months and I put my two latest travel pieces on my Portfolio page for download. Check ‘em out when you have a chance.

I’ve been writing about everything from Vegas ans Jack Daniels to how to buy your first $1,000 watch., with a dash of outdoor adventure thrown in for good measure. Stay tuned here. I’ll try to update the blog more regularly this summer.

Over and out.

What time is it?

jasonheaton — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 23:05:25 +0000

Lately, it’s been all about wristwatches. And that’s OK because horology is a definite passion of mine. The trip to Lisbon to learn the art of navigation with the folks from IWC was truly unforgettable. It’s something I never would have done had I not gotten into this niche field of watch journalism. I documented the trip here and here. Then there’s the series I’m writing for AskMen.com about building the ultimate watch collection. Each weekly installment covers one genre of wristwatch and describes the ultimate example of each. It’s been fun and educational as a fair amount of research has been required. Too bad I can’t afford any of the watches I’m writing about.

I’m looking forward to getting back to travel writing and gear reviews. For the time being though, sailing trips to Portugal aren’t so bad.

Writing my way around the world

jasonheaton — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:31:35 +0000

It’s been quite a year for travel and for writing. January I was in Sri Lanka, April in Florida, June was Bonaire and Germany. Then July was a cabin trip to the north woods. Now I’m getting ready to jet off to Lisbon, Portugal for the press launch of IWC’s new Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph. The centerpiece of this trip will be a day sailing on the Atlantic with former Fastnet Race winner and round-the-world skipper Sebastien Josse. I’ll be blogging daily from Lisbon and coming back with lots of photos and hopefully some video.

Most of these trips have been subject of an article or blog post or fodder for some future project. Life truly is good.