Latest / What's on Your Riste? A Watch Podcast / S01E05: Mr. Jones Watches, Studio Underd0g, and Zelos: Three Brands Making the Most Fun Watches in the World

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S01E05: Mr. Jones Watches, Studio Underd0g, and Zelos: Three Brands Making the Most Fun Watches in the World · What's on Your Riste? A Watch Podcast

0:00
Quick confession before we get into today's episode 2 episodes
0:04
ago, episode 3, the personal one where I told you about the
0:08
watches that made me. I left something out, or rather,
0:11
I thought I'd told you and I went back and listened and I
0:15
hadn't. Which is one of those wonderful
0:17
moments in podcasting where you realize the version of the
0:20
episode that was in your head or in my head is not the actual
0:24
version that came out of my mouth.
0:26
Now, before we get into today's lineup, which is, by the way, a
0:29
fun lineup, I need to tell you about the watch that I missed.
0:33
It was my brothers. You'll remember from episode 3,
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my brother passed away in 2009. Two years before that, in 2007,
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before my wedding, he gave me a watch.
0:43
It was a Gucci. Specifically, a Gucci G Krono.
0:48
44 millimeters murdered out Black case, black dial, black
0:53
black bracelet with a perfectly bright green pusher.
0:57
At 4:00. It was quartz.
0:59
The logo was right there on the dial, and the actual bezel
1:02
itself was a giant G for Gucci Gucci.
1:06
This was, on paper, a total fashion watch.
1:09
This was on every list of things a serious watch collector should
1:14
probably not be wearing, like, ever.
1:18
Yet this was the single thing that my snobby little 2007 watch
1:26
nerd self would have said no to. And I loved it.
1:31
I wore it to meetups. I wore it to birthdays.
1:34
I wore it to funerals. I wore it on the day I got
1:36
married. It had a green pusher.
1:39
I had a green pusher Gucci on my wrist when I said my vows.
1:44
And then in 2009, my brother was killed and that watch became the
1:49
most important watch I owned because every time I looked down
1:53
on my wrist, there he was. I wore it for 14 years.
1:57
And in 2023, when my house is broken into, that watch was one
2:02
of the ones they took. I'll tell you, I learned
2:05
something from that watch. You don't get to pick the
2:08
watches that end up mattering most to you.
2:11
The hobby teaches you that. The watch that means the most is
2:16
sometimes the one you'd have sworn on paper you'd never buy.
2:21
My brother knew that before I did.
2:24
And I bring it up today on episode 5 because today's
2:27
episode is about fun. About watches that are
2:30
unapologetically themselves, About watches that don't care
2:35
what the Internet and the watch Internet thinks.
2:38
Watches with personality, with color, with a sense of humor.
2:41
That Gucci was the first fun watch I had ever owned, and in a
2:46
strange way, it was the watch that prepared me to fall in love
2:49
with three brands that I want to talk about today.
2:52
So with that, let's get into it. Yeah, my wrist got jokes.
3:08
No lie. Mr. Jones got a guy in the pool
3:11
nearby rubber duck drifts. This my Monday flex big ballroom
3:15
look, but I'm I buy text studio on the dog looking like fruit,
3:20
but they didn't have got that green uncooked jello's got stone
3:23
from the sky up top meteorite shine when the headlight
3:26
stopped. My kids picked the pen like
3:29
that. This one I walk in smug like
3:31
the. Paperwork.
3:32
Welcome back to What's on Your Reese Day.
3:34
I am Wachovsky. Today is the gear shift episode.
3:39
Last episode I gave you decision psychology and a manifesto about
3:45
collectors versus speculators. This episode, I think in my head
3:49
was the most personal episode I'd ever recorded.
3:52
And that's not saying much because I've only done like
3:54
what, less than 5, right? It was both heavy and kind of
3:57
its own way. And today we're not going to do
3:59
that. I I need a cleanse.
4:01
I need a palate cleanser. So this is my palate cleansing
4:04
from from some of the heavy stuff today.
4:06
We're talking about watches that I think are fun.
4:08
Three brands, all of them in different ways, are operating in
4:12
part of the hobby that the watch Internet sometimes pretends
4:15
doesn't exist. The playful part.
4:17
And Moser kind of tip dips their toes in that obviously, right?
4:20
But they still have some pretty high horology stuff.
4:22
But also the prices are kind of insane.
4:24
The part I think that I'm excited about is the joyful
4:27
part, the part where a brand can put a watermelon on a dial and
4:31
not and not be making a joke at any watchmaker's expense, that
4:34
they can still flip it over and have a mechanical movement,
4:37
right? That they're making a joke, not
4:39
necessarily watchmaking, but they're making a joke with
4:43
watchmaking and I'm in love with that.
4:46
The brands we're going to talk about today are Mr. Jones
4:48
Watches out of London studio Underdog with an O as actually a
4:53
zero in Underdog. So it's UNDER D0G, yes, with a
5:00
zero, you don't you say it underdog, but it's out of
5:02
Brighton, England. And then Zelos, also known as
5:05
Zelos, they are ZELOS. They're out of Singapore.
5:09
So let's get into this completely different vibe watch
5:13
episode. So Segment 1, Mr. Jones Watches.
5:17
The first watch brand Mr. Jones that I want to talk about was
5:20
founded in 2007 in London by an artist named Crispin Jones.
5:25
Crispin's cool, by the way. He brings his dog to work.
5:27
The dude sent me a Christmas card when I bought one of his
5:29
watches. I mean, who does that, right?
5:32
And here's the thing, you don't have to understand a whole lot
5:35
about Crispin, but to understand the brand, you have to
5:38
understand that he's not a watchmaker, he's a fine artist.
5:41
And so he has a bachelor's in sculpture from Kingston
5:44
University. And and Crispin, by the way, if
5:46
I screw up any of this stuff, you give me a heads up, brother
5:49
masters from the Royal College of Art in computer related
5:53
design. And so he came to watch his kind
5:55
of sideways right through this, like art exhibitions.
5:59
His very first watch design was, and I'm not making this up, it
6:02
was like a functioning lie detector watch.
6:04
And this was his entry point into this industry.
6:06
So when I tell you Mr. Jones watches that he's making these
6:10
watches that don't behave like other watches do, this is
6:13
exactly what I mean. They're not like Submariner
6:16
homages with A twist. These are watches that
6:18
completely ask a different question entirely.
6:22
The question they ask is what if a watch could be a piece of
6:25
conceptual art that you wear on your wrist?
6:28
And so I'm going to give you some examples of what I'm
6:30
talking about with Mr. Jones, OK?
6:31
Because I think this is the part that's kind of hard to explain
6:33
without specifics. And also because I'm talking to
6:35
you and so I'm talking about specific art and you're having
6:38
to kind of visualize this stuff. So the first one is going to be
6:41
the kind of the breakout piece, which was called the accurate on
6:44
the dial instead of our markers. It had two phrases that were
6:48
rotating in a small window and one phrase said remember, right?
6:52
And the other said you will die. And the watch was literally kind
6:55
of this like memento Mori, right?
6:58
It's this Latin for remember, you must die.
7:01
And it's kind of a reminder that our time is finite.
7:04
And as these hands are kind of moving around right there, the
7:06
watch is in effect telling you that you're running out of time
7:10
and it's on your wrist and it's all day and it's everyday.
7:12
And so that watch sold out in days.
7:14
People got it right. And then you take the one, one
7:16
of my personal favorites, which is the it's, it's a watch called
7:19
a perfectly Useless Afternoon. It's a dial kind of a top down
7:23
view of a person who's lounging in a pool and the figure has his
7:26
legs stretched out and his legs stretched out.
7:29
Is this our hand? And then there's a tiny rubber
7:31
duck floating around the dial. And it's a mystery dial so that
7:34
you have these layers of like really thin plastic and they're
7:38
moving around and you can't, you can't see them again, because
7:41
they've done such a good dot job with their dust control that it
7:44
just looks like this duck is floating around this pool.
7:46
And the, the duck is your minute indication.
7:49
That's it. No numerals, nothing like that.
7:51
It's, it's beautiful. And so the lines of the pool,
7:53
they kind of just suggest where the time kind of markers are.
7:56
And it is on purpose kind of this imprecise watch, a watch
7:59
not being about precision. And that's for me again,
8:02
perfect. It's it's a watch that's talking
8:04
about this perfectly useless afternoon where this person is
8:08
just lounging in a pool and a watch about time.
8:11
That isn't about time. That's just that is Mr. Jones
8:14
watch. And so there's another one, the
8:16
hidden city. It's a London street scene.
8:20
There's exotic parrots flying by this dial during kind of this
8:25
this daytime. There's intricate time in there.
8:27
The night is being replaced by a bat, for example, because this
8:31
is it. It's true.
8:32
It's it, you know, when you escape this kind of these pet
8:36
parrots, they actually thrive and, and and multiplied in these
8:40
London parks and you can spot bats at twilight.
8:43
The watch is kind of this love letter to the London ecology and
8:47
that tells you, you know, again, it's telling you time.
8:50
So this is kind of who Mr. Jones is.
8:52
It's every single watch is a little idea.
8:54
It's a little story, sometimes rise, sometimes kind of morbid,
8:58
sometimes joyful, always I think thoughtful.
9:01
They release new designs in a limited run, about 100 pieces or
9:05
so, sometimes more, sometimes less.
9:07
And the ones that sell out kind of get they, they get added to
9:09
this permanent collection. Not, not always, but again,
9:12
they, they're, they kind of run the shop that they want to run.
9:14
And the watches are made and assembled in their own workshop
9:18
in London. They actually print in house.
9:21
So most note actually nearly no micro brands can say that
9:25
they're using Swiss movements at times.
9:27
Sometimes they're using seagulls and for jump hours and those
9:30
kinds of things. Sometimes they're even using
9:31
Salida automatics, whatever fits kind of the idea of the design.
9:35
And so the price point is genuinely I think pretty
9:38
accessible. Most pieces will sit in a couple
9:40
100 bucks and it's not like a flex purchase.
9:42
It's a taste purchase. And the people who get it, they
9:45
get it. The other reason I love Mr.
9:47
Jones and this is something Crispin himself said in
9:50
interviews, and I'll misquote because I mean, I just, I can't
9:53
remember everything in the whole world, but I'll do my best.
9:55
He said something in an interview where he said that
9:58
it's it's, he's explicitly not trying to make another
10:02
Submariner in his view. You know, everybody has a phone
10:05
in their pocket. Everybody knows exactly what
10:07
time it is. So watch doesn't have to be a
10:09
primary time telling tool anymore.
10:12
It can be a piece of art that also happens to tell time.
10:15
And so this is kind of a wildly liberating idea.
10:19
Once you accept it, a whole new dimension of watchmaking opens
10:22
up. Mr. Jones.
10:24
I think the brand itself teaches me how to think that way.
10:28
And if you want to watch that's, you know, we'll stop and make
10:32
someone ask like, whoa, whoa, what is that?
10:34
Mister Jones, I think is the answer to that every single
10:36
time. All right, let's get into
10:38
segment 2. Segment 2 is Studio Underdog the
10:41
man this kind of irreverent Internet savvy meeting the
10:44
energy of just a kind of the mad, mad watch scientists,
10:49
right? Yes.
10:50
Studio Underdog has a zero in Underdog.
10:53
So it's spelled the D and then 0G at the end of it.
10:58
And the story behind that was that Richard Bank BENC is his
11:01
last name trying to come up with this brand name kept hitting
11:05
walls because the good kind of like 5 letter Neilogisms, they
11:09
were taken. And so he landed on studio
11:11
underdog because in his own words, he was one of the the
11:15
main brand kind of swinging at these like Swiss giants.
11:18
And so studio underdog, this idea that they were doing
11:20
something different, but instead of having a an O in and dog, I'm
11:25
he's the zero. And that came from his kind of
11:27
understanding of gaming and username.
11:29
So like when you go and you have a really cool name and it's it's
11:32
already been taken on that server and that game, you can't
11:35
you can't use that name anymore. So what you do is you swap out a
11:38
letter for a number. And so literally that's the
11:40
brand origin. And it's, I think it's perfect
11:41
because it tells you exactly what this brand is about.
11:43
South Studio underdog with A0 instead of an O launched in
11:47
March of 2020. Yeah, that March of 2020.
11:51
I don't want to get into that whole, that whole COVID thing.
11:54
But yeah, so out of Brighton, England bank had been working as
11:59
a product designer. And this is kind of insane, too.
12:01
He was a product designer for Braun, Braun for six years now.
12:04
You know Braun, it's a German design house, and it's famous
12:07
for extremely strict, disciplined Bauhaus design.
12:12
Minimalism to the Max on the planet, right?
12:14
Black dials, white dials. And if they're feeling a little
12:17
frisky, maybe they'll throw in some Gray.
12:20
That's about it. And so that was the sandbox that
12:23
Richard was working in, right? And you think about what he's
12:26
putting out now. And if you haven't, you can
12:27
pause me or you can go look it up later on.
12:29
But look up Studio Underdog watches, and you'll see what I'm
12:31
talking about. You like that dude worked at
12:33
that place. So when COVID hit, he was kind
12:37
of stuck at home with his thoughts.
12:39
And he built a brand that was exactly the opposite of
12:42
everything that he'd been trained to do.
12:44
Watercolor dials, loud color gradients, watches that look and
12:48
I'll I'll say this with love like a kid drew them and I think
12:50
it's beautiful. And so I think this is
12:53
interesting as well. We always talk about in in
12:55
academia, for example, becoming a professor, become a teacher or
12:58
whatever. Sometimes the ones the the
13:00
students that become the best instructors are the ones that
13:03
have had the worst instructors because they go I will do the
13:05
opposite of what I saw that person made me feel this way.
13:08
So I'm going to I'm going to teach a different way.
13:10
I'm going to lecture a different way.
13:11
And so I think it's interesting that I think even though I've
13:15
never met Richard, I think him and I have this connection to
13:18
one another. I think when you go through
13:20
shared trauma, I think that's kind of what that looks like as
13:22
well sometimes. So OK, so here's what I think is
13:25
interesting when we talk about Studio Underdog, I believe it's
13:28
it's brilliant. Underneath the playful exterior
13:31
is a rigorously designed watch the the boho the the kind of the
13:36
the Bauhaus design. I don't think the discipline
13:39
ever left. The proportions are right, the
13:41
hands are right. The text from the dial is laid
13:43
out in a has this kind of obsessive care that you'd find
13:46
from somebody who did spend, you know, over, you know, half a
13:50
decade at Braun. And so the brand signature is
13:52
offset specifically so that it stays visible no matter where
13:56
the chronograph hand is sweeping.
13:58
So again, if you have your chronograph and it gets snapped
14:01
back to 12, that usually cuts your logo, your brand right in
14:05
half, right? But this doesn't do that.
14:06
Instead, he's offset the the branding so that you can
14:09
actually see the name. Now trying the movement in there
14:12
is a Seagull ST19-O1 that's Chinese hand wound column wheel
14:16
chronograph. It was originally developed and
14:18
kind of based on the Venus 175. That's an architecture from like
14:21
the 1940s. It's solid movement.
14:23
They're they're relatively reliable, but you can
14:26
occasionally run into a a Seagull 1963 kind of the the
14:29
same family of those powered ones that you can kind of run
14:32
into the 19 O1 from my experience, has been more
14:34
reliable than 1963. Again, it's a serious vintage
14:37
chronograph that nerds know about and it's a good movement.
14:40
This hand wound again, column wheel.
14:42
You have real horological credibility under what this is a
14:46
silly kind of watermelon dial. So let's talk about the
14:49
watermelon again. Watermelon Mel 0N so pink and
14:53
green gradient dial watermelon seed shaped our markers and it's
14:57
like the whole 9 yards. It came out of the watch
15:00
Internet and then the watch Internet kind of split itself in
15:03
half. And that I think for me, that's
15:05
design wise is exactly where you want to be.
15:07
You want you want people who genuinely hate your designs
15:12
because what ends up happening is you have this divide and then
15:15
you have a group of people who go that is brilliant.
15:17
And so you don't want everyone to, you're not going to design A
15:21
watch that everyone's going to like because essentially what
15:23
you get is this boring watch. And so, yeah, it's split the
15:26
watch Internet in half. The comments were like, this is
15:29
the dumbest watch I've ever seen.
15:31
Why wouldn't you spend money on this?
15:32
And then the other half was like, I need this watch
15:35
immediately. I have to, I'm going to set my
15:37
alarm clock. And when this thing releases, I
15:39
will be credit card in hand, whatever PayPal, let's roll
15:44
right? And you can guess which half one
15:46
the brand released their their their release window.
15:50
And this is documented. It generated nearly 6000 orders
15:55
worth around 3 and a half million pounds in nine hours for
16:02
a watch that didn't exist with their first physical production
16:07
just four years earlier. Now this is insane.
16:11
Now, since then, watermelon, mint chocolate chip,
16:14
strawberries and cream pizza, Yeah, pizza, cherry pie, desert
16:18
sky, and then a goofy panda. They've all released this kind
16:21
of flavor or vibe and express something that was beautifully
16:25
gradient. And it was on top of this kind
16:27
of properly engineered chronograph.
16:28
And so here's here's the detail that I love when Chinese factory
16:31
started producing knockoffs of studio underdog designs.
16:34
Because you know this, right? You go to Aliexpress or whatever
16:37
and they will copy essentially exact copy, you know, to to to
16:42
almost to the point where they're putting the text in the
16:44
same location and stuff. They copied studio underdogs
16:48
designs and they changed the name.
16:50
Obviously they didn't, they didn't say studio on the on the
16:52
dials, but they put their own name on it and didn't sue them.
16:56
He didn't even lawyer up. He instead did something that an
17:01
artist would do right. He created 2 new color ways that
17:04
were inspired by the fakes. So what he did was he turned
17:07
these folks that were counterfeiting into these design
17:10
collaborators and it was genius. And that's where the kind of
17:13
confidence and I think almost the humor and I still think
17:15
about it. It still makes me laugh that
17:17
that defines a brand. The Thesis Bank had and he
17:21
talked about this and I'll again, I'll try to paraphrase
17:23
the best I can. I hope I do it justice.
17:25
If if you let the market Dr. What you make you end up making
17:29
another Submariner homage and he he doesn't want to do that.
17:32
You know, he makes what he thinks is fun and it turns out
17:35
thousands of people agree. The price point sits around
17:38
anywhere between 500 to $1000. It can go up depending on the
17:41
caliber of of movement that you get hand wound again, mechanical
17:46
chronographs with a Bauhaus trained designer attention to
17:50
all of this detail of dial that makes you smile every single
17:53
time you see it. One of the greatest deals, I
17:56
think, in modern watchmaking. And it was one of those watches
17:58
that I think some, you know, Youtubers, for example, let's
18:01
say, you know, this thing is going to burn out, it's going to
18:02
fizzle out, blah. And instead it's like they just
18:05
they keep stepping up to the plate and they keep hitting home
18:08
runs. And it's just it's an
18:09
interesting, it's an interesting case study in this entire space.
18:13
And I'm just, I'm, I'm fascinated that and I think I'm
18:15
blessed to be able to just be able to witness this stuff as
18:17
well and then be able to handle their watches as they're,
18:20
they're awesome. Again, the, the tricky part is
18:23
sometimes catching one, they sell out sometimes now in
18:26
seconds. So you have to be on an e-mail
18:27
list and that kind of stuff. But again, part of those
18:30
releases and part of being quick.
18:31
And that's kind of, I think part of the fun as well as being able
18:34
to be aware of that. Now Richard understood that.
18:36
And So what he did was he, there is moments where say, for
18:39
example, you missed a drop, he will open up a, a purchase
18:42
window and say, hey, we got your e-mail.
18:44
We noticed that you were, had expressed interest, but you, you
18:47
didn't purchase one this time or you missed a window or whatever.
18:50
But if you'd like to order one, we'll build you one custom
18:52
order. And then here's a link to that
18:53
and kind of stuff. And you have, you know, a couple
18:55
of days or whatever to purchase. Segment 3.
18:57
Let's get into Zelos now the brand Zelos.
19:00
ZELOS is actually pronounced Zelos.
19:05
Most people will pronounce it and I pronounce it Zelos and
19:09
that's fine. But the founder, to my
19:11
understanding, he kind of uses the Greek pronunciation again,
19:14
which is Zay loss like pronounced ZAYLOSS is named
19:19
after this Greek deity of zeal and competition and founded in
19:24
2014, I believe, by El Shan Tang.
19:27
And El Shan is ELSHAN. And again, he was a watch
19:32
collector and kind of a trader from like age 15.
19:35
He studied mechanical engineering at, I think it was
19:38
the National University of Singapore.
19:40
And, and somebody will correct me if I get that wrong, but I
19:42
believe he was at National University of Singapore.
19:45
And then he, he decided that trading the same brands and the
19:49
same designs over and over and over was getting boring.
19:52
And so he made his own brand. And here's kind of what makes
19:55
Zealous special. Zealous is more than any brand I
19:59
can think of right now. They're a materials lab.
20:03
Other brands chase kind of vintage homages, other brands
20:06
chase trends. I think Zelos chases materials.
20:11
They're they're, I think structurally the brand kind of
20:15
asked themselves on a regular basis, what if we made a watch
20:19
out of this? And so, you know, bronze cases,
20:21
they kind of developed their own patina over years, you know, and
20:25
Zelos has used bronze that's, and now it's way more in the
20:29
kind of the mainstream of using bronze.
20:30
Zealous was using it a long time ago and you'll see this kind of
20:33
unique wear when you wear bronze, your skin, the, the
20:38
things that you put the bronze in.
20:39
I know I, I have bronze watches and I've worn them and, you
20:42
know, on vacations and trips and by going into chemically treated
20:47
pools at resorts and then going into the ocean and stuff, you'll
20:50
get completely different changing metals, right?
20:52
And so your skins, chemistry and that kind of stuff will change
20:54
the metal over time, obviously, like Damascus steel.
20:57
And you're thinking about Damascus, like when you see like
21:00
a sword or a knife or things like that, right?
21:03
This ancient forging technique where multiple layers of steel,
21:06
they're folded and twisted and folded and twisted and hammered
21:08
and heated and it kind of creates this kind of beautiful
21:12
wood grain pattern. So no two Damascus cases are
21:16
going to look alike and they're kind of literally one-of-a-kind
21:19
objects. And then he's like, well, that's
21:21
cool that you can do that with, you know, steel and folding
21:25
that. But what if we did it with like
21:27
titanium? And so they've got Timascus
21:30
Timascus, right, which is essentially the same concept,
21:34
but made with titanium. So I'm it's a material, to my
21:37
knowledge, Zealous was actually using first in watchmaking and
21:41
it's titanium. It's treated and forged, but in
21:44
this Damascus pattern. And So what you get is this
21:46
beautiful kind of organic swirl of titanium colors.
21:49
Now when you do that with titanium, what you get are these
21:52
iridescent Blues and purples and goals.
21:54
And I don't think it looks like anything else on the the market.
21:58
And then they were like, you know what, let's use forged
21:59
carbon. Let's throw some meteorite dials
22:02
in there, like actual meteorite that they sliced in, put on a
22:04
watch face, Aventurine teak wood.
22:06
And then they used submarine steel, not submariner submarine
22:10
as in like salvage steel from decommissioned submarines.
22:14
And so if it's a strange and I think beautiful material,
22:17
Zealous is probably going to put it on or in a watch.
22:21
And the watches themselves, I have to be clear about this.
22:24
They're legit. They're not like these kind of,
22:26
you know, more toy issue. You can throw them around, you
22:29
can take them diving. They're not gimmicks.
22:31
These are dive watches and some of them are dive watches.
22:34
Other ones are more like daily drivers.
22:37
They'll have real water resistance.
22:38
You can run in and get 300 meters or more on the hammerhead
22:42
or the Mako lines. Some of them are, you know,
22:44
hitting pieces that are getting 1000 meters of water resistance.
22:47
Then the movements are typically Meyota and kind of the entry
22:50
level once. Then you'll get into like some
22:51
Seiko sometimes and then there's Salida.
22:53
Sometimes there's ETA. But then occasionally you'll
22:55
find them. They'll experiment with
22:57
movements as well. They'll go find a leisure parade
22:59
on the high end pieces or they'll find in, they'll find a
23:02
small stockpile of movements that our new old stock and
23:07
they'll take them and tinker with them and then make up
23:09
different watches with those movements.
23:11
And so it's just, it's fascinating.
23:12
Now the, the last part I think people forget is that these
23:16
these watches are well finished. They iterate.
23:19
And so every single time they release these new watches,
23:21
they're they're better than the last generation.
23:24
The bezel action I think are crisp.
23:26
The loom is spectacular. So Zealous is famous for going
23:30
kind of overboard in their loom and it kind of makes watches
23:32
glow in the dark for hours. And I know this first hand
23:35
because we had a, we've had three infants and newborns in
23:40
our house over the last, you know, six years or so.
23:42
And I had a Zealous hammerhead, a Mako and a swordfish at all at
23:47
different times and I never learned my lesson.
23:50
I will wear that watch in the daytime.
23:51
I will put it on my night stand at night and it will literally
23:54
glow and make the room super, super bright.
23:57
And my wife is like, you have to cover that the baby is not
24:00
sleeping. I can't.
24:00
It looks like there's a torch light, just something emanating
24:04
from your night stand. So please flip it over, turn it
24:08
off somehow, whatever, right? It's not like an indie glow or
24:10
Timex where I can push a button. So I'm flipping the watch over.
24:13
I'm putting it in a drawer, whatever, because it's so
24:14
bright. So just just be aware that that
24:16
glow can glow for hours. And if you're a light sleeper,
24:19
maybe it's not on your night stand flagships for the line,
24:22
there's the Hammerhead. It's kind of like a tank like
24:25
cushion case diver. It's basically this watch that
24:28
kind of I think put them on the map.
24:29
There's the Mako. It's Mako.
24:31
It's a thinner, cleaner, I think more wearable diver.
24:35
There's the Swordfish, which is a slightly sportier diver.
24:38
Typically they will have, you know, ceramic bezels, a
24:41
Spearfish. There's an Aurora field.
24:43
They just have a variety of GM TS chronographs, I believe that
24:48
they're experimenting with with turbians.
24:50
Their pricing is part of the part that I think is suspicious.
24:52
You can get a bronze diver with a meteorite dial for like under
24:55
1000 bucks. You can also just get a, a
24:57
really solid watch for like $300.
25:00
And so it's just kind of insane when you start to think about
25:03
what they're doing and then you're like, well, this watch
25:05
has an adjustable clasp. It's beautiful.
25:07
It's works really well. It's finished well, everything
25:10
fits nicely, the watch keeps great time.
25:12
And it was 300 bucks. I'm confused, right?
25:15
How did this happen? And so a lot of times I think
25:18
what what ends up happening is I think El Shine is building the
25:21
watches that I think he wants, which is which is really great.
25:25
OK, so when we talk about this, you know, these bronze divers,
25:27
we talk about Damascus or Damascus pieces, you're looking
25:31
at maybe 12 to 1500 bucks and it's kind of this materials, big
25:37
brand reserved for what I would think would be $10,000 pieces.
25:40
So zealous is putting on these kind of like almost like a
25:43
spectacle. He's going to throw this stuff
25:45
out, maybe you get it for 500 bucks as opposed to 5000.
25:48
So how does he do this? You know, I don't know the inner
25:51
workings of his business, but I would say that direct to
25:53
consumer is going to help. I think limited runs help.
25:56
I think no middleman helps. I think being designed by a
25:59
single person, El Shan, who is by all accounts kind of this
26:02
like obsessive watch person, is just building watches that I
26:05
think he wants to own and then giving us the opportunity to
26:08
have a couple of them. I think the fact that every
26:11
release is limited, so some pieces will sell out in minutes
26:14
is awesome. Other people hate that.
26:16
They hate the idea that something has come up they're
26:19
they had, they don't get a chance to try it on.
26:21
And so they don't like this sort of limited run.
26:23
But I think as a business owner, especially when you're competing
26:25
with so many other brands, I think for me, I think it's a
26:28
smart business model. Now the collectors in this
26:31
space, they've gotten pretty serious.
26:33
There's a real secondary market for these desirable Zelos
26:37
models, Zelos, Zelos, especially the ones that are kind of
26:40
discontinued or in these kind of rare case materials.
26:42
And so they hold value pretty well if you ever want to wear a
26:47
watch, I think that no one else on the planet has and has a
26:50
story that has material that you can talk about.
26:53
I think Zealous is kind of the best play in the entire micro
26:56
brand space. Now fair warning that they are
26:59
an absolute gateway drug to the more exotic side of this hobby.
27:04
OK, now let's bring this thing together segment 43 brands that
27:08
were completely different vibes, right?
27:10
We talked about Mr. Jones conceptual art on the wrist.
27:13
London made who the brand for people who want their watch to
27:16
mean something beyond just time. You got studio underdog.
27:20
It's Bauhaus discipline meets like watercolor joy.
27:23
The the brand that I think people who want their watch to
27:27
kind of make them smile, right? It's the one that when you know
27:30
the the watermelon was in my my watch box and pretty heavy
27:34
rotation. My my kids would pick always
27:36
pick the watch, pick the watermelon watch, pick the
27:38
watermelon watch. They love playing with the
27:39
pushers. They love the idea of the the
27:41
watermelon and then zealous. You get this materials
27:43
experiment at prices that I think shouldn't be possible.
27:47
The brand is really for people who want their watches to be a
27:51
one of one object. So what are all three of these
27:54
watches and these watch brands have in common?
27:57
They have personality and they're fun.
27:59
They are not watches that are trying to look like other
28:01
watches. They, I think these watches have
28:04
a clear, confident, distinct point of view.
28:07
You see one on wrist and you kind of know exactly the kind of
28:12
person that's wearing that watch.
28:13
And I don't like to judge a book by its cover, but if a dude's
28:15
wearing a Mr. Jones, I'm going to go talk to that guy.
28:17
If he's wearing a studio underdog, I want to talk to him.
28:20
If he's wearing zealous, I want to talk.
28:21
Which means it brings me back to my brother's Gucci.
28:25
The watch. That ridiculous black and green
28:29
fashion watch from 2007 was the watch I needed before I knew I
28:35
needed it. Because it taught me, before I
28:37
had the language for it, that the most important thing a watch
28:41
can do is just be itself. A Gucci G Chrono is not
28:46
pretending to be a Patek. A Mr. Jones watch is not
28:49
pretending to be a Rolex. A studio underdog is not
28:51
pretending to be vintage. A zealous is not pretending to
28:54
be Swiss heritage. They are themselves, and that's
28:58
awesome. And the more you wear watches
29:01
that are themselves, the more comfortable you get at being
29:05
yourself. And the whole arc of this hobby,
29:08
the whole arc right there, I think, is that these watches
29:13
help you. Or at least they've helped me.
29:15
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm over generalizing here.
29:18
They've helped me become more comfortable with what I wear on
29:21
my wrist and not caring what other people think.
29:23
My brother gave me that lesson and he gave me that lesson
29:26
before anything else. And I think, I think about him
29:30
every time I look at a watch. And I ask myself, is this Yuri
29:34
Stay or is this someone who told you it was going to be you, this
29:38
would look great on your wrist, blah, blah, blah, right?
29:40
That question, by the way, I think it's going to save you and
29:43
it saved me a lot of money. And in the end, I think you get
29:47
more interesting watches. So I want to leave you with that
29:50
now next episode, which is going to be what's next in section.
29:53
So this is segment 5, which is just the next next episode we're
29:55
going to be talking about vintage.
29:58
I know I've teased it once already and kind of pivoted
30:00
away. I wasn't ready for it yet.
30:02
There's a lot of vintage folks that are going to just
30:04
absolutely skewering skewer me next episode.
30:06
So is what it is, but now we're going to get there after these,
30:10
you know, episodes of independence and contemporary
30:13
watchmaking and just some pure fun, we're going to take a time
30:16
machine back. I think we're going to go and
30:17
talk about vintage and what it actually means.
30:20
And I am no expert in vintage. By all means.
30:23
There are trust me, you could throw a rock in a in a watch
30:26
meet up and you can find 15 people that were more
30:29
experienced and educated. And I'm going to give you some
30:31
examples of where I've screwed up pretty royally in the vintage
30:33
world. But we're going to talk about
30:36
how to buy, or at least how I've bought vintage and how I've lost
30:40
my mind, I've lost my money and how your watch when it shows up
30:43
to your door, you know, full of sand.
30:46
We're going to talk about that. We are going to talk about
30:48
honest patina versus suspicious patina.
30:51
We will talk about Franken watches.
30:53
And I want to talk a little bit about the references of, you
30:56
know, collectors and kind of what they at least what they
30:58
should know, even if they never plan on buying one.
31:02
Now we're also going to talk a little bit about trusted dealers
31:04
and forums and all that kind of stuff.
31:06
And then finally, I think the practical part of the episode
31:08
is, you know, how how do we do all this stuff?
31:11
So that's coming U next. I'm excited that you are up here
31:14
and that you're continuing to listen to me.
31:16
And then finally, just a quick favor.
31:17
If any of these three brands that I talked about today made
31:21
you go, oh, I need to look that up.
31:22
That's the whole point. So go look them up.
31:25
Tell me what you think, find me online.
31:26
Tell me which of these three brands or any of the brands
31:29
spoke to you. I want to hear it.
31:31
If you have fun and you're watch collecting, I think that's kind
31:33
of the whole point. A watch that nobody serious will
31:36
call serious and that's also pretty fun.
31:39
A watch that makes you smile every day that you want to put
31:41
on. A watch that you are in love
31:43
with in spite and because of that.
31:46
So tell me about it. That's the whole conversation I
31:48
want to have. Send me a picture, Send me a
31:50
story. The Gucci shaped hole in my
31:53
collection lives forever. Tell me about yours.
31:55
I'm Wachovsky. Take care of yourselves and wear
31:58
something good. Yeah, my wrist got jokes.
32:13
No lie. Mr. Jones got a guy in the pool
32:16
nearby. Rubber duck drifts.
32:18
This my Monday flex. Big ballroom look, but I'm I buy
32:21
text studio underdog looking like fruit, but they didn't have
32:25
got that green on cook Jello's got stone from the sky up top.
32:29
Meteorite shine when the headlights stop.
32:32
My kids pick the like dad this one.
32:34
I walk in smug like the paperwork one on me but the dog
32:39
goes wild Business face song but my face got styled.
32:42
They ask me if I'm serious. I say dead ass.
32:44
Then I flash that duck like a punch line.
32:47
Pass. I don't do plane.
32:48
I don't do tame. Every watch on my arms is a
32:51
different name. Hands on the glass, let them
32:54
stare. They can't guess what I wear.
32:57
Little ones left and I let them choose.
33:00
A grown man's fit with a kid proof mode.
33:04
Silly watches, Silly watches. My holy state.
33:07
Mischievous silly watches. Silly watches.
33:11
Business soup with the dies. Delirious avocado on dial.
33:17
Look in the pool. Silly watches.
33:20
Silly watches. That watermelon face got me
33:34
grinning hard like I peeled someone and strap my arm.
33:38
Meteor rock. That space on skin.
33:41
Old Earth history. I let it spin.
33:43
I keep it high when the meeting drags.
33:46
Cup check clean, but the flavor brags.
33:48
Kids in the hallway pick the bloom.
33:50
No red. They got more taste in the
33:52
boardroom heads. One day duck, next day stone,
33:56
next day fruit. When I'm on that phone with gold
34:00
all day, I'd rather wear weed in the sharpest way, as if my wrist
34:04
got a little bit of fun. Then the whole damn week feels
34:07
less light work undone. Yeah, I'm the guy with the
34:10
poolside grin and the rock from outer space on my skin.
34:14
Let them laugh, let them point. I built my life on a strange joy
34:18
joint. Little hands choose.
34:20
I don't complain as I keep my growing name.
34:25
Silly watches, Silly watches. My holy state misses.
34:30
Silly watches. Silly watches, Business soup,
34:34
the dials, Delirious avocado on dial dial back in the pool.
34:39
Pool. Silly watches, silly watches.
34:44
And now where I'm cool. Mr. Jones.
34:48
Watermelon stone from the stars. Stars.