A Complete Newbie Does A Watch Podcast¶
Published on Mon, 7 Feb 2022 14:00:00 +0000
Sarah Miller explores the watch world with humor and curiosity.
Synopsis¶
In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, host James Stacy sits down with Sarah Miller, a Hodinkee contributor, and Nick Marino, Hodinkee's SVP of Content, to discuss Sarah's journey as a complete newcomer to the watch world. Sarah, an accomplished generalist writer who has covered everything from climate change to celebrity profiles, was recruited by Nick in early 2021 to document her experience entering the watch collecting hobby from absolute zero. The resulting "Complete Newbie" series has become a beloved franchise on the site, offering a refreshing perspective that strips away the intimidation and pretension often associated with watch collecting.
The conversation explores how Sarah's lack of preconceptions has been her greatest asset, allowing her to approach luxury watch retail, vintage watch hunting, and industry events with genuine curiosity rather than intimidation. Her first assignment—visiting a Rolex boutique—resulted in an unexpectedly positive experience that opened her eyes to the tactile appeal of fine watches. Throughout the discussion, Sarah reveals how her taste has evolved over nearly a year of writing about watches, from initially wanting classic pieces like the Cartier Tank and Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso to discovering she actually prefers more "blingy" and substantial pieces like the Hublot Tutti Frutti she currently wears.
The episode also delves into Sarah's recent story about purchasing an Omega DeVille, which taught her important lessons about personal taste and the gap between aspirational watches and what actually works on her wrist. Nick explains his editorial vision for creating content that serves as an entry point for beginners while remaining engaging for experienced enthusiasts, emphasizing the value of Sarah's personal, humorous voice in demystifying the watch world. The trio discusses the emotional mathematics of watch buying, the pleasure of wanting and longing for pieces, and how Sarah's work has rejuvenated her interest in writing by giving her observations about the world a focused subject. Sarah rates her watch interest as having progressed from a one to a six or seven out of ten, with her enthusiasm continuing to grow rather than diminish.
Links¶
Transcript¶
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| James Stacy | Hey, it's me, James Stacy, and this episode of Hodinki Radio features a really fun chat with the hilarious and talented Sarah Miller, one of Hodinki's excellent contributors, and Nick Marino, Hodinki's SVP of content, aka my boss. Beginning in the spring of 2021, Sarah started a wonderful series for the site all about being new to the watch world, aka a complete newbie. Recently, she penned a lovely story about a personal struggle to find a watch that really, truly, actually worked for her her and wrist. Today we're taking a closer look at what it is to be brand new to watches, watch writing, and a whole lot more. So let's jump into it. Sarah Nick, it's a pleasure to have you on the show and uh Nick you've been on the show uh previously. Sarah, this is your first time and it's also our first time kind of meeting and I'm thrilled. I think this is gonna be super fun. I think that the natural starting point is going to be with like what your background is in writing, because it's fascinating to think that you step into such a niche territory as watches. So uh Sarah, what what do you normally write about? Where where where did you get your start in writing that sort of thing |
| Sarah Miller | ? Well I kind of normally write about everything. I write about I mean I obviously I write about watches, but I write about climate change. I write about politics. I write about my dog. I write about my poor boyfriend a lot. Like I write a lot of just sort of personal personal stuff. I used to write a lot of um celebrity profiles for Lucky. I did that sort of for about two years. Um, and I actually started out working in a gay newspaper in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Gay News. And I think I sort of I think I sort of became a generalist there because we just had to I just did everything. So like I wrote about AIDS. I wrote about like Greg Luganus. I wrote about new stores. I wrote about bars. I wrote I sometimes I'd write a restaurant review. So I I kind of just got used to writing about lots of different things that didn't have anything to do with each other and like being just kind of you got you used to just picking up the phone and kind of not knowing anything about anything. |
| James Stacy | I I I like that. And and now you've become essentially Hodinki's complete newbie, which is the now a branded sort of arc. With the complete newbie thing, Nick, how did you take the idea that maybe we wanted something for the introductory reader that would also appeal to someone on the other side of the the field, if you will, and and then and then develop it from there. How does how how do you do that? Because I I don't think I would have made that connection. When I took over editorial Hodenke a little over a year ago, um I knew I really wanted to reach out to beginners. I had felt that Hodenke was doing an amazing job of reaching existing enthusiasts. And I wanted to keep all of that, but I wanted to supplement it with a couple of new franchises that would serve as an entry point because we all know that this category is growing, and needless to say, we want to our readership grow and we want everybody to be interested in watches. I mean, that that's our our whole mission out here at Hodinky is to make the world of watches better. And so I thought, how can we bring more newcomers into the fold. So I had two ideas. One was to launch a reader QA, which turned into Hey Hodenki, hosted by Jack, now a hit on you on YouTube. And the other was to um identify a beginner, a real beginner, who could start at zero and bring readers along with him or her on their journey as they were getting into watches. Which you know, in a funny way is exactly what Ben did when he started Hodinky as a you know basically a dorm room blog almost 15 years ago. He was an outsider. It was his journey getting into watches. And it just seemed like, you know, at this point we were ready for someone else's journey. So I started looking for smart, funny, curious, general interest writers. And I had read Sarah in the New Yorker and thought she was really terrific. And I really just liked her voice. So I reached out to her cold, just sent her an email as a stranger on the internet and explained kind of what I was after and and said, you know, this is the broad this is the the broad strokes of the job. Are you open to um talking about it? And I I pulled it up before this recording and I I sent that at 9 45 AM Uh and at 9 51 she responded and said yes especially if it's lucrative and I I remember being so charmed by that because humor was really essential for what I wanted this column to be because um watches can be so serious for like kind of no good reason I, think. There's this air of intimidation around them. And I I I just wanted to tear all that down and have a writer who felt friendly and approachable and who could laugh at herself and laugh at the watch world? Just approach it with a sense of joy and wonder. And it turned out that she was game to go to a Rolex store as her first assignment. And we can we can talk about that. The concept was a complete newbie goes to a Rolex store. Here's what happened. Right. And the the fun thing about that, just that simple headline is like, and and as Sarah, as you learned, is that has no context if you just read it, but if you understand the kind of background, is like that world is a little bit fraught. You know, it's difficult to know if they're going to have watches you could buy or what your retail experience would be like. And the thing that I think ends up being interesting, and if you haven't read the story, I implore you to do so, is uh Sarah, you ended up having a pretty nice experience in a retail environment for watches, which isn't something that's normal uh necessarily. Uh there are great stores and there are less than great stores. And in my world, I avoid watch retail as much as possible. Uh, but you had this, you had a much more positive experience than I might have assumed from the impetus to do the story, yeah? Well, I think one of the things that kind of makes |
| Sarah Miller | me suited to this being the watch newbie is for first of all I I I really know nothing about watches. I I think that I wrote Nick back. W theell, six minutes that elapsed was just me calling my boyfriend and saying, Should I write about watches? And he said, Does it pay? And I said, Yes. And he was like, I don't know why you're calling me. So that's all the time that it, you know, took for me to answer the question. And then I think I think the thing that makes me like suited for it and makes me suited to liking it is I really know nothing. And so it's never occurred to me to be intimidated. I am perfectly capable of being intimidated by people, but I just didn't know there was like nothing ever at stake for me. And there still sort of isn't. So like I don't know enough to be intimidated. I mean, the thing that scared me the most about going to a Rolex store was just the idea that I have to pretend that I could actually buy a Rolex. The only thing I was worried about was will I be able to like the first two minutes where I say I'm thinking about buying a Rolex where you just feel like an idiot because yeah, I'm not buying a Rolex at a new at a jewelry store for you know once I got past that I was just sort of coasting because the guy just started, you know, talking about Rolexes and then I tried one on. And I was genuinely, I thought that I would feel nothing when I put on a Rolex. Like I was just sort of hoping in the way that, you know, when you do a job, you're like, I gotta do this job, I gotta do a good job. I sort of hoping to have some material. But then I put the watch on. I I th I tried on like a a ladies date just with the diamonds, like a uh and then I tried on like a men's date. It would be a date just like just a basic men's Rolex. I think it was like $8,000. And then the ladies I tried out was like 23 or something. Sure. I I just could not believe what it felt like to have a Rolex on my wrist. It was just so heavy and like the cold metal. And I just was instantly, I mean, I wouldn't say, and then I just instantly became a watch, you know, freak because it's not really true, and it's still not really true, but I I was like, okay, I can I I was like, this is like a thing, and I can I knew like the moment I put it on, I was like, I could totally get into this. Yeah. And the salesman was really able to either because that's his job or because it was genuine, he was able to really participate in that with me. Like I could tell that he really enjoyed watching somebody try on a Rolex for the first time. And I enjoyed that interaction with him as a watch person. I I I just enjoyed the sort of camaraderie that we had in this moment of me, you know, being really blown away. And he was like intro, you know, I said, I didn't expect this to feel this good. And he was just like, yeah, if uh he's like, there's there's really nothing like it, you know |
| James Stacy | . Yeah. Yeah. It's probably something he's heard a few times. Yeah, that's nice though. It is nice to hear that like you can as a as a quote unquote literally quote unquote complete newbie walk into a Rolex store these days and have like a positive kind of like heartwarming experience. You know, my heart is very cold and and stony when it comes to retail experiences in general and watch retail because there is this sort of like baggage that can come sometimes come with it in that like they want to qualify you as a customer, et cetera, et cetera, and and and and I don't want to do the song and dance. Sometimes I just want to see the watch. James, that's a perfect transition into what I think one of the main points of Sarah's column is, which is like what if it were possible to erase all of that baggage? Right. I love it. Yeah. What if what if it were possible to have a completely blank slate and approach the whole world of watches with a sense of discovery and possibility. That's what I think Sarah's doing. That's what makes it such a pleasure to read. And I some of the feedback I've gotten from people who are way deep in the world of watches is that it allows them to see themselves in a way that they normally can't because they're in too deep. And the nice thing in in in my reading it, and I'm sure that I could be part of the audience that's too deep, Sarah, in reading your work, I found that I was really confronted by your ability to maintain like an almost comedic level of distance, uh, but comfortably, while also essentially leveraging all the curiosity that one could need to experience a new part of the world. Like there's it's a little bit of a Hunter S. Thompson sort of thing, but less of a I distance this because I feel different from it. I think the sec |
| Sarah Miller | ret of my semi-success as a a you know freelance writer in 2022 is I am at once like very critical and like very discerning and like a good writer and I'm funny, but I'm also, there's like a part of me that is incredibly sort of repeatedly naive. Like I just, it takes me a really long time to understand things and also like synthesize information that I even if I get it, if it's like mechanical information, or it just it just takes me a really long time to understand things. And I don't understand anything that anyone explains to me that is about any objects and like the way that they move. Like I'd have to so like I'm probably gonna at some point like take some sort of introductory watch making class or something like that. And and then I'll get it. But like it takes me a really long time to fig |
| James Stacy | ure that stuff out. I don't know. Maybe maybe that's something that causes uh a strife in other aspects of your existence. I think it pays forward really nicely in trying to experience a world that is very self serious, very focused on kind of nebulous concepts like status and prestige and kind of vintage valuations and and all these things that like if you're not part of it, you don't care |
| Sarah Miller | . Yeah. And it's not even that I don't care like in an emotional way. It's just that that information is at this point just so much of the information of it is like static in my head. So and that that will probably end at some point because it will like it will sort of all come together. It was sort of starting to a little |
| James Stacy | bit, but yeah we're we're wrestling with just how long we can keep the complete newbie conceit going at first. We made a couple of decisions right out of the gate. One was that each column would be illustrated, because we knew that that would set these columns apart. And we knew two, we knew that each one would have this a complete newbie blah blah blah headline construction. And so we did that on purpose so that readers would instantly know this was something different. Right. And would when would see it on the site and kind of come back to it knowing that it was we were trying something. And and now, you know, we're approaching the one year mark and a c a couple of commenters have said, you know, she doesn't seem like such a newbie anymore. And I've really enjoyed a lot of these stories, but it they spark a lot of curiosity in me about you, Sarah. And I'm curious to think: like, was this re-like was that email from Nick really your starting point in considering watches as something to write about or or or as something even as part of your life? Yeah |
| Sarah Miller | , no, I'd never thought about them before. Um and I'd never heard of Hodinky. And I actually wrote I I wrote another friend of mine and I was like, what's how dinky? And she said, it's cool. It's a watch magazine. It's cool. And I was like, all right. And she she's in writes about fashion. So no, I didn't know I didn't know anything. I had like a Snoopy watch when I was little, which I actually wish I still had because it was pretty cool. Yeah, it's pretty rad. And then I kind of always wanted a my mom one of my mother's friends had a I ran I wrote about this, had a Cartier tank watch and I I thought that was cool. I actually I mean, if I hope my mom doesn't listen to this but, I do remember though that I I always liked stuff. Sure. My mother had like some nice stuff and then she had like some stuff that I just thought was like okay. And I remember thinking that she has one watch she does have an old pocket watch from the uh it's an old brand from from New York like upstate New York I can't remember what it is it's like it's worth like 300 or something it's it's pretty cool actually so I was like, that thing's cool. And then like she bought watches at, you know, England's or something, which is the department store in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, which is now not there anymore. But and I was just like, ugh, like I, you know, they were just crappy watches. And I I was sort of like, if I if that's what I am have to have, like I'm not having I was like, I want a Cartier Tank watch early. I don't want to watch. And so then I just never had one |
| James Stacy | . And I'm curious, I definitely want to get into your Omega uh Deville story, which is coming out the same time as this podcast loosely, and I I think gets into things like the tank and and your fascination with more specific watches. But if we start at a more general level, do you have like a love of other luxurious things or not so much? Yes, I like shoes, I like jewelry, I like earrings, I I like pearls. So like watches aren't it aren't like out of mind for you. They just maybe weren't something that you had no previously foc |
| Sarah Miller | used on. I wasn't worried about getting into watches because of my that I like stuff and they're really beautiful. And as soon as I started talking to Nick, or I before I even like finished the Rolex story, I'd started looking at watches online all the time, like just Googling and actually this this Omega Deville is one of the first watches that I saw. I just Googled, you know, like vintage watches or something and that came up and I was really taken with it. Um Yeah, what caught your eye about it the first time around? I well, uh you know I like blue dials. Yeah. Is that a thing? Do people do other people like say I like blue dials? For sure. I'm a real white dial guy. Oh, you are? You're good. You're good. Okay. Interesting. Um, yeah, I like blue dials. I mean, I I was born in 1969, and weirdly, like I have a a loosh uh is that how you pronounce the Russian watch? Is it I think so? I'm not sure. I have a loosh which is from 1969, and then this watch is from 1969. So I like that era of design, apparently. But I'm also like a dilettante about everything. Like I I have to look up terms. Like I sort of know, oh, this is from this era or this is from this era, but that's not like at the tip of my tongue kind of thing that kind of facility with like art or design. I have opinions, but they're not sort of tied to specific periods or I can't, I I can't recall that stuff all the time |
| James Stacy | . So we've established that you you've got a story that we just published about your hunt for a watch, uh to call your own, one of your first, and it kind of starts with you eyeballing this uh Deville, this Omega. Uh I'm interested when when you first started, what did you what was kind of your experience in looking at vintage watches? Well, how how did you kind of approach was literally like a Google search for vintage watch? I knew |
| Sarah Miller | that I didn't know what I was doing. Like that I'd have to be careful about buying something. I mean the reason I was able to buy this watch is because it really it was like $750 and I mean that's not an insignificant amount of money to me, but I was like willing to spend that money to own this watch that looked this way, whether or not. And I also was just like no one's counterfeiting a $750 watch or whatever. I don't know. Maybe they are, maybe they're not, but it doesn't matter. I basically just looked at things that I liked and I knew that like I would send pictures to Nick and then I when I met Danny um and Logan and and then uh there was another guy that I met who worked at one of the stores that I went to, um, which I I can't say because they're such freaks about their brand, but he actually was he was really funny. I I started talking to him when I started looking at watches and I would send him stuff and he'd be like, that's really cool, or he'd be like, no, or like I'd send stuff to Nick sometimes and Nick would be like beautiful, or he'd just be like, I don't think so. But I knew that if I was gonna spend over a thousand dollars, I would be having someone like check it out. I mean, is that I I don't know if that's really what you're asking, but I was just kind of like, oh wow, I really like, you know, like I like Rolex bubble backs are really cool looking and sure. I really like uh the Omega. Oh god, the one that they wore on the moon. I can't even remember the name of it. Speedmaster. The Space Watcher. What's it called? The Speedmaster. The Speedmaster. I'm trying to think what else I like. I really like some of the old Russian watches. Uh, I just have a sort of a cheap one, but um and it's to me, it's really just about aesthetics. And then but then recently I've started kind of caring like what's thinking about I I wouldn't say I'm caring. I'm thinking about caring. I'm getting towards caring like what's inside of them. Cause I still don't I theoretically do care, but I don't understand it enough. Like I I went to Ublot the other day in this guy was like oh your watch so I have this Ublotie Fruity right now that I'm I'm wearing and I really really love it so much. Like I I I'm passionately like really love this watch. They said, oh, your watch has a ETA movement, which is fine, but they the new big bangs have the an in-house movement. Yeah, the Unico stuff yeah. Yes. And I was just like, I would I don't know what that means. I mean, I know what it means, but I don't know what that how that plays out with what's actually inside the watch. Yep. But I definitely cared that my watch didn't have the in-house thing. I was like, oh, but I still was like, I still love you but I was still like oh you're you're not as cool as I thought you were you know like I felt a little pang of |
| James Stacy | not good enoughness or something and that and that's how they get you but there's like nothing wrong with the ETA for sure. The movement thing, especially the in-house movement thing, you'll learn as you get through this, is like it's something that became a really big deal in the last 10 years. Uh as like a prestigious way to make your watches more expensive. But in many ways it also makes them more cumbersome because the movement's not necessarily better. Sometimes they're way better, sometimes they're not. But it's a little bit like, you know, if if you buy a car, do you really care what the engine is in it? Some people would at a huge degree and, some couldn't care less as long as it's reliable and I don't have to do a lot of oil changes, etc. Right. What I think is interesting in this story that you've got about this DeVille is that it captures something that I think is like inherent to anyone that likes watches, new or old, to the scene, is that you have to develop your own personal taste. And to do that, you have to take some risks. You have to buy some things or go to stores and try things on and decide what like works. Like watch collecting can be shaped not only by the watches you do buy but by the ones you don't. And and it's kind of like that dumb thing that people say about jazz that it's a like about the some of the notes that aren't being played. If if we were to take a snapshot right now, what what is kind of your taste in in watches? How how and and how do you feel it's developed since say March of last year when you started writing? I'm so glad you asked. I actually us |
| Sarah Miller | ed to so I I I always thought want a Cartier Tank watch. And then I was like, oh, I really want a Reverso. And I I was just like, okay, I'm gonna get an old reverso. It's gonna be expensive for me, but I'm gonna I'm gonna do it and then I got the Ublo Tutti Fruity and now I will I pretty sure well okay I can't say never I'm pretty sure I don't want a reverso or I kind of want a Patek Philippe golden ellipse, like the one with the blue face and the gold. I mean, that thing is just really sweet. There's a really cool one that said the bees has it's like twelve thousand dollars, but I realized that that so like the reverso and the the tank are tank you know are they're just way too preppy for me and I think of myself as being really preppy but then when I put on a really preppy watch. I don't like how it makes me feel about myself. Okay. Um and I I don't know. Like just this watch just really I just like, oh yeah, a pink watch with like pink stones on it. I don't it's it's that is more so I think I like more blingy stuff than I thought that I did. Everyb |
| James Stacy | ody has their own progression. And I think it's wonderful to hear that like you you thought you had some option or some some idea of what you liked and it's changed. Cause I think that's one of the best feelings in this whole game is like understanding when you look at something like how it relates to your one in seven billion, eight billion or whatever tastes. And it is that exclusive. And like, don't get me wrong, there's there are watches like tanks, Reversos, Dej Us, etc., that kind of have like a very broad universal appeal. But there's a reason that brands make tons of watches in different colors with pink rocks. on them, etc on pink rubber straps |
| Sarah Miller | . My Ublow 2D Fruity and I have weathered much disrespect over the last couple weeks from my friends and my boyfriend who think that it's ugly and don't understand. They were like, did you get that at Nordstrom Rack? And I was like, no, I did not get it Nordstrom Rack. Thanks for asking. I'm just I'm just a little bit sensitive because I feel protective of it. I think that the Deville was kind of me not quite understanding that I didn't want something sort of preppy and classic. Like but it took me buying it to realize that. So I do like it and I I'm not gonna give it away. It was also sort of I had to have the watch to know that I don't want a reverso, which is weird because obviously reverso is way nicer than my Omega Deville, but I just know, you know, I don't want to like sign a contract saying I'll never buy a Reverso, but I sort of just know that that's not where I want to go after having gotten it and then wearing this, at least for now. Right. I just I feel like I need something more substantial and just kind of more ridiculous. I th I think I there's something about really like classy watches that I'm kind of like, oh God. Like I I'm a little sort of put off by it at this |
| James Stacy | point. And I think the the interesting thing is you ended up with with both by the end of the story. You've got the Tutie Fruity on wrist and you own this Deville. And I I kind of like the delta between those watches. Like that's the start of a watch collecting. You just got to fill in the blanks between the two. I I the Tutie Fruity, |
| Sarah Miller | I feel like if I have I have my Louche and then I had my Omega and I have a Tutie Frutti, like I'm starting to have a watch collection. Absolutely. I did this story 24 hours in Geneva and um I loved this story. Thank you. It was that was my favorite thing that I' |
| James Stacy | ve done so far. It was really, really fun. One of the things I really like about your the stories you've done for Hodinki is they're nice and long. So there's a lot of detail. You take your time. I interface with your stories differently than I would a five hundred word in introducing post of about a watch or something. It's more of an uh an occasion to sit and read, which I I like quite a bit. Geneva for me, I've had I have very mixed opinions about. Uh you've been to Geneva? So many times. Yeah. You know, I I have some tips if you if you get a chance to go back, couple spots that you should hit. I would love to see a a newbies post about going to the mad gallery. You describe you described it in a way that made me laugh 'cause I live in Toronto as like uh uh d Toronto with makeup. It it's so much smaller and more specific than Toronto in some ways. Um but it it's just a city that that feels the first few times you go to it, at least in my experience, kind of almost inscrutable. Very guarded, very kind of protected. The people are fine, lovely even. But I I'm I'm always interested to hear literally anyone, any non-Swiss person's experience the first time they go to Geneva, because I've never been to a town like it before. It |
| Sarah Miller | is really strange the way that it that it just sort of takes wealth for granted the city, but I didn't it didn't really bother me because I couldn't I was I wasn't there long enough to do anything except for like get my bearings. And so I I kind of was just figuring out like where I I don't know. I feel like that story is just kind of me figure even figuring out like where I am and just reacting to the people that I met and assuming that I wasn't getting it right. Like I was just like I don't know what this place is like because I'm take I have a very specific you know, I'm meeting like eight people and doing like eight things. And so I just didn't try to know whether it was accurate or represented anything. I just was like, well, just tell the story of what happened to me. That hopefully it will like link up into some sort of cohesive narrative about what Geneva's like. But and if I may, I mean that that to me is the pleasure |
| James Stacy | of editing you, of reading you, is a a complete openness to your own experience without any concern of whether it's the quote unquote right experience. Because you know, in my view, there is no such thing as a r as a right experience. And I love that your pieces are so personal and that it's it's it's made clear to the reader from jump that this is going to be one person's take. Your results may vary, it's gonna be funny and light about yourself and everything around you. And that that is just one perspective on this. I think one thing I've been surprised by the deeper I get into watches is this um there almost seems to be this desperation to reach like an objective truth or reality or consensus opinion about this stuff. And like the r the rest of the world doesn't work like that. And and actually watches, in my view, kind of shouldn't either. So to me, the breath of fresh air that Sarah brings is um a point of view that I don't think I've ever read uh in the watch space on other ways of seeing these products, this world, or in the case of Geneva, just even the town where it all is Aaron Powell I think it's one of the sweetest elements of this whole hobby or fascination or whatever you want to call it, but it's this idea that like you have to you have to put yourself out there a little bit to experience it. that's going to a store or or buying the watch online and and waiting for it to show up. But you have to kind of run the gauntlet. You got to take a couple beatings before you find the thing that like really work. And I'm and Nick, I'm sure that, you know, you've been doing this for a little while now. I'm sure you've come across watches where you you thought you saw the picture in an introducing put like something we wrote or whatever, and then saw it in person, you go like, Huh, I don't feel what I expected to feel, right? And sometimes that's kind of painful, and other times it's like kind of illuminating, right? Yeah. There there for sure have been watches that have arrived where I felt that same deflation that um Sarah described. But the inverse is also true. The first time I really got what a GMT master was all about was when I saw the one that Cole owns. And um I'd never really thought twice about it and then kind of instantly got it as soon as I saw one in real life. So it it works both ways for sure. And that's the thing, is like developing your taste is is it's so it becomes this hyper personal thing where you'll you and Sarah, I'm sure you you've come across this because you've written stories about talking with watch collectors, they have these like super narrowed spikes that they hit when they want when when it's it I picked this one because um you know the dial is maybe this color or the text on the dial is like this or it looks this way on a certain strap or it reminds me of my father's watch for these reasons or or whatever. The the other side of it, and and Nick kind of highlighted where I wanted to go there quickly uh with the time that we have left here, is you know, the part that that I think you did a really nice job of capturing is that the cost of the watch has a certain reflection on the way that you do the mental math about buying it or not buying it. And I know that seems obvious, but think of it a little bit deeper. Could you do you think you could unlike it's a nice simple sentence that I really like, but could you unwrap what you were thinking there a little bit? Well I kind of got that |
| Sarah Miller | from the I think the taxi driver. I don't know if this made it into the story or not. I think it did the Geneva this Geneva story. The taxi driver said he's like I really want a tag hoyer, but I'm just not he's like, I'm not getting one of those. And I was just like well if you really want one you know and he's just like well I can't because like I really want a Patek fully golden ellipse but I just I don't think I can probably can't get one and so I just really don't want to accept that, but you you just have to accept that. So the perfect watch for you is and the taxi driver seemed very like clear that that that there was a limit to like what he could get, which as I you know, as I should be as well, but I just don't want to face these things. But it's very true that the perfect watch for you is is it's not just the thing that you want, it's like, what can you do? You're just in like complete fantasy land, which is you know, which is fine, but you kind of have to accept the meeting the you know the XY axis of those two things. Yeah. I d I I don |
| James Stacy | 't know about you, Sarah or or James for that matter, but I kind of like the wanting, the longing, the Yeah. That that's part to me, that's part of the part of the I've always been surprised by colleagues or otherwise that on a whim, on a trip, a business trip or whatever, walk into a store or duty free or whatever and buy something that's like not of an in ev to them, not of an inconsequential cost. Like if if I buy anything, watches for sure, but like speakers, a car, whatever, tools, I like I spend a lot of time like reading about it. I enjoy that part of it. It's it that that's how I think that's my that's how my nerdiness is like at its deepest. I don't want to I don't like the only things I want to buy quickly would be like fast food. Otherwise I want to know everything about it. I want to know why the one I'm buying is better for me than something else. Or if something else is better, there's a reason. It's because I can't afford it or whatever. It is this interesting sort of like emotional math that you have to essentially start to calibrate to certain price points. Uh and and it leads to hopefully better and better watch buying decisions. Maybe your next watch after the Deville will be a little bit more legible, a little bit less preppy, et cetera, because of what you learned from the De |
| Sarah Miller | ville. Right. I don't know if there is anything like a good watch buying decision because it's not like in the realm of like fair for such a fair decisions. It's just that's sort of what I like about it. Shut the podcast not a good it's like never it's like never a good idea to buy a watch, but it's also like never a bad idea to |
| James Stacy | buy a watch. Yeah. It's just the the one of the most emotional purchases out there. Like sports cars are way up there. They don't do anything that we need. Watches don't do anything that we need these days, right? Sarah in, closing, I would love to know like uh how is making this series so far nearly a year in, ten months in, how is it kind of changed your outlook on watches, the world of watches, maybe even the idea of like watch writing or other pe the way other people approach watch writing? |
| Sarah Miller | I mean I didn't have any ideas about watches or ro watch writing until I started doing it. So I can't really say, but I can say that it really rejuvenated my interest in writing. Um I was like, I mean, and sort of writing about something. Like I I I like writing a little, I write a lot of personal stuff and I I I enjoyed that. But I was kind of it's nice to have a subject that I can kind of take my observations in general about the world and and have them fo |
| James Stacy | cus on something. Sure. If you started at zero, do you feel you're like a a three out of ten in watch interest now or like a seven out of ten? Like is is this an improving factor? Or you're having trouble seeing where the where the stories go for the rest of however long you do this for Hodinky |
| Sarah Miller | ? Um well I started at like one and now I'd say I'm at like seven or eight. And um I don't I don't know. Maybe it's six. I don't I don't know. I don't know what uh where other people put themselves because sure I've only been doing this for a little while, but I I really like writing about them. Like I just get more and more interested rather than less and less. It's like a really |
| James Stacy | good job because it doesn't feel like one. Well, hey, you can't ask for much more than that. And you know, I don't want to ask for a whole lot more of your time. Sarah, it's been so nice to get to know you a little better and to have both you and Nick on the show. I've really enjoyed these series and you know thanks so much for chatting with me. For those listening, you can follow Sarah's work on Hodinky, her Twitter at Sarah Loves Cali, and don't forget that she has a substack called The Real Sarah Miller, and she also does a pair of her own podcasts, one about movies she doesn't watch and one called specific interviews. I'll put all of it in the show notes for you. If you're enjoying the show, you know what I always ask for, so please tell a friend, or send one of your best buddies a link to your favorite Sarah Miller story. If you have any suggestions for us, including what you think Sarah should do on her path through the watch world, let us know in the comments. Otherwise, thanks so much for listening, and we'll check |