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Matt Jacobson (Executive, Facebook)

Published on Mon, 26 Nov 2018 11:00:00 +0000

The Talking Watches alum returns for a conversation about tropical dials, how Instagram has changed collecting, and the one modern watch he actually owns.

Synopsis

This episode features an engaging conversation with Matt Jacobson, an early Facebook employee who has built a fascinating collection of watches, cars, and mid-century modern architecture. Matt shares his philosophy of the 'one in, one out' rule, maintaining a strict limit of twelve watches stored in Pelican cases, ensuring he only keeps pieces he truly wears and appreciates. His collecting approach emphasizes quality over quantity, focusing on tool watches with tropical dials and maintaining unrestored, original examples whether in watches, cars, or architecture. Matt discusses his journey from the entertainment industry to Facebook, where he currently serves as head of market development, working on Instagram integration and company culture. Throughout the conversation, he emphasizes the importance of being a steward rather than a hoarder, and how collecting should be about building communities and enjoying objects rather than letting them become a burden.

The discussion reveals Matt's diverse passions, from his deep knowledge of air-cooled Porsches to his appreciation for fountain pens and Japanese craftsmanship. He shares compelling stories about acquiring significant pieces, including a 1961 Porsche 356B that belonged to his first-grade teacher's husband, which he pursued for fifty years before finally purchasing. Matt reflects on the tribal nature of collecting communities, whether they gather around watches, cars, or other interests, and how platforms like Instagram have enabled these groups to connect and share their passions. The episode concludes with cultural recommendations and insights into how Matt's philosophy of appreciation without possession has shaped his approach to both collecting and life, emphasizing the joy of being the 'best part of another person's day' and maintaining genuine enthusiasm for the things that matter.

Transcript

Speaker
Unknown Some watch collectors are consumed by a singular, focused fanaticism, pouring all of their energy into pursuing the very best time pieces they can. But Matt Jacobson, in contrast, is a man with many diverse passions, each of which seems to get the same thoughtful, studied attention, whether it's Rolex watches with tropical dials, air-cooled Porsches, handcrafted surfboards, or mid-century houses. Then Matt was also one of the first dozen employees at Facebook and continues to lead the company's products into new markets, including Instagram, only makes him all the more interesting. Since we first shot an episode of Talking Watches with Matt back in late 2014, I've been lucky enough to get to know him a bit, and one of my favorite things about him is his generosity. Matt doesn't collect because he likes hoarding objects. He collects because he likes being a part of communities of like-minded people. You can hear the excitement in his voice when he passes a new watch across a table, and if there's a meetup or a chance to bond over something, you know he'll be there ready to talk to everyone. On a recent trip to New York City, I got a chance to sit down with Matt and Hodinki's senior writer James Stacy to talk about obscure hobbies, new versus vintage watches, and how platforms like Instagram are changinging collect for the better. I'm your host Stephen Pulverant and this is Hodinky Radio. This week's episode is brought to you by Tag Hoyer. Stay tuned later in the episode to learn more about a new Hoyer Octavia. You can also visit Taghoyer.com to learn more
Unknown . Thanks very much for uh being here, Matt. It's good to see you. Thanks for having me. I'm glad it worked out. It's beautiful day, fall day in New York. Yeah, no complaints. Still summer
Unknown in LA, so how about in Vancouver, James? Uh I you know, I think it's a lot like here, but then I I think it was raining when I left. So happy to be in uh New
Unknown York Falls. Classic classic Vancouver. Yeah, yeah. Matt, I thought I mean I think some of our listeners probably know you uh from your you know menswear uh writing and from being on Hodinki before. Uh but maybe you can give us a little bit of background. Can you tell us kind of your your story
Unknown ? Yeah, I mean I'm a native Southern Californian, a third generation Southern Californian. Um grew up on the beach, I'm a surfer. Um I've had a really great kind of long career, as most people my age have had. And you know, it's been kind of a jungle gym mostly in the entertainment industry, uh, a little bit in the surf industry, slash entertainment industry, and then been at Facebook for the last, you know, 13 and a half ye
Unknown ars. And how was that segue from kind of the the entertainment industry and the surf industries into a place like Facebook? You know, I I started I
Unknown I started my career in the studio business. I worked for Walt Disney. I knew I wanted to get in the um the media side, the TV side of of entertainment. And I got out of school and worked in advertising, specifically kind of understanding the ad sales media side of business. I went from there at a Walt Disney company on the TV side. And um from there to Fox and News Corp and stayed there for a very long time, 13 years or so, almost yeah, 14 years I guess. Then went and started producing some television around surf skate and snowboarding and ended up starting the entertainment division at Quicksilver. So from there to kind of a serendipitous meeting through a friend to Mark Zuckerberg and that's how it all happened. It's all history from there. Yeah. And somewhere along the way you became a watch collector? Yeah, you know, my a really good college roommate of mine foll I always like watches. My dad was a watch guy and like was one of those like like great had like two watches like his like in my entire life, you know, with him and like it was became like really associated with him, I always kind of aspire to that, but like I'm not gonna get there. Um and always loved watches. Watches and cars were kind of our thing together, him he and I and surfing. And my college roommate was father was a Rolex dealer. And we started buying vintage Rolex sport watches when we were in school. And like you could buy a sub, you buy fifty five thirte suben which I still have for two hundred fifty bucks in the time. I'm old. But no that's what they were and so we were buying and selling watches then. And back then they weren't like vintage watches. They were just like old watches. Yeah, but they were you know listen there was something great 'cause they were they were tools and they were heavy and they felt great and I think I I've said this before that you know, especially in in Southern California or even you know, kind of any beach town, you see a guy wearing a sub, like you kind of know he's a surfer, you know, and that became kind of the watch for a surfer to have, and so it was a great thing.
Unknown That's fascinating that that's part of the the uniform that kind of informed like because you know being a dive watch you'd expect there's obviously some diving in those areas and that sort of thing but that it's connected in some of the water it's the waterman's watch, right?
Unknown And so it's funny because I have you know a couple of friends, guys one one specifically is a big a big agent, Hollywood agent, and you know, great suit and tie guy, always looks awesome, always wears a sub. And so like that's like his like little wink to like that he's a surfer first. Like a little bit of a to
Unknown ken to that to that side of it for sure. That's awesome. Yeah, and you you said that your father had two watches. Do you remember what those two watches are?
Unknown Yeah he had a he had a really, really early like a the Brightling Nava timer, like whatever that early version of it was that had the twenty four hour like it was impossible to tell the time. Yeah right? Oh yeah, it was a single revolution. Yeah yeah. Right. So he had that and then he had a this great which I have now is a gold longine just a you know, neat kind of man's dress watch. Very cool. I got him a brightling. I got him a brightling um I don't know which one it was, but it's the it was a titanium case and it had that little tiny UTC watch on the band. Oh yeah, I have no idea what that's called It was like the smallest, you know, mechanical It was like the smallest like little watch you could buy, you know, and it was mounted on the band like for another time zone. I thought it was cool. So you wore that too, like on a later in life.
Unknown So And you also said you aspire to that kind of like just two watches, but you don't think you'll get there. You you do have a a kind of, you know, artificial restraint on your collection, right? Yeah,
Unknown no, I I I'm I listen, and this is like I I'm picking up a watch from you. We'll talk about it later. I picking up a watch from that I bought from you guys today completely unplanned, which kind of puts me in a pickle because now I have to get rid of something. So 'cause I have a very strict rule about one in, one out on pretty much everything. So whether it's a T shirt or a pair of shoes or a car or bicycle or a watch surfboard. Like the I have a very limited thing. And so I store you guys have these beautiful cases. I store my watches in these little pelican cases with foam inserts for watches. And they have um six slots in each. I have two of those. So I have room for twelve watches and that's it. And the thing that's great about that is, you know, listen, twelve watches for um a civilian, you know, is like is is is too many watches. But for a collector, like it's I'm like not even in the game. But for me, it's about having really good examples or either watches that really matter to me that I care about, or watches that are like the best examples of what they are. And by limiting the number of watches I buy I stay I'm able to kind of get the best versions of those. So instead of just having a lot, I try to go for the
Unknown best versions of the ones I can get. Yeah I had read you quoted saying something similar about Japanese denim. Like you could have one really great pair of jeans or a bunch that are just kind of okay and you'd rather focus on having the one that you you gen genuinely appreciate. And
Unknown that's a very Japanese way of kind of buying and collecting. It's like you know you don't really you don't need a lot of stuff, right? And I've been I've been really good about purging a lot of stuff out of my out of my life that you know uh unnecessary. I don't want watches I don't wear, I don't want cars I can't drive, I don't want s I I don't I don't want a museum. Right. Right. And so I really just want stuff I can I can use. And so like denim's a really good example. I have like one really great pair of vintage 501, you know, double X's, you know, from you know that moment in time at the right size, you don't really need anything else. Right
Unknown . Have you always been that way or did that that attitude come out of some kind of experience? Aaron Powell No
Unknown , I was never a hoarder, but like I would I would I could see this kind of creeping of like too much stuff. Yeah I, was getting there, right? It would have been it would have been bad. And my wife is like fantastic because she's like a one she really got me down this one in, one out path in a really meaningful way. And it's just so great. It's I feel like it's so um it like really just kind of makes you free of like the stuff. I wanna own the stuff and enjoy it. I don't want it to kind of own me. And I see that a lot
Unknown . Do you do you think when you see other collectors thinking that way, do you do you kinda like, you know, not sit them down, but do you kinda have that conversation and be like, Hey man, like maybe here's a different way of doing things or do you think it's just a very personal thing for you?
Unknown No, I listen, I think it's just a better I you know, it to me it's just so great to not have things that you're not using. Like I just you know I don't want that stuff. And you know one of my great things I'll say to people is like okay it's six months from now and you own this thing. Like, now what? You know, I have a friend who's a a car collector and he's just like and he's I I'm I'm an unbelievable enabler too. If you want to buy something, I'm like, you absolutely should get that. Like I can spend other people's money like nobody's business. And he's good company. And he's he's like that's kind of what Hodinki is, right? And he like is a great car collector and has some incredible cars, but he's like he's got like he's like insatiable. And I'll say to him, okay, he's he'll send me a note like some ama I say that is unbelievable, it's a fantastic thing. It's six months from now you own it. You can't really drive it. It's sitting there decaying, right? 'Cause cars are like in this constant state of like decay. Especially water cooled cars. So I I you know I c you know pretty much focused on air cooled Porsche and and Volkswagens. And so there's something about air cooled cars because they don't have a water pump, they're kind of decaying less. So I'll say to him, you know, like are you sure like it you know, six months from now, you own it. We can't drive it, because we're big and we partner on cars too. Okay. So this is like the this is where you can get kind of all the fun and like half the guilt if you partner with somebody on a car. And so I said, you know, I don't really want to partner with you on that, you know, 'cause I know I'm not gonna drive that nine twenty-eight S four. Right. So great car, so cool, like I don't need to own it. You know? I can appreciate it without ow
Unknown ning it. Yeah, that that's an interesting concept, right? That like kind of is is foreign to I think some people consider themselves collectors, which is the idea that you can appreciate something and enjoy it and experience it without also owning it, right?
Unknown Right. You know, and as I've I've s when I sell stuff, I like I don't look back. You know, I think I I I told you when you guys were in LA I had a uh you know uh uh eighteen carat Paul Newman, you know, beautiful black dial, just insane watch. I owned it for a long time. I paid, you know, very little money for it at the time because they weren't worth a lot of money. And you know, I was so like, you know what? I've not, I don't think about it, I don't miss it. Because it was getting to to be that kind of a watch that you couldn't wear. You know, I'll tell you a funny story with that watch. I when I owned it, um, I was wearing it one day and I looked down in one of the pushers was missing. That's like a nightmare. Yeah. And so I went like bananas. I think James just started sweating. Yeah, I'm very uncomfortable. I went bananas. I tore up, like I was at a restaurant, I was in the parking lot. I was on on my hands and knees in the restaurant. I was looking in the parking lot. I like took the seats out of my car. I looked everywhere for that pusher. Couldn't find it. Then I was gonna find then I had I had um a stainless steel version. I was gonna take the pusher off, I was gonna have it uh 3D printed, you know, in gold and like machined, you know, I went through this whole thing. Then I said, you know what, fuck it, I'm gonna put the watch away. I'm not even gonna think about it. You know, I've owned this watch probably for ten years already. Right. I've probably worn it five times. Right? So like this is just bringing me nothing but like I'm thinking I'm wasting too much time and too many calories on figuring out this pusher. So six months later, the plumber was at my house and he was like doing something and like we know we're like pretty meticulous. It wasn't like there's like a lot of stuff laying around. And he found the goddamn pusher. You know, like under the sink. You know, just there. He goes, do you want this? And it was couldn't believe it. So it was fantastic. So then I the pusher was so then it reunited with the watch. And I said, okay, now like, because I realized like that was like the th my 3D printing scheme wasn't gonna really work, and no one had an 18-karat gold pusher for it. So I'm like, okay, now it's like this is like a good, like this is a good message. Like this is time for this piece
Unknown to to move on. And it kind of highlights the whole idea that there are scenarios if you're not in control of you know, whether you pick a number of like 12 watches or whatever, but there's scenarios where what you buy and the things you own end up owning you and not making you happy and
Unknown wearing that watch one day and a guy said he goes like good for you for wearing that watch. And I thought to myself, well that's weird. Like, yeah, why wouldn't wear it? And I realized, Oh my god, there's people who don't wear this stuff
Unknown . Yeah. If you're stressed out about a watch, that's probably a bad sign. That's probably a sign that you should be doing it like a little bit a little bit differently. These things, I mean, this
Unknown a whole I was thinking about coming to talk to you today, and it's all about it being fun. If it isn't fun and you don't enjoy it, we don't need any of this stuff. No. Right? But it's fun. And people are super tribal, and I think that's what's cool if you connect with people over whether it's air cooled Porsches or watches or you know what kind of surfboard you ride or whatever it is. You know, people kind of pick their tribes and I love that 'cause I love I mean I l I I love going to any kind of event where there's like tribes there. Like there's big fountain pen show in LA every year in Manhattan Beach and it's like President's Day weekend and I always go because like the Penn tribe is bananas. Like they're just they're they're nutty. They're they're as they're probably nuttier than watch people. Because talk about really not needing this. Like you do not need a fountain pen. Right? And but you know it was like I was really stoked this year because there were tons of kids there. Like there's people like they were teaching cursive writing again. And it didn't even dawn on me that kids don't learn cursive writing anymore. And I thought, well, that's cool. I never thought about that. Yeah, that's really cool. And I I'm really angry at myself because I I find it very difficult to compose by hand now. And I used to be really good at composing my thoughts, written thoughts by hand, and it's very hard for me to do now, and so I have to really make myself do it. So like the fountain pen is a
Unknown really good meditation for me. It's funny that you mentioned that I find like I was writing a thank you note the other day with with a fountain pen for whatever reason and uh and like there is like a mental block when you're so used to typing where I literally felt like everything was in the way of just what I just saying like it was like three sentences that I was gonna write on a tiny little card. No, and I think it's
Unknown but it's really important. Like I think it's just a good muscle to reflex, yeah. Yeah, to have right because you know and I'm super specific. Like I there's a there's a Aurora blue ink is like my ink. It's like a really dark like indigo blue ink and I use it in a sailor fountain pen that has this really great nib that you can kind of adjust in terms of how you hold it to get kind of a broader or finer. I saw I'm I'm I'm so deep on deep. My my
Unknown now wife bought me a fountain pen for our first Honakun Christmas together back when we were in college. Uh and I remember like going out and finding the right color ink. Like I w at the time I was using the Mont Blanc, uh the blue black ink. It was kinda like it's amazing. And I still have that pen, you know, ten years later and still use it and love it and there is something about that ritual that is is fun.
Unknown Yeah I have a I have a fountain pen. It's not anything really spectacular, but you know when I was in the television business I made a big deal on a TV show in Detroit and I went with my then boss at the time to a like it was like this is a this is like Jurassic period, you know, and we went to this like cigar shop thing in Detroit where the yeah, there'd be like these old smoke shops. There's one in in Harvard Square you know on Mass Avenue that like is a old like old school smoke shop they sell like fountain pens and canes and like you know all kinds of like men's stuff yeah and we went to a store like that and he bought me that fountain pen for making that big deal I still have
Unknown That's awesome. Fantastic. And w how do you land on like if it's with watches, it's twelve, how many t-shirts, like is it all thought about in terms of a number or just you have a comfort zone and if you're replacing one one goes. Yeah I just I I more it's
Unknown more I have the things I like and the filter is it's gotta be better if I find something it's gotta be better than something I have. So it's real that's a really good way to not like get too much stuff. When you know you have to get rid of something. You know, I said I really like so when someone gives me like go to an event and like someone gives you like a t shirt, it's like someone giving me a puppy. I like I you know, I'll take it. You know, you have to put it up for adoption. And like I don't really want it because I don't want to be wasteful, but like I don't insult them. And so I'm like it's kind of a pickle. So
Unknown going back to your your watch collection for a second, so it's 12 watches. And you shared some of them with us, I guess, it would have been what, like four years ago now? For for talking watches. And uh obviously your collection has changed a little bit over the years. So people may know some some old pieces, some you still have, some you don't. Another watch on your wrist is new if can you can you tell us about that piece and then maybe some other pieces that have have come in and maybe what's gone out. Ye
Unknown ah, what was cool when when I met with you guys in in LA when Ben came to my house, there was a uh double red sea a patent pending double red seed dweller with a beautiful chocolate uh tropical dial. And then I just became really over the probably in the last four years became I said, you know what, tropical dial is like something that would be like a good way if I'm gonna get rid of something, if I can find a watch with where I know the provenance and it's in good condition and it's a tropical dial, that's worth an upgrade. So I got you know, probably the things I've gotten rid of have been traded up into tropical versions of of those watches. So and the watch you're wearing has a tropical dot. Yeah, so this is a beautiful um 6240 uh Daytona with this incredible like it looks like milk chocolate the subdials are a kind of a milk chocolate and I saw it was just like so beautiful. Yeah. And it was a funny story because a colleague of mine, I had a an old sub, like um and it was great, but it like the dial was crazy. It was like you know, it was this beautiful patina, it looked it looked just insane. And I really liked it. And he's like, I gotta have that watch, I really want that watch. And he's not like a guy who's like just like manic. I've known collectors of other stuff who are like, I've got to have every example of that thing, like, and I don't really even care about the thing. It's just like I'm I'm filling up this like chart, which I have no patience for. So I don't I don't want to enable that. And so I said, No, I want that watch. It's from the year of my girlfriend's mother's birth, which I thought, okay, you know, okay. Right. And he goes, I really, I really want it I said's not for sale. I said, but I just saw this watch, uh, the six two four zero. I said, I'll trade you. If you get that watch, I'll just swap it. So that's what we did. That's an easy it's kinda like a one in one out between two people. I would really like this. I didn't really need that in another sub and so
Unknown yeah. Any other notable additions or subtractions? Any watches that were like kinda hard to get rid of?
Unknown Um I sold my 6239 Paul Newman, which was I which I bought off someone's wrist uh you know before and I was I paid $11,000 for it. And it wasn't like I stole it. Like that was all the money. I was in the line at a bank. And I said, Well that's a great watch. Do you would you ever want to sell it? He goes, I'll sell it. And we're at the bank. You know, so I I got cash and as I'm giving the cash he goes, Oh I got like the box for it. Do you want that? I'm like, yeah. So we went to the course. We went to his house and we got the box. And and so during the whole kind of you know, Paul Newman hysteria, I thought, well, this would be a good time if I if the time to sell it like now's the time. Yeah for sure. And then I and and what I before I sold though I found a really incredible uh six two six two Paul Newman. Okay. I thought six two six twos are cool. Yeah. Right? I think they're really just kind of interesting story and rare. And I thought, you know what? I don't like that'd be a good one to have. So I traded for I I traded that. So that was probably hard to get because it was like the whole story, you know. And I remember I was in I was in Sydney, Australia, getting out of a cab and a guy came out of a restaurant and saw the watch on my wrist through the window of the restaurant to ask me about the watch. And this is before you guys existed. This is before the internet existed. He was real deep. And he was just like deep. And I thought, well that's like that that watch had some history. But no, like
Unknown this is just stuff, right? So I mean part of part of this whole philosophy requires saying no to a lot of things, right so do you do you find that you end up finding that liberating in the end that you can just say no and walk away or do you find that sometimes there's something really great and you just have to say no? Like what what is what do you think the power is of saying no to
Unknown things? I think the power of saying no in everything is probably one of the best lessons in business that I've learned. Like I you know, I was one of those guys like early in my career, like you know what, like I'm gonna I'm gonna will this to happen, I'm gonna like make this happen. And I've very much now, probably in the last twenty, twenty-five years, like if it doesn't feel right, I'm like out immediately. Because I know like if you can force it to happen, you're g haveonna so much heartache after. So like saying no to me for me is really easy. Like there's nothing I I don't you know, I was I was thinking about it, Ben asked me when we did the talking watches, you know, um, you know, like you know, like is it hard to you know get rid of this stuff or hard to acquire this stuff? I mean it's like, you know, if this stuff comes and goes, great. I'm not there's nothing I'm really looking for. There is not like if I could only find that thing, like I don't have that. I'm like super happy. Like 12 watts is too many, right? And so I get I think if I got rid of six of them, like they would be hard to probably pick the six. But you know what? Like the earth would continue to spin. It would make my life simpler. You know, kind of thing. What would be the last watch to go? Uh the 2520, the white gold
Unknown twenty five twenty six. Yeah that's a pretty good call. That's a yeah, that that's not going to be a I think I've said on the record multiple times, like basically every time this question comes up that like that might be the best watch of all time. Yeah in my opinion. That's a non-nego
Unknown tiable watch. Yeah, it's just so cool. Yeah, it's so cool. And it was like the first really great um paddock that I first really great watch I got. Yeah. I mean like finding that date that Paul Newman like this guy was wearing was cool. Right. You know, but that was like, okay, that was like, okay, this is like not like what they're worth now, but it was like, you know, you know, m mid five figures, right? And so at the time that was a big deal. And I guess they're probably m low to mid six figures now. Yeah. And they're just cool. And so yeah, and it's just and it's such inside baseball 'cause no one really knows what it is. Total inside baseball. The piece that the the you guys wrote about it, you know, that young you and Ben worked on it right that was that
Unknown was like fantastic. I really, really wish we'd waited till after I scraped together the money to buy one before we wrote that, but uh I may have shot myself in the foot there. I just
Unknown saw the third one I've ever seen. So I have one, Ben has one. Right. And then Bobby Marin has one. Right. So but that's the only that's the third one I've ever seen. Right. Goodness. I've seen them with with uh diamond markers. Yeah, you see them with diamond markers from time to time. Yeah, but not like that
Unknown 's not for me. No. That w that wouldn't I wouldn't sell that watch. But there's a really nice yellow gold one coming up for sale at Phillips soon. And it's one that's changed hands before. It's it's been out there a couple tim ofes but it's it's a really cle
Unknown an, nice example. Yeah and for anyone listening that like doesn't know the reference we're talking about, it's worth it your time to pull your phone out and Google it or if you're at your desk like open up another tab and take a look because it's we'll put it in the show notes. For sure.
Unknown This watch it's it's the automatic waterproof Patek Philippe. It has an enamel dial and there were very few made in in white gold without diamond markers. So from a distance it looks almost like a steel watch, but uh it is it's really over the top. It's really something something next level. Yeah, it's cool. And the story of this wat
Unknown ch was a guy who bought this watch in South America, wore it bought it new, wore it every day. Um you know, not like it's one of those things like you like talk about like not babying it. Like this guy wore it every day. You know, he wasn't like a you know a longshoreman, but like he wore it, whatever he was doing, he wore it every day. And then when he passed away, his family pawned it. And then a guy that I got it from bought it out of pawn. Wonderful. Yeah, so it was like, okay, so that was pretty cool. Because it didn't go through the hands of a of a dealer. Which I listen, I going through the hands of the dealer sounds like it's going through the hands of like somebody who's like a you know a
Unknown chop shop. Yeah. But it's it's different. It's it's nice when the watch is either from the original owner or it's fresh to market. Like it's not one of those watches that you know six other people who have owned it, it's it's genuinely new. It's it's a new discovery. Yeah,
Unknown I know I've never bought anything or sold anything at auction. So like I don't think I own anything that I know anybody else owned it. You know, so some other people must have owned them but, like I don't it's not like oh I've seen that watch before kind of th
Unknown ing. And now a message from this week's sponsor
Unknown . Hello, I'm Hodinky editor in chief Jack Forster. There's a deep and enduring link between the world of motorsports and the world of fine watchmaking. Perhaps no company embodies that relationship more than Tag Hoyer, and perhaps no single watch more than the Hoyer Octavia, which was worn by such legendary drivers as Joe Siffert and Jochen Ridd. Today, Taghoyer is announcing the release of a new Otavia that takes design cues from the famous reference 1163 from 1972, which was one of the very first self-winding chronographs ever made. This new Ottavia brings the distinctive red dial accents of the original right into the present day. Get in early, and you'll also get a copy of the book Inside Track, a memoir by none other than Phil Hill, the only American driver ever to win the Formula One Drivers World Championship. You can find out more at taghoyer.com and hey, let's get back to the show
Unknown . James and I have talked before in terms of collecting about the value of like following your gut, and I think you're definitely one of those people who who kind of exemplifies that. Like you have your own taste, and it it translates, you know, between watches and cars and architecture and design and fashion. And it's really your your taste is kind of built, I think, around you having your own kind of like innate sense of of what's good. How how have you kind of honed that sense and how how would you even describe your own kind of sense of taste? Like I you know I'm I'm you know I'm not like
Unknown I things that feel fashiony to me I don't like right so the whole concept of tool watch really appeals to me. Right? That these things were purpose built. They were useful you know, they were the best whether it's a I've got a a um a Tiffany Milgauss, black dialed Tiffany Milgauss, which is pretty cool. You know, I like that that watch was built for a purpose, right? I think the subs are great. I think that my um double ridge sea dweller or you know you know any of those kind of tool watches I think are just are just awesome. I've got a mill sub, you know, which I know the whole story with the guy who owned it, which I think is great. And then around cars and I I I really focus on unrestored original examples. Um I think that's really important to me. And luckily I s got interested in that before that was fashionable because that's now become the thing and it wasn't and it wasn't the thing. Like people are like, you know, I and it's it it it runs the gamut. You know, I've got a fifty-five Beetle, you know, with fifty thousand miles on it. That car was probably worth twenty-five dollars in the 70s. And the fact that that car survived, you know, it's pretty incredible. And I've got a fifty-five uh pre A three fifty-six Porsche that we found in a garage in Compton a couple of years ago that's, you know, um, you know, that's a really other really honest example of that. That car's kind of become famous. It's become its own little we'll link that up in the show notes too. Yeah, the straight out of Compton car. And I you know, it was so cool because we found that car and it was just so great because it was just you know, uh this this a really good friend of mine named Carlos Chavez found it, called me. I was on a plane like an hour later, going somewhere else. I texted Rod Emery. I said, Carlos found this car. Can you go look at it? And I said, yeah. And I said, you know, bring a trailer, right? He goes, Really? You think I said, go, if it's cool, just let's get it. I sent him like a picture of the VIN. He goes, looks legit. And so we found that car. And just he just put it back together. It didn't require really any work other than to go back together. And then a year to the day after that, we got a call from a guy who had a 56 speedster. It been in the family since new. He's like, I know you like these old original Porsches, you know, this is when you'd be interested. And it was a year to the day after that, so I thought that
Unknown was pretty cool. Fantastic. You have another car in your life that has a special story from your childhood. Oh yeah. I know you've told the story elsewhere, but I want to make sure people hear it. This is, I think, a really, really good one. Yeah.
Unknown So like the first, like the taproot car for me, like the one that like you know made me or got me interested in cars was a 1961 356B coupe red that belonged to the husband of my first grade teacher, Mrs. Etommy. And I remember seeing it, like her husband picking her up from school, and I saying to my dad, like we have to like we have to get whatever you say that when you're five, right? Like we have to get that. And he's like, no, like your mom can't drive a stick. Like we're not getting that. No, but I suppose that that to me is like that is a car. If you think about 356, it's kind of like this whole postmodern idea of houses where you kind of draw a house and it's got like the triangle roof and the square right? Yeah. And that car is kind of like the that's kind of how you like I draw a car. Right? And so I I just love that car. And so for 50 years, my my daughter had Miss Tommy as her first grade teacher at our little elementary school in my neighborhood. And for 50 years I stayed in touch with her about that car. And then two months ago, she called me. She says, you know what, we're ready to sell, you know, because I usually say, well, we're ready to sell it, you know, we'll we'll let you know. And she's very good friends of our family. But like I I would bring it up all the time. And then she called two months ago and said, yeah, we're ready, you know, Frank and I are ready to sell the the Porsche if you still want it. I'm like, so I was like I couldn't be there faster. So I went over and it was she he bought it. I think he bought it from Vasik Polak, not new, which is the big Porsche dealer was in Hermosa Beach. He bought it not new, like in 62. Um, and I had Rod Emery come help me pick it up from their house, and he owns the original Vasak Polak Porsche ramp truck. So we picked it up on the ramp truck from Vasick Polak. So it was really the car is just fantastic. It's exactly as I remember it. You know, it's it's in fantastic shape. And it was missing the front, it was missing the front bumper. And so I said, you know, like dig around, you know, see if you can find it. It wouldn't be that big a deal to find one, but like, you know, if you find it. So they called me a month later and said, we were we were digging aroundund, we fo the bumper. And we also found 'cause I asked him, do you have any like books? He's one of these guys who's super meticulous. So he she goes, We found all of Frank's all the books for the car and Frank's logbook. I'm like the logbook. And so I got it, and he had logged literally every tank of gas he had put in the car from 1962 through the 80s. So everything he had done to the car, every tank, and like beautiful, like in one of those you know those composition books that have like the black and white like speckley in there line by line of everything he had done to that car. You know, lubing it, oil change, tanks of gas. Fantastic. Had you had you d
Unknown riven it before taking it? No. So what was it like to drive a car that you've been looking at for that long? We still haven't driven it because
Unknown it didn't manage it. So there's like some Dolorto's in a in a box. So we need to kind of do that. But it was like just it was so great. Like it was super emotional. I mean like to see it because like that was the one. And that like let went put me on this path with my dad where we became like car obsessed the two of us he like you know he already was but like together I remember like my and my mom always figures in these stories because it always should be for her. Yeah. Right. At the Ford dealer in like 1970 on the ground crying because my dad wouldn't buy a Pantera for my mom. And that's completely ridiculous. Like she can't like I it's so he I remember saying that's so nice you want mom to have that car, but like she can't drive a stick and it's two seats. So like that's not but it was pretty cool because she got a um a Mustang California special. So that was a that was a
Unknown good um a good compromise. I feel like when you finally drive this car we have to document this, right, dude? Yeah, that's gonna be a good day for you. Yeah. We gotta document
Unknown this. It's so cool and like again it's the kind of it's the kind of thing like I'll that I just had to I I don't need that car and because I have two really nice three fifty six and this is it's superfluous, but like I had to have it because it's the one. And so what I think I'm gonna do is I've got a very different colleague of mine named Patrick Harris and we've been talking about, I said, listen, let's get the car back running and you you be the custodian of the car. Because it should be driven. And I want someone that I know and love to have it. We'll never sell it. But like it would be a shame for it to like just sit. You know, because I wouldn't, you know. So anyway, for me, it's like he's like family. He's my my really good friend and colleague. I'm like it's just as good, it's better for me to have you driving it than to have it me like sitting and not being driven. So
Unknown that's our plan. That's great. That's so cool. What a great story. And what a what an it's just that long a time and what a neat car to begin with and and and all that together. That's yeah. That's cool. And
Unknown then and I know that Stephen and we s we share a a love of architecture and design and and that's always something that I've been, you know, really interested in and was interested in kind of mid-century modern furniture and in architecture before that was super fashionable. And I had a great, I had a great professor at UCLA named Tom Hines, uh, who was the Burnham and Neutra biographer before kind of the Burnham moment in time in Chicago and the beginning of the skyscraper and then Neutra, you know, kind of the beginning of of you know of of modernism. And he is, you know, he is like super deep, still alive, like fantastic. He lived, you know, Neutra built apartments, uh, the landfair apartments near UCLA. Oh yeah. Yeah. And he lived in there. Oh. And so I remember him like I remember going to his you know his apartment, visiting him and his wife when they when I was a student, and they had decorated that apartment in all stickly furniture and it was like this great juxta juxtaposition of this craftsman furniture in this mid-century modern space. That was really cool. And he was great. So he really kind of got me on this path of of of loving mid-century modern architecture. And so I've been, you know, I've you know kind of not by design become a little bit of a collector of of mid century modern houses. So houses are a cool thing to collect. Yeah, but again, it's like, you know they, need to be they need to be kind of used. And I feel like I feel like with the houses and with the cars and the watches, like I'm just the custodian of the stuff right now. You know, and so um you know, I wasn't like out to like acquire these things. Like the I live in one, you know, they're not like museums. Yeah. I live in one and the other one's out in Joshua Tree. And it's just like it may be the coolest house ever built in in America. It's a pretty cool house. We'll link that up in the show notes too. Yeah, and no one ever had seen it. And Ray I live in a house that was designed by Ray Cappy and Ray Cappy was the founder of Psyark and was a great, you know, you know, kind of this era of architects, he's now in his early nineties, still practicing. Uh amazing, I think will be known he's is now and will always be remembered as one of the great, you know, Southern California architects. really live He's one of the last of that generation still practicing. He might be the last of that generation left still practicing. Well and Kendrick Bangs Kellogg, who designed the house in Joshua Tree, they were contemporaries, you know, kind of age wise. And Cyarch became this great place for for architects, you know, from you know Thomas Maine to Shigeru Bond to and kind of everybody in between where great design, kind of radical design was was encouraged. And uh so Ray was actually with us we we have another house in in Desert Hot Springs that's a was a prefab house that was designed by Marmel Radzeners actually in one of their houses and and we bought it when the world was ending and and it was able to we were able to get that house and and Ray and Shelly Cappy were staying with us in that house and the house in Joshua Tree was on the market and my wife wanted to go see it. I'm like, I don't even want to go I'm not buying another house in the desert. I don't even like the desert that much. And and for a guy who has two houses in the desert. Yeah, but we went and saw it, and Ray Cappy is like the least effusive person you've ever met. And he came like scampering down the hill. He's like, You have to buy this house. Like, I don't like you, I've never seen like so much joy. Like I said I'm not even going in. Like you guys go, I'm gonna stay here and play with the dog. You guys go look at it, like then we'll go back. And then he's gonna you have to buy this house. It's and I I walked in. For him to say that was like you, know, meaningful. So we went and looked at it, and no one had ever seen this house before. It was, you know, it was one of these rare instances where the people who commissioned it told Kellogg that they they b'ougdht this piece of land in the middle of these in this like kind of rock formation just outside, like literally like fifty yards outside the the national park, and said you have unlimited time and unlimited budget to build whatever you want. And spent thirty years building it. And they never let it and people would people would come from all over like and leave like cakes at the gate to be able to come like can I we go in? They wouldn't let anybody in it so it's pretty pretty fan pretty fantastic place and we we make it available for uh photo shoot and production rentals only but it's not a vacation place so it's you know it's been and it's been like cover of vanity Fair and Cal McLean's shot there and Nike is shot there and it's been the the f it the um uh Louis Vuitton um connected watch was launched. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And I saw that campaign was unbelievable and they're flying over it. And there's a guy standing on my roof. I'm like, the guy wasn't supposed to stand on the roof. So but it was it was worth it because it was such a cool shot
Unknown . Well one of the things that seems to connect a lot of the things you're interested in is is this idea that they're they're a older things and b things that you can you can be a steward of. So you're taking something from the past and kind of like ushering it through the the present moment. But I know you've also in in watches, you've bought modern watches, but they tend to go out the door pretty quickly, right? Yeah. I'm not like you know, I the
Unknown watch I I I I bought from you guys today, uh that's you know, I I have a new GMT. Okay. 'Cause I thought that was pretty cool. Yeah. And I was able to get it from a a dealer who's a a friend of mine. And so that's a great watch. But like modern watches, like modern day tonas, like my interest, I I I and there's probably a lot of guys who could say this, like I probably have flipped 40 modern Daytonas in my life. Like and I've just like and I didn't go like really searching for them. I never put my name on a list. I would literally walk and see them like in jewelry store windows all over the world. And I probably that's probably happened to me 40 times. And and yeah. The luckiest man on earth. It was unbelievable. Like I remember I was in Oxford, Mississippi. You know, and there was a Rolex dealer there. I was there on business, Rolex dealer there, and I'm literally he's putting the stuff in the window in the morning, a white and a black dial zenith Daytonas. So I went in, and they were at the time I think they were fifty, two hundred dollars, right? I said, okay, I'll take them both. And then he got really like sketched out. Like, what do you mean? Like, why do you want them? Like, what's going on here? I'm like, no, I I'd love to have because I'll sell you one. So I said, okay. And then I called my friend. I said, come here and buy this other one. So I've been, I was in a little town in France called Sarla in the Dordone and there's a role one of these like little like kind of vacation towns and the Rolex deal putting the Dayton in the window. You know, so it happened to me so many times. But they don't stick
Unknown . You get rid of them. I don't I don't keep 'em. So the watch the watch you brought from us, I'll give a little plug to uh my colleagues in the Hodinky shop, is the first rose gold Credor Ichi 2 in the US. And for somebody who doesn't really like modern watches, that is a very modern watch. What what drew you to that
Unknown watch? It's just so clean. Yes. My concern was like when when Ben was talking to me about Yeah. One. And I was and I used to kind of heckle him a little bit, like it's not that cool, and you know, it's a expensive Seiko kind of thing. But I was like, I I see I secretly lusted after it. I was just trying to get a better deal. And um and I thought it was just so clean, right? And and then I looked at at this one, I said, well, that's like just that's beautiful. I don't own a rose gold watch. Okay. Um but like I thought, well, that's pretty that's pretty
Unknown great. Yeah. I mean it's pretty excited. It's a totally different thing. I mean, next to a vintage Rolex, it's, you know, the spring drive movement, it's finished to the nines, the porcelain dials insane. I mean it's it's cool. It's a very modern watch. My
Unknown concern was that it was gonna be too much like my 25-26. I thought to myself, okay, like when would I ever wear this when I wouldn't wear that? And then I looked at it and it's like completely different. It's bigger, it's kinda just feels different. There's something kinda like it's it's not like it's not like super dressy. It's just kinda neat
Unknown . I agree. I think it's gorgeous. And uh and yeah, I think it'll I think it'll wear really well. No, I think it
Unknown 's cool. So talking about modern watches, there's one thing as a guy who works in the tech industry I have to ask you about and you can probably already guess. You seem to me like the guy who should be the poster child for the Apple Watch, right? Like you're you're a world traveling businessman. You're in a million different time zones all of the all the time. You're always on the go. You got messages coming in. You're you're really into fitness, you know, you you exercise all the time, you live in southern California, like you should be like the perfect target for the Apple Watch. Why why doesn't it work for you? I have I have one. I bought
Unknown a I bought the uh Hermes, the series three. Oh, sweet. On Craigslist. I bought it from a guy. That's that's a good way to way to buy anything. I bought it from a guy in Craigslist who was super excited about the series four and wanted to get rid of the series three before the series four came out. And like it was super cheap. And he was like meticulous, like I think it was beautiful. It came with everything and it was like a few hundred dollars. And I said, well, I gotta have it. And then I brought it home. I'm like, this is like this is the greatest product that's been because the stuff it does is unbelievable. Like I just think it's it's fantastic. That being said, I never wear it. Yeah. Um I do think it's cool that people wear too. Like I was at I was at a uh I was on we were we were in Europe a couple weeks ago and I was in this little like transit, you know, going from one terminal to the other and the guy across from is kind of like a kind of a cool like Swiss you know businessman guy was like all looking pretty sharp and he had that on his right arm and he had like a like an IWC or something on his own yeah Jack Jack can pull it off. I can pull that off. Yeah that,'s a lot. I mean, the thing is, you know, I I will I will say that I do feel like when having to charge a watch to me, like, you know, I I don't like it. So unappe
Unknown aling. Isn't it? I wear I wear a series four when I run. I'm training for a half marathon right now and I I've been wearing it when I run. And the other day I went to take it out and it wasn't charged and it was infuriating. It just made me insane. I mean like I just threw my phone in a in an armband, but like having to do that all of a sudden, like having to change that behavior, it's really infuriating when you want it there and it's not
Unknown . But it's pretty it's a pretty cool thing. You know, and it's funny because you know through you guys and just through people who've come to visit at Facebook, people in the Swiss watch industry, like the story in their head is that everybody in Silicon Valley wears an Apple Watch. And I honestly don't know anybody who wears an Apple Watch. Um I really don't. You know, so the but it is definitely cool. And I just like the little stuff, like being able to switch from wrist to wrist to kind of change the orientation of it so easily. Yeah. I don't want all the messages and notifications. I actually I showed Ben today. I carry like this little like kind of a just a a phone that's just a phone. Okay. Yeah. You know, a little like a no key. I don't even know it's like sixty six ten or something. It's just like a little phone that's just a phone. Yeah. Like I w I wanna have less notifications. So I would turn all those notifications. Like I don't have any of those turned on on the Apple Watch
Unknown . Yeah. So you know, we'll dig just a little bit more into your your life as a as a tech executive, shall we say. Um can you tell us a little bit about what you
Unknown do at Instagram? Yeah, so I'm the head of uh market development at Facebook, which is what my title has been since I joined the company in the spring of 05. I'm member um my colleague saying okay, what do you want to be called? 'Cause I was one of the first non uh engineers in the company. And so I made up this title of head of market development 'cause it sounded like marketing, it sounded like business development. It was completely made up. And and and it stuck. Right. And it's funny 'cause I met this kid, you know, a couple of years ago and I said, Oh, what do you do? And he's talking about this company you work for. And I said he goes, I'm the head of market development there. And I'm like, Oh yeah, what does that mean? And he like described it back to me the exact way I've done it. I'm like, okay, like it's become like a a thing. Like that was my thing. But uh so I I've been really blessed to be able to work on m my goal has been to be the little guy on the you know rubber zodiac out in front of the mothership looking for new land. And so that's where I've been my happiest. You know, so when we you know looking for the original work on how we're gonna monetize Facebook after the acquisition of Instagram, I built a team there to kind of integrate Instagram into the efforts of what we were doing at Facebook to kind of understand this family of apps that we were building. And so I've been working on that. I work a lot on our on our culture and mentoring and you know kind of our corporate culture is is really really important you know our core values have remained the same since I joined the company about you know building tools to make the world more open and connected and building communities. And so making sure that people understand those core values is is really important to me. So that's what I've been working on
Unknown . Yeah. And I mean since you got started, you know, Instagram specifically, and I I'm focusing on Instagram I ' thinkcause in if we're talking about kind of the watch community, that's that's really a powerful thing. Um it's changed so much. I mean, it's gone from single square photos with people applying these like pre-made filters to you know now you can have carousels of images, they can be different aspect ratios, there's video, there's stories, there's TV, there's there's everything. Um how do you think that evolution has changed the kind of core value proposition of of Instagram and like the role it can play in people's lives. I think it's just giving people more
Unknown tools to tell stories, right? And you think how provocative this whole idea was of posting pictures on the internet, you know, because you remember there was a time, I'm not putting a picture my pictures on the internet, right? Now the whole premise of Instagram was about putting pictures on the internet for people, mostly for people you don't know. Right? Because people have private accounts, but a lot of people don't. And now to be able to tell that story in a you know in a vertical format, to be able to tell that story in video through stories, you know, is really powerful. And I think that again, it's it's gotten very tribal, like in terms of the watch thing, you know, and I think that's really important and cool. I mean these are just tools to make storytelling, you know, better and more fun and and
Unknown more engaging. And where do you see where do you see possible innovations that w that could still apply to the tribe building, you know, in the future for a product? Not n maybe not just for Instagram, but just in general as as technology is kind of a l living breathing thing. I think the gro
Unknown ups are really powerful. I think the people building groups on Facebook, you know, I I'm I'm a member of all kinds of groups. There's a you know a watch group of Facebook employees that's you know fun. I'm the um I'm a really active part of the amateur radio group at Facebook, Facebook employees. I've been a ham radio operator, which is really geeky sounding. Um it's not I let my license lapse. Ah you should come back. I gotta get I gotta get back. I had my original license with you had to have no C I didn't either. Yeah, so I no, I had to do it. I knew Morris Code. Oh, I did not. Which is really like I mean think about that now. And some guys saw you should do your code license because there's a good app on your iPhone to teach you Morris coding. I'm like, you know what I I''m notm not g gonnaonna do Morse code um but I love these groups you know where people are kind of you know affinities come together whether it's around you know surfing or watches or cars or fountain pens or you know I think I just love like slicing the world that way. So I think you know again the more that we can build tools, kind of see the activity that people are doing and just kind of give people more tools to do that I think is powerful. And you think where you've kind of come from with forums. Like I was a big forum guy. Yeah of course forums were great. You know I'm still like you know I've got a big this big overlanding truck. I've got this van called Caracaram and so like I'm part of this like sportsmobile forum. Okay. And like that's a really powerful group. And they're a bunch of different little weird car forums like they're gone really deep, like on one thing. You know, and I love that. I think that's just the best. Not like hyper fascination. Yeah, like Mercedes five hundred E. Oh. Right, you know, which is this collaboration card between Porsche and Mercedes and I've got a ninety-two. It's a great story because it it belonged to Sidney Pollock, the director, and and Paramount gave it to him when he directed the firm. No way. So I have his car. But like the 500 E Forum, I think it's called the 500 E Forum, is like anything you wanna know. Like if they're gonna do a group buy on some like special thing to replace a part that always wears out on this car, like it's there. So I love that. So I think that's where I think that's where this stuff is kinda headed in terms of just, you know, more tools and bringing people I think bringing people close together is a real noble pursuit. And I think the work that we're
Unknown doing is really important work. No doubt. I you know we only just met just before we turned these mics on. I'm not surprised that you have a 500 E. That's a that's that's a cool car. That is such a that's such a mega car and it's so hyper specific. Right. Yeah, it's a cool car. You know, and and it's an absolute sleeper. You could drive that car almost anywhere in the world, and most people are gonna have no idea what what just went by. Just need to get it
Unknown . It feels like a like a Porsche. Yeah, it feels like a Porsche. It handles like a Porsche. I just came back uh when I saw the guy with the two watches. I had just gone to uh Stuttgart and I I was lucky enough to get a an allocation for a a G T two R S. Okay. Okay. And and so I I wanted like European delivery to me, it's like it's the way you guys geek out when you go to the see the manufacturers, you know, watch manufacturers. For me to go to Porsche and go to that factory and then go drive those cars, you know, through the Black Forest and on the Autoba
Unknown hn. Just unbelievable. Some crazy roads in there too. I've been lucky to do some really ill-advised things in cars on those ro
Unknown ws. And really, really, really fun. There's a there's a guy, a Porsche executive named Thomas Affenzeller, who runs the nine eighteen program there and he's a friend of a friend and so I would I picked up the GT two. He's just a cool guy and he loves it. My wife and I kind of because I think the people go, Oh let me go to the factory, and they go and they kinda like big time 'em and like they kind of just poo-poo it. I I think it's the coolest fucking thing you can do. Agreed. Right. European delivery is a great idea. Yeah. I just think that is unbelievable. And so like we couldn't like I wouldn't have gotten the GT two R S if I couldn't have done European delivery. Like it's got like that's the makes it like the experience is part of it it.. Makes magical And so he's listening, you guys are like so into it. He goes, I'll meet you guys in Baden Baden on Saturday and we'll just go drive for like three hours through the Black Forest. And he's like a great driver and knows that area, like the back of his hand. And we had just an unbelievable time. And so then we went back, Chris and I went back on Monday. We said like it's gonna be no one around. We'll go back on Monday. We did it again. It was just fantastic. So the the 500E, in a lot I mean it's not a seven hundred horsepower lightweight race car, but it ha there's there there are things about the way that car handles that feel very nine eleven to me. That's fantasti
Unknown c. And the GT2RS did it I like I've I've been fortunate enough to drive a handful of cars with seven hundred plus horsepower. Uh but my guess is that car puts it on in a different manner with the you know between the PDK, the rear engine, uh, you know, feels really safe to me. Yeah.
Unknown It doesn't feel it doesn't feel uh like I don't like people talk about their car like they're getting beat up and banged around. Like I didn't feel that way at all. I mean if you were like if you were a nut, you could there could be a daily driver. It's not that crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy 'cause it has that giant carbon fiber wing on the back, right? And but it's not like I didn't I don't find it particularly like you know hairy or no I mean it goes it goes bananas but I think from a drivability standpoint it's co
Unknown ol. I mean they're making some of the best chassis that they've that the companies ever produced, so it's not doesn't surprise me that they can put out a car with a car. The car is rad. I mean
Unknown it's almost I would begged Portia to let me keep it there. I said I want to just keep the car here and I want to come like visit it and drive it here. But that that car on uh Angeles Crest Highway. I don't know, but it's like you know I I I say it this way. It's like you you go go somewhere, on safari and you see a tiger. So that is a beautiful tiger. I'm gonna get a tiger and I'm gonna take it home. And then you have a pet tiger, right? And like what am I doing with this pet tiger? Like that's the way I feel about the GD2RS. It's just meant for Bavaria. Yeah, it's like meant to be driven there. So now I've like, you know, again, in this way I kind of overcomplicate my life. I'm like trying to figure out if there's a way to kind of ship it back there so I can have like it there and then go visit it and drive it there. I mean if you get it anywhere in Europe, I I can help you get it so put those break in kilometers on it. We put it we put a thousand miles on it in six days, so It's not a bad way to start it. It's fantastic. Yeah, it's cool. What color? Black. Black, black. Alright. Yeah, why sock and and very little red trim. Yeah, it reminds me like you see those cars with so like it's available in some kind of radical colors. Yeah, bright green. Red and bright green and and blue and chalk, but there's so much carbon fiber trim on it that it looks like it's one of the it's like the early days of word processing. We have I have all these fonts and all these colors. Yeah. And then like you have pretty ugly documents, right? Right. I've seen some of it, because all the interior trim is all black and red. So you have this bright blue car with a black and red interior. So I just did like I got very lucky because I just did very I did deviated stitching in red and red seatbelts. Okay. And that's the only and the red center on the steering wheel. But yeah, it's cool, but it's like again, I feel like it's like it's almost a shame to bring it back here
Unknown . To wrap things up, we like to go through a little bit of a a lightning round. And then we'll get to our our cultural recommendations. Okay. So these questions, Matt, are are for you. Keep the answers short and uh
Unknown Oh, cool. You know, with the orange hand? Yeah. You thinking about getting one? I I'd like to. I think that's a pretty cool watch. I just I I like Aquanuts. Nice. What's the base best place you've traveled in the last year? Japan. I'm a huge Japanophile What's the best advice you've ever received? Um Well, I've taken a lot of advice from people and what I've kind of turned it into this idea of being the best part of another person's day. So like I've taken kind of input like I see I've seen how people act and treat others and so I've kind of manifested that into my own mantra of being the best part of another person's day. Great. You know, but I've just like, you know, the people that I've respected are people that are, you know, that are that are happy and stoked and, you know, there are, you know, there are people from the early days of Facebook that I that I started working with that were like Michael Linton, who was the chairman of Sony Pictures. Yeah. Who like he feels and he had such an important impact on the early days of Facebook and he has like a rooting interest in Facebook being successful that I love that he like it was none of the Hollywood Schadenfreud of like this thing's lame or like what are you doing and like I like people like that that are just like joyful and happy and feel good that realize that um success isn't a binary thing. Awesome. And what do you have a guilty pleasure? I go down the Google Rat hole. Yeah. Yeah, or eBay. It's hard to outgoogle me. It's hard to outgoogle me. I know we're short, can I tell you a really good recent Google story? Of course. In Germany with the GT2RS, I came around a corner, sunset in Baden-Baden, I saw this Vespa that was this dark, dark matte green, and it like it was glowing. I said, This is the coolest fucking thing I've ever I didn't even like scooters. Right? And it was like this platonic ideal of a Vespa because it was like this stretched out, beautiful version. I walk around, it's an Armani collaboration with Vespa to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Armani and the 100th anniversary of Vespa. So I gotta have one. Of course. From 2015. And of course they made, I think they made the models in 946, they made 946 of them. So I went on this, like I was like, I could not, I was obsessed. Like I have to find one of these. Our friend Ted Gashu, I sicked him on it. I said, you gotta f- he found one in Germany it was like super expensive and complicated I then found sounds like Ted. Yeah I then found one wait even worse I found one in Ho Chi Minh City at the Vespa dealer in Ho Chi Minh City and I convinced myself that it was gonna be a really good thing that's the one I should get. He was gonna go look at it and get it, and then it became unclear whether I was gonna be able to register it. And then by chance, 'cause I had mentioned it to somebody else, a guy called me, I found one in Phoenix. Hey. Hey. There you go. And then the guy called me and goes, Man, he goes, I can't believe you found one of these. How long have you been looking for this? I'm like, two weeks. So that was
Unknown a yeah, sorry. That's great. That's awesome. Uh all right, we'll wrap things up uh and do cultural recommendations. Do you have something, uh a book, a movie, uh place you've been, something you want to recommend that uh the listeners check out after they're done listening? Yeah, from a music standpoint
Unknown , I'm really excited about the new Anderson Pack record. The single is fantastic, you know, Dr. Dre produced it, that comes out in two weeks. I haven't cared about an album dropping, you know, in a really long time. I'm really excited about that. From a book standpoint, I encourage everybody I read The Fountainhead every three years. And I encourage everybody to read The Fountainhead because I think it gives you a r first of all, no one will write another there will be not won't be another Ayn Rand. No one will spend 10 years writing a 700-page book like that. And but it's a really good reminder of the kind of person you want to be and the kind of person you don't want to be based on the character. It's but you know you don't have to be a safe cracker to figure out who the good people are and who the not good people are. So I always recommend um recommend that. Awes
Unknown ome. Perfect. James, what about you? Uh mine is a movie. Um I was really tempted to do a free solo, but I haven't seen it yet. I'm in New York for the week, so I get to see it. So I'm really excited for Free Solo. My news movie from 1963 that I've re-fallen in love with called Charade. Oh yeah. It's one of Kerry Grant's last films. It's uh Audrey Hepburn. It's set in Paris. It's a thriller, kind of like a Hitchcockan-esque thriller that kind of overlaps with like a screwball comedy at times. Right. And it is incredibly charming. And when it falls flat on its face a couple times, where like the edits are kind of weird. It's all the better for it. And it's set in Paris at a really great time in Paris and you know, some of the conceits of the film are like very much nineteen sixty three and I think I honestly think it doesn't a it has not aged at all for nineteen sixty three. It's great. And uh I bet you I've seen it I don't know, three, three and a half times in the last month or so. Uh have it have it on my laptop and I just enjoy it. It kinda calms me down after a long day. I I've been liking it quite a bit. Do you have you seen how to steal a million? I hav
Unknown en't. Oh that',s a great head
Unknown burn movie, same era. Noted. Fantastic. Yeah. Sweet. Uh I don't get to read nearly as much fiction as I would like to, but I recently uh finally got around to reading J.G. Ballard's High-Rise, uh, which is a sort of strange and like slightly brutal novel. Uh it's about a London apartment building in the early 70s, like a luxury high-rise building. Uh, and the architect who's this like strange character who wears like a white safari jacket, lives on the top floor of this building, and the building descends into essentially like a civil war between different factions in the building. Uh, and it's a strange thing where like the outside world continues to exist and people interact with it, but like this building becomes its own kind of like microcosm and it's strange and confusing and the novel's told from a bunch of different characters' perspectives. Um but it's extremely captivating. It's one of those books you you like kind of get engrossed in it and can't quite put it down. Uh and I I strongly recommend it if you're looking for sort of like a strange bit of fiction to read. It's like Rosemary's Baby Meets Fountainhead. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, actually. That's a really good description of it. Um yeah, awesome. Well thanks so much for joining us, Matt. It's always always good to see you and uh you know, any time we can get some some time to sit down and talk, it's it'm humbled and flattered. Thank you. Thank you to Matt and James for joining us. This week's episode was recorded at Mirror Tone Studios in New York City and was produced and edited by Grayson Korhonen. Please remember to subscribe and rate the show, it really does make a difference. Thank you for listening, and we'll see you next week.