Collecting Porsche Design with Andres Nicholls¶
Published on Wed, 30 Oct 2024 19:00:00 +0000
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Synopsis¶
In this special episode of Hodinkee Radio focused on Porsche Design, host James Stacey speaks with Andreas Nichols, Senior Partner and Global Executive Creative Director at Prophet, based in New York. The conversation explores Andreas's deep passion for both Porsche automobiles and Porsche Design watches, beginning with his first Porsche Design chronograph purchase in 2000 when he moved to the United States from Colombia.
Andreas discusses his journey from discovering Porsche Design watches as an accessible entry point to the brand when he couldn't yet afford the cars, to eventually acquiring a 1985 Porsche 911 G-body coupe. He explains how his background in architecture has shaped his appreciation for the timeless design philosophy that connects Porsche Design products across categories—from watches to sunglasses to the cars themselves. The conversation delves into the visceral, sensory experience of driving vintage Porsches, including the challenges and rewards of owning classic cars with their heavy steering, demanding gearboxes, and unique character.
Throughout the discussion, Andreas emphasizes his love for complications, particularly perpetual calendars and chronographs, and his recent acquisition of the limited edition Chronograph 1 from Hodinkee's collaboration with Porsche Design. He reflects on his evolution as a collector, moving from a maximalist approach to a more curated "fewer but better" philosophy. The episode concludes with Andreas's vision for future Porsche Design innovations, including the idea of dashboard-mounted chronographs that could be integrated into Porsche vehicles, echoing classic racing timepieces from brands like Heuer.
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Transcript¶
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| James Stacey | All right, welcome to another special episode of Hodinky Radio. Today we are focusing again on Porsche Design. And much like we did with Drew Peterson on the previous Porsche Design episode, we have uh a really special guest. His name is Andreas Nichols, and Andreas uh, you are the senior partner for Global Executive Creative Director uh based in New York for a brand called Profit. And we met working on the recent UBS project, and it turns out you're not only a Porsche guy, but a Porsche design guy. Is that accurate as far as the statement go |
| Andreas Nichols | es? A hundred percent accurate. And uh, you know, it's uh it's something that has been close to my mind and my heart for many, many years. And looks fantastic having this conversation with you today, James. That'll be a fun one |
| James Stacey | . Yeah, it's an absolute treat. We had a really lovely dinner a couple of weeks ago and it only took a couple minutes. And there's a certain wavelength among men and women that like certain things. It only takes a couple minutes. The phone comes out. We're sharing photos of watches and cars and trading trading stories about you know finding great cars or driving and and all these sorts of things. And it was very clear that you and I could have a pretty good time chatting Porsche design. Uh you know what I thought about |
| Andreas Nichols | it is how rude we were with the other 18 guests that weren't part of the dinner. Because for like 45 minutes, you and I just talk about like the phone and the things and the trips and the the the the you know the trip you did to Austria with Portion, the whole thing. So we kind of ignore. We were also like in a very loud place, but I remember hearing perfectly everything we're talking about. So I think that yeah, we're kind of focused and uh and excited about the conversation |
| James Stacey | . It was a little little bit of a nerd out. I liked it a lot and uh I'm really excited to be able to sort of redo some of that today and chat about it. And the uh I think the starting point's pretty straightforward. How what brought you to a fascination either for Porsche's cars and then the watches or the watches and the cars. What what's the origin story here? Because Porsche is not a niche brand at all, but the watches are to a certain extent. They're known by kind of a specific group of people who appreciate usually it's the history and the fact that you can still basically buy the same watch today, which is a good mix in the watch world. Tot |
| Andreas Nichols | ally, totally. So look, I I think like uh like many of of us who love uh portion portion design. Uh we fall in love with the cars first, but the watches are the entry point. And I think that that has always been the case. I think that you know I got uh my first portion design watched. As a matter of fact, I got in the year 2000 when I got here to the United States. Uh, for many of you who are listening, this accent is not from Brooklyn. So I'm coming much more south. So you know, it's definitely uh a South American, I'm a Colombian guy who came here, uh to work in in the year 2000. And I think to celebrate that, I remember walking into Tourneau and buying my first portion design watch. Uh and love it because it got me into the mindset, the rotor on the back was based on the wheel of the 9-11. It was a this started to be nerdy, but it's like it was like a P6000 in titanium. Yeah. Um, it was before Rolex started to do the rubber strap. This has the most beautiful. Long before the oyster flex, yeah. Yeah, before the oyster flex, right? And it was fantastic. And the thing was sliding the hand, and it's like so that I I I I was a point in my life, a young guy who couldn't just afford uh a Porsche, but I can definitely dream through it to a Porsche design. And that was like my first kind of introduction to the the brand through reality, not to dreams, because the dream is always being uh, you know, the car as well. So that was uh long time ago |
| James Stacey | and so that original model um what was it do you still have it and what what were the sort of what drew you to it uh uh originally so it's interesting so the watch is |
| Andreas Nichols | uh uh the the watches in the family. So I usually with time I've been trying to pair down in the amount of watches that I would like to have. I just have one wrist that I wear it, not two. And uh but uh my nephew, my nephew has it. So I I I really believe in the notion of passing down uh some of the watches that were part of our journey. And they they it means a lot. I think that it means a lot to him. I gave him for graduation last year, uh while we were in Columbia celebrating his graduation. I think that that was fantastic. You know, it's like it's great to see it in his hand and seeing the excitement that I had when I bought it. Yeah. So that was that was that was kind of like the first step into all this jour |
| James Stacey | ney. Absolutely. And how since 2000, how has your relationship with the brand sort of changed? What what are you focusing on these days as far as the models? Is it still largely chronograph one |
| Andreas Nichols | ? Yeah, see, it's gonna grow up one. So so the reality is I always love uh I always love chronos. I always love complications. I I I there's a fascination. Look, I'm an I'm an architect by background. Um I study architecture many, many years ago and came here to do work in brand that is a little bit outside of architecture, but it's still brand design, right? And the fascination with gears, mechanism, movements, and the the complexity that goes into something like that and imagine that kind of micro uh city in your wrist, I think is is fascinating, right? So to me the the the chrono the chronographs are always been amazing. Uh from there is the ultimate, you know, you know, again, uh for discussion and debate, uh the Chrono One still like a fantastic watch and and one that I was able to acquire, was able to get uh the latest kind of limited edition from you guys that was I think is absolutely beautiful. And something that, you know, I strap in every time I had the opportunity to drive the car. And I feel that that that whole thing makes you feel different. So chronographs are the are the passion right now and some of the other complications as well |
| James Stacey | . Fantastic. And I I you know as you get into it and you said you've got the most recent LE that we did, which only came out just just recently. What other sort of Porsche design models have have kind of shaped the last so 20 years of following along and were there any cars that connected with it along the way? Oh yeah. Absolutely |
| Andreas Nichols | . So so look, as I say, portion design has always been uh a fascination, right? It's from from the to me the most beautiful car uh you know and this is where we're going to start touching some nerves into it. Like the most beautiful car ever produced was the 9-11. The end that the introduction of the 9-11 when it was done to what has been happening with it is amazing. That was always my dream as a kid, as an adult. It remains to be in the thing. And uh, you know, I had the opportunity to, you know, acquire one from nineteen eighty-five. So that's been my uh it's just amazing, right? This almost forty year old car who basically transports you a little bit to the past and gets you to dream about what is to drive one of these things. Yeah, it starts to get you the understanding of Porsche design and a little bit of the why in their choices they make, you know, from the type, the color, the simplicity, uh the gauges on it. Like it just fascinating. So yeah, Porsche design it it runs deep now in my in my blood, not because of quantity, but because of the few elements that I have now that really connect me with with the brand in a in a very special way |
| James Stacey | . Very cool. And I you know I,' Im'm curious when you finally track down the the nineteen eighty-five, you know, that I mean early's maybe not the right word, but in terms of up to twenty twenty-four, that's an early spec, you know, pre-930 in that case and if your series Yeah, if and if you one, when you went to pick it up, did you wear a chronograph one? And two, when you sat in the car, or maybe when you had your first experience with a nine eleven, did you feel that kind of connective tissue that Porsche design loves to talk about? Sometimes it feels like marketing, but then you actually get in an older 9-11, anything with the the five clock face, and you kind of get immediately it feels like the watch could sit to the left or right of either of those gauge packs. |
| Andreas Nichols | Is is that anything that so so look I uh this is crazy story. I found the car in LA to a fantastic gentleman who were uh kind enough to to sell it to me. Never saw it in person. Just got it to be delivered to New York. Uh in the this the longest trip. You know, if you think about waiting for a package with anxiety, this is one of those. Um so but the car the car in in in the the look in design there's this thing that is basically the connecting thread. I think that something that runs pretty well around it is the connecting thread on the language use in Porsche and Portion design to really create objects that transcend time. And that's really interesting. You know, like a car that is 40 years old can go perfectly well with a watch that is less than a couple months old, at least in the limited edition, but has been with the car for since 1972, 1973. Right? So you do see those two things. There's definitely not marketing. There's a design and spirit that runs through it in a consistent way that is absolutely fascinating. And well, well, I try to avoid sometimes the matchy, matching, meaning that that's not the only watch that I wear to just drive the car. I can tell you that is the one that it feels more at home when you're just shifting that kind of 9-15 gear parts up and down and just look at your wrist and it's the the watch is there right there's something that suddenly between that cluster of instruments they watch that is all in black with the white type it feels perfect it's just like there's something that feels natural for that two things. For sure. And uh and and it's fascinat |
| James Stacey | ing. I'm I'm also curious with your design background, the architecture, uh you know, this is something you've dedicated like a quarter of a century of your life to is you know developing and understanding well-designed, well iterated products and and presentations and things like that. Do you think that background, that sort of academic take on design, like I can look at something and go like, oh, I like that, maybe I don't like this, but I can't necessarily tell you why. It's like a gut thing, but once you go through the schooling, does that give you a special affinity for FA Porsche's story for developing his own place to make these things? And then now I mean I'm sure you've uh been there. I I had a chance to go to the studio in Zell, and they have like it's essentially a museum to all the things they've worked on. And like a watch. And the chartograph one is an is a remarkably well designed, beautiful, long-standing watch. Everything you kind of want from a watch design. But man, they had motorcycles and Viennese train cars and blackberries and sunglasses and mice, hard drives, anything almost anything you could name, Porsche Designs either helped a brand design it or has the kind of licensed out design ideas, that sort of thing. How does that hit you with your background in the world of design? So look, it's super interest |
| Andreas Nichols | ing because um uh when you love something, I I think the word love just goes back to something that you can describe, but uh irrational is usually the word. Sometimes we love things just because we love it. It's an emotional thing. It's an emotional thing. And I think that that's something that uh many brands can get through it. The question is how many brands can sustain that love for decades and start to make sure that that not only gets con you know bit continuous but gets amplified with time. I think force design is one of those. And I think with my background that it could be a blessing and a and a curse at the same time because you start to look at all the little things that sometimes you know people may not pay attention but they're part of an entire whole it makes a a tremendous difference i think that the coherence of design thinking in Porsche design and in Porsche, right? Just to do from from from the car to the to the to the watch is absolutely fantastic. And one of the things that is interesting, it is that it's pretty timeless. A lot of the greatest design objects with time are the ones that don't feel only associated with an era. Uh yes, like and I can say it in my guard, the nineteen eighty five portion feels like it is from nineteen eighty-five, but it feels at ease with a two thousand twenty-four, you know, sports car of the moment. Sure. Evolved with time, it still feels relevant. I think that this idea of great design that becomes completely timeless and relevant across time is fantastic. So to your point, yes, this being part of the journey, and I think that the more we um the more we age, the more we go through it. I'm not going to say the more we get old, but it's like the more we go through it, the more curatorial we are with the kind of things we want to be part of our life. You know, early on, uh, you know, it seems to be like adding a lot of things is what it adds uh satisfaction and happiness. Uh the later on is the fewer but better and the right stories behind those products and designs is what it feels that is right. So so that has been that has been really what it caused a lot of the connection between a lot of just like a simple object that an engine, a car, a |
| James Stacey | So in the process of that mindset of going from sort of a maximalist scenario maybe early on in a hobby or early on in the and but I I think that's important because it gives you a chance to try as many things as possible. And then you start to develop real taste and somebody in your position has actual taste. You've spent a lot of time developing essentially a muscle to be able to understand when something's not only good just for you, but good in general. And there's always outliers and there's new ideas and and novel thoughts. There's less of that in watches. We love we love the mid-century in the watch world. Um but I'm I'm curious what else in your life, it could be other watches, it could be other cars, it could be something else entirely, what else in your life is kind of a good example of that progress from maximalist to very personalized minimalism where you have the stories, you have something that you've connected to maybe over time. No, look, I I think I I think in that reg |
| Andreas Nichols | ard, watches have been um it's been the uh one of the longest things I've done with discipline uh as a let's call this collector, aficionado, somebody who loved those little machines the longest span of time, right? I think cars are something that uh they arrive later in my life when I were able to afford them and get some of the things we wanted to have with them. But watches have been something that I can tell you since I'm four or five years old. I remember having something strapped to my hand. So I think that that journey has been uh really interesting. It's been a journey full of uh excitement. Uh you know, at the same time is the the idea of collecting has changed dramatically from many to few and better in in and having all kinds of things. I I've gone in my watch journey. I started my watch journey with swatches, but I've gone all the way to you know independence from uh Max and his MBNF creation to Laurent Ferrier, to all those amazing kind of independent brands to go to the more, I don't want to call it traditional, but more kind of like you know, uh established uh uh brands that are dedicated to the craft of horology, horology in a way that is absolutely amazing. So it's been definitely uh a pivot, a pivot that caused me a lot of uh interesting discussions at home with my wife, just making sure that that uh another watch is is usually the the the the uh the the reaction in many of these things. Uh but it's been super interesting, James, right? The ability at some point to know when your taste evolves, you know, my myself, twenty' something youre all uh single versus now, a dad, a husband, living very different world. It just changes, right? So the cars being much more newer in that one. That the car s is just something that is it's more about it that watches is being fore |
| James Stacey | ver. You know, I'm I'm curious on the car side, you have a G body, an eighty five that you spoke of. Is uh is that your favorite era of nine eleven? You know, there's uh what eight generations, I guess, depending on how you want to divide it up. |
| Andreas Nichols | Totally. This is going to divide the poorest community in a second because everybody's going to have the moment, right? Yeah, you gotta have a moment. I think it is. I think it is. I think it is for a couple of reasons. I I think that the the original 9-11 is stunning, right? So it is beautiful. It's purity, right? This purity and intentional design coming to realization in that car. I think that what they did with the G body, uh, it was fantastic. I think that there's something about the shape of the car and making it a bit more drivable than the original 9-11 that makes it a fantastic car. I I I as a matter of fact I love the from the three configurations uh have the the coupe the Carrera coupe uh that is the three point two carrera coupe. Uh it just it's just stunning. The simplicity and almost utilitarian quality of the car. Uh, just adding the exact things you need and leaving behind all the things you don't, it just makes it perfect. I I even have I have a couple of friends who have changed things here and there. I have the scoop uh headlights, and still like you know, I can see, I can barely see anything at night, but there's something beautiful about some of those kind of design details that were dedicated for the car, right? Most likely at some point I'll need to change it if I really want to drive it at night. But uh but it's just it it's just stunning. I think that the curvature of that car, the way that the headlights show in front. Oh, the silhouette is that's the between the night the original 9-11 and the G-body, I think is the iconic silhouette of what people, if you get people to say draw the silhouette of a nine eleven, those two cars are the ones that will come to to mind in the majority of the cases |
| James Stacey | . Yeah, and I mean that there's also there's a few things about and it exists in a G body, it exists in a certainly in a nine six four. There's a few things about the driving experience that feel um unique. There's not a different word. I'm not I don't think I'm misusing that word. It's a misused word commonly, but it's the ability to see the top of the wings, the top of both of the front fenders. So the the ability to place the front axle is so uh easy, but the steering is so heavy. So at the same time you have this this sort of talkative experience and I think Brutal James. |
| Andreas Nichols | It just is that it's that it doesn't for it doesn't give you any for a forgiveness, right? Especially those 915 for sure. Oh those 9/15 gearboxes, yeah. You either are going to have a good day of driving or you're going to come home a little bit beaten knowing that that second gear didn't hit the way you want it to hit. Uh that you would need to be super careful to not do the the shifting of dead when you go from fifth gear to fourth. Just just have the patience to drop it as slow |
| James Stacey | ly so you don't go and do the full reverse. Uh I'll I'll I'll I'll lead some crow here on right on the program, right on recording. I drove uh former colleagues, I think it was a 71S Oslo Blue, if I remember correctly. It was later sold to a very famous person, like weeks later. Um, but I drove it on a little drive and he threw me the keys and I threw him the keys to the car that I had. Um and uh and he's like, Yeah, have a good time. And I hopped in it, and I don't think I had driven I'd never driven an S, so it had a dog leg. Yep. And I definitely started it in second multiple times before I realized that first gear was I'm a b I'm kind of a big guy. I have a lot of leg. So in a in a seventies, you know, in these G bodies, the first gear is under my right thigh. And luckily you don't use first gear that often once you're moving, so it's fine. But once I figured it out, that's the the the rest of the experience is something very, very special. You know exactly where you are, and then you you can step into a 991, 992, anything, any of the modern stuff, and it's still the screens on the dash kind of throw me off. That's something that I think people will have to get used to. And especially with the most modern one, they don't do the tack anymore as a physical thing. It's now uh it's one big screen. And look, I, you know, doesn't feel right, but give it time, it might feel okay. Uh yeah, it's also sensorial |
| Andreas Nichols | what you do on the drive, but it's what you hear, what you smell. All this cars smell different. I think you you get into it and I mean it in a good way. There's there's nothing better that after a long week at work, you get on a Saturday morning in the car, you open it, it's six AM I love to just get super early. Let it warm up. Yeah. Let it warm up. You get on it and it smells it smells different. It just does the oil that comes through it. |
| James Stacey | That it's fantastic. Yeah, vintage cars, I think, I think for people who have never owned or had a lot of experience, uh the driving experience isn't always amazing. Like actually driving the car can actually be quite stressful, difficult, you know, and if it's your vintage car you learn the little things that keep it where it's happy. But the the part that people don't understand until even if you just get a ride in a car or you go along on a you know a cars and coffee Saturday, it is it's the smell, it's the vibration, it's the road noise that's entirely especially, you know, even going back to the mid eighties, the experience is so much more um simple, but it also feels so much less insulated |
| Andreas Nichols | . It it is also like, you know, for for those uh many people who have uh vintage cars or old cars will get this is be ready to have your heartbroken. Oh, sure. Because at some point we all get through it. In my case, I got uh I got a beautiful uh a beautiful 9-11 that had only like 24,000 original miles. You know, 40-year-old car with 22,000 miles. Fantastic. Well, not so good. Because that those cars need to be ridden. They need to be driven, right? And think that the first thing that happens is they clutch gave up and there was a lot of things. So it's like those for first months of ownership and making these machines yours uh are super important, but be ready to have it heartbroken because it always going to be like, oh Did I make the right thing? And then it's a little bit like it watches, you know, I know we call it patina in cars, has the same things. And some things are things that you want to work at it, some you don't, and there's one in my car that is very interesting. And it bugs the handcount of my wife. Is my seatbelt when it retracts? It sounds a little bit like a small seal. Like it does it, uh, and it's like and I love it, you know, and it's interesting. My wife saying this, put some oil on that thing. That just like it's simple. There's something about the romanticism of the sounds and sights and things of the car that's suddenly just |
| James Stacey | make it yours and it just it's fantastic. I'd agree. Yeah, and I I like I like that experience. I like the experience of older cars. You just you have to understand that they will let you down. Oh totally, you know, it's like the the phrase that donut kind of uh popularized, like cars are pain |
| Andreas Nichols | . I know. I look I I I want to I want to knock a wood, uh hopefully this is real wood because I don't need it. But uh after the first set of like changes, I think that in just kind of maintenance and everything, then those cars are super reliable, right? That is especially true for those 3.2 engines. And you know, the 915 gear box is fantastic. So it takes a little bit to get them where you want to get them, but after that, it just' likes the the the enjoyment of those cars they're not the fastest ones they're not the smoothest ones if you go for a long ride is like if you went to the gym you come home a little bit beaten uh suspension is not amazing. You feel especially for those of us who live in the big cities, you know, every pothole goes to your body. That's a needs to be. But I can promise you that anybody after one of those drives come back home with a smile on their face. That's just something that is like, ah, that was it's for me, that's therapy. That's all the money that I haven't spent in any kind of like, you know, uh therapy I spent it on |
| James Stacey | on on just getting that sensation. I think I think that last line a lot of our audience will understand. Whether it's watches or cars. Yes, totally. There's an element of this that is therapy for sure. Well, I'm curious what uh as far as the watch side of it goes, and it could be Porsche design or theoretically otherwise. What's kind of captured your fascination even just in the last couple of years? Because watches changed a lot over the pandemic in terms of the way that the audience interfaced with them and the way that we now buy watches and all and all this sort of stuff. So you'd said you've got the Japan LE that we did with Porsche design, which is I I think a fantastic uh watch, but also it's a watch that sticks very closely to an established format. So uh you know you have to give credit to FA Porsche there, uh more so than perhaps any of our any of our designers. But uh what what do you what are you excited about in in watches these days? I love complications. I love |
| Andreas Nichols | some of those and I love when watch brands are able to deliver extremely complex kind of like make you know like movements and mechanisms and things into its packages. So I I my favorite complication is always you know apart from the chrono, it's always been the perpetual calendar. Sure. Uh that to me, it's just magic. That's just magic. You know, like in this day and age where we live into a digital world of one and zeros where nothing can be really explained. The idea that there is something in your wrist that has all these little pieces, some of them just move every four years. Some of them know when there's a 28 versus a 29, a 30, and a 31 moon cycles over the next hundred years. Come on. That's the definition of back. Fabulous. Same thing that when a plane takes off and you're like, how the heck this thing is still flying? That happens a little bit with uh with the perpetual right so the perpetual has that um so i i have you know on top of the uh of the chrono one i have a couple of those that i find super close to my heart um the beauty is different from some of the more integrated bracelet watches. Um, nobody knows what they are. You can just ride anywhere. Be I'm in London right now. Also, like knock on wood, nothing happens, but uh uh but it's just some some of those things that are more personal and more for you the for everybody else and and |
| James Stacey | i love those i love those watches yeah i was just just thinking about this the other day you know there's a there's a uh you know in the multiverse there's another history where IWC stayed aligned with with Porsche design and we ended up with a with a perpetual calendar with the digital year in a in a 41 uh chronograph one case and in my mind that feels like something I need to make in Photoshop. That that would be |
| Andreas Nichols | so good. I had I had some of the uh of the QPs from my WC. So I had but that they come like 46. I have I had like 46 uh you know millimeter package. They're beautiful. And and this was the one I had was the the black ceramic one. The big pilot. Yeah, the big pilot. Yes. Very cool. I I st stillill have have like my hand is still has the I think the the scar of wearing this the crown of like just like nothing just hidden No it's not but but it's still a beautiful iconic watch so so that combo will be fascinating. You know, just at some point the replacement of the three uh displays for petrol uh displays, oh, that'll be beautiful. |
| James Stacey | It'd be pretty exciting. I think so, yeah. I and who knows? I mean now now that we're at a point where Cours Design is manufacturing their watches in Solothurn. I've been to the manufacturer. Uh it's very impressive and a huge amount of customization available, something that obviously they learn from being able to customize the cars. They take the exact same philosophy and uh and sort of um working process to bring customization into the watches. So who knows? I think it's possible we could see more and more movement advancements now that they've got the the new chronograph movement under the belt in several watches and up and running. So I think it's uh it's an exciting future for sure. What uh in your collection today, what what kind of stands as the as the Porsche design. So no look I yeah, ye |
| Andreas Nichols | ah, no, I think that the the the Chrono one is is definitely the the the watch uh that I I I love to have and love to collect it away. Uh I you know, I still want to find one uh from nineteen eighty five. I want to do something where I do a little bit of pairing of the car and the watts. But thus uh I'm on the hunt. So if anybody knows, let me know. Just you know it'd be fantastic to have that quarter one from nineteen eighty five. Uh and the on the rest there's something really unique about those stories that you start to do the eighty five with the eighty five. So it's not to connect all those things, you know, because it connects you to a time and a moment. Uh work where we all love it. But it's usually mostly just chrono chrono ones, the chronograph ones, uh from Portia Designs, the ones that I feel that are just absolutely timeless. The one that at some point I see it's very funny because I I have a couple of other um uh interesting watches and I can I can see my son, the only one he puts his eyes on isn't the force he designed the chronolog. He's like that, that's cool. So yeah has bought me he's bought me he's bought me some uh some sun credits as well on that one. So you know it's the one that someday he will love to just wear and it |
| James Stacey | would be fantastic for him to just do it. Well, I mean, one of the other pluses, we were we were chatting very briefly before we started, the kind of the pluses between getting into watches is a little bit easier than cars. Obviously, there's depending on the watch, a financial difference, but also just storing them, uh caring for them. James, is that is that is that a true assessment these days with the crazy watches we see in the market? I don't know. Some of the watches are even you know more difficult than cars. For sure. But I would say that is in terms of sharing a something with somebody else, a watch is even easier than a car. You can always take someone for a ride and I'm I'm sure your sons uh love that experience and that sort of thing, but |
| Andreas Nichols | it doesn't have the also the complication that sometimes the the the cars have. Like again, some of these things are complex into the drive and yep. It's like they require a relationship with the car. Yeah, no, no, no. And it's interesting, they they produce sometimes even fear. Like in my family, nobody wants to touch the nine eleven because it's like you know so when we go on the n yeah when that when we go on the nine eleven I know I won't be able to have a drink or anything because my wife will just say we're taking an Uber after that. We're not just driving on that thing. She's not going to be able to there's there's some complexity on that. I think watches have more simplicity to understand what it is and to really connect them. There's also some of the daily wearing on a watch that makes it easier to create a creator connection. Uh, but both are are absolutely fantastic. I think that for those of us who've been able now to to get some of this classic car experience with Porsche and definitely just pair that with Porsche design is fantastic. You know what what I I also love about Porsche Design? They're sunglasses. I love the sunglasses I think they've done a fantastic job at creating something that has the functionality but what they've done with the materials, uh especially they're super light and everything, they're absolutely remarkable. I don't think that they get as much credit as they should, and they're absolutely fantastic. Like that's something that is always been part of my sunglass, you know, approach all the |
| James Stacey | time. Sure. Yeah. I think I've I've had this conversation with other friends who are obsessed with brands in general, um, not just watches or not just cars, but Porsche Design has an uphill battle because there's so many other brands that saw what they've done since the you know the early 70s and sort of co-opted the the the way that they do it, but not the execution. It's like the format is there, but they don't follow through. So I think I think when people see Porsche design sunglasses, you think like, oh, Porsche design slap their label on some sunglasses they could get from somewhere else. And the way the brand works is actually way more specific than that. And they often, if they're doing something even close to that, they're finding the finest product and then they're putting their own spin on it. So because the cool thing is you can, you know, if there was a catalog of Porsche design, you could flip from a hard drive to a watch to a pair of sunglasses to like I said uh uh the train cars in Vienna and see a connective tissue that's there. |
| Andreas Nichols | Yeah you know what is the the the the the the confusion that happens in this one this is close to my heart this somebody who works in the world of brands is that uh Porsche design is not just branded merchandise by Porsche, right? This is by Porsche, right? You know, in a way, it is what they done with the brand from the origins about creating products that really bring to life that portion it, you know, design sensitivity and connectivity with everything is special, right? I think that that's what sometimes when you have a a I'm going to call it a sister brand or a sibling brand uh like Porsche, and you have Porsche design. I think that tends to create a confusion of some of these things being more branded merchandise. And the reality is what they've done as their as as as a brand and what they've done with design and with really crafting uh beautiful objects across all the different categories they've done is is absolutely fantastic. But I think that you're right. I think that that's when people get it's always about frame of reference and the frame of reference, especially with other car brands, is not as much as we have with Porsche Design. And that's what is a bit of an uphill uphill battle. But the moment you discover it, the moment you start to get deep into it, you can understand that this is not just let's swap a logo, let's put a thing on it and call it that |
| James Stacey | . Yeah. I I would say like the thing I always try and make clear is whatever you may think about a given one design or or something else from Porsche design, nothing they do is casual. They take it always to the to the final limit. You look at the the the history of even the watch part of the brand, you know, they've they've moved from different suppliers and partners always trying to find the right mix that made sense for the product. And then finally that meant going all the way back to being owned by Porsche AG and being part of the structure of the company and and the rest of it and and that means something to Germans. Right? Like like the the the corporate structure is important to the way the family interfaces with the brand, the way the brand interfaces with the family name, all that kind of stuff. And it it leads to something that's I think a little bit occluded by what somebody might already know about the car or the watch or the sunglasses and it not translating across the way that it might if you took the time to really understand the whole scope. 'Cause I think there is like you said right at the top of the conversation, there is like a connective line through a lot of what the brand makes, whether it's a car or a watch or or you know, sunglasses or something like that. I I think the the the the thing on this |
| Andreas Nichols | one, James, that is really interesting is great design, uh apart from finding an expression that connects with people emotional. It has a sense of purpose, right? There's there's definitely a a purpose uh driven design language that is being used in this brand that I think is pretty unique and that has resisted the temptations of time to just create something new for the sake of creating something new. And understanding that an evolution on something that works really well could be pretty minimal and it's more about technology, materials. How do you just make this some some of these things to just get them access? So think that that's what they've done pretty well. I think that all the brands we love and admire, you can start to feel that as a thread that goes across all of them. Sure. Where design is not um it's not just it's just not not not the core, but is core to what they are and who they are |
| James Stacey | as a brand and what they stand for. Sure. Sure. Well look, we've got o only a couple minutes left. I wan I obviously want to be respectful of your time. I'm really enjoying this chat. So I I do need to watch the clock. Um I'm I'd let's close it out with something simple. What would you love to see from Porsche design in the future? Like if if you were put in charge of the next couple years of the brand, or let's say you were made the CEO today, but what would what would be like |
| Andreas Nichols | wow, I think I would love to see from them a um a chrono package that I can put on the car, right? Like the same things that TAC have done that at some point has the chrono pack. It will be interesting to find some integration between uh the timepieces and the car and the dashboard and the gauges and the whole thing. That'll be really interesting. A force design, two chrono not because by the way I don't run any labs my I go up the palisades and by the palisades so that it's not like I'm but there's something really beautiful about the performing quality of those kind of all chronos that you put an attach to your dashboard, that'll be a fantastic thing to do. And I know that's very niche, but it'd be beautiful to have somet |
| James Stacey | hing like that from Porsche design. I mean, the cool thing is, is there's a lot of brands that couldn't figure that out, but between Porsche and Porsche design, it could be a a box in the configurator for your nine eleven. And you could get uh you know, uh whether it's a lapse time or t a twin twin chrono or something like that, like you'd see on on like you said from old Hoyer and and that sort of stuff. So I I like it. See, here you go. See you up for the day. We got the idea. There you go. Free ideas, Porsche Design. Uh get it, Andreas, if you need it. Man, thank you so much for this chat. It's an absolute treat just to sit down and and chat with you. And please just give me a call anytime. We don't have to record it. I could do this. I could do this for the long time. But this is great |
| Andreas Nichols | . Thank you so much. Absolutely appreciate it. There's the timing. It's the best time. You made my day. This convers conversation about Porsche Dad and Porsche is nothing gets better than this. So thank you so much and really great see |
| James Stacey | ing you. Absolutely. And a big thank you to our friends at Porsche Design for helping make this episode happen. If you have any questions or comments, leave it in the uh obviously the comment section on the site. And uh big thank you to Andreas for coming on the show and uh we'll chat to you soon on a future episode |