H10 Greatest Hits¶
Published on Mon, 29 Apr 2019 10:00:15 +0000
The very best from some of the watch world's most interesting and influential players, recorded live at The HODINKEE 10th Anniversary Weekend.
Synopsis¶
This episode of Hodinki Radio presents highlights from the Hodinki 10th Anniversary celebration (H10), featuring a curated selection of conversations with prominent figures from across the watch world. Host Stephen Pulverant introduces various panel discussions and one-on-one interviews that took place during the weekend event.
The episode covers a wide range of topics central to modern watch collecting and the industry. Aurel Bacs discusses the evolution of watch auctions, revealing that the Paul Newman Daytona was purchased by a passionate enthusiast rather than a billionaire or corporation, and explains how the auction market has expanded from 100 bidders in the 1990s to over 2,000 participants today. Vintage watch dealers Eric Wind, Matt Bain, and Alex Ciani share their most memorable "barn finds," including rare Patek Philippe pieces discovered in unexpected places. Industry leaders like François-Henri Bennahmias from Audemars Piguet and Wilhelm Schmid from A. Lange & Söhne discuss how their brands evolved from cult favorites to classics, with Bennahmias revealing that the iconic Royal Oak 15202 was nearly discontinued in 2011.
Collectors Howie Kendrick, Aldus Hodge, and Wei Co share their collecting philosophies and how their tastes have evolved, emphasizing the importance of learning from mistakes and buying watches that resonate personally. The episode also features discussions on dive watch collecting with Reza Rashidian, Jason Heaton, and Aura CEO Rolf Studer, exploring both the history and future of the category. Design conversations touch on whether vintage-inspired watches represent a trend or a return to fundamental principles, with perspectives from IWC, Vacheron Constantin, and Bulgari executives. The episode concludes with practical advice for new collectors and Joe Thompson reflecting on his milestone first year at Hodinki.
Links¶
Transcript¶
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| Unknown | It's kind of hard to believe, but the Hodinki 10th anniversary celebration was almost five months ago. We were recently talking about this in the Hodinki office, and we all feel a little bit nostalgic, even though I guess that's not that long ago. Here on Hodinki Radio, you've already heard two of the conversations that took place that weekend in their entirety. You heard Joe Thompson talk to Jean-Claude Beaver, and you heard myself and John Buse talk to Alton Brown. If you haven't heard those, after you listen to this, go check those out, they're fantastic. But talking about it amongst ourselves, we realized that we all have our own favorite moments from H10, and we thought it would be fun to share those with you. So today you're gonna get a selection of highlights from across the H10 weekend. You're gonna hear a lot of familiar voices, some you might not recognize, and you'll get a lot of different perspectives on basically every facet of the watch world. We've got Davide Parmigiani and John Goldberger talking about how the Italians have influenced watch collecting. We have Arel Box talking about the modern auction market. And we've got folks like Aldus Hodge and Howie Kendrick talking about why they even collect watches in the first place. It's a bunch of fun conversations. I'm gonna get out of the way and let you enjoy them. I'm your host, Stephen Pulverant, and this is Hodinky Radio |
| Unknown | . And so today we wanted to talk about things that are a little bit out of the ordinary. Uh you know, Aurel is is never afra |
| Unknown | id to uh to deal with things head on, frankly, you know. Up first we've got Arelbox talking to our own Ben Climber about all things watch auctions. Aurel even gets a little bit into m who bought or maybe who didn't buy the Paul Newman Daytona. |
| Unknown | So uh first things first, uh who bought the Paul Newman? I had a feeling that was coming, but let me first say congratulations Odinki. I think it's amazing what you guys did in the last ten years. Um and you do a huge service to the community, uh bringing transparency information to the world. Um what was the question? Um well I guess you know my answer. All I can say it was not a corporation. It was not. It was not a Russian drug lord. It was not um a mexican uh narco dealer yeah um it was a really an incredibly passionate wonderful person I didn't say man or woman, um, who's possibly watching right now with the watch on the wrist. So this person was and we won't spend too much time on this, but this person was part of the watch community. It wasn't some billionaire, it wasn't that that had never bought from you before or anything like that? Um that person has already purchased other watches from us before. So a real enthusiast then has upon them. That there you go. You have it. You heard it here from it. Maybe not in the room? No. So, you know, the the the auction world has changed so much, even over the course of my career, which is admittedly much shorter than yours. Uh well what what has been the driving force between A, the rise in prices at auction and then also the rise in controversy at auction. You know, I think ten years ago there's a few people here, John Goldberger, for example, Davide Parmajani, who have been here from the early days, but so many of us really came around in the last five or six years. How have things changed for you? It's it's it's been an amazing 10 years, um, the last 10 years. Um why the rising prices? I think back to the 90s when I stood for the first time uh on a rostrum, ad mod most we had 50 people in the room. At most, 20 telephone bidders, 10 absentee bidders, that's it. So that means a good auction had 100 bidders. Today, uh, looking back to this fall season, we have between two and four hundred people in the room. Um, and that's the minority in terms of the group. We have over 300 telephone bidders, over 600 online bidders, and then we have another type of bidders, the advanced bidders, those who can submit bids. So we have about 1,500 to 2,000 people uh actively participating. The volume of the auctions has come down. We had, I remember one once I had 550 watches in an auction catalogue at Christie's. Yeah. And today we're looking at max 200 uh if if if if we're lucky. And I say lucky because we're really struggling to find the quality watches that we would like to offer. So that means we have probably about six to eight times more bidders than watches. So that means we have a shortage in property or not enough supply for the demand. The community has grown exponentially. Right. Whereas the the pool of good watches hasn't grown. In fact, it has probably even become less. So that is one explanation why rising prices. Um what has changed? Of course the internet has changed uh our industry radically. Many good things have come. Um the community can now share information so much easier than uh we heard it from Matt uh yesterday, um that there was just no information available, it was trial and error. Um yes, you could go to pawnbrokers and find um Paul Newman's. But today we have uh so much information, I feel sometimes too much information. Um we have scholars that I've never even heard of. They are going by Happy Girl111 on Instagram. On Instagram, and they say um uh this guy from the auction house should go to jail and um the bezel on that um uh hoyer is is a fake. Like wow, where's that coming from? Yeah, where is all the hoyer, the senior community is embracing the watch. So I think we have um everything goes much faster, everything is much more intense, uh it's more competitive. Uh I think when when as long as a great watch was a thousand dollars. There was no need to be uh jealous, to be aggressive, to be uh uh even mean at at times uh to your peers. The same watch today is fifty thousand And we see sometimes uh energies that I w |
| Unknown | ished wouldn't be there. Cutting back into aurel's conversation with Ben, we're gonna hear about a couple of career highlights. He'll touch on the Paul Newman, but he's also gonna get into a time that he was on the other side of the auction |
| Unknown | . So let's talk a little bit about some of your your highlights, your your most memorable moments in in watches. Uh we'll begin with the Henry Graves sale. So you were the I guess the the purchaser of that watch on behalf of of somebody else who I guess will remain. Thank you. Yes. Um I don't have a twenty four million dollar watch at home. Yes, so thank you. Which by the way is funny. The night I bought that watch, um, I came home and our twelve, well back then she was uh eight. Uh Livia and I come home and uh she's where do you come from? I said, Well, we just bought that auction of 24 million dollar watch. And she said, and how are we gonna pay for that? Um So um yes, the it it was it was an extraordinary um uh emotional roller coaster to me. Um And this just to give some context here. So you had you had left Christie's. You had not had you had announced that you'd be working with Phillips? I forget. So you had not yet announced that you'd be working with Philip. Around the same Yeah, you broke the news. I think it was two or three days after we announced uh that the new uh Phillips project. So timed masterfully, no doubt. And so you your coming out party, I guess, after a year of I guess a non-compete with Christie's was coming in into the Sotheby's comp aeting sale room and buying the most expensive watch in history? Yes. Uh friend, I shall say, who um asked me, What do you think of that watch? And I said, you know what? This is the endgame. The end game in horology. It's um the peak of collaboration between masters from the Valley de Joux. Um it was years and years of work. It has an incredible uh sort of career with the Time Museum, with just from Henry Graves to where it is now. I think I really think you should think about it. And he was like, I don't know, I don't know. It's it's a lot of money. Um why don't you sit six or eight million? He asked me, do you go to the auction? Because there's a Daytona in there that I I I'd like you to t to look out for me. Sure, I go. What I didn't realize is the Daytona was two or three lots before the Henry Gray Supercomplication. So he says, call me for the Daytona. So we were bidding 65, 70, 75, 80,000. Fair warning, 80 e,ighty thousand sold. Well, okay, years now. And then he asked me, um, when is the the big thing coming up? And I thought, he doesn't even know what he's talking about, the big thing. Um I said, it's in two or three lots. And he said, Are you gonna be in the room? I said, Yeah, I'm I'm gonna be in the room. I I can't miss this. Okay, do you mind if we're staying on the phone and I listen in? Sure. So he knew already a month or two before when it was announced he wanted to watch, but he did not reveal that intention to me. And at one point the biting starts: 5-5-5-6-6-5. Remember Claude was an early bitter. And at one point he says, bid. What do you mean? Raise your paddle. Like, my paddle? Aid me. And we went all the way. So that that that's a first off. So total emotional roller coaster. Um it it it was obviously a huge privilege to be uh entrusted with that because of course he could have gone himself, he could have done telephone bidding, he could have done an absentee bit, but he wanted to go via me and that I thought was for me really The man in the red tie, so he was wearing a beautiful red tie that night. So you really didn't know that you'd be bidding on on the most expensive watch in history that night. No, I promise. That's that's fascinating. And so the the the underbitter, I believe. You have plenty of them the underbid like the ten million dollar bid from Tiffany I didn't know just in case anybody was wondering I did not know maybe you were asking that were you the the the opening bid or the second bid for the Paul Newman was 10 million dollars. And how did were you happy about that? Did that kind of throw off your rhythm? Totally. Um and it wasn't uh staged or played. Um uh when you watched a video, uh you you guys did a great video. Um so a Italian billionaire, and I really mean billionaire, you can look him up on the Forbes list. He's there with a big number of billions. Um via his agent comes to me um 2 minut0es before the auction and he says look my budget is five million like wow five million and I'd like to open the bidding with five million do you mind? J toust do a bit of and I said, don't you dare. He said, why not? You're gonna ruin the momentum, you know it has to go 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5. Don't you dare doing that. Oh come on, let's have fun. And I said, you know the auctioneer can refuse any bit. So don't you even try. I will I will just kn ignore you. Okay. I'll I'll play by the book. So we start with a commission bid, one million dollar in the book, one million dollar. And I hear Tiffany shouting, a million dollar. Two million? Ten. Like you gotta be kidding me. And that to me was then like like ten minutes of silence. In those seconds that um if you look at the video, you you can see there's like what's going on? I look at the Italian guy in front of me and I can just read his lips. Like you you don't let me do that? What about her? So I was like under pressure from an Italian billionaire looking at me like what are you doing? So I had to play fair, but then I thought wait a second. Did I hear 10 million? 10 million, 10 million. I wasn't hoping or expecting anything near 10 million. Sure. I started doing the math and I said, 10 million plus buyer's premium, that's more than the steel 1518. I mean, I'm not gonna refuse that bid just for the sake of giving twenty-eight guys. You know, we had um premium pedals. The premium pedal was you had to really give additional bank references, etc. There were 28 guys registered for the watch on the phone and in the room. I'm like, 28 guys came for nothing? Because Tiffany is just bulldozering the room. And I said, okay I'll take it and I was just like please is there anyone who gives me 10 million and one dollar just for the the so at least it's an auction yeah and then of course Natalie eleven I mean so nonchalant um so so happy end in the end. That's amazing. And Nell Newman crying, James Cox nervous in front of us. It was I think I lost like four pounds uh during that auction |
| Unknown | . Next up, we're gonna hear from a panel moderated by John Buse, and we're gonna hear how collectors Howie Kendrick, Aldus Hodge, and Wei Co. got started collecting and how their collecting philosophies have evolved over the years |
| Unknown | . And I've also noticed uh in some of the collectors that I've observed, uh, you can see an evolution in the watches that they buy, and you can see their tastes clearly changing. So I'm interested to know from you gentlemen, you know, how have your tastes uh tastes changed over time? Are there watches that you're now looking after that you wouldn't have even thought about, say, five, six years ago? Hmm. Would you like to start? You you you back to your book um so I I I suppose my my pathway with into collecting was a little weird because I didn't start off as a collector uh with an interest in the acquisition of watches. I started off designing. So I was interested in learning how watches work. So I started buying pieces that taught me certain things. So I collect engineers' minds. So whenever I buy a piece is specifically because of what that thing teaches me or that engineer who's done something very specific, you know. There's a hit list that I can't exactly afford right right now. You know what I'm saying but I'm working my way up so uh as the jobs get better the watches jump in there you know what I mean like you know we got guys like uh uh one of my my favorite pieces is uh uh Gerald Genta, October Retro, uh just acquired a Daniel Roth. Uh I'm wearing the Arnold and Son Golden Wheel because of the work from uh Sebastian Chaumonthe. Um but I study these people and I, you know, so there's very much a hit list on on, you know, there's a few months there's Group of Force, the Gronville brothers, y'all up in here, of course NBNF, Carivut Lenin, F.B. John, I study the innovations that they've taught me with in terms of design, and that's how I collect. So, you know, again, as the opportunity gets better to acquire these people, these these these innovations and their their pe a pieces of their DNA, then it grows. A lot of in a lot of independence, it sounds like you're interested in. Very much so, yeah. But rest assured, when I first started buying watches, it was just simply just buying watches. It wasn't, I wasn't paying attention to what I was getting. This is back when I was a teenager, you know what I mean? Look at the watch dude And it was like, I look at it now like bruh what were you doing? Why? You know, but uh yeah, I c I collect uh I collect innovators. So that's great. Would anyone else else like to do that? I'm actually like I I got into collecting like him, I would just buy stuff. And I mean Kevin were talking about that earlier too. It was like, man, I've got these watches, but you know, it wears off, that that high wears off eventually. And you're like, man, I just bought this watch, and then you're having buyer's remorse because you're like, man, I don't really like it anymore. And then it's tough to take it back and like, all right, man, I'm gonna get something else because i don't really like this one as much but so it you learn your lessons along the way it's not that you're not gonna make mistakes it's win and you have to learn the hard way in this industry and I felt like I've done it a couple of times one one time too many. But uh, you know, that's the fun part of it too, because without mistakes, you couldn't progress and you wouldn't learn more. And I felt like I found out who I was as a watch collector by making some of those mistakes, and then it just I started buying a lot of the same watches, and I'm big on useful watches. Like I always I'm always doing stuff with my hands. I like chronographs, I like tool watches, I mean I like stuff that's functional, dual time zone, you know, things like that, because I travel back and forth. I'm always on different sides of the country and it just things like that like that you get into and you learn like okay I'm probably gonna really like this watch you know because I know like this is what I'm used to buying and I hate to say that because I like to step out of the mold sometimes but I have to really love it to do that and like I said just because I collect chronographs or tool watches doesn't mean I won't buy something like a Seiko that just tells time. Sure. You know for me it's about okay am I drawn to that watch. And you know, you have brands like Nomos that are unbelievable. And I would I that's probably gonna be one of my next watches because I've been looking at them for about probably about a year now. I just haven't pulled the trigger. But I will eventually get there and I will do that. But pull that trigger, brother. Go on pull the trigger. Do it today. Tonight. Oh no. It's in the near future, I'll say. My anniversary's coming up, so Wade? Sure. Um first of all, I think that'd be a great article. Uh you know, that the biggest mistake I made in watches. Um but and it's true, everyone, if you you have to have that buyer's remorse to sort of refine your thinking. I think when it comes to new watches, I try to find things that um in some ways can be a little bit more personal, you know, some things that are made in maybe smaller amounts, and if I have access to them and and I really, you know, feel and I I also have to really like the person that made the the watch as well or, the company that makes the watch, right? I mean there's some of the most extraordinary watches in the world, but like the guy, for example, who might be a bit arrogant, and I've just I've just never gotten into those brands, you know. Um when it comes to uh vintage watches, uh, I guess right that that you know it was interesting to listen to the the conversation with the vintage dealers yesterday because I guess everyone is chasing condition. But the problem is that because there's so much pressure to create for the best condition watches, you're developing a whole industry that creates great condition watches, if you know what I'm saying, right? There's laser welding today where people can sinter fresh stainless steel onto a beat up case and repolish it to make it into a new old stock case. There's a ton of Franken watches, probably more Franken watches out there than there are actual watches. So I guess then the next thing is provenance, right? So because provenance maybe gives you a little bit more assurance of that watch if that's important to you, had the integrity to begin with. And then the other thing would be watches with just incredible history, as as Graham was mentioning. Like I like everyone else, I made a I made a run for uh Gunther Blimline's wife's 3705. It was such a cool watch, but you know, it got away from me. And then it was amazing because someone Instagram me, uh Dr. Direct messaged me on Instagram and he said, Hey, incidentally I'm bought that watch, and I just want you to know that um I Günther Blumland's my hero and that's the reason why I bought that watch. And he knew the entire history. I mean it was very, very meaningful to him. So now I'm gonna go meet him and interview him about that person. That's so cool. Yeah that's that'll be a great |
| Unknown | story. Yeah. One of my personal favorite panels from the weekend was called From Cult to Classic. And Jack sat down and talked to Francois Henri Benamias, the CEO of Autumnar PGay, and Wilhelm Schmid, the CEO of Langenzona. They're two brands you might not immediately think of together. They have a lot in common, they have a lot that's not in common, uh, but Francois and Wilhelm have a pretty amazing dynamic and really speak to how you can grow a global luxury watch brand in two very different ways |
| Unknown | . I guess the first question is do you feel that's a valid thesis? And if so, why? Beauty before age. You're a lot longer in the industry than me. We gotta go on like this for forty-five minutes. That's gonna be extremely fun. You guys you guys sure you need to part? No joking us no jokes I didn't get the the question actually I have to join you it was a long question though I mean seriously this, isn't our language. Could you please could you speak articulate? |
| Unknown | I feel like asking long unintelligible questions is kind of my USP though. But I'll give it a shot. I'll give a shot. So uh okay. So both of your companies uh went from being uh to a certain extent insider companies, which now appe |
| Unknown | al to a much broader audience, so from cult company to from cult from cult brand to classic brand. Uh do you feel that that's an accurate statement and if so wh |
| Unknown | y it kinda is. Um and at the same time we went so far we are now so far away from that over the last I would say seven years. When we celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the Royal Oak, a lot of the watches from the collection were actually in trouble. And the brand was not performing as well. We are making many limited editions, especially on the offshore line, not on the Rilok. So the Rylook was selling less than the offshore. Some of our clients were actually coming at us and say, guys, stop what you're doing, it's not right for the brand. You are going away from what you should do. And then the 40th anniversary came. I'm gonna share a secret with you. So sorry for it, so just for context, 40th anniversary was what year? In uh 2012. Okay, great. So in two thousand eleven we were selling roughly hundred and fifty fifteen two oh two ST which is the original watch from nineteen seventy two. And it was selling mostly in Italy, a little bit in Germany, and nowhere else. Then we came up with the 40th anniversary and that watch now is selling like crazy and we are not making a lot, we're making 750 of those every year. And today everybody wants it. It was almost dead in 2011. That's really hard to belie |
| Unknown | ve. I mean, uh, I mean, it's not uh not hard to believe per se, but I think uh if you ask the average watch enthusiast, you know, how well has the Royal Oak been doing, you know, what you'll hear back is, oh, the Royal Oak has been it's been the mainstay of Audemar Piget for four, I don't know, twenty twenty years, forty years, uh, it's |
| Unknown | always done incredibly well. Um, it's the pillar of the company, both economically and from a design standpoint. And you're saying as recently as two t |
| Unknown | housand eleven that was not the case. It was the case in terms of sell sales. Right, right. It was not the case in terms of real true perceived value. And we worked very hard on this to actually build it back up because we have this is our icon watch obviously and it's respected by many other people in the watch industry but we are not doing what was right exactly right. So we have to rework the entire thing, put quality at every level, and we are finally getting there. But ve very few people knew actually what it was. Remember when I started here in the United States in 1999, I mean Odomar Piaget was pronounced most of the time Oudemar Pi Oudemar Piaget. We still have some people who come to our store on fifty seven and say, yeah, I want the polo. Yeah. Good luck finding it here. It's okay. Um so it took us many, many years actually to build that back, but there is so much history and and serious seriousness actually behind the brand that it we had to wait until this 40th anniversary to really So nineteen ninety nine, this this is uh sort of an interesting year for me personally. Oh sure sure. Yeah he's just he's just making a bridge from you to meet very elegantly with nineteen ninety, I guess. Anyway |
| Unknown | . So 1999 199 |
| Unknown | 9, um the uh I was involved with the the with the purists.com back in those days, and uh AP was very much talked about obviously there. Um Longenzona was uh talked about very much there. And you know this, is this is this was very early days for the Watch Internet. It was still mostly the magazines which were on the newsstands next to the uh model railroading and doll collecting magazines. So that's kind of that's kind of where we were in 1999. And um Langansana was uh was a very big deal uh for a very small community. But a very big deal for a very small community |
| Unknown | . And I think that's still true to today. Um if I compare our little brand with you know Odemar Piggy, who's been on uninterrupted history, he's been around for a long, long time. Yeah, there may have been better days and not so good days, but they were always around. We did not exist from 1948 to 1994, really. We were refounded 1990, but of course, only very few people were involved, and only very few people know. And there's an easy test, I can play that with you, and you are all experts. But hands up, who knows what A lange undöhne means? Lange sons. Yes. Because you have no idea how many time I'm being asked who is Mr. Zona. You know you laugh about it, but that's uh think about in a Chinese context of people that are not used to German language. Um it's also quite difficult to pronounce, um, ask me. Launch. Sometimes people talk about launch, they think shit, what are they talking about? Before I then realized in that context is probably Langer. So I I think we're still in the very early beginnings, so the best is yet to come. We do good, taking into consideration that we really only will exist twenty-five years next year. Um and we we can be proud that the Lange One is literally untouched for twenty-five years and ask François, how many products are really unchanged in the industry for that amount of time and still be a bestseller? That's a little bit like your Royal Oak on a much smaller scale though. But you know that's that I think just talks a lot about the quality um of the people that have created that watch, which isn't me. That was Mr. Blumden and Mr. Langer who came up with that brilliant idea. And I'm pretty sure without that watch, that design, that lack of the moment, I wouldn't sit here and talk about Alain and Zuna |
| Unknown | . Beyond talking about his own brand, Francois also touches on the overall opportunity for growth in the watch world. It's a lot larger than you might expect |
| Unknown | . You know, it's funny, it's funny. There are obviously differences in scale, but differences in production numbers between AP and uh and long zona. Um but uh for me at least and I think you know possibly for others as well |
| Unknown | there's a perception that AP is still a |
| Unknown | rather small company as uh you know as these things go uh still |
| Unknown | This is extremely important actually when you made when you made the uh you gave the numbers of what she's made since nineteen ninety-four, I always make the analysis with the biggest player of all, Rolex. Yeah. We looked at recently our numbers since 1875. And we are not there yet in Tampa. If you had all these years all together and we always made watches in the history of the brand, there is not a single year that went with zero watches. The lowest production ever was two watches. Okay? But we always made watches. And if you had all the quantities since 1875, we are not even reaching what would a trade Rolex produce in one year. Just incidentally, those two watches were this was uh during the Depression, I believe, and those two watches were were were uh comp very complicated watches. At the beginning of the company they were mostly complicated watches. Absolutely. So when we think that that we are at 40,000 watches today, I always use true and pure mathematics. We are 8 billion people on the planet. When we talk about ultra-net worth individuals, you always talk about the 1%. So 1% is 80 million. You know what? Divide that number by four. Make it only twenty million. Now when you reach twenty million on this planet, you are talking about the highest possible income people. Okay? It's you are the top of the top. If you take now all the watch companies last year from and I'm gonna mention everybody or I'm gonna miss someone but uh Panera, Géger, Blancin, Breguet, Patek, Richard Mill, Langue, Piaget, Vachron, Audemar, Audemar, Audemar, and obviously Piget. Then we say how many watches did we all make together? I'm putting Rolex out of the equation, no judgment call. It's a much bigger company, okay? Yeah. But no judgment call. Those watch lines alone, we made all together between five and six hundred thousand watches. Right. Five to six hundred thousand watches in front of a potential crowd of clients of 20 million minimum. Minimum minimum. So when we hear every day you guys are dead and the smartwatches will take over and there is nothing going on anymore and we want you to die, die right now. Peace of watch. I always say that no, but that's what it is actually. You should see the journalist coming to us, not him though. Um and say, when are you guys dying? And uh and the thing is we've seen lately a lot of young people coming to the brand and to watchmaking. So it means that as long as you touch the specific part in your brain, which is the emotional towards skills, craft, exclusivity, the time it takes to make beautiful objects, our life should be actually fantastically great for the years to come |
| Unknown | . It's no secret that the vintage watch world has changed a lot and pretty quickly too. Kara sat down with a few well-known watch dealers, including Eric Wynne, Matt Bain, and Alex Ciani, to talk about the craziest pieces that they've found during their careers |
| Unknown | . I when I first started in the business, it was a whole nother realm. I mean there were no cell phones, so we have a a much longer period of time to get information about the values of watches. And for me, I think that was a lot more fun because it really was a wild goose chase. We were like the wild, wild west going into pawn shops, jewelry stores. You could walk into any jewelry store, and probably one out of five times you might even find a Paul Newman. That's how readily available these watches were, but they were weren't worth anything. A Paul Newman at twelve hundred dollars and today over $200,000. So there were a lot more, say, barn fines at the beginning of this. It was just crazy. I mean, I remember a gentleman came to a watch show from Peru. It was a garbage pail of Daytona's, and they all said Air Force Peru on the back. And he had a struggle selling them for about $800 each. And as a matter of fact, I know some dealers that took Air Force Peru off of the back of the watch because they couldn't sell a watch with an engraving on it. And today, that's a |
| Unknown | very same with mill subs too. Cut cut those uh the spring bars and fill the back. Mm military subs? Fifty-five thirteen. Same thing. So |
| Unknown | today it's a lot faster, there's a lot more knowledge, there's a lot more technology, and the market is so much more specific and moves at a much rapid rapid pace, especially social media, Instagram. I mean there's deals, I guarantee you, five-watch deals have taken place, maybe twenty since we've been sitting here on Instagram. So it's a very fast pace compared to when I was doing at the beginning. Yeah. And what ha each of you, what has your been your greatest barn find? Like what's the craziest watch you've ever found and sold and what was it? And how'd you find it? Eric, do you want to kick off? Uh there is a watch that I had to go to Mexico City for earlier this year. That was a very uh special steel paddock. And uh it was the the father had passed away and he had custom ordered it in nineteen seventy-one, but it was a nineteen forties paddock and uh it was uh pretty interesting and incredible the can you tell us the reference? It was a 570 but from nineteen seventy-one uh which was a really really interesting much later than any others made um with a unique dial, different characteristics. So it was just interesting meeting the kids and you know, that was my first time in Mexico City, so it was a little nerve wracking, but that's fun |
| Unknown | . Now Alex, how about you? Uh um well there's many that I remember, but one in particular was the most important watch I had at the time. It was a Pedrock Filipe 2499 first series, squirt buttons. And the watch popped out on the viewing of an auction So I and a friend of mine started doing a whole research to track this person down. It turned out to be a very wealthy and old family from southern Italy. It was actually a prince. And his wife, he was he was a prince of a very, very important family, but he was a musician. His wife was managing all the finances, not very good at that actually. So we we we did at least talked her and we ended up in palaces and and country houses. Yeah, no idea. This thing has been going on and on and on until eventually bought the watch was gonna go for 50,000 actually 50 million 25,000 and we ended up buying it for like 250 million 125,000 dollars. And I think we made like 10% on it. We thought never again in our life Well, okay. That was a while back. Matt |
| Unknown | . Well, when I first got into buying watches on my own. I received a phone call from a gentleman, and I was probably only about six, seven months into the doing this, and he said he had a paddock for Leap, and it had countries on it. And it was colorful. And um, wow, really? I said it has different countries' names on the outer edge. He says, Yes, it does. It has two crowns on it, and it has North and South America on it. And this is probably in about 1988-89. And he was from Peru, and of course, using the payphone, going back and forth on his entry machine. Finally we said we decided to meet at TGI Fridays on a Friday at about three o'clock. Supposed to meet him. And And I was like, hmm, I get the cheat the Fridays. He's not showing. I was like, oh God. Hour goes by, I'm calling, you know, this is Jose, I'm not home right now. Hour goes by. So finally it's about six o'clock. And I finally get in touch with him. I'm like, Jose, you didn't show up. You're supposed to show me the Patic Philippe. He goes, Oh, I got busy, but oh, come over to the house. So I went over to Jose's house and it was a reference 2523 Paddock Philippe World Time, which is a two-crown paddock Philippe with the closet dial, and it was of North and South America, with the little guy with a canoe swimming by South America. But anyway, it's a beautiful watch. And I actually didn't really have the experience to buy the watch, the knowledge yet, so I called my dad up my mentor he came up and we looked at the watch and we sat in the gentleman's house for almost six hours and we purchased the pedocleep world time. And believe it or not, there's a gentleman in this room that actually bought it and a collector now has it. And we went back to the hotel with my dad and looked at the watch, and there was a little spot on the watch. And my dad popped up the crystal, took a little Q-tip with saliva, and cleaned the little spot off. And I've been trying to get the watch back because they weren't happy with the restoration all these years, so but they won't sell it back to me. And and now it's probably the watch of the time was probably worth about two hundred thousand and today it's probably about a $5 million dollar watch |
| Unknown | . We all take for granted today that you can pull out your iPhone and browse a nearly endless catalog of vintage watches available pretty much anywhere on the planet, any time of day. It didn't used to be like that. In this clip, Davide Parmigiani and John Goldberger get into what it was like in the old days when you would get faxed pictures of watches or pick up your landline to call and find out when a new piece was coming up. This is a look back at a time that was extremely important in the formation of today's vintage market |
| Unknown | . And so what was a moment in your career as a collector and as a dealer, the where were things changed. You know, I look back at something that I think really changed the modern watch world, which was I think other things changed when |
| Unknown | uh the band with the internet. The internet. Yeah. Got it. Because um you can find more collects around the world through internet to see information, to see photos of the watch. I remember in Haiti we received a blurred |
| Unknown | facts in black and white from the States on South America, this is the watch and this is the or phone calls even more difficult because uh one of the first portable I had in the 90 was the big Nokia, you know. And when you get a call from America with that phone, you know, you get a call and you say, yeah, I found watch what's your you hear nothing for one minute. Do you want it? Yeah, yeah. I'm coming next month, keep it for me. But you know, it was uh really actually very different from today. So basically luckily the market was so wide that when you arrived the watch was nice most of the time but uh it was very very difficult. So mm the the internet and uh the exchange of information the uh via video or photograph and these kind of things changed completely the market. Although also a certain a certain move in the economic market after the first Gulf War of America, the dollar was extremely weak against the Italian leader. If you remember, there was a period that the dollar was very, very weak. America was was still coming out in a sort of economic crisis and for investors to come in America to buy it was a very big opportunity because we came here together many times and the watches they looked to cost very cheap because the c the dollar was uh like uh one point one with the Italian lira of the time. One thousand lira, you know. And and so it was uh you know it was easy to buy and as I told you America was uh always an incredible source. Only today that the market is so wide also over here. And also because of you, all the young people, all the people connected can uh can amplify their interest in watches. Also only today is difficult for us to come here and buy. Thank you for that by the way. But but at the time it was something actually much more easy, you know so I think the mid-90s uh between everything, the the the cell, the different kind of cell, the came, the the cellular phone more uh useful and uh and the the the internet and uh the the the a certain change of economic I think the mid and end of the 90s changed completely the |
| Unknown | market it's worth going back to a Rails conversation for a minute now. We often think of vintage watches as being these pure things that have to be completely untouched and original. But Arel's gonna tell us why sometimes a restored watch isn't necessarily a bad watch |
| Unknown | . And I think something else, you know, to move away from from this kind of topic a little bit, something else that we saw yesterday on stage with with the vintage dealers, with Eric Wind on one side of things and then uh Alessandro Ciani on another, and then Matt Bain kind of in the middle, this whole idea of restorations. And so now we're seeing watches that are that are mint and unrestored and really from original owners selling for crazy, crazy numbers, and watches that have redone loom plots, for example, becoming effectively worthless. You know, and if we look at the car that's over there, which is an unrestored Mira, you know, that has a lot of charm right now. But a restored Mira would cost roughly the same price. So why don't you think we see that in in the watch world? I think we as a community still have to mature a lot. Um I think when I when I see here uh this this crowd here, I think average age is probably somewhere in the 30s at most, I would guess. Um and I think the watch market as such is still in in in its adolescence. We've we've come a long way. We're no longer a baby, we're no longer a kid um without any any experience, but we're not there where the impressionist market is that has been collected for 100 years. Example. Friend of mine has uh bought a uh 1973 Porsche uh 911 2.4 R uh 2.4S. He was really proud about it until a super, super, super scholar looked at the car and said, Do you know that rear mirror is from the 74 uh Porsche, not the 73 version. So he he he went to to to forums, discussion forums, literature, and eventually figured out that it is indeed a 1974 mirror. Possibly back then the the original owner hit uh a wall, the bear fell off, he went a year later to Porsche, they fixed it, fine. So he went at great uh effort uh to source the correct mirror. He went to the Essen Motor Show and spent in a huge hole the whole day digging in those cardboard moving boxes until he found that mirror. Cost him about a thousand euros. He was really proud, put it on, and the community applauded. Which it should be, I think, uh appropriately. Now here's an example that I recently lift myself. Um we had a stainless steel chronograph, I'm not gonna um mention the the maker uh in our auction. In my view, the case was really strong. The dial was original, the loom plots were uh beautiful, um sort of similar color like, your your suede shoes. Um, and we checked the bezel, and it was the correct bezel for the watch. A few weeks before the auction, I get um uh tipped off by a friend, hey you know on this blog they're trashing this watch. I said, What? What's wrong with it? I go and read. And somebody said, you know, that watch was on eBay a year ago, and the bezel was different. So I go and check it out. And exactly like the Porsche, it had the wrong bezel, and the consigner found at great expense, at great length of effort, the right bezel. And it was not good. So now I'm asking you, we go back to 50-year old watch and at one point in its life the original bezel was lost or damaged. Is there a different difference if the bezel was changed in the 70s at Hoyer, in the 80s at a authorized dealer, at the 90s at McBain's workshop, in the noughties found on eBay. That Jack Hoyer wanted to be on that watch in 1973. And why can we not applaud when somebody does a good restoration? Someone said yesterday, as long as it's transparent, I agree. Um, I I think it's it's not appropriate if we doctor watches and don't say they're uh restored. The problem is if I doctor a watch, I sell it to you, you believe it's real, you sell it to Cara, she believes it's real, and she sells it to someone here in the room, who's the wrong guy? Well of course the guy who didn't disclose it. But why attacking now the third person when the bezel is correct? So I think we all as a as a community should first of all, uh accept that a vintage watch is vintage. I mean, how can a 75-year-old non-waterproof watch not have a blemish on the dial, a scratch on the case, slightly rubbed hallmark? I I I think we should still uh go quite away because simply there's not enough new old stock original owner watches even for this ro |
| Unknown | om. Some collectors want a little bit of everything and, other collectors find something they love and they specialize deep. Razor Rashidian is probably the foremost collector of dive watches on the planet, and here he sits down with Jason Heaton and James Stacy to talk about why he loves dive watches and how he finds the very best examples on Earth |
| Unknown | . Well the thing is there's there's a sort of macro picture and a micro picture, the macro picture being the importance of the die watch to the human condition, that sense of adventure that human beings like, the search for resources. Um and the search for overengineering. You know, you want to have something that can do much more than you'll ever do. So you know that it's gonna be uh uh reliable. And that's why with making references to the to the first world war and and later on in in conflicts that uh you know, this watch had to it's gotta be over engineered so that uh it's reliable. Uh then there's the micro picture, which is you know it's just the sheer variety uh that you get on especially in Rolex is on the dials um so much so that it's it's kind of almost a game of spot the difference um because the the the design is classic it's the oyster case and um if you have OCD, it's a fantastic thing to get involved. And if you don't have OCD, you will get OCD by the time you've started collecting. |
| Unknown | So there's a certain amount of nuance in within something that you know if you put them all on a table, someone not us in this room. Soneome in a different room might just say |
| Unknown | they're all the same watch. Abs absolutely. I mean it's I have a recurring nightmare on that that uh I show my collection to someone and they I say you know can you see the difference and they say no. And I say here's a loop, you know, have a have a look. And uh can't you see the seraph, the fonts different, the crown's different, all of this kind of stuff and they say, well I still don't see it and then I take the loop and look and I actually they're all the same in my nightmare. That's you know Oh yeah. Yeah, for sure. And then obviously there's where where you go into the hyper collectible range is where they have a very uh very specific story. Very specific. Could you speak to a couple maybe highlights in your collection? Because there's some here that uh the stories are incredible. The great backstory I mean the greatest uh watch I have, I think, in my collection must be the deep sea special, number one. Right. Which um uh was the watch that's you know when uh Blanc Pam brought out their fifty fathoms in in nineteen fifty three and they were claiming a hundred uh meters or ninety-seven meters and Rolex themselves in fifty four and Basel brought out the six two oh four the first their first iWatch. Rolex already had a watch in 1953 that could go down thousands of meters. And in and by itself, that was a slam dunk for Rolex. I mean they had already taken over the domain of the dive watch by having that watch and then embarking w on the on the deep sea dive uh with the Trieste in nineteen sixty where they went down. That's part of eleven kilometers. So that is a watch that kind of has its own weather system. Um and it's a real dive watch because if you actually wear it, it's so chunky that uh even if you go swimming, you'll go diving whether you want it or not. Take it down. So um that's that I think is a is a highlight of uh any dive watch collection. For su |
| Unknown | re. And when it comes to uh to collecting, Jason, what's kind of your as more of a we'll call it a journeyman diver, watch collector, what where's your perspective on collecting |
| Unknown | ? Um I I have a few vintage dive watches and I I think um I was gonna follow up on on Ray's comments because I think what's interesting about collecting vintage dive watches, um, or even those from just you know a decade or so ago, is that uh you don't, especially with really old ones, there was a gentleman just talked to five minutes before coming on stage who, has an old 50,00 fathoms that he said belonged to a French fisherman for 30 years, uh, or was worn by a French fisherman for 30 years. Um Reza has an incredibly rare military uh Samariner on his wrist, this gentleman in the front row has a doxa that uh he bought recently from a diver and he wears it surfing. These are these are collectible vintage pieces that uh when you hold them in your hand you you they have to contain stories. I'm I'm not saying this to diminish uh people who collect dress watches or you know complicated paddocks or something, but uh a dive watch is something that it it it the stories are almost embedded in every scratch, every every bit of patina and it's it's almost a miracle that so many of them have survived to this day. And I think that to me, speaking as someone who isn't really a true collector, is what's appealing about the old ones. And I think to have uh |
| Unknown | one or two uh really special vintage pieces uh it just carries that appeal then when you when you leap forward and you look at how popular dive watches remain and what you can do with the ne |
| Unknown | w ones. And I think, you know, people are so careful with vintage watches and are so concerned about babying them or, you know, not washing their hands with them and things, and I think that watch that Ray's is wearing has been through far worse things than we will ever be able to do ourselves here. You know, from washing your hands to jogging on the street to you know sailing a boat or whatever you're gonna do with it. Um so I' Im all for you know caring for them but but also wearing |
| Unknown | them. It turns out, maybe unsurprisingly that Jason thinks the heyday of dive watches were in the 1950s and 60s. Here, Aura CEO Rolf Studer and Reza both kind of push back on that a little bit and look to see what the history and the future of dive watches have in common |
| Unknown | . I've always argued that the that the the the first dive watches of the early fifties pretty much got got it 99% right. Um as evidenced by the fifty fathoms that gentleman showed me earlier and and raises submariner and and you know the the old oruses and and all these others that that you saw crop up in the fifties and sixties. It's almost uh there's not much more you can do. I mean, so I think brands are now c uh I hate to say it, they're a lot of them are inventing problems or or inventing solutions for problems that don't exist. Um you know, I I think uh you know that most of the most of the early dive watches kind of got it right from the from the beginning |
| Unknown | . Well, um to some extent that may be true, but still you can do things better. And that's what drives our industry, right? Do things better that are already very good. And uh the future of dive watches I think uh materials will be important. Weight may be a factor. Um to me also functions like a depth gauge as we offer it um in a physical way, just if um a canal where the um entering water compresses the air, uh solving solving actual problems that's or actual giving you actual information that's you need while diving in a mechanical way, that's something that uh pushes us. So I think yes, a lot of standards are set, but |
| Unknown | I actually think the future of die watches is uh got more to do with bringing awareness uh to the plight of the oceans and our waterway, bodies of water and uh I think dive watches should serve as bringing uh this uh tragedy that is happening right under our noses to the uh uh for the public to take more notice of. And I think all all the manufacturers should actually get together uh and and actually uh have a program of of bringing awareness through their die watches to um the compromising of of of of our oce |
| Unknown | ans okay you're gonna get a little bit of my voice now uh i sat down with iwc christian knoop vasron konstantan's Christian salmone and Bulgari's Guido Tereni to talk about how this trend towards vintage watch design that we've seen over the last number of years may be reaching the end of its life and where watch design goes from here. We've seen a push over the last number of years towards vintage-inspired designs. And that's something we've obviously been been a part of. And I wonder, I've had conversations with with watchmakersers and and watch design watch collectors in the past about whether or not this is a trend. Is this look back to the kind of mid-20th century something that's a trend, or is this actually a return to some fundamental principles that kind of govern watchmaking. Are we returning back to where we should be, or is this just another design trend? And I wonder if you have thoughts on that. And if it is a trend, where are the next big ideas going to come from? And I kind of open this up to whoever |
| Unknown | I wouldn't I wouldn't call it a trend, but um we we're dealing with products which are which are designed to last, which are designed to last for decades, sometimes even for generations. And that this doesn't only affect the the technical quality of the product, but also this also means an aesthetic longevity we are we are aiming for and this this timeless design is is part of our DNA and and uh many other brands also also have proven over time that specific designs will last and people will like over over many decades. And especially in the context of the importance of a mechanical watch in a in a in a modern modern society next to digital tools and so on, I think this idea of aesthetic longevity is very, very important. And this is why people in furniture design, in in watch design, sometimes also even in fashion, go for very classic des.igns I mean the the the style of a classic suit hasn't been really significantly revisited the last uh hundred years. Uh so um this is this is what people go for. Interesting. Okay, so I think I think uh talking about the um the notion of uh is uh is vintage uh really a trend in watchmaking, so I think um I think yes uh certainly for for it deepens really for a brand to another one. So I I don't want really to talk only about Vachon Constantin for for us. I mean, okay, we have a long history and uh we're doing vintage watches since many years. But I think it's uh I think there is a the big trend uh in for for vintage we see this is something that we see outside you were mentioning also from watch making uh think about for example the the the cameras for example I have a Fuji camera so not working for Fuji but it I mean it looks really like a like a camera of the of the of the 60s or 70s. And uh it's it's very interesting to to to try to to find why we are so much interested in to into vintage. It's uh probably uh because uh in terms of industrial designs, the 50s have been uh certainly uh a great source for inspiration for many people. I'm talking about cars, planes, uh, even trains, uh, etc. And uh I think also that um we are living in uh in a very digitalized world. So everything you know is really going so fast that probably uh we are a bit uh we we would like to come back to s to an era in which uh time had a different meaning so we could have enough time to to look at the time and and it was the 50s were also a time in which uh uh objects were very much uh long lasting much more than now. So I think we there is a kind of nostalgia about this analogue world, if I may say, which is uh little by little uh disappearing. So that is my two cents explanation for for vintage trends. So maybe Willow you |
| Unknown | have a others idea to to share? Yeah of course. Uh I think uh heritage in I mean watchmaking is a Western expression with the exception of Seiko and other brands. But if you look at true luxury watches, they are Swiss or they are European as a as a soul. So the Western world was looking at the future as a better place to be until a certain point of last century. So you start talking about heritage when the Western world started to think that there is a bit of uncertainty in the in the in the future. And so you start looking back and saying, well it was better before. That is the true reason for me for vintage. But each vintage watch, in its way, was disruptive when it came out. So what I tend to refuse as a person, first of all, is that the future is not a best better place to be. So we should be forcing ourselves to define and create things that could be a future vintage because if we stop doing that, I think uh it's not exciting anymore. So I be I strongly believe that to to to to have a vintage uh passion that is totally okay. I mean, I'm not against it, but uh let's not limit us just to look at the past. We have to really fill our piece of paper. White piece of paper is a beautiful thing to attack. I would like to see uh a bit an industry that is a little bit more daring because uh a true new sign comes out every ten years that's and you have a lot of creations every year. So it's a bit of a contradiction that what you create so much and then so little remains, no? So I would like I would like to see really a new creativity that goes towards uh designs that are innovative |
| Unknown | . I I absolutely agree. I I think that um the entire industry has been very romantizing uh the the the past and the history and uh I would also wish for much more forward thinking without losing actually your your codes and your character as a brand but but not to not to be too idealistic about uh too romantic about uh products of the past uh and and over glorify them uh but uh but really take this as as some some some important assets, some some important foundation, but but stay forward thinking. And especially in the fashion industry, people have been much more much more daring with with this with this way of dealing with the past. Being proud of your past, every every now and then take some inspiration. Stay stay with yourself as a brand, but really think forward. I agree |
| Unknown | You had to know that the watch dealers were gonna show up with some serious heat on their wrists, so let's go back to Eric, Matt, and Alex and see what they were wearing on stage. Um what watches |
| Unknown | are you guys wearing today? Right now on stage? I'm wearing this Gulp Newman that was actually a watch I've been discussing about a lot because there being like there's been five or six in the market in auction lately, and everybody's calling me today, hey Alex, how come is this watch is selling for less and less? And I'm explaining them for the simple reason that even though there's maybe 30 to 50 watches like this one and this level of condition out there in the market, nobody thinks to strategize. I think I can think of only one auctioneer who maybe thinks twice before putting stuff out there. Everybody else, if they get it from the original owner who doesn't know better, they throw it out there. And even if they sell it for half the theoretical value, they're happy they're making 25%. Somebody called me and said, Alex, I bought two of these this month from auctions and I spent a lot of money. But what do you think the real value is? And I said value is a relative concept. A rod co-painting, a one color, is 80 million dollars. But if you need the money, I don't know, in Venezuelan Caracas the next day to bail yourself out of jail, that penny is worth nothing. It's the same with watches with everything. You put five or six out of them and if you want to sell them in a week, they're not gonna bring you know the same result, which is more like it's real value that you would see, you know, i if you give it the right time and you could expose and teach and know yourself how many there are really out there, you know? I think we're big problems still education in in in this market. Yeah. Which is very exciting by the way. Yeah. Matt, |
| Unknown | what are you wearing? I am wearing a big square watch made by Ottawa Piquet. It's from the 1950s, Rose Gold. Uh-huh. It's a unique form that you don't really see much by Autumn Arpique. And probably very little of them made in Rose Gold. I don't know the number, I can find out, but probably say less than 20 pieces made in rose gold. And again, very mint condition, sharp razor case with original dial. Yeah, if you guys have time afterwards you should check it out. It's really beautiful. Oh yeah ye yeahah yeah You two can talk after it's not for sale not for sale Eric wouldn't watch you wear I have a Tudor oyster big rose I picked up it's got a super shiny black dial it um it's just something really special I thought I've never seen one like it um it's from probably circa 1960 no radium just uh really I think that's part of the reason the dial sum |
| Unknown | in each of the panels at H10 ended with an audience QA, and one of the best questions we got all weekend was: a young collector asked Ben, John Goldberger, and Davide Parmigiani, three guys who are known for liking things maybe at the higher end, what they would recommend somebody buy as their first vintage watch. I've been obsessed with watches since the fourth grade and I'm now in the point of my life that I'm able to afford the watches that I've always been obsessed with. And I started collecting modern pieces and for someone who's flirting with the vintage world, what watch would you recommend be the first? First |
| Unknown | vintage watch. And the vintage watch? Yeah. First vintage watch. Maybe yeah, simple as Omega Speedmaster. Oh. Speedmaster. To find the right ref |
| Unknown | erence, the right age, but a speed master is I think it's a good starting. I agree. I think a speedmaster, you know, it's such a nuance to watch. You know, there's so many iterations. Uh Eric Wind, who's standing right next to you, actually did a great reference points uh for us uh on the Speedmaster. So you you'll really get to understand you know what makes vintage watch a special, and that is is it a dot over 90 bezel, is it a dash six, dash five, et cetera, et cetera. So So I I would agree either that or you know a 55, 12, 13, you know, MAC dial, nice, nice sub, something like that. |
| Unknown | Oh yes, uh these are very nice watches, but also you can approach uh all the world of uh mid-50s and 60s chronographing steel made by middle maker like Minerva or these kind of watches that I think there's an incredible big world to approach and the aesthetic of those chronograph also you can you can find in the in the early data compacts made by Euer or the early data compass made by Minerva also. These are great watches to buy today with very affordable money and for me very good investment. But it's not only a matter of investment, it's really something very high level of satisfaction to wear them and anyway I would rather say very good holding values, you know, because uh you you have to do it for for what you like and not always thinking about the uh possible revaluation. I have another advice. |
| Unknown | Try to start collecting pocket watch. Because uh you can wear your eye watch on the wrist and you |
| Unknown | can He just happens to have a pocket watch. Yeah. So the sound is working. Yeah. |
| Unknown | Yes. Platinum repeating this is my last please from start collecting pocket watches because actually nobody does and we have many to sell. |
| Unknown | The last panel of the weekend was a Q |
| Unknown | I have two milestones. The first is that I survived my rookie year at Hodinki, which has just ended. They look like swell people. The hazing that goes on at Hodinki is up there with the NFL. I'm not gonna say which of the veterans was the worst. I had a little post about it, but she knows who it is I got you, Joe. That's the first milestone. The second milestone is about you actually. Uh at a certain point last year, um I think it was my idea. I said, you w what do you think? You think anybody would be interested if uh in my first Basel Fair? You know? And there's a th and you never know. There was enthusiastic you never know. Are they being nice to grandpa or do they just, you know, do they think it's really a good idea. All right, so I go home, you know, I I'm right, I'm halfway through this thing, and I realize this is like the dumbest idea I've ever had. And I I literally I go to my wife and I say, I cannot pull this off. This is a story about an and it's about Basel, my first trip to Basel in 1979. And I said this is a story about a nobody who goes to Switzerland to meet other nobodies at a watch has nothing to do with watches. It's at a trade show that occurred before the audience was born. And I said, there is no conceivable way that that anybody's interested in this. I cannot pull the solution. Well, she was encouraging. Well, you know, do your best. Let's's see. And then and it the web. So the anyway, the thing, the thing comes out, and the response was I'm still uh I still can't figure it out. The response from the community was enormous. And uh I all I can say is is is thank you and for me that was a uh that was that was a milestone because it I I I still don't understand why that's of any interest. But thank you for being interested. |
| Unknown | This week's episode was recorded at the Hodinki 10th Anniversary Weekend in New York City and was produced and edited by Grayson Corjonen. Please remember to subscribe and rate the show. It really does make a difference for us. Thank you, and we'll see you next week. |