A New Speedmaster, The Latest Talking Watches, And Mr. Dan Habashi¶
Published on Mon, 13 Jan 2020 11:00:02 +0000
At the end of the day, it's all about passion, people.
Synopsis¶
In this episode of Hodinkee Radio, host Stephen Pulvirent kicks off 2020 by recapping the first major watch stories of the year with colleagues Jack Forster and Cara Barrett. Jack discusses his breaking news coverage of Omega's stainless steel Caliber 321 Speedmaster, a limited production watch priced at $14,100 that features the legendary movement originally used in the first Speedmaster. The team debates whether this watch positions itself as a competitor to the Rolex Daytona, given similar pricing, and discusses the watch's hand-assembly by individual watchmakers, sedna gold-plated movement, and controversial fauxtina lume. Cara shares her experience interviewing Bethany Frankel of Real Housewives fame for a Talking Watches episode, revealing Frankel to be a serious collector who researches extensively and buys watches she genuinely loves and wears. The conversation touches on different approaches to collecting and the importance of welcoming diverse perspectives into the watch community.
The second half features Stephen's conversation with Dan Hibashi, CMO of Soho House, about collecting, community building, and the intersection of passion and curation. Dan shares his journey from working on digital communities at Microsoft, Facebook, and Instagram to his current role creating physical community spaces. He discusses his collecting philosophy across watches, sneakers, and other objects, emphasizing the importance of the hunt, the stories behind acquisitions, and wearing and enjoying possessions rather than keeping them pristine. Dan reflects on how Instagram enabled connections between people with shared passions worldwide, the value of accessibility over pure wealth in collecting, and his appreciation for both high-end pieces and accessible items like Swatch watches and Gap t-shirts. The conversation explores themes of curation, authenticity, intergenerational collecting, and maintaining the joy and humor in passionate pursuits.
Links¶
Transcript¶
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| Unknown | Everyone wants to be passionate about something. You know, I want this watch at a specific bezel because the font type was different for this one year. Yep. Because there's something about that that means something is somewhere. Once you know those th |
| Unknown | ings, you can't sort of like disarm yourself. Of course. You can't be like, ah, I'll just take one with a plain bezel. Because like once you know that, every time you look at the wrong bez |
| Unknown | el, it's gonna feel wrong. You refine your taste, you kind of like cultivate it further and understand like this is what I want. Yeah. I'm going after these |
| Unknown | . Hey everybody, I'm your host Stephen Polverant and this is Hodinki Radio. For our first episode of 2020, we thought it'd be fun to start by looking at some of the first big stories published on Hodinky this year. So I brought in Jack and Kara to talk about their two big stories from the first week. For Jack, that meant breaking news of the stainless steel 321 Speedmaster, and for Kara, that meant talking watches with Miss Bethany Frankel. After that, we've got my conversation with Dan Hibashi, who's the CMO of Soho House. We first met a while back through former Hodinki Radio guest and former Talking Watches guest, Matt Jacobson, and Dan and I sat down to chat about two main things, and that's collecting and building communitieses. When it com to collecting, Dan's one of those guys who's all about minutia. He's about the hunt. And learning about something and hunting for it is almost more enjoyable for him than getting the thing itself. And as far as community goes, in his current role at Soho House and in his former role at places like Instagram, Dan's all about taking people who have shared interest and shared passions and finding new ways to bring them together and sort of make things greater than the sum of their parts. So without further ado, let's get into it |
| Unknown | There's only one way. My way. My way is the only way to enjoy watches. Correct. All other ways are not only inferior, but not actually ways to enjoy watches at all. Jack's coming in real hot this year. It |
| Unknown | 's a new year, people. Hey guys, it's 2020. We're back. Hey. Jack, you just gonna sit there in silence while Cara and I. Thanks, Jack. You have a microphone too. Um is that what this thing is? Yeah, this is our uh first recording of twenty twenty. Sure is. Can't believe it. This is what, the third year in which uh Hodinky Radio will exist? That's pretty amazing. Is this the third year? This is the third this will be the third calendar year we launched in twenty eighteen. So we just kicked off. Stephen Offhand, how many episodes so far do we know? This is going to be a part of episode seventy-three, and then we have a handful of bonus episodes and some episodes from Basel World and SIHH though. We've done somewhere in the like 80 to 90 range, somewhere around there. Is that more or less episodes than the total number of episodes of the Twilight Zone? Ooh, interesting. We should look that up. Because once I beat uh Rod Sterling, I'm uh I'm I'm good to go. That's yep, yep. You're in the history books. So to start the year off, let's let's go we published a story on January 2nd. It was our first story in the new year, and I think it's worth talking about. We talked about our watch resolutions. Uh can you guys tell me what your watch resolutions were, Cara Barr |
| Unknown | ett? Mine was to focus more on writing for the dot-com and doing more in-depth stories and finding another uh curious caper. Curio another curious caper. What was the first curious caper? Remind us? I keep referencing that story, but I it's like four years old now, so it's time for another one. It doesn't matter. You like you changed the market on that watch. It's uh it's a good thing. It's old news now. So I gotta find new ne |
| Unknown | ws. What's the new news? You have any ideas |
| Unknown | ? No. Okay. |
| Unknown | All right. Uh Jack, how about you? What's your what's your resolution? You know, it's funny. I didn't have a watch resolution per se. I had some thoughts about um you know just sort of trying to have a little bit more fun with the whole thing because it's easy for you know, it's it's easy for uh for this whole thing to get extremely serious, for people to take it very seriously, and that's good. I mean it's an expression of passion. But um I was re reading um a book that I enjoy very much over the holidays and there was a quote in it from a guy named Luca Turin who's I I don't want to you know get into his whole thing because it's a long, complicated, fascinating story. Is it the perfume book? That's yeah. Yeah, this is the perfume book. |
| Unknown | Um but the fact that I know what Jack's favorite perfume book is is pretty amazing. But it's |
| Unknown | a good question. That's that's what happens when you work so closely together. But he says something very interesting. He said one of the things that um characterizes luxury is that it is generally completely humorless. Yeah. And um, you know, just uh I I think seeing the lighter side of things as psychologically healthy and also a necessity is you know, I've been doing this uh in in one form or another and in one venue for another for probably close to fifteen years, and um you know uh it it's easy for it to take on a certain um leaden quality if you're not careful. So you know, just like having a little more fun, I think. Yeah. No, that's a good point. And with and with watches as well. You know, I mean uh I've I've always been a f uh a fan of the idea that um you don't need to spend a lot of money to have a lot of fun with watches and I want to just sort of, you know, keep that a little bit more to the forefront in 2020 as well. I like that. That's a good thing. I like that. How about you |
| Unknown | , Steven? Mine is to think more about why as opposed to what. I think you know, doing what we we all do for a living, we are very lucky in that we get to be around really cool stuff all the time. Uh and you almost become desensitized to it and you just get into this pattern where you're like, this is cool. I want this. Like should I buy this or should I buy this? Like I and it's this constant consumption of cool stuff because it's cool and there's you know there's there's a lot to be said for that, but I want to think a lot more about why I'm acquiring certain things and why they're meaningful to me and why I might, you know, want something ten years from now that I'm going to acquire today. Um and just really focus on on the meaning behind things. I mean the the watches in my current collection, most of them at this point, if not all of them, have some sort of sentimental value, which is a problem when I look at trying to sell things to buy other things. But uh you know, whether whether they're watches I brought back from important trips or the watch I wore at my wedding or you know, a watch I acquired for for an important milestone, that I think is what makes these things ultimately meaningful, not the sort of like nuts and bolts uh kind of the metal itself. And so just thinking more deeply about about the why when I when I think about acquiring something. I think that's a great resolution. Yeah. We'll see. We'll see how long it lasts. Yeah. So we decided to come in pretty hot in uh 2020. We uh we're wrapping up the first full week of the year. Uh and we you guys had some pretty great stories on the site this week, which is why I wanted to bring the two of you in to chat. So let's start off with Jack. Um it was what Monday or Tuesday morning. Uh Omega dropped a pretty big pretty big news bomb on all of us to start the year. Uh do you want to talk a little bit about |
| Unknown | that? Yeah, they sure did. Uh it was Tuesday morning and it was uh the news that they were releasing the caliber three twenty-one. So this is the I I'm sure everybody li most people listening know, but this is the uh this is the movement that was used in the original Omega Speedmaster Professional. It was the movement uh that was launched in in inside the watch 1957, and uh they stopped producing it in 1968, um, and it has it was reintroduced uh last year. Um, and this is the first general production watch that it has been uh released in. So there's going to be maybe one thousand to two thousand uh pre year made. That's the sort of the rough range that I've heard. And that watch is stainless steel. Yes, in stainless steel. Yeah. That's the um yeah, I buried the lead there. But uh yeah, that is not platinum. It's not gold, it's stainless steel. And it's a limited. Yeah, and it is a lip limited production but not not a limited edition. Um it's expensive, it's fourteen thousand one hundred bucks. Um which uh you know, obviously this is gonna raise some people's eyebrows because y you know, the Speedmaster uh w we all sort of think of it as, you know, this uh uh kind of at least the moon watch is kind of this rough and tumble adventurers watch. And the idea of paying fourteen thousand one hundred bucks for a speedmaster with a manual wine movement, I think, strikes some people as a bit odd. But you know, they're producing it in very small numbers. Um and a lot of what lets a company charge less for a watch are economies of scale that don't kick in when you're making one to two thousand a year. You know, so yeah, you know, if you've been to like we've all been to watch factories, you know, you you look at Omega's existing production lines in BLBN and, you know, they're reminiscent of what Rolex does. I mean everybody's different, but you know what they all have in common is when you're producing um stuff at volume like that, you can set up these highly rationalized production lines that let you um benefit from economies of scale and you can't do that when you have one to two thousand pieces. Yeah. So we've got we've got a watch here that you know the each watch, each movement is assembled uh you know, one at a time by a single watchmaker. And you know, I don't think that's not |
| Unknown | something we should understate either. Right. That's a pretty cool thing that like each watch is made by one watchmaker. Yeah |
| Unknown | , I mean, you know, a lot of what we pay for when we pay for watches is intangibles anyway, isn't it? You know, I mean it's sense of connection to craft, a it sen'se ofs connection to history. In my case with the Speedmaster, a sense of uh you know personal nostalgia, a sense of connection to you know being a kid when those uh you know when men first walked on the moon. And um you know, this is obviously not a watch that is intended as a general appeal, general purpose Speedmaster. This is for serious Speedmaster enthusiasts. I doubt it's going to be anybody's first Speedmaster. It's certainly possible. Um, but I think this is for people who are hardcore, you know, Moonwatch, Speedmaster, and uh uh original caliber three twenty one nuts, movement nerds, you know, that that those sorts of individu |
| Unknown | als. Yeah, I would I would agree. I mean I I think as far as the price goes, one of the interesting things is that it now puts this watch in direct competition with the Daytona, which I think is fascinating. Um since you know, I think at least a lot of people also I'll speak for myself, at least I think of the Daytona and the Speedmaster as as sort of two things that sit sort of side by side. It's like you have the Daytona, you have the Speedmaster, you have the Carrera, maybe the El Primero, it's a little bit different because it's a high speed watch, but like those those are like the classic iconic chronographs. And yet the Speedmaster has also always been the more budget friendly version. It's always been positioned a little bit differently in the market than the Daytona. This is gonna be in some ways similar to a Daytona in that it's a similar price point. I mean the Daytona last time I checked was twelve nine and maybe a little higher now, but it's around thirteen. That's the ballpoint. So we're within a thousand dollars-ish. Um and the fact that there's only going to be a thousand to two thousand of these means I think you're probably going to end up with a similar situation where like you're walking into your AD saying, hey, do you have a 321 Speedmaster? And you kind of get laughed at, you know? Um it it'll be interesting to see how how that works and whether Omega ends up kind of in the same position as Rolex where like the hot watch that everyone wants is kind of ungettable for for a period |
| Unknown | of time. You know, the thought I have I one thought that I have about that, and I don't know how much of a difference this is going to make in the minds of people who are actually clients of possibly for the Daytona, possibly for this watch, is that in a lot of respects they're actually very different watches. So one is a manual wind watch with a legacy movement that has been brought back to life out you know, which and required considerable effort because you know it's it's not as if um uh you know th they didn't build them up from parts of the The Daytona, on the other hand, is about as technically up to date a modern chronograph movement as there is. You know, um vertical clutch, uh very uh high-tech balance spring, uh micro uh microtooth gearing in order to take up backlash and the chronograph train. I mean there's a lot of stuff that goes into it that probably a lot of the people who want one for the cool factor don't are not necessarily aware of, but it's let's it's like everything else Rolex produces, it's you know engineered to the nines and they keep em improving it year after year after year. So, you know, the deeper you they they look like competitors on price and they are competitors on price, but I I wonder how much once you really dig a little bit um you would actually cross shop cross shop one to the other like what do you guys |
| Unknown | think yeah I mean I see I see what you're saying and and I do think for a lot of people like they either want a Daytona or they want a Speedmaster and like they're not gonna go for the other. Um I just think it's interesting that there is now a Speedmaster that could directly compete with the Daytona. They're both three register mid-size chronographs at about the same price point from the two biggest watchmakers in the world. They're both watches with, you know, 50 plus year heritage. Um I'll be curious to see if if there is competition or if that's just sort of like a thing that we sit and like kind of like uh wring our hands about um it'll be it'll be interesting. Um yeah for sure. As as far as the movement goes, I mean you mentioned that this is a legacy movement, but one of the things I I like about it is that they have updated it a little bit. Um, you know, the plates and bridges are now sedna gold plated. Right. Um you know, the finishing is is I think quite nice. Uh it's not ornate, but it's definitely above a sort of like uh industrial level finishing. Um and it's it's cool because it's in a display back. So whereas a Daytona has a closed back, uh the movement's extremely technically innovative, but you don't get to see it. Whereas this is a movement that like they've made some effort to like show this movement off. |
| Unknown | Right, right, exactly. Yeah, and it's uh you know the original uh three twenty-one I think was a beautiful movement to look at um with a lot of the same appeal that you see in traditional English pocket watch making. You know, you have these beautiful gilt plates and they contrast with, you know, this beautiful polished steel. Um and the new three twenty one is is uh you know gorgeous. Um it's a very high fidelity reproduction of the original resurrection maybe is a more respectful term than reproduction. You know, right down to the the bridge for the chronograph transfer wheel uh was made of uh German silver in the original. It's made of German silver in the new one. And pretty much the only I would guess they're probably using a modern mainspring alloy. They'd be kind of crazy not to. But I don't know if, you know, I like so I don't it's metallurgically an identical watch. Um but uh certainly in just about every aspect of its construction. It is the original three twenty three twenty one with with the exception of the plating, which as you say is said in a gold. Yeah. Oh and uh uh uh people also uh argued about the uh loom oh Tina. Yeah. What are what are your thoughts there? Uh you know, um I don't generally care for it uh because it seems like you know, watch trying to live on uh you know a borrowed path that doesn't exist. But in this case it doesn't bother me. It's actually pretty subtle. Um I don't think it detracts from the uh I don't honestly I don't feel like it detracts from the watch at all. What do you think, C B |
| Unknown | you know, as someone who used to not like Votina and now doesn't doesn't bother me that much anymore, I think they could have gone either way and it would have been fine. Um I think it looks gre |
| Unknown | at on this watch. I'm I'm in the same camp it's like at the end of the day like it looks good. So like I'm not gonna stand on ceremony here. You know, it's also it's also an insider's signal that you have one of the three twenty-one speedmasters. Fair enough. |
| Unknown | That's true, actually. I didn't think about it that way, but you're right. You know, I guess new watches don't have the same charm with superluminova because it's white and it stays white and it doesn't change. And so that will always look that way and that's fine. But you know, there is something nice about having a little bit of a softer color |
| Unknown | . Oh yeah. There was one commenter who said that they wished that Omega had gone whole hog and actually used Tritium on the dial. That would have been cool. That kind of would |
| Unknown | have been awesome. Yeah. I don't know what the like uh I guess legality. It's fine, right? Like they're still brands using tritium, no? Um uh |
| Unknown | only in um gas tubes. Right. Uh which is which is uh which is safer. If you wanted to use it um uh I think if you wanted to use tritium paint, somebody somebody else wak uh in the Right. Um, you know, you you kind of like it it it it would be tough. Okay. |
| Unknown | Yeah. I also think that would appeal to a very small subset of people. Yes. Correct. Um not the mass market. No. To basically the three of us. Right. And no one else. And the commenter. And the commenter. I must have real time. So we could sell four of them. Exactly. Like that. I don't think that's Omega's go |
| Unknown | al, no offense. Nah. Um Alright. So let's let's move on to the second big hit story of the week. This one comes to us from Ms. Carr Barrett. Uh yeah, I already fulfilled my resolutions. Talking watches with Bethany Frank. Yeah, that was fun. How awesome is that? It was amazing. So for people who are listening who don't know, who's Bet |
| Unknown | hany Frankel? She is a former real housewife of New York City. Um, she is an entrepreneur. She has a lifestyle brand called Skinny Girl. Yep. Started off as a low calorie drinks company, specifically the skinny girl Margarita. Um and she's you know sold part of it and now she does jeans and clothing and low calorie foods and she also has a ch um nonprofit called Be Strong that helps people in crisis. So like she will go she will, you know, she raises money and she will go to Australia to hurricane devastated areas at the time and provide them with things that they might need, like food, clothes, water, you name it. Yeah. Um, and she actually goes, which is the really good thing Yeah, no, no, no. She's hands-on. Um but she's just a really like awesome person, I think. Like, I've always found her very funny on the show. And I just full disclosure, I've been watching the Real Housewives of New York since it started, so is Steven. He might not admit it, but he's a diehard. I will totally admit it. I am a diehard and a huge Bethany fan. Um, but she was always my favorite on that show and she's very direct, she's very clever, she's smart, and I just really think she's a cool cool gal. So I was really excited to I won't fangirl too much, but I was really excited to |
| Unknown | You know, I I have to admit I I have never watched the show and I didn't really know who she was um before you guys lined up this talking watches. But I thought you guys had great chemistry and you know, she's an interesting person. I mean uh, you know, several times a successful entrepreneur, uh very you know, very, very successful uh TV star. Neither of these things are particularly easy to do. And you know, the fact that she's had such enormous success in such disparate enterprises, um, and I think is active uh in um charity as well. It's it's uh you know, she's a pretty impressive person. I mean, you know, dare I say ro |
| Unknown | le model? Yeah. No, I would agree. Uh she's been on our radar for a while because as diehard viewers of uh Real Housewives in New York, uh Ronnie. Uh Car and I have both talked about the fact that we've noticed her wearing cool watches on the show. Um it's it's not I would say like overly conspicuous, but uh you know. Like if you know, you see. If you know, you know. Um and you know, I I remember seeinging her wear an F Pijorn on Rony one night and was just like, what is going on? Um so yeah, it was great when she reached out to us and turns out she's a reader of the site and a fan. She's like a real watch collector and watch lover and uh this turned out to be like kind of shockingly easy to produce. Uh can you give people like a little bit of behind the scenes like what happened here. You mean like at the filming? Yeah, like what happened? Like what was that day |
| Unknown | ? Uh well I was really nervous leading up to it. You played it cool. Um yeah, yeah. I like barely spoke. But um no, it was really cool. I mean like we walked, you know, we walked over we walked over, uh, and she lives in down lives downtown and we kinda just went in and set up in her apartment and she came on and she was very gracious and very f funny and she really um she really loves her watches. And I think that is something that is important, you know, for any watch collector. But like she really does stay up late at night on the internet s looking for a specific model. She's not she's very focused on one particular watch. She's not kind of like, oh, I want XXXXX. She's like, I want this particular model and I'm I'm going to go af |
| Unknown | ter it. She's also not the kind of person who just like walks into a boutique and is like, I have ten grand to spend today. Oh yeah no show me something pretty. Like she she researches for months and like knows exactly |
| Unknown | what she's doing. Exactly. And she is very um savvy and very, I would say is scrupulous the correct word. Like she just she wants to make sure she's investing properly in her watches and not being taken for a ride. And like I think that that's something that a lot of people struggle with when they're collecting. And a lot of people, you know, just kind of have a very different way of going about it. But I think for me, it was fun talking to her about all like the details that she liked and she, you know, buys things that she likes and she wears them and she really like she really wears them. Yeah. Um and unfortunately we couldn't really cover every single watch she had in her collection. She had a lot of interesting ones like a pink gold Daytona with diamond indexes that she'd bought. Um I love that watch so much. Oh, it's so good. Pink on pink on pink with diamond indexes. Yeah, but it's and it's the baguette diamonds, not the the round cut, which is amazing. |
| Unknown | Jack's laughing. I uh could you could you not see me wearing that watch? Um Sure. And now Gray is laughing too. All right, we got everybody la |
| Unknown | ughing. Um and then she has these like cool kind of Keith Herring like swatches, but they're not swatched. They're from a random Japanese brand that she bought, you know, when she was over there that we didn't get to talk about. Um, the ones from her dad were really sweet. I mean, she, you know, was very open about the relationship not being super |
| Unknown | Her dad was actually a pretty interesting dude in his own right. Uh you know, I got curious about her personal history after we did the uh There you go. |
| Unknown | Jinx. But yeah. Um but no, she got emotional talking about that and you know, sh her watches are sentimental to her, all of them. Whether she bought them, whether they were gifts, whether they were her father's. Like it just really was cool to talk to another woman that was not someone that I expected to be into watches, and she really was, and I thought that was fun. So I th |
| Unknown | ought it was immensely charming. You said she has a relationship with her watches, and I think that's the perfect way to phrase it because I think Jack would have loved this too, is like she kept like she Steven you seem you were there for the shoot. I was there. I was there helping. Stephen was my assistant that day. I was Cara's assistant mostly uh I just super wanted to be there. Um I'm just kidding, Stevie. And uh yeah, it was just like it's one of those things that could have felt like really goofy or affected, and it didn't at all. Like it was very charming, and you could tell. And like even after the shoot, like we went to go put the watches away, and instead of like she had to run off to a charity event that night, and her publicist was trying to like help shoe her out the door and like get her, you know, where she needed to be when she needed to be. But like she didn't want to leave until all the watches were back in their boxes properly. And like she has watch cases, and every watch has its spot. And she really like she took the time. She was like sitting on the floor with the rest of us, like putting all the watches away, making sure everything got where it needed to be. Like there's there's a real bond there that I found really disarming uh and and really fun. Yeah. She like referred to her watches as her child children. Yeah. Yeah. I think one one of the things for me and you know, we talked about this a bit before we sat down and turned the mics on, but you know, we're recording this the the day after the story published and we're already, you know, over well over a hundred comments on the on the article plus all the stuff on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook. And you know, one of the discussions I think this has raised is that there are lots of different ways to be a watch collector and lots of different ways to enjoy watches. And for the most part, people seem to get that, and the comments seem to embrace that and say, like, hey, it's so great to see somebody we wouldn't have expected engage with watches in a way we wouldn't have expected. And then there's a handful of people who don't seem to get it at all and and seem kind of like she doesn't enjoy watches in the way I enjoy watches, so that means she's not a real collector. And like I think learning the former lesson is a good thing |
| Unknown | . Yeah, you know, I mean um there I mean there were people who just from a you know sort of um style and content perspective, uh you know this, particular talking watches was not their brand of vodka and that's fine. Um there were uh but you know it's it I think Steve I think uh uh you have a good point Stephen. You know, there's one I mean, one of the interesting things about enthusiast communities is that um the sort of partner of passion is being kind of doctrinaire about things. So um, you know, you have strongly held beliefs, you know, typically people who are passionate about something have strongly held beliefs and when something comes along that challenges um that you know that is dramatically different from what you're take on something that you're passionate about is it's easy to take that as sort of a personal challenge or as uh or as an affront to your value system. But you know Joe Thompson said something really interesting in a meeting yesterday. Uh he said that you know, we're in the we're the toy shop side of life. And you know, it really is true. I mean, you know, we're we the only reason to um you know be a watch enthusiast or a car enthusiast y or whatever kind you know whatever it is that you're enthusiastic about is if it adds some pleasure to your life, you know, it adds some enjoyment. And people have very different ways of enjoying sometimes similar things. And um, you know, the fact that we all come together over this over similar objects shouldn't obscure the fact that very different kinds of people can have very different takes on the on the same thing. You know, so why person A loves a Rolex Daytona is not the same reason that person B loves a Rolex Daytona. And neither of them is wrong. They're just attracted by different things |
| Unknown | . Yeah, I mean it's kind of like if you think about it with food, if I like pizza and Steve doesn't like pizza, I can't be mad at Steven for not liking pizza. For the record. For the record I love pizza. Yeah, I know. But like that's a good example. It's like everybody enjoy if you're enthusiastic about food, I can't like if you're into Chinese food and I'm not, like, is that a reasonable chi |
| Unknown | ps? Yeah, right. And like and like you said, like it's like a if you like pizza and I like sushi, it doesn't mean that I should tell you like, oh well you don't actually like food. Right. It's like they're just different things, just like that's fine, you know? Uh I think it's a good thing. I think I think, you know, it's important it's important for the survival of watches that people like them for different reasons. Yeah of course. Like we took we talk about this all the time here, so I know both of you have probably heard me say this or something like this a million times, but like if watch brands only made watches for people like us, they would all be out of business. Yeah. Like that that is not the the watch enthusiast market is important and it's important to keeping kind of the the spirit of the industry alive. But like ultimately we need like normal people who don't lie awake at night looking at watches on the internet to like watches and to be interested in watches. Otherwise this whole thing that we love and that we're passionate about won't last another 50 years, 100 years. So if we can acknowledge and encourage people to engage with watches in new and different ways. Like that's a good thing for all of us. Yeah, I think it's eas |
| Unknown | y to forget. You know, and to your point, Stephen, um watchmaking is an industry. It's been an industry for an awfully long time and it requires a viable industrial base. And for a viable industrial base to continue to exist, a certain volume of watches have to be produced. And, you know, um I think you put it very well, making watches for people like us, you know, um I think of IWC, for instance, as a case in point. If they had not uh deliberately attempted to reach a much larger audience than the enthusiast audience in the two thousands, uh they probably wouldn't be in business. They certainly wouldn't have the uh resources to have gone back to manufacturing their own movements. So, you know, and that's just one example. So yeah, I mean the it's it's it's fantastic for people to have different takes on these things. And it's fantastic for watches to be approachable to people, you know, um who aren't looking at typefaces on vintage Rolex Daytonas or looking at uh you know the the pitch of gear teeth. I mean, you know, yeah, let's have some fun with this stuff |
| Unknown | . Yeah, and I think like you know, I don't wanna say it's such a touchy subject with like men and women and like how they approach things differently, or if they don't approach things differently at all. But something that I found refreshing about the way that Bethany collected collects is that it felt similar to the way that I collect or the I like watches. Yeah. And I don't want to say all women collect differently than men, but the way that women do buy things, or at least that I buy things, is I I do see something that I like and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna get that. I don't need another opinion. I don't need someone to tell me that it's cool. I wanna get it for me because it brings me joy. And someone did comment a a woman commented that sh on Instagram I think that she was excited to see that she collected the way that she collected and that that's how women buy things. Yeah. And so it's frustrating, if I can be totally frank, seeing you know, a lot of guys in the in this community weigh in and be upset because she's not buying the way that they would buy. But that's just not reality. That's just not how life works. And that's you know, it's okay that women buy watches differently. It's okay that she didn't like m winding her watch. Full disclosure, I don't like a manual wound watch. I find it very tedious and it's I just don't have time for it in the morning. And I imagine Bethany, who is a very busy woman, does not have fucking time to wind her watch every morning. That's entirely fair. Come on. So you know, it's just I think people also I have full disclosure, I called a dial the face like last week. Does something it's okay. It doesn't make it not like watches. Yeah. People need to calm down about that. I won't go on and on. But I do think it's important for, you know, if we want to welcome women into this community, or we want everyone, woman or not, to feel good, to be at le to be gracious about it and to be humble and to be excited that somebody's excited about something and I just meh I don't know. Agreed. I my my att |
| Unknown | itude, if you're excited about watches for whatever reason, like cool, great. Maybe we have something in common. Maybe we have nothing in common. But like, cool, you're excited about a thing, a thing makes you happy, like, good for you. Like there's no reason it it also doesn't in infringe on anybody else's ability to enjoy this hobby if somebody else enjoys it differently There's also bigger problems in the world. I'm just it's just watches. As Jack said, this should be fun. And like to keep it fun, I want to ask before we wrap this thing up, did either of you or both of you have a favorite watch from Bethany's collection? Oh gos |
| Unknown | h. Um mine was the pink gold daytona with the white with the diamond indexes. Right. With the bracelet. Yeah. I mean for me |
| Unknown | probably the Hulk, just because I'm up in the air. I'm between the pink on pink on pink, the tona with diamonds, which is just so awesome. You just like saying p pinkink on on pink on p pink pinkink. on It's so good. Uh I'm between that and I'm between the vintage royal oak. Oh, that's such a good totally flooded and has tiny emerald hour markers. That's such a good one. So cool. Also, the fact that the emeralds are so they're like the size of a pinhead. They're so tiny. They're really tiny. And it's amazing. That watch is What did she say about that watch? She said it's so bling that it's casual again. Yeah, which is awesome. And I love that. And I can say honestly. That's true. That's like the day so like a rainbow. That's why that's so cool. I got probably a dozen just like texts and DMs on Instagram from just like friends, like not watch collectors or people in this world, because I posted that on my Instagram story yesterday. And like I got a at least a dozen people just being like, what is this? Like this is incredible. It's so funny. I think I'm gonna go with that one. We'll keep it keep it diverse. I like that. Um cool. Well thank you guys for doing this. And uh you know by the time people are listening to the to this on Monday morning, uh just so everyone knows, LVMH will have kicked off its first LVMH watch week in Dubai. Uh so our friends at uh Taghoyer, Bulgari, uh, Hublow, and Zenith are releasing new products. We're gonna have tons of coverage for you. Honestly, by the time you're hearing this, we will probably have coverage because everything should break Monday morning. Um, so stay tuned. If you want to see a whole bunch of new watches, hit up the site this week. Uh we'll have all the details, all the analysis for you uh flowing in from Dubai. Cool. Awesome. Thanks, guys. Next up, my conversation with Mr. Dan Hibashi. So this might be a kind of obnoxious way to start this, but I think the last time I saw you was in can. |
| Unknown | Yeah, strong start. Yeah, strong start, right? Yeah, a can, yeah, yeah. It was a can. That was a yeah, strong start, a can. Um, I was at the the Quassat there on the uh down there with Matt and and the whole crew we had IWC there and it was a great experience and yeah, we go way back as the brand and just a lot of love for the watching Odinky become what it is and thank you very much. I've been a huge supporter from the beginning and it that's been just great to see. But yeah, we um I think in context, you myself, Ben, we've always had these like pinch me moments where we are. I remember having a moment with Ben at R at uh Basel in Switzerland. I'm like, who are we? Yeah. This is quite a unique thing. So it's uh you know, it's a blessing and an interesting opportunity to have these moments you sit back in these places and say, Wow, I'm here. I don't think I mean I there is very much take a moment to appreciate it, stop and smell the roses and take a minute to say like I meet great people through incredible opportunities and more great people and just humbled to be there. Where, you know, looking back at thinking of the journey, it's like, I didn't be a can and meeting good people like you one day. But here we are. I mean, that's that |
| Unknown | 's how I feel about my whole career, right? Like this show is a great example of it. Like I I get paid to go around the world and meet super interesting people and talk about the things that excite us. Come on. That's a pretty good way to make a living. Yeah, of course. Uh so we we were in can for an event with Facebook with our mutual friend and your former colleague, Mr. Matt Jacobson. The uh greatest |
| Unknown | connector uh there is. Matt's the best. I think Matt, I joke with people, if you don't know Matt, uh Matt's a wonderful human being, great guy, great friend of mine. Matt is like, you've seen the Dosecchi's guy, the most wonderful interesting man in the world. Matt is that guy's mentor. I like that. That's kind of the reference point. You like you get to meet Matt, and Matt is like very much a one-of-none. And at his core, things like you and I preach. He's a collector. Yeah. And outside of a collector of you know incredibly nice things and luxurious things, he's a collector of things that are just well crafted. Things that aren't even expensive, but like the hunt and Matt and I always appreciate the hunt yeah and the story behind something. Yeah. It's like I'm wearing black, but it's like the right black. Look closer. There's like a detail behind it. And that's one of the things we naturally got together. When I first met him, he was wearing incredibly well-crafted suits that were not my aesthetic. Beautiful, not my thing. I had a very contemporary, you know, generally black, white, ox like streamlined wardrobe. Yeah. And the fact that it was curated and well appointed, it was an initial, like initial. Oh, I mess with you. Yeah. Right. Um but yeah he's absolutely like the Doseeki's guy's mentor. He's like a one of none for sure. I love it. And it's the reference. When you meet him him you, you know, because know him personally, so you get it. You're like exactly who that guy. |
| Unknown | It's a perfect description of Matt. But uh so you you used to work with Matt at Facebook, and then we had you at the panel in Cannes as a representative of Soho House, which is where you are now. Correct. So how did you how did you kind of end up on this this journey? Where were you before Facebook? How did you end up at Facebook? And then how are how are you now at Soho House? Yeah. So I mean life li |
| Unknown | fe is interesting, right? You kind of live your life forwards, you understand it backwards. You kind of connect the dots in a later time. I think um I look back and I when I get the opportunity to talk to someone young in particular in their career. I look back around, think of your passions. Like, what are you naturally curious about? Yeah. What are the things you would spend a lot of time researching on and going deep on, even if no one is paying you and you just, you know, just up late on a computer and going in. I've always been enamored with technology. I've always loved the speed at which technology changes and moves. Yeah. Um I've always loved communities in all different forms, whether they're you know, sneaker cultures, which we'll get into later, to like video game cultures, to like whether it was forums or the Reddits or whatever, communities of different kinds. My background was in business and I went to work in technology, whether it was Microsoft and working my way through MSN and then working at Facebook and then eventually getting to Instagram. And the through line and a lot of the products I worked on there was communities, essentially like digital communities for nearly 15 years and understanding how to grow them, cultivate them, maybe monetize them, you know, develop the product even further to make the communities not just sticky from a product perspective, but connect people with passion points. Yeah. Right. You get into Instagram early days, you remember where you would find people that like latte art, you know, realize how deep that was, you know, or you know, people who are into makeup and how extensive that subculture could get to, let alone sneakers, is a bit more the mainstream these days, to time pieces and you're collecting watches and what that looks like. And Instagram really highlighted all these kind of niche communities. And Soho to me was one of the best kind of physical manifestations of a curated creative community. Right. When it looked at the business that led with physicality, and I hadn't often worked in physical assets. There was you know the Microsoft time when you had an Xbox game that was a physical asset, but down to MSN or Instagram and so forth. And the Instagram, I think, was this unique moment of time, you know, working with Matt and some of the best kind of people I worked with there. Um that the internet was a different place, you know, this idea of you know the best version of your life and curation. And you see all the different apps, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Vine, now TikTok, they all have different use cases and different places. But what I I personally found exciting about Instagram was I prided myself on being a pupil of the community. So I would go to a place like when, you know, Ben and I were in Basel. I would like reach out to people that were in Basel that were photographers just to get a sense of their city and meet them through their eyes. Yeah. Or like I love architecture. Show me, you know, the Herzog space. Like let me see what I can see through the eyes of someone else. And I have some amazing friends around the world through this community. Yeah. People that I don't speak the same language. We have on paper nothing in common outside of the fact maybe joined Instagram at the same time, but we're both in passion on something. So whether it's someone in Guangzhou, China, or it's someone in you know Paris, France. We we were connected on a community. There was something, some passion point, some creativity, some form of design, architecture, watches, clothing that like, oh, you'll probably get along. Yeah. It was like one of my most favorite features on the Facebook platform was this idea of the friends in common. Yeah. Which we're like, oh Steven and you have 15 people in common. And what's always it's that who are those two people that how do you know that? How do you know Amy? How do you know Mike? And it's a some oh we went to to campgether. Those are the for me the best kind of breaks. And there's some sort of community you're involved in. Yeah. That often ties it together. Oh, we did like sports camp together. Oh, we played football together. I played soccer. So communities have been always fascinating to me, you know, and the you know in the time pieces, they're like niche subcultures and the subcultures behind it. People that collect, you know, a version of a specific GMT, a version of a specific automars, and they go like really deep in them. So communities for me, back to this idea of curation, you're curating people that have a mindset that are a passion project. And you see it. There's like this acknowledgement, you walk by someone that has she or he has the same kind of timepiece and you like this nod. Whether you're walking through the airport with a certain remova steel like aluminum thing, it's a certain nod. Y And it's that |
| Unknown | you know that the sort of state of mind that somebody was in that made them want to purchase a certain thing and make that a part of their lives, if you if you two have the same thing, like maybe there's that similar impulse and maybe it goes deeper and maybe you connect like you're both rolling the same suitcase through the airport, you probably both maybe like some of the same music. Or maybe you're interested in the same kind of architecture or the same kind of fashion or whatever. And it like those connections can start at one point and then kind of expand from there, right? And what I love about |
| Unknown | that too is it's the adjacencies you reference as I'd say and the things that I'll learn from you on the adjacencies we have in common. Yeah. So you and I love specific timepieces and we're really into those and we'll nerd out on those. And then you may put me on a uh a rock band. I would never source on my own. Because my ear goes to electronic music or hip-hop. But then I'll put something on you. They're like, oh, I didn't have thought of that. But there's this automatic kind of essentially like a validation or a cosign we have with each other. We're like, you know, Steven's got really great taste. We can't teach taste, he naturally has it. If he says to me, check this out, I'm gonna listen. Yeah, there's something there. No, that's that's great. You know, like you give me this review, it's you know, I'm looking for a new timepiece, I'm just gonna come to you. Should I get this? All I need from you is a yes or no. I trust all the long division. Stephen said no, it's a no. |
| Unknown | And it's funny that Instagram is such a good platform for meeting the kind of people who become those filters for you. Like I have them myself, you know, whether it's in in photography and architecture and art, like people who I've I've either never met face to face or I've met face to face once when I'm traveling or whatever. And it's like I see something and it's you you know immediately that the photo goes right to them. Like you go right to your DMs, you send them the photo and it's like, is this, is this the thing? I have I have no idea. But these people, you don't, you don't even really know them. You develop this kind of like almost unnatural level of trust with sure because you feel like you know them. There's there's a connection there, even if it's not the sort of connection of like sitting and having a coffee once a week before work. |
| Unknown | Absolutely. And that's one of the interesting things about I mean there's there's lots of you know debates and stuff you can have about social media in general, but I think there is this place around this kind of single serving interaction, whether it's the fight club reference or not, but I can just have these likes or these comments or these engagements. Now with Instagram in particular, it's back to the passion. It's back to the curation, it's back to the community. On the Facebook side, it's you know, I may not see you every single week or month, but I have these kind of high-level updates of your life.. Yeah You know, whether so-and-so got married, they've got a new home, they went on vacation. So when I do see you, I have some kind of conversation. Assume that, you know, we want to be in the circle and I know these things about you. To your point with Instagram, you just some watch someone that she or he's an incredible photographer and you just watch and if they like your photo, it validates, oh, they think I'm a good photographer. Right. You know I I collected, I've been saving up to buy this piece, I bought it, and this person commented, oh man, she thinks I'm like the G. I must be amazing. It's a certain type of validation, you know. Like you going comment on someone's photo means exponentially more about that than it would if I ever did it, because you come with a certain cloud and representation and credibility that Instagram allows you to do, right? Which some of the passion stories I loved at Instagram were people that quit their day jobs they hated to follow a passion. Yeah. Whether it was to be a photographer, whether it was to be a traveler, whatever it was. Yeah. But this tool became a platform which gave them change, which allowed them to like follow a passion, to pursue what they wanted to pursue. Those are the beautiful things about it. There's always negativity out with everything, but I try to err on those with saying, man, you hated your job and look what you're doing now. And it's like, yeah, I know. Right. You get to wake up every morning and I canre c'annot do anything that makes you happy. Yeah, exactly. And those and those to me, um those are the kind of the the the beautiful things about those platforms when done right. When you can give people a shot, when you give people this moment to really express themselves or live who they want to live. You know, all of those pieces are really exciting about the platform. So that's what I over-indexed on. I want to meet everyone I possibly could meet, help anyone I could possibly help. Um, and that was a unique time, yeah. You know, and have it working for someone like Matt who was so fixated on like doing the right thing always. It was always about ethics over revenue. It was always be the best part of someone's day. It was always meet someone interesting and really enforcing to us that remember, you know, as humble as you got you are, it's like you may be the most interesting person someone's gonna meet that day. So leave the best impression you possibly can. And it's like those subtleties, those like really simple things that your grandmother would teach you. Yeah. That like stand up when you meet someone for the first time, look them in the eye, shake their hand, say thank you.. Yep You know, and those are the principles of people like Matt that I always aired on that were core. They were principled, you know, integrity over anything. You know, and that was the beautiful thing about those moments. You pe meet these people to your point. We have nothing in common, you think? Then like we actually have a lot in common. I don't even speak the same language. I could tell you a list of Instagrammers I would spec from Japan to wherever that I we didn't speak the same language, but we hung out for hours and just like connected on something. Yeah. We just they would bring me to a spot and like just follow. I'm like, cool, making small talk conversation. I showed I'm like, oh damn. Yeah. I see why you brought me here. Yeah. |
| Unknown | I think I mean I think that's one of the the things that I feel most spoiled about, I guess, in in my line of work and also just kinda like, you know, existing in twenty nineteen when we have all these tools at our disposal is like the idea that I can go basically anywhere in the world and have friends immediately is crazy. Crazy. Like I tell, you know, I tell my parents like you know that I went to Tokyo and met up with somebody who's like a friend of a friend and whatever, and they're like, How the hell who are you? They're like, You've never been to Tokyo. How the hell do you how the hell do you know people in Tokyo? Right? You've never been. What are you talking about? You've met up with friends. You've been there 12 hours. You know? And it's like that that's an amazing thing to be able to do through these these tool |
| Unknown | s, really. You know, through these tools. And then on top of that, what you guys have built here, right? When you build something that eclipses you.. Yeah Which is what Instagram was at some point, where it was bigger than us. And you see people they're like, oh, I met the hodinky folks. Yeah. You know, it's like you you at some point it eclipses you and it's beyond you. Right. And you accept that that like they're rolling because it's the brand. Yeah. Which is flattering. But then people strip it down like Steven's awesome. Yeah. |
| Unknown | I actually get it's funny, I get more excited and like more, I guess, like touched when people are like, are you are you hodinky? Like are you like you're Hodinky, right? As opposed to when they're like, are you Steven? Like it's there's something about the association with the brand and that feeling of like this whole team here. I mean we're like 50 people now having built this thing that is is totemic in people's lives is it's And it's nice to know, like you said, like it's it can be a bright spot for people. It can be a thing that they connect to other people on. It's way bigger than us, it's way bigger than any one of us. It's way bigger than the fifty people sitting in this office. It's uh it's it's sort of just like it's a thing that exists in the world kind of beyond us. For sure. |
| Unknown | And I think what I love about this brand in particular, it's a passion. Right? It's for many people it's not it's not a utility. You know what I mean? Where because there's a different kind of energy and commitment and loyalty and craze that comes with passion. Yeah. I mean nobody needs what we do. No, you don't makes people happy, but nobody needs it. For sure. In the state of all things and you don't need it. But people get behind things that are passionate more because like you hit something with them. And then you can see they're great equalizers. Yeah. Where you can see two people on other sides of politics, on other sides of language, whatever, but there's a common ground, which is this timepiece. Yep. And they could nerd out on it. And that's fascinating. Yeah. I think. When like worlds collide, you know, when like these two juxtapositions come together and like, oh, I didn't expect this. Yeah. From you know, this party to that party, like this crew, you know, upperer side, low side come to a party and it's done here. Like that contrast is interesting. Yeah. So I think with passion, it's a really fascinating thing. And yeah, when something becomes bigger than you, yeah, at some point too with Instagram when you get so big where it's you're seeing people at restaurants like send food back because the photo's not going to be right, which is just crazy. That's you know what I mean? Which is like wild. That's wild. Um, and you see like the makings of the Instagram boyfriends and all that stuff. Um, but yeah, your point, when you build something that's incredible and big and people get behind and they're impassioned about it and helps better people and give people opportunities for new things. It's exciting. Exciting to watch. |
| Unknown | Agreed. Uh so we we've talked a lot about the kind of like mix of online offline. And one of the things I think that's interesting about what you guys do at at Soho now is there's there's a content play and there's, you know, there's a great app and all these things, but there's something about having to physically be in these places that I think makes it makes it special and the kind of like hunt to go to these places when you're traveling. How do you guys think about creating kind of unique places for for these kinds of connections around the wor |
| Unknown | ld? Yeah, I think this is well before my legacy, and Nick is a mastermind and he has incredible taste and his pulse on what people ultimately want. He's a people people, people person rather. And you look at him and he understands people and he's a great sense of design, a great sense of taste. And that's hard. And we have rest into before on like how do you keep this as the business scales? And he references back, people said the same thing to him when he opened up Electric, which is another property in the UK, and it just keeps going and going and going. And I think he sticks true to his intuitions and principle. He surrounds himself with great people and great designers and he's open to listening around what is happening, but it's pure to his vision. I think at some point, like the Benz and like yourselves, like people that are early founding a business, you got where you are based on certain things. You know, you have there's a formula got you here. Now, that same formula may not be the same formula that takes you to the next big chapter, but the formula got you here. So be successful in that. And there is nothing like physical spaces. The same thing at Instagram was an Instameet where we walk like talked online, but then you'd say, Hey, you find these Instagrammers, let's all meet here to take photos. Yeah. And you're like, the nervousness of like a party, someone gonna show up to my party, you're waiting to be casually late, and you show up and wow, there's 60 people here to take photos. Yeah. And that's cool. That's really cool. And you're like, wow, that's amazing. And people just like that the you know, online going offline and coming to be reality, and there's that's the thing. And then we come back to physicality down to you know, single purpose devices on our wrist. Like you can get an Apple Watch, you can get a fit. There's so many other things you can get to tell time. Shit, you have a phone. Yeah. You don't need it. Right. In theory. Um but this idea of like physicality, right? The world like was looking for artifacts and physical things and there's nothing like me sitting in front of you. You could have done this over Skype or Blue Jeans or FaceTime or whatever it is, but there's nothing like FaceTime. And I think there's nothing like a good old fashioned form of let's sit down, let's you know have a drink, have a coffee, have a meal, you know, chat. And you know, people like Nick being so worldly and being global citizens around the world and getting a sense of what India needs versus what Hong Kong needs versus what London needs versus what LA needs. And that's where you have local teams that are great and have their ear to the ground and have a sense of like the pulse of the zeitgeist or what makes sense for us as a business to kind of keep thinking of. But yeah, it's it's not easy to do that stuff. And you can see I was referencing, you know, we've all done been to certain hotel chains, for example, that at one moment in time, 10 years back, were the spot, you know, but don't update in certain ways or, you know, doesn't become a thing. And in club land in particular, like you can go through here in New York, a whole bunch of spots that were clubs that maybe that club died and become another space, or the space will always be a c club. But somelubs have lasted less test of time because they've mastered like that visceral experience. There's something about here. Um but you know quoting a friend of mine, Mark, he talks about nothing will ever beat the feeling the first time you snuck into a club is 16 and like I got in and that energy you feel the bass going through you like it won't be as high as that. Like that's the best one. Um but there's you know something with physicality. Having worldly people, listening to people, trusting your intuition got |
| Unknown | so how do you guys so so the Soho clubs, right, are our members' clubs. People become members and then you know, when you're traveling, when you're going throughout the world, you visit the different the different houses, the different clubs, and how do you try to recreate that kind of special feeling when people walk into a new club? You know, like if I've the magic. Yeah, the magic, exactly. Like I I know when I travel somewhere, like making sure if if there's a Soho house there, like I'm gonna I'm gonna check it out, you know, like I I always do. Uh and it's that that trying to capture that magic where like, you know, if I've never been to you know, the sunset house in LA or if I've never been to Istanbul or whatever, like the first time I walk in, how do you make it feel special and not just like, oh yeah, I'm at this place that I go to all the time in New York |
| Unknown | or whatever. Yeah, and that's really hard. I mean that's like just outside of Soho and any other company, like hiring for culture. Hiring for culture is really tough to do an interview process. Uh yeah. It's really tough. It's extremely tough. It's really tough. It's one of those things I would think of. Like one of the questions I would think of is hey, could you be stuck with Steven in an airport for an eight-hour delay? It's like, yeah. Oof. Yeah. You know, but and that's a question. That's a good test. It's a good test, right? Because you think like some people don't want to do that with their siblings, let alone family. You know what I mean? Like, oh, I could talk shop with you about whatever for a long period of time. Yeah. So that gets really hard. I think at its core it comes to we have a wonderful team on the membership side led by a woman named Vanessa who runs like our front of house, and you have another woman named Sam who runs like the membership and a gentleman named Marcus, who are like the heart and soul of that. That warm feeling when you walk in, the feel like it's like your cheers. Yeah. You know, exactly. Everyone knows my name. When you walk in and you feel welcomed, you know, and you feel like this is my second home away from home. I'm in Germany, I don't speak German, but I rock with you, I rock with you, I wanna be here. So how do you make that feeling? So like anything, you have some consistency. So whether it's us or it's a really you know another really high-end hotel chain or your Starbucks, you know, something that you're known for. They're like, I want my thing. So I walk into a Starbucks here. I want the you know a blonde roast, black copy you can expect certain things. So there comes a certain place, especially when it's a curated community and there is this component to you have a certain expectation. And some of those things are hard, right? There's there's things you can test for, there's things you can plan for and things you can't. And um you know you try to index on the people side of things. People like like I'm sitting in front of you looking at you, talking to you, how can I help you listening to people? Yeah. But those three, I think for us are our kind of secret weapons. I think it comes down to a lot of them to make people feel like it's home. Okay. Which is quite different. But it's hard to do. And you've seen it you've seen it at other like unrelated to us. You see it to hotels you love or uh restaurants you love and you go to the other location and it's just not the same because that server that knows you wasn't there. Yeah or that bartender that makes that drink just that one way isn't there or like the chef that knows you want your burger that is not there. It's like those small little nuances where you know you commute every single day, walk by that Starbucks or Columber, whatever it might be, and the person sees you walking down the street and they prep your coffee. It's that specialized, personalized touch that kind of makes it what it is. Yeah. Which is a bit different. But that's I think, you know, the kind of secret sauce to a lot of the companies and why they succeed. You know, you buy something on an e-commerce site and it's a first time and they send you an email say, hey, thanks for you know buying with us for the first time. There's no physical touch, but that felt like I automated, but you went to the point to like, no, this is my first purchase. Right. Thank you. It's that tiny bit of effort, right? For sure. It's a little bit a handwritten note. All being dumb by a robot, it makes me feel like you care that much more. Yep |
| Unknown | . Yeah. No, that's very true. Um I'm not gonna grill you too much talking talking Soho shop, but I do have to ask right now, what's your favorite house? |
| Unknown | Oh, that's tough. I mean, I I'll be like a hometown kid and say Toronto because it's the Toronto home and and that's the house that it is. I think they always want to support that home. I think in general, um I spent a lot of time in the UK okay um which is always um the crew there is fantastic. There's a a special spot I have for Dean Street. It's right there in the heat of it. It's right downtown. The the front desk team is wonderfully charming and you know, just one of the best out there. Yep. It's hard to pick just one. Um, but even back to like that our team led by Vanessa and group is they're the ones that make you feel really warm up front. Okay. So every house tries to be a little different. So the decor of like Dean Street would be a little different than Greek, which would be different than Shortage and have its kind of unique pieces. Um yeah, I gotta be patriotic and loyal to shout out the Toronto host as well for yeah, always doing its bit. Cool. Well, |
| Unknown | I do want I do want to talk about collecting because you're collecting you're you're a collector through through and through. I love you. Uh so we'll start with watches and we'll we'll jump off from there. So uh how did you get into watches initially? What was kind of like your first touch point for watches? Um |
| Unknown | it would have been like grandfather. Uh I would have had a vivid memory of like a um a tableclock pad and then a pocket watch. Okay. And then my grandmother and him had this like really beautiful um hallway clock. Okay. And I remember vividly as a kid just like seeing the birds and all the workings of it and just the details and the increased intricacy of it. And it was I remember thinking as a kid and they lived in Cairo. My parent family was from Egypt. And I'd go to Cairo and I remember the size of scale of this clock. And it was so it had so much impact. And it was just, it was just a clock. Like it just told time. But it was a piece. It was like beyond the time. And I was fascinated by the construction of it, watching like all the you know, little movements in it, every bit of it. It was like I remember being mesmerized by this like thing. And at the time recognizing it's a single-purpose device. I'm like, we have a clock on the wall, like why this big thing? It takes up like the apartment's not that big. It's like right really big. But it was the craftsmanship behind it. It was like something behind that that I really was into. You know, it's like that. And then seeing grandpa's like that hall clock, the desk, the one beside his nightstand, the pocket watch was just such a g move like rocking a pocket watch is that's so good right that's let me check the move like pulls out his pocket watch puts it back takes a handkerchief back out is like yo pops grandpa you're killing it so good you know and then father was into them as well and like we kind of points you on them and I started early with things like you know the timex or like yeah you know you're in the glow and you work through those or a Casio and like had the the um calculator watches. Yep. And then when you're a kid the nerdy ones are like the transformer robot that turned into something. Oh yeah. All of those. All of it. All of the toys. All of the things. That's so cool. You know, just remembering all those and you and again it was never about money. It was just like curating and collecting. And it was this thing. And then I remember probably the first brand I really got behind was Swatch. Yeah. I think it's probably the early 90s, maybe they had the I remember um seeing like the big swatch you hang on the wall. Yep. Remember those? And like oh yeah with the strap. Yeah yeah yeah the whole strap size watch yeah yeah it's like if you're an ogre that was like a big giant in game of Thrones. That's the watchy rock. It was like this big swatch. And it was also I think the swatch brand was also at intersect for me to get into art in different ways. Okay. Um so when I saw you guys do a swatch, I was like, Yeah. It's like yeah, there's this nostalg nostalgia, but it's also this accessibility. And it's also behind like the collector where Swatch, I didn't understand it in at full kind of grasp, but there is there was versions you'd collect. Again, the thing with swatches like they're accessible, relatively speaking. Right. You know, it's in the in this sphere, it's not like certain brands that are like unachievable unless you make you know a certain amount of wealth. The swatch was like you can get it. Right. And you can like almost anyone can save up and get a swatch. For sure. It's like the same idea with sneakers, which we'll still get into at some point. I could retail, they're not that crazy for the most part, outside of a couple of exceptions. Right. They they are within reason, say like 100-200 at retail. It's the aftermarket, it's the the value, the collecting that makes them crazy. Yeah. Um, and those were like the moments I think of like those clocks with pops and grandfather and then looking at those and then the timex and then the swatch movement as like, oh great, and this is into it. And then you start started seeing brands like that evolve from like the Nixons of the world and like started moving into you, you can't afford these like timepieces and you're gonna work towards them and they're aspirational the same way a German car was an aspirational movement to me. The an import was an aspirational thing. You work towards things. But I'm kind of old school that way. Like I have certain beliefs of like I have two kids and they won't get fancy imports from me. They have to earn those. But that's my personal point of view. Like you have to have something to want to work for. I didn't have those and you have to have these milestones. Like work towards that. It means more that way like it sound |
| Unknown | s it sounds like a very like fuddy duddy old school thing to say but it's like the old man yeah but like it's it's true like you know I I mean I'm not that old but I remember buying my first vintage Rolex and it was like holy shit, like I'm an adult now. Yeah, this is real money. I earned this. Like I worked my ass off for this and I earned it. And like I'm I'm doing okay now. Like I can look at this watch and say, like, I sure I did okay. You know? And that's that's a good feeling. Yeah, and we're way better than if somebody just handed it to me when I was |
| Unknown | sixteen. And that watch for you will always say something like when you became like you grew up. You made it. That's like your moment for you. And that story that will always have a story for you because it hit that moment where like you did it. Like that boy did it. I made it. And that's a thing. So there's like things you have for you, whether it's a coat, I bought this fancy coat, I bought this timepiece, it was a car, it was a pair of really fancy dress shoes or chelsea. People have their thing. Yep. But there are to your point, like I'm again, old school mindset, like for something like that, you gotta have that in cash. If you can't afford in cash, you don't buy it. Yeah. So the things like to your point with a kid, if I give you a BMW, what do you have to look forward to? Right? A big yeah. Homeboy please. Like you're starting, you know, you're gonna learn it from it at 15. I don't want you beating up my BMW. You gotta work on like yeah, you know, whatever your thing is. So it's again, like you earn it the same way when I bought my first car, right? It was a beater and like by the end of it, like window didn't everything's I think I had like four hundred and thousand,000 miles on it. But the point when I bought the car, someone's like, Can I smoke in it? Fuck no. Yeah. Pardon my language. But like, you know, can I absolutely not? Because it was my car. Right. You know, and it I was paying the gas, the insurance, like everything about that car was on me. Um and it's different because it was mine. The same way you buy that pair of shoes and they're white and you're like licking, you know, don't seven my shoes. Oh I know that well yeah you know it's a thing. And someone's like you can't touch these. Yeah. So there's like there's a thing. Like I think there's like a sequencing. There's a graduation path. Like I've read, you know, I think some car manufacturers, you have to prove that you've bought this version and can handle this version before you get that version. Yeah. You know, this like graduated evolution of what you can get to. Ye.ah I think is an important thing. So yeah, man, I think the curation and the story behind it is a super important one. So it started off at like accessible price points. You work through like the story. It's not about the craziest thing you can get. Yeah. Um, which you know, one of the pieces we love when I remember getting it and I sent it to you, I was like, Hey Dude Well, this watch is so cool. |
| Unknown | Can you talk about this watch? I know exactly what you're talking about. When when this showed up in my inbox, I was mind blown. Like you're the only you're the only person I know who owns one of these watches. |
| Unknown | Yeah, like and it's flattering because like in the context of the who you know in the So the thing for me what's so fascinating about this, you know, this alleged watch that I own, wink wink, um for context, it's um it's an old service watch. Right. Right. And what I love about the story, and you can fill in the blanks for those who need more of the history because you'd know it better than I would, is I love the idea of the watch. Right. The idea is on so many levels interesting to me because the watch itself is not expensive. Like if you break down the components and like if you were to boil the pieces down, it's not like a titanium, like there's nothing about that. On a couple pieces I like it. Number one, as a marketer, um, you know, your wrist is in this in this game, it's the only piece of like real estate you have. It's the one thing. It's not like food where I can keep buying. You have multiple times to buy with you. It's the one asset you have. So you go in and you're having your watch service, and it'll be, you know, if you're lucky, six weeks, usually six to twelve, depending on the, you know, four, three, depending on if you go to an authorized dealer, it's while you're unlucky, it's six months, twelve months it's not days. Yeah. So it's not days. Right. So as the brand, that real estate, you're giving up, admittedly, for a period of time that someone else will own. And there's maybe the risk that they get something else on that real estate that you don't necessarily can achieve or I can kind of recoup back from. Yeah. So that's one idea. So then as a marketer, I'm going to hold on to. So I'm going to hold that relation. Yeah. Then on the the relationship people side, it's like, I love, oh no, no, how dare I leave your wrist bare? I got you. I'll take care of you. This is a big investment. Don't worry, I'll take care of you. So the other part that like I'm gonna put that on your wrist to take care of you. Yeah. Right. And then the design component of it, like it's blacked out with simple red detail, uh really c and like unassuming, the same way like my coat we like it's black. It's like there's a subtlety to what it is. It's you know that bit. Then you look closer and it says not for sale right on the face. Right. Which is so awesome. So awesome. So the whole thing about it, it's about access, not wealth. So I've I've met people that like, I'll buy from me right now cash. I was like, no. And that's the point. Right. Is you can't get it. Right. Um, and that's the idea because it's not about, I mean, I don't want to sp end80,$000 on a watch. Not that I would, or whatever it might be, but it's like, oh, I got this, and you can't. Right. And nobody else has it. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And it's it's that curation. It's like the hunt for the story. And like when someone sees, and if you know, like you would, the story behind it, it. It's like oh,, that's so much more interesting. Yeah. Because you meet the collectors that have everything in them, all the you know, all the toys. All the toys, the yachts, the planes, all that stuff but like you don't have this. Exactly. Um and it's a different thing where it's prize myself, I think people like you and me, it's about the access, about the good people you know that can help you out, whatever it might be, versus just because I have the money is that's the wrong look. |
| Unknown | It's it's curated. Right. I mean something really specific. And the thing about this too is like so so the watch in question, just so people know, the watch is a Hublow service watch. So the deal was Hublow for a long time. I actually don't know if they still do this, but for for a long time, if you took your Hublow in to get serviced at a Hublow boutique, they would give you this watch. It was a small quartz, like classic fusion style, like really basic Hublow. Like has the screws in the bezel. It looks like a Hublow, but like no frills at all. It's black, it's quartz, it's white and red writing on the dial. It's like the most basic Hublow you can imagine, but it says not for sale and you can't get it. And when when you went back to go get your watch, you would have to give them this watch back. It was like collateral essentially to get your watch. But a handful of them kind of made their way out into the market, uh, and you somehow manage to uh to nab one. Allegedly. Allegedly. You may or may not own this watch. |
| Unknown | Um but uh It's the story behind it, right? It's so cool. The story behind it is interesting. And back to like again, anyone that curates, anyone that collects, there's a story. Yeah. You know, I forget the gentleman's name, but recently um uh leader at Nike was talking about how kids that are collecting shoes and they did some focus group research, what's now becoming more important for the kids is the story on how they got the shoes. Because part of that is almost like the humble brag. Yeah. Oh like you got a plug to get those Jays? Who do you know? But there's one thing I have the shoes. Right. But clearly you're plugged |
| Unknown | up and connected to get the shoes. Yep. So it's a funny thing too related to that where like Exactly. It's cooler to get them at 150 bucks and have the hookup than to have the cash to spend. 100%. Right? And that's the piece. So it's way |
| Unknown | cooler. Way cooler. And again, you see this at every level, right? People always want access, you know, that it's a thing, no matter what. There's a currency of cool. So whether you want to try to go to a club, you want to get the Hodinky swatch before it drops, before it sells out, like people want access to something. Yeah. No matter rich or poor, cool or not, people love that. There is a thing about that currency of cool and access to things. So the thing back to like sneakers for example again you know generalized statement but the for the reality is for most sweaters they're for the most part accessible they're not like I'm not talking about crazy expensive timepieces like for the most part, they're accessible, right? I youf can see it at Foot Locker, it's accessible. And it's, you know, I don't get me wrong, I love a general inline s like sleeper people than think of, but if you have the right people, you can get the shoe and it's a shoe, right? And that's something like, you know, Matt, I've got him into, right? As a collector's a curator. He's like oh these are and he's |
| Unknown | like, he loves the subculture of collecting. Which is so funny. I mean, like the first time I I think I'd known Matt for probably probably five, six years and had never seen him not wearing like beautiful handmade leather dress shoes. Yeah, yeah. Uh and then I saw Matt and he's wearing like beautiful bespoke trousers. He's wearing this amazing linen sport coat and he's got zoom flies on. And I was like, what? What are you doing? Like what happened? And he's like, he's like, habashi got to me. U |
| Unknown | h yeah, he calls me a sneaker sensei. Yeah. It's flattering. It's great. Uh it's pretty amazing. Yeah, and again, back it's it's it's amazing to see that because again, like curator recognize the curator. Real recognized real. Like we're into the same theories of things. Yeah. Right. And we still find like we'll back and forth all the time with like still good friends now. It's like, hey, check this thing out. It's a great deal. And it's like, it's this thing on eBay for like $8.99. Yeah. Like eight dollars and not eight hundred you know it's right right people would assume because other collectors that's no, it's not about that. It's like we like the hunt. Yeah. Right. And we're like the sucker for that. And I think ultimately any collector, any curator does. Yeah. Because you there's you, know, I've seen stories about there' specisfic, I want this watch at a specific bezel because the font type was different for this one year. Yep. And it's like, man, the esoteric nature of that crazy and like you're going off and like that's a fifty thousand dollar premium. You're like, I want it. Because there's something about that that means something to someone. Yep. You know, so and so's father was a surgeon, he wants those Rolexes, you know, that that very rare there was like 10 of them made. They |
| Unknown | want that. And the problem is once you know those details, like it's it's a knowledge fight. Like once you know those things, you can't sort of like disarm yourself. Like you can't be like, ah, I'll just take one with a plain bezel. Cause like once you know that, totally every time you look at the wrong bezel, it's gonna feel wrong. Like it's just never, |
| Unknown | you're never gonna be able to undo that. Yeah, exactly. It's like with you know certain iconic shoes that eventually at some point get re-released. Right. The real nerd's like, well, those are the 83 versions or those are the 94 versions. Uh 94? Trash. Yeah. Like it's the it's this thing where like there's always some version you can kind of see keep cross-sectioning and slicing and slicing and slicing. For sure. But it's again the curation. I think people as a whole, I think I admire just people that curate things. Curate life. You know, curate the people that you want around you. Like you need good energy around you. Yeah. If you're not gonna like curate that shit. If you don't want people around you that have good energy that help you get ahead, that are like aren't helping you build and challenge you in the right ways and are curate it, yeah. Curate everything, yeah. And that's a big thing to me. And like, I'm not telling people to just be put their homes with design within reach or whatever it might be, but like curate things, go for the hunt. We have great things got from you know flea markets or thrift thing that reupholstered and found like crazy vintage furniture that's like this really unique kind of Scandinavian vibe. We wanted that. So we like hunt for it. But your point, once they have it in, I'm not shaking it. Yeah. I |
| Unknown | want this. And it's also like you to a certain extent, like, yeah, you can go super minimalist and really have like very few things in your life, but like most of us have stuff in our life. Why not make it stuff that makes you happy? For sure. Like and it doesn't have to be expensive, but like, you know, if you can have a you know, coffee table or a water glass or a plant or a pair of sneakers or a watch or whatever, and it's a thing that makes you happy on a daily basis, like great, great. You know, if if little thing like that can put a smile on your face, that's a pretty pretty cool thing. |
| Unknown | Yeah, I remember even with my wife who was like, God bless her, puts up with my sneaker obsession and everyone. Then I, you know, I start getting hers. My my wife can sympathize. Yeah. So the same thing. I get my wife, all these the sneakers, trainers in the UK is the call and I remember one time walking down the street with her and some kids stopped like yo can I take a photo of your shoes and she was like what is happening I was like yeah welcome welcome to the culture it's like a thing where it's a weird thing to understand but there's this like oh I get this or you go to Basel for the you know jewelry and watch fair and you're like, oh I get this. Yeah. You know, when you go to any of these like gatherings, these like groupings of people, I go to a photography trade show, and everyone wants to be passionate about something and they're great equalizers. You go to a photography show, and like the Leikas are the most interesting ones. You have you know the kind of struggling artists that saved all their money for the Leica, and the retired billionaire that just likes shooting and can't really shoot but wants the Leica. And there's this we're we're equalizers on that. Yeah. And we both love the craft of shooting. We both love the analog nature of it. The people that like like the the Leikas, Porsche's, like the Rolexes, there's like a through line, if you would. Yeah. You know, and you I think you're a once a curator, always a curator. Once a collector, always a collector. You just collect different things. So whether you start with coins or stamps, and then it's trainers, and maybe it's, you know, watches, and if you do really well, maybe it's real estate, whatever it might be. But your to your point, I think you you ref you refine your taste, you kind of like cultivate it further and understand like this is what I want. Yeah. |
| Unknown | I'm going after these. So I wanna know as far as sneakers go, where's your taste at right now? Like what's what are you collecting and focusing on right now? Ye |
| Unknown | ah, I mean, I think I'm all over. There's always there's like the standard brands I'm a big fan of. Obviously big fan of Didas Nike uh all the big show I also love the sleeper brands people don't know about there's like um like Hoka One Lightning people but I just I love design of shoes in general like I would look at it you know whether it's uh Aleaks or drees or just footwear is one of the things I'm into and whether it's really comfortable, it's really cool. Uh whether it's you know Virgil's designs on the off-white stuff to an inline, you know, regular shoe that people slept on that's really comfortable. You know, it's a zoom fly, whatever it might be. So I think there's a a point of like the tech. Like I like the tech behind the shoes. Like, oh, this is really light. It's really breathable. Um I'm a professional traveler with my friends joking like a corporate athlete. Like I'm always on the move. So I look for shoes that I can have some sort of fashion sensibility, but I can work out on them. I can do something with them. They're practical. It's not just for me as you know, we're friends was a bit different but I'm not on Instagram showing off the whole thing. There's the occasional photo here and there, but that's not the game. It's not to show you all the stuff I have. Yeah, I have those a month ago before they came out. But right. I don't need to tell you that. I know and I'm happy that I have them. Yeah. Um but as a you know the kind of the dad in me still loves a good new balance 990. Nothing wrong. You know, the homies at Haven up in Toronto just did a really good collab with a nice all-black, you know, solid shoe. It's like great, comfortable, staple. Can't go wrong. Nothing wrong with that. You know, and that's an important piece. Back to like I get a timepiece that's durable, that's timeless. So the GMT on the wrist is a timeless piece. You can wear it kind of anywhere versus you know, oh, I want this like specific rose gold alligator strap or whatever it might be. It's like it's a very specific thing. So I look for more wider kind of pieces. There's the occasional you know collectibles that you have that are um nostalgic that mean something that are like a piece to you the same way you you know whether it's a book or it's a piece of art um I would joke with people that I I look to kind of wear all the stuff I have and use it versus just like collecting for the sake of. I don't want to have a space where I have like five hundred choos like a museum. It's like you know. |
| Unknown | So you're not a guy who like keeps things mint in box. Like everything is is worn and used and enjoyed. I definitely have a couple of things that are |
| Unknown | mint in box in the context of either haven't found the right scenario to wear them or there is a story behind that or given as a gift to me from someone that's really you know meant a lot to me and there's a story behind it or you know is it inaccessible shoe that that person did me a solid favor and the shoe has a certain the box has some certain markings and a card inside that means something bigger to me. Okay. So that's not even really about the shoes. It's about the message behind the shoe. So I have the shoe and it's great, but I like the idea of just like with my wife, I get her the craziest thing and wear it. It's a shoe. Yeah. You know, it's a watch. Wear the watch. Right. You know, it's a coat. Wear the coat. You know, like versus, oh, let me show you deep of my archive of stuff I don't wear. Right. It's like why? Just show it. Like enjoy it to your point. If it makes you happy, put it on. Yeah. Wear it. Yeah. Get that'sing br in your step. I also |
| Unknown | like mostly I just don't have the discipline to do the other. Like I like I don't have the discipline to go like save up and buy an amazing thing and then like keep it on ice. Like I can't I can't do that. Like I wanna take it out in the world. I want to enjoy it. I want to show it to people. I want to have conversations about it. I want to like, you know, I'm a little too hype on it. Like I can't, I just can't let it sit there and do nothing with it. Yeah. And that |
| Unknown | 's when you walk by and someone's like, oh hey, and you like on the street corner, you notice what you're talking about. And that that little quick, you know, two minute conversation just energizes you somehow on the way to work. Yeah. You know, if someone notice and maybe you spend like, man, I spent three hundred dollars on these shoes I didn't. I felt I should have done, but I really wanted them. Then you're walking by and someone's like, Hey man, nice kicks. Thank you. Justified that $300. Whatever that was, tobacco, it it gave you a perspective, made you feel good about something. So that's great. Um, so that's an important bit. I feel like collect, but collect to like enrich life, not to just like have a kind of a leaderboard. Yeah. I would like I'm the one like who had the best talking watches like who cares? It's the best collection for them. And like you will never win that race. Right. Do you know what I mean? You'll never win that race. So there's no point. Just have stuff that you like, that you wear, that you feel uncomfortable and that makes you feel like, oh yeah |
| Unknown | , I got this. Yeah, exactly. What uh what are you hunting for these days? I know you love the you love the hunt. You've said it. And uh what what are the kind of things, like two or three things that you're you're looking for these days? |
| Unknown | Um there's a couple little things I'm hunting for my wife. Uh in in the you know the collector mindset I'm gonna keep it off record so the stock price doesn't go up on those things perfect good. Do you know what I mean? Like so do that. Um there's a couple of classic like old Air Jordans, you know, from the eighties and nineties that I'm looking to get to like some really simple colorways that I'm a big fan of that you know the price is always astronomical. So you want to try to find the right like someone slept on. I just read the other day that someone that worked on the design innovation group at Nike for 30 years is selling a bunch of prototypes online. Oh. And I just like had a quick look this morning. Some really interesting stuff in there. And I love the add back to the idea of like what I think one of them was like an Air Force One sandal. Kind of heinous, kind of awesome. Do you know what I mean and just like for the sake of it? It's crazy. Super weird. But it's like, oh, okay. All right. There's like the bit around that that's also um like back to the story. The story arc is always interesting to me where someone's like, Oh, here's like the blueprint. Like, I have a book at home that's like the Kurt Cobain journals. Um, it's just like his notebook, you know, it's like just a sense of Nirvana was like an iconic band for me growing up, and that to me, it's like the behind the scenes, the long division as I reference it. That's more exciting than like ta-da here. It's like yeah, I've discography, but I have like all the B footage of the photos from the albums, or like those types of things are interesting to me. A couple of random records that I'm searching for for like bands I really love and the purest that me wants to own the physical record versus the streaming. So there's like, you know, I want that acetate, I want that vinyl because it feels like I own the song. Yeah. Um and back to the same reason why, you know, we love single piece purpose devices like time pieces. There's something about that analog, that collection, that I can put on in that crackle of a record and playing that one song and have to get up and flip it and play the other two maybe three songs yeah and move on. Again, it's something you know unique about it. I remember the first time my Eldus saw CD, he's like, what's this? I was like, oh man. Yeah, just like crazy. Weird. I mean he was a baby. What's this? Yeah he was a baby and when my wife and I were driving and he was young and he pointed to a phone booth. He's like, W'hats that? Crazy. Like these things you these artifacts you forget about. I remember being I was working at Instagram. I remember we um had asked an intern, I don't know why, to like burn a CD for something, which right now is still lol. And he's like, uh yep. And he walked away. And my colleague sitting in front of me, he says, He that guy has no idea what you're talking about. And I bring I bring him back over. He's like, Hey, you ever you ever burnt the C D? He's like, No, I've never burnt the C D and he's like, I grew up on an iPod. I was like, that's amazing. That's amazing. Amazing. Never burned a CD. I remember the whole I remember a friend of mine was like bootlegging Dreamcast and PlayStation games. Of course. Who did it? I remember getting my first CD burner and it was the dude, it was the biggest thing in the world. Side hustle. That was like the first real big side hustle. Yeah. Yeah, you want a CD mix? What do you need? I got a hip-hop mix, I got a display pile of jewel cases from uh fries, you know? Amazing. That's crazy. So it's like a lot of that stuff is amusing to me. And I just look at that journey and so again when I look to younger people and tell them about collecting or they see this or a sneaker or something it's like just collect what matters to you. Like don't be so fixate on the hype stuff. Like what do you like? Yeah. Because again some of like the you know some really high end designers have it's uncomfortable as hell. Yeah you don't feel right, you know, like God bless. I feel like in Japan, I wear like XL or larger and I feel like always self-conscious or double XL on something, but it's the piece is great, it just doesn't fit me. So like I can't wear it. There's no point. It's like it's fine if it's a general release shoe or it's a fine, it's like some of my favorite t-shirts are gap. Gap basic T's. Yep. They've mastered that. You know, it's not the best tea you can get. No, but uh, you want to charge me 200 bucks for a t-shirt? Bro, it's a t-shirt. Yeah. Com one. Again, the way I grow up, it's context. So there's a certain thing for people that appreciate all dude have the means that can go and spend 1.2 million on you know Marlon's, you know, GMT master. God bless you. You got that level amazing. Yeah. But at some point it's like I know what that money could do elsewhere and what it could do and help the world in other places but it's curation. Yeah. Right. Exactly. So whether it's the swatch that you guys did that'll be great and my kids will get well eventually it's like there's a certain story arc between it. Yeah. Dad collected it, grandpa collected it and it kind of runs down the path. |
| Unknown | Yeah. That's awesome. Well, uh, you know, we're recording this at the end of the year. Uh what are you looking forward to in twenty twenty? What's coming for you next year |
| Unknown | ? It's a good one. I think for me, I always look at you know New Year's as the the kind of one of the few holidays I actually won't make a point of definitely staying inside because it's like overhyped, overcommercialized in just so many different ways. I think for me, I look in in the year ahead as um another year I just hope to grow and get better and my family's happy and healthy and count my blessings and all that good stuff and sound like a boring old dad right now. But I mean there'll always be more drops. There'll be always new things to collect. There'll always be that won't ever change. Um, you know, being really just continue to be very mindful, being the self-aware of my presence, helping as many people as I can along the way. Try to be just a good human through and through, trying to be the example for my kids that I want, try to be the person in my 20s I wish I had. You know, I got, you know, knock on wood, a decent network now, and didn't have that before. And trying to be more active in the community, trying to help out people where I can. And I often people hit me up on Instagram. I was like, yeah, how can I help? You know, do you know so-and-so you should meet? I love connecting people. We've talked about this before. I love like, hey, Steven, you should meet so and so. And watching then you do something later. I'm never like, yo, I was one invite away. Or was I not that guy. I love watching you build. You go and build a business with someone else and I happen to be behind the scenes. Amazing. I love that. Yeah. So in summary, I'm looking forward to you know another can knock on wood, blessed, healthy year. Families feeling great. Kids are great. Once I'm older being, you know, you know, growing up, mature, young, healthy, global citizens that are happy and you know, good hearted and all those good things. But yeah, I mean, I'm not even thinking of the again, there's always something to collect. Yeah. Um but yeah, wishing kind of you and the team and everyone like a happy, safe holiday season. And there's an energy that comes with the holidays, whatever holiday you celebrate, whatever religion of there is a mindset I wish the world had more through here, the sense of generosity and giving and just helping. Yeah. It happens this month and goes for a couple weeks. And I wish people had that all the time. Yeah, like I think people hold hold more doors right now. than they do all year They say you're welcome more than they do all times. And I just wish that energy carries into the new year as much as possible. |
| Unknown | Awesome. That's a pretty good way to end this. I uh I don't think I can top that. So thanks for uh thanks for making the time, man. This week's episode was recorded at Hodinki HQ in New York City and was produced and edited by Grayson Korhonen. Please remember to subscribe and rate the show, it really does make a difference for us. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week. |