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In Depth With Jon Bues

Published on Mon, 20 Jul 2020 10:00:03 +0000

Our senior editor talks about his decade-and-a-half in watches – and why you need to learn to make chicken rice at home.

Synopsis

In this episode of Hodinky Radio, host Stephen Pulvirent sits down with senior editor John Buse for an in-depth conversation about his career in watch journalism and his personal interests. The two colleagues, who have known each other since the early days of Stephen's career at Hodinky, trace John's journey from an English major with no watch knowledge to becoming a respected voice in the industry.

John recounts how he stumbled into watch journalism in 2005 as a copy editor at International Watch Magazine, knowing virtually nothing about horology at the time. He shares memorable experiences from his early career, including his first Basel World visit and unexpected press trips like driving Aston Martins in England just months into his job. His career progressed through various editorial roles, including stints as editor-in-chief at Wristwatch and About Time magazines, followed by Watch Journal, before joining Hodinky in 2017.

The conversation explores John's proudest work at Hodinky, including his Talking Watches episodes with legends like Mario Andretti and Greg Norman, and his comprehensive Reference Points article on the Rolex GMT-Master. He reflects on how the watch media landscape has transformed over fifteen years, particularly the shift from print-focused, embargo-driven coverage to instant digital publishing. Beyond watches, John shares his passion for Japanese culture, craft beer (including his favorite breweries like Troon and Tired Hands), and cooking, particularly Japanese cuisine like ramen and Hainanese chicken. He discusses his own watch collection, anchored by a Grand Seiko GMT that he considers his most meaningful piece, and offers advice to aspiring collectors: read extensively, educate yourself, and make informed decisions rather than rushing into purchases you might regret.

Transcript

Speaker
John Buse I would say read a lot and try to make informed decisions. If you're just starting out collecting, you you will make some mistakes, but I would I think um would by educating yourself by reading, you know, uh people who know what they're talking about, you can mitigate a lot of that risk. Enjoy buying watches, but you know, learning about them is is part of the fun too
Stephen Pulvirent . Hey everybody, I'm your host Stephen Polverin and this is Hodinky Radio. This week we're dedicating the entire show to one conversation, and that's an interview between me and our own senior editor, Mr. John Buse. John's somebody I've known as long as I've been in the watch industry. As you'll hear, we met maybe my first or second week at Hodinky, and he was on my first ever press junket with me. Uh, and our careers have kind of intertwined over the years at a few different places. So it was really fun for me to sit down with him and get some time to reminisce about some good old times uh and to hear about some things about his life and his career that I didn't know about, even after all of these years of working together. So we'll talk about watches, we'll talk about how the watch media space has changed over the years, we'll talk about his own collecting, but we'll also talk about the other things he's passionate about, like traveling to Japan and cooking at home. So I think you're really gonna like this one. It gives you some insight into one of our core team members. I think you're gonna learn some things you didn't know. And I'm gonna let John do most of the talking here. So without further ado, let's do this. Hey dude, how's it going?
John Buse Going well, man. How are you? Good.
Stephen Pulvirent It's Friday afternoon I know you're a big beer guy, what are you drinking
John Buse ? Well I have two choices, and I know you're a a pretty big beer guy too, so I was hoping maybe you could help me out
Stephen Pulvirent . I I think I can do that, yeah.
John Buse Okay, so I've got uh an alien church, which is kind of like the flagship New England style IPA from Tired Hands.
Stephen Pulvirent . Okay Uh and then I also have
John Buse something called addended curricula, which is a dry hopped, uh, oak fermented Saison from also from Tired Hands, but a little bit more in the uh because it's oak fermented, it's uh a little sour, more in like the Hudson Valley type uh vein
Stephen Pulvirent . I'm gonna go I'm gonna vote Saison every time. Just in general, like purely on style. I'm gonna go Saison over over IPA every time.
John Buse Cool. Alright, so I'm gonna crack that one. What do you got
Stephen Pulvirent ? Uh so I'm drinking uh this super rare, like really weird, hard to find beer. Um I believe it's pronounced Miller Light
John Buse . Uh okay. I think is what it
Stephen Pulvirent 's called. Yeah. Uh nice. Yeah,
Stephen Pulvirent I bought some some cheap uh cheap beer to keep in the fridge that's nice and cold, easy to drink at the end of the day. So uh since I got a couple more meetings after this one, I think I'm gonna go with that. So I'll uh for sound effect purposes, we'll put this right up next to the mic and uh Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about
John Buse . Nice. Perfe
Stephen Pulvirent ct. Uh nothing uh w
John Buse rong with a uh Miller light uh once in a while man.
Stephen Pulvirent Not at all, man. I uh I I love a like really great sour, I love like a really big Imperial Stout, uh a great Saison, but at the end of the day, like a a cheap for lack of a better word like a cheap shitty lager is is a good thing when it's you know ninety degrees out. Um but all right cheers let's uh let's do this thing man
John Buse cheers I'm
Stephen Pulvirent really excited that we have you here to do this. Um, you know, we've been working through these editor interviews uh over the last I guess like two years plus now or two years-ish. Um and uh I've been looking forward to doing yours mostly because uh like I have not had a career in the watch world without knowing you. I think I met you like my second or third day at Hodinky at some event, some like watch cocktail thing. Uh and then our careers have kind of like intertwined in a lot of ways over the last number of years. So I think this will be a fun way to look back for for both of us. And uh you know, I'm excited to hear some stuff about your story that I I'm sure I don't know. Um and then we'll talk about some of your other interests too, outside of watches. I w I wanna talk about beer, I wanna talk about food, I wanna talk about travel, so we'll uh we'll get around to all that stuff so.und That good
John Buse ? That sounds amazing, dude. Can't wait.
Stephen Pulvirent Awesome. So uh to start off, like tell us who John Buse is. Like where do you come from? How did you like pre-Watch World? Like what was what was John Buse's life like pre-Watches
John Buse ? Oh, you know, so I mean growing up, I uh I was uh just a kid growing up in suburban Connecticut. Uh I lived there my entire life. Big activities that I kind of that I remember from childhood were like soccer and uh and swimming. Uh those are like, you know, two kind and swimming in particular, which was a constant that went right up through almost through college. I almost swam in college, but I ended up not. Yeah, I mean I've just always been kind of uh someone who uh enjoyed like uh enjoyed sports. You know, I I I always liked school growing up and um enjoyed writing. Um that was kind of like a hobby of mine. Um
Stephen Pulvirent Did you go did you go to school for for journalism
John Buse ? Uh I didn't. I was I was just an I was an English major, a literature major.
Stephen Pulvirent Class classic. Oh yeah, but words
John Buse and um in reading, in writing were always just kinds of like hobbies that I that I always found myself doing you know at swim meets when I when I wasn't act actively competing. So yeah, I mean I was just uh that's that's kind of how I would describe myself. I'm uh not terribly um I'm not someone who who tends to talk a lot about himself but uh as you can probably tell.
Stephen Pulvirent But buckle up, that's what we're doing doing all show here. Uh but so you so you went to college uh to be an English major, you were in Philly, right
John Buse ? That's correct. Yeah. So I I got like a scholarship to uh a little uh Jesuit college in Philadelphia. I had gone to uh like a Jesuit high school in uh in Connecticut and so it was kind of like a natural progression into a kind of a feeder college uh called St. Joseph's University. And uh yeah, and I, you know, I was uh I was there for all four years and uh was an in decided to become an English major pretty early on uh in my time there
Stephen Pulvirent . Cool. And then you you finished up and you moved back to Connecticut, and that's where this whole watch world thing sort of took off, right
John Buse ? Yeah, exactly. So like as I was you know finishing up school, I was you know kind of thinking, what do I want to do? I'm I'm not totally sure'.s kind It of like, you know, I think it's kind of a classic question for an English major, like what do what do I do with this degree?
Stephen Pulvirent Been been there, done that. Exact
John Buse ly right. And uh so I thought, you know, uh journalism uh and specifically magazines seemed like it could be uh an interesting and and possibly quite fun way to w to find my uh find my way into the working world. And yeah, so I so I just kind of set to work looking for uh entry level jobs at print publications.
John Buse And I really I looked at you know pla
John Buse ces in New York, but I also kind of tried to figure out were there titles that might be interesting in Connecticut where I could find a job. And so uh I happened upon a magazine called uh International Watch Magazine, which uh which still exists.
Stephen Pulvirent Good old IW. Ye
John Buse ah. And so it you know, at the young age of of twenty three, I I submitted an application to uh to IW. Um well I submitted uh just a you know uh it was very analog way to uh to approach uh getting a job back then. I I typed out a letter uh uh and attached my resume and said that I I thought I could be an a good copy editor if they needed one.
Stephen Pulvirent And this was when? U
John Buse h this was like 2005. And uh to my to my surprise, uh I I heard back almost immediately, and before I knew it, I was in an interview. I think I I wore I wore my ESQ watch to the interview, and I remember uh the interviewer uh commented on it and said, Oh, nice watch. Um, but I I knew very little. I would say actually I knew nothing about watches heading into it
John Buse . Yeah. I rem
John Buse ember when I um like when I was in high school in college, maybe not college, but when I was in high school for sure, I thought I thought, for example, that like a Rolex was the only watch with a sweep second hand. I thought that was like how you could identify a Rolex. Um so but then I I just learned everything about uh the industry, the brands, uh who the important players were, uh the important titles uh covering uh the industry. I learned everything, you know, I would say within the first year or so of being there
Stephen Pulvirent . Being a being a copy editor is a really good thing in that way. Like, you know, I I was a copy editor very briefly uh at the beginning of my career, and like in a lot of ways that job like kind of sucks and is really thankless. Like you do really hard work and like your name isn't on the stuff that you're working on and it's like it's often lots of rounds of like revisions and the same thing and if mistakes make it through it's on you. Like but the the really valuable part of that job is is that you get to read a lot and you get to kind of like look under the hood. And so like do you remember early, early in those days whether it was like any articles that made a really big impact on you or any any writers who are now our colleagues that you sort of like discovered through that early day that you remember like being really impactful
John Buse ? Oh a hundred percent. Um uh there was a gentleman who's no longer with us named Chuck Maddox who was kind of like a larger than life personality in especially in like vintage omega? So he was he was kind of like, I think, you know, in America anyway, like the expert on speedmasters for a long time. Okay. So occasionally he would contribute these like very long. I can remember one article that just took me forever to get. It was just so long. It had so much information in it. And um I remember, you know, reading that's where I learned everything about vintage speedmasters actually was uh by copy editing one of his stories. Um I'm just thinking who else. Uh certainly I mean gosh, how could I forget Jack? I mean Jack Forster used to occasionally have articles in IW and um I would uh I would I I just couldn't believe I was like this guy is an incredible writer I remember thinking uh when I would read his stuff and and I remember when I finally met him in person, I just went right up to him and I said, My gosh, I've I've edited your stories. We had never actually um conversed. But I said, you know, I've copied edited your stuff and gosh, you're you're a fantastic writer. So the first thing I said to Jack was a was that compliment.
Stephen Pulvirent I'm gonna guess that Jack liked that. Yeah
John Buse he did. He did. Yeah that's a good that's a good first
Stephen Pulvirent impression to make with Jack. Ye
John Buse ah. Um uh and then of course Elizabeth Dore, who is a very well known uh writer in the space. Um uh my bosses, uh Mike Thompson and Gary Gridvinus, who are actually at IW uh to this day. Um so many I don't want to leave people out. I mean Roberta Nas, of course, I would uh edit her stories. Um just a great many people who are who are still around today
Stephen Pulvirent . Nice. And and we'll talk about like obviously your your role progressed at IW and you pretty pretty quickly in a couple years ended up becoming the managing editor, which is is what you were doing when when I met you, but um before we get into that, I I want to ask, I mean, this is I think a really common question in in the watch world, something like those of us in the industry, something we talk about all the time, which is like, what was it like for you coming from somebody who didn't really know anything about the industry to then going to Basel World for the first time. Like what what was that experience like for you
John Buse ? I mean Basel World was Basel World blew my mind and um but I had already had my mind blown by the watch industry even before it. But just to talk talk talk about Basel World first, I mean, and it's it's you know, it's too bad that it it will w will not exist certainly in its uh the the incarnations that we knew it uh moving forward. And I I'd imagine I'd like to actually hear what you've thought about your first time at Basel too, but walking through that main that main row, which remember Gary, uh my old boss Gary Gerdvinis used to call like the Savile Row of of watchmakers, you know?
John Buse Yeah. And just seeing these structures that
John Buse were in some cases like five stories uh high and then learning that they were put up for like less than two weeks and then taken right back down afterward to make way for the next show. Um I just couldn't believe that so many people cared so much about watches. Um it was really it was uh really eye opening I would say. Um and then of course I you know there's there really has never been another um another event like it for the watch business um and where quite literally everyone everybody who was anybody in watches would would go there and so you would get to meet everyone yeah whether it's like amazing uh independent watchmakers whose names certainly precede them like Felipe Dufour, uh to see uh you know uh Mark Hayek just walking walking past you uh on the way to his next appointment or Terry Stern. It was really you know, these were were names that I knew, but it was kind of shocking to see these people just kind of in their element during their big week
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah, I I I think I had a pretty similar uh similar experience. So I I had been at Hodinky I guess maybe like nine months uh by the time my first basel rolled around, because I started about this time of year actually in the in the summer. Um and yeah, I think similarly to you, like I didn't quite understand the scale of the industry until I walked into Basel. And like by that point, I'd been to half a dozen press junkets, I'd flown to various corners of the world with watch brands, I'd been to manufacturers. But like you said, like until you see Rolex across from Patek and then their show part and Tutor and Omega at that point and like you don't really get a sense for it until until it's like you're you're stewing in it uh for days and for the booths, I remember one that I I will never forget was like on the third floor of Long Jean's booth that year, they had marble floors and a fountain. Like a like a bubbling, like gushing, like water feature. And I was like, what the hell is this? Like this like you said, this structure is up for two weeks and there's like marble floors and a fountain. Like what is going on here, you know? Uh and I think that for me was the first taste of like the weirdness in some ways of the watch world. Um which I don't know about you, I have found like has not really slowed down or stopped at all. It's maybe changed a little bit, but like the watch world has its own sort of like peculiarities that you you only learn by being in them. They're like kind of impossible to explain to people
John Buse . Yeah, I I I would agree with that. I think certainly the trade shows have have have managed to maintain that kind of that kind of air, I would say. Uh some of the junkets I think are a little bit less they're a little bit more tame now than they might have been um and when I say tame, I mean like kind of extravagant, um less extravagant than they might have been um in the in the past, and that's probably because of the impact of social media on on kind of our world.
John Buse Um but um
John Buse yeah, no, I mean it's uh you know my my first kind of wow moment um you know covering covering watches and and traveling to do this job came pretty fairly early on. I would say maybe after about four months, uh three or four months of of working as a copy editor, my boss came over to me and I guess someone who was supposed to go to England that day was was feeling ill and was unable to make it. We needed a kind of a last minute change and I was like like driving to Newark airport boarding a plane and then driving Aston Martin's in like in England the next day. It was not not a bad way to
Stephen Pulvirent make a living. Yeah, yeah. I mean and so
John Buse I had these kinds of experiences early on and I mean the work I found quite interesting but the experiences that just seemed to come my way were like none of my friends who were 23 years old were having any kind like they were chained to their desk kind of doing whatever it was they were doing, whether they're manipulating Excel documents or uh
Stephen Pulvirent or may or maybe editing other titles. But
John Buse I by far had the most the most fun job, I would say
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah. I think uh you know, I give my dad a hard time all the time. I think he still isn't entirely convinced that what I do is a job, you know? Like he's an engineer. He's like at his desk or in like a clean room, like helping make semiconductors all day. And I think when I tell him like, Oh yeah, I have like a two-week long three city business trip to go on. He's like, are you are you sure that's not vacation? Like are you are you entirely sure? But uh yeah, it's uh it's not bad work if you can get it, right?
John Buse No, it's fantastic work if you can get it, I think
Stephen Pulvirent . Uh spe speaking of traveling, you know, I alluded to this earlier, but uh you know, my first press junket, uh my first press trip came really quickly after I started at Hodinky, like I think less than a month after I started. It might have been like my third or fourth week. Uh, and it was a trip to San Francisco with Tag Hoyer in 2012 for the America's Cup. Tag was the big team sponsor, and they took mostly like sailing press and lifestyle press. Uh and there were two watch journalists on the trip. It was me and you. Uh and we had met like I said a couple of times by then. Uh and that was like my first real taste of this. Do you you remember that trip, I assume?
John Buse Oh I uh I a hundred percent remember it. Yeah, of course. Yeah, it was that was a it was a lot of fun. And that was a great I think that's a great first press trip too, to be honest
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah, I think so too. It was uh it was definitely heavier on the socializing uh than on the like research portion, but uh that was my first experience of like asking a CEO if he would like take his watch off at dinner so I could like you know take it over into some natural light and shoot it for a blog post. Um and like I was like very serious about like making sure I got like a good story out of this so I could you know come back and show Ben and say like, look, we, got something nobody else got. And uh yeah, I remember it just being it it was my first chance meeting some other folks in the in the industry. Um, you know, there were some folks local on the West Coast who were invited, and I think she didn't come on the whole trip, but I think like I think Roberta maybe was there for part of it for like one day for like a dinner or something. But um yeah, it's it's funny how you start to get a taste of this this industry as like a real community too, right? And like there's so many people who you know, the CEO of Tag at the time was Jean Christophe Babin who now runs Bulgary and like, you know, I had lunch with him a couple months ago and it's like you you sort of like these relationships tend to last a long time. Like very few people enter the watch world and then like turn over in two or three years, right
John Buse ? That's I that's a really good point. Um it's uh it is that kind of industry where people might move within it, um, but they tend to stay uh in in the industry for quite a bit of time. I would agree with that
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, for your your career, right? So like you're at IW, you were there for what, like six or seven years
John Buse ? Uh something like that. Yeah. I think it was like uh yeah, 2005 to 2012, yeah
Stephen Pulvirent . Okay. Uh and then you moved over to a pair of magazines, wristwatch and About Time, uh where you were the editor in chief, right
John Buse ? Yeah, of well of wristwatch. So basically um so this came so uh you know my friend and mentor Gary Gridvinus who actually had founded IW years and years before, left, and had uh uh eventually he had started up uh another magazine called uh wristwatch which was like focused on high-end mechanical stuff uh and then he also started um he also started a second title called About Time, and that was much more focused on like fashion watches and um just affordably priced uh quartz watches. Uh and the idea was to target like a younger demographic with it. And so I, you know, I I just basically helped him getting those going. And that was that was a a good lot of fun to kind of reconnect with him and and to do that for uh a few years. We were um we were uh both you know working from home it was a very kind of a smaller operation um than than IW had been at the time um but it was a ton of fun to um to kind of uh you know reconnect with him and start something new
Stephen Pulvirent . Cool. Yeah, I remember when when you made that move over, I remember seeing you at Basel World the first year you were at um at Wristwatch and i it was like the first day or two maybe it was it was early on in the show and I remember you know being like you know standard Basel World chit chat like oh when's your next appointment? Oh do you have any breaks today? Oh, are you gonna be able to get lunch? Like all this like standard like BS, right? And I remember you just being like, oh no, like I have nine million appointments. They are all back to back. I'm running here. I'm running there. Like I remember you seeming kind of like, well, let's let's do this, you know. Uh
John Buse was was it a big change going
Stephen Pulvirent from I mean IW is not like a massive operation. It's not, you know, three hundred people, but like was it was it a big change going to like a really bootstrappy, like start up y kind of place
John Buse ? It w it was it was yeah. I mean, it was a I would say it was a a pretty big change. The you know, the working from home thing was a was a new thing for me, certainly. Okay, and yeah, it was uh you know just really uh two guys taking all the appointments uh they could in Basel, you know. Whereas at IW we had several editors on staff who were able to kind of spread things around. So it was a di it was a different experience I would say. Yeah
Stephen Pulvirent . Okay. And then from there, you know, you you moved to Watch Journal, uh, which was the first time you and I actually worked together. Um you know, for people who may not know, Watch Journal is a part of Surface Media, which at the time also owns Surface Magazine, now also owns Surface Magazine and W Magazine and a few other little businesses. But uh yeah, Watch Journal was the Watch Pub and you know I was at at Surface and you came on board as the editor in chief of Watch Journal. Um and and I wonder if, you know, taking a trip down joint memory lane here, uh like what what made you wanna jump over to to watch journal? Like what about that was was an exciting opportunity for you at the time
John Buse ? I think uh you know, primarily it was it well it was a few things. It was a chance to kind of take the reins of a title and really make it my own. Um it was you know I I I was able to kind of step in and and really do whatever I wanted to with it. It was it was uh my title uh as the editor in chief. So that was a lot of fun. Um and then also it's just this the fact that it was part of Surface and Surface was doing such cool stuff at the time. I I was like a fan of of the magazine Surface. Um and uh I would, you know, I would read that magazine often. I remember that was like one of the titles when I was at Basel or SIHH, I would always try to grab like the free copy. There were a few titles that I would that I would always try to grab. Um but I would pick it up in New York as well. And uh that was a lot that was a lot of fun. I wasn't there too uh for a terribly long period of time, but I still keep in touch with several of the people from there. Um and uh I mean some of them we've even worked with on other projects, uh one of them at uh at other projects at Hodinki, Spencer uh Bailey, the former editor in chief of surface has written for uh Hodinki magazine. So like really there were some really tremendous people uh at that company, a lot of really smart people
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah, I agree. I think, you know, for for me, one of the reasons I I was at Bloomberg and went over to Surface and I think I had a pretty similar experience where like there was a lot of opportunity and a lot of chance to like shape things. And I wonder how you how you found that experience of taking an existing publication and like obviously having to keep some stuff about it consistent, but but really being able to put your stamp on it and in an area where like by that point you'd you'd been working on watches over a decade, like you were a real like veteran of this industry. How did you think about trying to do something different or new or that would like make a a contribution to like add something to the dialogue instead of just being you know another voice saying the same things
John Buse ? Yeah, I think that's a good question. I think well one of the things I realized pretty early on when I stepped in was that there were all like there were all these resources at surface that I was able to kind of um that I was able to kind of use
John Buse um for I
John Buse uh for uh for um watch journal. And so like uh you know like the the travel uh editorial section I was able to kind of expand that and make the city guides um I think uh much bigger. What we were able to do with with photo shoots, just kind of like the photoc one of some of the photographers we worked with, um like Jens Mortenson and then others um were like really fantastic. Um so I would say it was just kind of like being able to leverage uh what surface had to offer was a real advantage that Watch Journal had that no other print titles at the time in covering the Watch Space had, certainly in the United States. And so that was a lot of fun to be able to see where I could like fit things in and where I could find um you know you know an editor who might have a little bit of extra bandwidth who was like super talented and try to get them to do something to watch journal
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah, I think one of one of the things I really liked, you know, about what you did with Watch Journal was making it a watch magazine that people who weren't into watches or people who weren't like fully obsessed with watches could still enjoy and could still find interesting content in, but while at the same time like the watch people might kind of expand their horizons a little bit, it it seemed to straddle that line in a in a nice way and in a way that felt organic and and like really made sense. Whereas I think sometimes that can feel forced or a little weird
John Buse . Oh thanks for yeah, thanks very much. That was that was definitely part that was part of the idea. Um and uh yeah, I mean it was it was a lot of fun uh to do it
Stephen Pulvirent . We also both worked with someone there who is also now on the Hodinky team and I want to make sure we give him a shout out. So uh can you can you tell us who that was, how you met him and uh how that how he became a part of the Hodinki family
John Buse ? Yeah, and a really, really incredible guy, uh Logan Baker, who is now uh the shop uh editor. Uh so he works uh you know closely with uh with everybody uh at Hodinky. He uh produces you know all of the wonderful content around uh uh around the Hodinky shop and edits it or writes it. Um and so he star uh he was my intern when I started at uh uh at Watch Journal and um he so quickly kind of just showed that that he knew exactly what he was doing. I couldn't believe how young he was, actually, when he told me
John Buse . Yeah. Um yeah, he was
John Buse like very he was right out of college, and I was like sending him on press trips and really trusting him to handle interacting with brands and um taking on like big stories that actually had to be kind of that had to be you know play I wasn't just saying like you know write this up uh like a a quick post on a on a new watch. I was I asked him to to handle some big stuff early on and he showed that he was uh one of the most capable young editors that I've ever come across, really
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah, that's great. Yeah. I uh I feel the same way. I feel like Logan, you know, when I first got there, Logan was was interning at Watch Journal before you were there. Uh and I just remember thinking, like, this kid's still in school? Like, A, how is he putting so many hours in with us? Like, he he seemed to like always be there and like anytime you needed him he was like right where you needed him which was awesome um and then like you said like the ability to kind of just like pick up and go so I think you know again from the the semi outside like it seems like he was a really good asset for you to have there in terms of being able to like shape this thing, but also have somebody you could rely on to like kind of be your your right hand and your eyes and ears out in the field.
John Buse Absolutely. And he's also I would s I would say he's a an incredibly humble guy. And I think he he knew that uh taking on covering an industry such as this one would require a lot of learning. And he I mean, he would read books to research stories, which, you know, for someone who's you know not even twenty-two years old, um that level of commitment to producing great stories really impressed me. While you know, while you know completing a degree in in uh in journalism at MYU
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah. That's wild. Uh so you know, you you had these two experiences as editor-in-chief. And you know, for people outside the journalism world, I I think there's often a misconception that like being the editor-in-chief of something means like you sit in your cushy corner office in some like giant skyscraper where you have like you know a couch and so it's like a devil wears prada situation you've got like three uh three assistants like hanging up your coat and bringing you Starbucks and stuff and you just say like yes, no, yes, no. Um for anyone listening who doesn't know, like that is not what you do. Like, even if you're the editor-in-chief of like Vogue or GQ or whatever, like that is not what you're doing. Um, but how did how did you find being an editor in chief as as like a job? Like what were some of the like the most rewarding parts, the most challenging parts? Was it something you enjoyed
John Buse ? Yeah, I mean I it's something that I enjoyed a lot. It's uh I'd say probably the most rewarding part was like you know sitting down and looking at uh a blank slate for an issue and trying to decide you know how articles could fit together. Um one of the big mistakes that I think uh you can make when making a magazine is not to have things kind of like cooking along all along. So it's so it's yeah so it's often the case of kind of like you know picking from pitches that have come to you already that might already be stories that all right might already be in progress and just seeing where they might fit in to an issue as it comes together, knowing when it's time to kind of hold off on something because it might make more sense uh to use in an issue down the road because of other content that will be uh kind of like coming together around that time. So it's uh it's a lot of planning and it's a uh you know it's it's it's like it's like making anything um that's composed of many parts. Um it's uh a balancing act and requires planning. And also um it requires um you know working with other people. It's not the kind of I don't I don't know of many editors in chief who would say that they sit down and and plan out a whole issue by themselves. That's just not how it works and that's not I don't think that's how you make um a great title that or or great issue of a magazine that uh many people will love. I think you kind of have to have people who will push back on you and say like that's not a good idea, you know, or uh people who will bring to you like ideas that you couldn't possibly have come up with on your own. Um it's kind of it's uh it's being it's being an editor editor in chief is um being able to produce uh something that many people contribute to, even if it's a small smaller uh magazine with a with a small staff
Stephen Pulvirent . That seems that's a that's a really good way to describe it. Like you're still doing the producing, but you're doing it with the help of a lot of people and you have to like be able to find the right people. You need to be able to manage all of that talent. And then sort of like put a vision on it. Like give it give like package it all in a way that people can digest it. Cause I think people don't re uh I mean, I think sometimes like you'll see a magazine and it has like 10 great stories in it, but they feel like they belong in 10 different magazines. And like that doesn't work. Like you don't want to subscribe to that, you don't want like it feels random, it feels weird. Whereas like even if you pick up a magazine and only like 80% of it is great for you, if that 80% feels like it's like one cohesive unit and one cohesive vision, I think people connect with that a lot more. I think people really it resonates with people
John Buse . You're a hundred percent right. Yeah. I mean there's gotta be a reason why the the pages, you know, go between uh th the same two covers, you know. And then uh one other thing I would add too is that like, you know when when you' youre're running a a title you want people writing for you who are like super knowledgeable and passionate about a certain thing but you also need to be able to kind of guide them and make sure that as they as they express their passion for a story as they're producing it, that they do it in a way that makes sense for your title
Stephen Pulvirent . And and I think that brings us to to kind of like the the current chapter, which is is your time at Hodinki. Um, you know, we we had conversations, you know, back in 2017 and you know, I know you and Ben had some conversations and and we were able to to bring you on board and make you a member of the team. And you know, your your role has kind of shifted a little bit over the years. I mean your your title is the same. You are a senior editor, you know, but you've you've been able to work on a bunch of different projects, which I think is not uncommon for those of us at Hodinky. We all kind of end up doing a little bit of everything, but um, you know, you've worked, you've you've led feature stories on the web, things like reference points and like, you know, weak on the wrists and talking watches, like big feature content. Um, you know, you've done stuff like manage the magazine, you know, for for quite a few volumes. Um, you know, you've done things like even like news coverage when we've needed it, like fast breaking, whether it's industry news or new releases, like you know, you come on Hodinky Radio regularly, like you're kind of touching all all parts of this. And and previously your career had focused pretty pretty heavily on print. I wonder what it was like for you coming to a place where like yes, print was part of it, but like twice a year in a really sort of like deep considered way, but like your day to day job for most of the year was like not about a print magazine. Was that was that a big change for you? What did you think about that change, all of that?
John Buse Yeah no that that definitely was um uh I loved it it felt um and I continue to love it it it felt like totally new because it was new um I had never uh written you know so frequently for the web and for such a for such an audience too. I think an important thing that I I'd like to say is that I, you know, I have a tremendous uh respect for like the hodinge uh community and for uh and for the readers. Um they are, I think, and it's uh it's because there is a community that I can say this and that I that I can I think I can say I I pretty confidently know it, they are like the most knowledgeable um you know, readership uh of of a watch title out there, I think. And um so you know producing uh on a regular basis like very high quality content that would be read and appreciated uh by that readership was um you know it was and continues to be like a great challenge that I that I strive to meet every day.
Stephen Pulvirent Yeah, I agree. I I think in a funny way like our audience does more sometimes even than like our colleagues to kind of like give you that kick kick in the ass to like do your best work because if you don't you you will get called out for it publicly on the article that has your name on it, and on Instagram and on Twitter, like if you screw up, you will get dragged. And I I think that's actually a good thing. Like I find that feedback really helpful as a journalist. Um it forces me not to get lazy. It forces me to think ahead. It forces me like, you know, even if I'm doing something like covering an auction where we're literally trying to be like up to the second as quickly as we possibly can get that information out there. Like it always forces you to pause for a second and be like, did I consider everything here? Did I do this right? Is there a question I'm not asking? Because if you don't, like so somebody in the comments will immediately. And I think that's a fun thing
John Buse . It is a fun thing. And it's I I'd say it's a testament to like, you know, what Ben and what and what you, you were there very early too, built was I mean, it was Hodinki was uh certainly I would say probably the most widely read or one of one of the most widely read um you know publications about launches um long before I got there. Um in you know the the the ability of uh uh that we have to to reach so many um readers is uh something that I I don't think any any of us take takes for granted. You know yeah. Um it's uh it's something that a lot of work went it went into building and uh that it's all of our jobs to uh to uphold and uh I think yeah I think it's something that we can all be proud of
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah I agree. I mean I I wonder what what is some work you've done at Hodinky that you're most proud of?
John Buse Well certainly on the on the website um I uh proud of had the most fun inter interviewing Mario Andretti. Like that's something that for uh for talking watches. Um
Stephen Pulvirent you guys just like hung out in his basement, right?
John Buse It was incredible. Yeah. It was uh I think yeah, it was the video team. Uh I think Ben yes Ben came along for that one because you know Mario Andretti is uh someone that everyone some for some certainly for someone who loves cars as much as he does, uh, I think it's someone you just have to meet. And um Mario Andreni could not have been uh a kinder person. He showed us around his whole home, really welcomed us with open arms, um had the most uh fantastic stories to tell about his watches. And uh you know for me he's he's up there with some of the uh all-time great uh talking watches guests and I hope I did an okay job hosting but, I I think you
Stephen Pulvirent think you did an awesome job. I think it's an all-time episode, personally.
John Buse Thank you very much. So was that your first one hosting? No, no, no, no. My first one uh was Praz, who brought Oh yeah. Yeah. He had some serious some serious uh uh Pateks and and other watches uh with him. He was the first one, uh then Andretti, um also Greg Warman was uh was a fantastic um uh person to meet. I mean I you know I I was kind of a racing fan growing up, but really like I my you know memories of watching Greg Norman playing golf uh on Sunday afternoons growing up are I mean, it's like I I I remember them vividly. You know, he at one time was just like he was the biggest name in golf uh during a period in the 90s, I think. And to to sit across from him with uh you know uh a dozen watches between us and hear him just kind of recount his memories uh playing golf uh you know he was one of the first golfers to uh wear a watch when he play
John Buse ed um and to hear him just kind of talk
John Buse about I had no idea that watches had played such a a large role in his life in that and I who could have possibly thought that watches would uh would would lead to my having a chance to not only meet him but also interview him. Um
Stephen Pulvirent and in and again like,, you know with, him and Andretti, I think it's it's worth emphasizing again, like in his home. Like people, you know, what what people see on the site is a you know, ten to fifteen minute video. What they don't always notice or or know is that that's the product usually of spending anywhere between four and eight hours with someone. Uh and you know the interview itself might be 35, 45 minutes, maybe an hour for some of the longer ones. Uh, I think Ben and John Mayer talked for almost two hours uh for his second episode, um, which I got to see live, which was wild, but uh you know there',s something really interesting about like you show up at Mario Andretti's house and he gives you the tour and then Will and Gray and Dave and Shahead like set up the cameras and everything's good and you know like while all this is happening, like you're you're largely as the host, like you're managing Mario. Like you're like chatting with him, you're hanging out in his house, you've got to like keep him ready, you gotta make sure the good stories are are saved for on tape. It's like a really intimate interaction with somebody. Um and it's a really special thing. And it's it's cool then to get to see on camera like all of that rapport come out. And I think the Andretti one is a great example of that where like it's clear to me watching it that you guys had had some good conversations before the tape started rolling. And like he's comfortable, you're comfortable, you can kind of like get past all that weirdness first
John Buse . Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Um and also he he was just such like a and is such a such a warm, nice guy that I I kind of knew I was a little bit nervous going into it. Just you know to the to it was you know, the biggest kind of filmed interview I'd I had ever done to that point. Um and uh he totally um made me he made me feel comfortable too, you know. As much as it was my job to make him feel comfortable, he he did the same. And uh yeah, no, it came it came out pretty well, I think. Um what I would also say, you know, doing reference points in the GMT was another um was another uh you know digital feature that um I was super proud of. It was uh you know reference points kind of I I had I had authored some um some reference point stories for um for the magazine but I had never produced kind of the major digital reference points. Uh that is, I think real, really uh benchmark hodinky content. Yeah. So it was just this year that I had a chance to to take on the GMT. You had just done the submariner, and I
John Buse think your your article um
John Buse that had come out the year before really set the bar for what a reference point could be. Sorry in my sorry
Stephen Pulvirent about sorry about that one. You set an inc
John Buse redibly high bar, but you also you I mean uh I have no no no problem telling you you you you laid out a very clear b uh blueprint with that story for for what one's doing
John Buse . And so to ha to be able to
John Buse like you know add the interview section at the end and um really just make sure that uh everything about the article was perfect um was a challenge and it was it was a lot of fun to do.
Stephen Pulvirent I think it turned out great. I I think it's real like benchmark content. It like to me, those are the kind of stories that remind me of like early Hodinky. Like we've we've definitely evolved as a business, and I think our sort of like special sauce has has stayed the same and the the the personality has largely stayed the same despite the fact that you know we're not two people writing or three people working on it, but you know, 50-something people now. Um But like those are the stories where like not only the tone and the approach, but like the execution and the way it's framed and like all the little things um just like feel like that's when we're like firing on all cylinders and like doing the best things we can do
John Buse . Yeah I would I totally I totally agree. Um and I think, you know, especially when it comes to kind of uh the the storytelling around uh around vintage watches. You know, I think to me that's that's certainly when I was uh working at like print titles outside of uh outside of Hodenkey, that was what I looked to you guys for
John Buse was um this real
John Buse making something that even to someone like me who had worked, you know, in the watch industry for as long as I had, helping me kind of understand and synthesize what what mattered uh in terms of like, you know, important vintage watches
John Buse um was a real benchmark of Hodinki
John Buse and something that um uh I never I I I didn't think I would ever get to do for a long time and then I came here and now it's something that I get to
Stephen Pulvirent do all day all day every day my friend uh before before we get into your own personal sort of like watch journey outside of your career, or I guess it's it's part of your career, but um
John Buse I'm sorry, I d I don't mean to one one other thing I just wanted to say on the points thing is uh there's the these th these uh kinds of projects definitely do not come together uh with just one person. So I'd like to thank Eric Wind for Eric Wind for all of his help uh on the reference points with the GMT. And then also uh also uh the video team who shot it and and in particular uh Dave who did the edit on that and absolutely uh killed it. I mean that uh you know the video was fantastic. So hats off to him or to both of them
Stephen Pulvirent . For sure. The uh the video team is largely responsible for me not looking like a total idiot all the time. So uh I I thank them every opportunity I can get. That's a good move. Uh yeah, so the last the last thing kind of work-related, specifically work-related, that I wanted to ask you is uh do you have any favorite non-story memories from Hodinki? Like, or or not even just from Hodinky, but from your your career and watches, like any moments that stand out to you that weren't a story you wrote or a meeting you were at, but just like something that happened, someone you met, like some goofy shit that happened at the office, like whatever. Like any moments that stand out to you where you were like, this could only happen here
John Buse . I wouldn't I wouldn't say goofy necessarily, but like in in those first few Basel World shows, kind of going from um going from what felt like an extremely like buttoned up experience of like putting on a suit and kind of like struggling not to sweat through it all day as I went from appointment to appointment to then um you know going out uh and having like you know kind of just like really like fun evenings where everyone would like relax you know in the uh nozzle um and seeing how um it was uh this was like a a business where people um like took things very seriously'.s like It a very, very Swiss experience to go to Basel World. But people also but everyone kind of understood that like at the end of the day, like, you know, we we are we are trying to have fun too. And um so I would say just kind of like uh uh just experiencing like good times with uh with with people whom with whom I I've worked hard, I'd say
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah. Are there are there any ways in which you think the watch world as a whole has changed over over the last I guess like fifteen years, you know? Uh any any huge changes that stand out to you
John Buse ? Well I mean I s certainly kind of like the rise of like digital platforms um which it's not even really a new thing anymore but for a long time it was um just it was um you know a handful of print titles who kind of kind of ruled the day and and I think uh you know around uh 2008-2009 when Hudinky came uh on board and when uh some other titles started coming, you you started to see that um like the whole news cycle just became much much faster around um around uh writing about watches. Um it I can I can remember Steven like you know my first couple of press trips that I took you would go and you would see uh a watch and it might be a huge trip with like uh you know 30 or 40 journalists and they would show you something brand new. But there was like a very strict embargo and you wouldn't publish a story about it until maybe two two months later
John Buse . So just the way
John Buse that the way that stories are covered is totally comp is is totally different now. Um to to go somewhere to take photographs and to have a story up before you go to dinner is uh something that's probably one of the biggest changes that I that I can say I've I've witnessed in my time doing this
Stephen Pulvirent . Nice. And and I want to talk a little bit about your own your own watch collecting, because you know, similar similarly, like I also came to watches with like a passing interest, but like I didn't really know anything. Uh and now I think you know you you did the same thing and like we are both now like deep deep deep into it. Um I I wonder if you can just share a little bit about like at what point did you you, know, first buy a watch where you were like, I can't believe I'm spending this much money on a watch? Uh and then how has your collection kind of in your own taste evolved evolved since
John Buse ? Yeah, uh that's a good question. I mean, um maybe the uh probably the f the first mechanical watch I ever I ever got was actually a Vostok. Uh it was like a a Russian kind of uh automatic watch. It was I wanted uh something that was like very affordable that I thought would um be relatively durable that I wouldn't care about too much if I if I scuffed it up. And um so I got a Vostok watch and um and I enjoy I I don't have it anymore. I gave it to my brother a while ago. I wonder if he still has it. Um but the first time I ever spent like you know, serious money, you know, for me on a on a watch was probably an Oris diver that I bought like years and years ago. And that um I mean that you know it cost you know more than a thousand bucks, which to me was was a a uh a big deal, you know.
John Buse Yeah, of course. Um
John Buse but uh I mean there there have been m maybe bigger watches since then, but that's the first time that I remember thinking like, oh, this is like a serious, you know, quality Swiss made watch. Um but uh yeah, I mean how has my taste changed? I guess I kind of um oh and then another watch that I would add to that too would be actually one that I think you and Den uh helped me find which was an IWC caliber 89. Uh I remember
John Buse that watch well. Yeah. I I
John Buse remember thinking like, you know what, I I have some watches, but I don't have like a a serious kind of dress watch, a uh a gentleman's uh a hand wound uh gold dress watch. And so uh you know I mean that one for me too that was like you know close to three thousand dollars I spent on it and that was uh I was like oof that that kind of costs a lot, but um it felt like uh you know I I had a sense that it was a watch that uh I would own for a long time and I gosh it's been uh about eight years and I still have it so uh so it was a good pickup I think
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah, that's awesome. I remember when you you know, we were in the the two person we work. It wasn't even the three person we work with, which means Will wasn't even working full time for us yet. But uh I remember you came in with the watch and you were like, A, did I buy a good thing? And B, what strap do I put on this? Uh and you know, I at the time knew knew nothing. So I remember just sitting there and watching Ben kind of like pour over the watch and you know, tell you everything was good and this is how you could tell, and here's the strap to pair it with. And I remember just being like, I have a lot to learn here, like holy shit, you know? Um, but yeah, it's cool that you still have that watch. And I think it's it's interesting too, because it's kind of an outlier in your collection. Like I think your collection, and correct me if you think I'm mischaracterizing it, but like it tends towards sort of like classic sport watches. I would
John Buse say yeah, it's like
Stephen Pulvirent very functional, like GMTs, uh, you know, pilots chronographs, like really functional but classic, like nothing too over the top or crazy. But then to have this like little gold fancy lug dress watch is kind of like a cool counterpoint to something like a modern Rolex GMT
John Buse . Yeah. No, I mean it's still a it's still a watch that I um if I'm wearing a suit, there's like a good chance I'll wear it. There's really I have two kind of dressy watches and one of them is a GMT. It's a Grand Seiko GMT. But it's uh whenever I'm like suiting up, it's uh it's one of those two watches that tends to get the call. If I'm if I'm if I know that I'll be traveling to a uh to like a watch show or something like that, then the GMT will probably get the uh get the call just because it's you know travel watch obviously. But um yeah the um yeah the caliber eighty nine is a is a watch that I have no plan I'd ever in in the in the G uh Grand Seiko for that matter too. Those are two watches that I hope are really with me for the very long haul
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah and the the Grand Seiko brings us to another point which which I do want to touch on some non watch stuff here at the end uh for just a couple minutes, but uh you you are a big Japanophile, I would say. Uh and and the Grand Seiko kind of fits fits nicely with that, right
John Buse ? It it totally does. I mean it's uh I've been to Japan I guess a couple of times now, or no a few times, but um the first time was actually with Grand Seiko, oddly, on uh like the uh a press trip that they did um and that was w back when I was at IW. Um and I can that kind of, you know, being in Japan and and meeting the folks from uh Grand Seiko definitely sparked a lot of curiosity uh in me uh about the brand. But it took me a while before I before I bought my first one. That wasn't until uh I guess twenty seventeen or twenty early twenty eighteen. But um yeah, I mean Japan is uh it's one of those places, right, that I think people who have been there, they kind of I think you'll you'll have a lot of similar experiences. Um from a just from a culinary standpoint, even it's uh really a remarkable place, you know
John Buse . And then and then culturally of course
John Buse , um with all the temples and all of the kind of, you know the, heritage that really reaches back thousands of years. Um it's it's an incredibly old place and it's an incredibly uh it it is really a unique place. Um
John Buse you know really and I and I would and I would say
John Buse also a very special place. And um yeah, I mean it's a place that uh my wife and I love to travel to and you know we try to uh I I have a feeling that it's the kind of place that we're gonna try to go to every year or every other year um you know as we as we go forward because uh she actually my wife actually grew up uh in Kyoto
John Buse . And um so when we go
John Buse it's like we uh she gets to reconnect with her home a little bit and um uh it's kind of like a story that continues to reveal itself uh to me every time I go and uh I come back with a little something more every time
Stephen Pulvirent . That's awesome. Yeah I mean on the culinary side I mean even beyond Japan I. know you're a big big food guy. We talked at the beginning of the show about your interest in beer, but uh, you know, on Friday live a couple weeks ago you cooked some ramen for uh for the audience. Uh in in addition to being an eater, you were also interested in cooking, right? Like you don't just want to go to restaurants. You are you are interested in in food and cooking, right
John Buse ? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I love learning learning new techniques and learning how to, you know, make the things that uh I find delicious at home. You know, and that's it's been a a useful uh that you know kind of curiosity has been useful or proven useful certainly during um during like the you know the the pandemic of course. Um and so like knowing how to make like a cold noodle dish or you know, ramen at home. Um I've even kind of messed with um uh you know what's interesting with ramen, there are no rules. It's uh it's like the one there may be others, but it's the one Japanese kind of uh type of cuisine that I know of where um there are no established rules. You can really do whatever you want.
John Buse Um and so I've done
John Buse things like for example, uh the day after St. Patrick's Day turned my uh turned the water that I cooked my corned beef in into into a broth, added some shoyu and then made that into a ramen with cabbage and uh reserved uh corned beef brisket, you know. Um so but yeah, I mean like uh cooking uh all kinds of food, not just Japanese food, but I would say especially Japanese food has been uh a lot of fun
Stephen Pulvirent . Great. Well I've got some I've got some kind of quickfire questions that I wanna ask you here at the end to wrap things up 'cause we're we're running out of time sadly. But uh you know, some of these we'll we'll start with some food related things and then we'll we'll dabble in a couple other things too. Uh so I guess the the first question, we'll stick with this theme of of Japanese food for now. What is one dish that you think people may eat out that they should try making at home
John Buse ? I would say, you know, I would think uh here's what I'll say, Heinanese chicken. Heinanese chicken
John Buse . If you have you can find recipes
John Buse online for this, um and I might be able to dig one up and share it somehow with readers. But if you um
Stephen Pulvirent we'll throw it in the show notes. If there's a link to it, we'll link it up
John Buse . Yeah. If you have a rice cooker, you can just with some simple spices, uh, you can make something that you would uh that honestly uh to me rivals like plates of Hainanese chicken that I've had in Singapore. And it's so simple. You uh you're you're literally steaming uh chicken thighs on top of rice in a rice cooker and um with a bit of chicken stock in with the water and it's uh it's an amazing, amazing it's one of my favorite things to eat in the world anyway, Hainanese chicken, uh or chicken rice as it's often uh called. But that's something that I uh never thought I could have possibly made at home. Uh and it was actually my wife who found the recipe and now it's something that we make like almost weekly. Um so I would I would say that. That's a so it's awesome. Chinese Singaporean dish
Stephen Pulvirent . Perfect. What is the restaurant meal you are most excited to go have when restaurants reopen
John Buse ? I mean like great sushi, right?
John Buse Yeah, dude. Yeah.
Stephen Pulvirent I think you and I are probably having a similar problem right now, which is that the lack of quality sushi in quarantine is like kinda killing me.
John Buse You know what I you know where I kinda want to go actually is the place I went with you on the Upper East Side. Um
John Buse yeah. I don't I don't know if it's a secret that you
John Buse 're trying to keep for yourself or if you know we can we can
Stephen Pulvirent we can name drop it. It's called Toshi. Uh it's on York Avenue. Highly recommended. We should we should meet there when things open back up.
John Buse Yeah, yeah. Just to have that experience of like sitting at a counter close to other people, not feeling weird about it, right? And and then to come to combine that with the food and then also the place is like BYO so you can kind of splurge on the sake. That kind of a meal I think I'm really looking forward to
Stephen Pulvirent . Sweet. Favorite brewery
John Buse ? Oh, that's such a hard question. Um okay. My favorite, my true favorite brewery is this little tiny brewery that few people know called Troon and it is in um Hopewell Township, uh New Jersey. Um you can find that it's T-R-O-O-N and you can find them on Instagram. They drop beers sporadically on Instagram and you have to somehow, every time they drop one, I I get the alert on Instagram and then I'm like fumbling with my credit card trying to trying to to get it and I I've gotten lucky only a few times um uh it'cause it sells out within minutes and it's the best they're the best like New England style IPAs I've ever had in my life from anywhere truly. Um the good thing is they operate um they don't have a tap room, but they do they have a they're associated with a restaurant on the same property, which is a wonderful place called Brick Farm Tavern also in Hopewell, New Jersey. Uh and you can just go have their beers there on tap and you can have really wonderful kind of like farm to table food. Um so that's my favorite. Then also like tired hands, which I'm having right now and other half also are are really great breweries. Also Hudson Valley Brewery
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah, I'm a I'm a big Hudson Valley stan. I uh I love those breweries so much. Jeez. Um Yeah, okay, so let's let's go back to watches. We'll finish up on a couple of uh watch watch related questions here. What uh what's the watch in your collection that if you had to get rid of things, what would be the last thing to go
John Buse ? The last one to go. I probably uh my grandseco GMT, uh
John Buse SBGM two two one. Um
John Buse that uh that's a special watch for me. It was the first watch I bought uh after I started at Hodinki. It's the watch I wore when I got married. Um it's the watch that I think still probably most most people who who know me tend to think of the think of you know as the watch on my wrist
Stephen Pulvirent . In the office we refer to this watch as the Buse. Like this is this is the Buse watch.
John Buse Yeah. You know it's funny though, uh I think you had you you had you you either had written about it or had photographed it for something and then Jack also had a very similar watch. So you I in in a way you guys definitely influenced uh my decision but uh to buy that watch. But uh it's uh it is a killer watch. I I love it
Stephen Pulvirent . What's the uh what's the next watch on your wish list
John Buse ? You know, I mean I haven't bought uh I always considered myself a chronograph guy before I before I bought like two GMTs kind of back to back. I would actually love to and it's uh you know it's not like some some watch that you have to put yourself on a wait list for or uh and it's a watch that I feel like at this point in my life I probably should have owned, but like a speed master professional probably
Stephen Pulvirent . Yeah. That's fair. It's a great watch. Uh and what what is your holy grail watch
John Buse ? Holy Grail watch. Um
Stephen Pulvirent price doesn't matter. If you could if you could wake up every day and have any one watch on your wrist, what would it be
John Buse ? Really, really nice uh six five four two on on a just on a nice bracelet uh with a you know with an original bezel that still looks good, you know. That's that's h
John Buse ell of a watch. It's funny too
Stephen Pulvirent how doing reference points you get sort of like uh Stockholm syndrome with the watches you're writing about. I was never a sub guy and the moment I finished writing that I, was like, I I think I need a big crown. Like, I think I need one. Um, which it's a little tough to just make that happen. But uh yeah, that's good answer. Uh all right, last last thing I'm gonna ask you, and then I'll let you go. I know we both have other other meetings to head off to, but uh what is one piece of advice about watches? It can be about collecting, it can be about learning about watches, it can be whatever, but what is what is one bit of watch related advice that you want to pass on to our listeners from your uh your tenure in the watch watch indust
John Buse ry um I would say uh read a lot um and try to make uh informed uh decisions. Um you know you're if you're just starting out collecting you you will make some mistakes but I would I think um with by educating yourself by reading you know uh people who know what they're talking about, you can mitigate a lot of that risk. Um, and so I would say um, you know, don't don't don't rush into uh watch purchase that you may end up regretting later. Um even enjoy buying watches, but you know, learning about them is is part of the fun too
Stephen Pulvirent . Well, this has been super fun. I've had a really good time and not just because I got to drink a beer uh in the middle of the afternoon. But uh this was good. It's good. I mean, you know, I think a lot of people are experiencing this where with uh you know working from home, we don't get to see our coworkers as much. So it's uh it's nice to get like a solid hour, turn all the notifications off, chat, uh talk about some some good old times, some stuff I didn't know about you. And yeah, thanks for coming on the show, man. Really appreciate it.
John Buse Yeah, thank you so much for having me, man. This was a lot of fun
Stephen Pulvirent . Awesome. Thanks, man. Have a good weekend
John Buse . Yep, you too.