EP4 Denimheads invite a friend to talk watches

In this 4th episode, we invited our friend Mike to talk watches, John Mayer and Patek's first partner.
Sorry for the audio issue, we're still learning..

You can now find us on Youtube!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJfPfT5ycvkdr0IryecDHxg

Transcript

Unknown Speaker  0:11  
Welcome, everybody. This is Episode Four of the Denim Heads podcast. I'm dariush

Unknown Speaker  0:18  
And I'm Pasha. And I've invited a friend along, Mike, good friend of mine that I've known for approximately 14-15 years, we've decided to do something a little different. We're going to move away from denim. For this one episode, we'll just talk a little bit about watches, maybe cigars. And we'll see where the conversation goes. Now, it was closer. There has been zero prep work for this episode. So I had tremendous amount of technical difficulties. But nonetheless, let's see where this goes. Mike. Welcome. Thanks, boys. Welcome.

Unknown Speaker  0:55  
Thank you for having me. I hope I can be a help. It's funny that you guys talk denim because that's something I guess I'm so aware of, but was always outside my possibility based on just sighs I'm a bigger guy, and you don't usually find high end denim and certainly vintage denim. Like there is no big and tall section in vintage shops where you would traditionally find coolest stuff. So I've always sort of been, I guess, aware of the the orbit of stuff like that. And I just kind of went past it because it was, you know, I'm not squeezing myself into those at this point. So I which led me to Alright, I guess I can, I could definitely do watches I could definitely glasses accessory stuff. Yeah. So that's how I ended up sort of liking what I like, but But certainly, awareness and appreciation for I guess what you guys are usually

Unknown Speaker  1:46  
talking about? I mean, there is there is your right, it's, it's currently, it's something that shouldn't be, in actuality. I mean, in one demographic, the other major demographic really is women's denim. Maybe there is but the brands that we are aware of maybe we're looking at brands that are mostly centered around male but Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  2:08  
probably.

Unknown Speaker  2:10  
Oh, but I think you can get like there's a place in in the city on Mercer street called three by one and you can get a pair of the spoke at no cost. Yes,

Unknown Speaker  2:19  
that would be the option that I was just not ready to to dive into

Unknown Speaker  2:23  
not economically feasible one you know, as someone that was about to have their second child I'm sure right, like spending 15 $100 on a pair of jeans.

Unknown Speaker  2:31  
Yeah, we're triage and yeah, I mean that's well that's I guess would be doable if I decided you decide to do it you do it but in my mind that's that's a relatively inexpensive entry level knock around watch for years that I won't spill sauce on, you know, like, there's a different way of looking at that expenditure, I

Unknown Speaker  2:54  
guess, for baby mama.

Unknown Speaker  2:56  
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Right. No one's gonna no one's gonna spit up on that. That's too funny.

Unknown Speaker  3:02  
So how did you get into watches what was like one of your earlier memories and then like earlier entries, let's say

Unknown Speaker  3:12  
I always was I always was aware of it. And it's funny. My dad does not wear watch. My brother does not wear watch. I always was into it. And I remember this had to be what am I I'm 40. So I'm born in 19 8085 six ish around the time when swatch got big in the States. Oddly enough, my aunt my dad's sister. She worked in interior design. So she worked I don't remember the company she was with at the time. But they shared offices with swatch.

Unknown Speaker  3:43  
Oh, wow. Okay.

Unknown Speaker  3:44  
I remember I remember getting it. It was a it's called the Yamaha racer. It was a yellow case. And it came with a black strap and it had almost like a fake little motorcycle dial. But it was one of the very early swatches to 8586 and she changed it she hasn't changed the strap because I love yellow so that it was all yellow instead of the yellow and black and I wore it for ever and ever and ever. And then I guess as I got a little older like the G shocks like the Casio the real squarish digital ones. Yeah, that was sort of everybody's knock around watch and that those came back in in a very big way.

Unknown Speaker  4:27  
Yeah, he just purchased something. Okay, very recently

Unknown Speaker  4:30  
just got Oh, yes. Christmas. So this that's not the one I had as a kid but this one. I follow a lot of watch blogs. Yeah, this one became like a social media darling. It's a reissue

Unknown Speaker  4:44  
of a very early so it's analog and digital, but it looks like the Royal Oak which is a conic Yeah, so that I'm like, Alright, it's 100 bucks or 100. us so I'm not sure what that translates for you, but it's like I could certainly do Right, I wouldn't get that. And then because of the article you couldn't find it. Couldn't get it in retail.

Unknown Speaker  5:06  
Where was it?

Unknown Speaker  5:07  
Oh yeah, and they they've dubbed it the Casio because it's the Casio but it looks like

Unknown Speaker  5:14  
a Royal Oak.

Unknown Speaker  5:16  
So then I'm like I have to have it now because now I can't get it. So now I want it so I spent months. I'm not paying triple for a digital watch. It's just not worth it. And then finally just some random department store in the Midwest. I kept googling it. Okay, Casio didn't and they had got him getting this for Christmas. And then I texted like five friends like hey, this is this store hasn't ordered. So myself and two other friends that I sort of text regularly about watch stuff. We all got them for ourselves for Christmas. That's nice.

Unknown Speaker  5:45  
Are you a quick quickly Are you aware of this guy on Instagram that died artist?

Unknown Speaker  5:50  
No.

Unknown Speaker  5:51  
He he customizes those?

Unknown Speaker  5:54  
Oh really?

Unknown Speaker  5:55  
Yes. He's done some super nice dials and he sells these watches too. And you can ask him for pretty much anything.

Unknown Speaker  6:01  
I have to check that out.

Unknown Speaker  6:02  
Oh, yeah, he's he makes some really nice dials super colorful or you know, whatever you want. He can do it. Yeah. The dial artist the dialogue. I've seen guys

Unknown Speaker  6:13  
a lot of people will do it also with the the Seiko divers like the entry level. Seiko divers. Yeah, they're very easy to work on. And there are people who will modify them to look, which I don't know how, okay with it, but they will make the dial look like a 50 fathoms. Or they'll make it look like a Submariner. Yeah, those I'm not in love with, but then they'll also put, you know, museum recognizable art, like the wave, wood painting, or other backgrounds. So I've seen people that have done that, that looks super cool. I think it's something that I would like to be able to, like, open up my own and do that because it can't be it's that hard if you have the tools. Yeah, I guess I don't know. I work with my head

Unknown Speaker  6:54  
a bit. But yeah, you can try.

Unknown Speaker  6:57  
So I would be hesitant. Oh, that's cool. That's

Unknown Speaker  7:02  
like the famous Rolex

Unknown Speaker  7:05  
Daytona, you know, Rainbow the rainbow.

Unknown Speaker  7:09  
That's pretty cool.

Unknown Speaker  7:10  
I got a lot of stuff. So.

Unknown Speaker  7:12  
But yeah, I figured this and this is my son. I have a son. So at some point, these will all be his anyway. Yep. So I had had the, the swatch forever. Then I had that g shock. And then I had a Swiss Army. This two companies that make Swiss Army, I guess in the US, they both have the logo rights. So it was you know, very debilitating, like a gray mat case with a white towel, they still make it. And for some reason, all of those either broke or died or got tossed when I was older. Um, and then as far as being aware of higher end stuff or mechanical stuff. I remember the conversation I was at. I was in college, so Oh, no, 99 I did, I was trying to decide whether I want to go into medicine or dentistry. And I said, let me explore medicine. So I went to this conference in Manhattan at a Cornell hospital was a cardiology internship for a week. And the kid that I was rooming with I remember was like, he was from the west coast was his first time in the city on off hours like he was going to boutiques and stuff and picking up literature and catalogs and he was obsessed with the the jlc the reversal he just was the was this was going to be his Grail watch. This was he was getting and I saw it I'm like, wow, that's kind of cool. You know, I think I liked the fact that it solved the problem. At some point like it was designed for a very specific or at least the story goes that it was designed for a very specific need, you can flip the watch over to a metal side to protect it. Yeah, the story goes that British officers playing Polo in India were cracking the crystals. So they made the watch turned over and now has a metal back. So I thought that was interesting. And they're they're stunning. So I said that's what I'm getting what I really don't have to worry about whether I can buy it or not. Yeah, and that and I ended up getting one for my 40th year I traded something else I never thought I would be able to buy and sell and trade stuff. So fast forward to when I was a resident doing my dental training, and Pasha knows these guys and we hang out with these guys but there are more gentlemen that are much more established than us and are specialists in their fields. So they make much more money than we do and two of them are super nice and they have extremely extensive watch collections. While we were working they were they were very okay about like hey, you know, take a look at this or try this on for a second. So I sort of learned by observing what they bought or sold or wore collected and that turned me on to Panera, which I really fell in love with because again Had the the technical merits of the crown guard which was a real world problem. And, you know, I'm of Italian descent, so the fact that it was the Italian military watch. So I got that for my 34th birthday. And I subsequently picked up a Breitling to just wear to work because you could beat it up. And then I had bought a second Panera, which I liked, but then I saw a good deal during this whole quarantine, I guess, prices plummeted. So I traded in my second powder eye towards the reverse. So now I have that. And I will probably get it engraved because you can engrave the back. So I'll put my initials on my son's initials. But I like the fact that you can put some sort of personal touch on that. And, you know, my kids will have that at some point.

Unknown Speaker  10:46  
It's nice to have some family watches. Yeah. You create a type of legacy with those. So it's nice.

Unknown Speaker  10:54  
Right? So that and again, I guess, circling back to what you guys are usually talking about, like, your size or your son, if you have a son, he may, you may be a different way size. So then he can't necessarily inherit that or without much tailoring. Whereas this you could just any of us could wear this piece.

Unknown Speaker  11:12  
Yeah, definitely. That's super interesting. So So GLC penrhiw, Breitling. That's, that's, that's, that's some nice stuff. Have you had the chance to try other brands? or Why not? I mean, nothing else? No, but why not? Why those is

Unknown Speaker  11:36  
something. I feel like Rolex, especially in New York is a very much the watch of somebody who wants a nice one knows that Rolex is a nice one. And is getting it more for the appeal the aura, the status of I have a Rolex. Yeah. But that being said, they are of insane quality. And I hate to you almost don't want to mark them against that. And I think everybody always decides, like, I'm not getting a Submariner, because there's a million of them. But then at some point, you realize that like, hey, that might be the perfect all day every day. You know, James Bond wore it with a tux, so I can maybe that is the only one I need. So I think a lot of people I've talked to have sort of made that revolution of like, no, no way. That's too sort of common, too high. Maybe it's perfect. And maybe it's so common, because it's perfect.

Unknown Speaker  12:34  
I think everybody ends up buying multiple. Yes. And once you get one, then it's almost addictive. It's like a statue. It's like

Unknown Speaker  12:42  
yeah, definitely 100% and I think you feed into it because now there's so much reading and research and info and you know, my Google feed is an embarrassing array of like food scotch watches, because that's what I'm always searching so then it's without even realizing it. It's in your face and then you're diving deeper or learning more. Yeah, but I think if I got a Rolex that I could afford I would get a GMT because I just think I like the color better.

Unknown Speaker  13:11  
Okay, probably the Batman like Batman. Yeah, for sure. Batman. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  13:15  
yeah. Um, but and then like when you get to that upper level of stuff that's sort of out of most people's price ranges. I don't know. I would love to say something like dressy and gold but like the witch record like the the all the multiple I don't you blow just seems to be too much going on in too small space. I think they're just there's too many of them. And there's too much variation that I can't even track it. I think a lot of the Royal Oak Offshore is are the same. But then the classic ones you can't get. You can't walk in and buy a Daytona or you can't walk in and buy a Nautilus you have to be a long term

Unknown Speaker  14:00  
cause it's like and we alluded to in a previous podcast, I think we were talking about how it's a shame because we were talking about like speculation and how he was going to come to that point where he says that are made under 100 pairs under 50 pairs worldwide. Is it going to be something like an RFP?

Unknown Speaker  14:19  
I would think anything limited. Now are they those limited runs what is the limit? Is it a? Is it a color is it a different material like obviously jeans look like jeans, the way watches look like watches but that specific limited edition, what differentiates it visually? Right, so it's a different fabric

Unknown Speaker  14:40  
and how it was dyed.

Unknown Speaker  14:44  
There will be a different color than or different texture than a regular run from that same company.

Unknown Speaker  14:52  
Right? For one it's it's the dye and the way they dyed the gentleman such the cotton Everything is handmade. And so there is always going to be a little bit I think of a uniqueness to every pair. But it's the fact that it's, it's, you know, and then some of them are numbered.

Unknown Speaker  15:10  
Yeah, look, I

Unknown Speaker  15:11  
have a pair of double arrows that are numbered.

Unknown Speaker  15:16  
That's cool. That's, that's a cool thing to know, you have, you know, 750, or whatever,

Unknown Speaker  15:21  
exactly.

Unknown Speaker  15:23  
They do it like that, because I've seen this in the watch world both ways where the it'll be, you know, diaries has a number 57 of 100. You have number 97 of 100. But some companies will release a limited edition and it'll just say the word one, it'll be one of 1000 you won't actually put a sequential number on the piece. You come across it. Yeah. I guess cuz? I don't know. Because people want their number or whatever. But I've seen that. I don't know why. Yeah. easy sell.

Unknown Speaker  15:55  
sunglasses are mug just limited edition. Right. And they will tell you they're never tell you. How many how many. Right? You know?

Unknown Speaker  16:05  
Yeah, it's like the blend. Like the florals are part wool part. Okay. Yeah, part time. So there's that. Yeah, we were wondering. It's like, it's cheap, because then you got people who really like, watches them. And now they're priced out of it. Because there's people who are going and buying out a hoax. Let's say yes, it's not correct. Right.

Unknown Speaker  16:32  
There's no access. Yeah. Right. If you can afford to buy in bulk, you get better. Or the invitation I think I read something recently that you don't even get offered a Birkin at RMS until you've spent $100,000 in the bowtie, something like that. Right. So I mean, you could have the 25 30,000 in hand and you don't rate no high enough. You haven't developed that relationship. You haven't

Unknown Speaker  16:59  
already the same way. You can't own that Ferrari until you have one.

Unknown Speaker  17:07  
How do I get a job with no experience? It's the craziest thing that that problem affects all levels of life. You know, I always found that. Yeah, it'd be super interesting. Or then do you just get Do you get lucky and you find one somewhere? Do you? Or do you do you take? Like, I mean, obviously and watches Pre Owned is a very real thing. Like are people yes. Buying Pre Owned recent denim? Or is it vintage is more aware? vintage, right.

Unknown Speaker  17:36  
I think it's more into vintage if there's a market in denim. It's for vintage denim.

Unknown Speaker  17:42  
Yeah, somebody was telling me about like, there's YouTube videos out there are people going into caves and discovering a pair and like 100 year old pair of denim? Yeah. Yeah. And that's like a thing. And I was unaware of it. But yeah.

Unknown Speaker  17:58  
I'm sure I'm sure fraud. Right, counterfeit is gonna be an issue there. Right. Anything that somebody could be making someone else can make a fake?

Unknown Speaker  18:07  
Yeah, Turkey. Turkey is one of those places that makes a lot of fake denim. Really?

Unknown Speaker  18:12  
Yeah. But I don't think those high end niche Japanese denim brand are suffering from fake stuff.

Unknown Speaker  18:19  
No, not the same way is

Unknown Speaker  18:20  
not the same way. Not the same way, as you know, watches.

Unknown Speaker  18:24  
Maybe it's not as bigger because it's not as recognizable.

Unknown Speaker  18:27  
It's not as recognizable.

Unknown Speaker  18:29  
Like everybody knows what role at like, and again, everybody knows what a Rolex looks like. So you're more likely, I guess, to follow up one. Right, exactly. But I've spoken to people who have legitimate watch collections that will buy a super high end replica for travel purposes. You know, I'm not taking my $20,000 diver on vacation. But I still want to look like I have one. So instead of getting you know the $90 rubber dive watch they'll get a very well made very high end replica piece. In case it gets robbed.

Unknown Speaker  19:05  
That's almost dangerous now.

Unknown Speaker  19:06  
Yeah, right. You almost need like a decoy, which I'm constantly reading stories about, you know, people being followed home from high end restaurants in London. Oh, yeah. Right. It's it's London.

Unknown Speaker  19:19  
Yeah. And like

Unknown Speaker  19:21  
people getting there. Richard Mills snatched, you know, outside a hotel or stuff like this. We've talked about this recently. That's it's very common, but it's the reality when you have half a million bucks on your wrist. Exactly. You know, you gotta be prepared kind of.

Unknown Speaker  19:42  
I have a denim question. Now with watches part of the collection is you need to, I guess for obviously to prove authenticity, but for eventual resale is you keep all the peripherals you keep the box, the papers, the stickers. Is the denim world that concern like if you had the order sheet on a bespoke piece So the tags are the whatever it came with, is that a necessity? Or is that a value to somebody? or it doesn't matter? As much eventually

Unknown Speaker  20:07  
it will be, like, speculating and everything. Mm hmm.

Unknown Speaker  20:11  
Right? Like you keep the sticker off the car window, right? I mean, if you're going to speculate on it, you can now prove the provenance or that this is the person who ordered it at this store on this day. I feel like that's relevant to anything collectible.

Unknown Speaker  20:25  
And it's also the tags and everything that come with the denim actually nice. It's not assuming

Unknown Speaker  20:32  
they're beautiful, right? Yeah. They're not like a

Unknown Speaker  20:36  
haven. Yeah, sure. It's some nice stuff. And but I sort of wonder, you're asking a great question. Because I'm thinking at the same time, part of the beauty of done and how it's faded. If you're the majority of denim, higher end denim, I would say it's probably upon wash,

Unknown Speaker  20:57  
right? Like it comes super rigid. It molds you

Unknown Speaker  21:01  
that's Yeah, that's, that's the goal of a lot of the standards, you're buying these quote unquote, pieces for a number of the wear for, as we talked about, for the future, you're buying enough for the present day, but for what it will look like in about a year or two. I was wearing a tremendous amount.

Unknown Speaker  21:18  
And there's there's sort of merit to those stains and scars and scratches. And that picked me up to always talk about patina and they always talk about in vintage, people would rather an honest watch than a polished watch. So let's say what we're looking at are buying something from the 70s I'm okay with it looking like it's from the 70s then having it pristinely polished and shined up because it changes the shape subtly or edges aren't as sharp. So even though they weren't your stories or experiences, the the piece kind of holds its own life within itself that you can now add. Yeah. Oh, but I remember I remember the first scratch on the potter I that I got, I remember where I was, I remember how it happened. I remember. I literally and you guys won't see video when you're listening. But like that sort of like your spine tightens up. And it's like, oh, did I really just did I really just do that? Yeah, what happened was actually at the hospital posture that we worked at, I was in room number eight, and the computer because we had just got digital x rays in the back left of the room there. And I sort of stepped over the chair to look at it. And as I moved my hand down it, like caught the edge of the little metal thing that holds the keyboard. And I felt it. I really feel it. So but now you know now that was eight years or six years ago, or whatever it was, and now that it looks worn, and you're fine with it after the first one. It's okay. Right? Yeah, exactly.

Unknown Speaker  23:02  
Something that's very popular with those vintage watches are often also the dials. So yes, there's kind of Burundi become what we call tropical does, that something that people are going crazy for?

Unknown Speaker  23:13  
Yes. But but is is now like we were just talking fraud, people will put a dial in the oven, or people will treat a dial oil or anything to make the appearance of old, you can cook it, right because then you've you've increased the value of your piece. So sad

Unknown Speaker  23:34  
story that like most of our audience is not going I would say 99.9% of our audience are not going to be able to relate to but I had a friend in dental school for the nerve for an exam, a licensing exam, what he would do is he would take the old film, this is how old I am, we had the conventional film. And the trick was you would get the film a bite wing. And then with a pencil you draw in a class too. And then you reprocess it. And that's how he was getting his perfect lesion. Right. You need, we want something that's for the audience, when we're taking an exam to get licensed. Sometimes. I didn't do it, but I did. But the story is that you, you need something that's not too big, but not too small and not too big that will get you in trouble, but not too small that they won't pass it to the person you need the perfect cavity or

Unknown Speaker  24:27  
has to look just so on the

Unknown Speaker  24:29  
excess. So what he would do is he would take a pencil, but he knew there was something else fairly small. He wouldn't pass he would just take a pencil and draw it in a little bit. And then we process the film. That's how it would work. So I totally understand that.

Unknown Speaker  24:45  
Yeah. But you see, you see where the intent comes from and where the benefit is. Yeah, that was his license on, you know, if you don't take the test that day, you can't take it for another six months.

Unknown Speaker  24:55  
Exactly.

Unknown Speaker  24:56  
Okay. So there's so much pressure for anyone that's never taken. You have to do three procedures on three different people in six hours. And it is the culmination of your four years of school. And it happens in May, and you graduate in June. And if you don't pass it, you got to wait until the summer to take it. And now you're not as you know, you can't work. Yeah. So I mean, didn't

Unknown Speaker  25:20  
factor into both you and I, because we ended up in residency. Yeah, right. But for somebody that they have to start working. You have surgeons, but doesn't matter.

Unknown Speaker  25:36  
But it's funny now do you guys find is the overlap the overlap between people who are into these things? What, obviously partially mentioned cigars before cars got mentioned? Yeah. What else? Like I've seen blogs that just wax poetic about vintage car da, glasses frames, or, or, you know, obviously, pens and writing instruments like where, where do your guys's personal interests stop? Or Where's their overlap? If you haven't talked about that?

Unknown Speaker  26:09  
I mean, we've, we've been talking about this with Portia. Like, we've had different rabbit holes. So yes, we've discovered a number of rabbit holes in the last two or three years, I want to say, between, I don't know, music, TV shows, then materialistic stuff like the watches the cars. For now, I think, as far as I'm concerned, it's, it's I'm trying to control it. Because it's when you have that type of personality. When you discover something and you just, you know, dive into it, it becomes a problem. And Porsche knows this too, I guess. And so the last one was basically denim. And the overlap was, yeah, as we said, you know, cars, cigars, cigars a little bit during the summer, I guess, right. You know, when you feel like having just a cigar and but there's no, actually that's the that's the beauty of it. And that's the problems is you want to geek out about vintage cardiac frames, or pen or lighters. There's no world there. So, I mean, it can go very, very far. I don't know how I mean, it's, you know, people go crazy for vintage Levi's, denim, you know, that are just a bunch of fabrics. And they telling you this is from 120 years ago, and Okay, nice. So, yeah, there's no limit. But for me, as far as I'm concerned, no watches, yes, I was born in it. So okay, cars, that came late also. And then M and a few

Unknown Speaker  27:51  
denim is attainable. That's a good entry point,

Unknown Speaker  27:54  
the good denim is attainable. And it's kind of welcoming, we've talked about this in previous episodes, I was just about to say

Unknown Speaker  27:59  
the difference between, let's say watches and denim. First off in itself, jeans and denim is something casual, it's something that's really the high high end, like three 400 bucks, which is a lot. But if you think about it, it's not it's something that you wear it every day, you're going to get a lot of use out of your three 400 bucks. Yes. And you feel good about yourself. And the idea of denim is, I guess maybe because it's so attainable, people are a lot more approachable about it.

Unknown Speaker  28:31  
I was just gonna ask how, how is the experience of because I've had to go both ways where I've been at a dinner or class or whatever, and I've compliment because you look for it. But I've complimented somebody on their watch. And sometimes people look down at it like Oh, thanks. or other people have have really, you know, they're a collector because of what they say back like, do you guys find that if you're out somewhere and you realize or you sort of notice somebody wearing something high quality? Does that spur conversation or people like,

Unknown Speaker  29:03  
why would this never happened to me, though, right? Unfortunately, you know, for the past 10 months,

Unknown Speaker  29:10  
right? Yeah, you can't go anywhere.

Unknown Speaker  29:13  
I mean, I have patients and I have patients who work either work in denim or fashion, and I have patients who were nice, gentlemen, I will. Yeah. I mean, I don't ask too often because as a professional, it's a little right. You don't want to draw a line, but I think it's it's kind of like I'm doing something I'm like,

Unknown Speaker  29:33  
are those right? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  29:34  
I'm looking at the rivets and the button. I'm like, Can I read this now? I'm trying to

Unknown Speaker  29:40  
figure it out all the time. Um, I caught a patient of mine the other day long term patient owned, very successful family deli out here. Real Estate adventures on the side. He came in for an emergency. And he's a big gym guy. So he's always in in you know, sweats and running in and out and he came in and He was on his way, unfortunately to awake, someone had passed away. And he reached over and I looked, I said, is that a Daytona? He goes, watch. I said, That's I said, I've never been coming in for 10 years. I've never seen that. on your wrist. He goes, Yeah, I don't really wear it a lot. You know how he goes, I have this one. I have the other one with the black dial and a couple other and I'm just like, oh, man, really? Like how have we not been talking about this and the amount of times that I've seen you or then I had another guy come in which, which you never see he had an a Rolex an oyster quartz that he had on. And I complimented him on that. And then he shows up the next visit, with a very well patinaed root beer, GMT, which is sort of not the most common configuration of that model. So every once in a while you catch somebody, and he was into it. And I remember being at a dental lecture. And the guy kept referencing it was all about dental implants, which have these very precision milled machine fits, and everything has to be within micro meters of each other. And he was talking. So you could hear his love of that. Those numbers. And he made a he made some sort of moon landing reference. And I grabbed him at lunch. I said, I got to see it. Come on. I said, Show me your watch. And he goes, Oh, this is and it was a speedmaster, which is the watch that live that landed on the moon. And it was tested by NASA and it was qualified for space after this giant requisition process. And he goes, you know, if you look on the back, it says, and I said, I know flight tested for and he like looked at me. And then that was great. We had a little connection there. And we sat at lunch and kind of talk shop. So that's cool. Every once in a while you catch that spark in somebody else. And other times I said like Oh, hey, man, that's that's really a nice watch. And people are like, Oh,

Unknown Speaker  31:46  
yeah, sometimes that's because I don't write you don't even know you write. You know, it's nice. And there are people who are buying, like a Nautilus out there. It's just because they don't know much more past. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  32:02  
that's what I call the problem. And maybe it's done. You know, you have one guy who becomes famous on the internet, because of the way he puts salt on his stuff. And this guy is wearing a Nautilus Five days later. And then some other guys are going in just trying to grab those watches. So that's kind of sad. But it that's what it that's how it works. Now, basically, everything becomes super popular one night to the other. And it goes crazy for a while and then eventually, eventually it will go back to some type of normal but with watches it's taking a little bit longer.

Unknown Speaker  32:41  
Yeah. Because I think there are a such a subset of people who the price doesn't matter. And the willingness to pay over retail is there. Because then you can show up somewhere where always we mentioned the Rolex Daytona the that was the Wall Street watch. That was the bonus watch. I got my check. This is a $16,000 watch. And you know, I paid 25 because I just got it. And that's part of why I bought I don't need to time anything. I need you to know that I paid one and a half times what it's worth. Yes.

Unknown Speaker  33:19  
Yeah, the chronometer blew

Unknown Speaker  33:22  
through the roof right

Unknown Speaker  33:23  
now, which is insane, because I bought I was in the market for one, maybe two and a half years ago. At that time. I mean, it was over retail, but it was right. It was like, okay, 2425 I can get it. And then I'll come back to it. And then I slowly watched it go up. And then in these two and a half years, it's bordering around 60,000

Unknown Speaker  33:50  
Yep. Because some someone because someone decided some

Unknown Speaker  33:56  
story about like, isn't the watch box guy who was it that there's somebody you were telling me the story somebody?

Unknown Speaker  34:06  
Okay, so allegedly, I'm gonna take precautions I have to take I'm still in this business. So have to be careful.

Unknown Speaker  34:16  
I heard from some people that mister Some people say that he somehow decided one day that you know, FB Jones have to increase our you know, and he started to increase the prices of those watches and create some sort of bubble that wasn't there before. Again, I'm not I'm not on these markets enough whether this may actually in the actual on air version of the podcasts. Yeah, but

Unknown Speaker  34:45  
but someone somewhere sets the market, whether it's a celebrity or I mean, I don't know enough about the stock market. But if someone decides that, yes, gold is going up and buys gold, you know, eventually everyone's jumping on that bandwagon. Yes. Funny you guys mentioned john, because that is one of me. If I'm in the city, if I'm in the area, in normal times, I'll pop into a boutique and just, you know, hey, I want to take a look, you know, and I'll tell this at listen. I'm not in the place where I can even afford this. But if you have some time, just, I'm gonna kill a little time staring at your cases. And there's your boutique was the nicest I've ever been treated in any watch boutique I've ever been. Okay, I've been right really shy. I've been in the panorama on Madison wearing upon, right and they're like, Oh, yeah, we don't have that. And then I walked up the block, and it was just like, hey, anything you want to see? I'm here all day. I'll get stuff down from the basement. I'm gonna jump in the basement if you want to see something that I don't have up front. I guess maybe because the speculation is if they sell one, they're going to pay their rent for the month like I don't know, if they have to. Sort of not they don't get as many window shoppers or maybe the casual. Nobody even knows. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, like, like a non watch person knows what a Rolex is. They've seen especially in Staten Island, they've seen the Breitling name they'll go try those on but I don't think people know what the other ones are. So it's it's funny that that one came up and then as far as people setting the market, um, that I guess what is now called the john mayer Daytona but the gold Daytona with the green face. Everything I've read about that said that was unsellable.

Unknown Speaker  36:25  
Yeah. For years. And now.

Unknown Speaker  36:28  
And now john mayer has won Jonah Hill has one and you can't get one. Yeah. But john mayer apparently has. Again, it's funny because I have friends who are very into music. And they sort of he he almost gets written off as I don't want to say sellout. But like inauthentic because he can do so much so well. Some people feel like, oh, whatever. He's just, he's more popular than he should be. And then those same friends have said, You know, I listened to all the other stuff that doesn't get it's just, he's the goods but apparently he's just so regarded as a tastemaker on every level that he just put out a limited release. Casio that is 1000s of dollars. Yes.

Unknown Speaker  37:16  
When he was the first episode of talking Yes, he's recording a second one. talks about that because they were years apart. And he talks about how things have changed and how his tastes have changed. Yeah, everything shows up some real

Unknown Speaker  37:32  
this is not the the I just got my advance. I'm going to pick something with diamonds. This is somebody who

Unknown Speaker  37:40  
knows Oh, he knows what he's talking about. He's talking Can you hear him talking about vintage fabrics and stuff like this to like his

Unknown Speaker  37:48  
vintage fabrics?

Unknown Speaker  37:49  
Oh yeah. He's cuz he they talked about his style in the clothes and he was like, yeah, I'm wearing this and he goes in on this like he's Yeah. And that's why people maybe are you know, I don't know if he's just very clever and passionate about these things and when he dives into something he has the ability to research it and just remember all this stuff. And I mean when you when you see the way he creates music it's it kind of makes sense you have to be a little bit you know out there to do all this so but he's an interesting guy is just the whole hodinkee thing now is some people love it. Some people don't and you know,

Unknown Speaker  38:29  
Mike especially since the the ownership issue came out, right I mean, I was just following that. I feel like people are

Unknown Speaker  38:38  
what's up just a little percentage,

Unknown Speaker  38:40  
right? Right. But it was it was it was shown or the it was like oh my god one of them all Yeah, you saw the the memes on all the sites with the puppet strings. So yeah, I think people got

Unknown Speaker  38:54  
I'm completely unaware of what's happened is the same thing with Ben climber or anything like that or No.

Unknown Speaker  39:00  
Well, yeah, I mean, from what I just from, like a non industry perspective, as somebody who needs it, it came out that the Louis Vuitton group LVMH, some sort of investing arm where they will invest in up and coming fashion or lifestyle companies. Sure. And they own a percentage of this. What I would say is that one of the more highly regarded, watch blogs in the world. Sure, you would assume would be independent journalism. However, they have a store and they sell watches. So now, how objective Can you be evaluating the product made by a company who signs a part of your check, I guess is people's concern. If somebody has the goods, if this watch is perfect, they're gonna say it's perfect and it is I'm sure most journalists in that field. Can't say that. This is crap. Because then you just can't do that as a jerk, you know, you can maybe say I don't love this, or I wish this was bigger, smaller in a different place. But I don't think you can ever give a truly bad review if you want to keep a job like that. And maybe food critics get a little more leeway with that stuff because they are expected to bash Webby stars, you probably know much more about.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai