Scottish Watches Podcast #792 : No Scottish Watches – No Party

A

Welcome to the Scottish Watches podcast. No Scotland, no party. Barbara, how are things in America?

B

Oh, they're good right now, thanks to Scotland. You guys have really impressed the Americans here. I mean, I was already impressed, but

A

yeah, with our football skills? I don't think so.

B

Not with your football skills, but with your football fans, let's put it that way. So we'll get into that. We got a lot to talk about with regard to that.

A

Well, we're not going to talk too much about football because it turns out we're not very good at it. I've never been very good at it. We kid on, we're good at it and then we get drunk to forget that we're bad at it. And we're going to talk about lots of cool releases because we bring Barbara onto show after she's been on a few trips. It's all very well coming on after watching wonders because there is so much to talk about. But then she stacks up and racks up those air mills. She's globetrotting. She's here, there and everywhere. She could be homeward bound within the United States. She could be at Las Vegas. She'll be anywhere. Or she could be over at Dubai. She could be in Europe. We don't know where she is going to go next, but she's here today to tell us where she's been in the past. How is Barbara?

B

Barbara's all right. She's hanging in there. Yeah, just. Just healing my liver from eight days in Las Vegas, which as I said to you is about 7 days too many to be in Las Vegas, but was there for the Couture show, which was had partnered with Time to Watch us and for the JCK Luxury show, which they actually started, timepieces at Luxury. They started a new sort of watch section. They're trying to come back. JCK and Couture both were pretty big places for watches to showcase their wares in America. About 10 years ago there used to be a section called Couture Time. There were the Villas where there were several brands there and that kind of faded out, I think with Osworld going away. And then Watches Wonders becoming more popular in Geneva Watch days, which I know you're going to be attending fairly in fairly short order. But there is a need, I think, for more US Fairs for retailers. Obviously we have, as you know, you know, the worn and wound watch fair that happen, the wind up watch fair in New York and then in Chicago and Dallas and San Francisco. But that is B2C, that's direct to consumer selling There are also retailers who are looking to add brands to their retail stores. And so, you know, Kathleen and I have had been in the ears of the folks at JCK of the last couple years, trying to help them sort of put watches back in Vegas. And that's. I was there for that, which was great. And I honestly don't know where I'm going next. I'm sadly, I don't have anything sitting in my Delta app right now, and it's starting to crush me a little bit.

A

Well, let's see if we can raise your spirits by telling everybody to go and check the show notes out, because that's where we're going to have all the pictures, the watches, details of what Babs has been up to, links to all the stuff that's appeared on her Instagram. And if we figure out where she's going next, we will put details of that so you can catch up in real life. But what do we do next? Is that wrist check thing. You want to go first?

B

Let's do that. Yeah. So I'm actually. I am wearing two pieces, one on each wrist by a fine gentleman that we had on the podcast Dan Tannenbaum, which is at watchwarts Motorcycles. I have two new pieces of watch art, which I'm showing you, Ricky, But I'll send Ms. The. The imagery. Dan has started to make cuff bangles using old watches that don't work anymore or watches that it would just like to get it fixed would cost more than what you would have paid for the watch itself. So these are sort of like older broken pieces, some of them vintage pieces. On my right wrist, I have. I don't know if you can see it. It's a vintage Bulova. And what he's done is he's formed it.

A

He's encapsulated it.

B

Yeah. In Lucite. And so this one's a full bangle, but it's faceted. So it's a faceted bangle. So he's got like some great little design work to it. And then on my left wrist, I'm wearing a cuff bangle. And it's. It's an old fossil leather, fossil strap. And what he's done is it's. It's encased in Lucite.

A

What is Lucite?

B

So Lucite is like plastic. It's. But it's really hard. Like, it's a really hard plastic, kind of hard to work with sometimes. And he said to me, he's like, it's still a work in progress for these pieces that he makes Because I think it's really tough to sort of get the watch in there centered, you know what I mean? So he's. And again, to kind of like make different styles. Like, this is a cuff and then this is a full bangle. So this is, you know, you can't. You have to slide this off over your wrist. So he's been working on these. If you go to his page at Watch Parts Motorcycles on Instagram, you'll see some of the other ones that he's done. But they're super creative and fun. Obviously you can't tell the time from them, but. Oh, what's that? Is that from Dan? Oh, my God, that is so great. That's so great. It's a pocket watch. But what. I can't. I'm using my daughter's crack screen here, and I can't. What's in there? A Dyna. Oh, the Nessie. You know what? You did show that to me. I love that so much. It's a little Loch Ness. That's so cool. That's so cool.

A

So, audio listeners, what we have here is a surprise gift that Dan actually sent across after he appeared on a show a number of years ago with Barbara and myself. And he does these crazy creations. You do have to check the show notes, click across and see what he creates. So he took a pocket watch, emptied it out, put in some resin with some color. It almost looks like Jello Lucite resin.

B

Relatively the same thing. So actually, I think these are. It's relatively the same thing, but resin, Lucite, they're kind of similar.

A

And what he did was he used the pocket watch without the movement, without the dial, but looking dialward in. And he used it almost like a cup, a saucer or a mug, filled it with this colored resin, and then to offset the color of the nessy little monster that's inside it, which is blue. It has got a green tinge to what would be the water. It is fabulous. He's even left. He's put some details on the back. He's signed it, which was lovely. I didn't actually notice that. Hopefully it will not wipe off. And he left a hang tag for Rolex on there and a little personal message saying, thanks for having me on the show. He is fantastic. We keep an eye on what he is up to. He's always creating new things, come up with new ideas, and it's always fabulous to hear from him. So maybe we'll drag him back on the show in the future.

B

So great. Especially with these. If these blow up Because I've had a lot of people that have commented to me about it because I just posted the pictures this week and they're, you know, again, I think now that there are so many more women in the industry talking about the industry, covering the industry, influencers, YouTubers, podcasters, we're seeing more women want pieces. You know, obviously I have the necklaces that I've gotten from him. He, he sent me the little token coins that I was hiding around Vicenza Oro to have with hints and clues that have people try to find them. He's just so smart and so creative in how he does things. And you're right, he's just a super nice guy. You did show me that. I love that with the little Loch Ness and adorable. That's really great. What are you wearing?

A

Right, so time for my wrist check. And I've been sitting on this one. Not literally because it would give me a sore arse, but I've been sitting in this watch for a couple of weeks. It arrived across from the folks at Nobel and they have just been inundating us for the last year with new release after new release, nothing looks the same. The price point becomes more unfathomable. Every single time there is a knock at the door to say, here's a new release, talk about it. And some people have said, you talk about Nabeo quite a bit. Well, they send us watches. Other brands do not send us watches half as much. And we do ask all brands and if you're listening, you've got a brand you want to send us a watch in to check out. Do a wrist check with, play around with for a couple of weeks or a month or whatever. Let us know infocottishwatches.co.uk but anyway, back to the master plan that's on the wrist today. This is a big number. It has got an iridium style. Think car oil in a puddle on the ground. Car breaks down, it drives away. You see that reflective metallic rainbow effect on the ground? That's what you find on this watch watch case. And when you get to the price on it, you will be absolutely amazed. So looking through the front of the crystal doesn't have a sapphire on this one because it's more inexpensive than you will think. But you've got a skeletonized movement and it looks as if it has been designed that way. It's not just been hacked away from a normal movement that exists already. And it's not a tourbillon down at the six o' clock position. It is the actual escape Wheel and all the mechanism parts in there, you've got the pallet fork and everything else, all the levers. Now if I was to tell you that this watch was $1,000, you'd think that's pretty good looking. In the show notes, you'll see the pictures of it, you'd think it's fantastic. If I told you it was $500 you'd think it was a steal. Well, it's only £350 UK which is probably around about the 400 buck mark. And this is brilliant. They have not scrimped or saved, although they have maybe shaved a few pennies off here and there. So it doesn't have a sapphire on the front, it's only got 30 meters of water resistance. But as long as you look after your watches, you don't go swimming with them, you take them off before you jump in the shower, it isn't going to matter too much. And the big point about this watch is it's a big watch. It is 45 mil in diameter, but because the bezel is pushed out to the sides, you don't actually notice how large it is on the wrist. And again you might think that this is a quartz number. It ain't because as I mentioned, you've got the pallet forks, the escape wheel and everything down at the bottom spinning away there. The indexes are massive, sloped in the way, scalloped. You've got a chapter ring that has not been cut away so that lends itself straight into the movement. And you've got massive symmetry because the main barrel at the top at the 12th position with the escapement down at 6 position. Nubeo logo over on the left hand side, it just works. And the contoured flush fit silicon rubber strap is one of the best ones that Nubeo have ever produced. And I have said in the past, sometimes they're a little bit brittle, a little bit hard, but they are playing to a certain price point. The crown on this has even got some crazy engine turning on it. So all in all for the money, this one is called the Pulsar Shadow. 350 UK pounds. Convert that across to whichever denomination is local to where you stay and this is an absolute winner. And I just love the fact that it's got all these colors radiating from the central point. You're probably seeing this for the first time because it only got announced today. What's your thoughts color wise?

B

That looks fantastic. Yeah, that's super interesting. Again, 45 millimeter, definitely too big for me to Wear I like the big ones when I can get them. Not always the case.

A

Oh, you know what? I was actually lying. It was 48 mil. I went to check. So it's even bigger.

B

Oh, my God.

A

But because it's a lug less design, it's a bit like, I don't know, a 7 Friday an HYT. It contours pretty well. And then if you look on the side of it, you've got that iridium finish on the top, you've got the brass gold color. The middle, the central flank is in black. And then from the side round to the back, you've got this. I don't know, it's kind of organic, alien shape. So it contours perfectly to the wrist.

B

Yeah. Ever so slightly contoured on the wrist. That's crazy. Yeah. I'll have to take a look at it. It's hard to see, obviously, against a cracked computer screen. So maybe I'll, I'll hit up the guys over there and, and see if they can send something to me. I, obviously I'm not going to wear a 48 millimeter. It's. That's just bananas to me. I mean, I'd probably go look good on your ankle. Yeah, I could pull a Rihanna and put it on my ankle, around my neck, link it up around my neck. That's, you know, that's. Look, I, I appreciate anything that's different. That's always. My thing is, like, if somebody's doing something different, that's what I love. Like, out of order. Just came out with another super cool watch this week that they've been playing with, like Jump Hour. And I'm absolutely loving what Sartre Beard is doing. I just, I love brands that do stuff that's so completely out of the ordinary and brands that think outside of the box and that can do it in a way that it is affordable. Like you said, obviously, we know, like watches. I mean, come on, all week, for the last two weeks, I've been wearing my spinnaker Nessie Pearl Diver.

A

So why would you be wearing that?

B

Barbara, let's get, let's talk.

A

Let's. Let's get this out the way. Let's get out. We've done the wrist checks, we've talked about some watches, we talked about a couple of shows you've been to. Let's get the big elephant out of the room.

B

Yeah, let's. Let's talk about this because this is part of the reason I wanted to get on the show again. I live in Atlanta, which is a

A

host you like my mug? I'm going to show you again. Show notes are going to be your friend for this one. So I picked this mug up in Glasgow.

B

Oh, the cone. Oh, yes.

A

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a trade. I don't know what it was called. It was a special event down at the bars market, and it was to celebrate Hong Kong. And there was lots of folks there that come across specifically for this, plus people in Scotland that are originally from or descended from Hong Kong. And I met up with this artist, and I was chatting away with her, and I spotted this cup, this mug sitting on her display, and I looked at it, and then I looked at it again, and I thought, what the hell's going on here? So I said, what is this story? How have you designed this? I know what it's all about. The guy with the cone. Very, very popular, in fact, now very, very popular in America.

B

Duke of Wellington. Who is it? The Duke of Wellington.

A

The Duke of. Well, you know your stuff. The Duke of Wellington.

B

The Duke of Wellington. Because we saw it. We saw it in Glasgow and we were blown away. Last year, my partner and I were like, what. Why is there a cone on the statue's head? Okay, so.

A

But this is a big Scottish thing. And whenever, over the past X amount of decades, whenever people would place a cone, traffic cone, one of the orange and white ones on the head of this statue, the police or the council would come round and remove it. And this was a game of cat and mouse for two decades until the council said it, you can just keep it there. And now it is one of the biggest landmarks ever.

B

Like, in the middle of the night, people will come and replace it. Correct. From the lore that I understand, when we, Kyle and I first saw it. Yes. So we just thought that was the most hilarious, serious thing. Because, you know, we had three nights in Glasgow when we came in for your wedding last year, and it was my first time in Scotland. It was Kyle's first time in Scotland. So, you know, even though it was rainy and dismal, that's kind of what you're used to. We managed to walk all over the damn city, and we fell in love with the people. You know this. I talked about it on Podcast Pass. I. I always thought, glad. Like, I'm actually sad and a bit jealous that Boston got. Because Philadelphia is also a host city, and where I live, Atlanta is a host city. Philadelphia, my hometown, is a host city. And I have said to you since the day I met you and when we first started chatting that I always thought Glasswegians, like, are like Philadelphians. And the reason for that is the grittiness, the. No, but they would give you the shirt off their back, and they know how to goddamn party. And it's like, you know, so there was this whole thing. So I was really, really jealous that Boston got Scotland. They got to host Scotland the first couple games in their group, which I think they were Group C. And. But I watched. And plus my algorithm just kept feeding me. The more Scotland videos I watched coming out of Boston, the more that the algorithm was just, like, feeding me. And I probably. I probably forwarded like, 50 to you in the last couple weeks that I. I was just cracking up because, again, here are the Scots. And. And I will say this, it wasn't just Glaswegians, obviously, people coming in from Aberdeen and from. From Edinburgh and from other parts of Scotland. But I think it was the folks from Glasgow that made the biggest impression because the mayor of Boston actually signed. And I. Wait, I have, because I want to get this right. Michelle Wu signed a formal declaration of intent to make Glasgow, Scotland, one of Boston's official sister cities, or twin cities. So every major city in America has a worldwide twin city, like Philadelphia has. I think there's maybe it might be like, Lisbon, Portugal, or something. Like, we have a twin city. And you. It's like, it's by law, like, that you sign a decoration to do this. So I love the fact that she's. She started the paperwork to have Glasgow be Boston's twin city. Listen, the whole cone thing, I love the fact that we already knew what it was about because we had been to Glasgow, so they were putting cones. So did you see the little duck statues that I sent you? That one, it was like, yeah, all little breath. Like, every little tiny duck and the mama duck all had fucking little cones on their heads. It. Okay, so Boston is similar to Philly in that it's a historical city. During the Revolutionary War, so much happened there, obviously. Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's ride, Philadelphia. This is where the Declaration of Independence was signed. It's where. It's where the Constitution was. Was created. So we are very similar and our sports fans are very similar. We're very passionate about sports. They're actually a huge rival for us in football because we've played the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. But it warmed my heart so much every single video I saw of the Scots wearing the kilts. And by the way, I told you, I ran into a couple of groups of them. When I landed, I was in Austin last week, and when I landed back in Atlanta, they were flying through Atlanta, down to Miami because the gate, the last game was in Miami and there were absolutely drunk off the rockers, Scots and kilts in groups walking through the Atlanta airport, which is the busiest airport in the world. And I was like, I would literally just walk up and go, no Scotland, no party. Or I would be like, I can boogie, boogie. Like, I knew all the chants and they're like taking selfies with them. They were. Their excitement was utterly contagious. I was absolutely obsessed with them the last couple of weeks, I am sad to say, after their first win, which was against Haiti, they won one nothing. It. It was kind of a lucky shot, but they won regardless. They lost to Morocco the second game. Morocco won 11 nil. And Brazil, come on, one of the best teams in. In the entire world. I mean, they beat Scotland 3 nil. So sad because even though the third place, only the top eight third place teams get to move forward. I think they were knocked out last night. So the boys are either going to stick around and watch a couple of other games or see a couple of other cities, or they're going to head back home to Scotland. Either way, I guarantee Scotland and particularly Glasgow's economy is going to boost so, so high in the next 12 months. I guarantee you, you're going to see a lot more Americans where you live. The Americans just absolutely felt. And not just Bostonians. The Miami people welcomed them with open arms. And I think just the rest of the US was obsessed with all of the social media stuff coming out of Boston and the whole march to Fenway park. And they were singing that a Red Sox baseball game. And it just. I was like, I felt like a proud older sister because I was like, I've been there. Like, I know the Scots. Like, I was kind of like, you guys are all just finding all this shit out. But I've already known this already. And it isn't even just like, it is you and you. And I've been friends now for. For five years or whatever, but, like, one of my closest friends is Maeve, from which my girlfriend, who's from Edinburgh, who took the train in and met up with us. Remember I told you she's a. She collects watches too, but she was a jewelry maker. I've been friends with Maeve 20 years. So, like, I've always known how freaking awesome the Scotts are. And I felt such pride that, like, the rest of America was finally finding out what I already Knew, which was just how fricking awesome the Scots can be. So I know you're like, you're not a football fan and you're not into it, but let me tell you, man, being at this feels so uniting because a country that is so divided, really, I feel has come together, and we're not known to be a football, you know, European football country.

A

Right.

B

We're soccer. Yeah. Okay, fine. Meanwhile, my daughter is like an animal on the field. I mean, she's. She's played for the Olympic Development program and everything. She's amazing at soccer, but we're not really known for that. Right. It's like American football, baseball, blah. And I think a lot of people were like, why would you give this to North America? Obviously, Mexico's into soccer and Canada is. But the United States, not really our gig, dude. We've shown up and showed out. We. We were host. Atlanta was our host team was, I think Brazil. And we had one other one. Like Philly had Ivory coast and maybe Ecuador, like that. A couple of the cities had, like, they were hosting two teams, you know, if they were, like, kind of. They had less people there and all. And every single city just showed up, showed out, supported. No bad news coming out of anything. No. No violence. No. It's really just been nothing but love here in the US And I think all across North America, you know, in Mexico and Canada, where the game's being played, too. So I wanted to talk about that. I know it's not watch related.

A

Hey, Scotland related. And you were wearing a Braveheart watch, I believe.

B

No, my boyfriend was. So I was in. He lives in Austin, which I've talked about him before, and you've met him. And he did say to say hello to you, by the way, because I told him we were doing this today. So I was in Austin for like, six days last week, and Austin is sort of.

A

Well, before you get into that, I just want to comment on the football stuff. So for anybody that doesn't quite get the whole Scotland going to the World cup and going crazy and having a great old time about it, it was a bit like turkeys going to the slaughter for Thanksgiving. Really happy. We knew what was ahead, but we were going to make the best of a bad situation. We're not known for being phenomenally good at soccer, football, because we don't have a lot of people within the country and we don't really have the development culture that you find in other places. Plus, the weather is so terrible, we've hardly got any dry grass to Practice on. Plus we like a good drink. Add that together. Perfect storm of not getting anywhere fast. Last time Scotland got into the World Cup, I believe is 30 years ago there, 28 years ago, sorry, 1998. And the last time somebody scored a goal from a Scottish team in the World cup was 36 years ago. So that was a very, very, very long day. That was Italian. And back then I was at school. Back then I was into football. I played a little bit and then I grew over, as some people do. Scotland never went across America expecting anything other than to have a good time and enjoy every last second of it. And they did. And you've been sending me stuff. All the people that we speak to in America just could not believe it. You did because you experienced that, you understand? But this was like been introduced to new music, a new movie, something like that, or a new director, somebody that you'd never heard of before. And the comments, I saw the full page, not advert, but the full page. Thank you. The Boston newspaper printed. Yeah. Saying that they loved it. I saw the things that people in America had done to donate money to charitable causes here in the uk. Sorry, here in Scotland. And obviously the Tartan army did the same thing. They went around, they were playing the bagpipes. They were just buskers on the street. There was some African buskers playing drum kits made out of all kinds of things. And the bagpipe guys joined. It was just, it was, it was harmonious and beautiful and it should happen

B

more often to multiple videos, honestly. And I mean, and I know again, I'm in menopause, so I cry at like a breeze comes by me and I. And I bust out in tears. But I, I genuinely. The unity was astonishing to see in Lifetime. In a sense, you're right. Like the police officer, you see the police, the Boston police officer.

A

The police playing Keeping up with the Ball.

B

Yeah. And then, and then all the Scots and the kilts with like, when he finished, they all like ganged up on the road, cheering him on and they like hugging him and everything. The, the first video that came out was when the Scots first landed. They had rented an Airbnb across the street from this one family. And at 6:30 in the morning they were playing the bagpipes and then they rather becoming friends with the family and the guys already. The guy's already planning on taking his kids out to Glasgow. Like it. I cried. I can't tell you had how many videos. I cried at it specifically because of the whole Scotland, like the Scotland and the Boston just Everybody was lovely. You know, there's going to be nine months from now, there's going to be a bunch of red headed babies born in America. And you know it because they were shutting down bars or running out of beer in the bars. Like, oh, did you see what happened when England, because England played in Boston the following week left England played the bars. Like the pubs that were hosting the Scots were shutting down early so that the English couldn't get tricks. I was dying. I was dying. They literally, both the Bostonians were so loyal to the Scots that they were closed. There were signs in the window like the. The Dubliner. It was called the Dubliner. That was like one of the big host pubs. The Dubliners shut the down. I'm sorry, they shut the hell down. And a sign in the window that said, since our staff has been working so you know so much lately, we decided to give them all the day off. And it was like the night that England was going to be there and people were pissed. It was just so. It's hilarious. Oh, see, loyalty. We believe in loyalty here. I'm telling you.

A

Gotta love it, gotta love it. But yeah. Let's go back to Watches Watch podcast. It's Scottish and it's watches. So you were wearing one of the releases that we'd done with Spinnaker. Your boyfriend was wearing the other one.

B

He's wearing the Braveheart. So he had on the Braveheart, I had on the Nessie Pearl Diver. And then I also have the other Nessie with the date. I didn't take that one with me. But he lives in Austin, Texas. There are two host cities in Texas. One is Dallas, one is Houston. Both are about three hours away from Austin. So while Austin wasn't a host city, they had a ton of watch parties. So we went to a Scotland. I think it was when they played Morocco. We went to the Scotland Watch party. He was wearing his Spinnaker Braveheart. I was wearing my spinnaker Nessie Diver. His son came with us, who's in his early 20s. His son was wearing a kilt at the party. Yes, we. And we went to a place called the Dead Rabbit.

A

Is that when the batteries run out?

B

Yeah. Yeah. But it was a really good time. And yeah, he loves his because I. That was my Braveheart and I gave it to him because I, at this point, I had three of the spider curse Scotland watches. And he was like, I want one. I was like, all right, you can have this one.

A

Oh, well, let's put Scottish limited edition watches to the side until later on in the year because you never know what may be happening behind the scenes. You know, we always do something with the guys at Spinnaker and because, I don't know, traffic cones in Boston has been a big thing. And the tartan army. We'll see what happens with Nessie this year. But anyway, other stuff you've been up to, new releases that you've seen, things that have caught your eye. We're now halfway through the year. We just had the longest day, maybe just under a week ago, and it is now getting closer to Christmas. We have bridged the gap. We've jumped the hill. It's always on the decline towards December. But what things have popped up in the last few months since you were last on, you've thought, hey, that's really cool.

B

Well, again, I think, and I've already mentioned it, I love a jump hour. I'm. It's probably my favorite complication when I want. When a watch brand does a jump hour. Now we saw those from Audemars Piguet, obviously when we were at Watches and Wonders. But you know, when you have a brand like out of order, who also has done obviously that they did the scotch on the rocks watch with you and me when I turned 50 a little over three years ago and I did a collaboration with them when what's on her wrist turn 10 years. We just did a super limited collaboration with proceeds going to girls who Code. They. If you look today and I don't have all the stats in front of me, I'd have to pull up my email. But they, they release, they've released a jump hour already. But this one's really special and it's in a gold case. And I love, again, like you said about the watch you're wearing, I like the fact that out of Order it has been able to do really cool, really funky watches that are so affordable, that are in that, you know, few thousand pounds or a few thousand or not even a few thousand pounds, like a few hundred pounds.

A

The out of order shaker matches the watch I'm wearing.

B

Iridescent. It's iridescent, exactly. Yeah. It's like when you take titanium and you heat it, it kind of comes off in that iridescent color too. Very similar to that. And you always get a different color each time. But you know, they've been doing really cool stuff that's affordable. And you know, again, Ricardo is, is just a joy. He makes stuff happen. He's kind of like Michelle, like, he just. If you need something, he makes it Happen and the two collaborations I've done with him, like he gets the stuff done. He just makes stuff happen and I really love that. But they're able to do these pieces and you know, they're doing them in an affordable, in an affordable range. Sartre Biard, like I mentioned already earlier, just, I mean when I, when I turn 53, he created the, the Jump hour for. With my picture on it, which was just like he, he did it, you know, obviously through his, his programming and whatever. But he's just one of the greatest human beings and I think they're doing some really interesting things as well. I mean a lot of the micro brands, I think it's like all eyes on micro brands right now for, for most people. For most people who are not the top tier 1 percenters who are collecting, you know, the MBNFS and collecting the, the, the super high end independents or the Pateks and the Rolexes and the Earthworks and things like that. We are not those people. I'm not, I'm not that person. I know you're not that person. But we do love ourselves a good micro brand, like a good quality. One of the ones that. To get back to the Vegas fairs, there was a brand there that I had not heard of that I met called Call Sign. And this was a microbrand out of the US it's like a us, you know, US design and like their headquarter in the United States. But they're using, I believe. I don't know if it's Miyota or ETA Movements, but Pilot Driven Band. I'm sorry, Brand. A Pilot Driven brand. So I'm going to. I took some pictures which I'll send over to Ms. Too and, and you guys can post about it. But.

A

Oh, do you know about Miz?

B

What about him?

A

You know where he's from?

B

I don't know. Terrible. I don't. Oh, they played tonight.

A

The best goalkeeper ever.

B

They're the last.

A

The guy that went from 50,000 followers to 16 million followers.

B

Oh my God. Yes. Oh, I think that was, that's who was stationed in Philly. Was. That was the other team. I think that was stationed in Philly. Capo Verde. I think it was them. Yeah. I didn't realize that's where he was from. Are you dead serious? I had no idea. That's a shame. That's a shame. That reminded me of that because I

A

keep forgetting he's not from the States. We're a very international globetrotting podcast here. But anyway, back to watches.

B

No, no, no, no. Remember when we snuck him into the bar in New York?

A

No, we didn't do that.

B

He was underrated.

A

I can remember something that never happened.

B

Yeah. So that was a brand that was there. You know, again, just to kind of throw out a couple things. G Shock was there. So they've got. Casio has some cool stuff coming out that I can't really talk about because it's still under embargo. But the Citizen Group at JCK at Time isn't luxury, you know, it was Citizen Group brands. So Citizen, Alpina Bolva, Akutan Federic, Constant Movada Group brands were there. Our friend Dario Spalone with Diwal Milano, he was there. He was getting, like, good attention from some of the more recognizable hot influencers, YouTubers, tick tockers that are there, which is great. Like, you know, I was like, oh, that's really cool. Because there were a couple, like the Chad guy, he's. He's actually a really good sweetheart of a guy. I did get to moderate a panel, which was great. Yeah. So I moderated a panel.

A

What was it about?

B

We had a great crowd. So because the JCK show and luxury shows are they. It's not open to the public. It's catering to retailers and so North American retailers. So there were people there from the. From the Caribbean, from Canada, obviously from the US and from Mexico as well. Some people had come in from overseas, not certain. I guess not just North American retailers, but it caters to retailers. So we did a panel on trends, like, trends that every retailer should know. And you know me, I like to. I like to be cheeky with things. So, like, it was like the size matter, you know, and then I kind of like every single category had a. Had sort of a beginning. And so I put like a little, you know, like, embarrassed face emoji, the size matter. Because we. We talked about, like, trend sizes for the color. Obviously, colors are a trend, and bright colors and things like that. So we used like the. In Living Color. Remember? Do you remember that show? That's how Jim Carrey got his start. It was called In Living Color. Do you remember that? As an American?

A

Don't think we got that in the uk.

B

It was like snl, but it was largely African American by Jim Carrey. That's where the actor Jim Carrey, he got his start on that show. And it was run by the Wayans brothers. So, like Damon Wayans.

A

Keenan skated movie guys.

B

Yes, yes. All those guys. That's where they started. And they had. They had a skit called. It was like gays on film. And it was too. It was too like, you know, they were playing two gay men and they would like do film reviews and their whole thing was like, oh, two snaps up in a circle. So I kind of used that like meme for the color part. And we talked about, you know, partnering with Watch collector groups and the people on the panel were representative of three categories. We had Derek man, who's the Minuteman on Instagram. He's got a huge following. He owns a retail store, so he carries most of the major retail watch brands. But then he has created his own sort of Persona on Instagram. The Minutemont, super sweet guy. Met him several times over the years. So he kind of represented the retailer community. And he was a really good person to have on this panel. Kathleen, obviously McGivney representing Red Bar and the collector community. And then we had Hamza Massoud who

A

was with Watch Charts, previous guest of the show. And he's a good lad. We met him at Horology Forum in New York when Dubai Watch Week came to the States. And we sat with him and he showed us all kinds of cool watches that he owns himself.

B

He was with us when we snuck Mizael into the bar.

A

We didn't do that.

B

So, yeah, Hamza's great that he's. I actually have met him. I was, I think that was the first place I met him. But then I went out to Seattle when I did a Watch talk out there for Benbridge and he lives in Seattle and so he was great. He was able to kind of sort of like come with actual factual information, you know what I mean? With regards to brands and resell, that was, that was one of the other topics was should you carry vintage or pre owned in your store? What are the ups and downs to that? Do you know? How do you. So it was really. You had a really good crowd. It was incredibly well received. I used ChatGPT to create four playing cards because, hi, we were in Las Vegas. So you know, Kathleen was like queen of hearts. I was the ace of diamonds and the boys were, you know, like the jack of spades and like the king of clovers. And so that was. I'll send you that. I'll actually can send that to Miz because that came out really cool and that was like sort of our backdrop and it was just, it was really fun and it was so well received and. And I really appreciate JCK having me out there. And I think again, they're doing a great job. They partnered with Red Bar. So there were some red bar group discussions, like panels as well. And they had, you know, they had like a cocktail hour so folks could come and. And have a few drinks. And so that was lovely. And then on the couture side, they had partnered with Time to Watches.

A

Is that the Time to Watches that run events in Geneva?

B

Yes, it's the exact same one that's around the corner from the Plexpo. Yeah. So it's the same folks, but they can't. They couldn't use brands that were only B2C. They had to use brands that were B2B as. Because again, you open to the public.

A

It's not anyone who doesn't know what that means. That's business to consumer and business to business. B2B would be, for instance, Rolex to watch a Switzerland group. B2C would be out of order. Straight to your wrist.

B

Exactly. Now, well, out of order actually is a B2B. They sell to a lot of retailers. So they also sell online, which I think a lot of brands do now anyway. I mean, you could go and buy even one of the LVMH brands online. But they also have their. They also have retailers, partnered retailers. So yes, the brands that were showing there, it was like Denison was there because Denison has retail partners. And Favre Luba. Love. Patrick Hoffman. Amazing. Their CEO used to be the CEO at Ulitzar. Don. Such a lovely guy. Super funny, super fun to be around. He actually loaned me a watch to wear when I was moderating the panel. Just a sweetheart of a guy. We definitely, definitely have to have him on. I'm gonna get in his ear about that. And let's. Fortis was there, which was great.

A

Right? We've not really spoken about Fortis. We don't have any comms with them. What is the background?

B

Oh, gosh. All right, so they're. They're Swiss, but I think it's more Swiss, German. They're a Swiss brand. They've been around for a while and honestly, I first heard about them through the guy who heads up the Red Bar Chicago chapter, my friend Greg. I am going to send him a shout out. He is battling. This is his fourth battle with cancer. And he's a dear friend. He was great friends with them. Again, part of the collector community, works for the government. And he was invited by Fortis to go visit them at their manufacturer. He took his two children. This is a tragic story about this guy. He lost his wife. She was murdered literally in front of him and his two kids. So this guy has had like the worst luck on the planet. But he's an incredible single father and he's the head of the Red Bar Chicago chapter. And he was the person who introduced me to Fordis. And so like I had known of the brand. I saw them at Wind up in Chicago. Again, just like a mostly tool watch brand. Definitely catered more toward I think men, but several women, you know, making, making them in case sizes and I mean I could go through their entire catalog, but I know we have limited time at this point.

A

Are they more aviation pilot style watches? In my head, that's what I remember them from.

B

It's tough, it's tough to describe. I'll send you like kind of and send miss some pictures and a little bit of a backdrop. But again they're, they're trying to get into more retailers in the U.S. i met them in person briefly I think at the Wind up in Chicago. But then I got to spend like three days with them last year in Baltimore at the time not watch for little treasury jewelers. That event that I go to every year. They were just the most fun people. They really believe in what they're doing. So I kind of like shot them. A couple of, I shot, shot a couple retailer friends of mine. I was like, hey, just go check these people out. They were there and they, they seemed very happy about that Tsar Bomba which we had the video I took when I was in Hong Kong. Remember that? Yeah, when I. Yeah, the little replaceable movements and all those guys have. They started. They. Henry Zandos used to be a brand. So they've kind of taken over this Henry Sandos brand. I have a great video of this. This is similar to this Tsar Bomba watch. But you can change everything. You can change the case, you can change the strap, you can change the dial. You can like. And the guy kind of similar, he does the video with me. It's like under 30 seconds. He's changing everything in the video and it's just so smart and so clever. Again, in price ranges that you know, are more reasonable and, and it's seemingly just really interesting stuff. Trying to think else. Do you want Milano call signs? Heart Bomba? Yeah, I mean they had cool funky stuff. Victoria Knox was there, you know, so there were some mid level recognizable brands obviously like I said Casio, but that was all at, that was all at jck. And then for time to watches Dennison. Who did I, who did I just say? Yeah, Fortis. Who else was there? I read it. Oh, Barbara Mercier, ikopod Which is another one, Tutima Jungen. That's another brand I really like. I saw them in Germany when I was there last year. Nevada Grenchen. Yeah, Sega, which I also have video of from the Hong Kong show. They actually won a GPHG award, I think within the last four or five years.

A

We feature them heavily on the show. They won the, oh, I think it was a challenge prize for the Blue Planet, the original. And then they updated that recently because they sent one in for us to have a look at. They are on fire. They are producing great things at great prices. And again, we talk about everything on the show. It can be a flic flac, it can be a Grubble Forza and everything in between. The only thing we don't really talk too much about is vintage, but maybe we can change that because you have some connections there. But before we get too far ahead with other stuff, I have a quick question for you. There has been a lot of chatter about watches coming back to Basel.

B

Yeah, I saw the press release.

A

What are your thoughts on it? Because it's more a jewelry gem show. That's your background. You think this is just. They're playing on the old name or do you think it could have legs?

B

Yeah, I do. I think, I think it's going to wind up being so Basel though. Here's the funny thing. Basel had been around for years. I've written about the history of Basel over the years. They were a jewelry and gem show. They weren't a watch show. They only became a watch show in the years leading up to their demise. They had some watches, but it was nowhere near by the end of it. And I won't, I won't count the last year of Baselworld. I'll say the year before that, which was the last year I actually tended, which was probably the last like really good year before it's. Everything started to go to. Yeah, they were, they were a jewelry and gem show. I mean, I remember working for a jewelry brand called Lagos out of Philadelphia and this was in 99 and they were, they were show showing at Baselworld and this was like a sterling silver sort of a David Yurman esque type brand. You know, they still sell to Neiman Marcus and they're in Nordstrom and, and Bergdorf's and like all the major retailers. But they were, they would show at Basel and it was at that point in time like watches were a thing, but they were not from the beginning of Baselworld that it was always a joy and gem show. So what I think is, I think there's going to be more of an emphasis on jewelry and gems because for the gem community, Geneva has a show called Jem Geneve, which is a couple weeks after Watches and Wonders. There are a couple of brands who try to pig a couple of jewelry brands who try to piggyback on watches and wonders, like Mikimoto, they have their own, you know, they're in a suite somewhere at like the President Wilson. There's a show that run by the people who run Centurion, which is a joy show here in the United States. They do a gem fair in Geneva during Watch the Wonders. I don't think that's really panned out so much. I think the piggybacking thing to Geneva hasn't really worked on the Jorian gem side. And again, having both backgrounds, I can say this in all honesty. So I think what Basel might be trying to do is, is figuring out like, okay, so something's not working in Geneva for jewelry and Gems. Maybe we can do this all over again and kind of start where we started when we first started 100 years ago or whatever it was. Start with jewelry and gems, sprinkle in a little bit of watches here and there. Let's see how this goes. I don't think you're gonna see, I mean, personally, I don't think you're gonna see any big name brands there. Obviously we just saw that Breitling will be at Watches and Wonders next year and the Breitling Group, so Universal, Genev and what's the gall, yeah, Gala, they're going to be showing there with Breitling. So Breitling's back into the game, you know what I mean, with the Watches and Wonders thing. At that point, I don't think any of those brands need another fair. Actually. Most of those brands don't even need Watches and wonders. Audemars Piguet doesn't need Watches and Wonders. Rolex doesn't need Watches and Wonders. Patek doesn't need it. They're in demand anyway. They don't really have to be there, but it's the pomp and circumstance of it. Right? So I think Basel is again, I think the. It has absolutely destroyed the city's economy and it is what I believe the third or fourth largest city in the, in the country of Switzerland. So clearly they have been absolutely destroyed economically and they're trying desperately to grasp onto something. Now, I could be saying on this, I really, you know, it may come off that I don't know my ass from a hole in the ground. But if you want my opinion on as somebody who's been to Basel several years, has the jewelry background, I think it's going to be largely focused on jewelry and gem. I think they'll probably hire influencers like the Diamonds Girl or Champagne Gem. You know, some of the bigger jewelry influencers, I think they'll probably pay for them to come in. A lot of the folks that we see of a Chenza Oro, you know that go obviously on the Jordan gem side and you know they'll probably, you'll see boosts on their page. That's my guess. That's not a guarantee but that's my guess that they would do something like that. The big jewelry and gem influencers.

A

Well you mentioned Vicenza Auto there and I heard that they're changing things up as well.

B

Yeah. Yay. September will be the grand opening of for the last few years they've been working on like a new haul and it's going to be like now you've been there with me, you know, frigging big. That place is already like it's Basel sized already. Seriously. And you didn't even hit half the. I gotta tell you in the last three years I've been to parts of that show I didn't even know existed. Like where you could buy, you could buy right there. I bought like pieces of jewelry and bracelets and leather stuff right there, cash and carry and rolled out. I didn't even know any of that existed until one of the other gals told me like one of my colleagues. So they are, they have built sort of like it's off to the side and I can't remember what the hall will be called now but it's like a state of the art new facility. They kind of knocked down some of the older halls that were there and that were like had just been there for so long kind of crappy. But this is like going to be. And again I think they need to. And I've been. Marco Carnello is now sort of like the bigger boss and Matteo is, you know, he's kind of running just Vicenza the like himself for the most part obviously with his incredible team Michaela again and other Mateo shout out. They. They are on the brink of something. The I think the problem with Vicenza is the infrastructure with regard to the city. Like they need more hotels and they need like that's the thing. Like the city's an old city but it's a mid sized Italian city. And I think if they had more hotels available they could probably get even more people going. But it's the first show of the year every year because they have it in January. So if they can get watches in, like, what I don't want is it goes back to Basel and then, like, you know, Basel. I would love to see those brands go to Vicenza, like the watch brands that potentially they've got the space and this is going to be like, all new and I'm so excited to see it. I just. I love them. I mean, I think they treat the press so amazingly well. They're so. They're just so great. So, yeah, I mean, I do hope, fingers crossed and toes crossed, that I get to go back again because September in Vicenza is really gorgeous and I would love to see them there. And I don't. I mean, have you heard any rumblings about Dubai watch rate? Since we're on the fair talk right now, we're talking about Basel and Vicenza. Any. Anything, any clue where. Where Horology 4 might be this year or.

A

I have no Scooby Doo. You are far better connected than I am with those people. Because you are in grassroots level. It was through yourself that we ended up going the first time and thankfully have continued. So every time they do it, it's better than the last. It doesn't matter if it's in home turf or if it's an away game. Lots of football analogies there. Don't get used to it. They'll be gone by next week. No, because I had dropped one of the people behind the scenes a message a few months ago because I've got something coming up at the end of the year and I didn't want to conflict. And it was a very basic message saying, listen, this is my time frame of when I need to be doing something. Does it conflict so I can change things? I don't want to know where it is, I don't want to know the dates, how long it's for, who's involved. But is this time frame okay? And their lips were sealed. I have heard nothing. So I'm looking forward to finding out where it's going to be, what's going to be involved, who's going to be there and what watches will be released. Because something that happens, we've noticed this, it could be watches and wonders. You've got some great releases, then you've got Geneva watch days for the next batch and then the final roundup of the year. And we've heard this from tons of people, Mozart and others, at least not Daniel mentioned earlier. They Do a similar thing. They'll release their third batch of heavy hitting items. And when we were across in Dubai with you and Dave, just at the tail end of last year, we saw so many cool things that we never expected. The Ur Freak with Ulysse, Nordan and Norvarc, one of the best watches of the entire year. So yeah, I'm looking forward to whatever comes down the line from those folks, but we've got about five minutes left. Anything else you want to cover? Any upcoming things?

B

Looking forward to when I get to see you again and whether that is I won't be a chain of watches. I know that you guys will and I love watching your coverage from that. So I'm excited to see whatever comes out of there. Like you said, obviously that's a big, that's a big release. Yeah. If I hear anything additional about Basel World, I will definitely share that with you. If I have any insider information, that would be great. And yeah, I just, I'm happy to be home. It's weird, I don't have like, I pulled up my Delta app and I don't have a trip in my app, which I don't remember the last time that's happened and I'm a little like depressed about it. Like I'm like, I don't know where I'm going, this is crazy. So I need to, I need to kind of.

A

I'm the same because usually there is a thing and I'm actually looking forward to having a little bit of peace and quiet because over the last X amount of months, every couple of weeks we have been going somewhere and it's so involved from this side and I'm not disputing the fact that it's a very privileged position and we love what we do, but sometimes you like to get a bit of sleep and even in the last week, in the last week I went down to Birmingham and it's one of those situations where you have to pick and choose what you want to do. You have the option of you can fly or you can drive. If you fly, you have the trip to the airport, you have the airport queues, you have the check in security line hanging around, delays, get on the plane, wait for it to taxi out, to fly, to arrive, to wait for stairs, to wait for luggage. Then from wherever you are in the airport to your destination, from the destination to whatever's happening or you can drive. And unfortunately they have been too close together. So we went to Birmingham, which was maybe around about a five hour drive, something like that. When you Take a few stops here, there and everywhere for food and toilet breaks. And then the one that we did most recently was down in Newcastle and that was an association with ebay, because within the UK they've recently launched ebay Live, which has been going in the States for a bit longer. And it's a little bit QVC Home shopping network with a chat room, live auctions, live bidding, and the auctioneers are talking, explaining about what it is they're doing. So they wanted to try and amalgamate live selling with a kind of podcast show element. So I went down, met a couple of folks and this will be discussed in a future episode, probably this Thursday actually. And I was there with Harry and Ben from watch Trader Co. In Newcastle. They've also got a place down in London. And I walked into the lines Den, not really knowing how it was going to go. It went pretty well from what I could tell, but it was different. I enjoyed it. It was very quick and on your feet.

B

Yeah.

A

But I was thinking of auctions that we have seen in real life where you've got the guy from Philips, you've got all the people. Obviously Sarah that's on the show, she works for Bonhams, there's Christie's, they're not exactly super fast. They do talk about the watches, the provenance, the history, the background, how this came to be. It was a great success all round for us, for them, for ebay, moving things forward here in the uk. But there will be a second leg of it, so I'm looking forward to doing that because I'll be more prepared and I maybe won't get caught on the hop a little bit like I was, because my Rolex knowledge, it's okay, but it is nothing like these guys because they deal with Rolex day in, day out. So that was my two things in the last week. So I'm looking forward to a good sleep this weekend.

B

Oh, good for you. Well, you, you mentioned just really quickly because I know we're gonna, we're gonna drop off in a second, but you mentioned down the road having more discussions about vintage. So just say the word. We can try to get one of two people on. We. We could bring on John Reardon. That's collectability. That's who just. I think John would be very happy to do it. I'm. I'm pretty decent friends with John. I actually got to see the collaboration that they did with Dennison both at the. Because John was showing at the Vintage Watch and Clock Fair at, at Couture and Dennison was showing at the time to Watches at Couture, so I got to see it from both of them. Very cool watch that they did. The collaboration or, you know, Eric Wind. It's our. It's our guy. If we can. If we can squeak him on again, that might be cool. So. And they actually used to work together, Eric, when they were both at Christie's. John was the head of Watches and Eric was. Was the VP of Watches us. So, you know, one of those guys I think would be great. We've had Eric on before, but maybe, maybe John Reardon is somebody that we could get on for the future. He's obviously the. Pretty much the vintage Patek Philippe expert here in the States and, you know, is known all over the world, so

A

that sounds like a good show. Well, your homework is to do a bit of research for me on that. Put us in touch with the folks at Fortis and have a chat with your friend who used to run UN and we'll see if we can get something cooking on those fronts. Because you've got these connections. We have never really chatted to them. I think I've met Patrick once or twice, maybe in Geneva, but he's been super busy. We've never had the proper chance to converse properly, but the stories that guy could tell would probably fill many episodes.

B

He's funny. He'd make for a great podcast. He's got a great, wicked sense of humor.

A

Good. Well, let's try and get that organized because we're coming into. I say this all the time. We're coming into the quiet period, guys. And then a thousand releases come out and a new show pops up somewhere. So let's not say that. Let's just say we're coming into an area where we have a video availability to bring folks onto the podcast. So if you've got any ideas, suggestions, drop us an email. Never DM us on Instagram. We never see them thanks to all the spam in the bots. Email address infocottishwatches.co.uk and if you want to check out what you're up to,

B

where can they Gonherrist on Instagram? I will be writing going into my sixth year. I just got the email from Vanity Fair, so I'll be doing the news again. If you're in the UK area for the fall issue of Vanity Fair on

A

time, you can shoplift that in WHSmith. FYI.

B

There you go. Don't say that. That's terrible. Yeah. And then I picked up a couple of, like, more local writing gigs. If you're in the United States and you get. And you're a retailer, you get salvagery news. I'm starting to do some stuff for them. The American Gem Society. I'll be doing a huge like deep dive article on metals being used in watches since I have a metalsmith background just here and there. But I always post. Just go to what's on her wrist and that's where you'll find whatever else I'm doing.

A

Can you make a watch for Simona made out of sodium?

B

Sodium? No.

A

Okay, never mind. Mercury maybe. I don't know. We'll leave that episode right there and then before I get myself divorced. But it's always a pleasure having you on the show. Check us out twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays. YouTube at the weekend, Instagram 247 cottishwatches. And that is a wrap. So thank you for listening and we'll catch you again soon.

B

Bye. No Scotland a party.