From Wrist Check Pod to Super Niche: Building a Watch Media Empire with Rashawn Smith

And this guy certainly knows how to throw a party a damn good one . He also is a huge driving force in shaping passion in the watch community . And , of course , after all of that , you might know , because you clicked on this , that I'm sitting now with our friend Rashaun Smith from Super Niche Studios and one half of the duo at the Risk Check Pod .

Welcome to the show , brother .

And so that kind of stuck with me and I really really always wanted to make sure that I was prompt and early with any and everything that I do , especially you know my relationship with my father , where he funny I like to call him a hoarder he collects a bunch of stuff I mean from like sneakers , belts , books , knives , pens , furniture , like I mean our house

was always just like filled with stuff . And so , um , I remember my early years . Um , you know my dad , he only wore two watches . He had a Timex Ironman and he wore a Rolex Datejust 36 millimeter pink Jubilee dial .

So , two tone and my dad his name is Tim but he goes by Big Tim he's a big , big guy and I always found it so funny that he wore 36 millimeter Datejust but obviously you're talking early 90s , into the 2000s . I mean , that's the only option that men had to wear for the classic line and Rolex .

So , um , you know , it was one of those pieces that just always stuck with me and since I was a kid at the time I didn't know , like , how much a Rolex costs , but I knew it was very , very valuable in how he would , you know , come in from work , take off his you know his Ironman and like put on his Rolex , even if it was to like wear it around the

house , or if he , you know , got off of work early and he wanted to hang out or take us out , you know he he put that , put that , that , uh , that two-tone , uh , they just on and he'd be shining . And then , and you know , jubilee dials , it has the diamonds . so uh , I was like okay , okay , I can't . I kind of get where you're going there .

My dad is a really , really good dresser and so you know he he'd have a fly outfit and have the watch and you know he's very , very like charismatic . So it kind of just worked with his personality .

And when I you know , when I was able to afford Rolex watches , I decided to actually buy a 36 millimeter Datejust , which I'm actually wearing , very similar to my dad , Although it's not two-tone . It does have this blue vignette dial and of course , with the vignette dials it has the diamonds and of course , with the Vignette dials it has the diamonds .

Why I chose this piece over so many others that I could have got was the fact that this watch actually I don't know if you can put rare next to Rolex . I think you know there's a lot of pieces that are less pedestrian in Rolex , Right , but this one happens to be probably like the least pedestrian . I still get people saying they've never seen it before .

Um , because for the Vignette dials in , you know , the early , like nineties , into the two thousands , uh , they were always either um , stealing gold or they were solid gold . So to have a steel example , I would say , is quite rare no , that's a beautiful watch .

And you know you're talking like you know your fratellos of the world , your hodinkies and everybody in between . And , um , you know , we , we , we thought of creating a podcast just to get out of the house . So perry um called me one time . We were , we were working down in soho together .

At one point he's like yo man , let's go to finnelli's Bar , which is like this , you know , cornerstone in Soho . It's like kind of like the who's , who's If you want to be seen in New York City or if you , if you are the guy in New York City , you're always kicking it at Finnelli's .

So we went to Finnelli's , we had a talk and kind of like build and building out the infrastructure and what we wanted , you know the podcast to look like . We wanted to be able to give genuine and authentic , you know , storytelling situations for people to kind of like relate to how I can remember our early episodes and how the quality wasn't that good .

Sound quality wasn't that great , visuals weren't that great , but the content and what we were talking about was all there and we actually had more listeners than we had viewers at one point . So that's what kind of like steamrolled and , uh , you know , we didn't really kind of get that um , that kind of like those hate comments . Like man , those videos

are like all grainy . We didn't , we didn't , we didn't , we didn't have to worry about that , which was amazing .

I think it really was the conversations that we were holding in the beginning and inception of Rich Check Pod that you know , captivated so many people to to actually want to to listen more and look forward to the next episode and , I think , something that you know , to speak to Perry's genius , you know we first started with like simple risk check Wednesdays .

So we post on Instagram , we go ahead and whoever wanted to participate will share what's on the risk on a Wednesday Hashtag risk check Wednesday , definitely . Tag each other , repost each other , send it to other people . And I remember in the beginning people were like what's this risk check Wednesday thing ?

And then , you know , after it gained traction for a few weeks . Then we go , boom , episode one , pilot , nice , nice , and it was up from there .

From there , I think , probably when we got into about Maybe a hundred and some art episode , especially with the , the guests and the alum that we had on the show , the guests and the alum that we had on the show , um , you know , you talk about , uh , ben climber , uh , kelly yock , you know vj geronimo , um , so many , you know , I I want to say like

prolific people in the space , totally . Um , when we , when we started getting those type of guests early , we knew that we had something special . Um , and so perry then came and was like , hey , you know , we should actually create some more verticals , uh , with , you know , creating this parent company which is now super niche .

So , um , perry had dealt art professionally at one point . Um , so he , so he had that background right , he can speak to it . Um , you know , with us in the watches , people have already known what we had contributed to horology in the industry .

Um , so that was pretty organic , right , we had the credibility there because people seen us in those spaces and and and and kind of respected our opinion . Um , so the art was easy . And then , you know , we wanted to go into um executive producing and like taking on talent .

So we , um , we took on a young lady , um , who already had an existing show which was , uh , corked and curated . So we had the wine together and then , as rich check pod blew up , you know , we found ourselves traveling the world .

We'll travel , you know , domestically and of course you know , to geneva , the hub , the mecca of horology , and so it was just a no-brainer to create a travel show in transmission .

you know , like it's . It's a very visceral , surreal experience and , um , I mean the production . Like you , you guys have got everything kind of like nailed down .

Um , because you know we want to make sure that it's like a smooth and easy transition because so many people are engaged with Risk Check Pod . So you'll have those instances where you go , oh , I heard a super niche but I haven't like tuned in .

So you know , the more that we're acclimating people to just what we're doing , I think it will incentivize us to kind of give more . So it's , it's really really being intentional , it's really really being like methodical . Just because you know you don't see it yet doesn't mean we aren't working .

So we're like , oh yeah , totally Like staying consistent , staying on top of it , keeping our finger on the pulse .

I mean we have backlogs and backlogs of of content which , like we absolutely are excited to release , but we want to make sure that it's very impactful and you know people will will enjoy and yearn for more yeah , no , um , I , I can't , I can't , yeah , I can't agree more .

My experience didn't really start from like um , you know , the forums or um , the blogging and things like that , like it kind of .

I gradually got hip to it , um , which I think also makes what we do special right , because we come from it like we started crawling and then we walked and now we're running and we're waiting to soar and to fly outlets out there that can yuck your yum or so many experiences that can turn you off from this hobby and this passion .

We came from it very earnest and very , I want to say , ground level , grassroots , starting from the beginning industry to collecting , to then contributing , then actually like collaborating . So the industry was one thing . It was like that was my job .

You know , I made money in the watch world and then it went on to well , now I have access , actually I want to start collecting . And then it went on to okay , there's actually like collectors groups there's . You know , there you have , you start to look at you like man . I didn't know about this brand .

Oh , you know , I never thought about collecting this way .

I went in and it's funny because on the show for people that do know the show Right I'm the man that never repeats a watch and we've .

We have well over maybe 200 episodes and at least for 50% of them I've worn like a new watch and still wearing new watches , and you know , I don't think , I don't think I've ever , um , said this , uh , even though even on my own platform , like man , it's a lot of pressure because we're not gonna stop filming episodes , I can't , I can't , continue to be the

man that never repeats a watch , like I don't have the budget to turn around and spend . I don't , I don't have millions of dollars , guys .

So , uh , I I do like to keep it very fun and funky and because I have so many watches , there's watches that I can like repeat that people haven't seen or probably are getting new to , to to what we do , and like , oh , that's cool , like it's like , yeah , I shared that three years ago , so it's , it's fun .

And then , you know , just tapping into community , just like how we met , um , like we met on Geneva , like I'm , I'm , uh , from New York city , right , um , you know , you're all the way on the West coast and like you know , watches bring us together , and then we're on the other , like we're on the Eastern side of the hemisphere , like , and for us to to

share a conversation , a conversation , and then to like materialize this . And you know for me to come on your platform and I can't wait for you , know , for us to have you on ours , you know it's . It's important to build that .

You know , collaboration , that community to be open and welcome in and and not pretentious Right , because at the end of the day , these it's all stuff like yeah , totally . You know when you , when you go from um , you know micro to macro , you know and you look at the bigger picture , it's like it's just stuff and it doesn't shape .

You know the value in meeting a new friend , having a new experience , being exposed to something new . You know engulfing yourself in a culture that you aren't familiar with . Surprisingly , like a big portion of the people like .

The fact is something that's crazy is every single person that I think that I've ever met in the watch industry that's either a creator , an influencer , a sales professional or what , what have it ?

going to develop .

And now you're finding so many people that probably never thought that their life would go this way , like I never thought in a million years that you know I would be , you know , a host of a podcast or a producer on , you know a few other shows that I'm like producing and like projects that I'm working on , or even to find myself in Geneva to sit down with

Jean-Claude Beaver , like you know , those are things that , like , I never thought I would have the opportunity to have in a million years .

But it's the fact that watches does it and the community is welcoming , in that everyone wants , wants to carry the torch and push it forward , and I think us as influencers , as tastemakers , as people that do contribute to this hobby , on the other side of the counter , I think the watch industry as a whole should actually gravitate and latch on to it , because we

aren't going anywhere .

Um , just because my type of independent collection I don't have the budget for yeah , totally , none of us do but I do think for the ground level pieces that I collect .

When you talk about something like this vignette , date just , or you know a really interesting cellini or um , you know one of my latest pickups I I had , like this JLC Vantage Reverso which , like I , can walk into a room and someone knows , okay , that's a Datejust , oh , that's a Jaeger , oh , that's a Speedy , but I've never seen that before .

Tell me about that .

But burnout in the hobby yes , as a collector like there are certain phases where I'm like I don't want to buy anything and then there's phases where I'm like , fuck dude , I want to buy everything yes and I'm curious as to how you get through those , because I'm in one right now like I don't want to buy shit .

Yes um , but then I'm like on ebay or I'm like I'm , you know , I'm , I'm going , I'm jumping full into vintage right now , dude like I have been a modern guy for too long vintage . I'm coming for you yes so talk a little bit about that . Maybe I'm sure you've went through that as well , and how do you got ? To their side .

How do you got to their side so ?

But what I've been doing as of late , I don't know how deep we can go , but I have like this Rabbit holes , baby . I try to approach watches now from like a philosophical um , like space um . I like to believe that the watches I collect have like soul , like it . Yeah , it totally .

It takes on , you know , uh , uh , you know a persona and so , and when I got my Reverso it was almost like alchemy . It was almost like alchemy . I had willed it and I was thinking I was like man , I want a Reverso man . I want a Reverso man , I want a Reverso , but I don't know which one that I want Too many good ones .

Someone literally came to me , offered me the Reverso for a quarter of what it actually was worth , and so I was able to buy this watch right , and not like I didn't buy it because I , like was like clicking and clicking and clicking and I was like adding this to my car and I was doing this .

It was like it came to me by way of alchemy , like yeah I will did . I was like I'm gonna have one and I will know when that one is . It will actually just literally walk up on me that that's the way it happens .

Watch for me , but but later , maybe you know yes , yes and uh , and that happened to me , like , like the the reverso was was one of those for me too . Um , I ended up getting , uh , the medium , mono mid or the mono mid like of the . They just discontinued it like , like , maybe like six months ago . Yeah , um , and same thing .

I just right , watch at the right price just landed on my lap , had to get it . And then I was like , all right , cool rectangle watch , check done , yes . And then I fucking got myself a steel tank after . I know it's just one of those things like you never know till you bring in the collection . And then , um , weirdly enough , you know we .

So not only do I have , like you know , the outlet and everything , but we also have a watch club here in vegas , wow , and we have a lot of people . We have like almost 100 , 100 members and um and gc john carlo , like you know , he was the one that approached me to start a watch club here , and you know whatever yes , um , anyways .

Uh , you know , now we're at a point in our club where we're like loaning watches to each other , you know , and so , like I have like three or four watches out , I'm getting ready to send a watch to georgia um new york and um and that to me is , you know , you talk about like getting to wear other people's watches . Yeah , it's .

It's such a cool thing that , like I mean , I've done that to so many people , like I've loaned out maybe 50 or 60 watches and I bought a . I bought a , a grand seiko , like one of the new um , like blue dial grand seikos that came out I think like maybe a year ago . They did like 300 for the us or something .

I'm sure I can't remember what the reference number . Anyways , the day after I got it , somebody in my watch club came up and was like dude , you got that new grand seiko . I was like yeah , he's like fuck , let me , uh , let me borrow it . It was like dude , right out of the box , like all right , dude , yours .

You know he was the one that put the first scratch on . No , no , dude , I , I did not , I was . I was like dude , this is awesome , you know , like watch it .

And you know , as long as you're genuine and authentic , right People can feel you and they'll actually want to , to , to kind of help you out and to be a part of . You know what , what it is that you got going on , and you know you can have those you know conversations with somebody .

You know , dude , like you know , I'll send you my watch , I'll send it to you on the other side of the country , or you can hang on to this watch and you can put the first scratch on it . You could you know you could do whatever you want with the watch . You know because I I trust you like watches .

It's so crazy how like trusting the watch community can be if you're in the right community totally yeah if you're in the right circles like um , yeah .

I'm going through my vintage phase and it was a vintage watch and I was like I never wear this . But I've been thinking about now that she's had it for eight months , like how do I ask for it back ?

Um , part of it , you know , is because the golden era is , of course , the seventies , right you have 60 seventies 60 seventies . You have , you know , the introduction of the integrated sport bracelet . You have the integration of new technology with course movement .

You have the digital age and then you know you have like these funky case shapes , right Like that spillover from the 60s into the 70s and obviously you know it gets very trippy . 70s , and obviously you know it gets very trippy . And then you have the 80s where you know the 80s kind of rides the um , kind of like it rides the 70s .

But the 90s is where you see um , you know the wheels turn for contemporary watchmaking .

You think of Ulysses Nin , you think of Uwe Work , you think of MB&F , you think of Richard Mille , you think of Frank Mueller , you think of so many watch brands that like started in that time and actually shaped what you know watches are going to look like for the turn of the century .

So for me I felt like the 90s was that pillar that you know has shaped what we're seeing now in the 2020s , for sure 2020s for sure .

Um , you know , like , if you look at , I mean , even the speedmaster , you know obviously from the 60s but but you know , in the 1990s , you know , the modern form of the speedmaster came out .

Really , you , know and they started having more fun with , you know , references and things like that , um , but but yeah , I mean it really started to pick up in the 90s when everybody was buying them , you know , versus the 60s . Like you know , people cared every every once in a while . But , um , I am super curious , um .

So you obviously talked about the pressure of being a podcast host and having to have the right watches as a host , but I'm curious have you ever had an episode that really changed your mind about a brand or a watch ?

I wanted something bigger than the surface level . And when we sat down with Martin and we did get to meix but felix is a little bit more- he's on the , he's behind the scenes , yeah he's , he's bts and that's kind of like you know , his style is like a watchmaker , right , because martin is , um , this , like super like cool , um , creative guy .

He , he makes films , he designs , watches , he loves hip hop . You know , he's got a bit of like a fashion sense . He's like , you know , this Swiss , german guy , but he like takes to not only his culture but Western culture .

But you know , to kind of get back on track , when we sat down with martin and he talked about , you know , the idea of the display in time in his time pieces , you know the satellite view , right like you're , you're casting over time , you're looking over time , as you know , you have the retrograde , or you have those wandering hours or you have these spheres

or squares that turn over the hours and minutes . To tell time was interesting and really his , his , in his infatuation with , like you know , space exploration and , you know , going beyond , um , just like you know , earth , right like time , you know relevance , horology , like all of those things .

And I was so happy to to hear His point of view because it was From from , from my understanding , it was bigger than just a watch . It was , it was , it was so much more than just a watch . This was this , was this guy telling , like his story through his lens .

regretted selling ?

I had a 70s thunderbird oh shit nice and I sold it . But why was love hate ? Was because I sold it to buy um my wife's engagement ring .

But the funny thing is why I hate that I sold it is because the money that I took to sell the watch I never used to buy the ring . I brought the ring anyway , okay , and then I took , and then I took the money and then I like I don't even know what the heck I did with the money , I just like burned it .

I was like I was like , well , and and I think and I and I think my wife's a shout out to my wife , mary , I think she was like , she was like , why'd you do that ? Like she was like , cause , cause I had I had , like I brought , I brought the ring , I proposed I did all those things and then I sold the watch .

But I think it was kind of like it was like a line in and like in my mind I was like , well , I'm gonna , I'm gonna line this up , I'm gonna sell it and then I'll buy the ring simultaneously . But I said , well , I don't want to wait , let me buy this ring . If it happens , it happens . And so it happened .

And at that point , because I knew the guy that sold it to , I was like , well , I could always buy it back If I ever wanted to miss , if I ever missed it or anything like that . And so I was like , okay , it's going to a good home . Like this guy was just excited about the watch . Uh , just as much as I am .

So if I sell a watch , um , I want to make sure I sell it to someone that loves it just as much as I do . So I don't sell watches for profit , sure um I don't , and sometimes I don't even sell watches . Sometimes I gift watches , um .

So now , part of why I had that hate part was because I I thought that this guy was gonna keep the watch oh come on and I and that's thing . So I think with non watch people , cause he was like a watch , like he's like a , he's more of a fan than like an enthusiast Right .

I think there's like there's like two different , two different type of like people that , like watches , enjoys the , um , the idea of like owning a watch and having like something that , like you know , you can look down to and kind of you know appreciate . But , um , he wrote the watch for me .

Mary tried to buy it back from him secretly so I didn't know because this was a friend . So yeah , yeah he's a , he's a good friend . So she like reached out to him on the side , was like , hey , listen , you know what ? Rashawn really loved that watch . Like I'd love to buy it back from you .

And he was like oh no , I love the watch , I promise I'll keep it . And then he had DM me about another watch . I was like sharing some watches on on instagram usually text but he like dm'd me and I found that to be way . He was like yo , what's up with that watch ?

And I was like , dude , you just brought a watch and he's and he goes oh man , I , I he's like , he's , he's like , yeah , I'm looking for for watching . And I was like okay , cool , since you like this one , either we can work out a deal and we can offset the price for this for that . And he goes man , I don't even have that watch anymore .

And I was like , are you kidding me ? I like steam coming from my ears . But I had to . I had to swallow it because I knew that he wasn't a watch guy yeah man so I think , that that's .

That was like my biggest , that was like my biggest regret , because I I didn't need , I didn't need to sell the watch sure I sold it to kind of feel like I was being responsible yeah , yeah , like trying to do the right thing , you know help somebody get into it , help somebody get a good deal , kind of pass the love down .

So , um , I do own a ulysse nardin , um I have I have a , a diver , which is , you know , 40 . What is it ? I think it's like 43 , 44 millimeters , but I mean it doesn't get much of its time because it's so big did I wear it .

Or , if they have heard it , they want to hear a different perspective and align themselves or provoke thought for them to make a decision for themselves for themselves .

I think you know great , great podcast episodes are ones where you know you have someone that can , you know , express themselves openly and candidly and it not be political , it not be you know where you have to be mindful of what you say .

Like I try my best to be methodical when I am speaking , but usually it just comes right off the top , like I'm like going , you know , of course , like I've taken the questions , or if I am delivering questions right , I'm very intentional in what I ask because I'm looking to get a specific

kind of response , and if I don't get that response , then I'm like , well , tell me more or dig in , or for our viewers , for our listeners , can you explain or expound a little bit more ?

You know , like you have the ebbs episode was terrible , but you know , I started to think of it as like a wave .

You know , like you have the ebbs and flows and like you know , I'll pull back and then I'll , I'll punch in and I'll pull back and I'll punch in and um and that's the way that I try to look at it , you know , and I try and um and jump around and and just have fun with it , like because you know something that I've thought about too .

And uh , you know , I I guess this is weird to say , but before I got into doing watch podcasting , I got in very naturally , like I I left the watch industry , you know , as a retailer , as a retail professional , and I was like everybody who I like had contacts with was like just wanting to talk watches and I'm like like maybe I should do a zoom where you

know , because every release I'd come out like oh , maybe I should just do a zoom with all the people that I know and watches and just talk about my opinions on the release or what you know what I mean , like yes , yes , um and then it came back to like , well , if I do a zoom , then they can ask me questions .

so I I can't , like you know , like pack as much information into it as I want to . So then my wife was like , dude , just do a podcast , and then boom you know , that's how it happens . And I had never like done any research , like I had never listened to other watch podcasts , I had never consumed really like outside of YouTube , like other watch media .

And then , as I started listening , I I mean I listened to your podcast , um , and I started , I mean , going down other podcast rabbit holes , like you know where I listen to , like entertainment , podcast , anything , um .

But you know , something that I kind of noticed is like most of the the watch media is like , is like really buttoned up , like you have that top button , like button .

You know what I mean and uh , and I'm like , I'm like you know I got a little bit of meat hair hanging out right , you know , like a little bit of chest hair , like maybe two buttons on , but you guys are like ripped off shirt , you know like and uh , and just it was like , okay , this is , this is the type of media I like to consume , like no , no ,

holds bar , like real talks with real people , and you just don't see that . You know , you don't see that as much anymore , um , especially in the industry where everybody's got some shit to sell . You know , and , and that that's what I've even tried to educate with brands .

You know , like , whenever I have people not necessarily people that come on , but you know , off off the recording um session where I'm like like hey , like watches are changing , like the way that people buy watches are evolving , and it's more about , if you embrace the community , the community will embrace you .

Yeah , and I actually had this same exact discussion with a watch brand two weeks ago and and they were talking about rolex , this rolex that , like you know , like you they were , they were literally trying to like , I mean , they just kept saying rolex a bunch and I was like are you really trying to compare yourself to Rolex ?

Just you know , like you live , you live in new york , like you could just see some dude walking down from the finance district . Just got one . Watch this damn rolex you know and he's not a watch guy . He just got a nice watch . Yeah , but then when you wear their brand , I'm not gonna say I don't want to throw him under the bus . I'll tell you later .

Um but uh , but when , when you wear their watch like people are like oh fuck , dude , that that is a watch guy .

What I will say is you know , I think brands are looking at , like , what their ROI is overall , and so they don't always feel incentivized to like embrace the community , because they're like , well , you know , if we throw a party , if we do an event or if we give free booze , if we do this , we do that , like where's the return on the investment ?

But I think you know , you know , just to kind of speak to the activations that we've done , you know , with a brand like Ulysses , nodin and so many others , you know , I think what you're trying to create is converts . Like you're , you're , if , if , if you plan to be in this game for the long haul , right , like this isn't some like fly by night thing ?

Right , this is generational . This is something that has to pay for it . Like you know , even with like , what's going on with Rolex ? And something that has to pay for it .

Like you know , even with like what's going on with rolex , and something that I wanted to to kind of mention when I was talking about like the 90s is like , yeah , I mean , people were choosing tag warrior watches over rolex watches , and omega too . Yeah like so .

So the thing is this like rolex phenomenon , like the thing is that it could have been any brand , it doesn't matter , it just so happened to be Rolex . The thing is that we're all confused as to why it is Rolex . But the thing is like , why can't it be you ? It doesn't matter , it doesn't matter .

These guys aren't haven't done anything any more special than anyone else has . If you ask me , they've actually done far less . Um , I think that you know , the people just spoke . The people spoke and they chose a champion . Yeah , the champion is rolex . That's that's . That's just really what it is . But that doesn't mean that that tide doesn't turn .

And then in the next I don't know 20 , 30 years , uh , you know , that doesn't . That doesn't shift . And you're the guy , you know you're the girl , it does it . You have to just stay down and stick to to the mission . You know you can't , you can't look to what everybody else is doing . It doesn't matter what they're doing .

Like , we're making watches , we're making money , we're embracing the community , we have true collectors , we have people that love our product , because , I mean , there's watch brands out there that no one loves their product . You don't . If you don't have that problem . I mean , what are you whining ?

When next time I come to new york I'll have to link up with him and you , he's awesome guy , he goes to all the auctions , whatever . But he and I , after the stream , we were looking back into historical sales data and in 2014 , for every one Rolex that was sold , an Omega was sold .

They were literally one-to-one in terms of conversions out the door like watch sales . In terms of conversions out the door , like watch sales .

Um , and then , if you start to look back bigger picture , I literally had this argument like maybe a week ago , and I I couldn't help myself , but you know , I I went to the rolex boutique and there was this new girl and , like dude , she was all up on the cornflakes .

You know what I mean like oh rolex is the best and and I was like , like , do you really know , like who you're like ? Like , do you really know , like what you're talking about ? Or like who you're talking to ?

Like not to sound arrogant or anything but like , like you start to transcend , like rolex at some point you know and you realize that rolex is a brand they're like the debiers of , of watches , where they say , look , you have to , you know , spend three months of your salary to get a diamond for your wife or whatever what have you like um ?

and you know they were at the right place in the right time , where they started using ambassadors , like before anybody else did . And , like you know , you can look at um , when they had like um , like like tinsignorge , who , like , summited you know , like these crazy mountains .

Or look at um , you know , uh , I think it was , uh , there was some lady that swam across the english channel or something .

I guess we can use you in cause . We were talking about it , but you know they get it . Yes , they fully embrace the community and they understand like buying a watch is like buying a car . You know , like you can't buy a car in a day , like I mean you can , but you gotta fucking sit in the finance office for like six hours and shit .

You know what I mean . Like yeah , yeah but sure and you think really hard about buying a car , like you do so much research . And , um , you know , now that the customers are so educated , you know they , they half the time , if not more , no more than the salesperson .

Oh , um , and brands are starting to get that and , um , you know , if you embrace this community , as passionate as we are , like , we're going to embrace you and we're never going to let you fall or let you die , like we got you , yes , yes , and I literally try to have that exact same discussion with anybody that asks me if they're crazy enough to ask me

like what , what should we do to get more watch sales or whatever ? you know what I mean . Or get out watch in front of a larger audience and I'm like just stay in your lane and embrace the industry , you know . Like that's really all you need to do . I know that sounds very simple , like overly simple , but Well , the thing is that it is it genuinely .

And I think a brand like H Moza right is a testament to that as well , because they have , you know , gone through so many changes and transitions right from , if you think about the inception of the brand , you know , like starting out , I think they might have started out in like the 1950s or something like that , to go dormant , for the malan brothers to pick

up the brand right with their business background and acumen , to understand . And the funny thing is , like the malan brothers , right , they aren't watchmakers , these guys are business guys , like totally , you know , their father was , uh , a ceo at ap , like . So these guys come in with a business mind and they understand how to grow and how to scale a business .

So what do they need to do to scale the business ? Well , we don't have product now , but we need to create some kind of hype . How do you do that ? You talk about the Swiss Alps , you talk about the Swiss cheese watch . You talk about , you know , the , the , what was it ?

The Vantablack , the Vantablack , the Frankenwatches , like all of those things to get people talking . And the funny thing is that none of those watches were for sale , but it sparked conversation . And then you go boom , here's a hit . Boom , here's another hit . Boom , here's one more .

Not only are you going to , you know , get great product Right , you're going to get great events , you're going to have access to our staff Right . Shout out to Claudio . We always shout out Claudio . He's an amazing guy , he's accessible , he's worked in the industry on both sides of the counter . You talk about wholesale , you talk about retail .

This guy lives and breathes the retail experience . Those are the type of people you need around , not the yes man , not the dude that's trying to like . You know , hi , what's really going on with the ceo and you know , a lot of you know . I can even tell you in most of sorry , we got an hour and I'm like cooking already I go .

But what I've never really really understood is when you don't tell the boss the truth , and if the guy comes in the store or if you're on a Zoom meeting and he goes well , how's business ? You go , man , this shit sucks . Yeah , if you're on a zoom meeting and he goes well , how's business ?

you know , you go , man , this sucks yeah like you know , like and and you know excuse my french , because I usually don't use profanity but like the thing is , you need someone to really tell you what it is like trying to , like , play this dance around game to keep your job like that's whack , like that's whack , um , and I think that , you know , is part of

why we started super new studios . Like we went from like the podcast to then , you know , taking a full circle , right , we , we , we went on to create this media platform , to really put it out there , to be like , well , this is how it was supposed to be done and this is the blueprint . Like you can follow it , you can accept it , you can reject it .

Like there's value in what we bring and we don't get keep , we don't . You know , we don't hide like the recipe is there the proof's in

the pudding ? Like you know , for anyone that has any confusion as to you know , why you know we can act or speak this openly and candidly about this industry is because we put in the work , you know . And now to be able to put in the work for yourself , you know , I've worked for retailers and nobody has sent me to Switzerland .

I've never been to Switzerland . Courtesy of a watch brand . I go to Switzerland on my own dime .

But the thing is it's so easy to be kind of like shoved to the side and being like , okay , that's cute , but you know , back to regular schedule probably . Yeah , it's like yeah dude .

Just tell the truth like if the , if the , if the guy wants to know , or the , or the girl , or you know , if they want to know what is going on , you can tell them yeah , I know , I dude , I , I transcended that a long time ago .

Or like put your goggles on like um and and no , yeah , so I , I , I literally like was one of those hush lip dudes for like the whole first , like half of my career , and you know the second .

That I actually like unzipped and started like talking is when I got in trouble yeah , oh yeah , for sure , everybody gets afraid of you and and I'm like I'm not the guy putting the turd in the punch bowl , I found it there . Yeah , you know what I mean ?

What I say is not law , but there are going to be a couple of people that are going to feel what I'm going to say and there's going to be a lot of people that are going to disagree . But you know that's open for discussion and that's where the value is the fact that you can provoke thought .

So , you know , for anyone listening that has a dream or has a passion or wants to , you know , bet on themselves and to figure out . You know what it , what it takes to get there . You put one foot in front of the other .

And then that was before , like , and then I also thought like all right , there's so many people out there who have like much louder voices and much better at talking , like they have , um , you know , they're much more polished or whatever right , like why would they ever listen to me ?

You know , and and that was years ago and I had no idea , like how far this would take me but , um , I didn't do it for that . No , you know , I didn't do it to .

At first , I was like I just want to do this for me yes , you know and then , as , like I started getting like , whether it's like trolls or hate or like you know , even even like you know , like people that like send me those like really amazing messages . Like , dude , like I love your podcast , keep it up . Like I can't wait for your next one .

Like , if I get a hundred hate messages and I get one of those , like bro , I'm going to fucking keep going .

You know , uh , let's say you , you take someone like Joe Rogan , for example , or a Joe Budden , or you know , uh , a Noriega . Um , you know , these guys , these guys have put in thousands , thousands of episodes Like . You know , they say , they say for you , to what , what is it to ? To , to be a master at a , you need to put in 10,000 hours .

It's like . I've heard that , yeah , something like that you can't , there's , there's no way . Like , do you haven't even putting in 10,000 hours yet ? Like you can't even , you can't even quit yet you , you , you haven .

Dude , if you haven't shot a thousand free throws before you left the gym , like what makes you think that you're going to win a championship , how do you think that you're going to consider yourself the best ? Like , natural talent is one thing , but mastering and perfecting the craft and knowing the ins and outs of the game is something that you know .

It can't be given to you . You got to earn that .

We're talking about creative work here , like this is a . I wouldn't consider this a product . I don't really know . I don't really know what to call this . This is just an expression Like this is a creative outlet .

It's an expression of of you and I , right there in this moment , the way that we feel that you know the things that are coming out of our mouths , um , but , but the goalpost is always moving and we're in a creative space .

So , like , there's always going to be somebody more creative , you know there's always gonna be somebody less creative and , um , you know it's , it's all about just kind of going , just , I mean just no matter what direction , like you know , sometimes I'm going this way , sometimes I'm going that way , like it it's just going , it's just continuing to , it's continuing

to publish , continuing to push , continuing , continuing , continuing . And you know , I I like admitted this , like I don't know if I admitted this on like one , which episode I admitted it on . I didn't look at the data dude , I didn't look at the data .

Those ones that are far behind at the end of the day , those are the individuals that actually keep you working Right , because if someone's not that great , you go ahead and you go . Well , I'm going to show you how better I am . And if someone is just , if someone has taken it as far as you have , you go . Man , I want to get there .

So I think you know whether you're at the back of the race or leading the pack . There's one of the two things that have to happen you have to get to the front or you don't want to fall to the back .

And I never want to be in a position where someone says that my content is the best , because then you get lost in what it takes to take it to the next level , like for you know someone like I don't know , michael Jordan , right , michael Jordan was not the best . He didn't he . He became the best .

You got 5,000 hours in . You need another five . You're halfway work . You got five thousand hours in . You need another five . You're halfway there . You got to hit the . You got to hit the gym . Right , you got to stop , probably , gambling . You got to chill with the cigars . I don't know any , I'm just paraphrasing .

Yeah , yeah , yeah , I mean like you can tell , there was a shift somewhere for him to go ahead in this in the step into two three-peats . And the reason why , of course he didn't , why there was a break between the three-piece , because he went on to play baseball . This guy could have probably won easily seven to eight championships in a row totally .

You know , like there's always , you know , and if , if you're , if you're that midfield guy , nothing wrong with that , but like you're probably in , you're probably in the wrong race . Like you , you need to surround yourself with people who think like you , um , and it just even just to push you a little , a little harder .

You know you don't have to be number one always like I mean there's nothing wrong being two or three or four or five or six or whatever , like you know just have just just just be in the race .

you are , it's the fact that you're there because there's so many people that don't compete , so you've already won . You've already won Someone that can turn around and be like , well , your content is great . It's like , well , isn't great . You go and say , well , what have you contributed ? What have you done ?

What have you done creatively or how have you expressed yourself ? What have you contributed to ? For you to judge or to give an opinion and that's okay , even for the ones that are qualified for it Thank you , but I'm not interested .

But you know , I think there needs to be more collaboration and that's why , from the top of our conversation , I use the word . You know , I started with community and then collaboration . Right , because you join this community , you join this hobby .

You then find welcoming and like-minded people and then you say , hey , we should do something together , we should actually see this through . And for you know , myself and the platform that I have is nothing for me to come on to yours , because I'm able to expose myself to your audience the same as you .

I am to you , you , I am to you , and so it's not about , hey , I have 200 plus episodes . You know blake has 50 , 60 , 70 episodes and I go ahead and say , well , he's got to do more for me to want to , or sure , you have to pay me , or you know we have listen , I need , I need , uh , what , what , what beyonce say , because , funny enough .

I'm actually in chicago now and beyonce's in town , so she's performing , but um , beyonce would be like I need eminem peanuts without the peanuts yeah , like , yeah , like , like .

just became like let's just have these discussions and let's just record them and then let's just like archive them yes and then it became okay , well , let's brand it you know what I mean .

But you know what , if somebody and and and lo and behold , like you got .

I'm , I'm , I'm very happy that you even , like , have acknowledged that and have even shared that on your platform Because , like I said , I'm from New York city , I'm from the inner city .

I come from a whole , totally different background where , like affording these things or having these luxuries , or even to be able to travel past , you know , two , three city blocks Like that's , that's not a thing where I come from .

And so to to have this opportunity and then to create that , that moment in Geneva , to be like , well , where , where the heck did I get access to 50, ? 50 people to go ahead and just like throw this grand , beautiful , you know event with a watch brand .

You know , I even told my wife , like you know , like my wife was like , oh , like you know , my wife was , I mean , unfortunately , she was , oh , and your wife is amazing .

By the way , I probably should have said that earlier when you , when you shouted her out , but but no , no , no , like my wife was unfortunate enough that she had to stay behind and take , you know , take care of the life stuff , the dogs , you know , the family stuff , um , but you know , when I came back , like my wife was like you know , like did you have

a good time ? I was like it was tiring , you know , and she's like , well , come on , like what sticks out ? I was like I went to this amazing party and she's like , like you know , but I was doing parties every night . Like I was doing , like I did a Zenith party , I did a Chrono Tokyo event , like I did God , what else ?

I can't even remember all these other parties I did . Like I did a Panerai party , like anyways , I just was like this is the one that sticks out , you know , and it was . It wasn't in a weird way , it wasn't I don't really know how to describe it because , like we all , we all , it wasn't about watches , like I didn't even get the feeling .

It was just about bringing the right people together , like with the right passion . You know what I mean .

It's like , it's like where you look , and there's a lot of people like who I had , like you know , consumed their media , like like georgia , georgia , somebody I've been following for I don't know , like maybe a year or more , like maybe two years , and I was like , and I didn't even tell her , I probably should tell her this , but I was like I was sitting

across from her , I was looking , I was like , fuck , there's georgia , benjamin like sitting right across from me , that's amazing and then when I look over , it's like ben's watches . Yes , I'm like , oh , like , fuck , there's ben's watches sitting right there .

Yeah , and then you know , of course , you and Perry and people who I've you know , consumed your content for for a while . It was just , it was , it was humbling , it was cool , it was fun . I mean it was yeah , thank you . Oh , I won't forget it ever , I won't forget ever .

have , uh , people like your guests , you know , say that like they had one of the most memorable moments in a time where you know you're with . You could be with anybody else in the world , but you're here with me yeah , there , there .

There were no watches on display , right , of course , like there were brand ambassadors yeah we all were wearing like un's and stuff like that . But like past that , it was really about us all being able to break bread together as people that contribute to horology . People that you know love horology , people that you know love horology .

People that are going to do amazing things in horology and to just like celebrate it was , it was , it was . It was really really a time to celebrate .

Where were you like , okay , cool , I've got the recipe , I just need to keep scaling . You know , I just need to keep bashing up , like what was that moment ? How did it happen ?

In the early inception , it was when we started doing a lot of creative things with Sotheby's , when we were working heavily with the watch department at Sotheby's shout out to Rich Lopez and Vince and you know , uh , you know the , uh , the , the , the crew that was there at the time , um , you know , we were probably maybe 30 , 40 episodes in um , probably not

even that far . But , uh , they took a chance on us and you know they sponsored a few events and you know they , they actually , you know they they took care of us , um , and it , I mean it was , it was still like it was one of those surreal moments , like I mean I was like , wait , hold on . So these guys are cutting the check .

For you know , it's like Sotheby's Wait , what's going on ? My mind was like it was like so that's when I knew we had something special , because we started to break the mold .

So , you know , you know how auction houses are , you know it's , it's , it's the affluent , it's , you know , the more mature , right , the people that have been in this space for as long as they have and probably have not been exposed to someone like myself or haven't been exposed to someone like me culturally , haven't been exposed to someone like me culturally , so

they may be confused . And in the early beginning it was kind of like one of those things where you kind of like moving around the room and people are like well who's this guy ?

an icon on the same level and same playing field . It's not , like , you know , let's just say , when he was active as like a ceo of , like you know , a a few of the swatch group brands and he walks into a showroom and he's like what's going on here and everybody's , like you know , sipping the Kool-Aid .

It was like really one of those moments where you could be unapologetically yourself and authentic , and he really appreciated that . And he told us that we had something special and that came through ways of his son , um pierre . Uh , pierre is an amazing young man , uh , who sees the future and is going to continue to carry the torch for the beaver family .

And I think what's so magical about jean-claude beiva is the fact that he is a realist , like he , he , he , he flat out said he's like I'm going to die , like it's like I am going to expire . People , people kind of run away from the inevitability of like you know this , this is the , the , the you're going to .

You're going to be at your victory lap , you're going to be at your hoorah , and he's like this is the , you're going to be a victory lap , is it yet You're going to be at your hurrah , and he's like this is my , this is my last run . I'm going to take it as far as I can , and my son is going to take it even further , and he has .

Pierre now has welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world , has welcomed a beautiful , um , baby girl into the world , you know , when he's 50 years into the industry , when he's 75 , when he's 80 years old and his daughter's in , you know , in her early 30s or wherever she is , at the time when she wants to get into the business .

If she does want to get into business , that's , that's magical .

Like we start , we , we we're finishing right where we just started , you know , you know , like the passion is here . Like you know , dude , I , I love everything that you're doing . I mean that , um , you know , I look to you guys , you know , um , definitely as innovators and and people that are kind of breaking the mold .

Um , the industry needs people like you , you know , and , yeah , I'm excited to to now be , you know , for you to come on . I never thought you guys would ever come on a podcast . You know , I never , I never really like , even ever expected something like that .

We're all pushing the same big rock , which is the watch industry , up the mountain you know we're all hoping it doesn't roll back on us and yes . And yeah , I I'm glad that you know we got connected and you know we were . You know now you're a part of my family , you know .

Please , 10 years from now , where are you gonna going ?

Um , so I would have to say 10 years from now , probably with a mega studio somewhere out in the boonies shooting movies I don't know something crazy , but um , I think , I think that's , I think that's probably where I'd want to be producing , uh , more more shows and and supporting others dreams I mean , that's , that's what it's all about .

, I had the same conversation with those people .

But , um , somebody said , like you know who like what , what guess we have on your podcast that you know you've made it , you know in the watch industry , or at least like like you're , you know you're breaking into new fields , and , um , I don't think I've ever seen this person who , who we all know , has the best watch collection ever but has never , ever

talked about it wait , wait , hold on , we cut , we cut out for a sec because I think , what , what part did you catch from from what I said ? You were talking about just sharing with the community .

Um , you know , and I look at like like walberg , like dude , like like mark walberg if you're listening like you know , like come talk about watches , like we all know you got the sickest watch , you know , but yeah , yeah , I think that would be .

whole dream was to do like a car commercial . You know , like that was just my whole dream , to do an exotic like car commercial . Wow , and you know I was like my dad was a very inspirational figure , um , to me and he was just like you know he was . He was an entrepreneur .

I could come from a whole family of just serial entrepreneurs , like my mom , my dad , my sister , like everybody has their own business and um , anyway . So my dad's like what are you gonna do to do it ? And I'm like I don't know , just hope somebody sees my work and da , da , da , da , da and um , and anyways .

So he's like you can't do that , like you gotta put yourself out there and I was like . So what I did was I went into this damn car dealership . I'll never forget it . When I lived in charlotte . I lived in charlotte , north carolina .

I would go in there once a week , dude like hey like , oh , like you know , they just kept seeing me , dude , like this little , you know I'm 19 year old , 19 year old kid , like stars in my eyes , you know like , yes , passion , like seeping out of me , um , like I just kept going in there every week .

And then they're like no , no , no , no , I mean dude , I don't even know how many no's I got , but I just kept going in there , I just kept going , I was like I was . they're like when are you gonna stop come ?

I'm like till you say yes , and and and then they're like all right , well , fuck , now we gotta say yes , and I look , I shot that car commercial . You better believe it . Wow , that's amazing . So I'm like the Terminator .

We get people that are like , oh , like , I'll listen to like half of it on the drive in to work , or like . Or you know like , we have people that pause and will listen to our podcast in different levels . You know um or like , go back to multiple times and um , and yeah , yeah it , it is awesome .

It's awesome to hear you know how people and yeah , this is I mean , I know this is a feature film , this is like almost a christopher nolan movie at this point , but we got some . We got some christopher nolan arcs in here , so I love that . So thank you so much , rishon . I appreciate you jumping on everything you've done .

I cannot wait to see you also in New York .