We're on summer hours, but we wanted to keep something in your feed as much as we can — so this one comes from our Watches Of podcast , a conversation Gabe recorded in person with Claude Greisler of Armin Strom. Claude is one of the brand's two modern co-founders and its master watchmaker, and he made the trip out to Los Angeles for Open House, where a full spread of the Armin Strom collection was on the tables. Before the watches, the two sat down for a wide-ranging talk about how he got here. ...
Jun 22, 2026•35 min•Ep. 86
Gabe heads to Las Vegas for one of the largest trade shows in the watch and jewelry world — a B2B behemoth that's quietly making a bigger play for watches than ever before. He breaks down what the show gets right, where it falls short of the events collectors actually obsess over, and the one brand on the floor that genuinely stopped him in his tracks across every price point imaginable. Then the conversation turns to the topic everyone assumed was behind us. Tariffs didn't go away — they just c...
Jun 15, 2026•46 min•Ep. 85
Morning after Open House 2026 — the biggest event Collective Horology has ever thrown. Now in its third year at The Aster in Hollywood, the fair pulled 400+ people through the door, a line down the street, a closed RSVP, and attendees who flew in from as far as Boston. Gabe and Asher dig into why a show built entirely around esoteric, left-of-center independents draws such a self-selecting crowd: not casual passersby, but a curious, informed audience that knows exactly what it's looking at. Ever...
Jun 08, 2026•30 min•Ep. 84
While preparing to speak on a panel about the rapidly changing state of American watch retail, Gabe stumbles onto an annual industry report that ranks the largest jewelry and watch retailers by revenue — and what he finds stops him cold. The company sitting at the very top of the list is one neither he nor Asher had ever heard of: a quiet giant operating thousands of doors in plain sight. And the name long assumed to rule American watch retail? It's quietly been overtaken. This week, Gabe and As...
Jun 01, 2026•49 min•Ep. 83
Seiko, Citizen, and Casio each pulled in over a billion dollars in revenue last year — in most cases record-breaking, and all three landing neck and neck around $1.3 billion with healthy 9–14% net margins. That's remarkable on its own. It's stunning when you remember it happened in the same sub-$5,000 segment that's been punishing the Swiss. While Swatch Group struggles and the broader industry hunts for its footing, Japan's big three are quietly having their strongest year in decades. We dig in...
May 25, 2026•58 min•Ep. 82
We recorded today's episode on May 13, just a few days before the AP Swatch Royal Pop went on sale. We discuss the decision-making and implications of this project for both companies' brands and businesses, and for many reasons, we consistently question why AP in particular would partner with Swatch on this project. On the positive side, we do point out Swatch's competencies in production, distribution, marketing, and retail of these kinds of products. Sadly though, today's events — store closur...
May 18, 2026•58 min•Ep. 81
Why do some watches always seem to go to the same people? Listener Terry wrote in with a question we hear constantly: how do brands and authorized dealers actually decide who gets the most in-demand pieces? Is it spend, celebrity, genuine interest, or something else? Gabe and Asher walk through the five allocation models that govern how hot watches move from manufacturer to wrist — closed-door allocations, customer pre-sales, first come first serve, lotteries, and order windows — and the trade-o...
May 11, 2026•55 min•Ep. 80
If you'd told Gabe and Asher on August 7th — the day the U.S. announced a 39% tariff on Switzerland — that the holding companies would close out 2025 with their watch businesses up, they wouldn't have believed it. But that's what happened. Richemont's watch division grew 7% year over year. Swatch Group posted 7.2%. LVMH's watches and jewelry held flat while fashion softened around it. The top line says remarkable resilience. The bottom line tells a more complicated story. Profits are largely fla...
May 04, 2026•51 min•Ep. 79
A grand reorganization of the luxury watch business is happening in front of us, and nowhere is it more visible than in the diverging strategies of two holding companies making opposite bets on the future. Gabe and Asher unpack the contrast between Breitling, which under Georges Kern has quietly reconstituted itself as a private-equity-backed challenger group — bulking up through the acquisitions of Universal Genève and Gallet — and Richemont, the industry stalwart now actively slimming down, sh...
Apr 27, 2026•53 min•Ep. 78
Gabe and Asher are back from Geneva, lightly jet-lagged after roughly 30 meetings across three days at Watches and Wonders. Rather than rehash the releases everyone already covered, this episode is dedicated to the watches they think didn't get the attention they deserved. The rule: hands-on only. Four picks each, plus a few honorable mentions. The list spans a revived historical brand delivering a striking jump hour in a Geneva-sealed movement, a sophomore release whose gearing is literally re-...
Apr 21, 2026•58 min•Ep. 77
Gabe and Asher bring a firsthand report from Watches and Wonders 2026 in Geneva, jet‑lagged but watch‑fueled. They walk listeners through the week’s key impressions: a general sense of underwhelming novelties from the big brands, alongside impressive investments in booth design and production value. The episode zeroes in on Audemars Piguet’s controversial, fully walled booth and strict queuing system, a move the hosts find off‑putting in a community event. In contrast, they highlight the energy ...
Apr 16, 2026•45 min•Ep. 76
Gabe and Asher conduct the first-ever Openwork Watch Brand Draft — a snake-style, six-pick fantasy exercise where each host selects watch brands they'd want to own and operate across three categories: independent, micro/challenger (under $5,000), and mainstream luxury. Ground rules exclude AP, Patek, Rolex, Richard Mille, and any brand Collective Horology carries, keeping the conversation free of commercial conflicts and full of candid business analysis. The independent and micro picks reveal wh...
Apr 06, 2026•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 75
Gabe and Asher explore the rise of F.P. Journe — how a fiercely opinionated French watchmaker who was expelled from horological school at 16 built one of the most coveted brands in the world. They trace Journe's journey from launching at Baselworld in 1999 through two decades as a respected but niche independent, into the COVID-era explosion that turned $25,000 Chronomètre Bleus into $100,000 commodities. Asher shares his own experience as a former Journe collector, including walking into the LA...
Mar 30, 2026•1 hr•Ep. 74
Gabe and Asher kick off with the Dominique Renaud Pulse60 launch, which became the most talked-about watch of the week — not through traditional media, but through private collector communities and group chats. It's a perfect case study in how watch media has gone full circle, and why independents continue to thrive even in a cooling market. The main discussion unpacks a counterintuitive dynamic in the Rolex pre-owned market: prices are up modestly year over year, but value retention relative to...
Mar 23, 2026•41 min•Ep. 73
The Swiss watch industry is in one of its most difficult periods in decades, with ten established brands down 15% or more in revenue — but that doesn't mean everything is struggling. In this episode, Gabe and Asher explore three segments of the market that are thriving against the tide: independent watchmakers, microbrands brands, and neo-vintage. Along the way, they examine why brands like Breguet, Roger Dubuis, and Girard-Perregaux may have upside despite their current numbers, while others li...
Mar 16, 2026•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 72
Rumours about the Rolex GMT Master II Pepsi have reached a boiling point. Authorised dealer websites — controlled by Rolex, not the retailers — have quietly dropped the reference, and WatchPro is reporting that dealers have been told to expect no further deliveries. Asher finds it a dull story; Gabe is more interested in what comes next from Rolex in dress watches, the 1908 collection, and whether the long-dormant Milgauss finally returns. The centrepiece of the episode is the fallout from the a...
Mar 09, 2026•51 min•Ep. 71
Jaeger-LeCoultre was once the top-selling watch brand in the Richemont Group, a top-10 brand globally, and a GPHG darling under the legendary Gunter Blumlein. Today, it's slipped to number 16 in the industry and lost much of its cultural relevance. What happened? Gabe and Asher unpack JLC's rise, decline, and possible rebirth in light of reports that a consortium led by CEO Jerome Lambert may acquire the brand from Richemont. They argue that JLC has been boxed in on all sides — unable to compete...
Mar 02, 2026•44 min•Ep. 70
Update: As of February 21, 2026, the Trump administration now says they will set the new "Global Tariff" rate at 15% (not 10%), maintaining the same effective rate on Switzerland, at least for 150 days. On this episode, we unpack breaking news that sent shockwaves through the watch world: the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Trump-era emergency tariffs, instantly voiding the recent 15% levy on Swiss watches. We explain what this actually means for collectors and retailers, why refunds remain a...
Feb 23, 2026•57 min•Ep. 69
In this episode, we dive into the growing wave of consolidation—and potential deconsolidation—sweeping through the watch industry, from confirmed brand sales to mounting rumors around major maisons. Rather than speculate, we focus on what actually happens after a brand leaves a luxury group, and why leadership, distribution, and product strategy matter far more than deal headlines. First, we unpack a cautionary case study: Ebel’s spin-off from LVMH to Movado. Despite meaningful product upgrades ...
Feb 16, 2026•48 min•Ep. 68
On this episode, we zoom out to the state of the watch business, using Watches of Switzerland as a real-time bellwether. We unpack strong holiday performance alongside shrinking margins, then dig into accelerating U.S. retail consolidation: why large groups are acquiring family-owned authorized dealers, how Rolex factors into approvals and allocations, and what this growing concentration could mean for collectors and regional markets. We then connect the dots on Swiss export data, tariffs, curre...
Feb 09, 2026•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 67
On this episode, we zoom out and examine a broader shift underway in the watch industry as major groups begin to prioritize focus over expansion. Using the sale of Baume & Mercier as a starting point, we break down why brand exits and portfolio pruning have returned as strategic tools, and what this move reveals about consolidation, integration costs, and the realities of owning watch brands at scale. We then turn to the other side of the equation, unpacking rumors around Zenith and why sell...
Feb 02, 2026•52 min•Ep. 66
On this episode, we dig into reports that Patek Philippe may roll back U.S. retail prices—by as much as 8%—after last year’s sharp tariff- and currency-driven increases. We break down why the math isn’t as simple as tariffs going down and prices following, how import costs actually work at the wholesale level, and why this move raises uncomfortable questions for collectors who bought during the peak pricing window. We then zoom out to the broader issue of volatility. From shifting tariff policy ...
Jan 26, 2026•50 min•Ep. 65
On this episode, we dig into how global wealth trends—rather than hype cycles or short-term market noise—are reshaping the luxury watch industry. Drawing on reporting originally published by ScrewDownCrown (Substack), we use the UBS Global Wealth Report to examine the rapid rise of the “EMILLI” cohort: individuals with $1–5 million in net worth. This group has quadrupled since 2000 and now represents the core audience for sub-$10,000 to $50,000 watches, helping explain why mechanical timepieces ...
Jan 19, 2026•49 min•Ep. 64
We kick off the first Openwork episode of 2026 by breaking down the latest watch price increases from Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Tudor, with a sharp focus on why U.S. buyers are seeing significantly higher jumps than Europe and the UK. We unpack how tariffs, currency swings, commodity prices, and inflation are converging—and why, once prices move up, they almost never come back down. We also contrast how mega-brands and independents respond very differently to these pressures. From there, we di...
Jan 12, 2026•36 min•Ep. 63
On this episode, we share something a little different by sharing an installment from The Watches of Podcast, a new series where we step away from industry-wide analysis and focus deeply on individual brands—their history, philosophy, people, and, importantly, their watches. Each episode is designed as a focused, evergreen exploration of a single brand, and here we use that format to zero in on Ming’s dive watches, a category that has quietly become one of the most revealing expressions of the b...
Jan 05, 2026•22 min•Ep. 62
On this episode, we step back to assess where the watch industry actually landed in 2025, revisiting our prior predictions with a focus on the bigger forces at work rather than scorekeeping. We talk candidly about the pressure points that defined the year—pricing fatigue, currency and tariff shocks, and the uneven mood among collectors—while also acknowledging the resilience of independent watchmaking and the ways enthusiasm managed to persist despite real headwinds. From there, the conversation...
Dec 29, 2025•42 min•Ep. 61
On this episode of Openwork, we dig into the long-awaited reduction of U.S. tariffs on Swiss watches, which finally dropped from 39% to 15% after weeks of confusion and delay. We explain what actually changed, why the rollout took more than a month after the initial agreement, and how the U.S. customs system ultimately flipped the switch. While the lower rate is meaningful relief for the industry, we also talk through the real-world complications around retroactivity, post-summary corrections, a...
Dec 22, 2025•39 min•Ep. 60
In this episode of Openwork, we talk with our sales director, Geoff Souder, about what fundamentally changes when you move from selling traditional luxury watches to selling independent brands. Drawing on decades of experience with mainstream names like Rolex and Patek Philippe, Geoff explains how scale and standardization create a polished but often homogenous retail experience, then contrasts that with the realities of independence—where there is no built-in foot traffic and every relationship...
Dec 15, 2025•48 min•Ep. 59
Openwork is going weekly. In addition to our classic shows which focus on a specific topic or guest, we’re introducing a new format: a discussion of current events in the watch industry. So this week, we take a look at some tariff news (or lack thereof), supplier challenges, the significant growth of India, along with a few new releases. Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology , Openwork goes inside the watch industry. You can find us online at collectivehorolo...
Dec 08, 2025•50 min•Ep. 58
Today we’re talking about the rise of independent hype watches. Until very recently, as we’ve discussed on this podcast, independent watchmaking was something of a backwater of the watch industry or at best the realm of the cognoscenti. But in recent years, creations from the likes of MB&F, Simon Brette, Rexhep Rexhepi and today’s guest Sylvain Berneron have become objects of desire, cutthroat demand and even speculation. How did it get this way? What are the drivers? And what role do the br...
Dec 01, 2025•59 min•Ep. 57
