The Master of Time: A Conversation with Vintage Watch Expert and CEO of Duber Time Jeff Hess

As a young collector, I was mesmerized by the intricate dance of gears and springs inside old pocket watches, a fascination that propelled me on a journey through the art and science of horology. Imagine my excitement sitting down with vintage Rolex expert Jeff Hess, CEO of Duber Time Group, whose own path unfolded from youthful curiosity to venerating some of the world's rarest Patek Philippe's. We recount the evolution of Old Northeast Jewelers from its roots in vintage watch sales to a flourishing new watch emporium, navigating the ever-shifting seas of the watch and jewelry industry. Jeff shares remarkable tales of the chase for those elusive timepieces, and we muse over the dramatic transformation in vintage watch pricing and availability.

Horological aficionados, you're in for a treat as we unpack the strategic genius behind luxury watch brands, zeroing in on Breitling's impressive resurgence under Georges Kern. Feel the buzz as we ponder Kern's potential to breathe new life into Universal Geneve and what this could mean for watch connoisseurs everywhere. We pull back the curtain on our discerning eye for German precision, highlighting niche timepieces like Meistersinger and Mühle Glashütte, and our bond with the rising star Sternglas. Join us for a celebration of craftsmanship and an insider's look at the meticulous curation that brings these exceptional German watchmakers into our fold.

We wrap up this horological soiree with a look toward the future, sharing our aspirations and the hurdles of scaling a business steeped in the love of timekeeping. Discussions of personal encounters with collectors and industry figures illuminate the deep roots of brand loyalty and identity within the culture of watch enthusiasts. Our passion for authenticity and fervor for the craft radiates as we set our sights on another decade of success, driven by our unwavering commitment to the timeless art of horology. Whether discussing the robust charm of Mühle-Glashütte's SAR Rescue Timer or the accessible allure of Sternglas watches, every second of this episode is a testament to the joy and personal connections that lie at the heart of watch collecting.

Transcript

Blake Rea: 0:01

Welcome everybody to another episode of Lonely Wrist Today. Everybody, please welcome Mr Jeff Hess. Hello, jeff, how are you today?

Jeff Hess: 0:12

Very good, thank you.

Blake Rea: 0:14

Jeff is a vintage Rolex expert, ceo of Duber Time Group, which in the US is the US distributor for Mule Master Singer, stern Glass, the co-author of the book best of time rolex wrist watches. Jeff was also the first ever grand seiko dealer in the united states and grew ball watches from zero to 200 doors, which is pretty epic. So hopefully I, hopefully I did you some justice there with that intro. So, um, and there's a lot of stuff on the internet, so hopefully all that's accurate. Let's start the conversation by talking about watch collecting and then we'll kind of graduate from there. Pretty simple question Tell us how you got into watches and where did the passion start for you?

Jeff Hess: 1:00

Yeah, just like a lot of people. Yeah, just like a lot of people I used to be fascinated with the old pocket watches. You know, as a kid in grade school in the late 60s, you know the pocket watches were I mean, no one used them, of course and I was fascinated with it and asked my parents for one and they gave it to me and I took it apart and they said you can't have another one until you fix it.

Justin Summers: 1:30

And my dad and I would table and figure out how to fix them, and that's kind of how we started. That's awesome, Jeff. What is a? What does watch collecting mean to you personally?

Jeff Hess: 1:36

Well, you know I'm not the first person to say this, but you know, watch collecting is one of the few aspects in the collecting world that really really encompasses both science and art. And when you look at the cases, especially in the vintage watches, older pocket watches, art deco wristwatches, et cetera, some of the artistry is just amazing. And then you combine that with the science and the romance, you think about these watchmakers. Early on they were working on treadle machines. By the light of day they were making things with a pen and pencil and all their computations. It's just incredible. They were able to pull some of this stuff off, especially with the vintage pocket watches back in the 1700s.

Blake Rea: 2:31

Are there any watch? As a collector, obviously we're always chasing our next watch, so is there anything out there that you've been chasing for a while that you have yet to acquire?

Jeff Hess: 2:42

I'm pretty proud to say that. You know I pretty much own them all. When it comes to, you know, I've owned some of the most rare Patek Philippe's in the world, truthfully, and you know, back in the 80s and 90s there weren't a lot of guys buying these things, so we've got a lot of them out of the woodwork and just about everything I've ever wanted to have, including all the Art Deco paddocks and the rare Rolexes and the cloisonne dials pretty much owned them at one point or another, and that's kind of how I got started in the business. By the way, you know, in the beginning I didn't have any money. I was a kid, you know. I just wanted to buy something and own it for a while.

Jeff Hess: 3:19

So a lot of these more expensive watches that we've bought for a hundred $200,000, I got to own them for a while and wear them for a while. But no, I've I've owned just about everything. I guess maybe today, I guess it would be the the Tiffany, a paddock Philippe, I guess you know that's probably the one that everybody wants. Those things were like what, a million dollars now or something? Yeah, the 5711.

Jeff Hess: 3:41

I've got one of those.

Blake Rea: 3:42

Yeah, I'll take one too. I'll take one too while you're at it. So, yeah, yeah, and then I guess now let's work our way into some of your business ventures. So talk to us about Old Northeast Jewelers. What opened you to drive a jewelry store, which, by the way, is a beautiful shop? If you guys are ever in the St Pete, tampa area, make sure which, by the way, is a beautiful shop. If you guys are ever in the saint pete tampa area, tampa area, make sure you check them out.

Jeff Hess: 4:09

But tell us about old northeast and what drove you to that well, we started off as a vintage watch store, you know, uh, back in the 80s and we had all these incredible vintage watches and so of course we had a lot of the modern guys come in and my first authorized dealer brand was Movado, back when they had, you know, pretty incredible movements. And then Hamilton, and gradually I just kind of got caught up in the new watch business as well and I would say clear to the mid-90s, we were probably half vintage and half modern. Then of course, as things progressed, we got into the point where at one time we were authorized dealers for Frank Mueller, omega, breitling, just about every possible brand you can think of, except for Rolex and Patek Philippe. Of course we were able to achieve that one, yeah yeah, those are some big names, for sure.

Justin Summers: 5:08

Um, and to our understanding, you guys opened that location in 1983. Um, tell us how the watch and jewelry business has kind of changed since then?

Jeff Hess: 5:17

you know it's changed dramatically. Um, the biggest part of our business now is probably brand new watches, of course, but closely followed by vintage, and the vintage watch business has changed because the prices are sort of dramatic. You know we used to buy I'm proud of bragging that makes everybody, makes my friends crazy that I used to take Daytonas over to Italy to buy the suitcase full, which I did because they were so cheap in the 80s they were like $3,000, $4,000, $5,000. It was nuts. Now today, I mean, they got to where the entry level was like $100,000 at one point. You can buy some now for $30,000 or $40,000, I guess. But you know we sold a Paul Newman recently for $30,000 or $40,000, I guess. But you know we sold a Paul Newman recently for $350,000.

Jeff Hess: 6:08

It's just, these numbers are staggering and you know, like Patek 1518s and Patek Philips, that today are selling for millions of dollars, you know were selling back then for $25,000, $30,000. So that's pretty dramatic. It keeps it out of the hands of the average collector, which is a little difficult, a little tough. And as far as new watches, the landscape has changed dramatically as well. You know we've seen it go back and forth between the big brands preferring mom and pops to, all of a sudden they prefer big, big giant box stores, if you will, and then going back to mom and pops, and then going back to the big giant box stores, and we've seen it, uh, uh, go back and forth since then. So right now, uh, all the big brands are, you know, pretty much sequestered and some of the, you know, pretty much bigger stores.

Blake Rea: 7:01

I'm I'm curious about your take on the future of watch brands transacting, because obviously people are pushing. You know, brands are pushing to open their own doors, you know, but shop and shops are still probably the way that most customers prefer to transact. So I'm curious do you think this will ever backfire on the brands that are opening their own doors?

Jeff Hess: 7:26

You know it's a matter of economics for the brands. You know, and I get why they want to sell direct. Obviously it's a lot more revenue for them. You know that makes a lot of sense. That said, you are correct. When American Express did a, the Platinum and Blackheart, people did a huge, huge, huge study. They found that the average buyer preferred, as you say, to buy from a mom and pop, you know, somebody who can give them personal service and understands the business will take time with them, et cetera, et cetera. So will it backfire? You know, I understand they get a lot of bad press for that and and it's, it's a little daunting for the little guy but it economically I don't think it's going to backfire. You know it may backfire, you know, to the public a little bit, to the collectors a little bit, but at the end of the day it's, it's a, it's a.

Blake Rea: 8:25

It's unfortunately a pretty sound um um business decision, so that that puts us right in perfect place to talk about price hikes that have been happening so what uh price hikes?

Blake Rea: 8:40

I'm I'm curious about your take on the price hikes that have been happening. You know, obviously sometimes multiple price hikes per year. Obviously the product hasn't changed. You know you're buying this, you're you're paying more for the same product that was uh on the market last year. Do you think this will ever backfire on the brands? Obviously it's in their best interest to sell more watches, but is the strategy to to move less watches and make the same, or what's the strategy behind that?

Jeff Hess: 9:11

Well, first let's get one thing out of the way here. The quality of the watches are going up every year. Everything the Swiss do is onward and upward, not just prices, but the quality of Swiss watches is just incredible. You look at Rolex. In the 1980s 1990s their quality control stunk. It was really horrible, which is why there are so many variances, which is why collectors like it. But today, look at a Rolex made today, it's pretty much like perfection. You know Breit a Rolex made today it's pretty much it's like perfection. You know Breitling is like perfection. You go visit the Breitling factory, you know you have to put on booties on your shoes. I mean, they're just maniacal about dust. You know, brands like Rolex and Breitling and other brands like that are just incredibly well put together now, so you're paying for that as well.

Jeff Hess: 10:07

But yeah, the price increase is a thing that's always going to bother retailers, it's always going to bother the public. But, as you know, inflation is everywhere, so it's not just watches, but then also there's this little problem of currency fluctuations and that's kind of what screws things up quite often. You know the Swiss are geniuses, and not just geniuses in horology, but they're also geniuses in money changing, if you will, kind of a crude word. But you know, when currencies fluctuate like they do, they have to make changes and there's not much they can do about that. They're beholden to their shareholders and owners, just like American companies are beholden to their stockholders. So they have to raise prices now and again.

Jeff Hess: 10:56

Yes, I do see a pushback and yes, it occasionally does backfire on them. You've been around the business long enough to know that every once in a while some of these companies will overproduce like crazy and all of a sudden there's a big, giant bunch of close-ups and that's advantageous to some people because a guy can go buy a watch a little bit cheaper than before. But it puts a lot of pressure on the watch companies. It puts a lot of pressure on the authorized dealers and puts a lot of pressure on the authorized dealers and it's not a good look.

Jeff Hess: 11:28

Now I will say this past five, six, seven, eight, nine years the Swiss have been very, very careful about that kind of thing. They've been very careful about overproducing, very careful about projections. You know the Chinese market keeps, you know, all of a sudden being fantastic and a no good and they overproduce for that market or they overproduce for another market and it's very difficult for them to figure it out. They have to be profitable. They have to pay a lot of money for marketing. They have to pay a lot of money to protect their intellectual property. It's not cheap.

Blake Rea: 12:05

I'm curious to get your takes, obviously. So we're recording this on april 10th and you know, obviously, watches and wonders was yesterday. So obviously when we, when we drop this podcast, it'll be, you know, a month out or so. But I'm curious to get your takes on on some of the releases as well. Were you, were you disappointed, like a lot of us were, from Rolex.

Jeff Hess: 12:27

Yeah, you know it's interesting. You should say that. Quite often when we used to go to Basel, I'd look at Rolex's new stuff. I'd say, well, that's stupid. I'm very disappointed in that. And Rolex has a way whether it's backwards, engineering people's thoughts with something that looks horrendously awful in the beginning suddenly becoming really, really cool. You know, rolex has a way. People want a Rolex and, yeah, I was a little disappointed. And Rolex always makes these incremental changes. As you know, they don't seem to really make huge monsters changes and sometimes that's what disappoints us. But then again, that's why Rolex is what they are. They're very conservative and that's why they do what they do. I remember visiting the Rolex booth year after year after year, when everybody was making 40 millimeter watches, 41 millimeter watches and Rolex was still making their little 36, and complaining to them and they used to always say why would you want a flying saucer on your wrist? You know they were steadfast in making those little 36 millimeter watches. Finally, when they got around to doing it, they did it right.

Blake Rea: 13:38

Rolex must have never seen a Panerai or anything like that either.

Jeff Hess: 13:41

Yeah Well, considering Panerai and Rolex were once very cozy together, that's an interesting thought.

Blake Rea: 13:48

Yeah, yeah.

Justin Summers: 13:49

So we were reading. Jeff, we know that you also opened the Breitling Boutique in Tampa. I know we talked a little bit off camera about this, but tell us about how that came to be a thing.

Jeff Hess: 13:59

We were authorized dealers for Breitling for a long time and Breitling is one of those brands that you know is, if you will, pure at heart. A lot of people may take issue with that, but Breitling is, without a doubt, one of the most stand-up brands in the world. Especially now with the new ownership. They make an extraordinary watch. Uh brands in the world especially uh now with a new ownership um, they make us extraordinary watch.

Jeff Hess: 14:28

They're very loyal to their dealers, to their authorized dealers, and so when we had the opportunity to do it, you know, we had been offered an opportunity to have a um, uh, a grand Seiko uh boutique the first grand Seiko boutique in America and we didn't do it. And then we were offered the Briney Boutique and we didn't do it initially, and they asked us again three years later and we thought, well, we'll give it a shot. It was a very good decision because Tampa Bay is kind of a Breitling town. You know, all towns are Rolex towns, but Tampa Bay has been a Breitling town for a long, long time, you know, and we do very, very well with it. We're in a great mall, we're in a great position with a great product and a great team at Breitling, and the designs are out of this world. What Mr Carnes has done is extraordinary, so we're very, very happy to be um, associated everything.

Blake Rea: 15:26

Uh, george's touches like turns to gold. You know, obviously he revamped iwc and and now he's doing the exact same for breitling and uh, and he's really, he's really done some consistent things about flushing out their collection, you know, revamping some of their archives and uh, and yeah, I'm a huge brightling fan as well absolutely.

Jeff Hess: 15:44

you know I'm a vintage guy and I love vintage brightling. I mean, brightling is just as varied and just as interesting as older rolexes, when you get down to it, a little more affordable and even though they were made in, you know, they're probably rarer than most of a lot of the of the uh uh Rolexes. But yeah, now uh, uh, george is supposedly going to be doing a universal, universal Jeanette. Yeah, can't wait because they have some cool, cool, cool, uh watches that I cannot wait to see him resurrect. Um, I have a nice little collection myself and I can't wait to see what he does with his brand. I'm very excited about it.

Jeff Hess: 16:29

What, uh, what are going to be some of your predictions for the future of Universal Geneve? Well, listen, I mean, I don't know George personally. I've had the pleasure of meeting him several times and I got to talk to him once for about eight or nine minutes. But I've watched him over the years and watched him with other brands and my feeling is, if he sinks his teeth into it, it's going to be extraordinary, because he does know how to. He knows how to go into the future while giving a nod to the past, and that's kind of what collectors want and kind of what collectors need. I'm sure he's going to play on Universal Genevieve's rich past, but he's going to come out with things based on some of that stuff. It's going to be just extraordinary and I, I swear to you, I can't wait. This is one of the most exciting bits of horology news that I've seen in a long, long time. You know, it's not earth shaking, but it's interesting to me.

Justin Summers: 17:21

That's awesome. Appreciate you telling us that. I know you had mentioned earlier about Grand Seiko. Tell us about kind of how you got hooked up with Grand Seiko and what was it like, you know, bringing that juggernaut of a business into the USA.

Jeff Hess: 17:35

Well, you know what? I didn't bring it to the USA. But you know, these guys came around and they said, here, we, you know, I'll tell, you'll tell you. It was the editor of a big watch magazine and he brought these guys from Grand Seiko in to my store and they said we thought you might be like the perfect guy to like take on this brand. And I said, yeah, you know Seiko, I don't know Seiko. No, this is different. This is Grand Seiko. This is spectacular.

Jeff Hess: 18:00

And he's showing us these $5,000 Seikos and I'm like, I'm like A couple grand Seiko Doesn't make any sense. It's a Seiko for 5,000. And the more I looked at it I thought, my God, this stuff is nuts. It's extraordinary, great quality. And my wife and I talked about it for like a week and I said I really feel good about this. And she said you know what? Let's just do it, let's just go in. And so we went in and it was a little bit of a struggle at first because we had to educate people that this wasn't your grandpa's Seiko. This is something completely different. And they were another great company. They were a great company, an incredible company and good people and, very straightforward, was a fantastic product. We were able to go to Japan before with them.

Jeff Hess: 18:56

It was a little bit of a struggle, like I say, to re-educate people. As a matter of fact, going back to the boutique, when they offered me to have the first Grand Seiko boutique in America in our mall one of the reasons we didn't do it was because I couldn't talk the mall into it because they had all these fancy boutiques they said we don't want Seiko. I said you don't understand. This is Grand Seiko. We're killing it with it. They're like we don't want Se different. She I'll never forget.

Jeff Hess: 19:22

She said why don't you go to Cartier and see if we can open up a Cartier boutique? I said I wish I could, but I don't have that power to just walk into Seiko. But I walk into Cartier and do this. But we can certainly do it with Grand Seiko. But they wouldn't do it because of the, because they still had that thing in their mind about Seiko being, you know, grandpa's $150, $99 Seiko. You know so. But it was. It was a good run and um and uh you know the they decided to part ways with us and go with one of the big boys, which broke my heart because I love that brand. I was shocked when they did it, quite frankly, but it was a spectacular watch.

Blake Rea: 20:03

Why do you think brands are now doing that? It seems like they're really consolidating their relationships, like, wouldn't you want I mean obviously within reason, but wouldn't you want to take on any AD or brand that would essentially carry your watch, putting your product in front of everybody, versus tightening up ship and saying, oh well, you got to go to New York or you got to go to Atlanta or you got to go to wherever right Miami to get a Grand Seiko? Like why, why do brands do that? Well, it's economics.

Jeff Hess: 20:32

You know it's. It's a basic economic decision. If you get a a huge, monstrous uh uh outfit coming in and say, hey, I want to buy you know uh, $3 million worth of goods from my 16 stores, as much as it breaks my heart, it's kind of a good economic decision at the end of the day. But I don't know why they do it. But again, I'm seeing a little bit of pushback again now to the big doors having it and a little bit more of a welcoming towards independence, if you will. So we'll see how it all shakes out. To the big doors having it and a little bit, a little bit more of a welcoming towards uh independence, if you will. So, uh, we'll see how it all shakes out.

Blake Rea: 21:10

So let let's pose the same question on you for ball watches. So you know another underrated brand and how did you discover? If, if that's the right analogy, how did you discover and bring ball into?

Jeff Hess: 21:22

Uh yeah, I was at the Hong Kong show one year it was like two months after 9-11. And we were one of the first airplanes to go out and of course I was all loaded up with expensive paddocks and Rolexes and things to take over to the Hong Kong show and I was worried the show was going to be canceled. And you know it wasn't. We got over there but it was dead. There was nothing going on, people didn't come, you know, because of the whole 911 thing, and so I found myself just noodling around, looking around, and I happened to see this little booth that said Ball Watch and I thought, oh my God, that's incredible, what an iconic name. And I walked in and said, hey, this is incredible, I want to distribute this brand, because people have been trying to get me to distribute brands in the past and I didn't want to do it. And they said, no, we don't think there's a market for this in America. And I said, well, where are you going to market it? They said, well, japan, because the Japanese love Americana, you know, and I talked them into it. It took me a year, year and a half, but I talked them into it. It took me a year, year and a half.

Jeff Hess: 22:42

But I talked him into it and we started off selling entry-level watches at $399. And our most expensive, I think, was $1,500. And I leveraged every bit of friendship, business associates and everything I could to make this thing happen. And it was a pretty easy sell because the name was so rich, such a rich history. Eventually I met an heir to the Ball family and I bought out their entire archives, all their paperwork going back to the 1870s, the family watch collection. That was a seven-figure collection. It was amazing, it was perfect for me because it was like a ton of vintage, cool stuff, expensive stuff, fantastic name. And I could, I could build a brand. So we built it up to uh, to 200 doors and then, uh, my uh, uh, chinese partners, swiss partners, uh, decided they wanted to go it alone and, uh, you know, hired my employees and went it alone.

Justin Summers: 24:00

Wow, that's awesome. So I guess to transition into it, um, into duper time, you know being something else, um, is that where that concept came from? Where you were, you know thinking of becoming a distributor for watch brands is that kind of what transitioned you into? You know, creating duper time? Yeah it was.

Jeff Hess: 24:17

I had. I had done a little bit of quasi distribution with some other brands and I was bringing in some other watches in the early two thousands when I was selling on TV. You can believe that back in 2001, I was bringing in Nomos and a whole lot of German brands. I found that in Horgenta and Horgenta used to be a show that kind of kind of was right before Basel and you could go there early and all the big brands did it and you could find a bunch of really cool stuff. You kind of get ahead before Basel and you could go there early and all the big brands did it and you could find a bunch of really cool stuff. You kind of get ahead of Basel and so I would go to Invergente first, look at all the cool stuff that was going to be coming out of Basel and I would import a bunch of cool watches into the US, become a quasi-distributor for those watches.

Jeff Hess: 24:59

So yeah, duber time was in essence an opportunity for me to distribute some brands. So I'd been working with the Mule family for a long time, decided to bring them in as well, and we had Nivrel for a while and we had a lot of weird little brands. A lot of weird little German brands that we did, but it was a lot of weird little brands with a lot of weird little german brands that we did. But uh, it was a lot of fun. Took the name duber from uh, um, from the duber watch company, which was actually a competitor of wepsy balls back in the 1880s oh wow, that's really neat, I didn't know that.

Blake Rea: 25:38

So that's kind of, that's kind of your way, like, all right, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do something different and, uh, tell it, tell us a little bit more so. So now, obviously, duber time distributes for not only mula, but you have master singer and you have stern glass. Like, tell us about how you curated, you know, such a unique collection of brands.

Jeff Hess: 25:55

You know, I guess it's looking like it's a german, uh kind of a german thing which is fine you know the german, the german watches.

Jeff Hess: 26:05

The germans make some pretty cool watches. You know we were at one time uh, washington original dealers as well, and that's another extraordinary brand, um, largely unheralded for some reason, because you know, all the collectors know what it is. But in my mind it's as good as any watch on the planet. It's as good as a paddock, believe it. It's as good as a Patek Philippe, it's as good as anything else. It's a really extraordinary watch.

Jeff Hess: 26:29

But all the Germans make really, really good watches. You know they're known for their Bahasian style, clean dials. You know I'm not going to say perfection, but darn close to perfection when it comes to building these things. And Meistersinger was unusual because it was a one-hand watch and I like the artisan aspect of it, if you will. But Mühle Glashütte is the best-kept secret in German watchmaking.

Jeff Hess: 27:01

It's, as you probably know, a seven, seven generation company going back to the 1850s, and they've been there for a long, long, long time. They've been in the horology business, the speedometer business, the RPM business, making dials and things for well-known German car companies. They've been doing this for a long, long time and it is a fantastic watch and it's another pleasure to be involved in. One of the things about Ball was we had, you know, quite a lot of quality control problems with Ball, but with Mule of Galactica we've got like zero, meistersinger as well zero, it's amazing. Stern Glass is just a really fun entry-level watch to distribute because we didn't have anything in that price point. And they have some $199 watches that are fantastic, you know, really nice stuff. And they use a myriad of movements. They use all kinds of different movements and they're not afraid to, uh, do some experimentation as well. So it it.

Blake Rea: 28:07

It kind of fits a little niche for our dealers who carry meistersinger or mula yeah, stern glass is a really cool brand and we um, so actually our next podcast to be released is actually stern glass, and so we had, uh, the creative director on and obviously we got a chance to get hands-on with the Lumatic pretty early and we wrote a review about it and Justin, I think, is working on a video about it. But Stringglass is one of those brands that they're a great entry door to micro brands for a lot of people, because you're spending a few hundred dollars, you're getting a quality watch, you're getting a timeless design, something that's strong and very design centric and, uh, and that also is kind of how we, how we like you and I and you and uh or us in duber time kind of connected because, um, during the podcast we were talking to his name's cave on, um, and you know we were like, oh, I want to get hands-on with more your watches, justin has what. How many stern glasses do you have?

Justin Summers: 29:03

I've got two other staring glasses currently.

Blake Rea: 29:06

Yeah, one for him, one for his wife, anyways. So I was like, hey, I want to get hands-on with your watches. And he's like, oh, you can, you can go get hands-on. I was like, no, you don't understand, they're not in Vegas. I live in Vegas, they in vegas, like dude, don't you understand? And he's like, no, actually they are in vegas. And he's like go to this dealer, right, huntington jewelers.

Blake Rea: 29:33

And so I went to huntington jewelers and, uh, and yeah, they're obviously an account for you guys and for duber time and um, and then immediately I got hands on with all the sunglasses, which is a cool experience. And then, you know, right next to it, master singer mula, right, and so it's a really, really, really funny and there's some irony in this. But, um, you know, obviously we've been doing some youtube. We're in the process of growing our youtube channel. Our most popular outlets are our blog and the podcast that you're on right now, um, but but anyways, the owner was like here, just take, just take these watches, like let me, let me, you know. So she memoed, she memoed them to me and was like I just want to, I want to see what you think, you know, and, if you like them, do some youtube videos on them.

Blake Rea: 30:09

And, um, I got hands on with the uh, obviously, the um, the c battalion, which is a phenomenal watch, and then the star rescue timer. So, um, immediately immediately when I got home and you know, of course, right now, like sitting next to me, probably 14 or 15. I don't even know how many watches, justin, I'm sorry bro, I don't even know how many watches I got sitting over here for review. But you know, jenny was like, oh, you need to get these back to me by Tuesday. And I'm like like Jenny, I've got like nine watches that I've been in here for about a month. There's no way, you know. But the second I got hands on with it, I was like this is crazy special, this is a crazy special watch. It doesn't try and be anything other than the tool that it's designed for you know, exactly and I just love that.

Blake Rea: 31:01

It was just. It's just, it's refined, is really high quality. You know, as I started doing research on on Mula, you know you learned about 151 years of history, that the multiple generations you know that that have that have preceded the brand, and then the multiple times that they've been nationalized. And it's just such a unique brand, was such unique story and immediately fell in love and uh, and now ever since, yeah, yeah I've been, I've been geeking out.

Jeff Hess: 31:29

Have you had a chance to get to get over to uh uh Gloucester yet?

Blake Rea: 31:34

Uh, I have not been to that region of Germany yet, so you have to go and you, you know, take your time, set it up.

Jeff Hess: 31:48

Um, you know, take your time, set it up. I'm sure you can get a factory tour at Lange and Glashutte original and certainly I can set it up for Mula. You will come back even more amazed and the museum there in Glashutte is just just extraordinary and it's just one of the most amazing horological museums I've ever seen.

Blake Rea: 32:05

I definitely have that on my roadmap. You know right, I was. I just came back, or should I say in January. I was in, I was in Geneva and I was traveling all around Switzerland and at the time I did I did Delma, which has been have been really good friends of us for a really long time. I did Beauvais, then I did Zenith, and then I did Panerai, and, and then I did IBC, iwc I, you know, did some opportunity. I had some opportunity to film at their flagship and and yeah, yeah, so, and then I also did a few micro brands, like Ferlin Mari, which was also on the podcast, and, and so I'm working on right now a Beauvais factory video and I'm also working on a Zenith factory video and obviously in the future I plan to go to Germany and that's definitely on my bucket list, like I have to do before I die.

Jeff Hess: 32:57

Let me know, I'll hook you up. But listen, when you do the Beauvais thing, let me know, because I love that one too. That's a great brand, beauvais. You know, because I, I love that one too.

Blake Rea: 33:06

That's a. That's a great brand. Bouvet is crazy man, super underrated, crazy.

Blake Rea: 33:08

I didn't get a chance to go to the the chateau, like the castle, because you know the way that bouvet does it they have their r&d facility, um, where it's where all the technical development does. You know, all the manufacturing and then all the assembly happens in the castle, um, so it was a really rainy day and you know, I had just left, uh, delma and I was like I have to get to tromlin, which is where the their, their factory is, or their r&d facility is, and I had to get there super quick and you know. So we were really strapped for time, um, and it was just a really terrible day out. So you know, we didn't just have, didn't have time, and the next day I had panoramians in it. So I was just, I was just back to back to back to back, um and uh, and so, yeah, I need to go back and do the factory, but I will definitely. Did you go to the panoramic facility? I did, I did panoramic facility it is amazing.

Blake Rea: 33:57

It was amazing and so I was pretty. I was pretty disappointed, not with panoramic, I was actually impressed. But you know, I went there with um hoping that I'd be able to film another factory tour. Um, and you know, I I got in, I went through the whole tour, they gave me a private tour and then I realized why I wasn't able to film because at the time they were producing all the products for watching the wonders, you know. So, um, unfortunately, so unfortunately, it was just weird timing, but I did get to sit down with the COO, jerome, which was an amazing experience. We recorded an interview.

Blake Rea: 34:35

I'm not quite sure if I'm going to use it, because it was so unexpected and I wasn't very prepared. Obviously, I like to be prepared before I sit down with somebody like you, you know, because you know getting the right questions and getting the right information out is very important to me. So I wasn't super prepared for that. So I'm like I'm not sure if I should release this and I probably won't, but I'll have to reach back out to Jerome and schedule something more like this, more, you know, personal sit down where he's ready. I'm ready and uh, but the panerai factory is insane is insane, and I had such a good time and I came back with like a whole new like like passion for the brand and panerai is one of my favorite watch brands.

Blake Rea: 35:18

Like me and justin got into watch collecting together like and um, I think I mean I speak for myself, but I I can maybe speak for justin a little bit too, but I think panera was one of the first brands that we really like, grailed over, right, definitely so, and uh, and you know, obviously back then, like he and I used to work in a retail and we worked at a, um, an electronic store together and we grew, we grew up collecting together, and here we are now. It's kind of funny, full circle, but uh, but we couldn't even afford those watches now or then, so, and so now it's just, it's weird, it's uh, it's really come full circle for us, but panoramic, amazing brand and their facility is crazy.

Jeff Hess: 36:01

You know you guys are really. I admire what you're doing and obviously you guys have a love of horology. Have you thought about going to some of the big mega brands and doing a tour? I mean like Breitling and Block Pond would be fantastic tours. You'd be very impressed with both of them.

Blake Rea: 36:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we, um, we we have. So, you know, obviously we did zenith, you know, which is a pretty epic, an epic brand. I mean, bouvet is an independent, but um, you know we are, we are kind of transitioning there. I would love to do brightling, I would love to do mula, um, I think nomos would be another cool one. You know that we've looked at um and so it's just a matter of time, right time and resources. You know, those are two things that that we don't have right now, because you know we're running three channels. You know we're running a youtube, the podcast and the website and it's just me and just, it's just like just us I know, but you got into this for the watches, right?

Jeff Hess: 37:06

So I mean you have to carve out some time. You carve out eight or nine days for Gloucester to spend some time over there. Go to the Nomos factory, walk across the street and go to the other factory. Walk across the street and go to the Gloucester original. Take a little five-mile jaunt on the same street and go to Mula. You'll be able to hit them all in like four or five days. The museum too, and it'll be. It'll be ground shaking for you, it'll be amazing.

Blake Rea: 37:35

I can only dream about doing that, um, and I will definitely, definitely, definitely work, uh, you know, work with you to help set that up for at least for mula, that'd be amazing. Um, and and even brightling, even brightling.

Jeff Hess: 37:48

You know, I, I would love to do stuff like that you can figure out how to, how to get get next to those guys I mean, uh, it was my business is a brightening factory was probably one of the most uh, eye-opening um experiences of my life in horology. It is top, top notch. Anybody who doesn't understand what Breitling is today versus what Breitling was 25 years ago needs their head examined. If you go there, it'll blow your mind. It's just an amazing facility.

Blake Rea: 38:20

Well, ironically so my dad just got a new job in real estate and he's been in real estate for, I mean, 40 years, 50 years now, and so he just got his brokerage license here in Vegas and you know, we took him. I took him to Bucherer, right, and I was like hey, you know he's like hey, like I need a watch, right, you know, that's the first time I've ever heard my dad say that and I'm like, holy shit, like are you sick? You know, like cause he doesn't understand why I have so many watches. Um, but I took him to Booker you know, of course, where he could see every brand, right. And um, so he went through all just with like a diamond bezel and like diamond markers and like a mother of pearl dials, like dad, like I know you're sick now, I know you're sick now.

Blake Rea: 39:09

But anyways, he was looking for something that was like two-tone, you know, had a little bit of gold, was a little classy. And I literally was going around the store as he was getting ready to pull the trigger on this, this pre-owned rolex, for I mean, it was way overpriced. Um, I was going around the store and I was like my last grab here, brightling super ocean heritage, two-tone and uh on rubber and uh, and I'm like dad, dad, like, what about this?

Blake Rea: 39:35

like you know, like, please, please, what about this? And he was like, love it, buy it. You know, and, uh, and, and my dad has been wearing that ever since and it's such a great watch, it's so good.

Jeff Hess: 39:49

It's so good. You mentioned Bucher's and that made me think about another brand that we carry in our store. You know there are a lot of really cool brands out there that people just don't often think of, that are extraordinary and really, really good quality. And you know, I said something about an unheralded brand before, carl F Bucherer and I don't know if you've ever had a chance to really walk into a store and have that stuff. That stuff is like it's amazing. It's amazing stuff, extremely good quality. Scuba Tech is out of this world as far as an entry-level dive watch Just amazing Gosh. There's tons of other Bell Ross. I mean my gosh Bell Ross is doing outrageous things as well. I mean, you guys have a good job. I'd like to you know what I envy you.

Blake Rea: 40:42

You can come work for us, man we're hiring. I, I, I envy you. You can come work for us, man we're hiring. Tell me, Ironically, I'm a huge Bell and Ross guy. So, so, obviously, if you look at my name Blake Ray, br, right, they put my initials on every damn watch, boom, and I've had, I've had a good relationship with Bell and Ross for a really long time.

Blake Rea: 41:09

Last year I, I was at so obviously in Vegas, I went to Couture JCK, all the stuff they do here, and that was when they were getting ready to announce their full loom. Like you saw, the full loom case, the BRO5 or whatever X5 or whatever it is, I can't think right now, but the CEO was there and so we were just kind of sitting down, carlos, and uh, at the time I was like, okay, I have to wear a very special bell and ross. And so in my personal collection I have the, uh, the bell and ross diver, um, full loom. And then I also have the 0392, which was discontinued, in full loom, 250 pieces. And uh, and I wore that watch, you know, to hang out, and I was sitting there for like three hours just hanging out. I mean it turned in from like, hey, we've only got 20 minutes, but they wouldn't kick me out because we were having such a good time.

Blake Rea: 41:54

They just kept talking. No, they kept talking to me, they kept talking to me. But I'm sitting there and I'm talking to the rep. Obviously I know the rep pretty well, the coast rep and um, and yeah, you know. So they're like oh, we have appointments with other other brands, you know the other ads and stuff, and they just kept coming in. I was just like, am I supposed to be here? But they, they wouldn't, they didn't, they wouldn't, let me leave, you know. I just was like all right, I'll see you later. And they're like no, blake, check this out, check this out. You know it is. Uh, and bell and ross is such a cool brand and I love their watches, but you you mentioned carlos.

Jeff Hess: 42:25

This guy's been around forever. I mean, I keep wondering what kind of what kind of magic this guy has. You know, I've been around the block in in the world of horology for a long time and nobody stays with a brand that long. This guy is like it's, like it's. It's amazing. I mean, I met this guy first. I'm sure you don't remember me. I met him first like maybe 20, 22 years ago. This guy is just what a powerhouse, you know, yeah, and a great brand doing a lot of cool stuff. But I'll tell you another one, forgive me, because we carry. The brand that we're really excited about is Norkane. I don't know if you've done much with them. Norkane's fantastic. This brand is on fire. Um, the, the weird stuff they're doing is so unusual and so eclectic and at the same time, somehow conservative. I I don't even know how to describe them, but uh, that's, that's a brand that I think has a lot of future legs as well.

Blake Rea: 43:24

They have a great board of directors. Obviously, they have Jean-Claude Biver on the board of directors. I mean they're definitely, definitely, definitely doing stuff. I mean they've got their patented shock-protected case which holds the movement in a unique way way, and I mean they are. You know, obviously it's very rare for a brand to start off, you know, using like, carbon composites, like because they're so damn hard to work with, um, yeah, yeah. So norcane is another one that I've got a lot of respect for. Um, and I mean there's just so many cool brands and there's just two of us, so we need to figure out how we can clone ourselves and continue to grow um, um, so if you have a solution for that, please let me know.

Jeff Hess: 44:10

I don't have a solution. Just keep doing what you're doing and enjoy it, because, man, I can see you're having a lot of fun. You know what have you have you had to to get Jean-Claude down and interview him.

Blake Rea: 44:22

I've reached out to him and I haven't heard back from him. So, um, maybe that will be like my end all be all interview. You know like, if I can get jean-claude be there on the podcast, um, that will be like my end all be like. We might as well just shut the doors down after that and just stop doing it because you can finally sleep at night yeah, I've.

Jeff Hess: 44:44

I've had the pleasure of meeting him and spending a little, a little time with him, you know, 10, 15 minutes at a time here and there, and at lunch once. And he has to be one of the most interesting people in in the world of horology, without a doubt. And look at this guy's history, my God, you know.

Blake Rea: 45:02

Yeah, everything, everything he touches like literally turns to gold. Um, I actually brought this up to one of my other um, like my other, like colleagues, and he was like, well, why don't you reach out to pierre, you know, like his son, and then his son will, you know like it'll just be such an organic handoff and I'm like, you know, I never really thought about that and uh, and so, right here, right now, we have, you know, we're kind of we're going in that direction. You know, I never really thought about that and uh, and so, right here, right now, we have, you know, we're kind of we're going in that direction. You know our goal is to get anybody who's you know had some type of impact by horology. You know we want to talk to collectors, you know, because there's a lot of thought that goes into collecting watches and everybody has a different collection strategy and that's so interesting to us because, you know, let's just say we were talking to you briefly about collecting earlier, but you're going to, you're going to give a different perspective on collecting that nobody else has, right? So, you know, at some point we'll start bringing collectors on.

Blake Rea: 45:57

But then it's been weird because as we've approached collectors, they don't feel like they they've had the place to come on our outlet. You know cause they're like oh well, my, my collection's not perfect and and I want to add this and I want to add that, and I'm like, dude, just come on, you know, and um, and so that's a challenge that we didn't expect, you know, um, but, but definitely we'll have hopefully have them on at some point and um, and we're working with a few other really big brands. We're kind of starting to turn from micro brands into bigger brands and so, yeah, I can't say yet, but I will say off stream, who's coming on later, in about eight days.

Blake Rea: 46:39

I'm glad you're doing that.

Jeff Hess: 46:42

I'm sure you understand and I'm sure you've been cautioned. Don't ever forget the small brands, because every entity out there, like yours, grows and grows and grows and pretty soon you're paying more attention to the big boys which you should, but you can't forget the little guys either, you know. So I'm glad to see you're wearing a stern glass watch. That's kind of cool. And talk about collectability. That's a neat watch because you can actually collect them. You know they change their, they change their catalog every year. They do a lot of weird stuff. Uh, they're constantly, uh, sometimes it seems like uh, throwing darts at the wall, but they come up with such a cool eclectic group of stuff that you can do a lot of collecting with it and, as you know, the quality control is pretty good definitely.

Blake Rea: 47:22

Yeah, I really enjoy this watch so we actually have a way to step back a second, we actually have a way to combat that. And so, obviously, justin and I have been friends for I don't know, maybe what 10, 10 years now justin like 2014 or something we started collecting.

Blake Rea: 47:39

But then justin and I like went on separate paths, like in in watch collecting, like I started chasing, you know, the high end, like Panerai, like the big boys Right, and then Justin actually went the total opposite route and started with micro like he just was obsessed with micro brands and you know, because we've said this before but micro brands wouldn't exist if the big brands would give us what, what we wanted as as collectors. So it leaves this huge gap in the market and I mean it's arguable and debatable that you can I shouldn't say it's arguable or debatable but you can get way more for your money in a micro brand than you can from any big box brand, because you are paying for that name. You are not paying for any innovation or technology usually. So that's our way that we combat it. Justin is going to be responsible for all the micro brands, I'm going to be responsible for the big brands and we're just going to keep full steam ahead and that's that's our strategy to to not forget about.

Blake Rea: 48:40

I do actually want to to also talk a little bit more about Mula, because you know, mula is by far one of the most underrated watch brands out there in the world. I feel comfortable saying that, and it seems like you've made it your mission to change that. You know. So what is it about? And you talked a little bit already, but what is it about the Mula brand that resonates with you?

Jeff Hess: 49:10

It's family owned. They're good people, they're in a great area, they make a great watch. Um, they they're. I'm not gonna say they're like Rolex, but they're like Rolex in that their innovations are constant but they still stay true to that conservative manufacturing aspect that they've always done over there. And the quality control is so good. Quality control is so good.

Jeff Hess: 49:42

It's such a relief to be involved with a brand that has so few problems. You know that's a big thing in the world of distribution. You have to constantly worry about watches that don't work or watches that have problems or, you know, warranty concerns and this brand has like zero. So it's a pleasure to promote because it's so unique. It's a pleasure to promote because of the family atmosphere. It's a pleasure to promote because you know they've been in Gloucestershire for 150 years. It's a pleasure to promote, it's a pleasure to wear, although I'm not wearing one today, which is really dumb I guess. But it's really a lot of fun, it's. It's an enjoyable watch.

Jeff Hess: 50:25

You know, we, we we've got some customers here locally who are maniacal, who come in. I mean, we have one guy literally who comes in and every time he buys a watch he'll bring it back and say I see a speck of dust on the floor Are you nuts? And we get it under a scope. We find a speck of dust under the floor. So one day, just for fun, we said all these brands that we carry and we're going to give you one of each and we want you to see. Put them all under your scope, do whatever you do at home to find these little specks of dust underneath the crystal. And bring us back to top five watches. And Mule was number three. The Watch Hunter original, oddly enough, was number one. Grand Seiko was number two. So that's how pure of heart they are over there and that's the kind of product that they make. So it's just a combination of what I said at the very beginning of the talk.

Blake Rea: 51:17

It's a combination of art and science. Something too is I. You know, obviously, when I sold, sold watch, I used to sell watches. I don't know how much you know about me as a person, but, um, I sold watches. I sold over 30 brands. You know I was, I, I know a lot about a lot of brands and, um, you know, I sold patek, I sold rolex, I had, you know, jlc, I mean every, every brand you'd think of where do you work right?

Blake Rea: 51:43

I worked here in las vegas and uh, and yeah, so I'll you know we could talk a little off stream. But, um, I worked here in las vegas at an authorized dealer and um, and anyways, you know it's the second I got hands on with the sar rescue timer, um, like I, I felt comfortable saying like, this is probably one, one of the more rugged watches I think I've ever handled, you know that watch is amazing.

Jeff Hess: 52:11

I don't know if you, if you'd all, think that crystal is but yeah.

Jeff Hess: 52:16

I can't remember the Caraway, but we we weighed the crystal once. It is one of the heaviest crystals in the business, you know, and it's made for really, really, really rugged rescue timekeeping, you know, and so many entities around the world have taken it as their official watch for whatever they're trying to do Snow rescue, water rescue, whatever. It's unfathomable. How many people have glommed onto it. I love it too. When Tilo made a limited edition in gold, I said I'll take five. He said no, no, we're not going to give any to America. And I had to literally jump up and down and scream like a baby Get my hands on one, get my hands on one, damn it, I own, I own the only the only 18 karat gold, uh, sar or rescue watch on the plant or in the united states of america. I should say I agree with you. It's funky looking, it's unconventional, it is what it is. It doesn't try to be anything more than it is, uh, but it's, it's, it's, it's a great tool. Watch, the thing is a tank.

Blake Rea: 53:25

That's what I called it. I called it, I said it's. I think in my youtube video I said is this? Well, I put in the caption, I was like this is a beast. But then in my, in my thumbnail put is this the most rugged watch ever built? Question mark. And then I posted on um on reddit. So we actually just dropped the video yesterday. Um, I'll be happy to send you the link if you haven't seen it already. I think I I sent it to uh, to dom here and he was checking it out and uh, anyways, um, I posted it on reddit and I posted on reddit you know the subreddit watches and I was like oh fuck, I'm gonna get shitted on here. You know, like for saying this.

Blake Rea: 54:02

And then everybody was like dude, mula, amazing. Like like great review. Like mula, yeah, hell yeah, like most underrated watch, like mula is killing it. And then somebody like really kind of twisted my brain and uh, and so they were like okay, if you had to choose between the mula sar rescue timer and the sin u50, what would you choose? And I was like I was like this is the only question. You should like this. What the hell are you doing? Like, why are you asking me this? But then I started thinking about it and and I think I'm happy where I sit with the with the Mula. You know, I really think so Because you're paying a lot more for the sin, for sure, and you're not getting the, the woodpecker neck regulation system, which is insane. And then I think Mula regulates their watches a little bit better.

Jeff Hess: 54:56

I think they do too. Sin's a sexy watch. There's a lot of appeal for Sin. I get it, I understand, but I think pound for pound. I think no doubt that the Mula is a lot more rugged, yeah, but I'm not sure, pound for pound, I think, uh, no doubt the mula is a lot more rugged.

Blake Rea: 55:14

Yeah, um, let's talk really quick quickly about master singers. So we, we already, you know um addressed why you resonate with with mula. But what, what is it about, master singer, that you're like hey, I have to carry this brand, we have to sell these.

Jeff Hess: 55:28

Like people need to know about these you know, I I met them, I think, at basel and um, it was another one of those things where you look at this you go, well, this is stupid, this isn't, this isn't gonna work. Who wants a one-handed watch? You know, it's really dumb and, um, I just kept looking at it and looking at it, I was mesmerized by it. It was unusual, it was unique, it was weird. The people that make it are fantastic. Manfred, the head guy, he's an artist. He is so not a watch guy. You meet these watch guys all of us, who are all full of bluster and you know promotion and you know my brand's the best, and blah, blah, blah. And Manfred is just like he's laid back. He's an artist. You know, all he cares about is his art. He is the most non high pressure watch guy that you've ever met. In fact, you sit down with him. You just forget he's a watch guy, he's an artist and uh, uh, that's what I like, that's what that's really. One of the reasons that I, that I took on to brand was because he's such a cool guy. So, um, interesting enough, um, we were having a big party at at, uh, at the Forbes headquarters in uh, new York for ball and I took the entire ball museum collection up there and, um, it was a big, big, big big to do. It was huge. And Forbes invited all their heavy hitter watch people to come to the, to the event there in Manhattan.

Jeff Hess: 57:14

And I'm used to people coming up and saying, hey, I've got an old ball watch or hey, I've got, I want to, I wanted to show you my cool ball watch. You know happens all the time and goes with the territory and I kind of enjoy it, quite frankly. And all of a sudden this young guy came running up to me and says, hey, I want to show you my watch, I want to show you my watch. And this is ball stuff all over this hall and we've got I literally brought in like a million dollars worth of that sounds crazy but of ball historical memorabilia and the entire ball watch family collection. And it was just ball, ball ball. And this guy runs up to me and says I want to you my watch, okay, cool. And he shows me guess what a meister singer. And I'm like, well, that's, you know, cool. I I appreciate it, but you know this is like a ball event and he just went nuts, went on and on and on and on about meister singer and uh, then a little bit later, I guess to impress me, I don't know but he comes up to, comes up to me and shows me that he was on the cover of Forbes magazine as the 30 under 30 or something, you know, the 30 most, whatever.

Jeff Hess: 58:20

But I realized then that that is a demographic that this appeals to. This doesn't appeal like the ball watch collector typically is a little bit of an older demographic because it's an older name. Now it's changing rapidly, but in the beginning it was a much older demographic. But Meistersinger has always appealed to a demographic probably 10, 15 years younger than almost any other brand that we carry in our store or that we distribute, and I think it's just because it's different. A lot of the younger guys want to wear something that nobody else wears. A lot of people want to wear something that confuses other people, and I don't know if you've ever seen our Benjamin Franklin watch, but that's a really confusing one. That's a really cool one. Have you ever seen the Benjamin Franklin watch yet? I?

Blake Rea: 59:08

don't think so.

Jeff Hess: 59:08

I don't think I have. We made a limited edition. Benjamin Franklin made a one-handed clock and we made a limited edition. That was an instant sellout, like five, six, seven, eight, nine years ago. I mean, just like snapping a finger it was gone and so we just made another one. I think we've got like 13 left. We had a limited edition of 75. I can't even explain it to you, but you know what. Anybody's watching this. Just go to YouTube, go somewhere and just look this thing up. Benjamin Franklin had quadrants. It's a one-hand watch, but you have to know pretty much, you have to realize that it's either morning, noon or night when you look at it. It's hard to explain, but it's so unusual and so weird. But the average buyer of this watch, this confusing-looking watch, is 37, which is pretty amazing.

Justin Summers: 1:00:02

I'm looking at it right now and it's very unique-looking.

Blake Rea: 1:00:05

Yeah, this is crazy, it's beautiful I'd buy that.

Jeff Hess: 1:00:14

You got me in the demographic. You know you, once you train your eyes on it and once you know and that's the cool thing about my singer in general, even even the the one hand 24 hour watch, um, but once you know, once you look at that, at that quadrant watch, and once you get it, you get it. You look down at the time and you know. Meister Singer says you know, live for the second, not the moment, or live for the moment, not the hour, or whatever it is. But you know, it's just a cool laid-back stylistic watch.

Jeff Hess: 1:00:45

Yeah they're pretty sweet-looking man.

Justin Summers: 1:00:47

I love how minimal, like you said, they're all very different and I feel like what appeals to a lot of the younger audience is their cases are very slim. I feel like they kind of have that Bauhaus kind of style to kind of go off of. But yeah, I mean they're just super unique, beautiful watches. I'm sorry.

Blake Rea: 1:01:08

I had never heard a Master singer until about two years ago. Obviously, my I'm I'm catching up and I'm learning a lot very quickly, but you know, I I was very fascinated with, you know, like I said, the bigger box brands and, um, and I was, I lived in istanbul for quite a while and um, and so every sunday I would go down down to there's a dealer there called Tefik Adan, right, and so they had two locations in Istanbul. One was at this mall called like Canyon Canyon I don't know how to pronounce it and they sold Master Singer, they sold Nomos, they sold Longines, they had a pretty good collection of brands. Anyways, they closed their Canyon store and so I went back to Istanbul and I was like I have to find this dealer. And so the way that the way that Istanbul is is like it's one of the obviously it's one of the largest cities in the world, but in every little corner of the city you have clusters, right, it's very unique. So like, let's just say, you want to go to watches, right, you go to this one little like district, this one little neighborhood is all the watch stores. Or if you want bikes, right, you want to go to bikes, you go to this other side of the city where it's all the bike stores.

Blake Rea: 1:02:19

But anyways, I walk into Teficadon and um, you know, obviously the first time I went to their boutique I was looking at nomos and I ended up getting a nomos for my birthday, um, and uh, and anyways, so I go in and I'm like, yeah, like I went to the other location, um, looking for your store, and they're like, oh yeah, we closed that location, the, you know, and it didn't do because of the rent and they're just jacking the rent up, right, and um, anyways, the owner sits, like I guess he comes down, you know, because I was like, hey, I'm wearing your nomo set, you know, like I bought from you, um sits down with me. And then I mean, same thing, like just had had coffee for for tea, or sorry, tea, for like two hours just talking about watches, I mean it's like that's the type of shit I live for, you know, yeah, you know getting all hopped up on turkish coffee is akin to getting uh hopped up on alcohol in america.

Jeff Hess: 1:03:13

I mean, you know what? You're sitting drinking coffee that turkish coffee with these guys, and I'm surprised they didn't uh have your wallet out within uh five minutes go ahead it.

Blake Rea: 1:03:26

I obviously was looking at getting getting piece because I would go back to Istanbul pretty much every birthday for a few years and yeah, I just I walked out and I just, yeah, I mean, I would go there pretty much on a weekly basis to talk to him and just kick it with him. And it just transcended buying a watch, weekly basis to talk to him and just kick it with him. And, um, it just transcended buying a watch. You know, when you really connect with somebody like you, just you care more about the relationship than you do, about, you know, being a customer, consumer to them. You know, and, um, and I, you know, I I do business with them still Right, but, um, but yeah, it's pretty hard.

Jeff Hess: 1:04:07

I envy you. I've never been to Turkey. I met the Turkish distributor from Meistersinger at one of the big confabs that they had in Münster in Germany, at the headquarters, and him and I hit it off and he's invited me over there several times. I haven't been there but I understand it's quite an amazing place, so I'm looking forward to going there someday.

Blake Rea: 1:04:29

So you take me to germany and I'll take you to istanbul perfect.

Blake Rea: 1:04:35

But while we're on, go ahead like I was just gonna kind of like say, like the craziest thing about istanbul is you can find anything anywhere. So just an example I had an old zenith, like there was a. There was a point in my life where I was like so bored with watch collecting I would buy like a. Like, you know, go on amazon and buy parts and try and like, you know, like make them, you know, restore them, and uh. And so I literally had this zenith watch and it was like um, it was like an old zenith, hand winding, you know, movement or whatever. El primero, primero movement. And I had the dial, I had the movement, everything was functioning, it was working.

Blake Rea: 1:05:16

But I couldn't find the case. So I went on Instagram and everybody does business. They don't even have websites really much in Istanbul. People just have Instagrams, right. So I went to the Grand Bazaar, I went to one of the biggest vintage watch dealers in Istanbul. Didn't have anything for me. And then he's like you need to reach this guy on WhatsApp. Reached out to this guy on WhatsApp and I was like here's the movement I have, here's the watch I'm trying to create. And he's like give me 24 hours. And I was like, all right, he's never going to talk to me again. 24 hours later, I have the case in my hand solid gold zenith and I have that watch in my collection so perfect there you go it full circle moment.

Blake Rea: 1:06:03

Full circle moment.

Justin Summers: 1:06:03

Sorry, justin I had to know you're fine. No, you, you had brought up germany and it kind of retract my brain. I was curious, jeff, what? What about stern glass, like resonates with you. I know we told you know I own a few of them. Um, I'm just curious. I want your take on them. I know we kind of touched on them a little bit but, uh, do you have any? What resonates with you?

Jeff Hess: 1:06:27

Well, my favorite watch is a Hamburg, without a doubt. Great choice. We got hooked up with them through Meistersinger. Meistersinger called me one day and said hey, there's this really cool brand. It kind of fits a niche with you guys. You guys don't have an entry-level brand. I believe they told me that the head fella at St uh stern glass used to work at meistersinger. If I'm not mistaken.

Blake Rea: 1:06:53

That's correct, dustin.

Jeff Hess: 1:06:54

Yeah, yeah, he used to work at meistersinger so we met the guys and the guys are really cool guys. They're um, they're uh energetic and they're uh really serious about what they do and they're fun and um. I also looked at this thing as a nice, not only just a niche that would fit somewhere in our little distribution network, but also, as I talked before, I knew that it would be a collector's watch and that's one of the neat things about it. One of the neat things about Ball when we had it, especially when we started off at $399 watches, which only lasted about two years, was that they became instantly collectible. People could afford to collect them. You know there's a guy in Houston, texas, who has one of everything that's ever come out and I knew that that would be a possibility with Stern Glass. And we are seeing that Stern Glass is an instantly collectible watch. People are buying them to collect them and it's uh, it's so weird. You know there's there's a watch for everybody. You know they go from, I think you know, 29 millimeters to 42, 43 millimeters. They have ultra thin watches, automatics. They're not afraid to use a good quality quartz movement. They're not afraid to try unusual things. Also, they promised me that we could be doing some private label watches here in the U? S.

Jeff Hess: 1:08:23

So we've been working with a lot of big big companies to to bring a dual branded watch, if you will. You know, for bigger companies. A lot of companies want to buy watches for their employees With Ball. We used to sell Procter Gamble every year every Christmas. We'd sell them 40 or 50 watches for their executives. But some of these watches are just too expensive to do that with, you know. So you're stuck with either buying a you know $25, $35 quartz watch for a thousand employees, or you could actually afford $199 watch. You know that looks. I mean, I think you'll agree, justin, that doesn't look like their entry-level watches. Don't look like entry-level watches, dude, they're killer.

Justin Summers: 1:09:11

Yeah, the finishing I mean they are almost perfect, like to the eye. Like I look at this thing and I'm like it's really impressive Just everything that they put into them. Yeah, I agree, the manufacturing process is just awesome. I like that. You mentioned that they're very energetic.

Justin Summers: 1:09:27

I told Blake, you know I've kind of went down that rabbit hole of micro brands a few years back and from day one, stern Glass, I mean they just they peaked in my brain. I was like what is it about them? And it was the energy, it was a lot of the face of their brand. You know, Dustin, you know you go on their website and they look like they're all young, they're ambitious, they look very genuine and that's kind of what brought me to them. And then I found out on the backside after, you know, purchasing a couple of these watches. I'm like man, these things are really nicely made, they're very unique and you know they they do exactly what they should. You know they're very minimal, they're Bauhaus designed and so, yeah, it's it's it kind of speaks volumes to hear that come from you. You know who, of course, deals with them a lot. Yeah, I've enjoyed them.

Jeff Hess: 1:10:13

It's back to the quality, and I like the fact that they because I'm a big guy, I like the fact that they wear larger than they are. I mean, they have that little 39 millimeter one that looks almost too big on my wrist. It's like magic. So, if you put it all together the collectible aspect, you know, as a merchant, I like to be able to sell a lot of watches to a lot of people, so it's not unusual for a guy to have 15 or 20 stern glass watches, believe it or not. Also, they make watches for every man, as you know. They make rugged watches, they make cool watches for ladies, that make fantastic women's watches, really, but they pretty much don't leave any stone unturned, if you will. And it's it's just a really. You know, it's just a really. It's a fun brand.

Blake Rea: 1:10:59

Definitely. Something I've noticed too is, like you know, when we were trying to get Stern glass on our podcast, like we were, we were we were trying to break through right. You know you, we were, we were trying to break through right. You know you have to get through to the decision makers to to make this happen right. And so I think we were trying for maybe I don't know, was it like a few weeks or so, maybe justin to to be able to like get a hold of somebody like in leadership. I was like, hey, like let me take a look at your podcast, let me see what you guys are doing. And then, um, then we had a few like dialogues back and forth with dust, which was the founder that used to work at Stern Glass, and then he was like, hey, let me put you back in touch with, because what's really cool about Watches and our podcast is not only are we a Watch podcast, but we are also a creative podcast.

Blake Rea: 1:11:45

We talk a lot about entrepreneurial ventures, and that's what our audience has come to, come to expect from us. But you know, so we talked a lot about the creative development. You know the design like being, you know, constrained by bow house and and you know the you know 1920s art movement that you know it follows form, follows function, um, and you know, obviously, like we have a lot of brands and we deal with a lot of brands, but after the podcast, you know, after we stop recording the podcast, like it's like you know, they'll reach out to us. You know, obviously, like we have a lot of brands and we deal with a lot of brands, but after the podcast, you know, after we stop recording the podcast, like it's like you know they'll reach out to us, you know, once a month or whatever.

Blake Rea: 1:12:15

But Stern Glass is a brand that is so collaborative, like we have a Stern Glass chat where it's just me, justin, and the Stern Glass like leadership team, where we're like, you know, like wrist pictures in like pretty regularly and and you know we're talking about, you know where, what they're working on and where they're heading and like it's it's very refreshing, you know. And so they went from, you know, just a brand that we were going to have on our podcast to actually being like a fully fledged partner of ours. That you know we're looking forward to getting some hands on some, you know, some more prototypes. You know, um, that we're looking forward to getting some hands on some more prototypes and helping them to develop further the brand.

Jeff Hess: 1:12:59

I was talking about Manfred Brassler before at Meistersinger and what a calming influence he was as compared to other watch executives. But these guys at Stunglass are kind of the same. It's kind of the same mentality, a little laid back back. They're energetic but they're still laid back. You know they're go-getters but they're still cool. You know they're just like.

Blake Rea: 1:13:17

They're just like really a perfect mix, neat people, you know something that they've done, done really well, is like you know, you get, you get a lot of people that are new to collecting and they're they're're scared to buy their first watch. I'm not sure, maybe if you know that that moment was probably a really long time ago for you, but I'm sure you probably know the, the, the, the sensation I'm talking about, and I talked to a lot of collect, I talked to a lot of collectors and I have a watch, a watch club here in Vegas. We've got over a hundred members and um, and anyways, I get people that reach out to me on on Instagram that are like you know, what should I do? Like I, I love watches. I don't know where I should spend my money. You know, I don't know what I should buy. And then they're like oh, I have one watch. Like I don't even know if I could join your club because I don't have, I'm not a watch collector. You know I'm like dude, if you love, come eat food with us, come meet the crew, like you're a family member.

Blake Rea: 1:14:12

But something that I've noticed particularly well with stern glass is exactly what justin emphasized is you know that you feel like a part of their family before you even buy a watch, and it's because of dustin and his approach to to putting his name out there. Like you know who you can talk to, like you know a lot of these brands, they don't do that, they don't put a face behind their product. They're just say, hey, here's the product, like buy it, but but. But stern glass does that because he talks about some of the challenges. And then they got caught up like right in the right in the moment, in the dot-com boom, where they were like here's the product. Like you know they, they capitalized on their marketing and a lot of people feel really comfortable buying a stern glass, you know, like online, without even seeing a watch. And the fact is, now that you're bringing them to America and you're helping them, you know, get more doors. Like you know, you're just bridging that. You're just, you know, shrinking, shrinking that gap to consumer. You know which is crazy.

Jeff Hess: 1:15:06

I think there's a lot of growth left in that brand. I think there's. I think there's a lot of growth left in that brand. I think there's a lot of good things coming in the future and I hope, as they get bigger and bigger, they still have that kind of wholesome down home value, if you will, that they have today and I kind of think they'll be able to keep it.

Blake Rea: 1:15:28

I'm curious, and we've talked a little bit about the future here. But you know, obviously let's talk about the future of duber time, right? You know, obviously you guys have a pretty pretty cool portfolio now, but are there any brands out there that you know on or off the record? You know, if you could just say, hey, look like let's, we'll talk about this later, but, um, but is there anything that you're hoping to accomplish for duber time? Like, are there any brands that you're hoping to bring out to your you?

Jeff Hess: 1:15:55

know it's, it's it's hit or miss. You know, sometimes things appeal to me and we go after them and it doesn't work out so well. You know, uh, you're talking about panerai and uh, we had an opportunity to distribute anonymous and I what a cool brand. I absolutely want to do that. I just I failed at that miserably. I just couldn't resurrect it. I couldn't do what I was supposed to do. So I'm a little hesitant to tell you who, but we've been working with a couple of mid-level Swiss brands, one German brand that I really want, that they've been kind of hot and cold with us and there's, there's, there are several others that we that we'd like to do.

Jeff Hess: 1:16:39

We have kind of a little our own little you know little mini infrastructure. You know, like you know, we're microscopic in the world of distributors, but you know we've had a good relationship with 200 doors with Ball. Of those doors we've got like 50 to 60 of them that carry one of the other brands and we keep in touch with all of them because I buy all this vintage stuff from them as well. You know I buy a lot of vintage watches from these guys. So it's a very symbiotic relationship in that respect. So yes, our little network, I think, could well afford to have another two or three brands.

Jeff Hess: 1:17:18

I don't want to get too big because it's just too confusing, but we've got a great relationship with a lot of bloggers. We've got a great relationship with the magazines. We've got a great relationship with the magazines. We've got a great relationship with the guys who write for a living and you know we can't just say, hey, write about this and have them do it. There has to be something of substance. But our little portfolio, if I can use that ridiculous word, needs to grow a little bit. Yeah, I'd like to get another two or three brands under our belt and again, as you said earlier, I can talk to you offline about these. I don't want to sully the situation you know.

Blake Rea: 1:17:55

No, no, I mean we'll take what we can get right. I mean we need something our listeners to be excited for. So I'm already excited. So you know, obviously we need to keep them on edge, right. But let's wrap up with one final question. So we're getting here to the end of our time together. What does the next decade and you? You obviously talked very briefly a little bit, but what does the next decade look like for duber time, and what do you hope to accomplish in the future?

Blake Rea: 1:18:22

I'm sure you've got some milestones that maybe you'd like to share and then we can revisit these in the future and make sure you're on point.

Jeff Hess: 1:18:38

Listen, I have you know, with Meistersinger there's no big, huge goal, Because it's just a brand that is a little bit niche-oriented. You know, when you go to Europe and you go to a Patek Philippe dealer or a Rolex dealer, quite often you'll see Meister Singer right there in the mix. You know it hasn't really reached the level of luxury that it should here in the US, and I do want to achieve that. Excluding other brands that we may get in the future is to make people understand what we've kind of been saying. Add into an item throughout this entire little thing and you've mentioned a couple of times as well is that Mule of Goashita is the best kept secret in the world of horology right now. It's mid, mid priced, but it's entry levellevel, mid-price and what you get, the bang for your buck, is truly extraordinary. And I think I kind of sound like a huckster when I say that, but I firmly believe it, and so that's my goal. I want to see Mule Glacier to have its place at the table with some of the bigger luxury brands.

Blake Rea: 1:19:50

I have no skin in the game per se, but I have my sights set on mula as well, and uh, and and yeah, you know, if there's there's brands out there, you know that's the cool thing, right, like with us in our outlet, like we talk about what we want to talk about. You, you know, like we don't sell watches. You look at, you look at a lot of channels out there, outlets that that sell watches. I'll, I'll leave that to you, jeff, jeff, like I just want to talk about them. You know, I just want to share my insight, I want to share my opinion. I'll leave that to you. But Mule is a brand that I really, really, really want to see do more and if I have any say in it, I mean it's a brand that I am going to, I'm going to talk about. I mean, obviously I've already made some content on them, um, so people know this already, but it's a brand that I really feel comfortable talking about, you know, and um, I'm with you a hundred.

Jeff Hess: 1:20:51

I just love it Absolutely. I'm just as enamored by a lot of these brands as you are. I had an opportunity to take on distribution about six years ago seven years ago of a pretty well-known brand. I didn't do it because I didn't like it Economically. It was a really stupid thing for me to pass up, but I only wanted to distribute brands that I really really enjoy. You know, I love Ball. It was fantastic. All the brands that I have in my stores. I love all these brands that I have in my stores. If I don't like it, I don't want it. So I share that enthusiasm that you have. I want to talk about watches. I want to believe in the watches that I sell, whether it's in my store or my distribution network. I want to be, I want to be free to talk about the watches I. That's one of the reasons why I like you guys and like, like what you guys do, because the exuberance is uh, uh. It seems genuine with you guys. It really is.

Blake Rea: 1:21:50

It really is. And, like you know, we we have like. So, like, before I publish, like I have a pretty high and Justin also, we have a pretty high sense of of journalistic integrity. So, like, when I was doing a video, I did a speed master versus IWC pilots chronograph and I got a lot of heat for that one. You know, oh, why IWC pilots chronograph and I got a lot of heat for that one. You know, oh, why would you dare compel our speed master to this IWC?

Blake Rea: 1:22:16

And I was like you know, a lot of people under ten thousand dollars are considering this every day, whether you believe it or not, you know, and, um, in any ways. So, like I remember, it took me, first of all, it took me months to acquire the footage and it took me weeks of fact checking, because I literally went through and I was like, okay, like you know, iwc, on the new chronograph, they don't talk about any anti-magnetic properties, they don't talk about any chronometer certifications. You know they're not. They're not talking about the same shit that that omega is. So there I am, you know, trying to get some. Get somebody iwc, like hey, like here, like here's what I need you to answer these questions for me before, before I publish, like I want to make sure I'm accurate. So you know, we have a pretty, pretty high sense of journalistic integrity, I think and and yeah, you know that that's what shows, right. You know we're not, we're not incentivized because we don't sell watches you know we have.

Jeff Hess: 1:23:02

You're absolutely right. That's very refreshing what you're talking about, because quite often you'll see, you know, when all the magazines you know control the narrative, uh, the paper magazines, you know, 20 years ago, when they controlled the narrative, you'd reach, you'd reach some article and you could see that it was clearly quasi plagiarized from, uh, from some, uh, some watch factories, uh, pamphlets, you know it was it was, it was just, it was superficial. You know, and what you do is the way it's supposed to be done. You know, watch people like to use, to like to make a sport of the word watch journalism integrity, because in some, in some corners, there wasn't a lot, if you will. Well, bless you for the way you're doing it. I appreciate that.

Blake Rea: 1:23:56

Thank you. We we had, we had a crossroads moment, like Justin and I. We were, you know, um working on an article and um, and you know, there there was a watch brand I'm not going to say who, obviously, but you know they know they're out there putting their face out there and they're promoting their watches, but they're not selling their watches you know, and you know they have a huge backorder of people trying to buy their watches.

Blake Rea: 1:24:22

And so we put together an article and we published it and people were like how come you didn't include this brand? And I'm like I want to talk about watches people can buy. Like I don't want to talk about putting you on the wait list for another damn watch, like I want to talk about watches you can buy right now. You don't have to play those stupid ass games, and that was the reason and we got a lot of heat for that. But at the end of the day, like we are here to talk about watches that people can buy, people have access to people, you know, and and that's something that we also consider right like accessibility, like you know, we try, and you know, broaden. Like we talk about cheap watches, we talk about expensive watches, like a lot of the watches.

Blake Rea: 1:24:58

I have over over 100 watches, you know, in my collection, so I could literally do content for the next 100 years about just my watch collection, you know. Um, but here we are venturing out, right, and and that's just fun for us. So so, yeah, we hope to keep doing this. You know this has been a social experiment. I think that's probably the best way to describe it for about a year now, um and and yeah, yeah, we've had, we've had some success, so so, h, G.

Jeff Hess: 1:25:29

I like that Horological, stupid ass games. I think you've uh.

Blake Rea: 1:25:37

I need to write that down. H, s, a, g.

Justin Summers: 1:25:41

We're stamping copyright on that.

Jeff Hess: 1:25:43

I've been in the business a long time and I have to tell you there's occasionally you run into a stupid-ass game here and there.

Blake Rea: 1:25:51

Yeah, well, let's leave it there After no more stupid-ass games. Everybody, thank you so much for tuning in. If you've made it this far. An hour and 26 minutes on the dot with Mr Jeff Hess from Doober Time.

Blake Rea: 1:26:08

Jeff, thank you so much for spending time with us and we always at the end, we always at the end, like to say and ask this final question but we covered a lot and is there anything that you would like to say directly? Um, maybe we didn't cover. You have essentially the platform. Our platform is yours to say.

Jeff Hess: 1:26:30

Want to say one thing, two things, whatever I have nothing important to say, nothing at all, except that the basis of all my business, everything I do, all 42 of my employees, it's all based on the love of horology, and I think that's what's made me a success in life and I obviously think that's making you a success. So that's what it's all a success in life, and I obviously think that's making you a success. So that's what it's all about. It's about the science of horology.

Blake Rea: 1:26:55

We will take that.

Justin Summers: 1:26:56

Very well, all right.

Blake Rea: 1:26:58

All right, guys, let's finish up here. Jeff, please hang on. We're just going to go ahead and stop the recording and we will see you guys on another episode. And don't forget never have.