Lonely Wrist: All Things Watches & Horology
Lonely Wrist dives deep into the intricate world of watches, unearthing the stories, craft, and passion behind every ticking piece. From timeless classics to modern marvels, this podcast winds through the history, mechanics, and cultural significance of timepieces. Whether you're an avid horologist or just someone who admires the beauty of a well-crafted watch, Lonely Wrist offers a unique perspective, uniting enthusiasts and curious minds. Join us every episode as we explore the art of watchmaking, discuss the latest trends, and interview watch industry experts, all while appreciating the silent yet profound voice of every watch's lonely wrist.
Lonely Wrist: All Things Watches & Horology
Baltic's Etienne Malec on the Birth and Vision of a Modern Vintage Watch Brand
Etienne Malec had a life-changing moment at 16 when he stumbled upon his late father's watch collection, igniting a passion for horology that would shape his future. Join us as Etienne recounts his remarkable journey from that emotional discovery to the creation of Baltic Watches. Hear how his father's collection of iconic timepieces from brands like Omega and Zenith inspired a lifelong love for vintage aesthetics, leading to a unique blend of old-world charm and modern practicality in Baltic's designs.
Discover the intricate process of creating Baltic's vintage-inspired timepieces and maintaining a consistent design language. Etienne reveals the challenges and successes of staying true to Baltic's vision while navigating market trends and evolving consumer preferences. Learn about the strategic innovation behind the Prismic collection, which allows Baltic to test new design elements without diverging from their core identity. We also draw parallels with industry giants like Rolex and Porsche, discussing the importance of brand coherence and the pitfalls of frequent changes in leadership and strategy.
Etienne shares exciting future plans, including the opening of a new showroom in New York and the launch of the unique MicroRotor Roulette dial. Get an insider's look at the entrepreneurial hurdles Baltic has faced, from production issues to maintaining visibility, and the relentless effort required to keep the brand dynamic and innovative. This episode is a treasure trove for watch enthusiasts and budding entrepreneurs alike, offering a compelling mix of personal anecdotes, industry insights, and a glimpse into the future of Baltic Watches.
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Welcome to another episode of Lonely Wrist. Today a very special guest, etienne Malik from Baltic. Welcome, brother.
Etienne Malec:Hello guys, Thanks for having me on the podcast.
Blake Rea:Yeah, it's been a hard, long time of pursuing you Finally having some availability, and I know how busy you are and I appreciate you, uh, you coming on, of course. So, uh, glad, glad that we can make it work yeah, definitely.
Etienne Malec:You know, like usually the the first half of the year is for us, often the the less busy one, and this year it's the way around. So, yeah, that was uh quite hectic and now it's it's becoming a little bit. A little bit you know better in terms of uh being available. So uh looking forward to do something like this, yeah yeah, I'm glad you can finally breathe.
Blake Rea:Um. So for everybody that doesn't know, uh, etienne is the founder of baltic watches, which we all know, we all love. Uh question is what inspired you to start start baltic and what was the initial vision behind baltic watches?
Etienne Malec:yeah, so the uh. I started the brand with two partners, uh, about seven years ago a little bit more than seven years ago now, um, so basically we were already having a entrepreneurship project together, uh, on another business with which was uh glasses, the one I wear now and I've always been into watches since I was 15, 16 years old because my father was a collector Unfortunately he passed away when I was five and he was always interested in several different things, in several different things cars, vintage cars, camera, because he was a photographer and watches and unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to know him well because five years old, is pretty young. Know him well because five years old is pretty young, so between five and 16 years old. You know I knew that I had this collection into a suitcase that was just hidden somewhere in my parents' house, but I never had, you know, the maturity to open that suitcase. And I mean I've done it, but without you know, like the knowledge, and without really understanding you know what was happening. There felt that need to you know, go and check deeper into that, that suitcase, to to check what it is. Why you've done that. What was the watches? Because my mother used to talk about it. You know, like, one day you'll be, you know, grown up enough to check them out and take care of them.
Etienne Malec:And yeah, at 16, you know, I went into the suitcase and I checked, you know, every watches without any knowledge. So I was like, okay, so I'm going to take that one. What is that one? It's Omega Spin Master. So I don't know what it is. You know, I don't know what is an Omega Spin Master, so I don't know what it is. I don't know what is an Omega Spin Master, so I'm going to Google it. And when you Google it, you see that actually that proper watch has been on the moon. So you take that first story like, wow, that really went on the moon, it's insane. And I was okay. So let's take another one, navitimer El Primero, and I was, you know, checking them, all of them to, you know, really understand them, learn about the history of each species.
Etienne Malec:And yeah, that's the way you know I put my feet into into uh watches, um, and after that, you know, I I always had the uh personality of a collector. I was always kind of obsessed, let's say, you know, by things uh I was passionate about, you know, like bicycles, uh, before, uh, planes, uh, you know, as usual, kids, cars as well, a lot of cars, uh. So discovering all the watches was, uh, you know, very um. It was an opportunity for me to go deep into the knowledge of my father and also to answer, give an answer to that need of you know, the collection, um. So, uh, at that time I was uh talking a lot on um forums and board, you know like on um, on the web, because that was kind of the only way to find information on the pieces. So we have one pretty well-known in France which is called Forum à Montre, and I was also, you know, reading the English one as well, time Zone, for example, the Purist, for example, as well.
Etienne Malec:And I did, you know like, connect with other collectors when I was maybe 18. And at that time, you know like, it was very interesting for me to connect with them because they had the knowledge as well. They had other pieces that I never actually, you know, seen before, just only on pictures, and I started to do some gathering in Paris. I'm not from Paris initially, I'm from a very, very small town in Normandy, but I was going to Paris with my collection to just sharing experiences, and after that I went abroad for studies for four years. Um, I put a little bit all of that aside because it was taking me a lot of time. Um and uh, it's, it's. It was not, you know, like, studying and doing that passion uh in the same time was not easy actually. So I've put the watches away a little bit for my studies and when I came back in France, we've done that business first and the watches thing came back. It never actually, you know, went away, but it was always somewhere into my mind and we've done the first brand and after three years doing glasses with Spalding Clément, I was okay. So, guys, I think I have some knowledge at least much more than into glasses to do something cool with watches.
Etienne Malec:I always got some ideas. I've done a lot of photography as well, because on the forums and on all those web platforms, the best way to communicate about the watches you have in your collection is to take pictures of them. Uh, and because of my father uh was a photographer as well. You know, I I was really keen to, you know, like uh, to learn about photography and uh, so I was doing a lot of photography. So I was actually, you know, like handling photoshop a little bit, um, and prior to, uh, to keep them, give them the idea to, to do, uh, belt watches. I mean, what is belt watches today?
Etienne Malec:Uh, I've done some design. You know, on my side you, you know, just uh, you know, on the evening you are alone in your computer and I was, you know, trying, trying to do some renders at the end, and I was really obsessed with the step case at that moment, like you know, the Longines 13ZN and all those step case watches that I found really interesting in terms of design watch, step case watches that I found really interesting in terms of design, uh, and I actually uh, I actually told to paul and clement let's, let's do a prototype of that one day. You know like it could be interesting, uh, and I knew that at that time, you know, kickstarter was starting to be quite, quite, quite big, actually for watches as well. So that was 2015 or late, 15, early 16, something like this. And they were like, okay, so let's, let's try to do a prototype, and if the prototypes are good, you know we can, you know we can do a Kickstarter. It's okay, okay. So I worked the prototype. I found some supplier that I actually found from other watch brand because they used to have a contact in another watch brand. That helped me a lot on that and we've done the first prototype. That was the bike compacts. I received the prototype, I think four or five months later and I was amazed, you know, by the result and I was okay. So, if you know, at that time I had 500 euros to put in a watch, I would definitely, you know, definitely buy that one at least and I was like, okay, so if I'm interested to buy that one now, I might not be the only one to be interested in. So I worked a lot.
Etienne Malec:The Kickstarter campaign.
Etienne Malec:I went to US for talking about the watch that I the watches prototype that I had in hands at the time.
Etienne Malec:I've done some collector meetings in france, all over in nantes, marseille, paris.
Etienne Malec:You know I was really keen to show the watches in real. We had an office at that time and I was an office at that time and I was uh. We opened um, um, an appointment platform on which you, you could actually take an appointment uh yourself. You know we we didn't have to propose the appointments and from January uh 2017 to uh April, until April, I've done 250 appointments showing the watches to French people and also to a lot of people from abroad. A lot of people from US came to do some tourism in France, but they were passing by the office just to check the watches before the Kickstarter. You know, do some tourism in France, but they were passing by the office, you know, just to check the watches before the Kickstarter. And you know I was amazed by that. And on April 2017, april 12th, I think we've launched the Kickstarter campaign and in one month a little bit less we've done 1,200 watches. We sold 1,200 watches and I think we've done two thirds of that the first day. So that was the first day.
Justin Summers:That's pretty awesome man. We appreciate all the in-depth history. I love that. Uh, love that. You started your you know your your passion from your father's you know collection. Already it sounds like he had a really nice collection going on, which is really cool yeah that was a pretty good collection?
Blake Rea:yeah, definitely dad was a chronograph guy.
Justin Summers:It sounds like yes, that's awesome, man sounds like we. Yes, that's awesome man. Sounds like we all share a lot of the same passions too. Your dad sounds like he was a very cool guy.
Etienne Malec:Yeah, I guess. So you know, like, on that collection there were maybe 100 watches and maybe half of them was free market watches, you know, and maybe half of them was free market watches, you know, and the rest of them were much more. It's, I mean, I don't want to be posh to say that, but interest, you know, watches of interest, let's say Navitimers, el Primero, zenith, zen zenith, other omega chronographs, some divers, um, um, you know, a lot of different, uh, military watches as well, uh, no, so pretty cool. And you know, like, in my um, you know, I would rather, uh prefer to have my dad today, of course, but in that event, you know, like, I think what he gave us, uh gave me the opportunity to make something with it and to make him proud.
Blake Rea:so, yeah, that was very important for me yeah, it sounds like you're you're remembering him and learning about him and and because it's obviously you were young when he when he passed away, unfortunately. Yeah, um, so it sounds like you're discovering him as an adult through his watch collection, which is is super cool yeah absolutely and ironically.
Blake Rea:Um, I was in switzerland in in January and I was working on like five or six or maybe seven different video projects and you brought up Zenith, and so I was sitting down with the chief product officer for Zenith for a YouTube video and he actually I was wearing one of your watches and he called me out for wearing one of your watches.
Etienne Malec:Romain.
Blake Rea:Marietta, yeah, you know him, he is, yeah, small world. He told me that he was a huge fan of Baltic and I was like, yeah, you know me too, yeah, we did like a 45-minute interview with him and it's on YouTube. Unfortunately, it hasn't gotten as much attention as I would like, but you know how it is. Sometimes you have these epic plans and you drop it and you're like, oh, okay, whatever.
Etienne Malec:You never know. Actually it's always.
Justin Summers:It can be quite surprising every time that's, yeah, that's why you like living in vegas blake, because you like to gamble, gambling, gambling with the outcome not money, but gambling with the outcome. Yes, all right, I'll keep us moving, guys. Um so etienne uhic Watches is known for its vintage inspired designs. Can you tell us more about the design process and how you choose you know kind of which elements to incorporate?
Etienne Malec:Yeah. So you know, to put some perspective, I think. So we've done the brand in 2017 and I think the the vintage inspired thing, let's say uh was kind of new at that time. Of course, you know they always has been some vintage inspired watches, uh, in 2010, 2007, even, you know but at that time that was kind of something that you not used to see everywhere. Now it's becoming not a trend but it's becoming the norm kind of. It's kind of the you know the thing you see kind of everywhere, of everywhere.
Etienne Malec:So at that time, you know, the, the the idea was to bring the vintage aesthetic codes into modern watches, but with some tweaks that actually makes the vintage watches that better but that give them a soul that you don't actually get in modern watches, because at that time modern watches were big. Today the standard goes a little bit under. Maybe I don't know, I don't have the technical data for every watches, but I guess you know like 39 can be something seen as normal today. That was very small for a watch, maybe 10 years ago, you know, because at that time, 10 years ago, watches were much, much bigger. Watches were much, much bigger. And when we've done the Kickstarter in 2017, the first design was a chronograph 38 millimeter, and at that time that was not very common. And after that, you know, the idea actually stayed the same.
Etienne Malec:We wanted to bring some vintage tweak to use, you know, as a light glass to feel that warmness, you know, into the face of the watch. We wanted to do small sizes. We wanted to have slim watches, not always using automatic, you know, for chronograph, for example, to make them slimmer than what they would be in automatic, for example. We wanted to bring some really to mix the vintage feeling you can have and the practicality of a modern watch which is not a at all a revolutionary, you know, vision, but still at that time, you know, it was not that common. Uh, and since, since, you know, then we didn't really change our way to do things. We still want to do slim and small watches. We didn't change anything on that. We want to add that feeling as well. But more practicality Bring a little bit more modern stuff as well, because we would like to remain open to what is new.
Etienne Malec:Today we would like to offer something that we didn't offer five years ago. So we are constantly searching for something new, but still in the same kind of package, in the same kind of package, and all of that. We need to offer that package of a watch that gives you that vintage feeling but that can be usable today, that you don't fear to use, because I started when I was 15, so that was almost 20 years ago now, 18 years ago now because I'm 34. And you know, the prices have been really different today than 10, 15 years ago. And today people tend to have a little bit, at least in Europe, you know people tend to be afraid of, you know, wearing a Rolex or something into a town like Paris, for example, and also because of the risk it can bring, you know, being robbed by someone, but also because of the too much money that involves that Rolex, for example. And people want to have a cool watch, not that expensive, that can be used, that you can make memories with it, without just asking yourself too many questions wearing a watch.
Etienne Malec:So this is the principle of Baltic watches and I think we didn't change anything on that. We just try to bring down some things that are a little bit different. We are working on complications that we didn't have before. We are working on material that we didn't have before. We are working on material that we didn't use before as well. We have some different kind of watches now. So we have divers that we've done a second time after the bike compacts, so we still have a really wide collection of diving watches. We have, you know, like dress watch. We have chronographs, like sports chronographs, on which we we are working now.
Etienne Malec:So we try to, you know, have those different subjects, because I always been convinced by the fact that when you are a collector, there is different subjects on which you're focusing, you know like, in different timing.
Etienne Malec:You know, like, at the beginning you're much, much more interested in chronograph, for example, and after chronograph, you know you've gathered some knowledge and you are okay, so chronograph are cool, but now I want to get into the military watches. So I'm gonna, you know, gather knowledge and military watches and one day you're like, okay, but military watches, they are cool, but I'm kind into cars as well. So what about, like, cars related watches? Because I found this very cool and you go deep into that subject and you know there is a kind of a path, you know like, in between those different kind of subjects, and something that we are, something that we are really working on, is to be able to have different kind of subject and to answer to them basically. So this is actually why we have different kind of watches, but we try to have the same DNA in between them, even though they are different.
Blake Rea:That was actually going to be. My next question was to talk about some of the values and and design philosophies, but it sounds like you kind of already hit that. But something when you look at the entire baltic portfolio, like you have this um, unmistakable, like dna, that people automatically know. I mean, it's definitely not the case shape, but I don't know if it's the design language or what, but you could tell a Baltic from mostly any other watch. So how do you incorporate those little design touches and those little Easter eggs into the development of new timepieces?
Etienne Malec:the development of new timepieces. I think that the first design we've done was, I think, pretty right, for I mean, I don't speak about being better than others, but the first design was pretty right for us. We were convinced that that was something that I wanted to do and the results of the thing I had in mind and the result was very close. The thing that didn't change is that I'm still sure today about the same shape, kind of the same proportion, the same formula. You know the formula is still working today as it was working seven years ago for me, and on that formula, you know, we didn't change that much. Actually we, you know, we've put that. You know minor differences on that collection and on that collection we're going to do you know another kind of difference, but it's always kind of the same. You know red line, kind of um, and I think you know there is that word that I cannot say in English and I'm the worst of it it's being coherent. It's very much an obsession for me to be able to point that coherency between collection. This is actually why, as well, there is a sort of language that you can find in between different collection and we're going to try to be always on that point, but that was until now because you know, like, during those seven years the case design has not changed much, uh, and in the future, in the future, it's not going to change much as well. Uh, we're going to still use that because I think it's it's very, very important to keep that Uh, but we've done the Prismic uh this year, and that was the first time, the first collection and the first model on which we've done kind of, you know, a sidewalk, kind of.
Etienne Malec:You know we've done something a little bit parallel, you know something a little bit different, something aside kind of, because we wanted to also be able to test something a bit out of our box. At least I don't know if it's out of the box in general, but it's out of ours kind of, even though there is some link, of course, but still, it's not the same language 100%. It's still a little bit different and I feel we've succeeded in that way to do something that is our language but it's different is, um, that is our language but it's different uh, although you know like it can be, uh, shocking not shocking because it's maybe a strong word for that but it can be seen as very different, as we've done before on that collection. But for us that one's going to be kind of an opening. You know, like um, you know, when you do the tessus, there is a subject introduction and then you are explaining a lot of things, there is a conclusion and there is always an opening at the end and it's a little bit like this.
Etienne Malec:So the prismic was kind of just a little get out of the coherence thing and we're going to exploit that quite a lot actually because it's going to be a subject soon. So, yeah, I think it's very important to stay in your DNA, but it's always important to challenge a bit that sometimes when you have the occasion, when it's the right timing as well. Seven years was kind of the right timing for us, I think, and we're going to continue to exploit that. And, of course, you know, keep the rest as it is now, you know, because it's very much our DNA now. So we don't want to drop, you know, the rest and what we've done until today for a new language. We're going to keep it that way and do something apart. You know kind of, but it's yeah, it's very cool.
Justin Summers:It's, it's very smart that you guys released the prismic. How you did, uh, you know, in the fashion, uh, essentially kind of what you did is you took the baltic dna, which is what we've all you know kind of described. As you know, we can look at your watches and tell it's a baltic, you know, without even seeing the name. Um, but you, you took that DNA and you translated it into something that was just a little bit off of a beaten path of what you guys normally do. But you're warming your audience up to that, so you're not making such a large jump that you're. You're losing, you know, the your customers or something for this model. You're essentially kind of segueing into something a little bit different for maybe a future release or something.
Justin Summers:Yeah, absolutely, there's definitely a lot of psychology and marketing and stuff that goes into it. I think it was a smart move and I think it's a beautiful watch. I love the indices. It's something that you guys have never done and I'm sure if you get those things in hand, it probably catches light and all the different ways and stuff. So, yeah, it's very nice.
Etienne Malec:Yeah definitely no, it was. You're completely right about that. You know we are trying to wire them a little bit. That because you know the prison, the first prismic campaign, pre-order campaign was on a first design and on that designing, you know we're gonna. We're gonna try things that we would not have tried otherwise on other watches until now. So, uh, it's, it's gonna be a little bit like a laboratory. You know like it's gonna be a test, uh, and you know like there is one thing on which it's very important to uh keep the the energy on that.
Etienne Malec:We do our design kind of selfishly. As I told you before, if one watch is actually satisfying for us, there is a great chance that actually it's going to be satisfying for other people because we share. We share a culture that is common. You know, kind of we have our own taste and stuff, of course, but we still share the same culture of watches. If the culture of watch that you know like I have now pushes me to do a design, I guess you know there is they're going to be other people that are that have the same sensibility to design.
Etienne Malec:So basically, you know, to keep that strong, we need to have fun making the watches. We need to be satisfied by what we do, to let us have the chance to satisfy other people of a design, and so we never actually released the watch that we were I mean, of course I won't say the, I cannot tell you that differently but we never actually released the watch on which we were, you know, like not very satisfied. Or we were like, okay, um, you know, I've read comments and they all want that stuff. So, uh, I don't like that, but I'm going to do it because everyone wants it. So let's do it. Uh, you know, for example, um, we have here a prototype, I don't remember the term in.
Etienne Malec:English, sorry, but we have kind of a place on which we put all the prototypes since the beginning and in 2018, we've done a watch that is integrated bracelet and I we didn't actually release it because that was not the. That was just prior to the the Nautilus and Royal Oak like craziness. That was just before, because, actually, the Nautilus and Royal Oak craziness that was just before, because, actually, for the whole story, I was still in the first year of university, so that was maybe 2010 or 2009. I bought in Peru on eBay a baby Pro Prof and I loved that watch and that was the baby Pro Prof 120 meters, which is not like the most well-known one. That was I don't remember the reference I think it was 1660251, if I'm not mistaking and that one had integrated bracelets and I was in love with that watch and I still have it today.
Etienne Malec:And we've done a project that was a little bit an inspiration of that one and that was a little bit different, more modern and stuff. And I was like, was like, yeah, that's very cool, uh, and I've seen, you know, like the, the, the craziness about the, the integrated bracelet, but I, I, I knew that it was not. Uh, you know our language. So we decided to not do it and, to be frank, I don't have any regrets today because, uh, you know we want to to keep our language until you know, like uh, the longest time possible, and and if it doesn't suit our expectation, then we don't want to release anything just for the sake of it's going to be, you know, a commercial success or something like this. You know, like, uh, we have to to be satisfied by our, our design first.
Blake Rea:Yeah, I think, um, I think as a watch brand and we've obviously talked about zenith just brief, briefly, but let's jump back into to their how how they do it right. So, as a watch brand, you know, if you look at zenith they have their core fundamentals right, like their core collection. But then they also have a secondary collection where you could I mean, it's not, it's not their chrono masters, right, it's not their chrono master originals reports, whatever, um, the defy, right. Yeah, the defy is their collection where they're like, hey, we're not taking this too seriously, like this is a fun collection, we can do whatever we want while still staying grounded in their consumer base. So it sounds like you guys are kind of transitioning into having an experimental possible collection. Did I grasp that properly? Were you guys going to kind of jump out of the Baltic box?
Etienne Malec:Yeah, kind of. I mean kind of, but still, you know like Prismic is one of those projects on which you can do something a little bit different and fun. So the Prismic is definitely going to be about that, although for the rest it's going. You know, like some of the brands today, the big brands, you know they don't have, uh, that coherence. You know, like that we talked just before.
Etienne Malec:But when you are 100 years old or something like this, I mean I cannot imagine how hard it is, uh, to keep that red line until the end. You know, for the case of Zenit, you know they've changed of CEO so many times and they had so many. You know, like they tried so much, so many times to do something different. And for me, this is, you know, the school case of searching. For me, this is the school case of searching for something as a brand. And I'm definitely conscious that you can pretty quickly fall into that trap. And I think Dennett is doing much, much better today than what they used to do. You know, like with the DeFi, the first, the first collection in early 2000, I think, because at that time that was hard.
Justin Summers:And you know there is there is one brand we're challenging.
Blake Rea:Yeah, very challenging.
Etienne Malec:There is one brand we're challenging yeah, very challenging, and now it's it's it's it's much better and the brand is, you know is stable again. I think in terms of I don't speak about you know like financial stuff, but in terms of design and in terms of strategy, I think it's it's becoming stable again and there are really you strategy, I think it's it's becoming stable again and they are really, you know, like, uh, they're really into the ground. You know now, uh where, uh, I think uh, 15 years ago they were uh, you know, like very high in the sky, but I don't know why, uh, but you know there is one brand that is, that is, I mean, we are.
Etienne Malec:We cannot tell anyone that they made a mistake. In 50 years, 60 years, 70 years, it's Rolex. Rolex always have been coherent. Um, at least on the oyster and sports watch, you know, like they never changed something and you, and there is another example of that coherence that a brand can have through generation and through years and through time is the 911, the Porsche 911. People tend to criticize the fact that a Submariner amt or 9-11 didn't change, but it's what makes them strong, you know, because they were good at the, the basis and they kept it good.
Etienne Malec:Now, on the same kind of recipe and same kind of uh formula, you know, and it's I don't know. For me, it's very satisfying to see that because, uh, I think you really see the, the vision and the, the, the wish to, uh, to, to go, you know, like on a really long time. You know uh, and sometimes you know, you know, for example, zenith was, I think, the good example for that. When you see that it's going everywhere, people get lost and the brand get lost as well, and this is very, very, very risky, you know. So we don't want to do that. Of course, um, we're going to keep, you know, like our collection, you know, the the longest possible, but still sometimes you have to keep that sparkle on some parallel project let's say, got to keep people on their toes, yeah.
Justin Summers:So I'm curious, etienne what have been some of the most significant challenges that you guys at Baltic have faced, and what achievements are you the most proud of?
Etienne Malec:There's always a lot of challenges every year. To be frank, I think, when you are doing a brand, when you are doing a brand, when you are doing a company, when you're into entrepreneurship, I think there is always uh, challenges are every, everywhere, every time. Um. So there is always, you know, like more complicated time, uh, some years compared to others, that's for sure. Um, still, I, I think since the beginning, we I don't know if it's good to say that, but I think we got pretty lucky uh, and I'm also convinced that there is a lot of luck into entrepreneurship. I mean, you need luck to uh, to, to, to do that a little bit at least. Um, but still, you know we had, we faced some challenges. But you know like you need to have that uh-solving mind kind of when you have a challenge, you don't need to face the wall and be like, wow, how I'm going to do it, and you just have to think about the solution. Just, you know like uh, instantly. You know like there is an issue, you think about the solution, there is another issue, you think about the solution, um. So from the beginning, you know like we we had some production issues, we had uh delays, we had uh, kind of you know, the, the usual, the usual, um, I think, the usual stuff, uh, the usual issues, um, but we never faced, really like um, one unsolving issue on which we, you know, like um, we're not able to overcome that um. But now the.
Etienne Malec:I think the big challenge for us has been to, you know, always be visible, always be able to um, got some ideas, um, you know it's um, it's something pretty tiring sometimes because you cannot actually, you know it's something pretty tiring sometimes because you cannot actually, you know, sleep on your project. This is the. I would say this is the main challenge, you know, but this is more personal rather than for the brand, but it's always something, you know. There is something that we say in French that can be quite relevant now when you push the ball into a steep descent, it goes, and when you do that, it's the same feeling. You're always falling forward like this and you cannot actually, you know, take a breeze and take a breath and say OK. So for now, I would like to stop it for a second, just to breathe a little bit.
Justin Summers:You get ran over.
Etienne Malec:Yeah, yeah, so it's pretty hard to follow sometimes. But, to be frank, you know, we've always our community, even though you know, like, we are not able to be there physically every time. You know, we sell actually, 85% of the watches out of France in which we are, you know, physically so it's hard to be connected with everyone. You know, physically so, um, it's hard to be, uh, connected with everyone. Um, and you know, I remember at the time, you know, I, I was uh handling the Instagram, uh, personally for years, maybe for five years, uh, but since two, two years ago, you know like it's, it's it's beginning very, very, very hard for me to keep up.
Etienne Malec:So, yeah, you know, like it's, it's always a challenge to to grow, always a challenge to change scale as well, um, although it's very motivating, motivating, you know so, um, now it's very cool. You know it's been quite a um, quite a quite a long pass already, but I feel, you know, I feel there is so much to do still, uh, that, yeah, it's just the beginning. Actually, I don't know, I don't remember, you know I lost it a little bit way into, uh, into the question, but still, um, there is always challenges, uh, but it's it's, it's never, you know it's, it's just, uh, challenges after challenges. You know, like, um, we know that we have some challenges, challenges to overcome in into the the coming years, and we're going to face them, you know, like, as we've done until now.
Blake Rea:Uh, but yeah, that's the way it is no, I think you answered that perfectly and summarized it. Um, I kind of want to pivot into the collection a little bit. Um, do you have a watch that you know you're particularly proud of the way that it came together? Uh, I know this is like asking, like a parent, like what their favorite child.
Etienne Malec:What's your favorite kid?
Blake Rea:yeah, um, but obviously watches have no emotion, so I expect the answer from you.
Etienne Malec:It's always pretty hard to answer that question. The easy answer to that is and quite frankly, actually it's quite accurate to answer that my favorite watch is always the Next. I know it sounds a little bit silly, but you know, like, uh, to do a watch, even though you know people might think, oh, that one is very close to the other one, maybe, uh, but you need to put yourself in it quite a lot to just understand, understand the watch to. You know, I wear two watches every day Often, I mean 90% of the time, prototypes, because I want to know how they look into different kinds of lights, I want to know how they react, I want to know the feeling they give. You know, and and that takes time for sure, um, and you know, it's hard to uh to have the space for just one favorite watch of you know, of them all, uh, when you are supposed to be, you know, like, focused on the next one.
Etienne Malec:So, yeah, it's a pretty complicated question, but I would say there is, I think, one that I've changed something so that I have something particular, even though the first one was particular as well, because that was the first one. So the bi-compact was the first one was particular as well because that was the first one. So the Bi-Compact was the first one and the Aquascaf, I think, changed something a little bit Because, you know, doing a first watch is at that time something that was very, I mean, we were surprised how successful it was. We were, you know, always kind of. You know, I always had that we used to say in French passage, clandestine feeling. I don't know how to. Let me just Google.
Etienne Malec:The clandestine traveler syndrome kind of you see what I mean.
Etienne Malec:I always had this, you know, since the first one, because you know, I was always, always. I always feared that the first one would work because of being lucky, and after that the second one would probably not work the same as the first one and actually the second one worked better. So that was the sign by the community that maybe we, you know, like the brand, sounded good for people and people were trusting us and people enjoyed you know, the watchers we've done. So the Aquascaf was kind of the validation on which, okay, guys, it's not a project, it can become a brand, you know. So I think for that that one is particular.
Blake Rea:yeah, and that's a collection that you're kind of expanding, like, if you look at it, you have the dual crown, then you have the titanium, and now you have the dual crown and you have the titanium and now you have the gmt, yeah, um, and then I mean you just uh, the bronze, I think is kind of new ish, um, and then of course, your classic and um. I think that's the first real collection that I resonated with, um I I actually learned about your brand from justin and I I the way the way that we work here is I sold luxury like I sold like high-end, like brands, like 30 of the most expensive brands in the world, uh, desirable um, and so I kind of came from that top down approach and justin kind of like we started collecting together and justin just kind of found more like fun in micro brands and um, I don't remember.
Blake Rea:I think so justin, you were like stoked on the aqua scoff, like classic, and then I think I was messing around with you because I'm like, uh, I was like, oh, I was at, I was at one of the wind-up shows and I was like I think I'm gonna buy that or whatever, um, and then you were like, oh man, like you know, I was just like kind of messing with them, just trying to make them, like you know, like have fun with them and I was jealous, yeah, and I ended up getting the, the gmt instead uh, that's actually my favorite color that's my favorite.
Blake Rea:Yeah, the the yeah the I was very cool they're, they're all so good, like it was really hard, but I just like this. Like this green, like it is very polarizing, and the red, um, like the the coke color or whatever, uh, pepsi color, whatever you have, um, it is, it's a little, is this? This to me, is like your dna, you know, like this color, um, and I I love wearing it because you know, I, I travel a lot, um, and I feel pretty comfortable like wearing this in any situation. You know, like if something happened to one of like my super high-end, expensive of course, if something happened to this watch, I'd be sad, but, um, it wouldn't be as much of a significant like financial loss yeah sure you know, and um and yeah, I just I love, I love it, I love it, yeah um I think I
Etienne Malec:think it's, I think it's, you know, kind of the like daily watch, the tool watch, and daily watch, like perfect, it's not, it's not expensive, uh, at least it's, it's pretty, you know, affordable, um, it's durable, it's easy to wear, it's durable, it's easy to wear, it's not big, it's not, you know, not small as well, it's easy. And I mean, this is the watch that you can keep for 10 years and you're not obliged to sell if something happens. You know it's. It's not, uh, financially, you know, like, um, important and overweighted, let's say. So, yeah, I think it's the one that can actually be your son's watch in 10 years, which is very cool as well, you know.
Blake Rea:Yeah, I mean you talked about this in the beginning of the podcast that you got that collection from your dad. But you know my child is going gonna get one of your watches.
Blake Rea:Yes, you know, like, yeah, I mean that and I have it on the bracelet. Um, I've been meaning to get the flat link, because I'm not really a huge fan of the beads of rice, but I just got it anyways. Um, and and so I've been meaning to pick up the new flat link well, new ish flat link. Um, so maybe that'll be something that I do here to to bring it back in. You know cause I'm always looking at ways to. I have over a hundred watches myself personally and.
Blake Rea:I'm looking at ways to kind of refresh and bring back into my collection. You know what I mean To bring back into my life, cause there's mean to bring back into my life because there's a lot of watches. When you have that many, you just can't wear them all yeah, for sure, so you know, I've gotten tired of wearing it on rubber, um, you know, in the weirdest way. So I need to refresh it, you know so yeah, always.
Etienne Malec:You know like it's the best way to change, refresh your watch. It's just to change the strap and then it's changed. It changes everything.
Justin Summers:Yeah, it brings it right back to the to the front of the collection, you know yeah, so I'm I'm curious, etienne um, can you share any stories or insights about the development, uh, of the most you know iconic models that you guys sell, such as you know the aquascape for the bi-compacts? Just give us some insight. Or you know any funnier cool stories that you guys sell, such as you know the aquascape for the bi-compacts? Just give us some insight. Or you know any funnier cool stories that you guys have about that?
Etienne Malec:um, no, I don't have much. Uh, the one I could tell you is that, um, I've done the design of the aquascape, I think right before the Kickstarter or maybe just just after the start. I don't remember exactly the um, the period, but it was very, very like close before close after the first day. Uh, and it was taking the train and I've done the Aquascaf, very like, very much like a like a student on the computer taking the train for three hours. I got my earplug, you know.
Etienne Malec:I was just focused on that and I entered into the train without any Equus Calf idea, like nothing, and I get out of the train and I got that one thank you, train ride.
Justin Summers:Yeah, yeah, train right you know it's.
Etienne Malec:It's always kind of that moment where you're, you know the train can be quite cool because you don't have like wi-fi. I mean, at that time it still we didn't add any Wi-Fi into the train, so it's a little bit the out of the world you know kind of moment. I got my computer, it was focused and yeah, this was pretty cool to do actually.
Blake Rea:Did you have like a flux capacitor moment? Do you know what I mean when I say that? Not sure. So there's a, there's a, yeah, yeah, yeah, yes. I get it from back to the future. Like he like fell and he hit his head on a toilet and then he's like I drew this, you know, um, and so we've been using that pretty like in our, in our more modern podcast, like me and john monacino. Like pretty much we're like this is a flux capacitor moment, you know, and it's been kind of funny that we've been using it since.
Blake Rea:But yeah, um, you know, obviously, yeah, I guess a little bit you took the design from somewhere, like you know, you got inspired by something you know, so, like, how do you?
Etienne Malec:know, and you know, like sometimes there's actually after the release and then even after I designed it.
Etienne Malec:Sometimes people told me, on that one, for example, okay, so the way is very easy, you get that drawing of another one and you do the same. You know, like you're changing a few stuff and it's done. You know, and to be 100% honest, this is not the way it happened, because when I've done that into the train, I didn't pick an image, you know, in which I was picking some things, and you know, like, doing the same with some tweaks. You know like I just, I just and this is the way I do it pretty often, because I got a designer, yash, who is very, very, very talented, um, but we do it together, uh, and often, you know, I I don't look at any pictures, I try to do the thing, uh, that looks cool, for me at least, uh, and after you know, I see that that culture, uh, that we talked about at the beginning, get back, because you know you've seen a thousand and thousands of images, uh, of watches and somewhere it prints into your mind.
Etienne Malec:Uh, and when you do, when you do a design, you know there is always something that came from something before, kind of, yeah, um came from something before, kind of, yeah, and I'm sure that that culture is very important, but it's not just copying, because on four centimeters of metal, doing always the same kind of indexes and hands, there is always something that looks similar always.
Etienne Malec:Yeah, um, and I met a designer like pretty um, I think about two or three months ago, uh, a friend of a friend, uh, and he told me you know, I'm a watch designer. I was, okay, very cool, um, uh, so what is your story about watches? And you told me, very like, uh, you know, very directly, you know, but I don't like watches. I was like, okay, interesting, so you design watches, but you don't like watches, uh, and you told me, you know, like the best way to uh, to design a thing is not to know anything about it, because then you don't have the culture and then you don't have that thing that you might copy that you might inspire, yeah, and I'm not that guy.
Etienne Malec:So always when I do something, of course there is an inspiration, but it's never that simple of copy past is an inspiration, but it's never, you know, it's never that simple of you know copy past and then change something and it's done. You know, it's always something that is related to the one we've done before, that is related to something that I find a little bit fresh, that is related to something that I, you know, have an idea from somewhere else you know like and, yeah, you know it's, it's, it's quite, it's quite interesting to see, you know, how your culture, you know, is actually changing the way people see things. So, yeah, the Equus Cafe is kind of the best in that let's talk about um.
Blake Rea:You know, obviously you talked briefly about your kickstarter and how you kind of catapulted the brand and now I mean everybody who I know like as a collector, is a huge fan of you know Baltic and your brand, so obviously you've gained a pretty substantial following. And you've also talked about you know your community. You know how is it that you engage with your community and collectors. You know.
Etienne Malec:Yeah, well, as I told before you know, yeah, um well, um, as I told before you know, like, uh, we had, since, uh, the first day, we had a showroom, uh, because we were already working on the glasses project. So we had an office on which we had a small space to uh, welcome people to check the prototype for the Kickstarter. And after that, three years after that, we sold the brand of glasses and we had an office that we were sharing in between the glasses and the watches and we had that space on which people still have the same possibility to come and take an appointment and check the watches since day one. So we, you know, and I was doing every appointment, I think, for maybe two to three years, maybe three years, I think. So I've met everyone and you know like it's very interesting to interact with your community because you see what are the people you know that get interested in your watch, you see the different kind of profile, which is very, very cool, it's very interesting, and I've done that for years after. Unfortunately, you know like it's getting a little bit complicated to schedule, because now we got here in Paris, we got like nine to between eight to 10 appointments a day. You know it's not possible for me to do them anymore.
Etienne Malec:Um, and this is one way on which we interacted with uh every customer at the beginning and on Instagram. You know I was talking to everyone. I was uh trying to understand. You know, like, um, what people wanted to uh seen the brand, and I've connected with some people that are my friend today. You know, for example, as well, and so we are sure since the beginning that you know, engaging with the community is very important, and not only in France, because you know, like as a French guy, you know like there is often brands france, because you know, like, as a french guy, you know like there is often brands that are, you know, like, very frenchy. You know, like 100 percent. Um, I'm not really like this. Um, I'm pretty interested in traveling and stuff, you know. So, um, I always find more interesting to uh, you know, to export the brand as well, rather than just, I don't know, being called Baltic Paris, for example, which I don't find very interesting. But this is mine.
Blake Rea:How is some of that feedback from your customers, fans, followers, friends like how has that influenced the future of Baltic?
Etienne Malec:Well, you know, like after being able to do that in Paris, we were like OK. So basically, you know, our vast majority of sales is abroad, first country being US. We've done a second showroom in London last year January 2023. And now we are doing the same in New York because we are opening a new showroom in late June or beginning of July, which is now open, I think.
Blake Rea:Yeah, that's right.
Etienne Malec:We were a little bit before, but the day we published this it would be open already.
Etienne Malec:So this is one very big way of interacting with the community, is one very big way of interacting with the community, uh, and I think you know people tend to react, uh, you know, people tend to not being able to uh, uh, to um, put the brand on the map, kind of, which is for me pretty satisfying to be, to be frank, because we assemble in France.
Etienne Malec:We are proud of that, we are based in Paris, which is something that we are proud of, but we don't want to have this very Frenchy approach or to put the flag everywhere. That's something that doesn't suit us, I think, which is, you know, which is sometimes, I think people might consider that it's a little bit weird, because if you are proud, then you can do that, you know, but I think for us it it give us, you know, the agility to um, to just, you know, uh, not being in a, in a, in a box, which is, I think, pretty convenient and pretty positive for us yeah, and I mean I think obviously as an american, like you know, you being from france and your products being for like we americans know that france makes quality products right.
Blake Rea:But just because you make quality products doesn't mean you have to plaster it everywhere you know what I mean, sure you know. And a lot of a lot of brands will do that. You know, um, and I know exactly what you're talking about, so that's why I was laughing, because I have two brands in my collection that just plaster and they're french brands, of course, and they just plaster everything everywhere you know using french flags and french military.
Etienne Malec:You know designs and like yeah, all right yeah, yeah, I mean, you know, like some people really like that, some not, yeah, but a bit less.
Justin Summers:So yeah, I think that it can come off as gimmicky and yeah, yeah, and I think that we can all agree that, like your product will tell that test of time to people. Like, yeah, you don't have to just slap it everywhere. Like, oh, it's a quality product. Like people will tell that test of time to people. Like, yeah, you don't have to just slap it everywhere. Like, oh, it's a quality product. Like people will determine that themselves. Yeah, but yeah, sure, and and I mean, and just to touch on like the community aspect of it as well, um, I've really, I don't think I've ever heard anything bad about baltic, like low-key, like I, everybody I have ever talked to about baltic.
Justin Summers:Yeah yeah, everybody I've ever talked to about Baltic, yeah yeah, everybody I've ever talked to is just like loves. You guys Like you make a great product. Um, so I mean, you guys are definitely doing, you know a lot of things right, so keep it up. You know you've got a lot of the community that supports you. Um, that's one of the most important things, man. It's just a big backbone.
Etienne Malec:Yeah, um, we, we talked a lot. One one of the challenge, uh, maybe that I didn't mention before, is to be there, you know, as long as possible, uh, which is, you know, like today, in our generation especially especially so. Uh, I guess now you know like we are. We are always all aware about the fact that you know there is the global warming. Uh, some might not believe in it, but I do, and you told me that in Las Vegas, it was pretty warm these days, unfortunately, but the fact is we are in a period in which it's quite difficult to trust into the future. I don't have, you know, I'm always kind of I'm not negative about that, but I'm kind of I don't know.
Etienne Malec:I ask myself a lot of questions about what's going to be the future in, maybe not five years, but maybe 10 or 20 years. It's going to be, of course, maybe a little bit different, and I don't want to do BATIC as a brand that just disappeared in 10 years. So you need to have a vision that is pretty forward. But the thing is, we are in our 30s and we know all the challenges that are coming for our generation and the generation coming after, and I think it's not easy to have a very, very long vision for a brand when you consider everything that is happening around. So it's for me, the most challenges, like the most difficult challenge, is to be able to still see that vision without that negativity.
Etienne Malec:You know, like, uh, trying to uh to eat it a little bit. Yeah, this is the, this is the most challenging thing, because we don't want to do a one shot. You know, like, do that 10 years and blah, and okay, that's done, okay for me. I do something else. Uh, you know, like, do that 10 years and blah, and okay, that's done, okay For me. I do something else. You know we want to do something on a longterm, and doing something on a longterm today might requires a different kind of approach than 20 or 30 years ago.
Blake Rea:Yeah, and, and going back, I mean we, we, we speak to a lot of collectors and we speak to a lot of industry insiders and, um, I think I've been to maybe four or five wind-ups and I know you got. I know you guys are pretty big on that circuit. You know you guys are going to be in chicago in july yeah, we are always there yeah, I'm sure you'll be there in october in new york uh, yes but you know, obviously those shows are very for those, I mean listeners, that those are tiring.
Blake Rea:You know, um, super tiring.
Blake Rea:I know your guys come from france, um, just to do the shows, and I mean you know you're talking to thousands of people, if not you know hundreds, you know maybe a thousands a day, um, but something that I've noticed too is, like you know, the, the people that you send that represent baltic, at those brands, like you know they're, they're very passionate.
Blake Rea:You know, like, yeah, like like I was, I was in san francisco like a few weeks ago for for the last wind up, and you know you start talking to certain brands and they're just kind of like like regurgitating, like the playbook, like, oh well, we were founded in this time and and this is our first collection and that's our second collection and here's our third you know they start to kind of just like they don't start to sound passionate when they, you know, when they do that over the whole course of the day, um, because, because day three, everybody's tired, you know, everybody just wants to like go home and shut down and then, but they got. You know the guys that you send and it seems like, you know, of course, you have a very good team that supports you and are very proud to be a part of your brand and they're very passionate about your products, and that translates back to the customers. If a brand is as passionate about their product as they are, then customers are, of course, going to be passionate and rabid yeah exactly, exactly.
Etienne Malec:I will actually tell to my people that you had the feeling that they were passionate and very positive about that, so I guess they're going to be happy to know it and very positive about that, so I guess they're going to be happy to know it.
Etienne Malec:But yeah, you know, like since the beginning, you know, we've always kind of prioritized people that are passionate and rather than just people that have a cool CV. You know like, yeah, I don't really mind about having a very good CV. It's very important to have someone that is motivated, that understands a little bit the market and the product, because, after all, what we are doing now is an enthusiast business. So if you are not an enthusiast, it's it's hard, yeah, to understand that. I guess, yeah, thousand percent.
Justin Summers:So I'm curious, etienne, um and I know you kind of touched on this briefly uh, you know, for for the future, what are your goals and aspirations? Uh, for baltic, and this will be, you know, a great spot for everybody else, hopefully. But are there any For the future? What are your goals and aspirations for Baltic, and this will be a great spot for everybody else, hopefully.
Etienne Malec:But are there any exciting projects or collaborations that are in your pipeline over the next year, five years, 10 years? That you of the year is to open the showroom in New York. First, it's been, you know, like US is our first market since day one. I never actually thought that would be the case before to do that, and the US community has been always very, very cool with us. You know, it's been very, very cool to be able to do the wind-up, to meet everyone, to speak with a lot of people. As you told me before, it's always been the case.
Etienne Malec:You know, with the wind-up we do since the beginning. I remember the first wind windup we've done. We were just about to deliver our first watches. We didn't deliver any watches yet and we've done the first windup in New York. So that was pretty weird to be able to say to the people OK, so we are in the windup, but this is the watch, but it's not yet delivered, you know. So you know we were pretty, pretty, pretty into the process of being in us. You know, because for us it's very important and as an inspiration, you know as well. I think it's, it's a, it's a country which is on which you can feel that there is a lot of thing happening and stuff. So it's very motivating, you know, to be able to, to take part of it as well. Um, so being able to open the showroom is very like, kind of the you know, the reward of those seven years coming to wind up, coming you to us pretty often three, four time a year. I think this is something very like, very important for us. It's a step that is very important for us, definitely. So this is the the most important project of the year In terms of product. We're going to have others pretty cool and I think I can talk about it because it's going to be released already but we have the MicroAutor Roulette dial which is coming beginning of July. It's an amazing, different kind of dial, uh, very different as the first one, uh, and this is based on the collectedman collaboration we've done, um, I think a year and a half ago with silas, uh, and this is very cool dial. This is very different. So I guess you know people is gonna have to decide to decide whether it's Breguet style or Roulette style, which is pretty cool. So it's a little bit of a capsule for the MicroRotor collection, but definitely a cool one. So very happy about that.
Etienne Malec:And about New York, again, we know we are doing our. We are doing a soft opening, you know, like in July, to let people just discover a little bit, and I won't be there for the moment, but just to let the people discover, to meet the guy, remy, who is a very, very passionate guy about watches. So I'm sure that you know there is that there's going to be a lot of people having good conversation with him. So it's very cool.
Etienne Malec:And we prepared something a little bit special I mean not a little bit very special for September, on which we're going to do the ground opening. At least for us, ground is going to be like at our scale, so it's not going to be a huge opening, but still we're going to invite a lot of people, try to invite a lot of people. So the showroom is like 70 meters square, it's in Seoul, so it's an apartment, basically uh kind of an apartment, and we have access to the rooftop, uh, where you can see all manhattan, you know. So it's it's it's a very like insane place, uh, and I think it's going to be very cool to be able to, you know like uh, show everybody, you know, that new project in the same time. Uh, uh, and you know, we were speaking about this Prismic and I think we might do something with it for the occasion.
Justin Summers:Amazing, that'll be awesome.
Etienne Malec:Yeah, you have to make sure we get invites for that New York party yeah sure, sure, um, I think we're going to do something a little bit open. You know like, uh, unfortunately, you know like we think we're going to do something a little bit open. You know like, unfortunately, you know like we're going to have I mean, we're going to have the place and the space we have to. Either way, you know, we rent a bigger place if we want to invite more people, but we're going to organize something on which we're going to try to. You know, maybe other rooms on which we can try to have, maybe other rooms on which we can, because 70 meters square is big for the day-to-day but when you are inviting a lot of people it's small pretty easily. But the rooftop is open. So, definitely, I just hope the weather could allow us to use the rooftop. But yeah, it's going to be amazing and, of course, you're going to be invited. So, yeah, that's the big project. We have another big project regarding another collection this end of the year normally, or beginning of next year it's always depending and our project for the next five years. Usually I don't speak about the project for the next five years.
Etienne Malec:Now we have different watches on which we are working on. They're going to be some of the watches that are, um, sold today that might disappear as well, uh, because, you know, seven year is, uh, it's, it's a cycle and sometimes you have to uh refresh a little bit, uh, the collection, um. So we are working on that. We still are working on the fact that we need to have a physical presence somewhere, so we might one day open a boutique in Paris as well, because a showroom is very cool and you have, I think, a much more pleasant experience in a showroom because you take an appointment and you can literally stay half an hour an hour trying the watches. So it's very cool, but the fact is it's getting a little bit busy and sometimes you need to be able to open to more people. So boutique would be, I think, a good way to do that.
Etienne Malec:And, yeah, they're gonna be experiment as well, on which we are working, uh, with the the content perpetual, the perpetual calendar. With the the contient perpetual, the perpetual calendar. Uh, we still have the same collaboration running as a total, because, as you might see sorry, they're, they're here and they're here I'm kind of a nerd of cars as well uh. So we, we have this collaboration running, uh, since, uh, this year, with the tour auto, which is one of the biggest competition of vintage cars in France and in Europe. So it's actually a competition that was used to be in collaboration with Zenit, before with Hublot, audemars Piguet, after that that was Rebellion and now it's us. So it's a very, very much an honor, you know, to be able to be the official timekeeper for that competition.
Etienne Malec:It's really cool, yeah it's very important, yeah, and the Tricompax is one as well. I mean, I didn't talk about it when I was talking about the, the, uh, the watches that I really enjoy in our collection and really proud of, but the track and packs is one of them as well, because it gathered, you know, my car, uh, car addiction and watch addiction in the same place, so it's very cool for me.
Blake Rea:Yeah, well, we have just hit an hour and 23 minutes. We don't want to take up any more of your time. We definitely appreciate you spending some time with us. Yeah, by the time this drops, everybody will likely know what we've just talked about with your new releases.
Etienne Malec:So they're going to be a little bit of background then, so it's pretty cool.
Blake Rea:Yeah, Unfortunately we're backed up. We've got three or four podcasts that are ahead of you so we've got to get those out and they're already ready to go, no worries. So, yeah, I want to thank you again at TNA from Baltic and everybody, we're going to go ahead and, of course, plug Baltic and the podcast here. Everybody should know how to make contact with the brand and we're definitely fans here and I love what you're doing and anything you need from us. Of course, we're here to help.
Etienne Malec:Cool, perfect. Thank you for having me on the podcast. Um, thank you for that and yeah, I guess you know. See you in us or in new york, you know, I don't know, but uh, yeah I guess we might crush, uh cross each other pretty soon. So uh, whenever, yeah looking forward to it.
Justin Summers:We definitely will, we definitely will so hang tight here for a second.
Blake Rea:We're going to go and wrap up and we'll see all the listeners here on the next one.
Justin Summers:Bye guys, Cheers.
