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
Christian Zeron from Theo & Harris on the Dynamic World of Collectible Watches
Christian from Theo and Harris takes us on an enthralling journey into the world of vintage watches, igniting curiosity with stories of passion and entrepreneurship. Inspired by platforms like Hodinkee and influences such as John Mayer, Christian shares how the allure of vintage timepieces captivated him back in 2014. From receiving encouragement from his mother to buy his first vintage Rolex Datejust, he reflects on the unique charm and challenges of engaging with these timeless treasures, revealing how the vintage watch community is intertwined with personal stories and cultural connections.
Get ready to unravel the complexities of vintage watch ownership as we talk about the challenges faced by collectors, from servicing intricacies to the emotional and financial investments required. Christian and I delve into the cultural significance of family heritage in collecting, and the dynamic market trends that keep enthusiasts on their toes. Highlighting the role of market trends and the fear of missing out, we discuss how personal preferences and the power of social media shape perceptions and prices, creating a vibrant and sometimes volatile marketplace.
Our conversation also explores the art of watch collecting, highlighting the intersection between rarity and desirability that defines the vintage market. Christian offers insights into how certain features, like a gilt dial, can enhance a watch's allure, and why transparency and authenticity are key in content creation. As we celebrate the passion and community spirit within vintage watch collecting, this episode promises to enlighten both seasoned enthusiasts and those just beginning their horological journey. Join us for a candid discussion filled with personal stories, market insights, and the joy of owning a piece of history.
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https://theoandharris.com/
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Hello everybody, Welcome to another episode of Lonely Wrist. Sitting in front of me is Christian from Theona Harris. What's up, brother?
Christian Zeron:How are you Blake?
Blake Rea:Thanks for having me on, man. I'm good, I'm hanging in there, hanging in there, glad to finally have you on. I've been thinking about inviting you on and it was a lot easier to invite you on than I expected.
Christian Zeron:Yeah, you slid right into the emails and that's it. That was it. It was pretty easy.
Blake Rea:yeah, you slid right into the emails and that's it. Well, that was it. It was pretty easy, man, thanks for. Yeah, no, I I've, uh, I've actually referred you because I have a lot of my friends who like trade watches abroad and, um, and I mean I don't know, he had some crazy universal geneve or something that, like, was very unknown and mysterious to him and I was like, dude, you should hit up this guy, christian dion harris, and he's in, like you know, mind, mind you, like Georgia, like Tbilisi, like in Europe, like has no idea about vintage watches and uh, I vaguely remember something like that.
Christian Zeron:I really I actually do, um, that that's. It doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen. And when it does happen, you know, a guy like me says, oh wow, like, how did this happen to me? Right, because usually that stuff ends up in the hands of, like really, really uber wealthy collectors. But you know it's, you know it's double edged sword, because you know it's hard to find a home for something like that unless you are one of those guys. That's all right. In that circle it's a very incestuous world, mostly, mostly Italians, but not Italian-Americans, mostly from Italy, and they, I mean, I don't even know how they have the stuff that they do, because everything that's in their collection seems to be one of one. And it's wild, it's really wild.
Blake Rea:It is especially considering the market there versus here. I've had pretty heated and lengthy discussions about how mature our market is, but a lot of people there I mean they have gold and they don't know. They have gold, you know.
Christian Zeron:Yeah, yeah it's. It's really wild. I mean a lot of. You know the, the, the Italians as a people were really ahead of watch collecting in, I think in the eighties specifically, but even before then they were really. You know, they were into it for a lot of other people and Italians, generally speaking, you know, have either they have good taste or we have elevated right, our elevated them to God status and we've made their taste good. It's either good or we've designated it need to do good. Either way, you know, they seem to have everything that we want. And what's funny is they end up wearing American. We want to look like them and yet they wear American fatigues. It's amazing.
Blake Rea:American GI, clark Gable, you know it's amazing full circle, and so I'm really excited to have you on. I think it's going to be awesome. I want to learn about the Theo and Harris story. What got you going in vintage watches? How did your passion evolve into what is now Theo and Harris?
Christian Zeron:Yeah, I mean I started reading about watches really not that long before I started the company. I mean I started reading about watches probably early 2014. You know, hodinkee was, you know, kind of cranking on the vintage front specifically at the time. I don't remember exactly when the John Mayer episode came out, but it was around then and I remember just being, you know, thinking it was really neat. Now you go back and you look and you know, john Mayer did a great job in that right, he spoke intelligently, but the production value was not that good. If you go back and look at the time, though, it was pure poetry and pure creative genius, relative and and it was great. I remember just really falling in love with, with the Hodinkee kind of identity at the time. Um, I still might have deep admiration for those episodes. Uh, jean-claude beaver, or be there, or whatever. Um, I remember, obviously, you know, john goldberger, all those things. I thought it was so interesting, you know, uh, not just because these people were rich, which of course they were, and that's somewhat interesting to everybody um, but it's also because they really knew what they were talking, and that's somewhat interesting to everybody, but it's also because they really knew what they were talking about and these people were passionate about. You know this. You know what I thought was an interesting, you know, hobby.
Christian Zeron:So, anyway, I drank the Kool-Aid pretty quickly and then one day, my mom, being the enabler that she is, and she is said, you know well, why don't, why don't you get a watch? And said, well, I have no money, you know I don't have any money. So she goes, well, you have a couple of bucks that you know that my mom used to take my money. I used to babysit, right, so she would, she would take the money. I mean, I, I didn't get my own money, the money would go to her and she would put it in a bank account and I never saw it. So I didn't have that much money.
Christian Zeron:I think I had something like 2,500 bucks or something like that. And she goes I'll give you your 2,500 bucks. I think this is a wise thing. It's a good investment, you'll have it forever. You're not blowing it on booze or drugs, it's a watch and you'll have it forever. And the watch I bought, which was a Datejust reference 1601 from 77, was 3,300 bucks. And I said, well, I'm still $800 short. And she goes don't worry, I'll loan you the money you have to pay me back. Just don't tell your father. And that was it. I mean, once I had that watch on my wrist, it was all over. I mean that's when I felt like a member of the community and that was it. I mean that was right. Gasoline on this already burning passion.
Blake Rea:I had a 1601, which I had it for a very short period of time and, you know, the most disappointing part about it was I'm one of those idiots that, like, I send my watches back to rolex or I send it back to whoever you know, because, uh, you know, I, I, I like and I know I'm gonna get murdered for this but I like a, I like a vintage watch that looks modern.
Blake Rea:Yeah, you know like, and there are certain instances where you know I'll keep the patina and do all this. But in a specific instance I got a 1601 from my friend, um, the dial looked I mean, the patina on the dial did not look good, like it was starting to flake, like they do, and I send it off to rolex and rolex sends the watch back saying we can't service this. And I'm like that's really weird, because you go around and you know this is not a rolex like hit piece, but you know you go around and you sell the idea that you can service these watches and pass them down to generations. You know, relatively speaking, like a watch from the 70s is not that old.
Christian Zeron:It's a tough pickle, right, Because I mean, essentially, you can't pass almost any Rolex down while remaining its originality, relatively speaking. It's just that Rolex won't service it. You know, I don't know why they turned down so many services.
Christian Zeron:I also don't know why for years they replaced very valuable parts, I mean, even when those parts were valuable, right? I don't know why Rolex will, in certain markets, sell you out of a catalog a beach dial right which is supposed to be a limited. You know, dial right that only came on this beach collection of Daytona right, and now you can send a watch in if you know how to do it. If you Daytona right, rolex, and now you can send a watch in if you know how to do it, if you know what you're doing, you can send a watch in non-beach and get it back beach go, have a custom strap made and, boom, you have what is essentially a fake watch, right? I mean, you have, you know, you have a piece together watch. Um, rolex does a lot of weird and funny things. What I will say, um, what I'm fairly surprised, uh about, and and glad about, is that in their new CPO program whatever they're calling it, our CEO, whatever the hell they're calling it, yeah, they, they are allowing patina, they are allowing defects what we call defects right, or we call patina, but with the way they would call defects into their collection, so long as the defect has no foreseeable implication or it doesn't jeopardize the quality of the timekeeping and reliability. I was surprised by that. I never thought that Rolex was going to be allowing fuchsia bezels or patinated dials, chocolate brown dials, into their certified pre-owned program. They also didn't release very much information from the get right on their CPO program. So I just assume that you know what had been normal for so long would continue. Not the case. I'm very surprised. I'm very impressed. They're expensive watches, but what do you expect, right, if Rolex is doing the work? They're not going to be.
Christian Zeron:It seems like you're comparing apples to apples, but you're not right. I mean, you know the watchmaker that you may send a Rolex to is very different than sending the watch into the multi-billion dollar multinational company that has their own foundries. I mean, you know it's different. These are different things. You know your watchmaker very well may die tomorrow. These things happen.
Christian Zeron:We've heard many horror stories about this. Your watchmaker's house may get robbed. People don't really understand, like, how dangerous it is sending your watch in for service, right, even pros get robbed. Right, your watch gets robbed at Rolex. You're fine, right? I know it sounds like an insane thing, but chain of custody matters so much. I mean, I've had issues with watchmakers, albeit many years ago, where you know I didn't feel safe with chain of custody and I immediately seized business right. It's also there's only from my watches. Maybe if they had 25 watches, 10 were mine, the other 15 were clients I can't, I can't feel unsafe, I can't, I can't. So there is a lot of maybe unappreciated to the community, but real value to that program. I sound like a spokesperson, I'm certainly not, but anyway it's just interesting You're wearing a Rolex hat.
Christian Zeron:But we're going to make a watch.
Blake Rea:One could be confused. But no, no, no, no. And then, um, you know, if you look at to like the cpo program, like two years ago or however long it started to go, prices were astronomical, no doubt, and now you are paying a little bit more. You know, and I would say a lot of the watches that I've looked at on the cpo program, if I were to buy them through like a legit, like secondhand dealer and then send them off to Rolex, it would be the same. It would be the same, except I don't have to wait. It's the same.
Christian Zeron:You're exactly right. I don't think that people by and large, in any space, be it hobby or be it, you know anything, politics, anything. People don't do a good job understanding the different sensitivities of other people in the world. They just don't right. I don't send my watches into Rolex service like you do. I don't do that right. But I am fully aware that not only you do do it, but why you do it, and that makes sense. Many people say, oh, that's ridiculous, that's so stupid. Well, how about? There are thousands and hundreds of thousands of people that would engage that same consumer behavior, right? That's not stupid. Maybe you don't understand it, you don't relate to it, fine, but it's not stupid. Rolex is providing a service that they clearly firmly believe satisfies the desired journey for a large portion of the market. The watch community often feels like we live at the center of everything. No, I mean, the normal person that is not hyper-invested in watches actually represents way more, financially speaking, than the watch guy.
Blake Rea:Yeah, and my stance on it has changed recently, where I had, um, I picked up like a speedmaster mark ii and I took it to my local watch repair guy and they serviced it. Um, anyways, they were like I, I wanted to change the dial, like I wanted some, I wanted loom. Like you know this, these dials obviously atridium, they're not working anymore. They changed the hands, right, so the hands work, but the dial didn't. And I was like this is gonna like fuck with me, like you know, like I have to change this um, so, anyways, uh, at some point I plan to send it to omega and have it serviced and do all this.
Blake Rea:Um, and at which point I did, you know I did send it to omega, mind you, the watch was gone for like six months and I have it back now, thank god. But, uh, but he charged me literally the exact same amount of money that I would have paid to omega and, you know, give you his random like off-the-shelf warranty, you know, which is probably good for nothing. And not to mention, you know it had a lot of issues with the amplitude, you know. So it wasn't healthy, it wasn't a healthy service you know, it's a very tricky business.
Christian Zeron:I mean I can't tell you how many times I have, you know, dreamed, or whatever daydreamed about if I had gone into the diamond or jewelry business 10 years ago as opposed to watches how many fewer headaches I would have. It's true, it's a huge pain in the ass. It's a huge pain in the ass at scale as an owner. It's not as an owner. You've got a collection of one, two, three watches. Something's gone for six months. It's not really a big deal. It's not right.
Christian Zeron:I mean you just wear your other watches, it's fine. But when you are on the business end of it, particularly when you're not the one actually doing the service but you are providing a service or middlemanning a service and whatever it is such a headache. I mean I turn down service requests all the time. I just can't. It's not worth it for me. I mean the amount of money that I would need to charge a client for a service to be worth it would be so ludicrous because of factoring in just the sheer stress value. I mean it's insane, it's just not worth it. It's not worth it. I mean I do it for some clients as a gesture, meaning if you've purchased a watch, of course, but I'm talking about people that hadn't purchased watches from us, that want to send something in. If I think I can help and it will be relatively easy, I'll do it.
Christian Zeron:Otherwise I can't. I can't, you can't do it. It's too much of a headache. It's too much of a headache. You know. These are antiques. These are complex, micro mechanical antiques. Fuck off, you know.
Blake Rea:This is hard, this is hard, you know how did you decide to just jump right into vintage? Because usually vintage is where people kind of land after going through like the new, the new watches, new collections, and they're like, hey look, this is all boring, there's a lot more character and vintage yeah you know what I mean I uh, you know I grew up, um, you know I grew up in an old, an old family.
Christian Zeron:I mean I, technically speaking, I have cousins that are peers now, but growing up I didn't see them or speak to them, nothing, right. My whole family was old. So everything I would hear, every story I would hear, every article of clothing that I thought was cool and interesting were being worn by my uncles and and and and. The answer the music or the records or whatever. I mean. You know, I was just laughing just the other day because I had a buddy that I see about once a year come over my apartment, uh, and we drank martinis and we, you know, laughed and whatever. We threw a little bit of a, a little bit of a party, and I had another buddy come by to meet him for the first time. Little bit of a, a little bit of a party. And I had another buddy come by to meet him for the first time and my other buddy goes wow, joe's a Joe's, a great guy. Huh, I said, yeah, you know what's funny?
Christian Zeron:In college people didn't find him nearly as interesting as I did. I found this guy incredibly talented, well-dressed, he could sing opera at midnight when everyone else was right. I always found that so cool. You know, I found that to be the embodiment of you know that. You know that Rat Pack, you know, swagger, you know. And at the big college everyone thought it was boring and weird and whatever. But you know, I guess it's just.
Christian Zeron:I had grown up in that space where what you know, my North Star for what cool was, was very different. Right, I mean, I wanted virtually nothing to do with music or clothing or whatever. This is young for me. I'm wearing a golf polo. This is a new era of Christian where I'm trying to act my age a little bit. But no, growing up, that's not what I wanted to do at all. I wanted to wear. I thought that jeans were for kids and men wore slacks. And how dare you show up to a Sunday wearing jeans and you wear a sweater? And that was it.
Christian Zeron:I mean, I couldn't wait to get a watch. I couldn't wait to. You know, I used to remember sitting at holidays and imagining, like fantasizing, if one of my uncles were to give me his, see me admiring it and give it to me. That would never happen, but I used to think about that all the time. Oh what, wow, could you imagine? You took that off his wrist and gave it to me. You know, you know, I just always, uh, I idolized my uncles and um, and that's it. I never even considered modern, never now I like modern watches, but I never even considered it before, before I really got into watches.
Blake Rea:It's, it's crazy to think about it like that Cause the vintage market at least. So I have a. I have a hard time, particularly buying vintage watches, because you just have to find that needle in a haystack. You know, I'm sure you probably go through that every day. You know sourcing and curating watches for you know your clients and your shop, but every single day I just see so much junk out there. You know, like people that have like these, like super fake repainted dials or you know, just, I mean this unknown service histories or I find vintage so much more predictable than modern.
Christian Zeron:I find the opposite right, because if you know about vintage, if you know what a dial looks like, you know what cases will look like, you can detect real from fake. You can sift with modern, these super clones. I want nothing to do with it. When I get messages hey, you want to buy my new Explorer? Zero percent chance Zero. I have no interest in it. None, it's too big of a risk, it's too much of a pain in my ass.
Christian Zeron:I now have to go bring it to this watchmaker to inspect it over a period, whereas if I buy a vintage Omega from you, I know from the get on my own that this is real. I know it from pictures. Right, then I can open it up and see the move. I know everything is real. I can understand that this needs a service. I can throw it on a time grapher and know that it needs a service. That's fine, that's nothing. So that means that, okay, I could pay this guy now he sent in the watch. I could pay him. I could give him his $1,200 or $1,500 or whatever and move on From there.
Christian Zeron:It's my business how long it takes me to get the service. It could take me six months. I don't care, it means nothing to me how long it takes. I'm no longer responsible to the person that sent the watch in, whereas a modern watch okay, you sent me a watch in. Now, within the next 72 hours, I need to have this inspected and I'm taking a risk because I don't. I don't, I'm trusting the, I'm trusting the, the, the, the, the time and attention that a watchmaker put into discerning these incredible clones from real, fuck that all for 500 bucks, no thanks, no thanks. You know I can, you know I can turn tricks in the subway and, and you know, and make more money. It's insane. I mean it's, it's, it's not worth it. You know I, I hate that, that hustle aspect of the game.
Blake Rea:I generally will go to uh, to Turkey at least once a year and I just came back in October and um, and you know I'll spend a lot of time you educate myself going through the markets and looking at the fakes and seeing the new generation of fakes and particularly this year I was very scared to see. It's astonishing.
Christian Zeron:I held a watch last week it was a 5711, a paddock nautilus in rose gold with a ruby bezel and ruby indices. Okay, this watch is made. It's a real model. Yeah, yeah, it's a $200,000 watch that sells secondhand for $450,000.
Christian Zeron:Okay, the fake, which was presented to me as a fake, by the way, the dealer knew it was fake and just wanted to see if I had a client for it. All with consent, right, and I don't have a client for that, but I was interested in the watch, I just wanted to see it. So it is solid, 18-karat rose gold. The bracelet is fantastic, the clasp is fantastic, the movement is a real Patek Philippe movement, the correct movement, whatever that reference is, whatever that model is to go into that watch. And the rubies are real, everything is right.
Christian Zeron:It's real gold, real rubies, although not made by Patek, not right, cut by Patek, not set by Patek, and an actual, real movement, right, the watch was $35,000. It's a $35,000 fake watch. The date placement was correct. Everything, naturally, is the right movement, right. That used to be the way you could tell the fake Nautilus from the real Nautilus. The date placement yeah, I looked at this and I said I cannot believe, I can't. I couldn't even believe it. I would have gone to my head. I would have bet it was real within the right context. If I saw the right person wearing that watch I 100 I'd say that was a real watch.
Christian Zeron:I picked it up. It's real gold. None of that color, none of that cheap place. That nope, it's fucking nuts I don't.
Blake Rea:I don't understand. I have a hard time like sitting here deciding what type of customer would spend 30, 40 000 on a watch knowingly fake watch um, when you could just buy, I mean, a daytona or whatever.
Christian Zeron:You know we're saying before right, try to put ourselves in the shoes of these other sorts of clients. Right, I would never do it, you would never do it. Fine, but think about it. I mean there's a whole world of people I think of, I mean as an abstract. Think of miami, right. Um, whole world of people I think of, I mean as an abstract. Think of Miami, right, whole world of people that actually are high income earners by anyone's standard. They actually do make plenty of money, right, they're successful by any measure, right, a lot of these people, but you are still fronting this life.
Christian Zeron:That is two, three, five, 10, 15, 20 times right, the levels of success, probably to attract more success. Right, it's not even necessarily which the stereotype would be this downward spiral of keeping up with the Joneses. There actually could be a level of function, right, that's why people buy certain cars or lease certain cars, right, I mean, you know certain pieces of real estate in prime location for retail space, right, so I can understand why not just one person but a whole world of people would say holy shit, right, it's a real movement, it's an aftermarket bracelet, fine, real rubies, and everyone's going to think that, and no one will ever tell it has no resale value. But who cares? Or it has, let's say, $15,000 or $10,000 in resale value, right, frankly, there's just as much risk in a real panic, $10,000 or $15,000 in potential downside. So I can see a whole world of people saying you know what this makes sense. It's not the same cheap fake anymore.
Christian Zeron:The larger argument, I think, is a moral argument, right, not to say that luxury companies are in the clear, right, our phones and our cars, right, are certainly not necessarily moral products. But the fake industry does funnel to terrorism, right? I mean, the evidence is pretty laid out and that's a moral. It's a more of a moral objection. But other than that, on an otherwise logical level, a lot of people, I think, would bite that bullet and say you know what? I could have a half a million dollar watch on my wrist for 30 grand, not bad, it's crazy.
Blake Rea:And then, as they're trying to sell you their get rich quick courses, yep, yep, yep.
Christian Zeron:You know it's freaking nuts man, it's freaking nuts um, I'm curious to get your take.
Blake Rea:And let let's get back here to you know your vintage collection, theo and harris, you know, obviously you're all in on vintage. Uh, what do you feel is special about vintage watches, you know, or makes them more collectible than modern watches?
Christian Zeron:and your and your take well, you know, I mean collectability is, uh, you know it's just a intersection of, I mean, desirability and rarity, right, I mean if something is, if something ticks a certain amount of boxes that makes it desirable, boxes would be, you know, independent variables that are nice, right, like a gilt dial, certain sizing right. A watch of 36 millimeters up in diameter is more collectible than 30 to 35, generally speaking, right, obviously, brand right. All these different little variables can make something on its face desirable. But then what vintage also has, is that rarity aspect, right? That modern, simply generally speaking, does not right.
Christian Zeron:You don't need that many people in the world to be bidding on a Cartier. You need like five nut jobs, that's it, whereas with a modern market you need thousands and thousands and thousands of people agreeing that this is worth more money. I mean, some of the results we've seen in Cartier recently are a fantastic example. We've seen Quartz from the 90s. Have you seen this quartz Cartier's at auction go for over $65,000. I mean, that is absolutely unheard of, unheard of, unprojected by anybody. Um, but it is what it is, that's it.
Blake Rea:I have friends that go down the rabbit hole and watch the auction market and do all this. I just never really got into it, especially considering a lot of the controversy that happens with some of these auction houses and how they source their watches and how they misrepresent them. To me it's just something I avoid. You know I'm 100 tucked in with the new brands. You know I'm doing press with with brands and you know, contracted by brands and you know talking about new products and you know giving my honest take. You know if I get a script, I'm not doing. You know giving my honest take. You know if I get a script, I'm not doing it.
Blake Rea:You know, or, um, and I haven't really opened the door to vintage, which is, you know, we've had a couple of vintage guys here on the show. Um, we had, you know, uh, cameron Barr from craft and tailored came on um, now, you right, um, we also had some of the, the tiktokers that do the negotiation, negotiation stuff in new york and uh, and they're they're huge on vintage, um, but it's it's a world that that I'm slowly getting into. Um, and you know, to me, like one of my first purchases, uh was actually a vintage watch, like my first luxury watch purchase was at that time. Was, uh, a speedmaster reduced?
Blake Rea:you know, when those things were like 900 bucks.
Christian Zeron:Yeah, awesome, I know you can say that about almost anything these days, though, right, I mean you know it's it's wild, um, how relatively speaking affordable these collectible watches were. I mean it's, it's crazy, you know, no one, no one knew, and, and most people you know, I mean I look back sometimes and I see some of these watches that have now doubled, triple, quadrupled in value and I say, oh yeah, I sold it at four grand, so I don't deserve it at 12. Right, I mean I didn't even like it. Four thousand dollars worth, right, I mean you know, uh, it is what it is. You know I had that with many cartiers.
Christian Zeron:I've owned you know many cartier watches. For someone that's not in the world of like top tier cartier collecting, right, I'm in like the very you know, uh, at like relatively speaking, average guy cartier collecting. There are people out there with you know rare londons and they have 15 of them and they have crashes and they have all this stuff. No, but I did own basically all of the really cool you know middle of the road Cartier watches. Right, I owned all the different references of Santos and I owned, you know all all the different thicknesses. I've run all the Louise. I mean I own kind of all of them at some point or another. You know and I you know what I ended up keeping. And again before, right before I really knew anything, I kept a swiss dial tank normal and I still wear it and I love it, which is basically the most. It was one of the least collectible cartiers I've ever owned and I kept it because I love it.
Christian Zeron:I love it, I love that watch. I think it is a perfect case. The condition is great and even though the dial says swiss, which means it's, you know, half the value, half the value of paris, I don't care who gives a shit right, I mean, yeah, you know, it's not for me, that's not for me I, I've, I've started recently, um, for my vintage journey, like I started with omega because omega is a relatively easy brand to get into into the vintage space.
Blake Rea:They've got great resources online, they've got a great community, uh, a lot of people. I mean there's a lot of consistency between, like, the movements, the markings. It's pretty easy for a novice vintage collector like me, um, and yeah, I started with that, uh, that reduced um, and then I went into the mark ii, the speedmaster mark ii, which you know has a weirdly cult like following because it was like it was the moon watch that was supposed to be the moon watch yep, um, and then recently I picked up one of the uh, the seamaster soccer timers those are great, it's awesome.
Blake Rea:Um, and yeah, I picked it up at a vintage watch show. There's a vintage watch show that comes to town every year and, uh, and I picked, I mean I just, you know, it was like three thousand dollars cheaper than what they were trading for. You know, I was like okay, like I guess I have to buy this right, um, and then I picked up recently one of those, uh, lejour, like by hoyer, like uh, like chronograph, like seven thousands or whatever, um, which again was just stupid cheap, you know, yeah there's still, I mean, some affordable stuff on the market.
Christian Zeron:That's really interesting. I mean I, um, I've literally begun collecting ladies watches over the last year and a half or so. Um, because they're incredible. I mean, some I'll wear, some I won't. Uh, I, um, I I've given my mom to lady date just presidents the yellow gold with different dials. I got her an Onyx and then I just recently got her an orange Stella.
Christian Zeron:If that was a men's watch, that would be a, you know, $50,000 watch, $70,000 watch, you know. But it's not, it's a lady's watch, you know, it's a small fraction of the price, you know, and I think it's just as interesting and just as beautiful. Now, that watch I won't wear that watch is too feminine for me. But I find that some vintage Cartier, some vintage Patek on leather straps, I wear them and they feel like bracelets as opposed to very small watches, and I love them. I mean I bought a Patek Ellipse last week that I did not buy for myself, I bought it to sell at some point and I got it, I put it on and I said, well, that's it, this is staying. I mean it's just an incredible dial, incredible case, very similar to Cartier Benoit and I love Cartier, but it's Patek and I think it's more beautiful actually than the Benoit. I think it's actually prettier.
Christian Zeron:The dial is incredible and the really sharp, uh, uh, dauphine hands, as opposed to the uh, thinner blue sword, right, uh, cartier, I think it's perfect. It couldn't be better and it's right, for the same price as a omega speed master, right, I mean, uh, which is fantastic, you know. So it's a's, a, it's a, it's a attainable luxury price point, right, relatively speaking. Long jeans is even more attainable, right, but it's an attainable luxury price point, relatively speaking. It's not Daytona money, it's not right, day-date money, it's. It's just, you know it's. It's it's in the, in the world of the entry level of luxury, and yet I don't think the watch is entry level luxury and the watches, the watches, you know graduated luxury. You know it's, it's so cool, you know it's so fricking cool.
Blake Rea:So I love that stuff. You know, I know it's not for everybody, but I love that stuff. I, I, um, I recently, I think it was in March or January I went to uh, this is Zenith factory and I got like a tour and we put like a little YouTube video up. So, people, it doesn't get a lot of love, like I'm a new YouTuber, but but no, no, no. So we got a chance to kind of showcase off the factory film there, learn about their design, sit down with their product officer. I think, if you're, if if our listeners are listening to this, zenith was before Christian here, the chief product officer. But it's such a brand that has such a unique history. I mean, if you really look back at their history, they were the first brand to truly understand and set up their manufacturer to be in-house. You know, like where they had 17, 18, whatever different buildings.
Christian Zeron:And their production remains small. What are they? 14,000 watches a year, or something.
Blake Rea:No, I think it's like 30.
Christian Zeron:I asked on the last podcast.
Blake Rea:It's somewhere around 27, 30, somewhere around there. And then I think you had put an episode out where you were talking to michael um, and you know I think michael was getting ready to like sell all of his watches and just buy a daytona, right or something, and you were like trying to like swayed him into. I wouldn't say it was like you know, but you talked a lot about like the five digit, like the Zenith Daytona, like how you know Zenith is super tiny and how there's just such a limited amount of those Daytonas out there and the future of collectability. And I was like I really resonated with that and the Zenith Daytonas are exceptional, an exceptional value, especially the two tones.
Blake Rea:Right now, like they're insanely cheap. And so I find myself now kind of going full circle and looking at vintage zenith. You know, like to me it's just, I mean they have, they have some crazy out of the box shit that like nobody appreciated. Um and I I bought a 386, like a 386 chrono master, uh, before they revived it yeah, right and you, I mean you see how, like that shit, just I mean shot up.
Christian Zeron:You know, the only, yeah, the only problem with zenith is, you know, which is a good thing, but because they manufactured so few, relatively speaking, you don't need that many people that love it to drive the prices up, right, I mean, you know they're, uh, you, I remember getting into this 10 years ago and you know I'm not a sports watch guy so I never really bought them. But I remember seeing, I mean wild, tropical, even yellow gold El Primeros and saying, ah, that's just one of the most incredible watches in the world. And they were, you know, often under $10,000. That was $10,000, right, less, you know even less. You know, often under 10,000, that was $10,000, right, less, you know even less.
Christian Zeron:And I remember saying, like that just seems like not a lot of money for something like that. Is that important? Because I knew, I mean, I understood the value of the brand and the quality of it. So I was just like, wow, I can't believe that these aren't more money. And sure as shit. Of course, right, as soon as you say that, right, everything goes up. But that's the nature of the game, right? I mean, if something is of limited production, that's it. You don't need that big of a cultural shift. You know it's. You know Lord of the Rings fans out there right that the eye of Sauron just goes right on top of a particular you know collecting class or category.
Blake Rea:And that's it, it's over, it's over, you're screwed know, uh, collecting class or category and that's it, it's over, it's over, you're screwed. I I had that recently, um, where I talked about the reasons why I purchased a mark 18, like iwc mark 18 over the mark 20, and then, you know, when I was talking about them, they were trading for like like two and a half grand. You know which is a steal, you know. And now, sure as shit, this thing's like three and a half grand. You know which is a steal, you know. And now, sure as shit, this thing's like three and a half, four grand, like almost at the same price as as the new mark 20s. Yeah, and, and I need to be a little bit careful about what I talk- about on the internet.
Christian Zeron:It's crazy, it's crazy, it's crazy. It cost us money. Yeah, yeah, it's really wild um, I'm curious.
Blake Rea:I I do know a lot of our listeners are kind of in the same bucket as me. You know they're. They're guys that are buying new watches, have questions about vintage watches, not quite sure. Um, what advice would you give to somebody who's looking to to dip their toe into vintage or to to purchase their first vintage watch? Like, where would you start? You know, knowing what you know as a buyer?
Christian Zeron:Yeah, it's. You know it's a good question. I mean I think that Instagram is just one of the best places to start any watch journey, right. I mean searching through those hashtags of things you might find interesting and start to follow the hashtags and you start to see how people are wearing these watches and how they may look in different lightings and different things like that, you start to really get a you know sense. For I mean, you can, you can essentially imagine or even just visually speaking. There's just so much data you can gather before you make a decision.
Christian Zeron:When I got into watches 10 years ago, it was none of that. You either liked the picture on Google or you didn't like the picture on Google. That was essentially it. The resources were so limited. If you wanted a picture of Cartier-Cintre 12 years ago, you had to go buy a book. There weren't photos online. I mean there were a couple, but what were there? Seven. It's not really getting you anywhere. I mean there were a couple, but what were there? Seven. You know it's not really getting you anywhere Right now. Any watch you want to examine or look closer at, you know you could get hundreds, thousands of photos online of you know, different perspectives and different thoughts. Right, and once you go into the comments section you start to really see things. Once you go into the comment section, you start to really see things.
Blake Rea:That's where I think collectors, particularly in vintage have a great opportunity that we just didn't have, you know, 10 years ago. What would you feel like? I mean, actually, I don't think I would ask this question because it's just going to allude back to what we just talked about. I was going to ask you what do you think are some underrated vintage buys?
Christian Zeron:yeah, and we just talked about, like it's tough, I mean, I still think, again, it's it's just style dependent obviously, but um, I'm big into, I mean, my style kind of is, yeah, relatively speaking, unpopular. Um, I like, uh, I like a lot of gold watches, be it on bracelet or on leather watches, particularly from the, you know, 70s and 80s, even more so they have that very, you know, casino Scorsese's, casino vibe. That's how I grew up, that's what I always saw growing up, and those watches have never really been given much spotlight. Right, just last year I bought a vintage concord right quartz watch couldn't be a, you know, less popular, less interesting watch to watch collectors. I think that the, the bracelet and the way that that's manufacturing, the case size and the thinness, I think, the dial finishing, I think everything is so fabulous. I love that watch.
Christian Zeron:I think I paid $2,200 for a watch that I wear more often than I wear my GMT right, and those things are out there. They're really out there at, you know, at you know, jewelry exchanges, specifically, those watches always got melted down, you know. I mean, I have the real version of it, which is the Polo, you know, and those watches, when I bought my Polo, I think I paid seventy five hundred bucks max that watches, you know fourteen thousand. I have box papers, all the links. I mean probably 15 000 bucks. You know it's crazy.
Christian Zeron:And I always kind of asked myself, uh, and it kind of always lit a fire under my ass when it came to buying something, um, in the watch world. Um, I'm on the fence about it now and if it doubles it'll be out of, be out of, you know, reach. It'll be out of reach, it'll be no longer right. I'll feel like I missed the boat. So I'll buy it.
Christian Zeron:And again, I have a retail store so it's easier to sell things. But even if you don't have a retail store, you can still sell things in the watch world. But I never wanted to sleep on something and then miss it. I didn't want that. I knew that I wasn't sold on the Polo when I bought it, but I knew that I probably wasn't going to lose any money, maybe a couple hundred bucks, right in the grand scheme, not bad for a test run. And if I didn't buy it and I ultimately regretted it, I would be really, really sick, you know. So you have to be careful with that stuff, right? I mean, you know, indecision is certainly bad in the watch world you've been in here selling vintage.
Christian Zeron:I mean I think you said like almost 15 years now was it like it's been 10 years since the company started?
Blake Rea:okay, yeah, what have you seen? Shift?
Christian Zeron:I mean relatively, that is a long time in the watch industry definitely an early, early adopter, relatively speaking, uh to the growth of the space what have you seen like shift in the vintage market recently, um, and where do you kind of project it going?
Christian Zeron:I mean it's certainly going to continue to go up. I mean there's no, I have no doubt about that. It's just a matter of you know which subclasses are going to do the best. I mean, that's really all. I mean. Cartier is going to continue going up. If you want to buy a Cartier, buy a fucking Cartier, because it's going to get worse and worse, and worse, and worse and worse forever. I truly believe that it's going to get to the point where going into a Cartier store is actually going to be the bargain, whereas that was not the case right three, five, ten years ago. You can get a vintage tank for cheap, relatively speaking, Not anymore. I think that I mean, obviously, you know dealers specifically look at different pieces and try to make them popular for profit, right? We see that with Ebel quite a bit right, Ebel, whatever. They had a relationship with Zenith, I believe, at some point. Those watches are really going quite a bit up. Not everyone's style, maybe, but those watches have gone quite a bit up.
Christian Zeron:You know, dealers, there's a fine line between the manipulation, right and you know, and giving something the credit that it's due. What is a fair market value for something before it becomes inflated? It's hard to say. It's hard and it's almost not even a question worth answering, because it's not of paramount importance to answer that question. There are probably more interesting questions that we can ask ourselves and dig for answers, Right, but I don't know. I mean, what's the right? What is the? What is the true value of a seventies tank Louis with an elongated crown? I don't know. What does $10,000 get you in the watch market? Right, you need to start it's. It's not going down, so you better off just answering other questions. You know, buy the watch if you want it or don't if you don't. But we have no control over it and our right criticism of the value isn't going to change anything. It's not because plenty of people have plenty of money and that's not stopping.
Blake Rea:I've noticed too, in a lot of your content that you produce, you're aiming to set the record straight on misconceptions in the vintage watch market, to produce content to just to be transparent, to to give your take to, to dispel some of the rumors or to help kind of set the market. Uh, like straight, like how, how has has that catapulted? You know your mission it's a good question.
Christian Zeron:I mean, you know, how do you find your perspective and your voice? And that implies you ever look for it at all, right, my, I mean, this is a business, right? So my income is not in any way considerably impacted by the success of a video or even two or three videos, so it doesn't really matter financially. Um, in financially, right, um, the business is different. It's a retail business. I have other businesses, or that's that right. So that freedom definitely gives me the opportunity to have a more. You know, call it quirky, call it stupid, call it uh, unfocused, but it's, I think I'm very focused. It's just the weave, right? I mean, it's just, it's just a lot of different thoughts happening at once and you try to connect them all because there are so many things happening at once. But that, that, that freedom allows me to do that, right, I don't need to and I don't need to, and I certainly don't choose to get in front of the camera and, you know, spend a ton of time practicing that hook. Spend a ton of time practicing that hook. Spend a ton of time really mapping out the thing. I look at a subject, I see a piece of news, I read the piece of news and I say, wow, what do I think about that? All right, turn the camera on, let's, let's, let's give this a go and that's really it.
Christian Zeron:I mean, if you watch our videos, you know our reviews are 10 to 15 minutes or 20 minutes. What are there? Two cuts, cuts, three cuts. These are not videos that are, you know, of high production. They're not right. They really are. Or the goal of them and I think that the goal, you know, I think we reach that goal to varying degrees is is to Well, one I genuinely do enjoy it and it keeps me relevant on the Internet, right, which is certainly of value, but the goal is to just to communicate to a relatively small handful of people that that I know what I'm talking about. It's not to get 30, 40, 50, 60 thousand people clicking on. Now, that's not to say that I've done this the right way. Right, I may have a much, you know, better life and better business if I took the other route. I'm not saying that I've been right about it right. Maybe, if I took the route of let's become the go-to business for straps as opposed to straps are an afterthought Maybe I'd be making, you know, $60,000 a month selling leather.
Christian Zeron:I don't know, right, I don't know. I made my choices again and again and again and I've followed the paths that I think are true to me and true to my ability and my intention. That doesn't mean that I'm right. Right, who the hell knows. Right, my life it is absolutely possible that my life would be a lot better if I just got on TikTok earlier and slung scraps. That is so true, right? I mean, you know, I'm a young guy, obviously, but I was sort of stubborn and I never wanted to be looked at as an influencer or YouTuber. That's also part of why our videos are not very well produced, because I never want anyone, I want our videos to give the sense that Christian just sat down for 15 minutes out of his day and gave you all of his thoughts on this, what he thinks important issue, and I was going to go back to work. Right, that's it. Right. If, if, if, I, if the production value and the investment goes up considerably, one, it just doesn't even work. Right, we would need a lot more views to pay for all of the investment. Right, and now I'm essentially restarting a whole business, you know. Is that prudent? You know, I don't know, right, I mean, I just, I'm a very focused person and that means that you leave things on the table. You know there's no doubt, right? I mean I again, I think I've been clear, right, I could have probably killed it on TikTok and made fortunes, right, but I didn't, and that's it is what it is. You know, it is what it is.
Christian Zeron:I like the YouTube channel. Anytime the YouTube channel has been, I think, objectively bad, meaning the production quality was to the point where it was. Now, I mean, you know, negative. Now it's affecting the company in a negative manner and I'm not enjoying it. It's becoming a toxic place. I fix it, right, maybe.
Christian Zeron:Maybe that can go on for a month, because any bad system can last for a month before it's corrected. Right, I mean, a month is what? Four videos, five videos. I can record those five videos over two days. So that means two days of bad decisions can impact, right, a month of work, you know, I mean people have a hard time understanding that sometimes.
Christian Zeron:I mean we were producing some pretty bad videos back in September, october, for a bunch of reasons, and obviously it was under my leadership, so it's ultimately my fault, but my team was my team truly knew that I was busy and they truly didn't give a shit. I mean, they truly knew that they were going to get away with producing shit. That's just the truth of it, right? I mean that's just the truth. And, yeah, people got in trouble. I mean, that's just the truth. And you know, people got in trouble. I mean, when I looked at my phone one day and I saw that, you know, three, four, five videos had been released at a you know so, subpar, underpar would mean they were great, but so below the standard, I said wait, are you guys what's going on? What did you guys know that I was?
Christian Zeron:You know, busy we can be, we can be efficient with the, with the, with the, with the channel, but it has to still be a reflection, or reflect what we intend, which is, off the cuff, intelligent or well-conceived and passionate. Those are the three things. Everything else I don't care. If we get 10,000 views or 35,000 views, I really don't care, it's fine. But it needs to be those three things, because when it is those three things, the audience is happy and they comment beautiful things. And I don't care if it's 11,000 views or 30, it's fine. I just want to produce a product that we are proud of. That's it Now. Obviously, if it was more tied to our income, it would need to be different, but that's the position that we're in. That's the long and thorough way of answering your question.
Blake Rea:I think that's what I really appreciate about the content that you produce. And I mean, again, I wouldn't consider myself a YouTuber. I went to film school, I love watches, I have created some videos on youtube, um, but you know, everybody who has a youtube like watch channel has like, uh, like a secondary motive, right, and they're talking about the products that they sell, you know, and they're pushing this brand or that brand or whatever, whatever, or they're doing it for like clickbait, you know like, oh like why like this happened to my collection and, and you know, then I just don't I don't respond to that, um, but your, your channel is more like a watch think tank, that you're kind of and that's the goal.
Christian Zeron:That really is the goal. I mean 100, I mean our last view. I just checked it. Our last video got at the moment and this is like four days old got 7.9 thousand views. That is, that is underachieving on a metrics level, right? 100, right, our videos really should get somewhere between 12 and 25 000. That is, that is where we should be and that's a big delta, right, but that's where we like to be. 8,000 views I am so pleased with that video, relatively speaking. I thought it was lovely. I thought it was a great representation of the company. I thought it was great. No one's in trouble because we got 8,000 views.
Christian Zeron:I'm not hating myself. I'm not mad at any editors. I'm not mad at anyone that's holding the camera. Sure, everyone could have done their job a little bit better in that video. You could always do your job a little bit better, right, but I love it.
Christian Zeron:I love the video. It was about Grail watches, and what does that mean? Right? I thought it was a really good video. I'm proud of it, so that, because, if I look at my phone and I see that we've we've released something under my name with my face, right, that is below the standard which we've set, which, by the way, is a very reasonable standard, as I've already illustrated, right, and the reasons why that makes it ruins not my day, it makes me sick. It makes me sick. You know I hate that, right. I mean, the channel is supposed to be a very true window, a clear window into my perspective. So if it's a fucking mess, then that means that I'm a fucking mess, right, that's no good, that's no good, you know that's no good, that's no good, you know. So, anyway, I really do like the channel.
Christian Zeron:I've been doing it for 10 years. My mom asked me not too long ago how long are you going to do it for? And I truly said and I don't know. I haven't thought about it very long or very hard, and I truly said I don't know. I could really see this evolving over the next 20 years. I mean, I really could, and I could again, because we're not so tied to views I could see this evolving.
Christian Zeron:And depending on how long you've been on the Theon Harris channel for you know, you can see that there's been so much family content on it for so long. I did talks with my dad over wine, which we almost never talked about watches, right, I mean, I've been doing this stuff for a while, you know, and even our conversations about watches are generally more abstract and philosophical or whatever. So I could see this channel in 15 years as more of a family podcast who knows, because it will make me happy, maybe, right, I mean, and I don't care if it gets 7,000 views or 30. It doesn't matter, right, if it? Who knows how it grows, who knows?
Blake Rea:But right now it's in the place that it ought to be.
Blake Rea:I, I, I, I don't, I I've talked to, like marketing agencies and marketing companies and all these people that kind of want me to take, you know, my brand, into their direction and and and kind of like help lasso the things that we're doing and, uh, I, I, I, I'm, a, I'm, I don't know if I'm ashamed to say I don't even, I don't even really look at the metrics anymore, like I, I know what I'm, what I'm putting out there, you know, like as as genuine, honest content, um, and you know, I'm not paying professional editors or anything like that. Like everything, everything comes through me, like my hands touch it, um, and, and there's videos where, like I flew to switzerland and, like you know, like the zenith video, like where I spent, you know, hours going to the zenith tour and sitting down with their product officer and the video on on metrics got, you know, flopped, you know, and, um, and I'm just like, well, it'll be there forever, you know. So maybe in a year it'll catch on you know you've created, you've created something.
Christian Zeron:There's something to be said about that. I mean, you've, you've created something. You know and and you know being introspective about it there, when we do films, when we do films with brands, I know, I mean, you know, I, I I direct them, right, so I, I do feel like I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a part of that, um, but that's a whole other, you know, at least for me, uh, like emotional journey of we make videos. I don't, I don't press play, I don't export, I don't edit, I don't post, I don't I've never made a thumbnail in my life, right, edit, I don't post, I've never made a thumbnail in my life. Every video costs me 600 bucks to make every single one, and then we release somewhere between five and 15 a month, depending on the stage of the company and where it was at the time. Now we sell sponsorships, but it's still costing us a lot of money to do that, and that's without bringing in any other fees, like you know, accounts payable, and I'm just talking about cold hard, right, uh, production costs and, um, you know, I, I do sometimes feel like, uh, we, we don't make anything right, like, like we would get a lot of satisfaction out of, you know, building something or doing something.
Christian Zeron:That's more tangible, right? Because I see a video and it's just a video and there's ads in it, and then there's YouTube ads in it, and what did I do? I sat in front of a camera, right. So I definitely do feel that way on a level. But when you do one of those trips where you travel, like you did with Zenith, or when we do it with a different brand, you're like, really physically involved in it, and that is there's so much associated pride, and I think that's such an important part of leading a healthy life, right. Forget about money, just health, you know. So, anyway, that's what I think.
Blake Rea:I'm curious because you brought up your YouTube video and I haven't had the time to see it yet. Unfortunately, we're talking about grail watches. What is one of those grail watches Like? I'm sure you probably have watches out there your eye in the market looking for the right, the right watch at the right price like.
Christian Zeron:Give us a taste of what a grail watch is to to you well, well, the video takes a very different direction, because it talks about what is a grail, watch, and and you know what does a grail mean and all those things. So take a look at it, maybe you'll like it, but I'll totally watch it but the um.
Christian Zeron:You know, for me, um and I won't even use the term, I wouldn't personally use the term grail watch, that's what the video is about, um, but if we're just going to use it in the common right common right, uh, meaning right, like the watch, uh, the essentially the most expensive watch that you intend on buying and dream about, and whatever the watch, that represents kind of the end of the journey, not that it will satiate you, because God knows it won't, but unlike the Grail, but what would that watch be? I say it in the video, I mean it would certainly be a Patek, it would be a complicated Patek. It would be probably a 5970 Perpet, perpetual counter, white gold. Right now it's like a $190,000 watch, which is insane. It's insane and I don't know if I'll ever buy that watch. Because, by the time that, if I could buy a $190,000 watch, god willing, and by the way, what does that mean? How much money do you need to have to have to buy a $190 watch? That's a whole other philosophical question, right? I mean that is a very expensive watch. It's also a pretty cheap boat, relatively speaking to the boats that people buy. Right, I mean you spend half a million dollars on a boat and that goes pretty fucking quick, right, and you lose a ton of money on it every year, you know. So that's a whole other question that really just invokes other people's opinions on your money, which is kind of silly. But let's just assume that you buy that.
Christian Zeron:The next question is like do your kids inherit that and appreciate it? And then the other question is like well, how does that factor into an estate? I don't know, I mean so. So if my son is really nostalgic about the watch which I can appreciate because I'm very nostalgic does that mean that he's taking in portion his advance on on an estate? I don't know. I mean I can't help but to think about all of the downstream effects of things like that, because with the watches that I have I could, relatively speaking, equally distribute them amongst loved ones you know posthumously and feel that I've offended nobody. But what do you do with $200,000 watch? It's insane, right? Come on, I mean it's a wild thing. So will I ever buy it? I don't know. And I don't know, I don't know. I feel like by the time I could buy it, I probably it I probably wouldn't.
Blake Rea:I mean, that's probably what happens, you know I I can't personally ever see myself spending more than like 25 000 on a watch. It's just that to me is like tell me you can't get a nice ass watch for 25 grand like, if you I mean, come on like, let's be real. Um, if you could bring back any discontinued watch model, what would it be and why?
Christian Zeron:fantastic question. Um wow, I've never been asked that before I try and bring the hard ones. Man like this is some shit that people want to know. That's a very good one. Um, bring back any discontinued watch model. Which would it be, and why? I mean? Mean you know from the individual? Again, the question is hard, because not only does it force you to think back very quickly, but more than that, it would, in a level, take away from the fact that we can go buy a vintage, right, I mean?
Christian Zeron:of course I wanted to bring back a Rolex Stella, right? I mean and maybe that's actually a good answer because there's another logical layer there I would bring back Rolex Stella dials because the old Stella dials are actually, generally speaking, not the best watches. They're not right, the lacquer paint chips. That would never happen today. It would never happen today.
Christian Zeron:I can see Rolex releasing a collection of Stella true enamel very similar to the puzzle Okay, puzzle day date. I can see them doing that in a day date collection in the coming you know, five years even. In fact, michael and I, a year ago or two years ago, talked about how you had the collection of colorful oyster perpetuals. Then you had the celebration and that was that was the celebration of the end of the colorful you know whatever. And then they released this puzzle again with all these different colors.
Christian Zeron:Are they asking us to put the puzzle pieces together and project that they'll be releasing enamel Day-Dates in the coming years? I think they are. I think that's what we'll see. They'll be really expensive, naturally, but Rolex has not done enamel like that in a very, very oh. Actually Rolex has almost never done enamel. They've done it very sparingly because the Stella dials weren't. They were a lacquer, they were an enamel-looking lacquer right. So that would be a great watch to bring back, because the technology would be that much better. The watches would actually not only just be heavier, but they would be actually better watches. So that's a good example.
Blake Rea:And to fuel the conspiracy theory that now that Rolex has Karl F Bucherer and they have a high horology department, Absolutely, they could absolutely do it, absolutely.
Christian Zeron:I think that at some point, rolexlex will bring back clauson a enamel right. They would do that. That would be in really, really low production. Um, but I definitely see these and these beautiful dials coming out at some point. Um, for the, it's well within their, their core competencies what?
Blake Rea:let's shift a little bit. And uh, you know I got a couple more questions here. I know we're kind of reaching the top of our time. Um, what would you say? Because, as a creator, I mean, it's pretty easy to get burned down. This industry. There's just so many brands releasing so many different products, like so much shit to talk about and, like you know, you're kind of just like running blind right, like Like that's the way I feel, right, at least I'm sure other creators and people feel the same. But what keeps you going and what inspires you most about, you know, the watch industry.
Christian Zeron:I mean I truly. I mean, if you haven't noticed, I really do like to talk. So being able to speak on YouTube is a meaningful part of my life, right. I mean, uh, people, you would never guess that I'm actually very soft-spoken in real life. Um, I'm rather shy and I I, if you ever see me in an event, unless you engage me I, or someone's engaged me, I'm somewhat invisible, um, so so, so that is a huge part of what keeps me going, um, that being said, if I'm forced to make a video by a schedule sponsor et cetera, um, and I don't have a subject that I'm particularly interested in or I find very profound, that is a.
Christian Zeron:You know, I mean that is just such a depressing experience, right, having to get up there and pretend as if this is an interesting thought. I take a lot of pride in my thoughts, so that's the worst. I hate that, you know I also, I mean, if anyone that watches the channel, I mean I give quite a bit of my own. You know I not so subtly sprinkle quite a bit of my own opinions about other things into my videos. I mean, you don't need to be a genius to kind of know exactly where I stand on a whole multitude of issues about. You know about money or about anything about history.
Christian Zeron:I mean you don't need to really be that. You know intuitive, right, and I love doing that. I love it because not only do I get to talk about watches but other things that I'm really passionate about, right. I mean, the Gorilla Watch conversation was a very, you know, simple and innocent way to kind of expand and talk about, you know, kind of like the meaning of life and human. You know, inclination to be kind of insatiable, that's kind of fun for me to talk about. You know, I mean, be kind of insatiable, that is a kind of fun for me to talk about. You know, I mean that's the stuff that I listened to in my spare time. That's the stuff that I read, you know, um, you know I don't read about. I read far more books from Supreme court justices than I do about watches, you know, uh, so, uh, and sometimes I feel like talking about watches is a stupid waste of my time because it's a silly thing to talk about, right. So when I feel that I say, okay, maybe I'll bring something into a video that is really, I think, more profound and important than hey guys, you know, rolex is releasing a new watch this week, right, um, so not every video has to have an agenda. Um, but, yeah, putting my own perspective, of course, that feels good.
Christian Zeron:Who doesn't want to be listened to? I mean, that's the most human thing, right? The most human desire, right? Fundamentally, that's why, when you go on a date, the easiest way to have a good date is just come with a bunch of fucking questions. I mean, guys don't understand it. Guys are terrible at dates because they just talk too much. The fuck up and ask she'll love it. I mean, you think I like to talk. Yeah, holy shit, talk to a woman on a date with a fire in the background and a glass of cabernet. So what is it? What's it like? You know doing market research or whatever it is that you do? I mean it's a ton. I mean it's, it's in the bag, you, you know? So, um, yeah, who doesn't like to be listened to? So that's what keeps me going. Um, yeah, that's what keeps me going.
Blake Rea:So final question, and I'm bringing out the big guns Uh, you know, obviously you seem like you're a very sentimental person and watches are very romantic to you and uh, and so obviously I'm sure you probably thought about legacy, you know. So what type of legacy do you hope that theo and harris will leave in the watch community?
Christian Zeron:it's a great question. Another question I really haven't thought about um, I think about my legacy all the time, but, but I'm thinking about Harris.
Blake Rea:Well, I mean, they're one and the same right you are a reflection of your brand.
Christian Zeron:You're right. Terrific question, I think, because legacy is tough, because it implies that it's the prevailing narrative, and I don't know about that. The prevailing narrative will be that, you know, at the view on air's channel, without having an emotional investment, right, fifteen years from now, we'll say, wow, it's funny how that channel just didn't grow as fast as his competitors. Right, I mean, it's true, right, that's you know, it's amazing that Christian was so stubborn that he just never got good at YouTube. That's probably a very fair, very fair and probably prevailing opinion. That being said, an opinion that would be probably more popular amongst people that actually watch the channel and cared that I and the company I mean I, it's, I right, because it's the only constant um are just a very good example of um, of slow and steady progress with persistence over a decade that watched someone record videos in the back of a red Jetta loudly and then ended up kind of doing really fucking well, and that's really cool, because the criticisms that I'm a you know, you know they try to undermine the success that I'm a trust fund kid. It's nonsense, it's all on YouTube. You just go back and dispel your own.
Christian Zeron:I don't need to answer. I mean, everyone knows. I mean you know that that's not true. You know that that's not true, that we just really kept our, I really kept my focus for for a very long time and then tried to parlay each nugget of success into something larger that felt more true to me. So it's not, you know, it's not the greatest success story.
Christian Zeron:I think that something that's far more dramatic and crazy is Vukom, like you had mentioned, these TikTokers, right. I mean they went from no one to making hundreds of thousands of dollars overnight. That was never me, ever. I never really experienced wild success in a compressed, you know, period of time. I mean you could just go watch YouTube. I was doing it for 10 years, you know. So so, yeah, I mean, for a real critical point, a real critical analysis of it would be wow, this fucking guy, just, you know, really didn't give up. I mean pretty fucking cool, you know it's pretty fucking cool. Good for him. You know I, you know, and maybe I hope that you know my son is that way, you know. I mean that's, I hope that my son looks up to me the way that he did to his father, right, because I talked about my father, my grandfather, my mother, my appreciation and honoring my family for so long that you know this. This is all in many ways, because of that Right. So that would be the the inside baseball inside baseball.
Blake Rea:I think look at why this matters down the road. I couldn't agree more. Um, thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate the time we spent together. Um, of course, we're gonna try and plug all the socials here in the bottom of our podcast. Uh, if you're looking for a vintage watch, of course I would implore you to check out his website, theone harris. Their youtube channel is exceptional, exceptional, um, and obviously I am a fan of your, your content, and I've been watching for a long time and I will continue to do so.
Christian Zeron:So thank you so much, blake. It really means the world. I really enjoyed this conversation and um looking forward to speaking again, man.
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah, totally, I'm sure I'll see you, either on your side or, if you ever call him, I'm, I'm in Vegas, I'm actually I'll be in Vegas in January.
Christian Zeron:There you go. Maybe we'll link up.
Blake Rea:Let's do it. All right, let's do it. I'll shoot you. I think I've got your phone number.
Christian Zeron:I'll shoot you a text, I think it's my first time in Vegas, so this should be fun.
Blake Rea:I could take you to all the vintage watch spots I'd love that, I'd love that, let's do it. There's a couple People come here, lose their ass off and pawn their watches. I love that. I'm one of those guys that scoops them.
Christian Zeron:Terrific man.
