Independent Spirit: Exploring Obscure Watch Collecting with Yandretti

What happens when a collector deliberately ventures beyond the comfort zone of familiar luxury brands? Yandretti, known for his eclectic collection of independent and micro-brand watches, takes us deep into the world of horological obscurity where conversation-starting timepieces reign supreme.

This fascinating conversation traces Yan's evolution as a collector, beginning with his passion for niche fragrances that naturally led him to appreciate watches that offer something different from the mainstream. "Most of my watches get those 'What's that on your wrist?' responses," he explains, highlighting how these unusual timepieces become natural conversation starters and expressions of individuality.

The discussion explores Yan's particular fascination with visible movement components—especially balance wheels and tourbillons—that give watches "life" and a visible heartbeat. We dive deep into specific pieces from brands like Behrens, Thomas Schnelle, and Christopher Ward that exemplify innovative design at more accessible price points than the major Swiss houses. Yan makes a compelling case that Chinese watchmaking is rapidly advancing, predicting that within five years, the distinction between Swiss and Chinese manufacturing quality will dramatically narrow.

Beyond the technical appreciation, there's a profound emotional dimension to Yan's collection. Several watches connect him to his late father, serving as temporal anchors to memories and relationships. These pieces transform from mere objects into deeply personal artifacts that transcend their primary function of timekeeping.

Whether you're a seasoned collector or just curious about the world beyond Rolex and Omega, this episode offers a refreshing perspective on finding joy in horological diversity. Follow the path that resonates with you, not what conventional wisdom dictates—because the most meaningful watch is the one that feels like an extension of yourself.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to the Independent Watch World
• 11:14 The Appeal of Obscure Watch Brands
• 25:16 Balance Wheels and 2023 Watch Trends
• 42:09 From Fragrance to Watches: Jan's Collection Journey
• 1:01:40 Rolex vs Independent Brands Debate
• 1:21:14 The Emotional Connection to Timepieces
• 1:31:16 Chinese Watchmaking and Barons Watches

Transcript

Blake Rea: 0:00

Hello everyone, welcome back to the Lonely Wrist podcast, where we explore watches just not as objects, but reflections of people, culture and design. I am your host, as always, blake Ray, and today our guest is a true connoisseur of the unconventional. This collector has built a collection around the rare, under-the-rad, the radar and fiercely independent watch brands. We are about to find out what drives someone to seek out the truly unique watches in this watch world. Of course, I am talking about the man, the myth, the legend, jan, aka jan dreddy.

Yandretti: 0:37

Welcome to the lonely wrist blake, thank you for having me. Uh, we've been trying to do this already for quite a while and I guess everything has been to be at a certain time, and after Geneva it was a good time to link up.

Blake Rea: 0:53

Yeah, I know it's been a long time coming and something that particularly interested me and to have you on Is just the amount of Obscurity that you have in your collection One, and you know just your passion for the independent scene. Um, I think you know it's going to be a lot of value to our audience and, uh, I just definitely can't wait to have your have this published and just to hear the feedback it's funny.

Yandretti: 1:20

Like you, you get such a good description right now of the collection without you know the collection being shown. And about an hour ago and uh, one of these uh like instagram watch groups somebody posted a meme that said that uh, mbnf owners will wear mbnf to like random events, just so people could ask them like, oh, what's that on your wrist? And I replied to that. I'm like man. Most of my watch collection I get those kind of responses like oh, what's that? And it's not even uh, mbnfs or anything close to mbnfs, so I thought that was interesting it's funny because I consider myself uh informed.

Blake Rea: 1:55

I guess I mean fuck I have a watch podcast. You know like I should know a lot about the independence, but, um, it seems like every single day you know I've been following you for a while now it just seems like you're posting stuff I've never heard of. You know, the obscure stuff, the yeah, I mean you just have such a wealth of knowledge in that space and and yeah, I'm, I'm excited for you to share it with everybody.

Yandretti: 2:18

You don't do like a wrist check. We can we can, we can, let's do it all right, go ahead. You inspired me, because when I was waiting for you, when you had your phone call.

Blake Rea: 2:30

My wrist was, uh naked. Then I'm like, oh shoot.

Yandretti: 2:31

He's wearing a watch. I'm like what if he asked me what's in your wrist? I don't want to say the invisible watch. So no, let's do it so I've been obsessed with this glasut original pano inverse hell yeah the engraved bridge and the balance wheel right on the dial.

Yandretti: 2:46

So my whole thing I've been saying to everyone I know, uh, who I speak watches with that. Last year, 2024, was the year of the stone dial, to the point where if I see another stone dial I'm just gonna like throw the watch like in the water. I'm tired of the Malachites, the Lapis, the Tiger Eyes. It's already like done to death, like overkill. And when the year ended, a new year started. I said this year I want to see tourbillons and I want to see balance wheels right on the dial. Yep, and so far I've been seeing that actually from some brands, one which, uh, will be released, uh, tomorrow officially. You know who we're referring to. I don't know if we can refer to them yet, although by the time this airs this will be out.

Yandretti: 3:33

Yeah, yeah, it'll be out okay, yeah, so the new christopher ward has a nice bridge and balance wheel right on the dial and when I first saw it because certain images got leaked about a month ago in like certain chats, but luckily they weren't leaked outside of those chats, so you know the community, yeah, the community is very kind in that way and I'm surprised they did such a good job uh, you know, not having any of the leaks until pretty much today, um, which is the day the documentary comes out and the watch is officially released tomorrow.

Yandretti: 4:04

So they've done a great job. But when I first saw the watch I was like, wow, I almost feel I believe in law of attraction and I really feel when I saw that watch, I'm like man, literally like January 1st. My mind is like I want to see balance wheels, I want to see tourbillons, all that good stuff, because to me that gives a watch life. It gives it almost like a, the heartbeat, instead of just the. You know you look at a watch from, say, the 70s, 60s, 80s, even 90s. It's just a watch. It tells the time, you know you got the hour hand, the minute. Some don't even have a second hand and it's just. You know the old school, classic look.

Yandretti: 4:39

And I feel like, with the way watch making is going today, with the crazy watches from the grubel for, say, sort of david candice, mbnfs and even the micro brands like um, I love micro brands and I feel, uh, micro brands are bridging that gap between high end and affordability, while also being true to design, which is what I love. And watches I love. Love design, language and uniqueness. So, for example, martin D Watches they have their Kickstarter campaign for their Connemara model, which is their second watch their first one I forgot the name of the model came out last year, very popular, and I think you've seen me post it and I sent you the link I have.

Yandretti: 5:20

This one, the Kickstarter campaign freaking 300 euros, 289 euros. That one, the kickstarter campaign freaking 300 euros, 289 euros it's crazy pennies for a watch. And the watch is gorgeous, horizontally brushed, colored dials with a double balance wheel on the dial. For freaking 300 euros. And a kickstarter campaign like it's ridiculous, you know, and uh, to the naked eye who's not a, to the person who's not a watch collector.

Yandretti: 5:42

Once you have that watch on your wrist and you go somewhere, automatically the question well, what is that in your wrist? I noticed that from far because of the two balance wheels and also the horizontal brushing with, uh, the bright colors on that dial, and a person would look at that and think that's okay, probably 15, 20 000 watch, maybe even more, and to find out that it's sub 1000, it's like it's mind-blowing completely everybody needs like a conversational piece in their collection and a lot of people have that, that stereotype that it needs to be like ridiculously priced, but it doesn't have to be and that's what the micros are doing and they're bridging that gap to the point where, for example, to me one of the best watches of the last five years, pretty much since the pandemic started, has been the christopher world, belcanto that's.

Yandretti: 6:32

You know, the watch is already iconic. The watch is considered a masterpiece amongst pretty much every enthusiast and the reason is they took a chiming movement and made it into a sub five thousand dollar watch, which is unheard of, because I think the next chiming watch, I think, is the uh LUC Chopard and I think that's like around 45, 50 grand, maybe even more. So for them to do that sub 5,000 and it just it looks insane. The whole dial looks like a floating dial and it chimes every hour and has a lot of nice colors. And and it chimes every hour and has a lot of nice colors, and you know they did a million and one collaborations but still they're all nice and super affordable.

Blake Rea: 7:11

Yeah, I mean, it's crazy, the the value that christopher ward's able to pack into any time piece like I mean, from even their, their, their basic, like c63 collection all the way up to the belcanto.

Yandretti: 7:23

And now with the uh, the new piece, um, which I I don't even know the name I have from my understanding, unless they changed the name, it was called loco, kind of like a locomotive local like crazy, in spanish. I don't know for sure, but originally it was called the loco. I'm not 100 sure now because of the footage that I've seen on instagram for the release of this documentary. Uh, it's called like wheeling or something, I guess, because the balance wheel, but I don't know like freewheeling or something yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yandretti: 7:54

But I don't know if that's the name of the documentary or the model, but I know originally it was called loco and in my head at first I was like loco, but I think it's short for locomotives, because locomotive the wheels spin, I guess, sure, or maybe that's just the wheels in my mind spun that uh elaborate story right now, I don't know. But, um, but yeah, that watch. Speaking of that watch again, that's another watch. That's sub 5000.

Yandretti: 8:15

I mean, maybe a little more now with tires, but msrp wise, another watch, uh, sub 5000, and I think there's a six-day power reserve and they got their yeah, they got their movement, I think from where mb and f gets their movement at least, that's what I heard from you know weeks ago during those original leaks, but I guess we'll see officially today when the documentary drops. But I'm excited yeah, no, I'm.

Blake Rea: 8:37

I'm always excited for new watch releases. Um, I'm curious if you can remember the moment where you know you saw a watch that kind of kick-started your passion for you know these independents, underappreciated brands. I came with the crazy questions, man so it was.

Yandretti: 8:57

It wasn't really a moment, so I gotta let you know how this whole watch collecting journey started and why I kind of went down this path.

Blake Rea: 9:04

Do it.

Yandretti: 9:05

So my first love since I was in high school was perfumery. So I really enjoyed fragrances. And when I say fragrances everyone knows the brand Creed. Yep, I was wearing Creed when Creed was pretty much the only high-end brand. Everything else you know, you had the designer, fragr, the aqua, digios, the armanis, the versace's, and creed was kind of considered that high-end creme de la creme in a perfumery. And, uh, I got introduced to it by a friend of mine who was older, to hang out with older people when I was a teenager they were in their late 20s already and they had the creed and I remember smelling it.

Yandretti: 9:44

It was the creed, silver mountain water, the white bottle, and I was like, wow, I was just blown away it was, like you know, going from eating hot dogs your whole life to suddenly trying, I don't know, like black caviar, like a medium rare yeah yeah, with like truffle butter.

Yandretti: 9:58

I was just mind blown. I'm like wow and um, I got some birthday money fresh. Uh, first freshman year of college and I went to college in Manhattan. So I took a walk straight to Bergdorf Goodman, to the Creed section, boom, spent a few hundred dollars and got my first niche luxury and everywhere I went, oh you smell so good, oh, you smell so good. What's that? What's that? And I was just so happy. It just felt something refreshing and something different and I just liked how that felt and, uh, just like, kind of, I'm a huge movie buff. I grew up watching movies since I was three, four years old. So my parents, uh, when I grew up in ukraine, in order for them to leave me by myself so they could do grocery shopping, I would ask them to put on the terminator for me. So, literally, yeah, so this was the the late 80s, so this is before t2 even came out, so they would put on terminator one for me. I'm freaking, three, four years old watching the terminator.

Yandretti: 10:49

You know, oh shit rated r movie, yeah, um. So, growing up watching movies also, I'm a big fan of, like all kinds of movies that are not mainstream, like there's even a theater, for example, in new york. I've been going to since I was in high school. It's called the Angelica Film Center and they play independent movies and foreign movies.

Yandretti: 11:08

And when I was younger I used to just take a day to myself on Sunday. I would turn off my phone, I would go to the city, take the train there, I would go see a movie, sometimes even two movies, I would just walk around and I would have that day to myself where no one bothered me, no one was able to reach me, and it would just be me, the cinematic universe, and just like a breath of fresh air and walking through manhattan and because, uh, it's by soho and kind of to get back into it, how this conroe started. So with the niche perfumery, I started buying and collecting perfumes. That also you typically would never hear of them and if you smell them you'd be like, oh, I never seen that before, I never smelled that before, I never heard of that before. And I also became known as kind of the guy who always smells good but also always.

Yandretti: 11:54

Also always smells different, because yeah you know, as a collector and that kind of transferred into my love of watches, in the sense also that all watches tell the time and you know the real, real, real like enthusiasts will get down to that. Uh, oh, if you buy a watch for like a few hundred grand, with this movement you're within like plus two, three seconds, plus minus two, three seconds. Man, those two, three seconds aren't really going to change the day for me. You know, uh like, we got on this call at 12. Whether we got on at uh 11, 59 and 57 seconds or 12, uh 12 on the dot and three seconds later, it doesn't make a difference to me.

Yandretti: 12:34

But for me I was always interested in, uh, visually pleasing watches that look completely different. I like, uh, almost like, having like a piece of art on your wrist because all of them will tell the time. But I like watches that tell you time in unique ways, like retrograde hours or retrograde minutes, uh, watches that just look completely different. I like skeleton watches and lately I've been having this obsession with seeing the balance wheel on the dial, which gives me like that feeling of just the watch being like a living, breathing piece of art. That's just like beating constantly no, yeah, that make.

Blake Rea: 13:10

That makes a lot of sense and and the transition just seems organic, going from from fragrance to watches, because they're both both ways of expressing your individual individuality if I, is that the right word individuality um you know, to be expressive, right to, to be unique, to stand out. You know, um, I know you mentioned, like you know, aqua de geo and your fragrance kind of, uh like shout out. But everybody has that, or like blue de chanel, like everybody.

Blake Rea: 13:38

I mentioned aqua de geo because aqua de geo was the first fragrance I ever had nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with that, but I think it's one of those entry doors into into fragrance, you know um but you know it's funny.

Yandretti: 13:51

I'm gonna off topic real quick how that all started. It's an embarrassing story but it's a funny story. So I think I was probably like 15, so I think it was sophomore year of high school and you know I grew up. I have a younger year of high school and you know I grew up I have a younger sister. I never had older brothers, just you know, older friends. But no one ever told me, told me, about grooming and colognes and you got to wear deodorants and stuff like that. So I think it was sophomore year of high school.

Yandretti: 14:16

I'm on the bus going home and you know I have my arm up holding you know the pole on the bus and some girl who was a classmate of mine she was like, oh uh, can you put your arm down? Your armpits stink. And I was so embarrassed. It was like a good looking girl and I was like, okay. So I went home, started researching and I was like, okay, first I gotta get a deodorant and then I gotta, and then after that I'm I always have to smell good after that. So Aqua De Joux, I think at the time, just came out and it was like, oh, this is at the time when, like pickup, was still a new thing Do you remember those days when Neil Strauss had the book the Game, yeah, yeah, and this was like right before he even wrote the Game.

Yandretti: 15:00

So this is. You know, I was still in high school. This is like 2005. I think the book came out 2006, 2007, maybe something like that. Maybe I'm off by a year or two, actually, no, no, no, wait, sorry. I started college in 2000. I was in high school, say it, 2002. That's when I was a sophomore, 2002. My dates are a bit that's okay.

Yandretti: 15:19

Yeah, yeah, yeah, was a sophomore in high school, so that's when aqua de jure just came out and you know it was obviously super affordable that. And if you remember dolce gabbana poor home, the one that came it was like a yellowish. Uh, the juice was like a yellowish and they had the dolce gabbana right on the bottle and, uh, the box was blue and like velvety blue, suede-ish almost, I think so I think so so those were like the first two.

Yandretti: 15:44

I got the aqua, did you and that, and I just remember after that like, oh, you smell good, you smell good. I'm like, oh yeah, that girl really set off a monster with that comment she made on the bus has, she has, she smelled you recently no, she's smelled me in like two and a half decades um, no, but funny enough.

Blake Rea: 16:01

Like for for me. My mine was versace eau fraicheiche or whatever. Like the little blue, like clear bottle. Like that was my first designer fragrance, and now I have probably like 150, like 200 bottles of cologne too, like I'm so into fragrance and I thought about doing like a fragrance podcast too.

Yandretti: 16:21

Oh, that would be good. I'll be your first guest.

Blake Rea: 16:23

Yeah, yeah, there we go. I'm curious about I mean, so you you've talked about how you got into collecting, but but what would you say collecting means to you at this moment? Um, is it about appreciation? Is it's not about investment? I don't know a lot of people that that in watches, unless you're trying to get crazy paddocks or Rolexes, not the space that we're in.

Yandretti: 16:49

I never understood that. Honestly, watches is an investment, because if you're going to invest in something, by the time a watch appreciates, you could have made money in the stock market and crypto and a million other things. I'll give you an example. So for my 30th birthday, so my first grail ever, was actually a Rolex Day-Date residential, and that was a watch I always wanted and then, by pure coincidence, I turned 30 in 2016. That was the year that for Rolex's 60th anniversary of the Day-Date. 60th anniversary of the Day-Date. That's when they came out with the 40mm size model in rose gold, with the olive green dial, with those dissected Roman numerals. It's iconic now, but it came out in 2016 for my 30th. So I told myself this is a good time to get your grill kind of 30 for 30. And at the time I remember the price and that you could get it 25% off. So 25% off retail came out to about $27,500, which is freaking expensive.

Yandretti: 17:52

Of course that's like you know you could get like 10 other watches for that.

Yandretti: 17:55

But at the time that was my grill. But the reason I bring up the price is because now that watch is probably what? $40 if you're lucky, yeah, like $45, like 45, 40 ish, somewhere around there. But retail wise it's still only around, I think, yeah, 38, 40, whereas before the retail was, uh, I think, like 30, 37, 37, 500, but you were, you were just able to get it for, you know a huge percent off. So realistically, the msrp didn't really change that much and it's been what nine years. It only changed what by two, three grand. So it's not really feasible for me to get a watch as an investment because in this, uh, eight, nine years, for example, I bought bitcoin at, uh, I remember my first bitcoin I bought when I was eight, uh, eighteen hundred dollars. Right now I checked today, it's 94 000. So in the same time frame that a Rolex Day-Day went up three grand and MSRP, a Bitcoin went up freaking $92,000. So that's an investment.

Yandretti: 18:52

A watch is not an investment for me. For me, a watch is a way to kind of the way people buy clothes or women buy handbags. I enjoy watches. You know some people have sneaker collections of, uh, you know, worth hundreds of thousands. I don't understand that, but I'm not a sneaker head I never was, yeah but to me, watches is an extension of my love of perfumery and also my love of art and individuality. That's why I like and my appreciation for the independent brands are because they are able to do things that mainstream brands are not. I'll give you an example rolex right to me. The reason I bring up rolex because, uh, even though patek is more, uh, regarded in a higher level sense than rolex, rolex is still, to the layman, the only watch brand they really know. If a person never seen a watch in their life, they have heard of rolex yeah, you could.

Blake Rea: 19:50

You could be wearing an invicta and somebody doesn't know watches like what is that? A rolex you got like?

Yandretti: 19:56

yeah, it's, uh, it's already. It's iconic the way. So to me you know how things become iconic. For example, mike Tyson right, people don't refer to him as Mike Tyson. Once you say the word Tyson, it's known the brand, xerox, the paper, the copies. You call something, oh, can you make me a Xerox? You don't say can you make me a copy? Yeah, so when you become known as the brand name already and it's kind of universal, that's when you've really transcended and that's kind of what rolex is? You just hear of a watch, it's automatically rolex yeah my grandma, my grandma's, hasn't seen.

Yandretti: 20:32

The only watch she's ever seen was an orient. So growing up in ukraine they all had orians there with the japanese movements my whole family had an orient. But she's heard of rolex, you know which goes, goes to show. But the reason I bring up Rolex again, you know I like the experimental and the interesting watches and my favorite Rolexes in the last five years have been the Puzzle Dial Day-Date that they came out with two years ago now.

Blake Rea: 20:57

Like the emojis and stuff.

Yandretti: 20:58

Yeah, the Celebration Dial which just got discontinued, and also the Pound Dial which I used to have on the Oyster Perpetual. And also the pound dial which I used to have and I'm an idiot, I sold it two weeks before it got discontinued a year ago, which I regret to this day. It was the 36 millimeter with the green palms. And so those three watches, to me, were the three times when Rolex, in the last God knows how long, really decided hey, let's experiment and do something completely new. That's very unlike rolex. And what happened? They released those three watches and they got heat for it and I never understood that. It's like, as a watch enthusiast and for the diehard rolex lovers, you want them to keep cranking out the same watch year after year, like where's the fun in that? And what got me into the independence, for example? I go to all these events. If I see somebody with a Rolex on, I don't even like I'll say hello, but I won't even. Oh, it's a new race, I just don't care. You see, automatically and it's kind of it's boring.

Yandretti: 21:52

Yeah, as great as Rolex is and what they have done for the community in terms of for watches, they're just kind of boring to me. Yeah, okay, it's a Rolex Cool Next.

Blake Rea: 22:05

I saw like this one meme and it was like uh, from toy story and it had like all the buzz light years on the shelf Like if you remember that scene where, like he's, trying to find the buzz and then um like, but essentially the caption was like Rolex collectors trying to stand out. You know, out of watch meet up.

Blake Rea: 22:23

You know what I mean. Um, and it's funny and we like to make jokes about it, but I I think what what it boils down to is non-watch guys own, will own rolexes, right, non-watch guys will own omegas. You know less so omegas, but, um, you know, it doesn't. Really you can't spot a watch guy if he's wearing a rolex. You know, like he's been. Oh, it's a great, a great role. Yeah, yeah, I got it from. Yeah, you know, I like, you know, like he doesn't. They don't know anything about watches. You know, every time I've oh cool, it's a cool daytona, you know, yeah, yeah, I got it about a couple years ago. You know what I mean.

Yandretti: 23:05

But like oh like what else?

Blake Rea: 23:06

what else do you have in your collection? Oh, no, no, no, not, not, not anything else. You know what I mean. Like you just get that kind of like really passive conversation that that you have because they don't know what to buy, so they just buy a Rolex. It's like a default.

Yandretti: 23:20

It. It's funny you say that. So I have a buddy of mine. He's a detective and he wanted to get a watch. He had a Movado, like an old school Movado, and he was like, oh, I kind of want a new age watch, I want something modern. And I haven't. Really I got this watch when I was young, or maybe it was a gift, I can't remember and he's like I want to get myself a watch. What do you? I told him, knowing him, I said you know what you know what would be great for your first watch? A case of a Cartier Santos. Because nowadays the Santoses they come not only with the bracelet but they come with a leather strap so you could swap it out. So it's almost like you have two watches. If you get the green dial, it comes on a green alligator strap which you could wear as a dress watch and sporty, you could just boom. Quick change into the bracelet, which, to me, cartier Santos has one of the braids best Bracelets ever period from a design perspective with the screws it.

Yandretti: 24:12

Just I love it. I think super unique and it's one of the five best bracelets I think ever made what? And so when I told him the car, you kind of, yeah, I think I want a Rolex I'm just like I wanted to pull my hair out. I'm like, ah, and he ended up getting a submariner, which to me, it's a nice. To me, a submariner is a top 10 watch ever made in terms of like legendary the submariners to rolex, what, uh? A car, a tank is to carrie. You know it's one of those like 10, 20 iconic legendary watches, but at this point in time, it's a freaking submariner.

Yandretti: 24:50

It's boring. There's nothing new about it, there's nothing innovative, there's nothing cool aside that you're wearing a rolex and okay, it's understandable. I understand why he got it. You know because, just like anyone, like I can't even really say anything I have a rolex, yeah. But it also says something. When I could tell you that I used to have three rolexes a 36 millimeter, 40 and a 41, and I'm only down to one rolex, which is the 36 millimeter, because the other two rolexes, I was like it's kind of boring. I'm way over this already. I don't want it anymore. Let me get something else. That's way cooler. That kind of speaks to me, you know. But, um, most people will get a rolex for the status. Whether it's, uh, subconsciously or consciously, it's still a status symbol, and to me that's kind of boring, like I rather you not know what I have in my wrist than you know.

Blake Rea: 25:40

Oh, he has a rolex no, that that's so funny because I have a very similar story. One of my friends, uh, as a restauranteur he's got like seven or eight restaurants and in north carolina and there's no, um, there's no cartier boutique in north carolina. You, there's no cartier dealers in north carolina. But he approached me and said, hey, like I want a rolex submariner, like I want a gmt, like I want a daytona, and I'm like he's like, what can you do to help me get one? And I was like, bro, just, yeah, I sent him the link to the santos, you know. I was like you know, if, if I were to suggest a piece to you that is a little bit more, uh, I'd say just as iconic and I mean just, and has theet, like the name cachet, um.

Blake Rea: 26:25

And he actually went with my suggestion and purchased the, uh, the Cartier Santos and um, and I mean what's weird is like everybody's got Rolexes in Raleigh but not a lot of people have Santoses in Raleigh because there's no Cartier dealer, there's no boutique there. You know what I mean. Like Raleigh is one of those fringe markets. Like you'll see, santos is everywhere in new york or here in vegas or in la, but in raleigh that is like that is. That is a status symbol, I think, and, and you know, shout out to him but, um, he loves that watch, he wears it every, every day, and, and, and I which one?

Blake Rea: 27:01

which one, sorry which one the santos uh, okay, yeah yeah, with the bracelet, um and the strap and um, and yeah, he loves it every single day and I, I also have one too, like I have the medium um and and, yeah, I love that watch, just the versatility that it brings.

Yandretti: 27:18

It is have you seen my santos? Uh, yeah, you have the santos galbi right no, I have the caray, which was the the original one. It preceded the galbi. So I have the one from the 80s that michael douglas the full yellow gold one that michael douglas wore in the movie wall street oh, that's right.

Blake Rea: 27:37

Yeah, I have seen it, I have seen it.

Yandretti: 27:39

It's actually like my favorite watch ever. That watch to me just I don't know. It transports me to a different time and era. I wish I grew up in the 80s. I mean I did, but I was. I was born in 86 so I didn't do that much growing up in the 80s. I'm a 90s baby, but I always loved the 80s everything from the music to the way people dress. Like you ever seen the movie hot tub time machine?

Blake Rea: 28:00

I haven't. Oh, yeah, yeah, I have.

Yandretti: 28:03

Yeah, I'm like man, I wish I had a hot tub that could transport me to the 80s for like a weekend to go dress up in funky outfits and go skiing and put on that Cartier Santos. And you know, if I grew up in the 80s I would have still gotten that Santos over a day date, because that was the Cartier's answer to the day date. It was that gold Santos and that's my favorite watch of all time. I feel like it's just, it's perfect. There's, it's just perfection and it's a part of like a time capsule. But also with Cartier, I got to say that when I was younger, when I first got into collecting, when I was in my, you know, early and mid twenties and late twenties, Cartier got a lot of hate from watch purists. Oh, it's a jewelry brand, just like Harry Winston also, and Harry Winston makes some of the coolest watches.

Blake Rea: 28:50

They do and so does Shapar? Yeah, the.

Yandretti: 28:52

Harry Winston premiere oh my God, what a watch. And the opus that they did, just incredible stuff. But for years Cartier, shapar and Harry Winston anytime I would mention them, they would kind of get a like kind of blown to the side from collectors as, oh, it's a jewelry band, they're not real watches. So during the pandemic, vintage carter years started like making a huge resurgence, to the point that when kanye west wore the crash and he had the netflix episode with uh, was it david letterman that came to his house and to kind of see his uh, hollywood hills minimalist apartment or how I think so yeah, yeah and tiny was wearing the cardia crash.

Yandretti: 29:35

After that video. That's when the crash just suddenly boom like, blew up from like at the time I think it was about 19,000 if you could find one 20 grand to like 250 grand, which is insane. All because, again, the hype. Everything was all about hype as well, and how a lot of these vintage watches like the Rolex King Midas if you take a time machine back to 2019, you could get a yellow gold Rolex King Midas for like ten thousand dollars now 35, 40 grand. All because, you know, from influencers to youtubers, everyone kind of hyped it up. But with cartier, I actually feel like they really deserve it because they are the masters of design and they speak to me again because just their design language, they make such cool stuff. Uh, except for their jump hours, man, To me they look like bathroom scales and everyone's kind of making the same jump hour style right now, you know, with the two windows.

Blake Rea: 30:31

Yep, yep, yep.

Yandretti: 30:33

And, like you've seen, my Fernando Ranzon jump hour, the one that the Matt 2 kind of, in my opinion, copied.

Blake Rea: 30:39

I think so, I think so.

Yandretti: 30:42

It was the crazy one. I wore in Genevava on that crazy galaxy oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yandretti: 30:47

So to me, like that's a jump hour, but everything else is almost like a it looks like a bathroom scale. It's like you just got these two little openings and carrier again came out with the gold one this year and that to me is whatever. But uh, again, I'm glad that they're getting recognition they deserve in the watch community instead of just being kind of snubbed out as like, oh, it's a jewelry brand. No, cartier's were one of the first watches, the Santos Dumont, and you know they're legendary. What did that watch come out? I think in like 1910 that watch got made, so you know.

Blake Rea: 31:19

Yes, I'm running 1910 1912.

Yandretti: 31:21

Yeah, I think it's somewhere around there. Yeah, yeah, somewhere around there 1910, 1912.

Blake Rea: 31:25

Yeah.

Yandretti: 31:25

I think it was 1910, somewhere around there, yeah, so yeah, I'm glad that they're getting that recognition. And what was the other topic? Let's get away from Cartier and Rolex. We've been on them for too long.

Blake Rea: 31:41

How do you feel like your taste has evolved over time? Collecting independent watches?

Yandretti: 31:45

Oh it evolved a lot. It evolved a lot completely. So I also, as like a huge, huge enthusiast lover, collector there, I'm bipolar with watches. I'll tell you what I mean by that. Today I could be wearing a 29 millimeter santos and be like, oh you know, I can't wear big watches anymore, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Tomorrow I could put on like a 45 millimeter bouvet that I have, or a louis monet, which is like 46 millimeters, and be in love with that. And because I can't wear small watches, they're way too small. And at a certain point I realized I just just like everything. I love watches. Today I could wear 45. Tomorrow I could wear 36. By the time weekend rolls around, I'm wearing a 27 or 28 millimeter watch, 29. All shapes, sizes, colors. I'm big on dials, though. I love some pizzazz, some flavor on the dial, something unique. In the last month you know what I've been obsessing over tahitian mother of pearl. What's with the balloons? I have no idea.

Blake Rea: 32:47

I was like what the hell?

Yandretti: 32:48

party time.

Blake Rea: 32:49

I've never seen that before. I mean, that must be a must, be an epic.

Yandretti: 32:52

Uh the ai right understand what we're talking about and let's celebrate. Yeah, I guess right, they should have done that when I mentioned that celebration, though yeah, that would have been perfect uh, so lately I've been obsessed.

Yandretti: 33:03

So, um, teledano and chan, which I'm a huge fan of their watch, they're coming out right now next month I think, like mid-may with their new sahisian black mother of pearl and they have that new 3d crystal. Instead of a flat crystal which they had on the first B1 that had the lapis doll, they have a 3D crystal now and when I saw Phil in Geneva he had a few models that are coming out this year and one of them he had already, that Mother of Pearl, which I seen in New York at an event he did at John Rousseau's, but the lighting there was horrible, so it was very dim lit, so it's hard to really tell a mother of pearl without natural light and sunlight hitting it. So when I saw him at geneva at beau rivage, I said, phil, I'm gonna take this, uh, mother of pearl, I want to take some videos outside, I'll make you a reel and I want to see how it looks in natural light. And, oh my god, I would. I didn't want to take it off the wrist, I wanted to run away with it.

Yandretti: 33:58

You know, obviously I wasn't gonna do that, but, um, it almost looks with that 3d crystal. When the light hits it, it distorts the mother feral doll and it looks like one minute it looks like clouds moving. The next minute it looks like a rainbow is coming through the clouds. Then it looks like a, like sea ripples in the ocean. It's insane. Like every angle you look at it, it just looks like a different watch and I became obsessed with that to the point where, uh, I ended up getting a selten, which is, you know, like a big micro brand. They have an incredible watch, uh, so it's a moon face, guillochade, mother of pearl, and I put it on like a crazy, uh, python strap to match the mother of pearl. Look, uh, I don't know if you've seen it on my instagram, but it's a looks maybe and so I've been up.

Yandretti: 34:45

So I've been obsessed with uh, black opal dials. Recently. It's at a point where I ended up getting a zentier. It was like uh, the bathroom scale and jump hour, but I had to get it because there's only 37 of them made the opal dial. Are you familiar with zent? It's a micro brand. They had a few watches come out recently, like a Malachite and a Blue Lapis.

Blake Rea: 35:05

I'm actually not no.

Yandretti: 35:07

One second. I'm going to pull it up for you. Actually, since I'm in my room, I'm going to show you this thing. Super cool, it's a 36 millimeter.

Blake Rea: 35:32

One second super cool. It's a 36 millimeter for all people that are listening.

Yandretti: 35:34

You have to go to youtube to see this. Oh, hell, yeah, you want me to take it out of the box for the viewers?

Blake Rea: 35:38

yeah, you can, yeah, do it One second. Dude Sick.

Yandretti: 35:56

Yeah, so that's black opal, Trying to get like a good view of it. So in light it really like crackles and sparkles. So most of these black opal dolls I started doing my due diligence. They were around on vintage watches. But on the vintage watches they have about a 30 millimeter case which I'm fine with. I like watches of all sizes. But to really appreciate black opal you don't want it on like a tiny little dial because you're not going to enjoy it. So I want to find something that's between 36 millimeters and say 40 to really enjoy that black opal how do you, how do you learn about all these crazy brands?

Blake Rea: 36:37

How do you find them?

Yandretti: 36:40

Man obsession? I guess, no, no, I just love watches. It took me out of a dark place one time. By dark place, I mean, I think I told you the story in Geneva when my dad was sick before he passed away. I would come home every day from either the hospital or hospice and what kind of got me into my like alice in wonderland tunnel, was just going on youtube and watching all these uh vlogs and podcasts and different watch videos and that literally just kind of took me away from, like the stress of seeing my dad sick and helping to take care of him, and it kind of channeled that into just my own little you know escape room where it's just like me watches, and just kind of diverted my attention from like the real world into like this like land where, uh, you know, because watches also symbolize time and every time you get a watch, like I could look at a certain watch and I remember the time period I got it in. So it kind of takes me back to that time, you know. Or even now, like, for example, I have um, so I have three watches that I got when in. So it kind of takes me back to that time, you know. Or even now, like, for example, I have um. So I have three watches that I got when my dad passed away.

Yandretti: 37:45

So the first watch is omega sea master 300 chrono and the reason that one is so significant. So it was my dad's first like big boy watch, I guess in america, and grandparents who are now gone as well they're the ones who gifted it to him. It was his parents, so they gifted it to my dad. I think circa. So it's the watch that James Bond wore, I think, when Pierce Brosnan was James Bond in the late 90s, something like that. So I remember vividly they gifted it to my dad for his birthday and I think it was like 2001 or 2000 maybe. So I guess I don't remember that well but I'm bad with dates. But, um, I remember they gifted it to him for his birthday.

Yandretti: 38:28

They're like, oh like, son, we want you to have this nice watch wow and he wore this like first he wore it for like years and then he got himself a brigade type 21, which I also have now. And then also in 2000 I think it was 15 for father's day I got him a panerai chrono daylight the chronograph. So that watch is very significant to me because anytime I wear it it reminds me of the time 10 years ago that I gifted it and seeing his reaction on father's day, because I seen him like an eBay looking at it online. I'm like watch websites looking at that watch. He really liked Panerai, which I never understood at the time. I was never like a Panerista and I know they have a huge following and a huge community. But I nice, I'm going to show you. I'm going to show you the one that I have. Um one second.

Blake Rea: 39:18

I'm a huge Panera guy.

Yandretti: 39:21

This is interesting.

Blake Rea: 39:26

So oh yeah, dude, Hell yeah.

Yandretti: 39:29

Yeah, so it's the chronograph. He wore it on a black leather strap that it came on and I hated that black leather strap and once I got the watch, I went to Panera in Manhattan and I threw it on this white rubber strap. I feel like Panera it's my own personal opinion based on my taste but I feel like panerai's. They really shine on these panerai rubber straps something about these rubber straps.

Yandretti: 39:50

They give it like a super heavy duty diver, look a sporty, look just super cool, cheek, look just. And I just didn't like when he wore it on this black leather strap. I feel like it just. It didn't look good with this like crazy white sparkling dial. And now I call this watch my snow white because it's white on white now. So these three watches pretty much take me back to a certain time, which again watches. That was my escape and all my watches take me to a certain time, time you can't get back because you know we live in a temporal dimension where time just moves forward. So we have these memories, memories and you know, these watches, kind of almost like a picture in time that makes sense, yeah, so so go back to the panerai.

Blake Rea: 40:38

Yeah, I mean the way that they use rubber and have like rubber, I mean it's just the best rubber strap in the game. And then have you seen their like accordion style rubber where it's got like the little, like ridges at the top?

Yandretti: 40:53

Is that the one that they did now, with like collaboration with Prada for the Lunar Rosa models?

Blake Rea: 40:59

No, no. So it's just kind of like a generic little rubber strap, but at the top of it it's got little ridges and they use them in the submersibles.

Yandretti: 41:09

Dude, that's the one I originally wanted for this watch, for my dad's watch, but they didn't have it for this model. You see the regular it's like yeah the lugs.

Blake Rea: 41:24

Right, right, the ridges were the lugs. I think right, no, no, no, um, it's.

Yandretti: 41:26

It's the oem panoramic strap no, no, but I'm saying those ridges, they were like around where the lugs.

Blake Rea: 41:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yandretti: 41:32

They're right there where the lugs are yeah, so this is more like a flat one. They didn't have it. But that ridge one man that gives it such a good look. And also panerai is a strap monster. I could literally put this watch on orange, on teal, on bright yellow any color it'll work the I I prefer.

Blake Rea: 41:49

So I used to wear those like the, the panerai, like branded ones with the panerai, panerai, luminor ones or whatever. Um, and then I started getting into the submersible straps. Because of those little like ridges at the top, it it grows and shrinks with your wrists. Oh so, like, like, as if you could make a panerai strap more comfortable. Those do those step it up like two or three times, which is crazy to even. How'd you get into?

Blake Rea: 42:15

panerai um, I I don't really know, but the way that I got into watches was, um, I was like I was doing like a tiling. My mom was a property manager and she was like hired me and my friends to help out around the complex and I was laying tile and then I went out to take a little like break and on the window seal there was a watch and I was like it was.

Blake Rea: 42:45

It was a, um, a gold or like a two-tone chronograph, invicta, like a racing chronograph and I just thought it was the coolest thing and um, and so I started wearing it. And then, you know, I mean watches in a weird way, they're kind of like like little confidence, like kicks. You know, um, you know you can look down and see I mean now particularly like you can look down and see your hard work and accomplishments on your wrist, and so so at the time I was just like man. This is so cool the way it makes me feel like you know, like the practicality. I was always cooking, I worked at um, a restaurant, and so I was just like man. This is so cool the way it makes me feel like you know, like the practicality. I was always cooking, I worked at um, a restaurant and then so I was always using the, the timer, the chronograph function you know back when I used it.

Blake Rea: 43:28

I don't use it anymore, um, but but no, it just it, it just I don't know. And then, next thing, you know, I moved to, la and me and my friend, uh, we, you know, as we know, as we started like he was a DJ and I was like his, like booking agent and uh, and so we bought watches together. We're like we need some. You know, if we're going to start pitching stuff, like I was going around calling people, doing cold calling, posting ads on Craigslist, just trying to get bookings, like for weddings and and corporate events for him, and I was like, if I'm gonna be presenting stuff, like it was his idea, kind of like we need watches, like we need some cool ass watches that make us look professional.

Blake Rea: 44:09

And you know, we just we went out, we bought watches. We didn't buy like anything crazy, like we bought some, um, just some, some nice little casios, you know, like the little, like casio metal bracelet ones, um, because he was like a retro head, uh, but but anyway, so when we brought him together, that that sense of like, camaraderie, like like I never forget it, you know for for you and your friend to have like, like a, like a, like a friend's watch or like a yeah, and so then I was just like the way his and his, yeah, yeah yeah, kind of like, yeah, not, yeah, the opposite of his and hers.

Blake Rea: 44:47

But you know, you know I'm talking about like you have friends where you buy watches together, um, or you know, you maybe buy the same watch as your friend or maybe buy, like, a different variation of it or a different dial color, and it's a way to kind of uh, to kind of express your friendship with somebody and I have a similar story as you actually.

Yandretti: 45:04

So my friend jeff uh, so this is like circa from 2012, 13 to about 2020, right so he was very into watches also and every year so he had a real estate company in stan island in in New York and I had an e-commerce business with like involving private label goods and shipping containers. So every year, him and I would get a new watch and it would always be some kind of independent because it started off. You know, my first like big boy watch was a Breitling and he also had a Breitling and once we got away from, uh, we both like agreed that our taste leaned towards independence for like cool stuff that you won't see, really made differently and uh, not to kind of appease to the mainstream crowd, but more to like the individuality of the person who's going to wear that, I guess. So I remember every year we would commemorate business by getting a watch. So it was almost it wasn't a competition, but it was more of like, oh, what are you going to get? Like I couldn't wait to see what he would get and he couldn't wait to see what I would get, and then we'd go for like a walk and kind of check out each other's watches and kind of, oh congrats, oh congrats. So I remember I got a Beauvais and he ended up getting a Harry Winston Premier and then the Winston Premier. Then the following year I got myself a Luis Monet Geograph Rainforest Limited Edition and he ended up getting the Perpetual Calendar from Roger Dubois.

Yandretti: 46:30

I forgot the model name. I'm so bad with reference numbers, man, I can't keep all that in my head. We're just going back and forth year after year of independent brands. Then both of us ended up getting Ulysses, Nardin, Maxime, Marine, the chronometer, which I still have to this day. It's the only chocolate dial rose gold case watch that I have. It's like a two-tone but it's like brushed chocolate dial, which is just completely gorgeous.

Yandretti: 46:57

And one thing also I'll say, since I have a large collection that I've been collecting for two decades, what I love about my collection and I don't know if this is going to sound bougie or strange, but I love that I could go to a lot of different events for brands and I'll be able to wear a watch for that brand. I could get invited to say Breguet and I'll have a Breguet on. Like I could get invited to say Breguet and I'll have a Breguet on, or I could go to a Panerai event. I'll be able to come with a Panerai. Go to Breitling I have a Breitling, you know. Go to independent event.

Yandretti: 47:26

I have like freaking 30 independent watches, you know. So I think that's kind of cool, also with having a diverse collection. But even the stuff like the big brands, like the UN, right now in the last decade they're very obsessed with getting their freak on, so to speak, because even now in Geneva, everything is freak, freak, freak, freak, freak. And I pull out my classic UN chronometer and I'm just like man, this is just so, it exudes class and confidence and just that understated, just elegant gentleman watch, Whereas now they're so focused on freak, freak, freak, freak, freak and it's like man, Just take it back to a few cool, drop a few classics, you know, bring those back yeah, I have a UN diver and To me like it's like the perfect UN, because it's almost.

Blake Rea: 48:15

It's not like they're chronometers like their heritage stuff, but it's not like their chronometers like their heritage stuff. But no, dude, I love it. It's like the epitome of what a dressy water rugged tool watch should be, and that's just what I tend to wear.

Yandretti: 48:31

So I like to get visual, as you can tell. So I'm going to whip out the UN right now.

Blake Rea: 48:41

Oh yeah, Hell yeah.

Yandretti: 48:43

You know, just, classy, old school. You could dress it up, dress it down, you could do a black t-shirt, you could wear it with a polo, you could wear it with a button-down, with a suit. It's just, you know, nice and classy. It's interesting it's two-tone, which is strange because two-tone I'm usually used to like you hear two-tone, like Dayjust with the two-tone bracelet, but it's weird to see two-tone, I feel like, on a leather strap. And this is it, dude awesome. Yeah, because the lugs are steel, and then the case is rose gold bezel.

Blake Rea: 49:15

Have you ever been, like connected to a watch emotionally in a way that you never expected?

Yandretti: 49:31

I don't even know why I stopped on that one. The answer is an obvious yes. The connections are again. Two of the watches I'm super connected to is that Panerai, because I gave it to my dad and then it came back to me like almost like in full circle when he passed. So that's significant to me because it was a watch I gave him. He wore it so much he stopped wearing his Omega and his Brigade and he would just wear that Panerai all the time. So seeing him wear it made me happy that, like, oh, I was able to do something to give back to my dad, because if it wasn't for him I probably wouldn't have got down this watch hobby, because he got me my first watch for my 21st, which was a blue Breitling Navitimer. So I guess those two watches have a certain impact. But then again, you probably want me to speak on watches from my own collection that I got for myself, right?

Blake Rea: 50:20

No, no, I mean just any any watch. Um and so I, ironically, my, my dad was a, was a Breitling guy. Um, like my, my dad passed away, like last August, and before my wife went back to Russia, um, your, wife is Russian.

Blake Rea: 50:38

Yeah, yeah, yeah I don't remember you telling me yeah, yeah, I told you you were drunk though I don't get drunk, I just get tipsy okay you were tipsy then um but, no, no, funny enough, um, or weirdly enough, like my dad, uh had had came and he was, he'd been on a real estate for a while and then he got back into real estate and then he joined like a brokerage here in vegas and then, because my dad moved to vegas and then he kind of dragged me out here, um, but you know, as he graduated from this, this real estate program, he was like somebody said to him, I think, in the real estate training, like you know, it's all about my my dad was always like a real sharp dresser, but you know, um, they were like you need a super nice watch. You know, and you know my dad had a movado, which you know isn't, isn't, isn't terrible, no, have you seen some of these vintage movados?

Yandretti: 51:30

oh, my god, they're beautiful.

Blake Rea: 51:32

Make movado great again yeah, no, I mean his was uh, it was more like a mid-2000s movado because it had, like the, the little holes in the brace. I can show you a picture of it.

Yandretti: 51:43

It's called the Museum. No, Wasn't it like a Zenith movement?

Blake Rea: 51:45

It's called Movado Museum, no no, this was like this was a quartz watch, okay.

Yandretti: 51:51

But I think it is called the Museum Movado Museum. Look it up later if you have a chance.

Blake Rea: 51:55

Yeah, it could be, yeah, it could be. But so anyways, this guy kind of put it in his head that he needed like a watch or something. And me and my wife went with him to like we took him to Bucherer here, and so he was like Blake, what type of watch should I get? And so anyways, he was like really stuck on this, like Rolex. I was like trying to see if I can get him a Rolex right, like you know, the epitome of a status watch and for whatever reason they wouldn't allocate him one. You know how it is. But then we were going through the certified pre-owned session, my dad pulled out this like bust down, like diamond bezel, like mother of pearl dial, like diamond indices dial, and it was like I mean, it was like a day just right, you know, um. And I was like dad, do you really? You really want this?

Blake Rea: 52:49

like you're really going all out, huh yeah, and I was like uh, and he was like, yeah, well, what else do you think better we could find? And and so I mean, this was like a twenty thousand dollar watch, mind you. And I was like, so the challenge was accepted, that, you know, I found something that kind of fit his bill. Like, uh, he wanted something that was, uh, you know, comfortable, you know um to wear. I mean so rubber. You know, we decided on rubber, but I ended up we ended up pulling out the um, the brightling super ocean heritage, um on rubber, two-tone, so it had gold in it. You could wear it with, with, with silver gold, whatever, and and he went for that, which was, you know, six grand um, and then, and then he wore it every day, and then you know when those odd months would change. Like he didn't even know how to set the date. So, like, um, I'd have to meet up with him to to set the date properly, properly, or like if it would stop running. Like he didn't even know how to really set the watch. But, um, he got that maybe about, uh, like a year ago, like, like like four, four or five months before before, before he passed away um, but but now that watch is so crazy important to me because we got to like shop it with him, like we were there involved in the buying process, like I I helped him pick it out, um, and and yeah, so, so I have that same kind of connection, you know that, that you have with your Panerai and um, whenever I I was working at um like a cybersecurity company and uh, you know, when I went full-time into contractor, um, my dad was like, oh, congratulations, now, you know, now you're a free man.

Blake Rea: 54:34

You know like you can do what you want. You know, cause I was, I was on a salary, I was on a fixed salary and um, you know, because I was, I was on a salary, I was on a fixed salary and um, you know, just the, you know, from transitioning from like you know, the entrepreneurial side, you know, and so my dad, um, he helped me buy, ironically, a panerai, so, um, so it was like the luminor, just the 44 luminor, and I had like said something where I, you know, I like put a bunch of money into like my, like my, um, like my retirement account and uh, it was like a Roth, so like it was post, post, tax, so like um, or or, uh yeah, post tax, so like I could withdraw it at any time.

Yandretti: 55:13

Yeah, do you do that every year? Yeah, oh yeah, you just I just did it now too. You know it's funny, so I did it right before you know. You had to roll over the 7K and I'm very big like huge on Tesla stock Because I think it's going to be my personal opinion that it's going to be the biggest company market cap wise ever, not because of the cars, but behind all the tech. So just when the market dropped, the money came into the IRA account and I bought a whole 7K of Tesla and then it just shot up already, like in these two days. So random tidbit.

Yandretti: 55:47

Their earnings were crazy down yeah but you know what it didn't once Musk got on a call and he was like you know, I'm going to be spending a lot more time with Tesla instead of like Doge and all the stuff that's rolling out with the robo taxis and the fully full self driving and also the Model Y. He said they're going to be cranking out Model Ys in like 33 seconds per car, which is insane. Like production wise. I don't even know how that's possible. But the earnings call. The earnings were not too good but shockingly, after hours the stock went up and pre-market went up and it's been up today. Shockingly, I was like what now?

Blake Rea: 56:23

I expected like a huge sell-off, but yeah have you, have you ever gone down like a rabbit hole, like chasing a watch, that that barely anybody's ever heard of?

Yandretti: 56:35

uh well, I feel like I was one of the first people on Barron's and that's probably I could say right now Barron's is probably my favorite brand. I have three Barron's watches and I plan to get more, because. So I feel like Barron's they are bringing again. I feel like Chinese watchmaking still has this stigma To the point where people would ask me about Barron's and I wouldn't even say it's Chinese, I would say Hong Kong, just because I don't want them to start kind of like, oh, is that Chinese? And I feel like five years from now, and the people who are like super Swiss, swiss, swiss they're going to hate me for this, but there's going to be no difference. The whole like, oh, swiss, only that's something that's going to be gone.

Blake Rea: 57:24

I feel like five years from now, because yeah, chinese watchmaking is right now, just though they're doing.

Yandretti: 57:27

They're coming out with like triple access tourbillons at like a ridiculously affordable price, for example, wow. But with barons specifically, uh, they have three levels. They have the barons inventor, the baron's original, which is like their low entry, then the inventor, which is like their mid-tier, between like six to ten grand watch, and then they have a new one that they came out with called the baron's master series. So last year their first watch was the kung fu. There was only 10 of them made and I posted on my instagram when I met with them and this watch is it's freaking insane, like it's an insane watch. It's around, like I think, $18,000. So their midline series I have three pieces.

Yandretti: 58:10

I have the Joker, which was the collaboration with Konstantin Chaikin, which, by the way, they're coming out with a second collaboration with Chaikin in June, which I still don't know what it is. They wouldn't even show me, but it's the second collaboration. And Chaikin has made quite a name for himself in the watch community Because before he got famous with the Joker watches, he was actually a very renowned watchmaker in Russia and a big clockmaker. He made some legendary clocks and he holds, like I think, over 25 different patents for like clockmaking and watches. But you know he blew up with the Joker watch and then, uh, last year he made the like the thinnest watch. I feel like everyone's been in a competition to make the thinnest watch possible.

Yandretti: 58:53

Yeah, it seems lame, but which I I agree, because I want a little bit of heft on my watch. I don't want like a piece of paper with a strap. That to me, is kind of so my favorite Barron's watch. So the second one that I have from them is the Batman Tourbillon. I'm not sure if you've seen it. It was one of the watches I brought with me to Geneva.

Blake Rea: 59:14

I think I saw it yeah.

Yandretti: 59:16

So at first I had a love-hate relationship with that watch because I bought it without ever seeing it in person. I only seen videos of it and not even like review videos, because it was limited to 200 pieces and again, a lot of people don't know Barron's and when you have only 200 watches made, the chances of you seeing one in the wild is probably almost non-existent.

Blake Rea: 59:36

Yeah.

Yandretti: 59:37

And so I ended up buying the watch. The reason I had a love-hate relationship, so Batman is my favorite superhero ever. I don't even consider him a superhero. He was a crime fighter who was the real Batman, not what the movies made him. Have you seen the last Batman movie with Robert Pattinson?

Blake Rea: 59:53

No, I haven't.

Yandretti: 59:55

I need to To me Batman is Christian Bale, come on. Or Michael Keaton.

Blake Rea: 1:00:02

Or Michael Keaton.

Yandretti: 1:00:02

Okay, yes, I actually rewatched Batman Returns with my sister. I put her on recently. That used to be my favorite Batman, but the last one is incredible. Man, like you need to see it. Trust me, it's amazing. Yeah, I'll check it out.

Yandretti: 1:00:15

But in this Batman movie, batman was who he's supposed to be. He's not a superhero, he was a detective. In the comments he was a detective looking at clues and solving all this stuff, and he happened to have all these gadgets, since he was a billionaire, to be able to assist. So technically, he's not a superhero. He has no superpowers. So what Barron's did? They collaborated with Warner Brothers for the 85th anniversary of Batman and to create this Batman watch. So where my love-hate relationship comes in from, the watch is 38 millimeters, and you're probably thinking like that's a good size 38. I agree 38 is a good size. I have two Ming watches, both in 38. The problem that I have with this watch being that small, it's also thin. What goes into this watch? So the watch itself is a masterpiece. Come back. I can't see you. I feel like I'm looking at myself. It's weird. Where are you? I'm here, come back, Okay. So there you are.

Blake Rea: 1:01:12

Just the editing, the editing.

Yandretti: 1:01:14

Okay, gotcha, so listen whatever is more comfortable for you. So this watch what makes it a masterpiece? It really is a horological masterpiece. So the assignment was for the watchmaker and I found this out because I questioned. So the Chaikin Joker is 42 millimeters, which is on the bigger end, but it's a nice watch. So I would have preferred if this Batman watch was also 42, and I'll tell you why. So I would have preferred if this Batman watch was also 42, and I'll tell you why. So the assignment was fit a bilateral date wheel, day and night indicator into the watch, a free sprung tourbillon into the watch, a power reserve, a skeletonized manual movement and a bi-directional date wheel. Manual movement and a bi-directional date wheel. So what I didn't realize until not that long ago. A bi-directional date wheel is a very difficult complication because most date wheels just go forward. So today, what's today's date? The 24th, 23rd 23rd 23rd.

Yandretti: 1:02:15

If I need to go back to the 22nd or 21st, I have to go all the way forward. You know, 24, 25, 26, 27. Until I get there With bi-directional, I just, you know, click the crown backwards and I'll go back to yesterday right away, instead of having to go the whole month just to get back.

Blake Rea: 1:02:32

Especially, if you're traveling.

Yandretti: 1:02:33

Yeah, and I didn't know until recently, until not that long ago, that that's a very difficult complication to be able to move the day wheel back instead of having to go all the way around the month. So they fit that into the watch. They fit a free sprung tourbillon which is the batman logo. On top of it, the tourbillon which kind of the bat, the bat symbol, spins around on the tourbillon. That's the bottom half of the watch, and then at the nine o'clock they have a rotating AM PM indicator, which the PM is the it's like. So it looks like a ball, like a floating ball that rotates. So the black part of it has the Batman logo, that's for nighttime, and then the other half of that ball is white and it has BW standing for Bruce Wayne, which is the day indicator. And then at the top, at around two o'clock, they have a power reserve. So they fit all of this into a skeletonized manual wine movement into a 38 millimeter case that's also super thin. So that was his assignment. He's like I want to see, I want the challenge of fitting all of this into a super thin, small case.

Yandretti: 1:03:38

But my issue was which is where the love-hate relationship came from? I wish it was bigger because I feel like it has so much juice in the box that I want to be able to really magnify and appreciate it all, instead of kind of having to put a loop to it to really see what's inside. I would have preferred if it was 42, just like the joker, because those four millimeters they make like a huge difference, you know, in terms of visual. But everyone who's seen it was like holy shit, what like this is incredible. It's incredible.

Yandretti: 1:04:06

You know everyone, every time I wear it, people want to take videos, photos, and which made me appreciate it that much more. But the real appreciation came when I realized that the watchmaker, when I sat down with barons and uh, the CEO, eric, in Geneva, and he I asked him why'd you guys make it so small? Like, uh, he's like it's not small. I'm like, okay, 38, it's not small, but why not 42? All your other watches are 40, 41, the Joker's 42. And he said specifically that the designer wanted the task of putting all these crazy things into a smaller case just for the challenge for himself and mission accomplished, man, so crazy time piece um.

Blake Rea: 1:04:49

Have you ever, like, influenced a watch brand directly in their design?

Yandretti: 1:04:55

process. I know that you also did uh like a piece unique with uh chanel um, it's funny how you pronounce his name. Chanel like the handbags.

Blake Rea: 1:05:00

Dude, embarrassing. Involvement Chanel, chanel, Thomas Chanel.

Yandretti: 1:05:06

Okay, chanel, it's called Chanel, that's fine.

Blake Rea: 1:05:10

But no, jokingly, my friend follows him. And yeah, I think I told you briefly, but my friend follows him. He's like dude, this guy's in Geneva, you got to fucking meet him. And I friend follows him. He's like dude, this guy's in geneva, like you gotta fucking meet him. And I was like he's like, I've been trying to get one of these watches for a long time, you know, and he's just, the guy's just got so many projects in front of him.

Yandretti: 1:05:30

Um I'm gonna tell you a secret. I mean, I don't know if it's a secret, so hopefully it's not, so you know who he's trying to do a collaboration with, who actually wants to do it with him andre burkus. Oh, wow, yeah, that would be freaking insane. Yeah, I guess they met each other in geneva and we're like I know, I like your stuff, I like your stuff. Oh, let's do a collab. That would be freaking wild. Like burkus has been killing it everything. I see that him he comes out with. I'm just like wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, like my eyes. Just that would be insane. Yeah, so you were saying so.

Blake Rea: 1:06:03

Your friend was like yeah, yeah, my friend sent me his his instagram tag and was like dude and so I reached out to him when I was in geneva, and then, um, and then so he and I were going back and forth and I was like, hey, dude, I'm at, I'm at, uh, I'm at the paul expo. Like, where are you? He's like, oh, I'm at the barrage. And then I would go to the barrage back, dude, I'm at the paul x pro, or like. You know what I mean. Like, I like, so it just seemed like we were at the opposite places at the opposite times, um, but ironically.

Blake Rea: 1:06:31

And then when we went to the wolf party, um, and you know, you were like, oh, like I was like, oh, what? Oh, uh, chanel, and I was like, um, I was like, wait, what the fuck? Like like I'm, you're so used to seeing like black and white ceramic stuff, um, and and then when I, when I looked closer at it, and then I still didn't really it's, still didn't really process, but then, um, when you know I was following him, and then so he posted your watch up and I was like, oh, fuck, okay, like full circle moment, yep, um, and so tell, tell us about that whole like process. For like, I mean commissioning, I'm assuming you just commissioned to watch with him, or yeah.

Yandretti: 1:07:13

So I'm gonna tell you the full process, but before I get to that, I'm gonna tell you a funny story. So I'm hanging out with uh thomas schnell and I'm hanging out with my friend nick uh, timekeeper's guide uh, who I spent the whole week with pretty much he planned it the itinerary for both of us, such an amazing dude.

Yandretti: 1:07:29

So he planned the whole itinerary for us for morning tonight. Because I hate planning, I'm spontaneous, so I need someone to always plan everything for me and he just took that task and he knew the assignment and he planned everything. We're hanging out at Time to Watch it's in one of the rooms. We're just by the window, kind of uh, waiting to figure out what we want to see next. So we're just chatting it up and I see goldberger come in. You know, goldberger, uh, I think so look him up.

Yandretti: 1:07:57

Uh, aurora montanera, but he goes by goldberger. He's that older gentleman who's kind of, uh, he's been collecting. I don't know how old he is, I think he's been collecting since we were like swimming in our dad's ball sack. Sorry if this is too rated r and c for this. Yeah, so if you, if you look up a photo goldberger, if you just google, you'll be like, okay, this guy, like you've definitely seen him somewhere before because, uh, he's known in the watch community, oh yeah yeah, yeah, john goldberger yeah, yeah, yep.

Yandretti: 1:08:26

So I've seen him walk in and I know he likes all these vintage stuff, like you know, vintage tanks and, uh, all these vintage watches.

Yandretti: 1:08:33

So I'm like man, I get my salesman hat on and I'm like to thomas chanel, I'm like I'll be right back, I want to show goldberg your watch. So I come up to him and I'm uh, I seen him walking by, so on purpose, I kind of like brushed my beard, like this, so you know. So the watch stands out and as he walks by he kind of like points to it and I'm like I want to show you this watch. I'm like it's a pleasure to meet you, amir, I want to show you this watch. I'm actually hanging out with the watchmaker a few feet away I want to introduce you. So he walks over and I tell him so the thing with the Chanel watch is he uses these vintage 40s and 50s Longines movements into these watches. So that was kind of my selling point for Goldberger. I was like, oh, take a look, and he comes over. So I introduced him and Thomas had two other watches, prototypes, with him and you've probably seen me post. One was this gold dial brass watch and another was mine, but mine was like a salmon open work dial and the one that he had was completely just like nude metal skeletonized prototype which also was insane, like everyone who saw was like, oh my god, I want one. And I think I got his uh, his books closed for like another half a decade now thanks to my promotion. But um goldberger walks by and he takes a look at the watch. He starts talking to thomas and out of nowhere, he just like reaches into his jacket, takes out a loop, looks at the watch and tells him oh, the movement on this watch was imported in like 1952, and just kind of puts his loop away, gives him the watch and walks away. We're all just looking at each other like what the? And like we're cracking up. You know, he just took out the loop and tells him the year that it was imported. That's crazy. Yeah, so the chanel watch. So my process with him.

Yandretti: 1:10:18

I read an article I don't remember if it was with monochrome watches or hadinki. One of them had an article on thomas chan schnell in 2022, 2023, something like that. They actually had one recently as well, one of the two. One of the two did it first and then the other of the two did it? Uh, maybe two months ago. So I've seen his watches and it catered to what I was looking for at the time.

Yandretti: 1:10:40

So what I was looking for, I always wanted a cartier tank style watch. So the only two real company like two not real, but the only two companies that kind of make that look are jlc with the reversal and cartier with the tank. What I was looking for, that like tank style, yeah, the problem is I have never been a fan of jlc, just personal preference. You know it's a legendary brand. Just the reversals, just they. It's not me, it never spoke to me. Cartier tanks certain models speak to me, obviously the classic ones and, as most recently, I like the Art Deco. There's the vintage Art Deco and there's the new Art Deco and also the Mosaic dolls. They premiered at Watches and Wonders in 2023. 2022 or 2023? I think it was 23. It's like rose gold, yellow gold and white gold tiles.

Blake Rea: 1:11:31

Like the tributes or something. Yeah.

Yandretti: 1:11:35

My issue with a Cartier tank and why I ended up not getting one. Because any tank I ever tried on, it just didn't sit good on me. Either I have weird wrists or maybe due to how flat the case is, it just doesn't have like a flush way of sitting and I get OCD with watches. So if it's not sitting right and I kind of have to move it around it still doesn't sit right, then it won't sit right with me, figuratively speaking. So once I saw the Chanel watch, I'm like whoa, that caters exactly to what I want. I was looking for a tank style. It has that tank style, but on top of that it looks completely different than anything in the market. And again, I like my watches unique.

Yandretti: 1:12:12

I like to walk into a watch convention with something that I could share with fellow watch collectors to really wow them, not because I want to wow them, but to kind of share that joy of like, hey, check this out, this exists in the world. Oh, what's that? Oh, tell me more. Oh, this is so cool.

Yandretti: 1:12:26

Oh, I like to share that passion of watchmaking of these independent brands and micro brands with other collectors, because there's a good chance that a lot of the watches I have. Someone hasn't seen them ever in the wild and just for them to experience, like whoa, there's something super ultra cool out there that I've never heard of, this is awesome, thank you. Thank you for introducing me. You know, I like that feeling of just like sharing, you know, with these watchmakers, the art that they have created and to share with, to help share with the world, because you know, obviously, these indie brands. They have smaller budgets than, say, a Rolex or Patek, so I like to kind of market it for them, almost be their ambassador. You know, if the brand, and with the chanel watch, what I really loved were the lugs.

Yandretti: 1:13:09

They were stepped on both sides and they were also sandblasted and they kind of curved to the wrist and on top of that the pin buckle on the strap also has a stepped pin buckle, so it kind of matches the case, which I thought was super cool, and I also love the art Deco style of the dial and there was. When I contacted him it was last year he told me his books are closed and every month I would kind of DM him and bother him because I'm very impatient with watches. If there's a watch and I can't wait, I don't want to wait. Like, for example, I have a Christopher Ward Belcanto. I have the Phoenix edition which this guy, jazz, from a McLaren car club created. He does bespokes with CW and the Belcanto Phoenix. It was made with this super bright orange color to match his McLaren, which is that orange color, and he ended up. I met him through the Rolex forums at the time that I was on them.

Blake Rea: 1:14:06

It's called Rolex forums is the message.

Yandretti: 1:14:07

I ended up getting the it's called rolex forums as the message. Yeah, yeah, for like them just being snobs and whatever. But I met josh through there and he ended up actually giving me an allocation for the bel canto, for the phoenix, and there was only 99 of them made in that color. Yeah, so, even though the bel canto is already not a rare watch, but the phoenix is because 99 were made, yeah yeah, so with that, watch, um sure. Why did I bring it up um?

Blake Rea: 1:14:34

you're talking about kind of like how your collaboration with him kind of manifested hold on, hold on.

Yandretti: 1:14:41

I'm trying to remember, um, this is what happens when you go off tangents, and I could speak all day on watches. That's all right. Uh, okay, so whatever. So back to back to thomas. So, what I liked about the case, I like these, ah, okay, so, cw, they didn't even. Uh, they had some watches that, um, there was like in I think it was in prague, there was like a micro brand and in the event, and then thomas, actually, I found out about this event and, uh, thomas was there showcasing his watches. I think I forgot what's called like prague indie show, prague micro brand micro brand praha yeah, yeah, okay.

Yandretti: 1:15:18

So you know what that was. So I ended up looking at the instagram, at the stories, and started seeing all the cool watches. They were there and one of them of them was Chanel's prototype of the skeletonized dial. And at this point, ah, so okay, I remember back to the same, why I brought up CW. So CW, they had a pre-order for that Belcanto, I ordered it and I got the watch a year later and I can't do something like that again, because to wait a whole year, it's like man, if I want to watch, watch, I want it. Like even two months is kind of long.

Yandretti: 1:15:49

I want it now, yeah, I remember when I wanted that baron's joker because 200 were made, I literally ended up finding a seller for it and I had the watch shipped overnight to get it the next day, like I can't wait. I'm super impatient, which is something I need to work on. But also, if I like watches, why do I need to be patient? If I want to wear one today, I want to wear one today. So, yeah, so that's why I brought up cw, because it took like a year for the belcanto. So when chanel tells me his books are closed, I decide to bother him at least once a month. Like, thomas, come on any update, any update. And I actually told him that, uh, I love your watch so much that I want to, like you know, feature it in it in different.

Yandretti: 1:16:25

At the time this was right, I was about to do Tommaso's show or maybe I just shot it, I don't remember the collector conversation and when we finished it, tim actually told me he wants me back for a sequel. So you heard it here first. So with a sequel, I have to bring a new set of watches, and one of the watches that I wanted to bring was Thomas's because it's again, it's so unique and it's a watch that I like, love and that I hold so dear to me because it really itched, that tank itch that I was scratching at for years and years. And I'm glad I didn't pull a trigger on the tank. I feel like I would have regretted it. But Thomas's watch gave me everything that I wanted that look, that feel of like what it would have been like to have a tank, but with a different, unique spin on it, just something completely out there, something completely unique.

Yandretti: 1:17:10

And I haven't seen a single thomas chanel watch in the wild until I met thomas chanel and he had two on him, you know. So I'm probably the only one in new york who has a chanel for now, or, as you would say, chanel. And finally he got back to me. He's like I'll open my books for you. You've been patient long enough. I waited months and months and months, and then I asked him for a small solid, which he charges for, but he did it for me to put my favorite number, which is 23, and to put Faryan on the case back.

Yandretti: 1:17:45

I saw that which makes it it like a almost like a unique piece for me, because that watch is special to me and I wanted it kind of catered to me, even more so than just if he would have gave me the watch. So he did all that and when I saw the problem, what was it called? Praha or Prama, I don't remember.

Yandretti: 1:18:00

Micro brand Praha no-transcript deco numerals and I was like, okay, this is what I want, like let's do this. And he was like, okay, cool. And then he told me he could make the case, since it's open work. You pretty much see the movement on the dial. It's open work and he said it could be salmon, like salmon coated movement, and I'm like, okay, perfect, let's do that. And so now it's like a salmon dial, but it's pretty much the whole movement is on the dial plate.

Blake Rea: 1:18:59

It's amazing, dude. Yeah, it's amazing.

Yandretti: 1:19:01

Yeah, and then he put it on this crazy gray salmon strap and I was just like, oh my God.

Blake Rea: 1:19:10

How do you feel that like? Let me see, do you think of yourself more as like a?

Yandretti: 1:19:24

curator or like a patron of the arts or just an enthusiast. So I'm weird, I'm like I'm a huge enthusiast. Like so I'm weird, I'm like I'm a huge enthusiast. But also I love to share that enthusiasm and all these rant, like in quotes, random brands. The reason I say random because most of the brands I look at people have never heard of them and I just want to share that like hey, check this out, this is super cool. You've probably never heard of it and if you actually do the research, you'll see that it's an amazing brand. So I'm very enthusiastic. I love to share that.

Yandretti: 1:19:49

I almost it's almost like I do, like I'm an advertiser for these freaking brands. I need to start getting paid for this. I promote the shit out of them. Like you know, my fernando ron's on jump hour, the schnell watch, my barons. Like I just wear them all the time to like all these events and like that I know it's going to be new people and just because one it's, I know I'm going to be the only one in the room with it too. It's just it speaks to me in that artsy, unique watch. That just kind of is an extension of my personality and also just to kind of I want people to know that there's these amazing brands out there in like these uncharted territories that you don't know about because you've been spoon-fed rolex and patek down your throat like, yeah, since you're a child, you know and there's just so much cool stuff out there that you don't know and it's so much cooler than the stuff.

Blake Rea: 1:20:39

You know, is there a watch out there that like that eludes you, that you've been looking at for so long that you know maybe you passed up on it when you had the opportunity to buy it and just since then you haven't seen another one come back or like. Is there something out there that that has done that to you?

Yandretti: 1:20:56

no, honestly, no, no, okay, uh, surprising, like, what I really like is the ludwig bayard upside down watch. I think that's an insane watch. But I'm also at this weird point in my life right as like this huge watch enthusiast. I'll give you an example. Like I love the mbnf perpetual calendar, I think that's, in my opinion, probably the best watch of these last two decades. But and I know this is gonna this might sound weird or it might sound very like oh yeah, I totally agree and understand that.

Yandretti: 1:21:27

So the watches say about 160,000, right, if I say got that watch? Right, say I decide I'm like you know what I want that watch, let me freaking pull this trigger and I buy this watch for 160 grand. Right Now I wear this watch. Instead, you know what I could do with that same 160 grand Buy like 20 super cool independent watches and literally have 20 super cool watches that'll also have balanced wheels or have some kind of tourbillon or a tell time in a different way. So I'm at this point now where I find it super silly to kind of spend like a shitload of money on one watch where you could literally get 10 super cool or 15 super cool, heavy-duty, finely-made watches for that same amount and they say less is more.

Yandretti: 1:22:15

But that's not my opinion with watches, because there are just so many cool indies and micro-brands with so many interesting designs. The dials shapes, ways of telling the time, like. I have this Barron's 20-gram watch. Have you seen it? It's the one, the super thin watch, but the whole movement is right on the time. I have this Barron's 20 gram watch. Have you seen it? It's the one with the super thin watch, but the whole movement is right on the plate.

Blake Rea: 1:22:31

I'm not sure, maybe I probably have.

Yandretti: 1:22:35

So it has. Basically, the whole movement is skeleton. It's the one where the dial is kind of squarish, but it's not really a square, it's a little bit. The angles are a bit different. It starts off like 42 and tapers to 38. You know what I'm talking about. Now I'll have to go back and look I'll I will just google baron's 20g. It stands for 20 grams. The watch weighs 20 grams, so it's like literally like five pennies. Second baron's 20g. You've definitely seen this watch.

Yandretti: 1:22:59

It's oh yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, this watch is. It's a stunner. So when I first, when they first released it, uh, I think like three years, two years ago or three years ago, people were comparing it to like a richard mill in terms of, like it's like having an mbnf for richard mill on the wrist, except for like 120th of the price, and it's very true. So that, barons, I, I think the MSRP is like close to $8,000 on it, like $7,800 $7,600.

Yandretti: 1:23:28

$7,600. But that watch, literally on the wrist, it feels, it looks and it's made like a freaking $60,000, $70,000, $80,000 watch. So it curves First off, it curves to your wrist. Second, it weighs literally 20 grams. That's why it's called 20g, which is funny. They ended up making, um, another model with three different, three or four different colors that looks the same but it's called 11g. And I held them both hand in hand, the 20g and the 11g, in geneva, and the difference is obviously the freaking nine grams. But what the hell is nine grams? It's like a freaking feather. You don't really feel the difference.

Yandretti: 1:24:07

Except one cost significantly more but this watch itself. So it has a retrograde hours and retrograde minutes, it has a power reserve and the whole movement is right on the plate. So the case back is closed because you don't need an open case, because you see, literally on the dial, you see the movement right, it's just super, like it's a masterpiece of a watch. And all the reviews when it came out were like this is a masterpiece, this is a masterpiece and I'm like I need to get my hands on that.

Yandretti: 1:24:35

And a lot of watch enthusiasts that I knew who like, like oddball watches, were saying like, oh, we want that watch and at the time I was kind of, yeah, I don't know, just because the angular case kind of fucked with my OCD. But then I saw the watch, I tried it on and I was like I need this watch and now it's in my collection. It's actually one of my favorite watches. Of all the watches, that's one. If you told me you have to give me six watches in your collection, you'll never part with that. Baron's 20 gram is one of them, for sure.

Blake Rea: 1:25:08

That watch is just man like is. Is there a piece that you, that you've gotten rid of, or you let go that you?

Yandretti: 1:25:12

just like kick yourself over for letting it go. No, so, okay. So there's two interesting things, and both of them are completely, uh, have nothing to do with each other, and it's two things that, uh, I had to get rid of. I call it like my blind spots, right? So the first blind spot, which is to answer your question, is about getting rid of watches. So for years, I would just collect, collect, collect, and a lot of collectors I met when we would talk watches. They would tell me that in order for a watch to come into the collection, something has to come out, and after a while, at first I was kind of like, does it, though? Because I would just collect, collect, collect. And I got to a certain point where I realized I'm like wait a second, jan, you love watches, you love collecting, but a lot of these watches you haven't worn in years, literally like in years, or maybe you wore once in the last three, four years and the question that I had to dig deep in with myself and ask myself is do you really need it in your collection? So I'll give you an example I had three Cartier's right, this Goldor Massif, and two other vintage ones, a Galbaix and a Touton Carre. So the Galbaix there was only 2000 of them made in the year 2000 for SIHH, for the Asian market, and it was an automatic dial. The watch was automatic, usually the Galbazer quartz there was only two made that were automatic. This was one of them that had fully loomed Roman numerals and there was no date window and it looked completely like a brushed gray dial with the steel case. It just completely blended. Well, only 2,000 of them made.

Yandretti: 1:26:46

It's a super classic watch but unfortunately I almost never wore it. I wore it once or twice. I had it for years and I ended up getting rid of that and my two-tone caray, because the only one of my three Cartiers that I would wear is my Goldor Massif and that's my favorite watch of all time. If you got rid of my whole collection and if I didn't have these heirlooms that involved family and you told me, jan, you could only keep one watch in your collection, it would easily hands down be this gold Cartier Hormisif.

Yandretti: 1:27:17

So for me I started selling some of these watches because I realized I'm like, wait a second, the watch collecting hobby is an expensive one. It's not like perfumes, where you know perfume, where, yeah, I could spend like 400 on a bottle of cologne, but it's not. You know, watches are significantly more um. So I realized I need to start selling some of these watches, because what's the point of having a watch if you're not wearing it? And then I would be like very on the fence about that, because then I would look at them and try them on and I'd be like, man, I don't want to get rid of this, I love this watch. But then after I'm like but if you love it so much, why don't you ever wear it, you know? So I realized I need to make free up some cash and like I can't just keep hoarding watches, because then I'm a watch hoarder instead of a collector. So I started selling off some watches, but nothing that I've regretted yet.

Yandretti: 1:28:06

Oh no, sorry, I regret one watch that Datejust 36 Palm Green Dial that got discontinued. Yeah that's right. Yeah, you did mention that.

Blake Rea: 1:28:15

Yep, that's it. Do you feel like there's any pitfalls to avoid when collecting independence?

Yandretti: 1:28:23

No, no, just go with what you like. The watch has to speak to you and I always say don't get a watch just because someone else tells you it's a cool watch. Get a watch because it speaks to you, it resonates with you and it just you know how it is. You see a watch and it just that's you. You just know it's you. It's like oh, this is me, this is an extension of me, whatever it is you it is, you know whether it's a color or whatever it could be, just something in that wash just resonates with you and it just feels like it's an extension of your arm, you know. So, pitfalls, no, not really. Just buy whatever you like. Don't buy what someone else likes yeah, that makes sense.

Blake Rea: 1:29:00

Um, yeah, I mean, this has been crazy insightful to kind of to pick your brain. Um, to talk about independence, the future of independence. Um, I feel like we covered a lot.

Yandretti: 1:29:12

Can I tell you that second blind spot? The first was with the in and out of the collection. Yeah, the second one just because, so you know your viewers and your listeners don't get curious. Oh, there was like two. The other blind spot I had was with straps. So with straps, before I used to feel like I could only have the strap that came with the watch. Otherwise it feels like buying a car and putting aftermarket rims on it, which to me always looked odd. I had to get rid of that blind spot.

Yandretti: 1:29:35

And now this is going to sound like a cocky or arrogant, but it's not. I'm very humbled by this. I have a lot of like people in the watch community who will DM me or WhatsApp me, cause I have a like. A lot of like people in the watch community who will DM me or WhatsApp me because I have like a lot of these different like indie and micro brand groups on WhatsApp and they'll actually ask me to help them. They'll send me a photo of a watch they bought or are buying or waiting on. They'll be like, hey, can you help me? You're like the go-to guy for like super cool, unique straps.

Yandretti: 1:30:01

I became, I guess, that guy from like you know, I don't know, I guess it started with that Galaxy strap on the Ranzan and the Mother of Pearl strap on the Sultan, and I have like a good eye for like straps.

Yandretti: 1:30:12

I guess at this point, and it's just so, people will come to me in the big oh, can you help me like find the strap, and I will send them straps like you know links to straps and usually they'll end up buying it. Usually they'll end up buying it and then like a week later they'll hit me back like dude, I got the strap, it's perfect. Thank you so much. Like I knew I could count on you and that's like so humbling and it makes me feel so like like I don't know it's. It feels like I'm appreciated and I appreciate that I'm able to give back, to actually have someone enjoy their watch that much more and to be of help and like kind of give back to the community and like whether it's advice or just like some kind of help, you know, because I will take that time to like actually go through different straps and find them something for the watch.

Yandretti: 1:30:52

Like you know, sometimes it'll take me like 40 minutes to an hour, but I'll do it because I just enjoy it, man, it's on my free time. You know, I'll just enjoy doing that, doing something for the community and in the realm of the watch community. But yeah, so that was the blind spot to get rid of, like oh, to just be able to put custom straps on watches. Sorry I caught you off, but I'm done no, no, that, yeah, that makes sense now.

Blake Rea: 1:31:15

Uh, full circle. And I love that, I love that you're, you know you're having it the same discussion behind closed doors but to to open it up for for the audience, um, and yeah, I mean your. Your wisdom is is insane.

Yandretti: 1:31:35

I mean it's been a pleasure. I'm going to get going and I'll let you edit this. It's been men this, like these two hours flew by completely.

Blake Rea: 1:31:42

I know, I know it's crazy. It just that's the way it happens. We just have so much fun on these things it's it's hard to to bring it all together. You know so awesome sounds good.

Yandretti: 1:31:51

All right, man, it's been a pleasure. I'm gonna run chat with you soon, so thank you, yeah, yeah, later man.