Lonely Wrist: All Things Watches & Horology
Lonely Wrist is a podcast that goes inside the movement, bringing you inside the world of watches through candid conversations with the people who drive it forward.
Each episode features in-depth interviews with industry insiders including Executives, master watchmakers, designers, collectors, content creators, and historians offering rare insights into the passion, precision, and business behind every timepiece.
From legacy brands to innovative microbrands, from movement architecture to marketing strategy, we explore the many layers of horology through the voices of those shaping its past, present, and future.
Whether you're a seasoned collector or just beginning your journey into watches, Lonely Wrist offers a unique perspective on the artistry, culture, and the industry of watches, one episode, and one insider, at a time.
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Lonely Wrist: All Things Watches & Horology
The Art of Reviving Heritage Watch Brands with Tom van Wijlick from CDMLEC
What does it take to resurrect legendary watch brands from the past? Tom van Wijlick, the visionary behind CDMLEC, joins us to share his remarkable journey from IT entrepreneur to guardian of horological heritage through his revival of Lebois & Co and Airain watches.
Tom reveals how a side hustle trading timepieces evolved into a passion for preserving watchmaking history. His story begins with a Christie's auction discovery that captured his imagination—a vintage Lebois chronograph he printed and magnetized to his refrigerator as inspiration. That single image sparked a decade-long adventure acquiring and breathing new life into discontinued watch brands with rich histories.
The conversation explores the delicate balance between honoring heritage and creating modern timepieces. Tom takes us behind the scenes of his meticulous development process, from the technical challenges of case design to the emotional reward of seeing collectors connect with his watches. We dive deep into the Airain Submarine—a tool watch that balances functionality with refined details—and learn about the unexpected revival of the Fixoflex bracelet that perfectly complements it.
Perhaps most touching is Tom's recounting of restoring an 80-year-old gold Lebois chronograph for a customer who inherited it from his uncle. The piece represented three generations of family history, and though barely profitable, the restoration project embodied what drives Tom's work: connecting people through timepieces that tell stories across decades.
Whether you're fascinated by watch design, entrepreneurship, or the preservation of craft traditions, Tom's approach to measuring success through customer satisfaction rather than mere profits offers valuable insights for anyone passionate about creating products with meaning and purpose. Subscribe now to join our exploration of creativity, craftsmanship, and the enduring appeal of mechanical watches.
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Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode here of the Lonely Wrist Podcast. I am your host, as always, blake Ray. Today we have yet another amazing special guest on the line, somebody who I think is breathing life back into historic watch brands and mind you, one brand at a time and mind you, one brand at a time. Joining us is Tom Van Willeck, the visionary behind the organizational group CDM LEC, which is the company that is responsible for reviving heritage brands like Our Rain Lee Boys Co and also has a bracelet company, fix-o-flex, which you may have heard of. Tom, which is based in the Netherlands, is not only reviving these brands but under his leadership, cdm LEC's goal is preserving the history of these brands, making something special for the next generation of watch collectors to share, wear and pass on. His heirlooms. Everyone, please welcome the man behind the brand in today's epic podcast guest, tom van Willeck.
Tom van Wijlick:Thank you. Thank you, Blake. Well, that was quite the introduction. I think that pretty much sums it up, right.
Blake Rea:We could just stop recording at this point. We're not. Oh no, you're not around.
Tom van Wijlick:It's a few hours flying. Oh no, you're not around. It's a few hours flying.
Blake Rea:Yeah, next time, next time.
Tom van Wijlick:Next time.
Blake Rea:I think. No, I tried to do some justice for you and I took it from one of my friends who is also a podcaster and he was like, whenever you ask somebody to introduce themselves, you get this mixed bag of really weird you know, really like ranting responses where they like be like, oh so I was born in this day you know and you get this and I'm a mother I said, and I'm right, my dad yeah so I've tried to take over that responsibility
Blake Rea:very smart, very smart um, so let's start at the very beginning. You know, know, obviously, cdm LEC, with the glowing, illuminated, cool light behind you, you know how did you, I guess, start the company and like what? You know what gave you the idea to, kind of like, acquire these historically significant watch brands?
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, let's skip the whole long introduction. Over the past years, I mean, I've been doing this, so LeBron Co since 2014. That's how it started. I've been doing this for 11 years and I learned to do the brief introduction, as my wife, a few years ago, told me. Like Tom, whenever someone asks you about the brand or about what you're doing, that's so long you don't have to start and to go over everything. So I recognize a little bit what you're saying about ranting.
Tom van Wijlick:So, short version, I've been a watch enthusiast as long as I can remember. I still have my first Swatch watch where, which I was, I'm still very fond of. I don't wear it, but that's um, I think it's a watch that I was. I think I was seven or eight when I got it and, um, and, and it was always there. You know, I always had these interesting, interesting watches. I kept most of them and, uh, but I, I, uh went into it. So, um, uh, I, I wasn't. You know, I didn't study anything in a in a watchmaking business. It's not a thriving business around here. Uh, I, I rolled into, into it and I eventually started a company in IT together with a partner. That was in 2001. And that lasted until 2011.
Tom van Wijlick:And then so I sold that company the little company, small company and I went to work for an employer and at that point in time I was still interested in watches, obviously, and I started trading some watches just as a side hustle, hobby thing, and that eventually brought me to the table of some independent watch brands in Switzerland, which was, you know, we had several very interesting discussions about e-commerce. What's happening there? You know, 2012, 2013. There was a lot of e-commerce going on for watch brands. So we thought so my cousin and I thought, okay, maybe we can do something for some brands. So we thought my. So my cousin and I thought, okay, maybe we can do something for some brands. Uh, in switzerland, and we actually we kind of opened one of uh, yeah, one of these online boutiques. There wasn't a real card situation there. You couldn't press checkout, but you could at least browse the catalog and contact us to order a watch, and that was quite the beginning of some discussions with interesting brands.
Tom van Wijlick:But at some point in 2013, my cousin and I parted and he went on to work actually with an investor to build that company, and I was actually very intrigued by all the stories that I heard from these independent watch brands and actually, at that point in time, the coin flipped, so to say, as we say it, and I knew, okay, I want to have my own watch brand. And that was in so 2013, and I already knew the stories about several watch brands that had disappeared and were brought back, quite successfully. So that's when I decided to pursue that. So that's actually the short version of that story, and I was actually going through a lot of lists and there were several brands that I saw and recognized, including Universal Genève obviously Missed that one.
Tom van Wijlick:Huh, yeah, I mean I did contact the owners back then but of course, yeah, they said no Because already they knew they wanted to have a very large sum and they, yeah, I think they wanted a bigger partner, uh, for that, um, but uh, yeah, and in that same list there was leblanco, um and um, googling that name and finding a really gorgeous piece that was sold around two years before that by Chrissy's, I actually just fell in love with that brand and the story is and it's genuinely true, that I printed, on advice of my back then girlfriend, now wife, I printed the watch and I stick it to our american fridge, we know, with the little magnets. And she, she, my wife, said you know, yeah, you, you should, you know, print it and put it on the fridge and you can look at it and get some inspiration of it and and the rest is, as they say, history. So that's where I started the journey of of leblancco wow, that's crazy, that's crazy.
Blake Rea:And then so, yeah, it seems like I mean our rain is a whole separate beast, right, and you, you acquired our rain later, if I understood it correctly, after leblancco. Then you know, like I have your, your submarine, which I did a couple pieces of content on already and hopefully more.
Blake Rea:But but tell us about, I mean, even the acquisition process and when you acquire these brands. You know, did you just get like the namesake, or did you get a lot of the intellectual property, or like you know? Obviously, you know, from the moment you acquire a brand, right to to to where you are today, I mean, it seems like you probably have to start all over yeah, you do.
Tom van Wijlick:I mean, there was literally nothing left of ip, uh, officially of for lebois.
Tom van Wijlick:So I, I, I think I just went the logical way, which was um contacting the original owners, which were with the duden family in in france, just across the border from le locle and the short phones, um and I, I just asked them.
Tom van Wijlick:You know, do you know about this brand that existed under your umbrella of watch brands, of your company? And yeah, mr Laurent, who passed away a few years ago, laurent Daudin, he knew about this brand and some other brands that his father, raymond Daudin, about this brand and some other brands that his father, raymond doden, um had um, yeah, possession of and um marketed in in several ways and several markets. And he said, yeah, but you know, we don't, we don't actively pursue any of those um, we just have our own, you know our one brand. So if you want to revive it because I just told them about my plans you're free to do so. So that was basically the green light to restart Le Bois. And you know, with Errain, we can zoom in on that a little later, but that was more of an acquisition because that actually belonged to an entrepreneur in Paris.
Tom van Wijlick:So I had to buy some IP of him.
Blake Rea:Wow, and then what was it to like? I mean, feel free to answer from different lenses, but I'm assuming that you know you had a certain criteria that you had to check, like whether it was historical significance or maybe like back catalog or maybe design cues that you're like okay, this will do for me. Like what, what was, what was the, the potential or the, you know the core kind of identity that you were looking for.
Blake Rea:when you're like I mean, yeah, it sounds like you had a bunch of options really, and you kind of had some options.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, there were some options, um, but not just the design. I mean, let's be honest, the designs um, we're talking about for, for instance, levois, we use them now as inspiration, so we can zoom in on that as well as how I see it, as you know, like a reissue and a piece that's really inspired by, but not really one-on-one reissue. There are, like Le Bois had designs in history. There were numerous brands that had these same designs. Yeah, type 20.
Tom van Wijlick:So it wasn't Type 20 Eran, but for Le Bois. These are like 1930s and 40s chronographs. That was a pretty generic design. So one thing, of course, was the design that I found at the Christie's auction, but the other one was the name Le Bois, and maybe it's just me, but I really liked the name and there were a lot of brands that just didn't have this nice name. So that's also one aspect, and I know that the general advice is that in every market people should be able to pronounce the name easily. I hear different versions of mainly Irene or Iran, which is the official pronunciation in French, and also Le Bois or Le Boys. I also hear sometimes, but it's, I mean, it's Le Bois, but once you know that, then it's. It's very easy to keep going. Yeah, and I mean, let's be honest, rolex is pronounced the same everywhere, obviously, but there's a lot of brands that have their own pronunciation in different markets. But it really was the sort of combination between the name Lebois Co as well as the design that I found and didn't really use at that point in time.
Tom van Wijlick:But later on I just knew that we had to do something with these vintage chronographs. But, as I see it, the right way Because these pieces are fragile. But in the, as I see it, the right way because these pieces are fragile. I have a few here. You cannot reissue those. These are thin. You have to do something new with it, and that's what we did with our heritage chronograph line to give it at least a modern feel, a good feeling, a high-end feeling, uh, but still have the, the spirit of the originals in there yeah, I mean I'm sure it's challenging, right?
Blake Rea:because I mean, we, we, if you listen, if you listen to our podcast, I mean our audience will know that we're kind of like a blend of entrepreneurship, creativity, and then we wrap all of their watches so, like you fit the bill for like a perfect guess, um, but I'm sure it's also very challenging to to pull from the archives and to to bring a modern reinterpretation without, you know, I guess, destroying the identity of the brand you know, or preserving, you know, I guess, destroying the identity of the brand you know, or preserving, you know, the historical significance.
Tom van Wijlick:So I'm sure that's the balance. You know you have to find the balance and really the balance when comparing Sorry that I interrupted you, but the balance between Le Bois and Iran, it's really different. Finding the balance for the, yeah, as I see it, the right watch as, and I'm happy with everything that we made until now uh, of course it's up to the, to the, the end customer, to decide whether he or she wants to buy it, but, um, it starts with a good feeling as a creator that you are at least happy with you, what you've created and I'm curious to you about that revival process.
Blake Rea:You know, I mean obviously there's more to you know, just slapping a uh, you know a movement in there, a le jus pour et and uh, and now now it's. You know I'm sure you're probably having to rebuild. You know 3d models and and and you know mess with tolerances and, and you know I'm sure you're probably having to rebuild. You know 3D models and you know mess with tolerances and you know you're figuring out things don't work the way that they probably did back in the day, and maybe even suppliers, right? You know I'm sure some of the suppliers that I mean you're having to figure out these problems like in real time.
Tom van Wijlick:I'm sure if you could lean into that a little, yeah, I mean, fortunately we were not working with the same suppliers as we did 11 years ago, but it's not that those were not the right suppliers.
Tom van Wijlick:It's just that we have evolved past using uh, or have the legitimacy to use that supplier because they're for smaller batches sure and um, but yeah, let's knock on wood, but we, we were quite um lucky with, uh, the suppliers that we found during, um, during the whole journey and, yeah, with the suppliers that we are now, we are sticking with them for the foreseeable time. And, of course, there's always issues in the whole, as you say, with tolerances, with dimensions. I remember, actually, about the submarine that you're having or wearing, I actually was in Switzerland just before we really had to give a go on the production and, as you might know, I mean you can do sampling, et cetera.
Tom van Wijlick:It's all possible, but actually a sampling process, and that's also something that I learned. A sampling process is only to have, like, the 0.5% acknowledgement, or what's the correct word.
Tom van Wijlick:Prove a concept, I guess, yeah, well, actually you have to already be super confident based on your drawings and your 3D rendering and your 3D model, because when you go into the sample process and that's something I did learn the hard way with expensive, especially colors for dials yeah, it's expensive is one thing, but the the process, it takes you months and months to to do over totally, and so you really have to make sure that and that's also some advice that I got from other suppliers you really have to be able to dream and, uh, to see the watch in front of you when you look at the technical drawings.
Tom van Wijlick:Because when you know it's good on the technical drawing, it will like, like I said, 99.5, it will be good when it turns out in the real, in real life. And you, so you cannot go into the sample process too easy, like, oh, let's make a sample, you can do that with like a 3d printed model, just maybe for some case dimensions or something, and so that's, that's what, what? So that's what we did with the submarine. I was not happy with the depth of the dial compared to the bezel and I remember some people saying, tom, it's fine, you'll see. I said, no, it's not fine, we have to reconsider, we really have to try to keep it as slim as possible.
Tom van Wijlick:And I think in the end, with the technical guy who's in Switzerland, so our technical development is there, also with our supplier, and he said, no problem, you're here. So we were behind this computer like one and a half, two hours and we actually redid the whole case and we made it like 0.4, 0.4 millimeters thinner. So that, comparing the dial against the, the bezel and yeah, to me that was the, the acknowledgement, or the yeah, the validation. Okay, now it's okay, now it's. It's okay to start the samples and we know like 99.5, sure, or even more, that the end product is is how we want it to be. Because, again, if you see the product and it's it has been sampled and you have to redo, then you're looking at six months plus extra and it's yeah, you know, time is down the drain and it's all time.
Tom van Wijlick:it's all time that you cannot sell watches, so in the end it's expensive.
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah, I mean, I have a 3D printer sitting right next to me. I actually put it on pause for our interview here, but I understand, because I've also. I mean, I design, I've started designing like camera products, right? So, like you know, I go in and I do the modeling myself, and then, you know, I, I, I literally will try to make sure everything's perfect before I press the button, because I know it's going to be 6, 10, 12 hours, yeah, my machine to be tied up, and and then I realize like I'll pull it out of the machine, you know, and then I'll be like, oh shit, like I, I, I didn't do this right, I didn't do that right, or like, um, it's a ton of time wasted um, yeah, yeah, yeah, that is ours.
Blake Rea:I mean, I imagine that it's months, yeah, yeah because then you know obviously you're not the final kind of uh, uh. You know it's not like you're sitting there like doing everything yourself. You know obviously you have to work with your suppliers or partners and you know you have to wait. I you're on different time zones and I mean it's a lot more. No, and I mean specifically, I can speak on the Sumerian now, because I think I've had it maybe for like a year now, I can't remember when, yeah, we started delivering those, yeah, last year, yeah.
Blake Rea:And I mean I can't understate this enough, but I'm obsessed with this watch.
Blake Rea:Uh, I love the little gold leafed hands, like it's the perfect watch for me. Um, and, and I even, um, showed my friend, so like, I went to iowa and I took a handful of watches and of course, I took the submarine, as I mean, it's just, it's the versatile watch, I can do anything with it. Um, and then my friend chris, who I'm sure you, I think you've actually talked to him, I think he lost his crown cap or something and he sent you an email and then I mean you had one like posted to him like, yeah, like almost like instantaneously, um, but, uh, but no, I took this watch and you know what we'll do is we'll trade watches out, like you know, I'll be like, hey, look, we're hanging out, like you can wear this for the day, I'll wear your, you know, seiko or whatever you know, for the day. Yeah, and he wore the submarine and then he was like, dude, shit, man, I'm gonna have to buy one of these. And I was like, yeah, I mean it's an exceptional piece. And then, um, I think, I think he has two of them now, if I'm mistaken.
Blake Rea:All right, okay oh, no, no, okay cool yeah, I could be wrong there, but, um, it's just a fun execution, you know, it's just a fun execution of of a tool. Watch, you know, um, and it's got more personality than I think some of the. I mean, I covered this in my youtube video, I'm sure you probably saw. But, um, you know, it's a more fun execution of of a pretty sterile design, you know, yeah true, yeah, yeah, yeah, I see what you mean, yeah and I guess I guess you know living.
Blake Rea:I live in Vegas. So the roulette date window you know. I, I, I I it's funny Cause I've even worn this watching the casino and I've decided, depending on the date, if I'm going to put money on red or black numbers.
Tom van Wijlick:Oh, that's didn't work out.
Blake Rea:No, didn't.
Tom van Wijlick:Oh.
Blake Rea:Right, if it does, then we'll have a cut right.
Blake Rea:I hope so, yeah, yeah, if I win it big and I somehow strike gold and you're looking for capital, you know, but no, you have a really great product.
Blake Rea:You know, even the crown system is something I haven't really seen before, you know, and, and yeah, I feel pretty confident wearing this watch, just in terms of I mean, this is not like it's becoming a fluff piece at this point, but but even the, the bracelet, you know, something I noticed is when you're wearing the, the fix of flex, like the way that it sits on your wrist, is a little different than a normal bracelet, because it literally, like just sits right where you drop it. You know, true, true, um, so yeah, yeah, I'm obsessed with this, um, and so is chris, and uh, cool, cool and, and yeah, I mean even going back into, like, the history, you know, because obviously, like, as I was putting together content, you know there's a lot of rich history there that nobody really knows. And even when I've worn the watch to watch club events, people like, oh, that's a, that's a cq, you know, oh that's.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, you know, like we've been dealing with those comments a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot on also online and it gets a little less now. Now, people, it's, it's about education, really it's yeah it's, it's yeah I mean we keep saying no the cq. So it's based on a design and a model of 1969 and the submarine was already around in 1962.
Blake Rea:Yeah, and the discussion yeah, yeah, and it's the. It's a good balance. I will leave it here, but it's a good balance between, uh, you know, like a tool, tool oriented dive watch with you know like what I would consider a great level of execution because, um, you know, it's really hard to make it feel like it's got a good fit and a good finish. I mean, you don't have a lot to do, like, you don't have, like you know, bevel beveled edges on the cases, like you can't really do much. You just got to brush the whole watch down and, and, you know, put a nice dial on it and uh, and so it's that perfect balance, I think, especially in this price point.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, and I cannot emphasize enough to give credit to our designer as well for that, because it's the same designer as our LeBron Co Heritage chronographs, and also it's the same designer as the type 20 and 21. Um, and he knows just how to switch between, uh, you know, a tool watch, uh, and it is a tool watch, but it's still the finishing is still, um, at a high level. So we don't, you know, we don't take a 90 degree corner or, uh, um, angle, it's still, there's a little, there's still a little finish and a little little little bezel or bevel, sorry, um, and that's also finding that balance, uh, and to let go, of course, the very refined finish, uh, of something like this, the heritage chronographs, yeah, which which just demand a different kind of finishing. I would not say level, because the level is actually the same, it's basically it's, I mean, it's the same case supplier in Switzerland doing these cases, or, or, or the ones of the heritage chronograph.
Blake Rea:Yeah, I mean I hate to say that it's not a luxury product because it is, but it's not. It's not going away from the tool-ish capabilities, because you're starting to see that I guess we could talk about for two seconds a brand like Panerai who comes from a very tool watch background, but at this point I don't even know if they're tool watches anymore. They're very much a luxury product and they're trying to cater towards, yeah, yeah, towards a luxury segment.
Blake Rea:So you know, you have to have that balance between functionality, um, and durability, um, and of course, beauty, at this point, um, so people will wear it and appreciate it you know, because I find myself yeah, yeah, true I find myself not wearing watches because, um, you know, one of cost, you know shit, if I damage this eight thousand dollar, twelve thousand dollar watch, like I'm gonna be devastated, um, but I, you know it's not.
Blake Rea:I don't, I don't feel like that with you know, I mean, in this case the I think the rn is is one of my default daily drivers at this point, um, but basically you, you still want something nicely finished, but not you know not too much yeah no, no, and and actually I am.
Tom van Wijlick:So I'm now wearing, uh, le bois, so we'll get into that later, but I, I, I, um, I took the submarine with me on a vacation in in france, um, obviously amongst other watches, but I found that I was wearing the submarine most of the time because you know you're outside in the swimming pool, at the beach and you can do anything with it. So, um, I went on a hike with it. So, because, yeah, you feel confident, you know, either with the, the rubber strap or with the fixer flex, you know it, it's, it'll be okay, uh, when you come out of the water and out of the sand and etc. So, yeah, that that's, that's great. That's where those watches are perfectly for, perfect for yeah.
Blake Rea:Something, something that I recently kind of discovered and I I was talking to another guest on the podcast and you know we talk about watches that you have to keep up with, right, or watches that keep up with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Blake Rea:So like it's either one of the two you know, and watches that keep up with you are the watches that I prefer to wear. Yeah, I understand. Yeah, yeah and uh, and yeah, I'm, I'm curious to uh, let's pivot here. Um, you know, you brought up the, the fixo flex, which, I mean, is an exception. I mean, mind you, I nearly like, mind you, I nearly shredded my fingers to death trying to size it. I do understand.
Tom van Wijlick:Actually, I have a package right there from a retailer that shipped the Fixaflex to us stating okay, customer wants a wrist of um like 18 centimeters, please fix the pixiflex. No way, that's one way to go. Just send us and we'll do it yeah, that is uh at order.
Blake Rea:Guys at order, please do it. Save yourself the grief. But um, but no, once you uh, like, once you figure it out right, like it's pretty simple. Um, it's just like a little staple boom that drops in the side and yeah, and it's really not that difficult. But just even getting to that point, um, and mind you, I was so excited when the watch came in. I didn't even see that you have resources for all this.
Tom van Wijlick:We actually have a card with a QR code that leads to our website.
Blake Rea:I know I failed to overlook that, but I think the bracelet brand Fixoflex is probably just as not if not more, popular than Leboys in our range.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, to be honest, we don't really get out of the. I mean, we don't get enough. No, what's the correct thing I want to say here? We don't pursue getting the revenues out of FixerFlex yet as much as we can or want to Sure sure sure, I mean, we don't even have a like.
Tom van Wijlick:We have the domain name. We don't even have a specific website or a dedicated website for Fixaflex. It'll come, but you know, these things take time, but we actually, I mean, we are selling them every week a few. So that's great, people find out about it and, yeah, it's still in demand, I guess. So that's great, that's great. But, to be totally honest, it wasn't something.
Tom van Wijlick:I didn't wake up one day and thought, okay, we have two watch brands.
Tom van Wijlick:Let's revive a, a bracelet, elastic bracelet brand that some at some point in time existed and disappeared. We, we really only did it because it was on the uh, on the original submarine, you know, and you have this, this poster where it uh, it has the fixaflex and it's a genuine fixaflex, so it's a fixaflex brand that uh, erin was was using uh, and so when we decided to reintroduce the Sumerine, so one thing was obviously to get the Parmiget crown cap system in the watch, which also wasn't necessary, but it's such a nice invention Not necessary again nowadays, but it was a great invention back then. So it would be a pity to have, just, you know, this dummy crown um sitting there. So we actually improved it a little bit that it wouldn't come off as easily. Sorry for your friend, chris, he lost it, but we have plenty in stock, so no issue there. Uh, and then fixaflex was actually the next thing that I I thought okay, we'll have to do that as well, because it just belongs together. It makes the watch complete, in my opinion.
Blake Rea:Right, yeah, and I think from what I read, I mean, what was it? A hundred million bracelets sold, yeah apparently, yeah, over the whole history.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, yeah, yeah, unbelievable. That's crazy. Yeah, it's really something, really something. Yeah, it's uh, it's amazing, yeah after this podcast.
Blake Rea:I mean, we're a couple weeks out, I think. I think we're maybe about six weeks out from publication, but you need to go buy that domain right now. Oh we, oh, we have it, we have it. Okay, okay now, yeah, we have.
Tom van Wijlick:Uh, I think when you browse to Fixaflexcom, then you'll end up on the. Oh, now, I clicked you. Okay, when you browse to Fixaflexcom, then you'll end up at one of our websites. Okay, thank God. But we just didn't develop the whole website. We have the back end, but there's no front end yet.
Blake Rea:Yeah, I'm sure it takes time, um, so I guess let's talk a little bit about entrepreneurial, your entrepreneurial journey, um, and maybe I guess if, see if we could tap into you know what's between the ears. Um, how, how do you like even find the time to manage these three different entities?
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, yeah. Well, let's stick with CDM Black as an entity as well. Fixaflex, so we don't do a lot of development there. The real focus is indeed also again the word balance between LeBois and Rennes, and it's yeah, I'll be totally honest with you, it's not always easy to have two brands so young and with such a small team. So, yeah, it's a challenge, but it's a nice challenge and it's part of entrepreneurship and it's cool to do and it's something that I'm willing to get out of bed for any time and any day of the week, it doesn't matter because it's meaningful, it has a purpose and it all.
Tom van Wijlick:And maybe that's something where I should maybe start with, or at least to tell you why am I doing this?
Tom van Wijlick:And I asked this question myself a few times over the past years, and it all comes back to that point in time when I was trading watches and seeing, seeing people happy with a product that they either saved up for or have been waiting for a long time to be able to buy, or, you know, regards to funds, or maybe waiting time because it wasn't available or it was very rare, and that's the cool thing to see people happy with a product that you can provide to them. And it's even cooler when and it's maybe also part of for my own ego when you've developed, you know and made and put all your sweat, blood and tears into that product and then see someone happy with that and sharing maybe that same vision. Okay, like, oh, yeah, I like the department, j crown, and I'm happy that you did it this way and I'm happy that you did the the dial finish this way and uh, etc. That's, that's the mission. I would say that's really the mission for me. It's simple as that.
Blake Rea:Yeah, I mean, obviously, I'm sure you probably know an enthusiasts love to to spend money or to graciously donate to to causes like yours, because you know there's, there's's. It's pretty easy for us collectors, or maybe even more so for me, to see because I'm in the industry, but to see where the passion starts to fall flat for certain brands. Um, and I've been in meetings with, with brands, um, that from the outside seem to be very, you know, well managed, well put together. You know they seem to have all their passionate people in the right place, but then, you know, 10 minutes into the meeting, you know they're like, oh, okay, like let's, when's this gonna be? You know you can see their, their pat, their, their eyes starting to glaze over, yeah, yeah, and it's, um, it sucks, it sucks, it sucks, especially when you have such a great product.
Blake Rea:And obviously it's a challenge, right, it's a challenge. I mean, are you preserving watch brands? But you're trying to carry. I'm sure there was passion at both of these brands before your acquisitions, at both of these brands, before you know your acquisitions. So, figuring out like, like, how, how do they deliver on the passion? You know, how do they deliver on the products.
Blake Rea:And how do you, how do you preserve that Like? How can you even you know process, how to preserve somebody else's passion or you know, turn it into others.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, I think, yeah, I think and I think, indeed, that that's that's also.
Tom van Wijlick:You know, our team is very small, so, yeah, you cannot see the rest of the office, but it's pretty small. You know, it's a tight team. Not everyone is full-time, there are some part-time people as well, but one thing that's common is there's, there's this, yeah, passion, and I, I, you know, you cannot expect everybody to be as passionate as I am sure, at least I see that the people that that I work with and I'm so happy that they chose to work with with me um, that they're passionate, and that's and, and that's something also what I see in when there's a customer that has questions, or there's something that needs to be fixed, because you know something happened, or a shipment, and there you see that that's that's the uh, that's the thing that can set us apart from from other companies that you know, I think, um, a founder-led company, which we obviously here are, uh, when the founder has the passion, yeah, that that goes a long way, I guess. Yeah, yeah, but for me it's, yeah, it's no issue.
Blake Rea:I think I read, if it was like, I read a lot of entrepreneurial stuff. I'm an entrepreneur, similarly as you, but if you can find some and this is, I mean, I guess for me and my team it's a little different, we don't have as much going on, but I think, if I read it correctly, that if you can find somebody that carries I think it's like 40 of the passions that you carry, then you're in good shape.
Tom van Wijlick:Then you're good, oh, okay, okay, I didn't okay yeah, so that's a benchmark of measuring stick.
Blake Rea:If I find 40, maybe that's good for an interview.
Tom van Wijlick:so how many percent of passion, compared to me, would you have?
Blake Rea:Yeah, have you seen my passion online? Yeah, okay 25%.
Tom van Wijlick:Oh then no, Nope.
Blake Rea:You're not going to get the job. Nope, nope. And it seems like you know, based upon you know you transitioning from you know, a dealer to now a brand. You know it was the emotional reaction, right that that that flipped the switch for you, right, just seeing somebody get hands-on with something and saying, okay, cool, like I see that there's passion about this product, right, yeah. And then flipping into, you know, now having three brands or four, whatever you want to call it at this point, yeah, um, yeah, I mean especially brands like yours. I mean you have to be community focused, you have to be powered by the community or, you know you, you don't have the same. I can't imagine you have the same resources as a brand like Cartier or Richemont or anything.
Tom van Wijlick:So um, no, no, we have to be quite lean, yeah.
Blake Rea:Yeah. So let's talk about the future here. Um, you know, obviously, I'm sure you know you probably can't spill too much sauce, but what are you hoping to accomplish with these brands? Let's talk about future goals and then maybe we'll transition into legacy. What's next for CDM LAC?
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, so, yeah, what do we want to pursue? Obviously, we are in a what's the correct word? Trajectory, trajectory, yeah, slowly, where we go into what I would say like the main watch markets. I mean, we um over 10 point of sales in Japan thanks to our distributor there, um, we have a point of sales um in um in Australia, now in Hong Kong, um, then in the Middle East, in Kuwait, a great partner with Timekeeper in Kuwait they now have two stores. So really amazing. And then in Europe we're expanding quite, yeah, I would say not fast but decent. So we have an agent in Italy, an agent in Germany and the other markets we manage ourselves, and then we have an agent in the US.
Blake Rea:Yeah, my friends.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, and I mean the US, obviously, apart from all the tariff stuff and what's going on now, but obviously the US is a very important market. It always has been a very important market for us, all the way back since the first few Kickstarters that we did with Lebois, most of our customers were in the US and I think it's part of the, the pioneership, you know, even even here, you know, like in in in the Netherlands and Holland, where we are based, we don't sell a lot of watches, just because you know we're Dutch them way more easy in all these other markets like the uk, france, because of the history maybe, uh, of the both brands, uh, japan and the us, because people maybe dare more to sure take on such a, such a, such a watch, and also germany. It's quite, it's quite good, uh, and that's something that I didn't expect. But, yeah, we sell quite some watches to germany. Very cool, um.
Tom van Wijlick:So for the future, yeah, I, I would just want our watches to be, you know, available to more and more enthusiasts around the world, um, because that's also why we went into this hybrid situation with so selling online, still through our own website, and there are some projects coming for new pieces where people can pre-order the new models and be the first, you know, to wear them, but also to develop, you know, into B2B, because there's a whole big network behind every retailer and distributor that you cannot tap into except when going through those channels, and that's something where I'm also excited about. I mean, we have some plans to, yeah, to obviously expand around the world, but, you know, for the us to really visit the retailers and um and um and meeting with both them but also their customers. Yeah, I mean it's, it's it's super rewarding that way, and that's that's basically what I want to do in terms of, you know, growing the company and the business.
Blake Rea:It's just a matter of time. You know, I think you know a lot of brands especially. You know, I mean I actually lived in the Netherlands. I lived in Holland, oh cool, yeah, I mean I spent a lot of time there, um, but it's quite a small country and and in my opinion, even I lived in holland, um, or the netherlands, I guess should I say uh, but uh, you know, you feel kind of insulated in a weird way. You know, um, and I mean, the netherlands is such a small country, I mean it's big.
Blake Rea:It feels big, but it's you know, you know in your mind how small it is and and it's quite an artistic country, you know. So there's a lot of creative vision and entrepreneurship. Yeah, forward thinking, you know, but you know I'm sure most people don't understand that and and you know, I guess, giving some perspective from an american mindset, understanding where you come from and and and watches, like you know, you have such a special product that you know you have to get it in front of somebody.
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah they have to touch it, they have to try it on, like that is where you know the seal is going to be popped. You know, um, because you know I can only speak from, from my experience and and that's exactly what happened for my, for my, for my buddy chris, right, like you know, um, you know I had gotten you know the submarine submarine from you, and then he saw it and was like you know shit, okay, and then it just so happens that, um, he, he was in iowa, which I think, uh, was it watching clock junction? Is that? Was that?
Blake Rea:your that was your first us account right very first. Uh, retailer in the us, yeah, yeah, boom yeah and I think I was even wearing this watch when, um, when I went in there and I showed it to jerry, so I don't know like what role I played in that. I don't, I don't know if I played any role in that, but uh, but it's a small circle and it's a really.
Blake Rea:It was a really small yeah and all the all the watch places in the us like yeah yeah, um, but it's, you know, luckily you have a lot of avenues right that you can lean on. I mean, watch shows, I mean, or you know, wind up, or you know. We just talked about this, like um, before we pass the record button. But, um, you know, that's where you're going to make a huge impact, you, you know, I'm sure you know that it's no secret at this point. No, true, true, but you know, at this point it's challenging to get your product in front of the right audience.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, yeah, and even with you know you can do a lot of with good photography. Good renders or renders are getting better and better. Sure, sure, phot, good renders or renders are getting better and better. Sure, sure, photography is getting better. But still, in the end, you, we get the, we get the, the, the, the comments of. Okay, when having the piece in hand, this is so much better than I expected it to be based on, you know, the renders and the photography it's about feeling.
Blake Rea:It's about feeling.
Blake Rea:You know the renders and the photography, um, it's about feeling. It's about feeling. You know it. Yeah, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's about feeling. It's about sensation, um, and and funny, when I sold watches, um, and somebody had told me this, because I he, well, now he, he allocates rolexes, but he's a buddy of mine um, and when he was talking about the way that he sold watches, I was like, oh, that's kind of interesting. You know, he's like, every time I sell a watch, I tell somebody to put it on their wrist, put their hands in their pocket or put their hands down by this, their side right, and I'm like that's weird. You know he's like, because that's the way you're going to be wearing it 99 of the time you look at the time on your wrist, one percent of the day yeah, but when you go in to try a watch, this is what you're doing.
Blake Rea:You know like you're, you know like doing all this, so it's like you don't get a real taste of what it's like to, you know, to have another wrist, yeah, yeah, it feels different when you put your wrist down, um, or you put your arms down, um, but anyways, you know, no secret, you guys are, I think I mean there's a lot of potential.
Blake Rea:I mean you guys are doing a lot, right. You know, again, I don't want this to be an entire fluff piece. You know I'm a fan, so there's brands, there's brands out there that I'm, you know, I really uh, I really lust over and and, and you know, in your case, you know you guys checked all the boxes. I, I, I wanted a cq, but I don't have cq money, you know. So this, this, we come in. Yeah, it scratches the itch, right, yeah absolutely yeah and that's fine that's fine.
Blake Rea:That's fine, it's totally fine, yeah yeah, I mean, if you can take some of their crumbs, I'm sure you'll be living a good life.
Tom van Wijlick:I'm joking, and then you know when someone says you know, I like the submarine but it's too cheap, then we can send them to a CQ. Yeah.
Blake Rea:Yeah, that's fine, let's go to.
Tom van Wijlick:Glacier, and then yeah, find there.
Blake Rea:Yeah, well, it starts to get away from, in my opinion, because, you know, I, I felt like, like the skin diver design language spoke to me. You know, it's practical, it's legible, um, it doesn't try and be anything else, right, it's just a functional, it's just, it's just an instrument, right, yeah, yeah, um, and so I had the. You know, I, obviously you saw the video, but I had the Walbrook and I was like this is something more, you know, and the Walbrook doesn't scratch the itch of of a luxury product that I, that I crave, that's fine, that's fine.
Tom van Wijlick:It's fine, it's for that price point, it's also. I've seen them it's. It's a very nice watch for that it is and it serves a different audience, maybe a different purpose?
Blake Rea:yeah sure, different um, let's do like a bird's eye perspective right now. You know we're looking down from your lens. Cdm, lec. Which brands do you feel like need the most attention?
Tom van Wijlick:of the, you know, of the two.
Tom van Wijlick:You mean yeah, yeah okay, okay, or most work, or most energy, or um well, you know, for for the, for the, for the short term, there's going to be the most development on the lebois and coast side because what we have, what we have there, is now currently our heritage chronograph.
Tom van Wijlick:We have some, still some venturist um that those were the pieces that had the oc plus certification. So the uh, like that, basically was a very strict chronometer certification, um certified for the whole watch, the, the encase watch, so not just the movement but the whole watch, including water resistance and the magnetism et cetera. Um, but you know, we, we, we are going to bring a smaller piece, a thinner piece for Lubanko, which is, as they say, long overdue. It will be a small seconds chronometer certified and I'm very excited about that. But there's still a very direct link to the current Heritage Chronograph series, which is very. It will be a very direct link to the current heritage chronograph series, which is very. It will be a very nice combination. First, before that we'll bring and you you said it's six weeks when this comes out.
Blake Rea:Yeah.
Tom van Wijlick:Okay, okay Then. Then I'm free to speak. Speak it. We're going to. We already already showed a little bit in in emailings like newsletters, and also on Instagram that we're going to. We already showed a little bit in emailings like newsletters, and also on Instagram that we're going to bring a NML version of the Heritage Chronograph and that will be released in around now in two weeks, which I'm also super excited, and I actually have the dial here. We didn't, but here's. Here's the dial.
Blake Rea:Your your podcast is September 16th.
Tom van Wijlick:Just to be clear. Oh, old news already. So this is a. So this is a dial. It's an Excel Color oh it's beautiful. So this is a dial. It's an eggshell color. Oh it's beautiful, it's very hard to just pretty. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you see below it's Inemel, grand Feu Suisse. So it's done by Brice in the world.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, I love that and the whole process we documented. Yeah, I love that. Oh yeah, and the whole process we we documented. So it'll be, um, like a product page with a beautiful render as well as deep diving, uh, into what makes this animal so special, because it's so hard to make, especially because this is for a cornograph, with, you know, the lower sub dials. Sure, this is not one dial, it's actually three dials because of the sub dials and, um, there's so much, you know, going that can go wrong in the whole process and there's quite some waste. Yeah, I think it's 30, 40 percent of dials that don't make it.
Tom van Wijlick:And, yeah, it'll be a very nice speech and we call it kokiedøf, which translates. You know, you have kokie and you have döf. Like egg, it's eggshell, so, but it all has a kind of a name to it that almost sounds like a dish, but it's not. So this will be our next piece. It will be a little bit more expensive, but then it's also a nice showcase for us to show what we can do. Yeah, I mean, we haven't done this design. It's a pulsation dial, uh, combined with breaking in worlds. We haven't done it yet, so it will be quite, yeah, quite, quite cool. Uh, I don't know if I can share my screen.
Blake Rea:I yeah you can actually. Yeah, so there should be like a present or at the very bottom, oh, let me, let me try.
Tom van Wijlick:If this goes wrong, you have to cut yeah, no, this will be a first let me start with my, my folder here.
Blake Rea:And I see here we're coming up to the top of the hour already. We're already past.
Tom van Wijlick:Like I don't want to yeah, I still have a.
Blake Rea:I still have a just say the word and we'll press the stop button immediately.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, okay, I'm just showing, starting this render. Let's see.
Blake Rea:Well, I guess, maybe you hear it first here Maybe, maybe, maybe, yeah, hopefully not.
Tom van Wijlick:It's still quite new, then, yeah yeah. Okay, let's see if this works. Share screen Yep.
Blake Rea:Share screen. Yep, share screen, it's going to ask you like a trillion pop-ups. Now it says which one?
Tom van Wijlick:Oh, that's good, that's good, yeah, so there you go.
Blake Rea:Multimedia presentation here, guys. Yeah.
Tom van Wijlick:Do you see it? Yeah, it's there. It's there, here it is. So this is the cookie. Oh dude, yes, it's there, here it is. So this is the kukia duff.
Tom van Wijlick:Oh dude, yes, really something I mean I'm super excited about this, so it's, it's really, and for us it's like it marks the, so to say, the next era of of a lot of new designs for our heritage chronograph piece collection, which we, uh, actually subdivided into different, um, different, you know the different layouts we didn't even talk about it. We could talk out on for hours, I guess. Part two, part two, two, and then let me show you the back, because that's also the first time that we have a very decent render of the whole inner workings of the what's the case? Diameter. That's it.
Blake Rea:It's our 39 case that we already Okay, okay, yeah, let's see what we got here, so here's the Le. Chouperelle yes, Hand-wound baby.
Tom van Wijlick:Hand-wound column wheel. 60 hours power reserve. Yeah, this is like a super smooth operation For the chronograph. It's an amazing movement. It's really great. La Chouberée is really fantastic with us they're a great partner a great partner.
Tom van Wijlick:They deliver an awesome product. Yeah, I'm very happy with them. Yeah, so this is what's coming very soon and will be live once this is aired, and the rest I cannot show you yet. No, of course. So we call this, so this is called Heritage Corner Atelier, so to be able to bring some dials and styles which need more attention, like the artisan, or even métier d'art, as you're familiar with that phrase, I guess, because in my grand feu. So the whole process, it's really métier d'art, it's really, it's super high level. It's so much handwork there it deserves to, yeah, to, to be, to be shown and, uh, the great thing is there that we can really differentiate between. You know our core collection and these, you know great pieces that that will will bring, uh, and the nml is one, one of those.
Blake Rea:So, um, there's more to come in that, in that sphere, yeah, amazing um, something that a lot of independents, I guess, get challenged with is they do they take an, I guess, an opposite strategy to yours. You know you started off producing high quality and what I would consider up market time pieces. You see a lot of brands that take the opposite approach and they're like, hey, I want the most, watch for money. Right, you know, and that's a challenging feat, um, but you know, then they ask how much money? Right, they they always, you know, challenged with trying to reach a sub-thousand-dollar price point and it's pretty challenging to do. So I can't imagine you doing this, but I got to ask, for probably some of my listeners Do you ever plan to push something below $1,000? Do you ever plan to go of, you know, um, go down market in a sense? Um, so that way you can introduce people to the brand and have them climb up the ladder, because you're already yeah, you're already higher yeah and you don't.
Blake Rea:You don't risk going down market. Um, like you know some of the brands going up market right, that's true there's a larger risk because they're like oh, I just bought a walbert for 500, 200, 300, like, why am I going to spend two thousand dollars on a walbert? You know what I mean. Like it, sorry to throw them as an example, but um no, I mean a fair question.
Tom van Wijlick:Um, below 1,000, probably not, but at least lower. I mean, when looking at the Heritage Chronograph you just saw, it's obviously around 10K, our normal collection, because it's NML and the whole process. It's obvious Our current collection is between for Le Bois, the Heritage Corner is between 3.5 and 4K US, but the small seconds will be below 2K or around 2K, so that is already for us. I mean, we want to have the same quality. Sure, we want to have the same quality and we sure no, then then it's quite hard to go below 1000 or around 1000 and I, I really wanted to stick with the chronometer certification. Um, because it and that's maybe also my, you know, I'm, then, the sucker for keeping things as they were we found several LeBronco small seconds pieces with, you know, on the dial chronometer, lebronco. So I decided, okay, well, I want to be able to bring that back and for that you have to have this chronometer certification. So you have to go at least through yeah to to timelab or cost to to do so.
Tom van Wijlick:Um yeah, so that's um and and that adds.
Blake Rea:It adds to the, to the, to the watch, obviously yeah, understood, understood, yeah, something that I I was uh joking with my buddy chris about was, um, even the warranty like, like getting getting the watch in and activating the warranty is a freaking experience in itself you know, yeah, yeah, with a certificate to the end, the nft certificate yeah, and like you know, this metal plated like card, and then you know you, you go and you register and then you see pictures of your watch when it came off the assembly line and it's like yeah and you can have it on your phone as well.
Tom van Wijlick:Do you have that as well?
Blake Rea:uh, no, I actually don't have that. Okay, okay, so you can.
Tom van Wijlick:You can have the. You can have the certificate on your phone.
Blake Rea:It's freaking cool. It's freaking cool. Yeah, no, I mean just such an experience. These are my watches.
Tom van Wijlick:It's such an experience it can sit right there as uh, along with your ikea family card.
Blake Rea:So no, no, I don't think I added that I don't think I can do it yeah yeah, um, and so let's talk about I guess you know I kind of want to. I know we're getting to the top of the time here. I'm sure you've probably had an experience with maybe a customer that sticks to top of mind. I'd be curious if you could even just share that with us. Maybe somebody said something to you and you just were maybe captivated by their words and the positive you mean.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, yeah by their words, or maybe they had to be, and the positive you mean yeah yeah, I mean either way.
Blake Rea:Either way, I think the positive is probably the sign Let me get there.
Blake Rea:But no, no, I mean obviously, when you're living life, you come into contact with unique people from all different walks of the world and there are certain things that people have said to me, that that, that that I think I'll carry for the rest of my life. Yeah, you know um, so maybe you've had a moment like that, you know, with either brand. You know, I think it'd be cool if you could share that Um. And then, you know, I guess, I, I guess I'll say my hardest question for last.
Tom van Wijlick:Oh, the hardest question. Okay, you should have sent the questions up front.
Blake Rea:Ah, yeah, sorry.
Tom van Wijlick:No, I mean, I'm totally transparent. Luckily, most of the experience by far are positive. Obviously also the negative ones, where you just cannot, under certain circumstances, either in your control or out of your control, you just cannot satisfy a customer and you lose them, and that's. That's very hard to be honest, because I'm, um, I consider myself a fair and humble person, um, but it, it, it has happened so and that's a pity, but luckily, uh, I think that's that happened, happened like I think in all 11 years one or two times, but it sticks. It sticks, luckily, the positives ones stick as well.
Tom van Wijlick:And maybe one of the most interesting and there are several one of the most interesting things that we was was not actually selling a watch, but restoring a watch, um, for for someone. So, and we actually um, um, documented the, the, the watching question, we made pictures and it's also in our what we call the horological herald, so our little newspaper that we ship out with with watches, and you can actually browse it online at cdmleccom and and this I mean, we get fairly a lot of people asking okay, I inherited this LeBron call or a piece. Can you tell me what's what it, what it's worth? Yeah, of course you know Iran piece. Can you tell me what it's worth? Yeah, of course, we cannot say anything about what something is worth because we're not experts in that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Tom van Wijlick:But in this scenario, someone contacted me and said, okay, I have this watch, it's a gold Lubanko piece piece and I want to restore it. Okay, um, tell me what are the possibilities. And he shipped it to us and, um, it was actually so. He inherited this piece from his uncle and the story, as he told me, was that his uncle got it on a trip in switzerland with his father, so it was a, was a gift so super long ago, like this, this was a chronograph gold and it was 80 years old at least. Wow, um, and I can show you, actually can show you a picture. Yeah, let me start a folder again.
Tom van Wijlick:And it was such a personal piece for that customer, but also for us, because it gave us the opportunity to tap into and be part of that story and to be able to to, um, yeah, to, to, to honor the wish of the, the customer, to restore the watch as it would have looked, because it was in quite bad shape, and, um, and to restore it to almost the condition as what it should have been or would have been when um his uncle got it from his father back then in switzerland. So that was a very cool, cool thing to do. It was super expensive, um, and we we actually was so expensive that we really I think we only made a little margin, but but it wasn't important, it wasn't sure. It was just to be part of that story and to to be able to um to to do that for that customer. I just have to browse real quickly in my all.
Blake Rea:For those who are listening on Apple or Spotify. You're going to have to want to jump into YouTube to see some of the cool stuff that we've been showing off here.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, definitely, let's see Number. Yeah, I think so that's crazy how long did?
Blake Rea:it take for you guys to restore it it actually took quite some months.
Tom van Wijlick:yeah, luckily, I'm not sure that he will take the challenge again. We have an expert watchmaker that was friendly enough to do so. Oh man, you're going to have to zoom in. This is something huh.
Blake Rea:Oh yeah, there we go.
Tom van Wijlick:I mean all the. So these, these, the gold locks were so thin and that's also what I wanted to to to tell about. You know, the, the heritage chronograph. You can see the inspiration that we take from, from these pieces, but this is not a watch that you can reissue like this with the thin, thin logs and thin case. It's not I I don't think there's a case manufacturer that's willing to do so nowadays, but, um, so that's where we, why we take inspiration from these and, for the like, looking at the submarine and the type 20, those are so close to the originals. Yeah, because these are different watches out of different eras, like 50s, 60s. Those are right and these are, those are meant to be, tool watches back then as well.
Blake Rea:So, yeah, this is so, yeah, this was Mr Zanguti, if I correct the pronounce his name, uh, his watch, yeah, which we, uh, which we restored, and then we, you know, also the case back, amazing, amazing, holy crap yeah I bet he was like through the roof when he got it back yeah, I was super excited, yeah, really super excited I hope you film this too, because this is just like the type of journey that we all all want to be a part of, you know yeah, we actually didn't, I I know, I'm yeah, no, we didn't film it.
Tom van Wijlick:No, no next time. And I and I can also show you the movement inside there.
Blake Rea:Let's see what were the? Uh? Were you guys using um lamania calibers back then? Is that what?
Tom van Wijlick:no, there's, uh, there's a lot of paljou and the venus movements, uh, okay beautiful wow, yeah, so this is, uh, it's quite a nice story, um, apart from, obviously, yeah, we we did some some, some some nice um, we even did some one, uh, some piece uniques for some people that we don't show, you know, on on our website. But yeah, I mean, and each of them, you know, a lot of times people don't ask us for a piece unique just for to have a piece unique. Most of the time there's a story behind that, sure, and then it feels really like an honor to be part of that story, yeah, and an honor that they chose us.
Blake Rea:So I actually have. I'm going to slip one more question in, since I got you how do you measure success? Not necessarily commercially, but you know it brings up a question. You know you know measuring by customer connection, emotional, you know like connection, like how do you, as a founder, measure success within your brands, not necessarily just on paper?
Tom van Wijlick:No, no, I can relate to that and I do like a rewind to the point in time that I was actually in a parking lot with my then girlfriend, now wife, waiting for the first Kickstarter to end in 20,. That was 2014, 2015. That was 2014, 2015. You know, because it was during. No, it wasn't actually in a parking lot. No, that was at home. No, it was in a parking lot.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, it was in a parking lot, waiting for the Kickstarter to end and to being able to say, okay, we succeeded. Because, you know, because the Kickstarter, those are most of the time meant to cover costs and not to make a profit. Yeah, because the profit that we made. We threw a dinner party for everyone that wanted to come and some people came and we had enough budget to cover the shipping costs, et cetera, and the final budget we paid for the dinner. So the success factor there was that you reached the end goal.
Tom van Wijlick:That was a successful project and you were able to take the next step and to go in production and to make these people happy with their watch. Yeah, there we have it again to make people happy with their watch, as long as people are happy with the things that we come up with and produce and, and, and they like it. Yeah, that's a success. And, of course, I mean we're now investor backed and I'm on board with uh. I mean I've I've asked these investors to come on board and to build this as a company and it's of course, it's a different dimension when you you really started as a business. You really started as a business, um, but it's still the passion and uh that that drives it and uh the the. I think when you can achieve that people are happy with your product, then result in terms of you know numbers uh, money, profit, etc.
Tom van Wijlick:It will come. Yeah, um, but it's, it's, it's, obviously, it's a. It's a different game. When, yeah, when you turn this hobby, which it was at first, into a company, that's, that's, that's obviously different. Yeah, um, but in the end, I'm, I'm so grateful that I'm able to do this all day long and, with that, feeding my family. And you know, yeah, it's a dream come true.
Blake Rea:It shows, man, it shows. I really mean that. Thanks. Final question, so you can get to your meeting, and this is probably the hardest one. Thanks, thanks, um, final question, so you can get to your meeting, uh, and this is probably the hardest one. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, the hardest Uh if you could wear just one of your own watches for the rest of your life. I have to ask it. I have to ask it.
Blake Rea:And I have to choose here or there well, maybe this one is let's just put it in this perspective. You don't have to, but hypothetically one of these oh man, one, just one yeah, you could even start off by saying is it gonna be uh lee boys, or is it going to be our rain? I think, I think I know you're going to go, the boys. You would say so, I think so, I hope so. I don't know. I mean, I don't hope so, but I think so.
Tom van Wijlick:You know I have such a big love for the type 20.
Blake Rea:Our rain type 20 or the.
Tom van Wijlick:Yeah, yeah, for the type 20, the rn type 20, or the yeah, yeah, yeah, our type 20.
Tom van Wijlick:No, I mean the type 20 is um, is to to for rn, the type 20 is what at least that's how I see it and I how I approach it it's what the speed master is for omega Omega, because it has the credibility and the legitimacy to be on the wrist of the French army pilots.
Tom van Wijlick:So, and we have one vintage piece in our possession where we know that it was in possession and it was a tool for a pilot in the army, which is so cool considering, you know, you don't know where this pilot is now, is he still alive, et cetera. What has he done with it? How many hours of you know work flight has this watch done? But it's still there and we have it. So that's super cool. So there's the whole type 20 story is very special to me, um, but maybe, indeed, for for you know, being to be able to only choose one piece, I would maybe go for the leblanco piece that we uh made to to be as close to the Christie's watch as possible, and that's our ref 324.497, which I can show, do I have?
Blake Rea:it here? Hopefully it's within reach. No.
Tom van Wijlick:Oh, it's not here. No, let's just get a digital image, no problem, let me just I'll go on the website. I mean that's. Then you can also see the vintage piece that I'm talking about. Dun, dun, dun, share, share screen.
Blake Rea:Yeah, this conversation has been, in my opinion, nothing short of enjoyable, amazing and everything in between, oh yeah.
Tom van Wijlick:So this is our ref324.497. We now call it heritage corner of numeral because it's of the many numbers there, um, and this is, I think it's called versatile because there's, you know, you have black in there, blue cream uh, punch in real quick, if you can.
Blake Rea:Sorry, I said punch in. If you like to do a little your little zoom thing there, can I do it.
Tom van Wijlick:Oh, yeah, yeah oh yeah, oh okay okay, okay, okay, there we go, oh yeah, so this is a show. It's very uh, it's a very easy watch and there's the, the, the piece that. So we already took the inspiration from, uh, the, the one at the chrissy's auction. So it's not one-on-one, but you could see where it came from yeah uh, yeah.
Tom van Wijlick:So if I had to choose one, and this is yeah, ever since I got back from france wearing the submarine, I have this indian uh, the, the, the the coloration watch with Indian motorcycle uh on my wrist. Uh, and this is the only one that we have left here, so I'm very careful with that Um uh, so that's why I don't wear it a lot, but this is also super easy to wear, uh, um, so the I. So I have a little bit thing for the cream dials and that's maybe also the cookie that I really hope to be wearing soon. But yeah, so I would choose this one, I guess, yeah.
Tom van Wijlick:I can't fault you in any way, because that is an epic choice but then I would also say okay, I also need a type 20 and a diver. Okay.
Blake Rea:I'll let you have the diver too. I'll let you have the diver too. Cool, cool Tom. I can't thank you enough for spending so much time with us.
Tom van Wijlick:Thank you for having me.
Blake Rea:Peeling back the curtain. This has been a long time coming. I'm very humbled to have acquainted with you and to have you on, and and this conversation was, uh, was nothing short of amazing, in my opinion, as I expected, and uh, and obviously I'm gonna you know, because of the host.
Blake Rea:It's because of the host oh, come on, it's because of the guest. I try not to talk as much. I try not to talk as much because I'm a listener, right, but um, super fun, super amazing, um, I hope all of our listeners made it to the end. And you know, obviously, uh, you know, I think, uh, and again, I don't want this to be a fluff piece. I try not to fluff too much but, um, you know, your watches are very special. I can tell that there's a lot of passion that goes into into your, your product, and and uh, and just seeing you know, like I said when in in geneva, I didn't even have a chance to even come say hi to you because, no, you were so busy, and uh, next time.
Blake Rea:It's well deserved coffee yeah, no, it's well deserved. Um, your success is amazing and your story and and I can't wait to see you know and continue to, to follow you guys and, and you know, hopefully in the future you know, I'll be able to to bring some more watches in, to do some more content with you guys and and continue forward. So.
Tom van Wijlick:Thank you. Thank you, tom Pleasure and uh was great to be on the show.
Blake Rea:Thank you so much and I'll talk to you very soon, buddy. Thanks, cheers.
