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.
Tune in bi-weekly and hear the stories ticking behind every Lonely Wrist.
Lonely Wrist: All Things Watches & Horology
From Clinton To Hampden: A Century Of American Watchmaking with Joe Wein
A century-old American watch brand doesn’t just survive on luck; it survives on purpose. We sit down with Joe Wein, the third‑generation CEO of Hampden Watch, to explore how a family business threaded its way from Chicago’s catalog era to today’s Swiss‑powered precision—without losing what matters most: the stories people carry on their wrists.
Joe opens the vault on a lineage that includes Clinton, Wolbrook, Douglas, and Benrus, revealing how Chicago’s shipping hub and direct‑mail culture shaped the company’s early growth. He shares the quirks that make watch history fun—like Clinton divers sold “packed in water”—and the unexpected brushes with legend, including a Hampton in the Wright Brothers exhibit at the Smithsonian. Then we dive into the modern heartbeat of the brand: personalization with purpose. From laser engraving that cut turnarounds from weeks to days, to the patented case cap that clicks between a sapphire exhibition view and a perfectly aligned engraved canvas, Hampden proves that technology can serve sentiment. Movement lovers get their due with Swiss calibers, while engraving purists get a design concierge to turn vows, coordinates, and family mottos into heirlooms.
Along the way, we talk leadership, legacy, and the realistic future of American watchmaking. Joe reflects on hard calls after 2008, the culture of loyalty that kept multi‑decade employees, and why giving each generation a lane—engineering for him, marketing and PR for his son Dan—builds a stronger house. We also preview Hampden’s hands‑on classroom where you assemble a Unitas‑based manual watch and go home with your initials on the ratchet wheel, turning craft into a personal milestone.
If you care about mechanical watches, personalized engraving, Swiss movements, Chicago watch history, or the rise of meaningful microbrands, this conversation will stick with you. Subscribe, share with a watch‑obsessed friend, and leave a review telling us what you’d engrave on your own heirloom—what story would your watch tell?
Check out Hampden Watches:
Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2237102/support
Visit our Blog: https://lonelywrist.com
Watch our Youtube: http://youtube.lonelywrist.com
100% Viewer Funded: Donate Here
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode here of the Lonely Risk Podcast. I am your host, as always, Blake Ray. And we've had a lot of incredible watch brands on the show, heritage brands, micro brands, innovators, entrepreneurs. But today's guest actually brings us something truly special. This is not just another watch brand. Today we actually have an American story. My guest today is Joseph, the third generation president and CEO of Hampton Watch, the oldest continuously operating family-run watch company in the United States. Founded in Chicago in 1922, Hampton has survived the Great Depression, World War II, and the Quartz Revolution. And today, under Joe's leadership, it is entering the second century, stronger than ever. Joe's background is quite fascinating. Before joining the family business in the 80s, he actually worked in Silicon Valley as a computer engineer and is since taking the helm in 2002, he reinvented the brand from the ground up, blending Swish Swiss precision with Chicago soul and pioneering personalization through innovation such as the patented case cap system, which turns every watch into a storytelling canvas and beyond the history. This is a family-run business. Joe is now working alongside his son Dan and carrying four generations of legacy of American watchmaking forward into modern age. Genuinely excited to welcome him to talk about the family of the brand. Welcome to the show, Joe.
Joe Wein:Well, thank you, Blake. That was a very kind introduction. And I'm really excited to be able to talk with you.
Blake Rea:Yeah, no, this is an exceptional. I had never heard of your brands. All honesty, I never heard of your brand until you guys have reached out. There's so many great brands out there that just get overlooked, which is crazy considering you guys have really been around since the early like 1920s. Well um, yeah.
Joe Wein:There may be a reason that that that that we escaped your notice because we actually have a bit of a complicated history, both our brand history and and a really interesting backstory, family backstory. My grandfather started Clinton Watch Company in Chicago in 1922. And he was one of five brothers and a brother-in-law who all started watch companies in North America. The first, you know, it's the story you've heard so many times. The eldest brother came to New York, started a watch company, then started bringing the family over one at a time, another brother with him in New York, then he sent a brother and a brother-in-law to Canada, and they started Cardinal Watch, which was a brand for many, many decades in Canada, and Marathon, who is who's of course still around, a marvelous brand. Uh and my grandfather, Hyman Wine, he sent to Chicago. And then uh the final brother uh went to Geneva, Switzerland, Mania Wineseer, and then they changed their name to Voncier. They frankified their name. So, and and so, you know, after after all of these watch companies started, we I mean, we were a watch group before there was a word for it, and two of us are still around after after all this time.
Blake Rea:I'm curious, and this is probably a little off the beating trail of our normal questions, but how does it feel like to lead the oldest continuous American family-owned watch brand in America?
Joe Wein:You know, it's funny because I've been asked that before, and I like to joke that all the smart people got out of the watch business in the 80s and 90s, right? So it it's it's a distinction, but you know, we struggled obviously through through um through some complications. My grandfather started Clinton in 1922. And then he then he started the Woolbrook brand in 1949 and the Douglas brand in 1955. And he acquired the Hampton brand in 1958, which is a whole other story. Maybe we'll get there. So, and and those were the brands that I grew up with. I remember them all as a kid. And I remember uh my father, you know, the the different brands were used for different channels of distribution. And my father acquired Benrus in 1981. And by then, Benrus was no longer a jewelry store brand. It was uh it had been uh pushed into mass merchants. And it was, you know, there were there were several Americana brands that were all in this space. They were we were selling Montgomery Ward and K and uh Kmart and Walmart and Sears and all these uh JCPenney, and we were competing with with Elgin and Waltham and Gruen and these other brands that had you know all gotten into trouble and changed hands. And in the late 90s, so you know you would we were little companies selling JCPenney or selling Walmart, and they were they really were pressuring the companies, right? The the brands, and so there was a consolidation that went on, and you ended up having all of the companies at one point rolled up into one owner, and that's and that is and we ended up selling uh our brand at the end of the 90s to somebody who then had a whole collection of brands, and it was easier for him to you know to push back against these huge retailers, right? Uh, and so after we sold that, the only brands we had left were were uh Hampton and Clinton.
Blake Rea:Got it. Yeah, and explain the thought process of getting, I mean, Binress, right? Marathon, I mean Walbrook, Douglas, like those are great brands, you know. What was the the sh the strategy at the time to kind of divest themselves from from some of your portfolio?
Joe Wein:So some of this I can only speak secondhand, things that my father told me as I was either growing up or coming into the business. But the Woolbrook and Douglas brands, along with Hampton, were were for us subsidiary brands to Clinton. Clinton was our was our was our best brand at the at the time. Right. And and of course, when when we acquired Benrus, that was a much better known brand. And my father let the Woolbrook and Douglas trademarks expire. And both of them, interestingly, have been resurrected in the last half a dozen years by a French company because they discovered this you know this interesting and unexpected brush with history. Do you know about this?
Blake Rea:I do. I have multiple Walbroken Douglas watches in my portfolio. So technically I have Hamptons and Clinton's and your family brands.
Joe Wein:So they if if they're if they're not in the last half a dozen years, they were made by us. So it it it it it it came out that Neil Armstrong had owned a Douglas watch when he was a test pilot before, you know, and we didn't know this at the time. How could we? You know, we sold, you know, inexpensive Douglas divers watches to PX's. You know, at the time he was uh he was a you know military pilot, probably didn't make a ton of money, and so it makes complete sense that he would have bought a Douglas watch. We just didn't know it at the time. So anyway, I wish them tons of luck in in uh in you know building in in uh building those brands back up.
Blake Rea:Yeah, let's talk about your grandfather Hyman and his brothers. I mean, between it seems like the 1910s to 1930s, you guys founded several brands. Yes. Tell us about the portfolio of the of that era.
Joe Wein:So uh so the the the eldest brother in New York started Weinstrom Watch. And and along is Alex Wein. And and his and his brother Manya was in Geneva and had registered the Abra brand. And so and so Weinstrom Watch was actually importing Abra Swiss watches and selling them. And actually, Manya, this the Swiss brother, worked with all of the other brothers in the family. So if you look back in the you know the the 40s and 50s, you'd find very similar watches in the Clinton line, in the marathon line, right? Because we were all, you know, the the brothers were all working together. Sadly, my grandfather died before I was born, so I never knew him. So I'm, you know, I'm relating the stories as I heard them from my father. But but it was really, it was it was quite interesting that you know, everybody ended up with their own business in different places, but they all cooperated with each other, helped each other. And Marathon and I, you know, my cousin Mitchell Ween, we pronounce our last names differently. You know, we're we're uh you know, I love him dearly. So it's you know, and we're we still help each other. In fact, our model one, which is our flagship relaunched uh model after turning a century old, uh, the final assembly is done in the marathon factory. So so the family tradition continues.
Blake Rea:Yeah, no, and now something super cool is so you guys are based in Chicago in the middle of that period, I think it was 1922. That's when grandpa did Clinton, and and you guys kind of like decide to set up shop on the west side of Chicago.
Joe Wein:Is that well, actually, no, actually, originally I think we were at 29 East Madison. Uh the reason I know that, because I never by the time I was born, our factory had moved to the south side of Chicago, 1104 South Wabash. But the reason that I know it was 29 East Madison, because I never really discussed that earliest history with my father, is that I know the story behind how my grandfather acquired Hampton, which is an interesting and kind of a sad story. So Hampton's background, you know, the brand, the company goes back to 1877. And there were actually some antecedents before that. So there were two or three name changes before Hampton got established. And uh got established in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1877 and about a decade later moved to uh Akron, Ohio. Uh not Akron, I'm sorry, Canton, Ohio. And so they they got into trouble in in uh the 20s and the and the the assets you know got reorganized. So their factory got shipped to Russia and actually became the or the the the the the founding of the the so it actually got shipped to the Soviet Union and was the founding of the Soviet watch industry. And then the brand got acquired by a guy named Mannheim, Mannheimer, and then Adler. Long long way of getting back to 2090's Madison. So my grandfather and at the time my father were in this building, Clinton Watch Company, and a couple of floors above them was Hampton Watch Company. And Adler jumped out of the window and committed suicide in 1958. I mean, I saw I saw the newspaper clipping, and you know, he hit a he hit a delivery truck and went through the roof of the truck. I mean, it was terrible. But his widow asked my grandfather to buy the company, and that's how we acquired Hampton.
Blake Rea:That's crazy. It's a crazy story, isn't it? So something too that most people don't think about is like if you think, and I mean, obviously, I do a ton of research before he came on in the 20s and 30s, like that was like the hub of American watchmaking. Like you had Elgin, you had Illinois, there was some case manufacturers, there was some mail order watch companies at the time. So maybe you've heard stories through the family, but you know what is being based in Chicago meant to a brand like yours? That's actually a great question.
Joe Wein:The so it turns out that Chicago was a catalog hub around the turn of the century. That's why you had so many major catalogs here. You had Montgomery Ward, which was a catalog, you had Sears, which was a catalog. In fact, my grandfather's first three customers were Montgomery Ward, Alden, and Spiegel, all catalog accounts. And of course, we were, you know, Chicago was a centralized hub for shipping around the country. And so we always, I think, were stronger in catalog and direct mail than we were at retail. We absolutely sold at retail, you know, in greater and lesser amounts throughout this entire period. But catalog and direct mail was always a focus of ours because we were in Chicago.
Blake Rea:Yeah, I mean, that's a great place to be, especially in America. Something that I I've heard you guys describe as Hampton as being, you know, a 103-year-old Chicago story of craftsmanship, design, you know, reinvention. What does it mean to carry that story forward?
Joe Wein:You know, it's interesting because uh Danny and I have have debated about whether, you know, most most watch brands brag about the brand's age, right? And so then, you know, Danny and I had a discussion, do we say since 1877 or since or do we say since 1922? Right. And I I I said to him, well, listen, we're we're a hundred years old, and I think we're the oldest watch company in in the country, you know, that's enough, that's enough bragging rights. We don't need to cat it, right?
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and I'm assuming too, like you guys have been family owned and operated this entire period, the entire history of the brand. So I'm assuming like that's a part of the strategy, it's part of the roadmap. Like you're gonna hand it down through this your son, and then hopefully your son's son and son's son, and and so on and so forth, and keep a legacy for so.
Joe Wein:First of all, my father pressured me greatly to join the family business. Uh you know, my undergraduate degree was computer engineering. Okay, so and when I graduated, I moved to Silicon Valley, right? I was living in Sunnyvale, working in Palo Alto, right major, right place, right time, 1985. Okay. I'm sorry, 1984. 1984. So it would have been a really interesting career path. But my mother tells me the first time that they visited me in in California, my father came home very depressed. He said Joe's never coming home. So after so he he eventually, you know, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and I and I moved back to Chicago to join the family business. A little detour. I had to do a couple of months of officer basic at in at Fort Gordon, Georgia, because I was in the I was in the Army Reserves. Uh I was I was so I was so young and stupid back then, I didn't even know that they played golf in Augusta.
Blake Rea:Did you did you have to put the same pressure on on Dan, your son, to to join the family business? Or did you actually know?
Joe Wein:And and he would and he was a different kind of guy. I was more compliant. He would have never been forced. But you know, we were so COVID happens, right? And I'm thinking to myself, you know, the it's the end of the world, our business is over, everything, you know, shutting down, you know, it's it felt really terrible. And but then, you know, everybody's at home, and part of our business, a a big chunk of our business is is is is online. And so people were, and we also manufacture jewelry. And so people started ordering. They're sitting at home with nothing to do, and they're going online and ordering. So, you know, we're so we get back into business. And and then I realized, oh my God, we're approaching our hundredth anniversary. We we've got to do something, right? Because ever ever since selling Benrus, uh, for the last 25 years, we've we've only been making private label watches, right? We've been so we're we've never stopped in a hundred and three years, we've never stopped assembling watches in Chicago. And and unions want to buy for most of that history, nobody cared whether we were whether we were made in in the US or not. Uh, but unions always cared. And unions give gifts to their to their union members. And so it's not a very big business, but it's a niche that not a lot of people compete in. So we were making union-made watches for union customers, and that's basically what we did since selling Benrus until you know we we realized, oh my God, we're we're almost a century old, and let's let's relaunch this. And that's when I started having the discussions with Danny. And Danny's background is marketing and PR, and he's a you know, you know, wonderful. He didn't know the watch business, but he's he's been learning. And so that's that's been really gratifying. That's great. I worked with my father, and now I'm working with my son.
Blake Rea:That's a that's great. That's a great place to be in. Are you guys still in the same walls that you've been in the whole time, or have you guys no?
Joe Wein:So we so we again we started at 29 East Madison, and then we moved to the South Side. And then, and I when I joined the business, we were we were on the near South Side in Chicago, South Loop. And and my father had acquired Benress at that point, and our business was growing. And one day my father said to me, you know, Joe, you don't see cars on blocks in front of the street anymore, and they're opening up a movie theater down the street. This is no longer a manufacturing neighborhood. We need to find ourselves a new crappy neighborhood. And so, and so we bought the building we're in now, which is an old, you know, renovated brick and timber factory building where we moved and we needed all this space for Benrus because we were, you know, at one point we were uh just one of our just one of our accounts, we were replenishing 2,500 Walmart stores every week. It's crazy. Um, you know, and and it was interesting the way they did it because EDI at that point had already had already started, and we, you know, and we we master packed these things so that there was a little you know plastic bag with with for each store that needed replenishing, and then they just open up the big carton and throw these things on a conveyor belt and they'd do what they did.
Blake Rea:So that's so cool. It's such a cool story. Now bringing Hampton like full circle, you know, it seems like you guys are really focused on not only creating brand awareness, but building timepieces that preserve the history of the brand, you know, cementing the future of the brand. And it seems that you guys have really leaned into storytelling. How do you feel like that is a part of the ethos of the brand?
Joe Wein:You know, my earliest watch memory was finding, I was a kid, and I, you know, kids poke around in their parents' stuff, and I found opened a drawer and found an old watch of my father's that had an engraving on the back with his initials and a number. Well, I recognized his initials, but I didn't recognize the number. And so I asked him about it, and he said, Well, that's my army serial number, and your grandfather gave me this watch before I shipped off to Europe in World War II. He served in Patton's Third Army in the 8th Armored Division. Clinton watch, of course.
Blake Rea:Yeah.
Joe Wein:And I never forgot how that made me feel, right? Knowing it was a crappy beat-up watch. It wasn't a special watch, but it went knowing the story and seeing the engraving, the watch went from being worthless to being priceless. And so I told Danny that when when when we were discussing this this, you know, the the relaunch to the consumers of the Hampton brand, that I wanted to make watches that made other people feel the way I remembered that watch had made me feel. And that's why that's why we're so focused on engraving. And it's a different level of engraving than than you know, many, many watches. Most watches can have an engraved case back, but it's a what we're doing is something quite different. And it's because I want to connect people to their stories. I mean, I would rather make a watch that is precious than a watch that is valuable. Yeah. If that makes sense.
Blake Rea:No, it per it somehow makes perfect sense. And as you can tell, I like stories. Super, super curious. I mean, I'm sure you've probably been trying to go back and do you guys have been probably trying to go back and build your archive, right? Is that is that is that a priority to you at this point?
Joe Wein:Yes, you know, it's interesting when because we've always had a lot of you know watches in from our collection. And when we when we were planning our relaunch party this summer, we in our building, we I decided I wanted to create uh 10 different display cases showing that collection. And then I took half the watches out because I realized I didn't want to display watches, I wanted to tell stories. So the way that I organized things was in a storytelling way. So for example, if I was, you know, a case talking about Hampton's early history, you know, it showed the transition between, you know, a key-wound leverset watch showing the movement and then and then you know a keyless, uh keyless watch, but still leverset, and then, you know, and showing the transition between pocket watches and wristwatches. If I was if I was doing a case that was describing our different brands, I would show, you know, here is a Douglas watch and here is a Clinton watch, same watch, different brands, sold through different catalogs, I assume. Because some of this happened before. Okay, or we'd have a Hampton and a Clinton that were the same model, but different brands selling through different channels of distribution. And of course, a uh one of my favorite cases was was when I started uh putting together some of my father's patents and innovations, and I discovered actually something that I hadn't really realized. My father was always obsessed with with uh time and with uh and with uh calendars and being able to figure out you know future days of the week. And and it turns out that that most of his patents were actually connected with that. So uh, for example, one of his early patents, actually not his earliest, I discovered, you know, I was doing research before our launch, I discovered he had written a patent in Switzerland in French in 1968, uh, which I still don't understand. But anyway, but he but he invented uh he and patented a basically a diver's watch, but the bezel has an opening in it, and you and there's and you can adjust the month to appear on the bezel. Okay, and he called that a month minder. And then and then he invented a another patent, which he called the Perpetua, which actually had three here, you know what?
Blake Rea:I I was about to say, I hope you have some of these with us.
Joe Wein:Yes, okay, so here, and it has three crowns, and it's because you you have two rings, and I know that most most people are listening to this, so I'll try and describe it. Yeah, you have you have two rings inside the bezel, one of which shows the day of the week, and one of which shows the date of the month. And if you adjust one ring against the other ring, you can then see which uh day of the week you have during any month. I'm sorry, during during during any date. So you can so you can figure out, you know, if you know what what uh it's it's the sixth of uh it's the sixth of of October, what day of the week is the 29th of October, right? Uh because you just adjust it once a month. And so these were actually uh, I guess, case uh complications, right? They weren't movement complications, but they were both case complications, which now that I think about it is a little weird to me because our case cap is also a case complication, isn't it?
Blake Rea:Makes sense. That's it's a cool people who are listening. You have you're gonna have to go to YouTube to see these watches. But you you have more there, don't you? You have you have a couple other pieces tucked away, don't you?
Joe Wein:So this was this was probably the culmination of my father's obsession with this. So and this was so this I don't think was his invention, because I never found a patent for it, but I but this we he sold under both the Nuvex and uh Clinton brands, and this actually lets you figure out the day of the week for any date in a 23-year period.
Blake Rea:That's so cool.
Joe Wein:And of course, all of this was was done, these were rings underneath the dial, so activated by the by by an extra crown. So these these this was also a case complication. So I guess that's I guess that's a family tradition.
Blake Rea:That is such a cool, so such a cool I love those old watch ads. I don't know what it is about them. They just like take me in a time machine, and I like I like get myself in the place of what somebody flipping through a magazine would see, and how that would impact them is just such a cool thing to me.
Joe Wein:You want to see another fun one?
Blake Rea:Please share, share, share.
Joe Wein:Okay, so actually, this may be this may be the best promotion that Clinton ever did. It was a watch, divers watches, so water resistant they come packed in water. Okay, so can you see that?
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay, okay, yeah. And I've seen those before the Walbrook one, I think it was on the other set page, right? Yeah, yeah, where they sold them in little like water boxes or whatever.
Joe Wein:Yes, actually, my father used to call them yeah, urine jars. But as a matter of fact, one of my early experiences working in the factory was working on. The water packing line. Wow. You know, working for a guy named Ramon Zavayos. I still remember. I'm not sure how helpful I was because I was pretty young. You know, I was probably 10 or 11. I was working in this, you know, sure during summer vacation. I it's possible that that actually it was half babysitting and half, you know, he just wanted to keep me out of trouble. But it it turns out that it that it wasn't as easy as you think doing a water pack watch, because you know, if the watch is sitting for several months on the shelf before it ships, you you can grow algae, so you need an algae side. Well, the watch might ship during winter, so you need an anti-freeze. But what happens if somebody drinks the water? So it had to be human-safe. So it was a little complicated. And my father was telling me about this whole process while they were trying to develop this product. I still remember once somebody sent a watch back to our service department, and he said, you know, I faithfully put the watch back in water every night. Put it back to where it came from. So he apparently thought he apparently thought it was like a fish and it lived in water.
Blake Rea:That's how it's powered, hydro, hydropowered. So you took over the brand in 2002, I believe, after the passing of your dad. Yes. How did that transition like influence your approach to now, what you define as leadership and and what you look at now as legacy?
Joe Wein:Well, you know, my father left pretty big shoes to fill. And and I was very much driven by his, you know, his ethical framework, right? Intensely loyal to our people. I I grew up seeing that there were many, many employees who had been with us for 20, 30, 40 years. As a matter of fact, I remember the the longest employee that we had started working for my grandfather in 1954, Josephine Krisbec. And and so she worked for my grandfather. Actually, she said to me, I worked for your grandfather, I worked for your father, and I worked for you. I'm not working for your son. But but but she she finally retired in I think 2008 or nine. Uh but wow, you know, it it was it, you know, it was very it was that kind of a family business. It was a family business that was also a family.
Blake Rea:Wow. That's so crazy. So this is gonna be a controversial one, but I'm sure you're gonna have a lot to talk about when it comes to this. You and your family's brand and the entire portfolio were one of the first brands to really stand behind your product and say, we offer a lifetime guarantee on every single watch sold. Do you still think that that can exist in today's like fast consumer market? I don't.
Joe Wein:Okay. But but growing up, yes, Clinton watches were guaranteed for life. And I still remember, so this was so I had already joined the business, so this was probably around 1990. And somebody sent a watch back in to the service department that had been sold while my in my grandfather's era. And and so the service manager brought it to me, and I brought it to my father, and he I was so excited. If you haven't figured out yet, I'm a pretty sentimental guy, right? Right. So I'm like, Dad, look at this. I can't believe it. And he sent it in, of course, for you know, guaranteed for life service, right? And so I'm like, Dad, this is incredible. And he sent a long letter, right? I've worn this watch every day for the last, I don't know, what 40, 50 years. I don't remember the details. And I said, Dad, isn't this incredible? And so my father, you know, he read, he looked at the watch, he read the letter, and he said, Why don't you write him back and say, if all of our customers were like you, we'd be out of business. Buy a new watch. I of course didn't do that. But he was pulling my leg because he saw how excited I was.
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so cool. I mean, that that's the type of stuff that really kind of is like fuel for uh for you, I'm assuming today, right? So working with your dad and now working along with your son, like how has that transitioned from being something aspirational, like working with your dad and learning from him? Like, how do you like step into those shoes and and how do you fill those shoes and how do you teach Daniel? You know, how do you pass along those family values?
Joe Wein:You know, it's a it's a great question. So but by all accounts, my father had a difficult relationship with his father in business. And and so that I think informed the way that my father worked with me. He gave me, you know, an area of responsibility and he gave me a lot more a lot more freedom, which I am doing with Danny because that seemed to work a little better. But, you know, my father used to say to me, you know, that his father, because my father was very analytic, and my grandfather was more emotional and instinct-driven. And so he's he said, you know, that my grandfather was always right for the wrong reasons. Because my father would argue with him about things, and then it would turn out my grandfather was right, but the reasons that he gave didn't make sense to my father. So but having, I think, in a multi-generational family business, when when somebody comes in, you need to give them an area where they're where they have expertise, where they can kind of build build their position uh also with with the rest of the with the rest of the team, right? Because it's always a you know, it's always difficult to coming in to a business where where where the boss is your father, right? Because the question is, do you have any competence or are you simply a deadbeat who got a job? And of course, when I came into the business, my the the the easy and first responsibility for me was the IT department, because I was a computer engineer. And then and then my father you know started teaching me how to sell and he gave me a couple of accounts. So I was so I was so I started selling and being responsible for that as well. So uh, but it's but it started out with an area of my core competency. So Danny was Danny's actually had an interesting career before he has started. He started, he's he has now started in the company a mature man. He's not a kid, right? Right. But he he he worked in a large PR firm in Washington, DC, and in and in, and he he worked for for Facebook for a while. He uh he ran a nonprofit. So, you know, he he has a background that and he and his you know marketing and PR and is is an area of his natural expertise. And as an engineer, of course, you know, the technical side of of watches were were where I naturally fit in. So we're I think we're a pretty good team.
Blake Rea:Yeah. Curious too about, I mean, obviously there's gonna be values that you try if you haven't already transferred over to your son, but what type of values do you hope that you know Danny will carry as he continues to push the next chapter? You know, obviously your tenure's not over, right?
Joe Wein:But we'll see how you know when when is he gonna kick me out? Hopefully not yet.
Blake Rea:No, no, it's something I also found very interesting, and let's talk about you know your early days in like the 90s. It was my understanding that you were responsible for like a production overhaul. Did I understand that correctly? Where you dramatically reduced the lead times from like 24 days to five. Like, like, how did you even like fathom that?
Joe Wein:Okay, so again, our a lot of our customer base was at the time catalog and direct mail, uh, which of course has now transitioned to the internet, right? And back then, a big item was personalized watches. These are watches with people's names printed on the dial. And the way we used to manufacture them for decades was we would take a printing plate and put it up and and uh a steel plate, put a a resist on it, scratch through it with a pantograph, put it in acid. Now we've got a plate, and we'd use a pad printer manually to print on the dial, and then we'd assemble the watch. And we were making and we had competitors at the time, and it took us you know 21 to 24 days typically. You know, you could do any watch in one day, but by the time you were done with the whole cycle in a production, it was you know, it was it was three weeks. And so one of my earliest innovations, which actually I learned something about patents at the time because I didn't apply for the patent in time, but we used lasers to engrave on the dial, and that allowed us to dramatically reduce the cycle time. So we went from you know 21 to 24 days down to five days, and we and we actually had an internal name for it, GRD, guaranteed rapid delivery. And two things happened after we launched that. The first is that our competition disappeared because nobody else could compete with that. And the second was our return rate dropped by two-thirds.
Blake Rea:Wow.
Joe Wein:And so, and so that was that kind of got me, and at the time I was going through my MBA, and it was it was the era, it got my MBA at the University of Chicago, and it was the area, it was the era of continuous improvement and the Baldridge Award and all that sort of stuff. So the idea of you know taking processes and improving them was kind of embedded in my brain. So I started looking for ways to do that, and that was probably my first invention, even though it wasn't patented. Later, I patented, I patented a method for engraving casting waxes for making personalized jewelry. You know, as we're talking about this personalization in one form or another has been a part of my personal interest since I have been in business. And so now, you know, all the way back to to uh to to now where we're where we're trying to uh you know we're trying to to make engraved casebacks that are that are really a step above what anybody else is doing. And it's personalization, it's it's all about trying to connect people to their stories and making their watch precious to them for emotional reasons. You know, most brands, not just watch brands, but all brands are about the brand about the brand. If you wear this brand, here's what it says about you, right? Totally. I'm trying to make our watches about the wearer.
Blake Rea:Awesome. I'm assuming that's gonna be a perfect segue right into the case cap, right? So tell people who don't know what the case cap is and how special it is.
Joe Wein:So I'll I'll tell you what the case cap is, but first I'll tell you how we how we got there, right? So we're so we're we're working on Zoom during COVID. You know, before COVID, I had never used Zoom, and I knew that I'd wanted to try and work on this project to see if we could relaunch the Hampton brand. And I so I called a friend of nine, friend of mine, Alan Grunwald, who used to own Bel Air Watch. And we both owned factories together in the in the in the U.S. Virgin Islands. So I got to know him pretty well. And and so so I asked him, you know, you and he had retired. I asked him, you know, you want to work on this for me, and you know, and uh with me. And so uh so we had a so we had a designer overseas and Alan in New York, and two of us in Chicago, and and and another friend who at the time lived in Nashville, who was who was a watch collector, and we started working on these on the on our on the Model One. And I was loving the direction it was going, but uh I had a dilemma because I wanted to use Swiss movements. So, you know, it's beautiful movements. I wanted to be able to see the movement, right? But I also wanted to have engravings because that's kind of you know, again, why what what really drives me is is is you know making these special things for people. Well, that's a bit of a dilemma. Like you can either have a you can either have an exhibition back or you can have an engraved case back. Pick one, can't do both. And so that stumped us for about a year, and I just kept chewing on it, and I wasn't satisfied with going in either direction. And so then, and then I had an idea. And and I'll I'll try and show it here, but I'll also describe it because I know that most people won't won't be able to do it.
Blake Rea:We're gonna have to ask them to come to YouTube to see all this awesomeness.
Joe Wein:So, so basically, the now technically this is the case back, right? So this is the thing that protects the movement. And you can see that there is a uh there is a raised uh where the where the where the sapphire glass is is a little bit raised and it's an oval, right? And it has an undercut. And the case cap also has an oval shape with an undercut. And because of the eccentric shape, if you put the case cap on on the case and then turn it 30 degrees, uh it holds it in place. And of course, we put a couple of capsiballs so that it and some dimples so that it clicks, it's a very satisfying click. And so you can wear it. Oh, you know what? Silly me. I didn't bring we actually have an open ring so that you can wear it in as an exhibition back, and then you have the engraved case back. So so this so this watch actually comes with both. And the watch, we actually have a design concierge so that if you don't know what engraving you want, you know, you just kind of explain vaguely what the what what the event or the gift or whatever, or what the personal thing you want engraved for yourself. And we have a and we have a designer who will design give you some design ideas, and then you know, you'll you'll you'll work with with with her to figure it out. But this way, this way you can wear it both ways. And in fact, if you want, if you love the watch, because it's a beautiful watch, and we'll, you know, I'll show you a little more about that in a minute. If you if you love the watch and you don't know what you want engraved, buy the watch, wear it with the exhibition, the open ring, the exhibition back, and you can buy the engraving later, right? Or I mean it's included, but you can you can just you know order the engraving later and and have it shipped to you. So this actually, I don't know whether you can see it, but so this shows a globe, and around the globe is is a is is around the circumference, it says Cape Town, New York, Chicago, Nashville, and Chicago. So those, so this is the engraving that I gave to the five people in our relaunch team.
Blake Rea:Wow.
Joe Wein:So cool. So so we eat our own cooking, right? And when Danny joined the business, I made him a watch with around the circumference, it said hymen 1922, Irving 1949, Joseph 1985, Daniel 2023. You know, congratulations on being fourth generation in our family business. May you go from strength to strength, love dad. And I don't think he understood why I was so focused on this kind of sentimental personalization until I gave him that watch. Because it became very, very precious to him, even though you know millennials don't wear generally don't wear watches, right? It's funny, you know, because everybody's got their time in their pocket. We we've gone from pocket watch to pocket watch in 125 years.
Blake Rea:That's so funny. Speaking of time in the pocket, Hampton used the engraving technology. My understanding that you used your engraving technology and licensed that to Apple for the customization of iPods, iPads.
Joe Wein:It was actually after the iPod era. So okay, okay. Uh so again, the because I was always interested, you know, I was a technology guy, and so we developed a patent for simulating dynamic imaging of an engraving online for e-commerce. And so we so we patented this, and and so at some point Apple started offering engravings on iPads, and you would type your name or the or the message or whatever, and it would appear on the image of the iPad.
Blake Rea:Yeah.
Joe Wein:So so I so I had my attorney, you know, send them a letter and say, you know, we have this patent. You know, they have a whole department for this. It didn't, it didn't change them at all, right? And so he looks at it and he says, Yeah. And he said, Well, listen, the limit of my authority to to make a deal is fifty thousand dollars. If it's more than that, we send it to outside counsel. So my so my so my attorney said, it's funny you're funny you're saying that we're asking 49. You know, so listen, I've I've probably spent more money on patents than you know, most of the patents did not make money, right? It's expensive to do, and not all of them work out. So that one, that one, you know, we we made a little money on it, and of course we used it, but the bragging rights are kind of fun.
Blake Rea:Kept the lights on for a little bit. Curious about so your brand has so much history, heritage, innovation. We've already talked about it. You know, you've led the company through multiple like reinvention periods, is my understanding. Curious about your approach to like how do you decide to like innovate versus like preserve, you know, family tradition? Yeah, that's gonna be a a challenging one, I'm sure.
Joe Wein:You know, I've it's I I have a I have an innovation brain, and I'm never satisfied. There isn't there isn't a a watch we've ever made, probably. I don't know whether that's literally true, but most of most of the things that we that we've done, I could find some way to improve it if I put my mind to it. So innovation has always been has always been part of the way that I think about things. And but but of course, the the biggest innovation that I think is is our focus now is the innovation about our direction to uh to create these connections between people and their watches, right? Uh the case cap is is a wonderful idea. And and you know, it's it's the kind of invention that once you see it, it's like, oh, that's obvious, right? Those are the best kinds of inventions that once you s once you understand how it works, it's obvious to you. But it's just the it's just the mechanism, right? The real goal is is this sentimental piece, right? Yeah. So so that's that is that you know the the the technological innovation is really just serving the the the direction.
Blake Rea:Something that was super cool and super nerdy is you probably don't know this about you, but I am from North Carolina. What also happened, I think you probably know exactly where I'm going with this. What also happened in North Carolina was the Wright brothers first in flight and kitty hawk. And as I started doing research for this, I learned that the Wright brothers had a Hampton watch on them. So therefore, your watch was the first ever watch in flight.
Joe Wein:You know, it's funny. I only learned that so we were at so we were at the Warren Wowne show in in New York just a couple of weeks ago.
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah.
Joe Wein:And and uh and two brothers, Gabe Silverstein and his and his brother from Los Angeles, came up to the booth and they said, you know, have you ever been to the Air and Space Museum? I said, Yes. Said, well, we were there a couple of days ago, and and they have a you know at the the the Wright brothers exhibit, did and there's a Hampton watch on display at the Smithsonian, which I didn't know, which is kind of crazy. I mean, my goal is not to be a historian, right? Sure. Now I knew that there was a Hampton watch in the Smithsonian permanent collection of early American watches, but I didn't know about this, about this connection with the Wright brothers, right? So it was, you know, it was in, I think, Wilbur Wright's pocket on the first flight or on the you know, the first when they were doing their first man flight. And keep in mind at the time, uh Hampton Watch Company was in Canton, Ohio. And I think uh weren't the Wright brothers from Ohio? I think they were. Bicycle shop? Their bicycle shop might have been in Ohio. I'm not sure.
Blake Rea:Yeah, I'm not sure about that. I know that they just chose the like Kitty Hawk because of this the naturally sloping dunes, and you know, they could run off one and and get a nice little hang time.
Joe Wein:So actually, that's two that's two unexpected brushes with history. Actually, I have one more unexpected story, Hampton. So uh I am date, uh so I started dating my now wife, right? She's my girlfriend, and and I fly to Los Angeles, where she lives, and we were go we were going to some event, I don't remember what it was, and she said, you know, I think I'm gonna wear my mother's cocktail watch that she got for her sweet 16. It was a little five and a half line cocktail watch, you know. And so she handed me the watch, and she went and you know, went to take a shower, and I can't read the name on the watch, it's so tiny, and I don't have 20-year-old eyes anymore. So, so I pull out my my loop and I look, and it's a Hampton watch that her mother got for her sweet 16. So I said to her, Well, now you have to marry me.
Blake Rea:Yeah, there you go. Talk about persuasive. Let's let's transition. And so you've got two pretty important milestones, 2025 and 2026. 2025, actually, I think next month, right? Or December, sorry, December, you guys are doing like a classroom. I understand that correctly. You guys are gonna be doing a hands-on experience where people can assemble their own mechanical watches.
Joe Wein:Yes. So I've been I've been working on it all year. So I so we're I I really wanted to create an experience that lets people assemble their own movement and then assemble their own watch. And so we chose you know, the the the old Unitas 6497 family of watches. We chose the 60 uh 6498 variant, which which has the small second hand at six rather than at nine. And and so we've developed this experience. So you come in and we do uh you know half an hour on how mechanical movements work. Because I'm not assuming that everybody who who comes to have this experience is is a watch nerd, right?
Blake Rea:Sure.
Joe Wein:And then and then uh together we disassemble a Swiss mechanical movement, and then we reassemble the movement, and then we add the dial and the hands and the casing ring, case the watch, time the watch, water test the watch, and you go home with a Swiss watch that you assembled from scratch. And you know, I suppose this is just another way of trying to connect people to their watches, right? Now, this watch, of course, uh is a manual lined watch, and it's a very big movement, that's why we pick the movement, it's a movement everybody wants, right?
Blake Rea:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Joe Wein:Um, even though so so so we clearly weren't going to put a case cap on it because if you assemble this movement, you want to be able to see the movement, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We are but we are going to engrave the ratchet wheel with your initials in the year.
Blake Rea:That's so cool. It's also something that's really kind of stuck out to me just spending time with you, but you've seen the evolution of like the like people have gone away from craftsmanship and authenticity and and in a product-powered market. You know, you wet your feet like during that period where craftsmanship and authenticity were everything to be like a strategic advantage, right? And now we're seeing fast fashion, disposable products, you know, disposable laptops, technology that you it is is obsolete within a year. And something that you at your leadership now have seen this come full circle back to people appreciating craftsmanship, authenticity. Like, what has that been like for you just to kind of like see this whole full circle moment?
Joe Wein:You know, d when I was growing up, and so certainly I, you know, I was I was a teenager in the 70s, so I have memories from the 60s, but certainly in the 70s, we were in the mechanical watch business, and it was a and it was a business of detail and precision, and it was a and it it always interested me, right? And as things transitioned to to courts, and it appeared that the mechanical industry, the mechanical watch business was over forever. I mean, you know, it was a it was it was a very discouraging time. Right. And and watches got so many watches, I mean, got you know, cheap and they were fashion and they and you know, it was it, it was a different business. And it became a less interesting business to me. And I cannot tell you how gratified I am that there has been a resurgence of interest in in mechanical watches and fine watches. And, you know, there was a time when when I thought that it was never that this this passion was never going to come back because, you know, by you know, watches are no longer instruments for timekeeping anymore. You've got your time in your pocket.
Blake Rea:Right.
Joe Wein:Watches have to be something else, right? And so for a period of time they were fashion. And now people are appreciating the craftsmanship again. So it's it's really been an inspiration for me that that that that that you know we've we've come back to this place.
Blake Rea:It's amazing. I want to talk to let's let's see if we can get a little bit more out of you as an entrepreneur, right? We've talked about the brand, we've talked about the heritage, talked about the history, talked about the family, but something that we haven't really talked about is your entrepreneurial activities, leadership. And this is probably going to be one of the harder questions I ask, but as a CEO now, what's one of the hardest decisions that you've had to make? And what did you learn from it?
Joe Wein:You know, it's a it's a great question. The the reality is that you always learn more from your failures than your successes, right? If if you if you do something and you're successful, then you know, well, I planned to do X and X happened. And so boy, aren't I really smart, right? Failures force you to then check your priors. Like, what did I assume? What was different than my assumptions, all that. And probably the hardest thing that we ever did. So we had a so we had a jewelry manufacturing business that was much bigger than our than our watch business after we sold Benrus. Benrus was always the bigger part of the business, and then we sold Benrus, and then the jewelry business grew. And the financial crisis in 2008 was devastating for our industry. And I was always, you know, because of because we are, you know, we have such our people are so loyal to us, and we are so loyal to our people, we were very, very slow to make those painful downsizing decisions. And so the same sentimental qualities in me that are driving the focus of our brand also I discovered made me slower to make some decisions uh during this crisis period than that we should have that than I should have made. So, you know.
Blake Rea:Yeah, it's a hard one.
Joe Wein:Old too soon and wise too late, right?
Blake Rea:I'm sure your your storytelling and your whole ideals and values behind personalization, we see them in your products, but I'm sure you incorporate those into your leadership philosophy.
Joe Wein:Is that accurate? Well, I care about people, right? And my father cared about people. I remember at my father's funeral, I I don't know how I got through it. Even now it makes me tear up, but I but I delivered his eulogy. And and one of the things I said was, my father never had much time for God. He was always too busy with people. And but that so absolutely, I've forgotten your question now. Because you you put me in an emotional place. What did you ask?
Blake Rea:I asked how a storytelling and personalization reflects in your leadership philosophy.
Joe Wein:Yeah, you know, it's it's it's I I try to lead by by you know creating a team that feels like a family. I care about uh I you know my we have a wonderfully loyal, wonderfully loyal people who've worked for us for a very long time, and we try have tried to show loyalty back. And so, you know, that I think is a big piece of my leadership style. Yeah.
Blake Rea:Growing up in a family who always was innovating time, pushing time, what have you learned about patience, time, craftsmanship, not only in business but in life and relationships from being brought up by a whole family in horology?
Joe Wein:Well, you know, my father was always obsessed with time, right? He he he always felt as if time was too short. I don't know whether it's because of his experiences in the war, but you know, my mother once told us a story about how my father, my father had said, you know, every morning I get dressed and I have to sit down on the bed to tie my shoes, and then I go to the kitchen and I have to sit down again to eat cereal. I just realized if I don't tie my shoes till I get to the kitchen, I only have to sit down once. So he was always so focused with efficiency. I mean, you know, and my mother told these stories to remind us all that he was a bit nuts, right? You know, once he woke up at five o'clock in the morning and he started getting dressed on a Sunday morning, right? And my mother asked, Well, where are you going? He said, I don't know, but I'm late already. So this is just, you know, so so time and efficiency was just part of my father's DNA. And so I guess that's the way I grew up. I mean, it was not, it was it was a focus on time that went way beyond the fact that we were in the watch business.
Blake Rea:That's so cool. And this is gonna let's talk a little bit about the future now. So if we could sit down 10 years from now, what would you hope has changed the most about the Hampton brand?
Joe Wein:So I hope that that we are known as the watch that you wear or that you give when you're trying to commemorate something meaningful for yourself or for someone else. So that's not really a change. That's that's a direction that I that I feel we're committed to. Now, you know, maybe we will we will relaunch some of our historical watches. That would be tons of fun. Yeah. Um I think we might even want to we might want to start assembling uh some watches in Chicago, even though probably not the Hampton brand, might be the Clinton brand. Because, you know, when when when we first started working on this project, I really didn't know whether we, you know, is is the most interesting thing about us that that we're that we're a hundred-year-old brand or that we've been assembling watches continuously in Chicago for a hundred years. So I thought maybe we're we'll make Swiss movements, but assembled in Chicago. And when when my cousin Mitchell from Marathon saw our case cap patent, he said, no, Joe, this has to be Swiss made because this has legs internationally. If you ever want to market internationally, it's gonna have a lot more, a lot more strength if it's Swiss made. And so, and so that kind of guided our direction. And I think he was absolutely right. I think the case cap is is something, you know, one of the things about engraving a watch, if you take a regular, most watches have a screw back, right? And so even if you engrave the watch already assembled and it's straight, the first time you open up that case to repair the movement, change the battery, whatever, when you reclose that that case back, it's gonna be, it's never gonna be aligned again forever. So so ever so the case cap, of course, gives us this ability to stay perfectly aligned because that you know it always bugged me when I saw engravings that were cockeyed.
Blake Rea:Yeah.
Joe Wein:Yeah. So so every so all of our watches, you'll notice, even the models two, three, and four. And I don't, you know, uh it's too early to say whether whether our focus is going to be Swiss quartz or Swiss mechanical. It's probably gonna remain both, because uh, because not every not every event, not every person wants to spend you know Swiss prices. But every person has something that they care about. So I think we do want to have a less costly quartz line. But the models two, three, and four all have use small screws to attach the back so that it stays aligned. And it's more expensive and you know, more of a pain to to assemble, right? But you know, Cartier, a lot lots of people do it. But uh, but for us, it the the the benefit is that is that it it allows our engraving to remain always exactly correct.
Blake Rea:I think that's a great strategy too, to let people decide like how per how much they invest into their into your brand, into their products, you know. I I've always been a fan of that. Super curious, and you might be the only person that I could probably ask this question to and actually get an answer from somebody who knows what the hell they're talking about.
Joe Wein:But what role that's a bad setup, I'm in trouble. No, I don't think I don't think so.
Blake Rea:What role do you see American watchmaking playing in the global industry over the next century or sooner?
Joe Wein:Well, you know, the number of American microbrands that have exploded in the market is phenomenal. If you're asking, what is the likelihood that we're going to build a mechanical watch industry comparable to the Swiss, I think not much chance. You know, our industry was always an industry of specialties, right? You had a you had a movement manufacturer, you had a dial manufacturer, you had a case, and you know, when I I still remember when I was my first trip to Basel with my father, you know, we'd we'd walk around and you know, we buy our hands from this company in France, and Bach and Shupe always made the best dials, but they're too expensive for us now. And you know, we'd walk around, but but it was all specialties. And and that is the way that an industry like like the watch industry works. I mean, you have you have some houses now that have the that have the the the financial power to to do everything, but that's very rare, you know. And we were never, you know, we were we were watch assemblers, right? We're you know, we're a regular company that that was in the watch business. So we never had, you know, we were never going to be designing our own movements or manufacturing our own dials or hands. So I don't think that some of those things are ever going to come in in a in in consequence, right? You may have somebody, you know, there are people who are who are finding ways to manufacture movements here, but it's not going to be at scale. So they're going to be they're going to be specialty items, but but I think that what you are going to have uh and what you're already seeing is a resurgence of American watchmaking of the sort that Clinton and and and Hampton and Woolbrook and Douglas and all of these other brands were in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, right? Those companies, by and large, were not manufacturing their components. They were sourcing, they were designing and sourcing and assembling. And so that clearly is coming back. And so we may be in a period where we are where we are where we were 50 and 60 years ago. And how fun is that?
Blake Rea:So cool. So cool. And if your grandfather Hyman or your father Irving could see the Hampton brand today and what you've done, what do you think they'd be the most proud of?
Joe Wein:I think they would be, they would both be gratified by a few things. First, that that we're that we're staying, you know, we're working with we're working with our cousin, just like has been going on for multiple generations. I think they would both be gratified by the fact that Danny has now come into the business. I think they would both be, I don't know whether my grandfather was ever had ever written any patents. I I haven't, I never heard of any and never found any. My father wrote several, and I think he would be gratified by the fact that that I have you know made this little innovation. And weirdly, you know, it's a case complication, just like he always did, even though I am not obsessed with calendars and figuring out, you know, what what day of the week a you know a particular date is in six months. I just look on I just look at my calendar on my, you know, on my uh on my laptop. He didn't he didn't have that in in the 1970s. So but but the combination, I I think it would be a mixture of, you know, the the the family piece, right? You know, cousin Mitchell, son Danny, and and the and the fact that we're that we're continuing the tradition of making fine watches. And uh so I wish I wish they were both here to to talk to them.
Blake Rea:I'm yeah yeah, that that'd be cool. I'm sure they know exactly what you're doing right now. Finally, final question. When you think about Hampton, you know, and the next hundred years, you know, placing the brand with your son Daniel, what story do you hope the brand will still continue to tell?
Joe Wein:I hope that you know, the great, great grandchild of somebody who has gotten a Hampton watch or worn a Hampton watch with an engraving on the back is holding that watch as something precious because of the store, the family story that it tells for them. So I'm hoping that we're that that what we're what we're making for people are legacies that are going to be precious because of what they mean, you know, to their children and to their grandchildren. You know, my father, my grandfather wore this watch and you know, he got it on his wedding day. And here's what his you know his father had written him, uh, you know, that sort of thing. So if if if a hundred years from now, you know, we're still around, I'm hoping that we're still doing we're still making watches that connect to people that way, and that the watches that we're making today are still being held as precious things for you know in the families that that that that have them.
Blake Rea:So amazing. So amazing. Thank you so much for coming on. I know this was your first podcast, and I told you that I'd be a total easy interview. Thank you so much for coming on, spending some time with us, getting, you know, showing us the brand from your perspective. Listeners out there, I would totally encourage you to go to the Hampton website. They have some great models, great products, and you can clearly see that this passion at the brand. And and that's the cool, that's the that's the most rewarding part about being in the watch industry or at least having conversations like this, to still see that passion lives at a lot of these watch brands. It clearly lives there with you. And I I I'm so glad that we got to spend you know so much time talking about the story and and and learning about the brand, I think was was freaking amazing.
Joe Wein:Thank you, Blake. You know, first of all, this was my first podcast. You're you're you're such you're such a wonderful conversationalist. You really made it easy for me, and I and I appreciate that. And I appreciate the chance to I I really enjoyed this conversation. And and you actually, you know, your questions made me think about some things that I haven't thought about in a long time. And so, you know, maybe that's uh that that's it that's an indication of how skillful you are as an interviewer. But I I really had fun and I thank you.
Blake Rea:I need my own serious XM radio show if you guys are out there listening. But no, Joe, thank you so much for spending time with us. I can't wait. I think I think you guys are gonna send me a watch or something for so I can get hands-on. I I didn't have an opportunity to spend too much time with you in in New York.
Joe Wein:Work it out with Danny. We have we have to figure out what we're gonna engrave on your case cap, right?
Blake Rea:Wow, that's a big response. I need to think about that for quite a while before I've never engraved one of my watches.
Joe Wein:I've never it so it's interesting because I when when we when I started this, my conception was only that this was a gift item, right? This is, you know, you're giving this like I gave to Danny, or I gave to and we started seeing people make self-purchases, and I didn't understand it. And Danny explained it to me. Anybody who has a tattoo knows why they have that tattoo. There is something, a phrase, a name, a person, a graphic, something that is meaningful to them. And so very often that is a self-purchase, and it's it it's you know, it is the watch equivalent of a tattoo for somebody who is buying it for themselves. Do you have any tattoos? No. Okay. Well, maybe you can have a watch tattoo.
Blake Rea:Yeah, you know, you know, now that we've had this conversation, this really makes an emotional moment for me. I've talked before about like like my relationship with my father and how my dad my dad passed away about a year ago, and and I got his watch. It was a it was a brightling. And you know, my dad wore that watch every single day, but it would have been so much cooler if it was engraved to him, and now I owned it. Because, you know, I know that sounds so weird to say.
Joe Wein:It does I know I know not to me, I know it not to me, because this is this is the way I'm wired, right? And you know, we've had people so we had a we had a we had a a guy who who bought six watches, one for him and one for his five brothers, and on each of them he engraved a saying from their father, right? So to me, the you know, the fact that you're wearing your father's watch and that it's precious to you makes complete sense. And you know, how amazing, how how much even more powerful would it have been if you know it had been engraved as a gift when he got married or when he you know graduated college or God knows what? So, you know, yeah, we're I mean, we're the same.
Blake Rea:We're the same. No, she shamefully the only way to link it to him is one that I know that he wore it, right? And the serial number when he registered it to is a Brightling, you know, Brightling knows that he purchased it or the retailer, but if somehow, heaven forbid, some way it does not continue to stay in the family, then nobody else will ever know that it was his.
Joe Wein:My apologies, Blake, for not having invented and relaunched this several years ago so that he could have had one of our Hampton watches with an engraving for you to have now.
Blake Rea:No, it is it makes it particularly important for uh for you know my family, right? You know, to to not let that happen to some of my time pieces. So yeah, Joe, thank you so much. I don't want to take any more of your time. This was an hour and a half of amazingness. Oh my god, seriously, yeah.
Joe Wein:Oh, that's crazy.
Blake Rea:It flies, right?
Joe Wein:It flies. Nobody's gonna listen to this whole thing.
Blake Rea:I bet you they will. I bet you they will. I promise. Nick, thank you so much. This was a delight. Thank you. Thank you for coming on, and we will talk very, very, very soon. Everybody, please go check out Joe Hampton watch, and we are going to link them in our bio. And this is actually going to be coming out tomorrow. So, this is one of our tightest turnaround podcasts yet. And what better brand to do it with with Joe and the family story. So, everybody, please go check them out. And Joe, we will talk very soon. Thanks.
