How WatchGang Is Making Watch Collecting Fun with CEO Chad Tsagris

What if buying a watch felt less like chasing hype and more like discovering your taste—one smart step at a time? We sit down with Watch Gang CEO Chad Tsagris to unpack how a bold subscription model, a curated “Wheel,” and five-figure mystery drops turned collecting into an experience that’s equal parts education and adrenaline. Chad shares how he went from vintage dealer and early vendor to acquiring the company with Swiss investors, and why the next chapter centers on trust, transparency, and a gamified path for every collector.

We dig into the mechanics behind the scenes: an allocation algorithm that prevents repeat brands and styles while building a balanced watch box—field, diver, pilot, dress, and something daring. Chad explains how the wheel isn’t about discounts but about fair market pricing with real upside, including Rolex wins purchased at retail and transparent odds for high-stakes spins. We also talk brand partnerships, particularly with independents wary of public markdowns. By moving volume privately to wrists, Watch Gang helps makers retain value while reaching a wider audience of engaged collectors.

The conversation widens to market forces shaping what ends up on your wrist. Dress watches are back, integrated bracelets keep climbing, and case sizes are edging into the 38–41 millimeter sweet spot. With tariffs and price hikes squeezing entry points, Chad argues for value clarity over hype: make the deal feel fair, then add excitement. He outlines plans to bring the community offline with local meetups and experiential retail, and to launch a creator hub that hosts independent voices—buying guides, service diaries, and honest reviews that don’t depend on selling you the watch.

If you’ve ever wondered how to level up from your first automatic to your first Omega, or how to explore microbrands without getting stung by discounts that tank resale, this conversation maps the path. Subscribe for more deep dives into collecting, share this episode with a watch friend who needs a nudge to explore, and leave a review with the one watch you’d spin the wheel for.

Check out WatchGang:

http://www.watchgang.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet Chad Sagriss And Watch Gang
• 1:36 Origins As Vendor To Leadership
• 4:05 The Wheel Explained And Big Giveaways
• 7:05 High-End Mystery Boxes And Curation
• 9:52 Evolving The Model And Trust
• 12:18 How The Subscription Algorithm Works
• 14:50 Working With Independent Brands
• 17:10 Vision: Gamified, Educational Collecting
• 20:05 Retention, Tiering Up, And Value
• 23:05 Community, Trading, And Meetups
• 26:05 Events, Retail Experience, And Transparency
• 29:10 Style Trends, Sizes, And Dress Watch Rise
• 32:10 Passing On Deals And Pricing Pressures
• 35:25 Discount Culture, Tariffs, And Strategy
• 38:00 Content, Independence, And Access
• 41:10 Laco, Customization, And Choice Overload
• 44:00 Collecting Philosophy And Letting Go
• 47:00 Omega And Zenith Vintage Deep Dive
• 50:00 Leadership Lessons And Team Culture
• 53:05 Media Plans, Creator Hub, And Next Steps
• 56:00 If Starting Over: Make It More Content-Driven

Transcript

Blake Rea: 0:01

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode here of the Lonely Wrist Podcast. I am your host, as always, Blake Ray. And today's guest is an interesting and a first for us. He does not own a watch brand, technically, but he is changing how people discover watches. Sitting down with us today is the CEO of Watch Gang, Chad Sagris, the company that turned watch collecting into an experience and disrupted the very traditional industry with a bold subscription model. Today we're going to be talking about what it takes to really build a business, especially trust in the watch community, where customers don't choose what they buy, not always, but also we're gonna talk about what's next for gang. So fashion your seatbelt. This is gonna be another great episode. And please welcome the CEO of Watch Gang, Chad Sagris. Hey brother, thank you, man.

Chad Tsagris: 0:56

Thanks for having me on here.

Blake Rea: 0:58

I'm super glad to have you on. You're also a podcaster, too. I I just learned this as well, right?

Chad Tsagris: 1:04

I've done a few podcasts. We're we're we're gonna maybe in the next year we we might launch a Watch Game podcast, but it would be everything but watches is kind of what I'm kind of going for with watch people because you know we also have a lot of hobbies that we like to talk about.

Blake Rea: 1:21

Yeah, well, if you're looking for a co-host, like to put my name in the hat, that'd be freaking awesome. So, but no, no, we we met in Austin, and I've been a fan of what you guys have been doing for a really long time. I've been a customer of Watch Gang since the early days, and you guys are really doing something really special. So curious as to you know, you started with the company in 2016, like you know, how you got involved, and then you know, now I've guessed you've taken over and 2024 is what I read, right?

Chad Tsagris: 1:55

So so 24, I stepped into being the intern CEO, but then in March of uh 2025, myself and a group of investors from Switzerland, because hey, if you're gonna sell watches, the Swiss are always great, purchased the company from the former owners and really were restructuring it to in my vision as a passionate collector myself. I started with the company back in 2016, so I was with it pretty much from ground up. Originally, I was one of their first vendors to fulfill watches in their subscription, as I was a very vintage collector, and I started in 2015 bringing in independent brands like Terracello Mar, Out of Water watches, Lacko watches into the United States. And basically, Watchgate was ordering hundreds and hundreds of watches for me every month, and I'm going, whoa, what's going on here? So they asked me to come out to LA, offered me a job, and I was kind of like, Yeah, I'm gonna go for a ride, see what it's like with LA, and see what they're doing differently. Because as a distributor, as someone repping brands, there was no one hitting the volumes that they were hitting on independent and new up and coming brands.

Blake Rea: 3:13

And yeah, I mean it's it's great. I like I just being in the Facebook group just to see the activity. Yeah, I mean, it seems like you guys have a huge subscription base, and then you know, my favorite part of the business model is is the wheel, you know. I think I've talked talked to you about that. It's just it's a fun way to buy a watch. Like, and somebody from the club was like, Oh, like, because I had mentioned, you know, that you live here, you know, in Vegas and that you might be coming to some of the watch club meetups, and they was like, Oh, I'm gonna talk. I was like, first of all, like let me talk about the rules of the wheel, you know, because he had got something he didn't expect. And I'm like, dude, you don't put shit on your wheel that you don't expect, you know. And in anyways, but yeah, I mean, it seems like now you guys have I mean, you guys have tiered up. I mean, you guys, I think when I first like started paying attention to the watch gang, you guys had like a $250 a month or like a $300 a month subscription or something like that. Now you guys have like the centerium, which is like I mean, freaking insane.

Chad Tsagris: 4:19

That last month, actually, in November, we did a $12,000 mystery box. You know, I basically go to the manufacturers and I go find deals, and I want to pass on my savings and my way of doing business to people who are passionate collectors in that mystery way. You know, I try to give some clues of what the people are going to be getting in those high-end things, but you know, even I did, you know, I think it was like during Black Friday, we did a $17,000 box, and it came with a watch set of three watches that I curated for those members who purchased it. And let me tell you, there's some pretty good watches in there. I think one of them was Xenith Chrono Master with the fancy. So, you know, I can't really be upset about that. You know, there's a bit of an Omega there, Grant Seiko. It's a pretty dope collection. I would have rocked them all. So that's what I feel is the really the important thing.

Blake Rea: 5:19

Do you so do you feel like now, since when you started with the company to now, it sounds like the vision has totally shaped and changed directions? Is that is that a fair assessment?

Chad Tsagris: 5:30

Absolutely. That's a 100% when they originally started, it was a $29 box, and you got a watch, and then one person randomly in the month will get a Rolex. Now we give away a Rolex every single week, and we give away a tag on Tuesdays to our members. The the basic membership now is around 79 bucks and it goes up to $400. This is a fun thing to, you know, it's where you can come in, explore, discover what you like. And there's so many people I talk to all over the world that are learning about what they want through Watch Game and getting into the collecting hobby, and it's an affordable price point with some good value in these watches that we're curating for people, but then they kind of pass through, and you know, everyone goes down like from where they start collecting to where they finish collecting. And I don't want people to purchase things they necessarily don't want and spend a lot of money, so I think that the subscription offers people a chance to discover without spending a lot of money.

Blake Rea: 6:34

Yeah, and something too that I've always thought about is like, you know, obviously the wheel, right? I'm a huge fan of the wheel. I love to buy watches from the wheel, and obviously, I just purchased two watches from you guys like last week or so for gifts for for Christmas. You know, obviously, like when you think about high-end Swiss brands, like they don't want to be associated with like discounts or like you know, things of that nature. So, like, how did I'm assuming are you guys just buying the watches outright, or like are you like you know, saying, Hey, cool, like we want to have you on our wheel? Like, or are are some of these brands even learning that they're on the wheel? Like, how does that even work?

Chad Tsagris: 7:13

You know, so most of the brands know that they're on the wheel. Some of the grails that we have up there, I purchase at full retail. When you see a Rolex on level five on the wheel, I'm going and buying that Rolex. And throughout the wheel, it's an interesting thing because you don't necessarily are buying a discount, you're purchasing the spin level, and it's basically you can spin anywhere from $99 all the way up to we've had a ten thousand dollar wheel. You know, this weekend alone, we're gonna have a wheel that's fifteen hundred dollars to five thousand dollars, and those watches are fair market price, they're not discounted or they're at full retail. But the benefit is is you could spin that wheel and you could end up walking away with the Daytona. And I had a guy last two years ago, he spun the wheel for the first time ever for $1,500 and he won a pen to Daytona. He never spun again. Never, never never lucky, congratulations, man.

Blake Rea: 8:16

It's like, did you buy a lottery ticket that week too? Like, what's up?

Chad Tsagris: 8:20

Like, I I I actually called him to explain like you realize like you won like a car in the value of that watch. Like, I'm like, congrats, man! I hope you enjoy it. You know, even the last month, we gave away a sprite on the wheel. So every time you spun the wheel, you gained entries to a sprite. And we had a customer, and she purchased watches around $100 to $300, and she won a sprite. And then I went out to Denver to meet her and deliver the watch because I I want to be involved in our community and seeing how the reaction of these people are. And I'm like, this is like a life-changing experience, and I'm happy that she got to do it on Watch Game in the wheel.

Blake Rea: 9:06

How I'm curious too about like uh the monthly recurring subscriptions, too. Like, you know, how do you guys determine like what ships out, like who's getting what? Like, is there a science to it, or is it just let's just grab a watch off the shelf that fits within this little area?

Chad Tsagris: 9:23

So it's it's a whole year to two year long process of curating the watches that are going to be in subscription. You know, we have to go to the brands to basically select the watches that are good enough for us, and then they will also make sure the quality is representative to them. Then how it gets curated is it's an algorithm. So basically, we have our our head of development, Alex, who built this incredible algorithm in the back of the watch gang in our admin, that basically goes through and selects color size and making sure people don't get duplicate brands, duplicate styles to curate a watch collection for them and allow them to go through a journey. And this will be the evolution in the coming year is to put people through a journey of collecting. So when they've been a watch gang member for six months or seven months, that they can look at their watch box and make it be like, all right, I got a pilot, I got a field watch, pack dive watch, I have dress watch, and something a little more avant-garde and a little crazy. Okay, now who do I want to actually invest into a real time piece into going into the Swiss world or to the luxury world?

Blake Rea: 10:39

And what about getting some of those independents? Because you guys have a ton of great independents on there. Like, are you know, do you get any resistance at all from some of these independents? Kind of saying, hey, you know, we have a you have a totally different business model to selling watches than anybody else, you know. So, like, do you get any hesitancy or like pushback from these independents saying, hey, like, we don't really see our products on your website in a subscription-based platform, or like, you know, have you guys just totally transcended any of that resistance at this point?

Chad Tsagris: 11:10

I think I think that our volumes help uh break that barrier because you know there's not many retailers that kind of call you up and go, can I order 300 at one skew? That kind of helps. I think that really it's been that we've been a staple of a place where it allows independents to also sell without going on to other platforms that are discounting heavily or that are open to the public. So when people Google their brands that they would see 35% off this brand, that really kills the brand. The subscription is a place where people can come in, it goes right to people's wrists without ever having an online listing. So it's a tool for a lot of those independents. It also the best way to sell watches in this world is to have watches on people's wrists. You know, you want people showing the watch, telling their friends, and we're able to get a lot of watches on a lot of wrists very quickly, so it's a benefit to them, I think.

Blake Rea: 12:10

And then in terms of like education, like you know, I as a journalist now, like, you know, I go to wind up or I go to any of these watch shows and I learn about a million freaking different brands, and it's just so hard for me to keep up with. So, like at this point now, are you still in that exploration phase where you're still always on the prowl to try and fan find new brands? Or like are you just kind of sitting back now and just saying, like, yeah, cool, this brand works, this brand works, this brand.

Chad Tsagris: 12:36

Like, I love testing new brands. I, you know, I came to watching as a passionate watch collector and looking for something young, creative, and that's a lot of fun. So for me, I'm always on the hunt for new brands to test, whether it be on our store, a full retail with like basically traditional retail experience, whether it be on the wheels or put into the subscription boxes, it's it's really it's just as fun for me to discover new brands to bring them to our audience as it is for our audience to accept those brands, right?

Blake Rea: 13:18

Yeah, I mean, I couldn't agree more. I it's always exciting when you learn about a new a new brand and it feels like this new tickling sensation inside and never gets old. Let's take a step back too, because you had mentioned that you started off you know in the early days of Watch Gang, and and now you know you talked about taking over with Swiss leadership. Like, what is your vision for the future of Watch Gang and how how have you made steps to get there?

Chad Tsagris: 13:48

So I I I view Watch Gang as it needs to be a place for people to come learn, explore, and have fun. So the vision of my Watch Gang in the next two years is a full gamified and educational experience for people to come and enjoy the hobby of collecting watches. The wheel's only one game that we have, and we want to make seven or eight other games, and even some games that are just free and educational, so people can basically play in the hobby of watch collecting.

Blake Rea: 14:22

I mean, that sounds amazing. I I can't wait to see what else you guys come out with. Obviously, you know, from a collector and from being in the community, you know, a lot of the I guess, you know, past experience that I've heard and past feedback is you know, it seems like you have customers that stick around and some of them that like just try it out for a couple months and then kind of like just be like, okay, cool, this isn't it for me. So, like, what's been the secret to kind of keeping you know those members engaged? Is it just the excitement of of the giveaways and kind of the randomness, or I think it's a I think it's a mixture of both.

Chad Tsagris: 15:01

You know, I have members who've been in Watch Gang for five to seven years and they're they enjoy it. I think it's what I look at about how to keep a member around or what to do is I want you basically bring them to the next level they're collecting. In the past, Watch Gang stopped most of our pricing at around $500. And you know, if you're a watch collector, that's not a big budget for getting into some of the higher-end tie pieces. So I want to give them a journey that they can kind of go, okay, this is what I like, and now I'm ready to step up to buy a ball, an orus, a lacquer, whatever that next level is. And then when they're at the next level above that, also give them offerings, a deal, and value, and lots of games to get those higher end watches too.

Blake Rea: 15:54

And you guys, it seems like you guys are watching that customer kind of evolution in real time where you have somebody that starts off at you know maybe a hundred or two hundred dollar timepiece, and then they go into a five hundred thousand, and even further, like I mean, that is a crazy kind of to watch in real time. And I'm I'm assuming you guys are seeing that every day.

Chad Tsagris: 16:19

Every day, and the it's actually funny. The the the reason I even discovered watch gang myself, because I was pri pre-Watch Gang, I was mostly a vintage dealer in Philadelphia, buying and selling Rolexes and all that, and then I started to get in 2015 into independent brands and representing them. And a guy who came to buy a Rolex off me was like, Hey, I'm in this watch club called Watch Gang, you should check it out. And he was beyond Watch Gang at that point, and he was going into collecting Rolexes, and that's really what I want all my customers to do is go through that scale to get what they want. Because we all have a Grail watch, and our Grail kind of changes in our collecting journey, I think, for all of us, and that's where Watch Gang can be. If you're into watches and you don't have a huge budget and you're just learning, or if you were if you're buying one of our $12,000 mystery boxes, we got something for everyone there.

Blake Rea: 17:22

Yeah, something too that I'm curious, maybe you can give some insight into is you know, if you look at our past trajectory for all of our podcasts, we've had probably at least like 50 or 60 different watch brands on, you know. So, like for for you at Watch Gang, you know, how do you decide what brands, you know, and watches are gonna make it into the boxes? And and what do you look for in terms of hey, this is a brand that we feel comfortable enough to stand behind, to sell and to distribute their products?

Chad Tsagris: 17:54

So that that's uh it's like a two-part question, really. The brand has to have a pure history and be sold outside of Watch Gang and their own website. That's kind of one of the first things that we look for in a brand. It has to be that someone will be accepting of it and happy to receive it, and the quality, and this is something we learned a lot from day one until now is quality control and making sure that the products are exactly what they say. Because that was one of our, I would say one of our hardest challenges in the beginning was getting the right quality of product to customers, but also, you know, it is a business, we have to make margin, we have expenses, but we have to make sure we're getting that right quality of product. Then second is if I don't like it, probably not gonna be in one of the mystery boxes. I got pretty I got pretty uh pretty good taste when it comes to watches. I've designed a few watches myself with different brands, and that's it comes to my you know, me and my team, we look at it, and if if if it's something that's just not pretty for everyone, it's not gonna be in a box.

Blake Rea: 19:17

I mean, that's a pretty pretty interesting assessment, too. Curious to get your perspective as well, because you know, you talked about the early days of Watch Gang, how you were just essentially like a a dealer to Watch Gang, to Matthew and the the previous a previous team, and and now you're kind of going into a whole different approach, you know. I'm assuming that you're sitting there with like you know, doing like inventory management and like assessing like like risk and stock and like you know, still trying to keep up with that hey surprise and excitement aspects of it. So, like, you know, how do you approach those things differently from you know, just literally, I mean, it sounds Like it kind of transferred over from you know you buying and selling vintage watches. Is that is that accurate too?

Chad Tsagris: 20:06

Oh yeah. I I was for 10 years before Watchgang, I was buying and selling vintage watches, and I started selling and buying vintage watches because I was always trying to level up my own collection. And then after a while, I was like, hey, this could actually be a job. When Watchgang started, like I had a few brands, and I literally they called me on like a Friday and they're like, Hey, next Wednesday, could you buy any chance have 300 Swiss automatics? They didn't even care what they were, just 300 Swiss automatics, $200. And I did have the watches, and I said, sure. And then as soon as I hung up that call, I went, Oh, what did I say yes to? So I called a friend of mine, Jerome, who owns a company called West End Watches, and I had him overnight 300 Swiss day dates to me. I didn't even know how they were gonna pay me actually. And I called my dad to come over and help me pack them in my living room and drove them to UPS. And I was like, Well, why did I do that? And that that was really the roots of the start of watch game. Now, look, my brother's our our COO, he has a million softwares and warehousing and reports and this and this and this. My job is still the fun job where I kind of go out and hunt for deals and some opportunities that we can get into the subscription, and I get to work one-on-one with a lot of the brand owners, and you know, we look for different opportunities and places where we can give our membership, you know, a lot of cool stuff.

Blake Rea: 21:52

Something that I ask every CEO on my my podcast is like how they measure success outside of like the financial aspects of it, you know, like is it growth? Is it you know customer satisfaction? Like, how is it that you, Chad, measure success?

Chad Tsagris: 22:11

You know, I think that you know, all it's always financial, financial, financial. For me, it's customer happiness and seeing when there's stuff I curated or picked, then it goes over really well with the community and the audience. That's what I find where I can find more successes because I watch that stuff daily, all day, what people are buying, what they're interested in. And yeah, sometimes make some wrong picks here and there along the way. But I think it's about the customer and our community is really if they're happy and satisfied with our services and enjoying the games and fun things that we have at Watch Gang, that means that we're getting in the right direction.

Blake Rea: 22:57

Something too that, like I guess as a customer, I have no idea how I even heard about Watch Gang, which is terrible to say publicly, at least to you now that I know you. And then and then just kind of once you get into the door, you realize there is a community behind it. And I think, you know, obviously, when I first started, I like I told you, I've just been a wheel guy, you know. I think it's just an interesting way to buy a watch, it's fun, it's exciting. It's it gives you an experience that you're not gonna get anywhere else, you know. You know, because you know, if you think about how you buy a watch, you know, or at least I've bought a watch, maybe I'm sure other collectors are the same, but you spend months obsessing over a certain watch, right? And then you're like, then you go and try it on if it's available to try on, and then you know, and then you're like, okay, cool. I kind of like this. You take a picture and then you go back and look at the picture over and over and over. And you know, so that's at least what I've done. But now, you know, I just know, hey, this is a great watch, this is cool. Like, I buy it for X dollars, right? You know, you put a value on it, and then hopefully you get it. But like, you know, I think when I realized and I I learned very early how to use the wheel, kind of like alluding to what my friend was saying what was saying from the watch club, like you learn very quickly how to play the game for one, and and how to put how to load the wheel up. And then when I didn't know, like I think that was when I discovered the community behind it, because I was like, hey, like I got this watch I didn't want, and then I reached out to support, and support was like, Oh, well, you could go to the the Facebook community and you know, trade it or or whatever, you know, and then I learned about the entire community, so like, and from my understanding, also from my research, that was your idea, I think, wasn't it? To get kind of like create this community, you know, to help kind of put that in place, right? Is that accurate?

Chad Tsagris: 24:50

Yeah, it was it was a group idea that we wanted people to have a place where they could go interact with each other. You know, in years past, it used to be called the Watch Game Exchange on Facebook. We we actually let the monitors and the moderators take it over completely so that our company can run outside of that community and the community can be independent with us without our hands kind of picking into what people are saying and doing in that community. I think that really every hobby has a community, and when you find your tribe or your group of people that are into the same thing as you, it's a really cool idea. One thing next year, and this is something that we're kind of toying with right now, is I really believe to bring our community to the next level is to bring it offline. I think that even if it's just like meetups across the country where we have like a pump night and grab a beer, I think it's just something where we can show that we're humans that are very passionate about this to our people and that they can enjoy it with us because that's really what we want.

Blake Rea: 26:00

I agree, I agree. I mean, obviously, like you and I have talked, you know, about building a community, right? Like, at least here, like locally. Like, there's not a huge watch community in Vegas for some reason, which is kind of weird. But the second that I learned that you also lived here, I was like super excited. I was like, this is somebody that really understands like what we're trying to do, like in the watch community. We're trying to create, you know, a passionate enthusiast group. And and so I can't even tell you like how how exciting, how exciting that was just to learn that you're here in in Vegas, which is freaking amazing. And and you're somebody that gets it, you know, that gets like what it's like to build a community, what it's like to manage a community, and and how to successfully kind of grow a community, because that's something that's like totally foreign to me. You know, I have my podcast, I have my listeners, I have the people that you know read my my articles online and stuff like that, but like I've never really been able to successfully kind of harness them, right? And and keep them active and engaged, you know, necessarily. Because that's always the challenge, right? So so I'm curious as to like, and it sounds like that's gonna be next year. Is that are you gonna try like watching events? Are you gonna try festivals? Like, what what is it?

Chad Tsagris: 27:14

If you can tell us, whatever, whatever it's gonna be, it's gonna be fun. I I I'm I really of um the opinion that uh we have to do more than just go up to an event and show off our watches. You have to be engaging with those people and and doing something that's fun, right? I'm not uh we talked about a festival or an event or some type of like basically we eventually I'd like to build like watch game bars across the country that people can kind of come in, which is a different retail experience, too, right? I'm uh I'm a big proponent in thinking what is the retail experience of a customer. I think buying just because it's the lowest price on Crow 24 or this or that, or you're finding the deal, you're gonna you're gonna find a deal anywhere. There's everyone's chasing a deal, right? But I think you need to give a customer a lot more of an experience, and that's what the wheel's been really great with us is okay, here's a good deal, but it's also an experience that you can enjoy something. So, whatever type of event we'll have in the future will be a fun event. I'll tell you that much.

Blake Rea: 28:23

Yeah, no, I can't wait to hopefully be involved, you know. I I was thinking that that would be like just an amazing experience, you know, to have something, you know. I've we talked about it. We talked we'll talk we'll talk more later about that, like what we can do for Vegas, you know. I I'm curious as to like, you know, obviously there's more than what what meets the surface, right? You are not only distributing watches, you're you're selling watches, you know, you're importing watches, you know, you're you know, the the first and last person to to to ex to serve the customer. I'm sure you're on on literally the front of all the trends. Like, what are you starting to see right now in in the watch, the retail watch segment that like nobody's talking about?

Chad Tsagris: 29:12

So, you know, I think a lot of the craft brands that the micro brands were really performing super well. I see that the big ones kind of learned a lesson from it, and they're coming back. And I see that in the numbers. So when you you know you're talking about SWAS group brands and Seiko and all these like old established names, they've learned what those young independent brands are doing, and they're kind of mimicking it a little bit, and they're getting numbers back up because that's one of the really big things. As for style, dress watches are in this year, you know. If you if you if you're talking about like Cartier styles or integrated bracelets, it's like that's what people are going for. A little too much. I've seen about a hundred people trying to replicate a crash. Well, look, if you're fortunate enough to ever own a crash in your life, congratulations to you. It's one of the most amazing designs and best watches. And I think it should be left for those special few who actually can afford the real one, in my opinion.

Blake Rea: 30:18

Like I agree, I agree. Yeah, I mean, there's a couple brands that I think now have done their own versions of the crash too. But yeah, I'm I'm also starting to see it kind of like this the case sizes are slowly going down as well, you know. And and we were talking about that, like, for example, the Benrus, right? You know, I was I have here the 34. I'm getting ready to do some some content on the 34. And I think going away from the 39 was kind of a mistake, like personally.

Chad Tsagris: 30:50

It's I've been I've been wearing that 39 millimeter Benrus. Like, we were fortunate enough to buy a bunch last month, and as soon as it came in, I I called the warehouse, hey, can you uh FedEx me one of those overnight? Because I want to I like simple watches and I like purest tool watches a lot of the time, and I like dress watches, but like when day to day, I like a three-hand, very simple, and I'm like, this hits a lot of boxes, let me rock it. But the sizes are coming a lot down. There is still people in the US that like that 44 plus, but I think the sweet spot right now is like 38 to 41 millimeters.

Blake Rea: 31:32

I agree, I agree, and and I was telling my buddy, so like I had just worked on a project in New York and we shot like a short film. Um I'm gonna send you the link later about a watch influencer. And anyways, I was texting my my director because you know, obviously, like I wanted to get Christmas presents for everybody who worked on the production, and and I was texting him and I was like, hey, like you know what I didn't know what to get him, but then I was getting ready to spin the wheel, and then because I was like, I need to get myself something cool, you know. And then after having the 34 BTU, which I think is too small for me, and then I didn't for whatever reason spin the wheel, and then next thing you know, you send out the Binress to Omega update, and then I I texted him and I was like, Oh, well, I ordered two of these things, and then you know, I there might be a there might be a speedy in there, like who knows, right?

Chad Tsagris: 32:27

Really good odds. There's like one in 199, you know, a guy the guy, the guy who won the speed master was his first time purchasing on Watchgang too, which is just like and I'm like, Oh, that's wild, man. That's super cool. You know, next in a in a couple weeks, I'm actually gonna do a Rolex Explorer one with another type of style of that drop mentality. I think it's like one of the biggest things that I want to do is be very transparent so that people can see what they can win and what the odds are, and so be like, yeah, you know, that's not bad. You know, you get a really good watch, great value, you enjoy it at a good price, and a chance to win an omega, right?

Blake Rea: 33:12

I yeah, be well, because I was working on that content, my friend had the 39, and I was like, I reached out to him and I was like, Hey man, like will you send me your 39? He's like, Yeah, I got you. So then, but then I saw it on the wheel, I was like, Oh, I can I think I can get this for like 350 bucks or something, like three, whatever it was, right? And then it dropped. He was gonna sell me his for 200, and I was like, I just bought it. I was like, I don't want to be like a douchebag, but like I I told him, I told him, I told him, I was like, Yeah, like just FYI, like I'd helped, I'd love to help you move yours on, but I just paid like 165 for this, you know, 169 or 170 or whatever it was, like with shipping, you know. I was like, man, freaking crazy.

Chad Tsagris: 33:58

Well, can I see a good deal? I pass it on to my guys, you know, like that's something like one nice thing about watching is we do buy a lot of watches and we get some interesting opportunities, and I think it's it's best for me to always pass whatever we get on to the community so that they get to really enjoy watches because the more watches is the better in everyone's life.

Blake Rea: 34:24

I think it's it's a refreshing uh perspective because you know, I guess maybe it's just me, but I've seen the greed side of it as well, where you see you know, people who are you know getting something at retail, and then you know, like imagine a guy who was lucky enough to get a Tiffany paddock or something, and then you know, go and sell it for like six figures, you know. You just see so much greed. And now, especially with watch brands, for the past like four or five years, every single year, all they've been doing is increasing prices, increasing prices, increasing prices, and you're not getting any different of a product, you know, you're getting the same product you did five years ago, but it you know, what does a speedy cost? Like nine grand now, like ninety eight hundred dollars is freaking insane, it's ridiculous.

Chad Tsagris: 35:14

I think the sapphire is like $9,200 right now. I'm actually wearing a speedy. Oh I noticed that. Yeah, but to me, the speedmaster was the best watch when it was like $6,300. It and and that would be like the watch. If I if anyone was like, hey, I really want to buy my first luxury watch, you know, what should I buy? I'm like speedmaster. Don't even look at anything else, speedmaster is the way to go. And now, yeah, 90 95 200. That's a that's an expensive watch, right? That's uh you know, that that's a lot of other watches that people can get into and collect. Obviously, to me, I think Omega is one of the top five brands that you should as a collector. It should be probably one of your first three watches if you're buying a luxury watch. But yeah, it's it's it it the tariffs and the price increases have gone out of control this year, right? I think there was price increases in May, September, and I think there's a few that did it in October as well. One who didn't do price increases, maybe because they're already expensive, is Rolex. They they held down with their prices, which is a testimony to them saying, like, okay, look, this is everyone's problem, but it doesn't have to be our customers' problem right now, right?

Blake Rea: 36:43

Yeah, I was curious to I also read an article from from the BrightLink CEO, George Kern, about how he essentially had started like bringing product into the United States to kind of get ahead of it as well, which was quite an interesting discussion in uh Thought Piece because he was like, Look, I took like approximately two years of our inventory and diverted it to the United States, you know. So we might start to see like some issues in other parts of the the world, like the other markets like China or Asia or or wherever, you know, they may just might see some inventory still, but we had to get all of our resources to the United States as soon as possible to get around the these tariffs. So I'm assuming that you know you guys have have had to done something similar.

Chad Tsagris: 37:32

We you when it first got announced, yeah, we we shipped a lot of goods first. We wanted we want to stock heavy, but at the same time, it created a little bit of an opportunity for everyone because now your goods were in the past you always had a chase the discount on some of our competitors' websites. Well, they weren't buying them that's cheap, so they couldn't discount it, and the terrorists were there, so it actually made the even playing ground for a lot of people.

Blake Rea: 38:08

Yeah, you're also starting to see brands do weird things where, like, you know, for the past decade or more, they've been discounting their product, and then now all of a sudden they're like digging their feet in the sand saying no discounts.

Chad Tsagris: 38:25

You know, and the whole discount thing is a very interesting conversation with me. I and I work with a lot of brands who sell full retail and they're and they do phenomenal, or I've even done a lot of consulting with some hot brands, like you know, like for Lan Marie. You know, in the beginning, I was one of the people who mentored and helped Andrea through that whole process. And you know, I I was one of convince him to do a mecha quartz. I'm like, treat it like a paddock, make it like a mecha quartz, make it affordable. Like everyone wants a paddock, but who's got the money? Um, you know, so it's whatever the mentality is for that customer. I think that there's a price that people are willing to pay for every product. Sometimes they overinflate the MSRP and people don't want to pay that, they don't see the value in paying that. And other times they go, That price makes sense. I don't need a discount because I'm happy with what I'm getting at that price.

Blake Rea: 39:24

And that that's where the greed comes in because you have brands that look at like I don't know what it is, but they're like, Oh, well, this brand is selling a chronograph for 10 grand. I can sell a chronograph for 10 grand, or like, I mean, it's it's like a toxic mentality, I think.

Chad Tsagris: 39:42

Oh, no, you know, especially if you if you're like me, who I go right down to the manufacturing level. I can't go like, I don't know about that. Like, that's the that's quite the heavy price tag you got on the Salita SW200 for four thousand dollars, but Look, everyone has their own business and their own way of running it. My job is just to get watches out to the people in the best way I can with the best value for those customers.

Blake Rea: 40:14

Yeah, I mean, I can't wait to see what you do here. You know, now knowing you like personally, I could just say, hey man, you're kind of fucking up here. If I I could probably say that to you, I would hope. Um but I haven't I haven't seen that yet. And and yeah, you know, I think I think now I've been more interested in Watch Gang, particularly within the past couple years, you know, more so than I was like in the early days. But I definitely can't wait to see, you know, what now it sounds like you have, and I could be wrong, but it sounds like you have more autonomy now to kind of like do what it is that you want and and to meet the the collectors at like halfway at a halfway point.

Chad Tsagris: 40:55

And that's what it and that's what it is, right? You know, I am very passionate and I'm a collector first, so it's I want to make it for the people in that way, and we really have the autonomy now in the team, and a lot of the people who surround me are also very passionate about this hobby, so they're wanting to do the best that we can for our customers all the time.

Blake Rea: 41:24

I I just love to hear that, you know. I love to hear that because you know, when I talk to brands, it seems like they also have a really challenging time, you know, because they're sitting, you know, in Switzerland trying to make decisions in Switzerland about American c customers who they have no direct communications to necessarily, you know, there gets there's a lot that gets lost in translation, right? You know, so I have also had these discussions with watch brands about like, hey, like here's what you need to fix. Like, hey, here's here's what the customer wants, here's what the American consumers are looking for, like, here's the price segment that they're comfortable within. And, you know, you're starting to see some brands listen, which I think is probably the most exciting thing because, you know, as a collector, you know, there's gotta be kind of somebody who's, you know, willing to kind of go to bat for the community. And I I, as far as a journalist goes, you know, a content creator, whatever, whatever the hell you want to call me, you know, there's not too many people out there, you know, and something that I have always been conscious about focusing on is creating content that that collectors consume. Because if you go to any other, you know, outlet, you know, everybody's talking about release after release after release after release after it's never conversations about like what's the best value, or like how do you build a relationship with you know a watch dealer, or like you know, what dealers are worth looking at, or like once you have a watch, like what do you look for in a watchmaker? You know, like how do you decide that this is going to be the right type of watchmaker, or how do you buy a watch from the gray market, or how do you decide if you want to buy it from retail? Like all these weird, you know, questions that people always get confused about, like nobody's really talking about that shit, you know, and that's why I was like, I kind of want to do something, you know, and that's you know, that the podcast you're on, that's that's this, right? And and yeah, you know, I can't can't wait to see what you do. But what I what I've also found too is a lot of our our listeners are are not only the watch brands, but they're they're collectors and they're entrepreneurs and they're making they're creatives, you know. So curious to give you know some of your insight on leadership, you know, like every single CEO, everybody who runs a business has had has said some of those hard lessons. You know, if you would be willing to share some of those hard lessons that you've learned and and how you've overcame them, I think people would find a ton of value in that.

Chad Tsagris: 43:59

You know, there's been so many hard lessons. You know, I took I took over when Watch Game was not not in their best uh moment, and it wasn't a choice that I took over the company. I was kind of like the last man standing that had the the guts to say yes. But I saw the value of what it is and who the team and what the people there were doing. And I think in a leadership role, it's letting your juniors and people be creative and open, but it's really about building that stabilized team, that we're all in it together and we're all kind of equals in that role of growing. You know, we now are very, very fortunate that it's almost like a family. You know, my brother is a COO, so it is a family in that sense, but it's a place where we are all having one goal and that we're kind of moving forward together to make the best experience for our customers and our members at Watch Game.

Blake Rea: 45:02

Something to this, you know, obviously, like you know, this industry is there's there is some toxicity in the industry, and you know, I have tried my hardest to avoid it. I think most of us have, as not as a collector, but as a as a content creator, journalist, whatever. So curious as to how you stay so sharp and focused and what keeps you motivated, especially during some of those toxic, tough times.

Chad Tsagris: 45:29

A lot of cocktail hours and beers of the events. No, um, I think it's you know, I think it's that we try to stay out of any of the politics or any of the you know toxicity of that relationship. We're there just to buy watches, get them on people's wrists, and you know, we don't really play in the role of a lot of the media aspect of the watch industry yet. You know, that is one of the things is that we're looking to do in the next year is to make a section on our page for content creation, or really to not do the content creation ourselves, but allow independent people a place where they can post and be into a bigger, grander community. You know, my brother used to do uh online betting, and there was a lot of they're not forms, but they'd be like, yeah, if you're a content creator and your content is great, let's distribute it onto our website because it's giving you clout and it's giving us things that we need to, right? It's a voice, right? It's an independent voice, I'd say, right? Versus a lot of the creators and people out there are very isolated into their own box almost, right?

Blake Rea: 46:42

That that's something too that I I as a creator have struggled with for so long to keep that independence, right? Like, you know, there's so many people out there that talk about watches and they have great content, but they also sell watches, you know. And to me, I I think a lot about like the early days of like Mad Men, right? Where they're developing the whole like the whole first season, you know, they're talking about like how they develop like the whole campaigns for the the tobacco industry, and they're like, Oh, well, they could they eventually come that like smoking is cool, man. Like, let's make it look cool, you know. And but then you know, they have the scientists that are like saying smoking is well, who says we have to talk about what the scientists are saying, let's just focus on it being cool, you know. And that that's something that like I've struggled with, you know, because you know, keeping your independence is really challenging, right? Like it takes money to to do this, right? To sit here to make content, you know, camera equipment is not cheap, lenses, lights, all that shit is expensive, you know, and brands they want to persuade people the best way that they can, you know. Obviously, I have I have brands and and and stuff that I I gravitate towards, but how can I remain anonymous or how can I retain my independence without having any type of brand influence, you know, that that that suades me. And you know, I think the reality is that it's gonna be really hard to to have that because because you you like Omega, right? Like I like Zenith, right? I think we both like you know, there's both great brands, but like you know, the king of chronographs to me is Zenith, you know, or some people think Brightling, or some people think Omega, or some people think Rolex, you know, like so you're gonna have that initial bias on like what it is that you prefer, right? And that's just the way that I take it. I'm like, hey, look, this is my opinion. Here it is. Like, you know, I'm not taking money from brands, brands aren't paying me, like I'm doing this for fun, da-da-da-da-da. Like, and it always becomes that challenge of keeping that autonomy. And so, you know, as somebody who creates content, I could totally see a place for something like that, right? You know, giving people the means to to push their content out there without having to rely. And there's a lot of even content creators out there right now who like don't even know how to gain access to product, you know, and and and that's that's something that luckily I didn't have too many issues with, but you know, that's how you keep these great channels alive by giving them access to the products, which would be freaking amazing, yeah.

Chad Tsagris: 49:18

Um and it's also we need the people like you who are going to go out and do proper content, create things, and have opinions because you're right, not everyone likes the same things. And when it's a paid, always paid review, paid thing, it's very hard to have a non-biased opinion to that product, right? And that's one of the really challenges. Or if you're selling it, you know, selling it's great, but in reality, you're gonna have you're not gonna be saying truly maybe what you feel or think, or you know, I like that's where I think it's a little bit more fun for me because I can say I don't like something, or I can say I really like something, and I don't have any affiliation besides Lacko, because we are their their US distributors, so I have to always say good things about Lacko.

Blake Rea: 50:14

Well, Lacko's a great brand too, and they're a brand that that I've actually worked with directly as well. Like, if you go to my YouTube channel, you'll see I I did actually a buyer's guide, right? And this is like getting into the collector sphere, like where we talk about their pilot's watch basic, going into their pilots watch original, and then going all the way up to the the Fleger Pro, you know, like like which one is for who? Because especially if you go through the Locco uh website, I mean they have a million freaking models, they have a million freaking different sizes. Like you can you can get an original and then you can upgrade the movement, and then like you know, you can put the crown on the other side and like you can do all this freaking sh crazy shit, you know, and and that's great for the consumer, but it also puts them in like a paralysis decision, I think.

Chad Tsagris: 50:58

You know, I think it does. I think that so well when we talk about pilot pros, I've had about seven pilot pros and I've built them in seven different ways, and somehow like I like I have a I have a weird thing that if it's a watch of not much like huge financial value, and if one of my friends or somebody around me is like hey, that's really cool, like I give it to them. I I find that every time I give away a watch, someone somehow another one ends up back in my life. It's kind of like like a karma thing, but it it's insane the amount of options and this and this and this and that. But that's uh it makes it somebody to go, oh, what do I want?

Blake Rea: 51:43

Yeah, it gives the the the decision back to the consumer, which I absolutely love. And and yeah, I mean, dude, I I think I took I took maybe like six hours or so, or like just trying to build mine out. I know like an incredible waste of time, but you know, I want to make sure I got it right, you know, and I think that's what a lot of can you know collectors are so concerned about, like getting their collecting journey done the right way, whatever the hell that means, there is no right way. But you know, if you're spending money, you want to know that what you're spending money on is worth it at the end of the day, you know, and I just wanted to get it right. So I spent like six hours, if not, I don't even know, maybe more like going through and I'm like, well, do I get the AR on both sides? Do I get the case back? I can I can get the Cosk movement or the chronometer movement or whatever, like, you know, and then I just keep the case back closed and then I don't decorate it, like and and I can get a better movement for the same money. And it's like, Jesus Christ, you know what I mean?

Chad Tsagris: 52:44

Like, I just had this weird the nice thing about watches though is you can always go on to like watch gangs exchange or other exchange and trade within the community, so you're not stuck with them for life necessarily. But there are people who keep every watch that they've ever purchased. Me, I probably have about three watches that I've had from the beginning, and there's just an over an always changing, revolving door. What's going on my wrist?

Blake Rea: 53:17

I have taken try to take that approach, and and now I I have at one I had at one point almost 150 watches, and and now I have about 60. So I have been purging, purging, but like you know, I was I was sitting down with one of my friends, and and you know, there's there's brands that I gravitate towards. Like I have like six omegas, like I will never not have under six omega. I just can't get rid of what I have. I love them, you know, and same thing for Zenith. Like, I just cannot not get rid of my Zeniths, you know, or Cartier is another brand, you know, that I I absolutely love, or Iw C. You know, I just I can't figure out how I can start to get rid of some of these why Doxa. Doxa is another brand that I'm absolutely obsessed with. I'm getting ready to add another Doxa to my collection like in the week in the coming weeks, you know. And it's just it's so hard, man. It's so hard. So I wish I could look at it in the same way that you do, you know. Just hey, these are things, you know, they're gonna be loved by somebody else if if I'm not loving them, you know.

Chad Tsagris: 54:23

That's yeah, I you know it's funny you said IWC. I've never owned an IWC. Oh, yeah. Probably probably should I I I I want I always wanted the the one that they did with Lewis Hamilton in the uh Bahave with the annual calendar. That's like if I was gonna get an IWC, that's the one I would probably get, but we'll we'll get to that bridge when I find it one day. But yeah, you know, it's my interest change, so my collection changes is the way I kind of look at it, right? And it's as long as it's something that it could be replaced in my lifetime, or if it's a vintage watch, which vintage watches are really where I'm really, really passionate about, I got to enjoy something for a period of time. You know, I had a 81-71 paddle on rose gold, and I had it for about two years, and I think I wore it about two times in two years, and it was because I was terrified of wearing it, but I I was like, you know what? I got in that lifetime of that watch, which is a 75 year, 70-year-old watch now, I got to own a little piece of that history, and it's had a really cool life along the way, so it's like I'm passing it on to its next journey. That's that's a way I can you know part ways your things, I guess.

Blake Rea: 55:42

That's that's a cool perspective, you know, because right now, like I have one or two omegas that like I don't even know how I could ever get rid of. One of them is the first of a thousand made of the Omega Speedmaster Mark II from the 70s, freaking insane, right? I sent it off to Omega, I paid like two grand for them to restore it, like way too much, but it looks freaking amazing. And then the second one is the Seamaster Soccer. You know, not a lot of people know about the Seamaster soccer, but you know, that is an incredible piece, you know, and I don't wear it, but same thing, I sent it back to Omega, they restored it, like you know, and I don't know if I could ever get rid of it.

Chad Tsagris: 56:30

Maybe I'm just being selfish. You know what? There'll be a time and a place where you'd be like, you know what, now is it's now it's it's time to good and continue on its journey, right? Yeah, maybe so. Omega would be an insane brand because everyone always thinks about scheme masters and speedmasters, but then when you actually get really into Omega and see all the wild stuff that they did in the 70s and 80s, and then even through the 90s, it's like oh they they did some incredible things and made some really cool designs and and different watches.

Blake Rea: 57:02

So I yeah, their their collection is insane. I mean, especially if you look at the funky stuff from the 70s, and I'm I'm going through a phase right now where I'm getting into vintage Zenith, which is just gonna be the death of me.

Chad Tsagris: 57:14

You know, that's that's a scary, that's a scary one. I've I've gone down that rabbit hole before.

Blake Rea: 57:21

You're gonna have to see. So, like whenever we link up next, you know, maybe sometime in the next couple weeks or maybe after the holidays, I have a vintage zenith that's at zenith right now, you know. And you know, I think maybe two or three episodes back, if you if you're if you're curious, we had the uh the head of heritage for zenith on the podcast, and we had like a nerdy freaking like two-hour like mega podcast where we just went on like the weirdest things that she's found in the archives, and then I mean, I wasn't even planning to talk about, you know, something that I've also been working on is I've been buying these vintage watches and sending them back to the brands, you know, and documenting the process of like, hey, you know what it's like to like here's what it's like to own this watch, and here's how the brands treat you, you know. And I've done that with Omega, I've done it with Bulgari, I've done it with Cartier, I've done it with a bunch of brands, and people, you know, that needs to be shared. Like, what is it like to own this watch, you know? And and yeah, so more content that I that I'm also working on. Final question, you know, I want to let you get back to work. If you were to start Watch Gang over in 2025, knowing what you know now, how would you have started it differently, or what would you have done differently?

Chad Tsagris: 58:41

I would have it would have been a lot more content-driven and focused on making the hobby of watch collecting exciting and fun. You know, watch games direction is about games, and it would be more game-driven. And you know, to me, I think it's like content and creating content is something that people love forever, and they come back and always review it again and again and again. So that's probably what I would have done differently.

Blake Rea: 59:11

I mean, amazing, amazing, amazing. Thank you for spending you know just over an hour with us. Can't wait for this to go out, and also I can't wait to see you once you get back from your trip. So awesome. Thank you very much, Mike. Thanks, Chad. Talk to you soon, buddy. Bye.