Welcome to this Watch live. Hi, I'm Lydia Winters.
And I'm Vu Bui and we are jumping right in today at
Watchcology asks, What watches are you waiting for from your
AD? Oh, this is such an awesome
question and it might surprise people to know what I'm waiting
for, which. Is.
Nothing. I am not waiting for anything.
I. Part of your plan was watches
and wonders, and then I was going to all the new OP.
Through all the new releases and.
Then you'd be like, OK, here's what I want for this year, and
then you would wait for them but then didn't find.
Anything. Yeah, but what about you, Boo?
Why are you asking it in such a leading way?
So, OK, there is I I wasn't waiting for anything, but there
was one watch I was anticipating or hoping, but I did not think I
would get the call. Not so soon, or not probably
ever so tomorrow though. Tomorrow I'll do a new watch
announcement episode, all about this new watch and the watch
that I traded to get it. And that part, that watch that I
traded in, is the one that has blown what?
I guess I've only told three friends about this watch, this
new watch, 'cause I just got it today and.
There are going to be a lot of a lot of guesses.
Here. Yeah, what watch did I let go?
And what watch just came in that I was not expecting to get a
call for? Tomorrow we will have all of
that information. OK, next question, czm.jpg asks
Favorite micro brand. Oh, OK.
So I was looking up the micro brand definition because I feel
like it's a bit on the fuzzy side.
Oh, it. Definitely.
Is it Seems like so from Wikipedia.
A micro brand is a small scale brand recognized only in certain
geographic locations or by consumers in a specific micro
market or niche market. Wait, what?
It seems like that's kind of also extended in watches to be
basically direct to consumer. So this is a watch sold online
you don't need to go into. OK.
So the microness of the region is the Internet.
Yeah, yeah, it seems like it's kind of loosey goosey.
Yeah, yeah, I I do understand that.
That is more of what it has has become so.
This is the definition in watches or just micro brands on
Wikipedia. This is just micro brands on
Wikipedia, there are some about specifically micro brands, but
it kind of keeps the same thing, which is, you know, a small
scale brand that's only recognized in niche communities
and among hobbyists. That kind of makes it broader
for, you know, our. For what we need here, that
which makes sense. OK.
So with that definition in mind or not, what are your favorite
micro brands? Yes.
So that was the first thing I was like, OK, I need to look up
what a micro brand is. But I actually, I'm going to say
I'm going to go with one that I really love, that I still
haven't seen in person. And I'm going to go with Lorca
because I think it's just a really cool brand.
They only have one bra, one watch right now.
So that's not a micro brand. I don't know what is.
It doesn't get more micro than one watch.
Than one watch for one small, small brand.
But I just think it's beautiful. It's timeless and elegant.
And also like I've mentioned before, I think it just it just
looks really good. So I I really like.
So, Lorca, that makes sense. I have two.
I'm going to because I can never pick one favorite of anything
basically. So I have two.
They're both from Japan. The first one I've talked about
a lot recently, Otsuka Low Tech by Jiro Katayama.
He has a workshop in Otsuka, Tokyo.
It's a small district in Tokyo. That's where the name comes
from. Otsuka is where the workshop is
and low tech as in like low technology.
Super cool. He makes basically everything
but the base movement in the workshop himself.
It's. Super cool.
And he's been making these watches for over 10 years.
But outside of Japan, people only started really getting to
know about him in the past maybe two years.
So currently got the number 7.5 and the number six.
Those are the two models. It is still Japan only.
That makes it a true micro brand.
Oh yeah, it's for an Asian region like there we go like the
micro brand definition. Yeah, JDM and the second one
should also be, no surprise, Corono Tokyo, which is Hajime
Asayoka's more accessible brand. Like he is this incredible
independent watchmaker. He makes really amazing watches,
but they're typically 50,000 plus euro.
You know, francs, dollars, whatever, doesn't matter because
it's 50,000 plus, so it doesn't matter to me.
But he created this brand so that he could make watches for
more people, right? Instead of just a few people a
year who get these incredibly executed handmade watches, now
hundreds or maybe even a couple thousand people a year can get
his watches. I think it's still only hundreds
per year, and they come out in these limited releases.
There's a couple releases every year for the past three or four
years. I have the Toki, which is one of
the anniversary models. You bought that for me for my
birthday, but I've missed out on some of my favorite releases,
mainly the Chronograph 1 Mark 2, which I think is absolutely just
a beautiful watch. I missed out on that one, and
luckily Darrell at the timepiecer when we were in
Geneva, he let me try his on. Wear it for a little bit, take a
few photos. It's as good as I thought it
would be. It was so nice.
He was like, I brought this four vu to see and I was like, that
is the sweetest thing. Ever.
And the the the part. That's not kind about it though,
is that now I just love that watch even more.
I was like, I will probably love this watch like that.
I in my. Head and now you're like I
definitely do I. Definitely love that watch.
But the problem is with many of these micro brands, they do very
limited production and if you miss it then you have to pay
over retail to get them. Yeah, and that's just a tough
pill to swallow, so. Since some of the intent with
micro brands is also being under like the pricing of the luxury
market because you don't need to go through, you know it when it
is. Direct to.
Consumer. Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally agree.
I spoke because we got to meet Hajimi Asaoka at HCI and also
one of the people that works in his company.
And I had mentioned like, Oh yeah, I've been looking for the
chronograph 1 mark two and trying to find one for a good
price. He's like, don't do that, just
wait, he said. Hajime Son thinks that every new
chronograph he releases is so much better than the last one,
that you should always only buy the new one, and he just thought
that was such a great way to think about it.
It's like continuous improvement is part.
Of Yeah, you didn't miss out. You're actually getting like the
new one he's making because he does feel it's, it's great.
Yes, like. Some way he's in some way
improving it, doing something better, whether it's part of the
design or it's part of the technology or it's the movement
or the case design, because he has iterated on these
chronograph cases to make them thinner and to make them appear
even more thin. And so I I liked that that
advice of just like, hey, let the past be the past, man, look
to the future and jump on the next release.
And so that's. Awesome, I do like that advice.
I'm going to do that, OK. Acoustic Reds asks, OK, micro
independent brands are getting so much better.
How do you decide between them? So we're continuing on this.
Micro and independent brands, how do you?
Decide. I mean, I think that for me it's
all about just like the individual watch.
I also think about the brand, but I kind of start with the
watch and then usually do a deep dive into the brand, especially
if it's something that I don't know about.
So I can kind of get the vibe of like, does this feel like my
values? Does this, You know, like is are
they trying to appeal to me as a a female collector in a way that
I also support? So I really like to look at all
of it, but I usually start with the watch itself.
OK. Yeah.
I mean, one of the things about micro brands that I think is
wonderful is that the brand is often the maker.
Right, that is true. It does make it different in a
good and bad way. You're like, OK, it's not where
you can be like, Oh well, it's the whole brand.
So like, it's a whole team. It's like this is the brand,
that person. It's, it's one maybe a few
people and so there's more for you to identify with, but that
also means there's more for you to identify against too.
So, but I I think one of the great things about micro brands
and smaller independent brands is that they're typically not
trying to make like the most commercially acceptable product
possible, right. The big brands, they want to
sell hundreds of thousands of watches to hundreds of thousands
of people. And so they need to each watch
or at least each product offering you want it to appeal
to a large number of people. And so when we're talking about
these micro brands and small independent brands, like they're
able to make much more niche designs that appeal to much more
niche sets of people. That's very true.
And so that means, because there's so many of these smaller
brands that there there's just so much choice.
But there's likely something each person as an individual,
with all their individual quirks and things that they like like,
that allows you to then find one of these niche watches that
really speaks to you. That's really true.
I think it's actually not as hard to choose between them.
I think it's much harder to choose between the big
commercial offerings because they're all so palatable, right?
Like, yeah. That's true.
A dive watch from Rolex or Omega.
You know, they're both like great watches and they, you
know, there are differences, but they're.
Not. There's a lot of.
Extreme right? You can almost say, like, sure,
I'll just take one right, like. Yeah.
But then if you think about like brew watches and what Jonathan,
who made them, who designs them like, he has such a clear vision
of this idea of like this, you know, like espresso machine and
timing and then adding that into a watch you do, you're right.
You get this like clarity. That's really fun.
Yeah. It's much more narrow.
And so if you're attracted to brew watches, you're attracted
to brew watches, right? Or maybe you go for studio
underdog and that design language and that thought behind
those designs. And so I think it's easier to
choose between micro brands because they are more specific.
That is true. The niching down is actually the
positive of being able to really identify with it.
At least that's what I think. OK, Mechanical.
Tom asks, do you feel like the escalating prices are pricing a
lot of people out of their hobby?
Oh, that's such a sad question because my answer is yes.
But first I want to say what's up, Tom?
Tom's part of our Swedish group. So before I go into this, the
sadness. Yes.
Hi Tom. But OK, I do agree with this,
but I will say there is always new things like coming in to
fill that space which I think is really good.
So I mean today we've been talking a lot about micro
brands. The more expensive the luxury
brands get, the more space there is for micro brands to fill
which then is you know good and can really help like smaller
businesses. So I think in that way it's
good. I think in the way that models
that used to be entry level, I mean even when we talk about
like a Rolex OP, like how much the price has raised, it's not
like it is Rolex's entry model, but that is not an entry model
watch. And I know it used to be still,
you know, pretty high compared to other brands, but it wasn't
what it is now. No, I mean.
And Rolex isn't alone in that, right?
Like. No, it's kind of every.
When I think about. Your brand.
Five years ago watches where like the range was kind of 5 to
8000. And you can really get.
Five years later, it feels like it's double that.
Yeah. And that is not inflation, at
least not only inflation, right? Inflation is a part of it, but
it it really is a big increase. So those brands, I do think
people can get price out of those brands.
But like you said, there's other brands that come in and kind of
fill that space. So as Omega moves up, you've got
Tudor, right? And as Tudor moves up, you've
got laundry. And as laundry moves up, there's
TSO and then there's Hamilton and there's Seiko and there's
all of these things and they just keep moving.
They, you know, everyone kind of moves up over time.
Not everyone. There are brands that kind of
stay in their price range, but many brands move up.
But then there's other brands that fill that space.
And I think what can be difficult is not getting priced
out of the hobby altogether, but being priced out of perhaps
brands that you aspire. You really wished?
Yeah. And that's.
I think that is the harder part. I hope that on the hobby side,
because there are, there is such a wide breadth of watches and
then I could imagine there being even more micro brands that
actually start popping up as they're like, hey, I would love
to have X watch, but like I'm never going to be able to afford
it or feel like I can justify it because of how much the prices
have raised. So I think there can be a lot of
cool you know designs and more people who are coming in like
some of the micro brands we mentioned that are like, hey, I
want to fulfill this really specific space that I wish
existed that doesn't and that the price increases make it not
exist even more. Yeah.
Non, non existing. So that's our downer of a last
question. No, we hope you have a great day
and everyone can join the hobby because you can go online and
you can find watches and all prices.