The Grey NATO – 204 – Oris North America CEO VJ Geronimo From Windup Chicago

Published on Thu, 11 Aug 2022 06:18:52 -0400

Synopsis

The episode starts with Jason and James welcoming listeners and discussing their recent activities, including Jason's trip to Milwaukee for diving and harvesting vegetables. James talks about attending a Fleet Foxes concert which he describes as one of the best he's ever been to. They then discuss James' upcoming hiking trip during their two-week summer break from the podcast. The main segment is an interview with Vijay Geronimo, the CEO of Oris Watches North America. They discuss Oris' involvement with events like Wind Up Watch Fair, the brand's sustainability initiatives like the Billion Oyster Project, new product releases, and Vijay's personal history in the watch industry. The episode concludes with Jason and James sharing their picks of the week - a dramatized movie about the Thai cave rescue and a YouTube video about minimal desk setups.

In the second paragraph, Jason and James share their weekly picks - Jason recommends the movie "13 Lives" about the Thai cave rescue, while James suggests a YouTube video from the channel "The Dream Desk Setup" showcasing a modern and minimal desk organization.

Transcript

Speaker
Jason Heaton Hello and welcome to another episode of The Grey Nado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 204, and it's proudly brought to you by the ever-growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support, and if you'd like to support the show, please do so by visiting TheGreyNado.com and clicking on the support link. For more details. Yeah. James, how's it going over there?
James Yeah, not too bad. You know, this is our last episode before taking a two week summer break. So if you're listening to this kind of in line as it comes out, there won't be an episode on the 18th or the 25th, but we will be back on the first with a very special chat. I think people are really going to love it. And we're excited to have that one come out. But we are going to take a couple of weeks off to kind of regroup and do some stuff. You know, it's been a busy season between wind up and then launching the the shop bundles. I mean, I don't know what I'm saying. A lot of that, Jason, is your busyness. How's the, how are the shop bundles going currently?
Jason Heaton Shop is going gangbusters. In fact, it's, I would say it's almost winding down just because we've sold out of medium and large t-shirts. There's probably one small left at this point when we're recording, that'll probably be gone by the time this episode airs, but do check the shop link to the graynado.com slash shop. We definitely overestimated the number of XLs. Needed. So there's, there's plenty of those left and then a handful of two XL. So if you're a bigger guy, you work out a little more than, than the rest of us, uh, you might, you might be in luck here with a couple of these, uh, these bigger shirts. And then, um, in terms of the enamel pins and the, the kerchiefs, those are starting to get down there as well. So at some point we're probably going to switch over to. Partial kits or, you know, just individual items or something. So just, just stay tuned to that. But I think for the next couple of weeks, we'll ride with what we've got and then assess things in September.
James So we'll be back, you know, September 1st with new details, depending on how the orders work out. But a big thank you to everyone who's been so supportive of these bundles and the bits and bobs. And we're basically getting daily, more than daily kind of Instagram tags for people taking the kerchief, the adventure flag on. Incredible. On adventures, everything from like going and chopping wood to a great walk with the dog to, you know, like more intense stuff. So it's been super fun, especially the like micro adventures that, you know, which we've talked about a ton in the past.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So cool. A guy sent a photo. I don't think I was able to, to repost cause I think he's a private guy on Instagram, but he sent like a short video of he had, he'd like run it up on the, on the, one of the lines of his sailboat and it was like flapping in the breeze. It was, you know, it's just, it's just really cool stuff.
James I love it. That's so good. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm taking a vacation during, during our, our two weeks off and going somewhere I've never been before. So I'll be sure to take it with me. I'm, we're going on sort of a hiking trip. Uh, you know, to a, to a place you've never been before. So I'm pretty excited. It's a, it's very cool.
Jason Heaton Wow. Wow. That's awesome. Yeah. I'm, I'm, uh, headed down to Milwaukee on Sunday, um, for a couple of days with my old dive buddy, Chris, and we're gonna, we've got a boat, a small boat chartered with a guy who has a boat and we're going to go out and do dive a couple of wrecks, uh, off of, uh, offshore there. So that should be fun. I'll, I'll be sure to take the kerchief and, uh, try to get a photo or two of that. So I'm looking forward to that. Yeah. I think, I guess we're, I guess we're, we're making like Swiss watchmakers and actually taking a little bit of summer, summer holiday.
James A little bit. Yeah. Just, just a little bit, not too long. Don't want to leave people hanging for too much. And obviously I'll miss recording shows with you. Yeah. But yeah, it'll be nice to, to have a break and come back kind of, kind of like back to school. Maybe, you know, with the pencil sharpened as it is. Right. Yeah. I think it'll be good. What else, what else you've been up to? I mean, we're, we're recording this a day early due to my return to a Hodinkee work schedule. Um, but it was a fun weekend on my side. How about you?
Jason Heaton Yeah, it was pretty fun here too. We, we hadn't been down to Decorah, Iowa, which is where Ghoshani went to college and lived with a family down there for a few years. And so we hadn't seen those folks in a couple of years since before COVID. And so we, we just, it was a quick 24 hour trip. We drove down, met up with them, had some dinner and then, um, and then drove back yesterday. So it was a quick turnaround and it was a really rainy weekend. And when we got home, there were like tons of of vegetables ripe and ready to harvest. So Shani did this big curry cook up with these beans and, and we had some cucumber to harvest and beets and onions and tomatoes. So it's, uh, it's starting now. We're, we're starting to get into harvest time, which has been a long, long time coming. We've been waiting for that stuff to ripen up. So that was, uh, that was fun. So all in all, it was a kind of a rural classic Midwestern weekend going to Iowa and harvesting vegetables. It was great. Very cool. I love it. Yeah. And you went to a concert, you got to see your favorite band. Yeah.
James Yeah, I saw Fleet Foxes at Massey Hall. Wow. Uh, I couldn't have been happier. It was an incredible concert, a great experience. The, the audio in there is, um, like the, the actual listening experience in Massey Hall is amazing. And the show was killer. It was more than two hours. They played, um, new stuff, old stuff, uh, a great selection. And yeah, I couldn't, I don't think I could ask for more from a concert. Easily one of the best, if not the best I've ever been to. Wow. Yeah, no, it was awesome. You know, I saw them years ago in, um, in Vancouver in Stanley Park. Uh, and, and, you know, you only get so much from an outdoor venue and Massey Hall is pretty small as far as the concert stage, uh, you know, goes. And, um, I've seen Raylan Montaigne there several years ago, more than a decade ago at this point. And then to see them, you know, they've refurbished Massey Hall during the pandemic and, and to get back in there and, uh, take a beat with such a great band was, um, was really something incredible. And I got to go with a couple of my brothers and my wife. It was, um, it was awesome. Yeah. Oh, that's great.
Jason Heaton Man, I don't think I've seen live music in many, many years. And we've had a couple of nice offers from listeners who are band members that have been passing through our respective cities. And I just haven't been able to make any of those invitations work.
James But one of these... Yeah, the Alt J show was incredible. Oh, yeah. We had a great time at that previously. It was a super kind offer to be able to go and check that out. We spoke about it on a past episode. But yeah, you know, I'm not always crazy about live music. I was when I was younger. Yeah. I would basically see anything. Um, you know, if there's a $10 show happening in Hamilton or even in Toronto, if I could get a car together and, and, and make the money work, uh, the gas days. But, um, you know, lately, you know, it's a hit or miss for me. It's gotta be somebody I absolutely have to see. And that's Fleet Foxes for me, you know, next on my list is probably Bon Iver, um, depending on, on, you know, what, what their kind of touring schedule looks like. Um, but I don't, I can't imagine a scenario in which Fleet Foxes runs a concert and I don't find a way to make it to at least one show. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Cool. Yeah. Other than that, I took the last kind of the, the second half of last week off, um, to kind of decompress after being in, um, in California for the video shoot. And it was good. It was good to kind of slow down. It's, it's a little tough. I don't know if I'm sure people in the audience would recognize this, but it's like, it's hard to relax sometimes when like, you just think that it's almost like you have that feeling you forgot something. Right. there's gotta be something I'm supposed to be doing right now. Somebody I'm letting down by not doing it or, or a deadline I'm missing or something like that. But it was good to do a lot less for a couple of days. And I talked about, you know, losing my wallet. So I went through the process of reestablishing all of my ID and cards and the rest of it. So that was, you know, I guess a task and then some, but yeah, no, it was, it was a nice, it was a nice little break and that's what I needed after that many days, kind of on the road, long days and that sort of thing. But, um, happy to be back at it. You know, we're doing this, we're recording the Q and a, which will come up before this episode. So it'd be a nice busy week. Um, but it's always a treat to, uh, to get through these. And, and I'm really rather looking forward to the main topic. And today it's a, it was one of the best chats we had at windup and, uh, and it completes our series. So for four great episodes from Chicago and, and ending with our, with our good friend and CEO of, uh, Oris USA, uh, VJ Geronimo.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it's gonna be a good one. I think people will like it. Yeah, it was fun to fun to chat with Vijay. And boy, Chicago seems like ages ago, doesn't it? I mean, we're coming up a month already.
Unknown Yeah.
James Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Four episodes. I guess so. Yeah. Crazy. Speaking of watches, you want to do some wrist check? Yeah. What are you wearing? You know, I, I don't really know why. I don't even know why I got home from that trip and I went to my watch box and just kind of grabbed the Explorer two. It's on like a sand tan NATO and I haven't taken it off yet. It's been like I mean, it's been super hot everywhere, but it's been pretty hot around in and around Toronto. And, uh, and we've been out and about and enjoying the heat certainly. Uh, but this watch just kind of works. It has a bit of a, I don't know, desert vibe on this NATO. Um, you know, I think the NATO is going to have to be cleaned, uh, pretty soon, but, uh, yeah, I, I still, you know, this is just one of my absolute favorites. I haven't been wearing it a ton cause I've got so many great watches in currently, which is obviously a huge blessing, et cetera. But, uh, I thought, yeah, take, take this first spin and then, uh, then another spin and then another, and I probably keep wearing it for a bit anyways.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Isn't it funny how, you know, when, when the past few weeks we've been all about, you know, the Aqua land and we've both been really raving about that and wearing it a lot. And I thought that thing's not coming off all summer. Well, you know, as, as things happen, you know, the, the weather changes, your mood changes, your, your taste changes, and it's finally come off my wrist and just half an hour ago. Uh, the doorbell rang, it was FedEx and it was, um, yeah, it's the Benrus type two. So this is a watch that I have coveted for many, many years. The vintage one. I think they're just such cool watches with such a great backstory and just such a cool, sterile, um, very tool-ish vibe. And, and Benrus had, had released a type one reissue, I don't know, a year or two ago, I guess. And it was for sale on Houdinki, I remember. And they're still floating around out there. And you and I have both had the Paradive by Mark II, which is a really good homage to that watch as well. And then Benros came out with this Type II reissue and they kind of debuted it at Windup in Chicago. So I had a chance to look at it there and I was chatting with Darius who kind of is there, you know, high up at the company there. He's a collector and kind of an expert on vintage Benros. And we were chatting and I said I was really interested in taking one for a spin and that I've got this dive trip coming up uh, to the great lakes, uh, next week. And he said, oh, let's, let's get one on your wrist and see what you can do with it. So it came, um, literally half an hour ago, I, I set the time and threw it on a, uh, they had sent me a really sweet kind of a seatbelt style, olive drab NATO. That's a really nice quality one. So I put it on that and it's awesome. I mean, it's a great watch. It's got this like super domed crystal and then the, the 12 hour bezel, which obviously is a hallmark of this watch. It's, it's, It's a really kind of a heavy friction bezel. So it doesn't spin really easily. It's has this like, like you're pushing through molasses, like to turn it, which I like, you know, it's like, it just feels really good.
Unknown Yeah.
Jason Heaton So yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's a really, really awesome, great looking watch.
James I love it. That's awesome. Well, a good pair, I think. Do you have a direct preference between the, the, the sort of marker dial or the numeral dial?
Jason Heaton I'm kind of 50, 50 on both. And having had that paradigm, yeah, I'm split. I don't know. Then when I saw this one, it's, it's just a little more dynamic. It's a little more interesting. There's, there's more going on. That dial is more of the kind of the classic field watch style dial. But I, I like that. I like kind of the little bit busier nature of it, um, lends a little more visual interest to it.
James I agree. Well, I'm, I'm looking forward to seeing some photos and, and some, uh, some, you know, Ben rest with a certain blue flag in the background. That's definitely great. Yeah. Awesome. Cool. All right. You want to dig into the main chat? Yeah, let's do it. So this is a fun one. Uh, it's a fellow we've wanted to have on TGN for some time. He's been a longtime supporter of, uh, of the gray NATO and also just of, uh, both my career and Jason's career in watches in general. And that's the North American CEO of Oris watches, Vijay Geronimo. I've known Vijay for years. Oris is not like other brands in terms of how they interface with the press. If you want to speak to Vijay, you can speak to him. It's not like a difficult task to get him on the phone or to catch a beer. with him in New York or wherever you may be. He's always been kind enough to include Jason and I on various press outings. And he's just a guy that we've gotten to know. And I really respect both his sort of calm outlook on the industry and his deep understanding of why Oris isn't necessarily like other brands, why they make watches that aren't like other brands' watches, their kind of specific perspective on special editions, limited models, reissues of old stuff, I think this is a brand that people don't always give the credit to for being on the crest of a lot of trends or new thoughts in watch design and in collaboration and in their sort of specific work with ocean conservation and ecological concerns and recyclability of certain elements of their product and that stuff. And I think this was a fascinating chat. Vijay's a great guy and, you know, we're obviously longstanding fans of Oris in general. and to see them not only be the banner sponsor for Windup, but also just to have a chance to see the whole product line and connect with their people and see Vijay in Chicago and sit down for a few minutes for a chat was, like I say, an absolute treat. So here it is, CEO North America of Aorus Watches, Vijay Jeronimo. We hope you love it. All right, Vijay, this is an absolute treat, a long time coming as well, because I feel like just before we turned the mics on, I was trying to remember the last time you would have had a little bit of a say on the show. Probably Vale 19, I think, right? Yes. Next to a fireplace with some, some, uh, Mictas, Burbank, Blantons, Blantons. We did good either way. It was no complaints. Yeah. Uh, how have you been doing well? And, uh, this is second wind up for you guys this, this year you did San Francisco wind up for us this year.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah. Uh, can't even count the number of windups over the years, but second one this year. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Why is windup kind of a important to you guys? I mean, what's the, It seems like a good fit, but you guys are kind of the, just say it. I feel like you're like kind of the halo brand.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah.
Jason Heaton I'm your lead sponsor, obviously. Why is that a good fit for you?
Vijay Geronimo I feel like I've always, my philosophy about wind up, you know, from the beginning we were part of it and you know, obviously you guys first time here, but a lot of things over the years have changed. Like it's just gotten so much bigger and so much grander. And I always view our role here as kind of being the independent brand and everyone's an independent, you know, micro brands or whatever. But I really enjoy kind of being the like to be like I don't like if we went away I would feel like it would just not support like it would not support what we're trying to do here. It's like a showcase of independent brands and I feel like we're kind of at the you know we take a little bit of a lead role in that in that world. Yeah.
Jason Heaton Kind of the old big Yeah. Independent brand, like the kind of the original micro brand.
Vijay Geronimo Exactly. Exactly. And I, obviously the worn around guys love to support them, what they do and how they go about doing things and just what they've created.
James It's an impressive thing. They put together well run. People are thrilled to be here that like the vibe is high. It's good.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah. And it's just so hands on, right? People get a chance. There's nothing under glass. People come and just can handle look and just really, um, see the product and a lot of people don't get to see the product, right? They don't get to see. It always amazes me how people are so in tune to what it is. They're like, it's not like I want to come see the brand. They're like, I want to see this watch or that watch or that watch. It's a very well, well-established, you know, well-read audience.
James Absolutely. And obviously we want to, we want to chit chat about all the, all the great stuff that Oris is up to, the sustainability side, you're wearing the new, Oyster Ellie, but I actually have a more personal question for you because I think I've gotten pieces of it in chatting with you. What's your arc in the watch world?
Vijay Geronimo What's my arc?
James Yeah, what's the background?
Vijay Geronimo How'd you get here? Yeah, it's kind of a, it's not an enthusiast arc actually. So my first job out of college, I worked for a company called Medco, which is a prescription mail order pharmacy company by Merck. And I was there for about a year and a gentleman I worked with went to work for what was at the time North American Watch Company, which was the predecessor to the Movado Group. So this is in New Jersey for those of you who are not familiar with where that is. And so I went to work. I was like, oh, this is like the watches. They were tangible products. It was something. And it was not like sales at all. I have an undergraduate accounting degree. So it was finance role, that kind of thing. And then one thing led to another. I was there for about 10 years or so, you know, different roles in the corporate office. Then went to Victorinox, then went to LGI, and then ended up at AORUS. Twelve years at AORUS now.
Unknown Wow.
James Fantastic. And at this point, like, at least from the outside, and I imagine Jason would agree, like, when I think of AORUS, I think of you. I think of you and Rolf. Thank you. And it's nice because it is this, it's a big brand. Like, I think most people who are into watches would absolutely know AORUS as a name, but also a few models, maybe more, maybe something that's not around anymore. New Full Steel, whatever it is. It's also like the people really haven't changed in my decade in the watch industry.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah. No. And you guys have, you know, kind of been a part of that journey, right? You've all been very supportive of us in terms of that. You always, you know, you like the product, you see it, happy to talk about it. So, you know, I think it's thank you as well to you and everybody, the watch community in general. I think they've certainly helped our success in terms of as a brand and You know, I think a lot of factors came together over the past decade or so. Social media certainly being something that really had a big part, I think, in the love for our brand. And, you know, when I started at Auris, there was people like in the industry, like jewelry, jewelers that didn't know our brand, like being, you know, just being in the world. So like, it was tough in the beginning and it's come a long way.
Jason Heaton When you first joined Oris, do you remember which watches were being introduced that year or what the big piece was?
Vijay Geronimo I do. So it was like the first Great Barrier Reef was big. The Colmaskin ProDiver there from the Italian Special Forces. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And that was there. The TT3s all the way around. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the steel and gold TT3 with the big horns. Yeah. Like those watches, yeah. Wow.
Jason Heaton I feel like Oris, um, you know, obviously a brand we we've loved for a long time, but I feel like there's this, there's an underdog quality to Oris, but also what I like about Oris is unlike so many brands that are always sort of, uh, feeling, they sort of bristle, they sort of have a chip on their shoulder. Um, when, when they're facing their competition or when they're looking at other brands around, I feel like Oris just sort of, you do your thing and you just sort of stay the course and, and take it or leave it. If you don't like our stuff, go ahead and buy somebody else's, but we're here to do what, what we feel is important.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah. And I think that's that's the philosophy we take. We we try to put out a really genuine watch for the money. You know it's it's not about bullying. It's not about it's you know we try to do things with purpose and it's not always things that are the most commercial right. It's things that make sense within the portfolio of products that we have and how we go about things obviously supporting you know change for the better as as we know certainly have have come to do a lot. But really yeah and being able to do it like being independent is is 100% the reason for that and you know, I could say, you know, obviously, you know with Rolf and and our Swiss our Swiss Corporate like everybody's just we all have the same philosophy and we all live the same philosophy So everybody's allowed to be themselves and do things like that. So there's no Sister brand that you have to worry about staying in your lane because this one's making that one or you know So we have the we have the luxury of doing that. Yeah. Yeah.
James Yeah. And also, I think I think the big a big context for for us, for me, obviously, I like the watches. I own a few I've I've handled and played with and dove with and semi abused, you know, several dozens more over the years. But the other cool thing that I've always kind of appreciated and it took me a while to understand just how much freedom you guys have, but not only how much you have as an independent, but how much you're willing to use it, especially when it comes to the special projects. You know, obviously I was on Clipperton, which we've talked about a ton on the show. Um, I'll put it in the show notes so we don't have to belabor, you know, a 25 minute, uh, exploration of, of one of the finer points of my life. But that's only one, like at this point, I don't even know how you keep them all in your brain, all these projects, all the partnerships that you guys have made, all, all the investments in the ocean and removing waste and growing coral and now oysters and, and all this stuff.
Vijay Geronimo I think it's, you know, just, we always try to find things that are appropriate and fit with our brand. And, you know, in the context, the general context of helping out and doing the right thing, right. Are we perfect? We're not, but we certainly try to do things from a sustainability perspective. So like, we don't just want to talk about it. We want to do it. So, you know, in becoming climate neutral, you know, we, we got certified climate neutral only. I think we're the only watch brand that can say that. Right.
James On your annual sustainability report.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah, and we put out a sustainability report, as we said, just kind of putting our money where our mouth is, where, you know, it's nice as the industry has grown. And now, you know, sustainability is a buzzword that every single person in the industry is using. You see different straps and it's great because it obviously is bringing it to the cause. But I like to think we have credibility in that space because we've played in it for so long. done it from a place, a genuine place of just trying to do the right thing as opposed to it's something we need to do at this moment.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And some of these, these partnerships that you've done over the years, um, some of them are admittedly very quirky and not designed to be, or not, not brought about to be particularly commercially. I mean, certainly you want to sell watches, but, but like you did that, that one with, um, it was kind of a marshy area in the North of Europe. And then you did the Rhine river. I mean, These aren't ones that are going to appeal to just the average guy in the middle of the U.S. who wants to buy an Auris, right? So where does all of that come from? Is there a department at Auris that cooks up these?
Vijay Geronimo No, I mean, I think we all have input to it. So, you know, obviously the stuff that we've done domestically in the U.S., some of our projects, we've had a lot of input in that. You know, Billy and Oyster, Coral Restoration Foundation. Like where did that one come from?
Jason Heaton I'm just curious. Was that from your office in
Vijay Geronimo In Connecticut, yeah. Connecticut, yeah. Which one? The car restoration? No, sorry, the... Billion Oyster? Yeah, the Oyster. Yeah. Actually, Billion Oyster approached us. It's such a cool project. Yeah. And it's such, like, it's such this thing that you would never realize it exists so close to New York City. Like, it's New York City. Like, you're on Governor's Island and it's, you're looking at the Freedom Tower. It's not like you're far out of the world. Yeah. And the work that they're doing is just, it's amazing. And more people should know about it. Like, the average person does not know about it. They use it's at a place called the Harbor School which exists on Governor's Island. Right. And Harbor School was founded to basically bring maritime careers or help local people know the maritime what's happening with maritime. There's some statistic like everyone that works in the maritime industry in New York City like 80 percent of them are not native New Yorkers like so they develop this school to kind of teach this and they bring kids from all the five boroughs in to to learn the trades and the maritime trades. And so the billion oyster project was actually started as a sort of a class project within the school. And then they've now they've expanded it because it's it's worked so well. So they had this restaurant collection program where they go out they have about 50 restaurants in the city that when someone consumes an oyster or a clam or a scallop they basically collect the shell and then every Few weeks or so they collect the shells from the restaurants and they bring them to Governor's Island and they cure them in this pile for about a year, they cure them out. And then they have this process where they clean them. So they go through this, they basically wash them and clean them. And then they prepare them for cages that they make. They put them in the cages and then they put them into these big containers and they put oyster larvae in them, about 150,000 oyster larvae per thing. they drop them in and that that's where they sit. So and the idea is to you know New York Harbor was once this you know they they talk about when you you know in the eighteen hundreds when it was around there's so much marine life so much like fish you know you could just drop drop yourself in and catch a fish like there was so much going on there.
James So it's a it's a really yeah it's a really nice thing as a guy who's made it his life's mission to share the love of oysters. with people as I like to be around for the first time. Yeah. The first one. Yeah. It's always kind of terrifying. I think for a lot of people, it's more, it's probably my favorite food, my single favorite food. Oh, absolutely. Uh, that and chicken wings, but you can only eat so many chicken wings before it ages you a bit. I think the billion, the billion chicken weight process might be sustainable on all metrics, even personally. Yeah. I think it's fascinating. I think, you know, you, you were kind enough to show us the watch, which you have on your wrists and I'll put it in the show notes. Um, of course, uh, a little, we had a little sneak peek. in Geneva this year, which I thought really went beautifully. And you guys had a fantastic booth and we've raved about the pilot 400 and the rest of it already, even in the last couple episodes. But, you know, the projects are really the thing that I think I associate most with Oris. Like the watches have been good for a really long time. Like I've been in since an early TT1 and I've loved it. But, you know, seeing the stuff on Clipperton, seeing the GBR stuff, the core restoration, And then just getting progressively to know the brand. It's weird because you see Auris as a big brand, which you guys are, with a lot of influence in the Swiss space, but you don't operate like anyone else. And that has to be continually intentional. That can't be accidental. Like maybe for a year, anyone could make an accident.
Vijay Geronimo Like we're only 12 people in the U.S. Like our company is 12 people. Wow. In the United States. Like and we do all of our distribution and all that stuff out of our offices.
James Do you guys publicly say how many watches a year? We don't. Yeah. We don't. I figured you didn't because I didn't know the number and usually I know them.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah. We don't. But, you know, we, you know, and we're growing, which is which is great. You know, knock on wood. Thank you for, you know, everyone for that. But yeah, we try to keep a sensibility about ourselves and not get it, you know, do things again. Whether that's commonsensical from a watch perspective, commonsensical from a business perspective, and a personnel perspective, and doing things like that. So we certainly try, and we try to invest in things that move the brand along, that help the brand, and obviously help the causes we support.
James I'm curious, you said 12 years with Auris at this point? Yeah. And in that span of time, how many generations of the watch industry do you think you've seen? Because it's been a rapid thing. It was a slow industry for a long time, but the last 12 years have been tumultuous, I guess.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah, it's been, you know, and I point to social media, I would say social media, digital, digital things have certainly changed our world over time. You know, when I first started, you know, when you look at kind of advertising you're doing or things, it was print, like there was a lot of print magazines, people read print, that sort of thing. Not that it doesn't exist anymore, not that people don't read print, but certainly you know, there was, it's not nearly as important as it was, right? There's things like what you guys are doing, which never existed, podcasts, things of that nature. It was the Oris radio hour before that. Exactly. Exactly. No, but if you think about it, like when you, if you were a watch enthusiast 20 years ago, if you really liked watches, like what did you do? You read a couple of trade publications, right? Yeah. Maybe you're on a watch forum.
James Yeah. You were part of it. Or like BBS like early really early stuff.
Vijay Geronimo Really early stuff. But then you didn't really do that. But now everyone again has this voice like each individual person has their own voice in the watch world now. So I think it's it's done a lot for the for the industry in that sense.
Jason Heaton What about the cycle of of new pieces. You know I think that's changed as well. I think yeah I think in the old days you know even before you go for a year in the business it was always maybe maybe once a year at Basel a couple new, you know, new watches came out per brand. Now I feel like the cycle is throughout the year. What's Oris' take on that?
Vijay Geronimo That was my, that was my next, that would be my second point about change, right? I think, and we started this before COVID, like we were about a year and a half before COVID, we started to basically take the philosophy that when we introduce product, we want it to be in the store. So, because to your point, you know, you went to Basel fair, you did something like that and you'd launch say 10 SKUs and this one would come out in April, this one would come out in June, this one would come out in November and then it was that way and then you have all this time of waiting or people see it. Now, it certainly has changed the way we think about things, it's changed the way production is done, it's changed the timelines of all these things because if you want to launch something and then have it immediately, you have to do this and it takes a lot more planning It's a lot more like, and for you guys as press people, right? Like I think the concept of embargo, like when, you know, that's a, that's a relatively new term to our world, right? So like putting things under embargo and having them, because even I'd say two years ago, like you're scrambling, like you were scrambling, like they released this today. We have to write about it. They released this today. We have to write about it. So having it ahead of time a little bit and knowing what's coming or, being able to at least, um, you know, have it.
James I think that's been, that's been the change and the change for the plus, especially for Oris, because at least you guys, it seems like you have a plan. Uh, we still get brands that are like, Hey, we'll, we did this 10 minutes ago. Here's the press release. How long have you known about it? They're like 12 minutes and you're like, okay, great. Yeah. Super. I feel bad for that PR team. Yeah. Uh, but no, you guys seem to have a super plan and every time when we get a chance to sit down often, you're, you've got the next six months. 10 months that you can chat about and are pretty comfortable with the production schedules and the rest of it. Yeah. I'm curious, because obviously Basel now has faded away. Who knows what it could be in the next few years that I think that's still an area of change. But, you know, we saw Oris at Watches and Wonders this year. One, you know, was the show what you guys want for it? And two, how do you see the importance of the shows in general?
Vijay Geronimo Yeah, I think I thought the show in Geneva was really great for the brand. You know, we struggled with actually being in Geneva, like from a, from a theoretical conceptual point of view for us as a brand, right?
James Like a philosophy thing? Yeah.
Vijay Geronimo Because when you think about Geneva and this is nothing, you know, it was always this very exclusive, you know, kind of keep people out the door type of show. And it's like, how does a brand like ours that tries to be inclusive and kind of bring people in show up in a place like that? for those of you who didn't have the benefit and probably most of you of being there. Like we took this concept and we try to make an open like Piazza restaurant concept where people can walk in. It was welcoming the bear. There was the, you know, the, the machine. It was definitely the most friendly booth that was there. And that, and that was very much on purpose to try to just bring our philosophy to that. So I think it was really good as far as trade shows go. I, I personally think trade shows are important because we can't lose sight of the fact of why they exist, right? They exist that people can be efficient, right? That people can come to one place, see all they need to see in a short period of time and then go. Now, you know, with brands like people going here, going there, you know, as a person, as a brand, it's fine, right? Because you're like, well, this is my event. Yeah. But as someone in your shoes or a retailer or someone that's coming to the show, And then you have to go to six other things. It doesn't make any sense. It's hard to do that. So it's nice to have the industry in one place. It's nice to obviously see everyone and have that moment with everyone too. Because there's really not a replacement for that. And I think COVID taught us that we can adapt and certainly be video conference, video call, whatever you want to call it. You know, there's still no substitute for, I think, seeing people in person.
James Yeah. You know, as you're saying on our side with, you know, covering watches, I also think just as an audience, the fact that it was a week and every day you could go to your favorite site and see all the new stuff. And you knew when it was the brand was going to be this day or that day or this time of day or now with Instagram, everything's not to the hour, it's to the minute. Assuming the COVID scenario progresses in a way that allows for it, I think we'll see more of the public days. and get more chances to do that kind of stuff. But it was nice to see not just the, the, you know, the, the one kind of tier of brands or the one thinking about a tier of brand even, um, uh, going on in that space. And, and who knows, maybe if they keep going, I can drag this guy back out there cause he's my fondue buddy. I didn't get any fondue this time.
Jason Heaton You know, to that point, I think in terms of getting the public involved, I think that's why a windup type show, I mean, there really aren't a lot of other big, big brands, Oris, I put big in quotes because you're not huge, but like you don't get a lot of other big brands doing events like that. I mean, to their credit, Citizen is here. But to have Oris here, like front and center, like it's a brand that people want to see and handle. And if you only hear about it through the blogs and see press photos or visit the website to check it out, it's like this is and to do it now in three different places in the U.S. I think is just great.
Vijay Geronimo It's important. It's important to everyone to get to do that and experience that. And I don't know why people don't realize that. Yeah, I really I really don't get it because it's let's say, you know, it's an environment adjacency thing or whatever it is value. Yeah, it's really really and it's you know, these are your customers. These are people that are buying your product. Don't you want to know what they have to say? Don't you want to interact with them? It's it's yeah.
James Yeah, it is kind of surprising me where especially as the show the major show landscape has changed that more brands aren't like you know, the dollar, the dollar to FaceTime with people who actually already know my brand. And like, I don't have to spend, I don't have to do the first four paragraphs of my, I just do the bottom, right? Oh, you want to see the new rectangle? Here it is. Here it is. You saw it in the press release. You saw it on whatever blog or whatever. They talked about it on that silly podcast. You love ours. And, uh, and, and, and here it is. It's in, it's in your hand. Oh, you want to try on the rubber strap versus the bracelet. And honestly, I think if the worn around folks, if they could keep this going, there's going to be five or six of them. It'll be one every couple of months. Yeah. It'll do a big circle. Maybe, who knows, maybe we get one up in Toronto or something like that. I voted for that. I think it'd be fun, right? Yeah. People in Toronto, I would love it. Lots of people who listen would love it.
Vijay Geronimo No, and again, I think, yeah, I think it's so, it's just so important that we do these type of things. And, you know, I'm excited for the next one in New York. Like I think, and it's nice in New York with wind up, you know, and watch time goes on at the same time. So it's a nice, if you're a watch person, And you have a nice weekend in New York. I know it's just a nice time to be there. And it's like everyone is just happy to be there and see things. And so I think that's really that's really a good thing for the at least for our industry.
Jason Heaton What are you seeing here this weekend that people are excited about? I mean, I'm guessing the ProPILOT 400.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah, the ProPILOT X seems to be very popular. The New York Harbor, a lot of people have seen. Yeah.
James The dial is great.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah, the dial, the upcycle is Yeah. Is really something you know. So we have some we're trying to just showcase some of the sustainability things. So talking about the up cycle and things like that. Right. So that's been that's been decent.
Jason Heaton Do you feel like with the accelerated with kind of the social media and kind of the what we talked about earlier with kind of more cycles of introductions of watches in a given year over the course of several years there's a pressure for brands to like innovate more quickly and like come up with something new and bold rather than sort of just iterating existing popular products. I don't know that Oris falls into that necessarily. I don't get that sense. But do you do feel that that pressure to like, oh, we got to want we got to like take our, you know, caliber 400 stuff and like change, change something, keep upping it.
Vijay Geronimo You know, I wouldn't say it's a pressure. I just think it's your point earlier. I think it's always having a plan for the future, not just looking at the next three months strategy. And you can't look at the next. Quite frankly, you can't look at three months Yeah. You know, it's a definitely a year, two year horizon to say, what are we going to launch this year? What are we going to launch? You know, and it's kind of lining that all up. Yeah. Obviously things, things come along, but there's always, you know, we're always looking for things to do and we always try to find things that, that makes sense.
Jason Heaton And watchmaking is, it's this, it's this craft in the end. I mean, it's this very archaic sort of crap. I mean, everything that kind of, accordions back from from the front office and marketing and whatever has to come down to these these guys that are actually designing movements. I mean, that's that's not an easy thing to do either. Yeah.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah. And I think, you know, when we think about or specifically with caliber 400, we launched it at the end of October of 2020 during pretty much during the pandemic. And then and now it's making its way into other products. And, you know, we plan to do that. I think that's a pretty safe bet to say that you'll see it in other things from us. So it's really You know, it's just having an idea of your product focus.
James Right. And what's the overriding strategy with the Holstein additions? I think skunk works a special creation.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah. I think it's just something to commemorate ourselves. Like we don't have any retail boutiques in the U.S. So it's just something that we want to make something special with the Oris bear on it. You know, that was kind of the philosophy. So we made this the third one that we've made. They're available through our retail channels. through our eShop, through our boutiques, in our Airstreams, when they're out on the road. Unlike most people when it comes to that, our philosophy about eShop purchases is that we support our retailer network. So if you're a consumer and you wish to, say, buy a Holstein Edition and deliver it to your retailer, the retailer can participate in the program as well. So it's not like they can't get the product like many other brands. We try to be 100% inclusive in our philosophy about that. and work from that.
James And then I'm curious, you mentioned the Airstream. Talk a bit about that, because my guess is there's some folks who know it really well because it's come by them and other people who might need to be convinced to make a little drive and meet up somewhere, right?
Vijay Geronimo Yeah. So, yeah, the Airstreams are our way of kind of being out in the public and doing events and all these different things. We had our first one in 2018. It was a vintage 1978 international lanyard. So it was quite a It was quite a thing to move it around and take it around and we've used it. So we've basically, the idea is to build it out into a mobile boutique that people can come and showcase product. We've done a lot of events over the years and you know, you always wind up at, you know, an outside, if you do an outside event, you're under a tent with a table, you know, here it's a different, but it's much like here where the watches are on a table and it's, it's the presentation could be better in some situations. So we wanted something that was, casual, yet very flexible. And, and honestly, it's been great. So we have the vintage one. And then right before COVID, we put three others into production to have and then COVID hit. So we kind of slowed down a little bit. But yeah, now they're now they're all out and operating and doing events across country.
James And is there just a specified website someone can go to to see where they're going to be?
Vijay Geronimo There is. There's an Airstream schedule now published on our AORUS.ca. Oh, fantastic.
James We'll put that in the show notes.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah. It's out there. So you'll see where the Airstreams will be this fall. That's amazing. Fantastic.
James That's so fun. Yeah, it's cool. What else is on the horizon for programs or, you know, we can't talk about new models until we talk about new models.
Vijay Geronimo We have some good things coming at the end of the month. You'll see something else from us. Nice. Some very relevant things in the fall as well. So some new product there as well. So just continue to to put things out that make sense and that that really kind of showcase some of the some of the projects we're working on and things that we're doing. So excited about it. Yeah. A bit busier than ever. Yeah. Like it's I think that's how it is for.
James Yeah. It's crazy. Good time to hustle.
Vijay Geronimo Yeah definitely. Sure. Definitely.
James Look Vijay thanks so much for coming on. This has been an absolute treat. Like I said you know maybe maybe a little bit overdue by a few years. Well but you know it's just so nice to be in the same place again see people face to face. Definitely. Y'all sit in the room with us. It's really something kind of special. And I feel like it's something I absolutely took for granted until March of 2020. Obviously, the podcast can keep going, but it's not really the same to do everything over Zoom. To the point you made earlier, this is nice.
Vijay Geronimo It's very nice. And thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure talking with you guys, hanging out with you guys. It's more rare than it should be, but it's nice to nice to do it again. Yeah.
James We'll have to get some oysters in New York, maybe over the next fair.
Vijay Geronimo Definitely.
James Yeah, definitely.
Jason Heaton Thanks. Thank you. All right. Well, thanks again to Vijay for coming on. You know, we've we've chatted with him before and and of course we've seen him so much over the years and he's just such a a down to earth friendly guy. I think that's what I, what I appreciate about him the most. Yeah. And as we were packing up from wind up there, he was with the sleeves rolled up, uh, you know, taping shut boxes and helping him pack up. He's right in there with his team. And that's one thing I've always appreciated about Vijay. He's just such a down to earth real guy, um, which is something that's often lacking in this, uh, kind of luxury industry. And I've always liked that about Vijay. So, uh, it was a great chat and Vijay, once again, thanks for, thanks for joining us.
James Yeah, absolutely. It was great to chat with Vijay and a super fun to have him on the show. Uh, you want to hit some final notes?
Jason Heaton Sure. Yeah. A couple of nights ago, Ghoshani and I caught, uh, 13 lives on Amazon prime. So this is the, uh, the film, um, kind of the, I don't know what you'd call this. Is it, is it considered a docudrama? It's, it's, it's of course, based on the true story about the, the Thai cave rescue.
Unknown Oh, okay.
Jason Heaton Captivated everybody, um, years ago. And that, uh, Jimmy Chin and his wife, uh, shy versa highly, um, did a documentary about called the rescue, which was such a spectacular film as well. And Ron Howard directed this one. Um, and it stars Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton's in it. It was well done. It was really good. It was, it was interesting to see kind of a, I guess you'd call it a dramatization of, of that, that rescue. I still feel like if you want to get a true sense of what it was all about, watch the rescue, but this was just different enough. And I think, you know, Viggo Mortensen is such a great actor and I like Colin Farrell and they did a really good job playing kind of the two lead diver roles in this movie. And, um, And then, you know, they really made an effort to, to look at other people involved with that whole story. Even the, you know, the kids and the, the local government and the Thai Navy seals and, and, you know, just others that were kind of helping out with the effort rather than only focusing on, on the Western divers that came to help. And, um, I, every time I read about or watch anything regarding that. Cave diving rescue. I'm just blown away by what they accomplished, um, the way that they came up with the solution for getting those kids out of the cave. Yeah. It's just, it like gives me hope and humanity. It was just a fantastic. So I recommend that it's on Amazon prime.
James It was such a daring rescue as well. So daring. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, you've got to have Disney plus to see the rescue start there and then jump over to prime to catch 13 lives. Jason, were you aware of this existing before it got, before it hit prime?
Jason Heaton Only like a couple of weeks beforehand.
James Really? Yeah. Brand new for me. Yeah, I'm glad you liked it. That's a solid cast. I like most of those actors and Howard seldom turns in anything less than excellent. Yeah, it was good. What do you have this week? Yeah, so mine's actually just a video from a YouTube channel that I find kind of nice and calming. It's called the Dream Desk Setup from David Zhang. I followed this channel for a while and I find it interesting because it's all beautifully shot and it's all very calm. It has a little bit of like just on the edge of being ASMR-y in terms of the Sort of video or an audio quality But this guy has a very specific aesthetic and and goes to great lengths to make like a very clean workspace where he does his various work and This one is the dream desk setup my 35 modern and minimal desk accessories And he kind of breaks down everything that's on his desk and and I don't think even in my position where I like to have monitors and arms and my cables pretty tidy and that sort of thing. I wouldn't go to this extreme, but I do think that if you work from home and have a desk and, and, and kind of attached to this look versus the cluttered look of my desk currently. Yeah. I do think you can watch this video and just kind of appreciate his level of attention and also maybe get a couple ideas, whether it's an arm to hold your laptop. So it's not on some stand on your desk or, uh, the way that he's kind of routed various wires for switching between different inputs for his headphones and I nerd out pretty hard on this stuff. It may not resonate strongly with a lot of you, but I loved this video and, uh, and I really appreciated kind of his attention to detail and the way that he has the, a space set up that feels so, um, like light and easy to sit for a while. I have trouble sitting at my desk for very long and it's probably cause I have too much going on around the desk. And, uh, and yeah, he, he's got a great setup and it's a video I watched and I was just kind of like, I got to see if people, uh, how many other people would be keen on this. He's got, you know, more than 380,000 subscribers. So it's, it's a pretty solid channel. And he does a lot of these things where he explains his productivity or his, um, sort of desk setup or, and that sort of thing. And this seems to be one that kind of operates as like a big roundup of, um, of the, the finer points of his current setup.
Jason Heaton I gotta check this out because I need help. I, my desk is, it's just a rat's nest of cables and I, I just, I've, I've kind of given up. I just sort of, push things out of the way when I need to, but it's, it's just a mess and yeah, it's tough, right? It is tough. And I think I probably need to kind of reconfigure even where things sit on my desk, which might help kind of hide some cabling and just do some simple organizing. So I'm going to check that out and see if I can get some, get some tips because yeah, I need, I need to do something, especially before winter comes just to kind of, cause I spent a lot of time sitting here. So it's a, it's needed. That's really cool.
James Yeah. And I, it's probably a sign that I don't, that I'm not like thrilled about my desk setup, how much I will choose to sit in bed and work unless I need the bigger monitor or, or the microphone, which is kind of what's at my desk. And, uh, and it's where, but right now, like it's, it's mostly hard drives, watches, pocket knives, uh, and camera gear that's kind of pushed into a, a, a semicircle around me. Yeah. Yeah. And there's a, there's a semblance of, of normal space in the middle. where I can kind of put things together and have a keyboard and a mouse and that kind of thing. So I should definitely learn from the video, but he only put it up a few days ago. I think it's really nice. It's super calming to watch and he just does a good delivery. So I'm a fan of the channel. It's worth a subscription if you kind of watch this video and enjoy it. He doesn't put out a ton of videos, so you don't feel like you're falling behind. But when he puts a video out, I mean, this is only a six minute video, but wait until you see the specificity and everything's chaptered. And then you can go to the essentially like the show notes for the in the description and get a link to pretty much anything that you're interested in. And it's everything from like cable management to hardware to giant screen and arms and that sort of thing. So it's great.
Jason Heaton Awesome fan. I'm going right to that after the show. That's cool.
James And yeah, so that's the show. Thank you so much for listening. We hope you enjoyed. Episode 204, if you want to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grabbing yourself a TGN signed NATO, please visit TheGreyNATO.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive.
Jason Heaton And we leave you with this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said, live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink in the wild air.