The Grey NATO – 227 – Jason Gallop And The Fire That Almost Ended His Family Watch Business
Published on Thu, 16 Feb 2023 06:00:00 -0500
Synopsis
This episode features a conversation with Jason Gallup, the watchmaker and proprietor of Roald Dorf Co. watch store in Vancouver. Jason recounts the devastating fire that destroyed his store in April 2022 and the efforts to recover valuables like customer watches from the wreckage. Despite the challenges, Jason and his wife Mary have reopened the store in a new Gastown location. The discussion covers Jason's background with the original family store, opening the Gastown location pre-pandemic, the fire and its aftermath, and their aspirations for watchmaking education and events at the new store.
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Transcript
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| Blake Buettner (Host) | 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 227, 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 visit TheGreyNado.com for more details. So this week we have a special guest host filling in for Jason, who's currently gallivanting about with Blancpain and Rangaroa. in the hopes of it not being too jarring of a replacement, not only is my special guest a familiar voice for those who've been listening to the show for a while, his name is also Jason, and he also drives a Defender. It's a pleasure to welcome back to the show, the watchmaker, proprietor of Roald Dorfen Co. and my friend, Jason Gallup. How's it going, man? Mr. Stacey, it's really good to hear you. Yeah, this is a treat. I feel like you're one of the few friends where I always kind of have you in the pocket, where if I need an episode, you've got my back. But it's so nice to see your face. We used to hang out so much in Vancouver. Yeah. And it's been... Yeah, we miss you here, man. Yeah. And I miss you and the family and the mountains and the ocean and the rain. I miss it all for sure. But I'm thrilled to get a chance to sit down. Obviously, I think this episode is a pretty long time coming. because for those of you who... For those in the audience who know you or know Roald Dorf or both, some big things happened in the last couple of years, some of which were on Instagram, some of which weren't. And we do wanna get into all of that concerning the store and the rest of it, but maybe we start on a somewhat less deep topic. How have you been in general? How are things today? What's caught your eye these days for watches? |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Okay, well, why don't we do this? You caught my eye for a watch. Um, there I was one night listening to, uh, this strange podcast called gray NATO. And I'm listening to you talk about a particular watch and I'm, I'm laying in bed and I'm, I'm half asleep. And I'm all of a sudden I hear about this watch and I'm like, what? I have that effect. Are you kidding me? And I've got Mary in the background saying, can you turn it off, please? I'm trying to sleep. And I'm like, no, no, no. I'm actually listening to this. Listening about this watch. Right. Then it's like, okay, now you've really got my attention. Flip it. I actually pick up the phone and start searching it. And then I see it and I'm like, oh no, he's done it again. It's a goodie. He's done it again to me. So I'm wearing the Houdini Maido. It's nice, eh? Oh God, the ocean star is amazing. You know, I've worn it now for about a month and I've hardly ever taken it off. I love it. It fits so well, and the dial is outstanding. I love it. It's gorgeous. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | Yeah. So I mean, anyone listening in the last 20 episodes has heard me ramble quite a bit about the Ocean Star LE for Hodinkee, but it is probably my personal favorite watch of last year with possible fight with the Pelagos 39. And I just think it's a great value. The design's dead on perfect. What strap do you wear yours on? One of the three or something else? Oh, on the bracelet. On the mesh. Yeah. It's nice. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Yeah. On the mesh. Yeah. Oh God. Yeah. It's gorgeous. You know, cause it warms up and I don't wear, I don't wear bracelets. So this is the first watch. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | Yeah. Well, and then I just recently picked up a, an Erica's in flat gray in 21 millimeter for it. And now it's like, it's perfect. Like I can fall asleep with it on. It's never uncomfortable. It's not too heavy. It's not too light. It's, It's just right. So yeah, I'm thrilled with that watch. It's surprisingly still available. They still have some units at Hodinkee. And I think for the money, not only the three straps, but also, you know, a proper flyer GMT that I think is gorgeous and kind of just the right size. It's not too big. It's not too small. It's not, you know, it has a lot of vintage inspiration in its aesthetic, but not so much in its footprint. It sits like a modern watch, which I like quite a bit. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | It's a big hit all around, I have to say. I love it. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | Yeah. And I mean, on my side, since we're going into a very early run of risk check here, I couldn't decide between the Mito or my Bremont S302, which is another watch that you own, that I have. You do the Bremont retailing in Vancouver, which of course is great. And talk about a watch where the colors really work really quite beautifully and it sits really well. Like almost everything I could say that I like about the Mito is also what I like about the S302, but that's the one that I threw on. And I get still just a ton of wear out of it. It's great. for travel. It's great when you're home and just want to watch a second time zone. I'm doing a ton of like meeting bookings for watches and wonders, and if I'm on my computer, I can see Google Calendar can show you two time zones at once. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Yeah, yeah. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | But I'm either too old to figure out how to do it on my phone or it doesn't do it on my phone. I'm not sure. So it's handy. It is just six hours, but it is nice to have that on your wrist. So that's what I've got on and certainly fun. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Yeah. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | Look, I think probably the next logical point would be to jump right into chat about what the last couple of years have been like for Rolldorf. You know, for those of you who don't know Jason or the shop, the hook of the story here is one of my favorite watch stores in the entire world was this Rolldorf & Co. It was one of my initial watch footings in Vancouver. It's where, of course, I met Jason. And Jason, your father had started the store. And when I met you, you were in the Barard Center in the basement. That's right. And we just started hanging out, you know, Jason Lim from Hallios was a kind of a shared friend between us. Yeah. And there were several other folks that were just kind of there and it was a cool spot that like you could go right after work. It didn't feel like you're going to a bar, but you could sit down and some friends would be there. It had the communal element. Occasionally, there was some whiskey just every now and then not a big deal. And then you made this incredible move to a beautiful store in Gastown. Yeah. And then I think from there, I'll let you pick it up. This is much more your story than mine, but I'm fascinated to hear it all kind of put in one linear line. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Yeah. So you're absolutely right. That's exactly sort of the path of it all. For those that don't know, Roald Dahl Funko, yeah, sure. You know, my dad had the store in the Bentall Center. And, um, when, when he passed away, it was, you know, I was, I was outside of the industry and, uh, but still very much inside it. My, my head was always there. My heart was always there, but I was just doing some other things when I was asked to close it down, I guess the bug bit. And so that's why, um, I created this space that, you know, watch lovers would, would really like, you know, the kind of place where I'd like to go in and talk about watches and just hang out. You know, it was time to help people out a little bit because anyone that has been down it or tried to find that store has always got lost. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | So it's just like... It was in a basement of a multi building complex in downtown Vancouver. You know, you go to these stores and it's kind of these myriad hallways that all kind of branch off of a food court. So you had to kind of know what stores were on the various turns, depending on what stairway you came down into the labyrinth to find it easily. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Yeah, I know. And there's three food courts there. So you can't just say, oh, go to the food court. That's right. They end up at some other place, you know, nearly a mile away. With the brands that we had sort of taken on and that I loved, because it is curated, You know, it was like, no, I've got to give more exposure to these things. So that's where making a decision to go above ground was a big deal, to actually find a place where I could try and recreate what we have or had in the Bentall Center, but do it a little bit larger and be able to show off the pieces a little bit more, where people could walk by and go, ooh, what's this? Yeah, so that was the plan. And I wanted Gastown as well because, number one, I love Gastown. I think it's one of the coolest spots in the city because it's old. And being from London, I miss old, right? Everything in North America to me is very new. And even though I've lived here most of my life now, but it still is. Gastown's the place. So I spent a long time trying to find a place. And then once I found a place, I spent a long time trying to negotiate for that space, and then we got it, which was great. The crazy thing was, was I signed the lease, I think it was like two or three weeks before all the shutdowns for COVID. I didn't think it was such a big deal at the time because, hey, you know what? It takes time to build out a store. I thought, oh yeah, this will blow over by the time I get to actually open it. So it's actually nice. It's quiet out. and do tons of work. Didn't quite work out that way. It went on for a while and it kept going on. And even when we did open, it was a very strange opening because we couldn't have that many people in. There were all the restrictions and stuff like that. So there wasn't as much excitement about it. I was excited because I thought the place looked great and everything else, but it was just that it was missing something. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | And why don't you give people a quick scope of what brand you were carrying at the time? Because I got to see the store right around the time that you're mentioning now, maybe a few months later. The pandemic had slowed quite a bit in Vancouver, and I was able to make it out the fall of 2021 and hang out for a bit. And we went to the store, I think, a couple of times. It was in this great area. There's a few spots around. So if you're out walking around or you wanted to meet up for a spot of really good food. You were right in the right in the hook of it. Yeah, I remember like so we're talking some pretty keyed in brands. If you're in the kind of in the TGN sense, like you Braymont, Seiko Prospex, Zinn, Laco, Autodromo, Nomos. Who else do we have? Nomos, of course. Yeah. Oh, yeah, right. We're very early TGN with Merlin. Yeah, that's right. Way, way, way, way, way back. Yeah. I mean, Jason, you've been on a few times certainly. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | That's almost vintage now. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | I think so, yeah, we're getting there. A couple hundred episodes ago for sure. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | We've definitely bucked trends in the sense of, you know, when you think about having a watch shop and sort of the usual suspects being one of the groups. One of my things has always been I wanted to be very independent, very independent in the watches that we had, never to be snooty about anything, but to show people something new. And I think that just, I don't know, that's a passion thing. You can't really describe it any other way than that. Also, microbrands. Microbrands were something that were exciting to me. Just being able to speak to people and go, wow, yeah, what you're producing is great. And that's when that's when I met Jason Lim, too. And we started some collaborations because I was just so impressed by by by Jason and that. So this is how the brands build sort of that at Roldorf. I see a spark and I just think, yeah, I want to collaborate. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | So you have this beautiful store in a really cool part of town. I just think about the last time I was there, fantastic couches and and, you know, beautiful you know, displays. You're also basically able to service just about anything aside from something very modern and in-house where parts wouldn't be available at all. Due to your training, you've got more than one servicer, watchmaker operating on the premise. And then take me to April 2022. Yeah. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Monday morning, I'm like, oh, I've got work I've got to do. I'm going to go into work. I got in there about 9 a.m. beautiful sunny day, just very similar to what it is today here in Vancouver. And I'm sitting there on the couch as I would, you know, just, just easing into a day. We're not open that day at all. So yeah, then I start hearing this thumping upstairs, like, like I heard of cattle running around. Like it, it was, it was really crazy. You have to remember these are all buildings, right? It's social housing. And so, The term SRO is one that's single room occupancy, so people have a room. These rooms were designed for people that were going out into the wilderness to mine or to log and stuff like that. So they'd have a place to come back into for a few days and that. So the hotel never really changed that much. It was quite famous. There were lots of films filmed there. But anyway, so I'm starting to get down to work and pulling out the uh the camera gear i've got some watches out so got my day planned and i hear this noise going on upstairs and i'm wondering what the heck is going on and uh and then i start seeing some people run out onto the street and there were a few people that i knew from from upstairs and i'm like what's going on so i open up the front door and i stick my head out and that's where The world went into slow motion because I see a friend of mine that lived upstairs pointing up above me and the words were coming out very fast, but I was hearing it very slowly. It was fire, right? And I turn my head and I just see smoke billowing out of a window just to the right of our entrance upstairs on the first floor. And it was intense. And there was no alarm or anything. We never heard an alarm or anything. So anyway, I sort of walked back into the store. And for those of you that may have watched Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, there's a card game. I don't want to give it away, but one of the key characters stands up and the whole world is spinning. And that's what it was. It was exactly like that for me at that particular moment. that I went back inside and I didn't know what to do first, right? Because when you've got seconds to grab things, what do you grab or do you just run? Right. And all of this was, was going, going through my head. And as that was going through my head, I'm, I'm seeing smoke come into the unit, uh, through the brick wall, that long brick wall that was down one side of the store. Yeah. It was finding any little crack, any hole and jetting into the store. And it started to fill the room really quickly. And at that point, it was just like, OK, I've got to start saving some stuff. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | So in terms of in terms of like raw assets in the store, you have all sorts of watchmaking tools, benches, that sort of stuff. That's a given. But then you have a mix of product for being retailer and also, you know, customers watches that are stored in the safe. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | So there were two different safes. One had stock in it, the other had customers' goods, goods that were waiting to be worked on, some goods that were in a partial state of assembly, and parts, you know, watches waiting for parts, all of that stuff. And I'm like, oh my God. Okay, so that was the first thought, was to start doing that. But the room was filling up so quickly with smoke I had to run up to the front door, get a breath, go back in. And then I realized I had to find bags to put this stuff in. And that wasn't easy because Vancouver's got this policy of no bags anymore to be given out to people. So we didn't have any bags in the shop. And in the far back room, in a washroom, there was, I remembered there were two bags that were holding, like canvas bags that were holding cables. So I went back there and I That that's when it really hit me how bad it was because that room was completely full of smoke and It was acidic, you know, you go in there and like when I went in there my eyes immediately started to burn It was just crazy. So I tossed I got these two bags put them down by the safe and Then went back out for another another breath So I did this a few times and I got I got half the safe emptied things that were easy to grab. And then at that point, I couldn't do any more because it was just getting worse and worse and worse upstairs. You know, fire engines pulling up, not just one, but multiple fire engines, police were down there. And so, yeah, that's when, you know, I had to leave the store. So I just shut that safe up and locked it and just went, okay, now it is what it is. I've got some things and, um, yeah, that I had, I had to leave. There was no way I could have, I could have got anything else. Um, it was, it was dangerous. There's a lot of people that I've told this story to have said, you're just ridiculous. A watch is a watch. It doesn't matter, but it's more than that. It's way, way more than that. And you've got a story that, that, that can, can describe that really completely. And I think it's only because of having been in the industry for so long with my growing up in the industry, I guess, with my dad as a goldsmith, I fully understood that these items, they have a particular value and it's not face value. It's, you know, a watch may only be worth a couple of hundred bucks if you go on eBay or whatever to find something. But to the person, it's so much more. And I knew that. And that's why I did that. Imagine going back to a person and saying, oh, yeah, well, our insurance company has offered you $200 for your watch. It's like, that just doesn't work, right? It just doesn't work. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | Yeah. And just to put not a final point on this part of the story even, but the fire was all encompassing. Yeah, man, it moved fast. So you saved what could be saved. And then it was a pretty complicated few days. I spoke to you several times. You know, phone calls I won't soon forget. Yeah. You know, what were the next few days like from a logical standpoint of those safes and other valuables in the store? |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Yeah. So, you know, one's most logical thought is, oh, once this part of it's done, with the fire and they've put the fire out we'll be able to go back in there and pull things out and that that wasn't the case in this case um they had put an immediate demolition order on on the building and uh and that was something that um was quite was quite shocking i wasn't quite prepared for that because while talking to fire investigators you know there was some hope that we'd be able to get in there fairly shortly to be able to do that. So I put plans together for that, but that wasn't the case. Many people wrote letters to the city of Vancouver to, uh, that there was this outpouring when they found out what, what actually was going on in the sense that there was no way I could save my tools and, and, and things like that. Um, but what, whatever could be saved, you know, just having the chance to be able to go in there was, was, um, was the thing before the entire building was demolished with everything in it. Now this wasn't just my plight, this was the plight of every retailer in there, and also the plight of the people that lived upstairs, right? You know, it was horrible for them because they had everything there. At least, hey, I could go home and and have a beer and calm down. They were homeless again, right? And that was very, very odd. There were petitions that went out. Meanwhile, there was this Damocles sword hanging over us going, yep, the building's coming down, and that's too bad. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | And so this was the 11th when the fire started. 11th was when the fire started. So the building is then kind of summarily dismantled where it stands, what was then the next stages to recovering anything in the rubble? Speaking kind of specifically to the safes. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Yeah, so there was always hope that we'd be able to get something, which we chose very good safes. But when you actually see a building and you see especially a brick building with things actually coming down. How exactly those safes can actually stand up to such a pounding, right? |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | Well, and then even before the building demolition, hours and hours of water. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Yeah, so much water actually. The basement, we were above the basement and the basement actually filled up and that was seven feet high. Goodness sakes. And it started to come up through the floorboards out onto the street that way. hundreds of thousands of gallons poured onto the building to put out that fire. Now, no safe is water-resistant, maybe for a short period of time. But, you know, safes have countermeasures. They've got, you know, vibration sensors and door open sensors and all things like that. And that requires a hole to be drilled. And safes can only stand so long in a fire. And fire did not touch our unit. It was water and demolition that were the things. It turns out that through everybody that put the petition in, through me getting there first thing in the morning, talking to the demolition team that was in there, trying to explain my plight and the plight of the other retailers, like, can we possibly get in there? There was a concession made, which was the first breakthrough. And I think that came about three or four days in. And it was really spur of the moment where we were told, OK, each of the retailers is going to get a team that can go in for 10 minutes only. And you need to tell them what to grab. And it's like, OK. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | How do you do that? |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | How do you do? Yeah, seriously, how do you do that? I really don't know. And it ended up me just being on a walkie talkie talking to the demolition team that went in there, saying, hey, I'm going to point you here, here and here. There's some stuff on the benches I was about to work on. Can you take that out? You know, there's hand tools in there. somehow get those. They're in the drawers of the benches and stuff like that. And so I'm trying to direct them to doing that and they certainly did. They got in there, they pulled out the drawers and tossed all the contents into these clear bags. Because of the fact that that building obviously had asbestos and stuff like that, there was an environmental team on board that were there saying, OK, anything that comes out of there has got to be cleaned, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, yeah, but this is all steel. You can't do that. Yeah, don't be spraying this stuff down. But they were insistent anyway. So that happened. So we did get drawers of tools out. And then in one of those moments that you kind of go, oh, my God, I'm so glad I thought about that. There was a clock. on the back wall, which is a Synchronome Master Clock. And that clock is very special to me. When talking to the environmental guys, I'm like, ooh, you know what? That clock has a big vial of mercury in it. I don't think you want to be like, I think you should just carefully pull that off the wall. And sure enough, the guys did. They ripped it off the wall. So I'm repairing that now. So we got some stuff. When it came down to the safes, there was no way I could try and talk somebody through opening up a combination safe in 10 minutes. They would have spent the whole time trying to do that, get it wrong, keep doing it over and over and over again. So it's like, forget the safes. That is what it is. Turns out that the safes had actually fallen through into the basement anyway. Wow. It took about six weeks. Yeah, four to six weeks. I can't quite remember. for the first safe to come out. And that wasn't the safe that I was hoping it would be, funnily enough. It was the safe that had the stock in it. And then it took the end of the first week of July that they found the other safe in the basement. That was a miracle. That safe was completely beaten up. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | And had sat there for three months, had survived the water falling through the floor, the building being demolished on top of it. And then what, were they just progressively digging deeper and came across the safe? |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | They knew about it. Yeah. Um, they were trying to find it, but it was a matter of when they were, when the whole building had been completely flattened and they're taking away bins of rubble. They're getting deeper and deeper and deeper. I mean, when we finally got it down to the, the safe store, uh, that I use, it didn't look good about it being open because it had been so badly beaten up. Uh, and I was very, very concerned because everything that was in there was fragile, you know, really fragile. Um, and, uh, and so I was, I was just beside myself going, you know, what's, what's going on. So for this part of the story, this is the miraculous part. They got the, they got the safe door open. The safe apparently had fallen into a pool of water that filled up the safe. to just below halfway. Okay. Everything else that was on the shelf above didn't go into the water. So that was partially disassembled watches and things like that. When they opened the safe up, it was all in place. Nothing had shifted. For those people that know what the watchmaker's trays are like, they're plastic trays with compartments and you can lay a watch out and you've got different compartments for that and they're stackable. And so that was the story, and from there, while all that was going on, we're thinking, let's rebuild. Let's get this going. I won't lie, there came a point where I was, you know, should we even contemplate trying to reopen? Like, it just seems so nebulous, so unachievable. Mary, my wife, my wife and I just just looked at each other and went, OK, we're going to do it. Mm hmm. Just so happens we were able to find a place, a beautiful shop not too far away in the Gastown area. And we've rebuilt there and have now reopened. And that's the story. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | And that's kind of why I wanted to get I wanted to do this now. I mean, we could have done it six months ago. We could have done it, you know, eight months ago. And it would have been only piece a piece of the story. And I know that you're being honest and saying that you were considering, I think like anybody would, do we wanna do the same thing again? Yeah. Do we wanna chase that same dream or do we wanna augment it or walk away or whatever? But I think in all the conversations I had with you, and some of them were pretty desperate conversations back in April of last year, I got the sense that you weren't done with this idea though. Um, or maybe it wasn't done with you and Mary. I'm not sure. Maybe it's a mix of both. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Yeah. You know, it, um, it, you know, these, these thoughts always creep in there deep down. Yes. That's what I wanted to do, but now it's, it's changed my perspective in, in, in many ways. Um, COVID has changed my perspective. The fire has changed my perspective, but the biggest thing that changed my perspective was during that period while we were Getting the new place ready while contacting customers, letting them know that pieces had survived from the pieces that I'd brought out. They were all jumbled up, so we had to sort all that stuff out. And actually sitting down, meeting with them, sitting down and giving their pieces back to them and hearing those stories. It was complete affirmation for the reason why I went into that safe in the first place. And that was another reason why that was the affirmation for doing this. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | I had several watches with you when the fire took place. And when we first spoke, you were worried about that. And I think you would feel the same if it was the other way around, like watches are watches. But I can say that not that long ago, and there's going to be a bigger story about this. So I'm going to leave some of the details out of this. But not that long ago, you did deliver to me a family heirloom piece that means the world to me. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | You know what? I'm very fortunate that I've got a partner that is so absolutely incredible. Without her and her amazing communication skills and empathy, I don't know where we'd be, really, because she was the one initially contacting people to say, hey, we've got your piece or, hey, we haven't found your piece yet, but we're really hopeful. Um, so she was having those conversations, uh, with people and, uh, that's something, you know, I would have been totally useless at, um, like she, she knows how to do it and she's amazing for that. So thank you, Mary. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | Uh, well, first of all, let me co-sign. Mary is incredible. You certainly have an A-plus wife and partner in her. And yeah, I definitely want to dig into kind of the new store and its location and the reopening and that sort of thing. But I think the final piece of context to put in this is obviously a terrible experience, but it goes without saying that it could have been worse. For several people involved in the fire, it was significantly worse. It was a catastrophic event for a lot of people who obviously lived in that building and people whose you know, lives were heavily affected by the fire. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | The one guy that I was telling you about that pointed out the fire to me, all he wanted to do was to get back in there and get his family photographs. Of course. Because that's all he had. And it's devastating to hear stuff like that. And I know our plight was a thing, but his is everything. Yeah. Right. And, and that, that's what puts everything into perspective for me. And I think that, uh, people that hear this story, perhaps it, it will put some things into perspective from them because it's very easy to, to, to forget about others and, and, and stuff like that, where we become so focused on a moment where that we are so centered in. Um, and, um, and I'd never gone through anything quite like this, um, in, in my life. And that was very humbling. It was all very humbling. Yeah. There, there are so many different, um, people that, that need to be thanked here. Um, and that's where, that's where that, that coin that, um, uh, that you received with your watch. That's where that, that's where that came from. Absolutely. Yeah. And it was just our way of being able to go, Hey, um, you know, you guys are really, really special and whoo. And you know, without it, without, without that support, uh, we couldn't have, we couldn't have managed it and we still getting it today. Right. Um, yeah, yeah. It's, it's all, amazing. It's amazing people and the fact that we have this other chance to move forward. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | And so the new store is open. Whereabouts in town is it? And can people just stop in or should they get in touch beforehand? |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Yeah, so the new store is open in Gastown. We're on West Cordova Street, 307 West Cordova. So if you happen to be in town, in Vancouver, or are you going to be travelling here? Please drop by, because we're that same cool place where you could just hang out. We're not that far, and if you feel so inclined, you know the old location is about a block and a bit away, so you can actually see what's left of it. Through all of this, I had to furlough a watchmaker, which made it very interesting, because when we did come back online, You know, I found out that he'd been scooped up and I had to start searching for somebody else. And a really good story has come out of that too. So for the first time ever, I've taken on an apprentice. A young fellow approached me from Edmonton saying he wants to become a watchmaker. He's a mechanical engineer. And so he flew down to meet me and Mary, of course. we hit it off and he's absolutely fantastic. So when you come into the store, you can say hi to him. That's great. That's fantastic. That's great. Maybe we'll open up a school next. Who knows? |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | I know that's been on your dream. Well, I mean, just the idea of supporting horology at large has been a dream of yours for a long time. We used to talk at length about the store only being kind of one spot for that. Yeah. And even the way like if you walk into the Roald Dorf that I remember before the fire, it wasn't really set up like a retail shop. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | No. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | It was set up like a little bit of a common area was your first enter. There was a spot where you could sit and watch a film about watchmaking or learn something from a YouTube video or whatever. And then if you were keen, of course, you could see some watches, but it wasn't like You were being presented with sort of a retail experience. You were being presented with kind of a nod to the passion and enthusiasm for watches. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Yeah, exactly. In a very comfortable environment. And we get that. We get people just coming down just to hang out and chat to each other. Oh, we'll meet down at Roldorf. Okay, cool. And then all of a sudden there's watches all over the table. And people are showing things off. And it's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. friday happy hours and and and things like that and eventually maybe i'll i'll start a podcast again you know we had we had done a few episodes but uh just you know many things got in the way but uh who knows we'll we'll we'll see and maybe i'll leave a space for this a great nato meetup yeah i mean we're it's definitely it's definitely on the list of stuff we'd like to get done kind of as soon as possible meetups are kind of a a |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | primary thought for Jason and I these days, just because we had such a good time at Wind Up Chicago last year, meeting with folks, getting a chance to chit chat about watches. It felt like a really nice moment after the pandemic. Yeah. And it was really nice to be able to have some full circle conversations with people who like the show and already know our tastes in watches or our preference for who knows, boots or cars or whatever it may be. And then we have the slack now. And that's, I think, probably my favorite part about the slack is I can say something stupid or maybe I get lucky and it's smart and it creates this sort of little discussion, and I actually get to be a part of that, or I can apologize for saying that I don't think babies should be on business class or that sort of thing. But hey, you know, these are the things you learn as a non-professional sort of communicator. But yeah, I would love to do—I mean, I would love any excuse to go to Vancouver, especially one that makes it somewhat of a write-off. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | And even some dives. We could do some diving. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | That would be great. Absolutely. Yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm in the process of getting back into, uh, into that. I dug out all the gear recently and it needs a service and the rest of it. But, uh, man, I'm happy that winter's over and yeah, maybe get underwater sometime in the next little while the best season as far as weather is coming up in, uh, in Vancouver, just on the other side of, uh, of summer. So if we can make something happen, obviously stay tuned to, uh, to the slack and to the show. Uh, if we can put together, uh, a hangout, it'll definitely happen. Yeah. Fantastic. But I do think that this was a major moment, you know, about a year ago for a lot of people. And I'm happy to finally get some of the story, you know, kind of directly from you and have you on the show to chit chat about it. But with the store reopened, any big plans for the next little while? Something that people should keep on the radar? Or are you still kind of working through the backlog of everything and getting a new watchmaker going and that sort of thing? Yeah, well, you know me. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | I like to dream a lot, and I always come up with different ideas. You know, the school concept would be amazing if somehow that could be pulled off, because it's much needed. There's a global shortage of watchmakers, that's one thing. The other thing is to, hey, we had a very successful Hallios rolled-off edition, I wouldn't put off a watch coming out in the next little while. Regardless of whether it's Hallios rolled off or just rolled off, Jason will be involved because that is always just so much fun. So we've got that as a plan. I don't know how fast that will come to fruition, but it is there. Of course, there's education involved, like I said before. Doing seminars, little seminars, watch 101s, collecting what to look out for, that kind of thing. They can be, and they'll be the evening things or lunchtime things that we're going to start to do, where somebody can come in and sit down at a bench and take a watch apart and put it back together again. Sure. All of that kind of stuff. That's what we're going to be coming up with over this next year. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | Okay, and if people would like to follow along, be able to maybe know when that kind of stuff is actually hitting a calendar, what's the best way to do so? The Instagram or the website or both? |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Oh, yeah, Instagram, at Rolledorf. We're also on Twitter, Rolledorf Co. And yeah, always pop along to the website. And the best way to get in touch with us is through the website anyway. So you can send an email to us directly through the website, and that will always be attended to. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | Fantastic. Well look man, let's get into some final notes and put a bow on the show, as I like to say. You've got two things, so how about you go first and then I'll follow up. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Alright, well, when thinking about this, it wasn't that difficult because as you mentioned at the top of the show, Heaton is off diving and he and I are, I have to say, eerily similar in many ways. We're both divers and we both drive land rovers and I love diving. So I've got a recommendation for a couple of books that are diving based. One of them is, well, they're both written by Commander Edward Ellsberg. First one is called On the Bottom. It's a story about a World War I submarine being lifted in the twenties. So a lot of hard old hard hat gear stuff. And the other one is is 30 Fathoms Deep, which is a story about finding the Santa Cruz treasure. They're absolutely amazing. Ellsberg is an amazing author. He writes so very well. And, you know, he was in the U.S. Navy and is it was very well respected for his deep dive and underwater knowledge. So yeah, if you if you get a chance, check these out if you can find them. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | Fantastic. Yeah, those are great. We'll definitely include both of those in the show notes. They both look like pretty old books, so it might take a little bit of hunting. Yeah, but isn't that fun? I would think so. Yeah. I mean, treasure seeking, you know, that's the same thing as find it. You know, if you're going underwater, you're hunting for something here. Here are the same for the books. Yeah. And so mine this week will be a story from CNN, which we actually was kind of shared in the TGN slack diving channel. OK, so obviously we have a tons of channel. One of them is diving. And one of our, you know, esteemed slack colleagues, Dean, shared this one. And it is inside the ghost ships of the Baltic Sea. Oh, wow. And it was a CNN story that that kind of links back to a book which is available. It's about divers Jonas Dom and Carl Douglas. who hunt for wrecks in the Baltic Sea and then produce these incredible photos. So one of them is a photographer, the other one's sort of a historian and a writer, and they've come together on a book. Some of these wrecks are like at 110 meters, so they have minutes to get the photo they want. Yeah. Yeah, sure. A story about cool wrecks in an ocean that you're not expecting, that's special alone. Click this link for the photos. It's really, really impressive. The work is very cool. I'm absolutely keyed in on getting the book. whenever possible. But the story itself is called Inside the Ghost Ships of the Baltic Sea. It's for CNN Travel. Again, we got kind of a hat tip from Dean on the TGN Slack and the photos where it doesn't quite look like it's full of water or fully submerged. Some of these wrecks, really, really jaw-dropping stuff. And I thought, I assumed you would have a diving topic or something similar to yours. So I thought I'd go in turn with something similar. And when I saw this pop up, I immediately save it to my pocket. And then later in the week, sat down and actually read it and was just very impressed by the work. And there is something really cool about this sort of perspective on wreck diving that's more about sharing some of the experience with other people than it is taking something from the wreck. They're offering a look into these boats that nobody's had since they went down. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | And that's the insight you get from especially on the bottom too. About what it's actually like to be a tethered diver. Oh, I'm sure, yeah. At the end of World War I. Yeah, it's just incredible. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | Did you ever do any tethered or hardhat diving? |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Aside from tying myself to my wife while we're under there to make sure she doesn't get lost. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | That's a different type of tether, I suppose, yeah. Like Jason was speaking about on a recent episode where you're tied up to somebody. Yeah, exactly. Thank you so much for coming on the show, man. I really appreciate it. Probably not the easiest story to tell or one that's necessarily like a lot of fun to kind of rip through in 40 minutes. But it's something like I've said a few times that I really was keen on eventually covering when the sort of concept had come full circle and with the relaunch of the store in the new location, still in Gastown, something I can't wait to see. It's definitely on my list for this year. as far as travel destinations. Yeah, it's just a treat to have you on and to hear your laugh and to trade a few a few stories with you. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Thank you so much for inviting me on. It's great. And now it was the better time to do it. I think this this was brilliant. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | All right, here we go. As always, thank you so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to The Show Notes, get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, maybe even grab yourself a new TGN signed NATO, or get in on the TGN Slack, please visit TheGreatATO.com. And music throughout is, of course, Siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive. And we leave you with this quote that Jason picked. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | You should make something. You should bring something into the world that wasn't in the world before. Doesn't matter what it is. It doesn't matter if it's a table, a film, or gardening. Everyone should create. You should do something and then sit back and say, I did that by Ricky Gervais. |
| Blake Buettner (Host) | That's a great one. All right, man. This was a treat. Thanks again. |
| Jason Gallup (Guest) | Okay. Thank you so much. |