Episode 160 - Interview with Eric Wind

Published on Wed, 17 Nov 2021 23:59:00 -0800

Synopsis

This podcast episode features a conversation with Eric Wind, a renowned vintage watch expert and founder of Wind Vintage. Eric shares his journey into the world of watches, starting from inheriting his grandfather's vintage Hamilton watch. He discusses his passion for vintage watches, particularly those from lesser-known brands, and his thoughts on the value proposition of microbrands. The discussion also touches on the current state of the watch market, the impact of reselling platforms, and the appeal of permanence in watches amid a world of increasing obsolescence. Additionally, the hosts and Eric exchange recommendations on other topics like TV shows, pasta dishes, and audio equipment.

Transcript

Speaker
Andrew Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 and 20 The Watch Clicker podcast with your host, Andrew. I'm a good friend, Everett. Here, we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Everett, you're making me really uncomfortable as you keep like inching closer to the microphone, like you're going to say something to interrupt me. And you had just like just a slight smirk on your face, like like you were planning something, but you weren't quite ready for it. Or maybe you were ready for it, but you didn't have it quite planned out. It's making me really uncomfortable.
Everett I don't know. I mean, I was I'm just eager. I'm just happy. How are you? I'm really happy to be here. I'm doing really well. I yeah, you know, I feel like it's always the same right now. I'm busy with work and then, you know, here we are. We're I wrote some stuff this week. I think I have two articles going on the website this week, which is odd.
Andrew One of them is crowdsourced from the teams. I don't think you get full credit for that.
Everett That's right. But I did have to write like major portions of, you know, will just sends me his pics and doesn't write anything. So I have to like
Andrew in his voice, try to... And I just send you bullshit, right? And you're like, God, we need to just start this from scratch.
Everett You send like these really pithy comments and then like Evan sends, you know, like really long stuff that I have to sort of like parse down. So it's an experience. It probably, you know, it's not a long article, but it's a holiday gift guide just for you listening. And it maybe took, I don't know, an hour, all things said and done. Who'd you bail? We'll talk about that later. But yeah, no, I'm doing well, man. I'm feeling good. My body feels good. I'm running. I went skateboarding this last weekend with my daughter, and I didn't die. My knee feels good.
Andrew Nor did she.
Everett She didn't die either. That's the more important thing, I think. Yeah, no, I got her all like wrapped up in bubble wrap, basically. So yeah, man, doing great. How are you?
Andrew Good. Hearing her tell the story of her skateboarding, she did make it sound like she was hitting vert ramps like hard.
Everett We did go to the skate park and we did some of the transition stuff. She did pretty well, actually.
Andrew But listening to her tell it, I was like, yeah, I'm not saying you're a liar, but I also don't believe you.
Everett She did like a mini drop in. Yeah, well, I believe that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I think everything's in your mind. She's one, a bit of an embellisher. I'll say that for her part. She's also 10 and excited. She's 10 and excited. Yeah, that's right. And she, and everything feels really big, right? You know, like you look at the skate park and it's like, oh, it's a dinky little, and then you get out there and it's like, oh. I wouldn't get on it. This is not dinky. This is scary as hell. So she did great. I was really impressed by her. That's awesome. Yeah.
Andrew Because I wouldn't get on any of those. How are you doing, man? So good. I am feeling good. Some kind of weird virus attacked my family last week.
Everett And not the coronavirus this time.
Andrew No, no, no. It was some kind of really short burn, just like GI for the kids. It was GI and just vomit city for two days. It was just awesome. It was so not good, but everyone's better now. And so it's nice. I had a long weekend to be sick and also deal with sick kids and now I'm back and I'm on the tail end of the weekend. I got a lot of work done this weekend, which felt really good. So I'm good. I'm just, I'm happy to be here and excited for what's going on. And before we dive into our main topic, I have a thing that I want to share with everyone. Can you do it? I want you to share. So as a part of the Manta newsletter that comes out today, I got one of the Manta newsletters. They are doing a home try on program wherein you sign up for their newsletter. They have a link in there. You can sign up. It's first come first serve. I don't know what the population size of their home try on watches are going to be, but they send you what I'm imagining is a, is a, as a watch with a dummy movement.
Everett So basically we didn't have to start the, the, the podcast is what you're saying. Yeah.
Andrew They've just beat us. And the sole reason we do this and they're going to make money. So for $300 they're going to send you a non functioning watch and you get, I don't know, there's not a, and do you get that money back when you, it's a refundable security deposit. Yeah, that's great. I think you may, I don't even know if you pay shipping.
Everett So it's like fit and finish. Try it on.
Andrew Yeah, that's great for, for their watches. So if you've been in the, I don't really know they're, they're starting this and I'm excited for this. Uh, business model because I think a lot of micro brands are really going to benefit from this because I think one of the hesitance that the things that cause people to hesitate from buying these really terrific watches that are out there on the market and go towards more towards major brands and towards bigger brands and towards things they can actually touch in the metal is that fear of well I like the pictures of it and I know everyone in my sphere likes it but Am I going to like it?
Everett Especially a brand like Manta, right? Where you're paying a little bit more and it's hard to understand why you might want to pay more.
Andrew Really hard for them to justify the... Well, I don't think it's hard for them to justify. I think it's hard for individuals to justify that price. Why is Manta priced at this, at where they are in the segment?
Everett Yeah.
Andrew Well, that's cool. And I think it's really cool. I hope more brands take this on because it's relatively low risk. I mean, you get a $300 security deposit. If you don't send it back, then they're going to charge the credit card that they pulled the 300 security deposit off, and you have a non-functioning watch. You lose twice, and they win twice. So I'm excited for that. Do check it out because this is an opportunity to try some things in the middle, and I'm hoping more people jump onto this.
Everett That's super cool. Andrew, do you think we should introduce our guest? I think we should. I prepared a little bit of an intro because this is a big one for us. Here we go. So our guest tonight is an Oxford University MBA, which I think is a first for us. Yes. He is an award-winning vintage watch expert, probably one of the foremost vintage watch experts in the entire world. He's a longtime contributor to Hodinkee magazine, ruining auctions for all of us normal people with his bring a loop column. He's the former vice president of watches at Christie's. That title's not exactly right, but close enough for us. And the owner and founder of Wind Vintage, Eric Wind. How are you?
Eric Wind Great.
Andrew How are you gentlemen? So excited to have you.
Eric Wind It's awesome, man. I like your podcast a lot. I have not been a longtime listener, but I have started listening to it after it was recommended to me by a client. recently and I like your approach, your vibe, and what you discuss.
Everett You know, I think we're a bit like Kalamata olives, a little bit harder to find, kind of funky, but once you sort of try them, then you're like, oh, this is pretty good. This isn't as bad as I thought it would be. You're an acquired taste. So Eric, our goal tonight, our one goal, we just had one and we may have already gotten, I just wanted to, you've been on lots of podcasts and I wanted to have done the best ever introduction for you. And I think you're the only one actually who could judge that. So did we do okay?
Eric Wind You're tied for the best, if not the best.
Everett Yes. Tied. Tied's good enough. Good enough. I don't even want to know who the other one is because it's probably not an acquired taste, I'll tell you that much.
Eric Wind We won't give anyone else any free advertising. We're focused on the podcast at hand.
Everett Well, thanks so much for joining us, man. This is really a pleasure. And this happened really quick. Andrew and I were talking right before you came on the call about, he was like, how did this even happen? And I was like, shit, man, I don't know. I quoted Carly Rae Jepsen and here we are. Yeah. That's great.
Andrew Well, and I wasn't like I saw these texts happening because I was I was doing something this morning. So I saw that I was getting a text from a number that I didn't know and ever. So I just assumed that somebody had agreed to come join us this week. And I looked at it later in the day and I was like, what just happened?
Everett Where was I? We had planned a totally different episode for for tonight. We had an interview lined up this week in our interview. Just didn't work out. Kind of ghosted us a little bit. Yeah. It's okay. I think he'll be back. But yeah, so we expected to do something totally different tonight. That's great. And something probably less good is my guess.
Eric Wind Yeah, that's very possible. It's good we're all nimble here. Yeah.
Andrew So that being said, with this terrific introduction that Everett's already provided that is tied for first.
Everett Tied for first. That's what I'm going to put on the website.
Andrew What do you want to introduce yourself to people as? For somehow, the maybe one person who listens who doesn't know you, maybe my mom, maybe Everett's mom. Give us a quick... My mom's a big fan. Okay. Well, then my mom, a quick introduction.
Eric Wind Well, there's not a lot to add. I'm from Wisconsin originally. I live in Florida now. I have three kids, seven, three, and six months. A boy is our oldest and two girls. I guess the reason I enjoy your Instagram page and your podcast are I'm actually very passionate about the micro brands as well and have a bunch in my collection. It's not like the main thing I talk about publicly. Obviously my main, main job is buying and selling kind of higher end vintage watches. You know, particularly vintage Rolex, Omega, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, et cetera.
Everett The moneymakers. Yeah. Which is smart.
Andrew If you're going to be in an industry, in this industry, that's probably the right one. Yeah.
Eric Wind You know which tree to shake. I'm not sure buying and selling pre-owned Montas or Okan Oscars or things like that. It's going to pay the bills, but I do love them. And Norcanes. Yeah. Bears. All of these. So, yeah. So, So yeah, I find it really interesting that, you know, these young guys that are building brands, you know, Baltic, all the other brands and, uh, and the value propositions they try to offer. And, you know, that whole concept of zero to one, you know, starting with a blank page and then how do you make a watch and watch brand or how do you approach that whole concept if that's your, your passion and dream. So that's, I would love to get your thoughts more on that as well and what you're digging right now in the market personally for each of you. But that's kind of my approach. Obviously, I study and spend most of my days looking at vintage watches. I do sell some pre-owned modern watches, but it's not really my passion to be honest. It's a bit more of a commodity. I like something special, unique. a little bit different outside of the mainstream, you know, trading, trading modern Rolex is a bit like trading Bitcoin, you know, it's like, they're all the same. You're not really enjoying it. You're not really able to wear it. You're just like putting it in the box and selling it for whatever the market value is.
Andrew Like, how did it get this expensive? Like what changed today?
Everett It's like pork bellies and oranges, right? It's a, You know, um, well, can we, can we back up? Can we back up? Uh, maybe, uh, I dunno, 15, 20 years. Uh, I know that there was a childhood GI Joe watch, which I suspect that I maybe had a similar watch. Um, and then later, uh, the, the, the, the ubiquitous grandfather watch that sort of in, in many really tangible ways for you, um, changed your life. So can you give us sort of your entry in the watches? How you got into this? How the fuck did you get here doing this from Kansas City on a Tuesday night?
Eric Wind Yeah, randomly. I'm in Kansas City right now. First time in a few years here. But yeah, it's never anything that I anticipated. I studied politics at Georgetown. I worked in Washington DC for a few years, but before my senior year, I inherited my grandfather's Hamilton watch, which was called the Neil from 1947. That was a gift to him from my grandmother for their wedding. And, um, you know, he wore it his whole life, you know, the small kind of 30, 31 millimeter watch, uh, gold filled with, kind of Breguet style numerals. And, uh, you know, my, after he passed, my mom had it serviced and gave it to me. And, uh, you know, it was this, this kind of amazing thing, cause he could open it pretty easily, like practically with my thumbnail and then look inside at the movement, which was beautiful. And, uh, got interested in vintage watches at that point. You know, I always had watches, you know, since, since I was young, starting with that GI Joe, uh, digital watch. But the mechanical aspect is something that, you know, very different for people. I would say of our generation, you know, we're not dealing with many mechanical things. Everything we have is obsolescent, you know, the phones, you know, we'll trade them out in a couple of years, et cetera, laptops, everything, iPod, iPads, iPods. So, um, Yeah, this idea that something's permanent, that kind of design element, fashion, history, the fact these things have value, you could buy something and sell it maybe for more if you didn't like it, or at least get out roughly whole, like it's pretty low risk if you're buying something good and you get to enjoy it. You know, that was all part of it for me. And I began just buying some little things here and there. I came across Hodinkee in its first couple of months. uh, in 2008 and began reading that religiously, then figuring out what I might want to buy. There was a local watch shop in DC, which I was pestering them all the time, looking in there. And, uh, yeah, it was just the start of something more than I began emailing Ben and bothering him with tips and things that I saw online.
Everett Ben Climber, Ben Climber of Hodinkee fam, obviously. Yeah. Ben as we call him too. Yeah.
Eric Wind Yeah. And he said, why don't you write, I'm about to start journalism school at Columbia. Do you want to write about this universal genev poll router and tell the story? And I said, sure, why not? So I was excited and wrote and got positive response and then just kept going with it. You know, those first articles were unpaid, uh, but it was just a passion thing to do in the evenings and on weekends when I wasn't working. So, Um, the rest was kind of history. The, those articles about vintage watches, obviously Hodinkee kind of pivoted around that time to focusing more on new watches, but still with the vintage element. And I, this column that was originally called what's selling where then became bring a loop kind of grew very popular. We do it every Friday. And, uh, then I ended up getting recruited. I was working, I went to Oxford. after a few years in DC, um, and did an MBA. Then I got a job with a biofuel company in Florida and, uh, enjoyed that, but could see biofuels did not have a future at that time, you know, seven, eight years ago, seven, really seven years ago because of low oil prices. And that was offered a job at Christie's and, uh, decided to make watches my full-time job and haven't looked back.
Everett Well, was that a hard decision to make? You know, you're, you're in this industry, which, you know, for better or worse is, is maybe uncertain. Um, but, but certainly the experience you were getting could have been, uh, applied in any number of industries that are today. Um, and I'm sure you saw that writing on the wall. Was that a, was that a tough decision?
Eric Wind It was, you know, it was a few things. One, I guess a fear that I wouldn't like watches as much if it was my full-time job, because if that's all you're doing every day, are you really going to be passionate after 5 or 6 p.m. about it? I wasn't sure. I was kind of naive. The reality is that work never stops. You're constantly working, but I love watches, so it's like Christmas every day if I'm opening a package and looking at the watches inside.
Everett Well, and we hope that financially it works out for you, too. I mean, yeah, it has.
Eric Wind Yeah. Thankfully, it has been. So, yeah, I love it. And I'm very happy I pivoted. You know, I wouldn't look I don't haven't looked back.
Andrew Were you looking in that direction or was it or was this job with Christie's just kind of something that that approached you or kind of just came to be? You weren't out kicking doors down looking for an opportunity to pivot into watches, right?
Eric Wind I wasn't kicking doors down. I ended up having three opportunities to move into watches at that time without really seeking them out. Hodinke was getting investment, kind of the whole pivot in 2015 with Kevin Rose and a bunch of venture firms investing. Christie's had just undergone a big transition because Arell Box had left the end of 2013. And in 2015, he was you know, went to Phillips and had started that up. Uh, the, we started the watch department there after being closed for 12 years, uh, and Christie's needed people. So I had to balance those three opportunities, which was hard. You know, there was a time I was ready to maybe sign with each of them during that process, but ultimately decided on Christie's. I thought one, they kind of let us still be based in Florida versus having to move to New York. Uh, which is obviously great from a cost of living perspective.
Everett And this is before the days of Zoom, right? I think that in 2021, you might say, yeah, they let me be remote.
Eric Wind Yeah, it was. And that was a transition because my boss was John Reardon, who's a real expert in Patek Philippe. He came like knocking on my door two or three times in 2014 saying, Hey, we'd like to hire you. And I said, yeah, what, what's that look like? And he said, well, you'd be a consultant. There's no benefits, et cetera. I'm like, I can't do that. And I've got a young, I got a baby under one year old. And then finally he came back. He said, I think we've got it worked out where you can be a full-time employee, but be based, you know, in Florida. And that was the first, employee in the 250-year history of Christie's. I think that was a full-time employee, technically based out of our apartment, rather than being based in an office. So that was good. I mean, it was forward-thinking. I was on the road all the time anyway, so it didn't really matter where I was based. And that was pre-Zoom and everything else I could do remotely, writing descriptions or dealing with correspondence, phone calls, etc. Right. So I spent like one to two weeks per month in New York, you know, just looking at watches and doing meetings and stuff up there, but it worked out, you know, and it proved the whole zoom concept. You know, I never, uh, I never was a fan. Like in contrast, Hodinke was like, you have to be in the office every day, like all this sort of stuff basically during that process. And, um, I was like, I just don't know what the cost of, Living all this like I got a fan support. They're like we need you in the office every day and like I'm thinking to myself why? So Yeah, so we you know the whole world's learned this now that you don't necessarily have to be in the office to be productive You could be more productive at home. Yeah.
Everett Yeah, I cannot be I need to be in the office I know for you like I'm if I'm at home. I'm like watching Netflix and playing with the kids, but this depends on what you're doing.
Andrew Yeah. As long as the kids go to school, I can be really productive at home. They are my limiters.
Everett Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Not for me. A Netflix is the limiter for me. Well, so I'd like to talk a little bit about some of your earliest articles, maybe not specifically, but maybe your interest in the early ho dinky days. So, so, you know, 2010, 2011, You know, some of your, for your first article, as, as you stated was, uh, about a poll, the poll router, which, you know, I assume that in 2010, I think is when that was right around there that you could get poll routers via eBay or, or, or even probably locally for a couple hundred bucks. Right. This super accessible watch. Um, but, but also you wrote a lot about Hoyer in those early days, you wrote a lot about volcano, um, What were your, what were your first loves? You know, these are watches that I think of even today, the pull routers, obviously much harder to get, but still I think of that as kind of an accessible, you know, it's a gentle watch that you can still get today for at or around a thousand to 2000 bucks in great condition. They're moving.
Eric Wind Yeah. Now it's like 3000 probably. Okay. So they're still going up, but even more if it's special. So, uh, yeah, I think, um, I never, uh, you know, you can't imagine this stuff a decade ago, taking off like some of the, I've had a couple broad arrow pull routers. Uh, and I think those are around eight to $10,000 now, you know, I was buying and buy, I bought a few for like $500, $400 on eBay, $300 back then. Um, so, uh, yeah, I mean, it's, I was interested of course, even at that time, you know, Rolexes were expensive. So when I was first starting out, you know, I'm just out of college. I'm not like, wasn't buying GMTs and subs. I was buying pull routers and dress Seamasters and Hoyers that weren't that expensive. Like at the time, a sub that was nice, a Matt Dial Submariner might be like 6,000. And I got a really nice Carrera for 2000, you know, with a Valjoux 72 when Daytonas were 30 or 40,000. So there, you know, there was a great value proposition, uh, there. And, uh, you know, that's some of the stuff that's a lot rarer than your average Rolex because Rolex, they were making so many watches even back then. Whereas some of these Hoyers, I feel like, you know, maybe they made a couple hundred of them at most, and you don't see very many in the market. You hunt around, you might find five or 10 of some of these, odd references that exist, uh, to the market. So it's, uh, that's kind of, you know, was my passion. It still is a huge passion of mine.
Everett You know, obviously now through Wind Vintage, you're selling fantastically expensive pieces often, um, often more than, than many of us will make in a year or more, perhaps, uh, several years. Right. Um, But I think you still sort of demonstrate this willingness to engage with the less expensive watch. And you do that in a couple of ways. I know, you know, maybe a year ago, two years ago, you were really working very closely with Ronin Blazers. Heck, you may still be today. But curating a pretty sensible and affordable collection of vintage watches at or around a thousand bucks, sometimes less.
Eric Wind Yeah. Yeah. Um, not more kind of set to launch in a few weeks. So I'm excited about that. But yeah, it's like, you know, vintage Seiko's that are like $500 or $800 or different brands too.
Everett How important is that? How important is that space for you personally?
Eric Wind Yeah. I mean, economically it doesn't make any sense really, to be honest, but I think it's good for the hobby, you know, um, because the problem I will say, and people ask me about this with selling watches in the sort of sub $800 range that are vintage is people still have very high expectations about timekeeping. And for a lot of people buying say a $500 Seiko, it's going to be their daily watch. Right? So this might be their first mechanical watch. And, uh, they have very high expectations on it running well. And if I might be making $100 after my costs of putting on a strap and photography and whatever else, and then if it suddenly needs a service, I'm suddenly like in the red on the watch, or I take it back. And, you know, it's not, not like it doesn't make a lot of sense economically, but it's, I think it's really good thing. Like, it's like the new vintage watches on J.Crew. I don't know how many are going to sell, but I think it's good because people that are looking at J.Crew are getting this idea that might be their first exposure ever to vintage watches. Same with the going on rowing blazers for young people. And the whole idea for me is like just cultivating this group of people that'll be future buyers down the road, maybe five to 10 years they'll they'll be in a different economic situation and want to be buying Speedmasters and subs and GMTs and other, other things, pole routers, Carreras, Autavias. So, um, you know, I think, um, I've always been, uh, very try to be inclusive and welcoming and as helpful as I can to anyone passionate about vintage watches. Um, and I think part of that is having a place that someone can buy something that's vetted, that's correct, you know, rather than just digging around on eBay. Because you start looking around on eBay at a lot of stuff, like there's so many fakes and obviously a lot of Frankenstein pieces and stuff that's just junk and you have no real way to measure that or know that.
Everett Well, so kind of pivoting on that then, are there watches that you can think of maybe, you know, this is a particularly contemporaneous question, but are there watches right now that you think present a cool? Cool. I mean, I mean that word, I guess I was going to change that word, but I think that's the right word. A cool opportunity for someone who's got, you know, maybe 800 bucks and wants their first vintage piece. Are there any, uh, like trends you're seeing or things that you think might be a great place to start right now? You know, 10 years ago, pull router. was such an obvious choice that that doesn't really work today. What are you thinking right now?
Eric Wind Um, yeah, so I guess a few, two things, one, some of the vintage 34 to 36 millimeter Seamasters from Omega, um, or Seamaster like watches, they're kind of just simple, often automatic, like just a great, great watch that, you know, Everyone knows Omega, so you can have a positive reaction to that brand name. It's a high quality watch.
Everett Yeah. Constellation is another one that I see often.
Eric Wind Yeah. Constellations are probably a thousand plus now, but great. An incredible watch, you know, Chronometer certified watches, um, you know, that you can get things that are gold plated, which I don't like as much personally. So I'd try to go for the steel.
Everett Uh, so, um, you know, one of our, one of our writers, Evan, um, is, uh, really into gold watches and, and he wrote an article for the website not too long ago about it's been like two years. Okay. Well, it's not that long ago, uh, about, you know, what different, what different gold applications are, which I just thought was fantastic. I learned a ton, right. You know, the, the different types of gold that can be on watch.
Eric Wind Yeah. So, I mean, there's huge values there for some of those, the gold capped and things like that. But the vintage Seikos are probably one of the best value propositions. You just need to make sure you're buying something that's correct because there's a lot of fake dials and fake parts.
Andrew How are buyers supposed to be cautious of that? So, the Omegas make sense to me because there was a lot of them. But with the Seiko, there were so many of them. that they kind of, they went past that like safe amount produced to the, Oh, well, these are going to be Frankenstein because people bought a hundred of them. And they're like, Oh, I'm going to change these parts. Cause I like this part on this watch more. So what are, what are we as consumers looking for in that, in that realm of like, how do I know it's fake? Or how do I know it's real? Or what maybe a better question is what, how are people getting the best bang for their buck when looking for vintage watches, especially in that price point.
Eric Wind Yeah. I mean, there's a few retailers, I would say. One, you could take a look at the Rowing Blazers watches, which are provided by my friend, Alan Bedwell, who's found well in me. For Wynn Vintage, there's a few other places, those watch guys, which are two young guys and they're quantities I like a lot in the Maryland area. Then if you're interested in Seiko Hub City Vintage, where he does a drop. Yeah. He does a drop, you know, he'll say when it's coming and you gotta be ready to move fast. I mean, he'll have watches as low as like $350 on there. Um, and then DC vintage watches, who's kind of a newer player on the scene for Seiko has done a great job. Um, so I think, and there's a few others, I mean, there's a whole ecosystem of Seiko sellers. Um, And I think you just have to buy it from someone who's vetted it, because if you're just digging around on Chrono24 or eBay, it's not going to work out well.
Everett Well, what do you think of the idea about knowingly buying Frankenstein watches? This is something Andrew and I have personally talked about a little bit, but I don't think we've ever really talked about it on the show. You know, not in terms of an investment, but just in terms of a joy of ownership.
Eric Wind The problem is, If it's a Frankenstein watch from what I've seen, say you've got like a Seiko chronograph that maybe someone put a Pogue dial on, but it should have a blue dial or whatever, and they're swapping the bezels around. The issue is often for the watch to be in a rough condition to warrant that, there's usually other issues like the movements, missing parts, there's severe wear that you can't tell, almost like structural damage, if you will, to the pushers, etc.
Andrew Because he used a chisel and a hammer to open it up.
Eric Wind Right. Yeah. And to warrant messing up the watch, it's probably already got a lot of defects. So most of the Frankenstein things I see end up being a real disaster and not working well later, even if on its face, it looks like it could be an attractive watch.
Everett So I've got a question for, I've got a question for a friend, uh, not for me, this is for a friend of mine. Um, but, uh, what do you think of modern case divers, friend case divers, uh, from, you know, late seventies, early eighties, obviously Hoyer's got the most famous examples and they're oftentimes more expensive, um, than, than other watches. You can find the one, the one that comes to my mind, the Zodiac red dots, which are, I think a watch that people don't really talk about. Sometimes people know about them. But what do you think of watches like these, you know, sort of special cases, famous cases, but that you can still find? Yeah, what do you think?
Eric Wind I mean, I think there's a huge amount of upside. You know, we saw the Monin from Heuer get a lot of attention because of the new reissue from Peg Heuer. Basically, that's somewhat loosely based on that. There's, um, a guy on Instagram who kind of specializes in those seventies and eighties Hoyers, um, uh, particularly that 1000 series.
Everett And then you've got a whole bunch.
Eric Wind Yeah. And, uh, and there's a ton of other, um, other brands, as you mentioned. So I think, you know, in the whole constellation of vintage watches, dive watches have not, kind of risen as much as you would expect relative to chronographs. Um, chronographs have been arguably much hotter the last decade and dive watches have been doing okay, but I think should be more highly valued whether you're talking about Zodiac Seawolves or all these other kind of lesser names, the super compressor divers, Fortis, all these brands. and other compressor watches that you can still find relatively inexpensive, particularly if it's not a famous name.
Andrew So that's the hot take. If you want vintage, go diver.
Eric Wind Yeah, I like that. I mean, it's one of the value propositions, no question.
Everett You know, it's kind of an odd, sorry, sorry, Andrew, I heard you inhale. It's kind of an odd thing because for affordable watches, the diver seems to have been the go-to, so it's odd that we're not seeing more vintage dive action, I think.
Eric Wind It's true, yeah. The community just, you know, obviously if you've got the followers for the big ones, whether it's the Rolex Submariner or the Omega Seamaster 300s or Blancpain's, but, you know, so many of the other ones are so niche, but they have such cool designs on the back. I was just looking at at a couple super compressors yesterday and I was like, man, these are so cool. The designs on the case back and the cases and just the value. I mean, 42 millimeter watches that are still like two or $3,000, you know, max. Um, and I'll probably buy it for under a thousand dollars. I mean, it's crazy.
Andrew So we've talked a lot about vintage watches and vintage luxury watches, which makes sense, right? I mean, that makes sense, given our guests. What doesn't make sense and what I'm really curious about, it makes sense, but it also it doesn't quite connect. And I think that makes you really unique, especially in the role that you're in is your interest and love for micro brand watches for the very real, not air quotes, the true affordables category of watches. And I say that makes unique because Most folks who are, who live and work in the luxury segment, especially the vintage luxury segment, just don't, don't care for it. It's just not, it's a whole different world that just doesn't interest them. And your interest for it is fascinating to me. But we, I also want to take some time to talk about that and the world as it is in the micro world with you. One of the great minds of the watch world right now.
Eric Wind Thank you. Yeah. I think, um, I love the micro-brands. I think my interest really started getting to know these people that were building, building these brands, whether it's Chase Fancher of Okanoska or, um, my friend, Jonathan, who started Brew Watch Company. You like that guy? Yeah. running joke is that he's like the nicest guy.
Andrew He's got to have dead bodies or something in the basement of the apartment because he's entirely too nice.
Eric Wind Yeah. I remember when he basically was like, I'm starting this watch brand. He was at Red Bar meetings in New York. And he's like, yeah, I'm really excited about it. It's inspired by coffee machines and I'm like kind of scratching my head like it's called brew, you know, it's kind of bringing coffee culture and watch culture together. And I'm thinking, how is this going to work? Uh, but you know, I think it's a super cool product.
Everett And here we are six years later and it's still today. One of the hottest, he makes a new watch and it sells out in minutes when you got to get vision.
Eric Wind Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I was just at the time very like, skeptical. I was like coffee and watches. That's just seems sure. We're all into coffee, but how do you know these worlds? So, uh, um, but just such a nice guy. My friend, Fred Savage is super into those watches and loves them. And as always promoting him to just meeting him, I think at a windup fair, uh, is where they first met and he bought one and now he tells everyone to buy those watches. Um, so, uh, Yeah.
Everett So, um, is it okay if I mentioned that you just casually threw in that you're friends with Fred Savage? It's because that look that we shared was, do we mention this or my friend, Fred pretentious? No, he's very famously into watches, right? Uh, Fred Savage is one of those guys who's famously sort of in And not only into watches, but into sort of cool watches, right? He's not wearing, uh, you know, Daytonas and, uh, Cosmograph Daytonas or, or, you know, well, maybe he is, I don't know. He's wearing a brew. He certainly could, but yeah, he's wearing a brew, which is just, I think the coolest thing in the world.
Eric Wind Yeah, he loves it. And, uh, he's got a, such a cool taste for design. I mean, he's got a Heuer Monaco that helped him get. but then he's got the brew that he loves right alongside. And he's got a Helbrose alarm watch, which, you know, probably worth like $800 or something, but he absolutely loves.
Everett And you create the value. Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's sort of our, that's sort of our big thing is that no matter what the watch is, you know, I'm wearing my, my only vintage watch, a watch that you have two vintage watches. Okay. Well, this is one of my, the one that works. Yeah. This is the vintage watch I have that works. Uh, this, uh, It's a 1996 titanium JDM Casio, right? Like it's such a weird watch. It's ugly. No one likes it, but it's just the most special thing. So yeah, right. It doesn't matter what you're getting as long as you are really in love with the thing you're wearing. Yeah.
Eric Wind Yeah. Cool. You wear, you wear it well, you know, just cause you love it. And like, it's clear that you love it.
Everett So, you know, I think one of the things we run into a lot talking to people about microbrands, because we're obviously huge proponents of microbrands, you know, there's a bit of a incestuous sort of watch blogger slash microbrand relationship that I think is fairly criticized sometimes. But what do you, what do you take on long term value of things like a microbrand? There's often sort of this maybe implicit, but this idea that a micro-brand probably has a bit of a short-lived value. And so for new collectors coming in, I think there's often a choice, maybe it's not a choice, but there's often sort of decisions being made. Do I go with Seiko, Boliva, Hamilton, or do I go with Notice, Brew, and Manta, right? Given the choices, where do I want to put my dollars? Long term, do you think that there's value in these brands that may be around for five years, maybe more, maybe 20 or 50 years? We never know. But is there value in buying a brand, say, that may only live for five years?
Eric Wind I think so, because, you know, first off, it's whether this thing can be serviced in the future, you know, and I think you know, most of these watches have pretty straightforward off the shelf movements.
Everett NH35 or 9015s. Yeah.
Eric Wind So it's, it's, that's the first test. If it's something that's so proprietary that it can't be serviced, which is honestly the case with many of the modern independent Swiss watch brands that are doing, you know, crazy crazy materials for the hairsprings and these other things that you'll never really be able to fix if the company goes out of business. You'd almost need to downgrade the movement to like traditional materials because you're not going to be able to get these crazy things.
Andrew Or it'd be prohibitively expensive. I mean, it's a full of the full cost of the watch to replace the movement.
Eric Wind Yeah, that's always, you know, the fear. So that's a kind of a first thing. Uh, second is, um, I do think most of these brands will be around for quite a while. I, as long as they're not like what I would call the Kickstarter brands. I mean, these brands that like do a Kickstarter, they don't really have any lasting power. I've seen so many come and go with like one or two watches and then they can't make it, make it go.
Everett They start with no money. Their margins are too low. So they don't make any money and there's just never any sort of financial backbone.
Eric Wind Exactly. Whereas like, you know, I think Brew will be around hopefully for a long time and others like it just because their model was not based on like a Kickstarter approach. So yeah, so that's, you know, I think you're part of a different culture or group of owners if you have something like one of those or a Manta or even a Sin or some things like that versus like, of course, you can get a Hamilton Field Watch and be very happy with it, but that's a little more mainstream. So it really depends on what appeals to you personally.
Everett You know, the 60s and 70s, I think, weren't exactly like what we're experiencing now because the frankly, the tools were not yet anachronistic in the way they are now. But there were things like micro brands, right? The last time watches had something like micro brands was in the 60s and 70s. And those brands were just like we see today. You know, some of them were very short lived. Some of them were, you know, 10 or 15 year brands. What do you as a quote unquote vintage watch expert. Uh, and I don't say quotes to be derogatory, but, um, you know, what do you as a, as a watch expert see when you see these brands, right? Cause I'm sure they come across your threshold from time to time. What is their value that remains in these brands and, and what does that look like for you? Are you excited about that? Are you, are you cautious? What do you think?
Eric Wind Um, yeah, I mean, I think first you have to look at the, quality of the watch. So, you know, I don't know if you've talked about Haven watch company before.
Everett I don't think we ever have. We've been in contact with those guys, but never talked to them.
Eric Wind Yeah. It's a cool guy, a friend of mine. But if you hold that watch in your hand, it's such a nice case. And the quality of the dial is so nice and unique. And it's, you know, it's clear that it's a quality watch, I would say in your hand. You know, I feel the same about Poconosker. I really like the Olmsted model, just a classic field watch with a nice bracelet.
Everett Yeah. Will, our editor, is a huge fan. He owns an Olmsted.
Eric Wind Yeah.
Everett Which dial does he have? I think it's the brown dial. I think it's a grey dial. Maybe taupe.
Eric Wind Like a taupe, yeah. Then it's just a, you know, so you can tell it's like a really nice watch. I don't know. I've held others that are kind of cheap feeling and you can just wind it and kind of feel it's not that great. Um, you know, so I think, um, I think that, you know, you can have watches that aren't the real deal in terms of the mechanics, because it's just, you know, to be honest, like the, uh, the Baltic watches, the first series of pieces were kind of poor quality. The Kronos, they're like, They had the Segal movements and everyone had issues with them.
Everett Like, you know, we've got to admit, we're big fans of the SG 1901 movement, uh, for any number of reasons. And in fact, just recently we've sort of sung its praises, but yeah, there's problems with that movement.
Eric Wind I mean that, yeah, it might've, he just might've had a bad batch or whatever, but you know, I think people were paying $1,500 or whatever it was. It was very attractive watch, but like then it wasn't working well. So yeah, that's kind of tough. But, his, you know, more recent series of watches, all, all of them are higher quality and people love them. And I have one and it's great watch. Um, I think, you know, I think whatever he might have just gone for a poor, poorly finished or, or whatever movement that had a bad batch, like manufacturing of the watch wasn't great, but, um,
Everett Well, we've read some or at least I've read some about how Siegel makes movements and the manufacturing process is really horizontal compared to what we know sort of in the quote unquote Western world. Sometimes, you know, you'll have two movements in the same batch that were made in completely different places with different standards and humans and machines and everything. Just bad factory production. It's a little bit different system. So I'd like to ask you about something you said earlier. You said something earlier, which it seems so obvious to me as soon as you said it, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone phrase it in quite this way. The thing that attracted you to watches was, at least in parts, the permanence of what a watch is in light of obsolescence you know, in our everyday, in our day-to-day lives, phones and watches and everything we use is, you know, got this three-year, three-year life, lifespan, everything. Our entire community engagement device is three years and done. Self-destruct mode. Yeah, that's right. Do you think this idea of permanence in this obsolete world is what's driving the current interest in watches, particularly vintage watches?
Eric Wind I think it's a part of it for sure. I mean, you buy something nice and you decide to keep it. I don't know if you guys think about it, but like, if I'm taking a watch sort of out of inventory to keep, I'm thinking about, you know, I wonder which one of the kids will get this and you know, kind of thinking about it in those terms that I don't expect to sell it because I love it so much. Obviously I could if I need to, or, you know, decide I get something better or whatever, but, you know, there's not any, many other things in our life where we're thinking about the, you know, which one of our kids will take it, or, you know, maybe it'll pass down to our grandkids or great grandkids one day, certainly not cars or, probably not houses we buy or all these sorts of things, you know, and definitely not iPads and MacBooks.
Andrew This is great granddaddy's computer.
Eric Wind Exactly. Although hopefully if it was an Apple one, which is like a $300,000 thing now, but yeah, but like, you know, it's, it's crazy.
Everett Nobody speculates on, on computers, right?
Eric Wind Yeah. Unless it's an Apple one.
Everett Yeah. That's right. And we make fun of people who buy cell phones that are like diamond encrusted and stuff. Yeah.
Eric Wind Yeah.
Everett The virtues. Yeah. That's right. That's right. Uh, well, you know, you, you said something again and I'm, I'm going to ask you about it, but you said, you know, there's not many things, uh, that we think about in those terms, you know, which of the kids is going to take this. I think on the contrary, I, I'll speak for Andrew. I know we both do that in really awful and bizarre ways. We'll spend time thinking about items that almost certainly our kids are going to have no interest in. And I think that that is true of maybe many of the people who listen to the show and who we engage with on a regular basis. Is that something unique? to this collector's mindset, do you think?
Eric Wind Yeah, I think it's something that appeals to most people I deal with, particularly with vintage watches, you know. And for someone who's, say, buying a Submariner at retail, like, maybe they plan to keep it forever and pass it on. But so much of the modern Luxury game is a lot of obviously resale and I can buy it for this and sell it for two grand more and all this stuff. So that's very different from the traditional I'm buying it and I'm keeping it forever or I'm buying it.
Everett I'm buying my watch. I'm buying today. I'm buying the watch that I'm going to own.
Eric Wind Yeah. For a long time. And, uh, you know, so I think, um, that's definitely a part of watches more than basically anything else.
Andrew Just for a quick, I mean, a little bit of an aside, I'm wondering your take on how much of the inflation of watches right now is a function of it being a commodity, like commodity trading, or do you think that was a byproduct of pretty steep inflation already occurring? I'm just curious, like for me.
Eric Wind Yeah. No, I mean, I get asked this, like, why is there this huge media with watches? I mean, I think we first saw, you know, I remember pre-2018, you could walk into any Rolex store and pretty much get a Submariner. You couldn't get a Daytona because that was the hot watch, but you could get a Submariner. You could maybe after a few weeks get a GMT, like, you know, it wasn't the same thing prior to 2018. 2018, we began to see the platforms develop for the resale of watches.
Everett And just to be clear, that's when you went to Christie's, right?
Eric Wind 2015 was.
Everett I was trying to make a joke about you were copying him. Yeah, exactly.
Eric Wind Yeah, exactly.
Andrew He planted the seeds in 15.
Eric Wind Yeah, yeah, exactly. It was planting the seeds, but the, I was offered a Nautilus at retail 5711 in 2016, you know, and I passed, unfortunately. Oops. Cause I didn't love it, but it was, you know, $26,000. And now they're selling 400, $300,000 for just basic. It's like 110, but, but the green dial is yeah, 400 plus it's insane retail 34. But, um, I think, there is so much, there's a lot more liquidity with buying and reselling watches. Um, but you've got all these new platforms, which, you know, was like StockX, but you've got all these resellers, you've got, uh, chrono 24, you've got a lot of eBay, you've got a lot of ways you can sell a watch much easier Instagram, um, than in the past. So that removes the friction from the market and you know, it just keeps going and going.
Andrew So we created the issue. Like it's our fault. Us as a watch people whole.
Everett It's definitely not our fault. We created the issue.
Andrew Like the reason I can't buy an Explorer today for like less than a limb is because of people like me who were like, Oh, I could buy that and I could sell it for more money.
Eric Wind Yeah. And it drives the company's nuts. And the big question is how is this Is it going to continue? Because sneaker, you know, think about the sneaker hobby, like a decade ago, people would just buy the sneakers and keep them, but this whole ecosystem.
Everett You could like go to, you could like go to finish line and buy a pair of Jordan 4s any day of the week.
Eric Wind Yeah. I remember those days, like they weren't lined. But you know, nine, 98% of people in line for the shoes are just buying them to resell them to make a hundred bucks or whatever. And then they end up two seconds later on StockX. Yeah. StockX does $150 billion or something crazy per year.
Everett Something like that.
Eric Wind Yeah. I mean, I think it's several hundred billion in shoes and their valuation is huge. Several billion, but it's like $200 billion a year in shoes or something.
Andrew So it's not scarcity. It's consumer greed.
Eric Wind Yeah, it's just changing. And so if you, this is an interesting thing that I was reading recently, McKinsey did a study that predicted by 2025, there'll be a $32 billion a year watch resale market. And as of right now, it's about 8 billion. If you go back a few years, I think it's like 2 billion or 3 billion. There is it's exponential, the growth with these new changes and habits of buying and reselling and flipping. It's just a commodity now. Whereas in the past, when you bought a watch, you bought it to keep, there wasn't like a premium on the secondary market. In fact, you'd lose money if you decided you wanted to sell it for most of these. So yeah, yeah, it's very different.
Everett Well, we blame you for all of it.
Andrew So what you're saying is buy micros because those still bottom out the day you get them.
Everett Yeah, exactly. So, so, so one more important watch question. And this is actually, this is a really important question. And I think that the amount of people who care about your answer is tremendous. And actually, it's maybe just me, but it's still important. 7750 or 5100? I guess 5100. Oh, man, I think you're the first 5100 vote. You are. Makes me question a lot of things. Yeah. Now I've got to go back and review my answers.
Eric Wind I like it because it's just such a bulletproof movement and I guess partial to Chuck Maddox and the Holy Grail Speedmaster. I like the format of the watch and just the look and feel of it.
Everett It's a great dial format. Yeah, you're right.
Eric Wind That's what it kind of comes down to for me and a little less ubiquitous and Somehow I feel like it's, it's just more appealing to me. I don't know on the technical specs if it's thinner, uh, or not as well, but it somehow feels that way.
Everett Yeah. I think it's actually, I think it's actually like 0.1 millimeters thicker depending on the, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I do think it gets implemented in thinner watches though. Interesting.
Eric Wind Yeah, exactly. On the wrist. I don't know why, but, uh, but yeah, I love, I mean, they're both great.
Andrew It's at risk to crystal height. That's proprietary.
Eric Wind Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that is important.
Everett Well, I guess we should. I guess we should probably wrap for watches, at least for just a moment. OK, yeah, because there's some important stuff we've got to talk about. Yeah. So, Andrew, for the hundred and fifty nine hundred and sixtieth time, it's got to be other things. What do you got?
Andrew So I'm late to the game. On a television series. On so many things. Most things, to be honest. My wife jokes about me being a grumpy old man all the time. It's so true. I'm only recently aware of eBay. So I started watching a TV show called Yellowstone. And Will described it as Sopranos with Cowboys. I don't think he's exactly wrong. I think I think that's a fair enough synopsis of it. It sounds amazing. It's a so the whole premise of the show is Kevin Costner as this huge, enormous cattle ranch patriarch is the ranch is huge or Kevin Costner is huge because he's all all the above. Okay, so it's enormous ranch in Montana and set in the modern era.
Everett Okay,
Andrew And it's a cattle ranch. Kevin Costner is the patriarch of this family.
Everett Is it a cattle ranch?
Andrew It's a Campbell ranch in Montana. Carry on. And it's got the very righteous gemstones feel where you've got this dad who's got his shit together and is kind of losing it because his family just can't get it. They grew up these spoiled rich kids who just can't get their shit together so he can retire.
Everett So like succession a little bit. Yes, it's very succession.
Andrew It's it's it's the antihero thing, right? But the way they develop and grow these characters is really well paced. They introduce things at times just right when you need it. You are never really wondering, but you're always kind of curious. You're like, why is this guy like this? But and then you find out like right when you need to find out the story is really well written. It's obviously drama for the sake of drama because it's a drama television series. All the drama is very realistically set. It's the problems that you would expect a person in this position to face, but bigger than you'd expect because this is the real world and not television land. You know, there are, but without any spoilers, it is, I'm, I'm just into season three, season four just dropped. It's airing on the Paramount channel, I think, and on their streaming service. I don't have that, so I'm going to have to wait until it comes to Peacock.
Everett It's a tough life.
Andrew You know, these problems, I just don't know how I'm going to make it.
Eric Wind It's a fair share his log in code with you.
Andrew Yeah, I have his garage code. I'm just going to go watch it. We have offset weekends, so I'm just going to go when everyone's at work and watch TV on his couch. Kim won't mind. She's working at home and she'll be fine. Uh, it's a top five TV show for me. Kevin Costner is the best American cowboy in screen history. He's better than John Wayne for me. Wow. He's and maybe it's era based, right? Kevin Costner is a more, but he's a more believable cowboy than John Wayne for me.
Eric Wind Yeah. John Wayne was a bit, you know, it was a campy time.
Everett Yeah. Yeah.
Andrew But he's a spaghetti Western, right? Yeah. He's my, my favorite, favorite cowboy. It's got all these actors that you know and recognize, but they get into these characters that are so well developed that you forget that you know them from Fifty Shades of Grey or, you know, take your pick of other things. You're like, Oh, I know this person, but it doesn't matter. Yeah, it's terrific. It's a really great show and I highly recommend it. Also, for those of you who have Xfinity packages, you get Peacock for free, whether or not you know that you get Peacock for free.
Everett I just want to I just want to put in a recently found that out. I just want to put in a quick plug for who I think is the greatest Hollywood cowboy. Viggo Mortensen. It's not Viggo, but I do really like Viggo. Viggo was a good cowboy. Yeah, yeah. No, Sam Elliott. I think it's the really.
Andrew He is a cowboy, though. That's the thing. He's just a hippie cowboy.
Everett You know, I like ran into him at Cabela's one day. I believe that. Yeah. I was just at Cabela's getting ammunition and there was Sam Elliott. Also getting ammunition. Also getting ammunition. Yeah. Yeah. In Oregon.
Andrew In Eugene. Yeah, he lives here. They split time. I forget where in California, but they split time in like the L.A. area. And this little tiny, really cute town north of Eugene where we're at called Brownsville. Yeah. It's famous for what's the bridge? Stand by me. Yeah. Yes. They have a state. The bridge that the stand by me bridge scene was filmed on is in Brownsville. They have a stand by me festival, but he's got this really beautiful estate that's visible from the road. Yeah, gorgeous, gorgeous place. Yeah, in the Willamette Valley.
Everett Well, so I've got another thing. Do me. It's not a TV show. Weird. It's not. I know, right? That is weird because I am a certified Netflix addict. No, mine is a dish. Mm hmm. And it's not like it's not like a plate, but you put it on a plate. So this is a dish that I've had a relatively long love affair with, so much so Then I asked you, Andrew, have I ever talked about this on the show? And you're like, I don't think so. So if I have, I apologize. But it's been long enough that neither one of us could remember. Spaghetti alla puttanesca.
Andrew How long have you been off keto?
Everett Uh, two weeks.
Andrew Okay. So, okay.
Everett Yeah. So, so this is, uh, so, so first spaghetti alla puttanesca, alla puttanesca is literally translated to in the style of prostitutes, I believe. Uh, So you know it's dirty. And the legend, the myth, the almost certainly not true etymology there is that when sailors would come into port in the south of Italy, the prostitutes would lure them in with the sense of this pasta. Almost certainly not true. Or at least, you know, not based in any sort of real cultural phenomena. It's the sense of the sea. Yeah, that's right. But it is a pantry pasta, which, you know, for me, collectively means, you know, you can make this from things that you probably have in your pantry. You know, we're going to link to a recipe for this dish in the show notes, and you should check that out. It's a recipe by Kenji López. who I think is like the greatest internet chef there is, at least since Emma Christensen left the kitchen. But it is super simple to make. You can make the sauce with tomatoes, canned tomatoes, in the amount of time it takes your water to boil. You use, you know, canned San Marzano tomatoes. You crush them with your hand. Very simple. You use fresh garlic. You use olives. You use anchovies packed in oil is fine because you really kind of want them to dissolve in the oil. I used anchovy paste. You can use anchovy paste. I think probably a filet is just fine. It's better, but I've used anchovy paste in a pinch. What did I say? So garlic, olives, tomatoes, anchovies, and capers. Uh, it can be a little bit of a pain in the ass to chop capers if you've never tried it, but you'll get the feel for it. And in fact, I've used whole capers in this dish and it's been just fine. Um, but it is just this really... Olives. Rich. I said olives, damn it. I'll include that again. Okay. It's just this really easy to make. You use, don't use, don't go to the, don't go to the Whole Foods and buy, you know, fresh pasta. Use just box pasta or bag pasta, you know, the dried stuff. It is, and don't use a lot of water, a couple tips. So one, don't use as much water as you think when you boil the pasta. Use just the bare minimum amount because then you get this water that's really rich in starch and a silkier noodle. A second tip is, so you're going to pull the pasta before it's ready, right before it's al dente. Strain it and then you're going to cook the pasta in the sauce. Pasta will boil much faster in water than it will cook in the sauce, so it gives you some time to really get it right. And don't dump all that water. The pasta boiling water, don't dump it. Save it. Save about a cup, maybe a half a cup of it, and use that in your sauce. Those are the two really, really important things to this dish. Use less water in your pasta than you think. and save some of the water to add to the pasta when you're cooking it in the sauce.
Andrew It will change your life. Those are two all-pasta styles tips that you should be doing.
Everett I think that's right, but I think that there are things that people don't know. I think that there are things that people don't know, and I think it's really important.
Andrew I was emphasizing that you should just do that in all pasta dishes.
Everett Absolutely. Absolutely. So Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, that's my other thing for the week. I want you to try it, and I want you to message me. your experience because I think it is maybe one of the best dishes I've ever had. Super easy to make, cheap, fantastic.
Andrew Kenji says, truth be told, Puttanesca tastes best when your senses have been slightly impaired and the whole thing is sloppy.
Everett Yes, that is right. That's exactly right. My man. My man. So that's it. And we've got one more. Eric, Eric, other things. What do you got, man?
Eric Wind OK, I have two, but I won't dwell on one. One, I love I love Yellowstone. I'm excited for the new season. I haven't started it yet, but also loving Succession right now. Really fun show. The thing I wanted to mention is just we got some speakers recently that we have in kind of my living room office area from a company called Fleetwood. which is part of Oswald Mills audio. They're made in Pennsylvania. And, uh, you know, we all kind of appreciate, obviously in the watch world, the finer things it's kind of like, as people say, like the watch lifestyle, you might have a nice camera, like, uh, whatever you might have like whiskeys and bourbons and things like that. But having high quality audio is kind of a, game-changing thing and, like, you hear music in a new way when you're in front of it and really great speakers. So these speakers, we got a, I got a tube amp from, from Audio Note, but a Cobra, and I just play off my phone through, like, Qobuz and this, this blue OS system via Bluetooth. And, you know, it's just really fun to hear songs in a new way that are so much richer than what you hear through, you know, your laptop or normal speakers or, you know, AirPods or anything else. It's just the quality is so much richer. And it's like hearing these songs for the first time. So that's that would be my other thing, I would say.
Everett Eric, we've talked a lot about headphones on this on this show. We've talked. I think neither Andrew or I, or at least at least for sure me, and I'm not an audiophile or what I would call an audiophile, but I do really like When I, when you hear nice audio, I really like it. We upgraded probably about a year ago, our headphones. And, um, you know, even just in recording the podcast, it really changed, uh, the experience. Um, never talked about speakers. I don't think on the show. I think this is a first. I think so. Which is surprising because you're, you're right. It really fits, right? It's like watches, knives, cameras, cars, and audios. And booze and audio. That's right.
Eric Wind And so I'm surprised that we've never been there. It's a pillar of the whole experience that is sort of missing. Like you don't know it's missing until you experience it and then it's totally different experience. So you're both welcome to come and listen to music in Palm Beach whenever you like.
Andrew I'm really going to do this. You know, when we make it to Palm Beach, you're going to be really, really disappointed that you extended the invitation.
Eric Wind We'll be sitting there listening to some cool stuff.
Everett Hopefully, you know, just just briefly, Eric, you and I met. I think Mike Razak, one of our writers, also writes for the Time Bomb and many other publications. Mike's just a great dude, one of my good friends in life, but just someone who gets me. He just you know, he's that guy who knows me or one of those guys. And he sent me a picture of you standing in your office. Uh, and I don't know what the context of the picture, um, or you can tell if it's, if it's important, but I think I just sort of randomly posted it on our Instagram posts. Cause he was right. I was like, yeah, this is, this is just a great office. Uh, so if we do come to Florida, you'll have to give me the office tour. Cause I think that's a pretty fantastic office. Yeah.
Eric Wind That photo was for Rob report. It was They had profiled five dealers around the world, which was very nice. And what we thought was kind of coming next and what was interesting to us in the watch world. So, uh, yeah, it was a pretty cool photo when I saw it come out and I was like, Whoa, that looks sick. It's pretty sick. This is my office. Yeah. I was like, Whoa, this looks nice.
Everett Rob Report, who, who, uh, I'll, I'll plug you a little bit, who named you, the foremost expert in vintage watches in the country or in the world, perhaps.
Eric Wind Yeah, we've had a vintage watch expert of the year last year, which was very nice.
Everett Pretty fantastic.
Eric Wind Yeah, it was great.
Everett Even though you like the 5100 better than the 7750, which is that's the weirdest part of the whole thing to me.
Andrew I know that is what makes the most sense. He's smarter than we are. We're missing it. He gets it.
Everett All of my life choices now are in question.
Eric Wind I wasn't expecting that question. So it was definitely a surprise.
Andrew He just knew. I got to say, I started the comment, but I want to finish it. Your humility is is some next level shit. There's if I were named anything of the year, like if I were named asshole of the year, I'd get a shirt. You'd get a T-shirt. I get my car vinyl wrapped in it. And you are just not that way. And that that's awesome. I think that's that's part of the thing that you have is that you are so incredibly approachable. You're just a dude who happens to be way smarter than the rest of us. You know it, but you don't you don't need us to know it because you probably inside just know that we know. Thank you.
Eric Wind Very kind.
Everett So Eric Wind, you can check him out at windvintage.com, where if you have a spare half a million laying around, you can buy a fantastic watch. You can check them out on Instagram. Very nice Instagram page, by the way, Eric. Thank you. Eric M. Wind. Eric, what do you want to add before we go for the day?
Eric Wind Nothing, except I look forward to listening to music in Florida with you one day.
Everett Thank you for joining us, Eric, and thank you for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20, the watch clicker podcast. You can check us out at watch clicker.com. That's where we post every single episode of this podcast, as well as weekly watch reviews, articles, all sorts of good shit. You can check us out on Instagram at 40 and 20 at watch clicker. If you want to support watch clicker, you can do so at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. Look, that's how we get the money to pay folks like Eric Nguyen to come on the show. And don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Bye bye.