Episode 191 - Interview with Max from Watch Crunch
Published on Thu, 23 Jun 2022 01:00:00 -0700
Synopsis
The hosts Andrew and Everett are joined by Max, one of the founders of Watch Crunch, a new online platform and community for watch enthusiasts. They discuss the origins and goals of Watch Crunch, the challenges of moderating an online community, Max's experience as a YouTube creator, and his work in making videos for Watch Crunch. They also discuss the book "A Memory Called Empire" by Arkady Martine, the TV show "Somebody Feed Phil", and the new "Top Gun: Maverick" movie and the iconic Porsche Design watch worn by Tom Cruise's character.
Links
Transcript
| Speaker | |
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| Andrew (Host) | Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 in 20, The Watch Clicker podcast with your host, Andrew and my good friend Everett. Here we talk about watches, food, drinks, laugh, and other things we like. Gotta right my eyeball. That's never happened before. Oh boy. That's the first intro I've messed up that we're going to have to keep. |
| Everett (Host) | Everett, how are you? I'm doing all right. I'm sorry about that. It was inadvertent. There was no way to plan that. Yeah. Yeah. That would be amazing if I had the ability to do that. No, I'm doing really good. Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine. What else to say? I'm fine. |
| Andrew (Host) | I'm great. You haven't asked yet, but I'm great. Today I put my seven year old who was on summer break to work. Put him to the bases. I set out to make him regret summer break. I set out to make him hope that he has to go back to school tomorrow. Turns out he's a great worker. He's not good at it, right? But he's willing to put the work in. He didn't do a good job. But he's seven, right? I can't expect him to do a good job. So I went and got a reel mower. We did a lot today, actually. And he was there right beside me for all of it, except when he took his lunch break, which, you know, he's a union man, so that makes sense. But I swear, To watch a seven-year-old try to walk a straight line and push a lawnmower is the thing that nightmares are made of. |
| Everett (Host) | It's not. I mean, it's not easy. |
| Andrew (Host) | And well, no, it is easy when you're mowing the lawn because you have a really clearly marked stripe from your wheels going the other direction when you turn around. And I'm getting like, like, dude, you keep saying, OK, And you keep acknowledging that you understand. In fact, you're repeating to me the instruction that you're receiving, but you're just somehow incapable of following it. What the fuck is the matter? And then I stood next to him. And as it turns out, when you're the height of a seven-year-old, you actually can't see that subtle color change of the pressed grass in the direction. So he honestly, there's no way he believed he was walking a straight line because you can't go kitty corner. in a curve like an arc and be walking a straight line that's just not a thing but he didn't have the when you when you mow your lawn and you have the indent of the wheel in the grass he didn't have those index marks on which to to guide himself on the opposing lap because i got down side by side with him i was like look do you see okay now i see the problem here You're just simply not tall enough to see the thing that you need to see to walk the straight line on the lawn. And at that point, I was like, fuck it, man. Go wild. Just get down low. Look for the Mohawks in the grass. Cut those down. |
| Everett (Host) | Make sure it's all get all the long stuff. Yeah. Well, that's fascinating. |
| Andrew (Host) | I didn't know I was I was kind of surprised by it. And I felt a little bad. I apologized. I was like, look, dude, I'm sorry. I thought you could see something that I can see. Turns out you can't see it because you are literally not tall enough because you're seven. No, not because you're seven. |
| Everett (Host) | And this is the first time you've mowed the lawn. Because you're not tall enough. Uh, yeah. Okay. Well, good. I mean, I guess that's a good start. |
| Andrew (Host) | But he's, so he's worn out. We did a bunch of other stuff today and he is exhausted. He does not want to go back to school tomorrow. He wants another day of summer break, even if it's like today. |
| Everett (Host) | Is he going back to school tomorrow? |
| Andrew (Host) | No. Yeah. Okay. I wish he was, but he's not. |
| Everett (Host) | Well, Andrew, as much as I'd like, to talk about lawn care. I mean, genuinely, actually, would love to talk about lawn care. That is not what these folks have tuned in for. We're... It's what they're paying for. We're talking about watches today. Adjacent, maybe? We're talking about watches today. And for that topic, we've got a guest. It's been a few weeks since we've had a guest. Mm-hmm. I feel fulfilled to have a third person in the room with us. It does make things a little less awkward. Even if that is by way of Zoom. We've got a special guest. We've got the founder of Watch Crunch, Max with us. Max, how you doing today? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | I'm good, guys. Thanks for having me. One of the founders. There's four of us. |
| Everett (Host) | Excuse me, that is something actually we knew and have even discussed. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | That's okay. Yeah, no, it's really nice to be here. you know, it was fascinating story for me as well, the, the, the long care and, and, uh, I couldn't help it, but, uh, just think of, you know, a watch sort of metaphor, uh, for that. And I just think, uh, you know, all of us, we're all sort of, uh, there's a little seven year old in all of us kind of trying to, to find our way, uh, in terms of our, our preferences and watches. And I feel like I've been going in that weird arc for many years and, um, starting to gain just a little bit of clarity. |
| Everett (Host) | You know, there are definitely no lines on the lawn of my watch collecting journey. This is like squiggly marks. Full U-turns. |
| Unknown | Long spots. Yeah. |
| Andrew (Host) | No, I can relate to that also. So I like that. That will not encourage any more mercy though. |
| Everett (Host) | Well, so Max, we've commented on your lighting. The folks at home are not going to be able to see it. It is really good. I gather you're at about the same time of day. We're, we're in the, we're in the rough United States. Are you, you don't have to dock to yourself, but you can give us your address if you want. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. Send watches. Uh, I'm in, I'm in Seattle. Uh, and, uh, I've been in Seattle for over a decade and, uh, and I, I think we're in a similar latitude. And so our sons will be setting around the same time, I think. |
| Everett (Host) | I think you're right. We may get just a little bit less. |
| Andrew (Host) | Just a touch less. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yes, but the winters are long and the summers are gorgeous for both of us. |
| Everett (Host) | Yes, indeed. That's right. So this is maybe one of the more important questions you'll get today. Are you a Seattle Mariner fan? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | You kind of have to be, we, uh, you know, I feel like once we lost the Sonics, it's just kind of like, uh, whatever you can get. Um, and I've, I feel like I've been, uh, kind of, um, channeling the, the Sonics to come back ever since I arrived in the city. And, and there's some inklings that that might happen within the next one to five years. |
| Everett (Host) | I've heard the rumble. Yeah. It seems like, it seems like the time is nigh. Uh, well, great. So you're, you're allowed to stay on the show. Um, we're not gonna end the zoom meeting quite yet. So Max, we we've introduced you. You're one of the four founders of watch crunch. Uh, why don't you just tell for someone who's never, uh, heard those words used in, in connection with one another. Why don't you tell the folks at home what watch crunch is? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. So, um, this was, uh, I guess you would call it a sort of a grassroots project that took hold sometime before the pandemic. And, and I can't claim sort of original idea for it, but I was sort of brought on early. And, and really, it was some, you know, friends, watch friends, and sort of got together and were kind of complaining about our collective experiences as far as being able to have an avenue to communicate with other enthusiasts, you know, in a way that was conducive to discussion and positivity. And we just kind of felt like unfulfilled. And, you know, within the sort of the founder group of handful of guys Um, there was enough expertise in different areas, like, you know, software development and, uh, uh, and for me, you know, sort of doing, you know, video production, things like that, that we, we kind of thought at some point that if we just join force this with our powers combined, we could probably come up with something that was better than the status quo. |
| Everett (Host) | What did you, did you just quote captain planet? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | I, I tried and I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm really glad that you picked up on that. |
| Everett (Host) | You paraphrased it in any event, right? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, so we got together, put our heads together and resources, um, and, uh, and just thought, you know, we're, we're all a little bit bored, um, stuck inside. Let's, let's try to, let's try to build something. Let's try to try to kind of, uh, give back. Let's try to use our collective experiences, positive and negative to, to maybe, um, offer something for the community, um, that was worthwhile. And so, so that was sort of the genesis of Watch Crunch. |
| Everett (Host) | Well, and so I think that's, I think that's actually similar to, you know, the way 40 and 20 got started, right? It's like, we can't find the things we want. And so let's be, let's, let's contribute that thing. Um, so that other people that want that same thing can, can have it. I don't think it answers the question about what Watch Crunch is. And I think you guys are deliberate about not calling Watch Crunch a forum. But in many ways, at least to me, it resembles a forum in a lot of meaningful ways. How would you describe what watch crunch is and to the extent you do avoid that term forum. What's the significance of that? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | You know, I guess I'm not allergic to the word forum. I think maybe, you know, amongst us there are some people detest that more than others. I think, I think the avoidance of the word forum is twofold. Number one, I just think a lot of us have not had great experiences on forums. And so associating with that word is almost just like cornering yourself. And then the other thing is, Um, in our experience, forums oftentimes are built sort of on a generic kind of, um, you know, basis. And, and then, um, and, and really the idea with watch crunch would, because we have, um, at this point, a team of developers, um, is that to, to make the platform, I guess, platform is probably, um, the word that we like, um, that is much more specific. to watch content. And, and really optimized to, you know, I think of it as like the best marriage between a forum and like Instagram, right? Sure. Because it's those two are almost at polar opposite ends of the experience. For me, forums are very text rich, very knowledge, rich, and Instagram is very image rich and very emoji rich. And so the question is, well, there's pluses and minuses of both. So how do we take the best of each one? And just to give you an example, if you haven't been on WatchCrunch, so it's watchcrunch.com. Right now it's a website, but it's very much a website that's optimized for mobile. And so once you're in the site, it almost feels like an app. The app is being developed. |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah, it does feel, it does feel like an app, even, even the, the, the, my browser. So I'm an Apple user, my iPhone browser back and forth buttons by and large work better than I expected them to. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. And that was, that was the idea from the beginning. And, um, and, and, and, you know, I think, so we, we have like, we have like app people now that's literally working on converting all the details into app form. And as you can imagine, that takes time and resources, but that is very high on our agenda. But in any case, for example, a feature that we launched, which is sort of hashtag, what are you wearing, W-U-R-W, right? Because one of the things we saw was a lot of times people just post a wrist shot, right, without a lot of content. you know, like we're pretty democratic about just, you know, whatever you want to post goes, uh, goes up and then the algorithm decides like how far to push it to, to, to new users, depending on other people's reaction. But, but we wanted, um, we just saw that there were so many sort of wrist shots, um, without a lot of content. And so, so we created this basically horizontal scroll bar and it prompts you to upload your daily sort of wear. |
| Everett (Host) | This is what I'm wearing today. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Right. Yeah. All you, you just want to throw a picture up there and it's going to stay up for a few hours. People are going to see it. And then if they want to see what everybody else is wearing, you know, what the 150 other people today are wearing, they can just click on that. And then it would go into like a regular thread format. And so, so, you know, these things I think are missing on other sort of generalized platforms that are sort of, you know not tailor made for, for watch content. And really that's, That's what we're trying to build. We're trying to build something that's like by watch nerds and for watch nerds. |
| Andrew (Host) | So what I'm hearing you describe is a social media platform hyper-focused on watches. Is that a terminology that you're trying to avoid? Because you mentioned Instagram, you mentioned forums, but you haven't yet said, you said platforms. But you haven't yet said social media platform. Is that, is that an identity that you're trying to disassociate with? Or is that something that you're just kind of, I'm curious about that. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. I think I mainly don't even really personally understand the word social media anymore. I accept. And for example, I make YouTube videos. So like is YouTube social media? I've always sort of struggled with that. And to me, um, you know, I think I wouldn't say it's even hyper focused on watches. I would say it's solely focused on watches. It like watch crunch is not going to be about anything else, but watches and the people around those watches and the, um, you know, and social media to me, um, has the connotation of like, you know, this is my profile and I'm engaging with you, your avatar, like the person behind that profile. And certainly, um, that's part of watch crunch. But I think whatever you want to call it, ultimately the idea is to build community. I think what I really got out of two plus years of social isolation and this hobby was that I felt like I wasn't alone. I felt like there were people all around the world that I was in contact with almost on a daily basis. Um, that really, uh, gave me this community that maybe, you know, a lot of people lost during, uh, so much, you know, uh, time quarantining. And so, so, and I think we want to take that energy and really build on it. Um, you, I mean, you, you can sort of tell, right? Like if you go to a forum and maybe you go to like a sub, you know, topic or whatever, there's like characters there, right? There's like the frequent flyers, there's the people and you know, like, The power users. Yeah. You know, like the temperament of different people, you kind of know, you, you, you get much more of a personal interaction and, um, and just, you know, within sort of half a year of launching, um, we, we, we have that sort of, um, community vibe, right? Some guys started to do a weekly quizzes that he would build, uh, every Sunday, uh, watch quizzes, 10 questions. And he would link you to the, this website where, you know, those online quizzes and you get a score and then like that would foster a discussion. And so there's like almost like scheduled programming now, uh, amongst organic, organic grassroots, uh, scheduled programming. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And, and, uh, and it's just really nice to see, um, that your vision is starting to kind of take root and people are sort of taking, not just taking your idea, but taking your idea and running with it and contributing their own, kind of, uh, uh, you know, uh, the thought and effort, it's really, really heart heartening. |
| Everett (Host) | So I, I think that watch crunch started, uh, first part of 2021. Is that correct that you guys launched? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | We, I, we, I think launched at the, towards the end of 2021. Um, there was, there was sort of like a soft launch where some people were invited to, to come in and kind of play around like a beta, but I think it was like October, November when we really like open it up to the public. Yeah. |
| Everett (Host) | You know, I will say, um, in the day and age of, um, Oh, discord. And, you know, there are a lot of these, uh, platforms, uh, forum platforms and, you know, there's software that's sort of prepackaged and you can plug your own motifs in. And, um, it was apparent to me as soon as I logged in that. Watch Crunch is, is got some features that you don't see in other places. Um, but it's also got a really sort of familiar, um, feeling, right? It, it, you, you can sort of understand all the things it's intuitive, uh, for, for someone who uses the internet, uh, speaking for myself only, I guess, but I, I assume that there were certain infrastructure aspects that you didn't try to reinvent. You didn't reinvent all of the wheels when you made this thing. So can you talk us through a little bit about, uh, the technical background? We don't need to get in the weeds, but I'm curious about how does one, how does one really start that process? We want to make a form. We want to make it ours. Um, what are the nuts and bolts of that? Uh, a platform, excuse me. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | You know, I think I'm probably not sort of expert enough to talk at length about that, though, you know, I live in Seattle, it's one of these tech cities and half of my friends work for Amazon. You know, I am not computer literate by trade. And that's, you know, so So I think I can speak in generalizations and, um, that's going to be just fine for us and for our audience, I assume. Yeah. Um, so let's go seventh grade level, um, lower, lower. |
| Andrew (Host) | There's the one that's perfect. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. Let me try to, let me try to mow this lawn here. Um, so, so, My impression is that this was sort of a ground up effort. And part of the reason why I started out with a website was for that reason, was that I think that was the experience that we had. And then we've over time brought in more people as we've needed more technical assistance. And I think the idea was, yeah, I mean, you know, your basic format is, is in some ways similar to a form. Right. And if you, if you haven't looked, just, you know, I would just encourage you to take five minutes, log on and just play around. Um, and, and like you said, it's. |
| Everett (Host) | I uploaded pictures and even a bio. All right. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. I think I gave you like a heart emoji for that. Yeah. You were, you were, you were rewarded. That's, that's the currency of social media. Right. Um, And yeah, you know, and I think the, but the goal was, was always to build in these, these specialized features so that it wasn't just like a plug and play. So it doesn't, doesn't just feel like somebody took a, you know, like you know, a traditional format and just, and just like typed watches in a blank space. Right. So like, if you were going to if you're going to create a post, Uh, it could be a regular word post. You can upload high quality photos. Um, but you can also, uh, go to like, um, the, the review sort of tab. And then, um, and then it's optimized for a watch review type of, um, uh, format where you get like, you can put star ratings on like different aspects. |
| Everett (Host) | You are able to, to build exactly what you want by way of owning the software, you're able to make it what you want. |
| Andrew (Host) | Yeah. And you've pre-formatted those inputs from users like, okay, here, this is going to be your, your photo and emoji post. And okay, well now if you want to do a review, this is your, your starring, like you've formatted that ability for them in pre that they can just create it. Exactly. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. It's, it's very, it's very intuitive. Like, um, you know, you, I think the interface was one of our struggles with traditional forums and, and, you know, uh, commandeering, like, Reddit, or, you know, IG for watches, those all those pain points we we we tried to solve. And so so if you're a watch person, I think, you know, and you're somebody who can, let's say, you know, pick up an iPhone and use it without reading a manual, then I think you will have a similar experience with with watch crunch. |
| Andrew (Host) | I'm not a technically savvy fella. And I think we've we've beat that horse to death here. |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah, no, that's confirmed. |
| Andrew (Host) | I've gotten on the website, scrolled it without issue, searched things without issue, read things without issue. It is simple enough that I can do it. |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah. No, actually I was impressed with the search function. |
| Andrew (Host) | Um, I, I haven't, I haven't my first thing to look for failure point. |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah, I haven't spent a ton of time using it. And, um, I didn't prepare any notes for you, Max, uh, on my, on my user experience, but maybe that's coming, but no, I agree, Andrew, it's intuitive, right? The, the things that you can do feel like they're doing the things, you know, unlike like, for instance, watch you seek search function is. I would say notoriously awful. Um, like most people, I think just search. they Google the term they want and they include watchuseek.com, which is a much more practical way to search. |
| Andrew (Host) | It should not be a practical way to search a website, right? To leave said website, to then re-enter said website. |
| Everett (Host) | You know, I felt like my experience searching WatchCountry was good. So you're what? maybe six months in seven months in at this point of, of being formally launched, how are, there's a lot of activity, right? At any given time, if you log in, I mean, I think certainly like during the, the United States continental us day, there's going to be people actively posting, you know, the most recent post will have been in the last, you know, 20 minutes of probably several posts per hour. Um, it seems like there's quite a bit of activity. What's your user, uh, growth been like, what, what's the, um, what, how many users do you guys have? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Um, you know, I don't have the latest, the most updated numbers. Again, I sort of, you can think of me as sort of the creative director. Like I, I do the, uh, you know, I run the IG account. I run the YouTube channel, watch crunch. And, uh, and so I've got my hands pretty full. I was literally just in my studio. filming this guy. I don't know if you can see, it's the limited edition Grand Seiko SBGW277. That green is so good. Yeah, it's really mesmerizing. And I love their stories. They're like, this one is inspired by, you know, the yak's eyebrow. |
| Andrew (Host) | We routinely make fun of the story behind Seiko Colors because it's like, nowhere in the world does that story occur. Like you created that in order to, for no one to be able to call you a liar about why you named this color that way. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | I mean, I don't doubt that they just send teams of people out and to like with, with a magnifying glasses, you know, into the forest. That's what I'm imagining. But, uh, but, but I try really hard not to roll my eyes when, when they're like, Oh, for one day of the year, you know, on, on leap years, a frost will form over these leaves and it Like, all right, man. |
| Andrew (Host) | In this one specific section, like it's just the altitude sufficient for frost to occur. |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah, that's a pretty frequent refrain of fun poking for us is the Seiko dial colors. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | I totally forgot what your original question was. |
| Andrew (Host) | You asked about usership. So I have two questions, so I can't be interrupted. What's the goal? Like, obviously, I mean, the goal, you kind of talked about it when you when you opened with the identity, with with what is right. And you just really brilliantly described the identity of Watch Crunch. And like, this is what Watch Crunch is. Is is this just like a forever, like create this sustainable community ecosystem? I mean, what's the create the usership? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | I mean, is this an experiential goal? Yeah. Why are we here? What does this all mean? |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah, that's what that's the problems we aim to solve here at 40 and 20. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. So yeah, let's get philosophical. Um, you know, I, I think there was this energy to just make something. I think we were all makers, you know, like the people on the team were just all just kind of, you know, go getters. And we all sort of just wanted to create something. And then we saw sort of this angle, if you will, this need that really came out of our personal frustrations. And, you know, like I, I used, I mean, I have an account on Watch You Seek, and I used to go there all the time. And, and at some point, I just almost just, I don't know, it's hard, inexplicably, slowly stopped using it to the point that basically now only if I can't find a certain watch to buy, I will go and brave the search function. |
| Everett (Host) | Um, but yeah, you know, that's actually a pretty common refrain that we hear when we recorded our, when we recorded our episode about what you see with Los Angeles timer, that was something we heard from a lot of people that, you know, folks sort of unsolicited would say, uh, I was at watch you seek a lot earlier sometime in the past. And now, although I can see the value, um, it's something that I use as a tool. as opposed to a community. |
| Andrew (Host) | It's the archives. It's where, it's, it's where I go to, it's the library. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Right. And, and, you know, when you go to the library and dig into the archives, you don't expect a pleasant, you know, interface, but you know, that's the only place you're going to get something that you need that you can't get anywhere else. And sort of, and I think inexplicably that's what's happened over time for me. I think partly it's probably because we're just gotten so much better at developing apps and programs that we're now used to using things that are very polished, things that don't trip us up, things that don't need a tutorial. And, uh, and so we live in a world of just really good interfaces. And, and then, so to jump back into this, like, uh, old world, you know, windows XP kind of situation. Um, it just is unpleasant, I think. And that's, that's personally, I think if I was to really analyze, that's why. I've stayed away, uh, unless I really have to. And so, so yeah. So, so what is the ultimate goal? I mean, you know, the, the Genesis in the beginning was all just like this kind of creative energy. Um, and we, we are sort of at this inflection point, right? Where we've gained quite a bit of traction. People who are on there love it. We get like, I mean, like, you know, I don't want to self aggrandize too much, but, but we, I get like love letters in my message box. People are like, oh my God, I'm getting so much value. out of this platform and like, how do I give back? How do I invest in it? How do I, do you need moderators? Do you need this? Do you need that? Like, what do you guys need? Um, a lot of people trying to like invest in the platform, uh, you know, almost like angel investors. Uh, so it's, so it's, um, it's really nice to see that people are so have taken to it. And I think that shows that we've really touched a nerve and we've really filled a need that, that existed in the community. Um, and you know, obviously, everybody will ultimately say, well, I mean, this costs money. Like you have to hire people to, to run this thing. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | How, how do you sustain it? What, what is the ultimate goal? |
| Andrew (Host) | And tech people aren't cheap as I understand. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. Yeah. Right. Especially with, you know, uh, us all going into the metaverse, supposedly, um, uh, yeah, I think computer lizard people. Right. Right. And those people, you know, are, are, are, um, are very, uh, In demand. And so, so yeah, it's true. I mean, you know, it's sort of self funded in the beginning because you know one of at least one of our founders, he sort of a startup guy. And so, so he he's really taken charge as far as like the financial aspect of things. But so right now it's self funded it's it's not. you know, it's not making revenue obviously. And, um, and you know, are we going to run ads? I don't, I really, every time we talk about ads, all of us just kind of run away. So, so I really don't want to, don't think we're going to dilute the experience with like big banners and stuff everywhere. |
| Everett (Host) | Well, and in 2022 at revenue is, is so next to nothing bad as to be, uh, you know, as to be a legitimate, um, is it worth it question? Maybe not the case in 2015, but, but now it's, it's kind of a hard thing to justify the people tuning into your, your platform. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Right. Right. And again, I'm on the creative side of things. I'm on the video production side of things. And for me, you know, my goal is just to drive more awareness to the site. And we believe that once people, if you love watches and, and, and, uh, and you love like the, having a community of watch lovers to talk those watches with, that'll be pretty much a no-brainer once you use it. But I think the idea right now is just to get it out there, just to polish it. All we're doing is really focusing on optimizing the experience. I talked about making the app, dropping that as soon as possible. We just launched a poll feature this morning that we've been kind of fine-tuning so that you can, you know, you can start a poll seems basic, but, but actually the interface is, is quite significant to get right. You know? And so, so right now we're still just really focused on getting getting the platform to the state that we're happy with that, that we think is, is fully optimized. And, and you know, eventually we're going to get to a point where we're I'm just going to be listening to the community and hearing like what people want to see, what features people want. And the ideas, I think, I mean, I feel like with a lot of apps and whatnot these days, once you get enough traffic, you know, the rest of the stuff kind of takes care of itself, whether it's having investors or whatnot. And so right now that's not the focus. And so I apologize, I can't give you sort of that grandiose, you know, horizon thing on the horizon kind of answer for where the ultimate goal is right now is just to make it better. |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah. Well, we accept your apologies, Max. We do. |
| Andrew (Host) | So my next question, thank you for not interrupting. |
| Everett (Host) | I really appreciate that. That was difficult for me. |
| Andrew (Host) | I know. It remains difficult. I'm going to draw this sentence out. Carry on. The first Watch Crunch YouTube video came out two years ago. |
| Everett (Host) | And look at his face. He's like, where are you going? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Watch crunch. Don't direct people to that. I'm going to take it down. |
| Andrew (Host) | So, so, but no, no, no, not to that video specifically, but, but watch crunch as, as I'm hearing you kind of kind of came to an idea as a platform about a year ago. So how, how are you as, as a YouTube content creator getting tied into these folks who want to become a, web platform. I mean, I'm going to call it social media. It's not the term that you're using, but I'm most comfortable with social media platform because that's what makes sense to me for what it is. So how do you transition from being a YouTube content creator to becoming, I mean, a creative director now for a social media platform? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. You know, not that big of a change. I think so. You know, the channel wasn't always called Watch Crunch. The channel switched over to Watch Crunch when we officially launched. Okay. I just this was my like, pet sort of quarantine project. You know, always, always wanted to buy a fancy camera could never justify taking pictures of myself for that. And, and, and then watches was the natural kind of conduit to sort of express that. |
| Andrew (Host) | What other things did you take pictures of before you got to watch this? Because the quarantine is about two and a half years old. That's an inappropriate question. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. I don't know if you will. I'll text it to you later. |
| Everett (Host) | You are a handsome man, Max. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Oh, I mean, we're in good company here. Wait until he takes that denim off. I know you guys and Eugene are all just like ultra, ultra marathon runners. I don't do that. It's running for survival, not for recreation. I just have back pain from editing video too long. |
| Everett (Host) | So let's talk about a little bit about the, about the YouTube channel, because it's sort of an interesting, um, it's, it's sort of an interesting, you know, I think the way it's presented presently is, um, you know, like a platform YouTube channel, you know, sort of like what watch you seek, I think has, a YouTube channel. It feels similar to that, but what we're hearing is... That's better. Wow. Okay. So I'll come back to that. It feels a little bit like it's an integrated part, but what you're telling us is, well, actually the YouTube channel was something I did separately and I've brought it in, which I don't think there's... I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with that. How has that integration worked? for you and how does that continue to be a part of the community as it were? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. So, you know, so I had the channel and, and, um, and, you know, over a year before we switched it over to watch crunch, uh, you know, I had already sort of joined the team and we'd been discussion of, of, of, of, of, you know, um, of this platform that they had already started to, to make, you know, the, um, so, um, and, and so, so that's sort of the timeline I was sort of brought in at some point because it was thought that, you know, that I had the requisite skills to represent that aspect of the platform. You're the pretty face. Yeah, I'll let my mom know that. I got to tell you, my mom the other day was like, let's watch your first video. And I just slowly shrunk into my sweater. It's borderline unwatchable. |
| Everett (Host) | Now I got to watch it. That's, that's what I, that's what happens to me every time someone who I didn't expect will say, Oh, I, I recently checked out some of your guys's podcast. I've been listening to the podcast, someone not watch related. I do the like, Oh gosh, what a, what have they heard? And B, why are we having this conversation? |
| Andrew (Host) | Nobody knows I do this besides you folks. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Well, I'm sure I mean, you know, we're all sort of in this in some somewhat of a creative business, right, in different sort of mediums. And, and I think we all enjoy what we're doing. But we also aim to improve with every single step. And, and that inherently makes, you know, things that you did before, quote, unquote, worse to you, at least. Yeah. And, and, you know, we're all probably pretty self critical in that way. Um, but, um, yeah, so, so for me, uh, you know, how do I view the, how do I view the role of the YouTube channel? I think again, it's sort of a, a megaphone, if you will, to, to, to create awareness, to bring people in, um, and to offer value. Right. Um, I think, um, we believe in this product and we believe that if we can just get you to come play with it for a few minutes that you will then see the value of it. And, and for me, it's just, hey, let's make pretty videos and, and, and have YouTube then bring that serve that onto your phone or your TV. And then, and then, oh, by the way, you know, what's watch crunch, you know, like check out this thread about the topic that inspired this video. And so hopefully it feels natural and We're aiming for sort of a seamless integration. And we're always sort of playing with ideas of, you know, how, how that works. You know, just like how, you know, Watchfinder, right. And, and, you know, Hodinkee, and I'm not saying we're sort of at that scale, but, you know, they're all sort of integrated into some sort of product, right. And our product isn't buy this watch. Our product is try out this platform. and join this community. |
| Everett (Host) | How about monetization? How are you guys able to monetize? You know, because there are things that are expensive. Development, organic, ground up website development is expensive. How are you guys able to fund that now? What's your primary source of income? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | So right now it's solely independently funded. I think at some point we'll probably start investigating some of, you know, investments, you know, tech, sort of, you know, investments. But we're not there yet. And luckily, you know, amongst the founders, we have enough resources to keep us going. And we're not really worried about funding right now, which is a good problem, right? A good good situation to be in. |
| Andrew (Host) | It's their situation to be in. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, if you've seen really any kind of documentary about social media platforms, that beginning period is really critical. And if you're funded by some rich guy on a boat, well, you are subject to their whims. And there's always a struggle between what you want to do as a creator versus what your investors want you to do and how fast they want you to make money and how fast they want you to grow. And so I think we're really lucky in that we're self-funded and self-funded by, you know, the original visionaries. And therefore we don't have to depart from the vision. We don't have to cater to investors who don't understand watches. You know, we're watch people and we're just going to do cool watch stuff until we run out of money. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah. Well, so you guys are growing obviously. Um, I think your, your product as you, as you refer to it, is substantial. And I think it's proven to be so. And I guess maybe all I mean by that is that people are there, people are doing it. I think, you know, if I said I was going to start a forum and there was going to be several posts every hour, and if six months later that was happening, I would be satisfied with that. Maybe not satisfied, but I would be happy that it was successful, I guess is what I'm trying to say. So with that said, how do you guys consider the growth? Is it where you want it to be? And is there a point where maybe you don't want to grow beyond? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah, I mean, that's a good question. And these are sort of discussions that are happening constantly. And I think generally we're happy with the growth. And I think partly the numbers is one thing, but growing the right way is another thing, you know, like you can, you can, there's artificial ways to boost numbers on paper. Right. But, but really we, we want, like, we want the people that are really invested in the platform, the people that, because again, we always come back to this idea of building community, you know, giving, helping kind of watch lovers connect around the world. and creating sort of that home for them, because it just provides a better experience than any other platform. I think that's the basis of what we're trying to do. And, you know, I think, you know, I'm hopeful that as we grow, as the YouTube channel grows, as our voice gets louder within the community, as people start saying to each other, Hey, like you should check this out. It's, it's, it's really cool. Like, or check out this thread. It's really funny. Um, you know, um, as we get more awareness that, that, that will compound. Um, and so general, so to answer your question, we're happy with the, the, the way things are going. Um, it's not, uh, you know, it's not like the first days of Facebook growth. Right. But that's also not really what we expect and shouldn't be. |
| Andrew (Host) | Yeah. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. Um, so it's, it's organic growth. It's, it's, it's growing the right way. Um, and, uh, yeah, my hope is for example, when the app comes out and, you know, um, things like that, that will draw a lot of people who are still kind of on the sidelines. |
| Everett (Host) | How do you, how do you manage the side effects of growth? I think the internet is well known for, uh, this common tension between, um, you know, the ability to, freely communicate with one another. So one of the main criticisms of what you seek, well, there's two main criticisms I think of what you seek. One is that, um, it can be toxic. And the other is that the moderators are heavy handed. So those are the two criticisms I hear most often. I think that those actually in many ways might be two sides, uh, opposite ends perhaps of, of a of the same problem. And so I think that as any sort of social media platform grows, you're going to have tensions, right? Where you don't want to be heavy handed, but you also want to make it a safe and inviting place for everybody. A, are you starting to see, you know, I assume basically day one, you started to see some of this, but how are you guys managing some of those difficulties? You know, I'll just say, just to be perfectly transparent, I was on Watch Crunch today and I saw a thread that I thought, well, I think that this thread might not be okay with some people. And, you know, there was nothing overt, but, but perhaps, you know, maybe even worse than overt, like the kind of like subtle things that some people are willing to say that other people might be deeply hurt by. How do you manage that as a, as a content Yeah. Host. How do you manage that? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. I mean, I think, I think this conversation is, is really, uh, pertinent for the times, right? I mean, you look at sort of the discussion surrounding Twitter and Elon Musk, right. And, um, and then sort of policing and, uh, you know, how do you, uh, sort of manage the content and, um, and yeah, it's a spectrum, right. It's, you know, on one end you have just, what does he call it? Uh, you know, free speech, absolutism. |
| Everett (Host) | The 8chan, the 8chan method. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Right. Right. And on the other end, you have just over policing. And I think, you know, having been on Reddit too much, but some of the stuff I read about things that have happened on Reddit, where you kind of have moderators gone rogue and just completely alienate entire communities. And so, you know, again, we have enough experience collectively amongst the founders to have to know sort of the pitfalls of kind of both ends of it. And I can just tell you, I mean, you know, some of this is proprietary, but it's a combination of like a sort of AI-based screening of content so that the really egregious stuff never even makes it up, right? Followed by a core part of this is the community policing itself. Um, because we, we, we, we do, um, you know, we, we don't, what we don't want is somebody, uh, sort of a feudal Lord getting out of control and just kind of banning people. Right. And so, so for example, every post has a little flag, um, underneath it. And, and if you don't, if you don't agree with what it's saying, like you can draw, um, our attention to it. Right. Um, and then at a higher level, there is some level of. um, you know, um, moderating by people on our end that review things that really, um, trigger the, the reaction of the community. And, uh, and, and as you can imagine, there has been cases that have risen to that level where we have gone in and had to write an email, um, you know, to, to members and say, Hey, look, can like, can you, whatever, change your behavior or whatnot. Um, and so, so there's, it's multiple layers of, of, moderation, if you will. But we do, at the core, believe that it's not a right, right? Watchcrunch is not a right. Watchcrunch is a privilege. If you're going to live within this community, you have to behave in a way that fosters that community. And if you repeatedly hurt the group, then you probably are not you shouldn't be allowed to continue to do that. So, so, yeah, so that's sort of a long winded answer to the moderation question. |
| Andrew (Host) | The last part you said is what I really appreciate. Watch Crunch is not a right. You don't have a right to be here. You you there are expectations of you if you want to be a member of this community. Right. |
| Everett (Host) | And I appreciate that. And this is an incredibly complicated conversation, not just with regards to Watch Crunch, but, you know, sort of the common carrier question and free speech and has something like Twitter developed beyond the point where it's Twitter has the right to censor anything? And, you know, that's an incredibly complicated question. And so, you know, not meaning to put you on the spot at all. And I don't think we were. But, but yeah, Everett was, he was, he was. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. That's, that's what I got from his body language. |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah. The, the, the relaxed legs crossed back. Um, no, no, that's, that's, that's a fine answer. And thank you for doing that Max. Um, as far as, as far as what's next, I know you, you, we've already kind of talked about this. Um, you've got an app coming. I'm sure you're fantastic. One thing I think we haven't said. |
| Andrew (Host) | We haven't touched on how great his videos are. |
| Everett (Host) | Your YouTube channel is fantastic. Thank you. Yeah. Your video production quality is great. Is that all self-taught? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. So I'm in medicine by trade. And like I said, I've always thought like that. You're a drug dealer. With a pager, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pagers and paint bones. Like the wire. Like all the drug dealers. Yeah. No, I'm a physician, but, and I think for me, so I obviously don't sleep much, but for me, I think, you know, there was a creative side of me that always felt like it was finding, trying to find a way out. And, Um, and, and this was, um, sort of combined almost all of my hobbies. It was just magic thing. That was like the confluence of my love for little tiny mechanical things, my love for the aesthetics and history and, um, you know, the, the technical side of, uh, video production and public speaking, all these things just somehow, uh, manifested together. Um, so when it clicked, it clicked hard. |
| Everett (Host) | Do you know that, uh, do you know that meme from step brothers? Did we just become best friends? |
| Andrew (Host) | You're not in cardiology in any regard, are you? Because that seems like a cardiologist hobby. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | No, no, no. |
| Andrew (Host) | You don't have to tell us. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. No, it's neurology. So, so it's even, even more. |
| Andrew (Host) | Okay. That makes even better sense. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. And so, so I think like, plus you, you add like a healthy dose of, uh, you know, OCD on top of that OCD tendencies. Um, and so I think that explains, in some ways, I guess, my standards for the videos. And it's, I like learning things just, you know, I think all of us in the watch community love learning things. And for me, learning cameras and lenses and, you know, lighting and all that stuff, that's all just part of the game. |
| Everett (Host) | What are you shooting? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | What's your setup? So I have two, my A cam is a Sony a7 IV. |
| Everett (Host) | Okay. Um, also, also watch clicker wills a camera. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Um, and then I have a seven C, which is basically a seven three and a smaller body as my B cam, uh, in, you know, a host of like, uh, G master and Sigma lenses. |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah. Yeah. Which is sort of Sigma is the third party brand of choice. I think right now. So I'm still, I'm still stuck on like APS-C Nikon DSLR. And then I think Andrew hasn't touched a camera in about six months. |
| Andrew (Host) | So I took pictures for a recent review, uh, but some of the pictures were about a year old. They just happen to still be on the SD card. I was like, man, that's lucky. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | You know, and my recommendation for people who want to take better photos is, um, the lighting is a lot more important and a lot cheaper than camera. Yeah. |
| Everett (Host) | What do you, what are you using to, what are you using for your primary lights? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Um, I've got a, like a aperture, um, whatever, uh, one 20 D. Oh, the big, the big boys. Yeah. The big boy with the, you know, with the big diffuser thing. Um, but, but yeah, you know, like I, I, I did a video on sort of taking better pictures, but, but lighting, I mean, you can get yourself a $12 diffuser and, uh, and that will do wonders, um, compared to like a thousand dollars. |
| Andrew (Host) | And so we'll let eight and a half by 11 picture or an eight and a half, 11 by sheet of paper near your subject, bouncing light. That's at least for me, one of my biggest aha moments in taking photos was the ability to manipulate light. I was like, oh, fuck. |
| Everett (Host) | I've got all this light in the world. |
| Andrew (Host) | This looks so much better. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. And if you don't want to invest in a light, just, you know, just be near a window when it's overcast, which is almost every day here. But if it's not, then, you know, have like one of those Um, Ikea sort of like a white kind of diffuse, uh, curtains or, or a piece of Muslim, right? |
| Everett (Host) | I mean, you can get like a $3 yard of Muslim and put it in the window curtains. Yeah. Yeah. I just actually purchased new lights for not for 40 and 20 or watch clicker, but, but for a different project, I just purchased lights. Uh, and I got video lights. I got constant lights. Cause I really like constant lighting. Um, And they were expensive, right? 200-ish dollars per light. But before that, so we've been doing this now for years, going on four years, and we've been taking pictures for at least that long, if not more. Up to now, I've used like a $50 Amazon CFL kit, 5600, Kelvin CFL with with shoot through umbrellas. I mean the whole kit stands umbrellas like drops. Everything was 50 bucks. And I you know not to not to be too egotistical about it. I've been using. We've taken some pretty pretty fucking good pictures. And so You don't like, to your point, that's with a APS-C, a crop sensor, DSLR camera. I mean, you can take fantastic pictures with light and you don't even need to spend a lot, so. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | You can take fantastic pictures with your cell phone. You know, like on the Instagram account yesterday, you know, I was literally at a coffee shop, you know, writing my script for this video. I like to put on a fedora, smoke a pipe and go to a coffee shop. That's America right there. No, I was just sitting by the window and it was overcast, but it was bright. And I just like, you know, I, I looked over and I snapped a quick cell phone pic, you know, turned down the, the, the sort of the, the brightness a little bit. And, and it came out so well, I was like, I can, I can, you know, this is sort of Insta worthy and, you know, cell phones are getting so good these days. Yeah. I mean, the lenses are going to just be sort of generally too wide for, for a lot of things, but, but if you, and you're not going to have a ton of |
| Everett (Host) | ton of dynamic range in your, in your sensor. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Right. But the thing, the thing is like the, you know, every, no camera has a dynamic range of the human eye. Right. And so, so as long as you understand that concept and you can put the camera in a range of lighting that it can see, well, then the, the pictures are going to look great. It's, it's when you challenge the camera outside of that, that dynamic range. And so Yeah. So for me, it's, it's, it's about learning how to see how a camera sensor sees rather than just, you know, taking what your eyes see for granted. |
| Andrew (Host) | I have, I have one last thing and it's just really, I don't know. I don't mean to put you on the spot here, but it's an issue that I have with your YouTube. Yeah. |
| Everett (Host) | I have no clue what he's going to say, by the way. |
| Andrew (Host) | In one of your YouTube videos, and this is something that I take a serious personal offense to, you said you've never watched an episode of Game of Thrones? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | What the fuck? Oh my God. |
| Everett (Host) | We dug deep, man. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | So my cop-out answer is, When you're working two full-time jobs, the fear is that you are just going to lose a week of your life and you can't afford that. And so you literally just run away anytime, you know, your friend or your roommate puts on an episode, right? |
| Andrew (Host) | Like when... Nah, I don't buy it. |
| Everett (Host) | We have both worked three full-time jobs. Miss! |
| Andrew (Host) | Are you serious? Still, you've never watched an episode of Game of Thrones? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Not a full episode, yeah. Not a full episode. |
| Everett (Host) | That's hard. That's a hard thing for me to accept. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | You know, I didn't sign up for Netflix until last week when I really wanted to see the Kanye documentary and I just couldn't find it free anywhere else. |
| Andrew (Host) | But it's not on Netflix. I'm like taking such deep offense to this. I don't know if I can trust anything you've said. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | I have seen all the episodes of Silicon Valley. I lived with a guy at the time who was obsessed with that show. |
| Andrew (Host) | And that's a fantastic show, by the way. It doesn't equate, right? That's not a replacement. But that is, you know, there's some street cred recovered here. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Man, I thought I was going to get tossed out. |
| Everett (Host) | Max, if we gave you 30 to 60 seconds to tell us everything that you haven't had an opportunity to say today, What would you tell the folks? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Um, I think I would just say, you know, check us out. Um, if, if you're, if you find yourself, um, you know, not completely fulfilled with your experience on these other platforms, like what you see, you can read it and Instagram and, you know, I'm on all those platforms. Um, but, but we just, you know, I come to watch crunch, spent five minutes, scroll around. And just see, I think it's pretty obvious how great the community is, how supportive people are. We've got people running auctions to feed families in Africa, auctioning off their personal watches. We've got people running quizzes. We have a one watch challenge going on right now, where it's like wear one watch as long as you can, post every day on what are you wearing and win merch at the end of it. And so it feels like a really kind of, welcoming community. And, um, and it doesn't have the kind of the abrasiveness that I experienced on other places. Um, and yeah, just give, you know, if you want to call it a form, you know, give it another chance. Um, and, uh, and, and you, you may be surprised. |
| Everett (Host) | That's that's great. Uh, and for my part, I've signed up as, as we've discussed, I've posted, I've posted not only a profile picture, but also a background picture. And now I've posted my first, I've got my first post in the books. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | So do I, do I just search mustache guy or search mustache guy? |
| Everett (Host) | You'll find me for sure. For sure. Um, are you, are you ready for this? |
| Andrew (Host) | I don't know. Andrew, other things. Oh, I am ready for this. So I've got another thing and it's not a new thing. Really? It's just it's a thing that's kind of new to me. |
| Everett (Host) | Something old, something new. |
| Andrew (Host) | Something. What do you got for you? So I recently started a show that's available on Netflix called Somebody Feed Phil. |
| Everett (Host) | Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm glad you're going to talk about this. |
| Andrew (Host) | I burned it up. I was watching it so often that I convinced my seven year old No, this is good television programming. |
| Everett (Host) | You're going to like this as a kid. We actually know that he's got limited vision. He's got disabled vision. So. |
| Andrew (Host) | So he he's watching it with me. Right. So this is a show he turned on on his own to watch it, which pissed me off because I had to go back a few episodes because he watched it without me. Somebody feed Phil. It's hosted by Phil Rosenthal, famously of Everybody Loves Raymond. right writer director kind of fella he otherwise the least notable person on the face of the earth he has no business in front of a camera none yeah that's right he is weird he is goofy dorky can we say dorky dorky is complimentary okay but it makes him adorable yeah adorable in like the kind of way that you just like want to grab him and punch him so that you can just like hug him and comfort him. So the whole premise of the show. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Like a of mice and men kind of situation. |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah, like yeah, very much Lenny. |
| Andrew (Host) | He's he is this beautiful, gentle, sweet guy who travels the world and does a food show. It's like any of the traveling food shows you'd expect, but it's not Anthony Bourdain, and he's an asshole. It's not Andrew Zimmern, and then he's a fucking expert. It's Phil Rosenthal, who doesn't know shit about shit. He's just like, I'm here to eat. Like, give me things. He does weird dances when he's getting things that he likes. He is ridiculous. But he goes to these beautiful places, has these just beautiful meals, and it's one of my favorite travel food shows that I've ever watched. just because he is so detached from that academia of food reviewing. |
| Everett (Host) | And he seems to be totally disinterested with any level of cool. |
| Andrew (Host) | Yes. He just wants it to be good. And if it looks cool and it tastes good, he's totally into it. But when you look at these travel food shows where it's, you know, these really famous chefs, these writers, these people in the industry, And you're like, well, we're here because it's a top rated place and they do this and that and the other thing. And you know, I would do this a little bit differently. He does not do that. He takes a bite of it and he loves it. |
| Everett (Host) | And it's, and the reason I love that is because- The mouthful, I can picture right now, the mouth, the full mouth, like eyes open smile of unadulterated joy. Just sheer joy. |
| Andrew (Host) | Exactly. He's at the vegan donut place in Portland, Oregon, in the Portland episode. And he's just like, I love vegans now. I love vegan donuts. This doesn't make sense. I don't know why a donut needs to be vegan, but it's vegan and I like it. And that's the thing. He likes everything. And I'm sure he tastes things he doesn't like and they don't put it on the air, but he, the, the unadulterated joy that he gets from everything they air him eating is just heartwarming. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | So if you have, is that show the sponsor of today's episode? It is. |
| Andrew (Host) | Absolutely. I wish it was if, because they're, they would take us to Helsinki and we'd go to Helsinki. And and just go eat like kings. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | As soon as I catch up on every episode of Game of Thrones, that will be next. |
| Andrew (Host) | Yes, you have you have two. Well, you did just get Netflix. I don't know if you have HBO. That's a whole other subscription. You do have Netflix. |
| Everett (Host) | Wait, wait, wait. I don't mean to interrupt your other thing. I think you're almost done. You would do that. I'm going to interrupt your other thing. Max, can we make a deal? When you finished Game of Thrones, we can have you back on. to talk about an update on WatchCrunch, but also to do a review of Game of Thrones is your other thing. Can we do that? |
| Andrew (Host) | He's never coming back then. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | You know, it's almost a badge of honor at this point to be like the only person on, on, you know, the planet with the television. |
| Everett (Host) | That's well, I guess WatchCrunch is done for 40 and 20. You're the only person I know. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | But we'll talk offline. I'm sure we can come to some other agreement where you can punish me in other ways. |
| Everett (Host) | I like this. |
| Andrew (Host) | So my other thing, Somebody Feed Phil. It's a really beautifully shot, super good food, charming host because he's a Sesame Street character. |
| Everett (Host) | And nothing should be the way that it is. It shouldn't be as well made as it is. Yes. It shouldn't be as charming as it is. |
| Andrew (Host) | There's tons of breaking of the fourth wall. Yes. There's like beautiful personal storyline. Yeah. Get after it. You're going to enjoy it. |
| Everett (Host) | Max from Watch Crunch. Other things. What did you bring us today? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Other things. I think I think a movie and a related watch that's been on my mind was the new Top Gun movie. And I know, you know, I mean, it was so well reviewed that I went in kind of like holding my breath because that's usually the kiss of death. And I did enjoy it. I mean, I don't want to downplay just how action-packed it was. But, you know, I think it was also pretty cool that Tom Cruise is wearing the same watch that he wore 30 years ago. |
| Everett (Host) | Which is such a great watch, by the way. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | It is. |
| Andrew (Host) | Is he wearing the same watch or the same watch? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | So I've literally watched every interview to try to get background because I'm actively making a video on this. on the Watch Crunch YouTube channel. And I've gone as far as purchasing a, actually I had a, like a Top Gun flight suit from Halloween last year. This is how much of a fan I've been. And so, you know. That suits you. |
| Andrew (Host) | Just those of you who can't see his face, that suits him. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Just, yeah, just a teaser. Yeah, I was, you know, I was born in the 80s. And so, uh, so that, that may be coming, but yeah. |
| Everett (Host) | Hold on. I've got to interrupt you. Max says he was born in the eighties. He looks like he's about 27. I just want, if you haven't seen him go to the YouTube channel, Max looks like he's 27, but go ahead. Keep going. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah. That math works out. Right. Um, and, uh, What was I saying? So yeah. So he admitted in an interview that it's the exact same watch. And he said. It is the same Orphina. Yeah. The director had confiscated it at the end and had personally worn it through the last three decades, given it to Tom Cruise for this movie and then took it back on the last day of filming. That's how much. No. They love this watch. That's awesome. |
| Andrew (Host) | Yeah. I can't believe that Tom didn't steal that shit. |
| Everett (Host) | That watch is going to auction for a million dollars. No, that's going to auction for north of a million. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | That's going to be the new Paul Newman. |
| Everett (Host) | I mean, it may just be. Also, just I think right now, right now, so hold on, just a warning to everybody. Right now is a good time to go get a DLC Porsche Orfina. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | I bought all of them on eBay. |
| Everett (Host) | Mark my words. This is a watch that is hard to get today, but relatively affordable, relatively, and relatively is in reference to what it's going to be 20 years from now. You, this watch is going to go off at some point in the next, I think it's fair to say 10 years, and you will not be able to find these things. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | And what's great is, um, you know, in my kind of obsessive research, um, that, you know, Orfina and Porsche design is not your only option. There's multiple brands that use the same design because they had sold those rights off to, you know, three different companies around the worst crisis. So you can find Hoyers, you can find, um, you know, uh, uh, I think it's like, no, not the Luca. It's, it's like a French one. Um, so there's other companies that produce almost identical watches. And so, so look around if you don't find a specific Porsche design one, um, there's, there's definitely other options out there. |
| Everett (Host) | And you can get them with 77 fifties. You can get them with 51 hundreds, multiple movement options. But yeah, that, I mean, that watch I think is set to go off and you know, if it does happen in the near future, I'm going to attribute that to us. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah, I think so. |
| Andrew (Host) | We've done the hot take and the pumping. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Yeah, just don't just don't don't ask Dan Henry. |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah, I did. I did have a 1972 for a while, which I liked, but ultimately sold because it wasn't what I wanted it to be. |
| Andrew (Host) | If you had the DLC, I think you would have kept it. |
| Everett (Host) | So all things said and done. We talked about Top Gun recently as another thing on this show. And My review is that it was every bit as good as it should have been and probably about 10 times better than it should have been. And then I liked it from tip to tail and no objections. I thought it was just a hundred percent fun for a hundred percent of the runtime. What's your overall review? |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | You know, I guess mine is not quite as glowing. You know, if yours was like us, like, like 11 out of 10, I think mine was more like a 9.2. Okay. |
| Everett (Host) | Pretty good though. That's pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. I would say mine was, I would say I would give it, if I had to review it today, I'd say 9.5 out of 10. So, so he's at an eight. I'll let you adjust if you want, but. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Um, I think I felt like I, I felt more connection, I think, with the characters in the first Top Gun. They, I think, maybe the new ones, they were a little monotonous, maybe because they were all sort of these young kids kind of like seen as a, as a group, if you will. Yeah, and really Tom Cruise was like the monolith that guided this group of children around and, and I just thought like, it was And you know, I felt like, you know, like Iceman and Goose and all these other characters, they were very much as, you know, as dynamic as Tom in that first one. And so, so yeah, in the female characters, like, you know, Meg Ryan's character and stuff. And so I think that was my thing. And maybe it's just like, I've had too much nostalgia from the first one, because I've seen it so many times that it's hard to measure up to that. |
| Everett (Host) | So this is a bit of an aside, but did you guys know that Huey from the boys is Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid's child? Yes. Okay. I didn't know that. Yeah. Right. Seriously. Um, well, good Top Gun. I think we've got our second pretty, pretty good review. Maybe a little bit more restraint than mine and, and some nuance. I appreciate your comments. Cause I think they're reasonable. Um, I've got another thing. Do me. So my other thing is a book. I think it's been a while since we've talked about books on the show. Because we don't read books. You know, we do talk about, we do read books. I think both of us read books. I think we're both on record as... I'm so impressed with my ears. I am reading a book called A Memory Called Empire. And this is a book, I think that this was either a Hugo or a Nebula award winner or perhaps both. But this is a recent book. It came out 2021. And it's a sci-fi book because that's what we talk about. |
| Andrew (Host) | It was a finalist for the Nebula in 2019. It did not get a Hugo. |
| Everett (Host) | Oh boy. This is a... This is a book that's different, I think, than anything I've ever read. And that's saying something, right? Because I think, you know, we're on record, Andrew, you and I, we both read a lot. |
| Andrew (Host) | I basically read... Oh, it won the 2020 Hugo. |
| Everett (Host) | Nice. I basically read, you know, 30 or 40 books every year, which I know some people read a lot more than that. That's not a number to be super proud of, but it's a significant number. |
| Andrew (Host) | It's not an insignificant number of books. 52 in a year was a project. |
| Everett (Host) | That's right. That's right. So I am now at this point about 90% of the way through this book, and I've gotten to the point where I am like avoiding starting a show with my wife too late at night. She'll be like, do you want to watch something? And I'm like, yeah, I'm kind of tired. I don't really want to watch anything, you know, so that I can make sure that I have my 30 or 45 minutes to read before I fall asleep. Uh, different than anything I've ever read. The universe is both incredibly complex, but also vaguely enough written that you don't have a real firm grasp at it. So this is, Explicitly book one. Of a series and which which means there are more coming ostensibly. And I'm I'm totally hooked. This is it's been at times a little slow. I think starting it. I thought I'm not sure I'm going to get there, but then once it sucks you in, it sucks you in so deep. The storytelling is novel. Uh, not to give any spoilers, but the premise is inter stellar ecosystem empire, perhaps, um, uh, an ambassador from another planet, another solar system, another, another completely other place who is shown up and has her predecessors. brain implanted into her own brain and they communicate. And, which is, which is interesting. I mean, there's some, it's, it's legit sci-fi because you've got medical advances. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Isn't that what Elon Musk is trying to do in pigs? |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah, it may be. Yeah, it may be. I mean, you've got just enough sort of scientific intrigue. You know, they're talking about, you know, neural implants, and there's politics involved. Everything, here's what I'll say about this. Everything is, everything is specific as to the individuals involved and everything outside of the direct experience of our narrator and the direct contact of our narrator gets incredibly vague. Because it's assumed knowledge. As you, it's assumed knowledge, that's right. As you move away from the direct context of the narrator, everything gets vague, but in a way that is familiar, right? They tell this story in this world that's nothing in this universe, that's nothing like our own. Be that because of time or whatever, you know, similar to the Star Wars model, right? You see these people. You just accept it. Yeah, that's right. And you just accept it. I've loved this book. If you're looking for a new sci-fi and you have not yet read this, I'd recommend it. Uh, the first book I've read from this person. |
| Andrew (Host) | So it's, it's the inaugural book. Can I read the, the Wikipedia blurb? Will you do it? Will you do it? A Memory Called Empire is a 2019 science fiction novel. The debut novel by our Katie Martine. It follows Mamet Jarmet J'mari. Sure. How have you decided how to say that? Uh, let me see. D. Z. M. A. R. E. Zamari. Zamari. The ambassador from LaSalle Station to some manner of empire as she investigates the death of her predecessor. |
| Everett (Host) | That's how I'd said that. |
| Andrew (Host) | As she investigates the death of her predecessor and the instabilities that underpin the society. It's a familiar storyline. It's a murder mystery shrouded in science fiction. That's why it works. |
| Everett (Host) | Yeah. And it works. And it works. And the writing is really good. Really good. This is, you know, sometimes you read a book and you're like, well, this is a fun story and interesting ideas. The writing could use work. The writing in this book is impeccable. As a book, as a literature nerd, the writing in this book is totally bee's knees, tits, fantastic. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | So when, so Everett, when your, when your wife eventually comes to bed, um, are you sort of in a trance-like state with exploding stars over, over the, the head of the bed? |
| Everett (Host) | That does happen, but usually it's about 15 minutes after she comes. Okay. Three minutes after she comes to bed. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Well played. |
| Everett (Host) | Well played. I recommend it. Check it out. Max, tell us real quick where to find you. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | Uh, find us on watch crunch.com, uh, app coming soon. Uh, find me, um, on watch crunch on YouTube, uh, where I will be hopefully looking at that Top Gun watch very soon. |
| Everett (Host) | Hell yeah. I'm looking forward to that video. |
| Max (Founder of Watch Crunch) | That's cool. Wearing my jumpsuit. Uh, the only way you should. Yeah. Well, you know, we have, we have a presence on, on, uh, most of these watch platforms and, uh, I, you know, I hope to, uh, have conversations and discussions and, and really have better discussions than we're, uh, than we're currently able to have. Um, and, uh, and that's the goal behind all of this. |
| Everett (Host) | And I'll just add for you at watch underscore dot crunch or at watch underscore crunch on Instagram. Yes. Yeah. Andrew, anything you want to add before we go? We've done it. We did it, man. I'm actually pretty proud of us. We do a good job. You should be. We're awesome. We. Hey, thanks, you guys, for joining us for this episode. A 40 and 20, the Watch Clicker podcast. Just do me a favor, would you check Watch Crunch out? This is a new website. They've got an app coming and it's really fucking cool. I'm kind of into it. I think I might hang out a bit. Check it out. You can check us out at Watch Clicker. We're at 40 and 20 on Instagram. We post pretty, I think, pretty sexy photos. Is that fair to say? |
| Andrew (Host) | Yeah, they're nudies. |
| Everett (Host) | You can also check us out at watchclicker.com. Uh, that's where we post, you know, basically weekly reviews and articles and, and, and every single episode of this podcast. Uh, if you want to support what we do, you can do that at patreon.com slash 40 and 20. Cause look, this stuff costs money. Everything, everything we do costs money. And some of you guys have decided to support us and we think you're awesome. And we really appreciate it because that's how we keep this thing going. And otherwise don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Bye bye. |
| Unknown | Oh, |