Episode 238 - How the Swiss Sausage is Made, with Mike DeMartini of Everest Horology
Published on Wed, 17 May 2023 21:49:42 -0700
Synopsis
The podcast hosts Andrew and Everett interview Mike DeMartini, founder of Everest Horology rubber watch strap company and co-founder of Monta watch brand. Mike discusses his background and journey from struggling in real estate to starting Everest by making an affordable rubber strap for Rolex watches. He shares insights into the Swiss watch industry, like what components are typically made in Switzerland versus Asia for affordable Swiss watches, the "Made in Switzerland" requirements, and watchmaking processes. Mike also talks about Everest's high-quality rubber straps and other products.
Links
Transcript
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| Andrew | Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. You're listening to 40 in 20 the Watch Clicker podcast with your hosts, Andrew and my good friend Everett. Here, we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Everett, how are you? |
| Everett | I'm really good. Would it be an episode of 40 in 20 the Watch Clicker podcast if I didn't make some sort of braggadocious comment about how good I am on the fade or a thing that nobody else cares about? |
| Andrew | I thought you were a little hot coming in. Oh, you thought I was hot? You faded too fast right away. You just, yeah, a little hot. |
| Everett | Well, that's some constructive criticism. |
| Andrew | I'll take it. We'll be critiquing Everett's sliding finger in future episodes. |
| Everett | I've gotten many critiques on my sliding finger over the years. You're welcome. How's your confidence right now? I'm pretty, I feel confident, man. I'm feeling, I'm feeling very high on life and not on drugs. |
| Andrew | Yeah. |
| Everett | Because I'm in a police officer's house. Happens. Yeah. Uh, no, I'm good. It's, uh, it's been, it's been hot. So last week I think we said spring has sprung and then we went straight into like 96, 97, I was going to say mile per hour, but degrees. That's what we measured that, that stuff in 96, 97 degree days, like three in a row, four in a row. |
| Andrew | Several. Uh, so I hadn't even fertilized my lawn yet. |
| Everett | And then in the meantime, and then in the meantime I got Andrew, I believe I got COVID. I believe I got COVID. I had a terrible bout of conjunctivitis, nay, cellulitis in my eye that required a medical treatment. It's, and now I'm like back to normal. |
| Andrew | Yeah. You look like the thing. |
| Everett | It's been a week, man. On just one side of your face. It has been a week. |
| Andrew | Exactly a week. |
| Everett | Yeah. Well, two weeks since I've been sick, but yeah, it's been a week. |
| Andrew | So I think started last Thursday. I know that because I think started last Wednesday. Yeah. Cause after the day after we recorded, you texted me that horrible picture of your face. |
| Everett | And I'm pretty sure I had COVID when we recorded last week. So I'm feeling good. Yeah. Good, good, good, good. Uh, so it's been a week. It's been incredibly hot. I got super weird, sick, random. I spent some time in a medical. |
| Andrew | That's just cause you're getting old, man. |
| Everett | Yeah, I guess it's just, being old, weird diseases. But other than that, I'm fucking rad. How are you? |
| Andrew | I am also good. I got a lot of yard work done, even though it was hot and I pressure washed my most of my backyard, like 98% of my backyard. There's two cement bricks on the side of my house that with just one hose I couldn't reach. And then I did not feel like finishing because it was too hot. It was hot. So my pressure washer is still outside. just can't quite reach those last two bricks. But other than that, uh, it did give me the side by side because I was lamenting like my Patty, like everything looks clean, but you need to feel like it looked that bad. Yeah. Now when you look side by side, it's like black sidewalk. Yeah. Shiny break. Gray sidewalk. |
| Everett | Yeah. Fair enough. Pressure. This was a good week to pressure wash. |
| Andrew | It was. Yeah. Yeah. So everything's, everything's cleaned up. It's springy. I got all my yard debris taken out, my lawns are in mode. I'm feeling good. And we're here drinking beer, talking watches. I'm not drinking beer because you didn't give me one. |
| Everett | Well, there's a whole. You're a terrible hostess. |
| Andrew | Cooler right here. I'm trying not to hit the microphone with the bag of cans. Take your pick. |
| Everett | I'm going to take, I'm going to take this orange one because it looks different. Contact haze. It is different. That sounds like a weed joke. I love it when beers make weed jokes. |
| Andrew | There's another, there's another Boneyard and then there's two Cinnastores. |
| Everett | So we've got, we're talking about watches today, Andrew. As usual. Per the usual. We're going to do something different. We've brought a friend. You know who he is, but I'm going to really ride the suspense in case you're like playing autoplay in your car or something. We've brought a friend. And this is amongst the people that we've had on the episode, I would say upper echelon in terms of industry knowledge and experiences. Um, someone who has offered and who we've taken a mop on his offer to kind of talk about what, what is the watch industry specifically? What is the Swiss watch industry? I, we talk about these things in fairly vague, uh, terms and sometimes we're not smart. Sorry. Sometimes we even talk about them in ways. And when I say we, I mean the Royal we, right? We talk about these in ways that make assumptions perhaps, uh, or, or even just completely like, like skip over the details, right? We just, without thinking about it subconsciously or knowingly, we skip over the details, things we maybe suspect or we have a feeling about. And it's just at the end of the day, we just kind of cruise over it. |
| Andrew | So we take a lot of knowledge and a lot of lack of knowledge for granted. |
| Everett | We've got a person here who was on the show recently. We've got Mike DeMartini, who is here today in his capacity as founder and owner of Everest Horology, maker of world famous rubber straps. Mr. DeMartini, I've been told, I was told by your PR person that I have to call you Mr. DeMartini. I don't know. That's a little weird, but whatever you do, you do you, Mike. Welcome to the show. |
| Mike DeMartini | Thanks. Yeah. I don't remember, uh, requiring that, but sure. |
| Andrew | There was a list of select, uh, options to choose from. That was the least degrading for us. |
| Everett | Yeah. Well, that's right. Yeah. Well, and there was also like a list of like, they wanted us to like provide like Jujubees in an orange bowl and stuff like that. And I was like, look, we're not in fucking St. Louis. All right. Your PR person's great though. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah, she's a she's a beast. That's for sure. So don't mess with her. |
| Everett | She's aggressive with the riders. |
| Andrew | I'm joking. |
| Everett | I'm joking about all of this in case you want. |
| Mike DeMartini | So. But thank you for having me on the show, gentlemen. Yeah, I I really am excited to be here again today because it was it was a great show we had last couple of weeks ago, and that was like post pre covid for you guys. with exploding eyes. And, uh, my guess also it was post go, uh, post watches and wonders pre heading off to, um, to, uh, wind up. |
| Everett | Yeah. You guys had just gotten back from watches and wonders, like within a few days before we recorded. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. Which was super freaking cool. I hope that the, that the kids at home enjoyed that show. Cause honestly, Uh, that was really, they've really taken that up a notch. And let me tell you also the guys over at wind up running that from horn and wound have also kind of really upped their game as best. I think it's, it's probably, it probably is one of the most impressive shows from, um, an amount of brands that they shove in to a a little bit. |
| Everett | We've been in the past, obviously, but that's, you know, I think it's really hard to argue that there's not a, that there is another more dynamic show in the United States than wind up. I, you know, I know, obviously we've got events like watch time that happens simultaneously with wind up in New York. And, and clearly you've got a bigger diversity of brands and you've got much more hote horology at watch time, but it is not anywhere in my, in my opinion, it is just not as fun to show. |
| Andrew | There was not free Macallan at windup. |
| Everett | Oh, that's true. I did get free Macallan at watch time. So, so, you know? |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. So, I mean, it is, there's no doubt, doubt that the guys at watch timer, it's a pretty prestigious, fancy, fancy thing. And I've been to it a couple of times. I always feel a little bit of a fish out of water, but I'm always impressed with what's around me. Like there's no doubt. Yeah, no doubt. But yeah, I mean, again, thanks for having me on the show. I'm super excited to talk about the watch industry. I mean, I think that it's, it's definitely a, it's, it's a unique conundrum because everybody kind of wants to know like how the sausage is made, so to say. I don't mind sharing portions of that with you guys. That's for sure. Um, and, and I don't think that there's just, there's, but there's at the end of the day, I have to say this and I'm going to say this before we talk about this. Like if you like the goddamn watch, just buy the goddamn watch. So like, you know, stop, stop, stop. Like, you know, perseverating on the location of where the screw was made. Come on guys. I mean, really? Yeah. |
| Andrew | It's not good for your mental health. Unless Darren Tiffany's making it in his garage. Right. It doesn't really. |
| Everett | Yeah. No, I think that's a good point. And I actually think it's good to set the tone of the show. So, uh, we are, we are entry-level watch enthusiasts or affordable perhaps is a, is a more oft used term, uh, which means at that, at that level of watch manufacturing, one assumes that many things are being made in Asia. that there's cost savings everywhere they can, because in order to make these watches have a margin, there's got to be economies, right? Whether that's economies of scale or by way of using less expensive labor or manufacturing. So what I think your point is, and I think what you're getting at, is that the economies, and certainly in terms of location of production. And, um, there's things that might be surprising to people, but that doesn't make the watch worse. Right. And, and so when we talk about, you know, maybe a screw or maybe an entire clasp or bracelet or whatever is not manufactured in Switzerland, not withstanding the Swiss made label, we're not, we're not pulling, we're not, we're not taking anything away from those, those watches, those brands or anything. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah, I think it, and you know, and I don't want to cut off Andrew here because I think it really just needs to be said that like, You know, if, if you look at all the watches we all own, right. And if you, if you're an, if you're an entry level guy and you're saying like, Hey, I can only afford a $500 watch. I think there's a lot of really great $500 watches out there right now. Me too. For 300, I don't know if 350, but 500 bucks, you probably get to get pretty good piece when you cross. |
| Everett | That is actually the entire point of this podcast. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah, exactly. Like, yeah. And you know what? More power to you guys for doing that because there is a reality check that you cross a certain price point and let's just call it a thousand bucks. And the question is, are you getting a better watch than from 500 to a thousand bucks? That is truly in the eye of the beholder. And I think that just has to be said, no matter where the hell the damn thing's made, Timbuktu, Switzerland, or my backyard, It's like, you have to, you have to validate why you liked the watch in the first place. And as you go farther down the path and you hit these upper echelon brands where you're a hundred percent, the whole thing's made in Switzerland, or if that's, if that's really, what's going to like move the needle for you. Okay. Then that's awesome. That's good for you. But at the end of the day, like it really does come down to like, did you enjoy the watch? |
| Andrew | I super appreciate that insight. I'm wondering about your background, how you got to where you are, where, where, you know, you're, you're the founder and owner of Everest and it's a watch strap brand that we all know and, and carry some of that oomph that we're talking about in these upper echelon watches. What's your background to, to get you to where you are? Cause you don't just fall into this, right? So if you can fall into this, please let me know. And then, you know, this is a different conversation, but. Yeah. |
| Mike DeMartini | It was in the podcast right now. |
| Everett | Have you, have you seen our resumes? |
| Mike DeMartini | We emailed those. I did get them both and I appreciated them guys. |
| Andrew | I'll definitely file them for later. |
| Mike DeMartini | Um, I mean the, the, the true story, like I don't, Justin, my partner on Monta watch has this like very beautiful kind of like 13 year career in finance thing. And, It sounds like really great on a podcast. Mine is more of like, uh, I was kind of ass backwards 12 years ago. Okay. I personally, and really down and out, I was in the real estate world. And specifically I was like a home developer, small time home developer. Let's not fancy this thing up, you know, like let's make really what I was in 2010, 20. |
| Everett | I was like 20. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. I was like 2010, 2011, somewhere around there. Shit had proverbially hit the fan for me. I was teetering on bankruptcy every single day. I was also working nights, we'll say, painting apartments and doing anything I could to make the ends meet. I'm college educated. I actually graduated with an economics degree. I had done pretty well for myself previous to that, but that period of my life was really down. Okay. |
| Andrew | Were you on the talent? Was that what you were doing during the, the like 2008, 2007, 2008 crash? Or did you kind of fall into that afterward? |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. So St. Louis was like, no, no, no, no. I had already been in it. I, I, I was in real estate in like 2004. Okay. So you're like, yeah, I was riding the thing up. I was really enjoying it. I was making very good money and I bought my first Rolex back in 2007 and it was a GMT master to it was the it was the two or was the ceramic bezeled LN version so that I'd gotten like one of the very first ones. Yeah. |
| Andrew | But a lovely watch. Very nice. R.P. |
| Mike DeMartini | to probably super kick ass. Well, I mean, the thing is just so bad ass. So I actually had to sell my Rolex back in 2010 to make the to make ends meet. Like that's how bad things got. So So there I am, like I said, you know, and I tell my wife and I about an idea to make a rubber Rolex watch strap. I saw a competing product at the time that was in the market. I won't mention name, but you guys can like draw conclusions who they are. I know who they are. |
| Everett | I don't know. I don't have any clue, but I have a guess. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. Yeah. They're the design. I see their design is flawed. I thought it would be uncomfortable. So I bought one. And I tested it out on a friend's Rolex and I was right. So I was like, shit, I think I can make enough money to pay my rent. If I sell a couple of these every week, I think I can make enough money to pay my rent. So tell my wife about it. I did tell her no joke. A few hours after we had had our son, that's the best time she's going to agree. |
| Everett | Well done. |
| Mike DeMartini | She was not agreeable. |
| Andrew | She cares about nothing else like, Yeah, sure. Fine. Do what? Leave me alone. |
| Mike DeMartini | She's like, You're such a shit for brains. Are you kidding me? Like, you want to do this right now? And I'm like, Yeah, yeah. No, I really want to tell you about this great rubber strap idea. She's like, Shut up. We'll talk about it later. I was like, OK, so. So I go home, we've just had her son. Like not like, you know, fast forwarding a few days later, tell her about it again. And she's like, you know, it was actually a good idea. I bet we could pay the rent with that. I use Kickstarter to get the idea off the ground. Um, at first we made it in the U S and I didn't know a damn thing about rubbers and plastics. And the first one came out and it was okay. It definitely was worth whatever people paid for it. It was American made. Um, and it, it started to catch. People thought it was kind of cool. It was a cool concept and it was more comfortable than the competing product. |
| Everett | We'll just say that as time progressed. And the other product was also made out of rubber B, right? |
| Andrew | You're hilarious. |
| Mike DeMartini | It may have been a rubber product. Okay. So Gosh, the audio is terrible in this. So, um, yeah, so long story short, um, at the time, like I knew that the American manufacturer wasn't very good that I was dealing with and that I was personally like refinishing the product. Like me, Michael Demartini, who not do nothing about rubber products was refinishing the product and then repackaging it and whatnot. So I ended up finding a Swiss manufacturer. Um, who was hesitant to take me on at first because they were like, yeah, I don't know if you're going to be able to pay your bills. So, but second product came out. Why Swiss? Why Swiss? Great question. Well, um, at the time I figured, well, I want to increase the price. Little did I know that it was going to drastically increase the price of the product itself. I kind of, you know, um, So yeah, so the American manufactured product wasn't was, we'll say it was price X and I was getting the correct markup, but then I had to, when I went to Switzerland, it was like a dramatic increase in price. |
| Andrew | Was part of the thinking with that, getting yourself closer to this, to the watch brands that you wanted to get your straps on as opposed to going to Asia or anywhere else in the world, manufacturing rubber. |
| Mike DeMartini | Here's the crazy thing is I knew nobody, I knew nothing. I just like literally, And this is, this is like 2013. Okay. So these guys didn't even have websites and stuff. I just started like calling companies that I, that I thought use the word watch strap in the name of their business. And eventually, and they're all like, they all speak French and they're like, who the, you know, they're like speaking in French back. And they're like, I don't even know what, so I did hang up on me. And it was just, it was just a hot mess. And eventually I ended up finding one. And, um, and they said, yeah, you know what? Send us our design. The guy spoke English. Um, the, one of the managers, the companies had sent us the design in, in, uh, 3d format. And we'll see if we can make it for you. And little did I know at that time, I was like, literally talking to the same manufacturer as like, I can't list any of the brands now, but we'll just say like, Huge. A baller. Gigantic. Yeah, like the big boys, like at that time. So they agree to making the product. I barely can afford the tooling. We go and we make it. Again, my business at this point is still teetering on bankruptcy after like two years. And really, to be super honest, what saved it was when Rolex came out with a rubber strap. Uh, on the yacht master in like 2015. And I was actually at Baselworld and our, our sales went overnight, skyrocketed up like double overnight. Cause at that point I had another product line. Um, that was a leather product line. It's still in production today and it utilizes a steel link that connects the leather strap to the watch. Right. Um, and, and we were just, you know, we were kind of just hanging in there, man. We were not doing great. And, and it like the, the true story is, is that it's not glamorous at all. Like there's no like private planes and, you know, there wasn't any like yachts and the champagne I was drinking was not champagne. You know, it was like, it was, uh, it was, it was Miller Lite and just trying to make things happen, you know? So, um, and that maybe doesn't sound as luxurious as everybody thinks it is, but it's really the truth. And if you go and you kind of dip your toe into the Swiss world, The manufacturers over there, the real manufacturers at the level where I was at, which was kind of like low grade, you know, they're the guys who aren't making what they're, they're making the products for the watches. They're not the watch brands. Right. So they're like they're manufacturers, their facilities kind of smell kind of gross. And, you know, it's, it's, it's, you know, it's that kind of level. |
| Andrew | Truthfully, you're laughing straight up true, like just the observation of being there, like that smells better. |
| Mike DeMartini | It's not. I don't know if I want to be in this room right now, like, you know, because they're, you know, they're rubber molders. And then I met through that rubber molder. They I had said, hey, I want to make a I want to make a product with a buckle. And they said, oh, well, let us introduce you to a buckle manufacturer. And I was like, OK, cool. And this is like 2014, I think maybe somewhere around there, you know, 13 or 14. I can't remember exactly when it was. And, um, that manufacturer was, um, very nice person. And he just said, yeah, let me, uh, let me show you how it's done. And then, uh, that same rubber strap manufacturer then introduced me to, um, a leather strap maker. And it was just, it kind of went like, it was just a, uh, um, because I was paying my bills because I wasn't being a dip shit because I was the funny American that everybody laughed at this crazy product that make they're like, Oh, it'll never be much. And then now, yeah, it's kind of a, it's kind of a household name in watch guy world. Um, I'm yet to walk into a Rolex ad and they not know who I am. I'm it's fun going to that level, but it, it, it didn't, it all started with, me just wanting to break out of the world that I was here in St. Louis and just trying to make something better for my wife and my kid straight up. It's like the total truth. There's like no, there's no like pretty story where like, like I said, private planes did not occur. |
| Everett | Well, I, you know, we're, I think we're, we're simple guys. Mike, I think that is a pretty story. Uh, you know, I think that you are self deprecating in a way that is, Uh, yeah, it's a cool story. You don't need to be self deprecating. Uh, so, but I do want you to fast forward now, here we are 10 years after that. So you're, you're starting to network, you're building a network, you're meeting people you've now. |
| Andrew | Who aren't, who you aren't competing with. So they're friendly with you, right? I mean, that's part of, that's a huge part of it is you're not competing with them. So they're willing to open the doors. |
| Everett | You've now started in addition to your strap company, you've started a watch company that you run with Justin Crotal and you are plugged in. I don't say this as a dig at all, but you guys are very proud of your products. We're using the best hand manufacturers. You guys are obviously focused on the nuance and the details and the minutia of the products. How do you go from, I know a rubber guy, I know a buckle guy, I know a leather guy, to being plugged into that industry? What were the things that kind of marked that journey? |
| Mike DeMartini | So now I need to explain something to you guys, and you probably know this just from like just being human beings, right? So a lot of the world is full of human trash. Most people don't pay their bills, right? People commonly make up stories about where the money is, right? And I couldn't do that. Okay, because because I wasn't Swiss, all of these manufacturers at first and they still they now that's changed, but they require to prepay everything up front. And I would call when they had like, when they were a little delayed, I'd be real nice about it. I'd be like, Hey guys, like, you know, I did prepay everything up front. So where's my product. And because I was pretty cool about things. And because I was prepaying up front and I'm not going to ever mention a name of a watch brand, but there's a lot of them. They don't prepay anything up front. So It's kind of was at that time back in 2014, 15, like that let me in the door to a lot of different places because they would say things to each other. And I now know what it meant in French. They're like, this guy's more than happy to prepay up front and let us in the door. Now this guy's easy money. He'll pay easy money. Like he pays his bills. Right. And then on top of that, to like point it out is that this was a period of time when watches really weren't ascending. Okay. Everybody was flipping their shit. Cause they thought the Apple watch was going to hand them their lunch. Okay. So like you have to put the mindset of the Swiss guy in 2014, 2015, when the Apple watch shows up and they think court's crisis part two. Okay. Instead it's the gateway drug to the watch industry. Yeah. Little did we know. Right. Yeah. Little did anybody know. Right. So, I was a little bit right place, right time. You're right, Everett. I'm self-deprecating. I'm joking here. But the truth is, is like, I just happened to be the guy who was doing everything that I was being asked of. But also, this period in time put me in this weird spot. And I am the only American, period, full stop, at any of these companies. Like, they come out and tell me, like, we're not letting any otherbody, we're not letting people in. Because we just don't need to. |
| Andrew | No, not anymore. |
| Mike DeMartini | Not anymore. No, like that, that, that has definitely changed. Cause the facilities I used to walk in that were like 2000 square feet are now like 30,000 square feet. You know, that's the big, huge difference there. Cause that's the conversation point. So, but if I'm saying like what exactly happened and where the steps kind of changed, It was right around 2000, the early 2016, 2016 Everest had taken off, you know, it, it, in one year from, we'll say the sales in 2015 to 2016, because of that yacht master release, my sales are like tripled. Okay. Yeah. And everybody started to know me as the rubber Rolex watch guy. And I was like, I didn't like that term because that's not what I was. I was making an aftermarket product that I was really proud of. But at the same time, like that's not who I am as a person. I don't, Rolex doesn't call me up and ask my opinion. I love their brand. I think it is a super incredible brand. I got nothing positive things to say about them. However, I wanted to break out of that because I felt like I achieved something after about four-ish years, five-ish years. And I wanted to do something more with my life. Instead of just paying the rent, I was making a really good living. And I said, let's take this for a spin. And I had told my business partner who's now retired and I've purchased his set of the ownership on Everest. I said, let's start a watch. Let's do a watch. And he was like, no, I don't, I don't want to do that. That looks way too dangerous. Straight up. It's like what he said to me, we're sitting in Basel world, 2016. And we're sitting outside, it's beautiful out. The day is gorgeous and the sun's out and we're having a coffee. And he's like, absolutely not, not wanting to do this. And I was like, let's do it anyway. Fuck it. We only live once. So at that point, like we were one or two minutes away from having a meeting with our buckle manufacturer who we knew made cases and bracelets. And I didn't even tell him that I wanted to do a watch brand, but he just came out and was like, Hey, I want to show you guys the latest thing I did for dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, big, big, big, big brand. Because at that point we were like the, nobody's like, they didn't, he didn't think that I was ever going to do anything other than just make buckles with him. So I was like, wow, this is super cool. Started asking him costs and questions. Where's exactly it all made. What's, you know, cause I knew that they were kind of like a mix of Swiss and Asian manufacturing. Um, And then I told him, I said, well, actually we're really interested in starting a watch brand. And that's where it all began at that exact moment where I was like, we're doing this. And, uh, I kind of signed us up, even though my business partner at the time was like, I don't want to do it. So that's just really the truth. |
| Everett | But having those conversations is free, right? That that's the, that's the, that's the deal, right? Having the conversation is always free. It, it sometimes proves not to be free, but the conversation itself is always free. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. And it was an Epic mess in Manta for like two or three years. Like, like let's not sugarcoat that. That's the same, the same thing at Manta and the same thing at Everest happened at Manta where it took me time to build it up and understand how to do it right and nail it. |
| Everett | And you know, you guys came into it, you guys came into this really evolving into this really evolving marketplace, right? That, that was sort of the, It wasn't the beginning, but that was really when everybody was able to see like, this is different. The consumer was able to understand that direct sales were possible and created a significant advantage to the consumers. You know, we've talked to Andrew and I have talked on the show a little bit about how there's no actual elimination of the middleman. When you eliminate the middleman, you increase the margins to the owners. Which is a great thing. I don't think that's a bad thing. Sometimes there is a net result that winds up lowering the cost of goods to the end user. But you don't eliminate that middleman. Someone's got to do the work that the middleman would do. But I think at that time, people are starting to see you've got these brands popping up, you know, Uh, no need to name names, I guess, but, but take your pick. |
| Andrew | It's the growth of Kickstarter. It's the explosion of everyone is connected to the internet. Everyone can research. Everyone can see the listicles of watches. There's like the economy's booming again. So people are buying shit, like things you don't need and you can spend money on expensive things. |
| Everett | Yeah. And you're seeing this micro, this micro economy of, of competition and, and price you know, price competition, actual price competition at that level, right? Where we think about like, okay, well, Tissot is still selling or Longines perhaps is still selling 1300. At the time, Hoyer's still selling fucking $6,000 quartz watches, right? But also, Look at this company, you know, whatever. Pick your pick of any of the micro brands. That's right. Look, look at MK2 or whoever. Right. And they're doing this incredible shit for under way under a thousand bucks or 300 bucks at the time. Right. And look at the quality differences. |
| Andrew | So you don't get to look at the quality difference. |
| Mike DeMartini | And some of these, some of these guys, like I know personally, so it's okay if we talk about them, like, Mark 2, MK2, Halios, Aster and Banks. |
| Everett | Those guys. All guys that have been on the show. Actually, no, that's not true. Bill has never been on the show, even though he's we've talked about a hundred times. And Jason, I think, tries to pretend we don't exist. |
| Mike DeMartini | But yeah, Jason does seem he's very like, I think he's a very private person. I think so. I think. Yeah, that's right. I don't I don't think he likes the limelight at all, which is totally fine. I mean, don't make more power to me. He makes amazingly cool watches. So in Switzerland, I got nothing. Yeah. A lot of time. I think that he's, I don't, I don't, I don't know if he's, I don't want to like say, is he making him in Switzerland? Cause I don't really know all the background. |
| Everett | Well, I will say, I will say this, uh, there's a California YouTuber average bros. Who's I would say a friend of mine, he does fantastic reviews, but when he reviewed, I believe the universe, uh, He said, I talked to Jason and Jason told me he could have marked this made in Switzerland based on the rubric for that qualification and chose not to. That is hearsay. We're a few parties removed from the source on that. In any event, it's the type of thing that I heard and I was like, that's plausible. And not only is it plausible, it's maybe a little bit better in my mind than plausible. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. I mean, again, I think that You know, you start to kind of drill down these guys and, and it's a little bit of a tale of history, right? Cause a lot of us in this, like I'm the old man in the room when it comes to this, right? Cause I'm like, I'm the guy who was like, you know, I was there when the, I'm not joking. I was there when I was at Baselworld and they dropped the Apple watch. And it was like, somebody let a fart off in the room, man. I mean, it was like bad, like people were terrified of this thing. They were like, I mean, you know, I'm standing in a room with a bunch of execs from all these big brands. And English is the international language in Switzerland. The country's half German, half French. So they're all speaking English. And they're all saying things like, we're going to lose all of our market share. This apple is going to eat us for breakfast. |
| Everett | We've seen this before, yeah. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah, we've seen this before. We know where this is going to go. Our dads are all screwed. And then, you know, it's the old, the old dudes walk in and like, Oh God, the courts crisis. This is just the repeat, you know, smartwatch is going to eat us for lunch. And we're like, and I'm sitting there thinking to myself, I don't think so. I can make a strap for that. Yeah, I know. It's like, well, I mean, I thought to myself, I'm like, wait a minute. So you think that a $400 smartwatch is going to somehow be purchased over a, $4,000 chronograph from tag. You're wrong. That's just, that's dumb. And I mean, was I right? Yes. Could it have been that way? Possibly. But I think the consumer just saw it as like, they, they went and said, okay, I have this watch. And then it started beeping constantly on their damn wrist. And they were like, well, I liked the fact I could tell the time again, but this thing's annoying. I'm going to go see what else is at the watch store. |
| Andrew | And it's got judgmental, right? It's not a watch. None of our watches tell me you've been sitting for too long. I don't need to hear that from you. You have taken an unhealthy amount of steps. I don't eat your head. |
| Mike DeMartini | You're not my wife. |
| Everett | Well, so Mike, you've promised, you've promised to show us some sausage being made today. I think, I think that it would be fun. We talked a little bit about, you know, prior to us pushing the record button. We've talked a little bit, you and I certainly, about different levels of manufacturing. And so I thought maybe I'd just run through a few scenarios and kind of talk about where we draw the line and what those things might look like on either side of the line. |
| Andrew | Can I first kind of frame this conversation within the 60% threshold that Made in Switzerland requires? |
| Mike DeMartini | I don't really have to concern myself with Manta or Everest because we're beyond 60% of cost. So there is another, there's the other factor, which is pretty, you know, it's, it's pretty low on the totem pole is the movement has to be made in Switzerland and then it has to be assembled and checked in Switzerland. |
| Everett | Okay. In shameless self plug, we've had an entire episode on the made in Switzerland standard which I think is fantastic. And if you haven't listened to it, I'm going to recommend you go find that. We'll, we'll put it in the show notes. I don't remember what episode number that was. |
| Andrew | I just want to keep that in the back of our head while we move forward in this conversation because it's an important component of this conversation. |
| Everett | Yeah. And one of the things we've talked about is, you know, I think something like 70% of the people listening to this are in the United States, if not quote unquote American, uh, made in USA means something very specific. The FTC is really aggressive. In order to put a made in USA, all of your parts and your manufacturing has to be all or substantially all within the United States. And made in Switzerland doesn't necessarily mean the same thing. There's a different standard that gets applied. And so keep that in mind as we move forward, made in Switzerland, not the same as made in USA. There's no all or substantially all standard. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. And also like, you have to kind of just validate some things, right? So America is like what, 380 million Americans, right. You know, something like that. And Switzerland's 8 million people. It's like LA. |
| Andrew | Yeah. |
| Mike DeMartini | It's like, exactly. Like it's like the entire state of Missouri. Right. Or like four organs. Yeah, exactly. Like we like, so we just have to validate this for a moment and think in our heads, like this country cannot produce, you know, it can't have a military, a government, a banking system, a like water supply system, all of these things, and also produce every single and have the sub requirement that the watch is a hundred percent made here. Can't do it. Whereas in America, we could do that with a lawnmower. No problem. Right. You know, Go ahead, Mike. I was going to say, but to kind of pull that back, like this is where I'm more than happy to kind of go a little bit into this and see that we can talk about this. |
| Everett | So maybe perhaps in that context, I think I'd like to start at a place that's going to be very accessible for our listeners, which is, you know, picture the Swiss brand, and there's probably about five or six brands that might meet this basic definition, but folks that are making Swiss made brands, legacy Swiss made watches, legacy brands, some, someone that's been around for 80 to, you know, maybe 150 years, uh, started making pocket watches in the late 19th century or whatever, who knows. But, but now is making watches that exist at, you know, 400 to $1,500 in that range. accessible, but also nice and clearly made in Switzerland. I'd like to talk a little bit about what does that actually look like? Where is that watch actually made? We don't have to go screw by screw, but what are we actually talking about? We've got a handful of components, right? We've got a movement. We've got a bracelet. We've got a clasp. We usually have a case. And then we've got things like, crystals and stems and, uh, you know, other components, where are these, where are these products being made? Who's making them and where are they being put together and who's putting them together? |
| Mike DeMartini | So, and, and just to kind of point this out, like it's the watch case and what's inside that, that we're going to talk about because the bracelet doesn't count in that number. |
| Everett | AKA. The bracelet's being made in China. The clasp is being made in China. Right? I mean, that's, isn't that fair for us to say at this point? |
| Mike DeMartini | It ain't being made in Switzerland if it's some of those brands you mentioned. |
| Andrew | Just based off of the Swiss rules, we can safely assume. |
| Mike DeMartini | We're going to talk about the thing, okay, that is like the case, the crown, the tube, The movement, the dial, the hands, the bezel, crystal, the bezel, the movement. We're not talking anything beyond that because like they that that is what the Swiss government says. Well, it's actually like the the like Federation of Swiss Horological. I can't remember the exact what it's broken down into, but that particular group says, hey, we're going to be the governing body here. And that is all we're allowed to kind of like consider is the Swiss made part. OK. |
| Andrew | Federation of the Swiss watch industry. Yeah. They have an English translation under the French and German on their website. Had to look it up. Me too. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. So, so long story short, good news. Um, you're probably right. That bracelet's probably made in Asia. Where in Asia, who, who knows? I mean, it could be China. It could be Thailand. It could be, it could be, it could be Africa. It could be anywhere. But I mean, my point is, is that like, it's not like when you go down to it, so Movement in Switzerland. So we know that it was it, right. It's, it's, uh, it's French one-on-one. Okay. You got to make the damn thing there. Everything else it's kind of for debate, you know, like it's, it's likely at that price point that not much is made else there in Switzerland. Um, except there's one company that I'm going to bring up that I'm, I'm proud to say that they're as Swiss as you're going to get for under 500 bucks. And that is a swatch watch, boys. I mean, that baby is fully made there. Which is impressive. It is like, I mean, I have the entire moonswatch collection and you do not. I do. And they are not shabby. I mean, it's impressive. |
| Everett | You know, one of the one of the people we had on the show, this has been, gosh, two years ago now. was Steve Romer and his son, Josh Romer of the Swiss watch company, which is a fantastic IP story. If you've, if you've never listened to that episode, I recommend tuning in, checking it out. It's early. We might not link that one in the show notes, but just look it up. But Steve Romer was a production manager for Swatch first, the Swatch brand. within Switzerland. And he had some fantastic stories about that pre really, uh, I think pre 95 is when he was with that company. So yeah, making watches tip to tail in Switzerland. |
| Mike DeMartini | And you know, like that's something that, and I'm, I'm going to bring up another brand that I'm pretty impressed by when you think about it is Seiko. So like they're the only under $500 mechanical watch that is like an in-house movement. Right. And you're like, Like, ha, ha, ha. That's a funny joke. No, that's a real thing. Okay. So like, that's kind of impressive. Orient too, right? |
| Everett | Say that one more time. Orient. Orient as well. |
| Mike DeMartini | You're right. Orient. Oh my gosh. I forgot about them too. Yeah. They do that. So now of course they're making a lot of their parts in Asia, but. |
| Everett | And let's not forget Citizen Miota. |
| Andrew | Who are all there in Asia where they should be making it. Yes. It makes sense that they're making it there. |
| Mike DeMartini | I mean, it's I don't think you're ever going to see a Swiss made Seiko guys. You know, it's not happening. So that'd be cool. |
| Andrew | That'd be a baller move. |
| Mike DeMartini | It's the Grand King Seiko. |
| Everett | So let's let's talk a little bit about the movement, because I think that that you said something and we almost glossed over it. But the movement is made in Switzerland, and that's the requirement. What does that actually look like? Because I know that not every screw was made in Switzerland. But by and large, if we're talking, I think we can throw ETA out or perhaps SOPROD. What are we talking about for an entry level or Solita, for instance? So just, we can just throw those three out there. What are we talking about in terms of actual manufacturing? |
| Mike DeMartini | So I've had the pleasure of hanging out with the CEO of Solita. He's a pretty good guy. He's a little gruff when you first meet him, but when you get to meet him, get to know him a little bit better, he's he's not too bad. And he kind of I guess he kind of reminds me of myself because he's definitely like, you know, well, whatever. So. But he told me, like, and I believe every single thing he's saying that they make every single thing in Switzerland. Every single part piece, screw, spring, wheel, whatnot, And as someone who sells a Solita-based watch and listens very thoroughly to his watchmaker when we're designing things, and I have used ETA, okay? I have used ETA movements. I'm not going to sit here and say I haven't, but it does kind of feel like Solita is a little bit better. |
| Everett | Yeah. Well, famously, Manta has the same Manta manufactured caliber made by both Solita and ETA, right? |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. So we, we did for a while get access to ETA, but we just, in the end thought Solita was better. Yeah. Like, I mean, I'm just. And more accessible too, right? It wasn't even like, I think because of the relationships that we have, we could have been able to continue to do ETA movements. And I mean, I'm just really telling you what we fought and we, we feel this day. We don't, we don't, we don't have to, we don't have to like hide behind, um, Well, we can only get solid of movements. No, I mean, we probably could get at a, and, and whatnot, but I actually feel like we've built a good relationship with those guys and like, they make a fantastic product and like, we've been to their facilities and they've invited us in and we've been able to see what's going on in there and they deliver on time and the quality is excellent. And. Maybe we made custom parts for us now, like our movement starting to get like, like it's not, I'm not going to sit here and tell you it's in-house. That's for sure. That's false. But. It would be that like the parts that we're making are slightly different than the one that you're going to buy that says, Oh, I'm the, you know, the X, Y, Z top grade, blah, blah, blah. No, like ours has got a few things a little different here and there. We've asked them to make some changes and they've done it. So when you go to that level and you start getting into that, that, that, that stage of the game, you decide not to change because you have a good relationship with your manufacturer. Now I will say that's kind of crazy is that, Our case and bracelet manufacturer is the exact same case and bracelet manufacturer that we've been now using since day one. And I use them at Everest to make the buckles. So that's how old that relationship is. So like my kids will probably still be using his kids stuff. So, um, but to kind of go back to just like the price point, cause that's what we're talking about, the 500 to, you know, whatever, um, If you're getting access to, it is easier to get access to an SW200 than it is a, at a 2824. There's absolutely no doubt. There's no doubt. And maybe, but I can't speak to this really well, guys, because I don't make SW200 and 2824 products. I make the SW300. That's what I sell. So I sell their, I sell the Formula One watch. The elaborate grade or whatever. I sell, yeah, I sell the badass one. I saw the one that like, that's why it tells such good damn time. So you go a little lower, you hit that 2024, that has to be 200, the 220. I mean, maybe there's some competition between those two guys. Maybe editor makes a better one. I don't know. |
| Everett | I can't answer. I think it's, I think it's, it's part to part, right? There's, there's not a, there's not a consensus even within watchmakers and industry professionals. So. |
| Mike DeMartini | There are watch brands, there are watch movements that are made in Switzerland. I think that suck. |
| Andrew | Well, you'd think so say it on this show, but you don't have to name names, but there's going to be right. There's going to be turds where, where have you seen having been in the industry for, for this long? Where's the, where's the corner, right? So we have that 500 to $1,500 mark. We know 40% of the value is definitely getting made overseas outside of Switzerland. Definitely. And that's just of the head of the watch. Five to 1500, definitely. 1500 to 5,000. We're clearly starting to see more Swiss made stuff, or are we seeing more expensive Swiss made stuff with still definitely 40% of the value being made overseas? |
| Mike DeMartini | Well, I mean, you can just speak to brands right off the bat, right? And this will all come as a joke to some people like, of course, Patek is making everything in Switzerland. Come on, are we kidding ourselves? Like Patek Philippe is making every damn thing there. |
| Andrew | Do they have enough money to? |
| Mike DeMartini | They're, they're trillionaires. Terry Stern is the shit. Okay. He's got all the money in the world. He doesn't have to worry about it. He's making his watch there and he makes a fantastic product. |
| Everett | And, and, and, and the margins, the margins allow for that clearly. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah, absolutely. All day long. Right. Um, Then you step into, um, and let's just talk steel. Cause gold's a little different, right? Cause gold, a lot of the gold watches, a hundred percent gold watches are made in Switzerland. Let's just, I'll even say that out loud. That is a fact because the Swiss people do not trust if the gold is pure, if it's made in a foreign country. |
| Andrew | Right. |
| Mike DeMartini | That makes sense. That's actually, that, that just, and just think about the price point difference too, right? Okay. Arginine gold watches is very low. Do not think it is high. It is very confusing. Um, but the, the, the amount of work that it takes to make a gold watch waterproof is really insane because that metal is not very, it's too malleable to really be traditionally used as watch material. |
| Everett | You can't use the sheer force in quite the same way. |
| Mike DeMartini | No. So let's just talk steel cause it's a little less complicated. So then you hit like Rolex, right? Um, Absolutely the whole damn thing's made in Switzerland. Okay, I know where their bracelet factory is. I mean, the Rolex bracelet factory is in Switzerland. Start to finish, the whole thing's made there. However, the volume of watches that they make is unreal. They can do it because of the economies of scale. So you can buy a, what, like $5,800 Oyster Perpetual in steel, made in Switzerland, But another brand that is $5,000 or so, it's, it may not be, it may, I mean, of course, I don't know all the brands, but it may not be made in Switzerland entirely. They're, they're leaning pretty far into it because their, their, their, their quality is so high and certain pieces. But but that kind of leads to that middle ground question is like, where do you hit the price point? Damn, it's really hard to tell you. I don't know. I know that I can tell you a little bit about the world that I work in and where I sit in that world. Okay. And that is I utilize Swiss manufacturers that at times have to make portions of my watch in Asia to meet a realistic price point. So does it mean that every piece in part is made in Asia? No. It just means that like out of the case, certain items are made in Switzerland. A lot of the stuff that has to be like super precision we'll make there, but then other parts within there are not because we just can't, I can't afford it. And, and, and frankly, the only way to afford it would be either that I make 1.5 million watches a year and then we could do it there. Right. And then still the diving watch would be ten thousand bucks like Rolex. Or. |
| Andrew | Or you open up your own facility and totally 30,000 square feet of manufacturing, which isn't realistic for a brand of your size. |
| Mike DeMartini | No, it's just not like and even then it wouldn't we wouldn't even produce as good a watch to produce day today. Like, honestly, you know, I mean, I've never met anybody who, and I've seen a lot of facilities and a lot of things where they say like, Hey, look how great we are. We're making every single part and piece ourself. And they hand you the watch case over and I'm like, Oh, congrats, man. That's really good. And I'm like, that was a piece of, that was a turd. Like that quality of the cutting of the steel. It looks like somebody used a, like a scissor. Like you could see the two sides are not matched. I mean, it's like, you know, you can see that the polishing was not as good. Because there's so many processes that go into making a watch that nobody really talks about. Like, you know, like on the videos, you always see like somebody like hand polishing the watch. That does not really happen. |
| Andrew | That's absurd. He's just cleaning the fingerprints off. Literally. And that's, that's leftover from, you know, the, from the, the origins of, of Swiss watchmaking where that's this disparate production thing where everyone's doing their specific part. There's no manufacturing line. There's no assembly line. It's, Hey, here's your bucket of hands from the finest hand makers in Switzerland. And here's your bucket of, of indices like, and that's, that's continued. Yeah. I mean, barring some major brands who have all in house everything. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. I mean, you got like, you know, there's a little joke in the Swiss watch industry that if you go to Rolex to retire and you're like, wait, what? So it's because like when you go into to make me work for them, you only do one thing at a very low specific. You just repeat the same job over and over and over again. One of my friend's daughters works in for Rolex, and she's a super wonderful girl. And she was telling me about, you know, their her job there. And she makes something like. Like like a piece within The like an oyster perpetual or an oyster case i'm sorry what's your bracelet piece and it's just the same link over and she doesn't make the whole thing she just makes one portion of one link and that's her job. She doesn't polish it she just is the part of the process where they cut it from the steel. |
| Everett | You know, I've heard, I've heard Rolex's manufacturing, um, process specifically this aspect of it be compared to like traditional Japanese manufacturing, um, circumstances, right. Where instead of, instead of having everybody be cross-trained, you, you come into Rolex, you figure something out and that's what you do for perhaps 25 to 50 years. And that's it, which is not, which is not super common in Switzerland. You know, we talk about one of the things that Rolex is famous for is for being very tight, very in-house, not sharing. They make everything. Rolex is probably the only company in the world that makes absolutely every part of the watch, right? I know that Seiko is also doing similar things, but Seiko has got such a wide range that it's hard to say the same thing. Rolex from, their most expensive watch to their least expensive watch completely owns. And, and they're, they're, they're weird, not in a bad way. They're weird in that regard. Um, and so, yeah, it's, it's, it's almost hard to have a conversation without saying like, just simply Rolex is different, right? |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. They're the conundrum. They're the one that no one will ever truly be able to replicate because And there are like, and just to be clear, there are a few items that they do outsource. Okay. So like, and I'm going to mention them and they're all going to seem super obvious why they don't make them. Okay. They don't make their own luminescent material. |
| Everett | What? |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. Like it's going to shock you guys. Seiko makes their own luminescent material. No. Oh, great. Yes. |
| Everett | I guess. It's not though. You can confirm on this show. It's not Seiko. Uh, cause I've heard that. |
| Mike DeMartini | I, I, I am, I am, I have been told by the manufacturer of the material that. Who doesn't work for Seiko. Does not work for Seiko. They don't make it there on us. The luminous. But why would you? I mean, that's the dumbest. Why would you, why would you make that? It's like. It's a paste. |
| Andrew | Like you just buy the paint. It's exactly. |
| Mike DeMartini | It's a coating. Yeah. It's exactly it's stupid. Why would they do that? Everything else is kind of a conundrum and a question mark. I'm pretty sure they make everything else. |
| Everett | I'm fairly confident they're making rubies. |
| Mike DeMartini | Can't. Yeah, they're probably. I mean, that's a grown item. They're making hairsprings. Well, that's what I've been hearing is like a mix. Maybe they don't. Maybe they do. It's hard to tell because the hairsprings are really tough part to make. But again, like even if they may don't, let's say that, let's say they don't make their own hairsprings. Who fucking cares, right? |
| Everett | Who cares? Who gives a shit? Like who gives a shit? Well, so in, with that in mind, right, can we maybe perhaps dispel a myth, which is that, so we've talked about China or we've talked about Asia and we're using kind of general terms, but I think that there is an assumption that Switzerland is making better stuff than Asia, right? Cause we talk about places like Patek Philippe, you brought up, um, and there's just this assumption. There are a handful in the last four or five years, a handful of like Hong Kong based brands or Korean brands that have like the one that always pops into my mind is Memo Origin, uh, which is a Hong Kong based tourbillon maker. That's making like, outrageously cool, top of the line watch stuff. Can we just, for the purposes of this conversation, dispel the myth that you can't get good shit in China or Asia perhaps. |
| Mike DeMartini | And, and, and, you know, I just wanted to say one other thing about the, just not to, to like, I'm going to close the door on the Rolex thing. Like just to make the final point here, like the whole damn thing's made in Switzerland. Okay. So like that has to be super impressive. 8 million people in the whole country, and they're able to pull off 1 million watches a year plus. Wow. Okay. That's amazing. Yeah. Okay. Second thing, but your question about, can you make good crap in Asia? Hell yeah. I mean, that's absurd to think that you don't. Where you, where the, where the big confusion is actually, you know what? One person told me this really well. Okay. They said, do you think that Lamborghini and Fiat are equal? And I was like, what do you mean? And he's like, and this was a Swiss person. He goes, do you think Lamborghini and Fiat are equal? And I'm like, no, Lamborghini is a way better, cooler car. And he's a way better car. He goes, yeah, you know, they're both made in Italy, right? I'm like, yeah. |
| Andrew | Hmm. |
| Mike DeMartini | It was well, it's Italian car, but they're both made there. So like, stop thinking that just because one is made there, it's somehow better than another one made there. |
| Andrew | It's nothing. I was like, What was that? It's not the label. It's not made in Italy. The label doesn't make the car. |
| Mike DeMartini | Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So made in China is the same way. Right? So like we have all grabbed a hold of a real piece of junk Chinese watch and we've all held like a super amazing Chinese watch where you find, at least from what I've been able to identify as personally as is the level I'm at, which is like, My manufacturer does have full, I say our manufacturers at Manta and Evers, like they have full facilities in Switzerland. But to utilize, like you could make a watch from start to finish there if you want, okay? It just, it's not affordable for us. Using those, the company that we've used in some parts, the machine that's the floor in Switzerland and the machine that's on the floor in China, is the same machine. The manager of both facilities is a Swiss person. The labor at times to design the way the machine is going to work is a Swiss person. So the way the machine has to, you know, you have to program the machine. And that's because these machines are Swiss, right? Yeah. Because these things are in, they're all in French. Yeah. They're Swiss made machines. So like, it's just. |
| Everett | Not because there's anything inherently better about a Swiss programmer. No, no, no. |
| Mike DeMartini | It just, it's like, because there's only one guy who knows how to program those stupid ass machines. So like, my point is, yeah, it's like, you know, Jan on the third floor, he knows the only, that's his main job. He just, you know, he draws up the plan and puts it in the machine and then, but the person who is standing, opening the door of the CNC machine and putting the next bar of steel in, so to say, or whatever it is, happens to be Asian or happens to be Swiss. That's just a fact. That's how that works at certain levels. |
| Andrew | Yeah. |
| Mike DeMartini | Now, you can step pretty far down and pretty far up from there. |
| Everett | And to maybe put a point on this, I think most of the people who have been inside a Fiat in the United States have been inside a Mexican-made car. Just to put a point on it, right? Like Fiat's are made in Mexico. Okay. If you have a Fiat in the United States, it was made in Mexico. I've never been in a Fiat. Well, maybe you've been in some other, like a Chevy that was made in Mexico. Nope. You know, but, but all that to say, it's this thing we assume like, Oh, well, you know, perhaps Swiss, you know, you know, Swiss watch company, XYZ $800 watch. They're actually making things in Asia, which is a reflection on the quality. But I don't think that there's any evidence that I've ever seen that suggests that there's any drop in quality. The quality is the quality, right? You know, we look at these Chinese tourbillon makers and they're making these absolutely ridiculously stunning movements that are in every single way haute horology and polished and hand finished and all of these amazing things. It's not you can't you can't make assumptions. We put a lot of value in country of origin vaguely and indiscriminately. But there's it's just impossible to draw any conclusions from those facts. I think that's that's kind of what I'd like to pull out of this. |
| Andrew | I have one final question. From your view within and around the Swiss watch industry, how would you describe the relationship to the growing Asian watch industry? My perception would be that the Swiss watch industry at large really appreciates the manufacturing improvements, the improvements in Asian made brands and their quality and the competition that that drives. But I could also see places in that world that are a little intimidated by it, not in the courts crisis way, but in the, look, these guys are the, not only are these guys here to play, but they're also a super important component in our own industry, in our own ability to thrive. |
| Mike DeMartini | Well, like, I mean, we'll just call it as is. Right. So there's more Chinese watch parts manufacturers than there is Swiss watch parts manufacturers. Right. The, the Swiss don't, if you're, if you're talking at the grand level, right. They were, they, they don't, they respect both companies. They, they, you know, I say Chinese, but it could be Asian, East Asian in general. Right. So they respect those people. They're there, they have good relationships with them. Um, Some of us feel that we want to have like a Swiss person to talk to and a Swiss, it's Swiss ownership, you know, that owns the factory in Asia and owns the, you know, the tools and the machines, et cetera. And the building, the level where it's like the actual manufacturer though, obviously that's competitive, right? So like they personally feel the Swiss do feel, and I would say for the majority of things that are, Kind of hard to identify for anybody. And these parts are things such as like luminescent pips. Okay. The Swiss just do a better job, you know, um, watch hands, um, those little things. And that's where like, you know, a brand like Manta, we feel like we have to have that stuff made in Switzerland. Ironically, it's the most expensive parts. |
| Everett | Not necessarily because you want to be in Switzerland, but because you want to have the best shit. |
| Mike DeMartini | Exactly like. You just can't tell the difference of some of the other things. The spring bars and the pushers and the ceramic balls like that stuff, all we have made in Switzerland, not because am I losing the. Now you said balls. Oh, balls. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Dropped a ball joke in there, but. But yeah, like those things are just like, you, you can't find any better ones. They don't make, they don't make them as good in China as they do in Switzerland. That's just a fact, you know? So, but case, bracelet. Oh man. Sometimes like the Chinese kind of do it. Equal or at times like you can, depending on the situation, they can really nail it because they're using the same damn machine. Yeah. But like, You know, like some of those things are just generational and they're passed down and they're not like something that you're going to get, you know? Um, I think it really kind of correlates to things like leather, you know, like the best leather in Italy is the best leather in the world is from Luca, Italy. And you're like, well, I've never even heard of that. No, it's really the best, absolutely. Hands down, total best stuff in the world. And it's like, It's like, it's like the 11th generation of leather manufacturers making it. So like, it's like my great, great, great, great granddad created this process that now is being copied in other places, but it's not as good because yeah, because the vegetables that we're using to tan the leather, like they're the ones that are outside. |
| Andrew | Right. |
| Mike DeMartini | In our ground. |
| Everett | Well, you know, we, we see a similar thing in the United States leather industries, right? Like, uh, Uh, I dunno, 15 years ago, there was this company called Horweed that was this ancient company had been around for many, many, many years, and they had kind of perfected this really discreet process for tanning horse hides. Uh, and, and now. Horween is the company in the United States. If you want leather, it doesn't matter if you want shell cordovan, if you want, you know, a chrome tan leather, uh, Horween is the company, right? And it's not because of where they're at. It's not because of the nationality of the company. They just, if they've got this legacy, they've refined the processes. They own the network, literally, Um, you know, they are going to beat everybody else. Now you might get a run of, of shell Cordovan from some other company, some Italian company or whatever, that's competitive. But if you want shell Cordovan, you better start by looking at what Horwin offers, right? Same, same, same deal. Yeah. |
| Mike DeMartini | You just, you find yourself like that's, that's just recognizably, that's the thing to go with. So, but that's just, those are things that you can't, just put on a computer screen or you're going to see in a YouTube video, you got to touch them and feel them and see them, you know? And if you see those things, you kind of get it. You know, it's like, I'm not going to make fun of Corvette owners in this joke, but like the Corvette owners, like, Oh, my Corvette's the same as a Ferrari. No, it's not. You've never heard of a Ferrari then. What's up? It's objectively not. It's objectively not the same thing. |
| Everett | Meaning that the power windows will still work in the Corvette in 10 years. |
| Mike DeMartini | And the feeling that you get behind the wheel of the Ferrari is undeniably amazing. Whereas the Vette's a Vette. It's still cool, and I still would love to drive one around, but Ferrari murders it every day, twice on Sunday. So, like, it just is what it is. Like, let's not fool around. So, yeah, you know. going down to like nuts and bolts. Uh, yeah, that's where we're at with watch stuff. |
| Everett | So I like it. |
| Andrew | I do. |
| Everett | I like it. Uh, I would like to do something just quickly before we transition. Cause this is the time of the episode where we talk about things that are not watch related, but before we shift. So Mike, we've talked a little bit about Everest horology today. Um, but you have kindly sent us some products. You sent us some straps, You sent us some leather goods that you guys market. I had already had a two watch holder I purchased when I purchased my Triumph. I also talked to Justin out of a Manta branded, but Everest watch case. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like you to take a minute to just talk about like what the, what is it you guys are going with, with Everest? What are you trying to do? Where do you think you fit in the industry? And what makes Everest products special? And I guess this is a fair opportunity for me to just say, I'm going to ask you to plug your company. And I thought maybe we just spend, you know, maybe the next five minutes talking a little bit about Everest. |
| Mike DeMartini | Well, I think that Everest is, You know, it's definitely like a conundrum in the watch industry because we're not a strap manufacturer. Like what we do is we allow a Rolex or a Tudor or a Panerai owner to customize their watch to something that they would have liked the manufacturer to have done. And then we allow them to make that customization very colorful and fun. Now, there's a lot of just dog shit garbage that you can get off of eBay that kind of looks similar to our stuff. Or Ollie. Or Alibaba. Yeah. Right. And you know what? You buy that stuff and if that'll make you feel good at night and so on and so forth, that's great. Okay. First, the customer service is worthless at all those levels. Okay. So that's, that's going to drive you nuts. But even more than that, it's this like every single aspect of our product is just so high, so quality, so over the top. Um, when you buy a watch from a watch strap from us, it comes with spring bars. Well, those spring bars are an exact, exact replacement to the ones that are in your watch. They're not just some cheap crabby one. It's that perfect replacement. We're the only strap maker that does that. |
| Everett | The spring bars on this strap are notably better than what I get. Yeah. Than what comes on a Foster, for instance. |
| Mike DeMartini | And you know what guys like that's cool. And at first you probably like, wow, it's kind of an expensive upgrade, right? Even the spring bar in the buckle we custom made. That's ridiculous. Okay. It's so over the top that we would do these things, but you own a Rolex. You have an expectation that we're going to nail it. Okay. If you spend $240 on a watch trap with us, that wash trap is going to be with you for quite a damn while. So where are we in this industry? We're like I said, we're kind of a conundrum because there are competitors out there, but they just don't do it as well as us. And why do we keep on growing and growing and growing and growing? And those guys kind of always seem to fall off, right? Cause there's like five or six of them right now. And they'll be, they'll just eventually they'll die, which is fine. Okay. But when nobody, when nobody's talking about is like years ago, there were some other guys. that also failed and died because the customer, the consumer has such a high expectation of demand on what their watch trap is going to be, that we just deliver it every single, at every single point, every single time. |
| Everett | And what are you delivering? I mean, we talked about spring bars, but let's talk a little bit about the rubber. Andrew and I both remarked, so we received these Everest straps. We're, uh, uh, neither one of us owns a Rolex as we sit here today or a Panerai or a Tudor. Which are the straps that you make? We do each own Manta watches because we're huge Manta fans and those are kind of in our price range. Um, as far as rubber straps, I have owned a lot of rubber straps. I, Andrew also has owned a lot of rubber straps. I've owned a lot of rubber straps. I love, um, I've been up and down the FKM lines. I've, you know, used NBR rubber straps. Um, What's the Italian company that makes the... Benito Cinturini? Yes, Benito Cinturini. You know, I've seen a lot of rubber straps. I got this and Andrew and I both remarked almost simultaneously like, oh, OK, I get it. I get it now. I get it. What's happening here? Why is the rubber better? As a guy that has purchased... Lots of rubbers. FKM rubber straps from the watches I sell. Um, and has received any number of, you know, straps from places like uncle Seiko or uncle straps now, um, or perhaps, uh, Benito Santorini. I own some Benito Santorini stuff, which is fantastic. I love it. It's a little fragrant, uh, which sometimes I like, and sometimes I don't. What, what's going on here? What is this rubber? |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. So it definitely isn't like your average tire rubber, is it? You know, so, um, so the molds that we make our stuff in are as precision as you're going to get. Um, and people say, you know, our, our stuff is made in the highest end factory. So the truth is ours is like, you know, you list a bunch of brands that make a rubber strap for their watch and they're really known for it. That is the room that this is made in. So the quality of the tooling is so incredibly high. So the, And then the processing that goes on afterwards is just, it's not just falling off the mold. And then they just kind of scrape the excess flash. It's like completely removed by hand. Um, or it's, there's an early process. They do it during, after it falls out of the, the, the, the, the mold. And that's, um, it's running it through, uh, uh, frozen media. And it really does like an excellent job to it, but the material itself, this rubber, is if you notice it's, it's just has like all of these extremely, uh, amazing processes that it goes through. And it's actually, it's made, which I was very proud of, but I've never, never actually even said this on air is that, um, the factory that makes this rubber is an American company. |
| Andrew | Yeah. |
| Mike DeMartini | It's kind of mind bending. Yeah. It's kind of cool. Right. So I know that the rubber material that my molder uses is from an American company. And I was like, wow, that's really cool. They told me that later. And I found out who the company was and I did some research and they just don't normally make stuff like he, they even, I called the company and I said, Oh, you know, I, so-and-so told me that you guys sell them the rubber. And they said, yeah, you know, we, we actually heard of your product. We were really cool that you, we make yours. Um, our owner owns a such and such watch and he attached it and he was really happy. Okay, cool. But it's the rubber itself is traditionally used for, significantly higher end specific purposes where chemicals and the reaction to the skin and all of those different things cannot occur in medical devices and things like that. But then this material is then it's, it's, it's an additional process to make it stronger and more rigid, but also still giving it that kind of soft flexibility. |
| Everett | Which I think is primarily what people care about, right? Silicone is this wonderful material because it feels it's, it's rigid, but also like hyper flexible. Silicone is problematic because it tears and it tends to collect dust. But really what we care about is hand feel. Everybody wants a strap that feels like silicone, that's strong and that is not going to collect the dust. I think there's another problem with silicone, which is definition and the definition on this rubber. So what is the material? Can you tell me? |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah, it is an FKM. So which is like it's like a class. Of rubber, you know, and you know, like you can buy FKM products in China, you can buy them in Thailand and so on and so forth. And you can buy them also from Swiss companies and the company that we utilize, um, we we've come to find out that they use the best. It just really is. There's nothing better. And, and like you said, it's hand feel. It's like, it's not flexible. It's kind of weirdly not flexible, but it's, It's got a little bit of give is maybe the right term. |
| Andrew | I don't know. I don't. It's a conundrum. It's simultaneously supple and firm. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. Yeah. It's it's it's I hate to say this, but it's it's like a little bit like kind of like strong flesh. You know, I don't know what else to say. Like, it's just kind of like muscle, but it's just really great. |
| Everett | Our straps feel just like strong flesh. |
| Andrew | And that's your new motto. |
| Everett | You're welcome. I will work on the, I'll work on the promo for that. |
| Mike DeMartini | It's hard flesh. All the blood's in there. |
| Andrew | Got a good pump on. |
| Mike DeMartini | But it's just, what it really is, is it's just, you put it on one time and you don't take it off. Like I, I'm wearing our latest product on a sub today. And I just. |
| Everett | Is that a bluesy? I've been I've been eyeballing it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful. Yeah. |
| Mike DeMartini | It's the one two six six one three. So it's the latest version. And I'm a kid in a candy shop. I get lucky to get these things, you know. So but it's just perfect. It's just for fun. I put it on just to see what it looked like today on on Sunday, because one one of my friends had said to me, I was going out to breakfast and he goes, I bet you didn't match the bezel color on the blue. of the Blue Z. And I was like, you sure? Because we didn't just match it, we dead matched it. And he was like, okay, whatever. We met for breakfast and he put it on his wrist and we went outside and he was like, okay, yeah, I hate to say it, but you just nailed this. |
| Andrew | Thanks. |
| Mike DeMartini | I guess I'll buy it now. So, but it's trying to deliver the like Louis Vuitton level for a watch strap. And happening to be online. Cause we don't sell in stores anymore. |
| Andrew | Which is a problem, right? Like I, I will, we'll buy these now after having held one. Cause I get it. What, what man, we just lengthened the episode quite a bit. How, like besides people like us, like how are you getting the buy-in from people to, to get it? |
| Mike DeMartini | Well, I think it really comes from some of it's word of mouth, but you know, like, man, the internet is a great place in a horrible place at the same time. Right. So surprisingly, you know, you can get like 500 great, happy customers and three will write the review. Right. And you can have one pissed off guy out of that 500 people and he will just murder you as fast as he possibly can on the internet. And. Surprisingly, I think we do a good enough job that instead of getting three, we get 12 people to say, this is fantastic. This is really great stuff. You got to own it if you own a Rolex or Tudor or Panerai. And I think that we also take social media and we make it fun. You know, like our social media is not all about watch traps, which is super boring. Watch traps are boring. Yeah, they're kind of boring. It's not a very sexy business. Um, but we try and make it just fun. Like we just did this, like Johnny Depp joke, you know, about watch collecting and you telling, you telling, you know, the mother of your child, you, you would, when she asks you, are you ever going to buy another watch? And he, and he's like, no, no, no. I'm going to buy another watch. So you have to kind of play with a little bit and then it just, it gets a little viral. We've had a couple of videos, ironically get like 50, 60 million views without even us paying for it on our, our social media. The second thing we do that is really important is that we cover the watch industry. So we, we specifically write a crap ton of blogs on our, our actual website about the watch industry. And that gets a lot of people to see who we are just because they are interested. Um, and then the last thing is we do stuff like this with great people like you guys. |
| Andrew | Hey, you said we're great. Will you do a custom one for me for the Santos? I know some people were doing that. There was some IP issues with the quick release. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. I don't, I don't really know why Cartier did that to those guys. I've never really owned any of their products, but I've heard really good things about them to be honest. So I don't know if I would, it was strange. Like I bet like Rolex has never, we never obviously, you know, mess with any of their IP, you know? I don't think they really care about us. If anything, we've been promoting their product, you know? Um, but that was a little weird. Yeah. That was the lugs thing that we try about. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, huh. Okay, cool. |
| Everett | Well, decision. I hate to do it. We're long in the tooth as, as we do. I'm going to move it along. Andrew, other things. What do you got? |
| Andrew | I have another thing. So this past weekend was my son's birthday party and he wanted to take a friend camping in our camper. I did not want to do that for a lot of reasons. So I suggested the front yard camp in the camper. That makes sense. And he was agreeable to that. I was like, sweet. So I plugged everything into the house and I was like, okay, what am I going to do with two eight year olds in this camper? Sure. Because it's a boring place. It's a bedroom. And I was like, I know what to do. So we had a spare, like a spare, we had an old TV that like, I don't like getting rid of things. I'm not quite a hoarder, but I'm really close. We had an old TV that was boxed up, packaged and put away. And about a year ago, my dad, when he came down for whatever reason, had these two grocery bags. I was like, that's weird. And they were all bulky and old. Within them were childhood gaming consoles and all of their games. I was like, I know exactly what to do. So I brought this old TV, throw it down. I plugged in the Nintendo 64 and these two kids ate up Goldeneye exactly the way that I did. |
| Mike DeMartini | Best video game ever. |
| Andrew | They loved it. So that's my other thing. And so that's part one of my other thing. This prompted me to start looking for Nintendo 64 games, which one would expect would be very cheap. Yeah, they are not not. You can find some sellers on eBay who have like pick your game for like two, three ninety nine apiece. But all that's left are like NFL games and wrestling games, which are both good games, good options. But there's none of like the good classic games. So this pushed me into the market to find some emulators. So over the next couple of weeks, I think I'm going to do the Mike Razak and buy several. I like that and try out some emulators because these things come in ready to go. They use like a PlayStation platform controller. They plug into your TV. You've got a hundred thousand games. I, over the next several weeks, I'm going to buy a few emulators, uh, to recreate these childhood games that really hit a chord with my eight year old. Uh, And I'll come back with the answer on the emulator that I went with. But my my true other thing is try your childhood games with your kids because they are number one, you're way better at them. If you play Fortnite with your with your kids, you will lose. It will not be fun. You play Goldeneye with your kids. They will have fun. You will win. You will have fun. |
| Everett | And everybody wins when you win. |
| Andrew | Yes, everyone wins. |
| Mike DeMartini | And Goldeneye I could litter that that game in college was so addictive. |
| Everett | I missed you were aging. You were aging yourself because Goldeneye is what I was a freshman in high school. That game was phenomenal. |
| Andrew | Yeah, I was younger than that. |
| Everett | Yeah. Andrew was in utero. |
| Andrew | Not exactly, but younger than that. Yeah, that's like I some of my fondest childhood memories are playing Goldeneye and like just kicking the shit out of my dad because my dad, this is like his introduction to video games. And I'm a millennial. So just beating him with slappers only in the tombs. Yeah. Love that. |
| Mike DeMartini | Love. Oh, God. I remember just enjoying playing Goldeneye so much. And it would be like, like we'd have Goldeneye tournaments in the dorm. |
| Everett | Yeah. |
| Mike DeMartini | It was like freshman year. And we just, we literally play for, I mean, they'd go on for like 12 hours. Easy. Yep. Yeah. And, and, and, you know, I, I dated this one girl and she just would be like, what have you been doing for like 12 hours? I'd be like, nothing, nothing. Doesn't matter. She's like, you've been playing Goldeneye, aren't you? And you're like, I may have. I may have. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I did some, in some Eye of Golden. So. |
| Everett | Perhaps. |
| Andrew | Yeah. I, I fully remember that. Like going to sleepovers and everyone bring their Nintendo 64 and their golden eye disc and every, every television that could be accumulated was in a room and everyone is playing four screens and you have like an eight and a half by 11 at best screen that you're working off of and everyone's. Yeah. The, the golden age of video games. |
| Everett | Mike DiMartini, other things. What do you got? |
| Mike DeMartini | I don't even know if I can compete with Goldeneye. |
| Andrew | No, you can't. It's hard. For sure. You cannot. That's hard. I brought the heat today, but do it anyway. |
| Mike DeMartini | Okay. So, uh, watch, I guess I'll pull two things and maybe I can combine a half of the Goldeneye string. So the first one is the Owala, O-W-A-L-A bottle that's on my desk. I'm kind of infatuated with it. I bought it because I was going camping with my son. Who's a, who's a first year boy scouter. And I hadn't been camping since college. And also in college, I was dead broke. So I got a couple of bucks in my pocket, bought a fancy tent, bought all the like camping accoutrements. And I bought this, I'll be honest, didn't really enjoy the camping process. I forgot how it's not, there's a reason why I haven't done it since college. So my kids sure as shit loved it. I, on the other hand, struggled through the whole process. But, you know, even with the pod rocker, you know, chair and everything. |
| Andrew | Oh, so you went all out. You like you. |
| Everett | I did. Those pod rocker chairs are phenomenal. Yeah. |
| Mike DeMartini | Oh, God, aren't they? I mean, talk about the best, absolute best chair to watch a soccer game in in the middle of fall is a pod rocker. Any like around a a fire, you know, making s'mores pod rocker time like, you know, pod rockers are the shit. Is it in your living room? I don't think my wife would allow me to do it. I could, I could, I could get it in there and be, it'd be comfortable. So this a Walla bottle, it's like, Oh, WALA. I really loved it. It has this really cool top. I don't know if it's the model. Let me see if I can find the model free sip. It's like a 24 ounce one. I bought it at target. It is absolutely amazing. It's like the epitome as it's like really cool thing. You can, you just like hang that on stuff. I don't know. Real, real fans of it. |
| Everett | That's old school. Other things that is old school. Other things. I got this new thing that is phenomenal, surprisingly, and you should check it out. |
| Mike DeMartini | I love it. Yeah. The other thing is I haven't cut myself with it yet and I'm not a big knife guy, but my, we were at a windup in San Francisco and they got this like everyday carry section now. Yeah. And at first I was like, Oh, come on, everyday carry guys. Like what are you trying to make some money? Actually, everything there was really good. Like standard age showed up and a couple other like really cool brands. But there's this, this knife it's called ACE. Have you guys seen these? |
| Everett | I have, I have, but only because Mike talked about them in our windup recap. |
| Mike DeMartini | I mean, I'm not trying to like get a free knife from them. But good Lord, are these things nice? I bought Justin a knife. I bought Chandler, the watchmaker knife, and I bought myself one. And what's crazy is they're all very different designs. Justin has like a brass handle and it has like a flip out deal. I can't know. I don't know what that's called. What are those called? Come on guys. You're like a finger stud. |
| Everett | Okay. Yeah. Or for like a flipper. Can I, can I say something? I don't think anybody knows Chandler's last name. Chandler is just Chandler, the watchmaker. |
| Andrew | That is his last name, The Watchmaker. He's had it legally. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. Yeah, we we were able to change it legally. So that's kind of nice. He didn't like it, but it happened. His name is Lindemann. Lindemann. |
| Everett | All right. No, I think you've ruined it. |
| Andrew | Now, I get why he he wants to. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah, you just prefer it. You just prefer to be the watchmaker guy. But yeah, I mean, this is like if you're if you're in that market for spending on just just right around $300 on a pocket knife, This is the brand like it's called the. Ace. Yeah, Ace. I saw the James brand there, too, which was pretty slick. But for some reason, the aces were just talking to me. Those are the ones that popped out at you. |
| Andrew | Yeah. Model is it? Oh, gosh. I can find them on giant mouse. That's it. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah, I think it's the M390 because it's on the blade. But it has it's it's it is. It's like a little hard to open and close, but I like that. |
| Andrew | Yeah, you want a little bit of you want a little bit of resistance when you're. |
| Everett | Yeah. And I think Giant Mouse, Andrew, is actually the brand. Yeah. And Ace is their line is the line of knives. I think you're right. |
| Mike DeMartini | Yeah. Maybe I'm I'm messing this up. |
| Everett | You screwed it up. It's fine. We'll forgive you. |
| Andrew | And they're sold out like everything. |
| Everett | Yeah. They're one of those companies that's that's demand is outpacing their ability to produce things. But that's that's cool. That actually is even cooler. |
| Andrew | And you got one that looks like a good folder. |
| Mike DeMartini | I got randomly and I gave two away. I've got three and gave two away because I was like, you guys have to have these are so cool. And then Chandler got the nibbler. The nibbler, I don't know if that's the nibbler. He's real. He was real happy. He kept on calling it. I was like, you do have the nibbler, the nibbler. |
| Everett | So I've got another thing. |
| Andrew | I want the nibbler. |
| Everett | I've got another thing. So this is a big one for me. Okay. This is a big one for me. I have bought, I believe the, probably the best value in cars you can buy. So, uh, at about a quarter of the price of a Ferrari 812, I purchased the greatest car in the world, the Corvette Z06 2023, something like 700 horsepower, uh, I'm just joking. Obviously, I did not buy a Corvette. I just wanted to fuck with my gold license. |
| Mike DeMartini | Like he's literally going to flip me the bird. |
| Everett | For about a quarter, about a quarter of the price, fully loaded Corvette Z06. |
| Andrew | Cops follow you until they can see your face in the mirror. They're like, oh, it's a weird nerd. Not a drug dealer. Yeah, yeah. |
| Mike DeMartini | And we're done. |
| Andrew | No, so I have it. |
| Everett | I do have another thing. So on Friday I went to a premier night movie. One of the things our family likes to do when a movie comes out that we're excited about. And this movie has gotten mixed critic reviews. But what I like to do anytime a movie gets mixed critic reviews, I like to look at the audience reviews. So this is one of those movies that's like 80 critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. 80 is not a bad number, but it's not a great number. It's pretty good. But the, the audience reviews are like 96. It's pretty good. Uh, I went and saw guardians of the galaxy. So let's, let's get something out of the way. |
| Andrew | I saw volume three. I saw it on Sunday. It was amazing. |
| Everett | Uh, let's get something out of the way. It's a fucking long movie. And the first, I don't know, hour of the movie is a little long. It's a little long. We're getting a little dark. We're getting a little heavy. It was very different. It was. This is, I believe, my favorite Marvel movie. Having watched at this point all of the MCU movies, every single one that has been made. This, I believe, is my favorite of all of them. So a handful of things. One, the Guardians of the Galaxy. franchise or that portion of the MCU has always been my favorite, ever since the very first one. The characters are phenomenal. Undoubtedly the most dynamic set of characters. It's funny in a way that I appreciate. To say nothing about Chris Pratt. I think he makes fantastic characters and his onscreen personality is great. This, this movie was like a little bit for me, like Toy Story three, right? You know, when you watch Toy Story three and you were like, all right, all right, you Pixar bastard, you've tricked me. You did it. Uh, this felt that way to me, right? This, it shifts the frame on this guardians of all of the characters become different. Some of them in really big ways. Um, it develops though, your understanding of the organization. I absolutely loved it. It made me cry a couple of times, like actual tears. It was like fun and funny. Not the funniest Guardians of the Galaxy movie. No. But just enough funny and certainly the most like heartwarming. You walk out and you're like, I feel a little sad and I also feel very happy. |
| Andrew | I loved it. I've done some post reading on it and some of the post reading that you're going to review is going to make you feel better about the movie. Yeah. I liked it a lot. It was super different. Super. Changed. It was clearly a iteration in the franchise, but it was unlike anything else in the entire MCU. |
| Everett | Yes. |
| Andrew | Yes. Yes. And I wasn't prepared for that. So walking out of it, I was like, what just happened? And then as it sunk in, I was like, Oh, I get it. I liked it. I look forward to seeing it again. |
| Everett | I'm a big MCU guy. I love the Marvel MCU. I'm not like advocating in any sort of like brand devotion way or whatever. Right. I just think it's a fantastic franchise. And this for me, I think was the cherry on top of the sundae. It did it. It didn't love it. |
| Andrew | Love it. Concur. We'll second your |
| Everett | So, Mike, Fandango.com, buy your tickets. You need to see it. I can tell by your expression you haven't seen it. No, I have. I love it. |
| Mike DeMartini | You're late to the party. I can't deny that. Yeah. |
| Andrew | It's not that late. |
| Everett | It's like a week old. Well, that means it's a week late. |
| Mike DeMartini | I do feel I do feel bad now that I haven't watched it because I was going to as you're saying this, I watched on the on the mini screen on my phone. Cause I, you know, I got three kids and a wife, so I don't get to the, they're all real young. So we, we don't get to the movies much, but, um, I watched, uh, the like Michael Jordan, Nike air story. Oh my gosh. So good. Oh God. You guys have you seen that? That is fantastic. Oh, wow. I mean, that was one of those movies where I don't want to say it was as good as Goodwill hunting, but it had the same |
| Everett | Very much same vibe. And it's a true story and it's near and dear to our hearts. Uh, Andrew grew up a stone's throw from right there. This setting of that movie. Yeah. Yeah. I was a few miles down the road just in felony flats. Yeah. Cool movie. Okay. Quickly, Mike, 15 seconds. I'm going to give you to say anything else you want to say to these fine folks that are listening to our episode an hour and 45 minutes in what are you doing? Listening an hour and 45 minutes. |
| Andrew | We're not sorry. |
| Mike DeMartini | I mean, I just, you know, I just want to say like, thank you to all the people who've ever bought a product for me. Like just straight up. If you never heard me personally say it, let me just say thank you ahead of time, because this is a small world. I got a crazy couple ideas and without you, I just am some goofball with a, who's going to be broke ass. Okay. Because what we make here is a very specific product, both on the watch side and on the watch strap side. So thank you so much for. purchasing a product from us, and thank you for not returning it. We're filing a claim with your credit card. Thank you very much. I work very hard to make you happy. |
| Everett | Well, and Mike, thank you so much for joining us. Andrew. I'm out. Hey, you guys. Once again, we've done it. Here we are, hour 45 minutes in. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Mike DeMartini, for joining us. Check out Everest Horology. Link will be in the show notes. Why don't you check us out at watch clicker.com. That's where we post every single episode of this podcast, as well as, you know, weekly, uh, reviews, articles, other things that you might be interested in as a listener of this show, you can check us out on our Instagram at 40 and 20 underscore watch clicker or at watch clicker. That's where we post updates about what's going on in the podcast or on the website. If you want to support us, you have to do that at patreon.com. slash 40 and 20. Look, that is how we fund this entire operation with no advertising dollars, no affiliate marketing and no salaries. That is how we keep the wheels on this truck. Patriot dot com slash 40 and 20. Love to have you as part of that team. And don't forget to tune in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life and other things we like. |
| Andrew | Bye bye. |