Episode 84 - Interview with Justin of Monta Watch

Published on Wed, 03 Jun 2020 22:59:00 -0700

Synopsis

This is a podcast episode featuring Justin Crotal, the co-owner and president of Monta Watch Company. They discuss the beginnings of Monta, how Justin got involved with the company, and the challenges they faced early on such as having to reduce prices and offer refunds to initial customers. Justin talks about Monta's philosophy of delivering exceptional quality watches at an affordable price point and their current lineup including the Ocean King, SkyQuest, Triumph, and Atlas models. He hints at a new upcoming fifth model based on customer feedback. They also discuss the intricacies of case and bracelet finishing, pricing strategies, and the potential for a future chronograph model. Throughout the conversation, Justin emphasizes Monta's commitment to customer service and desire to be part of the vibrant watch enthusiast community.

Transcript

Speaker
Andrew Hello, fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. This is the 40 in 20 podcast with your host, Andrew. I'm a good friend, Everett. Here we talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Everett, how are you?
Everett Man, I'm good. Uh, I, uh, I'm good. You know, it's just everything's weird, right? Everything is so weird right now. Yeah. Um, this isn't great.
Andrew This is a truly hard seltzer passion fruit. It's not great. You're not into the passion fruit? I'm going to drink it, but it's not great. Okay.
Everett You know, we're super manly with the drinks these days.
Andrew You know, it's that keto that's just really, really bogging us down. I know. And I'm doing it in solidarity. I thought about buying a six pack of beer and a six pack of seltzer, but at that point I'm like, I might as well drink some seltzer. I appreciate you. You know, I'm here for you, man. I appreciate you. Yeah, but I'm good. I'm good. How are you doing? I mean, you know, I have a little bit of sleepies. Uh, cause obviously the world, the world's a little bit weird right now, but um, you know, we're working overtime, literally working overtime. Well, not at this moment. I'm not at work, but yeah, work worked a lot over the last week as, as you can imagine. Um, but you know, we're, we're making it, we're getting by and yeah, that's, I mean it is what it is, right? There's, there's no, there's no silver lining here. There's nothing, nothing good, but that, You know, I'm healthy.
Everett Well, I'm glad. I'm glad to. I'm glad that you're doing the things that that need to be doing. It's we need to have good people doing these things. So, yeah, it is what it is. So we've got a guest today. We do. We've got a guest today. We always do this. Right.
Andrew As if they haven't already read the title.
Everett So on the line, on the line, we've got the co-owner and president of Manta, Justin Crotal. Justin, how are you?
Justin Crotal Hey guys, I'm doing really good, all things considered, because obviously what you guys just alluded to, it's an even stranger world than it was a week ago. Imagine that, right?
Andrew As if it could have gotten stranger.
Justin Crotal We found a way. Who would have thought? But I'm thrilled to be here with you guys. I love doing these. I love talking watches, love meeting new people, even if it's virtually. And Everett, I guess this is our second Hangout. We did not wear bow ties tonight, but that's okay. We will do that again in the future.
Everett I did. I took it off as soon as I saw that you didn't have it.
Andrew You know, I, uh, I almost texted Everett and as I was getting dressed, cause I, I woke up not long before, uh, I came over, I was in my closet and I was like, Oh, Oh, today this could be the one. I was like, no, it's just, it's just audio. We're not going to live. We're not, we're not live feeding this. So I just put on like normal people clothes. Uh, I didn't even think to text because if I was the only one not in a boat, I'd be just terribly embarrassed. I might just pout my way home.
Everett He comes over sometimes in the tux and I'm like, what are you doing, man?
Andrew Like just in case you never know.
Everett Right. Yeah. So we did a Instagram live stream sort of as COVID was the first throws of COVID and everybody's trying to figure out how do we what do we do during the day? Well, let's let's let's do live streams. And that was a lot of fun.
Justin Crotal It was. And, you know, talk about silver linings that Andrew mentioned that has been the biggest silver lining for me is connecting with customers and new friends and fans of the brand. podcasts, YouTube reviewers, you know, whoever it may be. Because the great thing is we all have this captive audience and whether they want to be entertained or not, we're here to talk to them.
Andrew So that's where everybody wins. And everyone has exhausted the Netflix and Hulu catalogs at this point.
Everett Right. At least all the good stuff.
Andrew Yeah. Right. Yeah. I'm on to bad stuff.
Everett No, you know, We we talk about this a lot, right? It's such a bizarre community. You know, we're we're uniquely positioned to get to know people because really, that's that's what we do. That's what our podcast is, by and large. You know, sometimes it's just the two of us, but. I don't know, 40% of our episodes these days, we have someone we get to know. You know, I've never met you in person, but I feel like I know I feel like I know you, right? It's like, oh, I'm just hopping on a call with my buddy, Justin. Yeah, it's such a cool world that we're in where we have that opportunity. I agree. Totally. Well, so you're, as we, as we stated earlier, you are the co-owner and president of Manta, Manta Watch Company. Is that, that's, that's the correct parlance, right?
Justin Crotal Yes.
Everett And you guys make watches.
Justin Crotal We do. Well, we don't make them. We manufacture them. Okay.
Everett Okay. There, there's some nuance there. Right.
Justin Crotal Yeah. Right. Yeah. As I say, I'm not a watchmaker. I'm a watch manufacturer. I have a watchmaker who, who does that for me, but, um, but yeah, I just, I'm just crazy about watches.
Everett And you guys have brought in certain aspects of the assembly and whatnot in-house relatively recently, right?
Justin Crotal Not assembly, but service and the QC process. So yeah, we did hire our own in-house watchmaker, Chandler. Shout out to Chandler back in December. So he's been with us coming up on six months now. And he's been a blessing to just, you know, his knowledge to enable us to continue to take things a step further Um, you know, not knowing kind of what our limitations were, he enables us to either push those limits or tell us, Hey, this is the limit. Um, but then the most important thing is delivering that, that customer service aspect so that people who buy a month to watch know that, um, if there is a problem, we're going to be there, take care of it efficiently and quickly.
Everett Yeah. Fantastic. Well, so for, for those, you know, I think, you know, this, but our podcast, really, we focus on what. we consider to be affordable watches. And affordable is a moving target, right? What's affordable to a banker in New York is different than affordable for a couple of yokels in Eugene, Oregon. But the reason we started this is we thought, nobody's talking about watches that I could buy today or tomorrow or this calendar year. Right, you know, or even perhaps 10 years from now, right? If you go to Hodinkee, and we love Hodinkee actually, no disrespect there, but if you go to Hodinkee, the articles about watches that I may someday acquire are few and far between. And so we thought, well, people might want to hear about watches that they could actually afford.
Andrew Because in our mind, at least in my mind, for somebody who can't afford that 10-year watch, that 10-year gold watch, but still wants to get into watches, that is a far more emotionally significant purchase, dropping $600, $700, $800 on a watch, than that banker in New York who's going to spend $5,000 on a watch.
Everett And so that sounds superfluous, and I don't think it is, because I think we owe it to the people who are listening. to say, we're going to talk about a slightly more expensive watch today. We're going to talk about a slightly more expensive watch today. But, but, and here's the big but, I think that Manta falls in loosely to that affordable category. And I do. I guess maybe before we go there, can we back up? Can we back up to, you know, 2016, 2017? to the beginnings, to the foundation of Monta. How did this happen? How did you and Mike DiMartini and that group of people come together and how did this thing come about?
Justin Crotal So it's a long story, but I'll shorten it as best I can. The brand was conceived by my business partner, Michael DiMartini, and our third business partner, David Barnes, who is now retired. He's still very much in the picture behind the scenes, but you know, not in the picture in terms of day to day. And, um, so they came up with it in, uh, 2015 started the R and D process, um, got prototypes in 2016. And that was, uh, at the time I was, I was the banker in New York, uh, except I was in St. Louis. So a huge watch nut, and I bought an Everest strap, as some of the listeners may know. We have a sister company called Everest that makes the rubber and leather straps for Rolex, Panerai, Tudor, et cetera. And so I bought a rubber strap for my Rolex. And then met Michael, had no idea the company was based in St. Louis, here in my backyard. And we met, had a beer, and the rest they say is history. I had a front row seat to the Gen 1 Ocean King. And as the brand came to, uh, to market and basically it was like this perfect crossroads in my life where I was in my mid thirties at the time. And I really wanted to make a change and do what I love for, uh, for a living and for the rest of my life. And, um, God willing, he gave me that opportunity. And ironically, uh, I thought about this earlier and this is, this is a perfect time to mention it. Today, June 2nd, that we're recording this is actually my three year anniversary as an owner of, of Manta. So it's my Mantaversary.
Everett This is the third year anniversary show.
Justin Crotal Yeah, exactly.
Everett Happy anniversary.
Justin Crotal Yeah. Thank you guys. Um, so, so like I said, long story short, I came on board, um, initially with Everest and then, uh, and then basically my buy-in to Manta was financing the Triumph. And, uh, that's, that's a whole nother story there. But, um, but yeah, so three years later, here we are, uh, four models under our belt, uh, and a, and a fifth model pending.
Everett Fantastic. Fantastic. And so, so at the time you came on board, so you were the first purchaser of that gen one ocean king, I believe, is that right?
Justin Crotal I was, I was order number one. That's correct.
Everett And is that, uh, that's a watch I assume you still own and will own forever and ever. Amen.
Justin Crotal Absolutely.
Everett Yeah. Yeah.
Justin Crotal Yeah, no doubt.
Everett And so, At that time, at that time, you were not coming into a booming business. Rather, you were probably coming into a business that was on the cusp of non-existence.
Justin Crotal I mean, I ran into the proverbial burning house. Absolutely. And Michael and I talk about that all the time. Actually, just today when I texted him after a call, I was like, hey, by the way, happy Montiversary. You know, thank you for allowing me to come on this ride with you. It's been a very bumpy one, but I've still enjoyed the hell out of it. And, um, yeah, the, the, the quote I always go back to is the pain of regret is greater than the pain of failure. And that's what I adopted into my mindset as I walked away from a very successful financial planning career, uh, with a wife and two kids mortgage car payments, the American dream. And it, you know, most of my friends were like, he's lost his mind. He's having a midlife crisis. What's going on here. And, and, and it kind of took me. back a little bit because I was like, I hope I'm not, I know in my heart I'm doing the right thing. I hope I'm not making a mistake. Um, and so now three years later, even with everything we've been through business, uh, you know, global things, personal things to say that, you know, we've, we've made it and we're going to make it is, um, it was just wonderful. You know, there, there's no, there's no greater, uh, personal success for me than that.
Everett That's it's really it's really a cool story, you know, and I and I would urge you, I would urge you at home if you if you don't know about this story, there's been, you know, plenty of people talk about it on other recordings and there's plenty of forums. I would say that. You guys did something, you guys did something that that I think is probably the in my mind and not being in the business, I'm guessing a little bit. But I think maybe the most important decision Monta made in that restructuring phase. So Ocean King came out, flopped for a number of reasons. Monta came back and they came back to their buyers and said, Hey, we are going to keep going and we want to fix a thing that's happened. And do you mind talking just a little bit about that process, how you guys got there?
Justin Crotal Yeah, sure. So Gen 1 Ocean King was retailed at $3,550. And the biggest reason for that is because our strategy was to go the retail channel. For anyone who's got any idea of that business, obviously your brick and mortar stores take a decent margin. That's how they make their money. And so you have to build that margin into the price. And then you also have our margin from manufacturing, marketing, overhead, sales, shipping, customs, et cetera. And so the market told us that that was not a viable option. brand new company coming out of the gates swinging at that price level. So we, we, we failed to, to put it in one word. It was a failure. And we learned from that. And you know, because of who Michael and I are because of our business background and, and what we believe in is watch enthusiasts. We said, here's how we have to fix this if we're going to keep going, because it literally was sink or swim at that point. We either just fold up and say, this isn't going to work. And, uh, and move on, um, or we push forward and we do the right thing. And so we said, um, we're going to make a few major changes that the market told us. In terms of, uh, the watch itself, the pricing, the marketing, the service, you name it. And so we made those changes. Uh, we reduced the price and for those people who believed in us from day one and who purchased those. At that higher price, we gave them the option of a refund for a fixed amount, which was a check that we would send to them, or a deeply discounted Triumph, which was our second model that we announced at the same time as the Gem1 Ocean King at Baselworld 2017, but wasn't made right away. It was kind of pushed back and then done on a pre-order. And so quite simply, the Triumph saved the brand. Um, but we nailed it. We got that one right. Uh, we did, you know, we got the pricing, right. We got the service model, right. Um, the case size, the dial color, the options, everything about it. And, um, so from then on, um, it was just learn the lesson and apply it going forward and, um, keep doing what you love and follow your passion. Those are kind of the, you know, the, the Manta pillars, if you will.
Everett And, and I don't, you know, you, you sort of skim over it. the facts, but I don't, I think that you probably do that a little bit purposefully. Uh, and I hope you're not sheepish about it, but this idea that you reached out to your customers and said, Hey, this is where we're at. Uh, this is where we were at. We're in a different place. And we, we are so committed to you, our customers who are actual customers that we want to do this thing. Uh, you, you know, you read on the forums, everybody's got opinions about everybody else's businesses. Uh, how they do business, what they're doing. This is one of those stories where you read on the forums and everybody's like, these fucking guys are awesome. Who does that?
Andrew Right? I hope that's what they say. When you say there was a refund. Thank you. It's like you could read my mind. It was just a check sent back to the buyer.
Justin Crotal Yes.
Andrew Period. That watch is still in their watch box with the refund check.
Justin Crotal One hundred percent. And I have not verified this. I don't know if I ever can. Maybe, you know, like a Jack Forster from Hodinkee who's been around long enough that has a deep well of knowledge could help us with this someday. But no one's told me that a Swiss watch brand or a watch brand has ever given a refund to customers. And not that I'm like going to carry that flag and put it all over the website because we don't. But it is something that we're very proud of. If anyone's going to knock our customer service, there's no way you can because of that.
Andrew Oh, that bought 20 years of goodwill.
Justin Crotal Yeah, yeah. And truth be told, because we need more of that in this world right now, only a handful of people took it. Thank you so much to the customers, you know, and admittedly we only had about 50 genuine ocean king customers at this point. Uh, but the vast majority of them took the discounted triumph in the pre-order and, and they're thrilled with it. I still keep in touch with those people. You know, back then I was responding from my personal Manta email calling these people because you know, it's, It's typical small business, you know, as we've grown now, I don't have the time and the resource to do that as much as I wish I could because I enjoy that aspect of the business. But, um, but yeah, those original people were, uh, they were, they were, they're sweethearts, you know, they were like, Hey, we, we believe in you. We love what you're doing. Um, this is amazing. Thank you so much. Uh, so we sent out like six or seven checks, I think. Um, which, you know, it was like, okay, we're scraping the bottom of the checking account, but we got to do it. And we did it.
Everett You know, but those people, those six or seven people are the people that are noisy on forums, right? Yeah. Uh, they're, they're the people that will define your brand moving forward. You know, we've talked about a number of brands on the show. Um, and, and sometimes we'll get comments after we record, uh, where folks say, Oh, this brand, um, does this shitty thing or has done this shitty thing, you know? Uh, and I realize. sometimes it's legitimate, sometimes it's legitimate, you know, without naming any names or whatever, right? There's some companies that have enigmatic customer service practices, right? But other times it's like, gosh, you're just that guy. You're just looking for something. You're just Karen, you know? And so to make those six or seven Karens happy is a cut above, right? So, you know, you sort of came in, your first project as an owner was the Triumph, which, you know, such a perfectly, I think such a perfectly named watch, because I remember, I didn't know Manta before the Triumph. We're not close followers of Baselworld News or whatever, right? You know, it's just not sort of our lane. But I remember the first time I was on a WatchuSeek forum and I saw the Triumph and I was like, holy shit, man, this thing is really cool. This thing is really cool. You know, price is high. Price is high for me, but it's in that realm of something I could get. It's a step up. Talk to us about what a Monta watch is, because I think that's the big question some of our listeners are going to have. What is this watch that retails between $1,400 and $2,000? What, what am I, what is this thing?
Justin Crotal Yeah. So, um, obviously quality is, is the first word that comes to mind. Um, as I've done podcasts and interviews, um, I'm really trying to embrace brevity as much as I can, uh, cause I'm a talker, but, um, but quality, um, attention to detail, the design, you know, if you look at our website and you look at our four models, You either like it or you don't, you know, um, I think, you know, if you want to equate it to a car or, um, a, a, a whiskey or a beer or something, you know, that, that you're, that's in your lane. Um, I feel like the triumph, the Atlas, the SkyQuest and the Ocean King, um, we're not to use like a beer analogy. We're not micro brews, you know, but we're not the big behemoth, um, Budweiser, Coors, Miller, you know, et cetera. In terms of design, right? In terms of size and scale, yes, we're very much a microbrew, but our designs are supposed to appeal to a wide audience. And they're based on the designs that Michael and I like as watch enthusiasts of, you know, going on two decades. And so we said when the brand was coming up, how do we make an exceptionally high quality watch with a great design, with attention to detail, things like the clasp, the links, the hands, the presentation, uh, the, the customer experience, the connectivity to the brand, and do that at a price point that is palatable. And like Everett, to your point in the beginning, and I think Andrew, you touched on it too, is that number is going to be very different for everyone. You know, some people would say, You know, spending 200 bucks on a Seiko is just crazy. Whereas other people would say, well, you know, if I can get a Nautilus 5711 at retail for $36,000, I'll take it all day long. You know, most people's heads would explode when they say that. Um, so for us, it was how do we deliver that exceptional watch, um, and then couple it with the customer service and the connectivity to the brand. So what you get with every Manta is, um, the finishing on the case. from alternating finishes like brushed and polished is just exquisitely done because we work with the very best manufacturers in the business.
Everett Can I speak on that for just a second? Yeah, of course. The finishing on the case is exquisitely done.
Andrew It is the first piece of metal I've ever touched and it felt supple. Yeah. As I was holding the Ocean King for the first time, I was like, What the fuck is happening right now?
Everett He was sitting in my living room. He was like, why does it feel soft?
Andrew Like, why? Why is this like it? It is. It is phenomenal. And we had a triumph that someone sent us what a year ago. It's been it's been about a year. It's been a while. And I remember really liking it. But I mean, like, it's not quite for me. And right as soon as I as I held this and I was like this.
Unknown Yep.
Andrew This is it. This is this is perfect how like everything about it is so precise one of the one of the first things that I like after I got over how how supple the finishing is just how delicate everything is the crown guards on it yeah the finishing and the the precision and the angles makes them look applied like it's a whole separate piece not yeah not out of that same case it is absolutely phenomenal, the precision that we're getting out of this finishing. And it, it rivals any watch that I have ever, ever seen.
Everett You know, it's interesting, Andrew, uh, cause you said when we had the Triumph in, you know, I think both of us, so you know, Justin, I don't, I don't, I don't know if you know this, but we sort of came into this thing, right? We started 40 and 20 as, uh, novices in the watch world. And we're still very much novices in the watch world. You know, we, we talk about this regularly, but every time we have someone on the show, we're like, gosh, I know nothing about watches. Right. Um, but, but in the last 18 months, 19 months that we've been doing this show, we've, we've had an opportunity to learn so much, you know, people, people like you that come on or, you know, Jeff Batchelor or Elgin time, you know, these guys that come on, um, and educate us. We've learned so much. I think when we had that triumph, we maybe weren't prepared. We weren't ready for it. Maybe. We didn't know what we were looking at, right? So, you know, on that note, right? Case finishing, phenomenal, right? What else? What other things, you know, where do you guys focus your attention, right? And we actually talk about this a lot. So I asked you a question and I'm going to talk during the time when you answer your question. That's what we do. It's my podcast. We talk a lot about the sum of the expenses, right? A watch, people always want to say, oh, this watch is not worth that much when you can get this watch for X. Watch one is not worth X hundred dollars when you can get watch two for Y hundred dollars.
Andrew And I can get an F91 for $9.99, so nothing is worth more than that. Right, right.
Everett Right. So, so, you know, we always, we always, uh, are curious, you know, what goes into this, you know, where is my value here and why is this important? So case finishing bracelet, finishing the chamfers, but, but there's a lot more going on here. And I know you know that, so who better to ask, uh, than, than the man, right?
Justin Crotal Sure. Um, so I'll just cut right to the chase. Um, the, the value. that you get from a big brand and pick any big brand and make it as subjective as you want is the heritage, the longevity, the history, the traditions, all of that. And that's worth something. Um, I don't know if there's, yeah, I don't, I don't know what formula you can apply to, to, to compute that. Um, but I will look anyone straight in the eye and say, put my case finishing, my class, my hands, my dial, my bezel, the patents I have on the bezel assembly, the patents we have on the bracelet. And yes, you can look these up if you're an expert or we can send you the link on the U.S. Patent Office. We do have several patents to our name. But I'll go up head to head with any of those big brands in those categories. The bottom line is you either like it or you don't, the design, because finishing is going to be subjective to a certain point. Um, but ultimately it's, it's our designs that we spend the time and the money to develop, do the drawings, do the prototypes, the CAD, the testing, all of that. And then, uh, and then ultimately announce a new product and deliver it. So you talk about the money aspect that goes into all of that. Um, that's extensive, but then in order to, to deliver a product like that, Um, you have to work with the very best manufacturers and, and I can't say this because we have NDAs with all of them, but all of our manufacturers, we can tell who they work with based on prototyping that we're doing with them and sampling that we're doing with them. Um, they'll show us things that, you know, I can just tell that hand comes from X, Y, Z brand. I mean, it's sure. It's very evident to me. Um, so, you know, we're, we're, running with the big dog, so to speak, in terms of our manufacturing partners. So they deserve all the credit in terms of delivering it. But the design itself, the shape of the case, the shape of the lugs, that's all us, you know, nothing is off the shelf. The only thing off the shelf in our watches is the movements. But other than that, you know, it's it's our designs. And then we hand it over to our hand manufacturer. And I guess I should make it clear for anyone listening We are like a general contractor, right? So you build a house, you got a guy who digs the hole, pours the foundation. You've got another company who does the framing and then the plumber, the electrician. We work with a dial manufacturer, a hand manufacturer, a movement manufacturer, a case manufacturer, a loom manufacturer. So all of those people do their part and then it's delivered to our assembly company in Switzerland, cased up, shipped out to our office in St. Louis, final QC is performed there and then making sure that everything's perfect so that when you open that Manta box, your watch looks exactly like you expected it to be. So getting back to your question about the costs, it is what it is, for lack of a better term. If you want that level of finishing, and I always tell people that with a Manta watch, feeling is believing, right? You go to our Instagram account, our Facebook account, I'm very proud of the digital assets we have out there. We have beautiful pictures, whether it's macro or micro in videos, Uh, we've got YouTube reviews. We've got fantastic, uh, podcasts like 40 and 20, you know, bringing us on and letting us tell our story. Yeah, this is quality stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, this is not an ad.
Andrew Um, you've got, I mean, we are keeping this ocean king for the record, right?
Justin Crotal You, you've got, you know, big names like the who dinkies and the all blog and a blog to watch and worn and wound and you come to the wind up shows. But again, feeling is believing because the pictures can look really good. And whether it's a watch or a t-shirt or a car, no matter what product you're shopping for, websites nowadays look great. You know, there's very talented people that do that in the photography and the videography. But my biggest uphill battle, as I always say, is getting these watches in people's hands so that they can turn the bezel, they can see the beveled hands, they can see the articulating links, they can feel that ratcheting clasp. And there you go.
Andrew It is like the if they made stress balls with just your bezel attached, I You guys should do that.
Everett You guys should do that. Yeah, you want to taste Amante? Here's an Amante stress ball with Joe Sardesile.
Andrew Because I could turn that bezel all day.
Everett Well, so those questions, that type of question, I think is borderline offensive, right? And we'll ask it anyway, because it's our show. And we're borderline offensive. Yeah. But I think we live in this very bizarre world. And I think this exists everywhere, right? It exists in cars. It exists in beer. You brought up microbrews, right? People people will pay 13 bucks for a six pack of Goose Island, you know, or dogfish, you know, when you can get you can get a six pack of a local microbrewer using the freshest agreements on the face of the earth for for nine bucks, right? You know, we live in this world where brand heritage or brand recognition means something, right? And so the questions are a little silly, but I think, and this actually is why we get here in our conversation today, or at least why I get here. I'm not sure Andrew's still even with us.
Andrew No, I am. six squirrels just like all in a row, man ran along the fence line. And those two are banging. Oh, dude, look, those two are happening.
Everett Yeah, that's happening.
Andrew That's amazing. I've never seen squirrels get after it. And it's it's happening right in front of us. Thank you for that, Andrew.
Everett Oh, this is amazing. Quality entertainment. Yeah, it is. Look, he's getting it. That is actually happening, Justin. Just so you know, right outside the window, right behind you. So We do live in this bizarre world, right? Where, you know, when we look at a micro brand, we scrutinize, right? Whether it's Notice or a sort of more established brand like Oken Oscar or these fantastic, fantastic brands, we still, as consumers, scrutinize what we're looking at when we are maybe less inclined to scrutinize an Omega or, you know, perhaps a Raymond Weil, you know, a brand that doesn't come up very often, right? We're less inclined because Raymond Weil carries that name. So whatever you get, the quality is less on the table to discuss, right?
Unknown Right.
Andrew And the logo. And that's what we expect more out of brands we don't recognize. You can get a Speedmaster, and I'm a person who's wholly underwhelmed by a Speedmaster. And I still expect more out of a brand that I don't recognize than from a Speedmaster that I like, but I'm just like, yeah, that's it. But it's for me to find a comparably priced small brand, to like it more than a Speedmaster, it's got to somehow beat the Omega in every category and be less expensive for the most part, for most people. It's got to be, it has to beat the Speedmaster in every category. And we set this impossibly high bar for smaller brands that it's harder to reach than we expect out of these big brands who have been doing it for a hundred years and have totally streamlined their manufacturing process and totally streamlined every aspect of their supply chain. And it blows my mind that that's where we're at in the way of this emerging micro-brand, especially American micro-brand market, or just boutique brand, however we want to call it, that we have this bar set so high. And all that being said, you guys have met the bar in every regard.
Everett You and I have talked about this idea a little bit. I think you guys live in this inflection point of quality versus anything else you can get, right?
Justin Crotal Yeah. And I think that's where the opportunity lies for us. To use an analogy, I remember in business school when Under Armour came to market and everyone was like, Kevin Plank, you're out of your mind with Nike, Adidas, Reebok. There's no room for you. This can't work. Um, and Under Armour now to the last time I checked, it's been a few years is number three, right behind Nike and Adidas. Like pretty quickly, you know, this was 15 years ago. Um, and Michael and I have our sights long-term set on that. We want to be a big player. We want to grow Manta into a brand that, um, more people find out about, more people know about as our message gets out there that, Hey, we are very serious watch enthusiasts. And if you're looking for a fantastic watch. with amazing quality connectivity to the brand, but you know, a warranty that we can stand behind. That's what we want to deliver. And, um, unfortunately for the consumer and for all of us, that costs money and it costs more money as time goes on. And so an important point I wanted to make today along the lines of price is that, you know, when we made that hard decision back in 2017 to cut the price, uh, it was Predominantly out of the fact that we felt we had to earn our keep earn some respect and And now we're at the point where we we really can't continue at this price point And quite frankly with you gentlemen be profitable, I mean we're really stretched pretty thin right now the plan was to have a pretty substantial price hike in January and We were making plans for that we had some some issues and pushback with movement manufacturers unrelated to price, just trying to get inventory. And then the whole COVID thing happened. And we're smart enough guys to know that raising your prices at that point in time would be a catastrophic mistake. Just you cannot do that. And so, so as we emerge from this here in the coming months, we actually have a pretty decent price increase coming. And I don't mind talking about that and telling people that because Um, you know, people who are on the fence, uh, now is kind of the time to, to pull the trigger. Um, otherwise you're going to pay a couple hundred bucks more. And whether it's a combination of increased movement prices, increased manufacturing costs, um, and just us being able to, to run the business day to day, um, there, there is a substantial price increase coming. Um, I don't mind telling people that, um, I try to be as fair and open as possible as I can. But in order to deliver the product that you guys have there in front of you in the Ocean King, that's, that's what it costs. And as I've told probably on a couple other podcasts and even some live Instagrams I've done, you know, we are not just arbitrarily assigning prices to these watches. We have a very specific formula that we follow that includes manufacturing costs, overhead, marketing, shipping, customs, rent, all these things. Um, and that, that's what it requires, uh, to, to be, uh, an operational business. And if you want to go a step further, a lot of that comes from Everest. You know, it's, it's a nine year old business now that has succeeded. Um, and you've looked at the price increases they've had to make and you would think, well, if you're growing and you're selling more products, you know, you should be making more money. Well, yes, but you know, increased revenue doesn't mean your expenses stay the same, right? You know, your expenses go up, your revenue goes up. You know, you hire people like an in-house watchmaker. That was a big deal for us. And, um, you know, not to get personal, but I mean, Mike and I are not getting rich off of Manta. Yeah. Believe me or not, that's your choice.
Andrew Um, I mean, you wear bow ties, so I don't know what to do.
Justin Crotal True.
Everett Well, and I think you guys have talked about your margins publicly. I don't think it's a secret, right? Uh, you know, the, your, your margins are sort of, in this very conservative state, right? Yeah. And so we, you know, everybody wants to make these cost considerations, but you know, we've got a very good friend of the show, and I won't call him out, but he'll know I'm talking about him. And he's been critical, right? He's been critical. And I think that's fair. I think that's fair.
Justin Crotal Of us or of prices in general?
Everett No, of Manta, right? He's been critical of Manta. And I think that, you know, we've been gushing, right, on Instagram and to people who will listen. Yeah. We've been gushing. And the reason for that is because we are really in love. We are really in love. We have this ocean king. We've had a triumph in the past. I think that you guys are doing something really unique. And we'll get to what I think you're doing. But we've got a listener who's been very critical. And I say, you know, Let me send you this macro picture of the markers. Yeah. Right? The markers. And it's not like a part of a broader conversation because the broader conversation lives in that, right? You can get a Vostok for 70 bucks and Vostoks are cool as shit. We dig them, man. We're both owners of Vostoks. We both will likely buy more Vostoks as we go. But you look at a Vostok and they cut all the corners, right?
Andrew Oh, every one.
Everett If there's a corner, it's cut. In order to bring you a watch, bring a watch to market for $70, no matter where you're making them, right? Corners are going to be cut necessarily. And so when I look at when I look at Monta's markers, it really, it really tells the story, right? Because you did cut the corners.
Andrew No, but not in like the cut the corner way.
Everett that you actually cut the corners off. Yeah. I mean, no, the no corners have been cut. Right. Except for when you cut the corners. And I think that that's I think that that's where we're at. Right. If you want the best watch that you can get for under two thousand dollars or it sounds like maybe under twenty two hundred dollars someday in the future. You know, I've put a number on your price increase without knowing what your price increase is.
Andrew $22.50. Sorry, y'all.
Everett I've said it. But if you want the best watch on earth, I think that you guys are maybe making it.
Justin Crotal And on top of that, I want the product to speak for itself, but I wouldn't be doing this if I couldn't stand behind it and sleep really well at night knowing that we take excellent care of our customers. And that to me goes hand in hand. If, if you're a watch guy, you've got an Instagram account, you're following the 40 and 20 podcast. We're all in the same room where we're cut from the same cloth. You know, we're, we're all in the same vein, whatever you want to call it. And so, um, nothing is more exciting to me than hopefully soon I can get back out and travel around the country, around the world for that matter, and meet our customers at Red Bar events at local watch get togethers at Baselworld at wind up. And, uh, and develop those relationships. And, you know, a lot of my very good friends came from this hobby, this passion, whatever you want to call it.
Andrew And so, so for me, addiction is, I think the better word.
Justin Crotal Yeah. You know, I mean, you guys are a perfect example. Like someday we're going to meet somewhere and we're going to hug it out. We're going to have a drink and we, we met through Instagram, through a podcast, through a FaceTime video, whatever it is. Um, but we have that instant bond, that instant trust and, uh, you know, not to get all sappy and goofy, but that's just a really beautiful thing. And that's, what's so exciting to me about the watch community and why I'm so excited to be doing what we're doing. Um, delivering this, this level of quality and then standing behind it. You know, if you have a problem, we're going to take care of it. That, that is, that is my mantra. Um, if you drop your watch, you run it over with a lawnmower, you're gonna have to pay something, but we're going to fix it for you. Um, but you know, if there's a problem with it, that's on us, then, then we, we got you covered under warranty.
Everett Yeah. Well, you know, it's really, it's really, uh, fantastic. And I think that where Manta lives for us, for me, is the step up watch, right? The reach watch, that's the terminology we've used in the past on our show. We've got a reach watch, right? This is something I'm going to reach a little bit for, right? Yeah. You know, I think, by and large, our listeners... Well, you know, this has changed over the years, right? Our listeners, when we started, were the sort of F91... 71? The Affordables Forum.
Andrew Oh, yeah. 71, Affordables Forum.
Everett The Affordables Forum folk, you know? These are the folks that are looking for 200, 400, Perhaps a $500 watch. I think our reach watch episode, we talked about watches that were like... $1,200 and under. Yeah, $600 to $1,200, right? Sure. And I think everybody's got a different level and what a reach is for them. But for me, where I'm at, I think that this is the perfect... I want a high quality watch piece. I want an Omega level watch piece. or perhaps that fancy Tissot or whatever. I'm maybe not looking for a five-digit sub, which is cool as shit, but it's going to be a turd. I'm looking for something that is the best manufacturing on the face of the earth, special, not a single corner cut. I think that's what you guys for are for us, for me anyway. Yeah. And I think that that's what you could be for our listeners, right? And which is why we asked you to come on the show, right? Yeah. Uh, you know, I want, I want to a, just talk to you cause I like you, but be sort of talk about this thing. You know, don't, you don't need to get a planet ocean for 6,000 bucks. Right? Uh, I mean maybe you want that and if you want that, God bless you. Cause it's a fantastic watch.
Andrew Or if you don't want to do that, you could buy three ocean King and you just send two to us. Totally your call.
Justin Crotal Either way, we can make that happen.
Everett Yeah. You guys are you guys are filling that space. You guys are bringing a Planet Ocean quality watch to the world for a third of the price or maybe less than a third of the price, right?
Justin Crotal Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't argue with that. You know, I'll take that compliment all day long.
Andrew I could say so we spent the better half of an afternoon in a in a luxury watch boutique. Don't tell people about this. And what I'm saying is we handled a shitload of super expensive watches.
Everett We broke, we broke them.
Andrew Well, we, we mean Everett, but as a part of this team, I have to take some responsibility because the guy handed it to him and I didn't say, no, no, no, don't. This stands up against and is better than most, if not all. And in fairness, I didn't get to walk out of the store wearing any of those and go to the grocery store and live life wearing those. There was guys with Uzis. Yeah. So like that there's there there was a bar to exit at that point. So that could be part of it. So there's a there's a big caveat there that I didn't get to incorporate any of those watches into my life for a week. But this watch got onto my wrist when I left your house. And I did my normal like I don't shower and watches. I don't sleep and watches thing. I lived life in this watch, and it became a part of me. I thought it was a little heavy at first, just a little bit big. I was like, yeah, I don't know. It seems a little bit big. The clasp seems a little bit long. I kept fucking with the ratchet on it, because I didn't have it locked in place properly, because I'm an idiot. That's on me. Once I got it locked in place, and I got it adjusted, and I got it on, I was like, I don't know if I'm going to give this back. And I think I have just enough money to abscond. I think I can get to Mexico and I don't, I don't know if I need anything else. Especially with all that overtime. Oh God. I've worked, I've, I have worked three work weeks of money in the last two weeks.
Everett So, um, last three days.
Andrew Oh yeah, yeah. That's true. Yeah. Cause my, yeah, it's, but that's, that's neither here nor there. Uh, it w it was, it just, it, it became a part of me. It just, it vanished into my, into my wrist. And I absolutely loved it.
Everett So let's talk, let's talk current lineup, right? So we've got, so we've got the ocean king, we've had a triumph in the past. And so we've had an experience with both of your mid cases, right? Uh, the smaller mid case and the ocean Kings, the slightly bigger mid case. Talk to us about, uh, talk to us about your current lineup. What do you guys have, uh, for offer right now?
Justin Crotal Yeah.
Everett What does that look like?
Justin Crotal So, um, in no particular order, uh, ocean King and sky quest share, basically the exact same case. The crown position is just a little bit different because the GMT movement's a little bit thicker. So the GMT, uh, the SkyQuest crown is like centered in the mid case, whereas the Ocean Kings raised just a hair. You would only be able to tell that if you looked at them side by side. The Triumph and Atlas, while they look very similar, actually are slightly different. The Atlas case is more based on the SkyQuest where the Triumph is its own. Um, Uh, little known update that I'm going to give you guys a nice little tidbit here that no one, this is kind of a world debut, if you will.
Everett Hot take. Oh, yes.
Justin Crotal So Triumph V2, sort of, and this is very minimal, but the Atlas and the Triumph bezels look identical to the Layperson. Uh, Sunray brushed, uh, polished knife edge. But the Atlas is a little bit beefier, a little bit taller because it had to allow room for the forehand stack for the GMT. We've now basically taken the bezel from the Atlas and it's the bezel on the Triumph V2. So it's going to thicken the Triumph by like 0.2 to 0.3 millimeters. It's going to be negligible, but it's going to give you just a little bit kind of more substantial bezel on the Triumph that just makes it wear a lot better. Um, so, so Triumph is the field watch. Atlas is a GMT that we call the world traveler watch, kind of the, you know, um, gentleman's watch. It can, you can, we always say you can take a Manta and you can dress it up, dress it down for the beach, the boardroom. The Atlas, I feel like is the best example of that because, um, it's got the water resistance. Um, but it's also got this really refined look, all applied numeral markers, no numerals on the dial. And it gives you that GMT function. So you can truly go anywhere, do anything. You can time an extra time zone. Then the Ocean King that you guys have, which is a derivation of the Gen 1 Ocean King, our first watch. We've always been kind of dive watch, passionate type guys. That's always been our major enthusiasm for watch design. And so what we wanted to do there was, you know, take the heritage of the dive watch from the fifties and sixties, bring it forward with the adjustable clasp. Uh, ceramic bezel, fully loomed, uh, really nice play on the, or, or lack of back play, I should say, on the bezel assembly, which we have a patent on.
Everett Zero, zero back play, right? Yeah. Yeah.
Justin Crotal It's just, and, and admittedly, you know, I mean, Andrew Everett, I don't know if you guys dive. I don't. Um, I'm, I'm, I'm wearing the Gilt Ocean King on black rubber, quick wrist check right here. I, I tend to wear the Ocean King a lot because. I use it in my daily life in a different way than diving. I use that bezel for grilling, for cooking, for laundry, whatever it may be.
Everett You know, we call it the soft boiled egg timer. Yeah.
Justin Crotal Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, my wife says you need to do this in 15 minutes. Okay. Now I know in 15 minutes is right. So, um, so that that's the current extra 10 though. Yeah. Right. Um, what I will say is, um, You know, we do have a new model coming. We just got some news. We had a call this morning with our team in Switzerland, and we're probably about eight to 10 weeks out from announcing that. And as you know, as people listening to this who know the Manta name, we listen to our customers. You know, the Atlas was a direct result of listening to our customers, telling us they love the Triumph, but they want to see it without numbers on the dial. GMTs are hot right now. We want to see a dress watch, which is where the Opal and silver dial came into play. And so, this fifth model, which I can't believe we have a fifth model coming, again, is a direct result of listening to customers. And I think people are going to really be excited about it. They're really going to be happy with the decisions that we've made.
Everett It's not- This is the tourbillon minute timer, right?
Justin Crotal The rose gold tourbillon. Yeah, exactly. Perfect. No, it was coming far from it. But but I'm particularly very excited about this one. I think it's going to appeal to a ton of people. It is not a chronograph. That's the only thing I will say is it's not a chronograph. We will do a chronograph at some point, but we're nowhere near that yet.
Everett And is the hardest thing about introducing him. So so I'm sorry, because I'm a little bit ADD is the hardest thing about making a chronograph, finding a movement that you A, are, are gonna feel comfortable with and B, that you can afford. 100%.
Justin Crotal You hit it right on the head. Yup. Chronograph movements are very expensive. And, um, we've basically, what I will say is we've determined that the 2894, uh, which our friends at Ferrer have used in their chronographs seems to be the winner. Um, so now it's about sourcing them. Um,
Everett And it's not cheap, right? It's not a cheap movement.
Justin Crotal No, very expensive. And then that's the biggest thing is, you know, we've taken this cut to prove ourselves in the market, a price cut. We've lowered the price. We now have to start raising that price, you know, or we can't operate. And the chronograph is going to push us into very rare error in terms of price. I'm talking like 4,000-ish. And I don't think we're worthy of that yet. I don't think the market's ready to spend $4,000 on a Monte chronograph. I'm sure we'd sell some of them to our loyal customers, but we want to make sure that we're really firing on all cylinders and that a lot of people know what we're doing and they respect what we're doing. And then we can say, here's a chronograph that we stand behind. It's got a great movement that we can service it for you. And it looks really killer and it comes with all these accoutrements.
Everett Well, and I appreciate that, right? Because it's, I think that there's a lot of easy ways to introduce a chronograph, right? You know, some of them are thoughtful and make a lot of sense, right? The, the VK, uh, the Seiko VK Mecca courts movements are a ton of fun, but, but that's a different, it's a different world, right? And, you know, we see a lot of folks in our world using seagull movements, which I think are fantastic values and, and great parts. Um, but. It's not a Manta.
Andrew It's not a Manta movement. You can't stand behind it the way you stand behind the rest of your product.
Everett Or you get something like a 7750 that is fantastic. I'm actually an evangelist of a 7750. Fangirl right there, yeah. Fangirl. But, you know, those things are like 16 millimeters thick, just the movement, right? So you wind up with, you know, these huge watches. And I actually am fine with that, right? But It's not what you guys are doing. So yeah, what a challenge. Yeah. What a challenge. Yeah. I appreciate the approach you've taken. You know, we need to establish that we're a brand worth that, that sort of investment.
Andrew Did you catch the we there? We're now a part of it. Sorry.
Everett You can send my stock certificates to Eugene. Perfect. I got your address.
Justin Crotal I shipped you the Ocean King. I know where you live.
Everett That's right, yes, perfect. Just send them to the same place.
Andrew I have, so I'm getting the sense that we need to wrap up mostly because we're at an hour. We're getting there. But I have a two-part question. What did your watch collection look like pre-Monta?
Unknown Oh yeah.
Andrew And what was your most worn? And what is your post-Monta watch collection look like and your most worn?
Justin Crotal Okay, so pre-Monta, I explored every nook and cranny I could in the watch world. And some people are going to be like, are you kidding me, dude? And I get that. My priorities were not in line. But Premonta, definitely a lot of Rolex. I at one point owned a BLNR. I owned a 16800 sub from my birth year. I thought it was my birth year. I found out it wasn't thanks to my friend James Lambton at Analog Shift when he sold it for me.
Andrew Was it because your birth certificate was wrong or did your parents think you were born in the wrong year? Because I've experienced both of those. I know both. I know people who've had both of those things happen to them.
Everett I assume he had misdated the watch.
Andrew Yeah.
Justin Crotal This is a, you know, history, serial numbers of Rolex Submariners. And like I said, my friend James Lamb did an analog shift who is wonderful. Was like, I'm sorry, man, this is actually an 83. Like crap. I was born in 82. Um, I still have a 116520 steel bezel white dial Daytona, which I adore. It was like my first really big, nice watch.
Andrew Such a lovely watch.
Unknown Yeah.
Justin Crotal And then I was fortunate enough to get the ceramic bezel white dial 116500 from my local AD here in St. Louis, which I have since sold. I also owned a 15- And you bought a second house with it, right?
Everett Yeah.
Justin Crotal No, I'm actually just keeping that in cash to survive quarantine. Uh, 15, 400 AP Royal Oak, uh, bought and sold. Uh, great watch. Loved that watch. Um, and then a, and this is where people are going to roll their eyes. Uh, the 5065A Aquanaut from 2007, I believe. So it's the 38 and a half millimeter Aquanaut. Uh, straight edge rubber strap. Fantastic. Um, my, my father has that watch now that that's no longer in my possession. And then what I still currently have, uh, which you guys can see me on FaceTime behind me here. Um, I have a Omega Seamaster 300, uh, the reissue from 1953 that they announced at Baselworld 2016. Um, I have an IWC big pilot, the reference 5004.
Andrew Oh, I love that. I got barbecue sauce on one of those ones.
Everett It's true. It's true.
Justin Crotal Nice. I have a Frédéric Constant slimline moon phase, which is an incredible watch. And then one that I'm really proud to say is I have a notice duality, the white dial with the 12 hour inner rotating bezel. Mad respect for Wes and Colin. I consider those guys friends. We text offline. We love those guys. Great guys. And then That's it back there, non-Manta. I have my Gen 1 Ocean King black and blue dial. I have a Gen 1 SkyQuest. We made three of them prototypes that we were eventually going to produce and we never did. So I have one of three of those. Michael and David have the other two. That one's really special. It looks similar to the current SkyQuest, but it's very different as well. And so the second part to your question, how has it changed? I wore my Daytona to the grocery store about two years ago on like, uh, my wife says, go get milk and eggs type of thing in and out. And I'm standing in line and I get like a tap on the shoulder and I turn around and it's a buddy of mine from grade school that I have not seen in 10 years.
Andrew Oh, and you're wearing a Daytona? He's like,
Justin Crotal dude, he, you know, after the pleasantries and we, you know, we give each other a hug. So good to see you. And he had his little daughter with him at the time who I hadn't had never seen. And then he's like, tell me about this watch brand. Let me see this watch. And like, I pull my shirt sleeve down over my Daytona and I'm like, never again, is this going to happen to me? And so, um, so I will not leave the house without a Mont on my wrist and, and it's part sales, but it's also part pride. You know, I mean, it's, Yeah. Um, I'm very proud of what we've done. I love our product and, and I, I don't ever, I mean, even though I have, most people would be like, Oh my God, this guy has a Daytona sitting and he never wears it. Yes, that's true. I hardly ever wear it. I wore it on Sunday to my brother-in-law's house. Uh, and I even posted, you know, you're not going to see other people. Yeah. Cause it's, I'm not going anywhere cause I'm going from a to B and um, I did post it on my personal Instagram account and people thought it was really funny cause I said, shh, don't tell anyone. And um, So nowadays, I'm a big fan of the Ocean King in the summertime. It's just kind of a theme for me. The Triumph is still probably my baby, but I absolutely love the Opal and Silver Atlas. And maybe the question that you were going to follow up or people are thinking is like, how has this changed you in terms of being a watch enthusiast now owning a brand? I still have admiration for all the other watches out there. I mean, I, you know, I follow every brand account on my personal account. Like I said about Notice, you guys mentioned my buddy Chase from Okanosker. You know, you talk about guys like John Ferrer from Brew that are genuine friends of mine. I love what they're doing. Actually, I take that back. I forgot because it's over here on the other side of the room. I bought the Copper Brew Mastergraph after Jonathan and I did an IG Live session. And I've worn it around the house. I probably will never wear it out of the house. Sorry, John, if you're listening to this. But I love the watch.
Andrew And so good.
Justin Crotal You know, I still have mental lists in my head of I would love to own a Reverso someday. I would love to own like the newer model Aquanaut, particularly in rose gold, because I'm obsessed with gold right now. I can go on and on just as any watch enthusiast can. You know, there's so many watches out there.
Andrew But but basically a little bit of an obligation. Yeah.
Justin Crotal Yeah. Yeah. Nowadays, I'm a man to man.
Everett Good for you. I dig it. So, uh, real quick. So folks are, folks are trying to find your watches. Uh, what's your website? What's your Instagram handle? Where can we find you?
Justin Crotal Yeah. Thank you. Um, Monta watch, uh, at Monta watch on Instagram. Um, I guess on Facebook you just search Monta watch and find the page. www.montawatch.com. That's M O N T A watch. And then email. Most importantly, if you email info at Monta watch.com, you will get a response. within one to two business days. I say business days because I'm trying to separate myself on the weekends and spend time with the family. But I welcome any and all questions. Send a DM to the Manta Instagram account. We'll get back to you as soon as we can. But we really enjoy engaging with our fellow watch enthusiasts. And I can't say that enough. Like the biggest thing about the Manta team is that we were not business guys who saw an opportunity in an industry. We were passionate watch gays like yourself who were like, damn it, we want to do this. We want to live the dream. Um, as crazy as that dream may have seen at the time, uh, we're gonna, we're gonna push the envelope. So, uh, reach out to us. You know, if you've got questions, very specific questions, I love to get nerdy. If people want to talk about, you know, what color gold those are on the markers of the guilt ocean King, it's, it's, it's three in, you know, or two in, I'm trying to remember off the top of my head, but Um, all the way down to the weeds, you know, we're, we're happy to engage with you because at the end of the day, that that's what we love is as watch enthusiasts ourselves.
Everett Fantastic. Love it. Fantastic. Other things, Andrew go.
Andrew I started a new Netflix show and it's a Netflix show. I've been really looking forward to its release of it is Space Force.
Everett Oh yeah.
Andrew I watched Steve Carell. Yep. And, and I, As I'm watching it, I'm watching with my wife and she goes, this could be like Spaceballs. And but also it could be real life. It could be that. That was it. And I was like, no, it'll never be Spaceballs because Spaceball was a parody of a pop culture incident in time. Right. Star Wars for the people who were alive at the Star Wars release and have memory of it, not just alive, but have memory of it. I cannot even imagine. what it was like, because I'm I'm legacy. Like I was alive and have memories of of episodes one, two and three, and then all subsequent releases because I wasn't alive during the original releases. The thing about Space Force is that it's a parody. It's like a political parody. It's like watching South Park, but it is not like watching South Park and that South Park is amusing. Space Force is Hysterical. And it's it's somebody every I don't think anyone can take issue with Steve Carell. He is phenomenal.
Everett Yeah.
Andrew So it is one of the funniest shows I've ever watched. I absolutely love it. This this could be my new background noise. The office parks and rec just hit play ready go. And it just runs in the background as as the soundtrack to my life. absolutely take a look at it. I've been looking forward to its release. It has been worth every minute of it. I'm losing sleep watching it, and at this point in my life, losing sleep is a stupid thing to do, but I'm doing it. It's worth it.
Everett You know, I'm a little bit more reserved about it. I don't think it's been as good. I think that they've missed opportunities.
Andrew But I think it's deliberate.
Everett Perhaps, perhaps. I think they could have done more. I have really enjoyed it. So I'm through seven episodes, I believe. That's about where I'm at, yeah. And I've enjoyed those seven episodes. I think that they have missed some opportunities. And I think some of the sequencing and some of the script and whatever, I hope that they'll burn off some of that, because I think the potential is there. But yeah, it's good. It's really fun.
Andrew Get into it, y'all. And it's a new Netflix show. Let's be serious. You've exhausted the catalog. Watch the new things.
Everett So I've got another thing. Do me. I'm in a number of sort of watch chats, right? Yeah. You know, whether that's IG or some other forum. Right. But but it's just most of these are very organic in the way they formed. Right. We started messaging about some specific comment on a post or whatever, you know, two or three guys and gals. I actually don't know that any of them include gals. We messaged ten and two? Yeah, that's right. A couple of people have just formed these organic watch groups, and they've sustained for whatever reason. You know, we just keep it going. But one of my groups is these very like-minded group of guys. Uh, and we talk books, right? We talk watches, but we also talk books. And so, and primarily sci-fi, we're all kind of sci-fi nerds. And I recently learned about a book, uh, that I'd never heard of, which is, which kind of surprised me because it was a Nebula award winner. So kind of a famous book, um, that I just, I had no awareness of, but as a book called Hyperion, Hyperion, and I'd never read this book and these guys were like, dude, You've got to read Hyperion. And so I started this. I am, according to Kindle, something like 53% of the way through this book, which is probably really accurate. And I cannot put the thing down at night. I can't put the thing down. I'm on like my third night of reading. You know, I start reading pretty late at night. We'll go to bed and I have a chair in the bedroom and I read, you know, normally an hour or so. And then it's like, well, now I've got to go to bed in order to get enough sleep. I'm at like two hours and I'm like, I really need to go to sleep, but I cannot put this freaking thing down. So it's sci-fi, right? Everybody knows I'm a fan of sci-fi. It's real deep sci-fi and it's sort of military sci-fi too. So you get some... Okay.
Andrew Yep. So all the good stuff.
Everett All the, you know, sort of weird battle scenes and guns and tactics. Uh, it's presented in this really novel fashion where you're getting stories from several different people. They're all on this unified mission. Fantastic. If you haven't read Hyperion, it's not a new thing, uh, but it's a new thing to me and it's phenomenal. Phenomenal. 53% of the book. I don't even know the punchline. Phenomenal. And I totally recommend it. You're going to get at least 53% of the way through this book and enjoy every second of it. Uh, so Justin.
Justin Crotal What do you got, man? Interestingly, the Hyperion is the hotel right next door to Baselworld, where we exhibited last year, which of course didn't happen this year. Now we have to go. We'll see what happens there. We can't go. That's for another episode. We won't be invited.
Unknown Just go.
Justin Crotal That's what we're going to do. Whatever comes with Baselworld, we're going to go next year as like exploratory R&D. We're probably not going to exhibit. We're just going to go and We'll host meetings in coffee shops and bars. So if you guys go, we're definitely doing a meeting. So we'll talk more about that.
Everett Do you think that's going to happen, Justin? Do you think Basel is going to sort of exist in some zombie state?
Justin Crotal 100%. So Baselworld will reincarnate, like the MCH group that owns Baselworld is going to do a new show. They're talking about doing it in Lausanne, which is on the other end of Lake Geneva, like near Montreux. But then the bigger brands, a la Rolex, Patek, et cetera, are doing this don't quote me on this, WHHWFH show and then there's Washes and Wonders, the former SIHH. There might be three shows in 2021. Separate topic.
Everett A furthering of the schism. Yeah, we'll see. We can move on, but sure.
Justin Crotal So my suggestion for the listeners is Pedro and Taylor, this brand that has emerged during COVID. Josh and Levi, the two owners are product marketing guys that are brilliant photographers, brilliant storytellers. And they've been doing this for all these other brands. And they said, well, we like cool t-shirts and caps and sweatshirts and home goods, et cetera. And so they, they started their own brand and they did a really cool thing. They reached out to the watch community. Uh, they came to brands like Manta, uh, my friend, Andrew at Astor and banks, which is a brand that probably a lot of your listeners are know well. And they said, We want to have you guys involved in our photo shoot and so Josh one of the co-founders of Pedro and Taylor and I got on the call we struck up a conversation and I ordered a hat and I ordered two more hats for my best friends and He sent me these images just like a week ago of the guilt ocean king and the opal and silver atlas in their most recent photo shoot Which just went live on Sunday two days ago So if you go to the Pedro and Taylor website, you can actually see Um, our watches during their photo shoot on their new product launch for their, their spring and summer catalog, which is really cool. Um, I love being a part of the watch family, even as it expands outside of watches to clothing and wine and cars and you name it. Um, so, so definitely give the guys at Pedro and Taylor a look. I own two hats, a sweatshirt and a t-shirt. I can vouch for the quality, the fit, the finish, all the things that I look for. as a product designer and marketer and manufacturer myself.
Everett So, uh, you know, I think Pedro and Taylor is really the hot thing right now.
Justin Crotal Yeah, it's killer.
Everett All right. All right. Well, well, good stuff. Uh, Andrew, what do you got, man?
Andrew Are you, it's it for me, man. I'm going to go back to my house. I'm going to sleep for a few hours and I'm back to work.
Everett Well, we want to say to you, uh, Justin, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate your time. Thanks for sending us this ocean King. Uh, we will probably not in spite of our threats, we will send it back to you someday. Uh, you know, after we get a few more pictures, but we really appreciate, really appreciate you coming on the show, uh, and taking the time to talk to us. Check out Manta at Manta watch.com www. Manta watch.
Andrew Do you know how to speak anymore? Is that broken?
Everett www. Manta watch.com and at Manta watch on Instagram. And thank you for joining us for this episode of 40 and 20. Check us out on Instagram at 40 and 20 or on patreon.com slash 40 and 20. And don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like.
Unknown Oh,