The Business of Watches [039] A Market Roundup Of Geneva Watch Days Releases With Tim Jeffreys And TanTan Wang

27:33You know, I think this is a watch where, you know, obviously this is built on the, the sort of like GMT Octo Finissimo platform, right. But in, in sort of porthole steampunk Antiqua aesthetics from Halter, but it is so obvious that it's a Bulgari and it is so obvious that it's a Halter, you know, And I think there's very, very few times can you say that about a collaborative sort of design project. And I think this is where that succeeds so much for me. And I have to say, as you experience trying this thing on in person, it rocks. It is, for how obnoxious basically the design is, it works well on the wrist.

28:18It looks natural and cohesive, and it just feels really good. But listen, I mean, you know, they don't – no one's caring about my opinion. These are all pre-allocated, right? You know, I believe 30 in titanium, 15 in gold. You know, they're very expensive and, you know, already very sought after. So they're not sweating over there. But man, like it was such a joy to see. Again, like going back to the palate cleanser thing, like that was just fun. And, you know, in a sort of in an era where prices for everything are so high, you know, from from independence to, you know, the the sort of big brands and the, you know, all of the Holy Trinity.

28:57I just think that this was such a fun thing to see. And it's, you know, I mean, it is unobtainium, you know, in sort of every sense of the term. But like I almost don't care. Right. Because it's just cool that someone spent three years, I believe, working on this. Right. And that's that's just damn fun. So again, for me, this was one of those things where I liked it when I first read about it, and I loved it once I got to see it in person. And a shame, Tim, you didn't get to see it. Why are you rubbing it in, Tantan? I already had big FOMO. And then when I saw the photos and I talked to y 'all after, I was like, really?

29:33But even like, you know, I did hear you audibly gasp in the office when it came out. And looking at your photos, I'm in here and you talk about it. Like, what a strong release. And like maybe I'll ask a question here. It's like, when is the last time y 'all have seen a collaboration that is equal parts both brands? This is the intention and this is what one should strive for in collaboration. Collaborations have become so ubiquitous and so just, you know, matter of fact and unsurprising. This is a really good example of how to do collaboration, right? Because as you say, you look at that as a halter and it sure as heck is an octophenissimo as well.

30:18But one we haven't seen before. No. And again, I also think that this is, you know, just such a great example of the Octo Finissimo being such a wonderful platform, right? And a canvas for these iterations. I mean, they've done so many cool, bizarre, weird projects with artists. You know, like one of my favorites is obviously the Tadalando series. And, you know, when that first came out, I always said, I think it just projected such confidence on that Tadal Ando Octofinissimo collab that Bulgari took their name off the dial. Because you know it's a Bulgari Octofinissimo. You look at the dial and you know it's Tadal Ando.

30:55And, like, that's – there's a sort of confidence exuded by these collaborations, especially from Bulgari, that I think, again, Fabrizio is doing just a wonderful job. And, I mean, commercially it also speaks, you know, volumes about the performance. But yeah, it just like, it was so, it made me very happy, which, you know, honestly, it was very good to see. I think that's kind of been the theme of the show. You know, we've had some great meetings. Like I love the, you know, we've been talking about palate cleansers throughout the week. Like that's one of the, this is both Tantan and Mai's first Geneva watches.

31:28And I think that we both agreed that like, this is, it's so refreshing. It's so, it's so nice. I mean, we love watches and wonders. It's a lot of work, but we love it, of course. but it's I think this watch exemplifies like the ethos of the show. It's fun, we're out and about, it's a great collaboration it's a little bit unexpected but it works and I think that that's really special and I'm just, I can't wait to see it I'm bummed I wasn't there to join you too. Too fine, gentlemen. You were at Girard Perregaux when we were at Bvlgari you would have seen the L 'Oreato 50 Tourbillon micro rotor 39 millimeter.

32:09That's a handsome watch. I got to see it last weekend driving around in the mountains. What were you driving around in, Andy? Magnum's car. Oh, okay. Okay. All right. It wasn't actually Magnum's car, but it was the same. That was pretty cool. But anyway. I heard you had a nice time. I had fun. I had fun. But yeah. What did you think of the Joie Perigo stuff when you saw it? I enjoyed it. You know, 39 millimeter, you know, normally I like the GP blue, but I feel like with the tour beyond the rose gold really popped for me. Like especially in the new beautiful GP boutique right here on the lakeside, light was good.

32:53And I opted for the rose gold and I was speaking with Mark, the managing director. Yeah, the very kind and gracious host at my appointment, he was saying that I wasn't alone in my sentiment. People have been favoring that rose gold. I think it just pops. It just works really well with the tourbillon. A lot of great design elements hearkening back to many years of the bridge and the tourbillon case. So I was a big fan, but in 39, wore pretty well my wrist. I have a pretty small wrist. And so I put it on and yeah, it felt right at home there. And so I think, you know, a pretty strong release and a great way that they just opened a new boutique here in Geneva.

33:38They did. So a great way to kind of break that in and big fan. Yeah. Did you like that? I haven't seen the, I've seen the construction site and talked to the people building it. How did the boutique hit for you? It's beautiful. It's beautiful. It's very welcoming, you know, right. you'd go in right off the street and a lot of light uh it was a beautiful sunny day here in geneva and uh yeah i enjoyed it um you know one of the little small uh design features on the movement is the the the watchmaker that worked on it engraves their initials on the on the bridge there or sorry not on the bridge but on on the main plate and uh i just love that and so it's like little fun little easter egg that uh we experienced a little bit earlier in a different away a few months ago with Tantan, but I love that.

34:24And I think that the sense of pride that they have there is fantastic. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, and Joraparego is a great historic brand. And, you know, I think a few years ago during the boom, you know, they couldn't make enough Laureatos. Like much of the industry, they're, you know, happy to work harder to sell more watches. And they are sort of delivering in terms of, you know, producing higher quality and more focused stuff. And it's interesting. They're really starting to explore. They actually have a great kind of partly unknown history with motorsports. So we'll be sort of exploring that more as the year goes on.

35:08So stay tuned for that. Let's move on. Do you want to talk about Oris or maybe Doxa? Tell me. Ooh, let's talk about Oris. Okay. Mr. Muppets. It is I, Mr. Muppets. We knew Tantan was going to think of Oris when you asked him that question. Come on. Yeah. I mean, this is the third edition that Oris has done with the Muppets, and there's pretty much no other brand that that collaboration quite makes sense with, right? I think Oris has always been a bit silly intentionally in its sort of philosophy. Not so serious. Not so serious. And they've really sort of tripled down, if you will, here. Obviously, this year, it's all about the great Gonzo, you know.

35:53Shout out Gonzo. A Muppet of unspecified origin, which is the great big debate, you know, that everyone's carried for many decades now. What's your—OK, you're—I grew up watching the Muppets. It's the Muppet show, but I mean, tell me, what has gone to? It's so fun. Because you are a true Muppets fan and freak. Listen, that's the, I mean. Wow, wow, Andy. Okay, all right. Listen, he calls it like he sees it, you know. Straightforward. I am the only person at this company that's been to every single permanent exhibition dedicated to Jim Henson. How many is that? There's only two. That's all of them.

36:34Yeah, and if anyone listening is also a Muppets fan, I'd highly recommend you check out. There's the Jim Henson exhibition in the Museum of Moving Image in Astoria in New York. And there's also the Museum, the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia. And actually, if you remember the Jim Henson studio that John Mayer had just purchased in L.A., the sort of the old Charlie – original Charlie Chaplin studio that eventually became the Jim Henson headquarters. There was – if you drive by in L.A., you'll always recognize there was this giant Kermit the Frog on the top of the studio wearing a Charlie Chaplin uniform.

37:10And so after John Mayer had purchased this, obviously, that was clearly going away. but now recently they just announced that that is actually moving to Atlanta and being placed on the building for the Center of Puppetry Arts. So I just wasted, you know, a few minutes of your precious time talking about nothing about watches. I knew that, but talking about the Muppets. Sam doing a tight five on your bingo card. You can just check that right off right now. Yeah, take a shot. But anyway, you know, this is a very big pivot for them. You know, they haven't done, you know, for the three that they've done with the Muppets, none of the products are the same.

37:45even though they've been within the ProPilot X family, right? The Kermit was the ProPilot X caliber 400. I think during a time when Aorus is really doubling down on caliber 400, right? I think they've sort of stepped back a little bit and let a little more of the Sellita-based product shine. So then the Miss Piggy came along and it was, you know, a 28 millimeter, very small, you know, very plainly targeted for women sort of watch. And then this was a surprise. This was a caliber 115, which is Oris's sort of in-house, hand-winding, 10-day power reserve skeletonized movement, right? So just a very different way to go.

38:22This is also a much larger watch. I believe it is 42 or 43 millimeters, something along those lines. It's definitely bigger. It's much larger than the regular ProPilot X. And, you know, the way they've done it is they've given the bridges sort of a gonzo color scheme. There was a chili pepper as a power reserve indicator as an homage to – and no one talks about Gonzo's fashion is like – fashion sense is amazing. Like those Jim Henson Studios people, like they were giving them some great outfits. But anyway, I digress. If you wind sort of the mainspring all the way to the 10 days of power reserve, you sort of see Gonzo's face appear as it's sort of etched on every little bit of the edge of this mainspring.

39:06And, you know, it's a very subtle way of doing this. I think every time they've created this Muppets edition, everyone's been like, I want to see more of the Muppets. And they kind of, you know, they kind of tease you with not really. But as a result, though, I think, you know, they've created something entirely different. It's unfortunately, it is a lot more expensive than the other editions we've seen. This is a over 10 ,000 US dollar watch. You know, the base 115 ProPilot X was around the same price. So it's not, you know, it's not a huge markup per se, but it's kind of bold, I would say, to release a significantly larger and significantly more expensive Muppets themed Aorus.

39:47That is, you know, I think a very hard thing to imagine as a sort of, you know, if you're in the drawing board, you know, phase of this to reach that conclusion is kind of interesting to me. But, you know, general reactions have been largely positive, which is actually much more surprising than I thought, right? I think maybe most of the feedback I've seen is, you know, everything is lovely except for the price. Less people have complained about the size than I would have imagined. but yes, it's an interesting watch certainly not for everyone and maybe even less so than the other editions but as sort of non-Muppets fans I'm curious what you guys think of such a thing I prefer for me the Kermit of the Muppets watches but I think just simply it's a little big for me I've got a small wrist but I do love the subtle nod to Mr.

40:42Gonzo himself on the Is it Mr.? You know, well, we call him the great Gonzo. Excuse me. Mr. Gonzo also works. A nod to Gonzo himself there. But yeah, a little big for me, but I do appreciate the sentiment. And I do love and I completely agree with the fact that Oris is the brand do this out of collaboration. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I really enjoyed it and was surprised and was really happy to see in person that 29mm pointer date with that black dial. That's a pretty little watch and just classic. I think what Auris has kind of done well with that kind of stuff in recent years is, you know, I looked at that watch and I think I said this in front of you and you guys and Rolf.

41:30Rolf the… The CEO, not the talking dog. Yeah. Um, that, um, you know, something just so charming about that, that small sort of pointer date is that it almost feels like you could have found that at a vintage watch dealer or, you know, at, in someone's, you know, old collection. And I kind of love that. There's something classic, really almost timeless about that kind of stuff that they're pursuing. Um, and I don't think they get enough credit for that? Yeah. I mean, and AORUS, you know, it's interesting. We've, I think, you know, a theme though here that we've been talking about is about value and sort of, you know, other than Bulgari, really talking about sort of entry and mid-level sort of stuff.

42:17And AORUS, you know, in reaction to the shifts in the market is really, as you say, leaned into that, you know, more of the Solita-based stuff as opposed to the Caliber 400 and trying to meet the customer where they are at this time. So, yeah, no, I think we love Oris, and they always continue to surprise and do great stuff, and they're great folks, and it's always fun in their suite at the Beau Rivage, so for sure. And then we saw Doxa today. You know, my reaction there, I mean, and Doxa just kind of, it's interesting. I wanted you to talk about, like, Tintin, because I know you're a bit of a fan, And like how it is amazing how Doxa just keeps coming out with sort of new collections and new stuff.

43:02And you're just like, yeah, I mean, maybe I'm not done with Doxa. This is like another reason to buy yet another. I mean, but, you know, that 300 in titanium, that case, and I, you know, just got my first Doxa, the Doxa 200T Army, the Hodinkee edition, which I'm super happy about and love. But man, this titanium. Is it a double Doxa summer for Andy? I mean, did I think about, you know, maybe wanting to buy one of the orange, you know, professionals right after that meeting? Maybe. I don't know. I think there's this unique phenomenon. Look, like Doxa is a brand where if you don't sort of get it or you don't really, it doesn't appeal to you, you really don't like it.

43:49Right. I think it's just like you don't care about it unless you do, you know, which is kind of a silly statement to make. But I think it's, you know, it's one of those brands where you have to be sort of be a part of that enthusiast mindset with, you know, their design. It's very specific, obviously, with the cushion cases and whatnot. But I was musing about this theory that I kind of came up with, which is that Doxa has almost cultivated this unique sort of phenomenon where if in any other brand you would be saying, hey, I'm going to buy basically the same watch in maybe a slightly smaller or slightly bigger case.

44:26but it's the same case design. It's the same bezel design. It's the same bracelet and strap designs. And the dials are all the same. And in the same color sets, you would be out of your mind, right? Like you'd be like, what the hell are you on? And yet, like, I don't know when I go into a room full of, you know, doxxas, that mindset just gets abandoned. I throw it to the wayside. I'm like, yeah, I could buy, like, I could, I could see myself owning a suitcase of these. I definitely get into an abundance mindset when I think of Doxa. Yeah, it's weird. And like, like, it's so such an irrational thing, right?

45:03Because it's like, in logic, this just doesn't make any sense. And yet, this is what I guess makes us a little giddy about Doxa sometimes. But that product is so solid. I mean, you know, obviously, a lot of people want to see a full titanium bracelet. But I think it's very clear that that would shoot up the price to a point where not many people would want to pay for a doc set like this. But, you know, again, there's something about the slightly larger 300 case, but mixed with the ultra lightness of titanium where, you know, Andy, you and I, and even Tim, you know, we don't have the largest wrists, right?

45:37Certainly not on the team. And yet, I think for us, even though we enjoy sort of the 200, the smaller 200 case, something about the lightness of this 300 works so well. Yeah. Right. It feels so good and quite proper. And maybe it's also because it's on a strap that doesn't flare out and drops immediately down because it doesn't come on the integrated strap. It comes on the sort of tropic style, if you will. Because I'm sure machining a titanium ratcheting class would also add an insane amount to the cost. So that's, I think, the decision there. But this seems like something people have been asking for for a while now.

46:16For me, as you were talking, I was reflecting, why is it that we... And it speaks to Doxa's level of, I think, just marketing and knowing themselves and being able to deliver... Obviously, they do the LE, the Clive Cluster, just one watch, but this is an array of colors, five colors. and I gotta say, now I like, for me personally, I prefer the blue, but I could see myself in every single one of them. And, and I, it's very rare for me to go into a meeting or whatever that have multiple colors, two, maybe three, definitely not five. And be like, I want all of these. Like, what is it about Doxa that does that to us?

47:03I'm not going to say me to us. Like, you're not the only one that wanted Doxa. I got my first Doxa a couple of weeks ago as well. Same watch. And you know what I say to that? God damn it, James Stacey. It's all James. God damn it, James Stacey. Well, I wore a Doxa for a weekend with James at his cottage and I was sold on it then. And it just strikes a chord. And if you get it, you get it. And I feel like if you don't get Put one on and then find your favorite color, put it on for a weekend, and then tell me you don't love that thing. Seriously. Yep. Speaking of maybe the complete polar opposite of sort of things coming in very similar shapes and sizes, I think something interesting that we also saw was the new Mad 3, right?

47:54Exactly. I was just going to bring that up, which you wrote up and you actually went hands-on with, Yeah, I got to have a pretty interesting in-depth conversation with Max while we were there. And it's just fascinating to me from a business perspective what MB &F has sort of done with the Mad Editions. But at the same time, they will tell you, and I believe them, that this was not a business move. This was a creative challenge that they had to compete in that sort of entry level or mid-level price point. But yeah, talk about the MADD3 edition. I mean, you know, we start reading patterns, you know, after we get sort of three, you know, data points here.

48:43And, you know, there's a lot of big takeaways, you know. And before we get to those, obviously, just explain a little about the background. This is a little different from the first two, or rather a lot different in the sense that this is a watchmaker that hadn't really been involved in anything MB &F before. The first one was obviously Max Boosters. The second one was Eric Jarouds. And this is a tribute. Long-time collaborating designer. Yeah, like people that have designed cases. Eric has his hands behind a lot of MB &F since its conception. But this is a tribute and collaboration to a watchmaker called Vincent Calabrese.

49:26And, you know, I think what's interesting is this guy's a legend, right, in the watchmaking community. But he's not a household name in the way that a lot of the other greats are. This guy co-founded the AHCI was Sven Anderson. You know, this guy is the one behind their sort of iconic Coram Golden Bridge movement. You know, that is one of the most iconic sort of movements, you know, anyone's ever seen. Quorum's working hard to make it relevant again and we'll see how they do. Godspeed to them. But he's done a lot of work in the past that honestly I think just hasn't gotten the same limelight that a lot of other people have.

50:04And what this specific watch is is a tribute to his model called the Balladon, which is a wandering John Bowers watch. And, you know, I think what's also interesting is that this is so similar to the Balladon, right? You know, of course, there's a lot of sort of modernization that comes into play. There's a lot of small, very MB &F twists. But from afar, it looks really similar. Those dials are almost entirely the same. And I think that's very curious because the first two editions, well, you know, they have very distinct design identities. Those were new creations, right? This feels so different because it's the least original thing we've seen from this brand so far.

50:46And, you know, what that also does mean is this is by far the most wearable and the most sort of conventional watch we've seen, right? Conventional, yeah. And in my hands-on, my thesis, so to speak, is that there is an inverse proportion to how crazy the Mad Editions are and actually how commercially popular they are. And I think that's been proven, again, with this, which they've been very open. They haven't shared numbers, but they basically said this is by far the biggest Mad Editions launch in terms of raffle signups they've seen. And I think that's a pretty big takeaway, right? Where, you know, obviously I was a little disappointed initially because it doesn't have the same, you know, lining a bottle.

51:32Oh, I've never seen this from, you know, you know, like, you know, if there's anything to ding against the watch is that this one is one that feels like maybe another brand could have also done similarly. Right. But that also means that this is by far the most wearable thing. And, you know, people love it. The people that like the Mad 1 obviously maybe feel like it's a little safer. But otherwise, I mean, you guys also had a chance, I think, to briefly see it. But it's a cool thing. Again, what they're doing is they're showing that this is a platform, not a design identity. This is not a horological machine collection where they're going for space-age aesthetics and whatnot.

52:15This is just, we will do anything but the common link is the price point, right? Every single Mad Editions has been 2 ,900 CHF. And, you know, obviously for us Americans, it's kind of painful because - That's kind of changed me. We remember what those converted to in USD, you know, a few years back, but, you know, from the Swiss side, that's been the same. And I think this is why it's been so successful and a big revenue driver for MB &F, right? Absolutely, a big revenue driver, but also, but what they're trying also, and, you know, in our discussions, They were saying, though, is like, you know, and we were speaking to the other Macs, the new designer who we'll be hearing more and more about over the years and we'll have to take more of a hand.

52:57But, you know, this is actually more of a challenge, obviously. It's more of a design challenge. With an HM, you can kind of go wherever you want. And here there are parameters, particularly with price. And so that makes it – and so the only thing I think from their perspective is indeed the demand is growing and the viability of mad additions is being more and more proven. But if there's a concern there, it's how much kind of time their man hours work that they're all spending on this stuff because it's not easy. It takes a lot of creative design time and thought to do it. I think for me, you know, we are in the business of watches podcast.

53:43So I want to come at this from a business lens. I think that the whole concept of the Mad Editions is absolutely genius. Like it's really smart. Obviously, you know, you get allocated one first if you've bought an NBNF in previous, but there is a raffle, right? And so you see, you know, if you're NBNF curious, you can maybe opt in for the raffle. get one and then like get it on the wrist for a while and see see how you like it and then and then potentially maybe upgrade to something else you know bigger down the line and i think it's really really smart this is a really smart business model and i think that in speaking with the brand um i think this one specifically with the overwhelming demand for number three is like all right they're on to something here and and obviously you know maybe a little more reserved in the design than previous models, but I think that maybe that's by intention, right?

54:40And it's like, okay, we want to see in mass how many folks that we can get, just because we want to bring more people into the ecosystem. And it's like, runs are very limited with MB &F. And if I love the brand, maybe this is a great entry point at 5K Swiss francs. I think it's a really interesting business model. And I'm curious to see maybe first and foremost, if it'll be another few years before we see the next one of these? Well, I think we're going to see more soon. I think this is going to be a more regular thing. And I think we're going to start to see real shifts in terms of design and maybe we'll start seeing some different K-shapes.

55:22Yeah, that'll be cool. Yeah, I mean, I think it's actually going to go in some really interesting places. And then, as you say, on the MB &S side, if anything, they make about 400 watches a year, right? And they're not looking to grow that, those volume numbers. And if anything, they're, you know, thinking about ways to keep it there or maybe even cut it. But, you know, they're not going to do that. I think it's going to stay where it is. But, I mean, indeed, yeah, it's really interesting. It's really just, yeah, as you say, you know, it's surprising. And we do always want to see, well, what have they done here?

55:57And, yeah, there's going to be more. It's going to continue. Look, gents, we've been doing this for about an hour. Let's wrap this up, but we got to talk about a brand that I guess wasn't, you know, in a launch that wasn't officially part of Geneva Watch Days, but that is the new edition of the Tudor North Flag, which we found out it's now one word, but also has a GMT. We got to spend some time with the folks at Tudor at the boutique and, you know, take a look at the new model and go hands-on with it and also, you know, compare it to the model from 2015, which is a really important piece for Tudor.

56:36And, you know, and the pricing, I think of the Swiss pricing is 4 ,500 Swiss francs for this. You know, that's kind of aggressive in terms of the value there. Yeah. Tell me your takeaways, your thoughts. First of all, I didn't know Northlight was one word. Because it wasn't before, but now it is. Yeah, it was two words, capital N, capital F. And then that was the first thing I noticed when I saw the first image. I was like, what the hell? Like, am I hallucinating or is this? And then, yeah, it turns out they changed it. They changed it. You know, I think it's a nice evolution from the initial one in 2015.

57:14Obviously, the big power reserve indicator. I don't think. I love the inclusion of the GMT versus that. A little big for me personally. Again, I got this felt wrist size. I got to be protective over that. And I wish I could wear more, but I can't. But I do like the evolution of there. I think it's interesting just to see them do this now. I couldn't have predicted this coming out, honestly. I don't really have much more to say other than that. Yeah. Yeah, like I, you know, for me, I think I hold a very maybe skewed opinion because I've gotten so close to buying that original North Flag so many times.

57:51It was actually my first ever tutor. I was debating between the North Flag and the Pelagos, and the Pelagos ended up winning. But I love the original North Flag because to me, it was like a cyberpunk role like explorer you know it was sort of this weird you know obviously they cite you know they cite the ranger 2 the 2 to ranger 2 is the inspiration but you know like it's very different right like ranger 2 didn't have 369 you know it did not no and so you know i think the new north flag or do i have to say it faster now that it's one word north north North flag? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the new North flag, yeah.

58:30It feels a little safer as a more, I think, broader commercial play than the first one. The first one was weird when it came out, right? And, you know, not only was it, I believe, the first modern tutor to have an open case back showing off the Kinesi movement. Because it was the first tutor to have an in-house made movement. That's right. That would make sense. It was that, you know, obviously the power reserve. And, you know, for me, the weirdest thing was the sort of ceramic ring around the bezel, not on the bezel, around the bezel, right? Almost like a cone or a volcano of sorts. But this, you know, loses a lot of that quirkiness, right, for I think what is a broader commercial play.

59:12And I think it excites me less because it's not as bizarre as the first North Flag, so to speak. But at the same time, I can totally see this appealing to Wimber people, like you said. this is the same GMT movement that's used in the FxD, the Pelagos FxD GMT. And so this is, I think, just a more, you know, not everyone likes fixed lugs and a, and sort of a bulky strap, you know, on top of that. And I think this on the sort of integrated bracelet is, is very much a play for the other side of people that want sort of a modern Tudor rendition of a, of a traveler's watch. So, so all that being said, you know, again, like, you know, a lot of the visual cues, the yellow, I always love the yellow.

59:55I think it's a great play. That's, that's just in quotes, not orange, right. And I think orange, you know, a lot of brands love doing that, but yellow is sort of a, um, slept on color. Yeah. Things are great. I don't like the new North flag name. It needed a space in there and that's going to bother me to the end of time. Um, unfortunately, and I'm, I'm working on a hands-on sort of as we speak. So I'm sitting with my thoughts kind of, you know, thinking a little bit more on it. But again, I think in the same way that I, I'm less excited because of, I liked how weird the first one was in that same vein.

1:00:28I see so many more people being more excited about this one because it's a much more sort of digestible watch. So, yeah, I mean, I think that sort of puts a, a, a dot on the, on the whole thing we've been talking about, which is, you know, more commercial, pretty aggressive pricing in terms of appealing to a wider audience, making sure that we're selling watches. But yeah, I mean, you know, I've always loved the North flag and concept and in what it was trying to do. And, you know, this is, this is still a North flag and it's still cool. And, but yeah, it's a little, it's a little more thoughtful in terms of commercial appeal.

1:01:06And, and I think they'll do, they'll do just fine with it. And yeah, I mean, I've been on the record about my thoughts about yellow, but, but I mean, you know, You're pro-Bumblebee.

1:01:20He likes to see the guts get ripped out after the stater. It's basically what Andy's trying to say. Got it. I'm Team Orange. But, you know, look, it's great to see Tudor, though, you know, taking swings and doing New 7. Man, you know, there's just a lot of choice there now. And, you know, we're going to see more. So, yeah, it's been, you know, we've still got some more stuff to do tomorrow. We're going to see Ming and all those folks from the, what do we call their? The Alternative Horological Alliance. The Alternative Horological Alliance, indeed. And so that's going to be really fun. But, yeah, it's been fantastic to have you guys on the Business of Watches podcast.

1:02:05And, yeah, that was great. And it's been fun to do this this week. And thanks for coming on. Thanks, Andy. Thanks for having us. Fondue time. It is, believe it or not, yes, at the end of August, beginning of September. It's fondue time.

1:02:27And that's the business of watches for this episode. We hope you enjoyed. Please head on over to Hodinkee.com where you can join the discussion and leave any comments or questions about this episode or the business of watches in general. Who knows? We might even answer your question on a future episode. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

1:03:10Thank you.