0:01

Welcome everybody to another episode

0:04

of Lonely Wrist

0:06

.

0:07

Justin is back .

0:09

Hey , Justin is back

0:11

. Duty

0:14

called man yeah .

0:16

Duty called and not the bathroom . One Work

0:19

later .

0:21

Today we have a very , very

0:23

, very special guest Coming

0:25

from Germany , hailing from

0:27

germany stern

0:38

glass .

0:38

Cave on . Welcome brother . Thank you for having me . Guys , it's a pleasure

0:40

to talk with you today here in the podcast about my work and the company this

0:42

is .

0:43

This has been a long time coming for us because

0:45

, uh , so ironically

0:48

, justin and I got into watch collecting

0:50

together I don't know if we ever told the story um

0:53

, and I was

0:55

like really stoked on like big

0:57

brands , like I was like obsessed with

0:59

panerai and like you know , like

1:01

we would buy these like weird little

1:03

like homage watches

1:06

that were like not even close

1:08

to what we really wanted and and

1:10

uh , and justin kind of went down the bow

1:12

house like rabbit hole and

1:15

um , and of course , when you go down

1:17

that rabbit hole , you guys are at the top

1:19

of the rabbit hole . You know , like

1:22

you know most and stern glass and

1:24

things like that , right . So

1:26

so very quickly , justin

1:28

found your brand , um

1:31

, and then he just started buying

1:33

up watches and uh , and

1:36

so for a long time we wanted to have you guys on

1:38

and uh , you know it's

1:40

hard to get a hold of you guys in

1:42

the weirdest way .

1:44

Nice that it worked out today .

1:46

Yeah , yeah , I mean at the higher

1:49

level , at the lower level , you

1:51

know , obviously you know for support

1:53

and stuff like that , but reaching decision

1:55

makers that can get this to happen

1:57

is not as easy . So

1:59

welcome and thank you for coming on . Thank you . Welcome and

2:01

thank you for coming on . Thank

2:04

you , I am curious for

2:06

you to tell us , of course , about the inception

2:08

of the brand . You

2:16

know , obviously I know Dustin kind of . I've read some of the backstory on how he

2:18

was working at a watchmaker and , you know , decided to kind of do his own

2:20

thing and fill in some of the gaps for our listeners

2:23

.

2:25

Yeah , sure , yeah

2:28

. The founder , Dustin , my chef , founded

2:30

the company in 2016

2:32

with a Kickstarter campaign . He

2:35

ignited his passion for wristwatches

2:38

back when he was 16 years

2:40

old and he did an internship

2:42

at the German brand Meistersinger

2:44

, who are famous for their one-hand

2:46

watches , and he made

2:48

strap change , the packaging

2:51

and all that kind of stuff . But

2:53

back then the problem for him was that

2:55

he , as a young student , could not

2:58

afford these kind of watches because

3:00

they were expensive and you need

3:02

money to buy them . And

3:04

with 20 years old , he asked

3:07

himself if there could be a way to

3:09

produce beautiful watches in

3:11

a good quality for an accessible

3:13

price . But back

3:15

then he did not have the courage to do it

3:17

and started to work as a freelance

3:20

web developer . And that

3:22

was around the time in 2012

3:25

, where brands like danny wellington

3:27

and movement took off

3:29

with the social media marketing and

3:32

could prove that you can start

3:34

a brand from scratch and become

3:37

successful . So he

3:39

took all his courage and did

3:42

a Kickstarter campaign in 2016

3:44

, where he collected $17,000

3:49

to produce the first

3:51

watch with the first watch badge

3:53

, which was back then a quartz model

3:55

. And

3:59

two years later we found we did another campaign

4:01

where we released our first

4:03

automatic model , the

4:06

Naos , still our best seller today

4:08

, and yeah , that's

4:11

how it all got started back

4:13

then . And what

4:15

I can also tell is that in 2019

4:18

we started also to sell

4:20

our watches at retail . The

4:23

former retail director of the

4:25

Spanish Fesina Group he

4:27

was the retail director in Germany joined

4:30

our team because he liked our brand

4:32

and that we are a young , dynamic team and

4:35

has the knowledge and the connections

4:37

for us to place our

4:40

watches at smaller

4:42

jewelers and goldsmiths

4:44

. And we are also available

4:46

, I think , worldwide in over 400

4:49

shops where you can see

4:52

and try on our watches wow

4:55

, that's amazing .

4:56

I actually didn't know you guys had such a large footprint

4:58

like in the market , like that . Like I've

5:00

always kind of thought of you guys as a generally

5:03

online store , as which a lot of you

5:05

know startups and micro brands kind of start

5:07

as , um , that's really impressive

5:09

for you guys to be in that many locations . So

5:11

good for you guys . Um

5:14

, and that's amazing . I didn't know . Dustin was 16

5:16

when he started the company . That's super cool , man

5:18

. I mean he was like still in school , no

5:20

, no , in school man he .

5:22

He did an internship when

5:24

he was 16 , I think .

5:25

When he founded a company he was

5:28

27 years old oh , gotcha

5:30

, gotcha yeah it was like some time when

5:33

he took the courage to child prodigy

5:35

here yeah , my mistake , everybody

5:37

. No , I was like dude , that's like crazy . Like

5:39

how did he do that ? I can't even tie my shoes , you

5:41

know , at 16 years old , but Well , that's

5:43

amazing . I'll go to the next question for you

5:46

, man . So what aspects

5:48

of the Bauhaus design do you find most

5:50

compelling , and how did

5:52

they influence the inspiration

5:54

of Staring Glasses designs ?

5:58

Yeah , I mean . For us , the Bauhaus

6:00

design , it's not a certain

6:02

look , but also a philosophy

6:05

. Back then , when the Bauhaus

6:07

was invented , the School of Bauhaus

6:09

, the goal was to produce

6:11

functional products at

6:14

an affordable price , and when you look

6:16

today at these design classics

6:18

, they are still beautiful , still functional

6:21

, but really expensive . They became

6:23

design objects that people

6:25

want to show off or

6:27

something , and that

6:29

was something that we tried to

6:32

implement in our brand , dna

6:34

. That's not only about the looks

6:36

, but also about the ethics

6:39

that we want to show

6:41

with our products , and that

6:43

means , of course , that you have this

6:45

I

6:47

don't want to say minimal approach , but

6:50

less a small approach to product

6:53

design and to produce

6:55

the watches in a good quality . But

6:57

what does good quality mean for us ? We

7:01

have some standards for our watches . For

7:03

example , that almost every watch

7:05

that we have in our portfolio

7:07

has a domed sapphire crystal with

7:09

anti-reflective coating , 5

7:12

ATM water resistance , so you don't have

7:14

to worry when it's raining or when you're washing your hands

7:17

. Screw-down case backs

7:19

it depends on the watch

7:21

type , but either it's screwed down

7:23

or has four screws in it and

7:26

, of course , quick release straps , so

7:28

the customers can change the look of

7:30

the watch in less than 20

7:33

seconds . That's what's important

7:35

for us .

7:37

Beyond that , when it comes to the design approach

7:39

, what do you guys prioritize when it comes to the design

7:41

approach ? What do you guys

7:44

prioritize when it comes

7:46

to design , like , is it obviously

7:49

Bauhaus ? I mean , I

7:51

put together an article about it . We're getting ready to drop

7:53

it , but

7:55

it really talks about form following function

7:57

. You know , minimalism

8:00

, simplicity , functionality , simplicity

8:08

, functionality , practicality , um , you know how . Is that something that you guys incorporate and

8:10

consider when designing watches ? I know that sounds like a really loaded

8:12

question , um , but

8:15

there's got to be a philosophy that

8:18

you guys have that you consider whenever

8:20

you're assembling and designing a watch , right ? So , yeah , definitely

8:22

definitely .

8:24

I mean , in the end , a good watch design

8:26

is all about details and we

8:30

usually start off with

8:32

the dial design , because that's the most

8:34

important part of the watch

8:36

. And it's all about proportion , of

8:38

course , that you look at which

8:40

kind of hands and dial

8:42

works for the look that we

8:44

want to achieve and then

8:47

you put that in a case , of

8:50

course , with the strap . But

8:52

what we like to do , for

8:54

example , for our additions

8:56

, we think in

8:59

the design process that's not only about

9:01

the dial but about whole other

9:03

details as well . Our most recent

9:06

model is , for example , the Now's Edition

9:08

Barhouse 3 . That's not only about the dial but

9:10

about whole other details as well . Our most

9:12

recent model is , for example , the Now's Edition Barhouse

9:14

3 with a black PVD case , and for us it was important to

9:17

show strong contrasts , like with the black case , the white

9:19

dial and , of course , to implement

9:21

customer feedback that we collected over

9:23

the years . For example , we

9:25

implemented the Bauhaus

9:28

stylistic forms the triangle

9:30

, circle and rectangular and put

9:32

Luminova dots on the dial for

9:34

better readability , to

9:37

underline the functionality of

9:39

the watch , but also for storytelling

9:41

. We took some

9:43

details of the barhouse

9:46

building in Dessau it has

9:48

this famous red door , for example

9:50

, and

9:57

we framed the date window in red to have this connection with

9:59

it . And also , when you look at the case back , we put the school plan

10:01

on it . So we

10:04

tried to push with each release

10:06

new technologies . So it's the first

10:08

time that we engraved

10:10

and painted the case back in

10:13

these fine lines , for example

10:15

. And last

10:17

but not least , also the strap . It's

10:19

an integral part of the watch . I mean , we

10:22

always look at the case , at the dial

10:24

, but we thought what could we

10:26

do to underline this

10:28

Bauhaus concept ? And we embossed

10:31

the strap with a geometrical

10:34

pattern on

10:37

it . It was also a first time

10:39

for us . So , to

10:41

answer the question , I think we

10:43

try to innovate

10:45

in the design details

10:47

in our watches with every new

10:50

release that we make , both from an aesthetical

10:53

and from a technical perspective .

10:56

That was one of the first things that I noticed

10:58

with that new watch . The Nails

11:00

Bios 3 was the

11:02

strap , and I'm happy that you mentioned

11:04

that too , because I felt like that

11:06

was the first time that you guys had done that , uh

11:09

, and I think that it was really tastefully done . It's

11:11

a a very like refreshing

11:13

take on a leather strap , uh

11:15

.

11:15

So kudos to you guys for that I'm

11:19

curious and , um , and

11:21

so obviously , your one of your core

11:24

principles for the

11:26

brand is obtainability

11:29

. You know you guys want

11:31

to make a watch that everybody

11:34

can afford Hopefully everybody

11:36

, right ? And

11:39

it seems like that's wrong , true , you

11:41

know , because you see a lot of micro brands that

11:43

start off with that approach or

11:46

they're like , hey , we want to make a . You know , affordability

11:48

is huge for us , right , um

11:50

, but then you slowly see

11:52

them roll into , you

11:55

know , creating uh , higher

11:58

, uh priced watches , um

12:02

, and it seems like you guys haven't

12:04

done that for as long as you guys have been around

12:06

. Um , is

12:09

that something that your fans can expect

12:11

? Um , for

12:13

maybe somebody who's who's looking for

12:16

a little more ? Or is it just going

12:18

to be a hundred percent , uh

12:20

, affordability ? Um

12:22

, you know

12:24

, moving forward , you know

12:26

yeah , this is an

12:29

interesting question .

12:30

I mean the , our now foundation

12:32

. We said that we want to make watch

12:34

it that uh , accessible

12:36

for for our customers . For example

12:39

, our base bestseller

12:41

now squads starts at 269

12:44

dollars and we want to stay definitely

12:47

at this price level to

12:49

introduce new customers

12:52

to the , to the brand . But also

12:54

we try to implement

12:56

better

12:59

technologies , more details

13:01

, into watches that

13:03

maybe are priced a little bit higher , between

13:06

500 , 700 euros , because

13:08

we realized over the years that

13:10

people are asking for it . Every

13:13

time a customer buys

13:15

a watch from us , we send them a

13:17

post-purchase survey when they

13:19

can give us the feedback , and we

13:21

received a lot of feedback . The

13:24

customer wishes better movement options

13:27

, more straps and

13:29

luminova , bigger

13:31

numerals , and for me it's really

13:33

I'm really lucky that

13:35

we have this kind of feedback , because every

13:38

two weeks I read this and

13:40

realize we

13:42

should invest in this direction

13:45

to even create

13:48

a better watch for our customers . So

13:51

I think you can expect

13:53

that we will go upwards

13:55

with the price for certain models , but

13:58

we always will release

14:00

limited editions or

14:02

also new watches under

14:04

300 , for example , and our

14:07

approach

14:09

is also not to exclude

14:11

anyone , because we try to

14:14

release watches also in quartz

14:16

and automatic . This

14:18

is , I think , something that's

14:20

different from other brands

14:22

that our best sellers are

14:24

available both in quartz

14:26

and automatic . So someone

14:29

who has a tighter budget can choose

14:31

the quartz and have all the advantages

14:34

of it , and the enthusiast , who is

14:36

maybe more into the mechanical stuff

14:38

, can choose to go the automatic way

14:40

.

14:41

I'm happy . Go ahead , blake

14:43

, sorry .

14:44

Oh , I just said sorry a little , another nerdy

14:46

follow-up , but um , I , I

14:49

obviously , when we talked , I told you

14:51

I focus more on on the

14:53

, the bigger box brands , and

14:55

mr , mr summers , here

14:57

is the , the specialist when it comes to

15:00

the , the micro stuff , um

15:02

, but I haven't seen

15:04

anything from you guys

15:06

and I could be wrong . That is housing

15:09

a Swiss movement , the

15:12

.

15:12

Canton .

15:13

Oh , the Canton .

15:15

Oh wait , is it STP ? Is that what it is ?

15:18

Yeah , the Canton was an interesting watch

15:20

for us because it was our first Swiss-made

15:23

watch with a STP

15:26

movement . Um , I think the first

15:28

version was released

15:30

in 2020 . Um

15:33

, but we have some . We had some problems

15:35

with the movement . The failure rate was

15:37

pretty high , so we

15:40

took it off and re-released the watch

15:42

with an Zilliter SW200

15:46

movement and

15:48

I think it was around $900

15:51

, I think .

15:52

I think that's right .

15:53

Yeah , I don't know exactly the price , but

15:56

currently it's sold out . Because

15:58

we want to rethink

16:01

this concept

16:03

of a watch with a Swiss movement

16:05

, or to put

16:07

it in other words , watches with

16:09

better movements , what you can expect

16:12

from us is that

16:14

we will release more watches with

16:16

the Miota 99000 series

16:18

, especially the

16:21

movement with the GMT . It's

16:23

really interesting also for us , but

16:26

also a new watch with a Swiss

16:29

movement , but I think that's something

16:31

for 2025 . When

16:33

I was at a watch fair , yes

16:36

, no , sorry Go ahead ? Yes

16:39

, for example , I was one week

16:41

ago at a watch fair in

16:44

Munich , the Inneganter Jewelry and Watches Fair example . I was one week one one for go at a watch fair in

16:46

munich , the in a grand jewelry and um watches fair , and

16:48

there were also different um

16:50

movement companies there , for

16:52

example , la jupere , miota

16:55

, soprod and I saw really interesting

16:58

options for movements

17:00

that I think our customers

17:02

would appreciate that we put

17:05

them in our watches .

17:07

We see a lot of micro brands using

17:09

Le Jouer de Paris because

17:12

of that extended power reserve . I

17:15

mean you have a

17:17

lot of options there , a lot of great kind

17:19

of pop-in options . You know

17:21

they fit the same cases as uh

17:24

, an edda or salida sw200

17:26

I mean , it's really yeah

17:28

, um , it makes it easy for you guys just to be like

17:30

okay , here's the design , here's the movement holder .

17:32

Boom , let's just pop in whatever movement and then people see

17:34

like a 68 power reserve compared

17:36

to like a 44 and they're like , wow , like I

17:38

can get a full another day out of this , so

17:41

yeah um yeah

17:43

, the new movements are amazing .

17:45

So I saw the la jupe

17:47

in in person and the different

17:49

finishing options you also

17:52

have . Or , for example , I don't know if you

17:54

know the sobrot movement

17:56

brand . It's part of the festina

17:58

group and they have a

18:01

movement called the newton with

18:03

the double bridge balance

18:05

and I was like wow , totally

18:07

blown away by it and

18:09

what we can imagine to do if

18:12

we release a new

18:14

watch with a smith's movement , that you

18:16

have an upgrade option , for example

18:18

the base version where we

18:20

use the sw200 from Sellita

18:22

and we pay a little bit

18:24

more , that you have maybe the

18:27

Lajou Perret or the Soprod

18:29

Newton inside it , so that

18:31

we can offer both

18:33

customers maybe the one who just wants

18:35

the basic Sellita movement or the

18:38

Infusos who are like I want to go all

18:40

in with the extended power reserve

18:42

more finishing , that we offer

18:45

both options to the customer so

18:48

something , something that I've noticed

18:50

and this wasn't on our list , but I'm

18:52

just getting so excited as I talk to you more , so

18:54

these ideas keep you know , like

18:56

, like forming in my brain .

18:59

But I'm a huge fan of german watches , justin

19:02

is a huge fan of German watches and

19:22

something like a trending pattern that I've noticed around German watches . But I haven't noticed from

19:24

you not to call you out publicly , but it's all in good fun is you get a lot of custom ? You know customization

19:26

. So , for example , I don't want to name other watch brand names unless you you

19:29

give me permission to , but because

19:31

this is your podcast , um , but

19:33

you know you can go in there and be like , hey , I want

19:36

the movement decorated like this , I

19:38

want , uh , you know , an exhibition case

19:40

back and I want , uh , you

19:42

know , these configurations of the dial

19:45

and like I mean , I'm sure you know you

19:47

know exactly what I'm talking about , but that's

19:49

something that you really only see from

19:51

the german watchmakers . Right

19:53

, like , no , american watchmakers , no swiss

19:55

watchmakers are like , hey , look , here's what you get . You

19:58

buy it , this is what you pay for . You . Don't

20:00

ask me for anything else . You know , get out of my face

20:02

and don't ever buy a watch again . But

20:06

you guys , I

20:08

haven't seen that from you and

20:14

it seems like the German market is a very mature watch market for those reasons that

20:16

they want something special , something

20:18

unique , and they want to feel like they have

20:20

a sense of influence

20:24

in the product .

20:26

Yeah , absolutely , you're totally right . We

20:28

have , I think , a different approach to it

20:30

because we release

20:33

limited editions of our best sellers

20:35

and try to give

20:38

our customers a piece that

20:40

is limited , usually to 1,000

20:43

to 2,000 pieces , and

20:45

also individual

20:50

the case of certain color

20:52

types and K-spec

20:54

engravings . But

21:02

when I started at the company , I was also in charge of the web design and one thing that I noticed

21:04

was that back then we

21:06

offered our watches just with

21:08

one strap and I was

21:10

like can we change

21:12

that , or is there a possibility that the customers

21:15

can choose ? Maybe

21:17

he doesn't like the Milanese strap

21:20

on the blue watch

21:22

dial , or he wants a brown

21:24

strap on the black dial

21:26

, for example , and it was not possible . So

21:29

I redesigned the whole

21:31

product page and the process

21:33

behind it so that we have

21:35

the technology to offer

21:38

this kind of process internally

21:41

in our company . Because at that moment

21:43

when you try to offer

21:45

more option , it may , it makes it

21:47

more complex and you

21:49

have to operate with

21:52

different teams in the company

21:54

and that everything works correctly

21:57

, that someone doesn't get the wrong strap

21:59

or wrong customization options

22:01

. What we do

22:04

is that we offer at

22:06

least here in Germany at some retailers

22:08

that we send them a blank

22:11

case back and the jeweler

22:13

can engrave it at

22:16

the store for them . But

22:18

right now for us it's a bit complicated

22:21

in our development process

22:23

to offer this

22:25

kind of individuality . But

22:29

today you can choose different

22:32

strap options , which was

22:34

really important for me Because it

22:37

could be possible that someone doesn't like

22:41

his

22:43

breath on his arm and prefers

22:45

um nylon straps

22:47

, metal straps , whatever , and

22:50

this is something we changed in the last months

22:52

that was gonna um

22:54

kind of bring me into the sorry blake

22:56

.

22:56

If you want to go ahead no , I was just gonna say

22:59

that that's important and I'm glad that you

23:01

pushed for that yeah

23:03

, love our strap , and I was , and I was going

23:05

to tell you as well , kvon , um , and to

23:07

kind of go back on what you were saying , blake is

23:10

, yeah , I mean , I feel like it's this thing where , like the german

23:12

industry , has , you know , all these options for customization

23:14

but , like kvon had said

23:16

, they do release a lot

23:18

of these different models in

23:20

different customization

23:23

styles different case back , different

23:26

straps . You know , all these things can

23:29

help change the identity of a

23:31

watch . You know , drastically . You

23:33

know , for instance , you know the watch I'm wearing , the

23:35

Costa this has , you know this , really

23:38

beautiful , like seagull on

23:40

it , like a bird or

23:42

whatever it is I don't know what type of bird it is and

23:44

it's got these little wind bangs and everything . But

23:46

for me , I'm a big beach person

23:48

, I love the ocean , I love anything that's nautical

23:51

. So as soon as I saw that , that

23:53

was like a click in my brain , I'm like that's

23:56

exactly what I want , like that , that was the customization

23:58

that I needed to push me into

24:01

purchasing that watch . Cause , you know , yeah

24:03

, sure , can I come in and be like , oh , can you do this and that

24:05

whatever doesn't matter , but it

24:07

shows that they are still , you know

24:09

kind of listening and doing these small customizations

24:12

to different models to kind of fill the market

24:14

. Yeah , I also

24:16

. I also love that you guys do you

24:19

know you'll , you'll

24:26

use the same model , for instance the Naus , and you'll put it in an automatic

24:28

as well as a quartz . Because , like you said , kayvon , you know somebody who is , you know

24:31

, maybe scared of an automatic movement or maybe they're

24:33

a little bit more , you know , budget oriented

24:35

. They would want a quartz movement

24:37

compared to a watch aficionado

24:39

who's going to instantly go for the automatic . So you

24:42

still get that personality

24:44

, the styling of the watch and the quality

24:46

. But you're just kind of able

24:48

to choose between that . And

24:51

that'll kind of segue me into the next question for

24:53

you , and we kind of touched on this a little bit . But

24:55

what has been , you know , some

24:57

of the biggest challenges in a market that's

25:00

filled with such diverse watch

25:02

styles ?

25:06

Yes , I mean . We

25:08

live in tough economic times

25:10

, for example , with

25:13

inflation and war , and I

25:15

also noticed in the

25:17

industry , especially at this

25:19

price point , that you have a

25:21

lot of threats People don't have

25:23

that much income that they

25:25

can spend on watches , for

25:27

example or the threat of the smartwatch

25:30

, especially the price range under

25:32

500 dollars . The

25:36

funny thing is that back then

25:38

some jurors said to us that the

25:40

price range around 500 to

25:42

1000 dollar is dead

25:45

, because above

25:47

is the is the luxury segment and under

25:49

is the cheap watches . But

25:52

what I noticed is that

25:54

so many brands got up market

25:57

that there's room left

25:59

for us that we fill in . And

26:01

when you come there with something

26:03

unique for example , you mentioned

26:06

our editions there's also

26:08

something that surprised us , because the

26:10

first editions we made were really

26:12

basic , black and white , strong contrast

26:15

of what you would expect from Bach's , from

26:17

this minimalism . But what we did

26:19

is to combine this style

26:22

and put a

26:24

color touch into it and so

26:26

created this unique identity

26:29

for us , and we

26:31

realized that our customers

26:34

really appreciate that and

26:36

see our sales growing

26:39

, and this is what makes us happy , of course

26:41

, and our customers as well .

26:44

I have to come out on the record and say that

26:47

, um , you know , when we were going back

26:49

and forth through email and I was

26:51

like let me look at , you know , the stern

26:53

glass portfolio , and

26:55

uh , I , yeah , I just love the nous

26:58

and um , in that yellow

27:00

, like I saw some pictures of it

27:02

online and uh

27:04

, and I was just like this is so good

27:06

, like and this is

27:09

a perfect time it . Is

27:11

it ? There's a balance

27:13

, right , and we've talked about this just in the night

27:15

before . But , like , you

27:17

can go so far away from

27:20

your values , like while having fun . You

27:22

know , like , oh , let me put , like a

27:24

light blue dial , let me put a pink sub dial , let

27:26

me put , you know , a green bezel , right

27:28

? I mean , obviously I'm not a designer , so that would be the worst

27:31

watch ever , but , um , but

27:33

you know , people can stray away from that

27:35

while they're having fun making watches , but

27:39

at the core foundation of it , there

27:41

has to be a balance , because you can

27:43

go down that rabbit hole and then

27:45

you make a watch that's not very wearable

27:47

, right , like

27:49

, or you can stick close to those , those

27:52

values , and I

27:54

always think a watch should be , should be wearable

27:56

, and you see a lot of watch brands

27:59

making watches that aren't wearable , which

28:01

is the exact opposite of what you would expect

28:03

from the industry . So

28:06

definitely another , another clap for you

28:08

guys on that one thank thank

28:10

you , thank you very much .

28:11

I mean , in the end it depends what

28:13

your approach is . I mean , if you're

28:15

a watch brand that is more jewelry driven

28:18

, where the watch is more more

28:20

kind of a sculpture , and time

28:22

telling is not the most important thing

28:24

. What comes to my mind is , for example , mb

28:27

and f . These are really sculptured

28:29

watches , um . So

28:32

for us it's

28:34

uh , of course , important

28:36

that we stay at some base

28:39

and a base design core , but

28:41

maybe to put a bit fun

28:43

twist to it . And

28:45

I tell

28:48

always my close friends when I show

28:51

them our newest watches that these

28:53

type of watches are too colorful for

28:55

them . But they're always driven to the

28:57

white and the black dial

28:59

. And of course the white and silver dials are

29:01

best sellers . And for someone

29:04

who starts getting into watches , it's

29:06

totally normal to get a

29:09

watch that is suitable for every

29:11

occasion . But when

29:13

you get your third , your

29:15

fourth , your fifth watch , you want to see

29:17

some color to express your personality

29:20

or your mood that you are in . And then

29:22

, when the funds , then is

29:24

that when the fun starts , yeah

29:26

, that yellow is insane

29:28

.

29:29

Sorry , just uh , just to touch on that man

29:31

, I was looking at that one in particular and

29:33

I'm , I'm specifically , I'm a , I'm

29:35

a very colorful watch guy . I

29:37

like to show my personality on my wrist , um

29:40

, as if I don't already have enough . You know if

29:42

you , if you talk to me , but but

29:44

yeah , I saw the yellow and I was just thinking

29:46

, man , like I would never buy a yellow life or

29:49

a yellow watch in my life . And then I looked

29:51

at that one and I was like bro , it's

29:53

like that one is fire , like it's so

29:56

accessible , like I feel

29:58

like I could , I'd be able to wear that with anything and

30:01

, like you said , like a very , very good , like summertime watch as

30:03

well .

30:03

Um , but anyway , I just wanted to say that I

30:06

, I've , I've unloaded a lot of watches

30:08

, um , not a lot , but I've

30:10

unloaded certain watches for

30:12

that reason , like I had an orange dial

30:14

watch and , um

30:17

, and you know you can't . You

30:20

know you talked about straps and and , uh

30:22

, you know , versatility . You know , like orange

30:24

doesn't have a lot of versatility

30:27

. You know , and I get , why

30:29

orange watches exist for the most part , you know

30:31

, mostly in the diving community , because they're the last

30:33

color that can visibly be seen

30:35

by the naked eye . But

30:38

once you get a watch like that , an orange

30:40

watch , you know , you , you'll

30:42

, you'll realize how hard it is to wear in

30:44

my , in my opinion , right , but

30:47

this is a perfect segue

30:49

and to fun , right

30:52

, and you had sent us

30:54

, by the time people listen to

30:56

this , this will be past

30:58

march 25th , but you have

31:01

chosen to share with us in advance

31:03

the new Lumatic

31:06

, the Sternglass Lumatic

31:08

, with this beautiful blue dial

31:10

and , surprisingly

31:13

very interesting contrast . Tell

31:17

us about , and you're the designer

31:19

, so we're lucky enough to have you sitting

31:22

here , yeah sure

31:24

I can tell you about the

31:26

lumatic .

31:27

Yes , it's my first automatic

31:30

watch design for the brand that

31:32

I made for it and basically

31:34

this watch was created because

31:37

of our customer feedback . People

31:40

ask for bigger numerals , people ask

31:42

for Luminova , for

31:45

better movement options and

31:47

for unique straps , and that's what

31:49

we did with this watch . The

31:52

name comes from the word combination

31:54

of Lume and Automatic

31:56

. That's why it's called Automatic , and

31:58

it's the first stainless watch

32:01

that has a miota

32:03

a315 movement . In it

32:05

, there's the advantage of an

32:07

increased power power reserve

32:10

of 60 hours in comparison to

32:12

38 of our standard movements

32:15

, and it has a lot of movement

32:17

decoration , for example , the gene Geneva

32:19

stripes on the automatic bridge , the

32:26

skeletonized rotor and the heat-blued

32:28

screws . Furthermore , what

32:31

we did when we designed this dial is that we made the numerals

32:33

a little bit bigger , but also add

32:36

a shadow to create this 3D

32:38

effect . I saw it on

32:40

watches from

32:42

the 80s and 90s and were like man

32:45

, we should bring that back .

32:48

As soon as I saw that photo I was like it

32:51

has shadows on the numerals . I

32:53

was like I love that

32:55

.

32:57

That's a first for you guys right .

32:59

Yeah , it's definitely the first

33:01

for us , and it creates death on

33:03

, and this is something that I really

33:06

appreciate as a designer

33:08

and enthusiast of watches when

33:10

light hits the dial or the

33:12

case that every time when you

33:14

look at your watch , you see a new

33:16

detail . And that's what we tried to

33:19

achieve with it and

33:21

, of course , to

33:23

put two different luminova

33:25

colors on it , one for the numerals

33:27

, the beige one , but also the

33:29

strong orange one for the triangle

33:33

circle and for the hands is

33:36

something to enhance the

33:38

contrast of it . There's also

33:40

another small design detail

33:43

. For example , at 12 to 60

33:45

is marked in red , and that's

33:48

because the movement has a power

33:50

reserve of 60 hours . Could

33:52

have written it down at automatic

33:54

, but we wanted to have it clear

33:56

and to emphasize it in

33:58

this small detail

34:00

. It clear and to emphasize

34:03

it in this small detail . And another uh

34:05

, also a first time for me we

34:07

developed specifically for

34:09

this watch a new nylon

34:12

strap which is made out

34:14

of sequel

34:24

material , which is 100 recycled , and dark blue leather with contrast

34:26

blue stitching . This will be a variant for the watch and

34:28

we will sell it also separately online

34:30

, so you can put it on your NARS

34:33

or your Hamburg case , and

34:35

I think it will suit us well . Something

34:45

that you didn't include in your email is the

34:47

case diameter . Yes , it's 38 millimeters , the same size as

34:49

the mouse .

34:50

Oh yeah , I figured it would be 38 , 40 , 42 .

34:52

That's where you guys kind of float around and

34:55

so just a quick question while we're on

34:57

that subject of the new watch Is

35:00

it based off of an existing model

35:03

or is it a completely refreshed

35:05

design , like on the case and everything ?

35:27

It uses the same dimensions , so it

35:30

was easy for us to swap

35:32

out the movement

35:35

. This is something that our

35:37

customers appreciate . There

35:44

will be Niles and Hamburg models that

35:46

will also future this movement type . That's

35:49

awesome .

35:50

And I guess , since this

35:52

is the first time you're using Miota after

35:56

your release , I mean , a lot of brands use Miota

35:58

, so this is maybe something you guys are

36:01

going to kind of roll into future collections

36:04

because of how easy they are to service

36:06

, how easy they are to replace . I mean

36:09

, they're actually really reliable

36:11

. Miota

36:13

, the 8 series , gets a lot of hate

36:15

on the internet for some odd reason

36:17

because of the 9

36:19

series existing , and that is the sole

36:21

reason why it gets hate . Um , but

36:24

these are , these are decently hardy

36:26

little movements , um

36:28

and they're reliable and they run

36:31

accurately like um easy

36:33

to service , yeah yeah , I mean

36:35

I can swap the movement for 90 bucks . You know

36:37

, I don't even have to service it . Um , and

36:40

and yeah , I mean we've seen some

36:42

of our friends who also use that movement

36:45

and some of the other micro brands .

36:46

I mean they're getting them into

36:56

into cost rated

36:59

, you know , like into cost

37:01

accuracy , which that , and I think

37:03

that also and I mean at that price

37:06

point you get these technical

37:08

features with the extended power reserve

37:10

and the finishing you would normally

37:12

pay double or triple

37:14

the price to get something similar

37:17

in a swiss movement watch , and

37:19

totally , these

37:21

are really reliable movements for

37:23

us .

37:27

Yeah , let's transition here

37:29

to so

37:32

obviously you're newer

37:35

to stern glass , but

37:37

I'm sure you've seen the ups and downs

37:40

of the watch industry , which , uh

37:42

, happened in almost seconds

37:44

, right nanoseconds of ups

37:46

and downs . Um , tell

37:49

us for you what has been the most

37:51

rewarding part of

37:53

being with the brand , like stern glass

37:55

, for

37:57

me personally when

38:00

I joined the company two

38:03

years ago .

38:05

I just finished design school

38:07

, got into watches six years

38:09

ago and it was my goal to

38:13

work in this industry and

38:16

I had the opportunity and the

38:18

luck that I found . The

38:22

job at Stangas was really something

38:24

that I appreciate , and I mean

38:26

a dream came true for me that a

38:28

watch enthusiast can work

38:30

at a young startup company and

38:33

do his first design

38:35

as a working

38:37

student there , because I cannot

38:40

think of any watch company in

38:42

germany where I could do that in

38:45

that short amount of time . So

38:47

this is something that I really like , and

38:49

to bring my knowledge

38:52

to the products and to the product

38:54

development is something that the team

38:56

really appreciates . So if they

38:59

have any question about

39:01

the history of watches , what

39:03

kind of designs and complications

39:05

there is , they can always ask

39:08

me that , and I

39:10

noticed that in

39:12

our company that the

39:14

people are more enthusiastic about

39:16

the upcoming releases because we

39:18

want to try not only

39:21

to be more colorful

39:23

but also be more technical

39:25

and better watches with

39:27

more complications to come . So

39:30

customers can

39:32

, or enthusiasts can , expect this

39:35

year definitely some interesting

39:38

watches from us , completely new cases

39:40

, new uh watch types

39:42

and , um , yeah

39:45

, it will be very interesting

39:47

what , um , what

39:49

trends do you guys foresee uh

39:51

within the watch making industry ?

39:54

um , and you know how do you think that stern glass

39:56

uh is going to adapt to these changes ?

40:02

What I realize is the innovation

40:04

at movements , Like when you

40:06

look , 10 years ago you

40:10

were really limited what kind of movements you want to use in your

40:12

watches and now

40:14

, because ATA stopped supplying the

40:16

watch brands with their movements , a

40:19

lot of other companies started to develop

40:21

, to develop their own and

40:24

to offer the

40:26

opportunity to do

40:28

certain dial layouts and

40:30

this is something I noticed and

40:34

the trend to color . I mean

40:36

, this is something that

40:38

you can when you compare watches

40:40

10 , 20 years ago and you compare today

40:43

. Watches became colorful

40:45

because life out there

40:47

is really how you say it serious

40:49

and we need something

40:51

fun on our wrist

40:53

that brings joy to us

40:56

when we look at it .

41:00

Let's step back , because you talked

41:02

about joy , and

41:04

so I know for you , joy is

41:07

design . So

41:09

let's talk about

41:11

, like , the process

41:14

that you go through and we've touched very briefly

41:16

on this , but walk us

41:18

on the same journey that

41:20

you guys take when you're designing a watch

41:22

. Like what are things

41:25

that you look for ? Like , how

41:27

do you get inspiration ? Like

41:29

, what's the process ? Like , how do you capture

41:32

that inspiration , how do you evolve

41:34

that inspiration ? And then how does it eventually

41:37

become something that somebody

41:39

can purchase and wear ?

41:42

Yeah , a really good question . I mean

41:44

, when you start collecting watches

41:46

privately , you get to

41:49

see a lot of watches , handle them

41:51

in your hands and get inspired by

41:53

them . Of

41:59

course , when you look back at the watch history , there are so many great

42:01

designs and it's logical that the vintage trend is so strong , because

42:03

back then they made these timeless designs

42:05

and companies start to

42:08

re-release them over

42:10

and over again . But what I think

42:12

to myself is what will

42:14

be what when we look back

42:16

in 20 , 30 , 30 years ? We're like

42:18

, okay , back in 2010

42:20

, 2020 , we wore

42:22

watches that looked like watches in the 50s

42:25

, but what are watches for

42:27

the 21st century , for example

42:29

? So for

42:32

me , it's important to look , of

42:34

course , back , get inspiration from the past

42:36

, but also to put a modern

42:39

twist to it , to combine these

42:41

elements . For example

42:43

, my first watch design I made

42:45

is the sidious sector

42:48

dial design , and this

42:50

is something I really liked

42:52

privately and I showed

42:56

it to our design team over

42:58

. Like . This is something that I could imagine

43:00

for a brand , because it reminds

43:03

of a scientific dial and

43:05

, although it's more art

43:07

deco based , it shares some similarities

43:10

with our design philosophy , with

43:12

the Bauhaus . And how can

43:14

we put that two

43:16

design philosophies

43:18

together to create a watch at

43:20

an affordable price point , because

43:23

this kind of design was

43:25

really popular in the 20s and 30s and

43:28

now there are not so many brands

43:30

or usually really at the

43:32

high end that kind of offer

43:34

, this style , and my goal was

43:36

to bring this style

43:38

for an affordable price . And

43:41

not only that it looks good , that it has

43:43

the right details . For

43:53

example , it has a dial with circular brushing at the hour sector

43:55

and a satinized dial , but because the minutes and the seconds

43:57

are divided

43:59

into sectors , I wanted

44:02

to use a movement that runs

44:04

smoothly and , of course

44:06

, we had to use a quartz movement by proposing

44:08

the Seiko Mecca Quartz , because

44:11

it was the movement

44:13

that would fit the design

44:15

. I think a ticking quartz movement

44:17

wouldn't work

44:19

with this kind of design , and this

44:22

is um was my

44:24

first uh design process

44:26

for completing your watch , and

44:29

what I try to do is to implement

44:31

the aesthetic components

44:36

with the technical ones . This this

44:38

is really important to me that we're not only

44:40

making beautiful watches , but

44:42

also what drives them suits

44:45

the design .

44:48

I love , personally

44:51

, the new watch that you guys are going to be

44:53

releasing here shortly . I

44:56

like that . It has , like you mentioned , the

44:58

shadow numerals and things . It's all

45:00

these little quirks that almost bring

45:02

a retro feel to it , but

45:04

still keeping that Bauhaus

45:07

life inside of it , the

45:10

soul to it and for

45:12

everybody watching . Bauhaus is

45:14

to the watch industry what feng

45:16

shui is to Holmes , feng

45:22

shui is to homes . It's just kind of like a sense of everything having

45:24

a purpose and a place , um , you know , but still

45:26

being a refreshed and refined look , um , but yeah , I really enjoy

45:29

that . Um , how do you see the role

45:31

of , you know , bow house design

45:33

, uh , evolving within

45:35

the watch industry in the next , you

45:38

know , let's say , five to 10 years

45:40

or so ?

45:43

This is an interesting question , because

45:45

when you look at the prices

45:48

of certain models , then it would

45:50

not match the Bauhaus philosophy , because

45:52

when you look from

45:55

a certain perspective , we

45:57

don't need any wristwatch , so

46:06

these are essential luxury items . So what I really love about us , but also about

46:09

other micro brands , is that they

46:11

try to offer unique designs at affordable

46:13

prices and for me , barhouse

46:16

design . It's not only the look but

46:18

also the philosophy behind it

46:20

, and I think this is also something

46:22

that drives the enthusiast community

46:25

. Of course , it's good to have inspiring

46:28

brands that are really with

46:30

a strong heritage and to save

46:33

up the money to acquire

46:35

the the great piece , but

46:37

it's also important that we have

46:40

some watches that you can buy when

46:42

you save up some money after six months or

46:44

so , or a funny watch with a yellow

46:46

dial , for example , where it doesn't hurt

46:48

when you pay 300 euros for it , in

46:50

comparison to pay 3

46:52

000 4 000 euro for

46:54

a yellow dial watch that would hurt

46:56

more .

46:57

I think yeah yeah

46:59

, I , yeah , I mean it really . I

47:03

think that's what a lot of brands are losing

47:05

. It's like as

47:07

they go upmarket , they

47:09

like forget about the customers . That

47:12

kind of helped bring them upmarket

47:14

. You know , it

47:17

seems to be like a cat-and-mouse game . You

47:19

know , we talked briefly about this yesterday on

47:22

the phone for about an hour . But

47:24

it seems to be like a cat and mouse game

47:26

because

47:28

everybody wants to go

47:31

up market . You know , everybody

47:33

wants to because you

47:35

it's a double-edged

47:37

sword , because by

47:40

staying true to your , your

47:42

, your ground , your entry

47:44

door , your entry consumer um

47:47

also turns off a lot of

47:49

the , the bigger collectors

47:52

, you know , like the huge , like collectors

47:54

that have the . You know

47:56

the pateks and the vach , and

47:59

I know I'm not comparing them to you , but

48:03

you don't see a lot

48:05

of guys who will put

48:07

their Patek on one day and then put their Sternglass

48:10

on the next day . Yeah

48:12

, and

48:14

it's weird because we're

48:16

in a small industry already , we're

48:19

already in a niche industry . It's like , out

48:22

of 100 hundred people that you meet , maybe two

48:24

of them are watch collectors , realistically

48:27

. So we're already

48:29

in the small industry and then it's already narrowing

48:32

itself by how , how much money

48:34

you have to spend on watches and

48:37

as you go more up market , the

48:40

weirdest thing is people

48:43

don't enjoy the watches as much . It

48:47

seems to be

48:49

a different reason why

48:51

people purchase watches at that

48:53

point . You know , and

48:57

again you know , going back to Sternglass and affordability , sustainability

49:00

. You know , going back to stern glass and affordability , sustainability . You know , and

49:02

um , you know , creating

49:04

that customer uh journey

49:06

. Um , you

49:08

know , it's really cool that you guys are just still

49:11

staying where you . You know where you started

49:13

at affordability and and I've

49:16

, I've noticed every time , you know , I was

49:18

going on your website and you guys

49:20

, you guys love that

49:22

approach to watchmaking .

49:25

Yeah , thank you .

49:26

A lot of the other watchmakers are like let

49:29

me get out of this segment as quickly as I can .

49:31

It's a shame for us to make affordable watches I

49:37

mean , you mentioned going up market , For

49:40

example , this watch , the Lumatic . It's

49:43

, of course , a little bit more expensive than

49:45

our normal automatic movement

49:47

, but that's because we

49:49

have to offer our customers

49:52

a better watch if we

49:54

demand for a bigger

49:56

price . So we are

49:58

really value-driven . And

50:01

this is for me also because I'm an enthusiast

50:03

myself . When I design a watch , I'm

50:05

asking myself would I buy this piece ?

50:08

and if no , that would be problematic

50:10

, I think I'm not gonna make it , just throw it away

50:12

, throw it in the bin . I

50:31

could not support it myself

50:33

. I had but you have difficulties to do

50:35

it data , um

50:37

, but you're

50:39

paying more now

50:42

, in 2024 , for

50:44

the same product that

50:46

was made in 2020 , 2019 , and

50:49

you see brands that have went through three

50:51

or four or five price increases , but

50:54

they haven't improved the quality of the product

50:57

, and so that

50:59

is a very dangerous

51:01

place to be . And

51:04

you see a lot of buyers and I

51:06

mean , obviously , I have a community here where

51:08

I live and a watch club

51:10

and I talk to collectors every

51:12

day and a lot of collectors

51:15

are in the same exact place right now

51:17

, where they're sitting on their hands

51:19

, they're sitting on their wallet , they're . They're not pulling out their wallet right now , where they're sitting on their hands . They're sitting on their wallet

51:21

, they're they're not pulling out their wallet right now

51:23

for that exact reason

51:26

that you're spending

51:28

more . And and when you you know , when you

51:30

get into the luxury segment , you know

51:32

two percent price increase , three to four or five percent

51:34

price increase doesn't sound like much

51:37

, but it becomes hundreds

51:39

of dollars . You know hundreds

51:41

of dollars , and with those hundreds

51:43

of dollars , you have

51:45

a stern glass , you know .

51:48

Yeah . I

51:51

mean there's this famous

51:53

chronograph that went to the moon

51:55

. Back then , 10 years ago

51:57

, you could afford

52:00

one , and now they

52:02

target a completely different customer

52:04

with it . I mean , it's also okay

52:06

to do it because it's

52:09

a strong design and a really important

52:11

watch , because it's a

52:13

strong design and a really important watch . But

52:19

I think we have to keep in mind that not everybody can spend or is willing to spend

52:21

that much money on something that he

52:23

doesn't need . But what we

52:25

want to try to do is to offer our

52:29

design philosophy at an accessible

52:31

price and , of course , maybe

52:33

when the watch has better features

52:37

, to have a

52:39

little bit bigger price , but

52:41

to not exclude

52:44

someone .

52:45

Yeah , and that's the way it should be . As

52:48

you command more

52:50

money from your consumer , you should be

52:52

delivering a higher quality product . Um

52:56

, but I just had to bring attention to that

52:58

because we're in this danger zone

53:00

for the watch industry and nobody

53:02

talks about it . You know , nobody

53:04

talks about it because we're independent

53:07

. I justin lonely

53:09

wrist and you , you

53:11

know we can , we can say this , you

53:13

know , we can talk about this , you know , and

53:15

um , and

53:17

yeah , so thank you for for actually

53:20

, as you go up market , delivering

53:22

more value and uh , and

53:25

letting us pay get more watch for what we for

53:27

our money .

53:28

So yeah , absolutely

53:30

, that's the way it should be .

53:33

I couldn't agree more . But

53:37

, how does ?

53:37

Staring Glass engage with its customers and

53:39

its community , such as watch enthusiasts and collectors and things like

53:41

that .

54:04

How do you guys have engagement with those people ? As

54:14

I already mentioned , we have this , for example , post-purchase survey

54:17

, where customers can give us feedback to our watches , what we can improve , not only about our

54:19

products , but also the buying process , the website that they can choose different

54:21

straps and kind of stuff , stuff . But also we have a facebook

54:23

group with I think

54:25

3 000

54:28

people in it where they share

54:31

the their favorite wrist

54:33

shots of our watches , and

54:35

this is something that

54:37

we use also in our product development

54:40

, where we put design

54:42

variations and community

54:44

can vote which design

54:47

they prefer . And

54:50

what we want to do is also

54:52

to go more to the fairs

54:54

this this year , especially

54:56

here in germany , to get in

54:59

touch with the enthusiast community

55:01

, because for me it's really important because I'm

55:03

an enthusiast myself to talk

55:05

to to the people , ask

55:08

them do you like the watches ? What could we

55:10

do better ? What do do you wish , for

55:12

example ?

55:21

And this is something that I would definitely need to bring

55:23

more to us , to the company . Yeah

55:29

, I mean as a micro brand , and this is something that I've said a million times

55:31

over and over . But if , if these upmarket brands

55:33

gave the consumers what they wanted

55:35

, then there might not be stern

55:38

glass or there might not be xyz

55:40

micro brands . So you

55:43

know them , dropping the ball has created

55:45

a huge opportunity

55:47

for brands like

55:49

stern glass and you know , obviously

55:51

, the consumer , right , this is also

55:53

something I'm sounding super pessimist

55:56

, pessimistic , um

55:58

, but you see a lot of the watch

56:00

industry controlling

56:02

the consumer , you know

56:04

, um , and not

56:06

the other way around , where you

56:09

know your consumer approach is

56:11

what powers the brand , right

56:13

, and

56:16

, and yeah , so you

56:18

know , without the community , there is no , there

56:21

is no watch industry , there is no , and

56:23

that's why it's important for us , you know , for our

56:26

mission and what we do , and

56:29

obviously for we , we

56:31

stress the importance to other watch brands . You

56:33

know , I don't think we have to do it for you , but you

56:35

know , I , I think we've talked we've

56:38

talked to watch brands before and they're like well , what do you think we

56:40

could do to get the community involved ? And I'm like

56:42

it's a shame that you have to ask the question

56:44

. Yeah , just listen but

56:47

by giving giving them the opportunity

56:49

to , to be heard , you know

56:51

, and to and to have a free , open communication

56:54

, open dialogue . Um

56:56

, a lot of these watch brands will build these

56:58

walls between them and their consumer

57:00

and um , yeah , and

57:03

yeah so , um , I

57:05

think , if we were to to

57:08

have like like a success , a

57:10

success playbook for

57:12

what the watch industry , I

57:15

think stern glass would be there at

57:17

the top of the strategy the

57:19

value , the focus , the , uh

57:22

, the direction , the leadership . I mean , you know

57:24

what ? I mean , there's just a lot of cool things and

57:26

that , you know . That was one reason why we were very adamant , and

57:28

you know , I'm like the terminator

57:30

, you know I'm not gonna stop reaching out to you

57:32

guys until you come on or say no , and

57:37

so , uh , same for justin , but

57:39

, um , but yeah , that

57:41

was one reason why we felt like it was very important , because we

57:43

have a lot of a lot of similarities and and

57:45

what we take pride on , um

57:48

, but you know , with that

57:50

being said , we we have , you

57:53

know , two more questions . I

57:55

don't want to keep you away from the

57:58

obligations that you have from

58:00

personal and from work , and so

58:02

we appreciate the hour you spent with us so far

58:04

. And

58:06

then my I guess

58:08

this is a question we always ask

58:10

, because this is probably one of the most important

58:12

questions we will ask but

58:15

, um , where do you see

58:17

the brand heading and

58:20

the next 10 years ? You know , if

58:22

you and this doesn't have to be , uh

58:25

like , from the corporate perspective

58:27

, you know , from the , the

58:30

team's perspective , you can , you

58:32

can come from that perspective , but

58:34

, um , in your eyes , uh , from the team's perspective , you can

58:36

come from that perspective , but

58:50

in your eyes , with your vision .

58:51

What would you expect from a brand like Sternglass ? This is a

58:53

really good question and sometimes I ask the

58:55

team and just Dustin

58:58

also , this kind of question . I

59:00

think I would answer it in two ways

59:03

one from a brand and one from a product

59:05

perspective . I think

59:07

we , as a brand I wish that

59:09

in 10 years we will be bigger

59:11

and more retail stores , more

59:14

people know the brand and

59:16

tell our story and

59:19

our approach to watchmaking

59:22

but also

59:24

, from a product perspective , to

59:26

continue to sell

59:28

accessible watches

59:31

with a certain design twist , limited

59:33

editions . But for me , as an enthusiast

59:36

, I would love to see more

59:39

technical watches , watches with

59:41

more complications , something that

59:43

never has been done before

59:45

. For example , I

59:48

would love to see a jump hour Stern

59:50

Ves watch , a mechanical one . A

59:52

mechanical chronograph is something

59:55

that's definitely on my bucket

59:57

list to do , but , of course

59:59

, to have it accessible at an accessible

1:00:02

price point , and this is something that is

1:00:04

really difficult . But I mean the

1:00:06

best example is , for example

1:00:09

, the GMT movements

1:00:11

. For

1:00:14

example , the GMT movements

1:00:16

five years ago it was impossible to get one new for under €1,000

1:00:18

and it was an office GMT

1:00:20

, and when you want a true GMT

1:00:23

you have to pay €3,000 or more

1:00:25

for it , and now , with

1:00:27

the two options that

1:00:29

we have with the Seiko and the Miota

1:00:31

, you can offer GMT watches

1:00:33

for under €1,000

1:00:35

. And that was not possible five years ago

1:00:38

. And this is something that I would

1:00:40

like to do to offer complications

1:00:43

, tell the story of them , tell them

1:00:45

what makes these kinds of

1:00:47

extra functions unique

1:00:50

to a watch , and also to

1:00:52

educate the customer , because

1:00:55

most of the customers that

1:00:57

are new to watches they don't know about this

1:00:59

, about this cool stuff , that what makes

1:01:01

watches so special and so interesting

1:01:04

. Of course , the design it's

1:01:06

important . But the technical aspect

1:01:08

how does it work and what

1:01:10

was it used back then and

1:01:13

when these watches were tools , and

1:01:15

now we have these accessories

1:01:17

on the wrist . This is something

1:01:19

that I would really love to do

1:01:21

More watch

1:01:24

designs that push

1:01:27

the limit .

1:01:30

I would like to say and I

1:01:32

could probably go back to

1:01:35

justin and point back to him , but

1:01:37

you know , justin and I , when did

1:01:39

we start watch collecting ? I mean , it hasn't been very

1:01:41

long , I mean it was like 2014

1:01:44

2016

1:01:46

, 16 yep 2016 so

1:01:48

2016 , we

1:01:51

got into the hobby together

1:01:53

, um , and

1:01:55

very quickly . I think

1:01:58

a lot of people like

1:02:01

, for example , we have people that

1:02:03

are that really don't know how

1:02:05

to collect

1:02:07

watch . I know that sounds super weird , like

1:02:09

I have some people in my watch club that super

1:02:14

weird . Like I have some people in my watch club that you know are like I'm scared to be

1:02:17

a watch collector and it's like why ? And it's like I don't , I

1:02:19

don't want to do it wrong . You

1:02:21

know , I don't want to be there . I don't want to be the wrong type of watch

1:02:23

collector . It's like what does that ? What does that even mean ? You know

1:02:25

, I don't even understand what that means . Um

1:02:28

, but the reason why I'm

1:02:30

bringing this up is because , um

1:02:33

, very , very

1:02:35

shortly after I mean , when

1:02:37

did you hear about Stardust , justin ? I mean , it

1:02:39

had to be right around that time , like 2018 .

1:02:41

It was probably 2018 , I

1:02:43

think and I remember

1:02:46

I don't know , maybe this is a little bit later , but

1:02:48

I remember when you guys used to have the topograph

1:02:50

, which was probably 2019

1:02:53

, 2018 , 2019 . I think so . Yes

1:02:55

, so yeah , somewhere in there .

1:02:59

And the only reason why I'm bringing this up

1:03:01

is because that

1:03:03

creates another challenge

1:03:06

and another obstacle , and

1:03:10

I don't even think watch brands even know this . But

1:03:14

you know , something that I

1:03:16

can assume justin felt and I

1:03:18

have certainly felt , um

1:03:20

, is a sense of , uh

1:03:23

, of like comfort

1:03:26

. Does that sound so when

1:03:28

I say it ? But , like , you know , you

1:03:30

guys , you guys are , are

1:03:33

, are , are

1:03:35

not scared to say

1:03:37

, hey , here's , here's

1:03:40

what , what you could consider

1:03:42

as as a watch collector , here's what you could feel

1:03:44

like , here's , here's the experiences you

1:03:46

could have like . And

1:03:48

you know , I , a

1:03:50

lot of watch brands are also scared to

1:03:53

make that first collectors

1:03:55

like that , that newbie collector

1:03:58

, newbie enthusiast watch . They're scared to

1:04:00

make that watch . Um

1:04:02

, but I

1:04:05

, I know that sounds so weird to say I'm

1:04:07

, I've been sitting here like I'm sounding like an idiot , but

1:04:10

I'm like , where are you going with this ? I , I , yeah

1:04:13

, I don't know , but , um , but

1:04:16

no , it's weird because you never get that from

1:04:18

a brand like you look at brands like

1:04:20

seiko or citizen or boulevard

1:04:23

, you know , whatever right , but they don't ever

1:04:25

come from that like warm and

1:04:27

friendly approach

1:04:29

to to buying a watch . You

1:04:32

know , like , am

1:04:34

I ? Am I crazy ? Am I like ? Am

1:04:36

I gonna be tied up with the ? You know

1:04:38

, my arms behind my back and a loony

1:04:40

bin , but it's something that I

1:04:42

felt like . It is that

1:04:46

you guys do like you

1:04:48

know am I right

1:04:50

?

1:04:52

I'll let you go ahead and speak on that , then I'll I'll

1:04:54

come back to that I

1:04:56

think what makes us

1:04:59

different and other micro brands in

1:05:01

comparison to the established

1:05:03

brands is that we

1:05:05

were born out of the internet era

1:05:08

, the e-commerce era , where

1:05:10

you can directly sell

1:05:12

to the customer and get directly

1:05:15

the feedback . When you look at the

1:05:17

other established companies , when

1:05:20

they were founded 100

1:05:22

years ago or even older , it

1:05:24

was a completely different time . Back

1:05:26

then to get the watches , for example

1:05:29

, they sold the watches to jewelers

1:05:31

and jewelers sold the watches

1:05:33

to the clients , so the

1:05:35

watch companies didn't

1:05:38

have any contact with their customers

1:05:40

. Today completely

1:05:42

crazy to think about it . And

1:05:45

of course , when the company is older

1:05:47

, you have established certain

1:05:51

company culture and structures

1:05:53

that makes it difficult

1:05:55

to them to break out . And

1:05:58

because we are such a young company

1:06:00

and I think we have

1:06:02

15 people the

1:06:05

communication is really short . For

1:06:07

example , if I realized

1:06:09

that something is in

1:06:11

danger or doesn't work , we can

1:06:13

change it really quickly . And

1:06:16

this is this , I think

1:06:18

, is the advantage of

1:06:21

smaller , independent brands

1:06:24

that they can get the receive

1:06:26

the feedback directly , have a

1:06:28

closer relationship to the customer

1:06:30

and , as you said

1:06:32

, a more friendlier and not this

1:06:35

high end approach

1:06:37

where you have to go to a jewelry store

1:06:39

and ask them can I

1:06:41

see the watch please ?

1:06:44

so we can I touch the watch .

1:06:46

Yeah , yeah , exactly I

1:06:48

think .

1:06:49

Um , yeah , I was

1:06:51

gonna say I think the big thing and this

1:06:53

is what I've noticed too , bl . Blake , and I know

1:06:56

you kind of mentioning this . I think

1:06:58

the term that you use was like it's kind of cold

1:07:00

feeling , like you know , stirring

1:07:02

glass .

1:07:02

you purchase a watch , yeah .

1:07:04

Yeah , and and you're like , you're like , oh , like there's

1:07:06

so much like warmth and like

1:07:08

friendliness that comes with this . Um

1:07:15

, I personally believe that , especially since it is I don't want to say a smaller company you

1:07:17

guys aren't small , of course but it has a more intimate feel

1:07:19

because of Dustin

1:07:21

leading the company and also

1:07:24

pretty much being portrayed in almost

1:07:26

everything that they do . Whenever

1:07:29

you go to their website , you're seeing Dustin's

1:07:31

face , you're seeing the team , you're seeing an about

1:07:34

me page , you're getting these little

1:07:36

, you know these implications

1:07:38

of it's somebody real

1:07:40

, who's actually giving you a watch , compared

1:07:43

to , uh , you know , going on

1:07:45

you know another watches website

1:07:47

and just clicking the add to car and not

1:07:49

really seeing that , that friendliness

1:07:52

and that warmness ? Um , that was something , and that warmness , that was

1:07:54

something I immediately noticed from them since

1:07:56

day one is like Dustin's not afraid to show

1:07:58

his face . You know , if

1:08:03

you go on Twitch and you watch a streamer nine times out of 10 , you're going to have a more positive

1:08:05

feedback and more community impact

1:08:07

If you're showing your face on a stream

1:08:09

compared to just being off camera . So

1:08:12

I think it goes a long way kind of having that

1:08:14

personal touch .

1:08:16

It's like um , it creates that

1:08:18

sense that that

1:08:20

he's , he's with you on

1:08:22

the journey and he's

1:08:24

showing you like it's okay

1:08:26

, like .

1:08:27

I'm going to be here for you , yeah , stern glass

1:08:30

, you know next time I buy a stern glass , I want Dustin

1:08:32

there with me . Yeah , here for you at stern glass . You know , tell you what next time I buy a stern glass , I want dustin there

1:08:34

with me yeah , hand deliver it , hand

1:08:37

deliver it .

1:08:37

Dust , dust , and we expect it um

1:08:40

.

1:08:41

But no , I would like to add is

1:08:43

that , um , as you mentioned

1:08:45

, that we have this close uh

1:08:48

approach to our customers and

1:08:50

we have in our team three people that are

1:08:52

only for communication and service . If

1:08:55

people new customers have questions

1:08:57

, they can just

1:08:59

text to us a WhatsApp or email

1:09:01

. I can phone us to

1:09:04

see that they are real people and we can

1:09:07

answer your questions and we are open

1:09:09

ear for the feedback

1:09:11

. And , yeah , we try

1:09:14

to show that in our marketing , of course

1:09:16

.

1:09:17

You guys started where

1:09:19

a lot of brands die . And

1:09:22

I say that because if

1:09:24

you look at the original

1:09:27

approach to selling a watch and to be

1:09:30

a watch brand , is you

1:09:32

know , of course you develop the product . To selling

1:09:34

a watch and to be a watch brand is you know , of course you develop the product . Then you go to the jewelers

1:09:36

and say , hey , I hope that you'll help me get the product in front of you

1:09:38

know , the purchasers , the buyers , the whatever

1:09:41

, um , but

1:09:43

you've seen that strategy . Now

1:09:45

people like brands walking back that

1:09:48

strategy right by

1:09:50

opening their own boutiques . Because and

1:09:52

and I I don't know if I said this to

1:09:54

you or whoever I said this to you I say I say I say

1:09:57

a lot of stuff to a lot of people , um , but

1:09:59

but if I buy

1:10:02

, if I buy a stern glass from xyz

1:10:05

jewelers , I'm not

1:10:07

a stern glass customer , I'm an XYZ

1:10:10

Jewelers customer . I

1:10:13

have purchased your product by

1:10:15

way of XYZ Jewelers and

1:10:17

they own that relationship .

1:10:20

Just as like an AD works .

1:10:22

Exactly , exactly

1:10:27

. In-house movements for

1:10:29

one , because you

1:10:32

know it's not like a watchmaker at

1:10:34

your corner , you know , or in your neighborhood

1:10:36

or your local watchmaker can service those

1:10:38

watches or get parts for those watches

1:10:41

, and

1:10:43

then it it it creates

1:10:45

that that loop

1:10:48

of like . Then they are stuck

1:10:50

going back to the brands . You know , but

1:10:53

from you you

1:10:55

started off on the same journey

1:10:58

as the customer and

1:11:02

you're not having to sit there and walk back like

1:11:04

, oh well , let us start opening our own

1:11:06

boutiques and let us start

1:11:08

making in-house calibers and

1:11:11

figuring out these little sneaky ways to

1:11:15

take back the customers that they realized

1:11:17

were never theirs . You

1:11:19

know , um

1:11:22

, and so , like I said , it's

1:11:24

a weird industry , it's a very weird industry

1:11:26

, um , and

1:11:28

I mean , I've been in the industry for a while now

1:11:31

, um , and it's

1:11:33

just these weird little things that I notice . So

1:11:36

, more claps for you guys , thank

1:11:40

you . But

1:11:45

I guess our final thing that we always like to do

1:11:47

is you

1:11:50

know , we appreciate , of course , you know we've already said

1:11:52

that we appreciate you being here , but

1:11:54

we would like to turn our platform over

1:11:56

to you and this

1:11:59

is your opportunity

1:12:01

to speak directly to our

1:12:03

listeners , and

1:12:06

we went through a bunch of stuff here , but

1:12:08

is there anything that

1:12:10

you would like to say directly

1:12:12

to our listeners ? Maybe

1:12:14

we didn't talk about it , maybe you have something

1:12:17

that you feel , maybe you just want to say

1:12:19

thank you , I mean , whatever

1:12:21

it is .

1:12:22

Open mic .

1:12:23

Here is your open mic opportunity to speak

1:12:25

to our listeners .

1:12:28

Thank you for the opportunity and thank

1:12:31

you for listening to this great

1:12:33

podcast . Thank you for the opportunity and thank you for listening to this great

1:12:35

podcast . What you can expect from us , from Sternglass , is that

1:12:37

we provide good

1:12:39

quality watches and an accessible price

1:12:42

, and you can expect

1:12:44

, this year , more product innovations

1:12:46

from us very soon in

1:12:49

the upcoming months , soon in the upcoming months

1:12:51

, something that we developed in the last

1:12:53

two years when I started the company

1:12:55

, when I joined the company-

1:12:57

and

1:13:07

I'm really excited to see the reactions and

1:13:09

to receive the feedback , and we will make sure

1:13:11

we plug all your socials in

1:13:13

our description and obviously we're

1:13:15

going to let people know how they can communicate

1:13:17

with you .

1:13:19

I am not Stern Glass support , justin

1:13:21

is not Stern Glass

1:13:23

support . Of

1:13:26

course , we will be happy to answer questions , but we'll make sure that

1:13:28

we can plug you guys . So

1:13:30

we know our listeners and

1:13:33

this is like I said , this has been one that's been

1:13:35

a long time coming for us

1:13:37

. I think you know , here we are I

1:13:39

don't know 14 or 15 podcasts

1:13:42

in . I mean , we're we're

1:13:44

, we're not old , but we're not new , um

1:13:47

, but this was one that , if

1:13:50

I can speak freely , um

1:13:52

, you know , this is one that we wanted

1:13:54

from a very , very , very early

1:13:56

time .

1:13:58

I've looked forward to this one for a long time .

1:14:00

Yeah , I can say the same safely , and

1:14:03

I know that I don't

1:14:05

own a Stern glass , but

1:14:09

obviously , seeing my best friend , justin , being

1:14:11

so passionate about your brand has

1:14:15

made his impression on me and

1:14:18

it's a brand that I've always

1:14:20

had

1:14:22

, you know , my eyes on

1:14:24

. And

1:14:27

, yeah , I just I'm still waiting

1:14:29

to figure out Because

1:14:31

a lot , you know I'm

1:14:34

a very slow burn when it comes to buying

1:14:36

a watch . You know like I think obsessively

1:14:39

about what I want to buy and

1:14:44

and , yeah , you know I , I'm one of those

1:14:46

people too where you

1:14:48

know I need to get hands on

1:14:51

with something like a part , a

1:14:53

part of the , the experience and the journey of

1:14:55

buying a watch is the

1:14:57

sensation that the watch

1:14:59

provides to me . You know

1:15:01

, which is impossible over

1:15:04

the internet , and you know , thankfully

1:15:06

, these watch shows are popping up that

1:15:08

you guys can . You know you've

1:15:10

attending um , where

1:15:13

you can create that sensation . Um

1:15:16

, cause , I don't even think , I don't even think I've

1:15:18

seen your stern glass . I don't even think I've held your

1:15:20

stern glass , justin , I don't think so . That's

1:15:23

a shame I mean we live on the other side , we

1:15:26

live on the other side of the country though , so

1:15:28

I mean , it's not like I can just ring his doorbell

1:15:31

and borrow a stern glass . You know that's

1:15:34

stupid too . Yeah

1:15:37

, mail it to me . But yeah

1:15:39

, I mean , that's a part of the experience that

1:15:41

I'm looking

1:15:43

forward to you guys

1:15:45

doing , for sure , and

1:15:49

you guys know this . I mean , this is not top secret company

1:15:52

. You know information

1:15:54

, right . This is something that a lot of people

1:15:57

expect , you know , and

1:15:59

the reason why ADs is their

1:16:01

main source and retailers , and you know you guys

1:16:03

have considered and known this . So

1:16:07

it's something that I'm really looking forward to , you know

1:16:10

, to getting hands-on with a timepiece

1:16:12

from Sternglass , to getting hands-on with a timepiece

1:16:15

from Stern Glass .

1:16:16

Yeah , thank you for the opportunity

1:16:18

to speak to you and to your audience . I

1:16:21

really appreciate it to introduce

1:16:23

myself to

1:16:25

the World , to Watch community and

1:16:27

that people can see that the people

1:16:29

behind these companies are also enthusiasts

1:16:32

.

1:16:33

And yeah , thank you very much we're

1:16:36

here with you , yeah yeah

1:16:39

, thank you , we're , we're certainly

1:16:41

, uh , we're certainly walking this journey

1:16:44

, uh , journey with you

1:16:46

, you know for sure . So , and you

1:16:48

know , in the future , our , our audience can

1:16:50

expect , uh , you

1:16:52

know , I'm sure you can , you know , loop us in on your

1:16:54

press outlets and you know we can start

1:16:56

, you know , making sure people know

1:16:58

about what you're working on , what you're releasing , beyond

1:17:00

this podcast and um , and

1:17:02

, yeah , we're certainly going to be walking on the same journey

1:17:05

in the future , for sure . All

1:17:10

right , guys , we have taken way too much

1:17:12

time from kvan and

1:17:14

uh and the stern glass brand

1:17:17

. So , um , thank

1:17:19

you for those of you that made it to the end . Um

1:17:22

, obviously , if

1:17:24

there's , uh , if there's anybody and this

1:17:26

is our open call , we've never

1:17:28

done this either If there's anybody

1:17:31

out there listening that wants to

1:17:33

see a certain brand

1:17:35

, come on , um , let

1:17:37

me . Or the terminator , justin

1:17:40

, no , um , because

1:17:43

we will find them and we will bring them onto this

1:17:45

podcast . So , so

1:17:48

thank you again . Uh , everybody

1:17:51

, we will see you on the next episode

1:17:53

and until then , never

1:17:56

have a lonely wrist .

1:17:59

Thanks everybody , thanks , thank you guys

1:18:01

.

1:18:02

Yeah .