Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast What's on Your Riste? A Watch Podcast

Description:
In this episode of What’s on Your Riste?, Watchovski travels to Saint-Imier to explore Zeitwinkel, one of modern independent watchmaking’s quietest and most uncompromising brands. From the meaning of “Zeitwinkel” itself—the mathematical angle between mean time and true solar time—to the brand’s proprietary German silver movements, asymmetric dial architecture, smoked sapphire displays, and refusal to follow corporate luxury playbooks, this is a story about structural honesty, difficult choices, and the beauty of building watches the hard way.

Keywords:Zeitwinkel, Zeitwinkel watches, independent watchmaking, Swiss independent watches, Saint-Imier, German silver movement, maillechort, ZW0102, ZW0103, Zeitwinkel 273, Zeitwinkel 173, Saphir Fumé, smoked sapphire dial, large date watch, asymmetric dial, three-quarter plate movement, Côtes de Genève, hand finishing, Straumann hairspring, Glucydur balance, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, watch podcast, horology podcast, luxury watches, mechanical watches, Swiss watches, independent horology, honest watchmaking, structural integrity, manufacture movement, boutique watch brand

Links to BOTH companies I discussed today...no affiliate links / no paid sponsorships...I just like these companies and wanted to share...

Amsterdam Watch Co (AWCo) Link

CLOSER Link

Title:

S02E24: Bonus: Amsterdam Watch Co (AWCo) and CLOSER

Description:
Buying a vintage watch from another country means paying a stranger for a description. This bonus episode examines two overseas dealers that earn trust in very different ways: Amsterdam Watch Company, a seven-person shop where every watch is serviced in-house, and CLOSER in Nagoya, whose enormous inventory is backed by a police-issued secondhand dealer license and more than a decade of public feedback.

Along the way, we explore Amsterdam Watch Company’s collaborations with Squale, what a Japanese secondhand-goods ledger has to do with your peace of mind, how changing U.S. import duties affect watch buyers, and the single most revealing question you can ask an overseas seller.

This episode is not sponsored, paid, or affiliated. Nothing was comped or loaned. Amsterdam Watch Company reviewed the portions concerning its business solely for factual accuracy. CLOSER Co., Ltd. was not contacted. Import information was current at the time of recording in September 2026 and should be independently verified before purchasing.

Keywords/Tags:
vintage watches, buying watches overseas, international watch buying, Amsterdam Watch Company, AWCo, CLOSER Japan, CLOSER Nagoya, Squale, Squale Subino, Squale No Radiobino, Squale Milbino, Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, Japanese watch dealers, Dutch watch dealers, watch authentication, trusted watch dealers, Chrono24, eBay watches, watch import duties, U.S. customs, watch tariffs, de minimis exemption, customs forms, secondhand dealer license, kobutsusho kyoka, kobutsu daicho, watch collecting, independent watch dealers, luxury watches, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski

S02E06: The Locker Room is Not Watch School: The Bedazzled Submariner Problem

Description

Professional athletes are some of the most visible watch collectors in the world; but fame, money, and taste do not automatically arrive together.

In this standalone episode of What’s on Your Riste?, Watchovski explores the strange overlap between professional sports, sudden wealth, predatory luxury culture, and the watch industry’s obsession with flash. Beginning with a personal story from an NFL locker room, the episode looks at how young athletes can become targets the moment the windfall arrives — not only for bad investments, but also for watches that look expensive while quietly destroying real value.

From iced-out Rolexes and the “bedazzled Submariner problem” to Jacob & Co., Marcus Stroman, and the quieter virtues of real collecting, this episode argues that the loudest watch in the room is not always the most valuable one. The real lesson is not that athletes have bad taste. It is that taste has to be earned, education matters, and the most meaningful value is often the part no one can see from across the room.

Do not chase the sparkle. Chase the work.

Keywords:

watches, luxury watches, watch collecting, horology, independent watchmaking, Rolex, Rolex Submariner, iced out Rolex, aftermarket diamonds, athlete watches, professional athletes, sports and watches, NFL, football, soccer, Borussia Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon, Marcus Stroman, Jacob & Co, Jacob and Company, Astronomia, luxury culture, sudden wealth, watch education, watch taste, bad watch advice, watch investing, watch value, originality, collector education, fine watchmaking, hand finishing, anglage, black polish, Watchovski, What’s on Your Riste, watch podcast, watch collector, luxury watch podcast

Title: The Hum and the Light: They Invented the Electronic Future and Did Not Get to Keep It

Description:

There is a man in Kyoto named Gunpei Yokoi who won by refusing the newest technology. He called it lateral thinking with withered technology: take the cheap old chip everyone else has thrown away and understand it so completely you can do something nobody expects. In 1989 he put that idea in a gray plastic box called the Game Boy, and the color screens that were supposed to bury it were the ones that got buried.

This episode is about two American companies who believed the exact opposite.

In 1960, Bulova threw out the balance wheel and put a tuning fork in its place, humming three hundred and sixty times a second in a pure F-sharp. The Accutron was guaranteed to two seconds a day when a fine mechanical watch lost thirty. Its most famous version was an accident: Bulova sent dial-less display props to jewelers so people could see the machine work, and customers walked in and demanded to buy the prop. That is the Spaceview.

In 1972, Hamilton went further and built a watch with no moving parts at all. John Bergey got the idea from a movie prop his company had made for 2001: A Space Odyssey, and named the result after the spinning dead stars astronomers had just found. The Pulsar cost $2,100 in solid gold, more than a Rolex, more than the average family car. Johnny Carson joked it would tell you the exact moment you went bankrupt. The first run of four hundred sold out in days. James Bond wore one in Live and Let Die and pressed the button twice, slowly, so the whole theater could watch the future light up.

Then the future arrived, and it was quartz, and it was Japanese, and it was cheap enough to make being advanced worthless. Bulova belongs to Citizen now. Hamilton is a Swiss brand owned by the Swatch Group. And the name Pulsar, the proudest name in American electronic watchmaking, is owned by Seiko.

Two truths that will not cancel each other out: they did not survive the future, and they caused it. Look at any screen you own.

We close on the one machine that outlasted all of them, and on why the programmers in this audience, the people who ship the new thing and delete last spring's thing for a living, come home and wind a mechanical watch. Small but mighty. Keep winding.

Keywords:

Bulova Accutron, Spaceview, tuning fork watch, Max Hetzel, Omar Bradley, Hamilton Pulsar, John Bergey, LED watch, first digital watch, P1 gold Pulsar, Live and Let Die, James Bond watch, Johnny Carson, 2001 A Space Odyssey clock, Seiko Astron, quartz crisis, quartz revolution, American watchmaking, Lancaster Pennsylvania, Biel Switzerland, Gunpei Yokoi, Nintendo Game Boy, withered technology, lateral thinking, Tetris, Citizen, Swatch Group, SSIH, mechanical watch, watch history, watch podcast

Season 2: Episode 5

Contact: RistePodcast@gmail.com

Title:

The Crown Jewels in the Castle — How the Great Houses Were Saved, and What They Paid For It

Description:

The conglomerate episode. In the early 1980s, quartz nearly killed Swisswatchmaking and the giants were the ones dying. This is how Nicolas Hayek refused the funeral and funded the rescue of the most precious mechanical watches on earth with the cheapest plastic one, and what that rescue cost. A tour of the three great houses, Swatch Group, Richemont, and LVMH, and a close look at two jewels locked inside them: Breguet, the source code of the art, and A. Lange & Söhne, bombed, expropriated, erased, and carried back from the dead. The bargain at the center of the modern watch world is simple and a little sad. A brand inside a group buys immortality and pays for it with a little of its wildness. The independents we love are refugees from that same trade.

Keywords:

quartz crisis, swatch group, nicolas hayek, the hayek study, asuag, ssih, omega, longines, tissot, swatch, richemont, johann rupert, cartier, vacheron constantin, jaeger-lecoultre, piaget, iwc, panerai, lvmh, bernard arnault, tag heuer, hublot, zenith, bulgari, breguet, abraham-louis breguet, tourbillon, a. lange & söhne, walter lange, ferdinand adolph lange, glashütte, günter blümlein, lange 1, blancpain, glashütte original, watch conglomerates, luxury watch industry, independent watchmaking, philippe dufour, roger smith, habring, what's on your riste, watchovski, watch podcast, watch collecting, whatsonyourriste

Riste Simnjanovski

S02E22: Make it Black: How the World Got Optimized Into One Color

Description:

Henry Ford said you could have a Model T in any color you liked, so long as it was black. The reason you were taught, that black paint dried faster, is mostly a myth. The real reason is the one that runs this whole episode: one color means the line never has to stop.

This bonus episode starts with a man in a good suit standing very still at the 1923 New York Auto Show, watching seven blue cars stop a crowd in its tracks. That man is Alfred Sloan, and his bet against Ford was that ordinary people would pay real money for something that does nothing for the engine, nothing for the price, and everything for the feeling that the thing you own is a little bit yours. He won. The lacquer that let him do it, DuPont's Duco, started life as a coating sold to pencil makers.

Then it lands on your wrist. The shared workhorse movements from ETA, Sellita, Miyota and Seiko are the Japan Black of watchmaking, and they are a gift: they are the reason a real mechanical watch costs about what a nice dinner costs. But the same logic that made those movements cheap also decides which dial colors you are offered, and why grand feu enamel, guilloché and hand anglage cost what they cost. Every one of those is the line grinding to a halt so somebody can swap the paint. That is not a flaw in craft. That is the definition of it.

Plus a roll call of the makers who stop the line on purpose: Kari Voutilainen and the Comblémine dial workshop, Ochs und Junior letting you pick your own colors, Garrick, Stefan Kudoke, Sarpaneva, and Roger W. Smith making ten watches a year by hand on an island.

Efficiency built the modern world and we are grateful for it. But your watch is one of the very few things in a grown adult's life that gets to be the watercolor instead of the crayon. Do not let the same thing happen to your wrist.

Keywords:

Model T, Henry Ford, Japan Black, Alfred Sloan, General Motors, DuPont Duco, Viscolac, True Blue Oakland, assembly line, standardization, mass production, ETA movements, Sellita, Miyota, Seiko, Seiko 5, Rolex Submariner, no-date Submariner, grand feu enamel, guilloché, anglage, black polish, hand finishing, dial making, Kari Voutilainen, Comblémine, Ochs und Junior, Ludwig Oechslin, Garrick, Stefan Kudoke, Sarpaneva, Roger W. Smith, independent watchmaking, watch podcast

S02E04: The First Thing You See: A Survey of Dial Finishing, From the Workbench Up the Mountain

Decription:

Fifty thousand glances. That is roughly how many times you will look at your watch’s dial over the years you own it, and yet the dial is the part nobody talks about. This episode fixes that. We climb dial finishing like a mountain, one rung at a time, from humble printed dials all the way to hand-painted enamel that costs as much as a house, naming a watch you can actually go find at every step. The surprise of the climb is that some of the most beautiful, genuinely hand-finished dials in the world, like a brushed Fears or a lacquered Laco Cuxhaven, sit near the bottom, at prices a real person can reach. Craft, it turns out, is not gated by price. The only question that matters is whether you can see the hand.

Keywords:

dial finishing, watch dials, sunburst dial, brushed dial, lacquer dial, fumé dial, guilloché, engine turning, grand feu enamel, cloisonné enamel, miniature enamel painting, skeletonized dial, openworked dial, silvered dial, Fears Brunswick, Fears Copper Salmon, Laco Cuxhaven, Grand Seiko, H. Moser, Dornblüth, Naoya Hida, J.N. Shapiro, Czapek, Parmigiani Fleurier, Voutilainen, Anordain, Louis Erard, Donzé Cadrans, Comblémine, Patek Philippe 5531, Bovet, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, affordable hand finished watches, attainable watches, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, watch podcast, independent watchmaking, watch collecting, mechanical watches

Contact: RistePodcast@gmail.com

Season 2, Episode 3 (swapped/moved to sneak in the "shill episode")

Philippe Dufour: The Man Who Refused to Let the Past Be Thrown Away

CORRECTION: Note that I misspoke in a section when I state “his 80s” and should have stated “the 80s” as in the 1980s ;)

Description: He made three watches in forty years. That is the entire body of work that made Philippe Dufour the most revered watchmaker alive.

This episode tells the full story: a boy born into the frozen valleys of Swiss Jura who wanted nothing more than to leave, spent years listening to disappointed customers in Frankfurt and the Caribbean, came home, and quietly built a philosophy of craft that the rest of the industry eventually had to reckon with.

We trace the path from his first commission under someone else's name; the grande sonnerie movements he made for Audemars Piguet that went out wearing AP's name and not his ...to the vow he made after that experience, and what he built because of it.

We cover the three watches: the Grande et Petite Sonnerie that put his own name on the map in 1992, the gloriously unnecessary Duality with its twin balance wheels, and the Simplicity, the watch that does almost nothing and says everything. We spend real time on what hand finishing actually means, why Dufour finishes surfaces nobody will ever see, and why that decision is, at its core, a moral one.

If you have ever wondered why a three-handed watch sells for over a million dollars, this is the episode.

Keywords:

Philippe Dufour, Dufour Simplicity, Dufour Duality, Grande Sonnerie, independent watchmaker, Swiss watchmaking, Vallée de Joux, hand finishing, black polishing, anglage, beveling, haute horlogerie, watch podcast, What's on Your Riste, Watchovski, mechanical watches, independent horology, watchmaking philosophy, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Le Sentier, Gaïa Prize, watch collecting, watch enthusiast, finishing craft, tourbillon, small atelier, single watchmaker, watch auction, Phillips auction, Simplicity anniversary

Description:

A bonus episode, and a single watch. Riste tells the story of a vintage Zenith Yugoslavian Air Force chronograph, cal. 143-6, powered by an Excelsior Park movement. Why a 1940s wartime caliber ended up in a watch ordered in 1954 for the pilots of Tito's non-aligned Yugoslavia. Why the production date of a movement and the issue date of a watch are almost never the same thing. Why the screw-down caseback tells you more than the dial does. And the personal story underneath all of it: a dial handed down by a great- uncle who fixed watches for love and never money, a promise to make it whole, a 2023 break-in, and a stranger who heard the story and finished what family started.

Keywords:

Mentioned in this episode: Zenith, Excelsior Park, the Yugoslav Air Force, the Tito–Stalin split of 1948, Pilot

Contact: RistePodcast@gmail.com

S02E02: “Make a Living, Not a Killing:" The paid-shill economy, the man who became the warning label, and why this show stays independent

Description:

Riste is not exactly in a cuddly mood for this one.

This episode starts in crypto, walks through the rise and collapse of BitBoy, and then brings the whole thing home to watches: the paid-shill economy, undisclosed promotions, fake “honest reviews,” and the quiet little grift of turning an audience’s trust into someone else’s marketing budget.

The point is not that creators should never make money. Make a living. Feed your kids. Take the sponsorship if it fits. But tell the truth about the check. Because the second a paid placement starts pretending to be independent enthusiasm, the audience stops being a community and becomes exit liquidity.

This is a character episode wearing a crypto episode’s clothes — about disclosure, independence, the value of your time, and why What’s on Your Riste? would rather stay small than sell you a fake opinion with a nice watch on its wrist.

No sponsors. No affiliate links. No clever fine print.

Keywords:

watches, watch podcast, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, Riste, Make a Living Not a Killing, BitBoy, Ben Armstrong, crypto, crypto influencers, paid shills, undisclosed sponsorships, watch media, watch YouTube, watch collecting, horology, independent watch media, paid promotion, affiliate links, disclosure, sponsorship ethics, creator economy, influencer marketing, exit liquidity, watch reviews, honest reviews, watch community, independent creators, watch enthusiasm, The Bitcoin Heir Next Door, character, money and morality, hobby culture, collecting culture, watch journalism, luxury watches, microbrands, independent watchmaking

Special thanks to Brandon at: https://horologybythesea.com/ for the corrections and support!!!

Contact: RistePodcast@Gmail.com

https://www.instagram.com/ristepodcast/ or @RistePodcast on Instragram (but I'm better with email).

Episode Title

S02E24: Habring² Follow-Up and my Case for Indies: Velvet Ropes, Purchase History and Bleeding on Shirts (Bonus Ep)

Description

This one opens with an apology. After an earlier episode on Habring², listener Brandon of Horology by the Sea wrote in with corrections and context too good to keep to myself, so we set the record straight on Maria and Richard Habring: why the name is written the way it is, why her name comes first at Richard's insistence, why the workshop moved to Styria, and why Richard would rather chase the next challenge than sell yesterday's glory.

From there we get into the machine. Ferrari allocations. Rolex and Patek purchase history. Birkin pre-spend. Invite-only credit cards, private clubs, selective universities, the rope outside the club and the bottle that buys the table. Then the psychology of why all of it works on us, from the scarcity heuristic and reactance to the old initiation research that explains why suffering to get in makes us love what we find on the other side.

Then the turn, because this is a hopeful episode. The big houses that will simply sell you the watch, Omega, Blancpain, Oris, Grand Seiko, Tudor, and why that openness is admirable rather than ordinary. And finally the difference between two kinds of scarcity: the kind a brand manufactures to keep you grateful, and the honest arithmetic of two people and a bench. One door wants your submission. The other wants your friendship.

Song referenced, not reproduced: "You're So Last Summer" by Taking Back Sunday (Tell All Your Friends, 2002), written by John Nolan. No sponsors. No affiliate links. As always.

Keywords / Tags

Habring2, Maria Habring, Richard Habring, rattrapante, split seconds, Styria, independent watchmaking, watch podcast, horology podcast, Horology by the Sea, scarcity, artificial scarcity, gatekeeping, velvet rope, purchase history, waiting list, allocation, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Nautilus, Aquanaut, Ferrari allocation, Hermes Birkin, luxury psychology, Robert Cialdini, reactance, effort justification, Aronson and Mills, sunk cost, loss aversion, FOMO, status signaling, Omega Speedmaster, MoonSwatch, Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, Oris, Grand Seiko, Tudor, authorized dealer, Taking Back Sunday, John Nolan, watch collecting, Watchovski, What's on Your Riste

Email: RistePodcast@Gmail.com

https://www.instagram.com/ristepodcast/

Description

Welcome back - we missed you!

Season 2 begins with a deep dive into one of the best hidden stories in independent watchmaking.

Before Habring² existed, Richard Habring was already changing modern watchmaking from behind the scenes. As a young engineer at IWC Schaffhausen under legendary industry figure Günter Blümlein, he solved one of horology’s hardest problems: making the split-seconds chronograph affordable for ordinary enthusiasts.

His name wasn’t on the dial.

Then he and Maria Habring made a decision that changed everything. They walked away from the safe, prestigious, invisible path and founded Habring² in a small Austrian town few collectors had ever heard of — building watches slowly, honestly, and entirely on their own terms.

This episode explores:

• ​Richard Habring’s revolutionary affordable rattrapante mechanism
• ​The 20-year wait to legally use his own invention again
• ​The emotional magic of the deadbeat seconds “Erwin”
• ​Austria’s first series-produced manufacture movement, the A11
• ​Why Habring² may be the most quietly authentic independent watchmaker working today
• ​And why the little superscript “²” matters far more than you think

This isn’t just a story about watches. It’s a story about partnership, obscurity, craftsmanship, patience, and what happens when two people decide to put their own name on the line.

Keywords:

Habring2, Habring², Richard Habring, Maria Habring, independent watchmaking, indie watches, luxury watches, watch podcast, horology, mechanical watches, Austrian watchmaking, IWC, IWC Schaffhausen, Günter Blümlein, rattrapante, split seconds chronograph, Doppelchronograph, deadbeat seconds, jumping seconds, seconde morte, Erwin watch, Felix watch, A11 movement, manufacture movement, Valjoux 7750, watch collectors, microbrand watches, haute horology, Swiss watches, Austrian watches, watch enthusiast, independent horology, watchmaking history, luxury podcast, watch collector podcast, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, GPHG, Il Destriero Scafusia, Deep One, Völkermarkt, Carinthia, handmade watches, small batch watchmaking, artisanal watchmaking, mechanical chronograph, watch community, hidden gem watches, sleeper watch brands, Dornblüth, Grönefeld, Journe, F.P. Journe, Czapek, watch culture, enthusiast watches, boutique watch brands; LosNTime (Thanks again Carlos follow him at: https://www.youtube.com/@LosNTime )

THE INTERMISSION

(and a super not-legal, like totally not legal or binding apology to your friends and family for this show)

Description:

Between Season 1 and Season 2, What’s on Your Riste? takes a loose, loving, slightly legally questionable pause to talk about the side of watch collecting nobody puts in the magazines: the little lies. The package that is “just a strap.” The watch that was “basically a trade.” The grail that will definitely be the last one. Probably.

In this intermission special, Watchovski offers a formal apology to all significant others, introduces the first edition of the Watch-to-English Dictionary, reads letters from the other side of the household, and finds the bigger truth underneath all the collecting comedy: we do not hide these things because we are ashamed of the watch. We hide them because we are a little shy about how much we love something, and how much it costs to love it out loud.

No brands required. Bring your spouse.

Keywords:

watch collecting, watch podcast, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, horology, watch collectors, collector humor, watch addiction, luxury watches, independent watchmaking, watch straps, just a strap, Chrono24, WatchRecon, WatchCharts, grail watch, watch collecting jokes, watch spouse, significant others, watch community, mechanical watches, watch buying, watch enthusiast, collector rationalization, watch-to-English dictionary, Season 1 intermission, Season 2 intermission

Season 1: Episode 20 THE FINALE

The Season 1 finale of What's on Your Riste?

Description:

Twenty episodes. An honest accounting of what the season built — from the rabbit-hole opener of Episode 1 to the personal turn of Episode 3, through the four-episode philosophical arc at the heart of the season, across five countries, from G-Shock to F.P. Journe, from hedonia to eudaimonia, from the watches that make you happy to the watches that make you you.

What the show got right. What it didn't finish. And what's promised for Season 2: Philippe Dufour, the guilloché craft episode, Roger W. Smith's full episode, the brother's watch when Riste is ready.

Then: a listener Q&A. Do you have a grail watch? Why skip the big brands? What did making twenty episodes actually teach you? And will this show ever go behind a paywall? Four questions, answered directly and honestly.

Then: listener mail. The letters and stories and confessions from the community — the hedonia and eudaimonia inventories, the Rolex stories, the British watchmaking memories — read on air, responded to with care.

This is the episode where the host steps back, looks at what was built, and talks directly to the people who showed up for all of it.

Season 2 is coming!!!!

Keywords:

watch podcast season finale, what's on your riste, watchovski, whatsonyourriste, season 1 finale, watch collecting, watch community, mechanical watches, horology podcast, watch podcast, grail watch, eudaimonia hedonia watches, F.P. Journe, Rexhep Rexhepi, Philippe Dufour, Voutilainen, guilloché, Dornblüth, Czapek, British watchmaking, American watchmaking, Japan watchmaking, independent watchmakers, watch philosophy, listener mail, watch podcast Q&A, free watch podcast, watch hobby, wristwatch collecting, watch enthusiasts, season 2 preview, watch podcast community, indie watchmakers, haute horlogerie, watch finishing, movement craft

Description:

Episode 19 is the episode What’s on Your Riste? has been building toward since Episode 13: a full deep dive into François-Paul Journe... the most important living independent watchmaker in modern horology.

From his beginnings in Marseille and the restoration workshop of his uncle in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, to building his first hand-made tourbillon over seven years, to founding F.P. Journe in Geneva in 1999, this episode traces the life, philosophy, and technical genius of the man behind some of the most revered watches ever made.

We explore the Tourbillon Souverain, the rose gold movement revolution, the astonishing Chronomètre à Résonance, the Octa collection, the Centigraphe, and the invention-first philosophy behind invenit et fecit...AKA “invented and made.”

This is also the connective tissue episode of the entire season: George Daniels, Philippe Dufour, Rexhep Rexhepi, independent watchmaking, restoration craft, and the idea that the most meaningful watches are physical expressions of obsession, discipline, and imagination.

If you’ve ever wondered why serious collectors speak about Journe with near-religious reverence, this is the episode.

Keywords:

F.P. Journe, François-Paul Journe, independent watchmaking, haute horlogerie, luxury watches, mechanical watches, horology, watch collecting, watch podcast, watch enthusiast, watch collector, Chronomètre à Résonance, Tourbillon Souverain, Chronomètre Souverain, Octa, Octa Lune, Octa Calendrier, Octa UTC, Centigraphe Souverain, Sonnerie Souveraine, Linesport, resonance watch, remontoir d’égalité, tourbillon, George Daniels, Rexhep Rexhepi, Philippe Dufour, Abraham-Louis Breguet, Christiaan Huygens, Antide Janvier, Swiss watches, Geneva watchmaking, independent horology, handcrafted watches, rose gold movement, invenit et fecit, watchmaking history, collector watches, quiet luxury, watch community, Swiss independent watches, Journe resonance, FP Journe resonance, Roger W Smith, Akrivia, Asprey, vintage watches, luxury timepieces, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, modern horology, mechanical artistry, high horology

*This episode is dedicated to Nick Meijer - THANK YOU for the support and suggestions!!!*

TITLE

The Guardian of the El Primero: Charles Vermot and the Movement Hidden Behind a Wall

DESCRIPTION

Zenith’s El Primero should not exist.

During the quartz crisis, the American owners of Zenith ordered the company’s mechanical tooling destroyed, including the presses, dies, plans, and machinery needed to produce the legendary El Primero automatic chronograph movement.

One watchmaker refused.

Charles Vermot secretly carried nine crates of equipment and meticulously organized technical drawings into an attic above the Zenith workshops. He sealed everything behind a wall, returned to his bench, and spent the next nine years assembling quartz watches while the mechanical movement he loved waited silently above his head.

Then the industry changed its mind.

When Zenith needed the El Primero again, Vermot raised his hand, opened the wall, and revealed that everything required to restart production had survived. The movement he saved would return to life, help revive Zenith, and eventually power the celebrated Rolex Daytona reference 16520.

This is the story of the race to create the automatic chronograph, the iconic Zenith A386, the quartz crisis, the birth of the “Zenith Daytona,” and the humble watchmaker who agreed to look wrong for nine years so he could be right forever.

KEYWORDS

Zenith, Zenith El Primero, El Primero, Charles Vermot, The Guardian of the El Primero, Zenith watch history, El Primero history, Zenith A386, A386, automatic chronograph, first automatic chronograph, high beat movement, 36000 vibrations per hour, 36000 vph, column wheel chronograph, integrated chronograph, caliber 3019 PHC, quartz crisis, Swiss watch industry, mechanical watch revival, Le Locle, Swiss watchmaking, horology, watchmaking history, watchmaker, hidden watch movement, hidden attic, Zenith attic, nine crates, Zenith Radio, Dixi, Paul Castella, Ebel chronograph, Rolex Daytona, Zenith Daytona, Rolex Daytona 16520, reference 16520, automatic Daytona, Rolex chronograph history, Seiko 6139, Chronomatic, Calibre 11, Breitling, Heuer, Hamilton, Buren, Dubois Depraz, Movado, vintage Zenith, vintage chronograph, iconic chronographs, luxury watch history, watch collecting, watch collectors, watch podcast, horology podcast, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, Nick Meijer, DailyWatch, 360watch, Kristian Haagen, GPHG Academy

NOTE: This content of this recording was created prior to the learning the unfortunately news that Eddie Platts of Smiths/Timefactors had passed away. Eddie, you were an absolute legend in the space, and you will be greatly missed. To Eddie's family, to Dave and everyone at Timefactors, UK., we love you all.

RIP brother.

https://www.timefactors.com/blogs/news/eddie-platts-1949-2016

*Side note: the Isle of Man is included here as a result of Roger Smith’s origin country*

S01E18: The Country That Invented the Marine Chronometer and Then Forgot It Had: British Watchmaking (George Daniels, Roger W. Smith, Chrisopher Ward, Fears, Garrick, & Smiths)

Description:

Episode 18 explores the extraordinary rise, collapse, and quiet revival of British watchmaking — the country that gave the world the marine chronometer, the lever escapement, and the co-axial escapement… then somehow faded from the center of horology.

From John Harrison solving the longitude problem in 1759 with the legendary H4, to George Daniels reinventing complete hand-built watchmaking in the twentieth century, to Roger W. Smith carrying that tradition forward today on the Isle of Man using tools dating back to the 1820s — this episode traces one of the most important and overlooked stories in modern watch culture.

Plus: Christopher Ward and the Bel Canto’s historic GPHG win, the craftsmanship of Fears and Garrick, the complicated modern story of Bremont, the legacy of Smiths and Timefactors, and why British watchmaking remains one of the most stubbornly authentic corners of the hobby.

This is an episode about invention, craftsmanship, obsession, and the people who kept building watches even when almost nobody asked them to.

Keywords:

British watchmaking, Roger W Smith, George Daniels, John Harrison, Thomas Mudge, marine chronometer, longitude problem, Harrison H4, Daniels Method, co-axial escapement, lever escapement, independent watchmaking, British horology, Isle of Man, Christopher Ward, Bel Canto, GPHG, Petite Aiguille, Fears watches, Garrick watches, Andreas Strehler, Bremont, Smiths Everest, Timefactors, Pete Speake, Charles Frodsham, Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, David Brailsford, Simon Michlmayr, Mike France, Peter Ellis, Davide Cerrato, Nick English, Giles English, luxury watches, mechanical watches, haute horlogerie, watch collecting, watch enthusiast, watch podcast, horology, independent watches, British luxury, handmade watches, watchmaking history, tool watches, chronometer, Rolex, Omega co-axial, F.P. Journe, Rexhep Rexhepi, Akrivia, Swiss watches, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, quiet luxury, collector watches

Description:

A listener (Nate, hello to the folks in Boise, ID) wrote in with a question his friends all think is silly: he refuses to buy any modern Swatch Group watch because Powermatic 80 movements are reportedly swapped rather than serviced, and he wants watches he can actually pass down to his son. This bonus episode takes that question seriously, start to finish.

First, what's really inside a Powermatic 80; the ETA 2824 architecture underneath, the eighty-hour power reserve, and which grades get a polymer escapement, which get Nivachron, and which get a silicon hairspring and a chronometer certificate. Then the service question, with a hard line drawn between what we know for certain and what's only strongly reported: the parts pipeline that flows one direction toward the factory, and the movement swap that reportedly happens at the entry level.

Then the plot twist most people haven't heard. Exchange servicing goes way upmarket...Tudor's in-house Kenissi calibers are reportedly swapped too, while the old ETA-based Tudors still get the white-glove teardown. Seiko reportedly does the same at the entry level. The line our listener drew around one corporation, the practice doesn't respect at all.

And finally, the grandfather's axe: why every heirloom watch is already full of replaced parts, why originality was never about the atoms, and where to redraw the line if repairability by human hands is one of your values. The feeling is legitimate. The boundary is just in the wrong place.

To the listener: you're not being silly. You're a philosopher ;)

I'm Watchovski. Wear something good.

Keywords:

What's on Your Riste, watch podcast, Watchovski, Powermatic 80, ETA 2824, ETA C07, Swatch Group, Tissot, Certina, Mido, Rado, Hamilton, Longines, Blancpain, Omega, Nicolas Hayek, Sistem51, movement swap, exchange servicing, watch servicing, watch repair, parts supply, Tudor, Kenissi, Seiko, Sellita, Miyota, Habring, heirloom watches, passing down watches, Ship of Theseus, grandfather's axe, originality, mechanical watches, serviceability, watch collecting

S01E17: Japan, Part Two, The Indies: Hajime Asaoka, Naoya Hida, Masahiro Kikuno, Kurono Tokyo, & Kuoe

Note: A reference is made when talking about Kuoe and Smiths. This was recorded prior to the passing of Eddie. RIP brother.

Description:

In Episode 17 of What’s on Your Riste?, Watchovski explores the quiet apex of Japanese watchmaking: the independent makers operating outside the institutional system, often alone, producing some of the most extraordinary watches in modern horology.

From Hajime Asaoka teaching himself watchmaking with George Daniels’s book and machines bought on eBay… to Masahiro Kikuno going from military rifle technician to one of the world’s most respected independent watchmakers… to Naoya Hida spending nearly three decades inside Swiss luxury before launching the dress watches he always wished existed — this episode dives deep into the people, philosophy, and craftsmanship shaping Japan’s indie watch renaissance.

Plus: Kurono Tokyo, Kuoe Kyoto, the AHCI, Wadokei temporal hour watches, mokume-gane dials, and the direct lineage from George Daniels to modern Japanese independent horology.

If you love independent watchmaking, quiet luxury, craftsmanship, and the stories behind mechanical watches, this is one of the most important episodes of the series so far.

Keywords:

Hajime Asaoka, Naoya Hida, Masahiro Kikuno, Kurono Tokyo, Kuoe, Kuoe Kyoto, Kenji Uchimura, AHCI, Japanese watchmaking, Japanese independent watchmaking, independent watchmakers, indie watches, George Daniels, Roger W Smith, Philippe Dufour, Rexhep Rexhepi, F.P. Journe, haute horlogerie, luxury watches, mechanical watches, horology, watch collecting, watch podcast, watch enthusiast, watch collector, Tsunami watch, Project T, Wadokei, mokume-gane, Hiko Mizuno, WOSTEP, Type 1 watch, Type 2 watch, Valjoux 23, vintage inspired watches, Japanese microbrands, Kurono, Kuoe Old Smith, Royal Smith, Tokyo watchmaker, Kyoto watches, artisan watchmaking, handcrafted watches, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, quiet luxury, collector watches, independent horology, British watchmaking teaser, Daniels method, watchmaking history

S01E16: Japan, Part One — The Country That Quietly Won the Engineering War (Seiko, Grand Seiko, Citizen and Casio)

Description:

For decades, Switzerland has dominated the story of luxury watchmaking. But what if Japan quietly won the engineering war while the West wasn’t paying attention?

In this episode of What’s on Your Riste?, Watchovski dives deep into the extraordinary rise of Japanese horology — from Seiko’s shocking performance at the Neuchâtel and Geneva Observatory competitions in the 1960s, to the invention of Spring Drive, one of the most technically fascinating movement architectures ever created.

We explore the origins of Grand Seiko, the legendary Snowflake dial, the tragic and inspiring story of Yoshikazu Akahane, and the hidden world of Credor’s Micro Artist Studio — where some of the finest watch finishing on Earth is happening in near secrecy in the mountains of Nagano.

Plus: Citizen’s astonishing Caliber 0100, Casio Oceanus, King Seiko, Orient, and why Japanese watchmaking deserves to be viewed not as an alternative to Swiss horology — but as a parallel tradition entirely.

This is Part One of a two-part journey into Japan’s watchmaking culture, engineering philosophy, and quiet pursuit of perfection.

Keywords:

Japan watches, Japanese watchmaking, Grand Seiko, Seiko, Credor, Citizen, Casio Oceanus, Spring Drive, Yoshikazu Akahane, Snowflake SBGA211, Seiko Observatory Trials, Neuchâtel Observatory, Geneva Observatory, Japanese horology, luxury watches, independent watchmaking, Credor Eichi II, Micro Artist Studio, Philippe Dufour, Citizen Caliber 0100, Eco Drive, King Seiko, Orient Star, mechanical watches, haute horlogerie, Swiss watches, watch collecting, horology, watch podcast, Watchovski, What’s on Your Riste, Spring Drive history, Grand Seiko Snowflake, Seiko history, Japanese engineering, watch enthusiast, luxury timepieces, automatic watches, watchmaking history, Seiko vs Swiss, quiet luxury, high horology, independent watches, precision watchmaking, titanium watches, GS Snowflake, Zaratsu polishing, Seiko Epson, Shinshu Watch Studio, Shizukuishi, watch collectors, mechanical engineering, Japanese craftsmanship

Episode 15: "American Watchmaking — The Industry That Died and Is Being Rebuilt"

You can find a ton of info on more American brands here:

https://americanwatchmakingdirectory.org

Description:

America was once the watchmaking capital of the world (Waltham, Elgin, Hamilton, Gruen)

producing over 100 million pocket watches between 1850 and 1950, inventing the railroad-grade

accuracy standard, and teaching American production methods to European manufacturers.

Then, across the second half of the twentieth century, the industry almost entirely collapsed.

Hamilton's last movement rolled off the Lancaster, Pennsylvania line in 1969. The next

American-made mechanical movement wouldn't appear for 38 years.

This episode traces both the collapse and the quiet, determined rebuild; through five brands

working at very different levels and price points. Vortic Watch Company in Fort Collins,

Colorado, restores antique American pocket watch movements from Illinois, Elgin, Waltham,

Ball, Hamilton, and Hamilton and converts them into wristwatches using cases made in their

own Colorado facility...the most direct possible bridge between the original American

watchmaking industry and the present. Cincinnati Watch Company, founded in 2018 by Rick

Bell and Mark Stegman with WOSTEP-certified co-owner watchmaker Jordan Ficklin, is the first

brand to assemble watches in Cincinnati since Gruen closed in 1958. Weiss Watch Company,

founded in Los Angeles in 2013 by WOSTEP-trained Cameron Weiss, makes the Caliber 1003 in-

house — machined, hand-jeweled, plated, and finished in California. RGM Watch Company,

founded in 1992 by Roland G. Murphy in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, produced the first American-

made mechanical movement in 38 years with the 2007/2008 Caliber 801, and then the first

American tourbillon with the Pennsylvania Tourbillon. And J.N. Shapiro Watches, run by former

school principal Joshua Shapiro in Inglewood, California, released the Resurgence in 2023... a

watch with 148 of 180 components made in their California workshop, meeting the FTC's all or

virtually all standard for the first time since 1969. Plus: the 2015 Hodinkee article by Nicholas

Manousos, the FTC investigation into the American watch industry's use of Made in USA, and

what the reckoning ultimately produced.

Keywords:American watchmaking, Made in USA watches, American horology, Vortic Watch Company, Cincinnati Watch Company, Weiss Watch Company, RGM Watches, J.N. Shapiro, American luxury watches, American pocket watches, Waltham Watch Company, Elgin watches, Hamilton watches, Gruen watches, railroad grade watches, mechanical watches, independent watchmaking, in house movement, American made movement, Swiss watches vs American watches, FTC Made in USA, Nicholas Manousos, Hodinkee, watch collecting, horology podcast, luxury watch podcast, watch enthusiast, watchmaking history, vintage pocket watches, handmade watches, guilloché dial, engine turned dial, tourbillon, Caliber 801, Weiss Caliber 1003, J.N. Shapiro Resurgence, Pennsylvania Tourbillon, WOSTEP, AWCI, haute horlogerie, independent watch brands, watch industry history, American manufacturing, wristwatch history, watch restoration, antique pocket watches, horological history, luxury mechanical watches, microbrand watches, Watchovski, What’s On Your Riste

*This one is for my watch brother from another mother in Idaho*

Description

Bonus Episode: Bonus Episode for Nate: “Between the Words:" Mühle-Glashütte and Lip (of Besançon)

…I goofed with the “lip” and “nose” line, you’ll catch it, but I don’t want to re-record, so here we are…I’ve accepted my imperfections, you should not ;)

Let’s get into it…in 3rd person because is sounds fancier.

A listener once told Watchovski that he keeps listening because he can hear what the show isn’t saying. So this bonus episode follows that thread into two watches whose deepest meaning lives in silence.

First, Mühle-Glashütte... the quiet one in Germany’s loudest watchmaking town. A family-run maker that could talk endlessly about pedigree, but instead points toward the sea, search-and-rescue crews, and watches built for the people who come for you when things go wrong.

Then, Lip ... the great French watchmaker whose most immortal moment came not from a complication, a celebrity wrist, or a luxury campaign, but from the workers who occupied the factory in 1973, restarted production themselves, and declared: we make them, we sell them, we pay ourselves.

One silence is humble. One silence is radical. Both point to the same truth: the watch was never really about the wrist that wears it.

A very sincere tip of the hat to Nate from Idaho, whose suggestion gave this episode its shape — and who clearly knows how to listen between the words.

Keywords:

Mühle-Glashütte, Muhle Glashutte, Lip watches, What’s On Your Riste, Watchovski, Between the Words, watch podcast, horology podcast, German watches, French watches, Glashütte, Besançon, Mühle S.A.R. Rescue-Timer, SAR Rescue Timer, German Maritime Search and Rescue Service, woodpecker-neck regulation, tool watches, family-owned watch brand, Lip Mach 2000, Roger Tallon, Lip R27, electric watches, 1973 Lip factory occupation, French labor history, watchmaking history, vintage watches, independent watchmaking, underappreciated watch brands, watch culture, horology, mechanical watches, meaningful watches, watches with stories, Nate from Idaho, WatchCrunch

Episode 14: “A Reset Button — The Tool Watch Episode”

Special Thanks to Vuk Radic at ItsAboutTime (https://www.itsabouttime.email)….check out his amazing watch newsletter!!! Solid, up to date new releases and awesome “Easter Eggs” he throws in on every update. One of the few Newsletters I sign up for and I encourage listeners to do the same!

Ok, about this week…

After a four-episode philosophical arc on the deep end of independent watchmaking—Rolex, the Renaud & Papi diaspora, Rexhep Rexhepi, and more—Watchovski hits the reset button.

Six full brand segments climb from $50 to $4,000+ through the world of actual tool watches:

* G-Shock — the watch that made the category, including the 5610 Square, the GW-M5610 Solar Atomic, and the GA-2100 “Casioak.”

* Citizen Promaster — carrying on the Eco-Drive solar tradition, including the BN0150 “Fugu” and the Aqualand.

* Seiko Prospex — featuring the SKX, Turtle, Monster, Sumo, and the modern SPB-series.

* Marathon Watch Company — the Canadian defense contractor behind the GSAR and MSAR, known for genuine tritium tubes and currently supplying watches to U.S. and Canadian military forces.

* CWC (Cabot Watch Company) — the British Ministry of Defence supplier that replaced the Rolex MilSub for the Royal Navy in 1980, with the SBS Diver still issued to British special forces today.

* Sinn Spezialuhren — the apex of German engineering, featuring Tegiment Technology, Ar-Dehumidifying Technology, the 856 daily wearer, the U-series submarine steel divers, and the UX GSG 9, issued to German federal counter-terror operators.

Plus honorable mentions for the Tudor Pelagos FXD (commissioned by the French Marine Nationale), Damasko, and the Hamilton Khaki Field.

The Thesis:

Tool watches are the reset button. The watches you don’t take off. The watches

whose value lives in what they let you stop thinking about. Not lesser watchmaking...

different watchmaking, in service of a different relationship to time.

Keywords:

Mentioned in this episode: Casio G-Shock DW-5610, GW-M5610, GA-2100 (“Casioak”),

Kikuo Ibe, Citizen Promaster BN0150 (“Fugu”), Aqualand, Skyhawk, Eco-Drive, Seiko

SKX007/009, SRP777 (“Turtle”), Seiko Monster, Sumo, Samurai, SPB-series, 6R movements,

Marathon GSAR/MSAR/Navigator/JSAR, tritium H3 gas tubes, CWC SBS Diver, CWC G10,

Royal Navy MilSub history, Sinn 556, 856, U1, U50, UX GSG 9, Tegiment Technology, Ar-

Dehumidifying Technology, Helmut Sinn (callback to Ep 9), Lothar Schmidt, Tudor Pelagos

FXD, French Marine Nationale, Damasko, Hamilton Khaki Field H-50.

Subscribe. Tell a friend. Wear something good — whatever good means to you

What's up @Dumihed (Mike) on WatchCrunch, this episode is for you dude!

Bonus Episode (Season 1, secret Episode 22): “The Mighty Middle”

Spotify Description:

A man at a watch meetup apologized for his Hamilton, and this episode is the forty-five-minute rebuttal.

A fast, joyful tour of twenty mid-tier brands that punch absurdly above their weight: Longines, Certina, Mido, Hamilton, Frédérique Constant, Alpina, Oris, Nomos, Sinn, Damasko, Formex, Stowa, Marathon, Doxa, Kurono Tokyo, anOrdain, Furlan Marri, Baltic, Yema, and Raketa.

Real history, real engineering, honest prices, and one superpower per brand.

Tour route, not a ranking.

Never say “just.”

Bonus episode.

Keywords:

best value watches, mid-tier watch brands, Longines, Certina, Mido, Hamilton Khaki Field, Frédérique Constant, Alpina, Oris Calibre 400, Nomos Glashütte, Sinn, Damasko, Formex, Stowa flieger, Marathon GSAR, Doxa SUB 300, Kurono Tokyo, anOrdain enamel, Furlan Marri, Baltic watches, Yema, Raketa, affordable mechanical watches, watch podcast, watches under 2000

A twenty-brand tour of mid-tier watchmaking that punches above its weight.

Tour route, not a ranking.

Riste's Extended Show Notes...i.e. The Brands and Models Mentioned:

1. ​Longines — Spirit Zulu Time, Legend Diver, HydroConquest, Ultra Chron, Master Collection
2. ​Certina — DS Action Diver, DS PH200M
3. ​Mido — Ocean Star, including COSC Caliber 80 versions; Ocean Star Tribute; Multifort; Baroncelli
4. ​Hamilton — Khaki Field Mechanical, Ventura, Murph
5. ​Frédérique Constant — Highlife Perpetual Calendar Manufacture, Classic Worldtimer Manufacture, Slimline Moonphase
6. ​Alpina — Alpiner 4, Startimer Pilot
7. ​Oris — Aquis Calibre 400, ProPilot X, Divers Sixty-Five, Big Crown Pointer Date, Carl Brashear editions
8. ​Nomos — Tangente, Orion, Metro, Club Campus
9. ​Sinn — 556, 104, U50
10. ​Damasko — DA36, DA38, DC56
11. ​Formex — Essence Chronometer, Reef
12. ​Stowa — Flieger Classic 40, Marine, Antea
13. ​Marathon — GSAR, MSAR, Navigator
14. ​Doxa — SUB 300, SUB 300T, Professional, Sharkhunter
15. ​Kurono Tokyo — Chronograph 2, Mori, Calendrier
16. ​anOrdain — Model 1, Model 2
17. ​Furlan Marri — Mr. Grey, mechanical sector-dial line
18. ​Baltic — Aquascaphe, Hermétique, Tricompax, MR01
19. ​Yema — Superman, Rallygraf, Spacegraf
20. ​Raketa — Big Zero, 24-hour polar watches

Dropped Early for you Ethan! Hello to you all in Walla Walla dude!!!

Season 1 Episode 13 (Akrivia and Rexhep Rexhepi)

Title: Rexhep Rexhepi: The Refugee Who Became the Most-Watched Watchmaker Alive

Description:

Episode 13 of What’s on Your Riste? tells the extraordinary story of Rexhep Rexhepi; the Kosovan refugee who became one of the most respected watchmakers alive. From fleeing war at age twelve to earning a coveted apprenticeship at Patek Philippe, then working under François-Paul Journe before founding Akrivia at just twenty five, this episode explores the philosophy, discipline, and artistry behind modern independent watchmaking.

We dive deep into the legendary Chronomètre Contemporain (RRCC), Philippe Dufour’s praise of Rexhep’s work, the meaning of truly quiet luxury, and why some collectors believe Akrivia represents the apex of modern horology. This is the climax of the Rolex → Renaud & Papi → Rexhep trilogy...and a meditation on what it means to wear a watch nobody else recognizes, but you understand completely.

KEYWORDS:

Rexhep Rexhepi, Akrivia, Independent watchmaking, Luxury watches, Haute horlogerie, Watch collecting, Swiss watches, Chronomètre Contemporain, RRCC, RRCC II, Philippe Dufour, F.P. Journe, François-Paul Journe, Patek Philippe, Geneva watchmaking, Only Watch, Watch podcast, Horology, Watch enthusiast, Luxury timepieces, Mechanical watches, Grand feu enamel, Bombé finishing, Jean-Pierre Hagmann, Watchmaking history, Independent watch brands, Rolex vs independents, Quiet luxury, Collector watches, High horology, Watch community, Geneva watchmakers, Tourbillon, Deadbeat seconds, Watch collectors, The Hour Glass, Michael Tay, Kari Voutilainen, George Daniels, Modern watchmaking, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski

It’s the late 1990s. Le Locle, Switzerland. A small workshop in a town most Americans

couldn’t find on a map.

Inside that workshop, working on grand complications... minute repeaters, tourbillons,

perpetual calendars... there are a handful of young watchmakers sitting at adjacent

benches. Some are in their twenties. Some are in their thirties. Most of them are broke. Not

one of them is famous.

In about twenty years, the watches built by the people in that one workshop will sell for the

price of a house. The price of three houses. The price of an apartment building.

And almost every brand you’d consider the names of modern independent watchmaking...

almost every single one... will trace its origin to that single room.

Keywords: Renaud & Papi, Patek, Rolex, Greubel Forsey, the Grönefelds, Pequignet

Episode 11: So Your Friend Wants a Rolex

What do you say when your friend tells you they want a Rolex? In this episode, Watchovski has an honest, respectful conversation about Rolex, collecting, and the danger of letting other people’s taste shape your own watch journey. From the Submariner 14060M and Sea-Dweller 16600 to the Omega Seamaster Peter Blake, this episode explores why great watches still may not be your watches.

We talk about Rolex admiration, collector pressure, the difference between informing and redirecting, and why sometimes the best advice is simple: help your friend get the watch they actually want. Plus, a tease for Episode 12 on the Renaud & Papi diaspora and the future of independent watchmaking.

Keywords:

Rolex, Rolex Submariner, Rolex 14060M, Rolex Sea-Dweller, Rolex 16600, Rolex GMT-Master II, Rolex Pepsi, Rolex 16710, Rolex Explorer, Rolex 116000, Omega Seamaster, Omega Peter Blake, Omega 2254.50, Omega 2264.50, Steel Reef, watch collecting, watch collector, luxury watches, mechanical watches, Swiss watches, Rolex buying advice, first Rolex, should I buy a Rolex, authorized dealer, Rolex AD, watch enthusiast, independent watchmaking, microbrands, Grand Seiko, Tudor, Czapek, watch podcast, horology podcast, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, Renaud and Papi, Audemars Piguet, Greubel Forsey, Grönefeld, Pequignet, eudaimonia, hedonia, collector mistakes, watch community

Description

A bonus episode of What's on Your Riste? — but this one isn't for watch people. It's for the people who love them anyway.

The partners who've rolled their eyes at the Christmas present. The parents who've been politely confused for two decades. The siblings, the friends, the coworkers who've sat through one too many monologues about lug width and movement finishing and finally asked, with real exasperation, why are you like this?

In about forty-five minutes, we try to answer honestly. The art — what it means that someone hand-polishes a piece of metal you'll never see. The history — three hundred years of an unbroken chain that began with a self-taught carpenter trying to keep sailors from drowning. The psychology — why collecting is one of the oldest things humans do, and what Aristotle figured out about pleasure that explains the whole hobby. The photographs you'll be in forever, and what gets to be on your wrist in them.

And the part almost nobody on the outside knows about: the community. A text group of people who would, statistically, disagree about almost everything else — different countries, generations, religions, politics — sitting down every day, for years, to pay attention to the same small beautiful object together. The watches are the excuse. The people are the point.

No prior knowledge required. No jargon without translation. Just us, trying to explain ourselves, gently, to the people who've asked.

Send this to the person in your life who keeps wondering. We made it for them.

Keywords:

watch collecting, why watches, watch hobby, mechanical watches, wristwatch, non-watch people, explaining the hobby, watch community, watch enthusiasts, horology for beginners, shokunin, craftsmanship, heirloom watches, wedding watch, eudaimonia, hedonia, Aristotle pleasure, Patek Philippe generations, luxury watch culture, watch text group, watch meetups, collecting psychology, John Harrison marine chronometer, Omega Speedmaster moon, hand-finished movements, guilloché, patina, wrist presence, grail watch, watch podcast bonus episode, what's on your riste, watchovski, what's on you riste

Episode 10 — Description

Hedonia & Eudaimonia: Why Some Watches Make You Happy, and Others Make You You

Aristotle laid out the framework 2,400 years ago. Watchovski applies it to your wrist.

Today's episode is the philosophy episode the watch community has been quietly circling for years without naming. Two ancient Greek words... hedonia (short-term pleasure, joy, the dopamine hit) and eudaimonia (deeper meaning, identity, human flourishing) ... explain almost every watch decision you'll ever make.

Why a Studio Underd0g Watermel0n is a perfectly legitimate purchase. Why a watch you inherited carries a weight no review can capture. Why a collection made of only fun pieces eventually feels empty; and why a collection made of only meaningful pieces becomes a shrine you're afraid to wear. Plus the sneaky third trap most collectors fall into: mistaking someone else's eudaimonia for their own... buying watches because other collectors told you they "should" be meaningful, and waiting for the meaning to arrive on your wrist while it stubbornly refuses.

Includes a listener prompt: which watches in your collection live where on the spectrum, and which direction are they moving? Send your stories for a future community episode.

Coming next: Episode 11 : So Your Friend Wants a Rolex.

Keywords:watch collecting · hedonia · eudaimonia · Aristotle · watch philosophy · collector vs speculator · meaningful watches;why we buy watches · Studio Underd0g · Mr. Jones Watches · independent watchmaking · watch psychology · luxury watch buying decision · watch collecting framework · how to choose a watch; what makes a watch meaningful · watch as identity · should I buy this watch · hobby philosophy watches · how to build a watch collection · why I sold my watch · watch collector mistakes

watch collecting podcast 2026

SEO Keywords (Spotify)

Another Episode of Watch Stories!

There is a small village in central Germany called Kalbe.

You have not heard of it. There’s no real reason you would have. Seventy-five hundred

people live there. There is no famous restaurant. The most prominent landmark is the ruins

of a ninth-century castle. The town doesn’t show up on any tourism map.

And in a modest two-story house with a pointed gable, on a quiet street, with a small creek

running through the property and apple and plum trees in the yard...there is a workshop.

Nine people work there. They make somewhere between one hundred and twenty and one

hundred and eighty watches per year. Total.

You have probably never heard of them either.

This is the story of why that’s a problem.

Keywords: Independent Watchmaking, Germany, Kalbe, Dornbluth, Dornblueth & Sohn, Unitas

What if I told you that one of the founders of Patek Philippe — the Patek Philippe, the most

prestigious watch brand in the world — got pushed out, in a bitter falling-out, one hundred

and eighty years ago — and that his original brand was completely forgotten for over a

century — and that ten years ago, a small team in Geneva resurrected his name and started

making watches again, and most people in this hobby still have no idea who he is?

That’s our episode today.

This is the story of Czapek — CHAP-eck — the watchmaker who founded Patek, and the

modern brand bringing his name back from the dead.

Keywords: Czapek, Patek, Independent Watchmaking, Collective Horology, Oster, SXH5

This episode is going to make some of you uncomfortable. It’s going to ask you to look at

your collection ...your beautiful, considered, lovingly curated collection... and think about it

the way someone trying to take it would think about it.

That is not a fun mental exercise.

This is the conversation I wish someone had with me before I lost everything.

Keywords: Storage, Collections, Break In, Theft, Robbery, Security, Incurance for Watch Collections

Updated BOOKS at the bottom now!!!

The Vintage-ish Episode... Omega, Ardath, Cartier, Piaget, Chopard & GP

Keywords: how to buy vintage watches, Frankenwatch, vintage Cartier Pasha Seatimer, Omega 2279 pre-321, vintage Piaget, vintage Girard-Perregaux, service dial vs original

How to Buy Vintage Watches Without Getting Burned: Frankenwatches, Service Dials, and the 10-Point Checklist

Got a great question about books, so this has been updated!!!! See some suggested books if you’re a “physical book person” like me ;)

Vintage Watch Reference Library

Riste’s Notes:

For listeners looking to go deeper into vintage watches, these are some of the authoritative references we recommend for researching models, movements, dials, case configurations, and period-correct details before buying:

Omega
Marco Richon — Omega Saga: The Story of a Watchmaking Brand
Alberto Isnardi — The Master of Omega

Omega Speedmaster
Grégoire Rossier & Anthony Marquié — Moonwatch Only: The Ultimate Omega Speedmaster Guide

Rolex
James M. Dowling & Jeffrey P. Hess — The Best of Time: Rolex Wristwatches — An Unauthorized History
Martin Skeet & Nick Urul — Vintage Rolex Sports Models: A Complete Visual Reference & Unauthorized History

Heuer
Arno Michael Haslinger — Heuer Chronographs: 1960s–1980s

Longines
John Goldberger — Longines: Legendary Watches

Patek Philippe
Martin Huber & Alan Banbery — Patek Philippe Wristwatches

A personal note on vintage research: No single reference should be treated as infallible. For significant purchases, cross-reference books with manufacturer archives, period catalogs, documented examples, and respected marque specialists. When the dial, case, movement, and reference all tell the same story, you’re on much firmer ground.

Let's have fun this week!

Mr. Jones Watches, Studio Underd0g & Zelos are covered this week...and a special fashion watch ;)...teased for episode 6...

Keywords: Studio Underd0g review, Studio Underdog watermelon, Zelos Hammerhead, Mr. Jones watches London, microbrand watches 2026, fun watches under $1000

The Decoy Effect...and an introduction into Yema, Horage and H. Moser & Cie.

Keywords: Yema Superman review, Yema micro-rotor, Horage K1 movement, H Moser Endeavour pre-owned, Moser Venturer 18kt gold, decoy effect

(Audio sucks at the start, (before music) sorry, re-recorded once I realized the episode didn't work without covering the horribel part...so I included it this time).

Last episode, I told you we'd talk about the watch that started it for me.

I want to be honest with you up front. This episode is going to be different. It's going to be more personal than I planned. There are some things I haven't really talked about publicly before, and I'm going to talk about them today — because I don't think this story works without them.

So. Take a breath. Pour something. Settle in.

This is the story of the watches that made me...

Keywords: vintage Zenith 143-6 Yugoslavian Air Force, Smiths Everest cream dial, Grand Seiko SBGF009 quartz, watch community stories, watches with sentimental meaning

Okay, so picture this. You’re at a party. Someone notices your watch. They go, ‘Oh nice, is that a Rolex?'

And you say, ‘No, actually, it’s a Bovet.’

(awkward silence)....Bow-whaatt?

Yeah...that's the conversation we're having today.

Keywords: The New Longines HydroConquest 2025 Plus the Independents That Should Be on Your Radar: Fears, Bovet, Parmigiani; Longines HydroConquest review, new HydroConquest 2025, Fears watches Bristol, Bovet 1822 review, Parmigiani Tonda PF

If you listened to Episode 001 and were as frustrated with the music overlay (thanks Spotify and Riverside for deleting my voice breaks and throwing music over it), I think I've got it fixed here...but I'll leave the one with errors up just so we have the memories of my ignorance.

"Welcome to the Rabbit Hole"

S01E01: Watch Collecting for Beginners: Rolex, Patek, AP and the Independents Nobody Tells You About (Czapek, Laine, Dornbluth)

Quick question. And be honest with yourself.

How many times did you check your wrist today... even though you already knew what time it was?

Yeah. That's why you're here.

Keywords: watch collecting beginner, Rolex vs Patek vs AP, independent watchmakers, Czapek watches, Dornbluth, Laine watches

The trailer for: "What's on Your Riste: A Watch Podcast"

Media Contact: RistePodcast@gmail.com

Instagram: @RistePodcast