Openwork: Inside the Watch Industry

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Latest Episodes:

Geneva Watch Days 2025 – Facing Global Challenges, the Watch Industry Turns to Creativity – Episode 49 Sep 04, 2025

Show notes

We're live from Switzerland with our take on Geneva Watch Days 2025. We discuss what we're hearing in the meeting rooms, our takeaways from this week's releases, as well as how the show and industry more broadly are adapting to a turbulent environment.

Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.

You can find us online at collectivehorology.com. To get in touch with suggestions, feedback or questions, email podcast@collectivehorology.com.

The Watch Industry’s Busiest Summer – Geneva Watch  Days Preview,  Swiss Exports,  Plus Richemont  Earnings – Episode 48 Sep 01, 2025

Show notes

Summertime, usually a downtime in the watch industry, has been particularly busy this year. On this episode of Openwork, we're looking at three timely stories: A preview of Geneva Watch Days, the latest Swiss watch export data, and Richemont's most recent quarterly earnings. Taken all together, these current events demonstrate the watch industry isn't lacking for intrigue in the waning days of summer.

Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.

You can find us online at collectivehorology.com. To get in touch with suggestions, feedback or questions, email podcast@collectivehorology.com.

The Industry's Most Important Watches – From the Quartz Crisis to Today – Episode 47 Aug 18, 2025

Show notes

On this episode of Openwork, we explore the watches that shaped both the watch industry and global culture. Our focus is on the modern era—from the Quartz Crisis to today.

Each of us selects three watches that transformed the industry, influenced how we collect, and left their mark far beyond the world of horology. We also each choose the most important industry executive of the same period.

For full show notes, including details on all watches, visit collectivehorology.com/blog.

Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.

You can find us online at collectivehorology.com. To get in touch with suggestions, feedback or questions, email podcast@collectivehorology.com.

39% Swiss Tariffs – Implications  for the Watch Industry,  Plus What Happens Next – Episode 46 Aug 02, 2025

Show notes

On July 31, the United States announced a new reciprocal tariff rate of 39% on imports from Switzerland, starting August 7, 2025. These tariffs have sweeping implications for the Swiss watch industry and the global watch industry more broadly.

On this episode of Openwork we discuss those effects, along with what to look for next. How will negotiations play out? And how will the watch industry navigate future tariffs?

Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.

You can find us online at collectivehorology.com. To get in touch with suggestions, feedback or questions, email podcast@collectivehorology.com.

Cars vs. Watches – Wesley Smith (STANDARD H) – Episode 45 Jul 28, 2025

Show notes

Today, it’s cars vs. watches. In particular, we’re looking at the automotive world, which is often compared to the watch industry—including on this podcast—to see what it might teach us about watches.

Our guest is Wesley Smith, the founder of STANDARD H, a California-based apparel and lifestyle brand inspired by his lifelong passions for cars, watches, travel, and design. With over 20 years of retail experience—from surf shops to luxury brands like Gucci and James Perse—Wesley launched STANDARD H in 2015 to create purpose-driven clothing and content rooted in movement and community.

Wesley is also the host of the STANDARD H Podcast to which we’d recommend you all subscribe, and he started his career in the automotive industry.

Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.

You can find us online at collectivehorology.com. To get in touch with suggestions, feedback or questions, email podcast@collectivehorology.com.

Certified Pre-owned: Fad or Fixture? – Hamza Masood (WatchCharts) – Episode 44 Jul 14, 2025

Show notes

Today we’re talking about the rise of certified pre-owned programs – the current state of the CPO universe, the value of those programs, and where it’s all going.

And to do that, we have the perfect returning guest, Hamza Masood of WatchCharts – the world's most comprehensive, transparent and trusted source of watch market data. Hamza and WatchCharts were among the first to track and call-out the rise and growing importance of certified pre-owned programs.

Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.

You can find us online at collectivehorology.com. To get in touch with suggestions, feedback or questions, email podcast@collectivehorology.com.

Watch Market Update – State of the Industry Mid-year 2025 – Episode 43 Jun 30, 2025

Show notes

We’re half way through 2025, which has turned out to be a very eventful year to say the least, and that very much shows up in the data for the watch market. So today we’re looking at all the data sources we can muster to understand just how the watch industry is faring at the midway point of 2025, and where it might be heading next.

We looked at a wide variety of sources from WatchCharts, to trade press, to FHS export data and more. We’ll do our best to cite everything as we chat, but as always a full list of sources can be found at collectivehorology.com/blog.

Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.

You can find us online at collectivehorology.com. To get in touch with suggestions, feedback or questions, email podcast@collectivehorology.com.

What Enthusiasts Have Wrong – Dispelling the Watch Industry's Top Myths – Episode 42 Jun 16, 2025

Show notes

Having made the transition from watch enthusiasts to industry insiders and retailers in particular, we’ve come to realize that there are often big gaps between what commands attention in watch media and among collectors vs. the commercial realities.

Many of the so-called “truths” we hold sacred as enthusiasts aren’t really true after all. So today on Openwork, we’re myth busting – taking a look at some of the widely held beliefs in the watch community that are actually in fact misconceptions.

For show notes, including links to more information, visit collectivehorology.com/blog.

Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.

You can find us online at collectivehorology.com. To get in touch with suggestions, feedback or questions, email podcast@collectivehorology.com.

Reviving the U.S. Watch Industry – Josh Shapiro (J.N. Shapiro) – Episode 41 Jun 02, 2025

Show notes

We discuss watchmaking in America – specifically what’s required to bring watchmaking at scale back to the United States. It’s a hot topic these days, particularly as U.S. tariffs, which have been dominating the news, are intended at least in part to bring manufacturing back to the United States. So with that in mind, we thought it would be worth taking a look at what would actually be required to restore the American watch industry.

Our guest today is Josh Shapiro, an American independent watchmaker. Based in Los Angeles, and together with a team of watchmakers, engineers and machinists, Josh is bringing watchmaking of the highest level back to the United States. In fact, his latest creation, the Resurgence, is currently the only watch to meet the standard of “made in America” as defined by the United States Federal Trade Commission.

For show notes, including links to more information, visit collectivehorology.com/blog.

Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.

You can find us online at collectivehorology.com. To get in touch with suggestions, feedback or questions, email podcast@collectivehorology.com.

Editorial Integrity in Watch Media – Victoria Gomelsky (JCK, New York Times, Robb Report) – Episode 40 May 19, 2025

Show notes

Editorial integrity and independence in the watch world. It’s a hot topic, and one we’ve explored before. But that was before today’s guest penned her open letter to the watch industry published in Robb Report titled: "Watch Execs Need to Learn to Respect Journalistic Boundaries."

Victoria Gomelsky is editor-in-chief of JCK, a New York City-based jewelry trade publication founded in 1869. Her writing on watches, jewelry and travel has appeared in the New York Times, Robb Report, WSJ Magazine, and the Hollywood Reporter, among many others.

For detailed show notes, including links to more information, visit collectivehorology.com/blog.

Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.

You can find us online at collectivehorology.com. To get in touch with suggestions, feedback or questions, email podcast@collectivehorology.com.

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