The Worn & Wound Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 126: Breaking News: Is this the end of Baselworld? Apr 14, 2020

Show notes

It’s not often that there’s true breaking news in the watch world. This is an industry, after all, that has existed for hundreds of years and has been notably slow to change. And, of course, watches, in the grand scheme of things, just aren’t as important as the events that are highlighted above the fold in every newspaper over these past few months in particular. Still, this morning we saw something happen in the industry that is genuinely newsworthy, and represents what could potentially be a major shift in how watch brands do business.

As reported by Hodinkee, Revolution, and SJX, it was announced that Rolex, Patek Philippe, Tudor, Chopard, and Chanel had collectively made the decision to withdraw from the re-scheduled Baselworld fair, currently on the calendar for January 2021. Not only are these major Swiss brands leaving Basel behind, but they’ve announced their own show, in partnership with FHH (the group behind Watches & Wonders, formerly SIHH), for the Spring of 2021.

Of course, here at Worn & Wound, we’re wondering how this will impact many of the smaller brands that we cover. While the Baselworld show is still scheduled for early next year, and we presume those brands who have not already dropped out will participate, it remains to be seen if the trade show will be viable without Rolex, Patek, and others in the longer term. And if not, how will small and midsize brands show their products to press and dealer networks outside of a single, large, centralized trade show?

Ep. 125: March Releases from Seiko and Grand Seiko Apr 08, 2020

Show notes

Seiko and Grand Seiko kept us busy last month with so many new release announcements, we decided to devote an entire podcast solely to their discussion. This week on the Worn & Wound podcast, Zach Weiss, Ed Jelley, and Zach Kazan go through the newest releases from these Japanese brands one by one, covering everything from key heritage reissues to completely new movements. Whether your taste veers more toward tool watches and divers, or finely made dress watches in precious metals, there’s something for everyone across this slate of new releases.

This week’s episode is brought to you by the Windup Watch Shop.

To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast — now available on all major platforms including iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

And if you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes.

If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at info@wornandwound.com, and we’ll put your question in the queue.

Show Notes

Ep. 124: March Recap - New Releases, Reviewing the Seiko 5 Sports, and More Apr 01, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Worn & Wound podcast, the team looks back at the month of March. Zach Weiss, Zach Kazan, and Ed Jelley take us through some of the biggest stories of the month, including big new releases from Hamilton and Bulova, a guide to monopusher chronographs, and reviews of some vintage inspired watches from Ball and Tissot. And of course, we discuss Ed’s review of three watches in the new Seiko 5 Sports line, and what these watches mean for enthusiasts at the entry level in a world without the beloved Seiko SKX.

This week’s episode is brought to you by the Windup Watch Shop.

And if you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes.

If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at info@wornandwound.com, and we’ll put your question in the queue.

Show Notes

Ep. 123: Catching up with Farer Watches' Paul Sweetenham Mar 25, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Worn & Wound podcast, Zach Weiss and Blake Malin talk to Paul Sweetenham, founder of Farer. Farer is one of the most promising and active independent brands to have launched in recent memory. Paul was last on the podcast in 2017, and in the time since his last appearance, the brand has successfully debuted a series of impressive watches with interesting complications, uncommon movements, and Farer’s trademark bold use of color. In this episode, Zach and Blake catch up with Paul and discuss a wide variety of topics, including Farer’s recent releases, and the influence of car culture on Farer’s design language. We also get a preview of where the brand is heading over the course of the next year.

This week’s episode is brought to you by the Windup Watch Shop.

And if you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes.

If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at info@wornandwound.com, and we’ll put your question in the queue.

Show Notes

Ep. 122: The Decade in Review Mar 18, 2020

Show notes

This week on the Worn & Wound podcast, Zach Weiss, Ilya Ryvin, Zach Kazan, and Ed Jelley look back at the last decade in watches. The 2010s was a big decade for the watch industry, particularly the part of it that we focus on here at Worn & Wound. It was a period of rapid change that included not just the rise of microbrands, but also significant shifts in the way we purchase watches, talk about watches, and design watches. And, of course, the latter half of the decade saw connected watches like the Apple Watch enter the market, changing the space in ways we perhaps can’t even fully see yet.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out our two-part “Decade in Review” series. Those posts can be found here and here.

This week’s episode is brought to you by the Windup Watch Shop.

And if you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes.

If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at info@wornandwound.com, and we’ll put your question in the queue.

Show Notes

Ep. 121: Collecting Illinois Watches with Fred Friedberg Mar 11, 2020

Show notes

This week, we’re joined by Fred Friedberg, author of The Illinois Watch & Its Hamilton Years. The Illinois Watch Company played an important role in American watchmaking, producing watches at a great scale through the years of the Great Depression, including many classic Art Deco designs. Their history is linked closely to Hamilton, which is a main focus of Fred’s book.

Fred is one of the foremost experts on the history of the Illinois Watch Company, in addition to being a noted collector and author. On the podcast, we discuss the long history of the Illinois Watch Company, what makes these watches interesting to collect, and how the internet has changed our hobby over the decades.

Click here for more information on Fred’s book and to order a copy of your own, and be sure to check out the slider below for a small preview.

This week’s episode is brought to you by the Windup Watch Shop.

Show Notes

Ep. 120: February Recap — Baselworld, Breaking Down the Seiko 6139, and More Mar 04, 2020

Show notes

On this week’s episode, I’m joined by Zach Weiss, Zach Kazan, and Ed Jelley (who makes his podcast debut), and we take an in-depth look back at the month of February. From the cancellation of the big Swiss fairs due to the looming coronavirus threat, to some of the more interesting watches we saw and articles we published on the site, there’s a whole lot to cover.

This week’s episode is brought to you by the Windup Watch Shop.

Show Notes

Ep. 119: Designing For the Pocket with Ryan Coulter of The James Brand Feb 26, 2020

Show notes

There’s always been a big overlap of people who are into watches, and people who are into the broader category of everyday carry, or EDC, which is essentially an umbrella term that covers items someone might have on their person daily — this includes things like watches, keys, pens, notebooks, knives, and things of the sort. One of the brands in the EDC space today, and it’s one that’s gotten some real traction in the last couple of years, is The James Brand, and on this week’s episode, we sit down with its founder, Ryan Coulter.

The James Brand makes high-quality knives, but unlike the kind of tactical-looking knives you might see elsewhere, The James Brand is instead focused on what I would describe as a functional, but more accessible aesthetic. In fact, and Ryan deftly makes this point in the conversation you’re about to listen to, their approach to knives is not that different from Swiss Army’s approach to theirs, and the way they adapted what was essentially a military knife to be sold to the general public.

We cover a whole number of topics in our conversation with Ryan, among them his background as an industrial designer, his approach to what he calls designing for the pocket, the idea of knives as heirlooms — something that anyone who loves watches will certainly understand — and a whole lot more.

This week’s episode is brought to you by the Windup Watch Shop.

Show Notes

Ep. 118: 10 Great Watches Between $2,000 and $2,500 Feb 19, 2020

Show notes

On this week’s episode, Zach and I do something we haven’t done in some time. We’re bringing back our series where we look at 10 great watches between X and Y price points. The last one we did focused on $1,500 and $2,000. This time around, we’re looking at the next bracket up — from $2,000 to $2,500. I’m going to preface this by saying that these aren’t the best watches in this space, because there’s no real sense in dealing with absolutes like that. The idea of best highly subjective. The watches on this list are simply watches that we like and that we think are definitely worthy of your consideration and hard-earned money should you be in the market. To that end, there are a lot of watches that didn’t make this list, so if you have a watch that you think deserves to be on here, then we’d love to hear from you.

This week’s episode is brought to you by the Windup Watch Shop.

Ep. 117: German Watches and Winders with Bhanu Chopra Feb 12, 2020

Show notes

On this week’s episode, we’ve got a special guest for you all — Bhanu Chopra. Now, if that name sounds at all familiar to you, that doesn’t surprise me one bit. Bhanu (whose IG hand is @analogdisplay) has been a bit of a mainstay in our little horological space. I met him way back when I first started writing about watches, and over the years I’d see him around at industry events and Baselworld and things of the sort. He’s a longtime fixture over at Watchuseek (he’s now a Senior Editor) where he pens a regular column, “Flieger Friday,” and he also owns and operates Juvo Luxury, a company that sells watch boxes and winders. He’s also a massive fan of German watches, from the likes of Sinn and Guinand to Stowa and Aristo, and it’s something he and I have in common. I thought it’d be great to get Bhanu on the podcast to talk about his gig writing about watches, his love for German timepieces and what he’s learned on his many visits to the companies where they’re made, and his brand of watch winders.

This week’s episode is brought to you by the Windup Watch Shop.