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Brynn Wallner aka Dimepiece - Putting All Things Women & Watches On The Map
972 Plays1 year ago
Today’s guest is none other than Brynn Wallner, founder of Dimepiece, a platform dedicated to all things women and watches. Now, Brynn’s pretty new to the watch world, but she can be accredited for putting women and watches on the map. Dimepiece came about after a stint at Sotheby’s whenBrynn found herself sitting at home, falling more in love with watches, like we all do, and started documenting some photos on her new instagram account, like one of Rhianna wearing a Patek Philippe. And to say Dimepiece blew up overnight is quite literal. In fact, right after launching Dimepiece, Brynn got her very own article in Vogue documenting her buying her first Cartier. There’s a lot of things in the works at Dimepiece, so keep your eye out. But for now, please enjoy, Brynn Wallner, aka Dimepiece, for Collectors Gene Radio.
Dimpiece - https://dimepiece.co/
Killing Time Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/killing-time-with-brynn-and-malaika/id1633923450
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Transcript
Cultural Synergy of Cartier
00:00:00
Speaker
Cartier has always been gender neutral because you have Andy Warhol wearing the tank, but you also have Jackie O wearing the tank. And it's so synonymous with culture in that way that it's like the brand and the people who wear it, there's just so much synergy there and you can't tell the story without talking about the people who wear it too.
00:00:28
Speaker
In that sense, it's a very kind of human forward brand.
Exploring the 'Collectors Gene'
00:00:33
Speaker
What's going on everybody and welcome to Collectors Gene Radio. This is all about diving into the nuances of collecting and ultimately finding out whether or not our guests have what we like to call the Collectors Gene. If you have the time, please subscribe and leave a review. It truly helps.
Bryn Waldner's Introduction
00:00:50
Speaker
Thanks a bunch for listening and please enjoy today's guest on Collectors Gene Radio.
00:00:58
Speaker
Today's guest is none other than Bryn Waldner, founder of Dimepiece, a platform dedicated to all things women and watches. Now Bryn's pretty new to the watch world, but she can be accredited for putting women and watches on the map.
Journey into Watches and Dimepiece
00:01:12
Speaker
Dimepiece came about after a stint at Sotheby's when Bryn found herself sitting at home, falling more in love with watches each and every day like we all do, and started documenting some photos on her new Instagram account, like one of Rihanna wearing a Patek Philippe.
00:01:26
Speaker
And to say Dimepiece blew up overnight is quite literal. In fact, after launching, Brynn got her very own article in Vogue documenting her buying her very first Cartier. Now there's a lot of things in the works at Dimepiece, so keep your eyes out. But for now, please enjoy Brynn Walner, AKA Dimepiece, for Collector's Dream Radio. Brynn, AKA Dimepiece, welcome to Collector's Dream Radio. Hi.
00:01:53
Speaker
I was waiting for your standard introduction like that, salutation. So you're largely responsible for putting all things women and watches on the map.
00:02:11
Speaker
I mean, there's, there's been a lot of people, you know, along the way, but, but you've kind of really started pushing this initiative. Can you tell me how all this really started? Because you've been in the creative space for a long time, but it didn't necessarily start in watches. Right. Yeah. Um, well, right after college, I moved to Los Angeles where I knew nobody. Um, and I got a job at a creative marketing agency and that was really
00:02:39
Speaker
before the word influencer was used. Even to now before influencer, I feel like he's now a slur. But I feel like I really laid down the groundwork just in terms of kind of understanding culture because part of my job was putting on creative events at Coachella and South by Southwest and Art Basel
00:03:09
Speaker
all these places that had nothing to do with watches and everything to do with culture and what was cool in music and on the internet, fashion, et cetera. Then I moved across the country to New York from LA. I grew up in Hoboken. So it was kind of like coming back home.
Aligning Culture with Sotheby's
00:03:31
Speaker
And I had a couple of jobs in addition to the one that I had in LA.
00:03:39
Speaker
a couple layoffs later because I was in the media world. I then found a job at Sotheby's, the auction house, which was totally unexpected for me because it felt so highbrow compared to the world that I was offering in previously. But I was really brought on to kind of bring a cultural alignment to the content that was on Sotheby's.com because
00:04:02
Speaker
you know, in your early 20s, you might not be able to afford the David Hockney now. But maybe by 21. Yeah, you get some inheritance. Basically what Sotheby's wanted to do with me was to kind of attract a younger audience and get them to, you know, start exploring on a website, you know, maybe they're not placing bids, but they're reading the articles. So that's why I was brought onto Sotheby's and
00:04:32
Speaker
I started working on kind of fun articles, and then the watches department saw what I was doing, and they were like, hey, can you create some content for us? Because contextualize against what is sold out of the auction world, i.e. Picasso's David Hockney's, you know, big furniture pieces, cars, watches, but by comparison, they seem shockingly more accessible, and also more
00:05:00
Speaker
available to be sold online.
Discovering Passion for Watches
00:05:02
Speaker
Um, and therefore maybe more, you know, attainable for a younger type of client. Um, and I was like, yeah, I can help you with content for watches, but I don't know anything about watches and my boss was like, it's okay. Cause you could just commission out the writing. You just produce the articles you go in and you choose the pictures, make it look cute, et cetera.
00:05:27
Speaker
Um, so I had to get really intimate with all these pieces on watches and I was like furiously Googling different watch brands and I was on YouTube how to pronounce Otomar Piguet. All I knew how to pronounce was Rolex, which is, you know, that's what Rolex set out to do when they created Rolex. Yeah. We don't care if you like it. We just want you to be able to say it. Yeah, exactly.
00:05:55
Speaker
So I learned a lot about watches in that process. And what I realized was that I loved watches and it was really organic for me. I was just like, I'm actually having fun doing this. What in the world is going on? Because I had never cared about them before and I had never even owned a watch at that point. Besides, of course, a baby G. Gotta have one. You gotta have one.
00:06:21
Speaker
Especially, you know, I feel like I'm an older millennial. I don't know how old you are. 29? 29? Oh my god, I'm older than you. Yeah, but I have a beard and an Adam's apple, so.
00:06:36
Speaker
It's giving older millennial. Yeah, so I found that I love watches and I was eager to learn more and I'd be going home on the subway and I would notice somebody wearing a watch and be like, ooh, what's he rocking? Or I would see them on TV and I would be like, oh my God, what is he wearing? And I would just start googling.
Creating Dimepiece for Women
00:06:57
Speaker
And then I also noticed that women were left out of the narrative because in all the pieces that I had edited, women weren't mentioned once.
00:07:06
Speaker
I was just like, what? So odd because they know women are out here wearing watches. Then I would google women in watches and it would be like all these photos of Ellen DeGeneres. I'd be like, okay, cool. That's what we're getting. Okay, rainbow Daytonas, all right. Yeah, Nautilus, cool. That's so beyond me. It's not even relevant to me at all because I'll never own that.
00:07:34
Speaker
Well, and it's not even that, it's just like a lot of those are just out of reach in general. Yeah, totally. I was trying to find ways to kind of manipulate the conversation when I was doing the editing for these articles. Like, it would be an article on the protective lead nautilus and why that's historically significant, why it's culturally significant, and then I would do some sleuth, Getty image search and be like, Rihanna!
00:08:02
Speaker
And there's a photo of Rihanna wearing a Nautilus at the airport in her palace sweatsuit, just like looking really cool and off duty. So I would throw that in the article. Even though Rihanna wasn't mentioned in the article, I would kind of let the image speak for itself as a way to kind of manipulate it. And in doing that, I found myself really fascinated by the power of celebrity too, in terms of like, you know, how you can start to understand watches by who wears them.
00:08:31
Speaker
And I kind of tucked that away. And I was like, women watches, there's something there. And then some of these let me go the day that New York shut them up for the pandemic. And I was like crying in the HR office feeling like I'm gonna die of COVID. And then I wound up having three months of nothing to do. And
00:08:59
Speaker
I started to reprioritize and I started Dimepiece, the Instagram account. That's a really long answer to your question. That's perfect. When you started Dimepiece, the goal has always been to inspire women to feel at home when it comes to collecting and sharing their watches within the watch community. Is that right?
00:09:23
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And it was for those women who already had watches and kind of knew about them, but it was also for women like me that knew absolutely nothing about them. And kind of an entry point into this world that's really fascinating for a lot of different reasons.
00:09:40
Speaker
And then fast forward, like, I think a day and your Instagram blows up and you're featured in publications like Harper's Bazaar and New York Times and Vogue and Courier. I mean, the list goes on. I mean, Vogue documented your first Cartier purchase, which is pretty insane. I mean, how has watch collecting been since all of this?
Rise of Dimepiece
00:10:04
Speaker
Um, I mean, that in itself was crazy. The built the overnight success.
00:10:09
Speaker
I was just like, no, it really was overnight. Well, you know, I credit Cara Barrett from Podinkie, formerly of Podinkie. She found dime keys somehow, you know, the internet works in mysterious ways. And she found dime keys and she reposted because I think she was doing the social media for Podinkie at the time. She reposted one of my posts on their Instagram and then overnight I got
00:10:37
Speaker
I think 500 new followers. That's a lot. Yeah. And all of a sudden all these watch people started following me and I was like, oh no, I am not ready for this because I really didn't know much about them at the time. And people were like, what's your collection? Show us your wrist shot, blah, blah, blah. And I'm just like, I don't own a lot.
00:11:01
Speaker
I'm like, should I just straight out lie and be like, oh yeah, I have watches. I just don't like to show them or. I mean, even, even bigger flex, you just go and tell Vogue you want an article on yourself buying a Cartier. Well, what's great about that is I didn't even have to ask for it. Everybody's like, who's your publicist? And I'm like, no, honey. Yeah, honey, my dog. Oh, she's sleeping right now. Um,
00:11:31
Speaker
Yeah, I went to the Cartier store with my friend Liana, who used to write up Vogue.
Cartier Tank Experience
00:11:37
Speaker
And yeah, she crumbled my Cartier shopping experience. And I got the Cartier tank from Sizz, the steel version, the smallest version. You know, it's not like a collectible by any means. But it's a classic. Yeah, it's a classic. Did you see the relaunch? I did. What do you think of it? You know, I
00:11:59
Speaker
I really need to stay in person. I've decided before I pass any sort of judgment. That's when you know you don't love it. Oh, well, I don't because, you know, I have such an emotional attachment to this watch because it was my first one and I bought it for a reason. Um, I love the, the classic platform, the numerals, I love the, you know, external crown, like how the show, I'm just like, why is it like,
00:12:28
Speaker
It's kind of shrunken. Everything's kind of... It's a little squadier. Yeah. I was like, it's been chodified. I'm like, how do I say this? Anyway... Can you say that in vogue? I know. Well, you know, you'd be surprised if the journal was 600s these days. I'm reading an article and I'm just like, wow, they'll publish anything. Not just vogue, everybody. But better for me.
00:12:56
Speaker
Yeah, I don't love it. I mean, to me, the thing that makes Cartier who they are is they've kept pretty much the same dial design language and rarely changed it for years. And they just change K shapes and a couple little updates. But yeah, I wasn't totally sold on the new model. So we'll wait to hear from an article from you, the expert. Yeah, let's see in person. Let's see how that little summer style shines.
Luxurious Visit to Audemars Piguet
00:13:25
Speaker
So now you're getting invited on press trips with brands like Audemars Piguet and word on the street is they treat you pretty darn nicely when you go to one of these. Can you, can you take us into the world of dime piece getting invited on an Audemars Piguet press trip? Well, I've been in touch with AP, you know, kind of since the beginning and shout out to them. I feel like they're a brand that's particularly in tune with what's going on, you know, kind of,
00:13:55
Speaker
I don't want to say like in the streets because this is not that. We are not the projects. We're just like not like it's not like full underground culture. Like obviously for me to kind of opt into the conversation about watches like I have to be a little mainstream and it's like luxury and it's just this world that's you know it's covered in fashion magazines and I'm kind of playing off of that.
00:14:25
Speaker
So they've been in touch with me for a while and I remember when they first reached out and I was just like, Oh my God, I cannot even believe their email. Um, and I would go in to see their watches and try them on in person and you know, go to AP house, but never in a million years that I think that they would invite me to go to Switzerland. Um, and when they emailed me, I was just like, Oh my God, this isn't real. Um, but they,
00:14:53
Speaker
Yeah, they hit me up and it was this past September that they flew me out to Geneva and then we took a car up through the through the valley, through the mountains. And I stayed at the Hotel Dézonégées. I'm totally watching the French, but it's I'm sure you've seen the AP Hotel that they have. Yes.
00:15:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's just stunning. And we went to the museum and then they took us to their manufacturer that specializes in complications. And I was able to meet Giulio Poppi. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. For those listeners out there who don't know, he's a horological legend and he really pioneered watch complications kind of in the era that they were going out of style, i.e. the quartz prices.
00:15:47
Speaker
but he just kind of doubled down on it with his partner, Renault, I forgot his first name. But yeah, I got to meet with him, I got to stay at this hotel, I got to explore the valley and eat just gorgeous food that they got from, part of it is from the premises because they grow
00:16:10
Speaker
vegetables and fruits on their roof. It's really modern. They have their own little ecosystem over there. AP is a full-fledged farm. Yeah, the AP farm. The best butter I've had in my life because you hear the cow bells too. When I went in the fall, it was when the cows had just come down to the mountains and they have their cow bells on and they haven't been stored away from the winter. I was looking at the cows that were providing me the butter and it was just like
00:16:39
Speaker
So Swiss and gorgeous. It's the best. I know. Have your tastes changed in what you wanted to own or what you thought you wanted to own in terms of watches from when you first started Dimepiece and then until now?
Evolving Taste in Watches
00:16:55
Speaker
Yeah, well, I would say my taste has changed in the sense that I've even developed a taste at all. Because before I got into watches, I didn't even know what my taste was.
00:17:08
Speaker
which is part of the reason why I started Dimepiece was a research project for myself because May 2020 was my 30th birthday. Obviously, everybody was in quarantine. But 30 years, the big one, my dad was like, hey, what do you want for your birthday? And I was like, honestly, a watch would be amazing. And he was like, well, we'll see. He was like, what watch would you want? And I was like,
00:17:38
Speaker
Honestly, I have no idea. I have no reference point for what would look good with my style, kind of my like day-to-day looks. Like, I just don't know. I feel like I'm just scrambling thinking about it. So I started dying piece just chronically in all these women wearing watches, and the more I looked at different people wearing different watches, that's when I started to, in my mind, associate certain watches with different personalities, with different styles. You know, like,
00:18:07
Speaker
you have Bella Hadid and the Cartier Panther. I'm like, okay, that's kind of her vibe because she's really, you know, she kind of has this like Gen Z fashion and that's a really kind of jewelry forward stackable. You can wear it loose, you can wear it with your little crop tops. And I was like, you know, that's an awesome watch and I call it the egg girl watch, but I'm like, that's not me because I'm just a little bit older. I want something a little bit more classic. Not that the Panther isn't classic.
00:18:37
Speaker
And of course I would love that watch, but I couldn't get a $10,000 yellow gold Cartier Panther, which if you're going to get the Panther, you've got to get the yellow gold. If you can, if you can swing it, do it. Yeah. Go big or go home. Um, so it really took a long time for me to even build up the taste to where I was able to be in the position to make the call on the Cartier tank on set. It's like, that was like a year long process for me. Um,
00:19:07
Speaker
Yeah. So, and now, I mean, I'm obviously shouting to the rooftops that I love small watches. So I would say that that is definitely a point of view that I have, but I also don't, I would also, I would wear a Daytona if you gave it to me. I mean, yeah. Like, so in that sense, just learning, I don't know. I, I need to,
00:19:34
Speaker
A lot of the things like if I were to go out of my comfort zone, it would have to be like a really great watch to get me to go against my small watch manifesto.
00:19:48
Speaker
You've been able to touch and feel a lot of different watches in the last couple of years that you've at least got to see in person. A lot of new releases, a lot of stuff that may be boutiques or ADs. Is there one brand that is not amongst the general ones that maybe stood out to you?
00:20:09
Speaker
I'm like triggered by you saying touch and feel. You know that that's what they call it watches and wonders. Have you found the watches and wonders? I haven't, no. That's what they call the sessions when you go to the different brands. And it's like, that's a touch and feel session. Oh, and a neck massage. I'm like, it's kind of creepy. Um, no, but I, I have, I've had the luxury of touching and feeling.
00:20:39
Speaker
So many different watches. And you know what, I will say I love touching and feeling the high jewelry watches. Yeah, I mean, those are incredible. Yeah, like what going to Bvlgari and touching and feeling their high jewelry serpentine, which is just like so many emeralds and it's like a snake and the snake's mouth opens to this tiny little watch and inside the watch they have what is called
00:21:07
Speaker
The Piccolo movement is like one of the tiniest little movements in the world in this tiny little snake head. And it's just covered in diamonds and emeralds. And I'm just like, I would never ever be able to afford this, but I'm just so excited that I can even try it on and take a photo of it.
00:21:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's one of those pieces, especially anything from Bvlgari, but those super, super high-end, expensive, unobtanium watches and jewelry pieces from them to just see them in person as a whole different ballgame. Yeah. And to see jewels like that in person, because you see them in photos or in the Hodinki article or whatever, and the photos just never ever do it justice because you don't see the way that
00:21:57
Speaker
the jewels play with the light. And it's always so much better in person. And that's for all of these watches. And that's why I'm like, I have to see the Cartier St. Francis in person because you just can't judge it by the photo completely. Right. So you also have a website, and people can now shop watches while reading your articles.
Partnership with Found Will
00:22:20
Speaker
And that's in collaboration with Found Will, right? Yeah.
00:22:25
Speaker
So how did you and Alan come together on that? Um, so I had a friend that I knew who worked at Sotheby's in the watches department. And when I started giant piece, um, he was like, Hey, I think you should meet my friend, Alan, Alan Bedwell, who does pound ball. And I was like, cool. Cause I was in the mindset. I was just like, I'm so new to the watch world and I want to meet as many people as possible from all the, from the brands dealers, you know,
00:22:53
Speaker
Collectors, everybody. I was just like, I'll meet with anybody because I'm really just trying to learn and soak this world up. So I met with Alan and he brought with him a little leather pouch full of like 10 ladies watches. He's like, I just want, I was so excited because I know you're in the small watches and you're into these little guys and I just want you to try them on because usually I'm dealing or I'm selling to,
00:23:22
Speaker
guys who kind of want the, you know, the no date two line Submariner or, you know, you know, just kind of the more masculine watches. He's like, nobody's really cared about these kinds of watches. And I feel like you, you do. And so he was like, try on all the watches. And that was the first time I had tried on the Cartier Benoit. And I was just like, Oh my God, this is so exciting because
00:23:51
Speaker
This is the first time anybody showed me watches that are this small and vintage, and he's telling me all about each one, and it just kind of opened my eyes to this whole other world. And from there, I was just like, let's see what we can do with this. And both of us were at the Couture show in Las Vegas, and he was like, why don't you just kind of follow me on the floor while I talk to all these dealers, and you could try stuff on, and tell me what you like,
00:24:20
Speaker
just kind of shadow me and because he was buying for his shop. And so I kind of thought to get a firsthand experience of what it was like to just kind of source watches and who you're talking to and like being on the floor of a trade show. Like it's just, I don't, have you been to any of these trade shows? I have not. I was going to go to Miami a couple of weekends ago, but I didn't plan it well enough in advance. Let's go next year. Yeah. That's the one that that's on my list for sure.
00:24:50
Speaker
Yeah, I would love to go to that. Yeah, so I kind of just, I was so fascinated by this world. And I was also noticing simultaneously that it was always kind of the same sorts of watches that were being marketed to people to buy, just in the vintage category. And I'm like, what about the Cartier-Tacron set? Like, that's not a collectible, like I mentioned before. It's not crazy rare. It doesn't have this special dial that's from this era. It's just like a fully standard steel watch.
00:25:20
Speaker
If I were, you know, me before I went to Cartier and I was like, you know what, instead of going to Cartier, I want to buy a pre-owned because it's, you know, more horrible. Like, where would I go? You know, just as a woman who doesn't know about this world and who's kind of more into fashion, I think, you know, maybe I would go to the real real and buy it there or any other luxury consignment that's been kind of marketed to me. And I was like,
00:25:47
Speaker
Who's really selling women watches with care? Because you could buy it from the real real and I've done work with the real real before and I buy clothes on the real real all the time. But I feel like watches is such a specific category that requires so much information and you really want the kind of personal experience of going back and forth with the person who's selling it and you want to try it on first and all of these things. It's just so much more high maintenance and it's not like
00:26:15
Speaker
a casual thing for people to drop like $5,000 on a watch, like add to cart. So I was like, why don't we sell some watches? And we did. And what you see online is just kind of a sliver of it because I'm also with him doing a lot of private sale where people will come to me. They're like, hey, you know, I heard that you're selling watches. Do you think you could find a Cartier Santos for me?
00:26:45
Speaker
and I'll kind of go back and forth and provide all this information and meet with them and here you can try it out. Let me know what you think. Let me know if you have any questions. It's kind of this really kind of personalized experience that we've seen a lot of success with and it's just really cool to get more people into watches in that way. Yeah, you've been listening some great stuff. It's kind of been fun to see what you guys stumble upon. Yeah.
00:27:13
Speaker
And so when you first started Dimepiece, it was a lot of women and watches posts, and it's kind of evolved a little bit as well into additional posts of just small, fun watches being worn by everyone.
Educational Expansion of Dimepiece
00:27:24
Speaker
Watches now that would probably be considered ladies watches, but maybe back then were unisex watches. Where do you kind of see Dimepiece evolving from here? Yeah, I really want to build up Dimepiece, the website, in addition to continuing the growth on social media.
00:27:43
Speaker
Like I have such an amazing community on Instagram. I also just want to keep building up the website with more content, more articles, you know, videos. I'm like, Oh God, am I going to be a vlogger? Um, I don't know. I just want to create it to be more of a destination because the, the most feedback I get from people is like,
00:28:09
Speaker
Hey, I want to learn more about XYZ. There's only so much you can kind of teach people on Instagram. Whereas if you have like the luxury of longer form articles and, you know, maybe like a YouTube video that really goes into detail, the difference between, let's say, a quartz and a mechanical watch, but in a way that's a little bit more fun and less nerdy and, you know, strumming in some pop culture references to kind of
00:28:38
Speaker
offset the technical nature of it. I just want to go back to the original mission statement I've done piece, which is to make women smarter consumers of watches. And, you know, not just women at this point, because I have so many of my guy friends who were like, Oh, my God, I'm obsessed with watches now. I never even was into them before, because there's a whole there's a whole segment of dudes out there who don't like watches in the kind of technical way. But
00:29:06
Speaker
or injury because it goes well with their fits. So it's like I'm talking to those guys too and that's where I love to share photos of people like Bad Bunny or Tyler the Creator or whoever is wearing watches with just a little bit more personality or perspective than what we're used to seeing. Who are some great women collectors out there right now that people should be paying attention
Launching 'Killing Time' Podcast
00:29:32
Speaker
to? And this could be friends of yours or celebrities.
00:29:35
Speaker
Yeah, well, my friend Malaika Crawford, I have started a podcast with her. It's called killing time. It's wonderful promo. Everyone should listen to it. I do. Wow, thank you. Um, I'm like, who listens to this? Like I could go on the back end and see that people are listening. But I'm like,
00:29:58
Speaker
Seriously, who's listening to this besides my mom? Malaika, she works in addition to being my podcast co-host. She's also the style editor at Hodenke. I've also gotten to see her watch collection grow. Since I've met her, she went from owning the Rolex Lady Datejust that she got from her mom.
00:30:22
Speaker
Her grandmother gave her a Cartier back in the day, but since she's really dived into Watch World, she's gotten a mad one. Love that. And she got a Rolex Explorer, and she got a Reverso. Oh, she's going crazy. I know. While we were just talking about this, she's like, you're so frugal with yourself, and you never
00:30:48
Speaker
I'm like, I really want a Royal Oak. And she's like, well, you're selling one with Alan. You can get it for a good price. And I'm like, oh, I can't spend that much money, even if I have it. I'm just so not used to spending money like that. Very disciplined. Yeah. And I'm not saying that she's out here just breaking the bank, but I feel like she's
00:31:12
Speaker
It's just exciting to see her collection grow, and she's really intentional about it. And so many people are always like, how's your collection? Are you just buying up watches now? And I'm like, I can't do that physically. I'm sure someday I'll get to that point. But yeah, I love Malika's watches, and it's been really cool to see her run her collection just firsthand.
00:31:37
Speaker
And of course, there's people like Rihanna. She wears a Cartier Santos that actually Alan sold to her. That's pretty cool.
00:31:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's an automatic one and it's vintage and it has diamond screws and diamond markers. So it's kind of like, you can expect that when Rihanna is wearing a watch, it's not just going to be the regular version of it. Like it's going to have a little bit more spice. Um, and she also, you know, I think almost exactly a year ago, she appeared in the tabloids wearing a Rolex King Midas.
Influence of Celebrities on Watch Trends
00:32:14
Speaker
Yeah. That, that went viral real fast. Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:18
Speaker
It's funny because I wrote an article for Hodinky about it. And I feel like whenever I write an article, I provide the headline and it's always really tame where I'm like, Rihanna is king Midas. And then they'll come up with something that's like a little bit more clickbaity. And this is for all, you know, media outlets, but it's like
00:32:38
Speaker
Rihanna's Rolex broke the internet. Yeah, Rihanna a wedding watch Yeah, I'm just like Yeah How does that go down? Does she just like reach out to Alan and say hey I want to buy this or does she have a team of buyers? Yeah, she has a team. So I think it wasn't her main stylist but I think with a celebrity like Rihanna where it's just like a
00:33:03
Speaker
The level of celebrity is so massive that you just have a lot of people who are always on the ground searching for things. Right. Because there's like a vintage store down the street from me here in Scottsdale, Arizona and Rihanna is constantly buying stuff from them. No way.
00:33:21
Speaker
So when you said that she bought that watch from Alan, I'm like, is she just like scouring the internet in her free time buying this stuff? But I figured she had some sort of stylist buying all this stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, that's the funny thing about celebrity.
00:33:34
Speaker
You just don't know how or why they're wearing the watches because there's such a mechanism behind the whole celebrity persona and what you're wearing. Everything is clearly heavily meditated upon, or maybe it's not. And when I saw Bad Bunny, for example, at the Lakers game, of course, I wasn't at the Lakers game. I just saw him because I was on the internet
00:34:02
Speaker
you know, trolling Getty, Getty, like a loser. Right. But I'm seeing him and I'm like, okay, this is him surfacing in these photos with a second Patek Philippe that's vintage. And it's, you know, this one has diamonds and sapphires on it. And the other one was a lady's ellipse, which he was shot in.
00:34:26
Speaker
GQ and that was his own watch. So I see these celebrities and I'm just like, okay, but are they picking it out? And then I did all this research on Bad Bunny's stylist. I'm like, well, what's his deal? And he's really, really into the 90s. And he cites Kurt Cobain and Dennis Rodman. And he loves, you know, gender neutral dressing. He put Bad Bunny in a kilt just kind of pushing the boundary. And I'm like, well, it's kind of in line with
00:34:56
Speaker
you know, this watch because this watch is gender neutral or it used, it used to be. And the jewels and it's from the nineties, which is an era that the stylists really like. So I'm like, maybe it's just like, I don't, I don't know. And I wish part of dime piece. Also I'm like, I want to actually talk to the celebrities and really get to the bottom of it. Cause I feel like I'm covering celebrities all the time. And I'm like, do they even care? Like, do they even know what's on their wrist?
00:35:22
Speaker
Right. Yeah. You don't know if it's stuff that they're seeking out or if it's just their stylist saying, Hey, this is important. You should wear this. Exactly. Would you say a brand like, like Cartier kind of encapsulates everything dime piece stands for, you know, watches that are luxurious. And I guess if, if given the chance, they could really be worn by everybody.
Cartier's Historical and Cultural Impact
00:35:43
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I will say that, you know,
00:35:47
Speaker
Rewind back to me at cepha bees when I was learning about all the watch bands Essentially for the first time like I had never heard of otomarkie to be completely transparent, which is probably giving away, you know a lot but I had heard of Cartier and
00:36:05
Speaker
When I was doing my own independent research on Cartier, I was like, oh, Cartier has always been gender neutral because you have Andy Warhol wearing the tank, but you also have Jackie O wearing the tank. And, you know, it's so synonymous with culture in that way that it's like the brand and the people who wear it. There's just so much synergy there and you can't tell the story without
00:36:34
Speaker
talking about the people who wear it too and in that sense it's a very kind of human forward brand where it's not only about the watch it's about like the cultural context but it's about who's wearing it and I think that's what Cartier kind of really understood from the very onset like in the early 1900s with like Louis Cartier and even before that when it was
00:37:01
Speaker
not watches, it was more jewels. It was like, let's get these jewels on the royals and people who are influential from that time.
00:37:11
Speaker
Right. It's always like there's something for everybody, whether it's a gift or, you know, like I had Paul V gone a few weeks ago. Cool. And for those who don't know, Paul did like every episode of The Office. He did bridesmaids. He did a bunch of stuff. And for his 60th birthday, I think it was Waco and a bunch of guys gifted him a Cartier tank. And I was like, that's just kind of like the coolest thing in the world to think about. That's amazing. Wow. What a good guest. Yeah.
00:37:41
Speaker
I was a little taken back when I got that email back from him that he was excited to come on, so that was cool. That's so cool. Yeah, I mean, God, the fact that he would wear that and I would wear that same watch. If you Google Paul Feig, he doesn't look anything like me. He doesn't dress anything like me and yet there's this through line. I think it's just this powerful design language and you also alluded to it where it's like,
00:38:08
Speaker
All sorts of people can wear it, not just because of the design, but also I think the price has a lot to do with it. Yeah, for sure. You can get a Cartier crash or you can get the $10,000 Cartier Panther, but you could also get the $3,500 Cartier tank front sets, which is not not a lot of money, but it's also in the context of the watch world, like pretty affordable for a new watch.
00:38:33
Speaker
So, yeah, I just think it has this kind of universal appeal, but it's still chic and it still has that arid exclusivity. And it's a human brand, which I love. Is the Beimua your favorite? I think it's my favorite currently. I feel like it always changes. You were double-wristing it when I met you at Matt's party in the city a few weeks ago. I was like, all right, all right.
00:39:00
Speaker
I know that was because I had just met with Alan. He might have even been there. I don't know if he was.
00:39:08
Speaker
I'm like, everything is such a blur in the city, like what party you went to. And I'm sober, so I'm like, God, everything's a blur now. Like, imagine if I were drinking this. You have no excuse to not remember. I know. I'm just like, ugh. Yeah, I was double-wristing, which was pretty funny. Quite the flex. It was kind of a douchey move, but... No, not when it's like... Not when you have a Cartier bemouan.
00:39:38
Speaker
It's practically the size of a love bracelet. Yeah, it's small. It's like jewelry. Yeah, I'm wearing mine today. I love this watch. It's like, I don't think people give it enough, again, enough of a chance to actually put it on their wrist. They just look at the size, you know, on paper and they're like, oh, it's too small for me. But that's kind of the point.
00:39:58
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I love that you wear it. I mean, you're a proper Benoit boy. I'm part of the very, very, very exclusive club. Yeah. Elite. And when I say elite, it's because no one else wants to buy it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, I think that's going to change. Yeah. No, I get a lot of
00:40:20
Speaker
DMS now from people wanting to buy one and asking questions about them. And there's a dealer in the UK who has been kind of selling a lot of them. Uh, Alex Stevens vintage. Oh yeah. I love him. Yeah. Super nice guy. And he's been selling a bunch of them. So there's either a market over there or I don't know, but you have a great white gold one on your website that I insist everybody goes and takes a look at and I'll for sure link it up. But yeah, I'm like, why won't anybody buy this? But I,
00:40:50
Speaker
met with somebody in person because she was like, Hey, you know, I'm interested in that watch. And along with a few others, can we meet up? And I was like, Sure. And she showed up with her mom who was this real
00:41:01
Speaker
like kind of no bullshit Upper East Side Lady. And she was just like, she looked in the summer. Yeah. Yeah. She looked at it and she was like, what? That thing's $7,000. Are you kidding me? Well, it's white gold. I'm like, you know, you don't really see this often, but I think because it is so small. I don't know. It's just like,
00:41:29
Speaker
Mentally, if you're not so dialed into this world, you're just like, why did I pay that much for that little dinky thing? Yeah. I mean, but that's the problem with a lot of people in collecting. It's like, okay, you're buying because you like the watch, you're buying because you like the price. Obviously, there's got to be an equilibrium where the two make the buyer and the seller both happy.
00:41:50
Speaker
If it's something that you really want and you can understand the value and look if you just want a cardier and you don't care what it is go buy one for fifteen hundred bucks. Yeah. But you're asking about a very specific watch you should understand what you're buying.
Humorous Watch Assignments
00:42:04
Speaker
Yeah. Which is why I'm trying to. This is why I'm doing it in the first place. Yeah. PSA don't bring your upper east side mother to a watch deal.
00:42:12
Speaker
She's not gonna be happy. I need somebody to just be the angel on my shoulder and be like, what the hell are you doing? With everything in life. So, Honey's your little pup and if you could see Honey in one watch, what would it be?
00:42:32
Speaker
That's an absurd question. Honey, I think they'd wear a Casio watch. All right. One of those little like the black plastic one, she's really low key. Calculator or no calculator? No calculator. Just stand there. She's just like, she's kind of a tomboy. She's just not materialistic because she's just out here
00:42:58
Speaker
You know, sniffing around. She needs something that can get beat up if she falls off a skateboard or... Yeah, exactly. She's really scrappy. And yeah, so she needs something that's just like, you know, no flex. I love that. Love it. If you could have a celebrity spokesperson for Dimepiece, who would you pick for the gig?
Admiration for Tyler, the Creator
00:43:21
Speaker
God, I feel like at this point it sounds like passé to say, but I do still love Tyler, the creator. I almost called him Cartier, the creator. Pretty much. At this point, he's been covered by everybody and he did that big feature in the Rob Report, which I thought was great. Yeah, that was great. I love that. Yeah, I still really look up to him.
00:43:51
Speaker
just in terms of his style, but also his collecting style. And that is an example of a celebrity where I'm like, yeah, I know he's out here on the internet looking at it. And maybe he's not the one who's going to the store or kind of dealing with the dealer, but maybe he is. It's like he is curating this and everything that he wears is very intentional and it goes with his specific point of view.
00:44:19
Speaker
And I love that he wears Cartier's from the 30s. And I love that he wears his Cartier crash on stage while he's like sweating. It gives me hives thinking about that. I know. I'm just like, Oh my God, how punk is that? Like he doesn't care. Like there are kids mashing in front of him and he's wearing this Cartier crash on stage. And it's just like, wow, that is so sick. Um, and
00:44:49
Speaker
Yeah, I just love how he approaches it and how he wears them too, because he wears these watches. You know, there's like a whole side of collecting where people collect them and they put them away in their saves, but he's out here wearing them.
00:45:04
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I mean, I don't know, I kind of feel like he is someone who's going online and making purchases himself and whether he has someone else's credit card with someone else's name on it, you know, so it's not being tracked. But I mean, there's that picture of him at the Monaco auction, which is pretty cool to see him in person, you know, attending an auction. That's the Goldberger picture? Yeah. Yeah. That's a classic. I was like, oh, I wish I were there.
00:45:32
Speaker
I actually saw Tyler, the creator, on the street in the neighborhood known as Dimes Square to the New York people. And I saw him and I walked right past him. And we kind of like made eye contact. And I'm like, wow, you really blew it. You should have been like, hey, got the crash on? Why didn't I say anything? Because maybe he would have been cool with me taking a photo. But I'm like, you know what? We'll be united. You will. You will, for sure. Yeah.
00:46:03
Speaker
All right, Bryn, let's finish up here with the collector's jean rundown, all right? Okay. All right, what's the one that got away?
Regret Over Missed Watch Purchase
00:46:11
Speaker
You know, I've been trying to get a Tag Heuer formula one, the vintage one from the 90s, and these are not expensive. It was like $400 on Poshmark.
00:46:25
Speaker
And I was like, should I get it? I've never bought a watch on Poshmark. Seems kind of weird and random, but I waited a little too long and I placed a bid on it. Did you know you could place bids on Poshmark? I had no idea. Yeah. I kind of under sold it. I was like, she's selling it for 400. Maybe I could get it for 300. And as soon as I placed the bid, I got an email and it was like, this watch has sold. And I was like, damn it.
00:46:55
Speaker
Yeah, so that one got away but I'm on the look look out for one. Yeah, I'm sure another one will pop up How about the on deck circle? So what's maybe next and up and coming for you and collecting? Um, you mean with regards to watches? Yeah Well, you know, I feel like I have to get a royal look like I just feel like that's a
00:47:16
Speaker
non-negotiable. Would you go like the 28 millimeter? Would you go 31, 33? Well, Alan and I are selling one that is 25 millimeters. I love it. And it's so tiny. The one we're selling also, it doesn't have the tapisserie dial. It's a smooth dial, which I really like because sometimes I'd see the tapisserie dial. It's kind of like techie. It's too techie for me.
00:47:43
Speaker
So I think it's got to be that one, but I don't know if I'll have the chutzpah to really to drop like whatever $9,000 or however much we're selling it for.
00:47:57
Speaker
Yeah, those are great. I had a reference 4100 in yellow gold. So that's like the 35 millimeter with the gray dial and I absolutely loved it. It's like paper thin automatic movement the whole nine, but I ended up selling it and I
00:48:16
Speaker
I sound like parents who are in their late 60s as all their kids have moved out, I downsized. I went with the reference 15,000, which is like a 33 millimeter version. I got it in steel and I don't know why, but I
00:48:35
Speaker
Absolutely love it. I love it significantly more. It's just easier to wear all the time I feel like the bracelets were constructed a little bit better on the 15,000 than the it had enough, you know better clasp and all that sort of stuff, but Royal Oaks are great in any size for anybody add two to three millimeters for all Royal Oaks. Don't look at the don't look at the writing Yes
00:49:00
Speaker
How about the unobtainable? So maybe one you can't have because it's just too expensive in a museum or a private collection. Yeah, I feel like if you had asked me this like six months ago, I would have said the crash, the cardiac crash. But I'm just like, oh, God, it's just, oh, God, it's everybody's talking about it. I need to find a new one. So, you know, I feel like I'm still kind of trying to figure out what that one is. And I do feel like I would love this
00:49:29
Speaker
like a crazy high jewelry watch that I couldn't even wear to anything unless I got invited to the Met Gala or something. I don't know. I'm trying to find that next one. What's the next crash? These are the questions that I ask myself. Very important questions. Easy. $7,800 brainwalls. True.
00:49:51
Speaker
White gold. Yeah. Back winder. Yes. No crown on the side. You got to use a pin. Yep. How about the page one rewrite?
Alternate Collecting Interests
00:50:01
Speaker
So if you could collect anything besides watches, what would it be and why? I think I would collect houses. That's a T-Swift move. Yes. I mean, honestly, I'm so jealous of the baby boomer generation for the relatively affordable prices of real estate.
00:50:21
Speaker
Because I'm just like, God, it's just passive income at this point to people who own all these places. And it's just when I think of getting a house, I'm just like, am I ever going to be able to own a house? It's just insane right now. But yeah, if I could do things, if I had a highway, if I could collect something, it would be real estate.
00:50:46
Speaker
Love it. That's a first, I think. Really? Yeah. I'm thinking big. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. How about the goat? So besides honey, who do you look up to in the collective world? Well, I feel like, you know, I already answered this question because I just can't shut up about Tyler, the creator. Um, but I didn't have to meet him. I know I have to. Yeah. He's the goat. I feel like he's just doing it differently. He's setting a tone for a whole new generation of collectors.
00:51:16
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, between watches and all of his cars and all the pastel colors, it's just... Oh my God. He's just kind of created his own little world of collecting. Reminds me a lot of Pharrell and the way, you know, Pharrell's collected stuff over the years, just his own style, his own taste, doesn't give a crap about what anyone else has and... Absolutely, God. Love it. Just doing it for yourself. Like, this is a virtue. There you go. The hunt or the ownership?
00:51:44
Speaker
Hmm. Wow. Okay. That's kind of giving like dating. It's like, what's better, the chase or actually being with the person. Um, and I feel like I'm not even that big of a collector. So it's hard for me to even say, but I will, I do, I will say that I love, I love existing in kind of a fantasy world where I'm like trying to, you know, imagine getting these things and how fun it is to even
00:52:12
Speaker
Determine what I want next and like how would I even go about doing that? Like I don't know. I think I really I like the chase love it the hunt Most importantly, do you feel that you were born with the collector's gene?
Reflecting on the 'Collectors Gene'
00:52:29
Speaker
You know, my dad collects owls and
00:52:34
Speaker
He collects owl figurines, not the actual animal. That would be amazing. Like in Arizona here where I live, people put fake owls on their roofs and in their backyards to scare away other things. Are those the type of owls that he's collecting or is he collecting more? No. Well, I know the owls you're talking about. He lives in Hoboken where I grew up, so it's kind of an urban
00:53:01
Speaker
setting. He doesn't have a big house with things that need to be protected by the fake owls. But he has these little owl figurines that he's just collected them over the years and every year for his birthday, I know to get him a new owl. I love it. I observed him early on. I always just remember him having these little owls.
00:53:25
Speaker
And I look at the way that I have things and I don't think I have the collector's jean. Like I'm never just going for, you know, one category of things that I'm just like amassing a collection of them. I'm kind of picking things just like as they come and if I feel like an emotional attachment. So yeah, I don't think I have it. And I think with watches too, I just, I love them and I love wearing them.
00:53:55
Speaker
But I'm not, I don't, I wouldn't call myself a proper collector yet. And I don't even know if I identify with that term. So, we'll see. All right, until next time. Yes. Brynn, thank you so much. Congrats to you on everything that you've done with the I in Peace and looking forward to seeing what goes on in the future. Thank you. Come to New York again. I definitely will. The next, next event, I will be there.
00:54:24
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Chat soon. Ciao. All right. That does it for this episode. Thank you all for listening to Collector's Gene Radio.