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Chase Pion - Beyond the Bezel: Unveiling Tech Innovation with the Co-Founder of GetBezel.com
1.2k Plays1 year ago
It’s not often that a collector starts a company within the hobby they love the most. Although it seems commonplace, for many of us, collecting is what we love to do when we have some free time. But that hobby turned business couldn’t be more true than with my guest today, Chase Pion, co-founder of Bezel, the online watch marketplace that secured investment from the likes of John Legend, Kevin Hart, Steve Aoki, Michael Rubin, and many more. But as a lot of entrepreneurs do, Bezel started out of vexation. Chase and his co-founders were quite exhausted from the lack of transparency and authentication services in the watch industry, so they sought out to fix it. Needless to say, their personal collecting continues on, now with the helping hand of the platform they built. Alright, this is Chase Pion, co-founder of Bezel, for Collectors Gene Radio.
Bezel - https://shop.getbezel.com/
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Transcript
Appreciation for Unique Watch Brands
00:00:00
Speaker
I've always had a penchant for brands and watches that are less commonly seen, I think, and especially ones that have perhaps smaller, more cult-like followings. I think it's so interesting to go off the beaten path in so many ways in the watch world because there's so many stones to turn over. And I think that, you know, that keeps it really exciting for me.
Introduction to Collector's Gene Radio
00:00:24
Speaker
What's going on everybody and welcome to collector's 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 collector's gene. If you have the time, please subscribe and leave a review. It truly helps. Thanks a bunch for listening and please enjoy today's guest on collector's gene radio.
Meet Chase Pion: Bezel's Genesis
00:00:49
Speaker
It's not often that a collector starts a company within the hobby that they love the most. Although it seems commonplace, for many of us, collecting is what we love to do when we have some free time. But that hobby turned business couldn't be more true than with my guests today. Chase Pion, co-founder of Bezel, the online watch marketplace that secured investment from the likes of John Legend, Kevin Hart, Steve Aoki, Michael Rubin, and many more.
00:01:16
Speaker
But as a lot of entrepreneurs do, Bezel started out of vexation. See, Chase and his co-founders were quite exhausted from the lack of transparency and authentication services in the watch industry, so they sought out to fix it. Needless to say, their personal collecting continues on, now with the helping hand of the platform that they built. All right, I'm proud to introduce to you Chase Pion, co-founder of Bezel for Collectors Gene Radio.
00:01:45
Speaker
Chase Pion, co-founder of Bezel, welcome to Collector's Gene Radio. Thanks, Dan. We're excited to be here. Yeah, excited to have you. So for those that don't know, you are one of the co-founders of Bezel, a marketplace and platform with in-house authentication for watches. Is that correct? Yeah, that's exactly right.
00:02:06
Speaker
Awesome. Well, I've been following Bezel since inception, but the way we actually met is kind of serendipitous. I was standing in line to get a reservation at Lucali's in Brooklyn and befriended a good buddy of yours who actually put us in touch. Yeah, such a small room.
00:02:22
Speaker
Too funny.
Chase's Childhood Collecting Roots
00:02:24
Speaker
Let's take a step back so listeners can get to know you a bit more because Bezel isn't your first gig and I think that there's a good history here that everybody should learn. So growing up, did you always collect stuff? Yeah, I did. I am kind of an avid collector of not all things, but all things I could get my hands on. So everything from
00:02:46
Speaker
you know, Legos, state quarters, international coins, you know, sports cards, Pokemon cards, stickers, glass figurines. So definitely something that had always been kind of part of my childhood of gathering collections of different and very much disparate objects, I would say. And then at what point do you start to transition into falling in love with watches and starting to collect them? Yeah, it's a good question. It was around, I think I was,
00:03:14
Speaker
10 or 11 years old and neither of my parents are interested in watches of the watch world at all but I think I got my hands on a watch magazine and started pouring through it and then I would ask my parents to bring home watch magazines whether my dad was at work or my mom was out and about and I just started pouring through kind of watch content before there was real watch content, right, when it was all printed and I think that was really something
00:03:41
Speaker
watches at that age but starting to learn about kind of everything I could possibly consume. Do you remember some of the watches that you were seeing in those magazines that really caught your eye or brands that caught your eye during that time? Yeah, absolutely. I think that early on I was really drawn to kind of David Thune and Rubo Forci actually, which would have been... Oh, very cool. Yeah, I guess about 20 years ago. I really love the color blues. So David Thune was something I love and then just the complexity of
00:04:09
Speaker
I think that the motion of all the tourbillons, et cetera, I think just captivated me. I watched videos as much as I could. Love that.
00:04:19
Speaker
your parents, are they into watches at all? Or were they into watches? Or were they pretty concerned with your obsession for asking them for these magazines? They weren't into watches at all. So I think they wondered where the obsession or addiction came from. They weren't concerned. I think they just loved the curiosity and were certainly critical in fueling the passion. So I think as many good parents, you know, they see
00:04:44
Speaker
their children get passionate about something and they just want to assist in helping that person grow that passion. And luckily my parents felt that way. So at some point you finally land in finance, which is where you kind of cut your cloth for the last several years. You know, you're an investment banking in New York, if I'm not mistaken. And then I'm curious to know how bezel kind of comes about from there because your other co-founders are ex Google execs as well. And so you guys didn't weren't necessarily in the watch world before.
00:05:15
Speaker
Yeah, that's absolutely
Solving Watch Market Challenges with Bezel
00:05:16
Speaker
true. We are certainly outsiders, or I guess we're outsiders before we started Bezel. But yeah, I think it was really a serendipitous occurrence. I started my career in investment banking and then moved on to working in the edge fund world in New York. And one of my best friends from home, Clay Walker, who's our CEO, was working at Google with our other co-founder, Darrell Johnson. And Clay had been interested in
00:05:41
Speaker
and watches since he graduated college as well. So it was always just a passion that we had talked about. And he was starting to collect more. And as a collector of sneakers, he used Go and StockX all the time. And he was having a really tough time kind of breaking into the secondary market for watches for a lot of the reasons that those will exist.
00:06:02
Speaker
lack of inventory availability plus the lack of trust that a lot of people feel moving into the secondary market. And so he called me and we just did a lot of research on the wash market and felt like there was a pretty big problem that we could go out and solve. So that was certainly our foray, I think, early on in my career. I never would have dreamed that I would be able to turn my hobby into my career. So very lucky that it's become the case.
Bezel's Seed Round Success
00:06:26
Speaker
And then you went and raised an $8 million seed round, which with a finance background, I have to imagine that you were spearheading that initiative. Yeah, it was really, it was quite, and I both doing a lot of the fundraising as, as Dara was building a product. And so we definitely all wear many different hats, but I think our, our fundraise was successful because we all come from different backgrounds and we're able to add a lot of value in different ways.
00:06:54
Speaker
And early on in the stage of that business when it was just seed raised and there wasn't a whole lot to show, I think that having three co-founders and having a co-founding team that covered a lot of the bases of the expertise you would need at a startup, I think that was really attractive to potential investors. So, yeah, it was definitely extremely important to have all of us pitching in with the expertise that we have from our different prior careers.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And you guys raised some cash from a group of serious folks. So I'm just going to rattle off a few of the names here for the listeners. And there's a lot more to this list, but these will definitely catch some of the eyes. John Legend, Kevin Hart, Steve Aoki, Michael Rubin, Kyle Kuzma, Michael Ovitz, and some watch industry legends like John Reardon and Vasu from Courtside Ventures, plus a ton more.
00:07:44
Speaker
I mean, the list is really kind of earth shattering when it comes to this stuff. Obviously, all these folks are interested in watches. I would have to imagine the pitch was fairly easy for some of these guys who are big watch collectors, right? They've experienced the same problems that you guys have to an extent. No, absolutely. And I think that it's very clear when we were initially fundraising those who understood them watch market well and who had actually
00:08:12
Speaker
encounter these problems in real life and those where we spent a lot of time convincing people why the watch market was interesting. Those who experienced the problems had a visceral and positive reaction to the problems that we were trying to solve. I think our cap table is certainly self-selecting in the sense that so many of them are
00:08:32
Speaker
They either watch collectors or enthusiasts or become more so since they've been involved in Bezel and I think that's something that we've really come to appreciate and it makes asking for help a lot easier for those investors because they're naturally excited about the space and not only do they view us as an investment part of their work, they also love talking about watches because many of them are so passionate about it too. So yeah, it's been a great symbiotic relationship with all of our investors and there's so many that have been really critical throughout the life cycle of the company.
Building Trust through Authentication
00:08:59
Speaker
So is it a big gamble for you to start bezel aside from the obvious right of starting a business and the trials and tribulations that come with that? I mean, you guys, like we said before, we're not working in the watch industry. So it's not as if you had this trust behind you as being watch industry vets, right? The funding obviously helped out, but in an industry that lacks so much trust, what are you guys doing at bezel to ensure trustworthiness remains paramount?
00:09:29
Speaker
I think a really critical part of starting Bezel was our first hire, who was Ryan Chong, who was the prior director of private sales at Sotheby's. So I think we certainly did not have the industry watch chops that we need without bringing him on so early. So that was really critical. I think that the biggest value proposition that we provide is really that in-house authentication, right?
00:09:54
Speaker
and explaining to users, both buyers and sellers alike, what that process is, why it's so robust, why it's what we believe the highest standard in the industry. Like at the end of the day, that was the problem that we set out to solve. I think the way we've tried to do it differently is really marry, wash insider knowledge and understanding of the market that we've grown to learn and that we had as a result of Ryan and other hires and marry that with the technology chops that our team brings from the table.
00:10:24
Speaker
We have kind of the Google background. We've got engineers and really talented product people from large startups, small startups, people who've done that before. And so I think trying to think about the problem from perhaps more of a technologically oriented way gives us, I think, solutions that perhaps haven't existed out in the watch world yet.
Enhancing Collector Experience on Bezel
00:10:44
Speaker
So as a collector yourself who built a platform for other collectors, do you think that keeping that in mind is what will set Bezel apart from your competitors going forward? Absolutely. I think we think about it two ways. One is, is how do we build a platform where those who are just starting their collecting journey can come and feel excited, feel like it's approachable, feel like,
00:11:11
Speaker
they can trust the platform to transact on their first watch. And as a result, I think we've really streamlined the customer journey. Our concierge team is extremely hands on with all of our clients and just making it a safe place and enjoyable place for that first time buyer to buy. As a result, I think we've created a platform that not only, you know, those that are new to watch collecting really enjoy, but those that have kind of dealt with the problems in the industry forever as long time collectors.
00:11:40
Speaker
love coming to Bezel and seeing those problems not exist here. And so I think we've been able to build a product that's great for both parties. And yeah, we really take user feedback both on the seller and buyer side extremely, extremely seriously. And we love all the feedback that we get. Because oftentimes, they're great ideas that we haven't yet thought of. So yeah, our users are obviously our most important cohort of people we listen to.
00:12:03
Speaker
The other thing that I love about bezel is that as a collector myself, the evolution of buying and selling is always in motion, right? And when you convert a buyer on your platform, you're automatically setting them up for a great selling experience down the road, should they decide to part ways with what they've bought. And there's very few services out there that are so end to end in that sense, where you can catch the customer on the back end of the cycle as well. You know what I mean?
00:12:33
Speaker
Absolutely, yeah. We want to create kind of the one-stop shop for everything you want to do in watches. And that table stakes and creating the best buyer, but also the best seller experience was certainly first. And we've got so many features coming out next year that will continue to make that even more exciting. So yeah, definitely want to keep people in the ecosystem and provide everything they might need. Any features you could share with us or is that pretty under wraps? They'll be coming out soon next year. So for now,
00:13:03
Speaker
I think I'll leave most of them under apps. We're really excited. The one thing I can share is to have people able to upload their collections to bezel. I think will be a super interesting feature and there's a lot of things that go along with that. So we're super excited about that.
00:13:16
Speaker
Let's talk about your collecting for a little bit here, because obviously you've been into watches for a long time.
Impact of Bezel on Chase's Collecting Passion
00:13:23
Speaker
The watches that you kind of were interested in to begin with, being, you know, Gruval Forsey and those types of brands, it's not your common foray into being in love with watches and watch collecting. So I'm curious to know has starting bezel changed the way that you collect?
00:13:43
Speaker
It's changed in the sense that I certainly collect more as a result, whether that's a bad thing. I've certainly become much more educated, obviously, just sitting around kind of the people in our office who are the authentication specialists, watchmakers, et cetera, who obviously know so much more about the watch world than I do, have just taught me so much just from being in there.
00:14:07
Speaker
I've always had a penchant for brands and watches that are less commonly seen, I think, and especially ones that have perhaps smaller, more cult-like followings. I think it's so interesting to go off the beaten path in so many ways in the watch world because there's so many stones to turn over. And I think that, you know, that keeps it really exciting for me. What's on the wrist today?
00:14:33
Speaker
Right now I'm wearing a Ming 3707. So it was the fifth anniversary mosaic. They came out with the original mosaic, which is a super limited production run where they did some really interesting laser etching on the Sapphire crystal. And they had such a great reception to that that they made one five years later. That was much more approachable from a price point perspective. So definitely a watch that most people don't recognize, but I love wearing it. It's super wearable. I jumped in the ocean this morning and took it with me. So yeah, great watch I love to wear.
00:15:03
Speaker
Love that. Yeah. No, it's definitely a conversation piece. And I do think that the laser etching is just kind of almost the coolest part about it. You know, it's such a different technique that you don't really see often or at all for that matter. And I think it's always interesting to show people who aren't interested in watches those sorts of little nuances. Absolutely. And I think, you know, each brand has something that they're, they're known for, if not
Innovation in Watch Design: Ming's Laser Etching
00:15:29
Speaker
a few things. And so it's great to have,
00:15:32
Speaker
those things be so different across brands and you can understand why the founder of Ming felt that was an amazing niche and they've stuck true to that. And there's so many brands who've done the same with other different strategies or design components. Are you getting jaded at all? Obviously a lot of watches come through the office and you get to see a lot. And I would love to know if
00:15:55
Speaker
a lot of the stuff that you were in love with maybe pass through the office and you're like, you know, it's cool, but I'm happy I saw it in person because it's not for me now. Yeah, I think Jayden is perhaps not the right word, thankfully, where I'm still super excited about all the new things coming in. I don't think being around watches all the time now has made me less passionate about the subject. I definitely
00:16:17
Speaker
feel more educated from the sense that there are watches that I've seen in person that perhaps I thought looked different. Maybe I like them more, maybe I like them less. So yeah, I would say I'm certainly as excited as I was day one to get some of these amazing pieces in. And at this point, there are certainly fewer that come through that I have not seen before. What's on the list that you would love to add to your collection? I don't own Patek Philippe, which is, I'm constantly
00:16:47
Speaker
trying to figure out what that first one should be. You want to go more sporty or more dressy? I think dressy. I feel like that speaks to kind of the original genetics of Patek Philippe. And I love some of those, you know, rose gold, yellow gold, color travas, especially when they put them on bracelets. So those are some things that I'm looking at. I, yeah, it's a constant exploration. I feel like the one that speaks to me, I'll know what I see it. So we'll see.
00:17:16
Speaker
Yeah, that's actually what I'm wearing today. I'm wearing a Patek 3796 in rose gold with the rose gold dial, and it's Tiffany stamped, which is really fun, but I think I'm going to call it that this watch is going to be one of the hotter ones this coming year. I don't know why, but I just have a feeling because I think people are starting to realize that
00:17:39
Speaker
just because it shows 30 and a half millimeters, but it actually wears pretty phenomenally that people start to try them on and the price point on them is just kind of hard to beat.
Growth in a Slowing Market
00:17:49
Speaker
Yeah, that's beautiful. I think the pink on pink colorway with the pink dials and the rose gold is something that Patek has done so well, but they come out beautifully. So it's no doubt that the modern watch world has slowed down in some areas, but
00:18:06
Speaker
You know, I have a feeling that you guys are super busy over there and that your business is actually probably grown a bit this year. Yeah, absolutely. I think that we are obviously small. So growth comes as a result of that. But I think there's been a really great reception to our value proposition and people really understand why we're different. And so as a result, we've had just a great reception in the market generally.
00:18:31
Speaker
So yeah, the wash market certainly has kind of come off its almost 10 year bull run that was happening through COVID. But I think all in all, it's actually made it more interesting. More brands are getting different types of attention. Prices I think are more exciting in the sense that they're going up and down, but it probably makes it a more interesting market. And yeah, we've grown in the face of that. And whether because of it or despite of it, we love the growth trajectory that we're on and hopefully be much bigger the next time I'm talking to you.
00:19:02
Speaker
We were talking before about your parents not necessarily being into watches or carrying that much and, uh, you know, being collectors themselves. But now that you've started bezel, have they, you know, taken more of an interest in it? Absolutely. And they are certainly some of our biggest bezel champions where they wear our hats and hoodies all over the place. And they're constantly looking at what other people are wearing from a watch perspective and have learned a lot since we started bezel. So they are,
00:19:31
Speaker
certainly our biggest or some of our biggest supporters. And as a result, I think they've been excited about what we're building and have learned more about watches as a side effect. Have you been able to help them add anything to their watch pouches? I have actually, which has been extremely fun. There's nothing more fun for us than when a friend or family member purchases something up bezel that they end up loving. So yeah, that's the highlight. Love that.
00:19:59
Speaker
What would you say starting Bezel has taught you in terms of your personal collecting? I think that I really started to understand that, you know, there's only seven days in the week and I'm the type of collector that likes to wear all my watches as much as possible. And so I think that Bezel has provided a way for many people, myself included, to really trade it in and out of things in a really easy manner, kind of like you mentioned before.
Increasing Market Liquidity for Collectors
00:20:25
Speaker
And so I'm constantly,
00:20:27
Speaker
you know, right sizing, whether that's downsizing the collection or adding new things, but consistently trying to herd that collection into what one I can wear as often as possible. And two gives me, I think, the most holistic optionality of what I want to wear, when and how. So I think that's been a way that Bezels catalyzes a lot of our users ability to collect is understanding that because we're increasing liquidity in the market, it's easy to not only buy, but also sell.
00:20:59
Speaker
there's something that they were in love with but six months later they realized they didn't like it as much as they thought then there's other pieces to trade into so I think that's probably what what has allowed me to kind of change my collecting style a little bit whereas when I was younger I probably would have thought that every single watch I ever bought I would keep forever so it's made it a little bit easier.
00:21:18
Speaker
I feel like that's something that a lot of collectors struggle with in every industry is buying and selling and letting go and holding onto and that whole rat race. But I love that Bezel has made it super easy to go through that cycle and try new things and you can always get the thing back that you got rid of. And I'm sure you guys are able to do sourcing as well for clients if it's not something that's necessarily on the platform yet.
00:21:46
Speaker
Absolutely. That's a big part of our business is we have over 16,000 watches available on Bezel, but if you're looking on the platform and there's something that you want that you can't find, our concierge team is always at the ready to start
Concierge Service and Network Leveraging
00:22:00
Speaker
sourcing that. And we like to think we can source just about anything in the world that will leak any promises, but it's something that we take extremely seriously. And we have a great network of sellers kind of across the country who can help us with that. So yeah, certainly something that we spend a lot of time doing as well.
00:22:16
Speaker
Chase, let's wrap it up here with the collector's dream rundown. You know the drill. You can answer these questions based on any of the items that you've collected over the years, whether it's watches or anything from the past, but you can answer them as you please. Awesome. All right. What's the one that got away? That's a good story because I eventually ended up getting it, so I might be cheating here.
00:22:38
Speaker
I was looking at an Audemars Piguet Cobra Day-Date as a reference to 5567 in yellow gold. A watch that we had found as a result of being in the opposite bezel and I had never seen one before and we finally hunted one down at a diamond hour markers and then I lost it at the last second as it was sold right before I was able to buy it. But then I think about eight months later another one came up with
00:23:07
Speaker
It had stick hour markers, which actually prefer to the diamonds. So I knew that I wouldn't let the same watch get away twice. So luckily I do have that watch now, but for a while I was extremely upset that I missed it the first time. That's great. The full circle moments of losing it and it coming back is what it's all about. Certainly. The on deck circle. So what's next for you in collecting? Maybe it's a watch that you're looking after. Yeah, I think.
00:23:34
Speaker
Definitely mentioned that Patek Kalatrava, I'm a big fan of the 51.07 or kind of a little bit more on the sportier side, the 49.47 that's currently out there. I love the Vacheron Cornstead Bosch and Steel. And I don't own any Rolexes with a meteorite dial, which is such a bread and butter and iconic design component for them. So certainly,
00:23:58
Speaker
something that I'd love to own at some point. And then I'm a big fan of the brand Recence, which is another one of those brands, perhaps, with a little bit less well-known. So the Type-A that they recently came out with, I think, is a great watch at a little bit more of an accessible price point. So we'll see which one of those gets the next step back. Recence is such a cool brand. And I think when you see one in person, you're kind of blown away a little bit. Like, it kind of takes you back a little bit.
00:24:26
Speaker
Yeah, they just look so much different than almost anything else out there. I think they're certainly striking and very noticeable. If you had to go meteorite, would you go GMT or would you go Day-Date or Daytona? I really love the meteorite Daytonas, the white gold. Actually, the more modern version that they just discontinued with the
00:24:48
Speaker
It's white gold, meteorite dye, black subdials. I think it's a beautiful watch, but even the older reference that had red second-hand chronograph counters, I think it was a beautiful watch too. So yeah, I like Daytona's on bracelets and I think the meteorite contrast against the subdials is a beautiful look. How about the unobtainable? So this is one that's too expensive in a museum, a private collection. It's just completely unobtainable.
00:25:14
Speaker
Unfortunately, it's the brands that I fell in love with early on in my collecting journey. You know, David Thune, DV28, XP Starry Sky, is a watch that I've always loved. You know, the Grubol, the GMTs, the Convexes, I think are amazing watches. MB&F, which is a brand I also really love. The LM Perpetual EVO in green. So yeah, those are some of those independent brands that make very few watches a year. And I think make some of those beautiful pieces are, unfortunately right now, all unobtainable, but we'll see if hopefully someday they will be
00:25:45
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sure they'll make their way into your box soon. How about the page one rewrite? So if you could collect anything besides watches, money, no objects, what would it be? I think it would likely be cars. It's something that I've become a lot more interested in recently, and I think the only reason that perhaps took me so long to really dive into that world was because I never thought that I would own more than one car. Okay, right.
00:26:15
Speaker
So I think it's, you know, cars are just the ultimate craftsman. You should make swift practicality, very similar to watches in that way. But yeah, this year I purchased a 1989 Alfa Romeo Spyder quadrofoam wheel as a convertible as in rent, which is kind of the first, perhaps not as practical car that I bought. And I absolutely love driving that car around. So perhaps that was a gateway experience. That's a perfect California car. Yeah, certainly.
00:26:43
Speaker
Have you added anything else to the car collection or no, that's it. And then my, uh, my kind of daily driver car. So yeah, the alpha is the only one interesting so far. Love it. No problems with it yet. Not yet. And, and those old alpha males are not known for their, uh, reliability, I should say, but not from what I luckily have a, I've had very minimal issues. I don't drive it all that far. I'm.
00:27:07
Speaker
Extremely lucky and look pretty close to the beach and spend a lot of my time at the beach. So it is, like you said, the perfect car to drive to the beach where the weather's nice in LA. Yeah, I was going to say, just keep it away from the 405. Yeah, exactly. How about the GOAT? So who do you look up to in the collecting world? Perhaps this is not exactly the line that the question takes, but someone who definitely inspires the way I collect is Ryan Chong, who runs our entire watch department at
Inspirations from Ryan Chong's Collection Strategy
00:27:36
Speaker
Bezel.
00:27:36
Speaker
He's someone who knows more than, you know, 99.99% of people about watches. And I think that despite that, he has a really amazing collecting style in the sense that he just wants the perfect example of iconic, well-made watches. He wears a Rolex 14060 in the office all the time, has an old Tudor Oyster Prince and, you know, he
00:28:03
Speaker
I think very much is not distracted and knows exactly what he wants and then stays true to that, which I think is an amazing way to collect. That's great. Yeah. And that's hard to do, especially when watches are coming in and out of the office all day. Absolutely. And yeah, I think just a collecting strategy for watches. I love when collectors, especially those who have amazing and enlarged collections really wear all those watches. I'm certainly someone that
00:28:31
Speaker
that loves to wear what I have versus having them, you know, sit in the safe. And there's no right or wrong way to collect, but I love when these amazing pieces are out in person. So he's someone that also kind of wears everything he has as well. Love it. How about the hunt or the ownership? Which one do you enjoy more?
Valuing Ownership and Connection
00:28:49
Speaker
For me, it's certainly the ownership and it might be unique to watches because I think watches are
00:28:57
Speaker
some of the few things that you can collect that you can bring with you out into the world every day and that's I think the most fun thing about watch collecting is if you wear a watch out and someone notices it and you know if they know what that watch is it immediately sparks at the very least a conversation at best perhaps a long-term friendship. I'm wearing this
00:29:16
Speaker
out today and someone says, oh, I love that Ming. I know, wow, that person must be interested in watches because otherwise they certainly wouldn't have recognized that. So I think you obviously don't get that benefit with the hunt. You have to have to own some of the things to be able to take them out with you to create some of those relationships. And you obviously can't do that with art as much or cars, et cetera. But I think watches are unique in that they're obviously wearable items and you can develop these amazing relationships by taking them out in your daily life.
00:29:45
Speaker
Yes, especially when you are wearing them every day. Correct, correct. And it's also, you know, one of the highlights of my day every morning, you know, picking out which watch I'm going to wear. I think that's certainly a fun aspect of the hobby. So if I didn't own the watch, I certainly couldn't pick it out and wear it. And that's something that I find joy in almost every day.
00:30:04
Speaker
Yeah, me too. It is definitely part of my morning ritual and I definitely am not gonna shy away from telling everybody that I rotate throughout the day as well. I love that. That's the problem of working from home sometimes is that your precious objects can be very near to you and cause you to change them out after lunch. Keeps it exciting. Yeah, I'm sure it's also fun coming into the office every day and seeing what everyone else is wearing.
00:30:34
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. Yeah, that's seeing what everyone else is wearing, seeing what's coming in. Like we're just inundated with with watchdog all day every day. And and yeah, I feel like every day I wanted something new. It's amazing you guys are able to get work done with all that. It really is. It really is. So it's sometimes it's hard to stay focused. But but luckily we try to keep the distraction to a bit. Most importantly, do you feel that you were born with the collectors gene? I think I definitely was. Definitely since I was
00:31:03
Speaker
Like I mentioned, younger I was collecting almost anything and everything that caught my eye. So definitely a passion of mine and it certainly ended up with watches as kind of the magnum opus. But we'll see if there are additional collections that kind of come my way or other items that I've become really interested in. But I think it's certainly something that's been part of my life for a long time, whether it was watches or whether it was two dollar bills. So we'll see what happens next.
00:31:31
Speaker
Love it, Chase. Hats off to you and the rest of the Bezel team on all the success and looking very forward to seeing you guys grow and all the new features coming to the platform and looking forward to just seeing what kind of watches come through. I appreciate your help. Thank you so much for having me on and being able to support us is super fun. All right, that does it for this episode. Thank you all for listening to Collector's Gene Radio.