Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight, presented by Rosedale Federal Bank.
Each week, we hear from one local business owner letting
us know where they are in their business journey and
how they got there. I'm here today with Alan sal
founder and CEO of Sal Baltimore Watch company, Alan tell
us about it.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I started the company back in twenty seventeen. Sala Baltim
Watch is a premium watch company that we have a
whole bunch of unique designs all inspired by something Maryland.
Either it's the USS Tours submarine right next to the
Baltimore Aquarium, or some iconic brands such as Natty Bow,
McCormick and Old Bay to becoming the proud watch company
(00:39):
the Baltimore Orioles. So Sal Baltimore is we're doing something
really unique, something very different, but we're also making something
really beautiful in a really unique city in Baltimore, and
we're really proud of what we're doing and where we're
going to.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
So it's the face of the watch that has the
Baltimore and Maryland things. I think it's a great idea.
How did you come up with the idea?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I feel that watches shouldn't just be tools that tell time.
Watches should be something that you should be proud to wear,
something that tells a story. And fortunately with Maryland there's
a very rich history of stories and military and just
connections with community, so there were able to really create
unique time pieces, not only just the dials, but the
(01:29):
case structure itself. Everything is fully customized and built for
a specific collection, so people can actually take their watches off,
tell people about it, have a really unique conversation piece
all revolving around something Maryland.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And where did you get your background as far as
like why watches? To give us a little indication of
your background that led you up to starting this company.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Sols, I am actually very obsessed with watches, if you
couldn't tell, so it started when I was ten years old.
I got my first orange fossil watch when I was
ten years old, and that love for watches kept growing
and growing and growing and over time, you know, after
college got the day, JAP got some money to spend,
(02:14):
and obviously I spent more money on more watches, so
it really piqued my interest. Knowing that every single component
inside a watch helps tell time, helps play a role
in telling time, time is what the highest value of anything.
So that really drew my attention to watches. And then
(02:34):
eventually got married and my wife was just saying, all
you got to stop buying so many watches, you might
as well just start your own watch company. So happy wife,
happy life, and I started my own watch company. I
started designing. My background is in design and marketing, so
I started designing fifty sixty different watches until I finally
finished the one design that I fell in love with.
(02:57):
Started becoming obsessed with it. It's like, I need this,
So I started looking to manufacturing and the whole process
of the process of actually building a watch brand and
building a watch company and then network.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Here fantastic, man, that is really really great. And so
some of the different designs you mentioned, the Orioles, the submarine,
I mean basically, there's so many unique things in the
Baltimore and Maryland area that you can do. Was it
are you able to use how do you say it?
(03:29):
Are a lot of the things? Are you allowed to
use them? Or do you have to get certain permissions
or licensing or I'm just curious how that works.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
No, Yeah, we have official licenses, license agreements with all
the companies we collaborate with, you know, the USS Tours.
When we first launched our very first one in twenty nineteen,
we did a collaboration with the Historicchips of Baltimore. Portion
of profits went straight to that nonprofit with you know,
(03:59):
Nashal heat McCormick. Everything is you know, within a licensing agreement.
So it's pretty awesome, very cool.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Now. I caught wind of something last year and I
want to know the update. Tell me about the tragedy
that happened with the key Bridge. You had a chance
to kind of turn that around and do something with
your company and with the bridge and make it something
kind of special. And I understand it was coming out
(04:29):
this spring. Give us, give us the whole story about that.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
We have two hundred pounds of the Francis Scott key
Bridge steel. I was given to us by one of
our customers, and we are actually making five hundred time
pieces using that steel, and about eighty five percent of
the entire watch is being manufactured locally in Maryland, which
has never been done and it's really really an incredible project.
(04:56):
We were initially looking at a spring delivery, but because
of the local manufacturing, because it's never been done. There
are slight delays, so right now we're looking at in
August delivery, but that's fluid because it could always change.
But we are in the right direction, which is really great.
And then we're with us five hundred pieces. We're donating
(05:17):
one hundred percent of the profits back to the families,
so at the end of the day, we'll be donating
around two hundred thousand dollars back to the family.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Wow, the families who lost the loved ones of course
in this tragedy. Right, Yeah, that's that's pretty incredible. Aile,
and that's a really neat thing. I love that. Now
let's go back to the watches. What's your most popular
design that you sell. I'm just curious, do you have.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
One or Well that's a funny story because the most
popular one is the one that we don't have anymore
because we only do limited runs, ok, and they're all
significant to some sense, Like you know, our first piece,
we only made four hundred and ten four one to
oh being the Baltimore area code. The die watches we
made four to two three just because the call number
(05:59):
of the Wess Tour Submarine is SS four twenty three.
So everything is limited runs, so our most popular ones
aren't available anymore. But right now our most popular one
happens to be either their Franciscott key Bridge time piece
or the new Old Day time Piece, which is a
very fun, unique time piece that we collaborated with McCormick.
(06:23):
The dials they look just like the spice on the
watch and it just makes a very fun conversation piece.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Conversation and man, the gifted people are always trying to
find gift ideas for dads, for husbands, they're so hard
to shop for. This is awesome and it's a piece
of Maryland, a piece of Baltimore. So Father's Day, Birthday, Christmas.
I mean, you have so many options to choose from.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You know, absolutely, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
So where do you see the future of saw Baltimore
Watch Company looking ahead? What are your goals any new initiatives?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Tell me absolutely so generally, whenever someone asked this question,
it's not really a number that we have in mind,
it's really a goal. So the goal is to be
able to go to any bar, any club, any restaurant,
any community events and know that someone is wearing our
time piece.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Whatever that means in terms of how much we need
to spend on advertising, how many watches we need to produce,
what partners we need to bring on, what new collaborations
we need to work on. The end goal is to
make sure we can go to any restaurant, bar and
know that someone's wearing our time piece. And that's the
big goal of ours.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Wow, fantastic. So the company started in twenty seventeen. Did
you mention are you a Baltimore native or a Maryland native?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah? Maryland native, born and raised in Maryland. I went
to University of Baltimore from my undergrad there for my MBA.
I also teach there as well, teach entrepreneurship at University
of Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So look at you. That's great. Now, I know people
listening are going to want to know more about these
watches and see them if they haven't found out about
them already. How can we find you? How can we
find more about these watches?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, just visit our website Salbaltimore dot com, t SAO
Baltimore dot com, or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Awesome, Alan, Is there anything else you would like to
mention about your company that I didn't cover?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
We have some really really unique projects in the works.
We have an upcoming project with University of Maryland using
the Colefieldhouse. Woods, have some an Oriole time piece that's
launching later this year. So we just have some really
awesome projects, really really cool things in the pipeline.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Sounds exciting. Alan Sal, founder and CEO of Sal Baltimore
Watch Company. Thank you so much for your time, man.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Thank you appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
This has been iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight, presented by Rosedale
Federal Bank,
This is iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight, presented by Rosedale Federal Bank.
Each week, we hear from one local business owner letting
us know where they are in their business journey and
how they got there. I'm here today with Alan sal
founder and CEO of Sal Baltimore Watch company, Alan tell
us about it.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I started the company back in twenty seventeen. Sala Baltim
Watch is a premium watch company that we have a
whole bunch of unique designs all inspired by something Maryland.
Either it's the USS Tours submarine right next to the
Baltimore Aquarium, or some iconic brands such as Natty Bow,
McCormick and Old Bay to becoming the proud watch company
(00:39):
the Baltimore Orioles. So Sal Baltimore is we're doing something
really unique, something very different, but we're also making something
really beautiful in a really unique city in Baltimore, and
we're really proud of what we're doing and where we're
going to.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
So it's the face of the watch that has the
Baltimore and Maryland things. I think it's a great idea.
How did you come up with the idea?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I feel that watches shouldn't just be tools that tell time.
Watches should be something that you should be proud to wear,
something that tells a story. And fortunately with Maryland there's
a very rich history of stories and military and just
connections with community, so there were able to really create
unique time pieces, not only just the dials, but the
(01:29):
case structure itself. Everything is fully customized and built for
a specific collection, so people can actually take their watches off,
tell people about it, have a really unique conversation piece
all revolving around something Maryland.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
And where did you get your background as far as
like why watches? To give us a little indication of
your background that led you up to starting this company.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Sols, I am actually very obsessed with watches, if you
couldn't tell, so it started when I was ten years old.
I got my first orange fossil watch when I was
ten years old, and that love for watches kept growing
and growing and growing and over time, you know, after
college got the day, JAP got some money to spend,
(02:14):
and obviously I spent more money on more watches, so
it really piqued my interest. Knowing that every single component
inside a watch helps tell time, helps play a role
in telling time, time is what the highest value of anything.
So that really drew my attention to watches. And then
(02:34):
eventually got married and my wife was just saying, all
you got to stop buying so many watches, you might
as well just start your own watch company. So happy wife,
happy life, and I started my own watch company. I
started designing. My background is in design and marketing, so
I started designing fifty sixty different watches until I finally
finished the one design that I fell in love with.
(02:57):
Started becoming obsessed with it. It's like, I need this,
So I started looking to manufacturing and the whole process
of the process of actually building a watch brand and
building a watch company and then network.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Here fantastic, man, that is really really great. And so
some of the different designs you mentioned, the Orioles, the submarine,
I mean basically, there's so many unique things in the
Baltimore and Maryland area that you can do. Was it
are you able to use how do you say it?
(03:29):
Are a lot of the things? Are you allowed to
use them? Or do you have to get certain permissions
or licensing or I'm just curious how that works.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
No, Yeah, we have official licenses, license agreements with all
the companies we collaborate with, you know, the USS Tours.
When we first launched our very first one in twenty nineteen,
we did a collaboration with the Historicchips of Baltimore. Portion
of profits went straight to that nonprofit with you know,
(03:59):
Nashal heat McCormick. Everything is you know, within a licensing agreement.
So it's pretty awesome, very cool.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Now. I caught wind of something last year and I
want to know the update. Tell me about the tragedy
that happened with the key Bridge. You had a chance
to kind of turn that around and do something with
your company and with the bridge and make it something
kind of special. And I understand it was coming out
(04:29):
this spring. Give us, give us the whole story about that.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
We have two hundred pounds of the Francis Scott key
Bridge steel. I was given to us by one of
our customers, and we are actually making five hundred time
pieces using that steel, and about eighty five percent of
the entire watch is being manufactured locally in Maryland, which
has never been done and it's really really an incredible project.
(04:56):
We were initially looking at a spring delivery, but because
of the local manufacturing, because it's never been done. There
are slight delays, so right now we're looking at in
August delivery, but that's fluid because it could always change.
But we are in the right direction, which is really great.
And then we're with us five hundred pieces. We're donating
(05:17):
one hundred percent of the profits back to the families,
so at the end of the day, we'll be donating
around two hundred thousand dollars back to the family.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Wow, the families who lost the loved ones of course
in this tragedy. Right, Yeah, that's that's pretty incredible. Aile,
and that's a really neat thing. I love that. Now
let's go back to the watches. What's your most popular
design that you sell. I'm just curious, do you have.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
One or Well that's a funny story because the most
popular one is the one that we don't have anymore
because we only do limited runs, ok, and they're all
significant to some sense, Like you know, our first piece,
we only made four hundred and ten four one to
oh being the Baltimore area code. The die watches we
made four to two three just because the call number
(05:59):
of the Wess Tour Submarine is SS four twenty three.
So everything is limited runs, so our most popular ones
aren't available anymore. But right now our most popular one
happens to be either their Franciscott key Bridge time piece
or the new Old Day time Piece, which is a
very fun, unique time piece that we collaborated with McCormick.
(06:23):
The dials they look just like the spice on the
watch and it just makes a very fun conversation piece.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Conversation and man, the gifted people are always trying to
find gift ideas for dads, for husbands, they're so hard
to shop for. This is awesome and it's a piece
of Maryland, a piece of Baltimore. So Father's Day, Birthday, Christmas.
I mean, you have so many options to choose from.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You know, absolutely, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
So where do you see the future of saw Baltimore
Watch Company looking ahead? What are your goals any new initiatives?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Tell me absolutely so generally, whenever someone asked this question,
it's not really a number that we have in mind,
it's really a goal. So the goal is to be
able to go to any bar, any club, any restaurant,
any community events and know that someone is wearing our
time piece.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Whatever that means in terms of how much we need
to spend on advertising, how many watches we need to produce,
what partners we need to bring on, what new collaborations
we need to work on. The end goal is to
make sure we can go to any restaurant, bar and
know that someone's wearing our time piece. And that's the
big goal of ours.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Wow, fantastic. So the company started in twenty seventeen. Did
you mention are you a Baltimore native or a Maryland native?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Yeah? Maryland native, born and raised in Maryland. I went
to University of Baltimore from my undergrad there for my MBA.
I also teach there as well, teach entrepreneurship at University
of Baltimore.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So look at you. That's great. Now, I know people
listening are going to want to know more about these
watches and see them if they haven't found out about
them already. How can we find you? How can we
find more about these watches?
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Yeah, just visit our website Salbaltimore dot com, t SAO
Baltimore dot com, or follow us on Instagram or Facebook.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Awesome, Alan, Is there anything else you would like to
mention about your company that I didn't cover?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
We have some really really unique projects in the works.
We have an upcoming project with University of Maryland using
the Colefieldhouse. Woods, have some an Oriole time piece that's
launching later this year. So we just have some really
awesome projects, really really cool things in the pipeline.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Sounds exciting. Alan Sal, founder and CEO of Sal Baltimore
Watch Company. Thank you so much for your time, man.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Thank you appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
This has been iHeartRadio's Maryland Business Spotlight, presented by Rosedale
Federal Bank,
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