Openwork: Inside the Watch Industry
Openwork is a look inside the watch industry. A podcast from Collective Horology. Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.
Episodes
On this episode, we step back to assess where the watch industry actually landed in 2025, revisiting our prior predictions with a focus on the bigger forces at work rather than scorekeeping. We talk candidly about the pressure points that defined the year—pricing fatigue, currency and tariff shocks, and the uneven mood among collectors—while also acknowledging the resilience of independent watchmaking and the ways enthusiasm manage...
On this episode of Openwork, we dig into the long-awaited reduction of U.S. tariffs on Swiss watches, which finally dropped from 39% to 15% after weeks of confusion and delay. We explain what actually changed, why the rollout took more than a month after the initial agreement, and how the U.S. customs system ultimately flipped the switch. While the lower rate is meaningful relief for the industry, we also talk through the real-worl...
In this episode of Openwork, we talk with our sales director, Geoff Souder, about what fundamentally changes when you move from selling traditional luxury watches to selling independent brands. Drawing on decades of experience with mainstream names like Rolex and Patek Philippe, Geoff explains how scale and standardization create a polished but often homogenous retail experience, then contrasts that with the realities of independen...
Openwork is going weekly. In addition to our classic shows which focus on a specific topic or guest, we’re introducing a new format: a discussion of current events in the watch industry. So this week, we take a look at some tariff news (or lack thereof), supplier challenges, the significant growth of India, along with a few new releases.
Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes insid...
Today we’re talking about the rise of independent hype watches. Until very recently, as we’ve discussed on this podcast, independent watchmaking was something of a backwater of the watch industry or at best the realm of the cognoscenti. But in recent years, creations from the likes of MB&F, Simon Brette, Rexhep Rexhepi and today’s guest Sylvain Berneron have become objects of desire, cutthroat demand and even speculation. How d...
This week we’re coming to you from Geneva, where we’ve attended the GPHG award ceremony, celebrated Czapek’s 10th anniversary, and had some time to experience the city’s horological treasures. We share a recap of our time in Geneva, including what everyone who attended the GPHG is really talking about.
Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.
Today we’re talking to someone who has made the transition from watchmaker to journalist to watch brand executive. In fact, it’s not so much a transition but a career expansion as he still assembles watches while creating copious content and works in various business roles for a number of watch brands. Of course, we’re talking to none other than Rob Nudds, the watch industry’s renaissance man.
It’s the Omega-sode. We’re taking a look at the business of Omega: How they went from the world’s number one watch brand – both in terms of sales and units shipped – to number three, what happened along the way, and where they may be headed next.
Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.
You can find us online at collectivehorology.com. To get in touch with ...
We're live at WatchTime New York 2025 with Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, 4th Managing Director of Fears. We discuss the growth of WindUp, WatchTime and the many other watch happenings in New York this past week, including what the brands are talking about behind closed doors. Yes, a bit of tea.
Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.
We’re taking a look at how the watch market has shifted in the past half decade plus. In particular, we’re taking a look at what’s changed since Morgan Stanley and LuxeConsult published their first annual watch industry report in 2018 – which brands and segments are up and down, how tastes are changing, and so much more.
For full show notes, including links to coverage on the Morgan Stanley and LuxeConsult reports, visit collective...
On September 5, 2025 under British law and as originally reported in WatchPro, Bremont filed their 2024 financial year report, which saw the brand post a whopping £9 million (GBP) loss. In addition to the numbers, the report reveals a great deal about the state of Bremont’s business and their strategy going forward. Now although just filed this month, the reporting period ends June 2024, so a lot of course could have changed betwee...
Before we leave Geneva, we’re back with a recap of our favorite watches – all of them unexpected and expressions of unique points of view.
Full show notes below with photos, more information and links: collectivehorology.com/blog.
Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.
You can find us online at collectivehorology.com. To get in touch with suggestions, fee...
We're live from Switzerland with our take on Geneva Watch Days 2025. We discuss what we're hearing in the meeting rooms, our takeaways from this week's releases, as well as how the show and industry more broadly are adapting to a turbulent environment.
Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology, Openwork goes inside the watch industry.
You can find us online at collectivehorology.com. To get in touch...
Summertime, usually a downtime in the watch industry, has been particularly busy this year. On this episode of Openwork, we're looking at three timely stories: A preview of Geneva Watch Days, the latest Swiss watch export data, and Richemont's most recent quarterly earnings. Taken all together, these current events demonstrate the watch industry isn't lacking for intrigue in the waning days of summer.
On this episode of Openwork, we explore the watches that shaped both the watch industry and global culture. Our focus is on the modern era—from the Quartz Crisis to today.
Each of us selects three watches that transformed the industry, influenced how we collect, and left their mark far beyond the world of horology. We also each choose the most important industry executive of the same period.
On July 31, the United States announced a new reciprocal tariff rate of 39% on imports from Switzerland, starting August 7, 2025. These tariffs have sweeping implications for the Swiss watch industry and the global watch industry more broadly.
On this episode of Openwork we discuss those effects, along with what to look for next. How will negotiations play out? And how will the watch industry navigate future tariffs?
Today, it’s cars vs. watches. In particular, we’re looking at the automotive world, which is often compared to the watch industry—including on this podcast—to see what it might teach us about watches.
Our guest is Wesley Smith, the founder of STANDARD H, a California-based apparel and lifestyle brand inspired by his lifelong passions for cars, watches, travel, and design. With over 20 years of retail experience—from surf shops to l...
Today we’re talking about the rise of certified pre-owned programs – the current state of the CPO universe, the value of those programs, and where it’s all going.
And to do that, we have the perfect returning guest, Hamza Masood of WatchCharts – the world's most comprehensive, transparent and trusted source of watch market data. Hamza and WatchCharts were among the first to track and call-out the rise and growing importance of cert...
We’re half way through 2025, which has turned out to be a very eventful year to say the least, and that very much shows up in the data for the watch market. So today we’re looking at all the data sources we can muster to understand just how the watch industry is faring at the midway point of 2025, and where it might be heading next.
We looked at a wide variety of sources from WatchCharts, to trade press, to FHS export data and more...
Having made the transition from watch enthusiasts to industry insiders and retailers in particular, we’ve come to realize that there are often big gaps between what commands attention in watch media and among collectors vs. the commercial realities.
Many of the so-called “truths” we hold sacred as enthusiasts aren’t really true after all. So today on Openwork, we’re myth busting – taking a look at some of the widely held beliefs in...
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