Building Trust and Innovation in Watchmaking with Mike Pearson of Christopher Ward

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Blake Rea (00:01):
Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of
Lonely Wrist, today, again forthe very first time, but also
the second time.
The first time that we have asecond reoccurring guest, mr
Mike Pearson, this time withChristopher Ward.

Mike Pearson (00:18):
What's up, brother ?
Thanks for having me back.

Justin Summers (00:21):
Yeah, thanks for coming back.
Welcome on, man.
Good to see you.

And you.
I've got the branded t-shirt onfor anybody who can't see.
Having me back.
Yeah, thanks for coming back.
Welcome on, man, good to seeyou and you.
Yeah, I put.
I put the branded t-shirt onfor anybody who can't see, just
so.
I just just to not confuseanybody about who I'm with now
I'm in london.

Thank god it doesn't have.
Thank god it doesn't have thechr ward on it there, right?
Hey, some people still likethat I'm finding out.

I saw this just points I saw this one.

Blake Rea (00:41):
I don't know if it was you that posted it or
somebody, but they posted likeone of these like general
advisors or whatever that hadlike a christopher ward, like an
older trident, where, like Ilooked at the dial from like the
you know, like I love to likecreep on, watch people, like and
see what they're wearing andlike I was like that doesn't
look like christopher ward, butthen when you zoom in it's just

(01:02):
like Christopher Wood, like allacross the whole dial and I'm
like okay.

What I found in the eight months eight and a bit
months being with the brand isthat 285 different families in
20 years.
So that means there's some good, there's some bad, there's some
ugly, there's some amazingthings within there that have
gone away, that could, should,might, come back, but everything
has been like a stepping stoneto the collection I've got today
.
I've not loved everything I'veseen, but it's been loved by

(01:30):
somebody, which again goes tothe point that that's what the
watch industry is all about.
You do.
I think Christopher Ward, inany iteration, has always had a
really great intention to buildgreat watches for the money.
But you can also see littlemoments in time, and that I
think that logo is capturedbrilliantly there.

so I love that you speak so highly about them.

By the way, mike, like, like, even if we talk to
you outside of your normal workstuff, like we, you know, meet
you at a bar or something you'reso passionate about what you do
, about supporting the brand,and I think that that speaks
very highly of christopher wardas well well, you know, I I've
said this before, especially atthe wind up shows, when you see
people that have seen me behindthe Christopher Ward booth and
they've done that double takewhere the Zodiac one is as well,

(02:12):
because it was only two yearswith Zodiac and I say with all
honesty and all love that I'd bethere now for the next 30 years
if I felt like this chance ofcrystal war wasn't as big or as
special as what it is.
And I I say this again withoutany kind of cheesiness, uh, or
cheesy lines that come out but Ionly joined because I saw how

(02:33):
they spoke to the community atthose types of shows.
So they they speak very muchlike how I hope I do as well.
So, yeah, I'm here, for I'mhere for the right reasons, so
it feels good and there's nothere, there's no BS in my side
here.

Blake Rea (02:46):
I was going to ask you what fueled the transition,
but you really just answeredthat question there was a lot of
asking.

I just moved back to America.
If I'm honest with you, mikeand I just said hi.
We had a few different nodsover.
He knew what I did with Vermontfor all the years.
I was respected the heck out ofwho he was, but I didn't know
him.
I didn't know Peter Ellis andI'd never known about
Christopher Ward.
Really, because you have thoseBritish brand blinkers on and,

(03:15):
uh, we talked.
I kind of fell out of love withwatches for a couple of years
and it was Zodiac that sparkedthat love back and I was on a
massive mission to make thatbrand a little bit more
respected and maybe part of themainstream conversation with,
you know, within that pricepoint but also doing things a
bit different.
And Zodiac has a story, unlikemost of the brands out there.
But it was.

(03:36):
It was the conversations withpeople that were the periphery
around Mike who knew of me.
So I'd go to a show and I'dmeet Olivia who heads their
events, or I'd talk to a guycalled Peter who heads their
bespoke stuff, but he's a bigsoccer fan.
So I ended up meeting himwhilst in England not living,
just visiting for my soccer team, who was playing against his

(03:56):
soccer team and we had a littlewrist shot Zodiac and
Christopher Ward, but it wasalso.
You'd be great, you know, youshould really really talk to
mike and let him, you know, lethim tell you what the plans are.
And it really had to be a chatwith mike, um, just to kind of
understand, I think, the man andthe men and the people and the
ladies behind it.
But, yeah, you know, mike's theface of the brand.

(04:17):
So, weirdly, I was in a wind-upand this was nothing to do with
the job in terms of aninterview or any kind of in.
There was no ulterior motivebut I went.
I like going to the gym in themorning.
That's how I get too much of myenergy out, otherwise I'm even
more than I am.
But I got to the gym in newyork city this is last year and

(04:39):
um, and for some reason it wasclosed for one hour extra.
They were cleaning it and itwas horrible rain New York City
October, like proper rainfalling from the sky.
So I just got on my phone andmy soccer team weren't playing.
But I always know that, nomatter where you are in the
world, at six to eight in themorning, there's always a soccer
game on and in a city there's apub.
So I found a local soccer pub,ran to it and it was an Everton

(05:03):
pub and there was 200 people inEverton jerseys, which is a
beautiful blue, and I waswearing an Aston Villa which is
Claret training top.
So I walked in looking like adrowned puppy in the wrong
colour, and all these bluepeople had that kind of click
what are you doing in here?
Like a wild west shoot, thatkind of moment.
And in the middle, on his own,was Mike France and he saw me

(05:24):
and he just opened the chair andsaid come sit down.
We did not talk about watches,we talked about football and we
watched the game.
You know, I tried to dry myselfoff as much as I could and at
halftime we just had a littlepoking of each other to the
point of who you are, what youlike, how do you work.
And I was in.
I just thought, you know, let'sexplore it more just because

(05:46):
they'd asked for so long.
But it was more of not leavingZodiac because I didn't want to
go, or not joining ChristopherWalks.
I didn't believe in it, I justhad to.
You know, this was a quicktransition and for my head and
my heart and my morals, it hadto be the right thing, and that
moment really was it.
So it's all about the people,isn't it?

Blake Rea (06:04):
I guess from an external perspective going,
coming from bremont, going tozodiac and then now back to
another british brand, I don'tknow.
To me I guess in the weirdestway it seemed like you kind of
went home.

I've had that a lot and the weird thing is I
mean bre that and all my timewith Vermont was always kind of
flying that British flag becauseit was bringing watchmaking
home.
It was that was the eventualgoal from Nick and Giles and I
took their story on as mine.
I was their storyteller here inthe US.
I opened stores and the watcheswere, I think, especially when

(06:40):
we first started, were different, were very innovative and, yeah
, the MB story, the dive watcheswere excellent.
So my thing was not aboutflying the flag in terms of
that's why you should have us.
It was like, well, let me putthese watches next to your watch
and I'll show you how we can bepart of your store.
The different thing with withbremont is it's, I think maybe
and this is me probably justsaying this now after what you

(07:00):
just said is I was with bremontfor so long that, no matter what
I did for those four or fiveyears in between, I was always
known as the, the gent who grewBremont in North America.
That was my cross to bear, butalso my.
The wonderful thing that I wasproud of, I think going now to
Christopher Ward is, andespecially going back to that
logo conversation, you know theEnglish flag and the Swiss flag.
They are not British centric,they're not trying to say they

(07:25):
very much know that they'redesigned in England, which is
one of four countries in GreatBritain, but then they know
they're made in Switzerland.
They lean on that heritage,they lean on that expertise.
So the design, the feeling, youknow, the Englishness of Mike
and Peter and obviouslyoriginally Chris as well is
within the brand, but that'sevolved.
What they've done, especiallysince Belcanto, is, say, right,

(07:47):
we're made in Switzerland, weneed to make more, we need the
quality to go higher, better,more innovative, and that's what
that logo stands for.
So it's very different.
And even I think in my earlyevents this year I brought a
little flag just to add color tomy table, but I didn't have a
Swiss flag as well, and it wasjust a nice quiet conversation

(08:08):
between I'd have York Juniorsaying where's your Swiss flag?
I said, well, send me one.
And then you put it on.
It was too, too much, so thenI'll speak to Mike.
He's like, maybe you don't needit and so I've taken it away.
And it's true, it's not aboutwaving any flags, it's just
because I think the accent,especially here, it kind of goes
right.
We know where you're from now.
This is not.
This is not a texas accentyou've got right now, mike, but

(08:31):
weirdest texas accent I've everheard.
It's very, very sudden texas.
No one's heard this one.
But in terms of like, the flagwaving, that's gone.
And also I think there's nohistory that's trying to say in
1714 there was an old guy in inan attic doing this.
It's about three guys, now twothat lead the way of doing the
best watches for the leastamount of money, in the highest

(08:52):
capabilities, of quality, soldin a different way.
So what I've added to what I'vetried to add in this first
almost year is tactility,because you, you guys, know the
brand, because you get eithersent them or you go to some of
the watch meets in some of theareas.
But what I found is, I think,about 95 of people who come and
I say it's a very high statistic95 of people know christopher

(09:16):
waller, know something of it,but I would say about 80 of
every attendees, every attendeethat comes to an event has never
held one.
So it's all preconceived ideasthat you'd find on reddit or
watch crunch or facebook orinstagram.
So I'm trying to give thathumanity side to it and I think
that's where the bremontexperience all the way through
zodiak to today, has kind of ledto why this year has been so

(09:38):
much fun yeah, and you, you'vedefinitely got your job laid out
for you because, I mean, you,you guys are only online
retailers I'm assuming you knowyou're.

You're not physical locations, so you are
essentially the cheerleader forthe brand.
You're going around, you'reputting these watches, you know,
in hands, you're showing people, you know the quality of your
watches and you know you're,you're telling them the truth.
I think that's a beautifulthing of Christopher Ward is
that you guys are just sobrutally honest with your
manufacturing process, your costprocess.

(10:07):
You know who you are, whereyou're from and, um, I think
that speaks a lot and of course,having you head the way.

I'm sure that helps the company quite a bit
too.
I like the cheerleader tag.
I'm keeping it.

I say that in the most respectful way.

No, I know, I know I've kind of called myself like
, especially this year, taylorSwift going all over the world.
I've kind of done the errorstour.
But this is my Christopher Wardera and I'm on it.
But I mean the job itself is sofull facing and forward facing.
But what it also is fromsomeone like Mike and Peter, the
owners, is very trusting aswell.

(10:40):
This is their brand.
We've had gentlemen in the pastwho look after our forum.
You know they've had a presencehere, but they've never gone
away from the wind-ups, shall wesay, or the big city of new
york, that area, chicago and sanfrancisco.
They've done bits in terms ofconversations around, but the,
the brand, has bled into thepsyche of the watch community to

(11:03):
online only.
So when I was speaking to Mike,when I officially joined, the
plan was what do you want to do?
Because what I would do withany other brand is go to the
retailer network that I trustand then you, you, you open them
and they become the chip, thecheerleaders, the champions.
They tell you, they lay outyour watches and Christopher
Ward, I mean, did a watch.

(11:24):
Last week we got this new GMT300, which is great.
We've got another launchthat'll be like a color edition
tomorrow.
We're doing this the first weekof August and then at the end
of August there's a big launchcoming again, and that's always
happening with Christopher.
There's always anothersomething else, a new story to
tell, an evolution of a story ora model, and in some cases,

(11:44):
some brand new ones, which isexciting.
When you do that, traditionally,you put that watch in a
showcase and people run to thestore, pick it up, decide to buy
it, swipe the credit card away.
You go here.
It's got to be a level of trustthrough podcasts, through
Instagram posts and differentforums.
But now I've done I think Ijust signed up today my 40th
event of the year I'll do by theend of 2024.

(12:06):
That's not including what I'lldo in the showroom, but that
does include like windups andstuff.
But individually.
I go to red bars or red barlike style groups, and that's
been the magic, because when Isaid I want to go bring
tactility to the community, itmeant give me a company credit
card.
I'm jumping in economy andstaying in awful hotels.
I'm going old school with a bagof watches under my arm.

(12:28):
Let's, let's buy everybody around of beers and tell the
story properly, because thetransparency of the story to the
pricing is very well known.
But still over in america,americans do not understand
duties, and I say thatrespectfully, because we've all
had that knock on the door forFedEx, ups or DHL saying you now
owe us a hundred extra dollarseven though you've already paid

(12:50):
your duties.
So what I'm telling them iseverything's duties paid at the
point of exit of your onlinetransaction.
If you get anything from DHL,give us a shout.
It shouldn't happen and we'llmake sure that it's gone away.
Just to tell somebody face toface like that gives you so much
more gravitas to a very, verynicely emailed or written word

(13:11):
on the website, becausesometimes we just don't read
that.
But to know somebody me in thiscase in point means we've got
you.
It's a huge thing for the US.
We ship for free.
If you don't like it, you'vegot 60 days to send it back.
If you don't wear it, if thewatch breaks, you've got five
years on the warranty.
Sometimes you don't read thatsmall print.
But the biggest thing is I knowthat guy.

(13:32):
He bought me a beer.
I like him, he, he can stay andwe trust the watches.
So sometimes it break.
It's broken down to a granular,a granular level, but I think
we all people buy people so Ijust try to get that this first
year.

Blake Rea (13:54):
How would you say that?

being like a British brand influences the
direction of the company, atleast here in the United States.
I only know from my experiencethat the first thing I'll always
go through in any life, anypart of my life, be it watch,
world or professional, theaccent comes up.
So have you met the queen?
What part of London are youfrom?
I support Manchester United.
Yeah, exactly so the stereotypehave you seen Ted Lasso?
Yeah, those kind of stereotypes, conversations, uh, which I'm

(14:19):
fine with you know, and in many,many ways, the reason why I'm
with my wife is because she saidI don't care how you sound, as
long as you say the right words.
She was bang on and I love that.
The thing, though I think, withhaving this accent, I think also
, I think this mentality of myEnglishness, humor, I think
maybe a bit of a dryness, butalso I've been an American since

(14:40):
2006.
I've worked with Americanssince the early 2000s, 2006.
I've worked with Americanssince the early 2000s and we are
different animals.
But I've been here long enoughto understand that we actually
have more in common than we know.
But we don't sell the same way,we don't position conversations
in the right way or we do itdifferently, and customer
service is always the forefrontof any American's mind, as it

(15:00):
should be and probably is with alot of people.
But Americans are lessforgiving because they're used
to a different level of qualityof service, and I try and bridge
that gap.
But no, I don't think it'sabout where I'm from.
I think it's about the factthat I live here now and I've
adapted, without changing myself, to how I work.
Is that fair?

Blake Rea (15:19):
Yeah, yeah, I was mostly kind of angling at
Christopher Ward, the brand.

I think we're in a different world now.
I think if you looked at backin the day with Ramon when I
started, it was very different.
Everything had to be Swiss,swiss made, but the entry of
Nomos and Glasschutte and theGerman brands.
And also you look at thealliance of British watchmaking
with the power of fears and Faraand Vertex and some of the

(15:45):
unique ones such as Schofield orPinion, and then you've got the
greatness in terms of storieslike George Daniels that went to
Roger Smith.
There is now a lot more of anappetite for it.
It doesn't have to be Swiss, itjust has to be bloody good.
So as long as you can justifythat, I think Americans love
that.
There's obviously a lot ofAnglophiles here, so you know we
talk about soccer and thingsthat are important to the brand

(16:06):
back in the UK, but they nowtranslate in America very
differently than maybe theywould have done 15, 20 years ago
.
But that's a good thing.
But I don't think that theEnglishness matters, especially
now that we've got that kind ofcleanliness with the story of
the English to the Swiss side ofit, cleanliness with the story

(16:26):
of the english to the swiss sideof it.
The logo was and I think stillis a big part of our past and
people love it.
But some guys and girls justdidn't like to have a
christopher the name christopheron the dial.
It didn't mean anything to them.
And some guys and girls justdidn't think it was symmetrical
and if it was, it was missing.
Some of the the nuance, thislogo say it's clean, it's all
about the watch.
Some of our models, such asbelcanto, doesn't have the logo

(16:47):
on it, um, but this one justkeeps it symmetrical and easy.
So any contentious conversationis gone and we can very easily
and quickly talk about who weare and where we're built what
one of my for good or one of myfriends owns uh, the the
Moonface with the Venturine dial.

Blake Rea (17:05):
Well done your friend .
Yeah, and he keeps calling itChristian Ward.

And I'm like dude, you own one of these
watches.

Blake Rea (17:19):
He's thinking Dior, yeah.
He's like yeah, I'm going towear that Christian Ward today.

Hey, he paid the money.
You can call it what he likes.

Blake Rea (17:29):
We're happy with him.
Yeah, he likes it and it's acool, beautiful watch like oh,
that dials.

I mean I I don't uh, I don't pretend to be
flashing anyway, but I'll wearthat.
I think that's just awesome.

So it's so good, beautiful man my favorite I was
gonna say I I remember watchingthe uh the show.
Uh, mark and them from thewatch society had you on and uh,
I was in agreement with markabout the.
The one thing that always kindof kept me from christopher ward
was the logo oh yeah but it itwas.
I was like man.
I just I feel like it's.
It's either unbalanced orthere's something off with it.

(17:59):
As soon as you guys rebrandedinto the two flags, I was like
bro, that's it like in gamethere they're making some of the
best watches.
Yeah, I was like best watchesfor the money.
They now got their logo.
You know kind of kind of onthat trend and um and I I think
I remember you guys discussingsomething about y'all sales went
up like 50% or something likethat.

It was a good chunk of change it just again
there was those people that holdback because of the information
they don't know.
But I mean, when we do a windup, when we do an event, when I
do a get together, we have alittle tracker.
So it's like I leave a littlestink bomb and then they can see
where it's kind of let off,like I, the Michael Pearson
tracker kind of shows thatpeople have seen it, trusted it
and go.
But that was immediate withthat logo.

(18:41):
That was definitely.
But that's like I said I thinkI said it to you, mark.
That logo has been in thecollection for a while but it
was case back or it was on thecrown.
It was never the dial becausewe were still baby brand.
We didn't want anyone fromSwitzerland to come in and take
us down financially, so legally,because we can definitely do it
and it's our logo.

Now it's on and we move forward.
That's right.
So I'm curious, mike kind ofswitch gears on us.
Can you kind of walk us through, you know, maybe like the
craftsmanship process ofChristopher Ward watches?
I know you guys make you knowbang for your buck, amazing
watches.
Just give us a little insightinto how that process works.

Sure, and I'll preface it by saying that I've
only seen behind the curtain theonce, and I've been to the UK
side of things just a couple oftimes.
But I get to speak to thegenius that I know, which is, uh
, york Bader Jr, um, quite a lot, and Will Brackfield in the UK,
um, and Adrian.
I would say that the beauty ofMike France and I'll say this if

(19:42):
he was here or he wasn't, itsounds a bit weird, but I would
say the beauty is it's not abouthim, he, he knows that there's
really talented young designers,uh, behind, uh, the brand, and
so we've had some incredible ummoments in our past.
We know, getting SH21, gettingYork on board, um, but in terms
of what we are now, the, theyoung design team, are seeing

(20:03):
what was and I'll take this to alevel that I'm seeing right now
, for example, this new GMT Pro300, just taking what was and
slimming it down, adding thatlight catcher case, making the
bezel thinner.
They are very much aware ofwhere we came from, but also
they know what we are now andalso how to make it better.

(20:24):
We've listened to our community.
For example, our old Tridentsat 42 millimetres they were like
a hockey puck.
So we slimmed them down.
They didn't need to go to 600metres, we went to three, but
that meant we could open thecase back.
So the secret source of knowingwho and how to make our
everyday watches with the case,the bezels, the slim, slimness,

(20:44):
the thinness, the, the lugs,that for me has shown that the
design team and theconversations from england into
switzerland are very mature andvery much forward thinking.
When you look into things likeum, the moon phase, the moon
glow, and the belcanto which issalita base, with our own bit of
magic on top and doing it for2300 bucks for the moon and just

(21:05):
over four grand al canto, thosekind of things there for me
show that we're not standing onour laurels.
Sometimes it's happenstance, itcould be, you know, a good
happy accident.
That balcanto's case.
There was a, a jump hour, uh,from salita.
That one, uh one designercalled frankie's wife said it'd
be great if it made a noise whenit flicked over, and that's how

(21:25):
the Balcanto idea kind of cameto fruition and that's when his
genius kicked into gear where,if we put all of this on top of
the platine, these over 60 parts, we get a chance to not only
hear the sound but see it moveas well, and that's kind of why
the Balcanto is magic.

(21:46):
What I will say is that we arenow looking instead of being.
I think we were very reactive.
What I saw from the outside,you know, we'd see a design or a
style and there'd be a lot ofthings that we would kind of
jump into that with dial, colors, style or materials or shapes.
We are now leading beforeseeing and then moving on to a,
an ideal.
So what I'm looking at when Igo to switzerland is the plans
for three to five years time,the ambition to have more
Balcanto moments.

(22:07):
I said this before I don't knowif we could ever have a moment
that changed and shifted thebrand as big as it did, that
quickly.
But I think that because we cando it every time we move
forward, it's going to be a move, a movement that will evolve
the brand, not just on that toplevel of Atelier watchmaking,
but it will push the traditionalcore watches to be better as

(22:27):
well.
So my long winded answer forthat is it's very, very much
attaching rocket boosters towhat was before and trusting the
people again in Switzerland todo the right thing.
Mike and Peter will always havea look at it and have that say
of how they want it to look.
Or, you know, can we do this?
That's, that's Mike's geniuswithin his head of how he can

(22:48):
make a watch look a bit morenuanced for him, for us, but
very much so, is trusted withinMike Sorry with Adrian, will and
Jorg and the team with them,it's brilliant to see, actually
quite humbling as well, actually, when you see what they went
through.

Blake Rea (23:10):
Christopher Ward with , with Del Canto and where they
want to be in the next five, tenyears, and it's it's crazy
because that's that was such abold kind of move.
For you know, I would consideryou guys more on the
conservative side, right, youknow, like your core collection
are really tight, you don'tstray out from your design
language really.
And then the Belcanto oh man.

And I saw that from that wind-up you could see
that Mike was teasing somethingbig from some of the interviews
he did with Zach at Worn andWound.
But when it dropped the storythat I've seen the legend of it
was, they announced the blue andit sold out within a couple
hours that 300 pieces and theythought that would take a year.
They thought those 300 piecesat four grand, that that's not
the price point that christopherward would ever be in.

(23:50):
Um, obviously they did a fewbits with the fh21, but that was
a different level ofcomplication for a watch that
they were not sure would hit.
Uh, the note for the for thecommunity surprised it ball.
And then the next day theyannounced the green and that was
a very, very early prototypedrawing that had a brass dial
and they sold that within 15minutes.

(24:11):
So they have two years worth ofstock before making any watches
.
And they had to not only keepup with the demand of what they
were doing in the core world butwhat we found and this is the.
I think this is why I'm soimpressed with the team in
switzerland and also whatthey're doing in the uk, because
it's not about designing awatch and selling it, it's also
then backing it up.
So those two years worth ofwatches were then followed up

(24:33):
with the four core pieces thatwe we announced the black, the
purple, the light blue and thethe rosa.
So at one point there was a 16month wait list for that, but
they would not bend, they wouldnot break.
All they kept saying to oursuppliers in switzerland was be
better, be stronger.
Um, to the people that wereworking with, uh, gerard genta
or sorry, um, uh, who is that ona mars were in there.

(24:56):
Um, all the different, the bighouses that were around us, that
were polishing or makingcertain parts with us, like,
trust us, this is long term.
So we've got more of you know,headcount is a big thing, and
we've got more headcount than weever had before.
We've got incredible partnersthat trust the process more than
ever before.
So we've got to the point where, by the end of this year, we

(25:17):
will have caught up with all ofour back orders, and if you
order a christopher wardbelcanto today, it's a four or
five month wait, as opposed toclose to a year and a half.
That will then go away, and sowhat we've got there is this is
again for myself we've got theinfrastructure right, but on the
other side we are then onpeople's radars who would be

(25:38):
mbnf fans, fp john this is crazyto say proper complications.
And they look at our fourthousand dollar watch.
You go, actually that could bein my collection, and this is
coming from the middle east, bigplayers in america, europe,
singapore, hong kong.
And so that watch then startedto create a different energy,
went well.
If they can do this, let's lookat the rest of the collection.
And then we saw tridents andsea landers growing, so we have

(26:00):
to build more of them again withthe same quality, if not better
.
And then, in the craziest way,they launched the 12 collection,
which was like pouring gasolineon the fire, because that hit a
nerve for 12 to 1800 steel ortitanium.
That thing just flew and that'sthat's our best selling family
by a long way.

So yeah, that that definitely, that definitely
has like the dna of like a doeverything type watch, which is
why I personally love the 12 andI'm sure many other people do.
Yeah, I think that you guysdefinitely struck a good chord
with that and, um, I agree, Ithink that the belcanto
definitely kind of, like youknow, shined a big light on you
guys of, hey, like you know,what can you do, you know, in

(26:40):
that luxury watch realm and thenjust be backed up by the 12.

Oh yeah, when I started with Christopher Ward it
was just as the GPHG was beingannounced and Mike texted me
because I told him before I saidyou're going to win, you know.
And he goes.
No, there's no chance.
Look who we're against.
And he texted me he goes.
We only went and bloody won andI could.

(27:07):
They had a great night thatnight.
But to see that GPHG inSwitzerland and then bring it to
San Francisco and see peoplewho've bought, waited for that
watch, it meant so much.
And then just so many peoplewith 12 behind it because they
knew that they could get thatwatch and you know to your point
, blake is that we don't reallygo away from what we do.

(27:30):
We can be conservative.
And then last month weannounced the ice cream
collection in a new size andthat sold through in a mango
color just recently, I think afew days ago.
So there's an appetite forcolor and to be a bit more bold.
So you'll see more of that.
But the Belcanto, I think, kindof unleashed us a little bit
more.

Blake Rea (27:45):
I've noticed, wherever you go, you typically
have watches that typicallytrend to be colorful and fun me?

yes, I might have.
I might have added a few moreof my opinions into christopher
ward.
Um, there's a guy called jameshillard and he's great.
He goes.
Oh, we know what you like, my,because he had the conversation.
You know, they know an orangeshould be coming in soon and
I've got my reasons.
But yeah, yeah they, they knowwhat I like, but at the end of
the day I'm.
This role is very different towhat I'd had before.

(28:10):
This is very much make surethat North America grows.
They'll listen to my opinion,but it's definitely not mine.

Blake Rea (28:15):
That's, that's all them back in the UK and in
Switzerland, which is great, butI'll shout that we need x, y
and z and hopefully they listento a few something like jumping
back to the 12, like somethingthat was really kind of
standoutish to me is like the 12came out when, like people were
getting burned out from theintegrated bracelet sports

(28:37):
watches, right like the prx, itcame out and it played it out
people.
People were like, oh, it's justanother integrated bracelet
sports, why?
Oh?

I didn't feel.
I felt like it was.
I felt like that.
I felt like it was, um, us, uh,he so.
And even when you look atshappic, you know that was a
like with fashion and carssometimes things just happen
quite similarly in a similaramount of time, and so a lot of
people thought it was being partof that trend.
We'd been working on that for acouple of years, apparently,
but it came out right in themiddle of a couple hundred bucks

(29:10):
, quite a lot more money, andthen we were there at that entry
level, but then the qualitykind of pushed us up into a
different yeah, and I think thatkind of ignite.
This is again my opinion, sotake it as you like.
But what I saw was that peoplejust went wow, finally the watch
has been done right, exactlyprice point that suits it.

Blake Rea (29:27):
That that's where I was kind of alluding to.
But people were burned out fromthe integrated bracelet concept
.
They're like, oh, you know, andthen, um, you know, because
obviously zenith had came outwith the uh, the defy skyline,
you know, right before you guys.
And then, oh, yeah, you know,and then you guys came out and

(29:48):
people were like, okay, this isa a proper integrated bracelet
sports watch like this is donewith the likes of the best of
them.

Yeah, and it's only.
It's only become stronger.
I mean, when I first got myfirst watch, um, I asked for the
pro 300 in bronze, which I wearmostly, and then the 12th in
titanium and I never weartitanium watches but it just
happened after christmas, sothey'd ran out of bracelets and
they sent it on the blackintegrated rubber, which is
amazing, yeah.

(30:18):
But I felt like a spoiled kidthat I didn't get what I wanted,
because that watch with thatbracelet is a superstar and no
matter where I go from you knowbreweries to you know high-end
events, if I wear that watch, itsuits whatever I'm wearing.
So, yeah, bang on, and I'm gladit hit there in the end and
yeah, it's, it's proper and and.

Blake Rea (30:37):
The price is just incredible.

But it's the right maths.
I mean, we know what it coststo build.
We just increase that by threeand that's how we get the price.
And I think one of those thingsgoing back to the original
points we talked about withduties and stuff is if we
started distributing in America,duties would be added into the
price.
So a $1,200 watch would beadded into the price.

(31:00):
Uh, so a 1200 watch would be1400, 1400.
Yeah, we try and keep it asinexpensive as possible and the
processes are there.
Um, but if we went into retailor we we started to market in a
different way, that would beadded to the price.
And so we don't sell intraditional ways, we don't
market into different intraditional ways and the only
way that we can keep the watchesthey are is by having that same
business model.

(31:20):
Um, but if you pick up thatwatch and go 1295 dollars, I'll
take one.
But it's kind of re-educatingwhat people think 1200 should
feel like, because I don't knowif you agree, but in all the
years in the watch industry Istill think that 1200 is a ton
of cash and if I'm going tospend that much money, you
shouldn't feel crap, and for toolong I've been a bit like well,

(31:44):
I don't want to go to thatlevel of watch because I do
expect more from spending thattype of money.
I've got kids, I've got dogs,I've got a life and a house, and
I think Christopher Ward sitswithin that world of we're not
trying to, we know we lack bynot being in retail and we're
not disrespecting retail, buthey, for this amount of money,
you get this type of feel andthat's where I think the magic's

(32:06):
starting to happen, especiallythe more I do these events and
people hold them.

Blake Rea (32:10):
I think there's also a transparency aspect that you
guys deserve like a gold medalfor because, like you know, you
can easily go on your website.
You say, hey, look, here's howwe calculate how much our watch
costs.
Right, you can easily justreverse engineer that and say,
okay, this is how much it costsfor chris reward to make right,
right, like you can easily dothat math on a napkin.

And uh, and nobody in the industry does that well,
the tough thing is is and thisis I said as well is that
because we're not in retail andwe don't get those thousands and
thousands, hundreds ofthousands of eyeballs, we lack a
lot of things in terms of thenotoriety we could get the sales
we should get.
But the guy who's behind thatshowcase deserves getting paid.

(32:52):
So where's that money come from?
It goes into the watch.
The guy and girl who's investedat some point hundreds of
thousands of dollars in a branddeserves to have that kind of
addition within the margin tomake some money to put it inside
of his store.
So we are under no illusionthat we are part of a very
different thinking or mindset tohow we sell.

(33:14):
But the guys and the brands andthe people that are doing what
they do traditionally, they'redoing it the right way, because
that bit of money goes into thatkind of brand and it's it's all
encompassing.
I mean, we're watching theolympics now and you know how
much that costs for a certainbrand, uh, to to be part of that
or to see some really coolmovie that's got some good
gadgets.
You know what that costs to bepart of that movie, the

(33:34):
franchise, um, but reservedly.
So that also puts eyeballs onthere, so it has to get paid in
some way.
All we say and this is what youknow my whole mindset has been
shifted from going into retailto now doing as I am, uh, with
christopher ward now is well,just if you, if you get it,
great, if you don't, it's fine,but come and hold it and feel it
and you'll see the quality.

(33:54):
So there's's so much choice outthere.
But yeah, we're a differentlevel now.

You guys have definitely built a very genuine
customer base and I think thatyou know where, where you lack
in certain areas.
You know advertising, physicalstore location, things like that
.
I mean you guys are building areally good community of people
that back you up, and I thinkthat that's one thing about
Christopher Ward that I reallyenjoy is everyone who is, you

(34:22):
know, within your customer base,a part of your team, is very
serious about you guys.
They will support you throughand through.
They have taken the time to dothe research, as you guys stayed
on your website and, you know,went through your catalog and
has, you know, physicallypurchased a watch from you guys,
whether in hand or not.
That in itself is already a bigfeat.

(34:43):
You don't have, you know, asmany of those not to speak
negatively on people, but youknow, anybody can walk into a
store and see something, oh,they like, and they think that's
pretty and spend money on it.
They have to go through anonline interaction to, you know,
usually get a hold of y'all'swatches, um, and so, yeah, I
mean I think that that speaksvolumes.
Uh, and for everybody listeningas well, I mean, you know if

(35:04):
you, if you, can ever get a holdof mike and get him on location
and you know, put them in yourhand, do it.
They're impressive.
But even if you do order onestraight from online, I I could
vouch for them for sure, thankyou.

Well, the biggest thing that's's got me is that
the brands I've been with beforethere's a fan base.
This is a different level.
It's like a, the way I kind ofequate it.
You know, you go like you walkdown around the mall and you see
a 14 year old wearing a pinkfloyd t-shirt.
You're like you don't know thesongs.

Yeah, that's not your song.

That's not your yeah I do the same thing now
with oasis.
So that's my group from the 90s.
I love it.

We're getting old Wonderwall.

There was 19 albums how dare you.
But in the same way it'sbecause I love those bands so
much.
They're part of my culturegrowing up.
This feels very much owned bythe fan base and our forum which
we have on our website.
We don't touch it.
We very much own it becauseit's a place to live, where
Chris Ford members can come to,and Kip who runs it.

(35:58):
He has archived every singlemodel, hand dial, strap
variation, all the bespokepieces.
He was in England for our 20thanniversary recently and his
main thing was to make sure heknew from the bespoke collection
what was coming out so we couldarchive it.
And then the people that are onthere then become care
caretakers and the moderatorsare very different on there than
what you might find back in theday with time zone or tz uk or

(36:21):
the dive watch connection.
But the love that brand it'slike you know, taking care of it
for future generations.
That's now bled into um chrisward enthusiast and the chris
ward aficionados on facebook.
Um, they love it for differentways and they converse
differently, which is grand, butthe fan base are dedicated.
What I love is, in the end, ifI've got that 14 year old and I

(36:43):
can show them the Pink Floydalbum and you can love it for
your own reasons.
Then we move on and I've doneevents where it's just been me
and I know it was going to betough because the amount of
people that were coming and whatI've done is I've invited kip
and people who are moderators onthe forum or the enthusiast
group to come bring a few oftheir old christopher ward
watches and I said this with allthe respect in the world is

(37:05):
that if they want to talk aboutthe past, I'd love to, but these
events are one or two hours ifwe've got a hundred people there
.
I know that someone who's brandnew wants to see the 12, the try
, that they want to understandwhat the 12x, why it costs, what
it does.
I want to hear the belcanto goto kip and talk about the older
variations, go to the people inthe forum because they love it

(37:26):
differently than what I do,because I didn't know it.
I know what's on this table andI'm going to take it forward,
but that is, right now, thebeauty of that community,
because hand in hand, there's nopassing of the baton.
We're just.
We're just walking together indifferent ways and that, for me
is the power and why we'll grow,because, um, mike's always been
the glue.
Um, he's let people be sorry,my dog flapping his ears um,

(37:48):
he's always been the glue, uh,but letting the, the design team
, or trusting the design team,or the marketeers, and now me
and with the forum members,we've got a really wonderful
community to help grow thisbrand I was going to say I don't
expect for you to remember youknow 20 years worth of a catalog
either.

So I'm glad that you, you know you're able to
recruit kip to come along andhelp you out there it seemed
like the right idea and it'sworked so well.

And kip actually brought 70 pieces to red bar
boston and, uh, it was amazingto see them in in person and the
hope is that we can do thatmore and more in our showrooms.
And because it shouldn't bearchived online only people
should come and experience them,because if you put, say, an old
trident next to what's now, youcan see and feel is it better?

(38:32):
Arguably, but what it wasdesigned like and what it cost
and how it was put together wasreflected of the time and the
brand we were then to what weare now.
What we're also finding is thebigger we get, or the and I say
that respectively to who we arewe're not a micro brand anymore.
We definitely.
You know we were an independentwhich has got a little bit of
power within it.
But the more watches we produce, that's going to help us keep

(38:55):
the cost low, because you know,the more you produce, that means
we can make things better interms of polishing, edging, the
movement that we choose.
For example, this watch has gotthe SW 330 as opposed to it
would have been the 200 before.
So what we're doing is makingsure that we get better, but
pricing stay the same.
That is the key for me.

Blake Rea (39:15):
What type of challenges are you guys facing,
since you, I mean, you're one ofthe few direct to consumer
brands out there, like you'restarting to see it more within
the micro brand space?
Um, because they want to keepthe cost of the watch low.
You know, obviously we talkedabout it.
You know you can't go into alocal boutique and see a
Christopher Ward because youguys are direct to consumer.

Yeah, so, and I know you're a big marketing guy,
like you're all about marketingthe brand and, and you know,
plastering it everywhere that'sjust but I mean there's got to
be challenges with that, like Iknow you guys are doing like the
rugby stuff, like um in evertonand but I mean honestly I'm

(39:58):
sure you've probably hadchallenges marketing the brand
right yeah, there's definitely,because there's only a certain
amount of money to keep usmarketing the way that we do,
which is why, yeah, like, forexample, I went to an event, I
did an event in new york lastweek and new york's a different
level of price of what I wouldhave done for an event in rally
north carolina, but those peoplestill spend that same real

(40:19):
money, right?
So what you find there is whatis that return on investment for
what?
My time is the flight, the plan, you know, around the drinks or
the venue and the food.
But when it comes toadvertising with Everton, that's
got to be more long term goal,the rugby, a long term goal.
Rugby is very much a worldsport.
Might not be huge here, but wehave customer bases all over

(40:41):
Australia, new Zealand,especially, obviously, in the
United Kingdom, but that alsoaligns with us being a bit
different.
We time the league there in theEnglish Premiership, which is
great and there's a lot ofeyeballs, but it's not as glitzy
and glamorous or as global aswhat say the Premier League is.
So when you think about EvertonMike France is an Everton fan

(41:04):
there is a new stadium that'sbeing built, but that Everton
are one of the founders of theleague.
They're one of the old boys ofthe, of the, of the uh, the
football world.
They're known as the people'sclub.
They're very much acommunity-based thing and so
when we work with them, yes,it's great to see five or six
minutes of the 12 around theouter boarding with our logo,
but unless you know sometimeswhat was that, what is that?

(41:26):
But it's more the active partin that side of things where we
can have contact with the coach,the players.
We can do events in and aroundLiverpool, but also we've got
conversations of having some ofthe players over here or the
retired players players overhere, because football is very
much a working person's sport.
It's a working man's sport inEngland but in America it's

(41:46):
still a really, really excitingthing to do in the morning and
kids are involved and you can bea very successful business
person or just a sports personand you're noticing the behemoth
that is the Premier League andwe have that one club that we
talk about.
If we started to do which otherbrands might do, which is spread
over all of football, thatwould be very hard for a brand

(42:08):
of our size.
So we have to target andutilize that relationship to the
max.
The thing that's exciting forus is that you can tell yes, I'm
a marketeer, but I think we'reall storytellers.
We work with Team Brit.
Team Brit is a racing teamthat's for disabled or people
who have lost limbs eitherthrough how they were born or
they've lost them throughmilitary action, and they

(42:29):
retrofit these cars to race inable-bodied races and we are the
timing partner and one of themain sponsors of that particular
race.
And we are the timing partnerand one of the main sponsors of
that particular race.
They're very much british based, but we want that team to come
to the uk, so to the us, sothose types of stories can be,
can be told hand in hand.
And finally, it's blue marine,which is a foundation that tries

(42:49):
to stop overfishing.
So that would be.
There's something coming outthis year which kind of tells
that story in a different way,which is great, and we do
watches already right now, whichhave got tied straps made of
recycled materials.
We know that this is going tobe a certain section, but all
encompassing it shows the thetrue spirit of the brand.
You know, we love sport, welove community, um, we want to

(43:11):
do things that are different andalso, we believe in the world.
Let's look, look after it.
So if we can, in our micro way,do that in a marketing, do it
socially, do it now in events,and then probably wrap it all up
within our own magazine, whichis called Loop, which is free to
anybody who wants to sign up,then it becomes powerful.
The challenges are there's onlya certain amount of money,

(43:33):
blake, so we want to make surethat we spend it correctly, but
that's the only chance.
And we do have missteps, but welearn from them, right.

Totally, that's right.
Yeah, I was going to say I'msubscribed to the Loop magazines
too and they're always a funread.
They're great quality.
I always love the covers, justthey're so nice man.

Everybody, please.
They're free.
Mike would recommend them.
Get on the loop.
Every three months we send outthis magazine globally for free.
And that's the free sign-up.
And it's not just ChristopherWard spiel, it's also a bit of
sport, travel movies.
Sometimes there's bits and bobs.
We've got a great writer calledTony.
He's got a great way about himtelling these stories.

Yeahony's doing an awesome job.
Tell him we said that um justto kind of off the wall.
Uh, how do you see the?

watch industry evolving.
Uh, and where does christopherward fit into that future?
Oh, justin, um, we are in apost covid world where we know
how to buy our groceries onlineand I think, with this award and
the more and more we're trusted, I think we'll just continue to
grow.
I think we will look to morepartners.
You know we did a reallywonderful watch recently with
Andrew Morgan, which was, youknow, brilliant to be able to

(44:47):
kind of reward all of the workthat he'd done with Watchfinder,
but also his expertise andunderstanding the Belcanto, and
say, right, right, let's dosomething for you and your
people that have followed youfor all those years, those.
That's really powerful.
So I would love to see more ofthat, but organically, not just
about throwing a name out there.
So, christopher ward, we've got, you know, financial goals.

(45:09):
We've got goals that we want toreally, really hit.
For me personally, I want and Idon't know if you know this we
we're opening up our first USshowroom in Dallas in September.
That showroom is not the headoffice, that's just the first
office.
That's how I've kind ofpositioned it, because that
office will be small.
It won't be next to anyLululemons or traditional watch
stores.

(45:29):
This is going to be off thebeaten path and if you come and
see us, you have to make anappointment.
You get an hour.
We are still keeping with andthis is for right now.
We are keeping with that.
We are going to ship it to you,but we've got a few different
incentives of why come to the,the showroom, which we're
working on right now.
But, more than anything, youget that hour to play with

(45:49):
Christopher Ward and you get todiscover the watches that you
love, so that that's veryexciting.
And then what I want is tostart where I am right now in
texas and grow from the insideout and be at a place where we
can be deserved of new york orla.
But we're not there yet.
We want to do it gradually,because that type of commitment
to money and team and time is iscrazy.

(46:10):
The watch industry overall I Ilike it.
I think that we've had a bigweirdness after covid where
there were so many watches thathad to be released because they
were being built and everythingwas flooded, but that also
created a ton of excitement inthe industry at a time where the
world was not really excitedabout buying things.
There's a lot of conservatismcoming out from that now, which

(46:33):
I think is smart, but watchesare going nowhere.
I think retail is still a placethat matters, but you go hand
in hand with digital as well.
So the smart players will workharder, they'll work differently
, and I like that.
But for me, and especially inthis American market, it's about
getting together with people.
We went through a few years ofabsolute awfulness and I love

(46:56):
that.
We can share a glass ofchampagne or a bottle of bubbly
or maybe a nice whiskey with you, blake.
We can do that a few times, um,but I'm I do believe that
there's a, there's a lot ofchoice out there, so I'm not
worried about it.
I think it's exciting.
I think prices have to be alittle bit more um.
We have to be looked at becauseit can get a bit silly at times
and that's disappointing butunderstandable with the way the

(47:19):
world is.
But so it's very hard to comedown once you've gone up, so
that's got to be done gradually.
But we all still love watchesnot about the bling of it all,
just the stories and hopefullythe craftsmanship.
But I still love them and, likeI told you, I didn't for a bit,
so it's nice to feel like I donow.
Welcome back, yeah thanks.

Blake Rea (47:39):
I'm sure you have your own milestones that you
hope to accomplish within thenext five, 10 years at the brand
Curious if you're willing toshare some of those with us,
like what you hope to achieveduring your tenure.

No, I think you're more than welcome to ask that.
And um, for me, the first onewill be that showroom and that
that will be massive for me.
We've, you know to tell youwe've.
We've already employed thefirst manager, which is I'm
excited about.
That kind of personality is inline with my kind of mindset and
mike's kind of mindset.
But when I had mike and peterover over to Dallas, um, yeah,

(48:17):
they know America brilliantlythrough their business time with
Christopher Ward and way before.
But for them to see the growththat's happening in states like
Texas, which is mirrored inplaces like the Carolinas, uh,
parts of you know Georgia outthere in Nevada where you are,
you think about Arizona howthat's grown as well.
This is incredible.
And Christopher Ward is 51percent of his businesses here

(48:39):
in North America, in the US.
So just imagine what we can do.
What I would really hopepersonally is that we can grow
as a team globally from theefforts we do here in America
and that is genuine if, if wecan have that one person that's
going to join me here in Dallasand that will end up being two
that will be in Dallas, and thenwe recreate that, recreate that
five or six times in differentshowrooms around the country.

(49:01):
But that also means that morewatchmakers have to be employed
in Switzerland, more marketeersand PR people back in the UK and
repairers in the UK because ofwhat we do here.
I felt that with Bremond.
But to know the scale and thescope and the God, the potential
, I'm very excited for thatbecause we grow, we grow a
community and we grow a familyand I also and this is probably

(49:24):
a personal thing and I spoke toMike about this as well is, my
job is North America and itshould be because of how big
this country is.
But I get messages fromAustralia, singapore, hong Kong.
I get messages from australiauh, singapore, hong kong, the
middle east every day or everyother day.
That, for me, is brilliant.
If we can, then if I can thensee not have to do it, but see

(49:45):
it happen and go.
That was awesome, like that.
That means a lot to me.
But I just want natural growth,organic growth, with the
eventual hope, um, that thebrand remains christopher ward.
Well, we're not micro brand,but we're adjacent to it.
We are, we're going to getbigger, but we still feel
attainable and close to thecommunity.
Those things are so importantquick, quick question for you.

Um, and I'll let you talk.
Blake uh, and correct me if I'mwrong.
Mike uh, are you the only oneit at least within the USA that
is doing your job, or is yourteam growing, or how does that
work Well?

it's just me, and I did this for five, six years
on my own and with Vermont aswell.
So I've always been told paceyourself.
But I've got a stupid amount ofenergy and I know what I can
and shouldn't do.
The only thing I'm mindful ofis family.
I'm very proud of dad and ifyou follow me, you see my kids
and my wife.
Oh yeah, I love them.
But I couldn't do that withoutthe support.

(50:44):
So I only do what I think isright.
But I don't know if there couldbe someone that my role as a
director is as that title saysyou make the brand a different
thing with your, your ideas andyour people should be with you
there.
I don't and I said this to theguys joining us some titles
aside, we'll be working side byside, yeah, and I really believe
that.
So when that one person comesin, that'll be someone that will

(51:07):
be with us, hopefully for yearsand years, not just for the
store but to help us grow therooms.
But it is just me just now.
But I will say, if I couldn'tdo the wind-ups, if I didn't
have um olivia or anna who lookafter events and pr, I couldn't
tell the story without um katerocking and rolling the
marketing budget and helping mewith those spreadsheets which
I'm terrible at, um, andobviously nothing matters unless

(51:31):
you've got someone like mikeand peter giving you the say
have at it, man.

Blake Rea (51:35):
Then it's really special and you talked about
like getting emails from, likeyou know, overseas territories
is.
Is that something that you guysare trying to focus on?
I know you're trying to growthe brand internationally, but
is there like a mike pearsonthat's doing asia?
Is there a mike?
Pearson that's doing the middleeast, or like not.

(51:56):
Yet what are your objectivesabroad?

like, well, that's going to be, we'll get my
country that one, but what?
What I'll find for um, this isthe example of america with 20
years in business and it's onlythe last eight months that have
had me here.
Right, they haven't reallyneeded it.
Uh, to the point where yougotta think the amount of
watches we produce.
We are you, you know, we're atcapacity, and so that's why,
when we talk about Switzerlandand the infrastructure, if we

(52:21):
grow that and we bolt onto thatand then we add the rocket
boosters, which we love, then wecan then have more watches and
then turn to mainland Europe.
We have a really healthybusiness in mainland Europe, but
you'll know that if we, youknow, have a dialogue and we
strike a chord with, say,germany, the French, they jump
on board Austria, then that goesinto Benelux and all that

(52:44):
different type of area.
If you get France right, thenthe romantic side of design with
Italy and Spain, that starts tokick into gear.
They're different.
I mean, there are more peoplein Italy than there are in the
UK, and there are more people inGermany, andaly, than there are
in the uk, and there are morepeople in germany and france
than there are in the uk.
So they're huge countries.
So we haven't even turned thaton yet.
They just are aware of us andwe're getting talked about.

(53:05):
Australia seems a million milesaway, because it is, but they
speak the same language.
Hong kong is a chinese,obviously, speaking country, or
mandarin speaking country, butthey very much have a lot of
anglophiles or expats because ofour past there, same in the
middle east.
So we have pockets of successwhere, when we have the capacity
to do so, we can turn it up,and it might not need someone

(53:27):
like myself to be there, it justmight need us as a team to show
a bit of trust, do an event, doa bit of marketing.
But right now we can controlwhat we control, because design
is in England into Switzerland,everything's made in switzerland
, everything is finally qualitycontrolled in switzerland, boxed

(53:48):
up, shipped to the uk.
In some cases we calibrate thewatches there, but every single
bracelet, strap and buckle isdone there and packaged.
So we control everything, whichmeans that the taxes and duties
are all controlled by abrilliant team which you know it
can get busy.
Any problems, let us know.
That's just part of, but rightnow the narrative is clean and

(54:09):
clear.
If we did go into Chinamainland.
I'm talking we've got to beready for it, because that's a
different level, and so I thinkwe're smart enough to know that
what we've got right now, andhow we talk and where we talk
loudly, we're in good shape, butthe ambition is big.
The ambition is thereake forsure.

Yeah, I love that man.
Yeah, it's completely differentmarkets and, uh, yeah, you've
always got to be prepared, butI'm sure that you guys are going
to do your best and I I knowyou'll, you'll be successful at
whatever you do.
Yeah, man.
Um, I'll switch gears again,mike.
Uh, I'm curious.
I'm always curious.
I know that you've got aselection that you wear around,
uh, of the brand.
Yes, uh, what?

(54:51):
What is your personal favorite?
Uh, christopher ward watch, andwhy is that?

all right, I've got.
I've got the two that I wearall the time.
I'm wearing the new pro 300 umin bronze at 42 millimeters was
the first watch I fell in lovewith um I.

(55:17):
I just think it's great andI've been wearing that in texas
as a warm englishman for allthese eight months, so the
patina is legit right now likeso that's kind of like.
My journey with Christopher Wardis on my wrist and I wear my 12
, 40 millimeters with that bluedial in titanium all the time.
I love that because I think Icame to the brand just after

(55:38):
that was launched and I thinkthat the reason why I'm here is
because of Balcanta and thatbecause it showed a different
level of who we are.
If I was going to say and thisis sounds a bit salesy, but I
went when I started with thebrand, I talked to everybody
from mike all the way throughthe team.
I said what do you think ischristopher ward?
And they just lived throughbelcanto.
So a lot of them said that andin many ways I think the the

(56:00):
next evolution of, or growth of,christopher is because of it.
So go with that.
I still think tri sealander isour bread and butter, that's our
speedy, that's our team master.
That's where you've got us witha, you know, one to thirteen
hundred dollar price point.
That's everything that's goodabout christopher ward.
So I'm a core guy.
I believe in, you know, a watchthat's attainable and

(56:22):
affordable for everybody.
Um, I did wear the 12x theother day for the first time and
that's that's one that's kindof I don't know that I mean I've
I've got watches which you knowsounds silly, but I've got
watches that are way moreexpensive than the 12x, but
that's because it's christopherward pricing right.
I don't know if I've got awatch that's that exciting for
4800 that I had on my wristbecause, yeah, yeah, five days

(56:45):
of power, that that finishingwas unlike anything I've worn
before.
So that movement, that sh21movement, that is special to me.
So the more and more I'm closeto that, the more and more that
kind of gets me dude, when I wasat uh, because you were at red
bar, raleigh, I had met youthere.

That's, that's where I'm based out of is
Raleigh, north Carolina.
And um, I remember when I wasstanding then you were like, hey
, hey, you know, here you go,you want to be the first one to
try it.
And I was like, oh my God.
I'm like you, you literallylooked at me and you said you
were like what do you think?
And I was like it's beautiful,Like I was just, like I was
speechless Cause.
I was like standing therelooking like, wow, man, like
this is really like a work ofart, you know, for it to have

(57:31):
the power reserve and everythingthe price point.
Once again, I was just like man.

That's got to be one of my favorites out of the
whole catalog, you guys youshould have seen the amount of
people that have brought alongzenith defies to my events,
though to put side by side withthat, I think that's a massive
compliment to it.
Um, but what it did show me is,when we launched that that was
the first big launch that we'dhad when I joined was.
It was very interesting to seethe online thoughts of the brand

(57:58):
and this is post belcanto,obviously so these people seeing
that watch at that price, theynever knew.
The majority didn't know we hadsh21 for 10 years.
They didn't know that we'd hadwatches that were close to that
price in the past, such as thec60 concept, and so when people
look at it, they might not knowthat.
The design is not to be copyinganybody.
It is, as you said, art, it isarchitecture.

(58:21):
You look through the finishingof those, uh, bridges, yeah, the
springs.
That is a very different levelof finishing.
But then you saw online peoplesay, oh, I could get a zenith
for half price and you, you holdback from typing.
But why is it half price?
You know, because I love thatbrand and I love the alpramera
story, but it's not about tryingto copy.
It's that movement to celebrate10 years of owning it inside of

(58:45):
the collection the 12.
That's been our best-sellingcore model for years and years
and years.
But it's been interesting towhen people like yourself hold
it go.
Oh, all right, it's legit.
That's very satisfying, youunderstand?
Yeah, and that again goes backto why I'm doing the events,
because you can only get so muchfrom your phone or a computer
screen.

(59:05):
You've really got to hold itsometimes, definitely.

Blake Rea (59:09):
Did you guys have to rework the movement to make it
open worked?

No, the C60 concept before was open and you
can see through If you ever holdthat model.
It's big, it's thick.
The beauty of what they didhere is they took away parts to
see through better.
They brushed and beveled andfinished each bridge and each
part of the movement differentlyand they also DLC'd and they

(59:34):
coloured certain parts to giveit a bit more depth.
So that was reworked in a big,big way, but it still did the
job that it's done for basically10 years, five days, double
power that we own.
Basically, you know, 10 yearsat five days, double bar powers
of that we own.
And the thing that I think youyou saw with that that uh 12x,
was that it wasn't justsomething that was a movement
you throw in a case.
This is purposely built to bepart of our, our heritage.

(59:57):
Case in point was um, there wasbox crystal top and bottom to
make it feel thinner, to be morein line with the 12, so it
didn't feel like a hockey puttlike it did before, and that was
the magic of the design.

Blake Rea (01:00:09):
Going back to will, uh, who's a genius for what he
did there yeah, that that wasone that truly impressed me when
I got hands on with it at windup.
You guys were showcasing it.

Mike Pearson (01:00:21):
I think for the first time I wind up in san
francisco yep, that was a bigone and we had little posters
there from will as well andevery time I went back because I
like, I like, took pictures ofit.

Blake Rea (01:00:31):
And then I was like, oh, I like messed up the
pictures, you know, because Iwas working with a new camera
for the first time, um, andanyways, I went back.
And then I went back like fouror five times like, oh, this,
this here is there, is gone,like you had so many people that
were just trying to to get it,get hands-on with it for
different, different pressoutlets and uh it's still been

(01:00:52):
like that to this day.

I mean, I was, like I said, in new york and
that was still.
I mean, the bell canter is thestar of the show, if people want
to hear it and see it.
I mean, a lot of people missthe, the songbird on the bottom
of the design because the soundis this is the show.
So the more and more you lookinto the watch, the better.
But that 12X being $4,800, it'sstill a higher price point for
Christopher Ward, but it's stilla watch which is in many

(01:01:14):
people's brands.
It would be two, three timesthat, which is not saying that
in an egotistical way, it's justthe finishing is so high
quality, but there is stillgoing to be that, but you're the
$1,000 brand.
There is still going to be that, but you're the $1,000 brand.
Why should I spend $4,800?
And if you can afford it andthey see it, it's amazing how
many people have loved it.
What's beautiful about thatmodel as well is that it's not

(01:01:35):
limited edition.
It's been a limited quantity,so we're about to cut that off,
which means whatever we build iswhat we build.
But that's great because wegave the ability for that to be
for as many people as possible.

Blake Rea (01:01:52):
And then that movement goes into the next
watch, which is exciting.
So I like, I like how you guyslike you didn't like over
plaster.
Like like you guys are clearlyproud of this watch, right, but
from from the dial, like youwouldn't be able to, there's no
dial, right you wouldn't.
Like you know, you could haveprinted christopher ward on the
sapphire or done anything likethat.
But like you guys are just like, hey, here it is, take it as it
is well, there's a.

There's a big old christopher ward logo on the
tungsten rotor, which you cannotmiss for sure.
So we definitely.

Blake Rea (01:02:16):
Oh yeah, that that's true, but you're not going to
see that from like on wrist.
Like you know, people who arewearing the the 12x would be
like what the you know, like ifthey don't know what they're
looking at.
What's that you know, I created?

that to the guys who ride their motorbikes and
you know you're just riding, youjust give the nod, like you
know, like is that right?
And we've done that with the uh, the eventering moon, uh, moon
phase.
We've done it with, obviously,the belcanto and now with the
12x.
So I think that's a testamentto the watch.
I mean, even the last SH21, weput the logo very small but it
had lume on it just to show that.

(01:02:49):
But I think that's a little bitof.
We're very proud of the factthat we can show the watch.
It's not about us, it's aboutthe watch itself.
That's a cool place to be.

Justin Summers (01:02:59):
I love that.
It's impressive that you guyscan design a watch and still
have your design, language anddna in that watch and you don't
even have to show a logo andpeople are like oh that's a
christopher ward.

That's pretty cool imagine saying that a few years
ago.

I mean, it's such an exciting time, so yeah,
yeah, back to it, man, all thatwork on the logo for nothing,
right?
No, I'm just kidding, exactlyright, hey?

did his job for a minute I did.
I did buy.
We do little staff sales everynight.
I bought a watch, uh, 39millimeter gmt, with the last
text logo, because I do thinkwe're going to find them being
part of, you know, folklore oryou know part of the collective
community.
Oh, you've got that, thatiteration of the logo.
You know what I mean with 20year old brand with folklore.

(01:03:38):
But yeah, sorry, I justfinished watching game of
thrones so I'm still in thatkind of way.
The watch bible yeah, I'll bringmy loot out with you for you.
Uh, no, but it's.

Blake Rea (01:03:47):
It's grand now the logo's, um not not having it
special for sure yeah, it's,it's, it's an amazing watch and
I'm, I'm, I'm impressed, forsure, and I, I have a defy, I
own a defy, um, I think that Iwas.

I was working in a retail store when that came out
and to that kind of reaction ofpeople coming to see what's on
the inside, I had that samereaction.
Obviously, wind up.
You've got thousands of peoplein front of you but you can feel
the energy.
People love to see what's onthe inside of it.
But you shouldn't, we shouldn'tcompare, be so quick to compare
, because you know we do thingsdifferently in each room.
We all have two eyes and a nose, we but we're not all the same

(01:04:28):
and I think that's the same withthe watches.
Hold it, feel it, turn thatcrown and feel the weight of it.
That's when you get the powerof it.

Blake Rea (01:04:34):
So yeah, well, we have reached the top of our hour
here oh yeah, that was quick Iknow it's just like flies we're
having fun yeah, well thank youfor getting me back on with this
new t-shirt on yeah, yeah, ofcourse, like it.
I know.
I was like I was thinking aboutit because we're coming.
Like you know, we have three orfour podcasts that are

(01:04:56):
scheduled ahead of you.
Yeah, um, and I was like likewho else do we need to get back,
or who else, who else can wereach out to?
And I'm like sorry, mike,you're, you're the low-hanging
fruit.

I'll take it, man.
That's what my wife says aswell.

Blake Rea (01:05:11):
So I'm like all right , you know some of the outreach.
It takes effort, right?
Like you know, I'm going backand forth with emails and this
and that and trying to get tothe right gatekeeper and, like
you know, get all these peopleon.

You know, get all these people on and then I'm
like like Mike, mike you know,if you put a smoke signal in the
sky, I will come and have achat with you.

Blake Rea (01:05:32):
So yeah, like put the the bat signal the crystal ward
, yeah Like.

I'm at my worst when I'm not traveling because
I'm sitting there, yeah, causeI've got all of the ideas of on
the road just kind of intoemails and conversations.
But it's so, it's nice that youreached out, it's a perfect
time and just to kind of put myget my chatter going.

Blake Rea (01:05:52):
So, yeah, we, we talked about it yesterday and
here we are today like it.
Just, it was that awesome.
Um, yeah, we touched on a lot.
Um, is there anything that youfeel like you know, turning our
platform over to you?
Is there anything you feel likewe didn't talk about that's
important to the brand?

uh, so I can't thank you enough for getting us
on.
We really appreciate any ofyour listeners who've got
questions, um, and, if you, anycustomer service conversations
or any kind of preconceivedideas.
This is a big thing I've kindof felt is that if 20 years is a
long time, but if you readsomething from a guy or a girl
who had a genuine grievance, um,don't take that as something

(01:06:31):
that we are today.
We are always learning, alwaysgrowing um, we own what wasn't
right, but we are always growingand educating ourselves to be
better as well.
But if there's a question or aproblem good or bad just give us
a shout.
Um, be it myself personally, orif you email the customer
service email, it does go to aperson.
We have thousands of emailsthat are coming, so sometimes it

(01:06:53):
can feel a bit automated, butthere is a person genuinely
there to help you and if you doneed that personal touch, just
give us a shout at the team.
We're all here for you.
That's probably the biggestthing I want people to
understand about us is we'reonly going to get better and we
will fall at some times, butthat's how you learn right.
So that's probably the bigthing I'd leave on.

Blake Rea (01:07:14):
Yeah, yeah, I mean like a true poet, thanks.
Christopher Ward is one of theone of the brands that, as a,
when I first started collecting,like there, you know it stood
out right.
Just, you know, there's not alot of transparency in the watch
industry.
You know, like there's peoplegoing around saying this
in-house, that in-house whatever, they're using a complex supply

(01:07:38):
chain and all that and that'sall fine and dandy and nobody
really cares.
But you know, there's somethingthat was warm, um and
transparent and exciting aboutChristopher Ward and you guys
are in a very unique place thatyou guys can capture like
somebody who's buying theirfirst watch or also buying their

(01:07:58):
last watch.
There's very few brands outthere that have that power and
arguably, in my opinion,christopher Ward is one of those
brands.
Thanks for saying that, ennis.
I completely I feel that way,that power, and arguably, in my
opinion, christopher Ward is oneof those brands.

Well, thanks for seeing that in us.
I completely I feel that way aswell.
That's why I'm sitting hereright now.
So thanks for seeing it andthanks for all the support.
They're here before and can'tthank you enough and
congratulations on the part.
It's been brilliant to listento all these years.

Blake Rea (01:08:22):
Thank you, thank you.

Thank you, we're going to keep going.

Blake Rea (01:08:24):
Thank you so much for coming.
We're going to leave all thelinks in the description for
Chris reward.
Go out and buy your 12 bellCanto or whatever from.

Chris.

Blake Rea (01:08:34):
A brand new watch.
Let's go 12 or bell Canto.
I should have said I think weshould do it, let's build it.
Yeah, there you go.
Just the the 12 case with theBelcanto movement.

Only risk collab .

Blake Rea (01:08:47):
Yeah, yeah, there you go.
Yeah, yeah, we're.
We're great, grateful to haveyou on and thanks for spending
time with us as always, andwe'll maybe, maybe in a in a few
years, we'll have you on againwith Christopher Ward.

Yeah, I'm going nowhere now.
I'm fine for a bit, thank you.

Blake Rea (01:09:09):
Okay, now I'll fight for a bit.

Thank you, okay, that'd be a first again, right,
the third time we have you onthe podcast.
No, I'm fine, I'm happy.

Okay, it's almost it's almost like we're
friends with this guy orsomething like.

Yeah, definitely we'll be safe, and thanks for
everyone for listening.

Thank, you too much.

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Building Trust and Innovation in Watchmaking with Mike Pearson of Christopher Ward

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