The Watch Journey: Chrono Girl Life Talks Collecting and Content

What transforms a casual watch observer into a passionate enthusiast with a collection of over 35 timepieces? For Anna of Chrono Girl Life, it began with simple curiosity about her partner's hobby and evolved into a rich journey of discovery, creation, and community.

In this revealing conversation, Anna shares how her initial skepticism about watches gave way to genuine fascination as she began asking questions about movements and mechanics. Her first mechanical timepiece—an Orient Bambino—opened the door to a world that would eventually see her become not only a collector but also a content creator, writer for Watch Gecko, and brand ambassador for Naga Watches.

Beyond her personal collection, Anna offers unique insights into the robust Polish watch community, where Facebook groups boast over 100,000 members and vintage Omegas command fierce devotion. She challenges conventional approaches to women's watches, advocating for designs that prioritize craftsmanship over stereotypical feminine elements like diamonds and mother-of-pearl dials.

Perhaps most compelling is Anna's perspective on what truly matters in a timepiece: the story behind it. Whether discussing her cherished Oris Aquis Clean Ocean Limited Edition or her dream of one day owning an IWC Engineer in gold, each watch represents more than metal and mechanics—it's a conversation starter that brings joy every time she glances at her wrist.

As she balances her passion for watches with a career in IT and single motherhood, Anna's authenticity shines through. Her future plans for YouTube content creation promise to bring her genuine enthusiasm to even wider audiences, continuing to bridge the gap between the technical world of horology and the personal connections that make watches truly special.

Follow Anna on Instagram at:

https://www.instagram.com/chrono.girl.life/

Send us a text

Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2237102/support
Visit our Blog: https://lonelywrist.com
Watch our Youtube: http://youtube.lonelywrist.com
100% Viewer Funded: Donate Here

Episode Transcript

Blake Rea (00:01):
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of
the Lonely Wrist podcast.
I'm your host, as always, BlakeRay, and we do our best to have
the most amazing guests, andtoday's guest certainly fits the
roster.
This guest is not only acontributor for Watch Gecko, but

(00:22):
an ambassador for Naga Time, anamazingly talented writer and
refreshing content creator Allthe way from Poland.
Chrono Girl Life, but I'm justgoing to call you Anna.
Welcome to the show.

Anna Kubasik (00:38):
Hi, hi everyone, I'm blushing now, thank you for
this introduction.
It's so.

Blake Rea (00:45):
Yeah, I know.
No, I started talking to one ofmy friends and they were like
whenever you ask somebody to tointroduce yourself, you always
get that awkward moment of likewell, what do I say?
So they suggested to me likethat I introduced my guests and
so I'm trying to yeah, thank you, that's really helpful.

Anna Kubasik (01:02):
You know, especially to break the ice at
the beginning of the of theconversation because it is
awkward.
You, that's really helpful.
You know especially to breakthe ice at the beginning of the
conversation because it isawkward.
You know, it's like somebodyasks you this question and
you're like OK, who am Iactually?
What am I doing?
Why am I here?

Blake Rea (01:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I've been following you forquite a while.
And then, of course, like whenwe met in Geneva, you know, I
was like, hey, like are you thatgirl that I follow?
And you were like, yeah, that'sme.
And I was like I didn't evenrecognize you.
But then again, like when yousee people there, you're like
I've seen you somewhere, but Idon't know where I've seen you.

Anna Kubasik (01:37):
Yeah, that's true.
In my case, at least you have aglimpse of my face, you know,
yeah, you, at least you have aglimpse of my face, you know.
So you can see the blonde girl.
Maybe.
It was like, maybe I canrecognize her for someone.
A majority of cases, you don'tsee people's faces in our world,
so that's even, you know, moreconfusing sometimes.

Blake Rea (01:55):
It's very weird to say that I know people for their
watches more than I know themfor like their face or their
collection.
You know, it's very weird tojust say that.

Anna Kubasik (02:04):
So yeah, you can recognize.
You're like oh yeah, I knowthis wrist, I know this watch.
Uh, oh yeah, that's you, that'sthat happens.

Blake Rea (02:12):
Yeah, quite yeah, well, I'm certainly glad to have
you.
It's been challenging.
We've been going back and forth.
You're busy, we're both busyscheduling conflicts.
I mean you have obligations.
Hopefully lil chrono is in goodhands he is today.

Anna Kubasik (02:28):
Yeah, it's like I apologize for this like being,
you know, a pain in the neckover the last couple of weeks,
but you know, like there'snothing I could do.
I want to have this comfortablesituation here where we can.
We can just talk, and you knowhe's three years old.
He will be jumping on me,otherwise that's okay, we've had
children.

Blake Rea (02:49):
We my, my dogs certainly want a cameo on the
podcast.
You could probably hear them inthe background.
We've had cats.
We've had animals jumping upinto I mean it.
It's all fun here where wewe're all about watches and and
we love, we love family and andeven animals.
So, whatever it all worked out,um, let's jump into it, because
I got a lot to cover.

(03:10):
Um, first of all, like, justtell us how you got into watches
.
From what I read, it seems likeyour partner opened the door
yes for watches to you.
So so where did, how did you getinto it and where did his
influence end?
And your you know your tastetruly start to define who you
are as a collector uh well, thestory is probably not

(03:35):
breathtaking.

Anna Kubasik (03:37):
Uh, at the beginning, uh, because, yes, it
was my.
It was my partner, my, myfather's dad, so my ex-partner
now, and he was a collector formany years.
He inherited some pieces fromhis grandfather and as a child
even he was already passionateabout watches.

(03:58):
So a couple of years ago, thispassion actually went back with
full force.
Ago, this passion actually wentback, you know, with full force
.
And all the youtube videos, allpretty much everything on the
tv was youtube videos aboutwatches.
Uh, so at first I was likeannoyed.
I was like, oh my god, like howcan you spend so much time?
You?
know, listening and watchingabout something that you don't

(04:21):
really use that much anymore.
You know, I was like surprised,but then I started asking
questions.
I was like, okay, he saidsomething.
He said this about this uh,movement, what does it mean, you
know?
And I was like what differentmovements, what?
What does it mean?
yeah, yeah, right, yeah and justasking questions and more
questions.
And then I found myselfwatching with him, you know, and

(04:44):
I found some YouTubers that Iparticularly liked, like Teddy
Baltasar.
That was my favorite onebecause I liked his calm
approach, very professional, youknow, explaining everything
Like for the beginners.
It was really great.
So, yeah, that's what I got, ahook.

(05:05):
Uh, of course, like before that, I had watches, and my first
watch was actually a fashionwatch or one of the famous
swedish brands, fashion watchesokay, yes, uh, but that was
before.
And then my ex told me, like you, you need a real watch.

(05:27):
Okay, so let's start somewhere.
So, uh, he gave me an adretica,which is a swiss brand, which
was coarse watch, but it wasreally nice, it was, you know,
similar style.
So I was kind of like, yeah,this is what I like, but, um,
it's something proper, it's aproper watch.
And then I was just like, man,I want an automatic watch.

(05:49):
And then, you know, watchingall of those things, watching
all of those things there, wasreally inspiring me to get my
own.
And then I got my own OrientBambino, which I really very
good, nice.

Blake Rea (06:09):
Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off yeah, no, no, no,
no, I'm just.
I'm not seeing you anymore, soI'm not sure I I confuse people
when I I'm trying this new thingof like live editing.

Anna Kubasik (06:20):
So when you're saying some important stuff, I'm
just gonna be like so okay,that's good so don't get
confused, I'm still here whenI'm saying some stupid things,
you will be just cutting it I'lljust go to this when you're
gonna say something to shieldyou from that good to know.
Yeah, so I got my first orientbambino uh, because you know I
was on a limited budget and I'veheard it was a good watch,

(06:43):
great watch, and it actually was.
I really enjoyed it.
And I've heard it was a goodwatch, great watch, and it
actually was.
I really enjoyed it.
And that's when I wanted to dosome more.
I started posting on mypersonal Instagram and then me
and my partner at the time werejust like you know, maybe you
could do something more fun.
There were not so many femalecreators about watches, and

(07:06):
especially in my native poland,um, so so, yeah, that's when I
when I started my instagram andmy partner was there at the
beginning of the beginnings ofmy channel.
He was taking pictures andhelping with a lot of planning
and things like that, but allthe creative kind of part of

(07:29):
what I wanted to do was comingfrom this head.

Blake Rea (07:34):
Okay.

Anna Kubasik (07:35):
Yes, and then I was just, you know, digging
deeper and deeper and I think Iwas kind of surprised how
welcoming this world was and Ireally started getting like good
results, let's say very quickly, like having people following

(07:56):
me, wanting to read my posts.
They were reading my posts.
They were reading my posts.
That was something that I wasreally, uh, shocked to learn,
because I thought, on Instagram,all that matters is just
pictures yeah yeah, uh, pictures, likes, yeah, followers, but
people are actually reading whatI was writing and, uh, that was

(08:19):
, that was very fun.
And then I just got you knowmore and more ideas.
Uh, last year I had a littlebit uh hard time, you know uh.
So so, yeah, me and my partnersplit, uh, but then I kind of
rediscovered the way I'm doingcontent now, you know.
So I'm taking all of thephotography now, like I did take

(08:40):
my photos before, you know, ofthe watches.
Of course, certainly not myselfwhen I was in the photo, but
yeah.
I was taking, so I'm doing myphotography.
I'm trying to learn a littlebit more about videography.
I started going to the watchevents more and more because I
found out that I enjoy talkingto people, to brand you know

(09:03):
people behind all those brandsand yeah, so it's still kind of
evolving, you know.

Blake Rea (09:12):
Yeah.

Anna Kubasik (09:14):
And yes, so I think those watch events were
really big for me because I metso many amazing people and at
the watch event in Prague lastyear I met Rob Knotts, who
actually was the person thanksto whom I got you know this
guest art tour.

Blake Rea (09:35):
Wow nice.

Anna Kubasik (09:36):
At Watch Gecko, so yeah.

Blake Rea (09:38):
Well, you met me too.

Anna Kubasik (09:39):
Yeah, of course, I've met many amazing people.

Blake Rea (09:43):
Yeah.

Anna Kubasik (09:43):
So yeah, yeah, that's great.

Blake Rea (09:46):
I read that you have over 35 watches.
Is that accurate?

Anna Kubasik (09:54):
Probably a little bit more now.

Blake Rea (09:56):
Okay, yeah.
Well, this could have been adated article, but I read this
article from Vincent, oh yeahvincent, uh, oh yeah, mainspring
, friend of the channel, fan fanum tell me, out of your entire
collection, which watch make you, makes you smile the most oh,
okay, um, so I will be.

Anna Kubasik (10:19):
First of all, I will give my.
The first watch was my kind ofgrail.
It's not an expensive watch,it's not super luxury watch, but
that was the one at thebeginning.
When I started my Instagram, Iwas like I want this watch.
I love how it looks, what ithas like, the brand and

(10:40):
everything, and it's AORUS Aquisand I have this special edition
of clean ocean, uh, specialedition, uh, and I got it second
hand of, uh, you know, my localwatch friend here in wrocław
and it's just perfect.
I, I love it.
I love it so much.
It's a little bit you know moreon the bulky side, like it's

(11:01):
like 39 millimeters, but it'sstill a bit thick, but I love to
feel, you know, feel it on mywrist and it's just, it's just
beautiful.
I love the design of this diver.
That's probably one of myfavorite divers of all time.
Uh, so that's one great one,yeah, yeah, yeah.
The other one is, uh, actuallyrecent and it's the one that I'm

(11:25):
wearing, and you mentioned thatI'm ambassador yeah, I think
you post about it yes, yes, it's, uh, it's, it's so good like,
uh, that's their the first modeland I just love everything
about this design.
You know it's inspired, snakeinspired and very kind of thin,

(11:45):
wearable, a little bit on thebigger side, which is what I
like, and uh, yeah, no diamondsand excessive feminine features,
which is also good for me.

Blake Rea (11:58):
So, yeah, those are uh the the ones that I can think
of the more I talk to theladies in the industry, the less
they, the more I find out howmuch they hate diamonds and
mother of pearl and just all thecliche things and even small
cases like you know I think onany of that yeah, because when
you like go to this categoryfemale watches is that you will

(12:21):
find quartz diamonds, mother ofpearl, don't get me wrong.

Anna Kubasik (12:25):
These are all like nice things played out you know
, just like it's nice to haveoptions.
Yeah, I love wearing men'swatches, so sometimes, you know,
watches that I love are like 43millimeters.
It's too much for me.
And then, uh, when they'recreating a version for women,
it's like quartz they would packthe diamonds on the indices and

(12:48):
it's just not the same and Iwant the same, you know yeah,
options right yeah yeah, any,any, uh, any possible collabs
going down with naga, likeyou're working on right now, or
um no, I can't really tellanything, but um I'll take that
as a yes.

(13:11):
Okay, all right, joking but um,yeah, we've only started like
working together two months agoand thanks to them.
I've already been uh on thewatch event in italy last month,
which was amazing, I saw that,yeah yes, so.
So I think it's a pretty goodyou know working together.
Hopefully they feel the sametime will tell.

Blake Rea (13:33):
Time will tell.
Um, yeah, no, that's amazing.
Um, and yeah, everybody hastheir own journey.
I'm curious to talk about thewatch scene in poland, like
we've done some past episodeswith different markets.
You know, like we talked about,we talked with a watch trader

(13:53):
from tbilisi, georgia, um, andthat what that podcast did so
well, because people here inamerica like my audience is
confined to mostly north america, but somehow we have listeners
in 60 countries, but most of usare here in the states.
So tell us about the scene, thecommunity, like even the micro

(14:15):
brand space or even the big boxbrands in poland, like is it as
mainstream as it is that you'dsee out here?
Or like are people just gettinginto watches in Poland or is
there a huge community around it?

Anna Kubasik (14:28):
It's a huge community, uh, actually, okay,
some, some of the, you know thiswould be my uh impressions, so
I don't know.
If you ask somebody else fromPoland, they can probably give
you a completely differentanswer, but, um, I think it's,
uh, yeah, it's, it's a big scene, uh, and it's life, especially

(14:48):
on facebook.
If I facebook or forums, um,because you know that usually
people um, interested in watchesare on the like, probably
they're not super young, youknow, so they're a little bit
more experienced in life, let'ssay, uh, and they're not super
young, you know, so they're alittle bit more experienced in
life.
Let's say they're usingFacebook and those groups the

(15:10):
biggest one in Poland has over100,000 people.
Holy shit, yeah, it's big.
So, yeah, it's quite, I don'tknow, it's a tough crowd.
Sometimes I want to say, so youcannot, you know, please them
with just, you know, releasingthe watch that is worth probably

(15:36):
$5.
Yeah, and just say it's great.
No, they want to know, you knowabout what's inside, you know
what it comes from, what it'slike, when is it, where it's
done everything about it.
They want to know that themoney they pay for it, it's
worth it actually.
Sure, so that's one thing.

(16:00):
There's also a huge market forvintage watches.
So, vintage watches, yeah,people are really, some people
are really sitting only invintage watches, which is fun.
I think omegas, vintage omegasare like huge part of this
market here in Poland.
Yes, people would kill for anice vintage omega, I feel.

(16:24):
But yeah, I think recentlypeople started going into micro
brands a little bit more becauseI think a couple of years ago
and even when I was starting,which was like two and a half
years ago, right, if you put, ifyou put any micro brand, people
didn't know they would be likeanother chinese watch, you know,
yeah, just just nothinginteresting.
But now I think you know thesituation and the, you know the

(16:46):
economics and everything changedthat people actually learned
that those watches havedifferent stories and behind
them that can be interesting,interesting, you know, and you
can actually afford a very nicewatch with a nice story, with
nice specs and things like that.
So I think people are gettingmore okay with microbrands

(17:07):
watches now and we have a coupleof microbrands in Poland
probably around, I don't know,maybe 10.

Blake Rea (17:13):
Oh, wow.

Anna Kubasik (17:14):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A friend of mine has an onlineshop with Polish watches.
So like a year, year and a halfago, I was uh working with him,
like for free.
I mean, he was just uh, youknow, lending me some watches to
to wear and to try out uh.
So I had, I had the chance tokind of try some of them on and,

(17:37):
yeah, they're good brands yeah,I've read about like like balt
balticus, I think is one of them.

Blake Rea (17:44):
Yeah, I've read about some, like Balticus, I think is
one of them.
Yeah, I've read about some ofthem and like Zykor or something
, something, zykor, something.

Anna Kubasik (17:51):
Ah, zykor, yeah, yeah Zykor.
I think.

Blake Rea (17:55):
I do some homework, you know.

Anna Kubasik (17:56):
Yeah, good.

Blake Rea (17:57):
Good.

Anna Kubasik (17:58):
This is a funny name, because yeah it's.
It's not a Polish name not atall, because we don't even have
the X letter in our language,but it's.
Sikor is actually a kind ofslang word for watch, but it's
not spelled this way as it is.
So, yeah, that's why it'spronounced the way it is.

Blake Rea (18:17):
Okay, so let's dive in to your head here a little
bit.
You're walking down the street.
You see a watch in a showcaseor even at a street vendor.
What do you look for in notonly the future watches, but

(18:38):
what speaks to you most aboutwatches?

Anna Kubasik (18:42):
I think story story speaks to me.
So, uh, well, two thingswearability, if I can actually
wear it, because I don't need awatch that you know I will never
wear.
So that's that, that's thething, so that I will definitely
pay attention.
Is it my style, you know?
Um, will it be something that Ican, I can wear every day, you

(19:03):
know, once a year or something?
Yeah, do I like it?
Of course, that's important, butother than that, it's not just
like oh, this is the watch Ilike and that's it, I'm fine,
which is also a valid approach.
I don't kind of diss it oranything, but just, yeah, for me
, I like when the watch has astory behind, when I'm smiling,

(19:24):
when I'm talking about thiswatch, when somebody asks me the
question, you know, what areyou wearing?
And then I'm like, actually,this is interesting because this
is such and such brand andthey're doing those things, and
you know, and I have, you know,my friends, or like some
colleagues from work, sometimesthey're asking what I have on my
wrist and then just laughing atme, kind of that.

Blake Rea (19:46):
I'm yeah, your eyes are getting bright speaking
about it, and that's the rightkind of thing for me, that's
what I feel that was a good oneyeah, I have the feeling too,
where you're like always at workand you're like I just can't
wait till I get off work so Ican just go look up watches on
the internet or like, go to ebayor like whatever.

Anna Kubasik (20:05):
You know, I same thing, yeah, um yeah, so, so,
yeah, so those are the things.
Of course I want my I I am kindof like those, as I mentioned
before, polish people who arelike I want to know where my
money went to.
So you know, I feel I want tohave the satisfaction that it
was money well spent.

(20:26):
But, yeah, these are thosethings, at least right now.

Blake Rea (20:32):
That literally just happened to me yesterday.
So right now, just to give yousome context, I think you know I
live in Las Vegas, which is ina weird way.
You'd think it'd be much biggerfor watches than it really is.
But it's owned by the big boysAll the Richemont Group, swatch

(20:54):
Group, lvmh Group, they'reeverywhere but there's no
independents, there's no microshere.
They don't make it this far forsome reason.
But here in Las Vegas right now,once I'm done with your podcast
, um, there's like 20, 30, 40watch brands in town right now

(21:14):
for like a jewelry expo whereit's like jewelry brands, like
I've got a meeting with wolf, uh, today, like the winder company
and I have a pretty coolrelationship with Young Hans.
They're like a really goodfriend of the brand of Lonely
Wrist and I went there and youknow, first of all, I never got

(21:36):
a chance to see their entireportfolio in one place, but they
had a Young and I'm a huge MaxBill guy.
All it takes is like you justtype lonely wrist youtube and
then just see all the young onstuff either, but like they had
a young hans max, bill, mega,solar oh the entire, the entire

(21:58):
watch is titanium and the solarmovement.
So like, let's just say like, Iflew to geneva.
The second it picks up a radiofrequency, it changes time
automatically.
Don't have to worry about it,and the entire watch is 23 grams
that's, yeah, very impressive Iknow.

(22:19):
So I put this on my wrist andI'm like, well, first of all,
they put it in my hand.
And I'm like, well, first ofall, they put it in my hand and
I'm like I don't even feel likeI'm holding anything Like this
is like a feather here.
You know what I mean.
So then I had to buy one.
So, unfortunately, rip to mybank account.

Anna Kubasik (22:34):
But yeah, Younghans have great watches.
I had, I think, two vintageYounghans before and I had a Max
Bill as well yeah, in the pastvintage new hands before and I
had a max bill as well yeah, Inthe past.
But unfortunately I got itsecondhand as well and it had
some water damage, as it turnedout when I went to kind of
service it and it was just likethis is my.

Blake Rea (22:57):
This is my fourth max bill and I bought one at an
auction and I the price was likeamazing and I was just like I
can't not buy this.
And then I thought it wasvintage.
And then I got it in and liketheir entire archives is online,
which I really love, like I canjust, like you know, do some
like internet trolling and findout everything about my watch.

(23:18):
It's from 2004.
Okay, mind you, I thought I wasbuying a watch here from the
60s and I'm like biggest letdown, but I still love it.
I still love it.

Anna Kubasik (23:31):
Yeah, yeah, I think I had one.
It was like a chronograph, itwas quartz, but I think it was
one of the most popular watchesthat I had on my page at that
time.
You know, each time I wasposting it, people were like,
wow, that's so amazing and itwas 18 years old, so very nice

(23:52):
yeah.

Blake Rea (23:53):
How do you decide to kind of deviate from that?
So you said, like the mostimportant thing to you is not
only necessarily wearability,but story is very important.
And your purchasing process,like, how do you decide to kind
of be like okay, like I don'tgive a shit about this story,
like this watch is amazing, likelike where does that turn over
for you?

Anna Kubasik (24:13):
you know, I don't know if I, if that ever happened
to be honest maybe.
No, I just need to be reallyinterested in in the watch.
You know that to to kind of dothat, but it's it kind of
contributes to the story behindit.
So, uh, I'm, I'm thinking, Ialways ask, I was asking a bunch

(24:34):
of really hard questions.
I'm sorry no, no, that's fine.
You know, I think it's justbecause I don't really have the
budget for really thoseexpensive fancy cool watches.
So I don't have those type ofproblems that much.
So when I'm spending my moneyI'm just making sure that it's

(24:57):
for something it's pretty andit's cool and it's fancy.

Blake Rea (25:02):
Since we're both in the watch industry, we can do
fairy tales here.
So if budget was no option,what would be in your watch case
?

Anna Kubasik (25:15):
I don't really dream about like Pateks or APs
or things like that.
I don't have the things likeGrail watches.
The one that I loved duringwatches and wonders this year, I
think was my favorite releasefrom watches and wonders was IWC
in gold the engineer.
So I think that's probablysomething that I would love to

(25:39):
have.
Especially this gold versionwas really amazing.
So, um, yeah, it's not a crazy,you know, crazy like big, big,
big guys um still, yeah, I woulddefinitely love this one um iwc
, iwc listens.

Blake Rea (25:59):
So hey, wink, wink.

Anna Kubasik (26:05):
Yeah, there we go and I winked like yeah no no,
please, and thank you so, so,yeah, so I think I think that's
the first one that comes to mymind and um, there will be
probably, uh, I would definitelylove, uh, to have a rolex gmt
one day in my collection, andthen this is not.

(26:27):
You know, for some peopleRolexes are like cheap watches.
Right, these are not like, as Isaid, like the text I like from
the really big guys.
I like Vacheron a lot, vacheronConstantin, but again, it's
just such a fairytale to me thatI'm not even totally no.

Blake Rea (26:48):
It's the same for me, like I have this weird problem
of like looking at my bankaccount and realizing I can't
afford anything that I want,which sucks.
But then I look at my watchcollection.
I'd be like how the hell did Iafford all this?

Anna Kubasik (27:05):
yeah I know.
And then you're like askingyourself do I really need
another one?
like if nope, but I'm gonna getone yeah, yeah, exactly, but I'm
sorry, but, um, I think, yeah,the problem for me with getting
such an expensive watch would bewould would I be wearing it
enough?
That would be again thisquestion of wearability, and

(27:27):
that's probably something, uh,that's, it will be very
difficult to overcome for me.
Yeah, so I'd, maybe I'd ratherhave like a couple of watches
that I will have on rotation youknow, there are not that
expensive, but I will be wearingthem.
Uh, then, just having this onewell, of course, I will never
have one, but, yeah, spending alot of money on this one that I

(27:52):
can, I can barely wear have youtried getting some of your
friends, like your guy andgirlfriends, into watches like,
or most of your friends alreadyin the scene, or uh, no, I think
my friends here, my localfriends, my old friends, they're
not into watches and I haven'treally tried to push them.
Uh, they, you know, because Idon't like being pushed to

(28:15):
anything.
So I I assume that my friendsare a bit like me and they don't
like that too, um, but theylike, they watch my profile,
they watch, uh, you know, thevideos that they look at, the
photos that I'm posting withinstories, so they enjoy it as
well, as far as they tell me ifthey're not lying, um, but yeah,
and I sometimes, oh yeah, thisone, this watch, is actually

(28:36):
very cool, you know, and theyreally like to listen about it,
you know, and listen about myjourney there on instagram, um,
but, uh, yeah, no, I'm not, I'mnot forcing people to do that.
Yeah, um, so, and then I, yeah,now I have some watch friends
as well, you know.
So I can kind of, uh, put allof this, you know, energy

(29:00):
towards them, instead oftorturing my friends no, that
means.
That means you're a good friendyeah, yeah, and I even like my
best friend who just moved to uhto america.
Actually two months ago, uh,she married an american man and
she moved to raleigh, um that'swhere I'm from.

Blake Rea (29:21):
Did you know that?

Anna Kubasik (29:23):
you are from raleigh?
No, I didn't know?

Blake Rea (29:25):
yeah, I'm from raleigh, north carolina yeah, so
there you go wow, it's a bigwatch scene there?
I think, yeah, there is there,is I never?

Anna Kubasik (29:33):
I never got into the watch scene there, um, but
no, no, I've lived most of mylife there yeah, I even owned a
house there for for seven yearssold it just recently so yeah,
very nice, yeah, so I'm hopingto actually go there, uh,
someday, maybe not this year,maybe next year, I will see uh,
but yeah, she's, she's alwayslike trolling me, you know,

(29:53):
she's like she just bought thebands for her, like apple watch,
you know.
She's like oh look, they'refancy.
Do you want to post them online?
You know things like that.
But yeah, so luckily I havemany watch friends now that I
can actually talk about thosethings.

Blake Rea (30:10):
Yeah, okay, so let's do another hypothetical here,
because I like thesehypotheticals.
It gives us really a personaltaste of who you are.
If you could take any watchfrom your collection and throw
it on one of your friend'swrists who's not a watch
collector?
Which one would it be, andwhich one do you think that
would convert them into a watchcollector?

Anna Kubasik (30:34):
um, I think uh, the majority of my female
friends at least they would likesomething more.
Sorry, I'm missing the wordminimalistic.
You know this kind of way.
So I think my Nomos would be agood choice for some of my.

(30:55):
My Nomos Metro is 33millimeters and it's in this
deep shade of red, muted red.
I think that would be the goodchoice for my, like female
friends, because you know it'svery minimalistic.
There's a reason why thosefashion brands are so popular.
You know they do do what people, what women want to buy.

(31:19):
You know they don't want likebig kind of sports watches.
Usually I want that, but noteverybody wants that.
So yeah, I think that would beone.
There's also a Venezia Nicothat I recently got with this
Aventurine dial which a coupleof my friends were like oh it's

(31:40):
so beautiful.

Blake Rea (31:41):
I saw that.
I saw you post that.

Anna Kubasik (31:44):
Yes, and again, it's so beautiful.
I saw that, I saw you post that.
Yes, and it's again, it'sminimalistic, it's kind of
wearable to you can.
You can wear it with everything, uh.
So I think one of those two.
I think normos has a reallygreat uh selection for, like,
non-watch enthusiasts uh, thatcan be turned enthusiasts in the
future.
So that would be probably mychoice, or if I had it, or still

(32:07):
, but yeah yeah, well, there'salways opportunity for another
max bill to come back into yourcollection?
yeah, I hope it will one dayyeah, young hods make it happen
are they listening?

Blake Rea (32:20):
no, I, I, yeah, they are probably.
I love them.
They're so great.
So at least in North America,for example, a family took over
the whole North American marketand it's this German family and
it's a father, a wife, adaughter and I think there's a
son there, and it's almost likea mom pop, like small business

(32:44):
type of vibe whenever you gothere that's great and I was
with them yesterday and one ofmy, uh, my colleagues I joke and
say he's the ceo of lonelywrist, but, um, but he was with
me and he had never gotten achance to see young hans and
except for the ones that I had,and uh, and yeah, just
immediately warm welcome, likethe vintage one that I had, uh,

(33:08):
that I thought I had required.
I texted young hans pictures ofit and they were like, oh, like
I was like I don't even have astrap for this.
They're like, oh, we're gonnabring you one to vegas.
And so today I'm picking up mystrap no way, oh.

Anna Kubasik (33:21):
So maybe they can sort me the dial, for my dial is
the one that fell apart easy,zero issues making that happen.

Blake Rea (33:30):
So, um, but no, yeah, they're a great brand and I
just love that about them.
Um, I'm super curious becausenow that you're in the industry
and you are a creator, like acontent creator and even a
journalist, you know, at the endof the day, when watch brands
work with you, you know theywant to see, you know, some

(33:51):
return, right, whether it'sgreat content, you know, maybe a
great perspective on watches oreven possibly the possibility
of people buying watches basedon the content that you produce.
Um, from a lot of the femalesthat I've talked to in the
industry, a lot of watch brandsare missing the mark when it
comes to marketing and targetingthe female watch enthusiast.

(34:15):
So making that reallycomplicated question super
simple is there a brand that youfeel like really hits the mark
when it comes to marketingtowards the ladies?

Anna Kubasik (34:30):
I'm gonna mention uh, normals again.
Uh, because you know they don't, they don't put uh gender on
their watches, pretty much, youknow.
So that's plain and simple.
These are nice watches, youlike.
The watch is a big selection ofsizes and their marketing is
actually very it's not uh toopushy, it's, you know, just uh,

(34:54):
uh showing different perspectiveon different wrists.
Uh, you have different models.
Uh, you have different colorsas well.
You know, that's something uh,that I think uh works well, and
it's also what else?
What I?
Yeah, that that's what I like.
That's in my, that's myperspective, you know, of course
, there are, like, I'm maybe notthe right woman to ask this

(35:18):
question, because I'm not comeon I will sound like I'm not
like all the girls you know,know, no, I don't mean that I
mean, like I like men's watches.
So of course, it's a little bitdifferent for me, but I think,
yeah, I think most of the brandsare missing the point just
straight away, giving thedivision Females watch, you know
, like women's watch, men'swatch, and just selling two

(35:42):
completely different kind ofproducts.
Uh, so I appreciate thosebrands who are just selling a
nice product, um, in justvariations that work for for
everyone.
And naga is actually the oneanother brand that I really
liked when they approached me.
Uh, some, some of my followers,like, recommended this brand to

(36:03):
me when I was actuallyresearching lesser known micro,
lesser known micro brands, andwhen I looked at their page, uh,
they actually have models,female models, presenting this
watch as well.
Uh, which kind of was like, yes,please, we need that as well.
You know, we want to see the,the, this watch on the smaller
wrist, not only on.
You know we want to see thiswatch on the smaller wrist, not

(36:24):
only on.
You know those handsome malemodels.
So that's another approach, youknow, to show it on the
variation of wrist Totally, yeah, yeah.
So I think that's it and Ithink there, you know, there's
this trend of brands going tosmaller watches now.

(36:45):
So, hopefully, we will see moreand more of those things that we
can just wear and we don't needto necessarily talk about.
You know, is it a man's watchor a woman's watch?
Yeah, that's the main thing.
Sorry to interrupt you, but Ithink that's the main thing that
it should actually go toeventually.

(37:06):
Of course, I know that whenyou're a woman or you're like a
partner, looking for a gift toyour wife, partner or daughter,
maybe it's convenient to havethe section for a woman's
watches.
So I understand the reasoningbehind it.
So I'm not expecting the worldto change.

(37:30):
It's just yeah, having moreoptions, that would be the best
thing.

Blake Rea (37:34):
Tell me about your transition from watch enthusiast
to like journalist.
You know, like, how did you getinto writing like journalists?
You know, like, how did you getinto writing Like it?
It it's a, it's a, it's a nightand day, trent, you know
transition, you know, from justbeing an enthusiast to even

(37:55):
going to content creator, to now, I mean, writing is so
challenging.

Anna Kubasik (37:58):
It is.
Yeah, I mean I wouldn't callmyself a journalist, I'm just
like I certainly don't have thatmuch time to be a proper
journalist In my mind.
I should have more time to belike in the industry, to just
embrace myself completely in theindustry.

(38:18):
Sure, and you know, be able topick up this and that and just
yeah, I sadly, you know, have aday job and a kid and so I can,
I can do now, I can do that now.
Who knows, maybe in the futureyeah.
But, yeah, I'm writing as aguest author because, you know,

(38:41):
I wanted to try something new.
As I mentioned before, I wassurprised how many people
actually read my posts when Iwas posting.
Since the very beginning, Iwanted every post to have a
story behind again, somethingthat people can read, they can
identify with or not they canread about my perspective, my,

(39:04):
my opinion about some thingsalso, my, you know, just read
about my complainings about howtired I am and how this all,
yeah, helps me to survive that,but anyway, to hear my
perspective, you know, uh, so somany people were telling me
that they enjoy reading what I'mwriting, uh, and then, you know

(39:28):
, I had more and more ideas andyou know this, the caption on
instagram is not that long, tokind of express that and then
rob came on to me and he waslike you know, are you writing
somewhere?
I was like no, and do you wantto'm like?
Yeah, definitely would like totry.
And you know, I started talkingwith Wojciech Gekko and they're

(39:50):
lovely and it's, yeah, they'revery flexible.
So I can, I don't, you know, Ican write as much as I can and I
really enjoy the process.
You know, I really enjoy that.
I just I wish I could do thatmore.
So yeah, in the in the future,maybe it will, it will happen.
So it was.
It was just pure accident.

(40:10):
You know that it happened.
It was one of those you knowgoing out evenings in Prague
when we went for some drinkswith Rob.
Of course he didn't't ask methen, but like a couple of
months later.
But uh, you know, we just uhgot to know each other then.
So the networking in thiscommunity is amazing yeah, you.

Blake Rea (40:33):
So it was.
Was it micro praha?
Is that where you?
Yeah, I saw your post there andI was like that looks like such
a fun little show it's.

Anna Kubasik (40:42):
I'm definitely going this year again.
It's just like three hours awayfrom where I live, so like by
car.
So that's nice, definitelygoing.
It's a great show.

Blake Rea (40:53):
Yeah, I need to get out to Europe and do more Europe
shows.

Anna Kubasik (40:57):
Yeah, there's so many of them happening.
That's so cool.
Each time, like every week, I'mlike'm saying, oh, this is
another one, that's in germany,in the uk, in, I don't know,
france, italy.

Blake Rea (41:08):
so it's very pretty it's very weird because, you
know, we don't have a real watchshow in las vegas like the one
that I was telling you aboutearlier.
It's more like a jewelry show,where it's like jewelry brands,
so a lot of jewelers, you knowlike jewelry store owners are
coming to las vegas and so acouple watch brands you know

(41:30):
will like do it, and oris wasdoing it up until last year and
that was their.
I think that's the last, thelast one they're gonna do.
But you're starting to seebrands that are kind of like
shying away from it, um, becauseit's just not profitable.
You know it's very expensive toaway from it because it's just
not profitable.
You know it's very expensive todo these shows and it's just,
you know, if you're sellingdiamond rings or necklaces or

(41:51):
bracelets or stuff like that,then it's a great show for you,
but for watch brands, verychallenging.
And then parallel to it, it'slike an antique jewelry and
watch show, but it's all Rolex,it's all Patek, but it's all,
it's all rolex, it's all paddock, it's all ap.
You know like you'll go to somedisplays and it's just all
rolex.
And so, like yesterday when wewere going through it, you know

(42:13):
we were like, oh, rolex, oh,okay, just keep moving.
You know, oh, rolex, okay,nothing there for us.
You know what?
I mean like it's you know we'relooking for these really obscure
, like vintage watches, youwatches or even independent
watches, so you just don't seeit even coming here.
But yeah, we need somethinglike that in Vegas.
There needs to be a show.

Anna Kubasik (42:36):
Yeah, I think I'm sorry.
I think the same thing kind ofhappened in Dubai.
I'm sorry, I think the samething kind of happened in Dubai
Because I, just when I was nowin Italy last month, I met Ahmed
from Watch Collective 2.
And he lives in Dubai andthey're actually starting a new

(42:57):
micro-brand show.
Oh, around the time when DubaiWatch World is happening.
Dubai.

Blake Rea (43:06):
Watch.

Anna Kubasik (43:06):
Week Watch Week.
Yeah, watch Days Watch Week,sorry, yeah.
So yeah, somebody just have toyou know.

Blake Rea (43:15):
I'm working on it.
I'm working on it.
I had a show last night withMaurice Lacroix and the former
he's now the managing director.
He's like he was the CEO, buthe flew in to do the show with
us and it was incredible.
It was incredibly fun.
Got to sit on a panel and talkto him in front of a lot of

(43:38):
people and I was like I it's soweird because I'm used to to
doing and I can do this with,with tens of thousands of people
listening, but like when I sitdown in a room with like 40
people and a microphone on myhand, I'm like oh shit.

Anna Kubasik (43:53):
Yeah, I would probably just totally.

Blake Rea (43:56):
Your head starts spinning.
Yeah, your head starts spinning.
You start sweating, you startfeeling clammy up here, like
it's like.

Anna Kubasik (44:03):
Exactly, I know I'm like, even you know, at work
, when I have calls with acouple of people, sometimes I'm
like, okay, break it with a joke, maybe you know something.
Yeah the joke.
Maybe it will be better.
Yeah.

Blake Rea (44:16):
I read uh, I don't know if it's, but you're in
cyber security, is that right?

Anna Kubasik (44:20):
yes, well, not anymore actually, but I was for
a couple of years.
Yes, I'm in IT in general for13 years.

Blake Rea (44:28):
Oh, okay, I'm in cybersecurity.
I don't know if you knew that.

Anna Kubasik (44:31):
No.

Blake Rea (44:32):
That's what pays for all this.

Anna Kubasik (44:35):
Yeah, exactly I was.
Before my maternity leave I wasin cybersecurity, but then I
came back to a different rolewhich is a little bit less
stressful.

Blake Rea (44:42):
I came back to a different role which is a little
bit less stressful.

Anna Kubasik (44:45):
Oh yeah, cyber security, I mean that's the
reason I'm losing my hair.
Yeah, it can be reallydemanding.

Blake Rea (44:49):
It is.
It is.
That's super cool.
I didn't even know that.
But you know, when I was doingmy research for this article or
not, this article, this podcastI was like, oh, we have a lot
more in common.

Anna Kubasik (45:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, cyber security is super
interesting, so that's true, butthen, you know, in my current
situation in life, I just needsomething more.
I can just work, you know, foreight hours and then forget
about it.

Blake Rea (45:16):
Yeah, that's what I try to do.
At least I try to do it.
So that sounds crazy, becauseyou were in cyber security a mom
with a young child and acontent creator, a watch content
creator Like, how did you doall that?

Anna Kubasik (45:38):
It's hard, I'm not going to lie, it's hard, you
know it's.
Of course, the main momentswhere I can fully embrace in
content creations are in theevenings, or at night, are
sometimes, you know, in thelunch break when I have, when
I'm working and when my son iswith his, his dad.

(46:00):
So so it's it's.
It requires a lot of planning,you know, ahead.
I don't really have the timefor myself, you know, just like
I don't know, my son goes to bedand then I need an hour or
something to do just nothing, tojust watch tv or scroll
instagram.

(46:21):
I don't get that ever.
Maybe once a week I have onehour to do that.
I'm trying to kind of organizeone hour to do that because
otherwise I will go crazy.
So I have those periods where Ihave to be off Instagram for a
week because otherwise, you know, it's way too much to handle
and I know it's not necessary.

(46:43):
Maybe, maybe, I could spendless time on it.
But I'm, just like you know,when you're like, really
passionate, it's really hard tolet go and I want to do more and
I have those ideas, and thenI'm I don't know, editing a
video and I'm like oh, I haveidea of this other video that I
would like to create now, butit's like past midnight that I
should go to bed because my sonwakes up at five, uh.

(47:04):
So, so all those things theyare requiring, uh, really
planning and really discipline,which I lack.
So it's something that I'mworking on, you know.

Blake Rea (47:16):
That's hard in IT Like.
Those are all very importantvalues.

Anna Kubasik (47:20):
Yeah, so it's still something I'm working on,
you know, and I also have ADHD,so I'm, you know, starting a
couple of things at the sametime, never finishing any of
them.
So it's something, you know,I'm just saying to myself you
need to, you know, chill, slowdown, finish one thing.

(47:41):
But you know my brain doesn'twork that way.
Yeah, yeah, definitely, yeah,definitely.
There are some days, andrecently, I've been on spree
with many ideas that I wouldlike to do.
You know, things that I wouldlike to do, what I would like to
try create, but I just have notime for that and I'm like,

(48:07):
maybe I can get a rich husbandwho can pay for my living, what
I can fully embrace in this.
I'm just kidding, but, uh, no,I, I appreciate that I can still
, you know, do what I want.
There's nobody else telling mewhat to do and I'm just I was
about.

Blake Rea (48:16):
I was about to make a bad joke because we probably
have some of those peoplelistening to.

Anna Kubasik (48:21):
Oh no, I'm saying that as a good thing, you know
yeah, no, for sure like yeah andI'm not saying it to, to say
that you know that's bad, orjust people no, of course, no,
no, no yeah it would be just somuch more convenient.
But it's not it's.
It is what it is, and I'mtrying to make it work life.

Blake Rea (48:44):
life is easier when you have a lot of money let's
just put it Especially if you'rea watch collector.

Anna Kubasik (48:52):
Yeah, but that's also part of my story.
I fit in a different kind of,because people are saying oh,
the women watch collectors.
We are also different.
There are some who like thosemore jewelry-type watches or the
very luxury watches.
There are some that likedifferent things, you know, and

(49:13):
some who like try the new things, like I like micro brands and I
like sports watches, I likemen's watches and I don't buy
super expensive watches becauseI simply have no budget for that
and there's many people like me.
So I feel, and that's you know,not even mentioning the gender,

(49:34):
you know, yeah of course yeah.
I feel that's.
You know, many of my followersare men and I think they can
still identify with what I'mposting.
Thanks to that, because I trynot to do it Well, not even try.
That's just who I am.
I'm posting thanks to that,because I try not to do it well,
not even try.
That's, that's just who I am.

Blake Rea (49:53):
I'm writing the way, uh, that I feel it can speak to
everyone, not only women are youhoping to kind of reach
different demographics in thefuture, like if you just said
there's a lot of guys followingyou, like, do you wish there was
more of a female community thatwas, you know, engaging your
content, or like, how do youfeel about that?

Anna Kubasik (50:13):
yes and no.
I think I would definitely itwould be something it it would
bring me a lot of satisfactionif there were, like, more women
starting following me andenjoying what I'm uh showing
there and what I'm talking about, you know, and getting into
watchers.
Of course that would be like abig win.
But it's not my end goalbecause, to kind of address that

(50:36):
, I would have to change the wayI'm creating my content.
You know, and I enjoy what I'mdoing right now, so I don't want
to do that.

Blake Rea (50:46):
Sure.

Anna Kubasik (50:47):
Yeah, and I feel I can speak to everyone.
I don't need to just try toreach the certain target of
people.
So, yeah, it would be nice, butI'm not going to die trying to
get there.

Blake Rea (51:01):
Yeah, you're at that level of success where you're
starting to get kind ofinfluenced by brands and they
kind of shape how you createcontent.
How do you approach that?
So I had a conversation justyesterday with Ben's Watches

(51:22):
he's in Vegas right now and wewere talking about how you
decide which brands to work withand which brands to not work
with, and how you decide whichbrands to work with and which
brands to not work with, and howyou decide to produce content.
And it was a really interestingconversation because, you know,
I feel like I'm kind of anoutcast in that sense, like as
to who I work with and how Iengage with brands.
But I'm curious if you couldtouch on that for you and your

(51:47):
brand and your identity, like,how do you decide which brands
to work with?
You know, how do you decidewhat type of content produce and
which stories to tell?
You know?

Anna Kubasik (51:56):
uh, so, yeah, so in majority, majority of cases.
Well, all the brands I'mworking with, I like their
watches.
You know I get much morerequests for collabs than what
I'm actually doing sure for somepeople maybe it sounds like
she's taking all the you knowwhatever, but no, it's not like

(52:17):
that.
What I'm showing on my page isactually what I like.
So it's that.
And the majority of brands I'mworking with are very flexible.
And the majority of brands I'mworking with are very flexible.
They contacted me in the firstplace because they like what I'm
doing already.
So they're looking for kind ofsimilar thing.

(52:40):
You know I'm always open toconversations.
What would help them to achievewhat they want, you know, know,
to kind of find a golden middle, let's say.
But in majority of casesthey're just like, yeah, do
whatever you're doing, totally.
And if somebody is giving mesome like rules that you have to

(53:04):
do this and this and thatdoesn't work for me, I just say
no, sorry.
I mean like I just can't, um,compromise my kind of who I am,
you know, and what I'm doing.

Blake Rea (53:20):
Yeah, thousand percent.
I agree, and a lot of peoplelike have talked to me too about
like, how come I'm not verycritical of watches?
You know that I review or thatI talk about or that I show, and
I'm like, well, if of watchesyou know that I review or that I
talk about or that I show, andI'm like, well, if I was
critical of them, I wouldn'tshow them, you know that's what
it is, you know I don't, I don't.
I don't want to like go onyoutube and just like destroy a

(53:42):
watch because you know somebodyat that brand like really put a
lot, so at least in some casesprobably put a lot of energy,
effort and that's like theirbaby.
I don't want to throw the babyin the bathwater at the same
time.

Anna Kubasik (53:59):
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm feeling.
I get the chance to speakduring those watch events to
many brand owners, to manypeople working there.
It's like, yeah, quite oftenit's huge passion behind it.
You know, and maybe it's not awatch for me, maybe I would do
some things differently when Iif I was, if I was them.
But I'm not going to, uh, todestroy the dreams, and

(54:21):
sometimes I just prefer to tonot take the call up.
Then same, you know, yeah so soyeah.
And it's important for me toalso show the things that I,
like you know, not showeverything, although sometimes
I'm thinking, you know, maybeall those brands deserve, like
you know, the voice to kind ofto speak and to show what

(54:44):
they're doing, and so that's onething, but on the other hand,
you know, there are many ways todo that, and I need to be true
to myself as well.

Blake Rea (54:55):
Yeah, there's a lot of times, too, where I've gotten
watches in and there's beenlike lists of talking points or
like things that you know that Ican say that help them sell
their watches, and I'm like, I'mnot, I'm not your guy, you know
, I'm sorry, like, and there'seven times where I've even got
to watch and I've worn it for awhile, I've appreciated it and

(55:18):
I've put together content on itand then I just never
distributed the content.
You know, like I've had thathappen a lot.
Actually, there's a lot ofbrands, um, and sometimes too,
like I'll put together contentand I'll sit on it for a while
and just see how therelationship with the brand
evolves.
You know, because I I really Ireally only want to support

(55:40):
brands that also support me.
You know, like it's a two-wayrelationship, you know, so, um,
it's a challenging thing to eventhink about, um, but let's
again, you know, talk about, uh,you know, fairy tales.
So if you could collaborate orwork with one dream brand, who

(56:07):
would it be and why?

Anna Kubasik (56:11):
um, okay, um, I I feel like I'm going to be so
boring with that that's okay,it's your perspective, right?

Blake Rea (56:21):
that's why we're here we're listening to you.

Anna Kubasik (56:23):
They're not listening to me yeah, yeah, no,
I I feel like I like, uh, andit's not going to be again super
luxurious brand, but the brandthat I like a lot, I admire a
lot what they're doing, and it'sOris.
I like Oris.
I like what they're doing interms of, you know, delivering

(56:45):
different watches, differentdesigns, doing really fun stuff,
like with their care mate ormiss piggy watches, and I feel
from this kind of mainstreambrands it's there are kind of
they're affordable.
You know well, of course, youknow for some people it's still
like expensive, because that'snot yeah yeah, you know they're

(57:07):
expensive.
They're expensive watches yeah,not everybody has the same
budget, but, let's say, it'seasier to get than like a rolex
or something you know, uh, so so, yeah, so I would love that
because I like their creativeprocess and I like what they're
doing.
Um, and also, uh, I thinkanother brand that I would love

(57:29):
to work with is, I think, iwc.
Iwc is pretty cool, you know.
I like their, I like their, thethings that they're doing.
The engineer is, you know, myfavorite design of mine, and I

(57:49):
just, I just see myself wearingthat watch.

Blake Rea (57:53):
In a fairy tale of IWC.

Anna Kubasik (57:55):
Yes, yes.
But also you know, I went therethis year during Watches and
Wonders to have this privateappointment and I just loved
everything.
You know, it's like technical.
There are like cars aroundthere, influences like the

(58:15):
inspirations, the stories againthey're telling, and it's just
really, really fascinating.
So it would be nice to be for alittle while, a part of this
world.

Blake Rea (58:29):
Yeah, yeah, they're two amazing brands and I'm a
huge iwc fan.
I have a couple iwcs that Ienjoy wearing on a regular basis
and uh and oris is, you know, Iguess even a great brand.
Just to work with um, becausewhen I was there in geneva I was

(58:50):
actually on a horse projectwhich I was very fortunate to be
a part of.
Um, yeah, horse is great,amazing.
I don't I don't own any oftheir watches, but I've almost,
like, like, turned over into toowning one.
Um, you know, I'm very much.

(59:12):
Watches are very meaningful tome and I feel, like you know, I
I aspire to own an oris someday.
I just haven't gotten over thehurdles to owning it yet.
In a weird way, if that makessense, like something like
catches my eye but I still, inthe back of my mind, have that
horse that I want.

(59:32):
So I got to.
I got to borrow an Oris forlike three or four weeks and it
was a phenomenal watch to wear.
It was the Oris diver 65.

Anna Kubasik (59:43):
Oh, they're great yeah.

Blake Rea (59:45):
Yeah.

Anna Kubasik (59:46):
Three Oris watches .
So and I was just talking to myfriend the other week and I was
just saying, you know, maybe Ishould part ways with them at
some point, but I don't want to.
I think all three of them arestaying with me.
The first one is Aquis that Imentioned.
So it was my first Grail watch,you know, when I was really

(01:00:06):
into like the budget watches andit was like step up.
It was amazing when I was reallyinto like the budget watches
and this was like step up.
Sure, it was amazing.

Blake Rea (01:00:16):
And I have big crown pointer date in the Cervo
Volante version.
Yeah, I saw that.
I saw that You're very good atthat, so good.

Anna Kubasik (01:00:21):
And I have the Neo Vintage Oris from the early
2000s.
It's a big crown, reversepointer date date, which is so
cool because this complication,so unusual, and I think, uh,
this is probably, uh, the watchin my collection that brings the
most wow from people when theywhen they see it, because it's

(01:00:44):
it's you don't see that, uh,very often.
It's very unique, it's verycool, it's very beautiful and
it's very feminine as well,because the version I have is
like 33 millimeters, I think,and it's stunning.

Blake Rea (01:00:56):
So I I just can't see myself parking wise with any of
those three I have, uh, threeiwcs and I feel the exact same
like about them and, um, and asmuch as I want to get rid of one
, I just then I wear it and I'mlike I can't get rid of this
yeah, that's.

Anna Kubasik (01:01:17):
That's a thing that brings a smile to your face
.
That that was the question youasked me and that's what I feel.
What I was three of themactually, you know they all,
yeah, they all do, they all doand it's so great because
they're not you know, know theydon't, they won't put you in
bankruptcy when you, when youget them and you still have this
amazing experience and you canget so attached and create

(01:01:40):
stories around them as well,because you can wear them a lot
and yeah, that's so cool.

Blake Rea (01:01:46):
Tell us about the future of Chrono Girl Life.
Like, what do you hope toaccomplish, you know?
Like, how do you plan to getthere?
Because we're going to checkback with you and keep you
accountable.

Anna Kubasik (01:02:03):
Are we going to sign some paper after this?

Blake Rea (01:02:05):
I'll send you the documents after this.

Anna Kubasik (01:02:09):
Okay, after this, I'll send you the, I'll send you
the documents after this.
Okay, uh, so so, yeah, I thinkit's not a big secret.
I was talking to many peopleabout it.
So one day I want to get onyoutube, definitely, uh, the
only problem I have with thatnow is the time constraints.
So so it's uh, it's justsomething.
I know that once I, once I,once I create the content, I can

(01:02:32):
make things work, I can shiftsome things around, but just to
start, it feels like it's a hugeamount of effort, time and
preparations for me to do so.
Over the next couple of months,I'm going to try to kind of
rearrange a couple of things inmy personal life and you know

(01:02:54):
the way I do maybe Instagram tokind of allow for that to happen
sooner or later.
So that's my dream to be onYouTube and to bore people with
my perspective.

Blake Rea (01:03:09):
Yeah, so yeah on YouTube and to bore people with
my perspective.

Anna Kubasik (01:03:12):
Yeah, so so yeah, and I still want to be on
Instagram.
I think Instagram is such afantastic platform.
You know, there's reason why wewatch enthusiasts on Instagram,
call ourselves watch fam,because it's really.
It really feels like familyvery often.
So I don't want, I don't want to, um, you know, uh, take that

(01:03:34):
away from me for my personalpleasure, and I feel, you know,
it's, it's, it's, it's been verysuccessful, very fun and, uh, I
want to do that still.
So it's not going anywhere, but, yeah, and more videos.
I want to do more videography.
I'm learning how to, you know,take better videos.

(01:03:55):
I'm learning all those thingsabout lights.
You know cameras all the funstuff.
Yeah, it's fun when you havetime to do it and when you're
like stressed out.
You know I want to shoot thisvideo, but I would like to, you
know, play with what's that?

Blake Rea (01:04:11):
there's a lifesaver.
This is all all I brought toswitzerland.
Well, not all I brought, but 90of the stuff I shot.

Anna Kubasik (01:04:20):
Oh, amazing yeah, can you send me a link?
It's yeah, yeah, it's supereasy to use and um similar thing
, uh, ahmed thing Ahmed had inthe Watch Collective.

Blake Rea (01:04:33):
Everybody has these.

Anna Kubasik (01:04:34):
Yeah, I was like awesome.

Blake Rea (01:04:38):
So a little background too.
I went to film school and soI'm used to shooting with like
these $30,000, $50,000, $70,000cameras.
You know that's impressive andand and we have for our channel,
you know, because I I recentlygot on youtube but I've invested
in two really expensive sonycameras and lenses and all this,

(01:04:59):
like I've got a whole set ofcinema lenses which are
incredibly expensive, um, butyou know, coming from those
cameras and even shooting withthis little Osmo Pocket, I've
been so impressed with thefootage, the color rendition,

(01:05:20):
and this camera is like I mean,it's around $500.
It's not cheap.
How much.
Like around $500 or $600.
So it's not crazy, but it'schanged my world.
Like I did, I did a project,ironically, for iwc and I shot
the entire project on this andthen when I show up, iwc is like

(01:05:44):
dude, are you serious?
What the hell are you doing?
You know?
yeah, I was using this and thendefinitely need to send me the
link for that and then and then,um, I was like, oh, just trust
me, just trust me, you know, andthey're like okay, whatever.
So, like they, let me do mything.
And then I sent them the videos, like holy shit, like you
filmed that little thing withthis little like and I just slip

(01:06:07):
it in my pocket, you know.

Anna Kubasik (01:06:08):
And then, like I'm off, you know, and it's yeah, I
mean because I'm going tolondon next week for the watch
show and, um, I'm, of course, asI am, I'm a cheap girl.
Yeah, I'm flying a cheapairline, uh, not because it's
because it's the one I have frommy hometown, so that's it.

(01:06:29):
But their baggage policy is it'scheap because it's the one I
have from my hometown.
So that's the type of, buttheir baggage policy is crazy.
The baggage costs more in oneway than the whole trip.
Yeah, yeah.
So I just refuse to buy anyadditional baggage, so I'm only
traveling with a small backpack.

Blake Rea (01:06:46):
So I would actually love to have something like that
, because I won't be able to fitmy camera in I'll send you a
link, and I I tried to turnsophie on to one of these, so
some of her did.
You see her nomos content soyes, most probably in the
watches and wonders yeah, yeah Iwish I was shooting some of her

(01:07:07):
content with those littlethings I was like this is so
easy, Because then we wereediting it on the spot.

Anna Kubasik (01:07:18):
We shot it, then we edited it and then two
seconds later it's on her socialmedia.

Blake Rea (01:07:20):
I definitely saw that because I watch her content
yeah.

Anna Kubasik (01:07:23):
Go back to it and pay closer attention.

Blake Rea (01:07:26):
I feel like such an asshole when I use this, though,
because I just told you aboutour Marisa Kwa event, which was
last night, and so I'm workingon a project where I'm sitting
down with these leaders in thewatch industry and getting
interviews with them, and solast night after our event, it

(01:07:49):
was me and the whole Marisa Kwateam and a couple of friends,
and we ended up partying toomuch, but anyway, it was like 1
am and we were walking back tothe hotel and, like I said, he
was the CEO, but now he's themanaging director.
I don't know what thedifference is, but I was like

(01:08:11):
hey, man, do you want to shootthis interview at 1 am?
He's like let's just do ittomorrow because I'm tired.
And I was like, yeah, that'sprobably a good strategy because
I would have done it.
I'm an idiot like that.

(01:08:31):
But anyways, for this projectI'm working on, we had so much
gear that we had to get one ofthose like little baggage
trolleys, and it was just.
We had like 13 or 14 cases withdifferent lights, different
cameras, different audioequipment, you know, different
blocking equipment, soundequipment, cords and and and all
all this.
One little thing saves me fromthat.

Anna Kubasik (01:08:49):
Yeah, oh my yeah.
It sounds like way too good tobe true.

Blake Rea (01:08:54):
It's very much so.
And then I see the mic too.
You can buy one that comes witha little short mic too, and it
just syncs right up.
Oh, that's the Red one, thisone's the DJI.

Anna Kubasik (01:09:04):
Okay.

Blake Rea (01:09:05):
But I'll send you a link.

Anna Kubasik (01:09:07):
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Oh, it would help me a greatdeal because I'm already
stressed, uh, going to.
I've never been to london,imagine.
Yeah, it's my first time there.
I'm very excited because therewill be those, uh, the brands
that will be there will be theones that I'm really curious
about.
I've heard about them, you know, in the past, um, or even I

(01:09:27):
wanted to work with them in thepast, but never got the chance,
you know.
So I'm very, very, very curioushow it's going to be.
So I really want to be able toshoot some nice content as well
when I'm there.

Blake Rea (01:09:39):
You, you got this, you got this.
I look forward to seeing yougetting on YouTube after this.
So.

Anna Kubasik (01:09:46):
Yeah, tonight I'm going to so motivated on the
dopamine kick.
You know that I will just startthere you go yeah, you got it.

Blake Rea (01:09:56):
And if there's anything that I can do,
obviously you know to help I'lldo it, I'll try.
I try even though we're so far,but we're still friends, you
know.

Anna Kubasik (01:10:07):
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
You know that in this, thiscommunity, we are all like in
different parts of the world,but we, we always make make it
work when we want and it'salways great to have the support
you know and to know thatthere's somebody out there you
can reach out to if you havesome questions, doubts or you
just want to, you know, ventdoubts or you just want to.

Blake Rea (01:10:33):
You know vent, yeah, which is important as well
sometimes, yeah, yeah.
Or cry to when you spend allyour money on watches.
It's always nice yeah yeah,yeah, I'm thinking I'm like so
I'm going to the vintage showtoday and I'm like, do I really
want to buy this watch?
Because I saw I I bought oneyesterday at Young Cons and then
the watch that I looked at waslike Doxa and I have two Doxas

(01:10:56):
already.

Anna Kubasik (01:10:57):
Yeah, you want to.

Blake Rea (01:11:00):
And then I'm such a Doxa fanatic and this is like
the 600T in orange.

Anna Kubasik (01:11:06):
Oh, that's classic .

Blake Rea (01:11:08):
It's a really good deal.
I don't think I'll ever get abetter deal on it, but I'm like
like, will I wear this likewhich one?
Will I wear more?

Anna Kubasik (01:11:17):
because all those things you know, it reminds me
those men that I like this ladywith all those equations oh yeah
, oh, that's so funny.

Blake Rea (01:11:27):
That's so funny that you bring that up because, um,
docs, like I said, docs is oneof my, one of my brand friends,
and this is what I sent to hertoday when I, when i- yeah,
exactly, I was like I don't meangirls, you can speak.
You can speak names to me see, Iwas like I was like, yeah,

(01:11:48):
doctor, 600c like tempted price,too good, you know.
And I sent her a risk pick andshe's like, no, that's epic.
And then, and then she's like Iwas like, oh, how much is it?
So I told her and then I saidyes, I did some calculations and
then, like you know, and sheasked her she was laughing about

(01:12:08):
it, but no, that's so funny.

Anna Kubasik (01:12:09):
Yeah, you get it.

Blake Rea (01:12:10):
Yeah, I don't know.
I hope I get it, but I alsohope I don't get it because the
money is not.
Having the money is nice.

Anna Kubasik (01:12:18):
But then, yeah, you can get it and you know,
part ways with something else,but that's not easy either.

Blake Rea (01:12:24):
I was thinking about that.
I was thinking about, like Iwas talking to my wife.
I was about that I was thinkingabout, like I was talking to my
wife.
I was like you know, like whichwatch would I get rid of if I,
if I brought this one?
Because I'm really trying tokind of flush out my collection
and there's, there's a lot ofwatches like I love to wear just
because they're so comfortable.

(01:12:45):
You know, here in vegas, whenit's like 120 degrees fahrenheit
in summer, I don't know what itis in celsius, but yeah, I'll
have to look it up, I think it'slike almost like 40 okay, oh,
that's yeah, way too much too 48degrees celsius 48.

Anna Kubasik (01:13:04):
No way, okay, that's, I would die, probably,
and I love the heat, but no.

Blake Rea (01:13:10):
Yeah, but when you have leather watch straps that
just melt right off your wristat that point.

Anna Kubasik (01:13:18):
Yeah, giving the bad smell everything.

Blake Rea (01:13:22):
Yeah, so we'll have to figure that out, but I want
to thank you for spending somuch time with us.
This is amazing.
I'm finally glad that I got youon Humbled to have you on my
show.

Anna Kubasik (01:13:35):
Thank you so much.
I'm so honored to be invited.

Blake Rea (01:13:39):
Honored to have you.

Anna Kubasik (01:13:40):
I'm just yeah, I'm hoping that you know somebody
will want to listen to whateverthis girl wants to say.

Blake Rea (01:13:50):
But yeah, way it's, it's been a great pleasure and
thank you so much yeah, I'll letyou know how many people tune
in after the fact, so, but no,it's cool, it's cool, it's
really cool, because I'm notreally like big on the data.
You know, like, like, miss,like miss gmt is a really good
friend of mine as well, and, um,yeah, and she's so into the
data.
You know, like, like, miss,like miss GMT is a really good

(01:14:10):
friend of mine as well.
And um and she's so into thedata about everything you know.
She's like oh, like, like wewere talking about like guy to
girl ratios on Instagram and allthose, and I was like.
I was like how do you evencheck that?
You know like.
And then she's like oh, youclick this and then click that,
and I'm like this is my voice,this is a reflection of me, my

(01:14:35):
content, my outlet.
You talked a lot about that.
At the end of the day, I'mdoing content for me and just
the fact that people even wantto listen is awesome.
And that's somehow, people in 60countries are listening to this
right now.
That's crazy.

Anna Kubasik (01:14:54):
That's a crazy stat, I think that you're doing
something right, and I thinkit's.
You know, when you're just trueto yourself, you're doing what
you like, what you believe in,what drives you, what's your
passion, it just speaks foritself.
Then, at the end of the day,you know.
That's why I think I'm the sameway.
I'm not trying to pretend thatI'm someone else, that I'm not.
You know that I'm cooler than Iam, that I'm more fancy than I

(01:15:17):
am.
No, I'm just here sitting in mydirty kitchen that you cannot
see, because you should.

Blake Rea (01:15:23):
You should see my office.

Anna Kubasik (01:15:24):
My office is a tornado right now, Okay, so and
yeah, speaking to you and it's,yeah, it's been really great.
Thank you again.

Blake Rea (01:15:33):
Thank you so much, everybody.
We are going to link Anna'ssocial media and the bottom of
this description.
Make sure you're following herIf, for some reason, you aren't
already.
So thank you so much, andhopefully I look forward to
seeing you on this side of thepond at some point.

Anna Kubasik (01:15:55):
Oh, okay, ambitious I've never, talked
about it before, but maybe whoknows?

Blake Rea (01:16:00):
Yeah, when you come to Raleigh, come to Vegas after.

Anna Kubasik (01:16:04):
Okay, yeah, yeah, I will do.

Blake Rea (01:16:07):
Thank you so much.
I'll talk to you soon.

Anna Kubasik (01:16:08):
Thank you, talk to you soon.
Bye.

Blake Rea (01:16:10):
Bye.