September 3, 2024 • 62 mins
What if the simple choice of a watch shape could redefine an entire industry? Jess Chow and Sunny Fong, the brilliant minds behind VIEREN, join us to share their incredible journey of creating a brand that’s challenging the norms. Jess’s deep family roots in the watch world and Sunny’s vibrant fashion expertise have culminated in a line of rectangular watches that stand out from the crowd. Hear about their serendipitous meeting, the personal and cinematic inspirations behind their designs, and the hurdles they faced in crafting these one-of-a-kind timepieces.
Celebrating the artistry of watchmaking, we dive into the meticulous process of creating VIEREN’s Swiss-made components and their unwavering commitment to sustainability. From the launch of the VIEREN brand in the challenging landscape of 2020 to the innovative online strategies they adopted during the pandemic, Jess and Sunny’s resilience is nothing short of inspiring. They also give us a sneak peek into their upcoming in-person pop-up event in Toronto, where they hope to reconnect with their community and showcase their stunning creations.
In this episode, we explore Varon’s evolving collection, from the OG Automatic line inspired by modernist architecture to their fashionable collaboration with hip-hop star Saweetie. Jess and Sunny discuss their design philosophy, the intersection of fashion and horology, and their focus on authenticity. Learn about their latest collection inspired by vintage stereo systems and their future plans for brand expansion. This is an episode brimming with passion, creativity, and a fresh outlook on the fusion of fashion and luxury in modern watchmaking. Don't miss it!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Blake Rea (00:01):
Welcome everybody to another episode of Lonely Wrist.
Today we have the duo fromVaron, jess Chow, sunny Fong.
Welcome to the episode.
Justin Summers (00:16):
Hi, hey guys Thanks for having us Welcome
guys.
Blake Rea (00:19):
Tell us about, first of all, how you two met.
I'm curious because, jess, Idid read a little bit about you
and you know your parents werein the industry.
Sunny project, run rightproject, runway renner what can
I talk?
Runway winner and, uh, andfashion designer.
(00:43):
So how did you guys getconnected?
Jess Chow (00:50):
Yeah, so before we started VRN I was actually in
the business realm.
I was a management consultantfor over 10 years, working at an
agency and grinding down andkind of always advising and
building brands for other people.
And after I kind of turned 30,I had a little bit of a
self-realizing moment where, youknow, I really want to kind of
reconnect with things that mademe who I am and you know,
(01:12):
watches is such a part of mychildhood.
At the time Sonny was alsoworking there and I was kind of
sharing my passion for watchesand he actually shared a
personal story about watcheshimself.
Sunny Fong (01:23):
Yeah, I was taking a little hiatus in fashion, I
just needed a little break justto like clear my mind and my
creativity.
And that's when I met jess andshe told me like, oh, my
family's in watches and I'm like, oh, I'm, I would love to
design a watch and, um, reallybring that sort of design
forward.
I was telling her, like after Iturned 40, I started wearing my
(01:43):
dad's automatic watch againjust to really keep me motivated
, keep me going, because theidea was like, if I didn't wear,
time would stop.
So I really wanted to bringback you know, the time piece
and I started wearing my dad'swatch all the time and I showed
Jess and I told her my story andthen she somehow like all
together, it just magicallyhappened that you know we're
(02:06):
doing this yeah, it was justbeautiful that you know a time
piece could actually be used asinspiration for you to get out
there and for motivation.
Jess Chow (02:15):
And you know, we kind of wanted to bring that, that
story back, but in our modernand more unique way yeah, I mean
, uh, sunny, I mean comparingfashion to the jewelry and watch
industry.
Blake Rea (02:27):
I'm sure that's been a challenge, because I mean you
talked about it, jess, fast.
Fashion is everywhere you know,there's a really small cycle of
fashion trends versus now.
If you look at watch brandsthat are digging back into the
40s, 50s, 60s archives andthey're reviving these vintage
designs and those are whatpeople are into.
(02:49):
So, sonny, I mean I'm assumingit seemed like it was an easy
transition.
Looking through your portfolio,would you?
Sunny Fong (02:59):
It is, in a way, like in terms of like design.
I love design in every facet,so for me I was really excited
to be in the watch industry justto bring back that energy that
I grew up with watches havingthat sort of design forward.
That really sort of everythingwas very bespoke and very
(03:24):
individual, like each brand hadits own identity and with myself
in design, I've always lovedthat idea that I never was part
of fast fashion.
I always wanted to create itemsthat people accented their
wardrobes with, and this was thesame philosophy I wanted to
bring forward with ourtimepieces.
I didn't want it to be a massproduced brand.
(03:46):
I wanted every single design tobe, you know, a small edition
where it only really like speaksto an individual.
Jess Chow (03:57):
Yeah.
Justin Summers (03:58):
Yep, I like that aspect of it too.
I'm a I'm a musician, if youcan't tell already, and I feel
like I feel like everybody intheir own place kind of gets
that like in that way likeburnout, like a writer's block
sort of thing.
You know, even with design, oryou know music or photography or
whatever the case, and it'skind of cool that you know
you've transitioned that into acompletely different facet and
(04:18):
then kind of like rekindled thislove for like oh, something new
and like unique and and you'redoing something that's, you know
, like you said, um, you know,limiting, limiting these
releases, um, I, I think it'sreally neat, um, so, to be more
creative as well, like exactlymaking sure that each one has
(04:39):
its own personality I love that.
Um.
So we know that you guys arekind of all in on the you know
rectangular watches.
We know that's sort of a bigthing for you guys.
What is it about that caseshape that inspires you?
You know, compared to doing atraditional, you know, round
style.
Sunny Fong (04:58):
I mean, it goes back to like a time piece that I got
in my graduation.
Um, it was.
It was a rectangular case andI've always loved that that look
and um, even if you look incinema, like, every person who's
wearing a watch is in arectangular case.
So I really wanted to celebratethat iconic shape and really
(05:18):
set us apart from other brands,um and and I find like there's
more sort of versatility with arectangular face and even a
challenge to apply all thedesign ideas that I have into
this shape.
Jess Chow (05:31):
Yeah and I know Blake is a big fan of rectangular
shapes as well when we weredoing research we noticed that
there weren't a lot, and then wegot into the engineering and
manufacturing side and werealized why.
It's because they're incrediblydifficult to engineer.
You know, the straight edgeswith the doubled curves, as well
as the corners that have withthe rectangular case really
(05:56):
takes a significant higher levelof precision engineering.
And then we also decided tothen put an automatic movement
in there, which had to bethicker and larger as well.
So we were super lucky to beable to actually collaborate
with a watchmaking studiodirectly in La Chaux-de-Fonds,
switzerland, where we were ableto bespoke design every
(06:20):
component of our watches.
So being able to kind of bringthat rectangular watch to shape
or sorry, to life was reallyexciting.
Sunny Fong (06:28):
Yeah.
Blake Rea (06:29):
A circle within a rectangle is the world that you
guys live in, what?
So I've done some homework andit seems like you guys have a
few kind of distinctive I don'tknow attributes.
Um, it seems like every singlevarin is a limited edition,
(06:53):
usually.
Um, somehow you guys are stillusing edda because you know edda
has pretty much like shut downthe whole industry, like letting
them kind of weed on their own.
So somehow you guys are stillpowering your movements from
edda or your watches from edda,um, and and then of course, the
rectangle right and automaticright.
(07:14):
So I mean every watch carriesthose same design principles.
So, um, obviously sunny, withyou know your, your background
and your your inspiration ofrelying on your movement to
power the watch, would you guysever even consider going into
(07:34):
battery-powered watches orquartz watches?
Jess Chow (07:38):
I never say never to anything.
These days Okay but you know,we are rooted in traditional
watchmaking in swiss avar fairand we really want to highlight,
you know um, this craft that isactually, you know, kind of
going away these days.
It's a, it's a bit of a dyingcraft and we're really wanting
to bring back that art andreally celebrate the heritage
behind that let's uh, let'sfocus our lens on you now, jess,
(08:03):
and so tell us about yourparents.
Blake Rea (08:07):
Tell us about the Geneva Watch Days, like where
did your parents work?
It seems like they met.
Did they meet at Geneva WatchDays, your parents?
Do I understand that correctly?
Jess Chow (08:18):
Yeah.
So both my mom and my dad kindof grew up with watches in
different facets and they bothkind of worked for different
companies across the board fromback end to front end, and my
mom and my dad actually met atBaselworld oh, okay, back when.
Yeah, that's awesome.
So it's just interestingbecause I think I have a
(08:39):
different kind of take onwatchmaking.
I really grew up kind of morebehind the scenes, seeing how
they were made and, you know,smelling the oil and like
hearing the machinery, andthere's a romance kind of to
that that I really love and youknow, I don't think a lot of
people get to experience it.
It's very behind the scenes andso bringing that forward is
(09:02):
something that we really want tocelebrate.
We even made a kind of makingof your in series where we took
people behind the scenes for astudio to really see how you
know the rectangular case wasmade, how you know the Swiss
components were assembled, toreally hopefully celebrate and
showcase this art a lot of a lotof entrepreneurs that we talk
(09:25):
to have issues with like supplychain.
Blake Rea (09:29):
You know, like supply chain is what drives the watch
industry.
Um, it seems like you kind ofuh, through your family ties,
have bypassed a lot of thesupply chain efforts.
Is that accurate?
Jess Chow (09:46):
Yeah, I think supply chain is a struggle across the
board around these days, but Ithink being able to really
deliver a quality product issomething that we're really
proud of.
This is something that I feellike is building on our legacy,
and so making sure that eachpiece is um considered with
(10:07):
thought and care, I think, issomething that, uh, hopefully,
makes us special I mean, we'rereally lucky to have justice
access with like switcheroo andthen getting everything swiss
made.
Sunny Fong (10:18):
I think that's like a piece that not everyone has
access to, and for me, just tosee all this in the making is
really like eye-opening and wereally want to share that with
the world.
Blake Rea (10:31):
I'm curious about your.
We talked briefly aboutsustainability, like before the
podcast.
You know, obviously you guysare trying to make a difference
in the world.
Tell us about that.
Jess Chow (10:45):
Yeah, we joke that with our automatic watch.
It's kind of like the originalFitbit.
One day, when AI takes over theworld, you'll still have your
automatic watch, right, maybeyou know.
Hopefully, one of those is onyour wrist, and so you know.
Sustainability is somethingthat we really grew up with, and
(11:07):
even down to our packaging.
It's something that we consider, um, you know, all of our
watches get delivered in a watchstand.
Sunny Fong (11:16):
Um, as well as a watch box set, uh, something
that you can actually showcaseyour watch at home that's both
functional as well as beautifulI mean in my dna, like form and
function is always like, verykey, um, but so when we designed
our packaging or like, oh, whyare we just giving a regular
cushion in a box, like, whydon't we make this more
functional and then shiptogether a watch box and a watch
(11:37):
stand, and I think, like for us, like even in our original dna,
thinking about like thingslasting forever, like my dad's
automatic watch being almostlike 60 years, 60 years old, and
that and it's something I'm notgoing to throw it in the
garbage Like this is one ofthose things that we want.
To make sure that our timepieces last as long as we do so.
Justin Summers (11:58):
What were some of the um, what were some of the
biggest challenges, uh that youguys have faced launching uh
the viren brand um, and how didyou overcome them?
Because we know everybody hasstories, everybody's got
different challenges that theyface um, but we're curious to
know, you know kind of, whatunique stories you guys have, uh
have had yeah, um.
Jess Chow (12:17):
So viren actually means celebrate in dutch.
Um, we're really here aboutcelebrating and we, we love
doing that, you know, in person.
Uh, we launched our brand in2020.
Um, just perfect timing forin-person events, right?
Um?
Justin Summers (12:33):
I wonder what happened.
Jess Chow (12:33):
I don't know guys um gap years but, um, you know, we
really shifted a lot more ontoan online strategy and I think
with a luxury watch, being ableto put it on your wrist is very
different and being able to getthat feel.
So we really doubled down on alot of those efforts so that you
(12:58):
can really see a lot of thosebespoke details, details.
And then, um, when thingsopened back up, we were really
excited to then really havethese more curated, exclusive
events where we could kind ofshowcase and, um, bring our
watches to life in a differentway I think, like for us, like
our mentality was, the show mustgo on.
Sunny Fong (13:19):
you know like we pushed each other to really like
get the ball rolling.
We didn't wait and we werereally excited about having our
time pieces out and reallysharing it with the world.
And now everything's all openedup.
We really want to bring thosesort of intimate moments back
and really have peopleexperience our time pieces on
their wrist as opposed to ascreen.
Jess Chow (13:43):
I think we took some creative approaches to that in
terms of different pop-ups andwe did one in New York at the
time and it was great to reallyintroduce the brand to kind of
the New York Soho crowd.
And then later this year,actually in September, we're
going to be doing a pop-up inour hometown of Toronto as well,
first one back home where wecan actually showcase to you
(14:07):
know, our friends and family.
Blake Rea (14:10):
Would you say?
I mean, obviously we've.
We've had a few other brandsthat got kind of stir crazy
during COVID and built watchbrands.
Like it just seems like it wasthe thing to do to build a watch
brand during covid, um, andparticularly being based in
canada.
Um, like I, I flew fromistanbul and I flew through
(14:34):
toronto, and this was duringcovid and uh, and I had no
intentions on entering, enteringcanada, but they wanted to like
, put me into, like a quarantinehotel and like, do all this.
And I'm like, I'm like, look,just arrest me, like I am not
going to a quarantine hotel, Iam trying to go home.
I've been in europe for ninemonths, let me go to america,
that's home, you know.
And um, anyways, ironically, um, they, me and like seven other
(14:59):
americans were like, look, likewe're not going to quarantine
hotel, like we have no intentionon going into Canada, we just
want to go home.
And they locked seven of us ina room with just a bathroom
until the next day, until wecould fly out.
So from what I've heard, it wasa lot tighter of a lockdown in
(15:20):
Canada than here and through myexperience, I would say so as
well.
Would you say during that timeit was an additional layer of
complexity building the watchbrand during COVID.
Jess Chow (15:33):
Oh, absolutely.
I think that was one examplethat you highlighted, but I
think many examples across theboard.
But challenges happen all thetime and I think that just
forces you to be more creative,right?
So, the year we launched there,there were restrictions, there
was a maximum, I think, of 30people, but you know.
Then we designed a reallycurated launch party where we
(15:55):
had, uh, specific seatings.
We actually had the watches, um, displayed.
You want to talk a little bitabout?
Sunny Fong (16:01):
yeah, we had, like a situation where it was like um,
there was a maximum, likeamount of people.
Everyone needed to be spacedout.
So came up with the creativeidea of like having a little
small, little tasting menu ofshowing our watches on platters
and really bringing it per tableand everyone having their own
experience with the watches.
Um, within like, it's had to belike a capacitive two per table
(16:23):
.
So we did something reallycreative like that where we
booked on a restaurant andreally had like individual
seatings and and viewing of ouruh, tasting watch menu.
Blake Rea (16:32):
Yeah, that sounds kind of cool.
And then meanwhile on the backyou're just like scrubbing them
down with like all right, allright, like here we go um it was
very successful.
Sunny Fong (16:44):
It would really brought a sort of positive
energy.
I think people showed up whereI was really happy to be out and
be surrounded with like mindsand really being able to enjoy
something that we worked reallyhard and show that like we're
still going to plow through eventough times.
Blake Rea (17:01):
Yeah, I'm curious about the design philosophy.
Um, I mean, clearly I would say, like you have a very unique
design language.
Um, I mean, you guys are givinga unique perspective through a
very traditional form factor.
Um, how do you make yourwatches stand out in such a
(17:21):
limiting form factor?
I would consider to be limiting, right?
Jess Chow (17:25):
so yeah, I know why sunny had to move from inches to
millimeters as we go you'relearning about tolerances now
too, right, sunny?
Sunny Fong (17:36):
yes, it used to be quarter inch tolerance.
I can't do that.
I didn't watch me.
Um, I mean, I think, with mydesign philosophy, I think
everything's in the details,even with clothing.
It's all about structure, it'sabout fit, I think, applying
that same sort of philosophy andDNA that I have into
(17:57):
watchmaking.
So when it comes down to allthe little details, luckily we
have access to create all thesedetails.
For instance, in our watches wehave our gold Reholt ring.
I think you can see the sort ofgold highlight here.
It has the minutes etched intoit.
So around the perimeter of ourdial you can see the minutes and
(18:21):
that's a little detail that wehave in all our watches, can see
the minutes, and that's alittle detail that we have in
all our watches.
I think when exploring um sortof our core, sort of um design,
I really thought about what arethe things that will separate us
from everybody else and thatwill be uniquely us.
So I really spent a lot of timedoing a lot of research,
finding how many little things Ican sneak into the watch
(18:45):
without it being overly liketerribly designed.
So it's all about less is moreand then finding form and
function of every little piecethat is in our time piece and
having, for instance, I wanted amatte black watch.
We made sure it was dlc andeverything was all the same
color, tone black and it's toneon tone, and I really wanted to
(19:08):
sort of bring forward thatmodernist energy.
And those are the things thatspeak loudly in very subtle ways
.
Jess Chow (19:15):
Because we couldn't just buy black fabric.
Yeah.
Sunny Fong (19:18):
I couldn't use a canvas spray van and do it.
These are the things that hadto really work with our team in
Switzerland to make sure thateverything was 100%.
Blake Rea (19:29):
Yeah, and I mean I understand.
I mean prototype afterprototype after prototype, you
guys have to figure.
We've talked to people thathave thousands and thousands of
watches that just didn't makethe cut.
Um, but I'm curious now, sinceyou're I mean, what would you
say your ratio of fashion andclothing to watch?
(19:50):
I mean, you're still designingclothes, I think, if I read
correctly.
Um, so do you ever findyourself designing like an
article of clothing?
You're like, oh, like, this issomething that I picked up from
designing watches designingwatches.
Sunny Fong (20:11):
Um, I do actually I mean in term, uh like I find
myself actually designingwatches.
I find myself doing designthings with more angles, like
figuring out how to createvolume with a minimal like, um,
like lines.
So really like there's a nicebalance and influence in each of
, in each different sort ofdesign aspect.
Fashion really influences mywatchmaking and watchmaking
design, like I find a lot ofinspiration through interiors as
(20:33):
well.
So really I pull little piecesof everything that I see that
has a moment of design in it andI keep that stored and I put it
forward in anything that Imanifest.
Blake Rea (20:46):
Let's talk about the collection.
So obviously is the, is the OG,is that the the original for
you guys?
Jess Chow (20:59):
I'm assuming you got it.
Blake Rea (21:02):
And then, how did the ?
How did the collection growfrom, from the OG, like, how did
it progress?
I mean, because you guys have apretty diverse collection, I
would say there's a watch foreverybody in here, not a diamond
guy, but I mean there'ssomething in here for everybody,
I think.
So how did the collection grow?
Jess Chow (21:24):
Yeah, so we started with the OG Automatic.
We launched that in 2020, andthat collection really was
poorly inspired by modernistarchitecture.
So you'll see those clean linesMies van der Rohe, some Louise
Nevelson sculptures, a lot ofkind of art influences.
Sunny Fong (21:41):
So we took a lot of that modernist DNA in terms of
clean line, less is more formand function, a lot of that
modernist DNA in terms of cleanline, less is more form and
function, and that really sortof established the shape of our
case, even having the lugs beingangled inward towards the band.
Those are, like all theconsiderations that I took
influences from modernistarchitecture.
What I really wanted to do wasfind out the solid foundation of
(22:05):
our case and then really designeverything from that foundation
very like, very much likearchitecture.
Yeah, so we started with ourmatte white.
I really wanted to channel thatsort of blank canvas,
everything's tone on tone, andwith that piece, everything sort
of flourished in terms of likethe matte black exploration with
(22:25):
um what if we made it all?
black.
Yeah, what if we made it allblack with dlc?
And then, jokingly, talking tothe team, I'm like, oh, can we
do something with a debosspattern with black diamonds,
just to keep everythingmonochromatic?
And the answer was yes.
So really exploring all thesedifferent facets and materials
that I'm not very familiar with,but really having them, you
(22:49):
know, make these pieces andseeing them in person and
wearing it on your wrist reallyjust blew my mind and really
created more ideas and moreideas and really challenging the
team.
Jess Chow (23:01):
Yeah, and I think as we continue to experiment with
the OG automatic collectionreally it's Sunny's fashion DNA
there was a lot of leather.
It was really a staple infashion.
We were like let's reinvent theclassic leather watch.
What if we actually took theleather all the way through and
actually had a leather dial?
So you know, our BlackRockversion actually extends the
(23:23):
leather all the way through theband onto the dial and it's real
leather back there as well, toresemble that of a leather cuff.
And then you'll also kind ofsee the detail of the gold
re-haul ring which is kind ofour signature along the piece
there.
So just really experimentingwith color and materials.
Blake Rea (23:45):
Something that I don't think people realize is,
with a rectangle watch, like,getting the lugs is like near
impossible.
And so obviously most rectanglewatches they have flat lugs,
but you guys do not have flatlugs.
(24:06):
But you guys do not have flatlugs, so I I know how
challenging just getting thecase shape you know, and and
you're like, okay, this is notgonna work, no, I'll just throw
this away.
Um, and then do you guys havedifferent sizes here, so are you
guys just have one case in onecase size, or do you guys have
(24:28):
anything with smaller formfactors or yeah, um, right now
we have the one case size and itwas very intentional I think,
uh, one challenge that I reallywanted to bring forward was this
sort of unisex um attitude.
Sunny Fong (24:43):
I really wanted to find the perfect size for both
men and women's wrists.
Blake Rea (24:48):
We had different challenges just because we also
had, like, an automatic movementand then Jess has the smallest
wrist, so we were testing outdifferent sizes just to find the
perfect size that wouldtranslate well on most wrists
around the world, really tryingto find the right materials and
the right finishes that wouldtranslate with any wardrobe or
(25:12):
any collection and um and yeah,I mean rectangle cases is like
hit or miss, because, like I, Ido wear like a large, a large
tank and um and a medium reverso, but then like, if you look at
like, like princess diana alsowore a large tank, you know, but
(25:32):
then muhammad ali more wore amedium tank, you know, like so,
so like you have this weird kindof proportionate dysfunction in
a in a weird way.
So, challengingly, uh, it's abold decision to just say hey
look, here's the form factor fornow.
Sunny Fong (25:53):
I mean, I think I was told once I'm like watches
have no gender.
We really wanted to remove thatand have that sort of design
for everyone and really havingthe design itself speak to the
individual yeah, I, um, was alsosnooping on instagram and I saw
(26:17):
that you guys had sweetierepping your watch.
Blake Rea (26:22):
I'm so curious as to how that all came together,
because the video is cool.
Like she like gets this box andshe opens it.
She's like, oh, like, I'mcurious as to how logistically
that, uh, that all came togetherman, everything was just
because we were so lucky, uh,with this opportunity with
Saweetie.
Jess Chow (26:42):
It was just, honestly , the the perfect partnership
for our brand.
So, you know, we just launchedthe stereo collection, which is
the newest one, and it'sactually inspired by music I
know Dustin's a big fan andearlier that year we had
launched our gold sunray andgold mirror editions that had
(27:03):
like a skeletonized dial theyall gold, um, and then we were
uh planning to really launch ourgold diamond series.
Um, and then, uh, we, we gotthis partnership with saweetie
and it was actually her 30thbirthday celebration.
Okay, we were able to kind ofgift her, uh, one of our gold
(27:23):
diamond watches, which isrepresenting icy girl perfectly.
Um, she loved the gift, ofcourse, and we actually had um
icy girl um custom engraved uhonto the watch stand in gold for
her as well.
Nice, she got to kind of rockout and bling out with with our
latest collection yeah um, wouldyou consider yourself?
Blake Rea (27:46):
so I I find you guys kind of juggling like fashion
and uh and like luxury, right, Imean because you know we, we
have a lot of our, a lot of ouraudiences into micro.
I mean like we will drop amicro podcast and it'll get like
(28:07):
double the amount of listenersas as like having like ulysse
nardone or something you knowlike a big, a big brand or
panerai, right, um, oh shit, Ithink I put that out there too
soon, um, but but anyways, sowould you consider yourselves
kind of playing more in thefashion space or playing more in
the watch space?
Jess Chow (28:27):
uh, I think really we're at the intersection of
those things.
I think a lot of people want tokind of put us in a box in one
place or the other, and I thinkwe created the brand as an
intersection of art and scienceand I think that's what we would
want to continue bringing.
We will always have the highestlevel of design through kind of
(28:48):
Sunny's perspective, and thenwe will also simultaneously
deliver the highest quality inSwiss Sapphire, kind of through
my expertise.
So hopefully we can cometogether in a beautiful
collaboration.
Justin Summers (29:02):
Who would you guys say is the ideal?
You know?
Veering customer.
Who would you guys say is theideal?
You know?
Veering customer.
Jess Chow (29:15):
And how do you engage with your audience to ensure
that, like the brand you know,resonates internally with them?
Yeah, our customer is someonethat is very savvy, they are
educated and they really arelooking for those unique
statement pieces that show off,you know, their personality and
their design eye Right.
What we've noticed is, you know, a lot of our customers are
quite multifaceted, like Sunnyand our multi hyphenates.
(29:36):
You know he's a fashiondesigner, he's a watch designer,
he also cooks.
Well, you know we do lots ofdifferent things.
Justin Summers (29:43):
Where's the closet full of hats?
We do lots of different things.
Jess Chow (29:46):
Where's the closet full of hats?
Exactly Right, and I thinkbeing able to bring you know
things that aren't justtraditionally watches or
traditionally fashion, and beable to bring inspiration from
all of these different things,is really what makes us a modern
brand, that is, you know, aforward looking and unique.
Hopefully, yeah.
Sunny Fong (30:05):
I think someone who knows watches and who's seeking
something that is has new energy.
I think that's that.
That says you know, um, youknow I don't come from a watch
world, I come from design andreally trying to blend that and
really capturing the sort of theheritage of watchmaking because
I I grew up with watches, II've seen the evolution and I've
(30:27):
also seen the standstill whereit's just sort of the same stuff
and now there's this sort ofheightened watch design energy
now, which we really want to bepart of and capture that energy
again.
So I think someone who wantsthat newness and who's willing
to support new brands, like us,who is bringing that same energy
(30:47):
that we live for yeah and um,and I did notice too, like you
didn't tell me, uh, what type ofrectangle watch your dad had,
was it?
Blake Rea (30:58):
was it what I think it is?
Sunny Fong (31:01):
um, it was actually like uh.
It was like uh I don't actuallydon't remember the brand, but
it was.
Blake Rea (31:07):
You have it, though, come on Like that.
Sunny Fong (31:10):
automatic watch was not a retagular watch.
Blake Rea (31:14):
Oh, okay.
Sunny Fong (31:15):
The graduation watch was retagular.
Blake Rea (31:17):
Okay, okay, okay, there we go, there you go.
It wasn't a beard, it shouldhave been, though it should have
been, though it should havebeen.
Um, yeah, I'm assuming, kind ofwalking the fine line between
like fashion and in micro brandhorology has, you know,
(31:38):
additional challenges, becausepeople do want to say, no,
they're a fashion brand, no,they're a micro brand or
whatever.
They want to compartmentalizeyou and they label you they want
to label you um.
Have you guys gotten any anyweird kind of challenges from
that, from walking that fineline?
Jess Chow (32:02):
um, I think anytime you put yourself out there,
there's going to be people thatfeel you are one way or the
other.
I think even when we weretalking about the rectangular
case shape, you know we're likewe wish it was longer, I wish it
was smaller, you know.
But I think we are veryintentional with what we do.
It represents kind of what wescan for and you know we're very
comfortable with the directionthat we're going and hopefully
(32:23):
people can see our authenticityand it resonates with them, the
direction that we're going andhopefully people can see our
authenticity and it resonateswith them.
Blake Rea (32:29):
And I saw to you when I was doing some homework, the
the og.
So I'm assuming, because thatwas your first, you know your
first viren watch like, but hereis uh limited.
So I'm assuming this is arevival right from your, from
your original, is that?
Jess Chow (32:48):
So all of our timepieces are limited edition.
Blake Rea (32:51):
Okay.
Jess Chow (32:51):
With our OG Automatic we kept it only 100 each.
Each one of them is numbered onthe case back, really creating
a collector's item, Got it.
And then with the latest stereocollection, really amping that
up a lot more and they'reactually special edition.
Blake Rea (33:08):
There's only five of each of those wow yeah, I mean
the the golden waves is ispretty cool, I will say yeah,
our golden waves is our newestone.
Sunny Fong (33:22):
Um really was inspired by vintage stereo
systems, like the idea of musicand sound bringing life to us.
We love music so when Idesigned that, I really wanted
to have a sort of 3Drepresentation of sound waves,
inspiration from speakers andjust all these little details
and ideas that I've had in theresearch and really translating
(33:45):
into a timepiece.
I think it is sort of magicalin the way it captures the light
In every angle.
You are able to see the 3Dwaves as well as see our active
movement behind our skeletonizeddial and the rubies and gears,
and it really has all the sortof essence of music and then, um
(34:09):
, the bracelet too, that's.
Jess Chow (34:11):
I'm assuming that's something you guys also designed
, or yes, bracelets arechallenging the bracelet is
actually something that we get alot of feedback on, saying that
they it feels like butter andthey love it.
We're really bringing back thetraditional watchmaking and we
even actually custom designedthe buckle.
Sunny Fong (34:29):
Yeah.
So for me, I really wanted tomake sure that the clasp, the
little, is more where it'sactually hidden behind our
bracelets.
So it is more sleek and lesspinchy.
Blake Rea (34:52):
Yeah, behind our bracelets, so it is more sleek
and less pinchy.
Yeah, and does um, I guess,jess, when you popped yours off,
it looks like it was.
Does that sound like springloaded?
Did it, did you guys?
Or is that just?
No, it's just the doubledeployment class, okay, okay,
because that thing snapped offwith confidence.
Sunny Fong (35:02):
So I was like yes it's well made um and something
too.
Blake Rea (35:10):
um, it looks like you guys are kind of experimenting
with finishing too, so like it'sreally hard to tell, but I mean
obviously for the listeners.
We have not at this momentgotten hands-on with your
watches yet, but it looks likeyou guys are having a satin case
(35:31):
but then you're using a highpolish bracelet, is that?
Jess Chow (35:37):
Yeah, I think we experiment with different
textures or finishes fordifferent styles, keeping kind
of the modernist approach.
We want things to kind of betone on tone.
So different ways ofhighlighting texture and
creating different sheens andvariants really create a lot
(35:57):
more of that design detail thatpeople look for, especially on a
luxury timepiece.
Sunny Fong (36:02):
Yeah, like for our gold mirror, we really wanted
that high polish look.
We had the dial high polish aseven the case and the bracelet.
And then exploring sort of adifferent finish, like with the
sunray, having that sort ofsunburst dial in combination,
contrasted with the high polish,really sort of having that
(36:23):
juxtaposition in that timepiece.
And then exploring differentfinishes with waves, where it's
has a 3d dimension in it andalso a different finish.
So really like playing withtexture, um, and and having that
translate um in our timepiecesis really key for me because I
believe in subtlety as well andand I think finishes are part of
(36:47):
that.
Justin Summers (36:48):
Very important.
It's all these little details.
You know different hues andtones and textures, and
ultimately you're trying toconvey all these minute details
through these dials toessentially give it depth and
character.
So, yeah, I mean I think Ithink you're right on track.
You know it's in even just likethe simplest little detail.
Um, ultimately, I mean I thinkI think you're right on track.
You know it's even just likethe simplest little detail.
(37:09):
Ultimately, you know, canconvey a completely different
thought in somebody's mind, tobe like, wow, like they put the
thought into that, like that's,that's really cool.
You know that's reallythoughtful.
I'm curious and I know Blakeprobably is too Do you guys have
any upcoming you knowinnovations or maybe new models
that you guys are particularlyexcited about?
Or maybe new models that youguys are particularly excited
about?
And you know what can you knowus, our audience, everybody
(37:34):
expect to see from you guys inthe near future?
Jess Chow (37:35):
Absolutely.
You know we're always full ofideas, we're always at the idea
board.
You know it's really aboutfocusing those ideas and making
sure everything makes sense.
It seems like you know youblink and it's five years and
next year is actually ourfive-year anniversary.
So right now we're actuallyhard at work, kind of crafting
(37:57):
our launch of you know what isgoing to be kind of the next
phase and next chapter reallyfor VR and luxury watches and
next chapter really for VR andluxury watches.
Sunny Fong (38:10):
I think we're going to be looking into sort of
bringing forward our OG DNA forit a lot more and then who knows
if we might try something newnot round yet but really sort of
take our next step in terms of,you know, that sort of luxury
watch world Like what can we donext, and really trying to find
(38:31):
those resources and playingaround with those.
Blake Rea (38:34):
I'm curious too.
So, as a fashion designer, orjust designer at this point,
that whole industry is verycollaborative.
That whole industry is verycollaborative.
Is there a possibility forcollaboration in the future
lineups, or is this justsomething that you just want to
carry on your own shoulders?
Jess Chow (38:54):
Yeah, we're definitely open to anything
Collaborations, of course,growing to be our own family, I
think, across and really able toshowcase, you know, our time
pieces with differentinterpretations.
Sonny's done a great job inbuilding a base and you know,
the sky's the limit in terms ofhow we want to continue to
(39:16):
experiment.
Blake Rea (39:20):
And what does Viren mean to you personally?
And so if you guys could saywhat is your favorite from the
brand, your brand?
I know that's a hard one.
We always ask designers thiswho's their favorite child?
So I'm putting you on the spotright here, right now.
Sunny Fong (39:41):
My favorite will always be the first one.
It's our matte white.
That's where everything sort offlourished.
It's our, it's the one thatsort of brought everything else
to life.
It was a sort of blank canvasand and I will always love that
piece because I think that wasthe first thing I designed how
do we put all the details in ina lot in a timepiece?
(40:04):
That is very subtle and doesn'treally, you know, stream
anything but opportunity andsort of ideas.
And that was the piece thatsort of led to other ones, which
is like, for instance, theBlack Croc, having that sort of
foundation and being able toplay with materials and explore
(40:26):
and then with stereo, justtaking it a little bit further
and a little further.
I think without the matte black, matte white, none of this
would be where we are right now.
Blake Rea (40:35):
What about you, Jess?
Jess Chow (40:38):
What does Viren mean to me?
I always go back to kind of ourbrand motto, which is is power,
your time.
We're really about havingpeople put on our timepieces and
feel powerful, and I think thetimepiece right now that I feel
the most powerful in is reallyour latest Gold Waves watch.
It's all gold and it has that3D quality to it.
(40:58):
Honestly, when I have the watchon, people across the room
sometimes are like what are youwearing on your wrist?
Can I take a closer look?
It's a great conversationstarter and I always feel great
wearing it anytime I'm out,whether you're at a party, just
going to the grocery store, youknow anybody can feel better
about their day and feelpowerful, and so I think gold
weights would be my answer rightnow.
Blake Rea (41:21):
Watches are a cool way of grounding you, you know,
like, in the weirdest way, likeI always look at watches as not
only time keepers but timecapsules.
You know, like, I look down atthe watch that I wear and like
be like, oh, I remember I didthis or that or I was here
during this day or whatever, umand and Um and and watches are
(41:44):
so weird, like that, and and tohave something unique that still
kind of pushes the boundary isdefinitely an accomplishment, I
think, and um, you know, beforethe podcast, I, um, you know,
obviously, I there's so manygreat brands out there that we
have a hard time keeping up with, you know, and uh, and I was
(42:08):
very impressed before you know,um, before we scheduled this and
came on, you know, I thoughtthat you guys are definitely
have a cool product, a uniqueproduct, and uh, and yeah, I'm,
I'm excited now to to now beconnected with you and um to now
be connected with you and um,I've, I've got a question for
you guys and sorry to interject.
Justin Summers (42:30):
Um, you know, hopefully we're probably getting
you know towards the end ofthis.
Uh, you know.
So what I've got so far is thefirst child is the favorite.
Um, no, I'm just kidding guys,just just real quick, though.
Uh, where do you guys seeyourself?
Uh, within the next, you knowfive to 10 years?
You know kind of long term forthe brand.
You know, like any goodbusiness, you know you have to
(42:58):
have some sort of strategy, somesort of planning.
What do you guys see, varian,you know doing?
You still making waves in themarket.
Are we going to transition intosomething else?
Jess Chow (43:07):
Or what do you think?
Yeah, we're really excited,really, for the next chapter I
mentioned before.
This is really a bit of alegacy, it's a love letter from
my family, and so being able tocontinue is something that's
very important to us.
I think being selective,starting small, was something
(43:28):
that was important to us andmaking sure that we were focused
, but we're growing up now andwe're ready to, you know, share
more of us to the world, and sowe're hoping to, you know,
continue to expand within NorthAmerica and, you know, expand
into other markets later thisyear as well.
Sunny Fong (43:40):
Yeah, I think for us , we really wanted to sort of
establish ourselves within thesefive years to sort of not be a
flash in the pan.
We really want to be able to,like, take our brand forward and
explore more and design moreand give people more of us and
and and that sort of same energyand watch making that I loved
(44:02):
so much when I was a kid andjust growing up with so, really,
you know, capturing that moment.
Blake Rea (44:10):
Yeah, yeah, I think.
I mean I've been to so manywatch shows and I've talked to
so many micro brands and theyall have the exact same
challenge, which is the one, theuphill battle you guys are
facing getting your watches infront of the audience.
You know um and and there Imean there has to be an
(44:31):
emotional connection.
Like people don't buy watchesfor logic, logical people do not
buy watches, right, just justcrazy people like me and all of
us right, um, because obviouslyI mean there's no real need for
a watch anymore.
Right, I mean, let's say, let'sput it out there.
(44:53):
You know, as a person who has150 watches can say, um, but you
know that challenge is gettingthe watch in front of your
audience and creating thatemotional connection with your
potential.
You know, new owner, um, newcollector, um, so how are you
guys trying to to combat that?
(45:15):
Like, I want to see you guys atsome of the watch shows here in
America.
You should work on that if youcan.
Um, but but yeah, I mean I'massuming how have you guys
combated that challenge?
Jess Chow (45:29):
Yeah, I mean we're in active conversations um with
with different parties.
Um, you know we were down inNew York and in Chicago and San
Francisco through wind up watchfair a couple of years ago.
Um, so hopefully, uh, we cankind of continue to build that
community um, and Really I thinkjust getting in front of watch
(45:49):
enthusiasts is the most fun partof our jobs, honestly like
being able to just feel theenergy of people that are really
passionate as much as we areabout the category.
So you know we're actively inpursuit and so if there's any
opportunities, please let usknow.
Blake Rea (46:06):
So when you guys went to wind up, were you just kind
of like just exploring the spaceor were you guys presenting we
had our own booth.
Jess Chow (46:14):
We met a lot of people there.
Sunny Fong (46:17):
We realized we are a special addition to the watch
fair and really having to meetthe people who are enthusiasts
come see our work was reallynice.
Nice to like, get feedback andand understand sort of where we
stand.
Blake Rea (46:36):
Yeah, uh, when I've been to pretty much every lineup
for the past like few years now, when, when did you guys?
Because I must have overlookedit.
Jess Chow (46:44):
I mean, I'm just you had the disco ball going.
I thought we were like theinvisible.
What it depends on, what?
Blake Rea (46:51):
year.
It depends on what year.
It depends on what year youwere.
Jess Chow (46:54):
We were in New York the past two years, and then we
were at Chicago and SanFrancisco as well.
Blake Rea (47:01):
Oh, for the past two years.
Jess Chow (47:02):
Yeah, yes, in New York I was in Chicago.
Blake Rea (47:04):
I was in San Francisco for the past two years
.
I was just in San Francisco afew months ago.
My boy literally put himself inthe hot seat well, yeah, I mean,
give us a little sympathybecause it's just me and justin
and we have I can't even like gothrough half of my emails like
(47:27):
per day, like, and everybodywants to in the weirdest way.
You know, this is a new projectfor us.
Uh, lonely wrist has been outfor just over a year now.
Um and and yeah, everything'scoming together so quick and
it's just me and justin, andI've told a lot of people I'm
like, look, I'm not looking fornew brands, like they have to
(47:49):
find me.
You know what I mean.
And so, yeah, we have our ownchallenges, but you guys were in
San Francisco this past.
I know that was two years agoOkay.
Okay, okay, all right, all right.
Sunny Fong (48:05):
Okay, all right, that's bad.
Jess Chow (48:07):
Anytime Blake.
Blake Rea (48:09):
We're having a little one right now, so I know I'm
having like a oh shit moment,like I dropped the ball, the
disco ball the only disco ballyeah, yeah, we, we have been
kind of, uh, experimenting withthis kind of last concept.
Um, obviously you guys areguests on our outlet.
(48:32):
Uh, thank you for coming on, um, but you know we're we have
tried but trying this thing ofturning our outlet over to you
right for the end of the episode.
Uh, for the people that made it, you know, obviously they're
engaged, right, um, is thereanything we touched a lot on?
Design and inspiration and andthe future?
(48:54):
Is there anything that you feltlike we missed?
Um, you know, or wanted to saythat that we didn't hit?
Jess Chow (49:03):
um, I think you guys did a great job.
Um, thank you so much for theconversation.
Honestly, it's just been apleasure chatting with you guys.
I know Blake especially, butI'm curious about Justin as well
.
Just being rectangular watchbands, just curious to know from
our collection which ones speakto you after you asked us to
(49:24):
pick.
Justin Summers (49:25):
So I literally I was thinking the new stereo one
, and not because it's thenewest one.
Like I said, I have a lot ofback.
You know ground and music.
I've got drums, I've gotrecords.
If I could show you I'm, I havea whole studio Like I've got
the big, like Yamaha monitorsand all this stuff.
It's just what I do.
I've done it for a long time andso as soon as I saw that, I was
(49:47):
like I love that, because Idon't see that very often in the
wash industry, where somebodytakes something that's like
music oriented and it just Ilove the texture, I love it.
It almost looks like a littlewater drop, like just how it
comes out, but for it to tieinto like sound waves and like
the stereos, it just it gives melike those like I don't know if
(50:08):
that's like the, the correctera, but like that noir kind of
like forties, fifties, vibe, um.
And so as soon as I saw that, Iwas like bet, I love that.
I would say that's probably myfavorite, um, but I love that.
You guys, you know you havelike the, the leather, uh, faces
and things like that as well.
Um, I think that you know each,each one is unique in its own
(50:31):
way and, just like you said, youknow, it's like you can't
really pick a favorite.
To an extent, yeah, everybodyhas their own original one of
their OG that holds a specialplace.
But I think that you guys aredoing a really good job about,
you know, taking these designsand you know kind of putting a
unique flair on each one of them.
So, but if I had to pick afavorite, yeah, it's probably
(50:51):
the stereo one yeah, I, myfavorite doesn't exist yet so
well, no, no no that soundedterrible, sounded terrible I.
Blake Rea (51:05):
So I have a bias right.
So you're matt right, is DLCright?
So I just hate DLC.
Like I don't know what it isabout DLC but I have like this
huge, like bias against it.
Like I will not own a DLC, likeburn them, all you know.
(51:27):
But I love the dial from thematt black and I would love to
see it in a steel case ohcurious okay, okay but for that
reason I have to go with thematt white for now yeah, good
answer yeah and I'm like you'regoing on this rabbit hole.
Justin Summers (51:51):
I'm like man, come on, dude.
Like what else don't you like?
Blake Rea (51:56):
it came off like really terribly.
I'm so sorry, um, I mean as as awatch collector, you know, and
like I said, I have over 150watches and I I mean it seems
like every day, justin, I knowyou're getting new watches and
I'm getting new watches.
Like last week I had, uh, 25 orso different prototypes,
(52:21):
different, you know, lonerwatches, press watches, whatever
you want to call it gifts, um,and and so, as I've started
lonely wrist and I understandmyself more as a collector, you
know, I think that's the bigthing that came from this.
Um, you know, understandingourselves as a collector, um,
(52:43):
because there's watches thatI've seen that I'm like, look, I
love that, I just want to buythat right and um, and that it
just doesn't fully like make therotation.
You know, like I don't have 150watch rotation, I have like a
10 watch rotation, so I probablyreally only should have like 10
watches, um, but I made kind ofthese weird buying decisions
(53:09):
where, like I bought them formilestones in my life, so like I
bought this during that time orthis during that time, so how
can I sell a milestone from mylife?
You know what I mean, I.
So I I have a weird, a weirdstrategy as a collector um and
(53:30):
yeah, and and and so my, myrectangle watch, uh, um, desire
has been so weird, so, like I, Iwas like cartier reverso,
cartier reverso, like those arethe only two, right like icons,
right, um.
(53:50):
And so I bought the Reversofirst, thinking like cool done,
got my rectangle watch, don'tneed another one.
But no, it did not happen likethat.
And now I purchased a steeltank.
And then, after I love thesteel tank so much, and I
purchased a gold tank.
(54:11):
And then, after I love thesteel tank so much, and I
purchased a gold tank.
And and now, um, I have a, Ihave a square watch here on
loner, um, like, it's like, um,it's, it's like a little reverso
, uh, esque, it's, it's varro,have you heard of him?
(54:32):
Vario?
So it's got this weird littleum, but anyways.
So I find myself kind of goingdown the rectangle rabbit hole
and and looking for new watches.
Um, I've got a boulevard, um,so, yeah, my, my love for
(54:56):
rectangle watches is justspiraled in the weirdest way oh,
what's the beauty of collectingwatches?
Jess Chow (55:05):
right, like it's fun, and it should change, like with
your preferences, over time.
You know you just hope youspend money on one that you know
you can still wear later andlater, you know um, but I think
as you continue to explore,hopefully we can hit one of the
virans in your rotation as well.
Blake Rea (55:23):
Yeah yeah, I, I find myself looking for, at this
point, versatility, you know,and I think that's what stuck
out about the matte white, um,because I have every color strap
, you know under the moon, anduh, and yeah, so I just find
(55:45):
myself, you know, with a whiteor black dial so I can use those
crazy um, like light bluestraps that I have, or like I
have some pink straps I have theweirdest strap portfolio and so
I I found myself I just buy all20 millimeter watches then, uh,
then cool, I'll have a strapfor everything, yeah, and white
(56:07):
or black, um, so versatility issomething that me, as a watch
collector, I prioritize and Idon't see if this is.
Is this, is this a 20millimeter lug?
What's the lug size on this?
Jess Chow (56:21):
of course, inside 22 oh, 22.
Blake Rea (56:26):
Okay, I've got 22s as well.
So you're lucky there, and it'sonly 10 millimeters, 9.2
millimeters, so that's, that'snice.
And then I guess this was alsoanother challenge too, but
having automatic watch in thatslim of a profile like how did
(56:46):
you guys overcome that?
Jess Chow (56:49):
It took over almost two years to overcome actually
good, it looks like the caseback helped you out a little bit
yeah, I mean when we, when wefirst engineered the watch, um
with with more traditionalwatchmaking, it was over 12
millimeters actually, and wewent millimeter by millimeter to
(57:10):
really slim it down.
Um being able to be a dresswatch that you can still wear
under your cuff and bebeautifully set was important um
and so um, and we also wantedthat gold ring to still, you
know, be visible and um behighlighted.
So we were able to slim it downto 9.2 millimeters, which we're
very proud of yeah, reallywanted to have that.
Sunny Fong (57:32):
That the height of that rear hold ring may be
maintained and everyone had tojust engineer it and just shave
everything off and get thesmallest movement that would fit
into our time piece as well wasvery key it's, it's beautiful.
Blake Rea (57:46):
I think that stands out.
Um, there's something about howmatte the watch is, but still
creating depth, but stillbecause of the rehot, like it's
very cool.
It's very cool and um, and yeah, like I said, I'm very
impressed and uh, and yeah, youguys are doing amazing stuff, so
(58:07):
thanks, what else did you?
Justin Summers (58:11):
I think that's all I've got I mean, we can hang
out now at this point.
Sunny Fong (58:16):
But amazing yeah, this is amazing, justin chatting
with you guys yeah, of course.
Justin Summers (58:24):
Yeah, thank you guys for coming on.
Um, as always, you know, wealways appreciate you taking the
time out of your days to comeand spend with us.
Um, we try and be prettygenuine on this show.
You guys seem like you are verygenuine people, so we
appreciate the genuineconversation.
I'm sure that you know we'regoing to see some some big and
great things from you guys inthe near future.
We're very excited, yeah.
Jess Chow (58:48):
But thank you guys for coming on.
Justin Summers (58:51):
It was great to have you and finally meet you
formally absolutely well, pleasedo keep in touch.
Jess Chow (58:57):
um you know, our website is vrnco and our
instagram is vr in time we willplug all the socials.
Blake Rea (59:04):
Um, yeah, I'm, I'm thinking, because obviously I'm
looking at your website and Iknow your watches are beautiful,
but I'm thinking probablythey're 10 times more beautiful
in reality.
Jess Chow (59:16):
So so, yeah, wink, wink, yeah wink, I know we were
connected through taylor so wecan chat.
Maybe we'll get some watchesover to you guys as well.
Yeah, yeah, we think it'd becool too.
Blake Rea (59:30):
Um, so that was the reason why I picked up like my
tank, you know, because I want awatch that I can wear and then
I want to watch that I can justthrow over to my wife, you know,
like there's something, as awatch collector, like that to me
was like the unchartedterritory of like having a watch
that we can both wear, that wecan both share like what else
(59:52):
out there.
I mean, I certainly can't wearher dresses or her shoes, so
good, no, no, cannot do it.
Um, there's, there's very fewlike things that have that
crossover right, and so so, yeah, yeah, I'm always looking at
(01:00:14):
creating or finding somethingthat, you know, her and I can
share and, um, and, as a watchcollector, I think that's very
important.
You know, sharing your passionwith your significant other.
Um, and, and there's not enoughwatches out there like I mean
obviously, like she's not gonnawear, like one of my sporty
pilots watches or anything youknow she's just not gonna do it
(01:00:36):
so gateway watch like yeah, sohelp me, help you the
Jess Chow (01:00:44):
last one is perfect.
Blake Rea (01:00:45):
You don't have to resize it, you can just wear the
same one she doesn't even wearthe, the, she doesn't even wear
some of the stuff that, like,I've uh got for that purpose.
So, but, um, she leans into thesportier side, so, but, all
right, we have just reached anhour now.
This was a great episode.
(01:01:05):
I am so glad that you guys cameon.
I'm so glad we connected superexcited.
Like I said, I'm watching.
I'm watching, um, keep us alsoin the loop of future press
releases and, uh, and we'llcertainly distribute those and
and we will see you.
I'm sure uh, are you guyscoming to new york for the next
(01:01:27):
wind up or anything?
Sunny Fong (01:01:29):
no, I just focused on our pop-up this time, because
I think that's during october,right, yeah, um, yeah.
Blake Rea (01:01:38):
Well, I'm in vegas, so you could do a pop-up from
vegas perfect.
Jess Chow (01:01:43):
Well, we're always planning things down in new york
.
I mean, it's where I was born,it's our kind of our, our second
home, and so we'll definitelykeep you guys in touch um cool,
amazing, yeah, all right, guyscheck out varin online and we
will see everybody on the nextepisode bye.
Welcome everybody to another episode of Lonely Wrist.
Today we have the duo fromVaron, jess Chow, sunny Fong.
Welcome to the episode.
Justin Summers (00:16):
Hi, hey guys Thanks for having us Welcome
guys.
Blake Rea (00:19):
Tell us about, first of all, how you two met.
I'm curious because, jess, Idid read a little bit about you
and you know your parents werein the industry.
Sunny project, run rightproject, runway renner what can
I talk?
Runway winner and, uh, andfashion designer.
(00:43):
So how did you guys getconnected?
Jess Chow (00:50):
Yeah, so before we started VRN I was actually in
the business realm.
I was a management consultantfor over 10 years, working at an
agency and grinding down andkind of always advising and
building brands for other people.
And after I kind of turned 30,I had a little bit of a
self-realizing moment where, youknow, I really want to kind of
reconnect with things that mademe who I am and you know,
(01:12):
watches is such a part of mychildhood.
At the time Sonny was alsoworking there and I was kind of
sharing my passion for watchesand he actually shared a
personal story about watcheshimself.
Sunny Fong (01:23):
Yeah, I was taking a little hiatus in fashion, I
just needed a little break justto like clear my mind and my
creativity.
And that's when I met jess andshe told me like, oh, my
family's in watches and I'm like, oh, I'm, I would love to
design a watch and, um, reallybring that sort of design
forward.
I was telling her, like after Iturned 40, I started wearing my
(01:43):
dad's automatic watch againjust to really keep me motivated
, keep me going, because theidea was like, if I didn't wear,
time would stop.
So I really wanted to bringback you know, the time piece
and I started wearing my dad'swatch all the time and I showed
Jess and I told her my story andthen she somehow like all
together, it just magicallyhappened that you know we're
(02:06):
doing this yeah, it was justbeautiful that you know a time
piece could actually be used asinspiration for you to get out
there and for motivation.
Jess Chow (02:15):
And you know, we kind of wanted to bring that, that
story back, but in our modernand more unique way yeah, I mean
, uh, sunny, I mean comparingfashion to the jewelry and watch
industry.
Blake Rea (02:27):
I'm sure that's been a challenge, because I mean you
talked about it, jess, fast.
Fashion is everywhere you know,there's a really small cycle of
fashion trends versus now.
If you look at watch brandsthat are digging back into the
40s, 50s, 60s archives andthey're reviving these vintage
designs and those are whatpeople are into.
(02:49):
So, sonny, I mean I'm assumingit seemed like it was an easy
transition.
Looking through your portfolio,would you?
Sunny Fong (02:59):
It is, in a way, like in terms of like design.
I love design in every facet,so for me I was really excited
to be in the watch industry justto bring back that energy that
I grew up with watches havingthat sort of design forward.
That really sort of everythingwas very bespoke and very
(03:24):
individual, like each brand hadits own identity and with myself
in design, I've always lovedthat idea that I never was part
of fast fashion.
I always wanted to create itemsthat people accented their
wardrobes with, and this was thesame philosophy I wanted to
bring forward with ourtimepieces.
I didn't want it to be a massproduced brand.
(03:46):
I wanted every single design tobe, you know, a small edition
where it only really like speaksto an individual.
Jess Chow (03:57):
Yeah.
Justin Summers (03:58):
Yep, I like that aspect of it too.
I'm a I'm a musician, if youcan't tell already, and I feel
like I feel like everybody intheir own place kind of gets
that like in that way likeburnout, like a writer's block
sort of thing.
You know, even with design, oryou know music or photography or
whatever the case, and it'skind of cool that you know
you've transitioned that into acompletely different facet and
(04:18):
then kind of like rekindled thislove for like oh, something new
and like unique and and you'redoing something that's, you know
, like you said, um, you know,limiting, limiting these
releases, um, I, I think it'sreally neat, um, so, to be more
creative as well, like exactlymaking sure that each one has
(04:39):
its own personality I love that.
Um.
So we know that you guys arekind of all in on the you know
rectangular watches.
We know that's sort of a bigthing for you guys.
What is it about that caseshape that inspires you?
You know, compared to doing atraditional, you know, round
style.
Sunny Fong (04:58):
I mean, it goes back to like a time piece that I got
in my graduation.
Um, it was.
It was a rectangular case andI've always loved that that look
and um, even if you look incinema, like, every person who's
wearing a watch is in arectangular case.
So I really wanted to celebratethat iconic shape and really
(05:18):
set us apart from other brands,um and and I find like there's
more sort of versatility with arectangular face and even a
challenge to apply all thedesign ideas that I have into
this shape.
Jess Chow (05:31):
Yeah and I know Blake is a big fan of rectangular
shapes as well when we weredoing research we noticed that
there weren't a lot, and then wegot into the engineering and
manufacturing side and werealized why.
It's because they're incrediblydifficult to engineer.
You know, the straight edgeswith the doubled curves, as well
as the corners that have withthe rectangular case really
(05:56):
takes a significant higher levelof precision engineering.
And then we also decided tothen put an automatic movement
in there, which had to bethicker and larger as well.
So we were super lucky to beable to actually collaborate
with a watchmaking studiodirectly in La Chaux-de-Fonds,
switzerland, where we were ableto bespoke design every
(06:20):
component of our watches.
So being able to kind of bringthat rectangular watch to shape
or sorry, to life was reallyexciting.
Sunny Fong (06:28):
Yeah.
Blake Rea (06:29):
A circle within a rectangle is the world that you
guys live in, what?
So I've done some homework andit seems like you guys have a
few kind of distinctive I don'tknow attributes.
Um, it seems like every singlevarin is a limited edition,
(06:53):
usually.
Um, somehow you guys are stillusing edda because you know edda
has pretty much like shut downthe whole industry, like letting
them kind of weed on their own.
So somehow you guys are stillpowering your movements from
edda or your watches from edda,um, and and then of course, the
rectangle right and automaticright.
(07:14):
So I mean every watch carriesthose same design principles.
So, um, obviously sunny, withyou know your, your background
and your your inspiration ofrelying on your movement to
power the watch, would you guysever even consider going into
(07:34):
battery-powered watches orquartz watches?
Jess Chow (07:38):
I never say never to anything.
These days Okay but you know,we are rooted in traditional
watchmaking in swiss avar fairand we really want to highlight,
you know um, this craft that isactually, you know, kind of
going away these days.
It's a, it's a bit of a dyingcraft and we're really wanting
to bring back that art andreally celebrate the heritage
behind that let's uh, let'sfocus our lens on you now, jess,
(08:03):
and so tell us about yourparents.
Blake Rea (08:07):
Tell us about the Geneva Watch Days, like where
did your parents work?
It seems like they met.
Did they meet at Geneva WatchDays, your parents?
Do I understand that correctly?
Jess Chow (08:18):
Yeah.
So both my mom and my dad kindof grew up with watches in
different facets and they bothkind of worked for different
companies across the board fromback end to front end, and my
mom and my dad actually met atBaselworld oh, okay, back when.
Yeah, that's awesome.
So it's just interestingbecause I think I have a
(08:39):
different kind of take onwatchmaking.
I really grew up kind of morebehind the scenes, seeing how
they were made and, you know,smelling the oil and like
hearing the machinery, andthere's a romance kind of to
that that I really love and youknow, I don't think a lot of
people get to experience it.
It's very behind the scenes andso bringing that forward is
(09:02):
something that we really want tocelebrate.
We even made a kind of makingof your in series where we took
people behind the scenes for astudio to really see how you
know the rectangular case wasmade, how you know the Swiss
components were assembled, toreally hopefully celebrate and
showcase this art a lot of a lotof entrepreneurs that we talk
(09:25):
to have issues with like supplychain.
Blake Rea (09:29):
You know, like supply chain is what drives the watch
industry.
Um, it seems like you kind ofuh, through your family ties,
have bypassed a lot of thesupply chain efforts.
Is that accurate?
Jess Chow (09:46):
Yeah, I think supply chain is a struggle across the
board around these days, but Ithink being able to really
deliver a quality product issomething that we're really
proud of.
This is something that I feellike is building on our legacy,
and so making sure that eachpiece is um considered with
(10:07):
thought and care, I think, issomething that, uh, hopefully,
makes us special I mean, we'rereally lucky to have justice
access with like switcheroo andthen getting everything swiss
made.
Sunny Fong (10:18):
I think that's like a piece that not everyone has
access to, and for me, just tosee all this in the making is
really like eye-opening and wereally want to share that with
the world.
Blake Rea (10:31):
I'm curious about your.
We talked briefly aboutsustainability, like before the
podcast.
You know, obviously you guysare trying to make a difference
in the world.
Tell us about that.
Jess Chow (10:45):
Yeah, we joke that with our automatic watch.
It's kind of like the originalFitbit.
One day, when AI takes over theworld, you'll still have your
automatic watch, right, maybeyou know.
Hopefully, one of those is onyour wrist, and so you know.
Sustainability is somethingthat we really grew up with, and
(11:07):
even down to our packaging.
It's something that we consider, um, you know, all of our
watches get delivered in a watchstand.
Sunny Fong (11:16):
Um, as well as a watch box set, uh, something
that you can actually showcaseyour watch at home that's both
functional as well as beautifulI mean in my dna, like form and
function is always like, verykey, um, but so when we designed
our packaging or like, oh, whyare we just giving a regular
cushion in a box, like, whydon't we make this more
functional and then shiptogether a watch box and a watch
(11:37):
stand, and I think, like for us, like even in our original dna,
thinking about like thingslasting forever, like my dad's
automatic watch being almostlike 60 years, 60 years old, and
that and it's something I'm notgoing to throw it in the
garbage Like this is one ofthose things that we want.
To make sure that our timepieces last as long as we do so.
Justin Summers (11:58):
What were some of the um, what were some of the
biggest challenges, uh that youguys have faced launching uh
the viren brand um, and how didyou overcome them?
Because we know everybody hasstories, everybody's got
different challenges that theyface um, but we're curious to
know, you know kind of, whatunique stories you guys have, uh
have had yeah, um.
Jess Chow (12:17):
So viren actually means celebrate in dutch.
Um, we're really here aboutcelebrating and we, we love
doing that, you know, in person.
Uh, we launched our brand in2020.
Um, just perfect timing forin-person events, right?
Um?
Justin Summers (12:33):
I wonder what happened.
Jess Chow (12:33):
I don't know guys um gap years but, um, you know, we
really shifted a lot more ontoan online strategy and I think
with a luxury watch, being ableto put it on your wrist is very
different and being able to getthat feel.
So we really doubled down on alot of those efforts so that you
(12:58):
can really see a lot of thosebespoke details, details.
And then, um, when thingsopened back up, we were really
excited to then really havethese more curated, exclusive
events where we could kind ofshowcase and, um, bring our
watches to life in a differentway I think, like for us, like
our mentality was, the show mustgo on.
Sunny Fong (13:19):
you know like we pushed each other to really like
get the ball rolling.
We didn't wait and we werereally excited about having our
time pieces out and reallysharing it with the world.
And now everything's all openedup.
We really want to bring thosesort of intimate moments back
and really have peopleexperience our time pieces on
their wrist as opposed to ascreen.
Jess Chow (13:43):
I think we took some creative approaches to that in
terms of different pop-ups andwe did one in New York at the
time and it was great to reallyintroduce the brand to kind of
the New York Soho crowd.
And then later this year,actually in September, we're
going to be doing a pop-up inour hometown of Toronto as well,
first one back home where wecan actually showcase to you
(14:07):
know, our friends and family.
Blake Rea (14:10):
Would you say?
I mean, obviously we've.
We've had a few other brandsthat got kind of stir crazy
during COVID and built watchbrands.
Like it just seems like it wasthe thing to do to build a watch
brand during covid, um, andparticularly being based in
canada.
Um, like I, I flew fromistanbul and I flew through
(14:34):
toronto, and this was duringcovid and uh, and I had no
intentions on entering, enteringcanada, but they wanted to like
, put me into, like a quarantinehotel and like, do all this.
And I'm like, I'm like, look,just arrest me, like I am not
going to a quarantine hotel, Iam trying to go home.
I've been in europe for ninemonths, let me go to america,
that's home, you know.
And um, anyways, ironically, um, they, me and like seven other
(14:59):
americans were like, look, likewe're not going to quarantine
hotel, like we have no intentionon going into Canada, we just
want to go home.
And they locked seven of us ina room with just a bathroom
until the next day, until wecould fly out.
So from what I've heard, it wasa lot tighter of a lockdown in
(15:20):
Canada than here and through myexperience, I would say so as
well.
Would you say during that timeit was an additional layer of
complexity building the watchbrand during COVID.
Jess Chow (15:33):
Oh, absolutely.
I think that was one examplethat you highlighted, but I
think many examples across theboard.
But challenges happen all thetime and I think that just
forces you to be more creative,right?
So, the year we launched there,there were restrictions, there
was a maximum, I think, of 30people, but you know.
Then we designed a reallycurated launch party where we
(15:55):
had, uh, specific seatings.
We actually had the watches, um, displayed.
You want to talk a little bitabout?
Sunny Fong (16:01):
yeah, we had, like a situation where it was like um,
there was a maximum, likeamount of people.
Everyone needed to be spacedout.
So came up with the creativeidea of like having a little
small, little tasting menu ofshowing our watches on platters
and really bringing it per tableand everyone having their own
experience with the watches.
Um, within like, it's had to belike a capacitive two per table
(16:23):
.
So we did something reallycreative like that where we
booked on a restaurant andreally had like individual
seatings and and viewing of ouruh, tasting watch menu.
Blake Rea (16:32):
Yeah, that sounds kind of cool.
And then meanwhile on the backyou're just like scrubbing them
down with like all right, allright, like here we go um it was
very successful.
Sunny Fong (16:44):
It would really brought a sort of positive
energy.
I think people showed up whereI was really happy to be out and
be surrounded with like mindsand really being able to enjoy
something that we worked reallyhard and show that like we're
still going to plow through eventough times.
Blake Rea (17:01):
Yeah, I'm curious about the design philosophy.
Um, I mean, clearly I would say, like you have a very unique
design language.
Um, I mean, you guys are givinga unique perspective through a
very traditional form factor.
Um, how do you make yourwatches stand out in such a
(17:21):
limiting form factor?
I would consider to be limiting, right?
Jess Chow (17:25):
so yeah, I know why sunny had to move from inches to
millimeters as we go you'relearning about tolerances now
too, right, sunny?
Sunny Fong (17:36):
yes, it used to be quarter inch tolerance.
I can't do that.
I didn't watch me.
Um, I mean, I think, with mydesign philosophy, I think
everything's in the details,even with clothing.
It's all about structure, it'sabout fit, I think, applying
that same sort of philosophy andDNA that I have into
(17:57):
watchmaking.
So when it comes down to allthe little details, luckily we
have access to create all thesedetails.
For instance, in our watches wehave our gold Reholt ring.
I think you can see the sort ofgold highlight here.
It has the minutes etched intoit.
So around the perimeter of ourdial you can see the minutes and
(18:21):
that's a little detail that wehave in all our watches, can see
the minutes, and that's alittle detail that we have in
all our watches.
I think when exploring um sortof our core, sort of um design,
I really thought about what arethe things that will separate us
from everybody else and thatwill be uniquely us.
So I really spent a lot of timedoing a lot of research,
finding how many little things Ican sneak into the watch
(18:45):
without it being overly liketerribly designed.
So it's all about less is moreand then finding form and
function of every little piecethat is in our time piece and
having, for instance, I wanted amatte black watch.
We made sure it was dlc andeverything was all the same
color, tone black and it's toneon tone, and I really wanted to
(19:08):
sort of bring forward thatmodernist energy.
And those are the things thatspeak loudly in very subtle ways
.
Jess Chow (19:15):
Because we couldn't just buy black fabric.
Yeah.
Sunny Fong (19:18):
I couldn't use a canvas spray van and do it.
These are the things that hadto really work with our team in
Switzerland to make sure thateverything was 100%.
Blake Rea (19:29):
Yeah, and I mean I understand.
I mean prototype afterprototype after prototype, you
guys have to figure.
We've talked to people thathave thousands and thousands of
watches that just didn't makethe cut.
Um, but I'm curious now, sinceyou're I mean, what would you
say your ratio of fashion andclothing to watch?
(19:50):
I mean, you're still designingclothes, I think, if I read
correctly.
Um, so do you ever findyourself designing like an
article of clothing?
You're like, oh, like, this issomething that I picked up from
designing watches designingwatches.
Sunny Fong (20:11):
Um, I do actually I mean in term, uh like I find
myself actually designingwatches.
I find myself doing designthings with more angles, like
figuring out how to createvolume with a minimal like, um,
like lines.
So really like there's a nicebalance and influence in each of
, in each different sort ofdesign aspect.
Fashion really influences mywatchmaking and watchmaking
design, like I find a lot ofinspiration through interiors as
(20:33):
well.
So really I pull little piecesof everything that I see that
has a moment of design in it andI keep that stored and I put it
forward in anything that Imanifest.
Blake Rea (20:46):
Let's talk about the collection.
So obviously is the, is the OG,is that the the original for
you guys?
Jess Chow (20:59):
I'm assuming you got it.
Blake Rea (21:02):
And then, how did the ?
How did the collection growfrom, from the OG, like, how did
it progress?
I mean, because you guys have apretty diverse collection, I
would say there's a watch foreverybody in here, not a diamond
guy, but I mean there'ssomething in here for everybody,
I think.
So how did the collection grow?
Jess Chow (21:24):
Yeah, so we started with the OG Automatic.
We launched that in 2020, andthat collection really was
poorly inspired by modernistarchitecture.
So you'll see those clean linesMies van der Rohe, some Louise
Nevelson sculptures, a lot ofkind of art influences.
Sunny Fong (21:41):
So we took a lot of that modernist DNA in terms of
clean line, less is more formand function, a lot of that
modernist DNA in terms of cleanline, less is more form and
function, and that really sortof established the shape of our
case, even having the lugs beingangled inward towards the band.
Those are, like all theconsiderations that I took
influences from modernistarchitecture.
What I really wanted to do wasfind out the solid foundation of
(22:05):
our case and then really designeverything from that foundation
very like, very much likearchitecture.
Yeah, so we started with ourmatte white.
I really wanted to channel thatsort of blank canvas,
everything's tone on tone, andwith that piece, everything sort
of flourished in terms of likethe matte black exploration with
(22:25):
um what if we made it all?
black.
Yeah, what if we made it allblack with dlc?
And then, jokingly, talking tothe team, I'm like, oh, can we
do something with a debosspattern with black diamonds,
just to keep everythingmonochromatic?
And the answer was yes.
So really exploring all thesedifferent facets and materials
that I'm not very familiar with,but really having them, you
(22:49):
know, make these pieces andseeing them in person and
wearing it on your wrist reallyjust blew my mind and really
created more ideas and moreideas and really challenging the
team.
Jess Chow (23:01):
Yeah, and I think as we continue to experiment with
the OG automatic collectionreally it's Sunny's fashion DNA
there was a lot of leather.
It was really a staple infashion.
We were like let's reinvent theclassic leather watch.
What if we actually took theleather all the way through and
actually had a leather dial?
So you know, our BlackRockversion actually extends the
(23:23):
leather all the way through theband onto the dial and it's real
leather back there as well, toresemble that of a leather cuff.
And then you'll also kind ofsee the detail of the gold
re-haul ring which is kind ofour signature along the piece
there.
So just really experimentingwith color and materials.
Blake Rea (23:45):
Something that I don't think people realize is,
with a rectangle watch, like,getting the lugs is like near
impossible.
And so obviously most rectanglewatches they have flat lugs,
but you guys do not have flatlugs.
(24:06):
But you guys do not have flatlugs, so I I know how
challenging just getting thecase shape you know, and and
you're like, okay, this is notgonna work, no, I'll just throw
this away.
Um, and then do you guys havedifferent sizes here, so are you
guys just have one case in onecase size, or do you guys have
(24:28):
anything with smaller formfactors or yeah, um, right now
we have the one case size and itwas very intentional I think,
uh, one challenge that I reallywanted to bring forward was this
sort of unisex um attitude.
Sunny Fong (24:43):
I really wanted to find the perfect size for both
men and women's wrists.
Blake Rea (24:48):
We had different challenges just because we also
had, like, an automatic movementand then Jess has the smallest
wrist, so we were testing outdifferent sizes just to find the
perfect size that wouldtranslate well on most wrists
around the world, really tryingto find the right materials and
the right finishes that wouldtranslate with any wardrobe or
(25:12):
any collection and um and yeah,I mean rectangle cases is like
hit or miss, because, like I, Ido wear like a large, a large
tank and um and a medium reverso, but then like, if you look at
like, like princess diana alsowore a large tank, you know, but
(25:32):
then muhammad ali more wore amedium tank, you know, like so,
so like you have this weird kindof proportionate dysfunction in
a in a weird way.
So, challengingly, uh, it's abold decision to just say hey
look, here's the form factor fornow.
Sunny Fong (25:53):
I mean, I think I was told once I'm like watches
have no gender.
We really wanted to remove thatand have that sort of design
for everyone and really havingthe design itself speak to the
individual yeah, I, um, was alsosnooping on instagram and I saw
(26:17):
that you guys had sweetierepping your watch.
Blake Rea (26:22):
I'm so curious as to how that all came together,
because the video is cool.
Like she like gets this box andshe opens it.
She's like, oh, like, I'mcurious as to how logistically
that, uh, that all came togetherman, everything was just
because we were so lucky, uh,with this opportunity with
Saweetie.
Jess Chow (26:42):
It was just, honestly , the the perfect partnership
for our brand.
So, you know, we just launchedthe stereo collection, which is
the newest one, and it'sactually inspired by music I
know Dustin's a big fan andearlier that year we had
launched our gold sunray andgold mirror editions that had
(27:03):
like a skeletonized dial theyall gold, um, and then we were
uh planning to really launch ourgold diamond series.
Um, and then, uh, we, we gotthis partnership with saweetie
and it was actually her 30thbirthday celebration.
Okay, we were able to kind ofgift her, uh, one of our gold
(27:23):
diamond watches, which isrepresenting icy girl perfectly.
Um, she loved the gift, ofcourse, and we actually had um
icy girl um custom engraved uhonto the watch stand in gold for
her as well.
Nice, she got to kind of rockout and bling out with with our
latest collection yeah um, wouldyou consider yourself?
Blake Rea (27:46):
so I I find you guys kind of juggling like fashion
and uh and like luxury, right, Imean because you know we, we
have a lot of our, a lot of ouraudiences into micro.
I mean like we will drop amicro podcast and it'll get like
(28:07):
double the amount of listenersas as like having like ulysse
nardone or something you knowlike a big, a big brand or
panerai, right, um, oh shit, Ithink I put that out there too
soon, um, but but anyways, sowould you consider yourselves
kind of playing more in thefashion space or playing more in
the watch space?
Jess Chow (28:27):
uh, I think really we're at the intersection of
those things.
I think a lot of people want tokind of put us in a box in one
place or the other, and I thinkwe created the brand as an
intersection of art and scienceand I think that's what we would
want to continue bringing.
We will always have the highestlevel of design through kind of
(28:48):
Sunny's perspective, and thenwe will also simultaneously
deliver the highest quality inSwiss Sapphire, kind of through
my expertise.
So hopefully we can cometogether in a beautiful
collaboration.
Justin Summers (29:02):
Who would you guys say is the ideal?
You know?
Veering customer.
Who would you guys say is theideal?
You know?
Veering customer.
Jess Chow (29:15):
And how do you engage with your audience to ensure
that, like the brand you know,resonates internally with them?
Yeah, our customer is someonethat is very savvy, they are
educated and they really arelooking for those unique
statement pieces that show off,you know, their personality and
their design eye Right.
What we've noticed is, you know, a lot of our customers are
quite multifaceted, like Sunnyand our multi hyphenates.
(29:36):
You know he's a fashiondesigner, he's a watch designer,
he also cooks.
Well, you know we do lots ofdifferent things.
Justin Summers (29:43):
Where's the closet full of hats?
We do lots of different things.
Jess Chow (29:46):
Where's the closet full of hats?
Exactly Right, and I thinkbeing able to bring you know
things that aren't justtraditionally watches or
traditionally fashion, and beable to bring inspiration from
all of these different things,is really what makes us a modern
brand, that is, you know, aforward looking and unique.
Hopefully, yeah.
Sunny Fong (30:05):
I think someone who knows watches and who's seeking
something that is has new energy.
I think that's that.
That says you know, um, youknow I don't come from a watch
world, I come from design andreally trying to blend that and
really capturing the sort of theheritage of watchmaking because
I I grew up with watches, II've seen the evolution and I've
(30:27):
also seen the standstill whereit's just sort of the same stuff
and now there's this sort ofheightened watch design energy
now, which we really want to bepart of and capture that energy
again.
So I think someone who wantsthat newness and who's willing
to support new brands, like us,who is bringing that same energy
(30:47):
that we live for yeah and um,and I did notice too, like you
didn't tell me, uh, what type ofrectangle watch your dad had,
was it?
Blake Rea (30:58):
was it what I think it is?
Sunny Fong (31:01):
um, it was actually like uh.
It was like uh I don't actuallydon't remember the brand, but
it was.
Blake Rea (31:07):
You have it, though, come on Like that.
Sunny Fong (31:10):
automatic watch was not a retagular watch.
Blake Rea (31:14):
Oh, okay.
Sunny Fong (31:15):
The graduation watch was retagular.
Blake Rea (31:17):
Okay, okay, okay, there we go, there you go.
It wasn't a beard, it shouldhave been, though it should have
been, though it should havebeen.
Um, yeah, I'm assuming, kind ofwalking the fine line between
like fashion and in micro brandhorology has, you know,
(31:38):
additional challenges, becausepeople do want to say, no,
they're a fashion brand, no,they're a micro brand or
whatever.
They want to compartmentalizeyou and they label you they want
to label you um.
Have you guys gotten any anyweird kind of challenges from
that, from walking that fineline?
Jess Chow (32:02):
um, I think anytime you put yourself out there,
there's going to be people thatfeel you are one way or the
other.
I think even when we weretalking about the rectangular
case shape, you know we're likewe wish it was longer, I wish it
was smaller, you know.
But I think we are veryintentional with what we do.
It represents kind of what wescan for and you know we're very
comfortable with the directionthat we're going and hopefully
(32:23):
people can see our authenticityand it resonates with them, the
direction that we're going andhopefully people can see our
authenticity and it resonateswith them.
Blake Rea (32:29):
And I saw to you when I was doing some homework, the
the og.
So I'm assuming, because thatwas your first, you know your
first viren watch like, but hereis uh limited.
So I'm assuming this is arevival right from your, from
your original, is that?
Jess Chow (32:48):
So all of our timepieces are limited edition.
Blake Rea (32:51):
Okay.
Jess Chow (32:51):
With our OG Automatic we kept it only 100 each.
Each one of them is numbered onthe case back, really creating
a collector's item, Got it.
And then with the latest stereocollection, really amping that
up a lot more and they'reactually special edition.
Blake Rea (33:08):
There's only five of each of those wow yeah, I mean
the the golden waves is ispretty cool, I will say yeah,
our golden waves is our newestone.
Sunny Fong (33:22):
Um really was inspired by vintage stereo
systems, like the idea of musicand sound bringing life to us.
We love music so when Idesigned that, I really wanted
to have a sort of 3Drepresentation of sound waves,
inspiration from speakers andjust all these little details
and ideas that I've had in theresearch and really translating
(33:45):
into a timepiece.
I think it is sort of magicalin the way it captures the light
In every angle.
You are able to see the 3Dwaves as well as see our active
movement behind our skeletonizeddial and the rubies and gears,
and it really has all the sortof essence of music and then, um
(34:09):
, the bracelet too, that's.
Jess Chow (34:11):
I'm assuming that's something you guys also designed
, or yes, bracelets arechallenging the bracelet is
actually something that we get alot of feedback on, saying that
they it feels like butter andthey love it.
We're really bringing back thetraditional watchmaking and we
even actually custom designedthe buckle.
Sunny Fong (34:29):
Yeah.
So for me, I really wanted tomake sure that the clasp, the
little, is more where it'sactually hidden behind our
bracelets.
So it is more sleek and lesspinchy.
Blake Rea (34:52):
Yeah, behind our bracelets, so it is more sleek
and less pinchy.
Yeah, and does um, I guess,jess, when you popped yours off,
it looks like it was.
Does that sound like springloaded?
Did it, did you guys?
Or is that just?
No, it's just the doubledeployment class, okay, okay,
because that thing snapped offwith confidence.
Sunny Fong (35:02):
So I was like yes it's well made um and something
too.
Blake Rea (35:10):
um, it looks like you guys are kind of experimenting
with finishing too, so like it'sreally hard to tell, but I mean
obviously for the listeners.
We have not at this momentgotten hands-on with your
watches yet, but it looks likeyou guys are having a satin case
(35:31):
but then you're using a highpolish bracelet, is that?
Jess Chow (35:37):
Yeah, I think we experiment with different
textures or finishes fordifferent styles, keeping kind
of the modernist approach.
We want things to kind of betone on tone.
So different ways ofhighlighting texture and
creating different sheens andvariants really create a lot
(35:57):
more of that design detail thatpeople look for, especially on a
luxury timepiece.
Sunny Fong (36:02):
Yeah, like for our gold mirror, we really wanted
that high polish look.
We had the dial high polish aseven the case and the bracelet.
And then exploring sort of adifferent finish, like with the
sunray, having that sort ofsunburst dial in combination,
contrasted with the high polish,really sort of having that
(36:23):
juxtaposition in that timepiece.
And then exploring differentfinishes with waves, where it's
has a 3d dimension in it andalso a different finish.
So really like playing withtexture, um, and and having that
translate um in our timepiecesis really key for me because I
believe in subtlety as well andand I think finishes are part of
(36:47):
that.
Justin Summers (36:48):
Very important.
It's all these little details.
You know different hues andtones and textures, and
ultimately you're trying toconvey all these minute details
through these dials toessentially give it depth and
character.
So, yeah, I mean I think Ithink you're right on track.
You know it's in even just likethe simplest little detail.
Um, ultimately, I mean I thinkI think you're right on track.
You know it's even just likethe simplest little detail.
(37:09):
Ultimately, you know, canconvey a completely different
thought in somebody's mind, tobe like, wow, like they put the
thought into that, like that's,that's really cool.
You know that's reallythoughtful.
I'm curious and I know Blakeprobably is too Do you guys have
any upcoming you knowinnovations or maybe new models
that you guys are particularlyexcited about?
Or maybe new models that youguys are particularly excited
about?
And you know what can you knowus, our audience, everybody
(37:34):
expect to see from you guys inthe near future?
Jess Chow (37:35):
Absolutely.
You know we're always full ofideas, we're always at the idea
board.
You know it's really aboutfocusing those ideas and making
sure everything makes sense.
It seems like you know youblink and it's five years and
next year is actually ourfive-year anniversary.
So right now we're actuallyhard at work, kind of crafting
(37:57):
our launch of you know what isgoing to be kind of the next
phase and next chapter reallyfor VR and luxury watches and
next chapter really for VR andluxury watches.
Sunny Fong (38:10):
I think we're going to be looking into sort of
bringing forward our OG DNA forit a lot more and then who knows
if we might try something newnot round yet but really sort of
take our next step in terms of,you know, that sort of luxury
watch world Like what can we donext, and really trying to find
(38:31):
those resources and playingaround with those.
Blake Rea (38:34):
I'm curious too.
So, as a fashion designer, orjust designer at this point,
that whole industry is verycollaborative.
That whole industry is verycollaborative.
Is there a possibility forcollaboration in the future
lineups, or is this justsomething that you just want to
carry on your own shoulders?
Jess Chow (38:54):
Yeah, we're definitely open to anything
Collaborations, of course,growing to be our own family, I
think, across and really able toshowcase, you know, our time
pieces with differentinterpretations.
Sonny's done a great job inbuilding a base and you know,
the sky's the limit in terms ofhow we want to continue to
(39:16):
experiment.
Blake Rea (39:20):
And what does Viren mean to you personally?
And so if you guys could saywhat is your favorite from the
brand, your brand?
I know that's a hard one.
We always ask designers thiswho's their favorite child?
So I'm putting you on the spotright here, right now.
Sunny Fong (39:41):
My favorite will always be the first one.
It's our matte white.
That's where everything sort offlourished.
It's our, it's the one thatsort of brought everything else
to life.
It was a sort of blank canvasand and I will always love that
piece because I think that wasthe first thing I designed how
do we put all the details in ina lot in a timepiece?
(40:04):
That is very subtle and doesn'treally, you know, stream
anything but opportunity andsort of ideas.
And that was the piece thatsort of led to other ones, which
is like, for instance, theBlack Croc, having that sort of
foundation and being able toplay with materials and explore
(40:26):
and then with stereo, justtaking it a little bit further
and a little further.
I think without the matte black, matte white, none of this
would be where we are right now.
Blake Rea (40:35):
What about you, Jess?
Jess Chow (40:38):
What does Viren mean to me?
I always go back to kind of ourbrand motto, which is is power,
your time.
We're really about havingpeople put on our timepieces and
feel powerful, and I think thetimepiece right now that I feel
the most powerful in is reallyour latest Gold Waves watch.
It's all gold and it has that3D quality to it.
(40:58):
Honestly, when I have the watchon, people across the room
sometimes are like what are youwearing on your wrist?
Can I take a closer look?
It's a great conversationstarter and I always feel great
wearing it anytime I'm out,whether you're at a party, just
going to the grocery store, youknow anybody can feel better
about their day and feelpowerful, and so I think gold
weights would be my answer rightnow.
Blake Rea (41:21):
Watches are a cool way of grounding you, you know,
like, in the weirdest way, likeI always look at watches as not
only time keepers but timecapsules.
You know, like, I look down atthe watch that I wear and like
be like, oh, I remember I didthis or that or I was here
during this day or whatever, umand and Um and and watches are
(41:44):
so weird, like that, and and tohave something unique that still
kind of pushes the boundary isdefinitely an accomplishment, I
think, and um, you know, beforethe podcast, I, um, you know,
obviously, I there's so manygreat brands out there that we
have a hard time keeping up with, you know, and uh, and I was
(42:08):
very impressed before you know,um, before we scheduled this and
came on, you know, I thoughtthat you guys are definitely
have a cool product, a uniqueproduct, and uh, and yeah, I'm,
I'm excited now to to now beconnected with you and um to now
be connected with you and um,I've, I've got a question for
you guys and sorry to interject.
Justin Summers (42:30):
Um, you know, hopefully we're probably getting
you know towards the end ofthis.
Uh, you know.
So what I've got so far is thefirst child is the favorite.
Um, no, I'm just kidding guys,just just real quick, though.
Uh, where do you guys seeyourself?
Uh, within the next, you knowfive to 10 years?
You know kind of long term forthe brand.
You know, like any goodbusiness, you know you have to
(42:58):
have some sort of strategy, somesort of planning.
What do you guys see, varian,you know doing?
You still making waves in themarket.
Are we going to transition intosomething else?
Jess Chow (43:07):
Or what do you think?
Yeah, we're really excited,really, for the next chapter I
mentioned before.
This is really a bit of alegacy, it's a love letter from
my family, and so being able tocontinue is something that's
very important to us.
I think being selective,starting small, was something
(43:28):
that was important to us andmaking sure that we were focused
, but we're growing up now andwe're ready to, you know, share
more of us to the world, and sowe're hoping to, you know,
continue to expand within NorthAmerica and, you know, expand
into other markets later thisyear as well.
Sunny Fong (43:40):
Yeah, I think for us , we really wanted to sort of
establish ourselves within thesefive years to sort of not be a
flash in the pan.
We really want to be able to,like, take our brand forward and
explore more and design moreand give people more of us and
and and that sort of same energyand watch making that I loved
(44:02):
so much when I was a kid andjust growing up with so, really,
you know, capturing that moment.
Blake Rea (44:10):
Yeah, yeah, I think.
I mean I've been to so manywatch shows and I've talked to
so many micro brands and theyall have the exact same
challenge, which is the one, theuphill battle you guys are
facing getting your watches infront of the audience.
You know um and and there Imean there has to be an
(44:31):
emotional connection.
Like people don't buy watchesfor logic, logical people do not
buy watches, right, just justcrazy people like me and all of
us right, um, because obviouslyI mean there's no real need for
a watch anymore.
Right, I mean, let's say, let'sput it out there.
(44:53):
You know, as a person who has150 watches can say, um, but you
know that challenge is gettingthe watch in front of your
audience and creating thatemotional connection with your
potential.
You know, new owner, um, newcollector, um, so how are you
guys trying to to combat that?
(45:15):
Like, I want to see you guys atsome of the watch shows here in
America.
You should work on that if youcan.
Um, but but yeah, I mean I'massuming how have you guys
combated that challenge?
Jess Chow (45:29):
Yeah, I mean we're in active conversations um with
with different parties.
Um, you know we were down inNew York and in Chicago and San
Francisco through wind up watchfair a couple of years ago.
Um, so hopefully, uh, we cankind of continue to build that
community um, and Really I thinkjust getting in front of watch
(45:49):
enthusiasts is the most fun partof our jobs, honestly like
being able to just feel theenergy of people that are really
passionate as much as we areabout the category.
So you know we're actively inpursuit and so if there's any
opportunities, please let usknow.
Blake Rea (46:06):
So when you guys went to wind up, were you just kind
of like just exploring the spaceor were you guys presenting we
had our own booth.
Jess Chow (46:14):
We met a lot of people there.
Sunny Fong (46:17):
We realized we are a special addition to the watch
fair and really having to meetthe people who are enthusiasts
come see our work was reallynice.
Nice to like, get feedback andand understand sort of where we
stand.
Blake Rea (46:36):
Yeah, uh, when I've been to pretty much every lineup
for the past like few years now, when, when did you guys?
Because I must have overlookedit.
Jess Chow (46:44):
I mean, I'm just you had the disco ball going.
I thought we were like theinvisible.
What it depends on, what?
Blake Rea (46:51):
year.
It depends on what year.
It depends on what year youwere.
Jess Chow (46:54):
We were in New York the past two years, and then we
were at Chicago and SanFrancisco as well.
Blake Rea (47:01):
Oh, for the past two years.
Jess Chow (47:02):
Yeah, yes, in New York I was in Chicago.
Blake Rea (47:04):
I was in San Francisco for the past two years
.
I was just in San Francisco afew months ago.
My boy literally put himself inthe hot seat well, yeah, I mean,
give us a little sympathybecause it's just me and justin
and we have I can't even like gothrough half of my emails like
(47:27):
per day, like, and everybodywants to in the weirdest way.
You know, this is a new projectfor us.
Uh, lonely wrist has been outfor just over a year now.
Um and and yeah, everything'scoming together so quick and
it's just me and justin, andI've told a lot of people I'm
like, look, I'm not looking fornew brands, like they have to
(47:49):
find me.
You know what I mean.
And so, yeah, we have our ownchallenges, but you guys were in
San Francisco this past.
I know that was two years agoOkay.
Okay, okay, all right, all right.
Sunny Fong (48:05):
Okay, all right, that's bad.
Jess Chow (48:07):
Anytime Blake.
Blake Rea (48:09):
We're having a little one right now, so I know I'm
having like a oh shit moment,like I dropped the ball, the
disco ball the only disco ballyeah, yeah, we, we have been
kind of, uh, experimenting withthis kind of last concept.
Um, obviously you guys areguests on our outlet.
(48:32):
Uh, thank you for coming on, um, but you know we're we have
tried but trying this thing ofturning our outlet over to you
right for the end of the episode.
Uh, for the people that made it, you know, obviously they're
engaged, right, um, is thereanything we touched a lot on?
Design and inspiration and andthe future?
(48:54):
Is there anything that you feltlike we missed?
Um, you know, or wanted to saythat that we didn't hit?
Jess Chow (49:03):
um, I think you guys did a great job.
Um, thank you so much for theconversation.
Honestly, it's just been apleasure chatting with you guys.
I know Blake especially, butI'm curious about Justin as well
.
Just being rectangular watchbands, just curious to know from
our collection which ones speakto you after you asked us to
(49:24):
pick.
Justin Summers (49:25):
So I literally I was thinking the new stereo one
, and not because it's thenewest one.
Like I said, I have a lot ofback.
You know ground and music.
I've got drums, I've gotrecords.
If I could show you I'm, I havea whole studio Like I've got
the big, like Yamaha monitorsand all this stuff.
It's just what I do.
I've done it for a long time andso as soon as I saw that, I was
(49:47):
like I love that, because Idon't see that very often in the
wash industry, where somebodytakes something that's like
music oriented and it just Ilove the texture, I love it.
It almost looks like a littlewater drop, like just how it
comes out, but for it to tieinto like sound waves and like
the stereos, it just it gives melike those like I don't know if
(50:08):
that's like the, the correctera, but like that noir kind of
like forties, fifties, vibe, um.
And so as soon as I saw that, Iwas like bet, I love that.
I would say that's probably myfavorite, um, but I love that.
You guys, you know you havelike the, the leather, uh, faces
and things like that as well.
Um, I think that you know each,each one is unique in its own
(50:31):
way and, just like you said, youknow, it's like you can't
really pick a favorite.
To an extent, yeah, everybodyhas their own original one of
their OG that holds a specialplace.
But I think that you guys aredoing a really good job about,
you know, taking these designsand you know kind of putting a
unique flair on each one of them.
So, but if I had to pick afavorite, yeah, it's probably
(50:51):
the stereo one yeah, I, myfavorite doesn't exist yet so
well, no, no no that soundedterrible, sounded terrible I.
Blake Rea (51:05):
So I have a bias right.
So you're matt right, is DLCright?
So I just hate DLC.
Like I don't know what it isabout DLC but I have like this
huge, like bias against it.
Like I will not own a DLC, likeburn them, all you know.
(51:27):
But I love the dial from thematt black and I would love to
see it in a steel case ohcurious okay, okay but for that
reason I have to go with thematt white for now yeah, good
answer yeah and I'm like you'regoing on this rabbit hole.
Justin Summers (51:51):
I'm like man, come on, dude.
Like what else don't you like?
Blake Rea (51:56):
it came off like really terribly.
I'm so sorry, um, I mean as as awatch collector, you know, and
like I said, I have over 150watches and I I mean it seems
like every day, justin, I knowyou're getting new watches and
I'm getting new watches.
Like last week I had, uh, 25 orso different prototypes,
(52:21):
different, you know, lonerwatches, press watches, whatever
you want to call it gifts, um,and and so, as I've started
lonely wrist and I understandmyself more as a collector, you
know, I think that's the bigthing that came from this.
Um, you know, understandingourselves as a collector, um,
(52:43):
because there's watches thatI've seen that I'm like, look, I
love that, I just want to buythat right and um, and that it
just doesn't fully like make therotation.
You know, like I don't have 150watch rotation, I have like a
10 watch rotation, so I probablyreally only should have like 10
watches, um, but I made kind ofthese weird buying decisions
(53:09):
where, like I bought them formilestones in my life, so like I
bought this during that time orthis during that time, so how
can I sell a milestone from mylife?
You know what I mean, I.
So I I have a weird, a weirdstrategy as a collector um and
(53:30):
yeah, and and and so my, myrectangle watch, uh, um, desire
has been so weird, so, like I, Iwas like cartier reverso,
cartier reverso, like those arethe only two, right like icons,
right, um.
(53:50):
And so I bought the Reversofirst, thinking like cool done,
got my rectangle watch, don'tneed another one.
But no, it did not happen likethat.
And now I purchased a steeltank.
And then, after I love thesteel tank so much, and I
purchased a gold tank.
(54:11):
And then, after I love thesteel tank so much, and I
purchased a gold tank.
And and now, um, I have a, Ihave a square watch here on
loner, um, like, it's like, um,it's, it's like a little reverso
, uh, esque, it's, it's varro,have you heard of him?
(54:32):
Vario?
So it's got this weird littleum, but anyways.
So I find myself kind of goingdown the rectangle rabbit hole
and and looking for new watches.
Um, I've got a boulevard, um,so, yeah, my, my love for
(54:56):
rectangle watches is justspiraled in the weirdest way oh,
what's the beauty of collectingwatches?
Jess Chow (55:05):
right, like it's fun, and it should change, like with
your preferences, over time.
You know you just hope youspend money on one that you know
you can still wear later andlater, you know um, but I think
as you continue to explore,hopefully we can hit one of the
virans in your rotation as well.
Blake Rea (55:23):
Yeah yeah, I, I find myself looking for, at this
point, versatility, you know,and I think that's what stuck
out about the matte white, um,because I have every color strap
, you know under the moon, anduh, and yeah, so I just find
(55:45):
myself, you know, with a whiteor black dial so I can use those
crazy um, like light bluestraps that I have, or like I
have some pink straps I have theweirdest strap portfolio and so
I I found myself I just buy all20 millimeter watches then, uh,
then cool, I'll have a strapfor everything, yeah, and white
(56:07):
or black, um, so versatility issomething that me, as a watch
collector, I prioritize and Idon't see if this is.
Is this, is this a 20millimeter lug?
What's the lug size on this?
Jess Chow (56:21):
of course, inside 22 oh, 22.
Blake Rea (56:26):
Okay, I've got 22s as well.
So you're lucky there, and it'sonly 10 millimeters, 9.2
millimeters, so that's, that'snice.
And then I guess this was alsoanother challenge too, but
having automatic watch in thatslim of a profile like how did
(56:46):
you guys overcome that?
Jess Chow (56:49):
It took over almost two years to overcome actually
good, it looks like the caseback helped you out a little bit
yeah, I mean when we, when wefirst engineered the watch, um
with with more traditionalwatchmaking, it was over 12
millimeters actually, and wewent millimeter by millimeter to
(57:10):
really slim it down.
Um being able to be a dresswatch that you can still wear
under your cuff and bebeautifully set was important um
and so um, and we also wantedthat gold ring to still, you
know, be visible and um behighlighted.
So we were able to slim it downto 9.2 millimeters, which we're
very proud of yeah, reallywanted to have that.
Sunny Fong (57:32):
That the height of that rear hold ring may be
maintained and everyone had tojust engineer it and just shave
everything off and get thesmallest movement that would fit
into our time piece as well wasvery key it's, it's beautiful.
Blake Rea (57:46):
I think that stands out.
Um, there's something about howmatte the watch is, but still
creating depth, but stillbecause of the rehot, like it's
very cool.
It's very cool and um, and yeah, like I said, I'm very
impressed and uh, and yeah, youguys are doing amazing stuff, so
(58:07):
thanks, what else did you?
Justin Summers (58:11):
I think that's all I've got I mean, we can hang
out now at this point.
Sunny Fong (58:16):
But amazing yeah, this is amazing, justin chatting
with you guys yeah, of course.
Justin Summers (58:24):
Yeah, thank you guys for coming on.
Um, as always, you know, wealways appreciate you taking the
time out of your days to comeand spend with us.
Um, we try and be prettygenuine on this show.
You guys seem like you are verygenuine people, so we
appreciate the genuineconversation.
I'm sure that you know we'regoing to see some some big and
great things from you guys inthe near future.
We're very excited, yeah.
Jess Chow (58:48):
But thank you guys for coming on.
Justin Summers (58:51):
It was great to have you and finally meet you
formally absolutely well, pleasedo keep in touch.
Jess Chow (58:57):
um you know, our website is vrnco and our
instagram is vr in time we willplug all the socials.
Blake Rea (59:04):
Um, yeah, I'm, I'm thinking, because obviously I'm
looking at your website and Iknow your watches are beautiful,
but I'm thinking probablythey're 10 times more beautiful
in reality.
Jess Chow (59:16):
So so, yeah, wink, wink, yeah wink, I know we were
connected through taylor so wecan chat.
Maybe we'll get some watchesover to you guys as well.
Yeah, yeah, we think it'd becool too.
Blake Rea (59:30):
Um, so that was the reason why I picked up like my
tank, you know, because I want awatch that I can wear and then
I want to watch that I can justthrow over to my wife, you know,
like there's something, as awatch collector, like that to me
was like the unchartedterritory of like having a watch
that we can both wear, that wecan both share like what else
(59:52):
out there.
I mean, I certainly can't wearher dresses or her shoes, so
good, no, no, cannot do it.
Um, there's, there's very fewlike things that have that
crossover right, and so so, yeah, yeah, I'm always looking at
(01:00:14):
creating or finding somethingthat, you know, her and I can
share and, um, and, as a watchcollector, I think that's very
important.
You know, sharing your passionwith your significant other.
Um, and, and there's not enoughwatches out there like I mean
obviously, like she's not gonnawear, like one of my sporty
pilots watches or anything youknow she's just not gonna do it
(01:00:36):
so gateway watch like yeah, sohelp me, help you the
Jess Chow (01:00:44):
last one is perfect.
Blake Rea (01:00:45):
You don't have to resize it, you can just wear the
same one she doesn't even wearthe, the, she doesn't even wear
some of the stuff that, like,I've uh got for that purpose.
So, but, um, she leans into thesportier side, so, but, all
right, we have just reached anhour now.
This was a great episode.
(01:01:05):
I am so glad that you guys cameon.
I'm so glad we connected superexcited.
Like I said, I'm watching.
I'm watching, um, keep us alsoin the loop of future press
releases and, uh, and we'llcertainly distribute those and
and we will see you.
I'm sure uh, are you guyscoming to new york for the next
(01:01:27):
wind up or anything?
Sunny Fong (01:01:29):
no, I just focused on our pop-up this time, because
I think that's during october,right, yeah, um, yeah.
Blake Rea (01:01:38):
Well, I'm in vegas, so you could do a pop-up from
vegas perfect.
Jess Chow (01:01:43):
Well, we're always planning things down in new york
.
I mean, it's where I was born,it's our kind of our, our second
home, and so we'll definitelykeep you guys in touch um cool,
amazing, yeah, all right, guyscheck out varin online and we
will see everybody on the nextepisode bye.
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