February 13, 2025 • 17 mins
Hey Watch Fans,
Here is a quick glance at two very cool Microbrands. MARCH LA.B and Farr + Swit.
One French and one American. Check out there websites to get a closer look at what they have to offer.
www.farrandswit.com
www.march-lab.com
Stay tuned for an episode soon to be released where I interview Adam from Farr and Swit. It is not to be missed.
Like WatchFanatics.ca on Facebook
Follow David @watchfanaticdavid on Instagram
AND
Please check out Carol at
IG: @spassense
AND
check out Kevin at
IG: @watchfanatics.ca
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to watch Fanatics podcasts. If you'd like, you
can follow me David at watch Fanatic David or Kevin
at watch fanatics dot Ca. Please subscribe and feel free
to leave us a five star review on wherever you
download your podcasts. We hope you enjoy the show. Hello everyone,
(00:26):
Welcome back. As the title says, we are going to
be talking about March Lab and Fair and Switz. I
had the opportunity to meet these two brands a few
months back at the Toronto TIMEPCE show. Both of these
brands really left in the impression March Lab. I am
going to talk about them because I did promise some
(00:47):
French Watch contents and Carol, Kevin and I we do
have an episode. We just this technical problems will be
coming out really soon and I am seeing them very
soon for the Leaning International on the show, so there's
probably gonna be an episode there, so those two will
be coming out really soon. You might also see the
(01:10):
name Far and Switt non a French brand, an American
brand from the US, and I want to include Fair
and Swit because very soon down the road there's an
interview with Adam from Far and Swit, a fascinating interview
not just about watches, but about watch culture, watch business,
(01:33):
and you'll love it. But because it's such a fascinating
and entertaining episode, I do want to satisfy the watch
fans out there the technical specs and the brands and whatnot.
So I will do that now and later down the
road when you do hear the interview, you won't be
(01:53):
too upset when it's less technical in terms of specs.
But let's get to March March Lab. When you see them,
or at least when I think of them, and I
think you will too, once you get to know their brand,
You're going to think green dials. You might think clear
(02:14):
translucent case back. You might think squarecase with a unique
round at four o'clock. At least, those are the things
that pop out in my mind. And I've known about
this brand since the pandemic twenty nineteen. I think I
scrolled through YouTube. I saw some of their adverts on YouTube.
(02:35):
They paired it beautifully with some American classic cars, not
saying that their brand is linked to cars. That's just
what they use for the adverts. It was fantastic at
that time. I'm not sure if they had their automatic movement,
but they have one now and that's the thing I
(02:56):
want to talk about because the founders, like myself, as
you remember I said how Swiss seems to be on
the minds of casual watch fans, are uneducated watch fans,
and that's great watch fanatics. We do love Swiss watchmaking
(03:16):
and Swiss brands and appreciate its significance. But there's also
other countries that have contributed, and that's the French. So
like me, the founders of March Lab have also I
want to remember that the French should be included in
(03:39):
this grand scheme of watch history, watch tradition, watch world.
And I think they're going to do this with their
micro brand. How they're going to do that, I think
not just with their beautiful design, but also I think
they're going to do with using this G one hundred movement,
(04:03):
which basically from Youira art. So they get the parts
of the movement from Switzerland, but with French watchmakers, they
assemble it in France. Of course, they also are not
only using French watchmakers and technicians, they're also using local
(04:25):
French artisans for their leather in their leather straps. So
they really want to show off the French skills as
well as their creativity with this brand. Their name March
Lab March is for the third month of the year.
(04:47):
I've also heard there's a significance of March with the
three founders, so that I'm not very clear on. But
Lab is actually as you've probably seen entitle. It's not
a type of spelled LA that stands for La and Byrits.
That's because those are also the cities that the founders
(05:10):
live in. Although I found them around twenty nineteen, they've
been around since twenty eleven and they've been growing and
they're evolving, and I think now being twenty twenty five,
we're gonna see great watches from them, but definitely we'll
see more exciting things from them in the future. One
(05:34):
of the philosophies, if you go to the website, you'll
see more with less. They're saying, more strength with less thrills,
more beauty with less complexity, more quality with less budget.
You'll definitely see that with this brand. It's something you
can feel. So let's look at the watches. They do
(05:58):
have a men's line and women's line, and at the
Toronto time Piece show I did see both and they
are both gorgeous. It's not just simply a smaller diameter watch.
It's actually a different design. They do have smaller squares,
(06:21):
but they also have different shaped dials. They're beautiful. They're
actually some of them remind me of jewelry pieces. They
also come with it looks like linked chains that you
would find like on a beautiful like a thick necklace
(06:42):
or a thick bracelet. Gorgeous. Not only gorgeous, but it's
gonna leave a very strong impression and my opinion, very unique.
It definitely stands out and I want more people to
learn about the woman's lineup. It is fantastic. Also, last episode,
(07:05):
I talked about chronographs and talked briefly about sub dials.
If you see a March lab with subdials, it is
not a chronograph. They use the subdials as a calendar function.
Very cool, very unique design. I think also worth checking
out on the website because sometimes sub dials on the
(07:29):
chronograph can be more or less cosmetic just because and
I say that because we just don't use that function much.
A small second hand is a cool thing on the
dial because you always see it moving and you always
will and it plays more of a functional role for
(07:50):
the every day watch where But what these calendar subdials do.
It makes you use the the dial of the watch
on a more regular basis. You know, it's cool. I
mean some like chromographs. I don't even see the subdials anymore,
(08:11):
just you know, I glance over them. I don't even
pay attention to them. But as a calendar it forces
you to divert your attention to the subdollars. More saying that,
there's also watches without those subdals, and they have their
date displayed at six o'clock, or they have a model
(08:36):
with a day date at three o'clock, or they have
a model without any date whatsoever. And those are really clean.
I really like those, very classic. For those not interested
in a automatic watch, they do have quarts as well.
If you prefer quartz, or if you like the budgeting
of a quartz watch, they have watches with the Rohnda
(09:00):
one zero six y three Quartz caliber. And again I'm
sure they chose to Ronda very specifically instead of Miota.
Let's face it, Quartz can sometimes be a lot more
convenient than a automatic. Hey man, no judgment. If you
(09:20):
like quartz, if you like auto they have both. Now
let's talk a little bit about Fair and Switt. I'm
not gonna go into too much details of the company
because the interview I think we cover that, but I
(09:44):
do want to talk about their watches and their specs.
So in terms of watches, Fair and Sweat as a
seaplane watch, the Wayfinder watch, a Solar Chrono, and the
retro digital mixtapes and those are really cool. I bought
(10:04):
one of those and I love it to death. I
did have my eye on a particular Wavefinder and Solar Chrono,
but they were sold out. And of course the seaplane watch.
That is a watch that a lot of people will
enjoy because of combining two genres dive watch and pilot watch.
(10:27):
And if you're not familiar with the Fair and Sweat brand,
please go to the web page or find their instagram.
You can see these watches, and I gotta tell you,
if you're lucky, you'll see some watches with amazing Loom shots.
So if you're a big fan of Loom, you're definitely
gonna love Fair and Sweat. So going to the seaplane lineup,
(10:52):
the seaplanes are powered by the SW two hundred one.
They do have a special addition, and that's using the
ED two eight to two four dash two movement three
sixteen L stainless steel. And what's cool about them? They
got a nice little they got like waves on the dial.
(11:12):
But at six o'clock there's an image of a seaplane.
With the seaplane, you can have either a brush stainless
steel or a PVD coded black. It's good for one
hundred meters, uses BGW nine super luminova and a thirty
(11:32):
eight hour power reserve. And something else to note with
the seaplane. It has a clear case back, a sapphire
crystal bezel, and indcs are lit by super luminova. Please
note that some of these seaplanes, they are limited numbers.
(11:52):
So if you are interested, please hop on the website
by don't wait because I have a story about that,
and I think we talked about purchasing a particular watch.
I waited and I was too late. So one of
the watches that caught my attention initially and brought me
to their website I probably stumbled across on Instagram were
(12:14):
the Wayfinders. First of all, the color combination of these
dials are out of this world, very unique. You have
to check them out. The dial themselves are designed with
map topography. You gotta check it out. They also have
a special edition called the North Side Edition, where the
(12:35):
dial doesn't have the map topography, but it has the
map of Wrigleyville and this map includes Wrigley Field Stadium. Again,
you're gonna find three sixteen L stainless steel screw down crown,
waterproof up to three hundred and thirty feet. And here's
(12:58):
something interesting. The movie Mint, they use a VH thirty
one sweeping seconds quartz. As I said, Quartz is accurate,
it's practical, it's grabbing go. But with the sweeping hands,
it has an appearance of an automatic sweeping hands. I
(13:18):
think just look cooler too. By the way, they have
an automatic one, but it was sold out. Hopefully, parents,
we'll have something like that in the near future for us.
But while we're on Quartz, let's go to the next
lineup and they're called the Solar Chrono. So they have
(13:41):
three models under the Solar Chronos, one being the Solar
powered mecha Quartz, the other called the Bubblegum, and I
believe the other one is a Vice edition which is
sold out. I gotta tell you, I have a few
solar powered battery watches, and they're fantastic again. You got
the convenie to a grab and go, you got great accuracy,
(14:03):
and the amazing thing is they only have to be
in sunlight for a couple of hours and then they're
good to go for a few months, two months. According
to Fair and Swit, you have to see these watches online.
You can't just take my word for it, but they're
uniquely themed. It's really going to speak to some of
(14:25):
the gear heads out there, and it's also going to
speak to the nostalgia of many of US watch buyers. Now.
The watch I wore when I interviewed Adam was a
clear retro digital. There is a cool collection of digital
watches from Fair and Swit. They call it the Mixtape
(14:46):
Volume one. They have a translucent blue and a clear
transparent case. One comes with a black strap and the
other comes with a clearer, trans parent plastic strap. The
display is somewhat of a traditional digital watch, but they
have a really cool one. It's in purple, translucent purple,
(15:10):
and it's called B Side and that uses a negative display.
I definitely will be picking this up in the next
a little while. I'm a fan of digital watches, especially
at a price point of thirty five dollars American. I
love to support micro brands, but I love digital watches
just because of a fun factor and there's a silliness
(15:34):
to them. I feel they're very unisex coming at a
smaller case size, so I find them unisex. These style
digital watches are supposed to be small, so a small
risk person care as well as a large risk person.
But again these are just a brief description. To keep
(15:56):
in mind that these digital mixtape watches are good to
about fifty meter. But one really cool thing about these
Fair and Sweat watches is the packaging. So these digitals
they come in a really cool box that looks like
a cassette tape. But those are just little bonuses. These
(16:18):
watches are very cool if you want to purchase from
a company that is not just about profit. March Lab,
Fair and Swit are those companies because they are designing
watches for the watch fans and they are watch collectors
and appreciate the importance they have in our lives. So
(16:41):
I feel that aligns with many of us out there.
And please give these two companies a look on Google
and when concering your watch collection, consider these two companies
as well. I don't think you can go wrong with them.
I hope you guys have a great day. Thank you
(17:03):
for listening.
You're listening to watch Fanatics podcasts. If you'd like, you
can follow me David at watch Fanatic David or Kevin
at watch fanatics dot Ca. Please subscribe and feel free
to leave us a five star review on wherever you
download your podcasts. We hope you enjoy the show. Hello everyone,
(00:26):
Welcome back. As the title says, we are going to
be talking about March Lab and Fair and Switz. I
had the opportunity to meet these two brands a few
months back at the Toronto TIMEPCE show. Both of these
brands really left in the impression March Lab. I am
going to talk about them because I did promise some
(00:47):
French Watch contents and Carol, Kevin and I we do
have an episode. We just this technical problems will be
coming out really soon and I am seeing them very
soon for the Leaning International on the show, so there's
probably gonna be an episode there, so those two will
be coming out really soon. You might also see the
(01:10):
name Far and Switt non a French brand, an American
brand from the US, and I want to include Fair
and Swit because very soon down the road there's an
interview with Adam from Far and Swit, a fascinating interview
not just about watches, but about watch culture, watch business,
(01:33):
and you'll love it. But because it's such a fascinating
and entertaining episode, I do want to satisfy the watch
fans out there the technical specs and the brands and whatnot.
So I will do that now and later down the
road when you do hear the interview, you won't be
(01:53):
too upset when it's less technical in terms of specs.
But let's get to March March Lab. When you see them,
or at least when I think of them, and I
think you will too, once you get to know their brand,
You're going to think green dials. You might think clear
(02:14):
translucent case back. You might think squarecase with a unique
round at four o'clock. At least, those are the things
that pop out in my mind. And I've known about
this brand since the pandemic twenty nineteen. I think I
scrolled through YouTube. I saw some of their adverts on YouTube.
(02:35):
They paired it beautifully with some American classic cars, not
saying that their brand is linked to cars. That's just
what they use for the adverts. It was fantastic at
that time. I'm not sure if they had their automatic movement,
but they have one now and that's the thing I
(02:56):
want to talk about because the founders, like myself, as
you remember I said how Swiss seems to be on
the minds of casual watch fans, are uneducated watch fans,
and that's great watch fanatics. We do love Swiss watchmaking
(03:16):
and Swiss brands and appreciate its significance. But there's also
other countries that have contributed, and that's the French. So
like me, the founders of March Lab have also I
want to remember that the French should be included in
(03:39):
this grand scheme of watch history, watch tradition, watch world.
And I think they're going to do this with their
micro brand. How they're going to do that, I think
not just with their beautiful design, but also I think
they're going to do with using this G one hundred movement,
(04:03):
which basically from Youira art. So they get the parts
of the movement from Switzerland, but with French watchmakers, they
assemble it in France. Of course, they also are not
only using French watchmakers and technicians, they're also using local
(04:25):
French artisans for their leather in their leather straps. So
they really want to show off the French skills as
well as their creativity with this brand. Their name March
Lab March is for the third month of the year.
(04:47):
I've also heard there's a significance of March with the
three founders, so that I'm not very clear on. But
Lab is actually as you've probably seen entitle. It's not
a type of spelled LA that stands for La and Byrits.
That's because those are also the cities that the founders
(05:10):
live in. Although I found them around twenty nineteen, they've
been around since twenty eleven and they've been growing and
they're evolving, and I think now being twenty twenty five,
we're gonna see great watches from them, but definitely we'll
see more exciting things from them in the future. One
(05:34):
of the philosophies, if you go to the website, you'll
see more with less. They're saying, more strength with less thrills,
more beauty with less complexity, more quality with less budget.
You'll definitely see that with this brand. It's something you
can feel. So let's look at the watches. They do
(05:58):
have a men's line and women's line, and at the
Toronto time Piece show I did see both and they
are both gorgeous. It's not just simply a smaller diameter watch.
It's actually a different design. They do have smaller squares,
(06:21):
but they also have different shaped dials. They're beautiful. They're
actually some of them remind me of jewelry pieces. They
also come with it looks like linked chains that you
would find like on a beautiful like a thick necklace
(06:42):
or a thick bracelet. Gorgeous. Not only gorgeous, but it's
gonna leave a very strong impression and my opinion, very unique.
It definitely stands out and I want more people to
learn about the woman's lineup. It is fantastic. Also, last episode,
(07:05):
I talked about chronographs and talked briefly about sub dials.
If you see a March lab with subdials, it is
not a chronograph. They use the subdials as a calendar function.
Very cool, very unique design. I think also worth checking
out on the website because sometimes sub dials on the
(07:29):
chronograph can be more or less cosmetic just because and
I say that because we just don't use that function much.
A small second hand is a cool thing on the
dial because you always see it moving and you always
will and it plays more of a functional role for
(07:50):
the every day watch where But what these calendar subdials do.
It makes you use the the dial of the watch
on a more regular basis. You know, it's cool. I
mean some like chromographs. I don't even see the subdials anymore,
(08:11):
just you know, I glance over them. I don't even
pay attention to them. But as a calendar it forces
you to divert your attention to the subdollars. More saying that,
there's also watches without those subdals, and they have their
date displayed at six o'clock, or they have a model
(08:36):
with a day date at three o'clock, or they have
a model without any date whatsoever. And those are really clean.
I really like those, very classic. For those not interested
in a automatic watch, they do have quarts as well.
If you prefer quartz, or if you like the budgeting
of a quartz watch, they have watches with the Rohnda
(09:00):
one zero six y three Quartz caliber. And again I'm
sure they chose to Ronda very specifically instead of Miota.
Let's face it, Quartz can sometimes be a lot more
convenient than a automatic. Hey man, no judgment. If you
(09:20):
like quartz, if you like auto they have both. Now
let's talk a little bit about Fair and Switt. I'm
not gonna go into too much details of the company
because the interview I think we cover that, but I
(09:44):
do want to talk about their watches and their specs.
So in terms of watches, Fair and Sweat as a
seaplane watch, the Wayfinder watch, a Solar Chrono, and the
retro digital mixtapes and those are really cool. I bought
(10:04):
one of those and I love it to death. I
did have my eye on a particular Wavefinder and Solar Chrono,
but they were sold out. And of course the seaplane watch.
That is a watch that a lot of people will
enjoy because of combining two genres dive watch and pilot watch.
(10:27):
And if you're not familiar with the Fair and Sweat brand,
please go to the web page or find their instagram.
You can see these watches, and I gotta tell you,
if you're lucky, you'll see some watches with amazing Loom shots.
So if you're a big fan of Loom, you're definitely
gonna love Fair and Sweat. So going to the seaplane lineup,
(10:52):
the seaplanes are powered by the SW two hundred one.
They do have a special addition, and that's using the
ED two eight to two four dash two movement three
sixteen L stainless steel. And what's cool about them? They
got a nice little they got like waves on the dial.
(11:12):
But at six o'clock there's an image of a seaplane.
With the seaplane, you can have either a brush stainless
steel or a PVD coded black. It's good for one
hundred meters, uses BGW nine super luminova and a thirty
(11:32):
eight hour power reserve. And something else to note with
the seaplane. It has a clear case back, a sapphire
crystal bezel, and indcs are lit by super luminova. Please
note that some of these seaplanes, they are limited numbers.
(11:52):
So if you are interested, please hop on the website
by don't wait because I have a story about that,
and I think we talked about purchasing a particular watch.
I waited and I was too late. So one of
the watches that caught my attention initially and brought me
to their website I probably stumbled across on Instagram were
(12:14):
the Wayfinders. First of all, the color combination of these
dials are out of this world, very unique. You have
to check them out. The dial themselves are designed with
map topography. You gotta check it out. They also have
a special edition called the North Side Edition, where the
(12:35):
dial doesn't have the map topography, but it has the
map of Wrigleyville and this map includes Wrigley Field Stadium. Again,
you're gonna find three sixteen L stainless steel screw down crown,
waterproof up to three hundred and thirty feet. And here's
(12:58):
something interesting. The movie Mint, they use a VH thirty
one sweeping seconds quartz. As I said, Quartz is accurate,
it's practical, it's grabbing go. But with the sweeping hands,
it has an appearance of an automatic sweeping hands. I
(13:18):
think just look cooler too. By the way, they have
an automatic one, but it was sold out. Hopefully, parents,
we'll have something like that in the near future for us.
But while we're on Quartz, let's go to the next
lineup and they're called the Solar Chrono. So they have
(13:41):
three models under the Solar Chronos, one being the Solar
powered mecha Quartz, the other called the Bubblegum, and I
believe the other one is a Vice edition which is
sold out. I gotta tell you, I have a few
solar powered battery watches, and they're fantastic again. You got
the convenie to a grab and go, you got great accuracy,
(14:03):
and the amazing thing is they only have to be
in sunlight for a couple of hours and then they're
good to go for a few months, two months. According
to Fair and Swit, you have to see these watches online.
You can't just take my word for it, but they're
uniquely themed. It's really going to speak to some of
(14:25):
the gear heads out there, and it's also going to
speak to the nostalgia of many of US watch buyers. Now.
The watch I wore when I interviewed Adam was a
clear retro digital. There is a cool collection of digital
watches from Fair and Swit. They call it the Mixtape
(14:46):
Volume one. They have a translucent blue and a clear
transparent case. One comes with a black strap and the
other comes with a clearer, trans parent plastic strap. The
display is somewhat of a traditional digital watch, but they
have a really cool one. It's in purple, translucent purple,
(15:10):
and it's called B Side and that uses a negative display.
I definitely will be picking this up in the next
a little while. I'm a fan of digital watches, especially
at a price point of thirty five dollars American. I
love to support micro brands, but I love digital watches
just because of a fun factor and there's a silliness
(15:34):
to them. I feel they're very unisex coming at a
smaller case size, so I find them unisex. These style
digital watches are supposed to be small, so a small
risk person care as well as a large risk person.
But again these are just a brief description. To keep
(15:56):
in mind that these digital mixtape watches are good to
about fifty meter. But one really cool thing about these
Fair and Sweat watches is the packaging. So these digitals
they come in a really cool box that looks like
a cassette tape. But those are just little bonuses. These
(16:18):
watches are very cool if you want to purchase from
a company that is not just about profit. March Lab,
Fair and Swit are those companies because they are designing
watches for the watch fans and they are watch collectors
and appreciate the importance they have in our lives. So
(16:41):
I feel that aligns with many of us out there.
And please give these two companies a look on Google
and when concering your watch collection, consider these two companies
as well. I don't think you can go wrong with them.
I hope you guys have a great day. Thank you
(17:03):
for listening.
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