On The Watch That Started It All
Nouveau: Mine was a Rolex Gmt-master reference 1675, which was the first watch I became obsessed with. I was already an adult at that point. I had zero kind of watch culture before that. No one in my family had watches. I didn't grow up with watches. I knew nothing about them until this one thing caught my eye.
Hess: Similarly, the watch that really put me down the rabbit hole was also a vintage Rolex Daytona. It had a Paul Newman dial that I remember catching my eye 15 years ago. It was made in the late 60s, maybe 1970. And I just remember being so fascinated about that watch and the different iterations of the dials and the bezels.
On Auction Culture
Hess: I'm very bullish on changing the auction room experience. Even as a collector. For 30 years, I often viewed auctions as places with high barriers to entry. I need to know somebody. I need to be in a tuxedo and hold up a, white hat with a row of chairs. And if I don't know, I don't belong there. You and I both know it isn't like that at all.
Nouveau: It's a very fun environment inside the rooms. During the auctions, you’re friends with half the room. You see who's bidding on what. You're kind of revving each other up. I could see why it makes sense to keep live auctions going.
On Social Media’s Effect on Watch Collecting
Hess: The word that comes to mind is education. When I started collecting, there was no Instagram. There was no TikTok. There was no social media education about watches.
Nouveau: Also, I tell people how much of the business is done on Instagram. Millions of dollars every day of watch transactions via DM.
Hess: It brings transparency and it connects people. Even just sitting here today, we're surrounded by all these incredible books from Assouline. The books aren't just pictures. They're not just pretty images. It's all the stories and the narrative that's told. And I think that's so similar to watches. I think the reason why people like to share watches in person is because they like to tell the stories and the narratives and the history. It's like treasure hunting.
The Culture Lounge podcast is a production of Assouline and Pineapple Street Studios.
Senior Producer: Emmanuel Hapsis
Recorded and mixed by: Pedro Alvira
Head of Sound and Engineering: Raj Makhija
Executive Producer: Bari Finkel
The video companion to the Culture Lounge podcast is a production of Assouline and Vacationland.