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Episode 17 - Interview with Eric of EMG Watches

Published on Wed, 20 Feb 2019 23:59:00 -0800

Synopsis

The podcast features a conversation with Eric from EMG watches. Eric discusses the history of EMG, how he and his partners Derek and Ed started the company and collaborate on watch designs from different parts of the world without ever meeting in person. He talks about the design process and inspiration behind popular EMG models like the DL-63, Horizon, and Nemo diver. Eric also shares some personal anecdotes and talks about video games he enjoys playing.

Transcript

Speaker
Andrew Hello fellow watch lovers, nerds, enthusiasts, or however you identify. This is the 40 in 20 podcast with your host, Andrew and my good friend Everett here. We talk about watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. And today we've got a special guest with us. We have Eric from EMG watches joining us on the line. So Everett, forget about you.
Eric Eric, how are you? I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good. How's it going over there?
Everett About the usual? Yeah, that's right. I think it's probably warmer here than it is there.
Andrew I would imagine so. Oh, I did promise someone that I would ask, how cold is it in the D?
Everett And we mean Detroit, not anything weird.
Eric Not anything down south. All right. In Detroit, I don't know. I'm actually over on the west side of the state. Ice was melting, so that's a good sign. That's what it was like today.
Everett So you have ice, but there's less of it.
Eric Yeah. Yeah. There's less of it today. Yeah. We were like dropping down to like negative, like 20 about two weeks ago. So.
Everett Oh man. It was cold. That's rough. Hass. Yeah.
Eric It's crazy when the, the weather jumps up, you know, 50 degrees and you still have to wear a winter coat.
Everett Does, I mean, does it like hurt your face and your lungs? I would think your lungs would start to hurt.
Eric I don't know. I didn't really notice it. all that much. I do go in and out at my job, but I just, I don't know, I didn't really notice it too much. Are you from there originally? Yeah, I've always lived in Michigan. I grew up on the other side of the state, kind of southeast. People in the area, like south of Ann Arbor, so they would know that.
Everett Well, Andrew, how are you doing? How was your week?
Andrew I was busy. I had just a lot going on this week. This is like the the second week back from vacation right so uh i got my feet under me last week and i'm i'm still like trying to trudge forward being back from vacation which is always just just the fucking worst yeah but making it you know getting getting along right yeah the weather's been weird you know it's been kind of cold but not super cold and like in between super wet and and medium wet i uh
Everett actually found out on monday of this last week that i was going to change jobs and i knew i was going to change jobs but i didn't know i was going to be changing jobs so quickly so quickly so this week has been absolutely insane for me uh and the weather hasn't helped you know it's like you everything is keenly uh more I don't know, more impactful when the weather is bad, you know, because I'm moving boxes and I'm, you know, I am so in tune with the weather because it's terrible and everything else is not great. Kim's been in San Francisco on work, so.
Andrew Solo parenting.
Everett Solo parenting and starting a brand new job and like I had to buy a desk, you know. I've never bought a desk before. That's a different thing.
Andrew You're not using like a plastic fold up table?
Everett No, well, in fact, I may for some things, but for now, I actually bought a wood desk and it's it's great. I like it, but it's the weird thing to have to buy a desk. I got a great deal. I found one, but just odd. And, you know, I think when you are, you know, in that in a partnership, in a relationship with someone and they're gone to all of the all of the little things that pop up feel so much like just harder, right? You know, cause you're not doing it by yourself necessarily, but that, that comfort or that, that safe person that you have at night isn't there or whatever. So I'm looking forward to Kim being back and, uh, but I'm, I'm stoked about my new, my new place of work. It's going to be, it's going to be awesome.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett I'm into it.
Andrew Whenever Sam leaves, I always realize how little I do at home because suddenly I have to do all this stuff that she usually does. Right.
Everett And, uh, yeah, it's not great. And Eric, you got kids, right? or at least one. I got two under two.
Eric Two kids under two? Yeah. Yeah. 21 months and four months.
Everett Bruh. Yeah. So our kids are 17 months apart. Betty and Wes are 17 months apart. It sounds like your guys have about the same split.
Eric Yeah. They're busy. Yeah. Especially at night.
Everett Yeah. You know, I don't think anyone, I don't think anyone or not, not very many people try to have kids that close. And I'll tell you, I know we didn't try to have kids that close. Uh, it just happened, but I wouldn't do it any different being where I'm at now, uh, having them sort of come through all that baby stuff at the same time. And, uh, you know, they're a year apart at a school.
Eric It's like, yeah, it's really not all that bad. I think it's, it's a good age to, for them to kind of grow up together and, you know, Probably be a little closer.
Andrew Definitely. Yeah. I wish I'd had twins on the first go around and then I could just be done.
Eric Oh, man. Yeah. I don't know about that. Trying to get two kids in and out of a car. Oh, yeah. I don't know where to put one of them. And it's just, yeah, it's going up and down steps and everything. It's just bags. Yeah.
Andrew I don't know. All the stuff that they need.
Eric That twin situation would be difficult for sure.
Everett Yeah. Well, well, shall we?
Andrew I guess we should. We do talk about watches here, after all.
Everett Yeah, I mean, unless you have anything else, any new news you need to share with us, Eric.
Eric I mean, I think every news I'm sharing is new for you guys. That's right.
Everett That's right. So we'll move into it.
Andrew Alrighty. Well, why don't you fill us in on EMG watches, where you've come from, where you're at, and kind of where you hope to go. We'll have some more questions along the way. Why don't you fill us and the listeners in on this really cool brand doing some really cool stuff.
Eric Yeah, so right now, it seems like we actually have quite a bit going on. We have pre-orders for our DL-63 with sapphire crystal now instead of the mineral crystal. We are in the process of shipping our Horizon orders. That's taking some time, you know, we got Kickstarter orders plus some orders through our website We also are shipping NEMO orders as well. So those, I think we're up to date on the NEMO orders. But so yeah, there's a lot actually going on. You know, Ed's got some of his own things going on as well. So.
Andrew And how did you guys all get hooked up? Because you're in, you're all over the world. How did you guys get together? How did this, how did this, this project become what it is today? Yeah.
Eric You know, for those that don't know that I'm in the U.S., live in Michigan. Derek lives in Scotland, in Glasgow, and then Ed is living in Hong Kong. So we all met on the F71 forum in Watch You Seek, which is an affordables forum. We're big fans. Yeah, yeah. So Derek and I just started talking. I think there was a thread about a project watch and, you know, he mentioned something about having to design and And I kind of just reached out to him and said, Hey, you know, I'm interested to see what you have, you know, just cause I was interested. And we started chatting and you know, I had some little sketches that I did and, um, he liked one of my designs and actually made a render and he just like really pushed me to, to move forward with, you know, trying to make a watch. Um, you know, it wasn't even our, you know, our deal 63 was our first watch, but that wasn't even the design that originally started at all. I guess, um, we actually had a, you know, my plans was a dual crown GMT. And, um, the, the deal six 63 Panda just kind of came about. Um, Derek had worked with Ed with, uh, I think the bun project. And also there was a IWL, which is a international watch league. Uh, there is a ST 19 chronograph that they made there for that, for that form as well. So, um, we reached out to Ed for that, um, to make a Panda dial cause At the time, there wasn't really affordable Panda chronographs that, you know, really caught my eye. So, you know, we, that kind of jumpstarted everything, I guess.
Everett So, so what the, the dual crown GMT, that's not something you guys ever wound up making?
Eric No, no. Yeah. I mean, with the, I know you guys mentioned with the Orient watches about GMT movements, you know, automatic movements, there's really not a whole lot of affordable options. And, you know, as a startup, you know, we weren't ready to put that type of money into, you know, into a watch, you know, we were starting from nothing. So, um, we, we found that that project would have been a little, probably out of reach for us, um, or that the DL 63, you know, we were able to make in small batches. So it was actually, um, really a great fit for, for starting up, you know, we didn't really put any money or personal money into the, to the brand at all.
Andrew That's really impressive for a startup to have to have a liquid investment right up front. And that was actually something that kind of caught my eyes. It seems like you guys are doing it, not necessarily risk-free, but with pretty minimal risk. And I imagine you guys are funding the orders through the pre-order. And I'm just wondering what your guys' design process looks like when you decide to launch a new product. We've got your lineup sitting here in front of us. We've got two of the DL-63s, the Horizon and a Nemo in front of us. And I'm really interested in your guys' design process and what that looks like and how you come up with these ideas and then how you get them all the way through to production.
Eric Yeah. So, you know, starting with the DL-63, like I said, at the time there wasn't an affordable Panda that was, you know, very classic looking. You know, I can't even think of what was available at that time. I think that The one Orient Panadial was available around that time, but yeah, the Neo 7. Yeah, that one still, you know, it just didn't really, there was things about it that just didn't really click for me. So, you know, I was like, Oh, you know, this is a good thing to jump on, you know, right now there's nothing available, you know, in the affordable range that really has that classic look. You know, with Ed, you know, we were able to, our first batch was like 75 watches where, you know, most manufacturers that you go through, you have to have a minimum minimum order quantity of 300. So it was very, it was very doable for us.
Everett So, I mean, how'd you get that lower MOQ for, I mean, what, is it just a connection or? Yeah.
Eric So, um, with the, the smaller quantity, we were able to, you know, basically we piggybacked off the, the 42 millimeter, uh, Siegel 1963. We designed our own dial, added some different hands on there, but we used the same case, same crystal. So it was, we were able to skip, you know, all the engineering of the case and it just, you know, it just worked out.
Everett So then this, so this, I don't know, and I hope this isn't pejorative, but this dog bowl shape of the DL 63 then is taken from the 42 millimeter 63.
Eric Yes. Yeah. It shares the same exact case. So that's kind of, again, that's how we got the lower quantity.
Everett I see. I tell you, I do really like this case. I've never seen anything else like it. Yeah.
Eric I think Marlowe actually has their, their chronograph is similar, but they have the external bezel.
Andrew I do. I do love these 63s. They are just, just terrific. I actually had one on all day today.
Eric The 38 millimeter one.
Andrew So yeah, these are, these are terrific. And how did you, Did you guys pick a dial? How did you go through that design process? And especially with the three of you working together on it, what is, do you all just kind of work together to collaborate to build a design? Or does one person bring something forward and then everyone kind of works together to make some tweaks? How does that, what's that process look like for you guys?
Eric Yeah, it kind of, I think, you know, one person kind of initiates it and then we kind of just go back and forth, you know, making different choices, you know, For our watches, for the EMG watches, Derek and I do a lot of the design work. Ed has some say. He'll say stuff that he likes, he doesn't like. But I think Derek and I really work through it probably the most. He does the computer rendering, and I will show him examples of different watches and say, hey, I really like this aspect of this watch. Let's try it here, try it there. That's kind of how we go through designing. Derek's been, he's went, you know, really far with his renders. He's done some great work.
Andrew Have you all ever met in person?
Eric No, no. We've actually never even, I've never even heard their voices. You know, we all interact just, we, on WhatsApp, we message each other back and forth. So, it's all just writing back and forth to each other. So, it's actually quite an interesting setup that we have.
Andrew That's impressive. And hilarious. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That nothing has ever happened that needed to warrant a phone call. That's really impressive.
Eric Yeah, I know. It's really strange. I don't know.
Everett I don't know how it works, but it does, yeah. You guys are going to have to do like a meetup or something, right? One of these days. Meet up in Hong Kong and make Ed buy you all expensive dinner and drinks.
Eric Yeah, you know, we'd love to do that. I know it's going to be hard for me to get out of the country with two little kids and a wife that actually likes having me around. Right. Yeah. So sometime, sometime.
Everett Find yourself a week and make it happen.
Eric Yeah. Well, yeah, I would love to go out there for some of the watch fairs that they have.
Everett Oh man, that, the Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair sounds like a blast. I know, uh, quite a few folks went out this last year. It seemed like super interesting to be in that environment. I don't know that for me, it's, it makes a lot of sense, but I'm sure it would be a blast.
Eric Yeah. I mean, It looks like it, you know, I know the, the micro brand owners usually try to meet up and it seems like it'd be a good time to, to get to know a lot of the faces behind the brands.
Andrew And, and to show yours and hear your partner's voices.
Eric I mean, yeah, that, yeah, that too, that too.
Everett To meet your business partners.
Eric Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. To finally meet them.
Andrew That's crazy. That's cool. I never would have thought that.
Everett Yeah. No, I mean, it seems like, you know, this digital age we have, it's it's the type of thing that could happen. And in fact, here it is. It is happening. A totally virtual business.
Andrew Yeah. And great collaboration, putting out great stuff. You guys are killing it for never having really even spoken.
Everett No, no. Do you guys appreciate that? Do you guys split quality control duties?
Eric No. So we all kind of have our own kind of responsibilities. You know, I handle financial stuff. You know, a lot of the marketing, you know, the photography, work on the design. Derek does a lot with design. He does the rendering. You know, both him and I handle all the customer, you know, interaction. Ed does a lot of the behind the scenes. So he's kind of like our project manager in Hong Kong because He has real easy access to those manufacturers in China. So he does all of our quality control, our shipping. So I mean, he does a ton of work on a daily basis. And I give him mad props for as much stuff that he does. I'm not sure when he sleeps.
Everett Or if he does.
Eric Maybe he doesn't. Yeah, yeah. I'm not even sure he does. I asked him the other day. He said sometimes.
Everett So in terms of actually Watchmaking, the practice of watchmaking, do you employ watchmakers in Hong Kong? Or who does your movement work?
Eric So a lot of times the manufacturers will hold up their warranty. So like with the DL-63, our manufacturer is the one that will actually take care of the warranty work. But with the Horizon and Nemo, I've been having someone here in the US take care of stuff. Yeah, it seems to be working all right for us.
Everett You had someone there in Michigan that does that?
Eric Not in Michigan. He's actually located in Ohio. Again, just met him online. He's been a pretty good guy so far. It's a lot of trust going on with our business.
Everett It's crazy.
Eric I'll wire $40,000 to Ed for production costs and stuff like that. He does what he needs to do with it, and I trust him. It's been, yeah, a lot of trust between all of us.
Everett Well, so back to this DL-63 before we move on to maybe some of these other watches. You guys re-released this recently, and you re-released it about three weeks after you told me via Instagram that you don't have any more of them, and you're not going to have any more of them ever. I think that's a direct quote.
Eric Yeah. That sounds, you know, pretty much verbatim. So, um, but yeah, we didn't have any plans, you know, we're, we're thinking we were done with it and you know, people just continue to show interest. And, and then the manufacturer came out with the Sapphire crystal and I was like, man, you know, so many people were telling us that they would purchase the watch only if it had a Sapphire crystal. So it just seemed like the, kind of the right thing to do. You know, we're still keeping our numbers pretty low. So, um, there's still going to be demand there for the people that are, you know, looking to sell theirs, you know, they shouldn't have, shouldn't have any problems there.
Everett Well, yeah, I tell you, I think these ones that we have are both mineral crystal versions and this Panda I have has a fairly prominent scratch right at the, right at the bell of the, of the dome. And I thought to myself when I got it, I thought, yeah, that's, I would do that. You know, this scratch, I'm not going to take responsibility for the scratch, but, uh, it certainly could be. So, you know, that's something that would happen to my watch in regular wear. So I think Sapphire is just a killer upgrade to these and, and you're doing it for not a lot more money.
Eric Yeah. Yeah. Not too much more. We, I mean, we plan on increasing it, you know, with our, um, like the, once it's ready, you know, we'll have our like MSRP or, you know, retail price. Um, we'll be a little bit. higher, so we're trying to sell... Go ahead. Oh, go ahead. So yeah, we're going to sell it.
Everett I lost my track, so I don't know where... That's all right. What are prices on these?
Eric So currently selling for $3.75 pre-order, or no, it was selling for $3.75 pre-order for the first four weeks. We're at $400 shipped now, and it's going to jump up to $450 retail.
Everett OK, well, that's still totally reasonable.
Andrew Yeah.
Everett What's your experience with the ST-1901 been?
Eric It's an interesting movement. I think from a brand standpoint, it can be a little bit difficult. It can be finicky. But from a customer standpoint, it's a great movement. It's affordable, mechanical, and gives you pretty much everything you need. You get that nice mechanical feel, hand-wound, beautiful finishing. So, I mean, it's a great movement, but it can be finicky from our standpoint.
Everett Well, I tell you, I've got a 1963, the 38 millimeter 63, and I think it is, I don't know if it's a lubrication thing, but I'm having a little trouble with it. I'll probably take it down. I've got it. We've got a guy local here that I'll take it down and maybe have him take a look at, but I can see that, you know, there's so much going on there and it's made relatively inexpensively. There's just a lot of opportunity for, lubrication issues or whatever to come up because it's an incredibly complex movement.
Eric Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think the ones that, you know, I mean the ones that we're sending out, you know, we're making sure that they work and, you know, usually there, there's no problem. They, they're working great. They keep great time, you know, they're, they're staying, you know, running really well, but, um, you know, it does take a lot of quality control to ensure that the customers are getting, you know, great pieces.
Andrew What was the thinking behind the cork strap, which I absolutely love. Where did that idea come from?
Eric I'm trying to think of who the first person I saw. It might have been Elgeek on WatchySeek. I don't know if you guys are familiar with him. He had one that was made, you know, a custom-made strap. So, then I just started searching for cork straps. You know, I found some really cheap ones that, you know, weren't had like didn't have the rally holes in there. So, I would actually, you know, I bought a leather punch and would punch rally holes in my straps, you know. It was my cheap way of making the straps I liked without having to pay the little bit premium for those type of straps and I started making my own that way and then I actually started buying the cork fabric and making my own cork straps and then I was like, alright, you know, I can't go through and, you know, punch 50 holes, you know, per strap. You know one by one right and actually sell them to people so I actually reached out to Someone I found that you know online, you know, and you know, I've been really happy with them.
Everett They I think they look great No, they look fantastic and they feel great.
Andrew They feel great when When I got it and I put it on for the first time I told Everett that this is the first time I've put a watch on With the original strap and not felt like I wanted to change it
Eric Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's really comfortable.
Everett I mean, it's, I've been really impressed with them at the risk of alienating a certain percentage of our viewership or listenership. I'll ask you, uh, cause it's something I wondered, did you guys consider, uh, making this strap vegan or, or vegetarian?
Eric Um, I think that one still has leather in it. So it's, it's definitely not, um, vegan or, you know, animal conscious, but
Everett That was when I saw it, when the first time I saw it, it occurred to me, oh, maybe this is like a vegan strap, which I think would appeal to certain people. I don't, obviously, I do a significant amount of leather working and I know Andrew.
Andrew And a lot of meat eating. And a lot of meat eating. Yeah, yeah.
Everett And Andrew's a recreational animal killer, so.
Eric Yeah, yeah, I mean, that's, you know, that wasn't really in consideration with it. You know, I really love the look. You know, I think anyone that's probably animal lover probably is, you know, probably a naturalist, too. And, you know, cork comes from trees, so they're probably killing trees to make these straps, too. So there's... Someone's going to die.
Andrew You're not recycling wine. Someone's not going to be happy about it.
Everett All right. Well, I think that what, you know, the DL-63 is an excellent watch, and we both really enjoyed our time with them. We've got two other watches and I think both of them, for different reasons, really blew both of us away. Um, you know, maybe we start with the Horizon.
Andrew Let's, and I, I gotta say, so when I, when, when you told us that we, you were sending us these watches, I was on the cusp of, well, no, I'd had the conversation with my wife. I, barring my wife's input, I was on the cusp of pulling the trigger for a DL 63 and I was most excited to try the Horizon because it wasn't a watch that I ever thought that i was going to love but i gotta say when it when it got here and i put it on for the first time i've i need this watch i love this thing it is perfectly sized the the dome of the crystal is beautiful and the way it catches the light it makes the the dial is just always different every time you look at it the light is always changing on it and i absolutely love this watch is that why you engraved your name and phone number in the back of it yeah It's lost return too. Duh. I guess it's yours now. Tell us about this watch and how it came to be.
Eric Again, you know, we're kind of seeking an opportunity, you know, we have to try to play the market and, you know, there's no question that it, you know, shows quite a bit of resemblance of the Monaco. So, you know, there wasn't, again, there wasn't an affordable option, you know, for a monocle style or monocle style style watch at, at the time we were making it. Um, you know, I think it right at the same time, uh, Stratton came out with their special too. So they like just announced it. And so we felt like we had to throw ours out there really quick. And so we didn't look like you were, yeah, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, I'm pretty sure we threw ours out, like, you know, design like a couple of days after I saw that they showed there. So, you know, I remember seeing and, like, oh man, but you know, you know, that was, I actually purchased that watch. That's a great watch as well. So, you know, Stratton makes some really good watches, but yeah, so, I mean, that's what kind of what sparked it, you know, we really wanted to make something similar. I didn't really want to stray too far from the case design, but, you know, I did want to make it different. I didn't want to be called a copy, even though we still got called, you know, copy and replicas and all that, you know, I've been, told everything about that and yeah, um, anyway, what are you going to do?
Everett Right? I mean, it's, there's a handful of people that can buy a Monaco and then there's the rest of us who love the way a Monaco looks.
Andrew I think I like this better than the Monaco. It's slimmer. This, I mean, I think to call it a copy is unfair.
Eric Yeah. I think that's, you know, at first glance, yeah, it's, you know, it's got, I think the, the outline of it is the same, you know, we kind of have the curved edges or the curved sides. But, you know, really it's a differently styled, you know, design case. You know, we actually did design it. You know, we went through multiple iterations. You know, we actually worked with two different manufacturers. Our first manufacturer kind of fell through. They just weren't getting the design right. And we actually had, you know, we mutually, you know, disengaged. So, but yeah, I mean, we, We did try to make it look similar. I didn't want to stray too far, but I also didn't want to make the same. Like I said, you know, it's, I think the Monaco looks great. The case is great on the Monaco and I felt like changing it too much is really going to just, it was hard to make it look better by changing it to be honest.
Everett Well, I tell you, I think, I think what, what I see in this, what I feel like you've done is you've taken the idea of the Monaco. injected EMG DNA, you know, looking at the dials between the 63 and, you know, the DL 63 and the Monaco, you can see the, the EMG DNA coming through, which I think is super cool. I'm sure that's intentional. Um, did you guys have any sort of, you know, there's the surfboard, or I don't know if that's the right term for that bar, uh, across the middle, but Did you guys have that in mind to sort of establish your chronograph? Uh, you know, I'm using the term DNA, so I'll stick with it. Was that something that was intentional?
Eric Um, I don't know. I think it just kind of turns out that way. You know, when you design or even like taking photos, you kind of have your own style and it kind of just comes through with each, each thing you do, you know, you kind of notice that it, you know, it's, it's yours and you can kind of tell the difference. So, um, Yeah, I don't know. I think it's probably just by chance it kind of came through that way.
Everett Is it rude to ask? How many of these have you guys sold, these Horizons now?
Eric I'm not sure of the exact numbers, but we've sold a good amount. So I mean, I've been happy with our sales for the Horizon.
Everett It's a great watch. When it came, we had it on the cork strap, or I think you had it on the cork strap. I shoved it on this, this sort of reddish brown burgundy leather strap, which I'll tell you as a guy who makes leather straps, this, this leather strap is probably the most comfortable I've ever worn.
Eric Yeah.
Everett Um, I don't know who you guys are using to make these, but they're fantastic. Um, but yeah, stuck it on this thing and that's where it's lived. It's on that burgundy strap and it's pretty spectacular.
Eric Yeah, that's our coffee red strap. So yeah, I've been happy with the quality of that leather. It's been holding up well.
Everett It's flexible. It's durable. You know, oftentimes leather is either stiff or flimsy, right? And it seems like this is going to stay in really good shape for a long time.
Eric Yeah, we actually upgraded from our original. We had a different type of leather and, you know, it just didn't have a great feel and look to it. So, yeah, we ended up changing and I've been happy with the change.
Everett You know, my, my ed 63 came on a leather strap that I promptly stuck in a box and I have never worn. Uh, if it had come on a strap like this, I think I'd just stuck it on there.
Eric Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I have a, a couple of the, the 1963s from, or the ed 63s from ed. So, um, I can, I can feel you there.
Andrew So, uh, I understand there's a, a, a story behind the, um, the stamping on the crowns on both the Horizon and the DL-63. You want to share that with us?
Eric Yeah. So there's actually a couple of things with the DL-63. So Derek in Scotland, you know, you know, the DL is actually from his initials. You know, I felt bad, you know, with the EMG is actually my initials. And when we created the brand, there wasn't really plans to be a group, you know, it just kind of ended up being that way because Derek had helped out so much and kept helping out. And so I just said, Hey, you know, let's just do this together. And then we, you know, got involved with Ed and kind of employed him as well. So, um, so I felt bad, you know, naming the brand EMG, you know, after myself and then having them involved. So I actually, you know, said, Hey, let's, let's call this the DL 63, you know, since it's based off the 1963, um, And then, you know, on the crown, which you guys were talking about, there's a lock. So that's the kind of just go along with my last name, which is good lock. So, um, pretty simple there. Um, and then on the horizon, uh, there's actually a cog wheel. Um, and that's my son's initials are COG. So, you know, that's where I got that cog wheel from. So I like to try to throw a little, um, you know, family cues in there.
Andrew I love that touch. It makes these watches feel all the more special that there's something that personal in every single piece for the people who have produced it. I mean, coming from you guys, I like that touch a lot. I think it's really cool.
Everett And I don't know that I know this. Are you signing the crown of the Nemo?
Eric Yeah. So you guys received one of our prototypes, which didn't have a signed crown and had a little bit different clasp on there. But the production models do have a signed crown.
Everett We've seen the production models of the Emperor, so we know what the clasp, what the newer clasp looks like. I own a, you know, this, but I own a Emperor Diver. So I think that that clasp is the same. Ours are signed with that Emperor Penguin, but what's the signature on the Nemo going to be? Or is it, I should say?
Eric So on the crown is just the Trekkie logo from Ed's watches. I didn't really throw any personal touches in there because it was more Ed's watch, you know, so we, we kept more to his, to his styling. Um, but on the, on our class, we have the, the Trekkie logo on the little, uh, was it flip lock? And then, uh, on the rest, uh, on another portion of the class, we have the giant squid, uh, laser down there.
Everett Oh, cool. And I'd seen the relief on those, or at least pictures of that relief. You guys really did like a high end, high relief squid, right?
Eric Yeah, on the case back, you know, with the prototypes you guys got, it was just, I think, either like acid etched, I believe is the way that they do that. But we actually had the production model stamped. We upgraded that to give a better look.
Everett Yeah, it looks incredible. I love those case backs when they're stamped and engraved like that. They're beautiful. Well, so yeah, I want to ask you about the Trekkie logo. sort of associate that logo with HKA Ed. But is that, and correct me if I'm wrong, I think that that's actually a Chinese Air Force.
Eric Yeah, it is. Yeah. That's the origin from it. So Ed used that in quite a few of his watches. So, you know, he always refers it to as a Trekkie logo because it looks like the Federation logo off Star Trek.
Everett It does. No, I hadn't heard that, but it's totally what it looks like.
Eric I got told the other day that it looks like an Oldsmobile logo as well.
Everett Oh, like the Alero. Oh, yeah.
Andrew Yeah. Well, I can see it. I wouldn't have ever called it that, but I can absolutely see the similarity that people are referring to.
Everett I feel like we've got a lot of pejorative references. I think the logo stands out on its own.
Andrew I mean, I like the logo. I'm not saying I don't, but.
Everett Well, so why don't we segue into the Nemo? Because I think that the Nemo is widely considered one of the coolest watch releases of 2018. Um, and I suspect you guys, uh, are feeling like it's also going to be a pretty cool watch for you. So tell us, tell us about the, you know, Andrew and I have talked a little bit about the history, but from my perspective, cause obviously I don't know, uh, from your perspective, how this came to be. and what your guys' plans are with it.
Eric Yeah, so with the NEMO, Ed was behind the F71 Emperor project, and they were having trouble meeting their order quantities that they needed. So he reached out to us and said, hey, can we make a diver based off that design? Um, he gave us some inspiration, you know, he, he, there's this, uh, old Zenith diver, probably from like the fifties, um, that he liked. And, you know, if we kind of went from there, so we kind of use that as some inspiration. And, um, we even had a little bit of, uh, I think, uh, Chris Vale from, from nth watches, um, actually put some, uh, two cents into that design as well.
Andrew Oh, so that's a huge collaboration. There's a lot of people involved with their, uh, getting their fingers involved in that project. And it, it, I mean, like you said, we have a prototype, but gosh, it is terrific. I've worn this watch a lot over the last couple of weeks and I just, I absolutely love it. The size is perfect. And in the way of divers, it seems like the, they are trending towards the smaller end, uh, at this point, but this is, this is the size diaper that I want to wear always. It doesn't, it's not cumbersome at all. Um, I love this watch and the color scheme that you guys used for, I mean, this yellow one was one that I wasn't going to, I wasn't sure what I was going to feel about it, but I saw it. It's, it's great. It's that, yeah, it's just that kind of powder blue accent around the very outside. You guys killed it. I cannot say enough good things.
Eric Yeah. Thanks. Thanks.
Everett Well, so, uh, well first I have, I have an aside, a sort of apropos of nothing question. Did you call Chris Vail's company Enth watches?
Eric Yeah, I don't know if that's how you pronounce it, but that's how I always thought it was. I know you guys refer to it as N-T-H.
Everett You've given me... No, I don't have anxiety about it.
Andrew Because we get called out pretty regularly for saying things wrong.
Eric Yeah, yeah. I know you guys have said N-T-H. You know, I always take... I remember him posting something about having to tell people for the Nth time, you know, something, you know, don't ask for free watches or something of some sort of like that, but... Man.
Everett That's where I got it from. You've given me the gurgle of doubt in my gut. When we started, I think both of us by and large have just read about watches. It's like I've never talked on the phone to my business partners. It's the same deal, right? We've read about watches and you have these conversations in your head and you invent pronunciations without thinking about it. So we both said on the show a number of times, Vostok, Vostok, because when you read the word it just looks like it's maybe Vostok or Boktok or or Boktok and you know well one of our one of our uh good friends of the show and watch you seek you user oversteer sent sent me a message that was like repeat after me you know very clearly uh spelled out Vostok and i was like ah son of a bitch you know but that's happened so many times now that it's hard to feel too bad at this point i don't feel bad anymore
Andrew I say things wrong on purpose sometimes just to throw people off the trail.
Everett Well, I'll say, you know, I haven't had as much time with the Nemo as I'd have liked because I think Andrew assumes because I have an Emperor that I don't need to wear this watch and I'm kind of regretful of that. I'll say the bezel on this thing, that ceramic, that matte ceramic bezel is like nothing else out there. How did you guys come to those decisions, that decision on that matte ceramic bezel? I mean, I say, how did you come to it? Well, we decided, but maybe is there a story behind that?
Eric Well, you know, I know with talking with the guys about design, you know, I am all about matte colors, you know, matte dials and all that. I don't really care for, you know, really shiny materials. It just, for me, I just don't care for it. So I think that's kind of, I really pushed that. on them, you know, to go with that matte. You know, I think there's been some other companies that have used matte ceramic and I really liked how it looked. I think, again, Marlowe did it with their chronograph. They used a matte ceramic and I really liked the look that it gave.
Everett Well, it's incredible. It's really incredible. I will say, and I don't know if you guys know this, but listening to, I think, Two Broke Watch Snobs did an annual, like, award show I think that it was pretty tongue-in-cheek and jokey but they named the Nemo's Beads of Rice bracelet the the best bracelet of the year maybe the best Beads of Rice bracelet of the year I'm not sure which uh Beads of Rice seem to be kind of in this year and I thought you know at the time I was like that's that's an emperor bracelet you know um yeah you know is it pretty much the entire case uh bracelet the whole chassis is is the same as the emperor right yeah yeah so we just uh
Eric have a little bit different bezel, bezel insert, and then dial and hands, you know, case back, you know, you know, those little engravings and little details are a little bit different, but the the case and the bracelet are the same.
Everett And obviously the case is a little thinner because you have that 9015. It's actually the same.
Eric You know, that's that's one of the problems we, you know, we had or we were debating on. We're trying to decide, you know, should we upgrade to the you know, to the Miota and have a thinner movement, but still not utilize a thinner case. So, I mean, it is the same thickness as the NH35 case that is on the Emperor.
Everett I had it in my head that the projection on the bottom was a little bit less, a little bit less protrusion, but you're saying no.
Eric No, no, it's exact same. So, you know, I kind of wish that we could have talked the Emperor buyers into using the Miota so we could have thin that up a little bit but I think that's probably been one of the complaints that I've heard from some reviewers is that kind of mid case or a little extra case back sticking out. You know.
Andrew That's grasping at straws for a critic critique.
Everett It is and it would be my criticism too.
Eric Yeah on the wrist you don't notice it. You know on the wrist I don't especially with the bracelet I don't really notice it. Only time I really notice that that difference is if I throw it on a strap but Really with that bracelet, I don't really see any reason to take it off.
Everett Well, let me ask you this then. Do you know of any other watch company making, you know, Microbrand, big watch company, whoever making watches right now whose flagship diver is smaller than their flagship vintage chronograph?
Eric No. Yeah, we're a little backwards. So I think, you know, with the chronograph, you know, I was actually really pushing for the 38 millimeter using the the 1963 38 millimeter case. But Derek has a little bit bigger wrist, so he was really pushing. And so we kind of just came to terms to use the 42 instead. So that's kind of how that one worked out.
Everett Fair enough. That's not a jab, I'm just teasing, I guess.
Eric No, no. Yeah, yeah.
Andrew I love it in 38 too.
Eric Yeah, well, I tell you. So we're trying to work on it, but, you know, the manufacturer is working on a 40 millimeter case. And we're actually waiting to see how that turns out to see if we want to do a 40 millimeter or a 38. So there might be a smaller sized DL-63 in the future.
Everett Well, you know, we're all about 40 millimeter cases and 20 millimeter lug widths, so.
Eric Yeah, yeah.
Andrew So you mentioned a little bit something on the horizon. Is there anything that you guys are ready to share that you're working on?
Eric We started working on actually on our our original design, the dual crown GMT, but we're not quite ready to do much with it yet. So, I mean, we're still got a lot of work to do with it.
Everett Now, dual crown GMT, that means one of the crowns is going to control the GMT hand. One of the other crown controls the regular three hand movement. Is that right?
Eric No, no. So, it's going to work like a regular dual crown. You know, you're going to have your internal bezel. that will be rotated by the one crown and then everything, you know, from the watch standpoint would be from the other crown, you know, winding it and setting the time.
Everett So a static, a static 24 hour hand then?
Eric I mean, it depends on what the movement is.
Everett So. Sure. And you guys don't know that piece of the puzzle yet.
Eric No. Yeah. With the edit movements, you know, I think they're becoming harder to come by. I think Kyle, from Stratton has some, some connections. So, um, I've been in contact with him. So, um, we might be able to get a, at a movement in there. Otherwise we'll probably have to look at something like Salida or, or, you know, Rhonda courts or something.
Everett So it sounds like you, uh, you and Kyle over there at Stratton have a decent relationship. Have you, uh, you worked with those guys at all in the past on anything, or is that just a micro micro friendship?
Eric Yeah, just a micro, micro friendship. Another great micro brand owner is Sergio from Durenzo. He's been a great guy and he's got some really cool watches. You know, I commented a lot on his first design and, you know, I think he's been doing some cool things.
Everett Great. Any other micros that you think are just doing the goods right now?
Eric I think one that's not talked about, I actually really like their designs, but I haven't really had much conversation with is, I guess I don't even know how to say their name, is it Roe or Rue watches?
Everett Oh yeah, I think Rue is the pronunciation I hear. Yeah, they've got killer watches.
Eric Yeah, you know, I haven't really had too much contact with them other than, you know, asking for them to put one of their dials in a silver case rather than the black case, but... Right.
Everett Yeah, you know, DLC, I'm always intrigued by DLC cases, It seems, I just know I would scratch it up and I wouldn't like the patina. That's my suspicion. Be less clumsy. Yeah. Solution. I can't, you can't just become less clumsy. Probably not. I can't become less clumsy. Probably not. Any EMG DLC watches on the Horizon?
Eric No, I'm not really a big fan of the black case. I think we were considering it with the Horizon, At this point we're not going to move forward with that.
Everett Alright, so we've got a potential dual crown GMT, we've got a 40mm DL-63 in the potential workings. Anything else, any other EMG news you got for us right now?
Eric No, no, I think that's really about it.
Everett This is the period of the show where we usually go into other things, and I say usually as if that's not going to happen. It is going to happen. We're going to talk about some other things right now, and that's just sort of other things in our life that we're into or we're doing. Sometimes we talk about chicken wings or podcasts or all sorts of stuff. Do you have any other things that are happening in your life that you wanted to talk about?
Eric I don't know about anything that's really happening, but there's some things that I like. I do like, you know, relaxing with some video games. So I do play Xbox.
Everett And you're actually podcasting on an Xbox headset right now. Is that right?
Eric Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought that'd be probably the best option for for voice quality.
Everett I'll say the audio has been the audio, at least from from my end, has been great. So I think that that was a pretty that was a good move. That was a good move.
Eric Yeah, I also didn't really feel like holding a phone or trying to position a phone near my face, you know, for an extended period of time.
Everett You know, I think, you know, some folks do it, you know, with a microphone in front of the computer, but I think this... By some folks you mean us.
Andrew That's what we're doing currently.
Everett Yeah, you know, ProTrick, ProTip, ProTrick, Xbox headphone. What do you play on Xbox?
Eric I've been playing Black Ops. And I'm waiting for the Division to come out. So I'm hoping that they get some things right on the Division. So that's kind of a controversial game.
Andrew Does the new Black Ops have the same way that it did like 10 years ago, the Dead Ops Arcade, the overhead zombie shooter?
Eric No, no. Yeah, it doesn't have that. I'm not really into the zombie part. So I've been playing a lot of the Blackout.
Everett Now that's their big P2P battle. Yeah, they're Battle Royale. How's that? I've heard nothing but good stuff.
Eric Yeah, it's a lot of fun. It's very smooth compared to PUBG. I like PUBG as well. That was a fun game, but it does run smoother.
Everett We both played quite a bit of Fortnite when Fortnite sort of was in its everybody's playing it, oh my god days. We both played quite a bit, but it's one of those things and I don't know if if the black blackout is the same. But you know it seems like the folks that are good at it are so stinking good at it that I'm never going to be able to keep up.
Andrew Yeah I ran into that.
Everett Yeah I don't know.
Eric I don't know if there's as much skills involved as like in you know in that game. You know you don't have to build and you know you just go out there and shoot people. So I mean there's some strategy and there's some skill involved but I don't think there's as big a gap. You know I think because it's a pretty straightforward you know, shooter.
Andrew Sure. Sure. I was so bad at Fortnite. So bad.
Eric Yeah. Yeah. I've never played Fortnite. You know, I just never, I don't know. I just never gave it a shot. I didn't really think I would enjoy it that much. I prefer a little bit more realistic, I guess. Um, except for Gears of War. I was a big fan of Gears of War.
Everett I played, I played through the original Gears of War campaign like, like three times, I think. Yeah. I played Gears of War 2 at least once as well. I was never an Xbox guy. Womp womp. So Gears of War, do you remember the first time you met a howler in Gears of War?
Eric Yeah, yeah, probably.
Everett It was like four o'clock. Oh, man, that's so long ago, man. Super long ago. It was like four o'clock in the morning. I remember playing this thing four o'clock in the morning. I can't remember. I want to say I was in Kim and I's first apartment, you know, up way too late on a Saturday night or something playing Gears of War. It's black, quiet, raining. The stage is set. come into that room and I've never ever uh at any other time been like blood curdle like scared by a video game that first time you meet that howler and there's that screech like oh my gosh like my I remember my heart pumping and thinking I might have to I might have to turn I'm a grown-ass man I'm gonna have to turn this stupid video game turn some lights on and walk to the room
Eric Yeah, I feel like I've only had experience like that once, you know, it was with Dead Space. That was a pretty intense game.
Everett Sure. Resident Evil got me. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Some of those Resident Evil moments were pretty scary. Eric, sounded like you were about to say something and we cut you off.
Eric Oh, no, no. I think that was, I think that was all I had to say about that. All right.
Everett What about you, Andrew? Anything, any other stuff going on in your life?
Andrew Not really, man.
Everett You can't just not participate in the show.
Andrew Well, that's fair. So one thing, it was Valentine's Day this week, and my wife is... It's just one day. Well, it occurred this week. All right. Like, Wednesday was this week. It's just one day. All right. Anyway, shit. My wife and I have a Valentine's Day tradition that started, I think, the year after we got married. we order Chinese food, and we watch The Mummy. So we did that again this year. And it's... Who's in that movie? Brendan Fraser. That's what I thought. And Rachel Weisz. I think it holds up. I watch some of these old campy movies. I'm sure it does not. A couple times a year. Like I watch Jurassic Park probably every other month. That's a good one. I do the Indiana Jones trilogy.
Everett Wait, you watch Jurassic Park every other month? Easily, yeah. Like six times a year?
Andrew Maybe more. You're a great man. I just, I love that movie. But anyway, I watch The Mummy a couple times a year also, but we watch it every year on Valentine's Day, and it is such a great low-maintenance tradition. We go, we pick up food, we turn on this crappy old movie that I think holds up, anybody else can disagree with me, and you're wrong. And that's, that's our Valentine's Day tradition. No roses, no flowers, no expensive dinner, and I love that tradition.
Everett Wapner on Tuesdays. Yeah. All right. Well, so that's your other stuff.
Andrew That's my other thing. My Valentine's Day tradition. All right. This is our Valentine's Day special episode.
Everett Fucker. This is not the Valentine's Day episode. We don't do that. I just did it. All right. You know, some of you guys know, especially if you are a follow us on what you seek, you know, keep keep in with that. weekly thread we keep the whatever it keeps i don't do it i've showed up once yeah i think you said this popped in once and you were like hey and then never to be seen again um but you know we keep on f71 we we maintain a thread about the show um you know basically just give people a chance to interact and and if they if they have comments or corrections i think a lot of our our show corrections have been from the f71 thread but um if if you follow that you'll know that we've been sort of informally thinking about the idea of a video and not a shift to video as it were, uh, but supplementing the podcast with video reviews, you know, we, we're going to become YouTubers. Y'all we, we get folks like, like Eric or, uh, you know, even just random folks that say, Hey, you know, you guys talked about this watch. I have want to be willing to send it to you or, or brands. Eric, um, has sent us some watches here that we've had for a you know, probably way longer than he wanted us to at this point. You guys are good. Thanks for that. We appreciate that.
Andrew But you only sent us three, right? Just three. Right.
Everett But, you know, I think trying to figure out what we're going to do for reviews, you know, are we going to are we going to start a website? Are we going to do video YouTube reviews? And, you know, one of the things we've thought about is just trying to, you know, try and to do some YouTube videos. Obviously we have zero YouTube audience. So that's going to be something that, you know, gets built over time. And I think we probably start off with some video reviews of, of either watches we own or older watches, you know, just to sort of get the wheels turning.
Andrew But, um, we're also not attractive, so it's not like we're gonna be able to generate viewership.
Everett No, right. I mean, we might, we might lose listeners. I didn't realize you looked like that. Um, but yeah, so, So that's actually not our other stuff. My other stuff is I bought a fucking microphone for my camera today. I bought a shotgun mic. It's a, it's a Rode, an Australian company called Rode. And they're pretty much the only player in the shotgun microphone game. There's some other companies that are making mics, but Rode is, is the company and they make microphones from $60 to, you know, $300 and more. that all accomplish the same thing. You know, essentially they're cold shoe mics. They plug into the side of your camera and they, and they record audio directional audio. Uh, I picked one of these things up. I got, this is a, you know, I think it was 99 bucks. It's a road Mike go road Mike go. Um, and it's a, it's a cold shoe mic. It's got its own sort of built in suspension system. Um, it's doesn't have a battery, which I love. I think that's the, the go portion is there's no battery. Uh, you just plug it in. It, it runs on the camera's power. Um, and you know, I took some videos today. My kids are in Chinese immersion school, so they learn, um, all these songs in Chinese. And then we have to go to things like Asian celebrations to hear them sing, which, uh, the food is very good, even though I can't eat it. Um, it smells great though. Right, it does smell very good. Did you bring me a doggie bag? So I brought this thing today and I pointed it at my kids and took some video and got some audio and it's killer. I mean, super easy to use. I was actually really impressed with how, you know, I've got this, you know, 85-year-old Nikon DSLR. It weighs so much. This lens, man, you could curl this lens. Well, that's a sweet lens. That's the 17-55. It's super fast. It's probably the best DX lens ever made. and Uh, you know, whatever. Uh, so, you know, figure out how to get some stable video. You know, obviously if I'm shooting watches or whatever, I'll be on a tripod, but I'm, I'm excited about it. I feel like first watch video, I don't know what it will be. First watch video, probably coming out in the next month. I'd say I'm going to do something. I'm going to record something and I'm just going to fucking publish it because the time has come. It has. Maybe I'll try to do, maybe I'll try to do this horizon here, Eric, before we send it back.
Eric Yeah, that sounds good. I'd like to see you. All right, man. I'd like to see that.
Everett If you guys send it back, you know. Yeah, well, like I said, it does have Andrew's name on the back of it now. That's a deep engraving, Andrew. I used to chisel. You know, yeah, we'll figure out what to do with that later, so. Well, Andrew, do you have anything else?
Andrew I know, Eric, well, besides saying, Eric, thank you so much for coming on here. Thank you for sharing with us these watches. Thank you for sharing with us your story. This was super fun for us. I loved being able to get my hands on these watches. They've always really excited me, and being able to put my hands on them, I can tell you they're even better in the metal than in pictures.
Everett Yeah. Yeah, concur. Thanks so much for coming on. I mean, Eric, any closing thoughts from you?
Eric You know, I'm just happy to be considered to be on your show. I mean, it's been listening to you guys for a little while now. I had some trouble getting to your podcast, but now that I got on them, you know, it's You guys are putting out some good stuff. So, you know, we appreciate you saying so. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah.
Andrew Might be the only one who thinks that, but we'll take it. Yeah. Yeah.
Eric You know, one of 10 listeners now.
Everett So right. Exactly. Exactly. Well, but the first one who's not related to one of us, I think. So yeah, that's good. And in our family, big, big watch buyers, our families.
Eric Yeah. So like, man, hopefully I'll be looking out for some sales from all of them.
Everett So fantastic. Well, as Andrew said, thanks so much for joining us. We really appreciate you coming on, telling us about your watches and looking forward to seeing what's next and maybe having you back on here when you can tell us all about your new Dual Crown GMT.
Eric Yeah, thanks guys.
Everett All right. Well, and to all of you, thank you for joining us for another hour of 40 in 20. Don't forget to tune back in next Thursday for another hour of watches, food, drinks, life, and other things we like. Our music today is Bummin' on Tremolo by Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech.com, licensed under creative commons by attribution 3.01.
Eric Bye!