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David interviews Ben Arthur of Ben's Watch Club, In The Loop, and the In The Loop newsletter about building a trusted voice in affordable watches and why the hobby doesn't require luxury spending. Ben explains how he pivoted from menswear content after receiving fashion watches, then started making honest reviews in response to "suspect" influencer coverage; he also briefly ran a one-to-one YouTube coaching business before focusing fully on his watch channels. They discuss the hard work behind channel growth, the motivational impact of a WatchCrunch "love letter," and why a follow-up Spaghetti Scametti parody watch is unlikely. Ben says he owns few luxury watches, critiques low-quality offerings from brands like Sekonda and Fossil, argues Seiko is moving upmarket via discontinuations and scarcity marketing, outlines when limited editions feel justified, and describes how Chinese brands evolved from clones to more original designs, with microbrand highlights like Vaer, Nezumi, Zelos, and Merkur. He closes with advice to avoid debt and ignore pressure to "level up" to Rolex, emphasizing that great watches exist at lower prices.

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David Newman interviews Ryan Thomas of The Lucky Loupe (luckyloupe.com), a high-volume vintage watch buyer/seller/trader with over 17,000 eBay sales, about how early exposure to his father's American pocket watches and later interest sparked by Heuer dash timers for his British racing green Triumph TR3 led him into vintage watches. Thomas explains how flipping hobbies evolved into a full-time business after COVID, prompting him to leave construction project management. He shares vintage-watch guidance: build knowledge through reading, handle watches in person, and learn from trusted NAWCC connections; reputation and dealer trust heavily influence pricing and quick flips. They discuss cash-driven show culture, sourcing via shows and inbound offers, using specialized independent watchmakers, defining "vintage" (often '80s/'90s, plexiglass feel), and favorite categories/brands (chronographs, divers; Omega, Rolex; A. Lange Cabaret), plus perspectives on Gruen, Bulova, and vintage Seiko and advice to buy from non-watch sellers to avoid pieced-together examples.

00:00 Meet Ryan Thomas
00:55 Early Watch Spark
01:50 From Hobby To Hustle
02:48 First Vintage Favorites
04:00 Going Full Time
04:44 Vintage Watch Basics
06:42 NAWCC Show Breakthrough
09:15 Defining Vintage Today
10:34 What Sells And Why
12:02 Flipping And Dealer Edge
14:59 Cash Rules The Shows
16:46 Reputation Matters
17:23 Being Young in NAWCC
18:47 Building a Watchmaker Network
19:53 Gruen Art Deco Gems
21:52 Bulova Design Golden Age
22:55 Vintage Seiko Picks
25:23 Where He Sources Watches
26:41 Estate Sale Reality Check
27:43 Advice for New Collectors
29:29 Where to Find Lucky Loupe

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Hilary Jay joins David Newman to discuss her wild journey from wearing heirloom diamond watches in college to cofounding Maximal Art, a brand that pioneered the "watch bracelet" and reached 2,000 stores worldwide. Hilary shares how a chance connection with the Thompson Twins in 1980s London turned a hobby of making collages into a global business that adorned stars like Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. She pulls back the curtain on the "Watch Bracelet" phenomenon, revealing how her designs ended up in prestigious museums like the Louvre and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The conversation takes a dramatic turn as Hilary recounts the "Great Radium Recall," where OSHA with Geiger counters discovered her vintage dead stock dials were radioactive. From celebrity parties in Paris to navigating high stakes product recalls, Hilary illustrates how a career in design is like a game of "Barrel of Monkeys," where every unique pivot leads to the next adventure.

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 : Early Connections

• Hilary remembers wearing Victorian diamond watches from her grandmother as bracelets in college.
• She explains why it never mattered if those early watches actually worked as long as they were beautiful jewelry.

02:26 : Meeting John Wind

• How a college friendship built on date nights making collages turned into a global business partnership.
• The journey from art school in England to finding unique pieces at the Bricklane Flea Market.

03:51 : The Thompson Twins

• The unexpected phone call from Alana of the Thompson Twins that launched a jewelry company.
• Delivering handmade pieces to Paris and partying all night with 1980s rock stars.

06:06 : The Jewelry Collage

• Discovering watch dials in bags of junk and embedding them in resin with pearls and chains.
• How Maximal Art became known for jewelry collage and produced thousands of unique pieces.

08:45 : The Watch Bracelet

• Finding a box of non-functional watches from a lawyer with a side gig in watch repair.
• The birth of the watch bracelet which eventually landed in the collection of the Louvre.

10:25 : Influencer Marketing

• Using old fashioned PR to get jewelry onto album covers and into the hands of Michael Jackson.
• Why giving away pieces to celebrities like Janet Jackson and Patti LaBelle was the ultimate growth strategy.

12:51 : The Functionality Shift

• Transitioning from purely cosmetic pieces to watches that actually served a horological purpose.
• The challenge of finding manufacturers and the risk of being knocked off by your own factory.

20:28 : The Radium Crisis

• The terrifying moment OSHA showed up at a retail store with Geiger counters to test her jewelry.
• Executing a massive recall across Neiman Marcus and Saks after discovering dead stock dials were radioactive.

25:55 : Advice for Makers

• Hilary shares the reality of the trade show market and the challenge of building a business today.
• Why finding your bliss is more important than chasing big financial returns in a small enterprise.

30:44 : The Barrel of Monkeys

• Viewing a multifaceted career as a series of iterations that hook into one another.
• Why the ability to iterate and use design thinking is the secret to a long and interesting career.

A watch does not have to work to be a masterpiece, but it probably should not be radioactive.
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• Know exactly what matters (and what doesn't) before you spend a dollar
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