Bezel's Quaid Walker live from Geneva: Rolex Land Dweller steals the show at Watches and Wonders

launched but I want to hear about PC. I want to hear about Rolex Landweller. I want to hear about everything Quaid has to say. So break it down for us Quaid. How you doing? What's going on? It's James Bond day. I hope you I hope you have your your your uh your gun because we're all secret agents today on the internet.

Uh what's going on? Uh what time is it over there for you? It's 9:48 p. m. in Geneva. I'm in uh a tiny little Geneva hotel, so apologies for the background, but we're on the ground. You look great. Uh yeah, break it down. What is going on? Why is everyone in Geneva? Uh what's what's going on in the world of watches?

Yeah, it's watches and wonders right now. So, it's kind of like the biggest year or biggest week in watches for the year typically. Uh it's when the watch world comes together, a lot of the brands come out and they reveal the new models, discontinuations, and everyone comes out here and and nerds out together.

So, what what's making a splash? Like what are the biggest announcements? And then what are the what are the announcements that I might have seen that are kind of overrated? Yeah. So, it's it's typically a time when when brands like Rolex and PC come out and they announce like iterative improvements on their models.

Uh I'm sure a lot of you folks have started to see a lot of the press coming out of it. We got quite a splashy year specifically around Rolex. It's not very common for them to come out and release a new model. Uh and so they dropped the Landwell dweller.

Uh and it's definitely like penetrating popular culture a little bit more. where I was in LAX on my way here and a bunch of people who clearly don't talk about watches were talking about the Land Dweller and that excited me. But um so that was the big splashy one.

Uh first model, what's what's the hardcore enthusiast collector reaction to the Land Dweller? I look at it, I'm like, "Okay, you took, you know, the best of AP and you combined it with uh, you know, a Day Date and that seems like probably like it's going to sell well, right? I just look at the bracelet.

" But like as as a you know, a very much like a hobbyist enthusiast, you know, I'm curious what the sort of on the ground reaction is to the new model. Yeah, I think there's like the consumer reaction and then there's like the the nerd reaction.

I think the consumerfified one is like integrated bracelet homage to the late '7s Oyster quartz. I think Jordy, you're spot on there.

Like it's the first moment in a long time or maybe ever where I think Rolex is building a fully integrated bracelet that like really puts a model directly in the Royal Oak Nautilus category. And so Rolex has been largely dominant without doing that.

And and so now that you have a bracelet where I'm wearing a Royal Oak today, like I haven't put on the Land Dweller, but does it make sense to have both in my collection? And I think it's like you started to ask that question which is is quite exciting for the watch nerds.

Uh they released a new caliber with it, the 7135 which has a new escapement in it. And so like for most people they're going to buy the watch cuz it's a hype new Rolex. I'm sure every every 80s line's getting blown up right now. Uh but for the watch nerds, it's just a really efficient new escapement.

It's uh pretty exciting to see it come out. For the notwatch nerds in the room, like the escape mint regulates the hairspring.

the hairspr is what you're winding to power the watch and it's kind of being regulated and releasing and that's what's driving power to the gears and so super nerdy but uh to have a moment where they not just make a new model and make it exciting but they also invest in kind of the technology and and push the innovation forward in the watch perspective and then to have the confidence to drop a new caliber and a new uh uh escapement in like a sport watch uh I think it's just kind of a ballsy Rolex move so I think the watch world likes it.

I think everyone wants to like it. That's cool. I'm curious, how do you guys think about estimating how these things are going to price? Obviously, as soon as an AD releases a land dweller from their hands into a consumer's hands, some of them will get listed on bezel immediately.

Do you have any sort of sense of how this is going to price? It's a little bit different than seeing a new GMT, you know, release where it's a different color way, but there's it's certainly not a new model.

Yeah, it's it's uh it'll be interesting and I think like it's very hyped and it falls like right into the hype stream and everyone's going to want this. I'm sure '8s lines are are getting absolutely blown up. It's also expensive at retail. It's a $14,000 watch, I think, is the the retail on it.

So, like, you know, it's 1,500 bucks more to get a Daytona at retail. Granted, those are obviously impossible to get, so it's not even real numbers. Whenever Rolex drops a new model, specifically one that's desired, you pay a premium to wear it first.

And so I'm sure if you want to be courtside, you know, wherein you're your first land dweller, you're going to pay an insane premium on that. I would not be surprised if these things are are selling like well over double retail. That probably seems like the entry ticket even at a stable market, but we'll see.

It's like, you know, there's not a lot of hyped datejs out there. Even the hyped datejs are still trading in the mid- teens. So it's certainly a new market. Uh but I think it's going to be pretty frothy, my guess.

Can you talk about some of the other launches and how they've been received uh either this year or specifically at Watches and Wonders? Yeah, so I think like it's been interesting like uh usually what ends up happening is like I I mentioned you'll drop a watch, it'll be popular even if it's like a funky watch.

Like we saw the the Day Date with the emoji, you know, I saw a Tetris one that was kind of wild. Yeah. Like it's crazy, but because there's inherent scarcity and it's hype, do you end up seeing these things trade for insane figures?

I think there's a lot of other really exciting ones that that dropped this year, they don't touch the Land Dweller, but it was kind of a theme of really interesting color dials. You had the the Sprite get kind of the big brother, the the green and black GMT that's a left-handed.

I never thought I like I thought they were going to launch that model and then discontin it because it just inherently was weird in a Destro. Um, but we got a white gold version of it with the first ceramic dial that Rolex has ever made. It's all green. It looks kind of hulky meets the sprite. That's exciting.

Uh, you got this crazy iron stone, tiger iron stone dial for the full gold rupier, which is like gemology mix of tiger's eye and all these other crazy metal or crazy stones. Um, OP Colors got some new ones. They brought in like a hyped turquoise dial in the Daytona.

So, it seems like they're investing in technology, but they're also playing like right into the hype cycle and giving color dials and things that are strong. How are some of the holy trinity brands playing watches and wonders? I saw a launch from Vashron. I saw some PC news that you guys broke down on your X account.

Uh, can you give me just an overview of like how big is this year for each of the holy trinity? Yeah, it's not it's not quite the level of Rolex, I would say. Like obviously Vashron's had a big year with the 222s. U kind of riding that lightning.

As far as PC goes, we got the 6196P, the the newest iteration of the Kalatraa. The watch world loves it. It's kind of being hailed as the, you know, best modern Katraa we've seen in a really long time. It has that amazing salmon dial that the market loves.

So, still active, but I would say like more like a normal year than uh kind of Rolex having the standout new model. What is the general sentiment like industry sentiment right now on the ground? We obviously had the COVID zer boom and then things crashed.

There's a lot of models that are down 50%, they're obviously still trading, you know, high, you know, above retail. But, uh, is the sentiment good even though we're maybe back to like a new normal, but the new normal is just like, you know, sort of higher than than, you know, 2019, let's say. Exactly.

Like, I think the the hype models are still hyped. They're still trading well above retail. you know, Daytona 155 retail is still trading in the low30s. It's not a $55,000 watch anymore, but you know, it's still trading at a meaningful premium, still very hard to get.

Uh, and I think, you know, the correction that we saw over the last two years actually, in many ways, I think accelerated the market. You have a lot of people that were watching the price of a Daytona being $55,000 and just feel prohibitive to enter the market there.

now all of a sudden see the watch at the low 30s and they either feel like they're buying the dip or they just want the watch well enough that they are willing to make that price at that point. So, uh we're seeing a lot of energy come back in the market on our side. Last month was the best month we've ever had ever.

So, uh you know, we continue to grow. Congratulations. We love growth here. We have to shout that out. It's fantastic. Congratulations. Thanks, guys. But, uh, yeah, so I think the market's still frothy and it's there, um, a little bit less speculative than it's ever been.

I think people saw the highs and they saw the drop and now they're, you know, being more careful, but still a lot of watches to be bought. We love a little bit of froth. Not as big on speculation, but I love a little bit of froth. We love the froth. Uh, is there anything else? Anything else? Uh, yeah.

Anything else that's been anything surprising from from this trip so far that or is it all kind of expected? all all what you'd expect. It's always fun to see everyone in Geneva walk rocking the most buyer watches ever and they're just casually on the street.

I had lunch today and I think I saw two crashes, a bunch of open works like all sitting in the same vicinity. So cool. Um and it's fun to see how the stuff regulates on the secondary market. Like we're already seeing these celebration dials like you know they're they used to be trading in the mid- teens.

we have a seller that's opportunistically listing them in the 30s now trying to get this the speculative buyers to be ready to move but then we're also still selling them you know in the low 20s right so like it'll everything will shoot up immediately and then it'll find its way down and if it's a hyped model the celebration model or dial is inherently a crazy watch like it's I people who rock it hats off to them because it's an impressive watch to be able to pull off but um for the ones that have staying power and they're discontinued and have a lot of demand obviously the price shoots up can you talk about some of the smaller brands, what's going on with FPJO and some of the more challengers, the upandcomers, the brands that folks might not have necessarily heard of uh but are making big splashes in the last few years.

What are they doing at Watches Wonders and what are they doing generally?

Yeah, so I think most of the brands are here um even some of the big brands like tend to be a little bit quiet even not just the independents like uh um like AP didn't participate in watches and wonders but did like some quiet announcements of new ceramic colors and things like that. Yeah, I went today.

There's a a small little just just one step back. Is that like interpersonal dynamics? Like they don't like who runs the show? Like why why why do you decide to not be at the biggest, you know, watch event of the year?

I don't know if they I don't have like the nuance there and and I don't know if like reps and them are not participating and things like that, but I just know like they're not making as big of a presence as as uh other brands are. And I think that's just like a selective choice.

But obviously they announced they love the ceramics and they announced a new blue ceramic that is aligned with the color of a specific sky in a Swiss valley. Um, which is very AP and super cool of them. Um, so yeah, they're just doing their thing.

And on the independent side, uh, there's a fair actually next to Watches and Wonders. They're in the same little area by the Geneva airport that is focused on specifically independence.

And so I actually spent time there today and you're kind of working with, you know, brands like Ming and and kind of these like new up and cominging brands that are doing really cool stuff.

So uh you get a mix where it's a fun moment where I think a lot of attention is brought into the watch world of watches and wonders. And I think, you know, rising tide rises all ships in this kind of stage. That's awesome. Love it, dude. Well, thank you for joining at at 10 p. m. your time.

Have a great rest of your trip. And thank you for responding to John and I at all hours of the day. Every time we have watch questions with with like the most obscure wrist checks. Hey, we we we we saw this VC with this watch. Let us know what it is. And you're always the best. We appreciate it. Watches.

I am I am available 24/7. So, thank you. Yeah, it's been it's been fantastic working with you and partnering with you. You're the man. Have a great Have a great rest of your trip. Yeah. Safe travels. Talk soon. Bye. Good timing. Uh, so much watch news.

I'm glad we were able to have him on as our official watch correspondent. I I love this stuff. Uh, well, next up we have Sarah Guo coming into the Temple of Technology talking about She runs a fantastic AI podcast. If you're not familiar, also a big time investor.

Um, and uh, wasn't she the reason that uh, Andrew Reed joined SEOA? Wasn't that the