Talking Watches 2 With John Mayer

you to turn let's listen listen when a watch movement turns this crunchy that that the teeth on these gears are brand-new [Music] John Mayer five years later yeah from the original talk and watches how many talking watches have you done so far we have done 45 episodes of talking watches and you were the first Wow and little did we know that it would become what it is today I mean now it's really our flagship property yep it's great and we shot that video in a cafe in New York City on a day that you were in town I think to do Letterman or something like that that's right and yeah really no thought given to it and now here we are you know since then it's become a little bit more understood the sort of notion of showing your watch is off yeah I'm being more of a historical based sort of passion based thing and not like hey look what I got you know it's not really supposed to be like a flex as the kids call it it's cool to see people accept someone showing off their collection yeah as more than just showing off yeah showing well and a lot of these watches that we'll see today you've had for for a long time I mean even longer than then who Dinky's been around yeah longer than ten years and I think that's important to point out that the value or whatever people say are of some of these watches would make them prohibitive for me to own all these now and so we have a lot of Daytona's here yes so the Daytona is a big part of what you do what you love we go through a few yeah absolutely why don't we start with this guy here this is a six two six five so fairly later on into the lifespan of the Daytona and of course there is a burning passionate love for Arab branded dial the Rolex especially Daytona and this has the Omani conjure I believe the continent and it's in the six sub dial it's green it's kind of pot leafy there's something about it from afar it's a little pot leafy is it not I could see that I could definitely see that we're talking about red silver and black yeah and then the striking contrast of green I think that's what really draws me it really does interrupts the design in a way that's exciting to me you know and you could say the same for this is another six to 65 with a doesn't say Rolex anywhere doesn't say Rolex anywhere on it I mean how how much do you think of your brand to go hey get that Rolex brand off there which is something that just would never happened it would never happen today so it represents somebody doing a custom order with Rolex and we've seen history dictate that that's happened but it really doesn't happen very often anymore it almost never happens anymore but I mean even this this was for you know royal family members this was not like a just a wealthy guy driving this you know and how long have you had these two watches ten years about ten years and they were in a trade there were three Arab dial sport Rolexes and a trade for what for one paddock five thousand for a white gold baton you know a very good version of the five thousand four but did pretty well in that one and what is this guy so as we're seeing Paul Newman Daytona's become astronomically high in value I'm looking towards no-nonsense non Paul Newman Daytona's and they really I think to me are taking the place of what Paul Newman Daytona's were but now to where one outside of the house is is kind of crazy it is and there's a jeans and t-shirt quotient to this watch there's also a unisex quality to it and this reminds me of an era that I was dreaming of making it and so I was a kid dreaming of making it when these watches were in catalogs we all want to make it in the year in which we most dreamed of it totally and and by simple virtue of time you don't get a chance to do that now you you end up if you're lucky making it but years after you first had that aesthetic in your mind of what it was going to be like and these watches remind me of what it must have been like to have a brand new gold Rolex in 1985 that's would have been what time it was around 84 85 and you have a little piece of where you would have been if you really did make it when you were nine and this is a 6-2 6-4 6-2 6-4 you could call it a panda dial except for the red Daytona right right but you could get away with calling it a panda dial there's something about the intersection of pump pusher panda ask Paul Newman not an oyster basically a 6 2 4 1 dial in one of these really strange transitional reference number lives yeah made for one year like 1992 and that's it yeah so if you're one of these collectors who likes a bunch of little asterisks next to the thing well you could have a 6 to 3 9 you can have a 6 2 or 1 or 1 but you start getting into these little this is that third kiss is that third tier of things like well no this is a six to six for also serviced and super clean - yeah and if we're gonna stay in six to six fours you got this guy as well which trades being a Paul Newman for being something some might say is far more interesting and what is it it is a pulsation dial on the outer track used theoretically by doctors to measure beats per minute if someone's hard it's not hard to imagine the lifestyle the person who wore the watch mice was a doctor who must have been a watch collector yep and must have said hey I wanted a tone over the pulsation dial totally there are probably less than 10 of these that are later verified is real known and it actually really it's interesting because every other Daytona was made at scale right I'm even the Paul Newman 1000 there they had a template they would just kind of snap them out this there's a few different variations of them and we seem like you know two or three of these and that's it of each variation so this is a really special Daytona and it doesn't look like much from afar it looks like a norm for one couldn't tell but I mean this is more valuable to most and then an oyster Paul Newman for my money it's just one of the most interesting novel quirky and also aesthetically beautiful Daytona's that there are yep that as I said it's really in the upper echelons of Daytona collecting and you have some other vintage Daytona's here that really are kind of the benchmark firfer collectible they don't yeah they're they're the I didn't know it at the time really but they have become the cornerstone of collection I mean I can't lie it's been amazing to watch the numbers go up on them remember I was buying watches and trying to impress upon people around me that I promise I'm not crazy right so I would you know email the you know a business manager and be like can you please I promise you this is important can you please just can you can we get this it's like a business manager for those who don't know is a dad that you hire to ask for money right so for me when I see that something has gone exponentially higher than what I paid for it my first thought is people aren't gonna think I was crazy for spending that much money in the first place right so we're talking about the six two six nine and the six two seven zero these are the original rainbow date down there these are the original rainbows certainly this is the original Baggett pave dial Daytona there is differing takes on how many there were made of these I've heard eight right what have you heard so for the longest time I heard eight then I heard ten then I heard eight again so nobody has any idea between eight and ten and I have to tell you this must have sat in a safe because to turn listen listen listen when a watch movement turns this crunchy that that the teeth on these gears are brand-new and these are really the the rarest of the rare manually wound Daytona's and to see the 6-2 6-2 7 and 0 next to each other that's not something you see often no six two six nine is the princess cut diamond bezel version I think all would agree well maybe you would say that the six 270 is a his and the six nine is a hers yep and that's dreaming about a life I certainly don't have but man would that be fun which is a great segue into the actual Rainbow Daytona which you wear all the time I don't quite know who the target audience is if you're just looking at the aesthetic you could imagine you know but there is something about them that when people see in person they all kind of give in and go yeah I get it yeah I got it and when these first came out everybody thought they were too much the attitude on a rainbow Daytona when they first came was yuck who would do that I would go so far and something happened that's brilliant where the joy of collecting superseded the craziness of the design of these watches and I remember referencing Jay Leno you know Jay Leno is a real inspiration as a collector to me because I we used to go to Tonight Show performances and Jay Leno's parking spot would have a different vehicle in it every day and sometimes it would be like a 1920s firetruck right and you started to learn after year after year after year that Jay Leno could drive anything he wanted and it would make sense because he was such an enthusiast and I do believe that if you are a big enough enthusiasts of Rolex that you can understand the rarity of the piece and also the rarity of the thought behind creating the piece absolutely you can then wear the watch as a collector more than someone who goes I just I just believe I'm the guy who should be wearing an entire gradient circle of sapphires yeah I think that's me I see a lot of myself in diamond set lugs you don't you keep the story the way it is and you wear it for several reasons and then after wearing it for a while you go I actually kind of like it you've got to modern Daytona's here that you think could be something special down the road yes so I really enjoy finding what I call sleeper hits watches that are release same as anything else but are usually eclipsed by a higher demand for a watch next to it and I look at it and I go did you guys not notice this just came out yeah and I get them for that reason the same year believe it was 2016 that the ceramic bezel Daytona comes out Rolex releases a white gold and a yellow gold Daytona with a blue and green dial respectively any other year before if we had found out that Rolex was going to put out on an all metal watch right a colored dial I just went how does nobody notice this and I bought this from a dealer from an authorized dealer I'm an authorized dealer and he sent it to me and he said well you're pretty crazy because I just found out that we can't get another one of these for a really long time and people kind of want it I went yeah I know I enjoy looking past the hype I'm going wait a minute that is empirically really special so it's objectively rare it's yes so I believe if you're out there and you care about what my picks are the green dial gold Daytona is still out there yeah still floating around and it's the future thing that I think people are gonna go why didn't we know cuz look if we're if we're constantly looking back knowing why didn't we know there have to be future iterations of why didn't we know that we can act on now and the same thing maybe to a slightly lesser degree but it's a midnight blue full white gold except everybody goes so wild for the strap or the ceramic Daytona yeah that they miss that wait a minute the real Holy Grail the real cup of a carpenter are these that's an Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade reference then the dealer said to me he looked up at me and he was all the guy who looked up and he said you have chosen wisely and people over 40 would love that so let's finish off the e Rolexes we've got a sub a few subs actually yes I'm a big collector of Comex Submariner and sea dwellers in the last video you showed a sixteen eighty comment yes which I still love has a great story behind it well the original Comex is what's called a 55:14 reference and that would be the prototype to the sea dweller and that would be a Submariner with a helium gas escape valve why do I love that so much because it would be really hard to fake it it'd be really hard to take a 55-13 yeah install your own helium escape valve you know those garage helium escape valve jobs and stamp it comics on the back right and so that is the perfect example of a Comex which is Comex a french diving a team needs a watch they can saturation dive deeper than a Submariner and so this is Rolexes and answer which is well here's a submariner that we think solves the problem right and this one looks just like a normal 55 30 great faded bezel it's a perfect bag box it's it's a perfect dive watch and it's a perfect added value watch if you enjoy like I do the sort of diamonds on the inside thing to quote a Ben Harper the lyric that I've always remembered it's like these little tiny elements that help you realize it looks basic but it's not basic and want to go back all the way to the very beginning to what 1953 now 53 54 so there is your very first Submariner before they called it a Submariner right so it doesn't even say it's American say it's a mariner what do you have you have a no crown guard big crown xplory 6 9 this would be the very very first Rolex dive watch yeah no hash marks on the millville so this is like a 54 Fender Stratocaster to me this is this is the watch that birthed and a lot of ways every other dive watch you've seen since so a lot of these watches a lot of the vintage Rolex is you've had for a long time ten years plus and then you transition kind of quickly into Patek Phillipe and so when I think of you and when I first got to know you Patek Phillipe was what you were all about yes and I think the first time I met you you were wearing this watch which I still think of as one of your watches it is one of my favorite pieces fifty nine seventy one fifty nine seventy one this is the very end of the lomani a baseplate movement era of Patek Phillipe and as we get to know their thinking a little more we realize in the way that the 59 60 coming out and platinum first was their way of celebrating their new in-house movement this to me is graduation day for lomani a movement era perpetual I'm padding when you see it in pictures you might say that's just a watch with diamonds around it when you see it in person it all adds up and makes perfect sense you know remember the 5970 like the 3970 as these American courier typewriter font numbers that I love I love the American courier typewriter font on on a perp it is 80s banker wolf of wallstreet nonsense it really is and I really love it I don't know about the lifestyle but I think the aesthetic is really cool so similar to the 59 71 the five thousand four plays a big part in your collection we got a bunch of them you love it the power of the five thousand four lies in how big the crown is would they push her in the middle of the crowd it is stunning when you show somebody the split second time or function whether you're into watches or not they go wow that's cool it's a neat thing for different metals in three or four different dials we have different metals so you can't this deal if you count the steel six if you count the titanium sold at the one watch right it is five medals this is new for me on talking watches because I'm showing a piece unique that was made for me by Patek and this was made 2012 this is a salmon dial five thousand four with my name engraved on the back at the factory not the factory yeah I decided to go with mr. JC Mayer I felt that was very much in the Patek style it's also again I am NOT mr. JC Mayer but in the fantasy of the man I am when I wear these watches I am mr. JC man nowhere else in my life a man mr. JC Mayer and the most interesting part about the watch that I requested luminous hands and I said I would like to be able to see the watch on stage right in the dark I'd like to be able to read the time in the dark and there's completely reasonable it's completely reasonable and they agreed to it and so I believe I have the only five thousand four with luminous hands yes and how many times have you worn that on stage yeah zero times but I thought the request well but also it's a it's a you sweat right through one of these bands you want to get a stinky band you just you you wear these on stage and I probably will wear it one night when I'm playing real close to home yeah this doesn't travel on the bus people driver carries no more than twenty dollars in change so this is the first time I've shown off a piece unique I don't necessarily make a habit of opening up that part of the story but I kind of feel like if everyone is showing off these pieces they have why not just why not just one up and go well I've boarded a piece unique stuff now what there's just not another one yeah I also want to say this you don't see leather straps on the hip-hop guys or actors or you know musicians so you see Nautilus you see you know they're basically Nautilus yes you know but once you cross that barrier into leather straps and I think a lot of people don't see themselves as being a leather strap person and that's more to my point of like yeah I'm not either but that's why wearing it is taking a jump into another lifestyle to wear it but I just saw post Malone with one I was in the studio with Travis Scott at a 51:31 world time no kidding and so people are starting to go there Kevin Hart so that's really interesting to start moving into there it doesn't get serious until it has leather on it you know or in this case rubber or rubber right and that sort of takes us into the watches I've worn the most right over the last five years ap about ten years ago put out there first concept and since then sort of been releasing these watches that are hyper-technical they get their power from being a little different and the watch I've won the most one of the watches I've won the most is the white ceramic GMT it's the perfect summer watch that watch has been in my wrist more times on stage with dad and company probably been any other watch it's light but it's big yeah and much like this one which is the latest purchase I've made of AP which is the self-winding Turbie on AP right now is on it with these watches much in the way that rashard meal is but with like a hundred years behind it and for whatever reason you know we buy watches to kind of get kicked in the crotch and a certain day you know what I mean yeah you go oof you know you buy something you go oof but you're kind of buying the thrill of going oh look at this how am I gonna explain this and I gotta say whatever that original buzz is when you first get to watch when it comes to AP technical pieces never goes away I still I've had that for a couple years three years almost now I could still put it on and go out and feel like I just got it nothing that it offers you melts away over time yeah I also just loved the idea of you wearing this watch onstage with a Grateful Dead and the that's like a absurd thing funny you would mention that so the first thought would be well you're so different how could you do that and the other one is well a Grateful Dead was so different from everyone else around that yeah so you're keeping up at least with the concept of being yourself and being different so that would be like me you know we're only looking to become more truthful versions of ourselves you're and you have a manually wound derby on as well this is my one of the most worn watches as well this is what I think is the boutique exclusive version of the extra thin tur Beyond in gold with a matching gold dial remember I love it turn me on because it is a bunch of technology to be a wall clock it does nothing more than tell you the hours and the minutes but the process to that is so rude Goldberg device it really is I love it it is so it's like Flintstones remember I like the Flintstones like the remote control would be you press a button in the bird has to go to the TV and change like there is all this mousetrap stuff happening just so the most simple aspect of time telling can take place and I believe a pees rose gold mix is the finest rose gold color of all the manufacturers I just do you wear all the APS all the time what else do you wear often well let's tell the story of the day you and I both met at the Rolex boutique in New York City had a couple drinks yeah we did and walked in the Rolex boutique and both bought ourselves the white gold GMT of course everyone knows I think a GMT is just the greatest I think in some ways it's kind of cooler than a Daytona application was a GMT is so exciting it's world ready it's like let's go yeah it really is and I decided to have the back engraved with a Grateful Dead steel your face steely on the back I've been in the band long enough now that I can kind of admit that it was always a little secret talisman on my wrist a little good luck to myself sure a little don't screw this up you know I was engraved upside down a lot of engravers when they grave the back of a watch believed that the crown being on the right would be the back of the watch but that means the watch is upside down how perfectly grateful that is that it's upside down man and that's just fine and then another watch you wear all the time is the one on your wrist yeah which we've actually seen before yeah you know I didn't know it at the time 51 60 for a travel time Patek Phillipe Aquanaut if any son Tiffany sign sometimes you want to wear the sort of Chuck Taylor version of Patek Phillipe and so this has become for me the watch you wear when you just want to wear a watch mm-hmm and you don't always want to make a statement and this has become kind of my go-to piece you know it doesn't throw anybody off but it's still a Patek it is a GMT so this is the watch that you'd wear to symbolise that you got some other pieces at home but that this is the one you're wearing out and if you wanted to cheat you just go buy this one wouldn't you think that someone wearing a fifty one sixty four a also has some other heavy hitters at home and and everybody I know that has that watch has heavy hitters oh so look if you just want to jump the line now you're watching this get a fifty one sixty for a it's all you need and everyone else will look at you and go like you got some other piece of that guy like I guess you're just being demure today and I must tell you I switched the strap out to a green about a year and a half ago then found out that paddock was going to discontinue these these green rubber straps you could you can call your ad any day and go hey can I can you order me the green rubber straps yeah well they stopped and now I'm reading that the green rubber om Original Equipment Manufacturer paddock straps are going for a pretty penny they they sure are so I just also wanted to show off I'm the only person showing off straps on a talking watch I'm in a 45 talking watches no one has ever shown off their straps these are two uncut unused what they call camo green which is strange because it's not camo this is sort of an olive drab green in fact and so what do you think of all that the younger guys that are getting into watches now and Hollywood and hip-hop and all that I think it's great I think with so many things that people do that are the same we get the same iPhone we get the same sneakers everything is a little bit rank-and-file and I think that we're entering a period of culture where people want to individualize everyone gets handed an Instagram account here is your standard-issue phone here are the things you like and here are the politics you're for here and these watches are a way for people to break out of that just a little bit and go well here's the kind of person I am and me wearing a hulking 46 millimeter titanium concept watch is a way of me sometimes saying well here's what I'm into and that can be evidenced by looking at these Instagram pages devoted to what celebrities are wearing now they tell us something about that seeing Mark Wahlberg wear like a 57:19 Nautilus but it's probably not a 57:19 because it's got the big jumbo baguettes all over it so a nautilus covered in baguette tells me something I didn't know about him yeah and it's not positive or negative but I go oh or you see Tyga wearing a rose gold rainbow you go oh he knows it's a way of informing people in one other way that's not just the standard issue you're this Nate of that and you just are meant in life to follow that little whisper inside you of enthusiasm and I just can't stress enough it's not about having money or not having money it's about listening to that little whisper inside you of enthusiasm what are you truly enthusiastic about i right now I'm enthusiastic about collecting clothes people look at me and think I'm crazy the same way they looked at me when they thought I was crazy for collecting watches because I have a little whisper of enthusiasm that says visib in robes are hugely important pieces of art it's these are little chambers for our curiosity and the thought energy we have I have thousands of thoughts a day thousands and thousands and thousands thousands and this is a place to put all that energy that can create this harmonious feeling in your life for me you get to pick which watch to put on doesn't have to be an AP concept but if you've got your dress won and your sport wine and the one that made your stomach hurt when you bought it no matter what bracket it wasn't you've got a collection you know this represents a time in my life this is all the drugs I never did this is all the drugs I never did man that's what I told myself at the time living alone didn't have a house touring you know and I think you know like there are some guys right now doing that same thing you know shirin's cleaning up I'll say he has no dependents he claims no dependents on his taxes there's a time in your 20s god I was so lucky and only now am i making up for the gratitude I was not in my right mind to have at the time if you're lucky enough to have go on a run like that and you're 20 and you most the time a guy in rock music can't point to any of the money he made in his 20s and 30s sure and I can point to it yeah and and now they're like they're going crazy and I look at it and I go that's cool but I don't want the money I want the watches that's what that's how I'm sure that I'm a collector you [Music]

Channel: Hodinkee

Views: 3,220,894

Rating: 4.9081974 out of 5

Keywords: Hodinkee, Talking Watches, John Mayer, Talking Watches with John Mayer, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, John Mayer Rolex, Rolex Daytona, Patek Philippe Nautilus, Post Malone, Travis Scott, Kevin Hart, Ed Sheeran, Tyga

Id: YrXaGFCij1A

Length: 28min 36sec (1716 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 27 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/braskybear]

This needed to be 2 hours long. JM is such a watch nerd and has great philosophies on collecting and style. One of my idols.

[u/SpookyLlama]

So glad they waited to do this properly. I'm sure they could have done it at any time, but it makes it so much better that they took the time to make it worth the wait.

I love how well John rock that Rainbow Daytona. The most gaudy thing you could imagine looks amazing with a tie-dye t-shirt, who knew.

[u/bradfordGT]

"It's hard to believe it's been over five years – half a decade (!!) – since I sat down with John Mayer at a little cafe down the road from our office, a four-person WeWork rental that we hadn't even filled out yet. The HODINKEE team back then consisted of myself, Mr. Will Holloway, and the one and only SJPeezy – Stephen J. Pulvirent. Our team was small but strong, and all we needed back then was a free afternoon with a rock star to make some content that we are still proud of to this very day. I am proud to say that both Stephen and Will are still very much a part of this business, even now that we are over 10 times the size, and our offices are, well, a little bigger too. Talking Watches With John Mayer aired on September 25, 2013, and since then it has been viewed almost 2 million times. And now we're back with another one."

[u/YOUREABOT]

This is too good.

[u/OHeyImBalls]

Remember watching the first episode when I was 16 and instantly fell in love with watches. So glad they did a second episode!

[u/Pitcaker]

We're talking roughly about a 3 mln+$ watch collection (estimated prices from chrono24). A heavy hitter for sure. But don't misunderstand me, I don't judge/hate him, you can really see a visceral love for his timepieces in his eyes and a great knowledge of the watch world. Well done, Mr. J.C Mayer, well done.

[u/HamderMalthe]

Been waiting for this video for too long! But next time i really want to hear, what kind of watches John Mayer would buy, if he was on a lower budget. I think it could be interesting to hear what kind watches he would recommend to people just getting started.

[u/wndyctyone]

What a great video and interview. I friggin' love John Mayer and could listen to him talk about watches for hours.

[u/[deleted]]

What a great interview. Those blinged out Rolexes looked a little cringey to me at first but when they cut to the shot of one on his wrist I changed my mind.