Openwork: Inside the Watch Industry

Gabe and Asher bring a firsthand report from Watches and Wonders 2026 in Geneva, jet‑lagged but watch‑fueled. They walk listeners through the week’s key impressions: a general sense of underwhelming novelties from the big brands, alongside impressive investments in booth design and production value. The episode zeroes in on Audemars Piguet’s controversial, fully walled booth and strict queuing sys...

Gabe and Asher conduct the first-ever Openwork Watch Brand Draft — a snake-style, six-pick fantasy exercise where each host selects watch brands they'd want to own and operate across three categories: independent, micro/challenger (under $5,000), and mainstream luxury. Ground rules exclude AP, Patek, Rolex, Richard Mille, and any brand Collective Horology carries, keeping the conversation free of...

Gabe and Asher explore the rise of F.P. Journe — how a fiercely opinionated French watchmaker who was expelled from horological school at 16 built one of the most coveted brands in the world. They trace Journe's journey from launching at Baselworld in 1999 through two decades as a respected but niche independent, into the COVID-era explosion that turned $25,000 Chronomètre Bleus into $100,000 comm...

Gabe and Asher kick off with the Dominique Renaud Pulse60 launch, which became the most talked-about watch of the week — not through traditional media, but through private collector communities and group chats. It's a perfect case study in how watch media has gone full circle, and why independents continue to thrive even in a cooling market. The main discussion unpacks a counterintuitive dynamic i...

The Swiss watch industry is in one of its most difficult periods in decades, with ten established brands down 15% or more in revenue — but that doesn't mean everything is struggling. In this episode, Gabe and Asher explore three segments of the market that are thriving against the tide: independent watchmakers, microbrands brands, and neo-vintage. Along the way, they examine why brands like Bregue...

Rumours about the Rolex GMT Master II Pepsi have reached a boiling point. Authorised dealer websites — controlled by Rolex, not the retailers — have quietly dropped the reference, and WatchPro is reporting that dealers have been told to expect no further deliveries. Asher finds it a dull story; Gabe is more interested in what comes next from Rolex in dress watches, the 1908 collection, and whether...

Jaeger-LeCoultre was once the top-selling watch brand in the Richemont Group, a top-10 brand globally, and a GPHG darling under the legendary Gunter Blumlein. Today, it's slipped to number 16 in the industry and lost much of its cultural relevance. What happened? Gabe and Asher unpack JLC's rise, decline, and possible rebirth in light of reports that a consortium led by CEO Jerome Lambert may acqu...

Update: As of February 21, 2026, the Trump administration now says they will set the new "Global Tariff" rate at 15% (not 10%), maintaining the same effective rate on Switzerland, at least for 150 days. On this episode, we unpack breaking news that sent shockwaves through the watch world: the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Trump-era emergency tariffs, instantly voiding the recent 15% levy on S...

In this episode, we dive into the growing wave of consolidation—and potential deconsolidation—sweeping through the watch industry, from confirmed brand sales to mounting rumors around major maisons. Rather than speculate, we focus on what actually happens after a brand leaves a luxury group, and why leadership, distribution, and product strategy matter far more than deal headlines. First, we unpac...

On this episode, we zoom out to the state of the watch business, using Watches of Switzerland as a real-time bellwether. We unpack strong holiday performance alongside shrinking margins, then dig into accelerating U.S. retail consolidation: why large groups are acquiring family-owned authorized dealers, how Rolex factors into approvals and allocations, and what this growing concentration could mea...

On this episode, we zoom out and examine a broader shift underway in the watch industry as major groups begin to prioritize focus over expansion. Using the sale of Baume & Mercier as a starting point, we break down why brand exits and portfolio pruning have returned as strategic tools, and what this move reveals about consolidation, integration costs, and the realities of owning watch brands a...

On this episode, we dig into reports that Patek Philippe may roll back U.S. retail prices—by as much as 8%—after last year’s sharp tariff- and currency-driven increases. We break down why the math isn’t as simple as tariffs going down and prices following, how import costs actually work at the wholesale level, and why this move raises uncomfortable questions for collectors who bought during the pe...

On this episode, we dig into how global wealth trends—rather than hype cycles or short-term market noise—are reshaping the luxury watch industry. Drawing on reporting originally published by ScrewDownCrown (Substack), we use the UBS Global Wealth Report to examine the rapid rise of the “EMILLI” cohort: individuals with $1–5 million in net worth. This group has quadrupled since 2000 and now represe...

We kick off the first Openwork episode of 2026 by breaking down the latest watch price increases from Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Tudor, with a sharp focus on why U.S. buyers are seeing significantly higher jumps than Europe and the UK. We unpack how tariffs, currency swings, commodity prices, and inflation are converging—and why, once prices move up, they almost never come back down. We also cont...

On this episode, we share something a little different by sharing an installment from The Watches of Podcast, a new series where we step away from industry-wide analysis and focus deeply on individual brands—their history, philosophy, people, and, importantly, their watches. Each episode is designed as a focused, evergreen exploration of a single brand, and here we use that format to zero in on Mi...

On this episode, we step back to assess where the watch industry actually landed in 2025, revisiting our prior predictions with a focus on the bigger forces at work rather than scorekeeping. We talk candidly about the pressure points that defined the year—pricing fatigue, currency and tariff shocks, and the uneven mood among collectors—while also acknowledging the resilience of independent watchma...

On this episode of Openwork, we dig into the long-awaited reduction of U.S. tariffs on Swiss watches, which finally dropped from 39% to 15% after weeks of confusion and delay. We explain what actually changed, why the rollout took more than a month after the initial agreement, and how the U.S. customs system ultimately flipped the switch. While the lower rate is meaningful relief for the industry,...

In this episode of Openwork, we talk with our sales director, Geoff Souder, about what fundamentally changes when you move from selling traditional luxury watches to selling independent brands. Drawing on decades of experience with mainstream names like Rolex and Patek Philippe, Geoff explains how scale and standardization create a polished but often homogenous retail experience, then contrasts th...

Openwork is going weekly. In addition to our classic shows which focus on a specific topic or guest, we’re introducing a new format: a discussion of current events in the watch industry. So this week, we take a look at some tariff news (or lack thereof), supplier challenges, the significant growth of India, along with a few new releases. Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Colle...

Today we’re talking about the rise of independent hype watches. Until very recently, as we’ve discussed on this podcast, independent watchmaking was something of a backwater of the watch industry or at best the realm of the cognoscenti. But in recent years, creations from the likes of MB&F, Simon Brette, Rexhep Rexhepi and today’s guest Sylvain Berneron have become objects of desire, cutthroat...

This week we’re coming to you from Geneva, where we’ve attended the GPHG award ceremony, celebrated Czapek’s 10th anniversary, and had some time to experience the city’s horological treasures. We share a recap of our time in Geneva, including what everyone who attended the GPHG is really talking about. Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology , Openwork goes insid...

Today we’re talking to someone who has made the transition from watchmaker to journalist to watch brand executive. In fact, it’s not so much a transition but a career expansion as he still assembles watches while creating copious content and works in various business roles for a number of watch brands. Of course, we’re talking to none other than Rob Nudds, the watch industry’s renaissance man. Rob...

It’s the Omega-sode. We’re taking a look at the business of Omega: How they went from the world’s number one watch brand – both in terms of sales and units shipped – to number three, what happened along the way, and where they may be headed next. Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology , Openwork goes inside the watch industry. You can find us online at collectiv...

We're live at WatchTime New York 2025 with Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, 4th Managing Director of Fears. We discuss the growth of WindUp, WatchTime and the many other watch happenings in New York this past week, including what the brands are talking about behind closed doors. Yes, a bit of tea. Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology , Openwork goes inside the watch...

We’re taking a look at how the watch market has shifted in the past half decade plus. In particular, we’re taking a look at what’s changed since Morgan Stanley and LuxeConsult published their first annual watch industry report in 2018 – which brands and segments are up and down, how tastes are changing, and so much more. For full show notes, including links to coverage on the Morgan Stanley and Lu...