HSS Live: Ep. 1 - Matt Hranek Interview

[Music] [Music] what's up guys i'm brian Sakawa you're watching he spoke style actually you are watching he spoke style live we are live right now we have been planning the show for over a month so having it finally be here going out to you right now is extremely exciting for us in fact although the show is just starting I'm kind of feeling like celebrating a little bit so I'm just going to take a second and pour myself a glass of whiskey so tonight I am going to be drinking nikka coffee grain whiskey I have been really into Japanese whiskeys recently and I want to invite you to do the same take a moment right now get a glass of whiskey for yourself and settle in because we have a wonderful show planned for you this evening we have some great contributors to this episode we have an amazing guest mr. Matt pranic who will be joining us later in the show and some other things planned that I know you are really going to like including the most important part answering your questions later in the program and I do invite you as we continue through the program to have a conversation over there in the chat area and to leave any questions you may have for me for us because as I said I will be answering them later on in the show so without further ado let's get started so for this segment I reached out to some of my friends in publishing and menswear in the watch world and in the digital space to find out the one thing that they are super into at the moment I always think it's cool to know what kind of interesting things interesting people are enjoying at the moment our contributors to this episode are menswear writer Alex FET kovitch Brock Maga from the modest man Fabio Attanasio of the bespoke dudes Stephen Pohl Verint from ho dinky and London man-about-town Hamid Raman let's check it out afternoon he spoke style my name is Alex Petrovich I'm a men's style writer based in London and I'm dialing in for my somewhat disheveled North London studio to let you know about something I picked up in Soho the other day the item in question is a letter Kate's magazine it's a new Parisian style magazine that I literally have just discovered it's sort of doing the rounds in the menswear scene at the moment but I think it's absolutely brilliant and I can't even read French I picked it up on the recommendation of a couple of friends and I just love the art direction in it I think the styling is great there's a great balance of good headline great balance of sort of retro finds there's a lot of vintage in there there's quite a lot of street wear but if we look towards the back there's some cool tailoring coverage - Lorenzo - Ellie and I just think it's the most exciting magazine I've picked up for a while I read a lot of magazines I contribute to a lot and this feels fresh it feels new I would recommend following the magazine on Instagram and trying to pick it up online if you can I know that it is being distributed in various different news agents now in different countries and I would heartily recommend it as a cool read what is up you spoke style Brian thank you so much for having me on the channel my name is Brock McGough I run at the modest man and something that I've really been enjoying recently is this so it's just a moleskin notebook and a gold cross pen but it's what's inside that I want tell you about I've always found it kind of hard to stick with like a to-do list or a Productivity app but for the past couple months I've been using a system called at the bullet journal it's kind of like a to-do list with your daily log like light journaling built in it's very customizable very forgiving if you miss a day the creator of bullet journal describes it as a mindfulness exercise disguised as a Productivity system for me I mostly use it as a to-do list I check it in the morning I updated throughout the day and then I check it again at night to prepare for the next day I also use it to record any ideas or thoughts or events that happened that day the other thing that I like is just you know having a pen and paper it's kind of like wearing a mechanical watch you know it's just this little analog element and and otherwise a pretty digital life Brian thank you so much again for having me I'm Channel happy New Year to all of you and until next time stay stylish hi I'm Fabio tan a co-founder of the bespoke views and co-founder of TBD eyewear and the thing I'm really digging at the moment is a bespoke shirt by davido Napoli and now I'm gonna show you why okay this is the shirt by the Vino and it has a fantastic fit of course but in addition to that it features an incredible amount of hand stitches starting from the top we have the color the shoulder this lean had the gusset the cuffs and then the buttonhole the button also the Canaletto as we say in Italian has been stitched by hand the button bouche and even the side seam here incredible isn't it hey I'm ho dinky managing editor Stephen pull Vernon and something I'm really digging right now is an artist named Hilma off Clint she's a kind of unknown Swedish artist from the turn of the 20th century and she does these amazing abstract compositions really bright colors wild shapes and she was working years before people like Klee and Kandinsky who are much better known there's a big exhibition of her paintings at the Guggenheim right now in New York it's on through April and I highly recommend you check it out there's a wild story I won't get too into it but she she believed that most of her paintings were guided by spirits she had plans to build a temple to hang all of her paintings in it it's totally crazy totally wild and the artworks amazing so I recommend you go check it out there's a great exhibition catalog too and hopefully hopefully you'll enjoy it hi everyone my name is Amna Drummond and today I'm going to talk about one of my favorite and most worn watches of all time the Rolex GMT master - or more lovingly called the Rolex Pepsi the Rolex Pepsi was developed by Rolex in collaboration with pan out in 1954 to be a tool watch for pilots to time their long distance flights what I love about the TNT master is the fact that it has two time zones and for a frequent traveler like myself it allows me to keep my time at home as well as maintain the time of the city where I'm traveling to this current piece comes with the Jubilee bracelet which again was developed by [ __ ] in 1945 the Judy bracelet was set for Rolexes more dressier pieces however the current offering they've added it to a to watch like GMT which makes it also very special I hope you enjoy listening to my commentary thank you very much from mr. Alex fete kovitch a new French menswear magazine from Brock of the modest man bullet journaling all the way from Milano from Fabio Attanasio a bespoke shirt from the hideki offices in New York Stephen Pohl burned on an art exhibition currently at the Guggenheim and from London or somewhere in the world I'm in ramen or Shari as his friends call him pics the new ceramic bezel GMT master Pepsi with the Jubilee bracelets so I just want to jump in here right now and show you guys what I am really into at the moment and it is this right here this is a Ronson touch tip lighter now the way I came upon this and actually learned what a touch tip lighter was was doing an internet search after wandering for a very long time what the lighter was that Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade uses in The Maltese Falcon we actually have a clip cued up where you can see exactly what I'm talking about Lloyd Thursby I don't know where she met him never been as close as sisters ought to be we had perhaps Corinne with it so the later that Bogart uses there is actually a different version than this this the one in The Maltese Falcon has a small clock in it very collectible very rare and as a result when you do see one it usually commands a pretty hefty price tag this one here that I have is actually called the streamline it was patented in 1937 I love this for so many reasons first obviously is the design it's such a cool art deco look I also love the brown tortoise color this thing is very heavy too you know you hear people say all the time they don't make things like they used to and holding this in my hand I can tell you I really believe that it has a presence that I don't think you find a lot these days especially in something as simple as a lighter so the way this works is there is this wand with wick on the end and when it is inside it is soaking up fluid and when you push this down it moves this wheel here which has a Flint that creates a spark and ignites the wick which leads me to the best thing about this which is the act of actually lighting it so there's the sound that it makes there's just the way it feels there's really nothing like it and I mean it just looks so cool which is why I am really into the touch tip later right now all right moving on to our next segment now which we are calling speaking style so here is where we get to talk to interesting people in menswear and watches and just in the broader world of living a life as a modern gentleman we could not have a better first guest than our guest this evening he is the men's style editor at C n traveller the author of the book a man and his watch and the creative director of the new magazine William Brown he's also a cigar connoisseur a collector of vintage gold lighters and a Negroni fiend a true Modern Renaissance man I'm talking of course about Matt cranek now full disclosure this interview was pre-recorded we had hope to do it live but you know because this is our first go at this type of thing we got a little bit worried about making sure all the technology was going to work so instead of possibly failing I talked to Matt on Friday evening so we could have absolutely no chance for Hera tonight nonetheless we had an awesome conversation and I know you are going to love it here it is now okay Matt cranek super busy guy really appreciate you taking the time for thanks for being here with us today what's been going on I feel like I haven't seen you in a very long time so well there's been lots of but Negroni drinking thanks for giving me the excuse to do this before five-ish absolutely but no there's been so a lot of exciting stuff I I have been still promoting the watch book of enemies watch but I think the most exciting thing recently is I launched this men's style magazine called Wayne brown based on my blog Instagram and farm in upstate New York and it's kind of been just overwhelming risk response and I've been so flattered and humbled by the people interested in it has been it's been great because I've been waiting - I've been waiting for this magazine for myself for so long that I just decided to kind of make it and I guess I'm I'm not alone as far as you know the subject matter in there in people's interests in it so that's been a lot of fun it's been really a bit of a whirlwind so it's nice to relax sit down talk with you yeah yeah we're going to get to the magazine for sure but for some of our viewers who might not be as familiar with some of your work can you give us sort of like a like a quick synopsis of like how you found yourself in this position of men style editor 4cn traveler yeah so I came to New York photographer I've been in the photography business for 25 years now I always was interested in magazines like that was my passion that's what I'm so excited about and when I left the university moved to New York I just got into it waist-deep working with photographers apprentice seeing assisting I just wanted to be around that world and pretty much worked with every magazine I ever could imagine working with photographically left to work on Esquire when Esquire launched their television station had a very short-lived show oh you were on TV I didn't know that yeah Esquire TV I was like alternate route really it was the show that I produced and was some by some mistake started that was a lot of fun that was basically all this kind of residual content that I had from traveling around the country photographing and we kind of built it as almost like a little travel narrative travel story that when that ended we were waiting for pick up my wife became the creative director communist traveler and my good friend Pilar Guzman became the editor chief and they were like well you're not doing anything right now why don't you cover the next market for us in the watch market and so some pieces of the business the magazine were really important to them and no one was covering it because they kind of clean house when they got in there and I wouldn't it as a lark and I just realized I liked being on that end of the creative process and I liked working with friends who were great photographers building stories being in the market and that was five years ago that we started that and then you know a lot of great stuff came out of that a lot of great friendships connected connection into the men's tutorial world as well as the hospitality world that I loved and then the watch world which basically birth that book right on a storytelling of just meeting amazing people in that in that world and that was all through the kind of magazine aspect on the other end not being behind the camera but sort of on the side lines with it but producing all the content for traveler in the next days that's really cool so I know recently you're at pity from my sort of like armchair quarterback position here you know we get to see all the street-style photos I didn't get to be there but you were there on the ground are there like certain trends that you saw that was too theatrical honest and classic and true to the person I mean even if that means that person is wearing like you know vintage lucky high Thompson you know track pants like I just went it when it's forced it just is just not for me so like can we just like talk a little bit about like the whole peacock phenomenon there I did I did a reaction video to some of the Pitti street-style and one of the things I talked about is like there are these people who like kind of don't belong there but as a result of all the social media I blame Instagram in large part for this you know right people want to show up they want to get their photo take and they're looking for their 15 minutes of fame or whatever I mean there are people like I don't know I think it likely no loot see you know he's like an original og kind of peacock but then there are just there's like a new breed that I don't know if you want to like comment on that at all well I think first of all those og guys that turned peacock I don't even think they would even understand it just was that kind of work they are exactly right and I like that and that could be a melon day's taxi driver or that could be a kind of old suit Oriole guy yeah all PT but like it has to come from an honest place where it's transparently theater and it's just I don't buy it right so like you know we did a section in the magazine with Jamie Ferguson who's one of my favorite street guile street style photographer yeah absolutely photographer its JK Ekman on his friend I screwed up because I always screwed up okay yes ma'am Stevie Ferguson and I love his attention on where he puts his lens because it's ageless it could be some older guys some younger guys something unexpected something that's something that may feel banal and boring to you know and or normal like a tweed jacket underneath the barber but like I think those guys for me are the real inspiration in terms of style and those are the guys that I think I've gleaned a little bit from like I try to you know kind of study their style and see how it reflects to me far more than a guys who are wearing plaid Implanon plaid would like waxed mustaches and fedoras and walking sticks and I mean what the hell is that all about themselves me I think it's interesting that you mentioned Jamie particularly as a photographer because there's this whole other side to like the street style thing where there's streets all photographers and they're trying to make their mark and I think the way that you know having a certain having the photos of people who look a little wild and perhaps costumey to try and tell a certain story about a place that might not be the real story is also part of it and and people like Jamie who really like know who the real dudes are like they're they're they're producing like a very honest head of what you know it's almost easy to shoot the peacock gun it's like you know I think it's harder they have a discerning eye and pick out the like cool subtle styling notes that I that are timeless cool maybe even a little bit progressive in modern but yeah I mean they have their roots in real honest style jamie is good that i think jamie has great style himself and i think that's helpful I think Scott is the same ways for you know exactly pioneered that point of view of studying and understanding what's something that was unusually good about someone's personal style and those guys in their heads have to be good editors right it's just not kind of grabbing grabbing the obvious photographed it's sort of like it's sort of like the photographers that just run to the house fire okay so I think it's more difficult to be discerning yeah so speaking of subtle and nuanced style I did catch a picture of you and I think which British GQ and yeah I learned the turtleneck and you had the shirt collar popping up through yeah which I really love and I've seen like you do some other subtle things like wearing maybe it's an ascot like underneath a button button-up shirt or maybe yeah I love like I love wearing I love the scarves that drakes make yeah they're slightly longer than let's say a bandana mm-hmm and I think this came from from traveling on airplanes like I always felt like if my neck was worn then I was comfortable and I wasn't really into kind of and I'm still not into kind of big sloppy scarves like it just doesn't feel like me I try to pull it off and it just looks ridiculous so I oh I started wearing either wool or silk and wool handkerchiefs like in my shirt and also I think it looks really kind of dressy without like wearing a necktie and I find them to be terribly practical right so that I think has been I guess a part of my personal style note that um I really like and I love it gives me excuse to go to drinks and get a new one it was just a violet how practical they are David's got to bring back his he had one he did was a couple years ago he called it the indoor scarf that's one that I have I think it's like perfect really yeah yes that's a very like silk and wool as well which i think is true I think there first of all silk and that light will is incredibly practical it does keep you warm it's easy to pack it's not bulky under clothing you know you don't tuck it you don't tuck it in your shirt and feel like you have like you're transitioning right but no I really that's something that I think listen you get to a certain point of life where you kind of find your stride in your uniform and how you feel comfortable and how you present yourself in I like that and I I think it speaks to it speaks to me I'm never gonna be the guy that with the bandanna as much as I actually kind of admire like guys tickly older guys I like that too yeah when I put that on I feel like I'm coming off the set of like Oklahoma now I can't pull it off it take myself seriously so that is my pose that off really well is I think you know Steve Norrish yeah from Pete Johnson yeah he does that work great and you know well is I think all this underscores it but like all those kind of guys that I don't know they there are guys that are really really you know I was up at Ralph Lauren recently some guy came off the elevator I don't know but everyone they're so impeccably styled it I he looked great and I want to be that guy I have to come to terms with my own limitations psyche so let's well before we get to the book in the magazine let's talk a little bit about new grones which I know yes you're kind of a fiend that's how I would classify that yeah color that way so so a good glass is key to it so what is it about the Negroni you know I I really love this drink for a couple reasons first of all I like its Italian roots I think I love bitters I think also as one gets older which I'm definitely getting older I think I gravitated more towards the bitter flavor profiles than sweet I think it's a incredibly beautifully balanced drink it's one one one proportions it's it allows very little interpret you know interpretation and mistake do you measure do you measure yours I don't I I ball it like I didn't think you were measuring kind of glug glug glug glug glug you know K alright but I I just think it's a great you don't listen I love martinis but it's like and I proven this at Peachy at this pomelo event with el acento palazzi from the juice bar you have two martinis and you're you can be completely on your ass like right like I made a Vesper last night and that's like three ounces of gin one ounce of vodka and a little bit of Lilith yeah I was feeling that one one drink you know maybe as you get older I think you have like a minimum I'm feeling like it's the two drink minimum for me or maximum well also I like don't get me wrong as I get older like I don't need to ease into the drink like let's just come out of the gate and get it done you know what I mean like I don't need to be sick like I do like that and I think I temper myself more because of that but what's great about a Negroni I was a cleanness to my wife the other day is like it is actually there's something about the spirit probably the bitters in the vermouth that are much more elevating like it kind of gives you more energy than kind of like you know like one Vesper can really get you in a sloppy mood right right when I think negro knees traditionally were a Napper TV and they they open up the appetite they kind of open up your you know almost kind of like your spirit for the night like they're really great and I let's say I've been more sloppy with single spirit drinks like martinis or Vespers than I ever have with the Grammys I think and also because the grones is y based spirit for movement can party you can transition into dinner with wine without this kind of mixing element which you know which can be dangerous and for me I find it dangerous with brown spirits like if I have a wine dinner and then so and I'll be pulls out a bottle of bourbon like of course I always do it a night oh wait yeah so I've got my favorite Jen I love monkey 47 I love I like London kind of dry sphere I love Plymouth I like when I'm in the airport Beefeater if that's at the well there's no mistaking there yeah that's my own brownie Jen my forty sevens nice - it's got a lot of um it's got a lot of bite to it I found yeah I like kind of juniper II or basis for word gins I don't like when they get too tricky and I mean listen I like Hendrix I like I will have a TV in Airport when I know the bartender doesn't know how to make a martini but but I would say I'm a london dry-style gin guy straight up how do you feel about this Negro nice Bhagwat oh I love this particularly in the I like it in the summer I think it's really refreshing it's kind of like the I don't know it's like adult soda pop it's like a better for spritz like I love spritz by the pool but like at night I it you know and I also think it's it's lighter it doesn't it's not as aggressive it's not as alcoholic um it just makes you feel happy ma bar Bosco in Milan which is supposedly the birthplace is funny at times it's just a wonderful place and they just like slap it together with such perfection and I think it's really I like that a professing Prosecco based drink probably more in the summer months once then winter melts ice taking shape so moving on now to the book man and his watch when did this come out was about a year ago we'll put a link to it down in the description of oh yes so this feels a world away from me because I had been working on it for so long how many LD it I mean we worked on it for almost two years developing it photographing it interviews and then design which is kind of standard for a book but I think the surprising reality is is that it really ought has only been on the market a year and we launched it in November last year so we're just passed - you're marking it seems like more and more people are discovering it and it's resonating and I again it's it's so humbling to have that experience happening it you know and again I think it's because it's pretty honest the stories are honest it's not just talking about expensive things it's talking about you know emotional things and the connections that we as men at least in my experience with this book men have with these objects and yes for me reading it it's like it's like the watches themselves cool but watches are great in this book but if it's a casio f7 or if it's Paul Newman's to each other like and I think what reinforces the coolness of all that stuff is is the story like I'm not I mean you could you could feel this book with just expensive watches like that's not what I like about watches I mean granted there are some expensive watches I like but I think in general the story resonates more than anything yeah I would think like having if I were in your shoes going through that sort of like the most fun aspect of doing that whole project was probably all the people you got to meet and hearing the stories from from Mario Andretti to you know Paul Paul Newman's daughter clay who had her father's watch to rough floor and you know there was some dexing there exactly some epic portals there and then those mortal stories of you know people like Adam or or Adam Crowe notice and you know James lammed in you know Hamilton Powell from you know all those guys that we navigate in the watch world actually have really intimate personal stories beyond just guys reporting and selling watches right so so we've talked a little bit like before about what was next item are you able to talk about right now I'm working on which to me was the next organic stack which was a man in his car and again that's driven through a personal share a personal story of mine with with a car that I having and that couple the watch bookstores started that way with my dad's watch and the stories are the same I mean the funny thing about car guys versus watch guys is the watch guys I can look back my interviews they needed to be coaxed out a little bit with the storytelling like maybe they didn't talk about it as much as yours intimately as I was asking them to do car guys right to the point like they have been thinking about this talking about this their entire lives and the specificity of the emotion is just like in your face immediately and that was I thought very very interesting how far is in the process sorry how long how far along are you in the process of I luckily I have to finish it up with all the content by the summer so I've been kind of clicking away at getting the Edit correct again like this is a book that easily can be filled with just priceless automobiles but for me it's about what's the story telling what's gonna be the page-turner what's gonna be surprising you know for a little teaser it's like I mean Jay Leno was the obvious one right yeah people follow you on Instagram they would never have seen your with Jay right yet Jay is like you need to go to Gerry but his story was so intimated special because of the car that he chose right but then I was like I was so desperate to get Snoop Dogg in and I hammered away at it for a long time and then he allowed me to shoot his soup deville amazing yes so do you have you know Steve McQueen's Jaguar that's a the Petersen Mike so that's the little teaser in terms of the kind of content that in terms of the car world its storytelling I want like I don't want it just to be about the obvious priceless Bugatti it needs to be about the story tell me what really those emotional connections are I feel like there's like there's this kind of correlation between guys that are into watches and guys that are into cars they seem to like go together a piece of that that I feel is like a little more tangential but still related in some way is a style and men's word I mean do you yeah okay there is with very specific guys overlap right that's not Caitlyn but it's you know in it's guys that people who are paying attention to craft in detail often navigate those three spaces right sure there are watch guys out there that have horrible style don't care about cars and watches but like the sweet spot are those guys that are interested in all those things and you know that that's me that's you that was my dad like those were very impressionable people in my life men that kind of navigated the the world of like well-crafted things for shoes or whatever right I think that brings us to the magazine now well yes it's sort of like this all-encompassing look at I don't know the modern gentleman who cares about there it is yeah who cares about all things craft and and and heritage and just kind of like this all-encompassing thing so I mean people you work at a magazine but I so I'm sure you hear you know people are print publications like the rake and Revolution so in this current climate I mean what what possessed you to let me not first of all my my tenure at Traveler disintegrated right they they started taking all the content from the UK they decided it was easier to navigate from a more cheap and cheerful world rather than keep a New York office and the writing was on the wall that this thing was going away uh-huh so I knew that I grew up with print I've been in the magazine business for 25 years I couldn't let it die right and also I had been waiting for a magazine like this that spoke to the whole version of myself forever like listen I loved Waco he's a friend she does a brilliant job at the rate that is one part of me you know boney petit is another part of me garden and gun is another party like but for me it was like where's that single and encompass seeing you know thing that speaks to the whole version of myself and I just decided let's make that right like and let's have it be about not celebrities being dressed not models but guys with real style people with real stories men from 25 to 65 old-school restaurants you know allocate bird clinics in the Alsace like cheap cold American brewing beer or Canadian beer or Mexican beer long as it's cheap and laggards right you know simple solo meals like that was an analog travel you know what's great about magazines is they don't you know to charge them they they don't take power cords you can bring them to the pool they they can take it hit a bar with a drink and they're still tangible and they're still readable and they're still you know they don't die like other pieces of electronics right so that was really important to me and also I wanted it to come out seasonally because I felt like there but at least the men in my life that are doing the Northeast they lived their life seasonally and they dress when said they were a car they drove what food a so for me it was kind of shaking it that way like winter spring summer and fall it and talk about the relevance of style and food real-time not three months daebak's like more most normal magazines and also it's not filled with distracting at adjacencies like i didn't want that to happen um I mean the reality is yes we're we are looking into the monitor to see the monetization of this and advertising this is is going to be a part of that but like how do we do it in a clever way that's not interruptive to the content in the middle they also how do we celebrate photography and the written word without over design over saturation long-form you know like let's just digest this stuff and also keep it every I what I love about it is it's it's beautiful but it's not and it's a very high production value but it's not over produced it feels it feels approachable it feels real and way that a lot of print these days doesn't feel real to me and I think that's one of the they're really like strong elements of it well thank you and that was very very that was thought out for a while like I mean I like the idea that this kind of like rolls up and goes in your pocket I mean I like we always felt like eight-by-ten was sort of the sweet spot sighs yeah the paper stock you know had to be the best quality but still it has to still feel like a magazine it can't be a book and I don't want it to be a book I don't want it to be torn the recycler I want you to hold it but it's not pretending to be anything else but a magazine and I think the luxurious part of it comes in the imagery in words and the simplicity of the design so I know it's available at newsstands in New York City but if some of our viewers don't live in New York City wanted to pick up where might they do that okay on my site the William Brown project there's a list of purveyors that have the magazine okay be part of a big part of the distribution philosophy was like iconic newsstands and cosmetic scenes in New York are like the oldest school magazine stamp like I remember just pressing my face up against the window when I moved to New York like that was my world like how do you know so it was very important for me that those guys supported the magazine and they did and they loved it and it's great so those are the only magazine quote shops it's in in Brooklyn it's at community bookstore I had to support my local and then like Los Angeles it's a retail like alchemy New York exact Drake's I want I wanted guys people to go into the retail that we love to buy this thing and hopefully exposed to other great stuff so you know Lefou in Chicago has them in New York and then we have retail in London Paris that you can buy online for the European people can buy it online in the States as well yeah okay we'll put a link to the website fellas online and I'm not sure if Drake says yet but um yeah I know Lefou has them and and then you know you can buy them through the site the way Brown project there's a PayPal Lake and we've set up a whole clicking shape distribution center in the kitchen which is very glamorous I think we've shipped out I don't know just under 3000 magazines it's like insane you know we realize okay we know how to do magazines but we had no idea about distribution and how overwhelming that can be so there's a big learning curve but not sure but it's out there that's great we'll put a link to that in the description now before I let you go I just want to do a quick lightning round of locations here so here we go I'll just tick them off favorite childhood toy GI Joe logo that's the same are all the most beautiful place you've ever been I love everything in Italy even if it's the south of Italy filled with graffiti walls in Catania Italy to me is magical Godfather or Star Wars probably Godfather Evolver or Pet Sounds pet says mmm interesting channel or tweed oh yeah alright two more who inspires you Wow yep that's a very good question I would say historically there's a lot of inspiration from the man that I grew up with my father my grandfather's but I would say now it's it's really the men in my life that I interact with day-to-day you know editors photographers tailors taxi drivers waiters like I really find inspiration from those guys that are just out there doing the thing that is the most passionate version of themselves and that's slinging steak or you know tailoring jackets the those people I find intensely inspiring more than more than a political or a political or movie starting like that I think it's real men doing what they love it's really inspiring and finally best advice you've ever received do do your best like you know stick this this is not going to be like this is maybe a broken bit of construction right it's like do you best be kind to people do and follow the course of the thing you love you will ultimately always be successful because no one can ever side you know sigh except for Darrell that passion if you really really really are focused on it I really believe in that and surround yourselves with supportive people and I'm gonna say all that advice came from this this group of really supportive people with friends mentors employers that I just really listen to and I think you know for me the word know was always something that I hated deeply like vocabulary no to tell me no is that possible it's actually possible I didn't think I had a teacher I'm a musician and you know you take auditions or you do a competition or something and or stick your neck out to try and perform somewhere and my teacher would tell me you know no doesn't mean no it means not this time maybe not right right right like let's respect people's you know physicality is face and but like you know know we know what's it like we don't assume this watch book we set up the book so the word know would never be a part of a discussion like it was like we need to watch the watch is only available for 10 minutes great can you do the interview sure yeah okay you know like I never wanted to be here now I always wanted here like yes it's a possibility let's get this done and I think that translate everything in my life like I just won you know even the sexy my my wife was like this is not really never okay I will not accept this this has to be done and I just think you put your mind to something and with something that you believe in and care about and it usually sets course you know I very rarely do I think that people that do not passionately pursue something that they truly love not just convince themselves they love our family I'm very very surprised failures but I think that's a great place to leave it Matt great thank you so much for spending time with us today first like broadcast are you gonna be in Miami for watches and wonders unfortunately that always falls in the spring-break realm of my daughter so I think I'm gonna be on the road okay but I'm actually gonna be on the room promoting the magazine the book so okay um that's part of the reason why I missed Sshhh this year probably Basel but um I'll be back on the water spritzer well I'll miss you there and we'll catch up some some time in New York for it all right thank you thanks for the excuse for Nick Libya all right Cheers okay see it big thanks to Matt for taking the time to do that Matt as a friend such a great guy very down-to-earth which i think is very apparent definitely recommend following him on Instagram and checking out the book as well as the new magazine links to all those things will be down there in the description now moving right along to the watch of the month alright so the watch I chose to feature tonight is actually a watch that is not in my personal collection side note the watch collection video that you guys have been asking for for quite a while now is mostly shot we're going to be finishing it up tomorrow so it will most likely be out probably not this week but the week after that so back to this watch though it is a watch and a brand that I have loved for a very long time this is the Nomos zurich reference 8:01 now I reached out to know most prior to this broadcast and they were kind enough to provide this watch so I could actually show it to you in my hand in the middle so big thank you to Nomos for that you know when I was first getting into watches know most was a brand that popped up on my radar I loved the minimalist design I loved the fact that it was a brand that was sort of under the radar for non watch guys this watch here the Zurich is such a great example of what Nomos does and really encapsulates all that there is to love about Nomos it's 40 millimeter as well actually a thirty nine point eight millimeter steel case which means that is going to fit quite well on the majority of risks out there this reference the eight zero one does have a beautiful display case back as you can see it has an automatic movement the dial is galvanized white silver plated the stick plinth our markers are rhodium plated and faceted same with the hour and minute hands you can see that there is a sub dial that has a running seconds hand and a beautiful Gyo shape and the strap is a black whirlwind shell cordovan leather on the wrist this watch wears very well I have a small wrist and at 40 millimeters this watch looks absolutely perfect the minimalist design as well as the steel case makes it very versatile this could easily be a daily wear watch it looks great casually and it's also very easy to wear with a suit or a sport coat so that is the no Mazurek reference 8:01 price point for this is four thousand four hundred eighty dollars there is a reference eight zero six which is the same watch only with a steel case back and that retails for three hundred dollars less now in terms of luxury watches it's a relatively affordable price point I think from a mechanical standpoint as well as design standpoint that dezer ik is an absolutely fantastic watch all right final segment we are throwing it back to you guys for a little viewer Q&A okay so all during the show tonight we have been getting your questions and now is the time I'm going to answer them we're going to keep a little bit of a time living on this we we do this week haven't asked me anything a video coming up on Thursday that video I think is like 45 minutes long or something and we are definitely not going to go that long right now if we don't get to your question it's Rob's fault because he has been vetting all the questions I will do my best to answer the ones we don't get to right now in the comments once the broadcast is finished alright so the first question we have here is the most durable watch under $500 not a sport watch I'm going to have to say default to a watch that I have my collection it's the first one you're going to see in the watch collection video and that is the Seiko five I have the Seco 5 in it's a black dial it's even among watch nerds the Seiko 5 is universally regarded as one of the best watches out there period so Seiko 5 you can pick one up for 50 to 150 dollars on Amazon we'll put a link down there in the description after this is over but the Seiko 5 without a doubt all right next question another watch question thoughts on the Rolex sky dweller that's a good one the sky dweller is a very I wish we had a graphic of that to pull up right now but the sky dweller is a very distinctive watch it has the round ring with the date and it's very very recognizable for me the sky dweller it I can't remember the exact size of it right off the top of my head but for me I think it's a little bit too large for my wrist I kind of top out at about a 40 millimeter size but I do like when I see them because you do not see them that often there was one time I was on a plane back from somewhere and there was a guy and he had like a completely blinged out sky dweller and it was like not something that I would ever wear but it's like I said it's something you do not see that often so my thoughts on the Rolex guide while I'm down with it I really like it okay next question winter fragrance rotation I just did well not just I did a video not too long ago about my five favorite winter fragrances so I will refer you to that video but we can talk about those right now the ones because I've sort of like honed in on some of the fragrances that I'm wearing most right now for me well right now I'm wearing Ralph Lauren Polo green which I had some great comments on in the video I also am wearing a lot these days Santa original Santa by creed that's sort of like an everyday fragrance for me one fragrance I am really really into right now that I didn't include in that video is seer Troodon more tell this is a fantastic fragrance it's kind of got like this smoky like kind of like churchy smoky vibe to it but also like African bush fire if I had to touch I try and like you know put it into some kind of box yeah seer turn on more tell is one of my favorites right now I also really like Tom Ford hombre leather there's a lot of talk about hombre leather versus Tuscan leather I personally had never smelled Tuscan leather but I hear they're the same but different some people prefer Tuscan leather I have no frame of reference so I can't give you a really accurate opinion there and let's see there's one more I'm trying to think of that I'm wearing a lot and it's escaping me at the moment but one of my favorite all-time winter fragrances it's very heavy it's one that was Robin requested that I wear on our wedding day and that is black Afghan oh by now motto it's amazing oh and that made me actually think of the other one black Afghan ov- Amato definitely check that out it has like in a major mazing seizure seizure as you would say the other one is by arc East and that's called non bond again this is very sort of like oriental smelling very woody very smoky is really nothing like it and it's one of my absolute favorites alright next question is best OTR or off-the-rack Oh CBD oxford cotton button-down so that's a tough one you've kind of stumped me here because my my all-time favorite OTR Oh CBD is something that is not available anymore and that the my favorite one ever it was won by Brooks Brothers but it was during their black fleece when they had black fleece which was a collection that Tom Brown design so the black fleece Oh CBD that Brooks Brothers put out was absolutely amazing I have a couple of them still unfortunately they're not doing them anymore I haven't actually tried the regular Brooks Brothers Oh CBD but there are such high quality I could definitely recommend that but if you can like maybe go on eBay or something and find like the old Tom Brown black fleece for Brooks Brothers no CBDs I would recommend that because I've never found anything off the rack that fits quite like that okay final question here this is all we're gonna have time for right now is my favorite fabric for spring /summer so - I'm gonna say - I'm not just gonna say one my favorite there's two favorite fabrics so one I would definitely say is a hop sack hop sack is very breathable it's very versatile if you're getting a suit in a hop sack fabric it's something you're going to be able to wear as separates and very easily especially if you get a navy suit the navy blazer will pair very well with jeans or any other kind of outfit that you're wearing in terms of summer fabrics obviously you need a great linen it's breathable it's it's something you can wear throughout the summer and kind of look put together and dapper and not be too hot so that's going to wrap up the Q&A segment here and actually that is the show for this evening so I want to thank you all for tuning in to our very first episode if you have suggestions of things or guests you'd like to see in the future episodes you know leave those down in the comments also want to give a big thanks to our contributors Alexeyevich Rock McGough Stephen Pulver and Fabio Attanasio and Ahmed Rahman and to mr. Matt Franek for being our inaugural guest and finally I need to say that this show would not have been possible without the extremely hard work and dedication of the he spoke style video team we have of course Rob MacGyver Ian Johnston who edits all of our videos standing right over there right now and Trent Hart who is our live show guru who made all the things happen when they should have so I just want to say thank you very much guys I appreciate it appreciate all that you do so that is tonight's show as always thanks for watching and stay tuned [Music] you