If you haven’t already, be sure to refresh the Worn & Wound podcast feed this morning, because we have a special bonus pod to start your week. At the recent Windup Watch Fair in New York City, we recorded a very special podcast in front of a live audience with our friends at Collective Horology and some very special guests. Co-moderated by Collective’s Asher Rapkin and Zach Kazan, we welcome Brew founder Jonathan Ferrer and Urwerk co-founder Martin Frei to the stage for a lively conversation about how each of these unique horological voices started their brands.
We see lots of parallels between Urwerk and Brew. While they exist at opposite ends of the price point spectrum, both are design forward brands with a deep independent streak, and in this discussion we dig into how Jonathan and Martin approached building their brands, separated by decades and in very different watch market climates. Both Jonathan and Martin share revealing stories about the challenges of starting independent watch brands, and including how they leveraged the internet and social media in very different ways, and leaned on their own collector communities to build momentum.