Openwork: Inside the Watch Industry

Geneva Watch Days 2026 – Bigger, Better, and Collector-focused – Episode 92

Gabe Reilly and Blake Buettner record live from Geneva Watch Days to discuss the show’s atmosphere, the growth of independent watchmaking, and what Blake’s new role at Co

Collection Reset – Working in Watches Changed How We Buy – Episode 91

Breitling relaunches Gallet on September 3rd. Openwork hosts Gabe Reilly and Asher Rapkin unpack Georges Kern's play: chronographs at 3,000–5,000 CHF, an exploration stor

We Sued to Stop Tariffs – And Rolex Is Reshaping Retail – Episode 90

In Episode 90 of Openwork, Collective Horology co-founders Gabe Reilly and Asher Rapkin reveal that they've sued the U.S. federal government over the tariffs squeezing th

The Watch Switzerland Can't Make – Karel Bachand (Barrelhand) – Episode 89

A quick news note: On Friday, July 24, Collective, along with New York spice importer Burlap & Barrel, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade challengin

The Rise of Tudor – How Rolex Wins by Letting Tudor Dare – Episode 88

How did Tudor go from a brand you couldn't even buy in the United States to a half-billion-dollar powerhouse selling 300,000 watches a year? In this episode of Openwork,

Bonus: Reviving the U.S. Watch Industry – Josh Shapiro (J.N. Shapiro) – Episode 41

To mark 250 years of American independence, we're revisiting one of our favorite conversations: our sit-down with Josh Shapiro, the American independent watchmaker behind

The Analog Boom – Watch Sales Surge to Start 2026 – Episode 87

This week we're proud to welcome Bamford London to the Collective line card. George Bamford is the OG of modern collaborative watchmaking, but it's his own designs — the

Bonus: The Watches of Armin Strom – Claude Greisler (Co-founder & Master Watchmaker) – Episode 86

We're on summer hours, but we wanted to keep something in your feed as much as we can — so this one comes from our Watches Of podcast, a conversation Gabe recorded in per

Tariffs on the Rise (Again) – New Justifications, Higher Rates – Episode 85

Gabe heads to Las Vegas for one of the largest trade shows in the watch and jewelry world — a B2B behemoth that's quietly making a bigger play for watches than ever befor

Open House Recap – Inside LA's First and Only Independent Watch Show – Episode 84

Morning after Open House 2026 — the biggest event Collective Horology has ever thrown. Now in its third year at The Aster in Hollywood, the fair pulled 400+ people throug

Watch Retail Consolidates, Rapidly – What It Means for the Industry and Enthusiasts – Episode 83

While preparing to speak on a panel about the rapidly changing state of American watch retail, Gabe stumbles onto an annual industry report that ranks the largest jewelry

The Quiet Giants – How Seiko, Citizen, and Casio Each Cleared a Billion – Episode 82

Seiko, Citizen, and Casio each pulled in over a billion dollars in revenue last year — in most cases record-breaking, and all three landing neck and neck around $1.3 bill

Royal Flop? – AP x Swatch: Brand Building or Crisis Management? – Episode 81

We recorded today's episode on May 13, just a few days before the AP Swatch Royal Pop went on sale. We discuss the decision-making and implications of this project for bo

How Watches Get Allocated – It's Not Just Spend History – Episode 80

Why do some watches always seem to go to the same people? Listener Terry wrote in with a question we hear constantly: how do brands and authorized dealers actually decide

Against All Odds – How Richemont, LVMH and Swatch Recovered in Q4 2025 – Episode 79

If you'd told Gabe and Asher on August 7th — the day the U.S. announced a 39% tariff on Switzerland — that the holding companies would close out 2025 with their watch bus

Breitling vs. Richemont – Opposite Bets on an Industry in Flux – Episode 78

A grand reorganization of the luxury watch business is happening in front of us, and nowhere is it more visible than in the diverging strategies of two holding companies

The Sleepers of Watches and Wonders 2026 – Our Favorite Releases from Geneva – Episode 77

Gabe and Asher are back from Geneva, lightly jet-lagged after roughly 30 meetings across three days at Watches and Wonders. Rather than rehash the releases everyone alrea

Is Watches and Wonders Dead? – Long Live Geneva Watch Week – Episode 76

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 ge

Watch Brand Draft – Picking 
Our Fantasy
 Watch
 Businesses – Episode 75

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 op

The Rise of F.P.Journe – Hype, Substance, or Both? – Episode 74

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