In this episode of Watches & Politics, I’m joined by Geoffrey Kelly, retired FBI Special Agent and founding member of the FBI Art Crime Team, for a conversation about culture, value, law, and power.

Over his career, Geoffrey led investigations recovering more than $100 million in stolen artwork and cultural property. While his work focused on art and antiquities, the systems he describes — illicit trafficking, cross-border movement, private transactions, and contested ownership — increasingly apply to high-value watches.

We explore how cultural objects function inside illicit networks, how investigators read objects as evidence, and why restitution is never just legal — but deeply political. This conversation sheds light on how value is enforced, negotiated, reclaimed, and fought over when culture intersects with crime.

Rather than sensationalism, this episode offers a sober, institutional perspective on luxury objects as instruments of power — and the structures that police them.

In this episode of Watches & Politics, I’m joined by Christopher Daaboul, founder of EsperLuxe, to explore access, trust, and power in the modern private watch market, focusing on independent watchmaking.

As retail and brand authorization increasingly fail to meet demand, independent dealers and private networks have emerged as the real centers of gravity. Chris operates precisely at this intersection — where scarcity, discretion, legitimacy, and trust determine who gets access and who does not.

We discuss how watches move not just as objects, but as stores of value, social signals, and instruments of influence. Our conversation explores how legitimacy is constructed outside brand control, how trust replaces contracts, and how informal networks increasingly govern luxury markets across borders.

This episode offers a rare inside look at how power actually flows through contemporary watch culture — quietly, selectively, and behind closed doors. We talk about the most rare and sought after watches, from Rexhep Rexhepi to De Bethune, from Urwerk to MB&F, and all other watches.

In this episode of Watches & Politics, I’m joined by C’Quon “CQ” Gottlieb — Senior Client Advisor at The 1916 Company and co-founder of CP Time Collective — for a conversation about identity, access, and the shifting power dynamics of modern watch collecting.

CQ approaches watches not as transactional objects, but as cultural artifacts — tools for belonging, storytelling, and self-definition. From his global background and advisory work to building CP Time as a space for under-represented collectors, he offers a rare inside view into how taste, legitimacy, and influence are being redefined today.

We discuss how collector networks act as cultural nodes, how new geographies are reshaping what counts as “important,” and how heritage is being reinterpreted through new voices rather than inherited authority.

This episode captures a pivotal transition in horology: from centralized power and brand dominance to plural, community-driven narratives.

In this episode of Watches & Politics, I’m joined by Nicholas “Nick” Ferrell — founder of DC Vintage Watches, creator of Sycamore, former intelligence analyst, diplomat, and National Security Council staffer — for a conversation at the intersection of timekeeping, secrecy, and state power.

Nick’s career bridges two rarely connected worlds: the intelligence and diplomatic community on one hand, and the vintage watch world on the other. Our discussion explores how watches function inside institutions where timing, discretion, and reliability are matters of life, death, and policy — and how those same objects later circulate as artifacts of history, memory, and power.

We talk about MACV-SOG Seikos, field watches worn by intelligence officers, the culture of the Situation Room, and how “tool watches” become carriers of covert histories. We also explore how dealers, writers, and designers shape which secret stories are preserved, mythologized, or forgotten — and how brands and collectors participate in that process.

This episode sits at the crossroads of war, intelligence, collecting, and narrative control — a core axis of Watches & Politics.

In this episode of Watches & Politics, I’m joined by François-Xavier Hotier of Ulysse Nardin, one of the most unconventional and forward-thinking brands in Swiss watchmaking.

Our conversation explores how innovation, identity, and strategic risk-taking operate in an industry defined by tradition. From Ulysse Nardin’s historic ties to marine chronometers and navigation to its radical experimentation with materials, mechanics, and design, we examine how a brand balances heritage with disruption — and why that balance is inherently political.

We discuss how brands decide which histories to preserve and which rules to break, how innovation becomes a form of differentiation and power, and how modern watchmaking speaks to a new generation of collectors seeking meaning beyond nostalgia.

This episode reveals how Ulysse Nardin’s approach challenges conventional narratives — and why pushing boundaries can be as important as protecting the past.

#WatchesAndPolitics #UlysseNardin #FrançoisXavierHotier
#InnovationInHorology #ModernWatchmaking #TimeIsPolitical
#IndependentThinking #LuxuryAndPower

In this episode of Watches & Politics, I’m joined by Pierre Biver, co-founder of Biver Watches, to explore legacy, independence, and what it means to create value in a world obsessed with speed.

Pierre represents a rare intersection in modern horology: the continuation of one of the industry’s most influential legacies — and the deliberate choice to chart a new path. Our conversation moves across heritage and reinvention, father and son, power and stewardship, asking what legacy really means when it must be earned, not inherited.

We discuss the philosophy behind Biver Watches, the politics of independence in an era of conglomerates, and why craftsmanship, slowness, and permanence can themselves be acts of resistance. We also reflect on succession, on how watchmaking mirrors political dynasties, and on whether the future of horology will be written by institutions, families, or individuals willing to take risks.

This is a conversation about time — not as a commodity, but as responsibility.

#WatchesAndPolitics #PierreBiver #IndependentWatchmaking #HorologicalLegacy
#BiverWatches #LuxuryAndPower #TimeIsPolitical #ModernHorology #jeanclaudebiver #biver

In this episode of Watches & Politics, I sit down with Gary Getz — author, collector, cultural connector, and founder of The Collectors Room — to explore how collectors shape power, legitimacy, and meaning in the modern watch world.

Our conversation moves beyond watches as objects and into watches as cultural capital. We discuss how collector communities form, how trust and access are built, and how informal spaces — dinners, salons, private rooms — often wield as much influence as auctions or boardrooms.

Gary offers a rare perspective from inside the collector ecosystem: how relationships are formed, how taste is transmitted, and how collectors quietly shape brand narratives, market direction, and cultural relevance. We also explore the rise of social media, the globalization of collecting, and the shifting balance between passion, commerce, and influence.

This episode reveals why the modern watch collector is not just a buyer — but an actor in a broader system of cultural and political power.

Key themes:
• Collectors as cultural and political actors
• Access, trust, and legitimacy in watch culture
• Private communities and informal power structures
• The Collectors Room and modern tastemaking
• Social media, globalization, and influence

In this episode of Watches & Politics, I sit down with Zaf Basha — collector, writer, and author of Military Timepieces and Jaeger-LeCoultre: A Guide for the Collector — to explore how watches move from tools of war to objects of cultural power.

Our conversation travels from the battlefield to the collector’s cabinet. We discuss how military requirements shaped modern watch design, why precision became a matter of survival, and how wartime specifications laid the foundation for some of the most iconic civilian watches ever produced.

But this is not just a conversation about history. We also explore how military watches evolved into symbols of legitimacy, masculinity, and authority; how collectors and institutions decide which references matter; and how brands like Jaeger-LeCoultre navigate heritage, revival, and storytelling today.

Mr. Basha’s unique perspective — blending technical knowledge, historical research, and collector insight — reveals why military watches remain one of the most politically charged categories in horology.

If watches are political artifacts as much as mechanical ones, this episode shows how war, memory, and precision continue to shape what we wear on our wrists.

Key themes:
• Military watches as tools of survival and power
• Wartime specifications and modern design language
• Jaeger-LeCoultre, heritage, and legitimacy
• Collectors, memory, and historical authority
• How war transforms objects into symbols