Horology with Cameron Weiss Ologies Podcast October 17, 2017 Episode 5. You’re here! First off, thanks for listening! I see your reviews, I read them, I thank you. If you’re just hopping by on occasion - just poppin’ in, no commitment - you can consider subscribing. That’ll get you episodes right into your pocket area. And if you wish you had an Ologies shirt, or tote, or iPhone case, or mug ,or clothes for your child (even though we swear on this podcast): OlogiesMerch.com [singsong voice] now has things there! And thanks Shannon Feltus and Boni Dutch, as always, for helping me do that. Okay, horology. What is it? I know what you think it is, or what you wish it were. But it’s not the study of [clip of Siri] “your moms.” Wow. I did not say that, Siri said that. That’s very inappropriate. Okay, horology comes from the Greek hora, meaning hour, or time. A horologist is someone who studies the measurement - or the instruments of measurement - of time. But in common parlance, horology now kinda refers to mechanical timekeeping, so if you’re like, “is there a rift between mechanical and electronic timekeeping?” well, [exclaims quietly] WHEW, let’s just say that was some foreshadowing for you. Prepare to learn how many goddamn tiny pieces are used to make an old-school mechanical watch, and how expensive watches can get, and how much coffee watchmakers drink, and what would happen if you scared one, and the history of timekeeping: there’s so much information in this! You’re never gonna look at your watch quite the same again. I found this horologist by Googling ‘horologist + Los Angeles’ – just took a stab – and came across a few articles about this one dude in GQ and the LA Times. I was shocked to see a photo of him, and he appeared to be under 100 years old, which was odd for a horologist. He looks like a California type who has definitely surfed at least once. He may have had a short ponytail but honestly I don’t remember, because there was a dog in the office and I got so excited that I got distracted. I can’t remember. Anyway, horologist. I needed to know his deal. So I drove to a business park south of the airport to sit down in the break room of the Weiss Watch Company - an LA-based, handmade, old-school-but- also-new-school mechanical watch company - and I asked this nice man a million questions. Please enjoy professional horologist, Cameron Weiss. [gingerly testing out pronunciations] Weese? Wice? ---------- Cameron Weiss: I say “Wice.” Aside: Cameron has owned the Weiss Watch Company for four years. 1 Alie Ward: How did you start a watch company? Because you're a young person. You're like, what, in your 30s, right? Cameron: Not yet. Aside: Here’s where I awkwardly try to ascertain Cameron’s age. Because, listen, in my defense, he looks young as hell! He has that kind of southern California guy look, but he carries himself and he speaks like a tweed-clad professor. It’s very confusing. Alie: [in high-pitched disbelief] You’re in your 20s?! Cameron: Yeah, 29. Alie: How did you start a watch company in your 20s? How did you do that? Cameron: I was fortunate to find watchmaking pretty young. Alie: How did you get obsessed with horology and clocks? What was the first thing? Do you remember cracking open a watch when you were five and being, like, [excited, like a little kid] “what's happening in here?” Cameron: I don't know about the first thing, but pretty early on I was given a cheap little plastic watch. I think it had alligators on it or something, but it was when I was a little kid, and I really enjoyed wearing it. Something about it just felt nice to have on my wrist, and that was the beginning. Aside: I really needed – needed – a visual of this and searched for ‘alligators + kids’ watches’ and didn’t turn up anything. Then I realized, what if it was a crocodile, and then I realized, what if it was a CLOCKodile!? Then I got bummed and overwhelmed because clockodile is such a good idea that I’d have to quit my whole life and pursue that as a children’s watch company. I was relieved – [whistle-like exclamation of relief] WHEW – that there’s already a kids’ book of that name. Somebody’s on it. Good job. I can continue with my life as planned. Anyway, from the alligator watch Cameron became interested in stopwatches. Cameron: And then I found my way into a watchmaking school... Aside: Cameron went to school and did that for two years, full-time. Cameron: ... I was able to train in Switzerland as well... Aside: [Sounding impressed and intrigued] Woaaah! I did not ask him about the landscape or chocolate, and I regret that. Cameron: ... and eventually I was confident enough to start my own brand. 2 Alie: How old were you when you started going to watchmaking school? Were you the youngest person there? Because I feel like I've met a couple horologists and they're all like, 70. Are you always the youngest when you go to meetups? Cameron: Oh yeah. At meetups, definitely. In school I wasn't the youngest, but it's more so because there's very few people who are actually admitted into schools. Alie: How rigorous is it? Do you have to have great eyesight and not-shaky hands? Cameron: Yeah. That along with a couple of certain learning styles, like being able to focus for long periods of time and maybe sit there for eight hours working on bending one little piece of metal into a certain shape or filing something perfectly flat. Being able to focus and keep your patience is very important. The teachers weed out people who wouldn't be able to handle that. Alie: So they're like no spazzes, no dicks, essentially? [laughs] Cameron: Yeah, exactly. It’s a major time investment to teach someone watchmaking, so they don't want to teach it to someone who might not actually succeed in the program. Alie: Right, they're like, “go do something else. Fix pinball machines. Be a bartender.” I imagine it's a very quiet classroom, also? Cameron: Yeah, it can be. Alie: Because if you go up behind a horologist and you startle them while they're working on these movements, I feel like you will get stabbed. Cameron: Yes, it’s not a good idea, tweezers and screwdrivers are very sharp. [chuckles] Alie: So, watch movements are tiny, right? But are you also interested in clocks? Are you more interested in wristwatches and pocket watches and smaller items? Cameron: Personally, I'm interested in anything mechanical that keeps time, really. For the business, we only make wristwatches and I don't do any kind of clock making. It's a completely different craft. Alie: Really? Okay. Your watches are all mechanical and not quartz, right? Cameron: That's correct. Alie: Can you explain the difference between a mechanical watch and a quartz watch? Cameron: Mechanical watches are powered by springs and they can either be wound by hand, by turning the crown, or they can be wound by a weight in the back of the watch that actually moves with your arm movements. A quartz watch is battery powered, so you 3 actually have a battery that is then putting energy through a quartz crystal, and the crystal oscillates back and forth. Alie: And that’s why it’s a quartz watch. Cameron: Yes, right. Alie: How do you feel about lyrics that reference watches? I didn't know that with a mechanical watch, wearing it winds it, until I heard a Jay-Z lyric about it. Aside: I need to give a special thank you to the website Rap Genius which is now just called Genius - I liked it better when it was Rap Genius - but this site will explain all of your “I don’t know what this lyric is or what it means” problems. If you remember – I’ll set the scene – 2011, a Jay-Z and Kanye West song comes out. There’s a line where Jay-Z says [speaks the lyrics as if reciting a poem] “ball so hard, got a broke clock, Rollies that don't tick tock, Audemars that’s losing time.” [sheepish, embarrassed] I’m not good at rapping. [clip of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s N***** in Paris: “ball so hard, got a broke clock, Rollies that don't tick tock, Audemars that’s losing time, hidden behind all these big rocks”] On Rap Genius I found out that having a broke clock and Rollies that don’t tick tock means two things. Number one: you ball so hard that you don’t even have time to wear your watches, because automatic watches of the mechanical variety wind themselves just by wearing them. So he has so many nice watches that they don’t even work, because he doesn’t wear them enough. And when you have a Rollie that doesn’t tick tock, that’s good, that means the hand sweeps and it’s authentic, unlike a “tick-tock-tick-tock” quartz imitation Rolex. [satisfied tone] Huh huhhh… So how does Cameron feel about rap lyrics? Does he love them as much as I do? Cameron: I mean, [struggling to find a nice way to put it] it's something that doesn't really… appeal… to me? Aside: Okay.