Get big or get eaten
Audemars Piguet exits the Midwest, Rolex protects the Crown, and making dials the Chicago way. Plus, this week's podcast with Toledano & Chan.
Good morning. I write a daily to-do list on a notecard, where I’ve also been noting my watch for the day (kinda corny but fun). I’ve been reaching for my humble 90s TAG Heuer 1000 a lot this winter, though I also find myself thinking about my watch less when it’s 3 degrees outside and it’s buried under four layers:
Today’s newsletter includes: The latest podcast with Toledano & Chan; the microbrand who’s name hit a little too close to home; did the last retailer with Audemars Piguet in the U.S. just close?; and how Oak & Oscar is making its latest dial here in Chicago.
Unpolished is having a sale!
SALE! Unpolished is the newsletter for watch collectors and a top-25 Fashion & Beauty Substack. This week, I’m running a discount: subscribe for just $6 (usually $9). We rarely discount, and if you join now, your rate stays locked in—it never goes up as long as you’re subscribed.
It’s the last week to get a monthly subscription for $6:
🎧 Independent Watch Design with Toledano & Chan
In this week’s podcast, I’m joined by Alfred Chan and Phil Toledano of Toledano & Chan. They’ve just announced their latest release, the b1.3r, an updated take on their brutalist integrated bracelet watch. Alfred is a talented watch designer, and Phil is an inscrutable artist and collector.
We talk about that their latest release, but also: manufacturing in China vs. Switzerland (their first watches were made in China, while the b1.3r is made in Switzerland); stone dials and the state of the microbrand space; making an asymmetrical crystal; the best watches they bought in 2025; marketing, TikTok, and Timothee Chalamet; making something that’s intentionally divisive; why their latest watch costs $10,000 (!); and what’s next.
Listen below, or subscribe to the pod to get future episodes in your feed: Spotify / Apple / RSS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY PUSHERS.IO
Buying Watches Doesn’t Have to Be Sketchy
Direct access to vetted dealers, fair prices, and watches you actually want.
Pushers.io is the marketplace built for collectors. Every dealer is vetted (3 vouches minimum), and you deal with them directly through the app. No middleman, no buyer’s fees, no bullshit, and watches you actually want. Listings move fast, and there are new watches every time you open the app. Join nearly 10k watch enthusiasts and check out Pushers.io or download the app today.
How to make a watch dial in Chicago
Last week, I visited Oak & Oscar’s HQ on the northside of Chicago to see their watchmaker Nathan Bobinchak make a dial and bezel for the new Humboldt Exp-02.1 It has Oak & Oscar’s typical sandwich construction, but the dial and bezel are made by Nathan using a mix of modern and traditional equipment.
It’s a multi-step process: Laser engraving a blank piece of metal, sandblasting, milling the rehaut with an old lathe, and then lasering the text. Nathan went through a few steps for us to see:
First, the metal blank goes under a laser to cut out markers, hand holes, and positioning holes.
Nathan punches out the cutouts, and even uses them to make the dial feet attaching the dial to the movement.
The rehaut is cut using an old Schaublin 70 lathe, a Swiss-made cutting tool that I’ve seen in almost every watchmaking workshop I’ve visited. It’s extremely precise and made of cast iron to dampen vibrations, so very heavy. Oak & Oscar bought the lathe in Switzerland in 2022 and uses it to cut the rehaut and bezel of the Exp-02.
The rehaut is attached to the dial before sandblasting, and then sandblasted using silicon carbide.
The dial is placed under the laser one final time to cut the dial text, which has a “ghost” effect.
Oak & Oscar is only making 20 of these, but it’s cool to see a small brand figuring out how to do more stuff “in-house” using a combination of old and new tools. They’ve added a bunch of equipment over the years, usually by scouring the internet. One comes from Switzerland, another from an old dentist’s office in Wisconsin. You can enter a lottery to purchase one of the 20 Exp-02 Humboldts until February 3 on Oak & Oscar’s site here.
The Roundup
Audemars Piguet exits the Midwest; how one small brand got the attention of one very big brand.
👑 Nodex, too close to the Crown? Nodus said their micro-adjust clasp, which used to be called “Nodex,” managed to “get the attention of the biggest watchmaker in the world, not the fun kind of attention either.” Look at the Nodex trademark history, and of course, you can guess who didn’t like it:
