Openwork: Inside the Watch Industry
Openwork is a weekly podcast about how the watch industry actually works. An unfiltered look behind the scenes — no press releases, no hype, and no sponsored takes. Hosted by Asher Rapkin and Gabe Reilly, co-founders of Collective Horology. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Collective 101 – How We Built It, Nearly Lost It, and Came Back – Episode 101
<p>For episode 101, Gabe Reilly and Asher Rapkin turn the analysis they usually apply to watch brands on their own business. A listener asked how Collective Horology started, how it was funded and what went wrong along the way, so this episode covers all of it. The story starts in a seventh grade homeroom in Manhattan and goes through a Facebook employee watch club and a Tudor Black Bay 58 that needed Mark Zuckerberg’s sign-off. From there it reaches the first Collective collaboration, a reworked Zenith El Primero Chronomaster, followed by projects with H. Moser & Cie., Urwerk, J.N. Shapiro, IW...
Zenith Goes Dark – Can Haute Horology Save the Brand? – Episode 100
<p >For our 100th episode, we’re covering the biggest watch industry story of the year. LVMH has announced that Zenith will suspend retail distribution and cut roughly 200 jobs, with plans to relaunch the brand in 2029, aimed at the $50,000-and-up segment.</p> <p >Gabe and Asher start with what’s actually happening: the Swiss consultation process, why the Le Locle manufacture keeps running as a movement supplier for other LVMH brands, and what it means for current owners and the retailers still holding unsold inventory.</p> <p >Then they look at how Zenith got here. That story covers 27 years of LVMH...
Second Lives – AP and Rolex CPO, Ebel Reboots, Bennahmias Returns – Episode 99
<p >Audemars Piguet is reportedly launching its own certified pre-owned program. This is the same brand that has spent years discouraging clients from reselling their watches. Gabe Reilly and Asher Rapkin of Collective Horology look at WatchPro’s reporting on the centralized, brand-run AP CPO model, which may include online sales. They also ask how it fits with secondary prices that are falling well below retail on models like the Code 11.59. On the Rolex side, Morgan Stanley and WatchCharts estimate that Rolex Certified Pre-Owned did $229 million in Q3 2026, up 61% year over year. That puts the program on track for a $1 bi...
New York Watch Week 2026 – Has It Gotten Too Big? – Episode 98
<p>Openwork Episode 98 was recorded live at WatchTime New York in Gotham Hall, where Gabe Reilly and Blake Buettner of Collective Horology recap New York Watch Week 2026. They talk about how the week has grown from a mostly tri-state collector gathering into a national event, and why that tracks with the Swiss watch industry’s growing reliance on the American market while Europe stays flat and Asia slides. They also get into the downside of that growth: a Windup Watch Fair line that wrapped around a full Midtown block, and the tough choice Worn & Wound faces between keeping the fair fr...
The Business of Bond – Inside Omega’s 30-Year 007 Partnership – Episode 97
<p>Gabe and Asher break down one of the most successful marketing partnerships in watch history: Omega and James Bond. The story starts in the mid-’90s, when both franchises were trying to reboot. Omega was a struggling asset inside the Swatch Group, and Bond had been off screen for years. Nicolas Hayek tapped Jean-Claude Biver to position Omega against Rolex, and the Seamaster Professional 300M arrived in 1993, two years before GoldenEye. Costume designer Lindy Hemming chose it for Pierce Brosnan because she saw Rolex as too flashy for the new Bond. Biver turned that product placement into a full in...
Who Pays for Watch Media? – Influencers, Access, and Life After Hodinkee – Episode 96
<p>Watch media looks nothing like it did ten years ago. Blake Buettner was one of Hodinkee's early writers, later managing editor at Worn & Wound, and built The Deep Track on his own. He joins Gabe Reilly and Asher Rapkin to talk about how watch journalism got decentralized. A Hodinkee Introducing article used to be enough to sell a watch. Now a launch gets spread across traditional outlets, watch influencers, YouTube creators and celebrity endorsements, and most of it runs through brand PR rather than marketing. We also get into why watch reviewers so rarely write a negative review, and...
Dressed for Success? – Rolex's Padellone, Breguet's Retail Purge, and Swiss Exports – Episode 95
<p>Eighteen months after Liberation Day, we look at where Swiss watch exports stand. Shipments to the U.S. are down 8.3% year to date but still up 8.8% versus 2024. Mainland China is down 23% from two years ago. Global exports are still up 1.7%, carried by the UK, India, Europe and South America. The growth is coming from watches over $50,000, while the $1,000 to $10,000 middle of the market gets hollowed out. Collector taste is moving away from steel sports watches and toward dress watches, complications and handmade pieces.</p> <p>Rolex's new Padellone annual calendar is a business move. Starting at $59,000, it's another sign...
MING's Very Big Year – And What Comes Next – Episode 94
<p>Recorded live at Geneva Watch Days, this episode of Openwork sits down with Ming CEO Praneeth Raj Singh to unpack one of the strongest product runs in independent watchmaking: the Polymesh, Iris, Starfield, Lightning, and Comet. Hosts Gabe Reilly and Blake Buettner ask how much of it was planning versus luck, and Praneeth explains the shift from pandemic-era scramble launches to a more deliberate cadence, plus why Ming's graveyard of killed ideas is bigger than its actual catalog.</p> <p>Praneeth gets specific on how Ming decides what to build and what to cut, including how a failed 3-kilometer...
The Unsung Watches – Geneva Watch Days 2026 – Episode 93
<p>Gabe and Asher kick off Episode 93 with news: Collective is now an authorized Ressence retailer. Then they get into the week's biggest story out of Geneva Watch Days 2026: Breitling's Gallet relaunch, its inherited distribution network, the debt behind the bet, and why it beats the usual sub-$5,000 heritage revival.</p> <p>The rest of the episode is Collective's annual rundown of the watches nobody else is covering: the Laurent Ferrier Classic Moon Dusk and its lumed double-moon phase, Singer Track's new V72 chronograph in gold panda dial, and the Atelier Wen x William Messina Inflection, a real collaboration with...
Geneva Watch Days 2026 – Bigger, Better, and Collector-focused – Episode 92
<p>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 Collective means for future content.</p> <p>We break down major trends: independents gaining mainstream traction, the rising accessibility of creative watchmaking, and the cross-pollination of materials and techniques between affordable and high-end brands.</p> <p>And of course, we highlight standout releases, including Ming’s 57.05 Comet worldtimer with its dynamic dial and tiered lugs as well as Bulgari’s surprising collaboration with Vianney Halter. We also react to Tudor’s North Fl...
