Ben Clymer

This gives you an idea of what they're about and how they do things.

It is so wonderful and so different than traditional luxury, which frankly, I may say, even as a purveyor of luxury items, is full of shit half the time.

I'm into sneakers, but not in the way that I'm into other things.

Why would a pair of special edition sneakers sell for $5,000?

Sneakers are made in China by machines.

They're hand-stitched here and there.

It's just design.

It's artificial scarcity, etc.,

When you see what goes into a really high mechanical watch, but in particular Rolex, you really start to understand the Submariner will say it's 8,000 bucks.

That might be a deal after you see what goes into this thing.

And I mentioned in the story, several competing brand presidents had told me before I went on this trip that, oh,

Not a human hand touches a Rolex before it's made.

It's all done by machine, which effectively the most insulting thing a Swiss person can say, meaning that like it's void of character.

It's void of humanity.

It's like luxury should be about people.

It should be about craftsmanship.

And they're saying Rolex doesn't have to

And I was like, oh, okay, like that's kind of a bummer.

That may have informed why I didn't own any modern Rolex at the time.

You walk into Rolex HQ in Geneva and you see hundreds of people finishing watches.