What's on Your Riste? A Watch Podcast

Odcinki

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  S02E07: Watch Stories Zeitwinkel - The Angle of True Time 17.09.2026 28min

  Description:In this episode of What’s on Your Riste?, Watchovski travels to Saint-Imier to explore Zeitwinkel, one of modern independent watchmaking’s quietest and most uncompromising brands. From the meaning of “Zeitwinkel” itself—the mathematical angle between mean time and true solar time—to the brand’s proprietary German silver movements, asymmetric dial architecture, smoked sapphire displays, and refusal to follow corporate luxury playbooks, this is a story about structural honesty, difficult choices, and the beauty of building watches the hard way. Keywords:Zeitwinkel, Zeitwinkel watches, independent watchmaking, Swiss independent watches, Saint-Imier, German silver movement, maillechort, ZW0102, ZW0103, Zeitwinkel 273, Zeitwinkel 173, Saphir Fumé, smoked sapphire dial, large date watch, asymmetric dial, three-quarter plate movement, Côtes de Genève, hand finishing, Straumann hairspring, Glucydur balance, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, watch podcast, horology podcast, luxury watches, mechanical watches, Swiss watches, independent horology, honest watchmaking, structural integrity, manufacture movement, boutique watch brand
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  S02E25: Bonus: Buying Overseas w/ Amsterdam Watch Co (AWCo) and CLOSER (Squale, Blancpain, Subino, No Radiobino) 15.09.2026 50min

  Links to BOTH companies I discussed today...no affiliate links / no paid sponsorships...I just like these companies and wanted to share...Amsterdam Watch Co (AWCo) LinkCLOSER LinkTitle:S02E24: Bonus: Amsterdam Watch Co (AWCo) and CLOSERDescription:Buying a vintage watch from another country means paying a stranger for a description. This bonus episode examines two overseas dealers that earn trust in very different ways: Amsterdam Watch Company, a seven-person shop where every watch is serviced in-house, and CLOSER in Nagoya, whose enormous inventory is backed by a police-issued secondhand dealer license and more than a decade of public feedback.Along the way, we explore Amsterdam Watch Company’s collaborations with Squale, what a Japanese secondhand-goods ledger has to do with your peace of mind, how changing U.S. import duties affect watch buyers, and the single most revealing question you can ask an overseas seller.This episode is not sponsored, paid, or affiliated. Nothing was comped or loaned. Amsterdam Watch Company reviewed the portions concerning its business solely for factual accuracy. CLOSER Co., Ltd. was not contacted. Import information was current at the time of recording in September 2026 and should be independently verified before purchasing.Keywords/Tags:vintage watches, buying watches overseas, international watch buying, Amsterdam Watch Company, AWCo, CLOSER Japan, CLOSER Nagoya, Squale, Squale Subino, Squale No Radiobino, Squale Milbino, Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, Japanese watch dealers, Dutch watch dealers, watch authentication, trusted watch dealers, Chrono24, eBay watches, watch import duties, U.S. customs, watch tariffs, de minimis exemption, customs forms, secondhand dealer license, kobutsusho kyoka, kobutsu daicho, watch collecting, independent watch dealers, luxury watches, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski
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  S02E06: The Locker Room is Not Watch School: The Bedazzled Submariner Problem 10.09.2026 34min

  S02E06: The Locker Room is Not Watch School: The Bedazzled Submariner ProblemDescriptionProfessional athletes are some of the most visible watch collectors in the world; but fame, money, and taste do not automatically arrive together.In this standalone episode of What’s on Your Riste?, Watchovski explores the strange overlap between professional sports, sudden wealth, predatory luxury culture, and the watch industry’s obsession with flash. Beginning with a personal story from an NFL locker room, the episode looks at how young athletes can become targets the moment the windfall arrives — not only for bad investments, but also for watches that look expensive while quietly destroying real value.From iced-out Rolexes and the “bedazzled Submariner problem” to Jacob & Co., Marcus Stroman, and the quieter virtues of real collecting, this episode argues that the loudest watch in the room is not always the most valuable one. The real lesson is not that athletes have bad taste. It is that taste has to be earned, education matters, and the most meaningful value is often the part no one can see from across the room.Do not chase the sparkle. Chase the work.Keywords:watches, luxury watches, watch collecting, horology, independent watchmaking, Rolex, Rolex Submariner, iced out Rolex, aftermarket diamonds, athlete watches, professional athletes, sports and watches, NFL, football, soccer, Borussia Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon, Marcus Stroman, Jacob & Co, Jacob and Company, Astronomia, luxury culture, sudden wealth, watch education, watch taste, bad watch advice, watch investing, watch value, originality, collector education, fine watchmaking, hand finishing, anglage, black polish, Watchovski, What’s on Your Riste, watch podcast, watch collector, luxury watch podcast
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  S02E23: The Hum and the Light: They Invented the Electronic Future and Did Not Get to Keep It (Accutron, Pulsar, Nintendo). 06.09.2026 31min

  Title: The Hum and the Light: They Invented the Electronic Future and Did Not Get to Keep ItDescription:There is a man in Kyoto named Gunpei Yokoi who won by refusing the newest technology. He called it lateral thinking with withered technology: take the cheap old chip everyone else has thrown away and understand it so completely you can do something nobody expects. In 1989 he put that idea in a gray plastic box called the Game Boy, and the color screens that were supposed to bury it were the ones that got buried.This episode is about two American companies who believed the exact opposite.In 1960, Bulova threw out the balance wheel and put a tuning fork in its place, humming three hundred and sixty times a second in a pure F-sharp. The Accutron was guaranteed to two seconds a day when a fine mechanical watch lost thirty. Its most famous version was an accident: Bulova sent dial-less display props to jewelers so people could see the machine work, and customers walked in and demanded to buy the prop. That is the Spaceview.In 1972, Hamilton went further and built a watch with no moving parts at all. John Bergey got the idea from a movie prop his company had made for 2001: A Space Odyssey, and named the result after the spinning dead stars astronomers had just found. The Pulsar cost $2,100 in solid gold, more than a Rolex, more than the average family car. Johnny Carson joked it would tell you the exact moment you went bankrupt. The first run of four hundred sold out in days. James Bond wore one in Live and Let Die and pressed the button twice, slowly, so the whole theater could watch the future light up.Then the future arrived, and it was quartz, and it was Japanese, and it was cheap enough to make being advanced worthless. Bulova belongs to Citizen now. Hamilton is a Swiss brand owned by the Swatch Group. And the name Pulsar, the proudest name in American electronic watchmaking, is owned by Seiko.Two truths that will not cancel each other out: they did not survive the future, and they caused it. Look at any screen you own.We close on the one machine that outlasted all of them, and on why the programmers in this audience, the people who ship the new thing and delete last spring's thing for a living, come home and wind a mechanical watch. Small but mighty. Keep winding.Keywords:Bulova Accutron, Spaceview, tuning fork watch, Max Hetzel, Omar Bradley, Hamilton Pulsar, John Bergey, LED watch, first digital watch, P1 gold Pulsar, Live and Let Die, James Bond watch, Johnny Carson, 2001 A Space Odyssey clock, Seiko Astron, quartz crisis, quartz revolution, American watchmaking, Lancaster Pennsylvania, Biel Switzerland, Gunpei Yokoi, Nintendo Game Boy, withered technology, lateral thinking, Tetris, Citizen, Swatch Group, SSIH, mechanical watch, watch history, watch podcast
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  S02E05: The Crown Jewels in the Castle — How the Great Houses Were Saved, and What They Paid For It 03.09.2026 36min

  Season 2: Episode 5Contact: [email protected]: The Crown Jewels in the Castle — How the Great Houses Were Saved, and What They Paid For ItDescription: The conglomerate episode. In the early 1980s, quartz nearly killed Swisswatchmaking and the giants were the ones dying. This is how Nicolas Hayek refused the funeral and funded the rescue of the most precious mechanical watches on earth with the cheapest plastic one, and what that rescue cost. A tour of the three great houses, Swatch Group, Richemont, and LVMH, and a close look at two jewels locked inside them: Breguet, the source code of the art, and A. Lange & Söhne, bombed, expropriated, erased, and carried back from the dead. The bargain at the center of the modern watch world is simple and a little sad. A brand inside a group buys immortality and pays for it with a little of its wildness. The independents we love are refugees from that same trade.Keywords: quartz crisis, swatch group, nicolas hayek, the hayek study, asuag, ssih, omega, longines, tissot, swatch, richemont, johann rupert, cartier, vacheron constantin, jaeger-lecoultre, piaget, iwc, panerai, lvmh, bernard arnault, tag heuer, hublot, zenith, bulgari, breguet, abraham-louis breguet, tourbillon, a. lange & söhne, walter lange, ferdinand adolph lange, glashütte, günter blümlein, lange 1, blancpain, glashütte original, watch conglomerates, luxury watch industry, independent watchmaking, philippe dufour, roger smith, habring, what's on your riste, watchovski, watch podcast, watch collecting, whatsonyourristeRiste Simnjanovski
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  S02E22: Make it Black: How the World Got Optimized Into One Color 29.08.2026 35min

  S02E22: Make it Black: How the World Got Optimized Into One ColorDescription:Henry Ford said you could have a Model T in any color you liked, so long as it was black. The reason you were taught, that black paint dried faster, is mostly a myth. The real reason is the one that runs this whole episode: one color means the line never has to stop.This bonus episode starts with a man in a good suit standing very still at the 1923 New York Auto Show, watching seven blue cars stop a crowd in its tracks. That man is Alfred Sloan, and his bet against Ford was that ordinary people would pay real money for something that does nothing for the engine, nothing for the price, and everything for the feeling that the thing you own is a little bit yours. He won. The lacquer that let him do it, DuPont's Duco, started life as a coating sold to pencil makers.Then it lands on your wrist. The shared workhorse movements from ETA, Sellita, Miyota and Seiko are the Japan Black of watchmaking, and they are a gift: they are the reason a real mechanical watch costs about what a nice dinner costs. But the same logic that made those movements cheap also decides which dial colors you are offered, and why grand feu enamel, guilloché and hand anglage cost what they cost. Every one of those is the line grinding to a halt so somebody can swap the paint. That is not a flaw in craft. That is the definition of it.Plus a roll call of the makers who stop the line on purpose: Kari Voutilainen and the Comblémine dial workshop, Ochs und Junior letting you pick your own colors, Garrick, Stefan Kudoke, Sarpaneva, and Roger W. Smith making ten watches a year by hand on an island.Efficiency built the modern world and we are grateful for it. But your watch is one of the very few things in a grown adult's life that gets to be the watercolor instead of the crayon. Do not let the same thing happen to your wrist.Keywords:Model T, Henry Ford, Japan Black, Alfred Sloan, General Motors, DuPont Duco, Viscolac, True Blue Oakland, assembly line, standardization, mass production, ETA movements, Sellita, Miyota, Seiko, Seiko 5, Rolex Submariner, no-date Submariner, grand feu enamel, guilloché, anglage, black polish, hand finishing, dial making, Kari Voutilainen, Comblémine, Ochs und Junior, Ludwig Oechslin, Garrick, Stefan Kudoke, Sarpaneva, Roger W. Smith, independent watchmaking, watch podcast
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  S02E04: The First Thing You See: A Survey of Dial Finishing, From the Workbench Up the Mountain 27.08.2026 42min

  S02E04: The First Thing You See: A Survey of Dial Finishing, From the Workbench Up the MountainDecription: Fifty thousand glances. That is roughly how many times you will look at your watch’s dial over the years you own it, and yet the dial is the part nobody talks about. This episode fixes that. We climb dial finishing like a mountain, one rung at a time, from humble printed dials all the way to hand-painted enamel that costs as much as a house, naming a watch you can actually go find at every step. The surprise of the climb is that some of the most beautiful, genuinely hand-finished dials in the world, like a brushed Fears or a lacquered Laco Cuxhaven, sit near the bottom, at prices a real person can reach. Craft, it turns out, is not gated by price. The only question that matters is whether you can see the hand.Keywords: dial finishing, watch dials, sunburst dial, brushed dial, lacquer dial, fumé dial, guilloché, engine turning, grand feu enamel, cloisonné enamel, miniature enamel painting, skeletonized dial, openworked dial, silvered dial, Fears Brunswick, Fears Copper Salmon, Laco Cuxhaven, Grand Seiko, H. Moser, Dornblüth, Naoya Hida, J.N. Shapiro, Czapek, Parmigiani Fleurier, Voutilainen, Anordain, Louis Erard, Donzé Cadrans, Comblémine, Patek Philippe 5531, Bovet, Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, affordable hand finished watches, attainable watches, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, watch podcast, independent watchmaking, watch collecting, mechanical watches
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  S02E03: Philippe Dufour: The Man Who Refused to Let the Past Be Thrown Away 20.08.2026 31min

  Contact: [email protected] 2, Episode 3 (swapped/moved to sneak in the "shill episode")Philippe Dufour: The Man Who Refused to Let the Past Be Thrown AwayCORRECTION: Note that I misspoke in a section when I state “his 80s” and should have stated “the 80s” as in the 1980s ;)Description: He made three watches in forty years. That is the entire body of work that made Philippe Dufour the most revered watchmaker alive.This episode tells the full story: a boy born into the frozen valleys of Swiss Jura who wanted nothing more than to leave, spent years listening to disappointed customers in Frankfurt and the Caribbean, came home, and quietly built a philosophy of craft that the rest of the industry eventually had to reckon with. We trace the path from his first commission under someone else's name; the grande sonnerie movements he made for Audemars Piguet that went out wearing AP's name and not his ...to the vow he made after that experience, and what he built because of it.We cover the three watches: the Grande et Petite Sonnerie that put his own name on the map in 1992, the gloriously unnecessary Duality with its twin balance wheels, and the Simplicity, the watch that does almost nothing and says everything. We spend real time on what hand finishing actually means, why Dufour finishes surfaces nobody will ever see, and why that decision is, at its core, a moral one.If you have ever wondered why a three-handed watch sells for over a million dollars, this is the episode.Keywords: Philippe Dufour, Dufour Simplicity, Dufour Duality, Grande Sonnerie, independent watchmaker, Swiss watchmaking, Vallée de Joux, hand finishing, black polishing, anglage, beveling, haute horlogerie, watch podcast, What's on Your Riste, Watchovski, mechanical watches, independent horology, watchmaking philosophy, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Le Sentier, Gaïa Prize, watch collecting, watch enthusiast, finishing craft, tourbillon, small atelier, single watchmaker, watch auction, Phillips auction, Simplicity anniversary
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  S02E21: Yugoslavian Zenith 143-6 Pilot (WWII, Cold War, Theft & More) 15.08.2026 30min

  Description:A bonus episode, and a single watch. Riste tells the story of a vintage Zenith Yugoslavian Air Force chronograph, cal. 143-6, powered by an Excelsior Park movement. Why a 1940s wartime caliber ended up in a watch ordered in 1954 for the pilots of Tito's non-aligned Yugoslavia. Why the production date of a movement and the issue date of a watch are almost never the same thing. Why the screw-down caseback tells you more than the dial does. And the personal story underneath all of it: a dial handed down by a great- uncle who fixed watches for love and never money, a promise to make it whole, a 2023 break-in, and a stranger who heard the story and finished what family started.Keywords:Mentioned in this episode: Zenith, Excelsior Park, the Yugoslav Air Force, the Tito–Stalin split of 1948, Pilot
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  S02E02: “Make a Living, Not a Killing” The paid-shill economy, the man who became the warning label, and why this show stays independent 13.08.2026 24min

  Contact: [email protected]: “Make a Living, Not a Killing:" The paid-shill economy, the man who became the warning label, and why this show stays independentDescription:Riste is not exactly in a cuddly mood for this one.This episode starts in crypto, walks through the rise and collapse of BitBoy, and then brings the whole thing home to watches: the paid-shill economy, undisclosed promotions, fake “honest reviews,” and the quiet little grift of turning an audience’s trust into someone else’s marketing budget.The point is not that creators should never make money. Make a living. Feed your kids. Take the sponsorship if it fits. But tell the truth about the check. Because the second a paid placement starts pretending to be independent enthusiasm, the audience stops being a community and becomes exit liquidity.This is a character episode wearing a crypto episode’s clothes — about disclosure, independence, the value of your time, and why What’s on Your Riste? would rather stay small than sell you a fake opinion with a nice watch on its wrist.No sponsors. No affiliate links. No clever fine print.Keywords:watches, watch podcast, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, Riste, Make a Living Not a Killing, BitBoy, Ben Armstrong, crypto, crypto influencers, paid shills, undisclosed sponsorships, watch media, watch YouTube, watch collecting, horology, independent watch media, paid promotion, affiliate links, disclosure, sponsorship ethics, creator economy, influencer marketing, exit liquidity, watch reviews, honest reviews, watch community, independent creators, watch enthusiasm, The Bitcoin Heir Next Door, character, money and morality, hobby culture, collecting culture, watch journalism, luxury watches, microbrands, independent watchmaking
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  S02E24: Habring² Follow-Up and my Case for Indies: Velvet Ropes, Purchase History and Bleeding on Shirts (Bonus Ep) 07.08.2026 27min

  Special thanks to Brandon at: https://horologybythesea.com/ for the corrections and support!!!Contact: [email protected]://www.instagram.com/ristepodcast/ or @RistePodcast on Instragram (but I'm better with email).Episode TitleS02E24: Habring² Follow-Up and my Case for Indies: Velvet Ropes, Purchase History and Bleeding on Shirts (Bonus Ep)DescriptionThis one opens with an apology. After an earlier episode on Habring², listener Brandon of Horology by the Sea wrote in with corrections and context too good to keep to myself, so we set the record straight on Maria and Richard Habring: why the name is written the way it is, why her name comes first at Richard's insistence, why the workshop moved to Styria, and why Richard would rather chase the next challenge than sell yesterday's glory.From there we get into the machine. Ferrari allocations. Rolex and Patek purchase history. Birkin pre-spend. Invite-only credit cards, private clubs, selective universities, the rope outside the club and the bottle that buys the table. Then the psychology of why all of it works on us, from the scarcity heuristic and reactance to the old initiation research that explains why suffering to get in makes us love what we find on the other side.Then the turn, because this is a hopeful episode. The big houses that will simply sell you the watch, Omega, Blancpain, Oris, Grand Seiko, Tudor, and why that openness is admirable rather than ordinary. And finally the difference between two kinds of scarcity: the kind a brand manufactures to keep you grateful, and the honest arithmetic of two people and a bench. One door wants your submission. The other wants your friendship.Song referenced, not reproduced: "You're So Last Summer" by Taking Back Sunday (Tell All Your Friends, 2002), written by John Nolan. No sponsors. No affiliate links. As always.Keywords / TagsHabring2, Maria Habring, Richard Habring, rattrapante, split seconds, Styria, independent watchmaking, watch podcast, horology podcast, Horology by the Sea, scarcity, artificial scarcity, gatekeeping, velvet rope, purchase history, waiting list, allocation, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Nautilus, Aquanaut, Ferrari allocation, Hermes Birkin, luxury psychology, Robert Cialdini, reactance, effort justification, Aronson and Mills, sunk cost, loss aversion, FOMO, status signaling, Omega Speedmaster, MoonSwatch, Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, Oris, Grand Seiko, Tudor, authorized dealer, Taking Back Sunday, John Nolan, watch collecting, Watchovski, What's on Your Riste
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  S02E01: “Habring² ...The Couple Who Walked Away” 06.08.2026 59min

  Email: [email protected]://www.instagram.com/ristepodcast/DescriptionWelcome back - we missed you!Season 2 begins with a deep dive into one of the best hidden stories in independent watchmaking.Before Habring² existed, Richard Habring was already changing modern watchmaking from behind the scenes. As a young engineer at IWC Schaffhausen under legendary industry figure Günter Blümlein, he solved one of horology’s hardest problems: making the split-seconds chronograph affordable for ordinary enthusiasts.His name wasn’t on the dial.Then he and Maria Habring made a decision that changed everything. They walked away from the safe, prestigious, invisible path and founded Habring² in a small Austrian town few collectors had ever heard of — building watches slowly, honestly, and entirely on their own terms.This episode explores:​Richard Habring’s revolutionary affordable rattrapante mechanism​The 20-year wait to legally use his own invention again​The emotional magic of the deadbeat seconds “Erwin”​Austria’s first series-produced manufacture movement, the A11​Why Habring² may be the most quietly authentic independent watchmaker working today​And why the little superscript “²” matters far more than you thinkThis isn’t just a story about watches. It’s a story about partnership, obscurity, craftsmanship, patience, and what happens when two people decide to put their own name on the line.Keywords:Habring2, Habring², Richard Habring, Maria Habring, independent watchmaking, indie watches, luxury watches, watch podcast, horology, mechanical watches, Austrian watchmaking, IWC, IWC Schaffhausen, Günter Blümlein, rattrapante, split seconds chronograph, Doppelchronograph, deadbeat seconds, jumping seconds, seconde morte, Erwin watch, Felix watch, A11 movement, manufacture movement, Valjoux 7750, watch collectors, microbrand watches, haute horology, Swiss watches, Austrian watches, watch enthusiast, independent horology, watchmaking history, luxury podcast, watch collector podcast, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, GPHG, Il Destriero Scafusia, Deep One, Völkermarkt, Carinthia, handmade watches, small batch watchmaking, artisanal watchmaking, mechanical chronograph, watch community, hidden gem watches, sleeper watch brands, Dornblüth, Grönefeld, Journe, F.P. Journe, Czapek, watch culture, enthusiast watches, boutique watch brands; LosNTime (Thanks again Carlos follow him at: https://www.youtube.com/@LosNTime )
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  S01E23: The “It’s Just a Strap Lie” Episode AKA The S1 to S2 Intermission 01.08.2026 24min

  THE INTERMISSION (and a super not-legal, like totally not legal or binding apology to your friends and family for this show)Description:Between Season 1 and Season 2, What’s on Your Riste? takes a loose, loving, slightly legally questionable pause to talk about the side of watch collecting nobody puts in the magazines: the little lies. The package that is “just a strap.” The watch that was “basically a trade.” The grail that will definitely be the last one. Probably.In this intermission special, Watchovski offers a formal apology to all significant others, introduces the first edition of the Watch-to-English Dictionary, reads letters from the other side of the household, and finds the bigger truth underneath all the collecting comedy: we do not hide these things because we are ashamed of the watch. We hide them because we are a little shy about how much we love something, and how much it costs to love it out loud.No brands required. Bring your spouse.Keywords:watch collecting, watch podcast, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, horology, watch collectors, collector humor, watch addiction, luxury watches, independent watchmaking, watch straps, just a strap, Chrono24, WatchRecon, WatchCharts, grail watch, watch collecting jokes, watch spouse, significant others, watch community, mechanical watches, watch buying, watch enthusiast, collector rationalization, watch-to-English dictionary, Season 1 intermission, Season 2 intermission
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  S01E20: Season 1 Finale: What We Built, and What Comes Next” 29.07.2026 49min

  Season 1: Episode 20 THE FINALEThe Season 1 finale of What's on Your Riste?Description:Twenty episodes. An honest accounting of what the season built — from the rabbit-hole opener of Episode 1 to the personal turn of Episode 3, through the four-episode philosophical arc at the heart of the season, across five countries, from G-Shock to F.P. Journe, from hedonia to eudaimonia, from the watches that make you happy to the watches that make you you.What the show got right. What it didn't finish. And what's promised for Season 2: Philippe Dufour, the guilloché craft episode, Roger W. Smith's full episode, the brother's watch when Riste is ready.Then: a listener Q&A. Do you have a grail watch? Why skip the big brands? What did making twenty episodes actually teach you? And will this show ever go behind a paywall? Four questions, answered directly and honestly.Then: listener mail. The letters and stories and confessions from the community — the hedonia and eudaimonia inventories, the Rolex stories, the British watchmaking memories — read on air, responded to with care.This is the episode where the host steps back, looks at what was built, and talks directly to the people who showed up for all of it.Season 2 is coming!!!!Keywords:watch podcast season finale, what's on your riste, watchovski, whatsonyourriste, season 1 finale, watch collecting, watch community, mechanical watches, horology podcast, watch podcast, grail watch, eudaimonia hedonia watches, F.P. Journe, Rexhep Rexhepi, Philippe Dufour, Voutilainen, guilloché, Dornblüth, Czapek, British watchmaking, American watchmaking, Japan watchmaking, independent watchmakers, watch philosophy, listener mail, watch podcast Q&A, free watch podcast, watch hobby, wristwatch collecting, watch enthusiasts, season 2 preview, watch podcast community, indie watchmakers, haute horlogerie, watch finishing, movement craft
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  S01E19: F.P. Journe: The Watchmaker Who Couldn’t Stop 23.07.2026 34min

  Description:Episode 19 is the episode What’s on Your Riste? has been building toward since Episode 13: a full deep dive into François-Paul Journe... the most important living independent watchmaker in modern horology.From his beginnings in Marseille and the restoration workshop of his uncle in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, to building his first hand-made tourbillon over seven years, to founding F.P. Journe in Geneva in 1999, this episode traces the life, philosophy, and technical genius of the man behind some of the most revered watches ever made.We explore the Tourbillon Souverain, the rose gold movement revolution, the astonishing Chronomètre à Résonance, the Octa collection, the Centigraphe, and the invention-first philosophy behind invenit et fecit...AKA “invented and made.”This is also the connective tissue episode of the entire season: George Daniels, Philippe Dufour, Rexhep Rexhepi, independent watchmaking, restoration craft, and the idea that the most meaningful watches are physical expressions of obsession, discipline, and imagination.If you’ve ever wondered why serious collectors speak about Journe with near-religious reverence, this is the episode.Keywords:F.P. Journe, François-Paul Journe, independent watchmaking, haute horlogerie, luxury watches, mechanical watches, horology, watch collecting, watch podcast, watch enthusiast, watch collector, Chronomètre à Résonance, Tourbillon Souverain, Chronomètre Souverain, Octa, Octa Lune, Octa Calendrier, Octa UTC, Centigraphe Souverain, Sonnerie Souveraine, Linesport, resonance watch, remontoir d’égalité, tourbillon, George Daniels, Rexhep Rexhepi, Philippe Dufour, Abraham-Louis Breguet, Christiaan Huygens, Antide Janvier, Swiss watches, Geneva watchmaking, independent horology, handcrafted watches, rose gold movement, invenit et fecit, watchmaking history, collector watches, quiet luxury, watch community, Swiss independent watches, Journe resonance, FP Journe resonance, Roger W Smith, Akrivia, Asprey, vintage watches, luxury timepieces, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, modern horology, mechanical artistry, high horology
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  S01E25: The Guardian of the El Primero: Charles Vermot and the Movement Hidden Behind a Wall 21.07.2026 29min

  *This episode is dedicated to Nick Meijer - THANK YOU for the support and suggestions!!!*TITLEThe Guardian of the El Primero: Charles Vermot and the Movement Hidden Behind a WallDESCRIPTIONZenith’s El Primero should not exist.During the quartz crisis, the American owners of Zenith ordered the company’s mechanical tooling destroyed, including the presses, dies, plans, and machinery needed to produce the legendary El Primero automatic chronograph movement.One watchmaker refused.Charles Vermot secretly carried nine crates of equipment and meticulously organized technical drawings into an attic above the Zenith workshops. He sealed everything behind a wall, returned to his bench, and spent the next nine years assembling quartz watches while the mechanical movement he loved waited silently above his head.Then the industry changed its mind.When Zenith needed the El Primero again, Vermot raised his hand, opened the wall, and revealed that everything required to restart production had survived. The movement he saved would return to life, help revive Zenith, and eventually power the celebrated Rolex Daytona reference 16520.This is the story of the race to create the automatic chronograph, the iconic Zenith A386, the quartz crisis, the birth of the “Zenith Daytona,” and the humble watchmaker who agreed to look wrong for nine years so he could be right forever.KEYWORDSZenith, Zenith El Primero, El Primero, Charles Vermot, The Guardian of the El Primero, Zenith watch history, El Primero history, Zenith A386, A386, automatic chronograph, first automatic chronograph, high beat movement, 36000 vibrations per hour, 36000 vph, column wheel chronograph, integrated chronograph, caliber 3019 PHC, quartz crisis, Swiss watch industry, mechanical watch revival, Le Locle, Swiss watchmaking, horology, watchmaking history, watchmaker, hidden watch movement, hidden attic, Zenith attic, nine crates, Zenith Radio, Dixi, Paul Castella, Ebel chronograph, Rolex Daytona, Zenith Daytona, Rolex Daytona 16520, reference 16520, automatic Daytona, Rolex chronograph history, Seiko 6139, Chronomatic, Calibre 11, Breitling, Heuer, Hamilton, Buren, Dubois Depraz, Movado, vintage Zenith, vintage chronograph, iconic chronographs, luxury watch history, watch collecting, watch collectors, watch podcast, horology podcast, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, Nick Meijer, DailyWatch, 360watch, Kristian Haagen, GPHG Academy
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  S01E18: The Country That Invented the Marine Chronometer and Then Forgot It Had/British-ish Watches 16.07.2026 39min

  NOTE: This content of this recording was created prior to the learning the unfortunately news that Eddie Platts of Smiths/Timefactors had passed away. Eddie, you were an absolute legend in the space, and you will be greatly missed. To Eddie's family, to Dave and everyone at Timefactors, UK., we love you all. RIP brother.https://www.timefactors.com/blogs/news/eddie-platts-1949-2016*Side note: the Isle of Man is included here as a result of Roger Smith’s origin country*S01E18: The Country That Invented the Marine Chronometer and Then Forgot It Had: British Watchmaking (George Daniels, Roger W. Smith, Chrisopher Ward, Fears, Garrick, & Smiths)Description:Episode 18 explores the extraordinary rise, collapse, and quiet revival of British watchmaking — the country that gave the world the marine chronometer, the lever escapement, and the co-axial escapement… then somehow faded from the center of horology.From John Harrison solving the longitude problem in 1759 with the legendary H4, to George Daniels reinventing complete hand-built watchmaking in the twentieth century, to Roger W. Smith carrying that tradition forward today on the Isle of Man using tools dating back to the 1820s — this episode traces one of the most important and overlooked stories in modern watch culture.Plus: Christopher Ward and the Bel Canto’s historic GPHG win, the craftsmanship of Fears and Garrick, the complicated modern story of Bremont, the legacy of Smiths and Timefactors, and why British watchmaking remains one of the most stubbornly authentic corners of the hobby.This is an episode about invention, craftsmanship, obsession, and the people who kept building watches even when almost nobody asked them to. Keywords:British watchmaking, Roger W Smith, George Daniels, John Harrison, Thomas Mudge, marine chronometer, longitude problem, Harrison H4, Daniels Method, co-axial escapement, lever escapement, independent watchmaking, British horology, Isle of Man, Christopher Ward, Bel Canto, GPHG, Petite Aiguille, Fears watches, Garrick watches, Andreas Strehler, Bremont, Smiths Everest, Timefactors, Pete Speake, Charles Frodsham, Nicholas Bowman-Scargill, David Brailsford, Simon Michlmayr, Mike France, Peter Ellis, Davide Cerrato, Nick English, Giles English, luxury watches, mechanical watches, haute horlogerie, watch collecting, watch enthusiast, watch podcast, horology, independent watches, British luxury, handmade watches, watchmaking history, tool watches, chronometer, Rolex, Omega co-axial, F.P. Journe, Rexhep Rexhepi, Akrivia, Swiss watches, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, quiet luxury, collector watches
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  S01E24: Is a Swapped Movement Still an Heirloom? (Swatch, Tudor & Seiko) 12.07.2026 33min

  Description:A listener (Nate, hello to the folks in Boise, ID) wrote in with a question his friends all think is silly: he refuses to buy any modern Swatch Group watch because Powermatic 80 movements are reportedly swapped rather than serviced, and he wants watches he can actually pass down to his son. This bonus episode takes that question seriously, start to finish.First, what's really inside a Powermatic 80; the ETA 2824 architecture underneath, the eighty-hour power reserve, and which grades get a polymer escapement, which get Nivachron, and which get a silicon hairspring and a chronometer certificate. Then the service question, with a hard line drawn between what we know for certain and what's only strongly reported: the parts pipeline that flows one direction toward the factory, and the movement swap that reportedly happens at the entry level.Then the plot twist most people haven't heard. Exchange servicing goes way upmarket...Tudor's in-house Kenissi calibers are reportedly swapped too, while the old ETA-based Tudors still get the white-glove teardown. Seiko reportedly does the same at the entry level. The line our listener drew around one corporation, the practice doesn't respect at all.And finally, the grandfather's axe: why every heirloom watch is already full of replaced parts, why originality was never about the atoms, and where to redraw the line if repairability by human hands is one of your values. The feeling is legitimate. The boundary is just in the wrong place.To the listener: you're not being silly. You're a philosopher ;)I'm Watchovski. Wear something good.Keywords:What's on Your Riste, watch podcast, Watchovski, Powermatic 80, ETA 2824, ETA C07, Swatch Group, Tissot, Certina, Mido, Rado, Hamilton, Longines, Blancpain, Omega, Nicolas Hayek, Sistem51, movement swap, exchange servicing, watch servicing, watch repair, parts supply, Tudor, Kenissi, Seiko, Sellita, Miyota, Habring, heirloom watches, passing down watches, Ship of Theseus, grandfather's axe, originality, mechanical watches, serviceability, watch collecting
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  S01E17: Japan, Part 2 of 2, The Indies: Hajime Asaoka, Naoya Hida, Masahiro Kikuno, Kurono Tokyo, & Kuoe 09.07.2026 53min

  S01E17: Japan, Part Two, The Indies: Hajime Asaoka, Naoya Hida, Masahiro Kikuno, Kurono Tokyo, & KuoeNote: A reference is made when talking about Kuoe and Smiths. This was recorded prior to the passing of Eddie. RIP brother. Description:In Episode 17 of What’s on Your Riste?, Watchovski explores the quiet apex of Japanese watchmaking: the independent makers operating outside the institutional system, often alone, producing some of the most extraordinary watches in modern horology.From Hajime Asaoka teaching himself watchmaking with George Daniels’s book and machines bought on eBay… to Masahiro Kikuno going from military rifle technician to one of the world’s most respected independent watchmakers… to Naoya Hida spending nearly three decades inside Swiss luxury before launching the dress watches he always wished existed — this episode dives deep into the people, philosophy, and craftsmanship shaping Japan’s indie watch renaissance.Plus: Kurono Tokyo, Kuoe Kyoto, the AHCI, Wadokei temporal hour watches, mokume-gane dials, and the direct lineage from George Daniels to modern Japanese independent horology.If you love independent watchmaking, quiet luxury, craftsmanship, and the stories behind mechanical watches, this is one of the most important episodes of the series so far.Keywords:Hajime Asaoka, Naoya Hida, Masahiro Kikuno, Kurono Tokyo, Kuoe, Kuoe Kyoto, Kenji Uchimura, AHCI, Japanese watchmaking, Japanese independent watchmaking, independent watchmakers, indie watches, George Daniels, Roger W Smith, Philippe Dufour, Rexhep Rexhepi, F.P. Journe, haute horlogerie, luxury watches, mechanical watches, horology, watch collecting, watch podcast, watch enthusiast, watch collector, Tsunami watch, Project T, Wadokei, mokume-gane, Hiko Mizuno, WOSTEP, Type 1 watch, Type 2 watch, Valjoux 23, vintage inspired watches, Japanese microbrands, Kurono, Kuoe Old Smith, Royal Smith, Tokyo watchmaker, Kyoto watches, artisan watchmaking, handcrafted watches, What’s on Your Riste, Watchovski, quiet luxury, collector watches, independent horology, British watchmaking teaser, Daniels method, watchmaking history
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  S01E16: Japan, Part 1 of 2: The Country That Quietly Won the Engineering War (Seiko, Grand Seiko, Citizen and Casio) 02.07.2026 44min

  S01E16: Japan, Part One — The Country That Quietly Won the Engineering War (Seiko, Grand Seiko, Citizen and Casio)Description:For decades, Switzerland has dominated the story of luxury watchmaking. But what if Japan quietly won the engineering war while the West wasn’t paying attention?In this episode of What’s on Your Riste?, Watchovski dives deep into the extraordinary rise of Japanese horology — from Seiko’s shocking performance at the Neuchâtel and Geneva Observatory competitions in the 1960s, to the invention of Spring Drive, one of the most technically fascinating movement architectures ever created.We explore the origins of Grand Seiko, the legendary Snowflake dial, the tragic and inspiring story of Yoshikazu Akahane, and the hidden world of Credor’s Micro Artist Studio — where some of the finest watch finishing on Earth is happening in near secrecy in the mountains of Nagano.Plus: Citizen’s astonishing Caliber 0100, Casio Oceanus, King Seiko, Orient, and why Japanese watchmaking deserves to be viewed not as an alternative to Swiss horology — but as a parallel tradition entirely.This is Part One of a two-part journey into Japan’s watchmaking culture, engineering philosophy, and quiet pursuit of perfection.Keywords:Japan watches, Japanese watchmaking, Grand Seiko, Seiko, Credor, Citizen, Casio Oceanus, Spring Drive, Yoshikazu Akahane, Snowflake SBGA211, Seiko Observatory Trials, Neuchâtel Observatory, Geneva Observatory, Japanese horology, luxury watches, independent watchmaking, Credor Eichi II, Micro Artist Studio, Philippe Dufour, Citizen Caliber 0100, Eco Drive, King Seiko, Orient Star, mechanical watches, haute horlogerie, Swiss watches, watch collecting, horology, watch podcast, Watchovski, What’s on Your Riste, Spring Drive history, Grand Seiko Snowflake, Seiko history, Japanese engineering, watch enthusiast, luxury timepieces, automatic watches, watchmaking history, Seiko vs Swiss, quiet luxury, high horology, independent watches, precision watchmaking, titanium watches, GS Snowflake, Zaratsu polishing, Seiko Epson, Shinshu Watch Studio, Shizukuishi, watch collectors, mechanical engineering, Japanese craftsmanship