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Is there any watch or any new release that kind of made you passionate about like oh I really love this, you know, release this year? Hey guys, I am Thomas. I'm your host, uh the founder of Watch DNA. I'm joined with Chas D here, my friend and also contributor on the platform. Uh but first I want to thank you to be part of our community and helping us build Watch DNA as the global community for the watch lovers around the world. I'm very excited today because we have a special guest, somebody that I have the pleasure of knowing for over a decade now. Director of digital content for Sharp magazine, Justin Maestin Frost with us. Thank you so much for joining us. As I saw in the intro, we know each other for uh above above 10 years. I think the first time we met was in LA actually for uh Hamilton behind a camera award. Exactly. God, that would have been a I don't even remember. Yeah, I think at the time I had hair and you have less you had less tattoos. Yes. I think that's both of those are accurate. That's the time frame. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Something that we love on the platform is to basically talking to brands and people behind the brands and watch aficionados, and also uh someone like you that are very uh you know uh involved in the community and also uh a well-known established journalist and writing a lot of content. When we met, I think you were with Watch You Seek at the time, or maybe even before that. I think I was at Rob Report at the time. Uh, how's everything? It's been a very, very busy and productive year at Sharp. A lot of projects that we've been working on um across the various industries that we cover. But yeah, no, good year. I saw a little bit of your background because that's also something that we talk, but you were involved with you worked with BMW at one point. Yeah. And then and then you do obviously a lot of content for cars as well. So one question that I have for you is what do you think the I will not ask you about the brands and anything, but what do you think is the specificity about watch industry, car industry? Is there anything similar? Is there anything different? A lot of similarities, a lot of differences. Um I think the the attraction for a lot of people is very much like the engineering side. Yeah, both engineering design and design, if we're being honest. But as far as uh the business model goes as well, I mean you have the brand and how the brand operates, you have the retail space and how the retail space operates, and those are very different entities. Yeah, it's also a really interesting world when you go from like knowing about it and being geeky about it to being, you know, behind the curtain. You learn a lot. I always said that uh it's always good to learn, it's always good. There's always somebody that will know about a specific topic that yourself, that's what I personally believe. So it's always good to talk to others, experts or you know, people in the industry. You were mentioning, and I was asking you the question about watches and and and cars, and one day, a few years ago, somebody in the industry was saying that it's kind of like wine and cheese. It's like they're very much well together. People that love nice cars, they usually like nice time pieces. People that like nice time pieces usually like nice car. You know, so yeah, I would say the biggest misstep people make when talking about that though is the assumption of like the level of interest between the two or the level of the willingness to spend between the two. Like that idea of like, oh well, you know, guy with a collection of Ferraris, he must have a Richard Meal. Okay. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go to a lot of these car shows, see a lot of these car owners, you'll see some vintage tag hoyer, you'll see some Rolex, or or even like, you know, like an aqua racer. The scale doesn't line up just because they'll spend six figures on a car doesn't mean they'll spend six figures on a watch. When somebody has a watch or when somebody is starting to get into watches a little bit, they also have few. I know that I I in my Hamilton time a lot of people were showing beautiful timepieces, and then they were like, ah look, I love this khaki field. You know, it's like you know, I'm not in this situation, so I don't have a fancy car, so I don't know. But at the same time, I can I can imagine there is tourists, there is multiple days in a year in a lifetime, so you know you don't have to wear all the time the same. So I'm sure some people have a beautiful swatch wearing, you know, and and maybe they have multiple cars and they're they have a Fiat, which is nice, and that's the car that my uh my my wife wants, and they have a furry as you mentioned. So do you think people match their cars with their watches or their watches with their cars? I think it that's that's a very like like person-to-person situation. I've definitely known some guys that are like, oh well, I'm driving the black 9-11 today, so I'm gonna grab this watch or that watch, or you know. I think it's more of a personality type thing. Like certain people like have that kind of click between the things in their lives. I wouldn't say like one bucket or the other if I had to pick. Can we do kind of a really quick wrist check as well? Because I see that Justin has a really uh cool looking timepiece. What are you wearing? Arconaut Ford. Uh Wow, okay. Yeah, I think it was around last year or the year before, where I really started leaning into if something's coming into the collection, I want it to be from friends. And by from friends, I mean like people who work at so James, uh Black Badger, James Thompson. Oh my god, I swear. He's gonna murder me if I get that wrong. I I see your phone vibrating already. It's like he's texting you. I forgot my name. I have a I'm a dead man. Yeah. So he's been working with Anders and the guys from Arcanaut for quite a while doing these Ford art dials. I'd wanted to see one in person forever. Yeah. When I was in Copenhagen, I met up with Anders. I wanna say the brewery is called War Pigs, and Arconaut kind of jokingly refers to it as like their second HQ. Went for drinks, actually got to see them in person. I'm like, okay, this just has to happen. Yeah, not right then and there, but like you know, they sent me a handful of like, okay, these are the next kind of dial cuts that are coming up, and I picked this one out. Yeah, being in the industry, obviously we why we look at people's wrists. That's something that we do. I used to be in the alcohol business, and I used to look at what people were drinking at the time, you know, that's the little thing. But something that I love about about your own post is most of the time you don't see your face, but as soon as you see a wrist, boom, we recognize you uh your your tattoos, right? So we know oh that's him. The number of times that I've had people go, I know that arm. Yeah, exactly. No joke, like on an escalator. It can be a new career, you know, like uh how how model, you know. Yeah, yeah. I mean, even like going back to when I first started going to the fairs, like um my friend Barbara Palumbo, that's how her and I met. Yeah, it was like going up the escalator of Basel. She's like, wait a minute, I know the arm. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. So coming back to Basel, Basel World. So you obviously traveling often, you mentioned Copenhagen, you mentioned Basel. What is the day-to-day life for a director of digital content marketing? Traveling a lot, being home sometimes. I don't know, you tell me. This year I've been home quite a bit more. I mean, there's been some changes on the personal side that I've been kind of adapting to as well, so I wasn't really complaining. Last year was what you can only call lunacy. Uh I did the math, I was on 36 flights last year. Far as actual day-to-day goes, um, you know, getting content assigned to people, editing what's coming in, coordinating with the team to make sure things are getting published, relaying with the print team, um, because obviously as issues roll out, that all gets converted to web as well. Yeah. I mean, this year that also included redesign of the website minor in the sense that it's you know, it's still very much it's not like you're opening the page like, oh, this is completely different. Um, working with the development team to get that sorted. Um all of those components, and then the the travel side and the event side when partner brands have any kind of activations going on somewhere, some things will freelance out, some things we want to keep the team in-house. Yeah. Um I remember we spoke last year about it and you were like insane. You're like, oh yeah, I don't know where I am next week. And even to book today, you know. Obviously, you mentioned this year was a little bit softer, I will call it. Yeah. But still, you know, you had meetings, you have you know, in and out. So thanks for taking the time. Happy to. I'm glad we glad we finally were able to do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What will be the most interesting or remote location that you actually want? What's more remote? Northern Finland or Sardinia? Okay, not the same style. No, completely different, like different ends. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I like that. Probably Northern Finland? I'm not going to ask you about the food because I don't want anybody to be jealous amount of me. So, you know, I'm sure there's a specificity in all. But uh, okay, beautiful. And that was uh work-wise or personal-wise? That was work-wise. A few years ago, but the more recent uh Porsche Taihoyer um launches. Yeah. Oh, I think I saw the campaign actually. Yeah, yeah. So it was um Porsche Experience Center near Ketila. Yeah. Or at least the airport was Ketila. I think it was in like another small town. I just say yeah, but I have no clue where Katila. I apologize. It's north of the Arctic Circle. Oh, okay. Wow, okay. What is your favorite GMT watch? Oh. That I own or that I don't own? Both of them, like maybe one from your collection, one, kind of like Holy Grail, I like this GMT. I should have it in my collection. That I have. JLC uh Master Compressor Geographic. Chunky Divery two times own, but not just the extra hand. Um I've always I've always kind of liked that era of uh of Jezé. And then on the Grail quote unquote side, I've got an obscure one, actually. The Urban Jurgensen one GMT. Kind of like one of their last cool pieces that came out before the change of ownership and everything. But I just remember the first time I saw it when it came out, like, this is just just unique. What I realized is that there's a lot of brands and a lot of model that they're, you know, overall everybody like or everybody have a good, you know, uh feeling about it. But there is some specific model that people ate or love. You know, it's very like I I again I come back on my experience, but I get a lot of feedback about the Ventura, for example. I met the triangle one. Yeah, and I remember there's some customers that were very fun and they're like multiple in the collection, and some they're like, Oh, I don't like this shape. So it's very unique and you know, very personal taste. That's what I love about watches, right? It's like a very unique, very style, very, you know. Yeah, and depending on your mood as well, you know. Sometimes you feel like wearing that, sometimes you think we're wearing something else. Around the time that you and I met, my ex-husband had two different versions of the Ventura. Okay, the Ventura XL. Like one was like the full DLC blackout look, and then one was like a the stainless steel hand. Okay. Just in talking about the passion so far this year, is there any watch or any new release that kind of made you passionate about like, oh, I really love this, you know, release this year. You know what? I found this year's been a little sleepy uh in terms of releases, but um, yeah, definitely a few. One of them was the uh the Shapor Alpine Eagle ceramized titanium, gray-greenish case finish, orange indices, rubber strap. Not something that really broke the mold, not like a brand new model, not any of that, but there was just something about how they executed that that every time I see it, I remember trying it on. You know, it's one of those like Damn, that was good. Otherwise, Sony, I had to try to think about this the other day. And I'm like, not incredibly crazy groundbreaking, but seeing the Santos and Titanium just recently. Fear is doing studio underdog stuff again. The Manhattan. Yeah, and then the Mimosa pre-ordered day was like yesterday or the day before. Already, I think, closed uh right now. Yeah, it was it was like an eight-hour period or something like that. I was just uh talking with Thomas uh earlier. As you know, we kind of covered the wind up watch fair in New York for watch DNA, and literally uh many of the people were lined up for the studio underdog uh fierce Manhattan watch. Like it was uh really crazy. Yeah, honestly, that's not surprising to me. I was trying to think because I saw I saw some footage of the lineup as well, and I was kind of wondering, but um they've kind of really dialed in that exclusivity factor um with that with that brand collaboration. I mean the price point is great, um the watches are cool, and yeah, that it's it's a really clever way, and I'm sure the windup guys love it, right? It's like, oh, we've got you know all these people lined up to come into our to our opening event. Justin literally four blocks of people in the first day only. Yeah, I remember he called me, he was like, Oh, I'm in line, and then two hours later, uh, I'm s I just moved ten minutes. Oh, yeah, well. It's like Moonswatch all over again. It's crazy, it's crazy. So I had a question, and I know you have it's maybe uh something on the side or maybe a passion, but if you can explain a little bit, because obviously I follow and you I'm on a newsletter, and you have this new, maybe not new, but this concept. I mean, I might know because it's the name, but the cursive perspective. It's very hard for me to pronounce that, but you know, you got it. Can you tell us a little bit? Because I love this idea of and writing. I've always been one to take notes when I travel, uh, like pen and paper notes. Yeah. That's just always been a thing for me. I started getting into fountain pens probably in and around the pandemic or just before. Yeah. Part of that was uh Ian Sean. He made a watch at one point, actually. Um but he's primarily like a fountain pen maker based out of the States that like started in his basement and built out this big workshop. Anyway, long story short, I knew him. I decided, oh well, I'll buy one of your pens, started writing with fountain pens. Like, oh, I really like this. Um But the the evolution of that to doing the Substack thing was just the amount of work that I'm doing these days, which like I'm still passionate about. Don't get me wrong, like I love I love the work that I get to do and the stories that I get to tell, but it's very, very much within a set structure. Yeah. When you sit on a flight for nine hours and you're sitting there with your thoughts and a pen, and you can just kind of scribble away, and yeah, it's just whatever. It's not about a set assignment, it's about whatever I'm thinking about in the moment. Is it a thing that you plan or is it a thing that no, you know, I feel like I'm inspired right now? You know, there's a lot of alters, writers, whatever, and they're like, oh I got the the wow moment, let's just do it now, you know? It's never planned. Yeah. Um, it's it might be like a specific topic might hit me kind of earlier in the day. Yeah. But it's never like like I don't know how many pages it's gonna be. I don't know what structure it's gonna be. I also don't scrap pages. You'll see in some of them there's like if like things some things crossed out. Like usually it's pretty clean, and I keep it, you know, whatever was on my mind that I wanted to write is what I wanted to write, and this is what the universe gets. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but yeah. No, I like it. I like it. It's it's a cool comment, it's a cool thing. Because everything, you know, obviously your position, digital, right? So a lot of things like when I talk to my son, and he's now I'm lucky that he is in a in a school that they actually do and writing and things like that, but I heard more and more he's on the computer, more and more is on tablet and things like that. Yeah, so it's you know just coming back and I do a little bit of writing, but honestly, my even myself, I cannot really read after like the doctor that I've never been, you know. Yeah, uh, but uh yeah, it's very inspiring. And so every time that I get it, I'm like, oh it's cool, you know, and just taking the time. You know, it's kind of like again, I'm comparing and maybe has nothing to do, but it's like when I take my uh in the morning and I take my a new automatic and it's not winded, and I just wind it for a few seconds. Yeah, that kind of reminds me. It's like you know, taking the time of reading, of writing, and just you know, go with the flow, you know? Yeah, exactly. I like that. I like the feeling. I've definitely had some friends give me shit because they're like, I can't read, I can't read. Can you just get can you just type it? I'm like, no, no. There were a few words that I might have to ask my wife for, you know, but that's that's part of that look, you get what you get. Exactly, exactly, exactly. One of the last questions that you have is obviously you've been in a position for not in this position, but in industry for a long time, and you know, uh well-established journalists, I will call it. What will you say the one or two advice for the maybe new generation or somebody that is not in an industry that wants somehow be in industry or that is interesting? You know, there's obviously a lot of watch aficionados out there, but there's few people slowly, and that's something that I love about watching it, is that anybody can have a story, submit it, then we will review it, we will send it to some journalists that are actually working in this field and you know, make sure that the facts are proper. But what advice will you say somebody that will somehow want to be uh not at this level, but you know, get into it? I think usually my first question is, are you sure? It's tough, man. Yeah, like I mean, I spent my first decade doing the automotive writing as like the side hustle. Yeah, you know, okay. It was very much a you know, I think from an advice standpoint, don't be afraid to ask questions. Okay, I love it. Don't be afraid to knock on doors. That applies just as much to like places you want to work for and also stories you want to tell. Yeah, yeah. You know, if you want to learn how to report on things, you gotta just do it. I I kind of love to to to say life about half empty or half full, and depending on where you are in your life, depending on what situation you have, it's so positive or negative, but in the end of the day, is the perspective that you're giving, right? Yeah, to the situation. So I I love the comment that you just made, yeah. Yeah, I think along the same lines as like gratitude is always important. Yeah, like never taking for granted, like I mean, I always say like you know, earlier I was saying like, oh, I was on 36 flights last year. Yeah, yeah. It it was a lot, it was tiring, but like the shit that I get to do doing what I do. Like, I'm not I'm not complaining. I will never take for granted those experiences and anyone, you know. Where do you see uh the AI is going? Do you think it's killing our creativity or it's like really helping us? Like, what is the you know, tin line there? You know what? It it's been interesting speaking to other people in in various industries that we cover about the topic because you know, some treat it with a blanket like no, make it go away, and others are finding ways to make it a part of the creative process in a way that doesn't strip away the original uh creativity, where the idea still comes from the the designer and the execution still comes from you know the people working. I'm not worried about it. I know myself, my team, and like the the same goes for a lot of other editorial teams, like we're not touching it, but I've seen what it can do. I've seen, you know, I've I've had people submit to me things that I'm like the soul still isn't there as as you know, like what is soul, you know, sure. But I don't think it's coming for all of our jobs. I think it's something we're all gonna have to learn to deal with. Yeah, and what that turns into I think we're still too early to really know. I work sometimes with students, like actually right now I have two groups of students that are working, and we are um I'm not giving all the details, but we are uh contemplating adding some AI and some elements in on the watch DNA platform. Uh and I keep saying telling them that I am so happy that when I decided to go back to school when I did my master, it was pre-CHAGTP and pre-AI. Obviously, AI was involved, but not to the general public, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Because I would be so tempted, you know, to figure out a way of like how can I not you know use it, but don't tell people, you know. So I'm like, I did it just before the big wave, you know. I know exactly where I was. But now the schools actually saying, you know, yes, use it somehow. Tell us that you're using, tell us why you're using it, at which point, you know. But uh but it's interesting. For me, I actually use it often because I even though even though I French, it's okay. Even though I'm French, I I do a lot of mistakes in you know autograph and spelling, and so that's kind of my my little thing because you know, but uh is there anything that we should uh get excited to learn more about Justin, about Sharp, about anything in the in the months to come, or maybe next year, I don't know. Our winter issue of Sharp's coming up pretty soon with another fantastic cover star. So excited about that. On the professional side, that's about all I can kind of tease at. Yeah, okay. We've got a lot of a lot of other projects on the go within Sharp that you know there's always something on the move. Yeah, cool. Listen, thank you so much for being here. Uh really, I really appreciate it. Um I have a little gift for you. No pressure, but you know, a little bit. So yeah, I think it would look good. You don't have tattoos yet on uh you know on your face, but uh yeah, no, that's not like I said, anything that used to be no no no no no problem. Thank you so much. This was a lot of fun. Yeah, thank you. It was nice to meet you. Thank you guys. Hopefully, you enjoy and make sure you uh follow Sharp magazine, Justin.