 Welcome to another episode of HSS Live. Thank you so much for joining us and tuning in tonight. We have an excellent show once again for you. We have upgraded a few things since last time and hopefully made the entire experience that much better. We are streaming right now in what should be a much better image quality than you saw last time. If you're listening in headphones, you can probably hear that we have solved the issue of the audio just playing on one side. And I know that we had some lag with the playback on a couple of things, but we have a piece of equipment now that should completely take care of that issue. Anyway, as I did at the top of last show, I am going to start by pouring myself a little drink here. I invite you to join me if you imbibe as well. Just like last episode, I am going to be drinking the same bottle of Nika Coffee Grain Whiskey here, one of my current favorite Japanese whiskies. Cheers. So we do have a great show for you tonight. We are being joined in studio by author, editor, publisher, and cigar watch menswear and shoe connoisseur, Mr. Aaron Sigmund. We will of course share some cool things that some cool people are into, show you a handful of amazing watches that I got to see recently when I was down in Miami for watches and wonders, and of course, take your questions. So make sure you're leaving those over there in the chat while the show is going on. I will answer as many of those questions as possible toward the end of the show. First thing we're going to do though is, I don't know if you've heard, but the Oscars are tonight. They air at 8 o'clock, so don't worry. If you want to watch, we will definitely be done by then. First up is a segment that we like to call What I'm Into. Okay, so here is where I invite some of my friends from menswear, the watch world, publishing, art, design, to share the one thing that they are really into at the moment. Tonight's contributors are Arthur Toucheaux, the head of digital for Philips watches, editor at large for the rake magazine, Paul Fournier, the founder of Lawrence and company PR, Nick Roberts, and my good buddy from New York City, illustrator, Tug Rice. Take it away gentlemen. Hey Brian, it's Arthur calling in from Geneva with right behind my big head, that famous Gido. I'm on my way to Philips right now, and usually we talk about watches, but I wanted today to recommend to you a book called A Gentleman in Moscow, which I picked up at the end of last year. The book was written by Amar Toules, and in it he tells the story of Count Alexander Rostov, who is put under house arrest in the most famous, most luxurious hotel in Moscow at the time called The Metropole Hotel. I devoured the book, I found it completely fascinating to follow the life of one man who is stuck in one place his entire life. And at the end I was curious to find out where the author got the idea from, and found out that himself travels quite a bit and spends a lot of time in hotels. Specifically, he started writing the book after a trip to Geneva, and this hotel, Metropole Hotel, which happens to be between my home and my workplace. So I've been walking past it every single day for a couple of years now, and I've gone inside since reading the book. They make one of the best old fashions in Geneva, and now I take clients and friends over there all the time. And by the way, next time you're in Geneva, maybe next SIHH, I want to take you to the Metropole Hotel. So that's it for me, two recommendations, a book and a hotel next time you're in Geneva. Hello everyone, I'm Paul. Some of you might know me as Paul Xartori on my Instagram account, or for the articles I have actually written for The Rape Magazine on tailoring and shirt makers. Today Brian Kelly asked me to take part in the What I'm into section. So here it is. This is a small book that I'm really digging these days, a dictionary of color combination. It is a Japanese book. Fortunately, actually the colors are also written in English, which helps, even though it's a very visual book, right? So sometimes when you're combining an outfit, you're often wondering, hmm, what kind of colors can I actually pair together, right? So this book provides you with actually quite a lot of options, and I've actually selected one for today. So the one that you see here on the top is actually what I'm wearing today, right? So this kind of blue with this kind of ochre color and this olive waistcoat. This is a very useful book for anyone that's looking for inspirations going beyond the navy blue, light blue shirt and blue tie, right? So of course sometimes you might find inspirations in pictures of others, which I quite often do on Instagram myself. And then sometimes having this kind of books is very, very useful. The good thing is that you can also actually use that for your interior design and decorations, which is not so bad. Thank you very much and have a great day. Hi there. My name is Nick Roberts, founder of Lawrence & Company, a PR agency here in New York City. And the item that I'm really into is this grand seiko 37 millimeter manually winding SBGW231. Over my years of working in the menswear industry, I've grown an appreciation for Japanese made goods, whether that's a suit from ring jacket or a dress shirt from Kamakura. These products always have a great attention to detail and always offer a great value proposition. And I believe the same thing can be said for this grand seiko. Now what makes me really into this watch? The first thing is the case size at 37 millimeters. It's neither too big or too small. I find it just hits a really nice sweet spot. The second thing is a simplicity of it. Time only, no date, beautifully finished. I like to say it's a watch that has everything you need and nothing you don't. And lastly would be the value proposition. I'm around watches a lot. That's just the nature of the business that I'm in. And I continually draw back to grand seiko just because I feel like they offer a really great watch for a really great price point. Some may argue that it might be a little bit too simplistic, but I always think it's much harder to make something beautiful and simplistic than overly designed and complicated. Hey, He Spoke Style. This is Tug Rice and I'm here in New York. I'm so excited to tell you about what I'm into right now. Every winter I look for a new book series to get lost in. And this year I'm reading Fantomas, the French detective series. Of course, I was drawn to this incredible cover. But the books are just absolutely fun and thrilling and I'm completely obsessed with them. I'm on the sixth one right now. I think there's 32. So I'm slowly making my way through. But if you picture Sherlock with a little more style, a little more panache and French, that's the Fantomas series. There's train robberies and mistaken identities and you're never quite sure who's who. Anyway, they're totally fun. Here's my budding collection. Highly, highly recommend these. Perfect way to unwind at night, maybe with a beverage. And if you read these, I hope you enjoy them. All the way from Geneva, Mr. Arthur Toucheau picks A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Tolles. I actually picked that up for myself on Arthur's recommendation. From Paul Fournier, A Dictionary of Color Combinations. From Nick Roberts, The Beautiful and I would definitely say underrated Grand Seiko Manual Winding SBGW231. And from Tug Rice, Another Book Suggestion, which I have also picked up called Fantomas. Now you will see that links to these items have magically appeared down below in the description. So if you're interested in checking them out more or possibly even picking them up for yourself, you know where to find them. So now my pick for this episode is right here under this hat. And I am about to reveal it. Here it is. This is my Leica Q. Now I have had this camera for almost two years now. So it's not new. But every time I use it, I just, I fall in love with it all over again. Now prior to deciding to invest in this camera, I was shooting with a Fujifilm X100S. It's a good little camera and I think it can make some pretty awesome photos. Rob is actually a very good shooter with that camera. But I honestly had a lot of trouble with it. It would not perform for me the way I wanted it to when I needed it most. So I did finally decide to take the plunge and go with the Leica Q. One of the best investments I have made in a very, very, very long time. So there are many things that I love about this camera. And number one is that it is extremely easy to use. I'm not a very technically minded photographer. So it's kind of important to me to just be able to turn it on and shoot with it without too much hassle. I'm going to take a picture right now. And it's very easy to change the aperture, as you can see right here, just by rotating the ring on the lens. And one of the coolest features, especially for me shooting watches a lot, is that right here, again, by turning the lens, I can jump right into macro just like that. So recent photo I did on Instagram of the new Langa datagraph perpetual with the pink gold dial, please do not call it a salmon dial, was done with this camera set on macro. So it will also create a closed network between the camera and your phone. So it's very easy to get pictures from the camera to your phone and up on Instagram pretty quickly if that's what you want to do. Now you can see that I have this hand grip here. This is an accessory that is sold separately, but it makes the camera extremely comfortable to use. And I feel much more confident holding it like I'm not going to drop it accidentally. So the Leica images have a very, very unique quality to them. This camera also has a lot of heft to it too. It feels like a really high quality item. And finally, the last thing I love about this camera is the design factor. It's just so simple. It's such a classic look. And in addition to making some extremely killer images, it also looks pretty damn cool too. Okay. Up next is our live interview with Aaron Sigmund. But before we get to that, we do need to take a minute or two to move things around a little bit. So while we are doing that, please enjoy some of these beautiful shots of the Longa and Zona Longa 1, 25th anniversary that we took last weekend when we're in Miami for watches and wonders. We are back. I just want to say to the commenter who put in the chat that he said I was more important than the Oscars. You're very kind. Thank you for watching. So now we are back and pleased to welcome the gentleman sitting to my right. He is the author of a variety of books, including the Playboy Book of Cigars, Drive Time, Watches Inspired by Automobiles, Motorcycles, and Racing. Seatime, Watches Inspired by Sailing, Yachting, and Diving, which will be out in June this year. And also the forthcoming impossible collection of cigars from Asuleen. He's also an editor, a publisher, a cigar guy, a watch guy, a menswear guy, basically a connoisseur of only the finer things in life. I'm talking about Mr. Aaron Sigmund. Aaron, thank you so much. Thanks for having me, Brian. For joining us. Coming down here from New York, just for this tonight, we really appreciate it. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. So earlier in the show, we had the segment where people are talking about the one thing they're into. So what's the one thing you're into right now? So I've been collecting mid-century modern furniture for a very long time. And there is a designer by the name of Charles Pollock. And I have two of his shares from 1963. And I've been looking at a chair that he designed later in life, actually almost at the very end of his life, that's just called the CP-1. And like these pieces of furniture are tremendous investments. So I mulled over for a long time before I purchased it. But there's something about the designer. A lot of people collect Finjool or George Nelson. There's so many famous ones. But I'm just into this particular designer. 1963 was an important year for other things as well, right? Yeah. So both the Hoyer Carrera and the Rolex Daytona came out in 1963. Some debate about the Rolex. I mean, technically it's 64, but they say 63. But it doesn't matter. What are you saying? Well, funny enough, in drive time, we actually listed it as both. So within drive time and see time, see time is the only sequel to any book that I've ever done. So I'm really excited about that. But in drive time and see time, the first chapter of watches is called the I-Cods. And there's not an even number. I don't know, they're 11 or 13. Something like that. Anyway, in drive time, we said 1963-64. Because I feel it's kind of ambiguous, to be honest with you. I actually hadn't planned to talk about this. But you mentioned the Daytona. Sure. Been a huge subject recently, the Priyuan Rolex market. And of course, Paul Newman's Daytona selling for an astronomical amount. What's your take on that? Well, I don't know that. That's a pretty loaded question. You know, I don't know. I have vintage watches. I have new watches. I have reissues of vintage watches. I, whatever floats your boat and whatever you can afford, I suppose, it wouldn't be my first watch. I don't even know that. It would be my 10th watch. I've owned a lot of Rolexes over the years, both new and vintage. I mean, it's definitely a thing. Other than paddock, it holds its value tremendously well. So from an investment standpoint, I don't see, as long as the market keeps on going up, that you would do particularly poorly with it. It's an icon. It was an icon chapter, because it's an iconic watch. But there are other watches that are far more affordable that I think have kind of the racing chops, like the Hoyer Camara. I've always thought was an undervalued watch. You can still get one for well, I mean, significantly under $10,000, I think the last one I looked at, which was really exceptional, was like $7,500. And that's evidently affordable compared to many of the others. Yeah, absolutely. Do you think there's any kind of bubble on the vintage watch market going on right now? Well, I always think there's a bubble for almost every collectible. So the simple answer is yes. Okay. Yeah, I just, I mean, I think it stands to reason. Eventually everything comes, at one point in time, some of the frarys that you're seeing today for $20,000 and $25,000 were selling for $16,000. Not that long ago. So I don't think they're going to crash down to that, but I could see there being a market adjustment, as people say, yeah. So let's talk a little bit about cigars. You're kind of like Mr. Cigar, Playboy Book. Were you doing, you work with Cigar Fischinato also? No, so I'm the competing magazine, Smoke Magazine. Smoke Magazine. So how did all this, I mean, how did you get into it? Sure. How did you fall into all this? Yeah, it's definitely not a common career path, for sure. I needed a job in grad school, believe it or not, and I was a client at the Davidoff and Geneva store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. And my father basically came to me one day and said, you really need to get a real job. And I said, okay. So I went to the then GM at the time, who was a good friend. What year was that? 1992. So you were a young man. Oh, very young. Yeah, so just out of the crib, I was a genius. I went straight to grad school. So I wound up, he needed a number two, he needed an assistant manager and I did that during the day and I went to school at night. He quit rather suddenly and unexpectedly. And I found myself in arguably in charge of one of the top 10, 15 cigar stores in the entire world. I mean, there you are right on Rodeo Drive. You've been in the cigar business six months and all of a sudden you're the general manager with it. A huge celebrity, I'm looking at all these photos, huge celebrity clientele. And so it was a thing and Cigar Fissionado came out maybe another six months after that. And when I started looking through it, I really realized that Cigar Fissionado, fantastic magazine, but it was really my father's magazine. And so I really wanted to create, like you created this show, I wanted to create a magazine that really represented me and my friends. And Smoke Magazine to this day is the only magazine that's effectively truly competed with Cigar Fissionado. Cigar Journal also at this juncture certainly does on a certain level, but never in the ad revenue that Smoke did. Cigar Journal, I feel like it's a little more of an editorial kind of look and feel to it. Well, it's very European. It started out as an Austrian magazine. It was actually originally, every article had one column that was English, one column that was German. So it was bilingual publication and it's kind of carried that central European look, I suppose, throughout. It definitely has a very specific Swiss modern aesthetic. So you basically started off with the dream job, a dream job of Cigar as I'm, where do you go from there? Well, that is the fundamental problem that it's, so I had some very kind partners and they banked Smoke Magazine and I was there for three years and then I sold my interest in the publication and it kind of went off and worked on a myriad of fantastic projects. It's been not a linear career path for sure, but it's been a tremendous one. Yeah, I'm very, very, very lucky in that regard. So it's not just cigars that you're into, but you also, you've written a couple books on watches. Yeah, six, six or seven. Yeah, a couple, more than a couple. So there's the drive time, sea times coming out. You did a book on Boulevard. I did, so we did the, so it was hard for me to imagine that Boulevard, which is an iconic American brand, had never had a book written about it. Not even really internally, and I thought that was really odd, and I had been looking for a long time for an American story. I felt like so many of the brands that I worked on as a consultant, worked on as an employee and just wrote about, they were all European brands and there's plenty of American luxury brands. And I really was searching for an American brand to write about. I went to a red bar, New York presentation at the Empire State Building, which is where CitizenWatch America has their corporate headquarters and they're from Boulevards there. And at the end of it, I grabbed on to the EBP of marketing at that time, the Boulevard and said, I want to do a book. And he said, call me back in two years. I said, okay. Two years. Two years. He said 18 months to two years. And without exaggeration, I don't know, 20 months later, had the president of their communications agency called me and basically said, we're ready to do the book. And then that was it. And there were actually, I was the editor and the co-author. There were nine authors in total, including Matt Horanich, who was on your show the other day. Last time. Yeah, last time. Speaking of Boulevards, let's talk about the watch and your wrist. Yeah. It's like the devil diver. It is. So this is a 2018 reissue of the 1966 devil diver. It's the exact, it's exactly the same in every regard, except the original was a day date. And this is only a date. And there was a certification issue. I was talking about this earlier. I'm like, who needs a day? How long are you gonna be underwater? You're gonna be underwater a while. I guess you're not planning on coming up. But nonetheless, that was the original. And it was a limited edition of 666. I had asked for either number six, number 66 or number 666. Number 666 is in the archives, the permit museum collection of Bouleva. And this is number 66. Yeah, you know, it's a. Can you hold it up actually? Sure, yeah, absolutely. That camera right there. Sure. Let's see. I can take it off. So people can kind of see, it's got an orange dial. It does. It's very reminiscent of the Doxa. Yeah, a lot of people ask me if it's a Doxa or not. But you know, that particular, I mean Doxa was first with the orange dial undeniably, but. It's eminently more wearable in terms of like an everyday watch. The size is much smaller. It's great. You know, it's a simple automatic watch. And I'm a huge fan of it. I actually only got it right around Christmas time. So I've been wearing it a lot. So in our fact. It's a very cool watch. Thank you. So, cigars, watches, menswear. I mean, it's like a complete like kind of gentleman's package. Like when guys are getting into these things, they're like these rabbit holes that guys can go down. Whether it's cigars, watches, whiskeys, shoes. What do you see as like the confluence between these things? So I've always had in all my writing and all my projects, a very polymath kind of approach to a general overall men's luxury lifestyle. And so there's no two ways about it. Some guys really get into the watches and some guys really get in the cigars. Some people collect whiskey cars if you can afford that. But really I think for lack of a better expression, if you want to get James Bondian about it, it really has to be all those things. You have to be a little bit of a connoisseur in all those subjects. And that goes with knowing the latest Michelin star restaurants, the right hotels, the right lounges, the right clubs to hear music. It's, I think it's a real dedication to a very specific lifestyle. And if that is your thing, then you should pursue it. How would, so say there's someone watching tonight and they're saying, okay, well, how do I know like what clubs to go to or what bars to go to or this or that? I'm drinking a lot faster than you. Where can people look for some actual like information if they are interested in? Sure. You know, I read everything. I'm a voracious reader. I'm still, I like online just fine. Very happy with all you viewers. However, I still go to an old fashioned magazine stand and I just literally come out with a stack of magazines. So I go, whether it's online, whether it's magazines, I saw you had a latest issue, a rake over there. You know, that's certainly a wonderful resource. You know, I think they're a myriad of different ways. I mean, social media has made it so much easier than when I started out. I mean, you just look on Instagram and you find somebody following a restaurant or a bar and you're saying that looks cool and you go and you visit it and it's either your, you know, your place, your next new place or it's not. So I think, I mean, there's no lack of resources at this juncture. I think it was much more of an inside kind of club before and to a degree that may be so, but it's definitely easier to access the information than it ever was before unquestionably. So you came down from New York, but you live elsewhere, but you let have a couple of places that you bounce around to, but if you had to give, if someone was going to New York City and they wanted to have a day or a couple of days or like a weekend where they just live it up, you know, what's the restaurant you would send them to? What's the cigar bar you would go to? And what's the bar they would send them to? Well, that is, I mean, everybody's got their different things, right? What's yours? Well, I would think, yeah, no, I know, but it's like, so I guess for lunch, it would be one of two places. I would either send them to Michael, well, one of three actually, Michael's of 55th, Fred's, which is at the top of Barney's or the new Four Seasons, which we located from the Seagrams building a couple blocks down. Those are really your power lunch kind of places and certainly you'll see people and do things, food's exceptional. The Old Four Seasons is now- Yeah, I think it's just called the Bistro. The Bistro. Yeah, the Seagrams building Bistro, something like that. It's still very nice. Oh yeah, I mean, the decor didn't change all that dramatically. So I guess that would be lunch. Everybody loves the Carlisle. I think it's the quintessential. Now that there is no oak room anymore at the Plaza, I mean, I would think the Carlisle room is perhaps the most quintessential New York bar. You've got the rainbow room. I mean, there's so many great, I mean, there's definitely no limit, but the Carlisle is the one that I would send somebody who's never been to New York. I mean, they'll just feel like they're in a movie of some sort and they'll play out their own role. Cigar lounges, so I was one of the founding members of Club Maconuto, which is on 63rd in Madison. Been there several times. I was a member there for- Actually I'd been there several times and put the slippers on. Yeah, oh yeah, you can't get no sneakers, no tennis shoes. So, it's elegant, it's classic. I spend a lot of time at the Carnegie Club, which is over right by Carnegie Hall on 56th. And then if you have a friend who's a member, I mean, the Grand Evano Room is certainly the kind of granddaddy of all the cigar bars in New York and it has unparalleled, spectacular views. We're friends, right? Yeah, we are friends, but I'm not a member. You'll have to make new friends. Better friends, I suppose. Yeah, I never became a member. I was really loyal to Club Mac for a long, long time and then I just don't live in the city full time anymore and so maintaining a membership doesn't make a lot of sense. So let's talk just briefly about the new book you have coming out. Which new book? Not Seatime. Oh, okay. I'm talking about the ultimate collection of cigars. So, I always liked when somebody is a fan of something to start out, like you were a fan of Leica and you kind of sussed it out and then you bought it and now it's one of your things. Yeah. There were two book publishers that I always wanted to work with and one was Resoli New York and one was Azaleen. And now you've done both. And now I've done both. This will be my, Seatime will be my third book with Resoli New York and the impossible collection of cigars will be my second with Azaleen and I can tell you that there will be a third Azaleen book but I can't say what it is. Well done. Yeah, thank you. So the Azaleens, which is both a company and a family have a collection of books called The Ultimate Collection. These are huge, weighty tomes. I mean, they're gigantic. And they start at about $1,000 a pop and they go up from there. And they're very, very specific as far as their format goes. They have an introduction or some sort of essay if you prefer from the writer. And then they, me, the writer curates 100 exemplars like real, real pinnacle examples of that category. So beforehand there was actually there was the impossible collection of Rolex which has a Daytona on it. Since we were talking about that earlier. There is the impossible collection of wine, cars, motorcycles, arts, design, and fashion. Is there a watch? There is. Your buddy Nick Fox did the watch book. I actually owned that book and owned it before I did it. So after we finished the bull of a book, I went to Prosper Azaleen and I said, who's been a cigar smoker actually as well for like 35 years. I said, I really, really want to do the impossible collection of cigars. And he's like, it's been on our list to do for a long time and it just was a fail complete. We just sent it to the printer. It comes out May, maybe June. It'll come out before Father's Day. But the most exciting part about it is it will, I mean cigars themselves are 500 years old, 450 years old. And there's never been a book in the history of cigars like this or anything close. It's really, I'm very, very excited about this book. I can't wait to read it. How do you even go about choosing? I mean, is it sort of like a historical overview or like? Sure. Yeah, well, so I just had a cigar this afternoon down here with a friend of mine who was in the cigar trade and I showed him a sneak peek of the book and he said, well, what about this cigar? And what about, I'm like, you have to curate 100. That's the number. And it was 100 bottles of wine, 100 cars, 100 motorcycles and it's 100 cigars. 100 bottles of beer on the line. Exactly, exactly. I don't think they've done beer yet. Maybe that's next, that won't be me. But what you just, you look at everything, well, it's like anything else. You take a 50,000 foot view, you look at a very wide swath and you just keep on narrowing it down, narrowing it down to really, you get to the point that you feel very comfortable with it. I can't speak for other authors. I always share my work with others. So, I showed it to a couple of people that I called my cigar consiglieri and I shoot. Everyone needs a consiglieri. Well, yeah, this was a whole group. I mean it wasn't a big group, it was like five guys and they involved in either major cigar collectors or in the cigar trade and I took some suggestions. I took a few cigars out, I put a few cigars in but I would say about 90% of it is where I originally started and it's great and it's really, I mean, we were talking about quality and the heft of the like and all that type of stuff for you were before me. It's really remarkable how they make these books. These are hand stitch books. These books are hand tipped, images are hand tipped in. I mean, it's an object of art as much as it is a book. I mean, it's worth the money that you're paying for. It's an exceptional piece. So, we don't want to give away any of the cigars in the book right now, but just to kind of wrap up here. Yeah. Just want to ask you a few cigar questions. Sure, with pleasure. Most memorable cigar you've ever smoked. Or actually, no, the best cigar you've ever had. Well, so I always think the best cigars are tied to the best memories. Exactly. So, it could be the right time and the right place. It could have been a very mediocre cigar and an exceptional moment and that cigar just becomes all the more spectacular. I would think the Dunhill Havana Club that I smoked when my daughter was born, not like in the delivery room, but immediately after. They frown about such things these days in hospitals. I don't know why, but that was certainly a very memorable cigar. The first Cuban Davidoff I ever smoked, which was that Davidoff in London, that Edward Socky, and we were talking about our mutual friend, Edward, before gave me a sample. That was certainly a remarkable cigar. I mean, there was so much. I've been so lucky I got to go to the 150th anniversary of Partigas down in Havana. That was a memorable couple of cigars and on and on and on. There have been too many to really say one. What's like your go-to? Yeah, so I kind of divide my, I'd say about 70% of what I smoke is Cuban and the other 30% is what most people call domestic. I still smoke a lot of Davidoffs, mostly their Nicaraguan line. That's great. Yeah, I like the legal orange label. Yeah, I like the Ligur Pravada a lot, which is a Druze-dated cigar. I like some of the Chateau Pete's cigars. There's a Cabo Guan. I like that a lot. It's a really rich, creamy cigar and it's kind of meaty and bodied. A lot Palina. I like the Goldies a lot, but those are super limited edition and definitely not an everyday cigar. And then, you know, I might go to Cubans. I smoke a lot of four-lar Niagatas, a lot of H. Upman, Boulevard is probably my everyday cigar. That is my favorite blend by far. So, yeah. So, just, I'm gonna say quickly, but this is like a loaded question. Yeah, and I'm emptying, so I'm, Nica, you know what I'm saying. So, Cubans versus like, people put a lot of, like, oh, I'm smoking a Cuban or Cubans are great, but not all Cubans are great. No, not all Cubans are great and not all domestic cigars are great and it's really about your flavor profile and your palate and what you really enjoy. If you're the type of guy who loves big red wines, you like churrases, you like churrases, then, you know, maybe a Nicaraguan cigar is more up your alley. Part and parcel Cubans cigars are relatively mild compared to some, if you smoke a lot, Florida Minicana, La Jara or Double La Jara, there really isn't a Cuban out there for you. So, it's, you know, there's mild, medium and full bodied and most, the fullest bodied Cubans are still medium bodied compared to many of the domestic cigars. So, I'm definitely a medium bodied kind of guy. Not in girth, just in cigars. I go with the Aliva Milanio. I like the Robusto size. Very easy, very easy to get. Aliva's a great stick. Partica series D number four. Classic. And Trinidad Vichia's. Well, aren't you fancy? Yeah, no, those are all excellent. You know, a lot of the cigars I smoke, the poor Lauranyaga and the Juan Lopez are really kind of insider cigars. I smoked a lot of Rafael Gonzalez's when they had more sizes. I can't give away that. Rafael Gonzalez Lonsdale is in the book because it's my all-time favorite personal cigar. I have one cigar. So, when I was over in London, Eddie was kind enough to give me a. I have a cigar for you. Double Corona from the early 90s. And he told me, I've been waiting to smoke this because the way he like set it up, he's like, well, you need to have it after a good lunch and then you're gonna take a coffee and you're just gonna sit here for three hours and smoke it. It's like all this build up and I haven't been found the right time to smoke it. I mean, it's not an A, so I won't take you three hours, but it'll take you an hour and a half, hour and 45 minutes. Yeah, I mean, the right cigar or the right moment after the right meal is, it just doesn't get better than that, at least my opinion. I think that's a good place to leave it. Aaron actually needs to get back to the train station. We do not want to miss this train back to New York, so I will be really quick as I introduce our next segment. But first, I want to thank you very much for joining us. You know, I really appreciate it. Thank you for the drink. And we have links to some of Aaron's books down below in the description and we will keep an eye out for when we can pre-order the- Yeah, I will certainly let you guys know. Thank you very much again. Absolutely. So as I mentioned a couple of times throughout the broadcast tonight, we were in Miami last weekend for watches and wonders. And while we were there, I did spend some time wandering around with a microphone in my hand. I'll have the watch world mic check we did at the end of the casual Friday outfits video. If you haven't seen that, totally worth your time. I did happen to run into a few friends of mine and right now we're going to check out what watches they had on their wrists. What's up guys, I'm Brian Sacawa. You're watching He Spoke Style and we are here today in the Miami Design District at Watches and Wonders, a huge celebration of fine watchmaking here in the United States. We're gonna be walking around and checking out what watches people are wearing, so let's go. All right, everyone, we're here with James Lambden, founder of Analog Shift. James, what do you learn? I am not wearing my watch, Brian. I am wearing a watch that I swapped with another journalist a few minutes ago. I may never see my watch again, but this is a Burin Minstop. It's a gold-plated, probably 1960, late 60s, early 70s piece with sort of an interesting retrograde counter system built in and I don't know, it's pretty funky. It's neat. Very cool, very cool watch. You don't see those. Very properly vintage, it sort of suits me. Absolutely. Hey, thanks for taking the time. No problem, Brian. Good to see you. All right, here we are with Ted Gashu, international man of mystery and airport lounge abuser, as you said. Abuser, yes. So tell us, what else is it that you do right now? I'm a photographer. It's probably an easier way to describe what I do and I am very privileged. I get to travel to crazy locations and take great photos of cool cars. Very cool, so tell us what's on your wrist right now. 1976, 5402 SA, the original Jumbo, two-tone. A gift from a very dear friend after I helped build his business with him, just tossed it on my wrist. Since I put it on, I haven't taken it off, but my favorite part of it is what is on the back. In 1976, the original purchaser inscribed to our favorite conservative, Sandra and Rick, which to me is just kind of funny. Very cool, thanks so much, Ted. Good to see you as always. All right, we are here with Alex Friedman, co-founder of Watchin'ista. How's it going, man? Good, good. Nice to be here in Miami. You changed from the Swiss sweater. Let's know, and here it's gorgeous. Indeed, indeed. So what do you have on your wrist? So today I have a Bulgari Octo Finissimo, which I think it matches good with the ambient here, the Miami vibes and with the blue suit. It's a very comfortable watch. I mean, the design is just unique, very thin, very light, extremely light, all in titanium. It's extremely comfortable to wear. Even here, you know, when it's a little bit humid. It's a perfect watch. It's a beautiful watch. Thanks so much, Alex. Thank you. All right, we are here with Suzanne Wong from Revolution. What do you have on your wrist, Suzanne? Or actually, what do you have on your wrists? Well, you know, because Revolution is obviously a watch magazine and I'm kind of a watch nerd. So I've got two wrist watches on at the moment. This is not a common thing. It's just for watches and wonders because the first one is my own personal Rolex, the Daytona, which I pinched from my dad a few years back because, well, it's his, but not anymore, it's mine now. And I like this very much because, first of all, it's a classic watch. It's in my favorite metal. And it's got a classic movement. It's got the Zenith El Primero movement in it, which is something that was a very strong part of the Daytona's history. And they stopped using it in the 90s and they used their own in-house movement now. Anyway, so it's a very particular model. And the second one I've got on is a Dubechun Mexicono. And I've got it on because a friend of mine, Peer Jack, is the CEO of the brand. They're exhibiting here at Washes and Wonders. And I just really like this watch. So I just say, can I wear it for a couple of days? Just like, took it. Very cool. Thank you so much, Suzanne. All right, we are at the portion of the program where I will answer some of the questions you guys have been asking throughout the show. So here we go, question number one. What are your thoughts on the Cartier Santos watch with the interchangeable straps? Totally a fan. I think the Cartier Santos is a great watch. It's a very cool watch. It looks very, very interesting. It's definitely not one that you see all the time. So I am pro Cartier Santos. And actually, I think the straps, the way they did that, how it might not have been, Vacheron does an interchangeable strap that's similar, I believe, but yeah, it's very cool and makes it very easy to change the straps. All right, question number two is the Leica camera that I have a contemporary model or an older model. So this is a brand new model, about two years old, so not a vintage model. Number three, question number three, trying to figure out which watch you have on. From afar, it looks like a Longa One Daimatic. It is not a Longa One Daimatic. It is the Vacheron Constantin Traditionnel. If you saw my watch collection video, you know that the Traditionnel was one of the watches that I had my eye on. I was looking forward to picking up at some point. It's actually the first gold watch that I have in my collection. So that's the one. It's actually, so it's the Traditionnel, which is a beautiful watch with a 38 millimeter dial. And it actually is the version, it's a boutique version that has a lot of a guilloché on the dial, so it's very interesting. I did, now it was an Instagram story that I put up that showed the dial, but I'll wear it tomorrow. I'll tell you what, I'll wear the watch again tomorrow and I will post a photo in Instagram stories. So you can, right after this broadcast, I will do that so you guys can see the dial up in detail. All right, next question is, is the Mont Blanc pen that I have here, a fountain pen or a roller ball? It is a roller ball. However, I have been interested in looking into fountain pens. I've never tried one before. I think I need to go to the, the, like a boutique to try the different pens. I've heard it's very personal, what kind of nib you have or what size it is. I think it would be a great investment to have. Just make signing things very special if you're writing a personal handwritten note. I think doing it with a fountain pen would be very cool. Okay, moving on to the next question. What do you think about the fixation on resale value of watches? I personally have never considered selling a watch I purchased. So I think the question is here mostly, should you buy a watch with investment possibilities in mind? And there are certainly some people who do that. I don't think that's a great way to buy watches. You shouldn't buy a watch just because you think it's going to appreciate in value. You should buy a watch because you love the watch. It makes you feel a certain way. And don't even worry about how much it's going to appreciate or not. So that's my take on that. Okay, next question is best coffee table book? I'm looking over at my coffee table right now and what I have on there. Can I avoid the question by just telling you what I have on my coffee table? Which I think are pretty good coffee table books. So there's a stack of three. On the top is the man in his watch by Matt Franek who we had on the show last time. Underneath that, I believe, I can't see the spine but I think it's dressing the man, mastering the art of permanent fashion. Actually Trent's going to check it out right now see if I'm right. He's bringing them over. Hold on a second. Okay, here we go. Here are the three books that I have on my coffee table or the coffee table we have in the studio. So yes, thank you Trent. We have Dressing the Man here. Oh no, a man in his watch by Matt Franek who you guys know already. Then underneath that, this is Dressing the Man Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion by Alan Flusser. The man who literally wrote the book on men's style. If you are going to have one men's style book, this is the one that you want to have. And then, oh, with apologies to Aaron, there is a cigar-o-fish-in-auto sandwich between underneath Dressing the Man here. The last book here is this big behemoth, the protectively authorized biography by Nick Fuchs. When I got my 57.11, I really wanted to learn as much as I could about the brand because it does have such a storied history. And it is so iconic. So I'm the type of person that when I see something like that, especially if it's something that I own, I want to be as knowledgeable as possible about the things that I have so I can speak intelligently about it. And also, just be a good ambassador for brands like this because it's important for people to really understand where they came from and what actually goes into the watches, whether it's making them, the history. So that's why I have this book. It's a great book. I haven't gotten all the way through it yet, but I have read all the chapters or everything I could about the Nautilus line. Okay. Are these out of the shot? Okay, they're out of the shot. All right, so next question. Is there an age in your life that your style as a man transitioned in a sense of maturity regards Dominic from Australia? Dominic, thanks for tuning in. So that's a really good question. And I think like a personal style journey is just that. It's personal and it takes time. And along the, everyone is on, everyone that's interested in men's style is on the same journey in some sense. And the way that we approach it or the things that we do or how we do it, we experience in different ways. So someone who's younger and going through it might be at a different place than someone who's maybe older. And that depends of course on age, maturity, financial means to a certain extent, the types of things you could get into. I don't know if I should, for me personally, it's been a long process. And as you go through it, you have to be okay with making mistakes. And you look back on them and you learn. And you learn from those mistakes and you learn what you like. And all of a sudden you can sort of dial it in. It took me a while to get to a point where I was sort of like, my style is very traditional, it's very classic, but you're bombarded with all this other stuff like, oh, you should try this trend. You read all the magazines and you should try this and try that. And you try it and it doesn't feel right. But then at a certain point you're just like, I'm done with this. I know how I like to dress. I know my style. Yes, I still look for inspiration places, but you kind of just become at peace and more confident in who you are and how you dress and how it makes you feel. So I hope that answered the question. It takes all different kinds and everyone takes their own time to get to where they want to get. Okay, last question here, which is favorite domestic and international city. That's like two questions in one. So domestic city. I mean, I have to say New York. I love going to New York. There's just so much to do. There's so much there. A close second I think would be Chicago. I haven't nearly spent enough time as there as I would like to. International city. I've only been to London once, so I'm like reticent to pick London, but it was like, I felt really at home in London from the cigars stores to the tailoring, all of the things it has to offer. It just kind of felt like home to me, but I really do love Milan. And Milan is sort of like not like your typical, like Italian city, like a Florence or a Venice or a Rome where it looks Italian. It's very much like you're in with regular Italian people who are going about their day. And there, of course, there's the Duomo, which is beautiful, but I really like the vibe of Milan. It's kind of more my speed. And there is also like a lot of cool history with tailoring and so on there. So that is about all the time we have tonight. I want to give a big thank you to Aaron Sigmund for joining us in the studio tonight. Also to our contributors, Arthur Toucheaux, Paul Fournier, Nick Roberts and Tug Rice, a reminder that links to all of their recommendations as well as Tug's artwork are down below in the description. Also want to give a big shout out and thank you to the HSS Live team here. Of course, Rob McDiver, who just ushered Aaron to the train station, Ian Johnson and Trent Urquhart. And thanks to all of you who tuned in tonight. Leave your comments and suggestions for future episodes over there in the chat or down below in the comments when this video is living on the channel. So that's all for us tonight from HSS Studios. As always, thanks for watching and stay tailored.