 Hey guys, I'm Brian Sakawa. You're watching He Spoke Style. Actually, you are watching He Spoke Style live. We are live right now. We have been planning this show for over a month, so having it finally be here and going out to you right now is extremely exciting for us. In fact, although the show is just starting, I'm kind of feeling like celebrating a little bit. So I'm just gonna take a second and pour myself a glass of whiskey. So tonight I am going to be drinking Nika coffee grain whiskey. I have been really into Japanese whiskeys recently, and I want to invite you to do the same. Take a moment right now, get a glass of whiskey for yourself, and settle in because we have a wonderful show planned for you this evening. We have some great contributors to this episode. We have an amazing guest, Mr. Matt Franek, who will be joining us later in the show, and some other things planned that I know you are really going to like, including the most important part, answering your questions later in the program. And I do invite you as we continue through the program to have a conversation over there in the chat area and to leave any questions you may have for me, for us, because as I said, I will be answering them later on in the show. So without further ado, let's get started. So for this segment, I reached out to some of my friends in publishing, in menswear, in the watch world, and in the digital space to find out the one thing that they are super into at the moment. I always think it's cool to know what kind of interesting things, interesting people, are enjoying at the moment. Our contributors to this episode are menswear writer Alex Svetkovich, Brock McGough from The Modest Man, Fabio Atenacio of The Bespoke Dudes, Steven Pulverant from Haudenosaunee and London Man About Town, Ahmed Rahman. Let's check it out. Afternoon, he spoke style. My name is Alex Svetkovich. I'm a men's style writer based in London, and I'm dialing in from my somewhat dishevelled North London studio to let you know about something I picked up in Soho the other day. The item in question is Leta Kett's magazine. It's a new Perusian style magazine that I literally have just discovered. It's sort of doing the rounds in the menswear scene at the moment, but I think it's absolutely brilliant and I can't even read French. I picked it up on the recommendation of a couple of friends, and I just love the art direction in it. I think the styling is great. There's a great balance of, good headline, great balance of sort of retro finds. There's a lot of vintage in there. There's quite a lot of street wear, but if we look towards the back, there's some cool tailoring coverage too, Lorenzo Cifinelli. And I just think it's the most exciting magazine I've picked up for a while. I read a lot of magazines, I contribute to a lot, and this feels fresh, it feels new. I would recommend following the magazine on Instagram and trying to pick it up online if you can. I know that it is being distributed in various different news agents now in different countries, and I would heartily recommend it as a cool read. What is up, Peacebook Style? Brian, thank you so much for having me on the channel. My name is Brock McGough. I run The Modest Man, and something that I've really been enjoying recently is this. So it's just a Moleskine notebook and a gold cross pen, but it's what's inside that I want to tell you about. I've always found it kind of hard to stick with a to-do list or a productivity app, but for the past couple months, I've been using a system called the Bullet Journal. It's kind of like a to-do list with your daily log, like light journaling built in. It's very customizable, very forgiving if you miss a day. The creator of Bullet Journal describes it as a mindfulness exercise, disguised as a productivity system. For me, I mostly use it as a to-do list. I check it in the morning. I update it throughout the day and then I check it again at night to prepare for the next day. I also use it to record any ideas or thoughts or events that happen that day. The other thing that I like is just, you know, having a pen and paper, it's kind of like wearing a mechanical watch, you know, it's just this little analogue element and otherwise pretty digital life. Brian, thank you so much again for having me on the channel. Happy New Year to all of you and until next time, stay stylish. Hi, I'm Fabio Attanasio, founder of The Bespoke Views and co-founder of TBDIware. And the thing I'm really digging at the moment is a bespoke shirt by Davido Napoli. Now I'm gonna show you why. Okay, this is the shirt by Davino. It has a fantastic fit, of course, but in addition to that, it features an incredible amount of hand stitches. Starting from the top, we have the collar, the shoulder, the sleeve head, the gusset, the cuffs, and then the buttonhole, the button. Also the cannoletto, as we say in Italian, has been stitched by hand, the button, the mush, and even the side seam here. Incredible, isn't it? Hey, I'm Haudenki, managing editor, Stephen Pulverin and something I'm really digging right now is an artist named Hilma of Clint. She's a kind of unknown Swedish artist from the turn of the 20th century, and she does these amazing abstract compositions, really bright colors, wild shapes, and she was working years before people like Klee and Kandinsky who are much better known. There's a big exhibition of her paintings at the Guggenheim right now in New York. It's on through April, and I highly recommend you check it out. There's a wild story, I won't get too into it, but she believed that most of her paintings were guided by spirits. She had plans to build a temple to hang all of her paintings in. It's totally crazy, totally wild, and the artwork's amazing, so I recommend you go check it out. There's a great exhibition catalog too, and hopefully you'll enjoy it. Hi everyone, my name is Armit Raman, and today I'm gonna talk about one of my favorite and most worn watches of all time, the Rolex GMT Master II, or more lovingly called the Rolex Pepsi. The Rolex Pepsi was developed by Rolex in collaboration with Pan Am in 1954 to be a tool watch for pilots to time their long distance flights. What I love about the GMT Master is the fact that it has two time zones, and for a frequent travel like myself, it allows me to keep my time at home as well as maintain the time of the city where I'm traveling to. This current piece comes with the Jubilee bracelet, which again was developed by Rolex in 1945. The Jubilee bracelet was set for Rolex's more dressier pieces, however, the current offering they've added it to a tool watch like GMT, which makes it also very special. I hope you enjoy listening to my commentary. Thank you very much. From Mr. Alex Fetkovich, a new French menswear magazine, from Brock of the Modest Man, bullet journaling, all the way from Milano, from Fabio Atenacio, a bespoke shirt, from the Haudenki offices in New York, Steven Pulverand on an art exhibition currently at the Guggenheim, and from London or somewhere in the world, Amenrahmen or Shari, as his friends call him, picks the new ceramic bezel GMT Master Pepsi with the Jubilee bracelet. So I just wanna jump in here right now and show you guys what I am really into at the moment, and it is this right here. This is a Ronson touch tip lighter. Now the way I came upon this and actually learned what a touch tip lighter was, was doing an internet search after wondering for a very long time what the lighter was, that Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade uses in the Maltese Falcon. We actually have a clip queued up where you can see exactly what I'm talking about. Floyd Thursby. I don't know where she met him. We've never been as close as sisters ought to be. If we had, perhaps Corinne would have- So the lighter that Bogart uses there is actually a different version than this. The one in the Maltese Falcon has a small clock in it, very collectible, very rare, and as a result, when you do see one, it usually commands a pretty hefty price tag. This one here that I have is actually called the Streamline. It was patented in 1937. I love this for so many reasons. First, obviously, is the design. It's such a cool art deco look. I also love the brown tortoise color. This thing is very heavy too. You know, you hear people say all the time, they don't make things like they used to, and holding this in my hand, I can tell you I really believe that. It has a presence that I don't think you find a lot these days, especially in something as simple as a lighter. So the way this works is there is this wand with a wick on the end, and when it is inside, it is soaking up lighter fluid. And when you push this down, it moves this wheel here, which has a flint that creates a spark and ignites the wick, which leads me to the best thing about this, which is the act of actually lighting it. So there's the sound that it makes. There's just the way it feels. There's really nothing like it. And I mean, it just looks so cool, which is why I am really into the touch tip lighter right now. All right, moving on to our next segment now, which we are calling Speaking Style. So here is where we get to talk to interesting people in menswear and watches, and just in the broader world of living a life as a modern gentleman. We could not have a better first guest than our guest this evening. He is the men's style editor at CN Traveler. The author of the book, A Man in His Watch, and the creative director of the new magazine, William Brown. He's also a cigar connoisseur, a collector of vintage gold lighters, and a negroni fiend, a true modern Renaissance man. I'm talking, of course, about Matt Franek. Now, full disclosure, this interview was prerecorded. We had hoped to do it live, but because this is our first go at this type of thing, we got a little bit worried about making sure all the technology was going to work. So instead of possibly failing, I talked to Matt on Friday evening so we could have absolutely no chance for air tonight. Nonetheless, we had an awesome conversation and I know you are going to love it. Here it is now. Okay, Matt Franek, super busy guy. Really appreciate you taking the time for being here with us today. What's been going on? I feel like I haven't seen you in a very long time, so. Well, there's been lots of negroni drinking, thanks for giving me the excuse to do this before five-ish. Absolutely. But no, there's been a lot of exciting stuff. I've been still promoting the Watch Book, I mean this watch, but I think the most exciting thing recently is I launched this men's style magazine called William Brown, based on my blog and Instagram and farm in Upstate New York. And it's kind of been just overwhelming response. And I've been so flattered and humbled by the people interested in it and it's been great because I've been waiting for this magazine for myself for so long that I just decided to kind of make it. And I guess I'm not alone as far as the subject matter in there and people's interest in it. So that's been a lot of fun. And it's been really bit of a whirlwind. So it's nice to relax it down, talk with you. Yeah, yeah, we're gonna get to the magazine for sure, but for some of our viewers who might not be as familiar with some of your work, can you give us sort of like a quick synopsis of like how you found yourself in this position of men's style editor for CN Traveler? Yeah, so I came to New York as a photographer. I've been in the photography business for 25 years now. Always was interested in magazines, like that was my passion that I was so excited about. And when I left the university, moved to New York, I just got into it, waist deep working with photographers, apprenticing, assisting. I just wanted to be around that world and pretty much worked with every magazine I ever could imagine working with photographically, left to work on Esquire. When Esquire launched their television station at a very short-lived show. Oh, you were on Esquire TV? I didn't know that. Yeah, Esquire TV I was on alternate route. Really? It was a show that I produced and was by some mistake, sardine. But that was a lot of fun. And that was basically all this kind of residual content that I had had from traveling around the country, photographing. And we kind of built it as almost like a little travel narrative, travel story. That, when that ended and we were waiting for pickup, my wife became the creative director at County Dash Traveler and my good friend, Pilar Guzmán, became the editor-in-chief. And they were like, well, you're not doing anything right now. Why don't you cover the men's market for us in the watch market? And some pieces of the business, the magazine were really important to them and no one was covering it because they kind of clean house when they got out there. And I went into it as a lark and I just realized I liked being on that end of the creative process and I liked working with friends who were great photographers, building stories, being in the market and God, that was five years ago with that, we started with that. And then, you know, a lot of great stuff came out of that, a lot of great friendships connected, connection into the men's tutorial world as well as the hospitality world that I loved and then the watch world, which basically birthed that book out of storytelling of just meeting amazing people in that world. And that was all through the kind of magazine aspect on the other end, not being behind the camera, but sort of on the sidelines with it, but producing all the content for traveler in the men's space. That's really cool. So I know recently you were at Piti from my sort of like armchair quarterback position here, you know, we get to see all the street style photos. I didn't get to be there, but you know, you were there on the ground, are there like certain, are there some trends that you saw, well, first of all, I love, I love the old school guys. Like, you know, of course, there's all this peacocking going on. Sure. And those guys just look like clowns to me, like it's pattern on pattern. And it's all, I never liked fashion or style, which I think is better for my sort of, that was too theatrical. I liked stuff that was honest, and I still do, you know, honest and classic and true to the person. I mean, even if that means that person is wearing like, you know, vintage Nike high tops and, you know, track pants. Like, I just, when it's forced, it just is just not for me. So like, can we just like talk a little bit about like the whole peacock phenomenon? There, I don't know how that happened. I did, I did a reaction video to some of the Piti street style. And one of the things I talk about is like, there are these people who like, kind of don't belong there. But as a result of all the social media, I blame Instagram in large part for this, you know, people want to show up, they want to get their photo taken, they're looking for their 15 minutes of fame or whatever. I mean, there are people like, I don't know, I think of like, Lino, Luzzi, you know, he's like an original OG kind of peacock. But then there are just, there's like a new breed that, I don't know if you want to like comment on that at all. Well, I think first of all, those OG guys, that turned peacock, I don't even think they would even understand. It just was that kind of who they are. Exactly. And I like that. And that could be a Milanese taxi driver, or that could be a kind of old tutorial guy, Neapolitan guy, PT, but like it has to come from an honest place or it's transparently theater. And it's just, I don't buy it. Right. I'm not into it. So like, you know, we did a section in the magazine with Jamie Ferguson, who's one of my favorite street style photographers. Great photographer. Yeah, absolutely. Great photographer. It's J.K. Effman on Instagram. I always screwed up because I was like, I always screwed up because I think J.F.K. Yes, thanks. It's Jamie Ferguson. And I love his attention on where he puts his lens because it's ageless. It could be some older guy, some younger guy, something unexpected, something that may feel banile and boring to, you know, an or normal, like a tweed jacket underneath the barber. But like, I think those guys for me are the real inspiration in terms of style. And those are the guys that I think I glean a little bit from like I tried to, you know, kind of study their style and see how it reflects to me, far more than the guys who are wearing plaid on plaid on plaid with like waxed mustaches and fedoras and walking sticks. And I mean, what the hell is that all about? It's a little close to me. I think it's interesting that you mentioned Jamie particularly as a photographer because there's this whole other side to like the street style thing where there's street style photographers and they're trying to make their mark. And I think the way that, you know, having a certain, having the photos of people who look a little wild and perhaps cost me to try and tell a certain story about a place that might not be the real story is also part of it. And people like Jamie who really like know who the real dudes are, like they're producing like a very honest edit of what the fact is. You know, it's almost easy to shoot the peacock guys. Like, you know, I think it's harder to have a discerning eye and pick out the like cool, subtle styling notes that are timeless, cool, maybe even a little bit progressive and modern, but have, I mean, they have their roots in real honest style. Jamie is good at that. I think Jamie has great style himself and I think that's helpful. I think Scott is the same way as Torilus. You know, it's gotten really pioneered that point of view of studying and understanding what something that was unusually good about someone's personal style. And those guys in their heads have to be good editors. Right? It's just not kind of grabbing the obvious photograph. It's sort of like the photographers that just run to the house fire. Okay, that's great. You know what I mean? I think it's more difficult to be discerning. Yeah, so speaking of subtle and nuanced style, I did catch a picture of you in I think was British GQ. And you were wearing the turtleneck and you had the shirt collar popping up. True. Yeah, which I really love. And I've seen like you do some other subtle things like wearing, maybe it's an ascot like underneath a button up shirt, or maybe a skirt. Yeah, I love wearing out. I love the scarves that Drake's made. Yeah. They're slightly longer than let's say a bandana. And I think this came from traveling on airplanes. Like I always felt like if my neck was warm, then I was comfortable. And I wasn't really into kind of, and I'm still not into kind of big sloppy scarves. Like it just doesn't feel like me. I try to pull it off and it just looks ridiculous. So I always, I started wearing either wool or silk and wool handkerchiefs like in my shirt. And also I think it looks really kind of dressy without like wearing a necktie. And I find them to be terribly practical. Right. So that I think has been, I guess a part of my personal style note that I really like. And I love, it gives me an excuse to go to Drake's and get a new one because I get to justify how practical they are. David's got to bring back his, he had one he did was a couple of years ago. He called it the indoor scarf. That's one that I have. I think it's like perfect. Is it really? Yeah. That's a very light silking wool as well, which I think is true. I think they're, first of all, silk and that light wool is incredibly practical. It does keep you warm. It's easy to pack. It's not bulky under clothing. You know, you don't tuck it, you don't tuck it in your shirt and feel like you have like your transitioning. Right. But no, I really, that's something that I think, listen, you get to a certain point in your life where you kind of find your stride and your uniform and how you feel comfortable and how you present yourself. And I like that. And I think it speaks to, it speaks to me, I'm never going to be the guy with the bandana as much as I actually kind of admire like guys, particularly older guys. I like that too. Yeah. When I put that on, I feel like I'm coming off the set of like Oklahoma or something like that. And that, I can't pull it off and take myself seriously. So that's my kind of- You know who pulls that off really well is I think you know, Steve Norsch. Yeah. From P. Johnson. Yeah, he does that look. Great. And you know who else is, I think Alessandro Scorsi pulled, like all those kind of guys that, I don't know, there are guys that are really, really, and I was up at Ralph Lauren recently and some guy came up the elevator, I don't know, but everyone there is so impeccably styled and he looked great. And I want to be that guy that I'm just, I have to come to terms with my own limitations. Right. So let's, before we get to the book and the magazine, let's talk a little bit about Negronis, which I know you have. Yes. You're kind of a fiend. That's how I would classify that. Yeah. There you go. Look at the color of that one. A good glass is key to it. So what is it about the Negroni? You know, I really love this drink for a couple of reasons. First of all, I like its Italian roots. I think, I love bitters. I think also as one gets older, which I'm definitely getting older, I think I gravitated more towards the bitter flavor profiles than sweet. I think it's a incredibly beautifully balanced drink. It's one, one, one proportions. It allows very little interpretation and mistake. Oh, do you measure yours? I don't. I eyeball it. I didn't think you were a measuring kind of guy. No, no, I'm like glug, glug, glug, glug, glug, glug. Okay, all right, all right. But I just think it's a great, listen, I love martinis, but it's like, and I've proven this at PT, at this Pomelo event with Alessandro Palazzi from the bar, you have two martinis and you can be completely on your ass, right? I made a Vesper last night and that's like three ounces of gin, one ounce of vodka and a little bit of Lilette. Yeah, I was feeling that. One drink, you know, maybe as you get older, I think you have like a minimum. I'm feeling like it's the two drink minimum for me or maximum. Well, also I like, don't get me wrong, as I get older, like I don't need to ease into the drink. Like let's just come out of the gate and get it done. You know what I mean? Like I don't need to be sick. Like I do like that and I think I temper myself more because of that. But what's great about a Negroni, and I was explaining this to my wife the other day is like, it is actually, there's something about the spirit, probably the bitters and the vermouth, that are much more elevating. Like it kind of gives you more energy than kind of like, you know, like one Vesper can really get you in a sloppy mood, right? Where I think Negronis traditionally were an upper TV and they open up the appetite. They kind of open up your, you know, almost kind of like your spirit for the night. Like they're really great. And I, let's say I've been more sloppy with single spirit drinks like martinis or Vesper than I ever have with Negronis. And also because Negroni is a wine based spirit for Muth and Kampari, you can transition into dinner with wine without this kind of mixing element. Which, you know what I mean, which can be dangerous. And for me, I find it dangerous with brown spirits. Like if I have a wine dinner and then someone only pulls out a bottle of vermouth, I'm like, of course I always do it and I always, you know. So favorite gin? I love Monkey 47. I like London kind of dry spirit. I love Plymouth. I like when I'm in the airport, B-Feeder, if that's at the well, there's no mistaking there. Yeah, that's my Negroni gin. Monkey 47's nice too. It's got a lot of bite to it, I found. Yeah, I like kind of juniper-y, herbaceous forward gins. I don't like when they get too tricky. I mean, listen, I like Hendricks. I will have a Hendricks martini in an airport when I know the bartender doesn't know how to make a martini, right? You know what I mean? But I would say I'm a London dry-styled gin guy. Straight up. How do you feel about this Negroni Spagliato? I love the Spagliato, particularly in the, I like it in the summer. I think it's really refreshing. It's kind of like, I don't know, it's like adult soda pop. It's like a bear for spritz. Like I love spritz by the pool, but like at night, I, you know, and I also think it's lighter. It doesn't, it's not as aggressive. It's not as alcoholic. It just makes you feel happy. And Barbasso and Milan, which is supposedly the birthplace of the Spagliato, is just a wonderful place. And they just like slap it together with such perfection. And I think it's a really, I like that approvescent Prosecco based drink probably more in the summer months, more than winter months. I stick with Jay. So moving on now to the book. Man in his watch. When did that come out? It was about a year ago, right? What? There it is. We'll put a link to it down in the description as well. Yes. So I mean, the thing is this feels a world away from me because I had been working on it for so long. How many? The reality is, I mean, we worked on it for almost two years, developing it, photographing it, interviews and then design, which is kind of standard for a book. But I think the surprising reality is, is that it really has only been on the market a year. I mean, we launched it November last year. So we're just past the year mark. And it seems like more and more people are discovering it and it's resonating. And I, again, it's so humbling to have that experience happening. And, you know, and again, I think it's because it's pretty honest. The stories are honest. It's not just talking about expensive things. It's talking about, you know, emotional things and the connections that we as men, at least in my experience with this book, men have with these objects. And, yeah, for me, reading it, it's like the watches themselves are cool. But the watches are great in this book. But if it's a Casio F7 or if it's Paul Newman's stage on the light. And I think what reinforces the coolness of all that stuff is the story. Like, I'm not, I mean, you could, you could fill this book with just expensive watches. Like, that's not what I like about watches. I mean, granted, there are some expensive watches I like, but I think in general, the story resonates more than anything. Yeah, I would think like having, if I were in your shoes, going through that sort of like the most fun aspect of doing that whole project, it's probably all the people you got to meet and hearing the stories. From Mario Andretti to Paul Newman's daughter, Clea, who had her father's watch to Ralph Lauren, there was definitely some epic immortals there. And then those mortal stories of people like Adam Moore or Adam Cronotus and James Lambden and Hamilton Powell from, all those guys that we navigate in the watch world actually have really intimate personal stories beyond just guys reporting and selling watches. Right. So we've talked a little bit like before about what was next. Are you able to talk about what's coming up next a little bit? Okay. So right now I'm working on, which to me was the next organic step, which was a man in his car. And again, that's driven through a personal, through a personal story of mine with a car that I have and that's how the watch books sort of started that way with my dad's watch. And the stories are the same. I mean, the funny thing about car guys versus watch guys is the watch guys, I can look back at my interviews, they needed to be coaxed out a little bit with the storytelling. Like maybe they didn't talk about it as much as yours intimately as I was asking them to do. Car guys, right to the point. Like they have been thinking about this, talking about this their entire lives. And the specificity of the emotion is just like in your face immediately. And that was I thought very, very interesting. How far along are you in the process? Sorry? How far along are you in the process of that focus point? I'm kind of halfway done with it. I am luckily enough that I have to finish it up with all the content by the summer. So I've been kind of clipping away at it, getting the edit correct. Again, like this is a book that easily can be filled with just priceless automobiles. But for me, it's about what's the storytelling, what's going to be the page turner, what's going to be surprising. You know, for a little teaser, it's like, I mean, Jay Leno is the obvious one, right? Yeah. If people follow you on Instagram, they would have seen you're with Jay, right? Yeah, if Jay is, he's the prophet. Like you need to go to Jerry. But his story was so intimate and special because of the card that he chose, right? But then I was like, I was so desperate to get Snoop Dogg into it. And I hammered away at it for the longest time. And then he allowed me to shoot his Snoop DeVille. Oh, that is amazing. You know, so you had, and then we were, you know, Sea of the Queens, Jaguar that's in the Peterson, like, so that's the little teaser in terms of the kind of content that in terms of the car world and storytelling, I want, like, I don't want it just to be about the obvious, priceless Bugatti. It needs to be about the storytelling and what really those emotional connections are. I feel like there's like, there's this kind of correlation between guys that are into watches and guys that are into cars. They seem to like go together. The other piece of that that I feel is like a little more tangential, but still related in some way is style and menswear. I mean, do you, what do you think about that? Yeah, you know, okay. There is with very specific guys overlap, right? That's not Jay Lennon, but it's Ralph Lauren. Sure. You know, and it's guys that, I think people who pay attention to craft and detail often navigate those three spaces, right? Sure, there are watch guys out there that have horrible style and don't care about cars and guys of great style who don't care about watches, but like the sweet spot are those guys that are interested in all those things. And, you know, that's me. I think that's you. That was my dad. Like those were very impressionable people in my life, men that kind of navigated the world of like well-crafted things. Sure. If that was for shoes or whatever. Right, I think that brings us to the magazine now, which is sort of like this all-encompassing look at, I don't know, the modern gentleman who cares about, there it is, who cares about all things, craft and heritage and just kind of like this all-encompassing thing. So, I mean, people, you work at a magazine, but so I'm sure you hear, you know, people are in print publications like The Rake and Revolution. So in this current climate, I mean, what possessed you to want to put out a print? First of all, my tenure at Traveler disintegrated, right? They started taking all the content from the UK. They decided it was easier to navigate from a more cheap and cheerful world rather than keep a New York office. And the writing was on the wall that this thing was going away. So I knew that I grew up with print. I've been in the magazine business for 25 years. I couldn't let it die, right? And also, I had been waiting for a magazine like this that spoke to the whole version of myself forever. Like, listen, I love Wayco. He's a friend. He does a brilliant job at The Rake. The Rake is one part of me. Bone and Patige is another part of me. Garden and Gun is another part of me. But for me, it was like, where is that single, encompassing thing that speaks to the whole version of myself? And I just decided, let's make that, right? Like, and let's have it be about not celebrities being dressed, not models, but guys with real style, people with real stories, men from 25 to 65, old school restaurants, you know, elegant bird hunts in the Alsace, like cheap, cold, American brewed beer, or Canadian beer, or Mexican beer, long as it's cheap and lager, right? And then, you know, simple solo meals. Like, that was an analog travel, you know? What's great about magazines is they don't, you don't have to charge them. They don't take power cords. You could bring them in the pool. They could take it at a bar with a drink, and they're still tangible, and they're still readable, and they're still, you know, they don't die like other pieces of electronics, right? So that was really important to me. And also, I wanted it to come out seasonally because I felt like that at least the men in my life that I knew in the Northeast, they lived their life seasonally, like how they dress, what scent they wore, what car they drove, what food they ate. So for me, it was kind of shaping it that way, like winter, spring, summer, and fall, and talk about the relevance of style and food real time, not three months in advance, like most normal magazines. And also, it's not filled with distracting ad adjacencies. Like, I didn't want that to happen. I mean, the reality is, yes, we are looking into the monetization of this and advertising is going to be a part of that, but like, how do we do it in a clever way that's not interruptive to the content in the middle? And also, how do we celebrate photography and the written word without over design, over saturation, long form? You know, like, let's just digest this stuff and also keep it evergreen. I mean, what I love about it is it's beautiful, but it's not, and it's a very high production value, but it's not overproduced. It feels approachable. It feels real in a way that a lot of print these days doesn't feel real to me. And I think that's one of the really strong elements of it. Well, thank you. And that was very, very, that was thought out for a while. Like, I mean, I like the idea that this kind of like, rolls up and goes into your pocket. I mean, I like, we always felt like eight by 10 was sort of the sweet spot of size, and the paper stock, you know, had to be the best quality, but still, it has to still feel like a magazine. It can't be a book and I don't want it to be a book. I don't want it to be thrown on the recycler. I want you to hold it, but it's not pretending to be anything else, but a magazine. And I think the luxurious part of it comes in the imagery and the words and the simplicity of the design. So I know it's available in new stands in New York City, but if some of our viewers don't live in New York City, wanted to pick it up, where might they do that? Okay, on my site, the William Brown Project, there's a list of purveyors that have the magazine. A big part of the distribution philosophy was like iconic newsstands in Casa Magazines in New York are like the oldest school magazine stands. Like, I remember just pressing my face up against the window when I moved to New York. Like that was my world, like how, you know. So it was very important for me that those guys supported the magazine and they did and they love it and it's great. So those are the only magazine quotes shops it's in. In Brooklyn, it's at community bookstore. I had to support my local. And then like Los Angeles, it's in retail, like Alchemy, New York, it's at Drake's. I wanted guys, people to go into the retail that we love to buy this thing and hopefully get exposed to other great stuff. So, you know, LeFo in Chicago has them in New York and then we have retail in London, Paris, that you could buy online for the European. But people can buy it online in the States as well. Yeah. Okay, we'll put a link to the website. LeFo has it online and I'm not sure if Drake says yet, but yeah, I know LeFo has them. And then, you know, you can buy them through the site. The William Brown Project is a PayPal link and we've set up a whole click and shift distribution center in the kitchen, which is very glamorous. But, you know, I think we've shipped out, I don't know, just under 3,000 magazines. It's like insane. You know, we realized, okay, we know how to do magazines, but we had no idea about distribution and how overwhelming that can be. So there's a big learning curve with that. Sure. But it's out there. That's great. We'll put a link to that in the description. Now, before I let you go, I just wanted to do a quick lightning round of a few questions here. So here we go. I'll just tick them off. Favorite childhood toy? G.I. Joe. Love G.I. Joe. That's the same. All right. Most beautiful place you've ever been. I love everything in Italy, even if it's the South of Italy, filled with graffiti walls in Catania. Italy to me is magical. Godfather or Star Wars? Probably Godfather. A revolver or pet sounds? Pet sounds. Interesting. Flannel or Tweed? Tweed, yeah. All right. Two more. Who inspires you? Wow. You know, that's a very tough question. I would say historically, there was a lot of inspiration from the men that I grew up with, my father and my grandfathers. But I would say now, it's really the men in my life that I interact with day to day. Editors, photographers, tailors, taxi drivers, waiters. I really find inspiration from those guys that are just out there doing the thing that is the most passionate version of themselves. That's sling and steak or, you know, tailoring jackets. Those people, I find intensely inspiring. More than a political or a movie star or anything like that. I think it's real men doing what they love. It's really inspiring to me. And finally, best advice you've ever received? Do your best. Like, you know, steak, this is not going to be like, this is going to be a broken bit of construction, right? It's like, do your best. Be kind to people. Do and follow the course of the thing you love. You will ultimately always be successful because no one can ever side, you know, side step or derail that passion that we really, really, really are focused on it. I really believe in that. And surround yourselves with supportive people. And I would say all that advice came from this group of really supported people, friends, mentors, employers that I just really listened to. And I think, you know, for me, the word know was always something that I hated deeply in, like, vocabulary. No, don't tell me no, it's not possible. It's got to be possible. I had a teacher, I'm a musician, and you know, you take auditions or you do a competition or something or stick your neck out to try and perform somewhere and my teacher would tell me, you know, no, it doesn't mean no. It means not this time. Maybe next time, right? You know, sometimes discourage is no. Right? Like, let's respect people's, you know, physicality and space but like, you know, no, when Noah said like, when I was doing this watch book we set up the book so the word know would never be a part of the discussion. Like, it was like, we need the watch, the watch is only available for 10 minutes. Great. Can you do the interview via email? Sure. Yeah. You know, like, I never wanted to hear no. I always wanted to hear like, yes, this is a possibility, let's get this done. And I think that translates to everything in my life. Like, I just want, you know, even with this magazine my wife was like, this is not going to get done. We are not going to get to the prototype. And I said, I looked at her like, really, tensing. I was like, never say that again. I will not accept this. This has to be done. And I just think you put your mind to something in and with something that you believe and care about and it usually sets course, you know? Very rarely do I think that people that do not passionately pursue something that they truly love, not just convince themselves they love, fail at it. I'd be very surprised to hear the failures. I think that's a great place to leave it. Matt, thank you so much for spending time with us today. First live broadcast. Are you going to be in Miami for Watches and Wonders? Unfortunately. That always falls in the spring break realm of my daughter. So I think I'm going to be on the road. But I'm actually going to be on the road promoting the magazine of the book. So that's part of the reason why I missed SIHH this year and probably Basel. But I'll be back on the watch for good soon. We'll catch up sometime in New York, hopefully. Alright, thank you. Thanks for the excuse. Alright, cheers. Okay, see you. Big thanks to Matt for taking the time to do that. Matt is a friend, such a great guy. Very down to earth, which I think is very apparent. Definitely recommend following him on Instagram and checking out the book as well as the new magazine. Links to all those things will be down there in the description. Now, moving right along to the watch of the month. So the watch I chose to feature tonight is actually a watch that is not in my personal collection. Side note, the watch collection video that you guys have been asking for for quite a while now is mostly shot. We're going to be finishing it up tomorrow. So it will most likely be out probably not this week, but the week after that. So back to this watch though, it is a watch and a brand that I have loved for a very long time. This is the No Most Zurich reference 801. It was out to No Most prior to this broadcast and they were kind enough to provide this watch so I could actually show it to you in my hand in the middle. So big thank you to No Most for that. When I was first getting into watches, No Most was a brand that popped up on my radar. I loved the minimalist design. I loved the fact that it was a brand that was sort of under the radar for non-watch guys. This watch here, the Zurich is such a great example of what No Most does and really it's all that there is to love about No Most. It's 40mm, well actually a 39.8mm steel case, which means that it's going to fit quite well on the majority of wrist out there. This reference, the 801, does have a beautiful display case back. As you can see, it has an automatic movement. The dial is galvanized, white, silver plated. The stick-plint hour markers are rhodium plated and faceted. Same with the hour and minute hands. You can see that there is a sub-dial that has a second hand and a beautiful guillochet. And the strap is a black, whirl-winged shell cordovan leather. On the wrist, this watch wears very well. I have a small wrist and at 40mm this watch looks absolutely perfect. The minimalist design as well as the steel case makes it very versatile. This could easily be a daily wear watch. It looks great casually and it's also very easy to wear with a suit or a sport coat. So that is the No Most Zurich Reference 801. Price point for this $4,480. There is a reference 806 which is the same watch only with a steel case back and that retails for $300 less. Now in terms of luxury watches it's a relatively affordable price point. I think from a mechanical standpoint as well as a design standpoint that the Zurich is an absolutely fantastic watch. Alright, final segment. We are throwing it back to you guys for a little viewer Q&A. Okay, so all during the show tonight we have been investigating your questions and now is the time I'm going to answer them. We're going to keep a little bit of a time limit on this. We do this week haven't asked me anything video coming up on Thursday. That video I think is like 45 minutes long or something and we are definitely not going to go that long right now. If we don't get to your question it's Rob's fault because he has been vetting all the questions. I will do my best to answer the ones we don't get to right now in the comments once the broadcast is finished. Alright, so the first question we have here is the most durable watch under $500 not a sport watch. I'm going to have to say default to a watch that I have in my collection. It's the first one you're going to see in the watch collection video and that is the Seiko 5. I have the Seiko 5 in it's a black dial. It's even among watch nerds the Seiko 5 is universally regarded as one of the best watches out there, period. So Seiko 5 you can pick one up for $50 to $150 on Amazon. We'll put a link down there in the description after this is over but the Seiko 5 without a doubt. Alright, next question another watch question thoughts on the Rolex Sky Dweller that's a good one. The Sky Dweller is a very, I wish we had a graphic of that to pull up right now but the Sky Dweller is a very distinctive watch. It has the round ring with the date and it's very, very recognizable. For me, the Sky Dweller I can't remember the exact size of it right off the top of my head but for me I think it's a little bit too large for my wrist. I kind of top out at about a 40 millimeter size but I do like when I see them because you do not see them that often. There was one time I was on a plane back from somewhere and there was a guy and he had like a completely blinged out Sky Dweller and it was like not something that I would ever wear but it's like I said it's something you do not see that often so my thoughts on the Rolex Sky Dweller I'm down with it. I really like it. Okay, next question winter fragrance rotation. I just did, well not just I did a video too long ago about my five favorite winter fragrances so I will refer you to that video but we can talk about those right now. The ones because I've sort of like honed in on some of the fragrances that I'm wearing most right now for me well right now I'm wearing Ralph Lauren Polo Green which I had some great comments on in the video I also am wearing a lot these days Santal, original Santal by Creed that's sort of like an everyday fragrance for me one fragrance I am really really into right now that I didn't include in that video is Sir Trudan Mortel this is a fantastic fragrance it's kind of got like this smoky like kind of like churchy smoky vibe to it but also like African bushfire if I had to try and you know put it into some kind of box yeah Sir Trudan Mortel is one of my favorites right now. I also really like Tom Ford ombre leather there's a lot of talk about ombre leather versus Tuscan leather I personally I've never smelled Tuscan leather but I hear they're the same but different some people prefer Tuscan leather I have no frame of reference so I can't give you a really accurate opinion there and let's see there's one more I'm trying to think of that I'm wearing a lot and it's escaping me at the moment but one of my favorite all time winter fragrances it's very heavy it's one that was Robin requested that I wear on our wedding day and that is Black Afghano by Nassimato it's amazing oh and that made me actually think of the other one Black Afghano by Nassimato definitely check that out it has like an amazing amazing monster siage as you would say the other one is by Arquist and that's called Nanban again this is a very sort of like oriental smelling very woody very smoky it's really nothing like it that's one of my absolute favorites alright next question is best OTR or off the rack OCBD Oxford Cotton Button Down so that's a tough one you've kind of stumped me here because my all time favorite OTR OCBD is something that is not available anymore and that my favorite one ever was one by Brooks Brothers but it was during their Black Fleece when they had Black Fleece which was a collection that Tom Brown designed so the Black Fleece OCBD that Brooks Brothers put out was absolutely amazing I have a couple of them still unfortunately they're not doing them anymore I haven't actually tried the regular Brooks Brothers OCBD but there are such high quality I could definitely recommend that but if you can like maybe go on eBay or something and find like the old Tom Brown Black Fleece for Brooks Brothers OCBDs I would recommend that because I've never found anything off the rack that fits quite like that okay final question here this is all we're going to have time for right now is my favorite fabric for spring slash summer so two I'm going to say two I'm not just going to say one my favorite there's two favorite fabrics so one I would definitely say is a hopsack hopsack is very breathable it's very versatile if you're getting a suit in a hopsack fabric it's something you're going to be able to wear as separates very easily especially if you get a navy suit navy blazer repair very well with jeans or any other kind of outfit that you're wearing in terms of summer fabrics obviously you need a great linen it's breathable it's something you can wear throughout the summer and still kind of look put together and dapper and not be too hot so that's going to wrap up the Q&A segment here and actually that is the show for this evening so I want to thank you all for tuning into our very first episode if you have suggestions of things or guests you'd like to see in the future episodes leave those down in the comments also want to give a big thanks to our contributors Alex Fetkovich Brock Magoff, Stephen Pulverin, Fabio Atanasio and Ahmed Rahman and to Mr. Matt Hranek for being our inaugural guest and finally I need to say that this show would not have been possible without the extremely hard work and dedication of the He Spoke Style video team we have of course Rob McGyver Ian Johnston who edits all of our videos standing right over there right now and Trent Urquhart who is our live show guru who made all the things happen when they should have so I just want to say thank you very much guys I appreciate it appreciate all that you do so that is tonight's show as always thanks for watching and stay tuned