Orlando Bloom, Ben Clymer, And Ferdi Porsche Talk Porsche's Lasting Legacy

About 8 months ago or so, the company that I founded, Hodinki, was was acquired by Watches Switzerland. It was it was a great moment for for me after working so hard for for so many years. And in one of the first meetings that I had with with Mr. Hurley David who was on stage before who's our deputy CEO. He said give us a few brands that you think that we don't work with that that we should be working and at the top of the list sincerely was was Porsche Design and we've done a collaboration with Porsche Design which I'm actually wearing. Um Fertie is a good friend of of mine and of the show. He's been a guest on talking watches uh amazing collection of of of all watches and some cars there too. I think >> I was fanboying myself and he's been a guest on my podcast. And so, you know, when David and I were talking about brands that I think that I thought could really add something to to watches Switzerland, which is one of the biggest watch retailers in the world, Porsche Design was it. I mean, it was really something that had something so special. And Porsche for me has meant so much. I mean, I'm a collector of Porsche. Porsche design watches. It was something that that I I didn't grow up with. I wasn't lucky enough to grow up with a Porsche, but Volkswagen and and other kind of cars that are adjacent to to the Porsche family have meant so much to me. So, it means a great deal to me to be out here with with both of you guys and big fan. Um, so you know, this is a really fun uh night for us because we get to celebrate Porsche design and watch the Switzerland. Having Freddie here, having the Orlando Bloom here is pretty exciting. But Freddy, why don't you talk a little bit about your kind of history growing up as a member of of the Porsche family? >> Good question. Um, so I think the cool thing is that it's pretty easy to like our product, right? Um, so I think that makes it easier, right? No. Uh obviously I I in the beginning you don't know that it's special in a sense right and you really grow up as a as a fan of the brand grew I grew up on all sorts of racetracks and and always very close to the brand and then at some point you realize how excited people get by the product and how much excitement in general and how how how big the community is around the brand which I think is like still to this day incredible and and it's cool to see it growing and it's cool to see it becoming younger and younger um by every like by the day And yeah, it's a lot. So the the beginning for my love for uh watches actually starts uh with a Porsche design watch. So uh my dad bought the 25th anniversary um Chrono 1. Um I was like five or so back then. >> Uh he didn't give it to me then. >> Gave it he gave it to me when I was like 15 or 16 and it actually was the first watch that like made it to my wrist at state. So it was kind of like even though I would never back then wear stuff that said Porsche because as a kid you don't like in school, right? You don't you rather want to be one of like you don't want to like stand out. >> Sure. >> So it was kind of a it was kind of crazy that that watch kind of like made it to my wrist and then stayed. >> Yeah. And I I think you know something I'm I'm a storyteller kind of by by by trade and I think something that is so remarkable and how I fell in love with Porsche design to begin with is hearing the story of how the Chrono1 kind of came to be. And it was designed by your uncle who also designed the 904 and the 911. So it has pretty good design pedigree I would say. >> Yeah. Um I think all of Porsche like basically was Porsche Design's first product. So um after 904 and and 911. I think you can really tell like the the lineage of of design pieces that it like kind of represents and that it's a part of. I think my uncle was like a true like um like a designer in the sense that he always wanted to make things better and like he he kept on doing things one after the other and he didn't leave time for it to like like he didn't leave much time between, right? like when one one product was done, he wanted to do the next and the next and the next. And I think that's a really inspiring and and cool thing. And and seeing the watches now coming back is like really the centerpiece of Porsche Design is really a cool moment. And I think it really is the the the the centerpiece of the brand. >> Yeah. And it still means a lot to your family. >> Yeah. I mean like the studios in Salami is so our kind of second home. Um then obviously the bigger part of the company sits in Stoodgart. Um, but it's still everybody kind of has a has an emotional feeling to it. Like everybody got some cool gift at some point from from my uncle and I think he was like just a really cool calm enthusiastic. >> That's cool. A gift from FA Porsche, right? And that's >> not so bad. Yeah. >> Shame he's not here to do that. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> So, we we'll come back to we'll talk some cars a little bit later, but Orlando Bloom. >> So, why are you here? >> Good question. Um, I think my need to let go. Yeah. >> My my love for for Porsche design started at a very young age actually in the design space. I bought the sunglasses, the original aviators. I think I saw them in like a boot fair or something. I used to go and collect stuff like that >> and they were like, you know, the iconic. Um, I I grew up in Canterbury in Kent and when I was about 14, I was with a friend and we sort of glided past this 911 at uh a vintage 911 and I was like I just we got photos in front of it. So, it was like the typical like kid thing, but it was like I was like I'm going to own one of these cars one day. and and like you, I've you know been fortunate to to work with many different brands over the years and adjacent to to Porsche and I was and I was given like press cars to drive. But the first car that I actually when I could afford to buy a such a a vehicle was was a 911 from 1973 which I still own which is still probably one of my favorite cars to drive which is like a really and like literally never goes wrong but when it goes wrong if there's anything it's like a couple hundred bucks to fit. It's just like but the experience, the feeling of of being uh uh a part of the Porsche family or driving the vehicle and then moving into the time pieces which was, you know, something that felt so symbiotic and perfect. It's it's like it's just it's a timeless design that's that's got running all the way through this family and it's, you know, it's truly an iconic brand and I, you know, I worked long and hard to uh to kind of make my presence felt with the brand, which I could tell you about, but yeah. >> So, I mean, just because this is a room full of nerds, and I say that lovingly, what color is the 73? >> Black. Black and tan. an original factory like AC which still blows ice cubes and sunroof which works and it's just like h it's like a hallelujah of a car really. It's just like and then I I grew up um I had spent many years living in Malibu so I used to go on dates and terrify dates as I spun through the canyons which is like one place that you can do that to some degree but it was it was um yeah it was it's uh it remains one of my favorites >> and the car is still in LA still. Yeah, >> that's that's a good place for that car. >> A good car. Good place. >> And so you you don't know this, but when when I was starting Hodinki early on, there were just a few young cool guys into watches and you were chief among them. >> Oh, cool. >> And you were known as a watch guy and you were into vintage Rolex and tech and other brands. So you really are a watch person. >> Yeah. Well, that started actually I bought my first watch at 16. So I moved to London and I did an episode of a TV show which is kind of iconic, but it was I got my paycheck and my grandfather was a collector of watches. So he well we're not collector that's not true he owned two omegas. Okay he had a gold and a steel I got the steel and my other older cousin got the cop but he would talk about these watches incessantly. He also he also owned like a camera and he lived in India and he was like one of these like like iconic characters in my mind growing up similar to your grandfather's relationship. But um so because of his obsession with time pieces, the first thing I did with my paycheck, I went to the Burlington Arcade to the watch club and I bought a Nava timer from 1963 and I still own it. >> Yeah, >> I haven't sold the watch. Yeah, I still own my collection, but and then every movie or job that I did or anything where I had a a paycheck come in, I would go and buy myself uh a time piece and and so yeah, over the years, you know, I started with vintage Rolex because I kind of, you know, that's it was a sort of very good place to start and I made um made some some headway there and then as I as I kind of uh you know, moved on, I started with some PC and a little bit of AP which who I who I think you also great design. But it wasn't until like, you know, I I I sort of I knew about the Porsche the the 1972 the chronograph one and it was sort of like >> it's just I've like like 30 I've never I just don't take it off. I don't miss anything, which is sort of weird because I have a great collection, which I also kind of think of as like it's almost like an asset, you know, like I they don't like >> famously I had a bunch of watches stolen, so now my watches live somewhere very safe and are still noted. >> Um um but um but it just it's it's just so easy to wear. And of course, we're excited to be here today to introduce something that we'll we'll see soon. But it's like it's um it's it's just an authentic story that I think when you have, you know, when you build a relationship, when it's when it comes from passion and pure love, it just feels so right, you know? It's like and from the cars to the watches to the glasses to the lug, it's just it's a whole it just I I I feel a certain way. You know what I mean? When you kind of like driving the car, having the watch with the car, having the And you know, I think with collecting, you know, when you become passionate about collecting and I think it's important for young people, you know, when they look at collecting to understand what they're collecting and why, you know, like I did buy Blanc pans and I bought, you know, vintage IWC military watches. I started at that kind of an omegas and like I had so I started at at a very and then I built into you know and I really just bought with um a feeling you know I bought with um like an aesthetic a look and a feel and and and and so when you talk about this watch it sort of it hits all the bases you know and it's a wonderful that we're in watches in Switzerland it's it's the perfect place for it so it's great that we could do that you know >> you know in in in my kind of previous job as as a journalist you I would I would go visit all these factories. I've been inside Rolex, Pat, etc. And you know, I used to say that the more you learn about a brand, you either begin to really love them, you know, and you really say, "Okay, wow, this really is the real deal." Or you say, "Okay, maybe it's maybe not the real deal." And Porsche Design, the more I learned about it, the more I realized this was extremely the real deal. And obviously the original ones made by Orphina, etc., but now made in-house in Switzerland. And as I was doing research for a previous Porsche Design project, I saw some incredible old photos of people in period wearing this watch. So Ralph Lauren wore this watch in the 70s when he was selling his eyes door to door which is just incredible to see Ralph you know in the 70s doing that this producer that quite famously there was a story in the New Yorker about John Lennin's PC2 $24.99 quite famously um and the producer that was in the studio that day when that watch of Lenin wearing the watch was uh was taken he was wearing a chrono1 vor design I mean it's just like stuff you can't make up >> his wife was always famously wearing the shades >> that's right >> yeah that's I I forgot about that so you see these iconic people that are associated with Porsche Design really organically. How does it feel to be a part of that now? >> It's I got to say it feels pretty good. >> Yeah. I mean like you know it was a it was a road because so having bought the car I actually got an allocation for a touring maybe four and a half years ago and I flew myself to Stoutgart to work with the Sun Orange team and build like my >> see a lot of head nods. Oh, yeah. Yeah. >> My dream vehicle. Underber green and tan interior with a two-tone tan interior with every aspect of it completely buttoned up and it's like I don't know like I think the reason you know as a as a man you know you you you the childhood memories like feed into the experience of of doing this. And so when I I first went there, I was like obviously I met the Sun Orange team and some of the some of the key players over there at Porsche. I think they appreciated what that that my passion was there. >> And then I actually got an opportunity to come back to um to Stoutgart, which I jumped at >> and and it was then that like I think it was like, okay, you really do see what we're trying to do here. And you know, um, as a family business, as an iconic brand, as a timeless design, it's sort of just like I think things come and go in life, right? There are trends, there are like there are moments, there are there are things, but like whether it's the watch or the car, it's just it it just it's never not you never lose to your >> like you never lose on one of these vehicles or on the on the watch. It's like it just because each the the thought and dedication that's gone into each car, each time piece, whether it's the luggage or the the glasses, it's just it has it has that timeless feel. I mean, as you know, it's like this does not look like a watch made in the 70s necessarily. It could be it's it's very contemporary in its design as well, but that's that's why it works. >> Yeah. and and and Ferie for for you, I mean, as as a as a member of the the Porsche family, what what does the the brand mean to you today versus, you know, maybe 10 years ago or so? And what's changed about how you guys manufacture? I mean, obviously you guys are are famous, as Orlando said, for the quality of your cars. How do the watches kind of uh emulate that? >> So, I think it's really cool that I mean, my my my uncle got got really sick in like the early 2000s and then died in 2012. So, I feel like now seeing the the time pieces being like made in-house again and and like really or not again made in house for the first time um plus like really like the effort that goes into making them exactly the way they were back then. Like it kind it feels really cool that this is kind of the start to to um yeah to bringing back like a part of his legacy in a sense. So um I I interned at Porsche Design once uh when I was when I wasn't uh sure if I want to study architecture or product design. I decided I want to go for bigger scale. >> Yeah. How how did you get the job? >> I just knocked on the door. >> No, it was actually it was actually really cool like in Salam and and that obviously like really changed my like I had the watch I had this story of like this is the first watch that like this is the first this is the watch that made me wear watches basically on a daily basis. So I kind of already had the had the love for design but obviously working there is different, right? Um his office is still untouched. It's kind of cool to like sneak in there and like look at some drawings or like go through the books that he had. There's a secret drawer with some alcohol. Uh so yeah, working there was really cool. And then obviously now I'm a I'm a part of the of the board also which is really exciting because you see all the like the whole picture basically and it's uh yeah, I'm like really passionate about the brand. As I said, it's really easy to to are excited about cool products and as an architect also obviously I think about product and and design and and how things work and and yeah just think the cultural power as you said. Um there are certain brands that weather the storms right like of life and of as progress and things and and that stems from I think an original idea and design that like is impeccable. Yeah. And you know, many years ago, I mean, I'm obviously so thrilled to be on stage with with the two of you. And I think something that always comes in mind was many years ago, I was at an event with Johnny I from Apple and Pierre Lexi Deont, whose family owns Hermes. And Pierre Alexi got up and said, "Best partnerships are those where you have peers that that don't need one another, that they're they're doing something by choice. And as far as I know, I don't think you need to be here. I think you want to be here." And I think that the same could be said for for Freddy and and Porsche. I think the idea of you guys coming together then of course you know watches in Switzerland coming here and you know to to David's credit not my credit at all I'm I'm new around here but you know watches and Switzerland has become one of the largest retailers in the world uh publicly listed in in the UK just an amazing you know opportunity for I think everyone involved to kind of get the word out there about Porsche design so I know we're all really thrilled to to have you here. Um before we we kind of wrap things up I need to ask the question favorite Porsche of all time. Well, I have to say my 73 from like my 911 for 73 is kind of in there, but like um I I Yeah, I mean I sort of want to work on a widebody next. I want to kind of I actually want to kind of take a bonfind and do something super unique with the >> like a Restores. I want to kind of do something that like reclaims I think because the brand is so iconic. you you know I mean we all think about you know the world that we're living in the environment and so on and I think there's there's an aspect of taking these remarkable vehicles and then like reclaiming them and putting them on the roads. It's like it's just there's something that's very visceral feeling about it. So yeah, I'm looking at at some of that. But um but my my I'll never not love my my ass and my son will probably get it one day because it's never leaving the family. But yeah, >> love it. Birdie, >> I give a different answer to this question always. >> I think you asked it. >> I did last time. >> It's my favorite question to ask you. >> Yeah, because I give a different answer every >> um GT1. >> Okay, this time GT1. We're in New York. Feels like we have to do something out there. >> GT1. >> GT1. Yes. >> Do you want to explain to the the audience what a GT1 is? >> So GT1 was a car that was um developed for racing. And back in the days, you had to build street cars to um to qualify to race in Lemore in the in Jordan Championships. And there were I think 22 or 23 of them made back in the days. And there's one specific one I'm going to like there's one specific one that is my favorite actually. It's the 1998 street version because it was already legible for the first years, but then they had to like we changed the design a little bit. Um made it more aerodynamic and that's also the year we won them all. And so there is only one of that very body uh style and has a sequential gearbox and I actually drove it in the wet on goner and it's probably my favorite day ever >> and that's owned by the factory I take it. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's owned by the >> So are you able to drive any car you want in the museum? >> Um I don't know if I come up with a good excuse. Yes. >> And can we join uh next time you come? >> He did send me He did send me a bit. By the way, he sent me a video. a crazy video. Like he's ice racing in in the Netherlands somewhere I think and in Blen in Sweden and like there's this video and literally he's like they're like gunning it through this ice this these ice ice lanes and like suddenly it's like car's upside down and I'm like wait what did I just see that and I'm like I'm like bro are you okay? He's like yeah dude we flipped it over and drove it off. I'm like there's the design for you. You know what? It's like like it's just like it's it's it's kind of bulletproof. It's sort of like Yeah. It's There's usually I do keep it on the road. >> It was It was a cool moment. It wasn't like But yeah, I'm sure that rallying a son. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> It's kind of cool. You kick the windscreen out and then you keep got kick. >> Um so to wrap it all up, uh so as of today, Porsche Design will be in uh Washington Switzerland stores, so right here in Soho, obviously also in in Las Vegas. So, we're happy to be an authorized dealer of of Porsche Design and really the the first uh you know kind of watch uh store to to carry the brand United States. So, a big deal for us. But before we wrap things up in totality, we have something to to talk about today, right? >> Yes. I think we have something new to reveal. It's your guys show from here. What What is it? >> Um >> exciting. >> Very exciting. So in 75, so 3 years after um after the original Chrono 1, the first black watch back in the days, um my uncle brought out the watch uncotated. So it was like sort of the same watch basically, but uncotated. And since nowadays everything we do is in titanium and also my uncle was the first guy who who built a titanium watch, I think that's like a whole story that derived from racing also. Uh, we are now presenting an uncotated titanium chronollet. >> That's cool. >> Let's have a look. >> And I think we have video. >> Yeah. >> The great thing about these watches as well is there's like fine detail to a collector. Each is slightly different. I'm wearing a Porsche Club of America, but I have the Chrono. It's like there's a few like like I think when you're collecting watches, you want like you want to have something to aspire to and to build, you know, and when you get into the detail of the slight differences on different pieces to build a collection, it's cool that we can we can re reveal this watch to add to a, you know, and to a collector's spirit. >> Yeah. Life is about the little things and I think today we're introducing all in the details. >> That's right. Um, so today we'll be revealing or eminently um a new limited edition Chrono 1 in in untreated effectively titanium. And we have it here and I think we have a video to play for you guys as well.