Opening a Watch Discovery Studio in New York City was not on my bucket list, but here we are

Andrew McUtchen

Well, the cat is out of the bag. The concept we trialled in the heart of my hometown, Melbourne, then took to London’s Oxford Circus six months ago, is graduating to the big leagues, both in terms of watch cities, and just iconic places in general – our Watch Discovery Studio is coming to New York.

It’s one of those things that is so hard to comprehend, you just keep saying it out loud to make it more real. More tangible. More believable. “Time+Tide in America.” Ok. “Time+Tide in New York.” That sounds good. “Time+Tide in Soho.” Even better. Soho, my favourite ‘hood. “Time+Tide in Broome Street.” This must be the place. “Time+Tide right opposite one of the great guitar shops on the planet, Rudy’s Music.” Damn, son…. (If you don’t know this about me, I’m a complete guitar nerd. I even wrote a book about them, and got to interview Keith Richards for it. Halfway through my life, my bucket list has some crosses on it.)

As you can tell, I’m doing a Google Earth with this development: I’m starting wide, and zeroing in on this feeling real. But I’m not there yet. And as for this being on the bucket list, next to “write a book about guitars and quote Keith Richards”, I can’t lie. It wasn’t there. A shop in New York City did not make the cut. But here we are.

In autumn – or fall, if I’m embracing the local culture – we will open our third Watch Discovery Studio. And it’s our biggest bet yet. A 2,000 square foot former ironworks building in Soho’s Broome Street with all the New York things. Exposed brick walls. Painted white beam 16ft ceilings. A mezzanine that will set the stage for a capsule concept we’ll reveal closer to opening. A cafe-like hang space underneath it that we will offer to local clubs for their various uses – Esquire described our London studio as a “town square for watch lovers in the UK”. We plan to offer the same space for New York.

Back to that point above. About there being no shops on my bucket list. Retail is something that has crept up on our business like a noiseless ninja. I blame a tagline we started touting a few years back: “Time+Tide: the home of watch culture.” We even made t-shirts and tote bags that I didn’t feel were quite right at the time. They were too cartoony. I prefer the graphic execution Alex, our Australian Studio Manager, designed last year – THAT looks right. The tagline is not meant to be literal. It’s a home in a figurative sense. A home in your phone, on Instagram, a home on your TV when you flick to YouTube’s Home Screen and see we’ve done another video. Not a bricks and mortar place.

The thing is, as soon as we built a “home of watch culture” on Collins Street in Melbourne, people showed up in numbers that slowly, stealthily, changed our hearts and minds about what this business is ultimately here to do. The unique, unmatchable offer that will make us different. And that is to build more homes. And more. Because each time we do, we are learning that – just like the adage promises – we build it, and people come. Lots of them.

You, reading. You arrive at the door with a smile, a curious look, and a dream of a new watch. You meet our team. You meet Amer, or George, or Barney, or Ash, or Tzar, or James, or Alex. You quite possibly make a new friend, because they meet you on your level. They get you. They ARE you. Watch addicts. Good people. Not pretentious. Not looking you up and down. Pretty much all of them were vetted by me, because I know what good service talks like. Looks like. Feels like. I know the kind of conversation we have every day on the website, on socials in stories by Zach, Russell, Jamie, Borna and Tom. And it has to be just like that, but “in the metal”.

So, the purpose of this letter is threefold. Firstly, to tell you a little more about the backstory of this breaking news, personally. I wanted you to hear it from me. I invite any responses, thoughts, ideas, anything to [email protected] with a subject line, “Open letter response”.

Secondly, as a call to action, to tell you that we are hiring AND that we are seeking American brands for the space. We are seeking a whole new list of roles, including: EA to me (my current EA is being promoted to UK Event Manager, congratulations Sonya!), a US General Manager, a NYC-based Studio Manager, Assistant Studio Manager and floor staff, a UK-based Production Manager maestro and a UK-based Global Partnerships Director. If you’re interested, please email [email protected]

Lastly, to tell all the people who have rated and reviewed us, or bought a watch, that it’s on you. This whole thing is on you. Melbourne, London, New York. It’s your doing. You should feel some ownership of this moment because without you, this letter would not need to be written. Thank you. Let’s get those high vibes up, we’ve got a temple to build!

Yours sincerely,

Andrew