Watch brands have been collaborating with outside designers – and with each other – for the last decade, and what was once a radical, diverting tactic for developing interest in a product has become Plan A for every mainstream watchmaker. We wanted to ask “ If collab culture has become the default way to make a watch interesting, what does it say about mainstream, mass-production watch brands’ ability to create, and to excite us, if to do that they have to look elsewhere for that spark, that injection of energy?”

This episode isn’t about judging individual collaborations – although we do actually dwell on a few that we think are pretty good – but rather it’s about asking what the whole phenomenon tells us about how watch companies value and respect creativity and those who have it. We look at what happens when brands try to introduce entirely new designs all on their own, and share insights from industry experts like Manuel Emch and James Thompson on why we have arrived at the status quo – and what might change in the next few years.