- Watch out! (screaming)
Get it, 'cause watch, and we're doing watches today?
- How much watch would a which watch watch if a which...
- Watch which watch which would?
Alright, let's go watch some wood.
Oh my gosh. - Oh, shit.
- Today on Worth It: Lifestyle
we're gonna be trying three watches
at three drastically different price points
to find out which one is the most worth it at its price.
- Worth It!
I don't wear necklaces or rings or jewelry,
but I feel like a watch is where I can kinda express myself.
- Okay, in three words,
what are you looking for in your next watch?
- [Ben] Style, class, and function.
- I'm more of a comfort, style, of course, versatility.
You know, I got a lotta jackets, okay?
It's gotta fit the jacket.
Alright, it's time to go to our first location, ha!
(crickets chirping)
- Let's go!
- Hey, I'm Tim.
I'm a co-founder at Eone with Hyungsoo Kim,
and we create the Bradley timepiece.
- Hi, I'm Brad, and I'm Bradley from the Bradley timepiece.
- Hyungsoo, you're not being interviewed right now
because you literally have to leave at any point today.
Got ya, okay.
That's fine.
So, we'll let Tim tell your story.
So, this watch is for people with vision impairment,
but it's also for everybody.
Can you tell us a little about
the history of your company, Eone.
- We started out in Boston, Massachusetts.
My co-founder, Hyungsoo, was actually studying at MIT.
One of his classmates had a vision impairment
and he noticed that there really wasn't a good way
for him to tell the time during class,
and so, that was really the inspiration behind
tackling this issue of creating
a universally designed timepiece.
- I deployed twice.
Once to Iraq, once to Afghanistan, and unfortunately,
at the tail end of my Afghanistan deployment,
I actually stepped on one of those
hidden bombs in the ground.
I was unable to walk away from that blast with my vision.
I needed a medium through which to show the community
that I'm gonna be okay, and Hyungsoo comes and says hey,
you know, we're gonna start a company
that's gonna build a product for you.
- And, as you can see,
you would feel where the hour hand and the minute hand is,
but it's easily moved out of place.
- And if I move it,
it doesn't have any way to correct itself.
- Right. - Yeah, that's impossible.
- [Tim] We designed our timepiece
with the magnetic ball bearings.
We modified the hour and minute hand
so that there are magnets attached to them.
They are underneath the surface of the watch.
The outside indicates hours, face indicates minutes,
and if it gets knocked out of place,
you just shake your wrist
and it goes back to the correct time.
- That was to fix both of these issues where you have,
I mean, it's too loud or something that you can move easily.
- [Tim] Many of our watches have titanium cases
so they're super lightweight.
We PVD plate them.
We wanna make sure it's still scratch resistant.
- [Ben] What's the starting point
price wise for one of these?
- The starting point is around $260.
The high end that we have right now is 315.
So, we tried to price it at a really affordable price range.
- [Brad] One of the most compelling parts about this product
was that we're breaking down this boundary
between the able and the disabled with this design.
- We thought about this company
because it's a great looking watch.
Let's go onto the watch now.
- We got some braille, I noticed,
right on the front of this package.
It's a clean looking box. - It's beautiful.
It's like a sword. (swooshing)
Are you ready? - Let's do this.
Wow.
- My favorite part of unboxing is taking the plastic off.
Is that not satisfying?
- [Ben] That's a good looking watch right there.
It's my color palette, shades of gray.
- [Steven] I got the classic timepiece,
the one that was the original.
This is the cobalt, and the material is stainless steel.
- You can smell that genuine leather right there.
Don't eat it.
This is not a food video, Steven.
- The timepiece right here is beautiful.
The connection from the band to the timepiece,
you can see it moving very easily.
- Damn, that is a cool looking watch.
Whoa, magnets.
I mean, the overall feel, like the ceramic is smooth,
it's nice to the touch, but then the ridges are kinda sharp.
- This matches pretty much any outfit I have.
- I feel like a girl who just got her engagement ring
and wants to just pose with it in every picture.
- I'm gonna set your time.
- Okay. - And you're gonna tell me
what time it is. - Alright.
- Alright, tell me what time it is.
- It's like 6:10. - Close.
6:15. - Yeah, I got it.
- Change my time.
You're really changing the time, huh?
It's 7:15?
- It's 7:19.
Close enough. - You would do that.
I am just mesmerized by these balls.
They're like those...
You know the balls that go back and forth?
(laughing)
Alright.
- Dude, the Bradley Timepiece, what's not to love?
It's an amazing story.
Bradley, American hero.
- This is the one thing I love about this show.
We're covering watches,
and we can talk about people with disabilities
and how the world has not been made easier for them.
Watch fact!
That's my radio voice.
So, bracelets with watches on them
came in and out of fashion
in around the 18th and 19th century,
but the way that they became trendy was World War I soldiers
would wear watches out of convenience.
- It was convenient compared to
looking at a clock at a building?
- [Steven] More like a pocket watch.
- Oh, okay. - I just realized something.
We have now gone back in time because we are now all
a part of the pocket watch movement again.
The iPhone. - No (bleep).
- I know!
- It just goes back to this whole concept of time
and us living on this continuum where
history just keeps repeating itself, you know?
- The sun has been here all along.
The O.G. pocket watch. (laughing)
Here we go, we're on our way to location number two.
It is this young, brilliant watchmaker
who has started a company called Weiss Watches.
- I'm Cameron Weiss.
I am the founder and master watch maker
at Weiss Watch Company.
- And you guys make watches right here in California.
- The majority of watches
are all gonna come from Switzerland or Asia,
so we're kind of an outlier here in the U.S.
- How does someone become a master watch maker?
- The master watch maker is someone
who could pretty much make or repair almost any watch.
Now, there's quartz watches
with batteries and electronic components.
A mechanical watch,
it's more about the craft of watchmaking,
keeping that tradition alive so a watchmaker in 100 years
could still go in and repair it.
- Can we talk about your watches and how you make them?
- The whole process of making a watch
really begins with paper, maybe sketching some things out,
and usually, I'm looking through historic timepieces.
Grant will then go through those
and start to work on 3D documentation.
- So, this is a milling machine here.
Here we make our bridges and name plates.
- [Steven] What is this?
- [Grant] This is the coolant.
- It starts with the base movement.
The movement is the internal mechanism
that actually keeps time, kind of like the engine.
We have to first clean everything.
We do the assembly process by hand.
So, that's placing all the wheels into their pivot areas
and into the bearings, which are the jewels,
and then we add the bridges on top of all those parts
that kind of hold them together,
make sure all of our axles are aligned,
then we go ahead and we apply the dial,
the face of the watch that everyone sees,
the hour indications, branding,
then the hands are pressed on.
We now have to take the case,
which would've also been assembled from tubes
and sapphire crystals that are the glass on either side,
seal everything up, and timing tests.
We actually made our standard issue field watch.
I wanted it to be a little bit of a military inspired watch
with a little bit of a pocket watch kind of look to it
with the second hands over here running.
Stainless steel, green canvas, black dial, pretty simple,
but if you turn it around, there's the mechanical movement.
So, there's no batteries, all metal parts,
because it's something that was done in the past
and is still interesting and relevant today.
I hope it'll still be interesting and relevant
in another hundred years.
- Having worked with time and watched for much of your life,
do you believe that time travel is possible?
- That's actually not the first time
I have had that question asked.
- Weiss American Issue Field Watch.
- I gotta say I feel like I just
took my first course in watchmaking.
It's the world's greatest puzzle.
Look at these boxes.
- I love a good wooden box.
- Alright, you ready to pop this open?
- Let's pop it, baby.
Take that again.
- Oh, yeah, I got the white dial.
- [Ben] It's got that olive drab color.
I have the latte color.
- I love when leather looks this color,
a little bit worn down.
Flip it around, baby.
See, this is what I'm talking about.
All of these tiny pieces,
the small pendulum going back and forth,
it's like Santa's elves living in this piece.
- Yeah, I feel tired for them.
Knowing how each piece was deliberately put there
not by a machine, but by a person,
it gives it a little extra magic.
- Yes. - You know?
- Yes. - Soemthin' special about it.
- Very comfortable.
- Just clean and simple design,
but it is not simple when you look at
all that goes into the making of it.
- My last test for the watch is the fashion test.
Can it meet my fashion standard?
It could be dressed up to the prom,
it could be dressed down to my PJs,
it could be not wearing anything at all.
- I'm trying to get that image out of my head
of you just naked, but only wearing a watch.
Weiss Watches.
Timeless.
Awesome brand, American made, what a cool dude also.
- He's a master watch maker.
- Watch master.
- Watch fact! - Watch fact.
- On most watch advertisements,
guess what time they show for the advertisement.
- It's like 10:10.
- Wow, yeah, yeah, it is, yeah.
- I remember just taking a mental note because
ever since I was a baby, my dad would tuck me in at 10:10.
So, when I saw 10:10. - Hey!
- My dad doesn't tuck me in anymore.
- That's cute, man.
We're going to the last watch spot.
It's called Hing Wa Lee Jeweler
right in the San Gabriel Valley,
which is actually one of my favorite places to go to.
They got great Chinese food, great boba.
You should definitely hit it up if you're going to LA.
- Oh, let's get some boba.
- Maybe after.
- I'm David Lee.
I'm the CEO and Chairman of Hing Wa Lee Jewelers
and Hing Wa Lee Group.
So, today, I'm gonna show you this very special
Girard Perregaux Jackpot Tourbillon watch,
which is a working jackpot watch like in a casino
with a tourbillon function.
This building is a landmark building for San Gabriel.
It's the biggest jewelry store in North America.
We have about 100 million of inventory value here.
- Whoa. - So, we're in a vault.
- [David] Yes, we're actually in a vault.
It's built especially as a vault.
When you see in the movie all the lasers and everything,
that actually happens.
- Pretty good move, a team coming in posed as a video squad.
(laughing)
So, when you buy a watch, what are you looking for?
- First of all, more functionality that's put into one watch
is just gonna make it more valuable,
like this one that we're gonna see today,
there's only 25 ever gonna be made,
which also makes it valuable.
- We're here to see a watch valued over $700,000.
- That's right. - Lay it on us, I'm ready.
- Okay.
So, this is the GP or Girard Perregaux
Jackpot Tourbillon watch.
It's actually 18 karat rose gold.
So, Girard Perregaux, GP, is a 227-year-old watch company
from Switzerland, right?
But this jackpot function has never been done
by anybody else before.
You see the lever here, and you can pull it,
and you see it go?
- What? - Yeah,
and there's 160 different combinations.
- All mechanical within this tiny...
- See, it's all mechanical back here.
- Are we ready to try it?
- I think so.
- Oh, yeah, question.
So, would it be possible to try on
as many as we can fit onto our wrists?
- Possibly could happen,
but I'll tell them to close the door first
'cause you guys can't run out, but yeah,
I'd like to do that.
- 30 grand.
Look at that.
- This is the Rolex.
- Oh, I would love a Rolex.
- Oh, yes. - That is a watch right there.
- Can we do one more or no?
Right, I don't think we can add one more.
- That's 156-karat right there.
- Wow.
Hey, Ben, what time is it?
- Money time.
- We have five watches.
This is your dream come true.
- It is, I want these watches.
- Well, you're gonna have to give 'em back.
Let's go check out the...
(laughing)
- Caught!
- Alright, so I'm gonna first measure
kinda how it fits on there for you.
- Whoa, whoa.
It's a big watch.
- You just went way up in value.
- This is the most expensive thing I've put on my body, so..
Can I just first say this is extremely heavy?
It's like one of those weights that you carry
when you wanna work out.
- [David] Here's the lever right here.
So, go ahead and pull that back.
- [All] Oh!
- Does anything happen if you get all three in a row?
- [David] Nothing comes out of it or anything,
but it is still just as exciting though.
- It's very exciting.
It actually feels comfortable on my wrist,
which I think is the most important for me.
One thing I will say, this matches my outfit, okay?
Look at this, look at this.
- [David] And this is an exhibition back,
so you can see into the movement of the watch.
- Look at, that is gorgeous.
Alright, you want it? - I would love it.
- Alright, let's switch spots.
- Oh, wow, it is heavy.
It feels so good, but it doesn't feel fragile at all.
I mean, this feels like a beast.
- [David] Here you see the carriage.
You see the main spring turning,
and yet, the whole carriage is turning too.
- It's mesmerizing to look at.
- Do your best watch advertisement right now.
- Feelin' lucky?
Girard Perregaux, the time is now.
(laughing)
Oh, jackpot! - Oh, wow, you got jackpot.
I can't believe it.
- Jackpot, I get to keep the watch, right?
- Well, we'll talk about that.
- Well, this has been great.
I'll see you guys later.
Cheers.
Thank you again for taking me
on your wonderful magical mystery tour.
- No problem, and now's the time where we decide
which watch was the most worth it to you.
- The Bradley Timepiece, incredible story, great watch,
however, my Worth It winner goes with Weiss Watch.
The amount of craftsmanship and care
makes me think that that's the Worth It winner.
- So, Hing Wa Lee Jeweler is a wonderful place to shop.
David, I will say,
definitely helped me understand expensive watches.
However, my Worth It winner goes to the Bradley Timepiece.
- [Ben] Whoa!
- It's because of what David told me, though.
Watches are conversation starters.
Having a Bradley timepiece would be great
because I could wear that watch and be like,
oh, well let me tell you about the story of how this company
cared about people with vision impairment.
I can't hear you very well,
but what was your Worth It winner?
Weiss. - Woo!
- Weiss for the win.
That's two on one.
Next time on Worth It, Benjamin Coleman, me, his uncle.
See us there.
Hamptons, baby.
(upbeat music)