Take it Daily..!

For Eric Wind and Charlie Dunne, watches connect them to the past and help them build lifelong relationships with others. For the first time in Talking Watches, Ben sits down with two guests to discuss how a passion can be learned, sharpened, and passed along. The watches they bring not only reveal the charming details that define an exceptional vintage watch, but also the friendships and experiences that give collecting its meaning.

Longtime Hodinkee readers need little introduction to Eric. Before Wind Vintage, before Christie’s, and before his many appearances in Reference Points, he was one of the site’s earliest and most prolific contributors. Through Bring A Loupe, auction coverage, and deeply researched stories, Eric helped introduce a wider audience to the nuances of vintage collecting. 

His enthusiasm could make an obscure chronograph as compelling as a six-figure Rolex, and his scholarship gave collectors the tools to distinguish a merely old watch from an exceptional one. Since founding Wind Vintage in 2017, he has continued to approach the category with the same curiosity, exacting eye, and belief that great watches can be found at nearly every price.

Charlie entered the watch business through a different route. Before entering the trade, Charlie was a collector of watch books and a researcher; in 2021, while working in digital marketing, he used several weeks of saved vacation to intern with Eric in Florida. The experience became a career change. Today, he is Vice President and Senior Watch Specialist at Wind Vintage, where he leads much of the company’s content and research. The watches on his side of the table chart that progression, from the Cricket Eric gave him after the internship to the vintage Rolexes that deepened his interest in scholarship and condition.

Together, Eric and Charlie have written Vintage Watches: The Modern Guide, published by Ten Speed Press. They wanted to create a watch book readers would return to, one that shows vintage watches as they actually appear, complete with scratches, patina, and imperfections. The same philosophy shapes this episode. These watches are worn, studied, given away, engraved, and debated. Each carries knowledge, but also evidence of the relationships built around it. Together, they make a case for what vintage collecting can be at its best: scholarship made personal, and passion worth passing on.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the watches Eric and Charlie brought to Talking Watches.

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First, A Wrist Check

Eric’s Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Tribute To 1931 [US Edition] And Charlie’s Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox Reference E 850

Eric’s Reverso Tribute to 1931 U.S. Edition was a wedding gift from his friend Jack Carlson and has been a faithful companion ever since. More recently, Eric had the caseback engraved with Our Lady of Guadalupe, a choice connected to his faith and to discoveries about his father’s Mexican family. The engraving came with one unwelcome surprise: the case was polished during the process. We’ll let the video detail Eric’s spirited reaction to the service.

Charlie’s Memovox Reference E 850 has a warm, non-luminous pink dial and a compact water-resistant case. He had admired the watch since Eric bought it in 2019 and asked about it repeatedly before Eric eventually gave it to him. The caseback engraving captures their shared humor. It reads, in essence, God, JLC, and Charlie Dunne, in that order. Together, the two watches show why Jaeger-LeCoultre occupies such an important place for both collectors.

“I had the Reverso engraved with Our Lady of Guadalupe. The only problem was that Jaeger-LeCoultre polished the case, which I didn’t realize was part of the process. My son Charlie was there when I picked it up, and within seconds I said, ‘Oh no.’ He asked, ‘Is this the worst thing that’s ever happened to you, Dad?’ I said, ‘If this is the worst thing that’s happened to me, then I’ve had a really good life.'”

Eric Wind, on his reverso being polished.

Charlie’s Vulcain Cricket ‘OG Model’ On A Rose Gold Bracelet

The Cricket was the first commercially produced alarm wristwatch, but Charlie’s early example is far from purely utilitarian. The 18-karat rose-gold case is paired with a two-tone sector dial and an intricate Argentine-made rose gold bracelet. Eric gave Charlie the watch at the end of his 2021 internship. The bracelet came later, adding even more presence to what Charlie calls one of the most elegant Crickets ever made.

A Pair Of Rolex Submariners, Reference 5512

If Eric had to choose one watch, his Rolex Submariner Reference 5512 would be a serious contender. His example is a four-line, meters-first watch with the rare dial variation collectors call ‘Neat Fonts.’ It is the unpolished vintage Submariner he had hoped to find after years of looking, and it previously appeared in Hodinkee’s Reference Points on the Submariner.

Charlie’s own meters-first 5512 began as a loan. He asked to borrow it for a Thanksgiving drive home to Ponte Vedra Beach and found himself enamored with the way it wore. When he returned, Eric told him the watch was his. It became Charlie’s first vintage Rolex and helped turn his interest in Submariners into a deeper study of the differences between the chronometer-rated 5512 and the 5513.

The Rolex Air-King Reference 14000 For Domino’s

Eric often travels with this 34mm Air-King because of its simplicity and versatility. As Eric explains in the episode, qualifying Domino’s franchisees or managers could receive a Rolex after meeting a sales target for three consecutive weeks. His example carries the recipient’s initials and those of Domino’s founder Tom Monaghan on the caseback, along with a clasp engraved by the retailer during a brief period in the early 1990s.

Rolex “Wide Boy” Datejust Reference 1601

When this unpolished Reference 1601 arrived at Wind Vintage, Eric handed it to Charlie and announced, “A Wide Boy for my Wide Boy.” The line became a running joke, but Eric ultimately made the watch Charlie’s, complete with an engraving that commits their particular brand of humor to the caseback.

Eric’s Eterna For Birks With A Black Gilt Dial And Breguet Numerals And Charlie’s Enicar Sherpa Ultradive

This late-1930s or early-1940s chronograph was a gift from Ben to Eric for his 30th birthday.  As Ben says in the episode, neither would be where he is without the other.  The watch’s dial is unsigned, but the inside caseback is marked Birks, the Canadian retailer that commissioned the watch from Eterna. The presentation carries additional weight because of Eric and Ben’s long friendship.

Few 1960s dive watches look quite like the Enicar Sherpa Ultradive. Charlie’s example pairs its hulking asymmetrical case and internal rotating bezel with a rare signed Enicar bracelet. Charlie’s example retains a rare signed Enicar bracelet, while the sharply faceted lugs preserve the architecture that makes the model so distinctive.

Tudor Black Bay 58 For Rowing Blazers And The Black Bay 58 For Hodinkee

The two Black Bay 58s show how different collaborators can interpret the same modern Tudor. Charlie’s Rowing Blazers edition was designed by Eric and Jack Carlson, the founder of Rowing Blazers, and later given to Charlie by Eric. Its dial combines red text with a distinctly retro pink accent. Charlie also fitted it with a Black Bay 54 bracelet, retaining the original end links, to gain an on-the-fly adjustment. The caseback motto translates to ‘I will find a way or make one.’

Eric’s Black Bay 58 for Hodinkee was a gift from Ben and his first modern Tudor. Its extra line of dial text was conceived as a nod to vintage retailer signatures. For Eric, the watch is inseparable from the years he spent helping Hodinkee grow through columns, auction coverage, and Reference Points. He says that if he were limited to two watches that complement his lifestyle perfectly, this Black Bay 58 and his Reference 5512 would likely be the pair.

Cartier Tank Normale In Platinum On Bracelet NSO

Eric may best be known as a vintage specialist, but he has no hesitation in owning a modern watch here and there. He was one of three clients to receive this tank Normale with a gray dial and Breguet numerals and hands. The platinum seven-link bracelet is the real draw. Eric considers it the best bracelet Cartier makes today, with the build, construction, and quality being a bit more to his liking than vintage examples.

Patek Philippe Reference 2508 In Rose Gold On Bracelet

Eric’s Reference 2508 combines an unpolished rose-gold case with a matching bracelet. The sloping bezel, dagger hour markers, dauphine hands, and blued central seconds hand make the watch feel both formal and unexpectedly sporty. Eric uses the watch to make a broader point about condition. Just as vintage Rolex cases are often polished, vintage Patek dials were frequently cleaned or sanded, making well-preserved examples with correctly aligned markers difficult to find.

Patek Philippe Time-Only Pocket Watch From 1917

Charlie has a particular affection for time-only Patek Philippe pocket watches, which he values for their quality and purity. This example dates to 1917 and retains its original box. It has a LeCoultre ébauche movement and a blue enamel caseback bearing the original owner’s initials. Eric found the watch through a descendant of its first owner, a lawyer from the Jacksonville area near where Charlie grew up. That connection gives an already refined object a personal sense of place, even if Charlie admits that pocket watches remain a category collectors either understand immediately or not at all.

Rolex Sector Dial Time-Only Pocket Watch

Eric describes the silvered sector dial on this Rolex as one of the most beautiful he has seen from the brand. There are no numerals, only clean lines and a restrained Rolex signature. The nine-karat-gold watch was made for the Canadian market, but its greatest significance is personal. It was the first watch that truly captured the attention of Eric’s young son, Charlie, who would retrieve it from his father’s desk and show it to visitors. Eric now considers it a watch they own together, and every time he sees it, he thinks of his son.

Director/Executive Producer: David Aujero
Editor: Max Rosen
Camera Operators: David Aujero, Shota Akiyoshi, Max Rosen
Photographer: Shota Akiyoshi
Audio: Aaron Saddler