Kevin Lavelle, founder of Mizzen+Main, is fascinated by the process of physically producing goods. After touring Weiss Watch Company’s headquarters last year, he couldn’t stop thinking about the process it takes to actually make a watch. Setting Weiss apart from virtually everyone else is they actually make everything here in the United States.

Cameron Weiss received years long training as a watchmaker and has built a facility that machines all their own parts. He and his wife are building something truly extraordinary right here in the US. Each watch receives over 80 hours of handmade love. After listening to our conversation, we’re sure you’ll want to learn more, so follow Cameron on Instagram @cameronmweiss and give Weiss a follow at @WeissWatchCompany.

Or just get a timepiece for yourself if you want hand crafted American glory adorning your wrist!

Show Notes:

• 09:40 - The breakthrough moment to push ahead to form Weiss
• 12:45 - The family aspect - a unique differentiator
• 27:40 - Two tipping points: selling out of the first batch and getting a front page feature in the LA Times
• 33:15 - Life with no regrets

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Kevin Lavelle: As a product founder, I'm fascinated by the process of physically producing goods. I had the privilege of touring Weiss Watch Company's headquarters last year and cannot believe the process it takes to actually make a watch. Setting Weiss apart from virtually everyone else is that they actually make everything here in the United States. Cameron received years long training as a watchmaker and has built a facility that machines all their own parts.

He and his wife are building something truly extraordinary right here in the United States. Each watch receives over 80 hours of handmade love. My wife got me my first Weiss watch last year to celebrate Mizzen and Main's five-year company anniversary. I wear it with so much pride, not just as a gift from the most important person in my life, but as a piece of remarkable craftsmanship, say howdy to Cameron on Instagram at Cameron M Weiss, give Weiss a follow at Weiss watch company. Get a timepiece for yourself. If you want handcrafted American glory, adorning your wrist. Cameron I was introduced to your brand about a year or two ago and was so thrilled to actually get to your headquarters and get to see a lot of the watchmaking equipment and everything that you guys are doing.

I know we haven't had the chance, to connect in person yet, but absolutely thrilled to be able to chat a little bit more about Weiss as I wear one of your beautiful timepieces today, like most days, and I know hopefully the listening audience will be just as thrilled as I am to be able to hear a little bit more about, this incredible journey that you've had to build, your company.

Cameron Weiss: Yeah, thanks for taking the time to talk to me. I'm always, always happy to chat about watches and business.

Kevin Lavelle: Watches and business. Absolutely. So, for context, share a little bit about yourself, your background and.

Cameron Weiss: My name is Cameron Weiss, and I'm the founder and master watchmaker at Weiss watch company. We are one of the only watch manufacturers actually making watches in the United States of America. It's an industry that kind of disappeared from the USA almost a hundred years ago. manufacturing of watches just slowly disappeared and, hopefully we'll bring that back to the U S.

Kevin Lavelle: And, what year did you start the company?

Cameron Weiss: We started in 2013, June 1st, 2013, actually

Kevin Lavelle: Your products are definitely available online. And then you're also in some select retailers as well, right?

Cameron Weiss: Yeah. We do the majority of our business directly through our website. However, we also sell in some larger stores like Barneys and also online with Mr. Porter, and then select retailers, men's wear shops across the U S Japan, Canada, France, Germany, we've got about 50 retailers that we work

Kevin Lavelle: Extraordinary. And you are, as you said, making watches. Here in the U S, can you share, a little bit about, from a manufacturing perspective, how long does each watch typically take from a kind of total man hours? Because these are not, these are not, assembly line watches. They are, you and your team are making them by hand. How many hours typically go into each watch?

Cameron Weiss: So each watch takes about 80 hours of manufacturing, decoration. Assembly quality control, start to finish. We're going from raw materials to bars of steel and brass and turning them into mechanical watches.

Meaning no computer components, no batteries. These are mechanical. They have a spring and they're powered by either the movement of your wrist or by actually physically winding up the spring through the crown.

Kevin Lavelle: It is absolutely extraordinary. And, I, I wear, I'm not sure which model of your watch, but it is to me, such a, such an extraordinary thing to carry around every day and wear every day, because it's a reminder of craftsmanship and, the, the labor of building something so intricate that so many people just sort of take for granted. And, I am not an apple watch wearer myself. I don't think I ever will be for a whole host of reasons, including the amount of distractions I already have. I don't need something pinging my wrist every moment, but I've, I've loved seeing, the resurgence of interest, I think, in, in a love of mechanical things.

And certainly the fact that watches are still as, as popular as they are today. I know I'm not alone in that. Does it surprise you at all, the level of, kind of love and obsession that people have with watches?

Cameron Weiss: It does it, it's kind of amazing because I've always been very fascinated with watches even as a little kid. I wore a watch, so I always had it in my head that I loved watches and always focused on them. But recently it does seem like there is a lot more interest on a way bigger scale from almost a more of a mainstream theme level in the U S as far as what is going on the wrist. I think the apple watch helps with that. But, it's a very different item than what we're crafting here.

Kevin Lavelle: So from, I know from your background, you, have, have quite extensive knowledge in watchmaking. So this wasn't just some random thing that one day you decided you wanted to make watches from the time that you decided you wanted to have your own company.

To your first watch that you made, you know, prototyping getting ready to sell to the time that you started selling watches and more than one at a time, what were some of the things that happened along the way to kind of give you that confidence or give you that push to say let's take this to the next level.

Cameron Weiss: Yeah, it was, it was a long journey. I started by of course, going to school and learning all the background on watchmaking, becoming a watchmaker, but throughout that time I was kind of prototyping. I didn't know what I was going to do in the end with the watches I was creating, but I was testing designs.

Seeing what I liked and also wearing them around and seeing the kind of feedback that I would get, that was probably about a five-year process prior to launching in 2013, so when we actually launched on June 1st, 2013, I had what I considered a really nice design at a price that we were very happy with and that took about five years to get there. But the final straw that got me ready to actually launch, was talking to another brand founder, at a trade show, it was like a pop-up trade show open to the public. And I was talking to him about the company he started and just talking with him and hearing about the support that he had received from a general interest in hearing the story about how his products were crafted.

Really sparked in my mind that we had something that was even more complex and more of a craftsmanship story and creation story, especially with the lost kind of dying art of watchmaking. So that was the switch that went off in my head. And I said, this is the perfect time for, some sort of watchmaking resurgence in the U S

Kevin Lavelle: Do you recall who that person was or that company?

Cameron Weiss: That company was actually a tshirt company. The name of which escapes me right now.

Kevin Lavelle: That's all good. I just did a figure to be a fun shout out if, if it was still there top of mind, so you launched the company in 2013 and today you've, You've really started to make an impact.

I'm seeing why more and more people are familiar with it. Things are moving along quite a bit, do you and your wife work together and you've got a couple, a couple of team members. How do you, how do you define your culture? Because you have such an intricate, detailed product. It's not like Mizzen and Main. We order fabric. We work with cut and sew facilities and we finish it and we ship it, but we're not the ones actually doing it. You guys are doing it every day. So that's a particularly unique culture that you're building. How do you, how do you define that culture, as something kind of tangible and what do you do every day to defend that as you grow and, and the challenges of, of such a complex industry. Frankly, such a tough one to break into because of how important that kind of legacy is with those watch aficionados.

Cameron Weiss: Well, as far as our business culture goes, we are first and foremost, we're in this kind of family business realm. It's myself, the watchmakers, designing and making the watches, my wife doing sales and marketing, and other employees with machining components and some help with assembly, but it's still at this size and, communication kind of level within, within the employees.

That feels very family-oriented. Which is a very odd thing in the watch world. A lot of watch companies are much more corporate. It's kind of like sunglasses, where everything is made by one company and everybody else does sales and marketing and design work, but everything's coming from one mega factory.

So for us, the family aspect is very unique to the watchmaker. Industry, even if other companies use it as a story because of their past, there's, there's almost no watch companies that are still family owned and operated, so for us, that's very important and we like to also, use that as we are present to the market as well. It's not just internal that, that we like to talk about, the family aspect of the business, knowing that the watchmaker whose name is on the dial of the watch actually made that watch or had some, some, some part of the process done by his own hands is very important.

Kevin Lavelle: And, the team as you've started to bring in other folks to help with the manufacturing process, I'm a little bit naive in the watchmaking process. Will there be other watch makers or does it need to be, you are the watchmaker and other people will assist with more other, you know, different parts of the bill.

Cameron Weiss: There will be other watchmakers, they'll work underneath me. However, there's plenty of watchmaking work to be done, with 80 hours on each timepiece. There's a lot of hands-on work that needs to be done. But, a big part that we have to have is passion for, either. Manufacturing for instance, Grant who's working in the workshop, where we're actually machining parts using lays and mills.

He has to be extremely passionate about, about manufacturing, these parts, right? Because they are very complex and we have, we're kind of anal about the, the surface finish and all of the tolerances and things being so perfect. So you really have to have that passion to stick with it and. If something's not absolutely perfect. You take it upon yourself to correct it before anybody else even notices that there's a, there's an issue.

Kevin Lavelle: So I'm being that watchmaker and getting things going with the intensity of that, I would imagine there was an extended period of time early on, where you're all in on the business and it's not just you, but it's you and your wife. How long have you gone without, either without a salary or with paying yourself? Very very little in terms of making sure that everything possible, it goes back into the business and, you start to build that

Cameron Weiss: We're still at that, at that point there, I, we, it, so it's myself and my wife and we pay, we pay each other very little, the expense for R and D and manufacturing within this, industry is very high. So we have machines that could be hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then we have to actually set them up and take them up. There's a lot of expenses that we've had in order to ramp up the manufacturing side. And we still haven't even gotten to the point of ramping up the assembly side.

Right. So there's a few million, a million dollars. We will have to invest in order to really get to the point that I'm happy with the production capability for our watches, so we're still just chugging along and, and enjoying the fact that we don't have to answer to another boss, we don't make as much, but sure. The trade off is worth it for us.

Kevin Lavelle: And you're building something really unique that you obviously have an extraordinary passion for, absolutely extraordinary to hear. So this question becomes even more relevant. Who has most inspired you on this journey?Who would you say is a personal connection or famous? You obviously are very passionate about what you do, but there's some sort of longer vision. There's some sort of bigger inspiration there as well. I would have to imagine, would love to hear, who's been a big inspiration for you along this. So

Cameron Weiss: as far as the business and manufacturing and kind of side goes, Henry Ford is just an unbelievable person on, in that realm, when I was younger, I did a major history project on Henry Ford and I actually created this whole movie in presentation on him, and I won some awards for this history contest, but, so he was a huge motivating factor in me, kind of choosing to go this route with a manufacturing style business, where we're actually making parts and going from raw materials to finished product, and then more on a regular day-to-day level.

Making sure that we put out the best watches that we can. I'm completely inspired by my grandfather for that, he was the type that would build almost anything on his own, from house additions to boats and, and just whatever he had all these projects and he did it all on his own. So we tried to do a lot of that here in the business and also myself on a personal level. I try to accomplish a lot. Just with my own two hands.

Kevin Lavelle: Yeah. And, I mentioned, I've mentioned this in the podcast before, but have you watched the men who built America in history? Yeah, it's quite an inspiring program. And when I think about some of the business challenges I'm facing and the impact that I hope to have, you watch that and it's a thing to see, even though obviously it's a history channel presentation and, and, there's a lot of those moving pictures and reenactments it's it is, it is tremendously inspiring. Yeah.

Cameron Weiss: Yeah. One, one of the greatest stories I think is about. And how Sears was started and that relates back to pocket watches. If anyone's interested, they can watch that, that part of the show.

Kevin Lavelle: The history there. And, the fact that in all likelihood, a thousand years from now, people will still be wearing watches, makes it a really, just a fascinating industry to study, and I'm sure we could, you could probably spend an entire podcast on the history of it and the significance of it, but it's always been, it's always been of high of high interest for me, so yeah.

Again, part of the excitement in today's podcast for me is, getting to hear a little bit more about someone who's in it in a way, as you said that very few others are. So when you think about these challenges, Bringing watchmaking back to America and the impact that you can have, and the challenges that you have and hearing you say is going to be a few million dollars more in getting us to where we can start to have the growth and impact that I want to have is a daunting thought. How do you stay sane in the face of such a challenge and also, w from a business perspective and a personal one.

Cameron Weiss: The quick answer is I don't stay sane. My wife and I joke about that actually quite a bit, just that it's almost, it's almost like you can no longer relate to other people who haven't started a business or done something like that on their own. It is something very different from any other experience I've ever had, But it will make you crazy. So I do try to do things to keep myself sane, I try to surf, which kind of clears my mind, I go out into the ocean and it's just like, back into nature really. And you forget about everything. You look out into the horizon. But that's kinda my escape to try and get my Sandy back.

Kevin Lavelle: Okay. That's a good thing. I was in Southern California a few weeks ago, and I've only been surfing a handful of times in my life. One it's a gosh, it's just such an amazing experience. Just being out in the water. California is so beautiful and all of that, but man, it is a unbelievably exhausting experience as well, particularly if it's not something you do in any sort of a regular basis, does it still exhaust you or are you at a point where you, you are good enough that it's more a relaxing experience? It

Cameron Weiss: depends. Yeah. When I do it regularly, you end up with days that are obviously bigger waves and more intense, days where you stay out longer on those days. I ended up back at the office and, just in a very relaxed, but tired state, other days, there's no waves. And I go out and I really just sit there and watch the dog seasons go by. It's not much exercise at all. You're not diving under waves or worrying about getting drowned or anything like that. You're just kind of floating out there. And on those days they really, really recharge. You.

Kevin Lavelle: So if everything would be quote unquote, okay. While you were gone, what would you do for a month away from it all? And this is a, you're going to really have to suspend your imagination for a second, because I know as a watchmaker, the responsibility is quite a bit different, but let's just assess that. You visited either built up the right amount of inventory to be able to go away from mother or some other suspension of disbelief. I'm always fascinated to hear what people would like to do. And I know like most entrepreneurs it's, you love what you do. So it's not that you don't want to be there, but, you gotta, you gotta go away for a month. What is it that you do?

Cameron Weiss: Well, the thing that I have always wanted to do is completely disconnect and go into the woods, into the national forest and just see if I could live for a month. So I think that would be perfect. Just sustain myself, disappear into the woods, maybe go with, with my wife if she's, if she's up for the challenge, I don't know, but, I think, completely disconnecting and just. Seeing what's out there in nature, there would be, would be a pretty cool experience. And if I could get away for a month, that's what I would do.

Kevin Lavelle: Is there one place that you would like to go into, into the wilderness? Like just somewhere in California, you want to go somewhere in the north, like, with woods, what's the, what's the place where you would want to test your mental on, on going away from.

Cameron Weiss: I think it would probably be in the Northwest Pacific. If I could survive somewhere in the woods, it would probably be up there, not like the dead of winter when it's too cold and you're just wet and cold all the time. It would have to be probably, like springtime, plenty of berries and just a. Plenty of stuff to forage for. I think that would be a nice time up there.

Kevin Lavelle: Nice. A nice time. That's a good way to describe what would be a very difficult challenge, but, that's, that's a unique one. I don't think anyone said anything like that before, yeah, you touched on some of this with, you know, the, that you don't have to answer to anybody, but, you know, make a little less money and clearly quite, quite a bit less. And, you guys are investing in the long-term. But the. The, the, the question here is how has starting a business affected your personal life? You guys are in a unique situation in that you work together as my wife and I did for a number of years. Most spouses say they couldn't do it. For Jen and I, it was a huge, positive for us overall, given everything that we had on the line and, and being able to do that together, A lot of people answer this and they say, well, you know, it's, it's really tough because it takes me away from my family. And I don't get to spend as much time with either my spouse or my kids. You get to be with Whitney, which is a really great thing, but there's plenty of other sacrifices. What would you say your biggest sacrifice has been?

Cameron Weiss: I think the biggest sacrifice is really outside of the family on a personal life level. So like for me, of course I have Whitney's here and she's actually seven and a half months pregnant now. So soon, I'll have a daughter running around the workshop, but we'll all be here. And, so I don't have, have to sacrifice that of, stepping away from family on a personal level, having to not go on maybe extended family vacations, not, not as many trips and, and things like that. That has been a lot of, a lot of sacrifice, as well as just friends, not being able to go out on the weekends and hang out with people because I'm swamped. A shipment of watches has to go out on Monday and, and I'm working through the weekend to Polish something or finish some assembly work. That's probably the biggest change in my life. Where I stopped being an employee and moved into owning my own business.

Kevin Lavelle: So when you think about the growth that you've experienced in some of these extraordinary retailers that you're now in, again, the kind of growing awareness of the brand that you guys have, is there a moment that you noticed that things started to change? Was there a press hit? Was there, you know, somebody that wore the watch, somebody that introduced you to a, in, into a retailer, a big win at a trade show. Has there been one moment for some people there is, and for some they say it feels like it's just the s of everything

Cameron Weiss: Early on. I had one moment that was very important. It was when we first launched our business, I had made 10 watches and I sold all 10 watches within the first month of launching. That to me was validating. So from that point on, I was happy with my decision, having quit my very nice job that I had, and it was with a great company and I love working for them, but I had to take this risk.

I felt that there was something more here. So having those 10 watches that I had made. So within the first 30 days I validated the next thing. Was being written about in the LA times and being on the front page of the LA times newspaper, that didn't happen for maybe about a year after we had launched.

But when that happened, we had our biggest sales day ever. Just an incredible amount of sales. All at once so many sales, it was October that this happened and we sold out of everything that we had planned to produce between that time and the end of the year. So the entire holiday season was now sold out and I had to scramble to make more parts.

So I had to scramble completely. Redo the holiday season, we had to produce more watches, we went through that last quarter and I was able to deliver watches just in time for Christmas, actually, but we essentially did twice as many watches as we had expected, just because of that. One day from page, in the LA times, it's pretty,

Kevin Lavelle: That's so extraordinary. Was there a, other than the unique story of what you guys had, was there a reason that they decided to put you on the front page? Was there something that had happened or some connection to why at that moment they were writing about you or they just said, this is a really cool story and we want to put you on the front page.

Cameron Weiss: So the writer was actually a business owner who focused on the Hollywood filmmaking industry. So it was kind of outside of his wheelhouse for articles. And he had heard about us, wanted to do some sort of story on us and just kind of started writing. So he had been working on this story and eventually his editor said, let's run this as an interesting piece and we can talk about it.

The watchmaking side of it, not so much about new products or, or whatever, new models and things like that. It was more about the story of this young watchmaker stepping out on his own and making watches at that time in his apartment in Los Angeles. So it was just an amazing article and the editor loved it. Yeah. Just by chance ended up on the front page, because they liked the story so much and it really made a huge difference in our business. That's

Kevin Lavelle: Extraordinary, have you had any other major press hits like that at that scale? Since then?

Cameron Weiss: We have not had anything of that scale. That one's a tough one to beat.. Yeah. And LA times. So of course from that we saw. A lot of papers, more regional papers, Seattle times, I forget all the papers that we ended up on the front page or other subsequent pages. But that week we ended up in a lot of other newspapers with the same article.

Kevin Lavelle: That's really, really special, so where do you see, obviously, this is not a, this is not a start and sell kind of business. This is your, your life's passion and the time it takes to scale, this is, is significant. Where do you see a Y swatch company in, in 10 years?

Cameron Weiss: In 10 years? Hopefully we have achieved that level of production that I'm hoping for. Like I said, there's a lot more investment than I need to make, but if we grow slowly and we have the support of our, our customers and the American market, then I will definitely get there, so hopefully in 10 years, we're there and. I can actually hire some more employees, so I don't have to do so much of the paperwork and accounting and things I'm not so passionate about. And I can focus more of that passion on the actual watchmaking, design and production.

Kevin Lavelle: If you could go back and tell yourself one thing at the beginning of this journey, what would you tell yourself?

Cameron Weiss: That's a tough one, but I, I think, I would, I would probably say. That there's no rush getting to the next step. You know, everything will happen, When it's supposed to happen and don't rush through the phases, you know, don't rush to get out of the, out of the garage or out of the apartment. Don't rush to get that next employee or that next piece of machinery. It will happen when it needs to happen, and if you, if you rush into these things, then they can be more of a burden, then send something that actually helps your business.

Kevin Lavelle: It's a very healthy perspective, so along similar lines, do you have one single biggest regret?

Cameron Weiss: That's something that I'm pretty, pretty good with. I tried to never regret anything, so even things that have happened that a lot of people might think would be negative. I somehow put a nice, happy spin on it. I learn a lot from my mistakes and in the end, I think they actually make me better and stronger. So I don't really regret anything,

Kevin Lavelle: another healthy perspective. That's great, knowing the passion that you have for what you do. I think I probably can assess what the answer would be, but what brings you the most joy every day in building wise?

Cameron Weiss: The single most thing that excites me the most is seeing watches out there and hearing about them. Hearing about our watches kinda just out there in the world, sometimes I will see one out the window as I'm driving into work. I'll see somebody driving next to me with, with a Weiss watch on, or I'll see somebody at a, at a car show or just anywhere out and about seeing them and seeing the joy that they get when they look down at their wrist and you know, especially when they meet me on the street or something like that, that's the best experience ever.

Kevin Lavelle: That's pretty special, how about, how about your most embarrassing professional moment? It's always fun to hear.

Cameron Weiss: Oh, I do have. I still think about it to this day and it sends chills up my spine. When I, one of my first jobs in the watchmaking industry, I was actually doing watchmaking in a retail environment and I would help out when the sales team was busy, overwhelmed with people, so this job was in New York and. Just like with California, when you end up in these big cities, sometimes people don't necessarily look the part, as far as their financial stability goes, sometimes you could have somebody in flip flops and a t-shirt that looks like they just woke up from taking a nap on the beach.

And they're actually the founder of a tech startup and they've got a billion dollars. So we try not to make any judgements, but in this particular situation, I handed a watch, a very nice $80,000 watch over to a gentleman who appeared to be a pretty stable individual. But, he immediately took the watch and threw it on the ground.

Oh my God. And I just, I froze, I didn't know what to do. I was like completely. Just terrified. Oh my God. And the security guard in the store watched it happen and his jaw just dropped as well. I wouldn't even know what to do, but that, I mean, I still have nightmares about that, that moment when I handed this very expensive timepiece over and it was just essentially thrown to the ground.

Kevin Lavelle: So what ended up happening?

Cameron Weiss: I think it may have been a homeless person that had wandered in or something. We're not really totally sure, but, it was New York city and this person ended up in our store and they just were messing around. Luckily, luckily it wasn't anything where, you know, someone was put in danger physically or anything like that. But I still don't totally know what lesson I learned from it, but, it really scared me.

Kevin Lavelle: Fair enough, that is not, that is a, a moment you will never forget, yeah, so we, we sorta touched on it earlier, but do you expect to be doing a watch company for your whole life?

Cameron Weiss: I certainly hope so if, if I'm that fortunate than I think I will have, lived a nice lucky life

Kevin Lavelle: And ultimately our last serious question, how do you want to be remembered?

Cameron Weiss: Hm, I think, to me I've always respected people for their honesty, so I think. Being remembered as someone who was honest, true to their word and, and a hard worker to me, that's, that's the most important thing to be remembered for.

Kevin Lavelle: That's great. So we touched on where people can find some of your watches earlier, but, let's also throw out what is, how can people stay in touch with you? You've got, are you, you're an Instagram guy, correct? Yes. So what's your Instagram?

Cameron Weiss: So you can follow me on Instagram. It's Cameron, M Weiss, and then you can also follow Weiss watch company on Instagram. And there, we post all kinds of things, not only pictures of making watches and finished watches, but also. Watch our Instagram story. We'll often post things about actually making parts or how we decorate a certain component, how we design things. There's a lot of behind the scenes that we try to put up on, on Instagram. You can also find us on Facebook as well. Weiss watch company. And on our website, Weiss watch company.com.

Kevin Lavelle: Great. And, I guess I'll ask, it's fun to ask some people this, what a, that make product, what is your favorite watch of, of your own? Do you have, is it a limited edition that you made just for yourself or is it one that's available for sale?

Cameron Weiss: My favorite watch is actually our black dial American issue. Green canvas strap. It's the first watch we ever made. So it has kind of a special place in my heart. That was the first 10 pieces we made. They were all blacked out with green canvas straps. That's great, that's where we started. That's our roots.

Kevin Lavelle: And what are you wearing right now?

Cameron Weiss: Right now I'm actually wearing the green dial American issue on a light tan.

Kevin Lavelle: How do you, how do you decide in a day? Do you just grab something and roll or is there a method to your madness as to what you decide you want to wear each day?

Cameron Weiss: For me, it usually depends on what I'm doing. If I'm, if I'm going to be working back in the machine shop or something, I'll wear something on a canvas strap.

Usually our automatic, Just because I know I'll be back there and I'll be getting a little sweaty or whatever and dirty. So canvas strap for sure. Today is more of an inside office day. So I went for the nicer American issue, on the leather side.

Kevin Lavelle: That's great. My wife got me one of your watches for our five-year company anniversary and as I mentioned at the start, it's a really special time piece to be able to wear every day. So where we're at very proudly. So now let's move on. Oftentimes the best part of the conversation is the rapid fire portion, and so the goal here is the first thing that comes to mind. If there's a way you want to answer it, it's all yours. So start off simple, how many hours of sleep do you typically get a night?

Cameron Weiss: Usually about seven to eight hours. Sleep is very important for me,

Kevin Lavelle: indeed. Especially with how nuanced your hands have to be every day. What would you use? The gene editing technology CRISPR for?

Cameron Weiss: I don't know if I'd want to mess with that knee jerk reaction if I don't want to, I'm too scared.

Kevin Lavelle: That's a fair and safe answer, what is your favorite fiction and non-fiction book.

Cameron Weiss: Jonathan Livingston, seagull about a Vietnam war vet who just goes out in the woods and, and basically photographs, grizzly.

Kevin Lavelle: An appropriate, safe distance, what is your daily music playlist theme?

Cameron Weiss: You know, I go through a few different Spotify albums, and I usually listen to them, like the suggested radio based on certain songs. But it's usually pretty mellow music to keep my heart rate pretty low, and calm.

Kevin Lavelle: It's critical for them for again, the work that you do, what is your wake up drink of choice and wind down. Drink of choice.

Cameron Weiss: wake up. I'd like to have a light roast coffee, usually like an Ethiopian coffee, black. And then to wind down is usually a bourbon, sometimes a tequila, usually bourbon or tequila, just sipping straight up.

Kevin Lavelle: Excellent. What would your last meal be?

Cameron Weiss: Last meal would be pizza.

Kevin Lavelle: Any particular pizza? Just pizza. It's in general a safe bet. Do you have a particularly strong pet peeve?

Cameron Weiss: No, not really. I can't, I can't think of one that immediately jumps out at me

Kevin Lavelle: not a surprise given some of your earlier answers and, getting some, getting some good sleep and having some healthy perspective. Do you have a favorite podcast?

Cameron Weiss: What is it?, how it's made, how. How I built this. Yeah. That is one that I absolutely love. I will listen to that sometimes while working in the workshop.

Kevin Lavelle: Yep. And, hopefully one day, not too far off, you will be on that podcast that, of all the people on how I built this, you are really building this. So I think it's most appropriate. Yeah. So guy Roz, if you're listening, which I'm sure you are, make sure you reach out to Cameron, what percent of your monthly household budget do you think is.

Cameron Weiss: It is a huge percentage, gosh, I gotta be like. 40% or something so much easier than I almost never make it into a store to buy anything other than perish we'll grow.

Kevin Lavelle: Yeah. Well, we recently switched to Amazon, Amazon fresh. I think it's what's called, and groceries get delivered and it's extraordinary, it saves a lot of time and it's not like it's more expensive, which is even, even crazier, do you have a TV show that you could watch over and over?

Cameron Weiss: I guess it would be, how it's made , that's a show that I think never gets boring.

Kevin Lavelle: That's pretty cool, and again, highly relevant, favorite article of clothing

Cameron Weiss: My jeans are the go-to a go-to item. I think I wear jeans every single day.

Kevin Lavelle: What is your favorite destination to travel to?

Cameron Weiss: I love the Rockies, I think, I think the Rockies,

Kevin Lavelle: any particular town in the Rockies, or just generally, because they're so busy.

Cameron Weiss: There is a small town in the Rockies, but I want to keep it a small town in the Rockies. So I think I'm not going to name it.

Kevin Lavelle: That's very fair. And last but not least, what is the best gift that you have ever received?

Cameron Weiss: That'll be my daughter when she arrives early December.

Kevin Lavelle: Man. What a perfect answer. That's so great. Well, Cameron, thank you so much for taking some time away from all 80 hours per watch that you guys are cranking out over there. I'm really blown away to see a craftsman like yourself building something, not just, not just one by one, but building a brand around it.

Yeah. Really hope everybody listening goes to check out a weiss watch company online, give Cameron a shout out. Hello on social media, pretty active on there, and I'm looking forward to the next chance we have a discussion which will hopefully be live sometime soon. And, until then, keep crushing it, man.

Really, really excited for what you guys are.

Cameron Weiss: Thank you so much.