Our Studio Underd0g Pizza Unique sold for a record-breaking amount!
Time+TideLast night, we saw our London Discovery Studio transformed into a pizza parlour for what would prove to be a pizza party to remember. The room was packed with Studio Underd0g fans and even more Studio Underd0g watches.
But it wasn’t just about Underd0g’s ever-popular standard production on this night. We were all there to celebrate the closing of the charity auction of our Pizza Unique. This “half ‘n’ half” pizza watch had the best of both worlds with half pepperoni and half Hawaiian on the dial. Being offered through Loupe This, all funds were being donated to Mary’s Meals to raise money for hungry kids around the world.
The event kicked off with hand-made slices of pizza being passed around while the Underd0g team showed off their latest Gen 3 01SERIES movement. Then, as we entered the final hour of the auction, Andrew and Rich took to the stage and raffled off a bunch of pizza-themed prizes, including pizza socks, a pizza stone, and an Ooni pizza oven.
And then a big announcement was made, that this would in fact be the final ever pizza party, with the Pizza Watch to be discontinued by the end of the year. While there will be one more production run, the very final pizza watches will be made available in our Time+Tide Discovery Studios, and then once they’re gone, they’re gone.
While this was taking place we had distributed QR codes around the room that would take people straight to the auction so we could have live bidding in the room. As we got closer to the hammer falling, we discovered that the current leading bidder was in the room! We all watched the timer tick down and just before it hit zero he was outbid by a mysterious online bidder. What ensued was a bidding war for the ages. Our man in the room not backing down, and seemingly our anonymous bidder not wanting to lose this one-of-one pizza watch either.
Every time another bid was placed in the final seconds the timer would add another two minutes, only adding to the suspense. It went back and forth for a long time, and all of sudden, Rich realised we had surpassed the previous most expensive Studio Underd0g watch ever sold at $16k. And then, as the bidder in the room went up to $17k, our online bidder went silent. It was a matter of counting down to this lucky gent winning the Pizza Unique, raising US$17,000 for charity, and becoming a record holder.
After our relentless bidder had won and been interviewed by Rich, there was just enough time for the ultimate wrist shot with every Studio Underd0g in the room on people’s wrists in one photo for what can only be described as a dog pile.
All that’s left for us to say is a massive thank you for everyone who came, bought watches, and supported this amazing cause. Now we are getting ready to welcome 600 of you over the weekend for Births Watchmakers’ Weekender. If you’re coming, make sure you arrive in your time slot, and if you have a ticket and can no longer make it, please do let us know as we have a waitlist and can reassign your ticket.
Have a wonderful weekend!
The Time+Tide Team
Watch meme of the week: “Hey bro, what watch should I buy?”
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“Non-watch people” who know we work in the biz often ask us what watches they should look into, and often our advice is followed. But, when it is ignored in favour of an “Ali Baba Special”… Man does it cut deep.
Wrist shot of the week: text
Vivi Shanks, Senior Public Relations Manager for IWC in America, shared a nice close-up of Mercedes AMG F1 Team Principal Toto Wolff’s piece unique Big Pilot Perpetual Calendar in full turquoise ceramic. Damn it, IWC… please make this ceramic available to the public. Just imagine a monochromatic Ingenieur in this material…
Time+Tide Shop pick of the week: Fears Brunswick 40.5 Jump Hour Raven Black
Graceful and complex, the curvaceous Brunswick silhouette takes its inspiration from a gentleman’s cushion case watch in the Fears archives, first made in 1924. This latest take on the Fears Brunswick, an elegant jumping hours model, dials up the 1920s charm even further, with a minimalist (yet not austere) black sunburst dial with an azuraged inner portion.
Discover the Fears Brunswick 40.5 Jump Hour Raven Black in the Time+Tide Shop, either online or in-store at our Melbourne or London Discovery Studios. Price: A$8,100/£4,250
Our favourite Time+Tide coverage of the week
Under-represented and under-appreciated – Deloitte and Watch.Femme’s report shines a light on women and the watch industry
We finally have it in writing: women are massively under-represented in the watch world. That’s what the recently released Deloitte Swiss Watch Industry Insights 2024: Spotlight on the female market, a report produced in collaboration between the UK-based multinational professional services network and Watch Femme, the first global non-profit dedicated to promoting and strengthening women’s voices across the watch world, has laid bare. Laura goes through the report in detail here.
Busting dive watch myths: a deep dive into deep (and shallow) diving
Everyone knows that only a tiny fraction of dive watch owners actually go diving, and even then, how many are really aware of the science behind those watches? There are tonnes of myths being perpetrated about dive watches in regards to their water resistance, their legibility and their hardiness – and it doesn’t help when brands contribute to the mythologising of dive watch trends. Buffy busts some popular dive watch myths here.
The Time+Tide team picks the most underrated watch dials
Last week we shared the most underrated watch dials, as chosen by you in response to our Instagram post. As promised, we have assembled the Time+Tide editorial team to share our own picks and nominations. The rules of the game: pick a watch with a very underrated dial, ideally from a brand that is not typically known for its dial manufacturing or prowess, that has also yet to be mentioned by our community on social media. You can find our team picks here!