After losing his memory, Rob Spencer discovered what time really means.

What happens when your entire life is erased in an instant? At 23, Robert Spencer survived a catastrophic accident that left him with total amnesia - wiping away every memory from birth until that moment. This devastating experience gave him a profoundly unique relationship with time that most of us will never understand.

In this riveting conversation, Robert shares how he rebuilt his life without past experiences to guide him, concealing his condition from loved ones for over a decade. He reveals how this blank slate paradoxically freed him from the limitations most of us carry - allowing him to build successful careers in MMA, missing children recovery, and environmental conservation without the burden of preconceived boundaries.

Robert's perspective on timepieces transcends typical watch enthusiasm. For him, watches serve as vital anchors to the present moment - "I cannot look at my watch and see tomorrow or yesterday. It only tells me what moment I am right now." This philosophy drives his approach to life, from his work with Project Heal the Land connecting inner-city youth with nature to his carefully curated collection of rugged tool watches that accompany his adventures.

The conversation weaves through profound insights about living fully present, the distinction between purpose and passion, and finding meaning through connection with nature. Robert challenges listeners to examine their own relationship with time, offering wisdom gained through extraordinary circumstances: "If you go through your whole life thinking about the next thing without spending time in this thing, your whole life flashes before your eyes one day and you're like, man, I missed it all."

Whether you're a watch enthusiast, nature lover, or simply searching for deeper meaning, Robert's remarkable journey will transform how you think about time and the moments we're given. Subscribe now and join us for more thought-provoking conversations that extend far beyond watches.

Learn more about Rob's story and follow his YouTube and Instagram:

https://www.youtube.com/@venturethewild/videos

https://www.instagram.com/advrob

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to the Lonely Race Podcast
• 7:15 Total Amnesia: Robert's Life-Changing Accident
• 18:15 Living in Present Time Consciousness
• 32:41 Project Heal The Land and Nature Connection
• 46:02 Adventure Watches and Field Essentials
• 59:01 G-Shock Critique and Watch Philosophy
• 1:12:43 Watch Collection Deep Dive
• 1:21:28 Future Projects and Consolidation

Transcript

Blake Rea: 0:02

Hello everyone, welcome to the Lonely Race podcast. I am your host, as always Blake Ray. Today we have a man of many talents whose amazingly powerful film Capacity in Reserve is running its way through the indie film festivals. He's also busy with his non-profit Project Heal the Land, which is focused on education, restoration and conservation of forests, deserts and oceans, while empowering the lives with the proven therapeutic benefits of outdoor activity. This guest has an insane story and a unique relationship with time, and I'm going to let him tell you why. Here is my close and personal friend, robert Spencer. Welcome to the show, buddy what's up, man?

Rob Spencer: 0:51

how you doing? I'm hanging in there, how are you? Thanks for having me on, I think. Uh, I think this would be fun. I haven't done a podcast in a long time, so yeah, I love the platform, though I love. What do you think of my shirt? I haven't worn a black t-shirt or a white t-shirt in years. Probably I broke this shiny white shirt out just for you, my friend, yeah, and the glasses too, man, you rocked those before those are the content glasses, huh, it's the only way I can see stuff, no worries.

Blake Rea: 1:24

Let's get into your story. I don't want to like pop the seal on capacity and reserve, so like anybody who is curious about rob's story, like you, have to see this. I was lucky enough to get a private screening with the rob uh like a couple weeks ago in the parking lot on an iPad which I'd been begging him for months to see it, but I think you had said that it's going to be available on streaming services soon.

Rob Spencer: 1:55

So pretty soon, so sometime around mid June, we're going to try to start seeing if we can't negotiate some streaming deals. Well, honestly, I'm going to decide, if I can either, if I either want to negotiate and move forward with streaming deals or just throw it up on my YouTube channel and just say check it out, everybody, if you want.

Blake Rea: 2:15

Yeah, either way. Either way you can't go wrong. So whatever you're willing to tell us about you know, with the story, you know how you got here. I did kind of sizzle a little bit about your unique relationship with time and I know why. But if you can tell everybody why you're on a watch podcast, not only are you a watch enthusiast, but you have probably the most important relationship with time that I've ever heard.

Rob Spencer: 2:45

So I appreciate that. I appreciate that I'm going to drink. Hey, is there any way that we could not? I don't know if it's for angles on your camera or what, but I like the visual with you and me in there. Okay, yeah, I'll keep it like this.

Blake Rea: 3:02

I don't need, I don't. I don't do much editing, so I'm a very like, just straight blasted, that's the best.

Rob Spencer: 3:09

All right, let's do it. So, anyways, I'll give you my relationship with time first. Sure, and that will kind of lead into the capacity and reserve thing. Yeah, let's do it. So I have a very different take on time, because I really believe in living 100% in the now, totally present. It doesn't mean that I don't learn from yesterday or plan for tomorrow. It just means I take my consciousness and I leave it in present time mode. Right, and the reason I do that is because I believe that we're called to live that way. I believe that we are supposed to think about this.

Rob Spencer: 3:52

Whenever you think about past regrets, how does it make you feel Terrible? And whenever you worry about tomorrow's paycheck or rent or how does that make you feel so terrible? So it should let us know with our little built-in radars that we shouldn't be spending our time there. Right, fair enough. So? So the flip side is that, well, what if I think about, uh, past successes? Well, that takes you out of succeeding in the moment because you're focused on then and not now. Well, what if I think about all the good things that are coming tomorrow? That takes you out of the consciousness of the good things that we all have around us right now. So living present time, totally current, right here, right now, in this moment, is exactly where we should be as people. Yeah, so how does that bring me? To the? To the, my relationship with time. So my relationship with time and my connection with watches are because when I look at a watch, it's it's not just a time piece, it's not just art, it's not just all the cool things that come with watches, it's a continuous reminder to be present right now. I look at my wrist and it's four o'clock it's four o'clock. If I look at my wrist and it's six o'clock, it's six o'clock. So living in the moment is what you get every time you actually look down, at your risk, at your watch. You can't escape it. I cannot look at my watch and see tomorrow or yesterday. It only tells me what moment I am right now, which to me is kind of a little reminder to pay attention to what's going on, to focus on the people around me, the experiences I'm having right now, because today is all we're guaranteed, so let's maximize every moment. That is my connection to time. The reason why I'm connected to time brings us into the film.

Rob Spencer: 5:56

When I was 23, I was down surfing at a place called San Ofre Trestles. It's right, there're right next to each other down in Southern California we were camping, my wife and some friends. We were camping down there for the weekend. I got up extra early to go meet a friend who couldn't camp but he could come down and surf with me the next day. So I was just meeting him off the freeway there at the off ramp. We were just going to kind of go into. He would follow me into a parking lot, whatever the details.

Rob Spencer: 6:27

And while I was waiting there happened to be a whole nother story going on, disconnected with me, 100%. There was this man who was in Long Beach, california, visiting his parents. This man was a diabetic guy and he, for whatever reason, wasn't feeling that great because of his diabetes. So he thought that he should go home and his house was in Oceanside. He was going from Long Beach, california, to Oceanside, california, which is roughly an hour away, give or take 20 minutes, with no traffic. Actually, just give there's no taking 20 minutes on that, especially in Southern California traffic, sure, but as he's driving on the freeway he continued to feel worse and worse and worse until ultimately that guy slipped into what's called a diabetic coma where he's completely unconscious.

Rob Spencer: 7:23

What's called a diabetic coma where he's completely unconscious, holy coma hits the center divider of the freeway and manages to bounce off of that and veer up through all of the lanes of the freeway and up the off ramp without hitting another thing, except for the poor slob me that was sitting at the top of that off ramp. He T-boned me at 65 miles an hour. I happened to be in a Jeep at the time, so when he hit me he kind of caught me just behind my door. So the Jeep goes in the air and as it goes in the air it's also spinning. He goes right through me down the off ramp and I land on the side of my Jeep spinning in this direction. My head was in between the roll bar of the Jeep, which was on my neck, and the street, so I have the top in between me and the street, but that didn't really stop the impact. So I hit. The entire vehicle basically lands on my head. If that roll bar were even two inches closer to the door, it probably would have just pinched my head off, and that would have been it, to be quite honest. But I'm spinning with so much velocity I hit the curb that bounces me back up in the air.

Rob Spencer: 8:43

I hit a light post and over a six foot chain link fence and I land wheels down in the walkway that leads you down to the beach. And although I didn't spend a whole lot of time unconscious there, it was more like a flash as my world is coming to play. I just remember the, this Middle Eastern voice saying hey, your Jeep is on fire, jeep is on fire. You got to get out and as my world came to focus, that all started to make sense to me and I knew, um, that I'm in trouble. So I get myself out of the vehicle and I walk a couple hundred yards away. Um, I don't know why the, the middle-aged guy, jumped back into his vehicle and continued down his path, probably because we're in southern california and everybody's selfish, but at least he told me my jeep was on fire. So because that would have hurt. So he continues down his way.

Rob Spencer: 9:41

Now I'm sitting on the curb and I have to keep myself from going. I realize I do a quick assessment of my body. I realized my jaw is broken, so I can't swallow, I can't do anything, I just have to set forward, my head down, let the blood pour out of my mouth and keep myself from going into shock for 47 minutes before paramedics got there. Gosh, I just, I really just remember, trying to just stay calm. Don't let my heart rate get crazy, don't go unconscious. Whatever you do, don't go unconscious and do not lay down flat, because you will just choke and end up drowning right In your own blood or vomiting. If I go into shock as soon as the fire department paramedics show up, I go unconscious. So that's full blown, like.

Rob Spencer: 10:29

I believe that's just like hey God, stepping in fight or flight mode with human beings, that's what we're created to do. You know. We're created to really handle a lot of adversity, a lot of craziness. It's, you know, we're very complex in our design and we can. We get it. We hear stories like you know, little old ladies lifting cars off of their grandkids and stuff like that.

Rob Spencer: 10:55

That's what this was a version of that, right, yeah, so my first, uh, my first memories from from that moment forward is waking up in the hospital, strapped to a backboard. I remember the lights. I remember the nurses and the doctors coming in and telling me basically what's going on, asked me questions that I couldn't answer and, and as this, I'm going to kind of fast track this a little bit as things kind of continue to to progress. I was basically paralyzed on the right side of my body. This ear was ripped off. My jaw is broken in three spots. But the worst thing that happened is it took my memory from birth to that accident Total, complete amnesia.

Rob Spencer: 11:34

It never came back. That means I don't remember my family. That means I don't remember my friends. That means I don't have any memories of education. That means I don't have any life experiences. Education that means I don't have any life experiences. That means everything that you, everything that makes you make your decisions today, were all erased. All of that was gone. I was 23. Besides being physically beat up a blank canvas, besides being physically beat up a blank canvas, you know, and they tried to, they brought in photos and this was back in the 90s.

Rob Spencer: 12:12

So, yeah, photos and people and whatever they could they thought to jump start my, my brain, but nothing was working. Um, I did, however, collect all this data from the old me's life kind of thing, because they were telling they were sharing there. So there was a point when I decided, ok, I'm done being a guinea pig. My mouth is wired shut for probably two more months after I left it. My jaw is really trashed, all my teeth got knocked out. It was crazy. Anyways, I just told everybody I remembered and went home, checked myself out, went home. It was a big, it was look and that. And I was just trying to do what I thought would be best for the moment. Right, probably wasn't the best decision in hindsight. A lot of trouble came after that decision. In hindsight, a lot of trouble came after that, but, um, that's what I did in that moment. And so I went home and for the next 10 years, I lied to everybody about remembering, including the wife, that I didn't remember that I woke up to, which is wild, right, totally so, and every, obviously every problem I've ever had with her has to do with, like this, emotional disconnect, you know, but where she thought it was emotional disconnect. For in a humanity kind of a situation it was an emotional disconnect because of a complete amnesia situation. Yeah, but I didn't tell her that because I was lying to her about it. Sure and honestly, in my head I just thought it would be better for her.

Rob Spencer: 14:01

You know, I didn't tell my parents. They lived on the East Coast. I faked it for about six, seven times before they passed away. You know, I have four brothers. I didn't tell them until after my parents were dead because I just thought it'd be incredibly selfish to lay that burden on their deathbed doorsteps. You know, in their senior years of life it's not going to help me remember. So why would I do that to them? You know, and I figured my brothers, they probably couldn't keep their mouth shut. So I won't tell them either until my parents are gone. Then I told them. Interestingly enough, I only have a relationship with one brother, two brothers I only met once each and one brother I met a few times and but that's it. They have zero interest in reconnecting, that's crazy so what?

Rob Spencer: 14:56

what's interesting about that is I don't have the desire to do that. I will do it because you guys are my brothers, right? If you expect me to initiate and chase you down so I can have some kind of weird relationship with you, I don't even remember you that. That doesn't. That's not going to happen, right? So if you're not meeting me at the 50 yard line, we're not doing this. Yeah, I don't miss you, I don't even know you. You know that thing? It sounds brutal, yeah, but it's just the harsh reality of the situation. Yeah, so I got one relationship with one brother and that's about it. Of my entire family, other than that, it's my wife, my kid and me.

Rob Spencer: 15:33

That's it, it's crazy so you know, from there, uh, my life kind of goes on and I was able to accomplish some pretty cool things in life, I think because of my experience, because of what happened to me. You know I often say I wouldn't wish it on anybody but I wouldn't change it for myself. You know, I was a union guy working in the LA Harbor for Nissan or whatever at the time and I'm sure it was a great, safe job. That would have been fine. But I've lived a life that movies are made of it's. Yeah, I've had fantastic experiences. I've been all over the world, I've done things that have helped families in their worst places in life. But you know, it's been like I said, I wouldn't wish it on you but I wouldn't change it for me.

Blake Rea: 16:27

Yeah, and that I mean that's a perfect kind of uh, I guess capacity reserve goes into detail about like getting back on your feet, you know, like what happened, how it happened. Um, you know, you, you talk a little bit about time and your relationship with time and the film, but I mean the full story. It. It feels like you just started telling the story and capacity reserve kind of picks up from where you left off, in a weird way.

Rob Spencer: 17:01

That's kind of the case, right. So capacity reserve is about this capacity that we all have deep within us, and the more that we allow life's domestication process to dictate who we are as people, the less we could connect to that capacity. But it's there, we just have to get out of our own way, kind of thing. I went on to have a 20-year career in MMA. I have a couple of gyms. I can go to A 10-year career locating missing kids that were kidnapped and stuff One of the best in the country and since then I've started two charities, a blog that's blown up to a humongous outdoor kind of off-road passion of mine that's now rolled into working with brands and stuff. But I say that stuff not because I'm great. I say that stuff because I'm the dumbest guy in the room, always quite literally to the standards of society. Right, there's zero education. So why is it that the dumbest guy in the room can go on to accomplish successfully some pretty cool things where the, where the statistics are against us? Because I was free from the domestication process that we all go through from birth, teaching me who I can't be and what I can't do, all of the lessons of hurt through past relationships or even physical pain that make me hesitate on doing something. Those are all gone. There's no rhyme or reason. It doesn't make sense for me in my present Now. You know, I'm 30 years removed, so you know I have a lot of that. But back then those things didn't make sense to me in my present time consciousness, right. So I remember getting out of the hospital and quickly realizing that people, humanity is a mess. No, I don't know how anybody accomplishes anything. Everything is backwards. People cannot get out of their own way. It's wild. And then you, as I study humanity, I start to understand that a lot of that stuff is based on trauma. A lot of that stuff is based on disconnecting from our true purpose, right? So let's say I go hey, what's your purpose in life, blake? Can you tell me? Oh, you know, I really believe I was called to be a heart surgeon. I would tell you that is your passion, not your purpose, right? That makes sense. Our purpose is to be connected with God and to be connected with people and be connected with nature. That's why we are all created. We're all. Obviously there's people that don't don't believe in creation or believe in God and all that kind of thing, but you're never going to convince me otherwise because of my own very unique experience. But our purpose is to be in that connection. Our passion comes after that.

Rob Spencer: 19:57

So let's, let's take kind of on a tangent here, but now I'm going to follow my tangents are fun, man, they're fun. So let's take the uh, the middle-aged guy who turns 46 and, uh, he's overweight, has a lot of money but hates his job, leaves his wife, hooks up with a convertible and a woman half his age and thinks that's what he's missing in life. Sure, well, that's because his whole life, his purpose was to get to where he got. He lost at some point he lost sight of the grounding of a true purpose, or maybe he never had it because of that domestication process from birth.

Rob Spencer: 20:41

Right, your parents? They don't mean to do you harm as a baby, installing wisdom and lessons of life for you, right, your parents. They don't mean to do you harm as a baby, installing wisdom and lessons of life for you. Right, they're trying to make you succeed a normality stage. But normality sucks. Normality is addiction, normality is divorce, normality is fear and loss. So why would we be domesticating our kids to grow into that? It doesn't make sense. So, anyways, I would say that that guy is chasing what he thinks is purpose, but it's really passion, and when he finds his passion it's not rewarding enough, because what he's craving in his soul is purpose that's deep.

Blake Rea: 21:34

Um, I have to ask and this brings up, I guess, thoughts, right, because I'm a watch guy, this is a watch podcast and your, your relationship with time is is bonkers, but maybe you probably saw this question coming what was the first watch you remember wearing? After check this out? Not only, oh, man, I should have brought it with me here.

Rob Spencer: 21:58

It's in the other room. But, um, man, I should have brought it with me. Here it's in the other room. But, freestyle, a Shark watch. That was my first watch I got back Right. So, basie, coming out of the 80s, if you surfed in Southern California you wore a Shark watch. I don't know if you want to Google it, but they're made by Freestyle and they're kind of like G-Shock-y, but they're a lot smaller and I would assume they're made by freestyle and they're they're kind of like g shocky, but they're a lot smaller and I would assume they're not nearly as good.

Rob Spencer: 22:30

It's a digital watch and it's very colorful. But so that's probably my first, um, my first look at a watch, right? Um, that shark watch didn't really mean anything to me though, right. So what I do do, what I attach watches to, are life experiences, which a lot of collectors do, right. And my first significant piece and although it was a nice watch, it really is the story behind it that makes it so valuable to me is I had a student who had more money than you could count. It must be nice, but I know. But he was a train wreck as an individual, divorced like three times not a very good relationship with his kids. He was super stressed, overweight, overworked. He was an accountant, a very successful accountant that had an accounting firm and it just says you know he had I call it engineer brain, where you know it's not. It works a certain way. Right that engineer? You actually probably have it but, but you can, but you can actually you have yourself grounded.

Blake Rea: 23:43

I do, yeah, I have. I.

Rob Spencer: 23:44

I have engineer brain, but I have a detached sense of it yeah, like I over process, over analyze so most people can't stop over processing, over analyzing that have that way of thinking. This was the guy. So, anyways, um, we got to a point where where he got his life in balance and he got a reconnected with his kid and they had a great relationship. Now, in fact, his daughter even came in and lived with him and his business is doing great. He's in this relationship and this is now years, probably two years after we stopped training, and he comes back and he gives me a gift and he says I want to thank you for everything you've done. I said you know I'm, you're the guy who did it.

Rob Spencer: 24:34

I was just the deliverer of the message. You know, yes, you know, but through our relationship, the principles and the lessons of of absolute truth and the understanding of human nature is so valuable that it allowed me to reset my way of thinking. To this, this, this, this, this, I just want to say thank you. I just want to show you that I appreciate you. And he gave me this gift. I opened it up and this was late 90s and it was a two-toned black dialed submariner. Loved it, loved it. It was a cool watch. Obviously it's a great watch back then.

Blake Rea: 25:12

I think they're worth like 4500 bucks on the market or something like that, something like that. But it was a cool thing that he uh like that meant something.

Rob Spencer: 25:24

You you know what I mean and that's really what started me getting into the collection of watches back in the late 90s, early 2000s. Since then, that watch got stolen. I've never replaced it with another Rolex. I'm not even at a place where I could justify spending that kind of money on a watch, which kills me because I would love to have. There's a couple pieces that I really love that are just a little bit out of my range, uh, but that one, that one, hurt the most when it was lost and it meant the most when it was given yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Blake Rea: 26:02

Um, I I have. So I kind of want to like, I guess, peel back a little bit, because I have been on the record in multiple instances, because I look at time differently. I look at time as I look at watches as time machines. Not only that, tell the past, but tell the future, but ground you. So what I mean when I say that is like I can look at a watch that I'm wearing and say, like I remember when this happened, when I was wearing that watch, or that happened, or like you know, or I even think about like future accomplishments I know that sounds weird to say, but like I hope that when this happens I'm wearing this watch, right, so I'm so silly to say that's cool. But but how do you, how do you reframe and I I don't, I don't use it very much as a grounding mechanism like you do so how do you frame and and adapt into, like using time, a timekeeping device as as as like an anchor?

Rob Spencer: 27:10

that's it Right. It's a constant reminder of being present and remember. I believe that present is exactly where we should be.

Blake Rea: 27:21

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I guess it's hard for people who haven't experienced what you have to to cherish the moment, right, we all, we all live to, to better our lives, or to maybe even write some of your wrongs, you know, but we all forget about the moment that we're in usually, and I'm guilty of that too.

Rob Spencer: 27:45

Which is sad, right, because now is all you're guaranteed to have in your life. Right now, this very moment is all you're guaranteed, you know, because a minute from now you may drop dead. Yeah.

Blake Rea: 27:57

You know what I?

Rob Spencer: 27:57

mean yeah. And if you go through your whole life thinking about the next thing without spending time in this thing, your whole life flashes before your eyes one day and you're like man, I missed it all.

Blake Rea: 28:13

Yeah, eyes one day and you're like, man, I missed it all. Yeah, let's use this as a segue to project heal the land, which is where I mean, it's one of your, you know your non-profits, where you're, you know out to to heal the land, right? Um, how did that start? Like where? Where was the concept for, for that? And so for me, the.

Rob Spencer: 28:39

My first charity was uh called the academy care project, and that was a charity that I started within one of my martial arts gyms. That would allow not only us to not only allow the kids of the school and even the adults of the school the the students of the school to really engage in the community around us service projects, Right but that also gave me a back door for somebody who found me that I could help them go find their missing kid. That thing evolved into this very fine-tuned machine working with LA County Foster Care under a different name, with a whole bunch of leaders around me and that kind of thing. So I stepped away from that because my real passion was the moment I realized that without the connection of love, this is just good stuff. You know what I mean. It's not as meaningful as it should be. I believe that if I can connect people to nature, they will experience it in a way that changes their lives right. So I often say I don't believe that you could be in creation without coming to terms with the creator at least a little bit, and that could be like oh man, what a beautiful sunset that is. Oh man, look at that awesome looking tree can't believe that oak tree is 375 years old. That's wild to think about, right. But all those things are so awesome you cannot experience them without being changed right. So my real passion to start project till the Land was to connect people through nature, or connect people to nature through the experiences that we can give them at the charity level, at the service level. So in the beginning we worked a lot with the Forest Service here in SoCal. I worked a lot with BLM, the Bureau of Land Management here in SoCal. I worked with BLM, the Bureau of Land Management here in SoCal. We did tree plants and we built OHV staging areas. We did all this cool stuff that would never get done without outside organizations. But two years ago we kind of settled into the lane of education and now I work. I spend most of my time getting high school and junior high kids from public schools out on hiking trails and it's awesome, that sounds fun.

Rob Spencer: 31:23

A lot of those guys never even get a. You know a lot of our inner city kids so they never even get out of the city usually. Yeah, you know the cars and the concrete and the violence and the graffiti and the trash and the homelessness and the and all the things that they have to experience every day, that they've numbed themselves to. They get to step away from that and experience what creation is before man created cities and town and chaos and you know that kind of thing, and not only when people go into nature do you experience these things. But you come to a point of realization Eventually. I think it happens subconsciously right away, but eventually that we are, we are a part of this ecosystem, not just a consumer of it, and what we do matters and that changes hopefully behaviors and stuff like that to take care of this place yeah, I guess, as, as being you know friends with you, I know what's in your watch collection.

Blake Rea: 32:36

but what watches do you trust when you're in the field, when you're going for hikes? You need something rugged, you need a field watch. I wore this just one for you, the Hamilton.

Rob Spencer: 32:48

I was going to say my Hamilton khaki field expedition is my favorite watch on the trails. That's what I figured. I love it, I love it. I'm going to grab it real quick. This is going to take a second. I'm sorry.

Blake Rea: 32:56

Yeah.

Rob Spencer: 32:56

Yeah, for sure, I got this one little box handy. Look at that.

Blake Rea: 33:01

Oh, perfect, you can see that poster while we're waiting.

Rob Spencer: 33:03

Yeah, I got one little box close to me, so I'll show these are probably my most used watches, right, this one is. I buy watches and I think, oh man, this watch is beautiful, it's so awesome, and then I always find myself going back to the same watch for the adventures, and it's this Hamilton khaki field expedition, here with a white dial. Yeah, I love it. I love it. It's super comfortable, it's, I know it's gonna work.

Blake Rea: 33:39

I you know what influences a guy like you to buy a watch, um, and then we'll jump back into the rest of the so depending on this, like this watch I got when I really got into the charity stuff, right, right, um, right.

Rob Spencer: 33:53

I love the ocean, so things that inspire me to be in the water. Well, when I see a watch, if it inspires me to want to be more adventurous, I'll buy it, I think. Or if it's like, hey, I'm going to buy a watch for this occasion. You know that kind of thing. I bought one watch, which is a Surf Rider Foundation collaboration, and it's a watch that I never wear because it's too small for me, but it's like an iconic thing, sure, and it's this 5600 G-Shock right.

Rob Spencer: 34:30

Maybe I'd wear it one day, but I don't know. So I have my the eco drive. This is another. This is another big, reliable, a stupid eco drive by citizen. They're awesome, they're awesome, they're totally so. This is my fishing watch. I wear that when I fish all the time.

Blake Rea: 34:49

It's a good one. It's a good one.

Rob Spencer: 34:52

It is my. This is a watch that I know I got off the tangent a little bit, but now I got these watches in front of me. This watch is by a company called mtm and, uh, I think what they do is I think they actually make components for other brands and little mtm brand is their kind of deal yeah, but this is a very cool field watch, but I'll tell you what I hate about it also is it looks great right?

Rob Spencer: 35:19

oh yeah, totally. It's very rugged. Great looking watch. I love the crown protector, but on their lugs, let's see if you can get this close. See how sharp those are. Oh yeah come on dude just right off the lugs, just watch it. I'm halfway tempted to grind these or dribble these down myself, if it didn't have this plating on it, you know, because this would be perfect for that. It looks great on the wrist. Look at this thing. This is money.

Blake Rea: 35:44

It does look, yeah, that's a great, looks awesome but it's too pointy.

Rob Spencer: 35:51

All right now we got I got three dive watches all right in front of me that are all very, they all play very specific roles. Uh, one is this I bought this because I never owned a seiko and I and I've up to this point when I got this watch, I was was always a Swiss watch knob. Right, I didn't want to. Don't even talk to me, unless this was remember before one oh, a little bit of back history, when I, when my Rolex, got stolen, it really sucked the life out of me.

Blake Rea: 36:28

Yeah, sold off probably 35 watches.

Rob Spencer: 36:31

I had probably 35 nice Swiss watches in my collection at that point. I just got rid of them, gave them away, sold whatever. Most of these gave them away because I was crushed by that. Whatever, I'm an idiot. Now we're back in the game.

Rob Spencer: 36:48

I got a few Swiss watches and I never owned a Seiko. I'm like, okay, I'm going to buy a Seiko. Okay, you got the 007. You got the what do they call it? The Tuna. Those are great watches, but those are kind of like that's what you get when you want to buy something. So this one is kind of like that too. But I bought this one because I like the color of the dial mainly, and the cushion case was very comfortable on the wrist. And this, this king turtle yeah, it's the grenade one. I don't know if you can see that green, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I changed the strap because single straps evidently are horrible and they're very uncomfortable. It's super rigid. I mean, it was like hardcore, like I expect to see rubber, like that strap on my car tire, not on my wristwatch band. Right, right, I love it. The next one is probably my most worn watch I think I know I love it it's a beast.

Rob Spencer: 37:49

it's a beast and this actually is a bit of a workhorse. Whenever I do things, you know I do some, I do some search and rescue stuff. I do some stuff like that. That's what inspired the purchase of this watch, but I love the look. It's never failed me. It's a quartz watch and I I believe there's a place in everybody's collection for courts, by the way totally, totally um, and this is my marathon.

Rob Spencer: 38:18

Oh yeah, it's the big boy too. Yeah, but when you're wearing a big jacket, you want this monster, you know, popping out of the bottom of it. You don't want, you don't want the 41 millimeter, you need this beast. But you know, plus, I'm a big fat guy with big fat wrists, so I need a, I need a marathon at some point.

Rob Spencer: 38:38

I need two more marathons. They just released an aviation one. It's. It kind of looks diverage but it's, but it's the most beautiful colored blue on the bezel, on the dial it's and and it's kind of like a bead blasted finish. So the blue looks amazing. But the other one I want I forget the name of it, but it's a dive watch and I want to get the 41 millimeter version of it. But it's their Arctic dial, so it's white. It looks awesome and it has around the markers. It has the dots. See how how these have the tubes, the trident tubes. Yeah, yeah, this has just the loom dots. So I forget whatever model that is, but it is awesome, that's. That's probably the next marathon I want, and then I wouldn't mind checking out the blue one, but marathon's a good one.

Rob Spencer: 39:33

But certainly, not least, this is actually my dress watch. Okay, and this is most people would be like really, yeah, I don't do nice things. What can I say? I don't need a nice dress watch. It's by Christopher Ward, c60, ceramic dial gives a little dressy look. That's my dress watch. Dope, dope. If we have any brands out there that want to dress me up a little nicer try, you could try but I don't know.

Rob Spencer: 40:04

To be quite honest, the fit and finish on this chris ward probably feels nicer than my old sub wow, that's a bold statement.

Blake Rea: 40:15

I know Especially considering the price point too.

Rob Spencer: 40:17

I mean they're very aggressively priced. Yeah, well, yeah, the price point too, and I'm not necessarily talking about the art of watchmaking. Yeah, you know, because you know they do their own Rolex is what 97% in-house built. I don't even know 87% or 90%.

Rob Spencer: 40:32

Yeah, chris Ward, you know they did the thing, but then they put the Salidas in there, but just the fit and finish feels really nice, very nice, and I love the philosophy of Christopher Ward, how they're like hey look, we're going to go direct to consumer, we'll mark it up three times what it costs us to make it. That's it. Everybody knows. Now that's our game, have at it guys. You know, and I've I've checked out a bunch of chris wards and they've all been pretty nice, but this one is my dress fair enough now I got one watch to show you that I think I saw your youtube video about it.

Rob Spencer: 41:11

I'm going to do a YouTube video about it soon Okay.

Rob Spencer: 41:16

I want to talk about that soon. I had some changes coming up, but this watch, this one. In fairness, the company sent this one out to me. These are the ones I bought, but this one the company sent me out because I asked them. I thought what they were doing was kind of cool and creative and, although it wouldn't be like this legacy time piece, you know that you would keep in your collection and pass down to generations. The price didn't reflect that either. It's like 400 bucks or whatever, but this is made by original grain. Have you ever heard of original grain?

Blake Rea: 41:50

I haven't so original grain uses.

Rob Spencer: 41:52

They integrate wood into their watch designs so like if you look on that bracelet, those center yeah, that's wood you look at that dial, that's wood, that's I have what it is those wooded, wooded and hybrid watches that are.

Blake Rea: 42:09

They're very popular, like even cool looking.

Rob Spencer: 42:12

You know that's different. I's different. I appreciate the creativity. That's what I appreciate. This is from their military line, so this is a bigger one. This is a solar-powered movement, so it's got a citizen movement in it. And the wood in this one a lot of their watches have cool, like polo wood and like really cool where it really shows. This one's a little bit more discreet because it's the wood from ammo crates that they ship all the ammunition in. Oh wow, you know, like the little crates that you see go into big crates. Then they go all over the world and those big crates are actually made out of wood and that's what they made this out of. So this one's cool, you know cool. You know the class, whatever. Not that great, but that's why the wood integrate and you can even, but the wood integration is super cool. So I'll make sure to putting some in on that. That's what I had in front of me.

Blake Rea: 43:11

Anyways, yeah, and I was waiting for you to pull out your, uh, your marin. Oh, yeah, well, it's because I, I let my kid borrow it. Oh, he's using it right now in my a, in my.

Rob Spencer: 43:22

Yeah, it is in my but I did just repost a video on it. That's what I was saying. I just saw, you just saw that let's bash g-shock before we go on any further. Okay, so so, look, I got, here's what I got. Here's what I want to bash about g-shock. I got two beefs. Two beefs one would g-shock themselves, one with the, the fanboy, blind, hypocritical overthinking of g-shock fans. Let's start with the. Let's start with the g-shock beef, okay all of their straps are horrible trash.

Rob Spencer: 44:02

Why do they make those awful resin straps? They're uncomfortable. They're disgusting when you get sweaty. It is a you can. You can pay one hundred dollars, you can pay five thousand dollars. You're still going to get that crappy resin strap. That is what they say. It's durable. Come on, dude, it's awful g-shock. I will not buy g-shock until they stop putting those stupid straps on them and they don't make them very easy to like change the strap either. You'd like take?

Rob Spencer: 44:37

the whole like like frame off yeah, if I gotta change the strap, I gotta put like these weird little things ends on it. And now my already way too obnoxious looking g-shocks even looks more obnoxious looking because it's got in links on there and going to a little skinny nylon. Come on, man, that's stupid. Yeah, g-shock, come on, pull it together, guys, you've been around long enough to know that there's more materials that you can rely on than the stupid resin straps that you do. Agree or disagree?

Blake Rea: 45:08

agree, all right, hopefully they're listening, though they probably don't listen to people like us no, they definitely don't listen to people like us.

Rob Spencer: 45:14

No, they definitely don't listen to people like me. All right, g shock fans, I'm, hopefully I'm going to educate you guys, all right, hopefully, we're going to take this opportunity to educate ourselves on the idea of watch knob. Elites that love G shock and hate Apple watches are just being stupid. It's the same digital watch platform. One just has more features, right? So if you love G shock and you hate Apple watches, I'm saying you're dumb. That's what I'm saying, right? It does not make sense to oh apple watch. What tell me the beef on apple watch? You tell me, what is the world? Why does the world hate apple watches? Because they sell more watches than any other company, probably than the top 10 companies combined, every year.

Blake Rea: 46:08

I I think I think people hate on them if could weigh in because it's more of a consumer tech product than it is like a utility powered timepiece.

Rob Spencer: 46:19

So why is it more of a consumer tech product than a G-Shock or any digital watch? As far as that goes?

Blake Rea: 46:26

I think maybe the product cycle, like the life cycle, has a little bit to do with it, you know, because you'd be lucky to get three years out of Apple Watch.

Rob Spencer: 46:34

So the difference and software with it. You know, because you're you'd be lucky to get three years out of apple watch. So the software you can buy an apple watch that will last you a long time. It you can get more out of it. The problem is they just create better versions.

Blake Rea: 46:47

Well, they, you know the software, they're like oh, three years, we're not going to support, you know, then it starts to like run slow and then like all the features and this and you know it's like they, they, they're, they're constantly chasing new features and new innovations, when you don't really see that so much in the watch industry, like with g-shocks, for example well, yeah, you don't see that at all, because g-shocks still use resin straps for crying out loud.

Rob Spencer: 47:11

So the digital watch platform, regardless of marketing strategy behind the watch itself, the concept is the same. Yeah, yeah, just because you say one has a different life because of the battery than the other one, that's a battery issue, not a watch issue. Sure, you would like apple to use more traditional batteries so we don't have a life cycle that's shorter. But if they put a different battery in there, the tech between their watch and a digital watch is the same. Yeah, yeah, I can see that. Give me some more. Give me some more beef. Give me some more.

Blake Rea: 47:51

I mean, I'm a huge fan of apple watches and apple products and, um, you know, I feel like watches are. You know, now we've got, we've transcended what watches used to be, which was a utility, a purpose-built utility function, and now you know, I mean, you know, having an apple watch, I can put 30 apps on my wrist. You know, whether it's tracking stress or tracking sleep or tracking activity, like how how can you hate on that?

Blake Rea: 48:22

And then, and then you have people that are going to transcend the Apple watch Like, uh, like I was, like all the people that are listening to this podcast know, you know that that an Apple watch just doesn't scratch the edge, or maybe you used to wearing it. And then you're like, no, you know that that an Apple watch just doesn't scratch the edge, or maybe you used to wearing it. And then you're like, okay, this looks silly when I, you know, go out to like a cocktail or like a, like a date or whatever, right.

Blake Rea: 48:45

So you've transcended and and it just doesn't do it for you. So I mean, in a normal day, I mean I wear two, I wear an Apple watch for the tracking aspects of it, and then I wear, you know, and in today's sense, a hamilton, you know, or whatever I'm wearing, because it just doesn't. I don't feel like I'm wearing a watch, I feel like I'm wearing a piece of tracking technology, right?

Rob Spencer: 49:09

yeah, I, I agree, that tells time, right. Right, I mean, yeah, I don't even I I use it for the tracking aspects.

Blake Rea: 49:13

I I use it for the tracking aspects. I don't use it for the time aspects.

Rob Spencer: 49:17

What? What I'm saying is that the idea that I kind of agree with that's the, that's the thing, Same thing with the phone, right? So like, when was the last time you made a phone call? Oh, I hate when people call me. You, you can't text. What's wrong with you, Blake? Why would you call me? Especially out of the blue, especially out of the blue.

Rob Spencer: 49:36

Getting back to the watch idea, I'm saying that that is all just marketing and branding of the product, Because your Bluetooth-connected G-Shock that everybody loves tracks your Garmin. Makes a cooler looking watch than the Apple Watch? I think I think so too. They track, that's what they do. They have all of these features. Anything that's digital that could connect is the same. It's the same thing. If you hate Apple because you just want to hate Apple, just say I hate Apple because I want to eat Apple.

Rob Spencer: 50:15

You hate, Apple because you think it's so different than a G shock. Please educate yourself.

Blake Rea: 50:21

You sound dumb right, if, if, if you could build the ultimate watch, what would that look like?

Rob Spencer: 50:31

So I also don't own an Apple watch, by the way, okay, but I'm not opposed to having one. Sure, yeah, I could build. My favorite type of watch is three hand, three hand numbered hashes, no date. I have about as simple as you could get when it comes to watch. Now, what I would do, though, it would have to be a certain size and it would have to be a certain spec so far as a durability factor, because it would be the ultimate adventure watch. I would build an ultimate adventure watch that does nothing but tell the time, no date, no, nothing. It would be super precise to where you can now track on your set. I don't want chronographs, I don't want any of that stuff. I want three hands, a simple, clean, minimalistic but contemporary looking dial in a beefy, rugged package made out of titanium.

Blake Rea: 51:41

That's what I would build no complications Zero.

Rob Spencer: 51:45

It sounds stupid. Right, I am a simple man, blake. A simple man, only complication Tell me what time it is.

Blake Rea: 51:55

Okay, yeah, I mean mean you have with the expedition there, you have the, the compass, which is, which is nice for what it is that you do, right yeah, I mean it's cool but I guess not not used by you, huh no, I've used it to try it, you know.

Rob Spencer: 52:11

But uh, I pretty much don't get lost when I you know yeah, do your homework on the front half, you don't get screwed on the back yeah, yeah, let's talk about some of the content tell me what you would build.

Blake Rea: 52:26

Oh, it would definitely have to be a super complicated like flyback chronograph, like maybe I don't know, I don't even know, I haven't even thought about it. Um, you know, I'm a utility powered guy like I want a watch that can do what I needed to do and I mean, my favorite complication is by far chronograph. Um, I do see practical utility and having like a, like a gmt watch, you know, because you can use it, I mean not only as a compass but you can use it as a second might be the most practical one yeah, yeah, right, um, but I find myself trading into chronographs.

Blake Rea: 53:01

So, um, and stupidly enough, I mean, I just love the flyback complication for whatever, now that I ever use it or need it, or whatever but I, I, I find myself, when I have a chronograph, tracking little little moments of my day, like, you know, like, because I'm about efficiency, right, you know, because you brought it out that I have that engineering brain, so I'm like, oh, how long did this take me? Like, you know, like I'm going to the grocery store, like how long is this going to take? Or you know, okay, I'm editing a video, like maybe I can do this in an hour. You know, like, I'm always constantly like tracking and comparing myself to you know, my, my guesstimation of how much time this is going to consume. So, right, when I wear a chronograph, I always, I always do do that, um, but but yeah, so I haven't really thought too much about it.

Blake Rea: 53:50

But, um, and people have asked me, like a dress watch, would it look like a? No, no, it would have to be like a utility, like a purpose-built tool watch, like a tool watch. Yeah, I always find myself faced like if I'm facing the barrel of a gun, you know, and a tool watch would be the one that I would have to to go for a watch that I can keep up with, a watch that's rugged. Not that I'm as adventurous as you, but I, I tend to be rough with my things and I tend to um, like, the stuff that I own usually doesn't last very long. So you know something that I know that can keep up with me. You know, should I decide to, you know whatever right, and so I funny go ahead.

Blake Rea: 54:37

So funny, funny enough, I was, um, I was at the, uh, like I went, I did like a like a spa day with like a massage, like the other day, the other day, and I took one watch with me, you know, yeah, yeah, I was just like I needed a good massage, right.

Rob Spencer: 54:52

So I went to the fontaine blue like did their whole spa thing and you live in vegas, but you got like, that's what they, that's what vegas people do, they go to.

Blake Rea: 55:00

Maybe not me, not me, but I did that day and I wore. I know this is a lot of people hate, right, a lot of people hate on hubla, but I wore my hubla and it's a titanium sports watch and um as I got up why do people hate hublais so bad?

Blake Rea: 55:16

because they're overpriced. I think you know they're overpriced. They don't have any horological significance, is you know what people tend to to say? And, and you know, I can't disagree with the fact that they're overpriced. But they sell, they sell, people sell them and people buy them and, um, I would never pay retail for one, you know, and if you're that guy, that's fine, cool, whatever. Like you know you're, you're like the guy that gave you the, the rolex. You've got, you know, more money I wouldn't say more money than cents.

Blake Rea: 55:45

But you know, you've, you've, you've clearly got pockets it's relevant it's always relevant to the money you make, right but, uh, when I was wearing that watch, I like stepped out of the um, I stepped out of like the hot tub and like slipped and like busted my ass, man, my watch went face first into the tile, yeah, you know, and I was like, oh well, there's, yeah, that watch is destroyed. Did it damage? Not a single bit, not a thing. I couldn't even, I couldn't even tell, I couldn't even tell that I hit it.

Rob Spencer: 56:15

So I mean that right, there is the definition of a good watch, right?

Blake Rea: 56:21

I would think so. I mean not again, not at $7,600 or whatever. They sell for eight grand, you know. But you know the price I paid under three grand. Yes, yes so.

Rob Spencer: 56:31

What is your? I'm trying to, I'm trying to do something here real quick. I'm looking for something while I'm talking, but sure, what is your favorite right now? Because it's always going to be subjective and it's always going to change. Right now, what's your favorite watch company?

Blake Rea: 56:49

I think you already know the answer. What is it, doxa? What's my?

Blake Rea: 56:55

favorite uh, I think doxa too. That's right, it is. Yeah, I think we've talked about that. I was gonna say hamilton there for a second, but I'm such a fan of doxa right now I I was. The reason why is because they're just the epitome of that right. Like they know their lane, they stay in it, like they make you know what dive watches that are rugged, you know, built to last, built for a lifetime. I mean, they're not spending money on on these crazy ambassadors and and overpriced in-house.

Rob Spencer: 57:29

What is my? You'll know the answer, I think. What is my favorite watch in the industry today that I want so bad?

Blake Rea: 57:40

Well, I mean, I think you've talked about the 300, right, which one, though? Which one?

Rob Spencer: 57:45

The professional, the one that I have, the limited edition the Clive Cussler.

Blake Rea: 57:50

Oh, that's right, the Clive.

Rob Spencer: 57:51

Cussler Black Nile. Yeah, black Nile.

Blake Rea: 57:54

Yeah, they should get on that. I hope they will.

Rob Spencer: 57:57

I doubt it will. I'm just a nobody knucklehead, yeah Well they've been.

Blake Rea: 58:00

They've been on the podcast before and I've tried to put put you on their radar.

Rob Spencer: 58:09

Yeah, I would love that. I. I would be look, without being at risk of sounding obnoxious, I would be so good for them, more than like this big YouTube type blah, blah, blah. Grassroots, down to earth, boots on the ground. That's where I've always thrived when it comes to working with brands and I would be so good for them. So good, I couldn't, couldn't disagree.

Rob Spencer: 58:39

All right, couldn't disagree number three before we move on. Number three watch that I would like to have, but I don't think I'll never buy. I'll ever buy because I already own one is the blue expedition, but I want it on a bracelet. Okay, number two, watch. What's your number three?

Blake Rea: 59:03

um, you know, my, my number three for me or for for you? Oh dude, I don't even know. I'm at a point where I'm starting to trend. I feel this sounds so weird, but I'm starting to transcend watch collecting oh yeah, like no, I mean you, you know how many watches I have, like I've got everything.

Rob Spencer: 59:18

You just appreciate whatever's in front of you.

Blake Rea: 59:20

Yeah, I appreciate what. I'm starting to get to that moment where I appreciate what I own and I appreciate wearing the watches that I own. And you know, I'm lucky enough that I can get a taste of brands who send me loaner watches or whatever that fulfills that need of buying something. But I did just buy a couple of vintage Zeniths. I posted it on my Instagram story. I bought two vintage Zeniths that I'm going to get restored which I'm super stoked for. That'd be cool. Yeah, they're so cool. They're from the late 60. I'm super stoked. That'd be cool. Yeah, they're so cool. They're from the the 60s, like the late 60s. Yeah, that'd be cool. And I just think they're so cool because, like you, had to be a crazy ass dude to wear one of those in the 70s you know, just because of their bold case architecture and just I mean, they're, just, they're, they were.

Blake Rea: 1:00:10

They were literally tanks in the 70s. That's rad, that's rad. So yeah, yeah, I'm excited.

Rob Spencer: 1:00:19

Number two for me, believe it or not, I don't have a GMT. I've always wanted one, but I never want to get a cheap one, right One that I want, one that I would keep like I wanted to. I wanted to like represent my first GMT watch, kind of thing. Anyways, this one popped up as by Hamilton and I really like it. I really like it. That's probably number two for me right now. If I were to pick a watch, that'd be number two. That's probably number two for me right now. If I were to pick a watch, that'd be number two.

Rob Spencer: 1:01:07

But there's a huge gap between number two and number one, and that is, of course, the Clive Cussler. I got to find it. The black, yeah, black dial watch too good, it's too good. I like the tan dial too. You know I don't dislike the tan at all. I in fact, in many ways I like it more in the sense of it represents. It reminds me of, like sand dunes and adventure and treasure hunting and all that right, sure. But the black one is super cool and it, uh the the dial is almost a little, almost subtle with the yeah, yeah.

Rob Spencer: 1:01:59

But there's the. I do like that one too. It's good, so good. I don't know if I'd get the black one or that one. I probably would. I don't know. I like them both. There's a big gap. And look, there are watches out there. I mean, we're just dreaming. So I could pick a million dollar watch, sure, but what I want more than any other watch is that doxa that's crazy in the wild.

Blake Rea: 1:02:29

Yeah, I dot, I have a. I have a very weird relationship with Doxa in the sense that Doxa was one of those brands that, like, eluded me for so long. Like they were on my radar, like I loved just the utility aspects of like, hey, this is a tool, like, use it like a tool, beat it up, like, if something goes wrong, like we'd love to see how much you can destroy this. You know the type, the type of vibe that I got they've never said that, but that's the, the vibe that I've got, and um, and I, I they eluded me for so long. I would go traveling and I would try to see if I could, if I get hands-on with the doxa, and every, every um place I'd go, like the I could just never find one. And then, eventually, like, I reached out to their rep, um, and I told this story also on the doxa pod podcast.

Blake Rea: 1:03:25

But, um, you know, then, you know, a few weeks I don't know, it seemed like a few weeks later, we were, you know, planning an event here and I got hands-on with, you know, doxa for the first time and and I just saw, you know, you know what the hype was about. You know, because I'm not gonna lie like I, I was influenced by some of the hype from the brand um. So so, ever since then, I just knew I had to add one, and then I bought my 300t um, then I um, I bought the um, the sub 200, the, the limited that they did with uh, art of time, which is a caribbean dealer in saint martin, um, and I'm thinking about my next, my next one, like what my next doxo will look like. You know, I'm not sure. I like the sub 600. I like the carbon. I like the carbon, full loo like carbon is amazing.

Rob Spencer: 1:04:18

The carbon with the blue. I like the carbon white dude smoking. The carbon white is cool too. It's a full dial. The carbon with the blue.

Blake Rea: 1:04:27

For me is smoking carbon baby blue or the carbon dark blue. I love that baby blue, okay, I like the dark blue too.

Rob Spencer: 1:04:35

The dark blue is what came to mind first. The Caribbean I really do love the baby blue, yeah. So for me docks was always. I knew they existed, didn't really know much about them. I surfed my whole life that kind of thing, but I never really started looking into them until I got into the boat component here of being on the ocean, yeah.

Rob Spencer: 1:04:58

But then I'm like, oh, I want to buy a cool watch that's going to kind of commemorate me getting into this boat life. This is going to be forever. I love the ocean and you know. So that's what it kind of brought up. I kind of brought it up on my radar. So I'm checking them out and for what I do as a man, like just personally, my lifestyle on the water, that watch is like that's what they're built for me to a t, me too, yeah, if, um.

Rob Spencer: 1:05:33

And then from then I was just like oh, man, man, I love it, I love it. But then, you know, I got my wife threatening to kill me If I spend that much money. She doesn't get it Right, she doesn't get it Clearly.

Blake Rea: 1:05:43

But yeah, come on, if that's not even that much money that's not even that much money, not, I think they're, I think they're really, I think they're reasonably priced.

Rob Spencer: 1:05:58

I do too, I do too but especially when you look at some of their who doesn't love watches like you, love watches my wife hates, watches, she hates that she hates yeah, she's like another one, but she supports me and she understands that.

Blake Rea: 1:06:10

That's what makes me happy well, my wife doesn't, so there you go, that's all right so you talked about kind of consolidating, which is really challenging to do, and I've actually went through a consolidation period recently, just getting rid of a lot of the watches that I don't wear. I sold a watch yesterday to a personal friend and I know it helped me understand that it's going to go to good hands. But so you talked about consolidating once your watch is getting rid of things, yeah, um, with what you have now in your watch collection, is there one that that you'd never part with? You know? Yeah, I think why believe it or not.

Rob Spencer: 1:06:55

I mean, it's probably how that batch I just showed you, right? So here's what I did when I, when I consolidated, I went to only tool watches. Yeah, if it's not a adventure watch, I'll say even more than tool watch it's an adventure watch but, like I wouldn't necessarily, wouldn't necessarily consider, I would consider this a tool watch, but maybe not an adventure watch. You know, maybe if I put it on a different strap, I don't know, but I like it, don't get me wrong, but it's not, it's not a, it's not a Doxa or it's even not a Marathon. You know what I mean. Right, right, right. So if I were just to narrow that down, this is probably the most comfortable watch on my wrist that I own, the Seiko, but that's not it. What would be? It would be between these two. It's Chris Ward, and the reason why I picked the Chris Ward is because I think for the money this watch really delivers.

Blake Rea: 1:07:58

You've got a lot of versatility there it just delivers really on a nato like boom field, you know, or divers watch, or probably my favorite watch as of now.

Rob Spencer: 1:08:09

Okay, and it would be replaced by the doxa in a heartbeat, but it's kind of along the same line.

Blake Rea: 1:08:14

Yeah, I'm gonna have to send this to doxa and see. First of all they say they reply for one.

Rob Spencer: 1:08:20

But so this marathon is probably my favorite watch. It gets the most wrist time.

Blake Rea: 1:08:29

But you know, again, it's hand in hand with that style of watches, as what the I want, I, I want one of those like marathon, like no rats dude, those things are sick dude.

Rob Spencer: 1:08:39

Yeah, like little radiation logo.

Blake Rea: 1:08:41

Yeah, you had government use for sure.

Rob Spencer: 1:08:45

You know MTM these with the, with the lugs that practically chop your hand off every time you wear the watch they make a watch that has a radiation detector.

Blake Rea: 1:08:58

I have seen that. I have seen that pretty well. That's a super cool. That's a super cool watch. I actually reached out to them to make some content about it and I got ghosted but it's not because of you, it's because of them.

Rob Spencer: 1:09:08

I have some experience with those guys. Yeah, they are, um, I don't know if they just do this, I don't know if they just have this brand so they can show their real business to watchmakers that buy cases and stuff like that. You know what I mean. You can go with this brand. This is owned by I forget the name of the brand, I want to think it's called like American something but what they do is they just make all the parts and they sell them to micro branch. Yeah, and that's their main line, you know. And then MTM watches is owned by them and they have these cool watches, but uh, there's I don't know why, but they're all. They always land flat with me.

Blake Rea: 1:09:53

Yeah, like this.

Rob Spencer: 1:09:55

Good to know Cool.

Blake Rea: 1:09:55

It's good to know, it's cool looking Good to know for the future.

Rob Spencer: 1:09:57

This is a cool looking watch. It is. It just doesn't hit it for me. You know what I mean. It's flat Granted. If I ever did want to watch or work with these guys again, I probably just killed it. But I wouldn't recommend buying an MPM watch. They don't listen to us?

Blake Rea: 1:10:16

for sure, probably not docs of mine, but I don't know about anybody.

Rob Spencer: 1:10:20

Well, docs is about a million times better than mtm, so if you wanted to have somebody listen, it's better to have docs. But uh, mtm watch sucks let's get so.

Blake Rea: 1:10:32

I've got a couple more questions here.

Rob Spencer: 1:10:33

You want me to call any more watches out as sucking.

Blake Rea: 1:10:37

We can say that for a later one. We're probably better off moving. Yeah, I, I'm not one of those guys that likes to call out people.

Rob Spencer: 1:10:47

I don't really call out. I know you don't, but I will also be honest with my opinion.

Blake Rea: 1:10:52

Yeah, yeah, your, your, your opinions are. I will also be honest with my opinion. Yeah, your opinions are valid. They're valid concerns of probably 90% of the market. G-shock.

Rob Spencer: 1:11:00

Stupid resin bands suck. Never own a G-Shock MTM watch. Lands flat, practically cut your wrist off. Never own an MTM watch. I can hear them hitting the floor. Hit me up, boys. I need one of those Clives.

Blake Rea: 1:11:15

I love them. I can hear you tossing them and hitting the floor, for sure. Um, all right, so this is going to be super hard. This probably will be. Well, I got two really hard questions that I've saved intentionally. So, obviously, when you think about watches, you know you talk a lot about time being a valuable asset, so I'm going to come back to that. But you know, I don't know too many people that engrave watches. But if you were to engrave something on the back of a watch that would ground you or you know, or root you yeah, um, you know, a personaled whatever what would you engrave on the back of those that watch?

Rob Spencer: 1:11:59

forever. That's a good one. So I love cool case backs. Like I'm not really an exhibition case back guy, I like a solid case back that has a cool thing on it. You, yeah, yeah, um. So, with that being said, there's some cool imagery that I would put on one, but if we're talking like a motto or something like that, it would be along the lines something that you can read, like when you're like shit's hitting the fan and you're like like let me take this off and, for you know, get back to to ground zero.

Rob Spencer: 1:12:37

I would say something. I. It would have to be something along the lines of like, um, uh, it would have to be short Cause on the back of the case that was.

Blake Rea: 1:12:48

That's the reason why I made this hard, hard question.

Rob Spencer: 1:12:50

I would say it would be, I would say it would be, I would do something like um present time, present time, that would be one thing. Maybe, uh, the time is now would be something along that long. That thread that would bring me back to right now, in this moment.

Blake Rea: 1:13:11

Totally, totally engravable too, which is nice, because I don't even know how to answer that question. So this is probably one of the more important questions, right? So we've talked about time being one of those real important assets to you, the most important thing that you'll never get back. We all know why at this point and we all know why at this point. So let's talk about the future of Rob Spencer. What do you plan to do now that you appreciate time, and how do you plan to spend your time in the future? I know you and I have talked personally about film production and we've talked about working on new projects and things like that, but I'm curious to hear again from your voice.

Rob Spencer: 1:13:57

So this sounds crazy, but what I've gotten to a place in my life where I'm fortunate enough to be able to just do passion projects Right so I have not it sounds stupid is what it does. It's not crazy stupid.

Rob Spencer: 1:14:16

So, I will not do anything that isn't fun for me, right? I? Granted, that's not realistic in a lot of things in life, but more importantly than thinking I'm doing something fun is I'm having fun in everything I do, right? So I probably am not very employable as an employee, so I'll never have a job. I've always done my own thing, I've always had small business or whatever. I've never you know. But after my last film, I'm I I'm deciding and I'm deciding if I have the bug or not to create films. I have three films that are in the pipe, if I want them, all based on the nature, all based on the resilience of man and with an inspirational story behind it. Now, the thing is that's a lot of work, man, I don't know if I want to work that hard in my life, you know.

Rob Spencer: 1:15:17

Yeah yeah, totally a lot of work.

Rob Spencer: 1:15:20

So that's probably like my crossroad that I'm at now for career. What I am doing, though, which is still a lot of work, is so I have now consolidated not just my watch collection of dual watch but my lifestyle and my content stuff, so I have now taken full. I have a partner in one of my channels, and that partner was about outdoors and stuff like that, but really the niche of like adventure vans, like these big sprinters that are built out like mine, and that kind of thing, yeah, and so I met with him and I won't get into all the dirty details. And so I met with him and I won't get into all the dirty details, but we've come to an agreement that we are going to start a new channel together, just adventure van travel stuff, nothing else. And I am personally going to take over all of my other stuff again, which is mostly Jeep outdoor off-road. What I what I really call my channel is a is a motor powered adventure, right, so it's my boat, it's my jeep, adventure watches and gear.

Blake Rea: 1:16:25

That's what it is all of my time in that area, that's it yeah, I was about to say there's some watches sprinkled in there, which is which I appreciate. People like me appreciate. Appreciate.

Rob Spencer: 1:16:35

So this is the thing, right. So I started building a watch channel and it was doing pretty well. Actually I was right there almost monetization status, people were starting to check out the watches and that kind of thing. And I just deleted the whole thing Because I'm integrating it back into my big channel which is called venture the wild, b-e-n-t-u-r-e. So venture the wild is my youtube channel now. That is, uh, boats, jeeps, watches and gear right. Everything outdoor is focused, right, uh consolidation.

Blake Rea: 1:17:10

What's that I said, consolidation?

Rob Spencer: 1:17:12

again. Yeah, so when it comes to watches, it's only going to be adventure watches, so there's a playlist on there that's adventure watches. I got probably five videos up that I've just been trying to re-throw up, but I got it. I got it, and I can't. You can't do it too fast for youtube, because I can't just upload 16 videos in a day yeah yeah, so I gotta kind of slowly bring it back around. I'm hoping I don't kill everything off, you know, in this process yeah but I want to just do one channel, venture the wild.

Rob Spencer: 1:17:44

I might. I might revive my actual written blog because I love the creative process of that writing. Yeah, uh, venture the wildcom. There's some stuff on there now. It's pretty rad looking little blog. It's just a little dated because I haven't I haven't really done anything. There is a trailer on their capacity and reserve trailer if you want to see it. But venture the wild is the youtube. That will have everything on there and then, if I bring back my website, that's it. That's it one thing. That's what I want to do. I just want to do one.

Rob Spencer: 1:18:18

For years I've just been like working with this brand and this brand and this brand and this brand on how they can build engagement with their audiences and how they can build like a platform to transition from company to lifestyle brand and like that's what I, that's what my original blog kind of grew into, that type of brand interaction with me. Right, right, right. And as I'm coming to the tail end, I would rather use, like this, this watch to for me to tell a story on my platform and you know, kind of, do that Right. So the brands still get the benefit. Don't get me wrong because because they now get the exposure to my warm pool of people, which will then become their warm pool of people, right, and that's kind of how it works.

Rob Spencer: 1:19:05

But versus like jobs, I don't do anything for money anymore, thank goodness, um, I feel very fortunate.

Rob Spencer: 1:19:14

Yeah, it must be nice, very fortunate I don't have to work, chase the rabbit around, yeah so everything I do is just passion, and I want to zero it into only my one youtube channel, where I'm just either screwing around on my boat, screwing around in my jeep, geeking out on adventure watches or some crazy gear like this Look at this, dude, I just got this new Benchmade. Look at that. Oh shit, stuff like that. Let me show you this too. Stuff like this. This is from Olight.

Blake Rea: 1:19:50

They sent me this out the EDC guy toys.

Rob Spencer: 1:19:56

Yeah, but it's got this cool. Let's see if it shows up. Do you see the green laser? Yeah, it's got a few different. It's got a black light. When you're in the mountains or out in the desert, you turn on this black light at night and you go and you point it in the bushes and stuff and scorpions glow oh shit, it's really cool. And scorpions glow oh shit. Yeah, so it's really cool. It's very cool. So stuff like that you know, stuff I think is cool and I geek out on, I want to share with people. Yeah, you know, I want everybody just to have fun. I want everybody to get outdoors, enjoy their relationships and have a good life. That's really what I want. So all of my platforms is designed to help people do that.

Blake Rea: 1:20:45

We're sound. It sounds like a good kind of a mark for now, cause we can rant for more. Two more hours, three more hours, um, I want to thank you for coming on, for sharing your story, you know, for you know, know, helping us grow our platform through, through your story, um, everybody who's listening. If you made it this far, you know, I would highly encourage you to check out rob, if you didn't make it this far, dude.

Rob Spencer: 1:21:07

Go get yourself an adderall prescription so you can pay attention for crying out loud yeah, we've, we've.

Blake Rea: 1:21:13

We've done some weaving, we've done some storytelling, we've jumped around. That's the way these podcasts do, like I think a lot of people listen. We get a lot of people that stay to the end, which is super cool and humbling. That's cool and and and. Yeah, you don't know what I'm gonna ask next, because I'm I, I jump around, so I don't know. Maybe that's the reason why they're staying, who knows? Whatever, whatever, but you should definitely check out Rob, check out his channel. I'm going to make sure that we plug his links in the description. You can click directly through. Watch his YouTube. I really enjoy his videos. There's a lot of content creators that I'm friends with, real quick.

Rob Spencer: 1:21:50

I met you because you edited one of my videos I did. That's how I first met you. I did and it was the, up to that point, the best edit thank you that I've ever had in any of my content, thank you, I was like oh man, this guy's great. And then the guy messed it all up for us, but we stayed connected still for sure I'm not gonna let a little I still appreciate that, because not only was the edit cool, what it really did for me was bigger than that one edit.

Rob Spencer: 1:22:19

It opened my mind up to a more built-out kind of edit, to any of my sure.

Blake Rea: 1:22:27

Yeah, anyways, I made an impression, my friend, I love editing and I, yeah, I, um, I very quickly I mean our aligned our, our. Our ideals are aligned, Our. You know we all want transparency, we want to have fun, we want to push the watch industry. I mean, at the time, you know we, you were focused on gym content, but you know we still share the same passions. So, immediately, just gravitate towards your energy, your mission and everything, and I'm glad that can call you a friend, of course, and I'm glad that you're, you know you're willing to come onto my platform and help me with storytelling and share your adventure and story. And so, yeah, I definitely think there would be a lot of overlap with the people that are listening to us now. You know, would enjoy your content and there's, like I said, I work with a lot of content creators, but there's very few people out there whose content I enjoy as much as yours.

Blake Rea: 1:23:22

And I'm saying that in all honesty. I watch all your videos. I you know I obviously have the bell. I watch everything that you post when it relates to watches. There's the caveat.

Rob Spencer: 1:23:35

Hopefully you're going gonna watch them twice, because yeah no, I will. I will, I'm trying to like, cut them a little bit. Maybe do a new title thumbnail, try to do something. They add some kind of value to people so that maybe they'll return for this.

Blake Rea: 1:23:49

But your, your vision is your value. There you go, that's it. Thank you so much, and, uh, we might have to have a part two, because I feel like we can keep going and I'm in anytime.

Rob Spencer: 1:24:03

And if anybody wants, if anybody has any questions for me personally, best way, dm me on instagram at adv. Like adventure rob at adv. Rob, dm me whatever questions you might have, because the accident thing is wild. Yeah, I get a lot of questions from that, uh, but I'm happy to help any way I can.

Blake Rea: 1:24:22

So we're gonna link the instagram. We're gonna link capacity and reserve. We're gonna link, you know, the trailer. We're gonna link, you know, project heal the land. We're gonna I mean, we're gonna link your youtube channel. Everything that you need to get in touch with Robert to hear his story, to connect with him, engage with him, is going to be found in the description of this podcast, the YouTube, wherever you're listening to this, so you will be able to easily find him.

Rob Spencer: 1:24:48

It was a good time, my friend.

Blake Rea: 1:24:49

Yeah, same same.

Rob Spencer: 1:24:51

I love it.

Blake Rea: 1:24:52

Next time you come back to Vegas we'll have to do a little bit more fun stuff. Let's do it again tomorrow.

Rob Spencer: 1:24:57

Let's do this again tomorrow. I'm just kidding.

Blake Rea: 1:24:59

All right, buddy, I will see you very, very, very soon there you go have a good one Later.

Rob Spencer: 1:25:06

Thank you.