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The Real Time Show
Athlete and Advocate Angus Collins Teams Up With Fears MD Nicholas Bowman-Scargill
00:48:28
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- [00:00]
Angus Collins
Foreign.
- [00:07]
Rob Nudds
Welcome to another edition of the Real Time show with me, your friendly neighborhood watchmaker, Rob Nudds. Today, I'm joined by two guests. Our good friend Nicholas Bowman, Scargill of Fears Watches, based in Bristol. And another very worldly, very interesting, very experienced man, ultra endurance athlete and mental health advocate, Angus Collins. Welcome to the studio.
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Angus Collins
Thank you very much. Really excited for this conversation. Cheers.
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Nicholas Bowman Scargill
Yeah, it's great to be here. It's great to be speaking with you again, Rob.
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Angus Collins
Yeah.
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Rob Nudds
Nicholas, where are you? Because we can hear the chatter of activity in the background and you're obviously on the move somewhere doing something that CEOs do, classy CEOs do, you know, living the high life, no doubt.
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Nicholas Bowman Scargill
Oh, yeah. I'm back in Geneva for the third time this year, sadly. I realize I've been in Geneva more times than I've been to visit my parents this year. So I. I'm certainly, I'm doing well from the watch CEO. From the bad, from the. The loving sun. But no, I'm. I'm in Geneva for the EPHJ watch show, which is. It's really interesting actually, because this is not about built watches. It's purely about the components that go into watches. So all you see is just, you know, hundreds and hundreds of booths selling crowns, cases, movements, dials, hands, the works. So this is where we come to do our. Do our shopping, meet all of our suppliers, because as people may know, we always get all the components made to our designs and spec individually from expertise. So literally there are stands upstairs in this conference hall who only make spring bars. That's it. All they make, day in, day out, is spring bars. And for me, that's one for. This is where my team and I get to come and properly geek out for four days.
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Rob Nudds
So just to pull back the curtain and give the listeners a little insight into what it's like being the CEO Managing Director of a luxury watch brand.
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Nicholas Bowman Scargill
Exactly.
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Rob Nudds
Where are you right now and what is your laptop balanced on?
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Nicholas Bowman Scargill
Okay, so yes, I am in the PAL Expo Conference center next to Geneva Airport. Some listeners may know this is where every April, the very glamorous Watches and Wonders show is hosted. So we're literally in the same building. Just there's no champagne, there's no fancy carpets, there's no fancy booths. It's very, very raw. But to get a bit of. A bit of quiet for the recording, I've currently got my laptop balanced on a bin downstairs in the entranceway with the security purse are giving me very dodgy looks. So, yeah, this is this is the glamour. So hopefully my laptop won't fall off and fall into the bin.
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Rob Nudds
Great. Okay. Well, there you go, people. It's not all caviar and cocktails. Angus, where do we find you in the world?
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Angus Collins
I'm currently at home. I should be on my boat, but I'm based in the south of the UK in Hampshire. And yeah, I'm in a much more comfortable position than Nicholas is at the moment behind the desk and nice and dry. And I've got a lovely table with my laptop on it, so I think I'm winning that one.
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Rob Nudds
Well, you've earned that comfort, obviously, because as you mentioned, your boat, which if any of our listeners don't know is where Angus spends a lot of his time, is far less comfortable than even a laptop balanced on a bin in the middle of Geneva. So before we get to the explanation of what it's like to spend time on board doing oceanic crossings in a manual rowboat, give us an insight to your background, tell us where you came from and how you find yourself as a prominent mental health advocate.
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Angus Collins
Yeah, I come from a family of adventurous souls. So I was born out in Guam just off the Marianas Trench. My parents were scuba diving instructors. My uncle was America's cup sailor, my grandpa was a world champion sailor as well. Cousins in the Royal Marines and my sister that works has also rode across ocean. So as a family, we are, we're very good on the water, but we're not great on, on dry land.
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Rob Nudds
That is an incredible lineage. I'm just gobsmacked adding more and more profession. And the sister who's also rode across an ocean, that's one heck of a family. Your Christmas dinners must be interesting.
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Angus Collins
Yeah, I feel very sorry for sister's boyfriend and my partners and other family members. Yeah, we sit around at Christmas dinner or Sunday roast and share stories of wild adventures and a lot of people just go, there is no way I have any interest or reason to want to be interested in what you guys are talking about. Yeah, it's, it's very different, but we all love it. We, it's got. Where we're happiest is out on the water or near the water. And I'm privileged to have that. I, I kind of grew up sailing, windsurfing, kite surfing and it's, I've always been drawn to the water. I started off as a pretty good swimmer and then moved into other sports and always knew that I wanted to work in adventure in this world of ultra endurance and adventure. But I had no idea what that meant. But having seen other family members kind of succeed in what they wanted to do on the water, I knew there was a way if I was inquisitive enough and pushed hard enough. And yeah, now I find myself deeply entrenched in the world of ocean rowing. And yeah, I suppose in that sense I've kind of succeeded in my goals of working in this beautiful world. But that kind of came with some problems as well, which I'm sure we'll touch on.
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Rob Nudds
I'm sure we will. Knowing your family background now, it makes a little more sense to me as to how you were able to set so many incredible records and so many youngest records as well. The young, youngest person to have sailed across all the oceans.
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Angus Collins
So I was the youngest person to or youngest team to row across the Indian Ocean. So that's from Australia. We're meant to go to Mauritius but I landed up in the Seychelles. Could be weak to a big storm and a few problems. It could be worse. But it did add 30 days onto our crossing time which yeah, we, there was a bit of a nightmare that we're heading out to Mauritius and we were basically blown north in a storm that it was at the same time that the Malaysian airline went down and they sent out a search and rescue vessel to try and find the black box for that airplane. Then that search and rescue vessel had to turn around because they were stuck in a big storm. And we were also in that storm in a 9 meter rowing boat with 4 kind of 20, whatever we were 25 year olds not really knowing how much trouble we were getting ourselves into and then quickly realized we're never going to hit Mauritius. So had to make the decision do we row past Mauritius and then get towed in which would have counted as a successful ocean crossing but not as a unassisted ocean crossing. Or do we arrogantly think that we can just add a little bit more time on and redirect up to the Seychelles? So yeah, it was lovely finishing in the Seychelles but I think we deserved that rest by the time we got there.
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Rob Nudds
Yeah, well earned. I would say so. And I apologize I said sailing instead of rowing. So just for our listeners to be clear, this is man powered boat. You have a crew of four. Do you normally row with.
- [07:25]
Angus Collins
Yeah. So yeah, every expedition I've done so far in, in ocean rowing has been as the four man team. So we're in a nine meter boat. Generally you've got two people rowing and then two people wrestling. So we have a small cabin on each end where you can, you can sleep, you can rest, but it essentially is the size of a coffin. Um, and then we work on a 2 hours on 2 hours off basis, around the clock, 24 hours a day. So 2 hours rowing, 2 hours sleep, 2 hours rowing, 2 hours Sleep. And we did that for 70 days or 71 days from the Indian Ocean. Um, so we're completely self sufficient. We've got solar panels on the boat that are powering a water maker. So that gives us all the water we need for the crossing. We live off freeze dried food which, it works as fuel. I wouldn't say the chefs have nailed the flavor profile yet. Um, but you get used to that and then yeah, we have the bare minimum of what we need to be safe and have a slight bit of comfort. And then it's yeah, just row, sleep, eat, repeat.
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Rob Nudds
What's it like when it comes to communication in your downtime, when you're not either refueling or sleeping or tending to blisters, muscle pulls, whatever. Are you able to contact people back home? Do you have like a satellite phone?
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Angus Collins
Yeah, it's, it's actually developed a lot over the last couple of years but on my first crossing we were basically reliant solely on a sat phone and satellite communication, which it's nice to be able to have communication with the outside world, but it's a very frustrating line to work with your. It's very delayed and you can't really hear what was being said. So by and large I would only use that for a kind of. If we're in an emergency, this is how you find us. Now the satellite communications got incredibly good. So for my next expedition I'm going to be able to do live social media posts and send photos and videos back home and I will actually be able to communicate with, with people as well as I am on dry land now, which has its pros and cons. I. Part of what I love about adventure is that you are able to switch off your phone and not think about emails and clients and X, Y and Z. Whereas now there's not really an excuse. But it also does mean that I can spread the word of the cause that I'm kind of raising awareness for. We get a bigger reach now because that satellite communication has become so efficient. Yeah, as I kind of started at the beginning, I, I knew I wanted to work in this world of adventure and that was literally from as young as I can remember. And I remember being at school and teachers asking me, what do you want to be when, when you're older and what do you want to do? And I remember saying I, I will work in this world of adventure. And I remember the teachers looking at me like I was some child that said, I want to be an astronaut. And it was a very cute proposition, but it's never going to happen and you'll probably land up working in insurance or something else. And I did actually start going down that route. I was working in recruitment and headhunting in the city of London and for me that was the biggest endurance challenge I've ever taken on. I just, I'm useless and I'm very bad at sitting behind a desk and doing something that I don't love. I'm, I'm very poor at executing that. So after a year of that I realized, no, this, this isn't for me and set up alongside my uncle, an ocean rowing company. He had rode the Atlantic and wanted to do it again. He had won the race as a solo rower against two man and four man teams. And then he wanted to go out again and to break the world record. And him and I kind of set this company up to build boats and then train people to row across oceans. And I was, I absolutely loved it. I was meeting new people and a vast array of people from ultra endurance athletes who are much physically fitter than I was and mentally stronger than I was, but then also businessmen or stay at home mums and students that wanted to take on a once in a lifetime challenge. And I was going around the world training people and I absolutely loved it. And then I had the opportunity to do a few rows myself and I rode across the incident, Indian Ocean first and we broke the world record there and as you said, the youngest team to do so. I then rode across the Atlantic twice and first time won the race, Just, just beat my sister who was quick on my heels nit catching up and so won the race there. But we didn't get the world record. So I came back a year later to break the world record, which we succeeded in and kind of everything was on paper perfect. I was, I'd set this goal of working in this world of adventure which everyone else thought was a dream. And then by kind of my 30s, well the 30th birthday, I had a pretty successful ocean rowing business, building boats, training people, going around the world, meeting interesting people, breaking world records myself. And everything on paper looked perfect. But the truth was, and I, it's taken me almost five years to work this out. I was actually deeply depressed and I didn't know what, what was wrong with me. I was just. I kept on analyzing my life, thinking everything you've wanted to achieve, you have achieved. And here you are sitting in a boat, crying your eyes out that you're not happy. And actually came to my 30th birthday, that I actually decided that the world would be a better place without me. And I wasn't able to take on anyone else's stress and I couldn't even deal with my own stress, so attempted to take my own knife on my 30th birthday and thank God that I failed at that. And it took years and years to really work out why I went through that process. And I remember talking to a doctor days after my 30th birthday and they, they kind of turned around and said, you're going to be fine. You've got great friends, you've got great family, you've got a business that's working, you've got us living on a boat. At the time, like, for me, that was a dream and that was the answer that I got to why am I struggling so much? And that almost made me feel worse, or definitely made me feel worse that I, I knew all of these things and I felt selfish that I was struggling because I shouldn't. And it wasn't actually. It was about nine. Yeah. Well, a few months later, I met my now wife who we were at Columbia Business School and I was giving a kind of lecture on leadership skills. And she heard all these stories of me rowing cross oceans and building teams and building resilient teams and how to build the winning team. And she turned around and basically called my bluff and said, there is no way that you continue to do what you do just to prove that you're resilient. There's got to be something. And she was absolutely right. I found it easier, and this sounds ridiculous saying it, I found it easier rowing across an ocean than confronting my own demons. And when I finished these rows, by and large, I succeeded and broke world records. Then I'd get a tap on the back and was able to go around the world talking about those successes. And that made me feel good. But it wasn't the reason why I was doing it. The real reason was I was running away from the demons in my head. So I've now kind of. I'm moving out of the ocean rowing world. Although I am still rowing myself. I'm not training people and doing the safety for teams that are rowing across oceans. I've now put as much effort as I have into working with a charity called James's Place, who Help men that are in a suicidal crisis and need to yet need a lifeline, quite literally. And I never anticipated that I would be in that position that I needed that help. And I know there are thousands of people around the UK that need that help as well. So. And yeah, I, I use, use ocean rowing and my successes in ultra endurance sports to kind of raise awareness for mental health and, and try and help people that are struggling. By and large, I, I and focusing on men. Two thirds of suicides in the UK are men and there's a lot of, of pressure and stress and the stigma that comes with that about mental health. And I now try and just normalize that talking. And those who struggle, we can't struggle silently. We need to vocalize it. We need to educate people who don't struggle on how you can help people who are struggling. And we need to make sure that people who are struggling are confident enough and know that they've got a place to go to, to go and talk to someone. So yeah, I'm kind of in this balancing role of trying to do epic expeditions and break world records, but also open up and tell my story in an honest way and hopefully that helps other people do the same thing.
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Rob Nudds
What's your journey been like to recovery? Although by saying that, I'm not implying that it's something that is fixed and then never going to be something you need to address again in the future or consistently because I think for a lot of people who are in the pain pits of depression and stuck there, can't see the first step. And I'm sure there are a million first steps depending on each individual. But for you personally, what did your journey look like? Was it therapy, specifically CBT or anything else?
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Angus Collins
Yeah, it's a yo yo. And this is another thing that what I try and talk about is there is no right way of dealing with depression and everyone's going to deal with different things in different ways. And for me, I found an amazing psychologist that I got on really well with and kind of hit it off pretty quickly. He was very similar to me in that it's relatively young guy, sporty, outdoorsy. So we related really quickly and I was doing CBT therapy but alongside also medication. So I've been on and off antidepressants for the last five years and before my, my kind of 30th birthday I was pretty anti medication. I always thought there was a way that you could eat yourself healthy or train yourself to be healthy. But then when I went through this episode I realized, no, this is something that I need professional help with. And the medication actually really, it does help me. But I've also recently learned that everything kind of has a sell by date and that form of therapy for me kind of disintegrated and it didn't work as well as it was initially. And actually again, through talking to other people, talking to family members that have also gone through similar things, like there's so many different forms of therapy that you can take and that could be a personal trainer who just gets you physically fit and that makes you healthy, makes you happy and healthy. It could be a nutritionist, it could be a psychiatrist, a psychologist. And I'm now kind of balancing all of those things, trying to work out what is the next thing that I need. Because I, if you had asked me when I was kind of 32, 33, I would have said I am recovered from depression. But I've now realized that sadly this is probably something I'm going to live with for the rest of my life. And I, I had another kind of pretty severe downward spiral about a year ago. And that actually almost hit me harder than my first bout of depression because that made me realize this is something that you're going to have to think about and have in the back of your mind for the rest of your life. And I'm now thinking with that attitude as opposed to hoping it's not going to come back, it's preparing for it to come back. And that, that was a. Something really, really tough for me to, to handle. And again, that's what I now try and talk to guys about. So these are your options. It could be you, you just need to sit down with a friend and build a cupboard together and do something physical kind of learning and building and that helps you talk and open up. Or it could be that you want to go for a walk with a friend once a week or Maybe just a WhatsApp group, whatever it is. But it's a minefield trying to work out what you should do when you are struggling. So for me, the first step is always going to be talk.
- [20:12]
Rob Nudds
Great advice, which obviously we can, I can't reiterate enough and the importance of communication, open communication between everybody now to shine a light on these issues and the work you've been doing, the mental health advocacy that you've been pursuing over the last couple of years, you are attempting a new challenge. And this is where your relationship with fears really not began, but has manifested in something quite wonderful. So talk to us a little bit about how you got in touch with Nicholas because you are a watch guy to begin with. You're not a typical ambassador who's just plopped from the ranks of celebrities and given a watch to wear. You actually do like watches. So tell us about your watch journey, how you came into contact with Nicholas, how the fierce relationship began and how it pertains to the great British odyssey.
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Angus Collins
Yeah, I'll start with the great British odyssey. So the. It was meant to be on Sunday that I leave to row around Great Britain solo. And no one has rode around Great Britain as an individual, non stop, completely unsupported yet. And it will be my first solo challenge. And the whole aim of that is kind of two part. Firstly, for me to get into my own head and ask some questions that I've probably been avoiding for a while, but also again, to talk to people, to have a platform for people to talk to me and to just spread the word about what I believe we should be doing to help mental health. So a lot of people can look at, look at running around Britain and think, well, surely running across the Atlantic or the Indian Ocean is harder. And actually running around Great Britain is very, very hard. You've got currents, tides, changing weather patterns, shipping lanes, whirlpools, all these things that you don't really have in the middle of the Atlantic. And I'm very excited about being out on the water again, but I'm very nervous about what those challenges are and how hard it's going to be. So to put this campaign together, I needed partners that believed in what I was doing. And with it being a great British expedition, I really wanted to have British companies that were on board that could kind of elevate what I'm doing, but also kind of sing off the same hymn sheet and agree with the story that I'm telling and also elevate what we're doing in Britain. I always find that I do a lot of work in America and in America they scream and shout about success and in the UK it's very much, if you succeed, well done, keep it to yourself. And I wanted to help elevate some brands that are doing some amazing things here in the UK and in turn that hopefully can believe in what I'm doing and elevate what I'm doing. And I've, I've loved watches all of my life, but up until this expedition, I've actually always had my mechanical watch would be what I come home to on the expedition. I would normally have a Garmin Phoenix, which is reading my heart rate, my Heart rate variability and how many breaths I'm taking a minute and that kind of stuff. And what I've realized over this last kind of year or so is that I can't rely on technology to tell me what my body's doing. I need to understand myself, what my body's doing. I don't need to look at a screen on a watch to tell me. So that's when I realized actually a mechanical watch is what is needed for me. All I need to know is what is the time and I need that to be accurate. I don't need to know all the other fluff. So, yeah, I had followed Fears for six, seven months before reaching out to Nicholas and had seen some of the watches they were doing and sent Nicholas an email once and it was a Friday evening, just been like, this is what I'm doing, this is the cause. I love what you guys are doing. What do you think? And I really wasn't expecting a response. These sponsorship emails that I have to send out, I probably get a 99% fail rate. And Nicholas came back very quickly saying, I'm interested, give me some time to think about it. And yeah, the next Monday I was on my way down to Cornwall to actually watch. The boat was being built down in Cornwall. So I thought, cool, I'll swing by Bristol and let's, let's see what Fears are about. And sat down with Nicholas and straight away I just thought, yeah, these guys are building amazing watches the right way. They're not cutting corners, they're not, they're not screaming about their successes, but I can see their successes. And yeah, I think we hit it off really well. And the team down there are amazing. I've had some really amazing one on one conversations with most of the team and they've all got beautiful souls and that means a lot to me. And I know when I'm struggling in northwest Scotland, fighting against a strong tide and it's hammering it down with rain, I'll let down on my watch and think, yeah, I need to pull harder because there are companies, there are teams and there are individuals behind this campaign that I've put a lot into it and fears are a big part of that.
- [25:14]
Rob Nudds
That's a lovely thing to say and is the sentiment that's echoed by many of us in the industry. The Fears team is beloved around the globe largely because of the boss man. Nicholas, talk to us, mate. Tell us exactly what you thought when Angus reached out to you. Because fears and sports, not the first thing you think of, right?
- [25:32]
Nicholas Bowman Scargill
That's it? I mean, I think the number one thing I've seen since not only we announce the official timing partnership, but also the watch, which we'll discuss in a moment, is people just going like, this is the last thing I'd expect. But it also feels very natural. And the thing is, so that email that Angus sent I that Friday I was on a train back home to North Yorkshire and it's a four hour long train journey and it's a great opportunity. End of week, before the weekend starts, let's clear the inbox, go through the emails and you know, I probably get a dozen cold emails every day with something, right, either trying to sell me something or asking for money or sponsorship.
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Rob Nudds
Or something like this.
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Nicholas Bowman Scargill
And. But I always have a policy of opening every email and you know, I'm sure there's spam bots which love me for that, but I open every email just to check because I live by a life philosophy of listen carefully, opportunity knocks quietly. And so I see this email from Angus and so I open it up and I start scan reading it and I was like, oh, this is actually quite interesting. Okay, I'm going to put a flag next that I'll come back to it. I think by the time I'd got to Sheffield or Leeds, I was like, right, okay, email's cleared, let's get back to it. And I read it and I was just like, oh my goodness, I just love this. And so I immediately fired off a reply to him and basically said, yeah, look, I'm interested, but the thing is we're talking about the Fierce team. Yes, I may be owner of the managing director but anything like this is going to be hugely disruptive. It's going to require everyone to be pulling together. And so I was like, I can't just say yes, I need to actually discuss it with everyone back in Bristol and make sure this is me going off on a flight of fancy. But I think the thing that immediately caught by my eye was two things. The first one was, you know, I'm, I'm a bit of an old school romantic. Like, you know, I, I love that sense of adventure. You know, I love reading about stories of, you know, people going to the, you know, the South Pole, going to, you know, up Everest, you know, all of that kind of adventure spirit. And the fact is, you know, fully perfectly honest, the last, you know, decade has been pretty dismal globally. Now I'm an optimist so I always believe in, you know, tomorrow will be better than today. But, you know, it's it's all pretty negative. And then here you are reading about a chap who is basically going to conquer something that has not been done before. And is it something that needs to be done? Not necessarily, but that makes it even more special. It's the fact that it's going to be one person doing this amazing challenge. So that was the first thing that caught my eye. But then the second thing was the mission. So the challenge is the road, but the mission is to raise quarter of a million pounds for James's place. And so I read a bit more about James Place, I went on the website and, you know, I'm someone who sadly has lost several friends to suicide. And so it very. It's something that I'm very aware about. And reading the work they're doing, reading Angus's story, I was like, yeah, this is something I really want to get behind. This is something I really want to see if I can use fears to help. And I basically spent the whole weekend sat in front of a computer looking at a Gantt chart and going, right, it's the end of January now, he's going to be rowing in June. How on earth do we create a watch from scratch in that few months, you know, and also we've got launch schedules and events and all the things that we have as a growing watch company. But I was like, no, I'm going to find a way to do this. And then I remember on the Monday morning I was back in Bristol and I basically called like my whole senior team together and I said, right, I want to pitch you on this. And I ran through what he was doing, I ran through the gant and, and I got to the end waiting for the normal barrage of questions, pushback, you know, the things that a good team should do, challenge me. And everyone was just like, we have to do this. Absolutely. So I then got the whole company together and said, right, if we do this, it's going to involve everyone having to pull together. Everyone's going to have to do a little bit extra. And again, everyone was. Was on board. And that day Angus came to Bristol, things started moving very quickly. And I remember seeing the way that the team looked at him and listened to him. And then when Angus went, everyone was just like, what an incredible person. I mean, I don't think I have a single male colleague in their 20s who doesn't want to grow up to be Angus. It was just this thing where everyone was just in absolute awe. And I was like, yeah, everyone is feeling what I'm feeling. This feels like something we have to do and I think it must have been the next day we basically formalized it and said, yes, we would be absolutely delighted to be the official timekeeping partner for the Great British Odyssey.
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Rob Nudds
It's a fantastic story and to watch you've managed to pull together in. Well, I know exactly how incredible a feat that is in a few months is one that I wouldn't have imagined, but one that I really can't wait to get on my wrist. I think, to be fair, it's my favorite Brunswick of all time. I didn't expect it to be such a suitable case for this application, but it looks perfectly at home and looks perfectly at home on Angus's wrist. What do you make of the watch yourself, Angus?
- [31:21]
Angus Collins
I absolutely love it. The fit is. Fits perfect and there's no distractions on it. I love the fact how pure and clean it is. The, the logo. So my logo is, is a whiskey logo, which is a kind of. It's a flag that you, you fly if you're on a sailing ship of the old days. That basically means I'm in need of immediate assistance. And the Fears team managed to get that printed onto the dial and it, it pops and looks stunning. And I've got a fairly good watch collection but none of the watches I have made me smile as much as I do when I look down on my wrist and, and see this one. So yeah, it's something I'll cherish the rest of my life. And to have the opportunity to, to sit down with the fierce designer and say, cool, this is, this is what's important for me. And here the. Because I like watches, but I don't know a lot of the terminology behind. But then hearing Nicholas and the team talk like, oh, we need to use this kind of surface so that the glare is less or we need the loom to be higher so that when he is wearing at 3 o' clock in the morning, he knows when his shift is over, et cetera, et cetera, to be part of that is a really unique opportunity and something that, yeah, I'm very, very grateful for.
- [32:45]
Rob Nudds
So just to run through some of those necessary traits that you'd want in a watch for our listeners. I assume you want comfort, durability, a decent water resistance, legibility, daytime and nighttime. And this model, or the experimental zero one that's been created specifically for your journey offers all of those things in spades. But the civilian version, the Brunswick Odyssey, also is a high performing tool watch. So let's run through some of Those specs now for our listeners. So what we have Here is a 40 millimeter wide, 46.5 millimeter lug to lug 11.06 millimeter thickness watch which is on for this specific release. It's mounted on an Erica's original strap, isn't it? And it does come with a blue FKM rubber by Delos as well. But that orange strap, that really transforms the, the whole character of it. And with that 11.06 millimeter thinness, it doesn't stand too high on the wrist anyway because with the original strap the fabric passes underneath the case and through both of the spring bars. Right. And what is unusual about the Brunswick, which people may not have been aware of, is the fact that it is water resistant to 150 meters as it is. And obviously we're hoping you're not going to go in the drink at all. Right? You don't. Do you ever take a swim?
- [33:59]
Angus Collins
You know, occasionally I'll have to get under the boat to scrub the bottom of the boat to make her go faster. But we're talking hopefully only a meter and a half deep. But just in case it's good to have 150 meters.
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Rob Nudds
Yeah. I mean it's got the lovely cushion shaped case which obviously is quite good for deflecting blows anyway. And the curved sapphire is treated with ardour anti reflective coating on both sides. A basically unscratchable AR coating. Now Nicholas, describe to us the differences between the civilian model that we've just spoken about and also the experimental 01 that'll be on Angus's wrist for the adventure.
- [34:34]
Nicholas Bowman Scargill
The specification on that is even more beefed up than normal. So the watch on Angus's wrist doesn't have spring bars, it's actually got welded in fixed bars. Because we realized that when you're rowing for up to 18 hours a day, the spring bars are constantly moving, which means there's a higher chance that they could wear out. Whereas of course fixed bars are solid. Then when it came to the case finishing, we needed to go for a sandblasted satinized finish so that there's no risk of the sun reflecting in the eyes, you know, because that's, you know, Angus is outside, right? You know, he's not in a canopy, there isn't shade with the water resistance. We decided for his watch to actually upgrade it to a full 300 meters because, okay, he's might be going for a little swim as, as, as he mentioned to you know, under the boat to, to, you know, know, clean it. But the fact is this watch is going to be hit and splashed with salty water all the time. And that means that you need that 300 meters, not for the depth but just to ensure it's when constantly being hit with salt water there's no risk at all. And I mean there's, there's a whole host of other things we did specifically for his watch. Time testing to, we put it for a new precision time testing which, which basically means the watch will run zero plus one second a day and then ensuring things like the special luminescence, the new top grade of X2 super luminova. So it will glow longer than I think about 12, 14 hours. It's incredible. I mean everything that's gone into that watch on his wrist is being done purely from the place of what does he need? Because I was very, I was very honest with Angus, I said to him when we met in person in Bristol, I said look, I'm someone who can't even swim so I've never been in a rowing boat. I've never. The only boats I've ever been in have cocktail lounges and fight, you know, silver service and fine dining and you know, theaters, you know, and cigar lounges. Yeah, basically cruise liners. I've never been on a boat which didn't have a roof on it. So I said look, I, I need you to tell me what things you will be going through and experiencing. And this is where I was very, very pleased. Working with not only our design department but also our operations department with our engineer is working out. Basically we have the technical knowledge to do this but right now, up until this point we've only ever used it in dressier, more classic pieces. And we were like, well actually we have all the ingredients to make the ultimate tool watch. So let's do it, let's flex that muscle. Let's actually, you know, go for it. And so that's, that's how we created experimental 01. And in fact it's got eight specific modifications and things you mentioned like the ardour anti reflective coating. So this is a special armor plated AR coating on the crystal that basically can't be scratched off. It can't remove the AR coating actually costs several times the cost of the crystal itself. That's the extent we go to. Everything on this has been beefed up and we've carried several of these things over to the Brunswick Odyssey edition which as I say is sort of our civilian version which is a hundred piece limited edition. But we're donating a portion of the sales from those hundred watches to James's place to help with the mission of raising quarter of a million pounds.
- [38:14]
Rob Nudds
And what will happen to the experimental 01 piece? Will that stay on your wrist for future adventures, Angus? Will it go to a museum? Will you auction it off? What's the plan for that one?
- [38:24]
Nicholas Bowman Scargill
In the end, we built six experimental 01 watches because we wanted a prototype which will go into our archive. We then also have kept back 04 and 05, which we're using those for promotional work. But Angus is taking with him 01, 02 and 03. And some people said to me, well, hang on, he only can only wear one watch at a time. Why is he taking three of them? And I said, well, look, you know, this is, this is tnt. This is a tool, not a toy. And you know, he is on this boat and he can't take the unsupported part of this row, is that he can't have things dropped off to him or airdrop to him. So if the watch was to fail and look, touch wood, it won't. But no watch has gone through this before, no mechanical watch has gone through this before. So if the watch was to fail, he needs to have a backup there and then ready to go. You know, you've got to think practically. This isn't a thing of going like, oh, if the watch stops, it's a shame. It's like, no, he needs a watch, he needs it running. So you've got to back up. And that's why, you know, I'm sure there's all kinds of systems that have backups of redundancies and things like that. So, yeah, so Angus Ball has, has those three watches to take. But as I say, these, those exact watches we're not selling. However, those free watches, you know, it's for Angus to use to, to help promote afterwards and hopefully keep one watch on his wrist and continue to wear it, assuming he at the end of it, he's not sick and tired of looking at the, the fierce experimental 01.
- [39:59]
Angus Collins
Yeah, that would never be the case. Yeah, that's going to stay on my wrist for the rest of my life. And then hopefully the other two. We're going to be doing an auctioning process at the end of the campaign to see if anyone's interested in, you know, taking on the watch that's got gone around Great Britain, hopefully set a world record and any, any funds that we race from that will be going straight to James's place to help us try and hit that £250,000 that we're trying to raise.
- [40:24]
Rob Nudds
Excellent stuff. And I'm sure there'd be a huge amount of interest in it. I mean, it's a brilliant story. And will you, in light of the fact that you'll auction a couple of them off, or at least one maybe, would you cycle through the watches on your journey so each has been worn by you while you've been completing the circuit?
- [40:43]
Angus Collins
I hadn't actually thought about that and I probably will because the downside of rowing around Britain is that everything starts to smell pretty quickly.
- [40:52]
Rob Nudds
So you're really selling these watches?
- [40:53]
Nicholas Bowman Scargill
Yeah.
- [40:54]
Angus Collins
Canvas strap is amazing, but probably going to need to give one a little bit of a break and put on another one. So, yeah, I'd like to wear all three and make sure that all three are part of the. The journey and the story.
- [41:05]
Rob Nudds
Yeah, I think that'd be a great idea. I could certainly. I mean, I'd be interested in bidding myself because I absolutely love the watch and I think that the. The eight distinct modifications made to it are just great talking points and exactly the kind of thing that watch nerds all around the world will salivate over. Oh, no, I went to my. Oh, no, I went to my word. I'm not allowed to say. Scarlett always gets angry at me when I say salivate. She thinks it's disgusting. But you know what?
- [41:30]
Nicholas Bowman Scargill
People get incited by them.
- [41:32]
Rob Nudds
So is this partnership going to continue? Will you do more experiments together? Will you do more events together? Where can people meet you, Angus, and hear your story in person? Because it is great. You've got a wonderful presence on stage. I'm sure people would like to come and get to know you as well. So tell us what the future holds.
- [41:48]
Angus Collins
Yeah. So for now, my, my vision on the future is very much focused on getting the boat on the water and, and starting this row. We had some setbacks last week with some electrical problems and yesterday a mechanical problem. So I'm working on that. And then once I'm on the water, we'll definitely be creating, you know, what's good, what's the next six months in the year look like, But I would love to. To be with the Fierce team again and, and sit down and tell the story of what, what it was actually like to run around Britain, what did I mentally go through and what did I discover in myself and also help other people, but also just to share the kind of beauty of Britain and some of the things I saw as we're going around. So whether that's going to be something that I come down to the FEARS office in Bristol or we do something else in London. There's going to be opportunities to hear the story and see the partnership in real life, but that will probably be announced post row.
- [42:43]
Rob Nudds
Brilliant stuff. Yeah. I hope we get an invite to the next one. Hint, hint. Nicholas, love to be there.
- [42:48]
Nicholas Bowman Scargill
Oh, yes. Oh, no, I heard that. I mean, it's worth saying. I mean, I'm certainly very hopeful that we'll be able to work on future things together because there's a reason we called this watch experimental 01. There are quite a few things that we've designed in it and created in it that we're very, very excited to take the learnings from. Because, you know, after, you know, 60 days of being, you know, worn and used, you know, for us, we will want to examine the watches afterwards and see how they worked and things that we learned from that will then make their way into future, you know, core products that we make. You know, for us, this isn't a case of just going, oh, well, you know, here's this guy going to do this incredible thing. Let's just give him a watch and get some nice photos. You know, I think people will probably understand by now, you know, when FEARS do something, we do it properly. And as I keep, you know, I keep reminding the team, like, this is, this is a tool, not a toy. Like, this is a thing for us to learn from and it's got to be, you know, it's got to be as functional as, you know, a Garmin satellite navigation system, etc. You know, so, yeah, I'm very excited to be continuing to work with Angus and, you know, for us to be able to learn more because we have the technical ability to make tool watches, it's really good to then have the real world data to back it up as well.
- [44:09]
Rob Nudds
Yeah. I've got to say, you've handled this transition from dressier watches to a tool watch so fluidly. It's masterful. I never would have seen the Brunswick as a canvas for this kind of active adventure watch. And yet it works perfectly. It doesn't feel in any way forced. It feels like it was always part of the plan. So good on you, Angus, for sending that speculative email. And you send it to the right. That's the show. One last question before we go because I know we have to move on quickly. Angus, how long is it going to take you, do you think, to get around the whole country?
- [44:40]
Angus Collins
Yeah, a hard one. So I've, I've designed the boat with the Naval architect to take 60 days worth of food, the fastest a four man team has taken to go around. I think it's 29 days, nearly 30 days. So in my head I kind of mentally preparing for 30 to 60 days. If it's any more than that then I've got to get pretty good at fishing, which I'm not good at. So yeah, the hope is 60 days I'll be back on dry land and we would have raised a very decent amount of money for the charity. If I don't make it around in 60 days then there's another opportunity for somebody else to come in and kind of maybe take over my campaign and take, take the boat and try it again. Raising awareness and funds for the same charity. That's the plan B at the moment. But at the moment we're doing everything we can to make sure that plan A is a success and working with partners like F is making that happen.
- [45:43]
Rob Nudds
Well, we wish you all the best for the endeavor. And by the time you hear this listeners, Angus will have set off on his voyage. So sure you can follow along, you can check him out on Instagram at A N G U S C O L L I N S B E that's Angus Collins. B give him a follow follow along on this adventure. Obviously if you're not following fears already then go over there and follow them at Fears Watchers. F E a R S W A T C H E S and also the lovely Nicholas Bowman Scargill can be found at Nicholas Bowman Scargill or one word no hyphens and on Instagram that's at N I C H O L a s B O W M a N S C A R G I L L Gentlemen, thank you for your time. Thank you Angus for sharing your mental health journey with us and thanks to both of you for creating such an exciting moment in British watchmaking. And lastly, I would encourage everyone to donate to James's place. Where can they do that? Angus?
- [46:46]
Angus Collins
Yeah, so GB Odyssey. So it's Golf Bravo Odyssey.com that will have the tracker on there that will show where I am watching me very slowly plod around the British Isles and then on there there's also a link to the Just Giving page where all the money that comes in goes directly to James's place. A quick shout out to James's place. They they've worked out in the last year that it's costing them around 1,800 pounds to put one person through a whole treatment from a suicidal period to back up on their feet. So in the grand scheme of things, not a lot of money. So every penny, every pound makes a massive difference and they're a very lean, efficient charity that's making massive changes to people's lives. So, yeah, that's on the Just Getting page on gbodysy.com thanks very much, man.
- [47:33]
Rob Nudds
If our listeners have any questions for Angus or for Nicholas, then please do get in touch via the usual channels. You can email me@roberealtime.show or contact us via our Instagram handle herealtime show or via the contact form on the official website www.therealtime show. If you'd like to join in with our watch related discussions then you can become a member of the Real Time Show Network. Just text us, email us, get in touch and let us know you'd like to be part of it. And we will add you to the group on WhatsApp. We'll be back soon with more top quality watch content and interviews with the industry's finest. Until then, stay, stay safe and keep on ticking.