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The Real Time Show
Wakey, Wakey! Awake's Lilian Thibault Shares A Watchmaking Message For The Future
01:00:09
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- [00:00]
Alon Ben Joseph
Foreign check if you're awake. Hi, Another Watch fans, welcome to another edition of the Real Time show with me, your friendly neighborhood jeweler, Alan Be Joseph and our resident watchmaker, Rob Nudz, calling in from. I actually have no idea where the freaking hell he is in the world because every day I send him a WhatsApp. He's in a different city doing God knows what. So welcome, Rob from the virtual world you are staying in. And I'm very proud to welcome to the studio a dear friend. And before I give away who that is, and I'm hoping you didn't read the title of this episode, his brand name is called Awake. And for the sneakerheads listening, this is not the Awake of those Nikes that you might be rocking. No, this is Awake concept from France. And I'm wearing not one, but two of their watches. One is a collab with Alain Silberstein and the second one with an amazing name, which is called Dare and Dream. And I was fortunate enough to obtain this limited edition with a French artist called Nicolas Baron Forges, and it's a family friends program. I want to welcome to the studio the founder and CEO of Awake, Lillian Thibault. Bonjour.
- [01:35]
Lilian Thibault
Bonjour. Bonjour, Alon. Bonjour, Robe.
- [01:37]
Rob Nudz
It's a pleasure to talk to you. After that rather exciting and, shall we say, awakening intro, I was a bit sleepy because I can't tell you where I am in the world. I'm afraid it's highly confidential, but where? Wherever I am, I just dragged myself out from under a rock to record this podcast. And blinking into the light was made easy thanks to Alon's strident tones. So glad we're all here together at last. We hoped to record last year, but life got in the way, as it often does, and there's so much going on in everybody's different spheres. It's no wonder it took us so long to get on the mic, because, Lillian, you must be one of the most active men in the watch industry, because Awake has been through so many changes in its relatively short lifespan. But before we get to the most recent changes, it would be wonderful if you could start at the very beginning and tell our listeners, where did Awake come from? How did you find yourself in the watch industry and what's it all about?
- [02:28]
Lilian Thibault
Okay, okay, Rob, so this is a long story and I'm going to make it short. So basically, I've been a watch enthusiast for 20 years now, so it's quite a long time. Now, remember, this was. I discovered The Wash world with when I was having a lunch with a client, we were wearing something like I've never seen before. And I asked so many questions. I didn't care about watches. It was in 2020, 2003 and it told me all about the watch was wearing a pan right by the way. And I mean I got instantly very emotional about this object that I didn't care about in the past. So I started, I made my own studio and I entered this world and it was like a crazy world where you can find such amazing watches with amazing stories. So it was like a very important moment for me because I've always been like a hyperactive, always have a very specific relation to time and I was always trying to optimize my time. So this object is a symbol of the time that passed. And so this is why I've been like very, very deep into watch since that time. Sorry 20 years ago I didn't think about making my own company for sure but grew on me like year after year. But you know that and you can say that there is so many brands and they didn't want to bring another one, another brand to the market. I want to do something special that would be connected to my values to what I think is important. So just not a random watch company. So in 2018, when I was about to have kids like twins, I started to feel worried about the world we live in and the future because they will live in that world. And what we're going to do with that world was very important to me. Much more than Twilight in the past. But when it's like the father's feeling, you know, you start to feel like what are we going to transmit them. So at that time I thought that the world we live in is like a bit scary, you know that we live. We are over connected and we don't take time to do things. Like we have so many things that happen in life every day. We read so many content. So I wanted to step back and I think that the most important thing is that I feel that we don't. We no longer pay attention to the beauty that just around us. We consume content like crazy and we don't take time to observe things. And that was the purpose of Awake. Awake. The name, by the way, the name, the mission is in the N is in the name like raising attention of what's really important in life. How we connect with time, what we do with our own times. This is also connected to the world we live in and like pay attention to those small details. That every day, day after day make us like happy and make us like feeling amazed by the beautiful world we live in. This is the purpose of awake, like showing what is important in life and paying attention to the world when it transmits to the future generation. So that's my, that's my definition of being awake.
- [05:51]
Rob Nudz
So I'm going to ask slightly sneaky question and it's a little bit tongue in cheek because it's also, it's a bit cruel, shall I say?
- [05:59]
Lilian Thibault
Yeah.
- [06:00]
Rob Nudz
You are clearly very aware of the, the pressures that being constantly connected to this modern digital world that moves very quickly can manifest in somebody's minds and the, you know, the difficulties that can cause people when they're attached to their phone rather than to the real world of the people around them. How do you reconcile creating a brand that obviously has to push its message through that channel to have content on social platforms, when really the message of the brand, if you succeed in your goal is to get people off those social channels? Is it something that you, you know, you laugh about in house because you can't avoid it, obviously. And ultimately your, your message is a great one, one that we should all pay more attention to and since we're so close to the start of a new year, should probably write into our New Year's resolutions. Listen, but is it something that you talk about that you have a rise, smile about and do you wonder if there are other ways, other more human ways like events which you would prioritize if means allowed to communicate your message?
- [07:03]
Lilian Thibault
Yeah, that's not that cruel, you know, that's the. We have to be like honest with ourselves and we have to take social media in the right way. Like people know all about social media, so we need to take them and to pull the message where they are. So maybe at the end of the day they will try to reconsider the way they use digital thing, the intent and everything that we can always use a technology in the right way. That's just what we did with, for example, the NASA collaboration that we did with, you know, NASA is all about innovation. And when we did this collaboration with NASA, we wanted to make, make a hack like using the watch and the technology. We were the first one in the world to use like it was a NFC chip into a sapphire glass that connect you to the blockchain when just put your phone on the glass of your watch, which is a mechanical watch and you have access to the ISS cameras. That was the purpose of this collaboration with NASA. So from your smartphone you can see the world from the space. Like an astronaut using the blockchain. You know, when you talk about blockchain, you always think about, like, crypto money, like all these kind of things, like, and this was a way to use a particular technology which is not connected to the planet, and use it to show the beauty of the world. So it was a kind of act. So we like to do that. We constantly try to innovate and to bring something that the watch market doesn't have, doesn't provide. So we, in that way, we use things that are not made on purpose to highlight our message, and we use them to do it.
- [08:46]
Rob Nudz
That's very nice. Now, on that NASA collaboration front, I know a lot of our listeners, a lot of collectors worldwide are very, very fond of NASA collaborations because there have been many of them. And that might confuse people from the outside looking in. Why such a massive institution is collaborating with so many different brands in different ways. I know it operates slightly differently from, say, an artist or a fellow brand when it comes to teaming up to create a watch. Could you explain the process of collaborating with NASA and how you got in touch with them, what the criteria are for you to create a watch with them, and how that would apply to not just your collaboration, but all the other collaborations that some people have seen and popping up over the years?
- [09:32]
Lilian Thibault
Okay, so the collaboration with NASA is like something that is not that tough. It's just about submitting your project, and then if they like it, you can get an approval. If they don't like it, you won't have the approval. So you just have to connect with the right person at NASA and try to push what you want to do with them, why you want to do this collaboration and what you're going to do with them. And I think that they were very, very impressed by the way. We wanted to use a watch as a message to show the beauty of the world from the space. And that was the purpose of the NASA collab. Just like you said, there are so many. There have been many NASA collaborations in the past. There will be in the future. But as a way, we try to do things differently. I didn't want just to put a NASA logo on the watch. That has no sense for me, I wanted to be like the most amazing NASA color version that has been done, and maybe that will be done in the future. Because, you know, it was something totally different. It was not just a watch, it was also an experience. And I think that we are the first one. I don't think. I'm sure that we're the first one to bring a real, true experience. Like looking at the Earth from the span for the live streaming from the ISS cameras is something that, like, people were crazy about that when we were showing the experience in the shop and people were saying, wow, that's just crazy, guys. You've done something that I've never seen before. And that was the only thing that was important to me and to the team is like bringing something that nobody has done in the past. Being bold, being try always. It's like just Awake always do something that have never been done. We just start at the beginning of our journey. We tried to create and we created new materials that have never been used in the watch industry. Then we have this NASA collab with the first sapphire glass in the world, integrating an NFC chip that connects to blockchain. And for the last collection, also, we always bring something new.
- [11:47]
Rob Nudz
I must say, I think you're right and I think you've succeeded in creating the most stunning collaboration that, that I can remember NASA ever doing. I'm a sucker for the NASA logo. When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. I dreamed of being able to look down on Earth from space. And the fact that you've actually managed to integrate that into a watch using technology that otherwise, although very useful and has been applied in many practical ways, rarely is applied in such a emotive fashion. The only downside is I think you've ruined it for everyone else now because I think you've kind of won the the NASA game. You know, what's next. I can see that Awake aligns so perfectly with, like, the NASA vision. It's not just the fact that the watch itself is incredible to look at and really comfortable to wear, but it's a holistic team up. Talking about the watch itself, though, let's go right back to the first collection because obviously we're going to touch upon the transformation of the model lines that you've had since you began. And I want to know when you started, what were the aesthetic cues that you followed? What was your desires? What kind of watch did you try to create and then lead us into the new era of Awake that we're experiencing now.
- [12:58]
Lilian Thibault
Yeah, sure. When I started Awake, I wanted the brand to be, like, quite affordable, accessible, because it was important to me. Like, we have a philosophy, deeply, very, very important philosophy into the brand. Our vision, our mission is something that is quite unique. I mean, normally, like, people do want to create a wash, they just do. Like, they try to create the best design they can and, and, and that's it. So I wanted to bring something different. The vision of showing the beauty and the fragility of the worth has always been the, like, the, the DNA of the brand. So when I started the company, I wanted to make these values quite accessible to most people. This is why we started with a. A first watch made from recycled fishing nets, which was important because it was a way to show that we can turn a threat to the oceans into a new material, which was really sustainable. And that was important because the way we consume and the way we use our natural resources is very, a bit like, scary. And the way we could turn something bad for the environment, do something nice onto your wrist was very important. By the way, the recycled fishing edge is very, very nice material because it's, it's strong, it's sustainable, it has a nice, a nice, I mean, a nice feeling. Very, very soft, very nice material. The only problem with that is that it's plastic at the end of the day. And this first watch was very important in our story because we were offered to the G7 in 2009, 2019, sorry, the year we created the brand, we were asked by the French government to create a watch, a specific watch for the G7 summit that was happening in Berrit in France. And we created this watch especially for them. And this watch was not only a gift offered to the world president that were attending this very big event, it was also used by Emmanuel Macron, our president, to highlight his speech about the G7 summit and the philosophy and the way we have a problem with the ocean pollution. So he used the watch as a symbol of what strength is capable of in terms of innovation, in terms of sustainable innovation. So that was very, very crazy because we didn't expect our own president to show in front of the camera of worldwide TV platforms our wash and what it was important to change the way we consume and to change the way we produce things. So that was just a crazy moment for a very young. We were a few months old and having your own president showing your wash, like an example was very important. But. So that was the first phase in our life. But the only thing that I was like a bit frustrated about is just like I said, it was plastic. Plastic has for most people something that, like, very fancy and the fragrance is like. I felt that I was a bit frustrated by the way that I'm a watch lover and the way that when you produce a watch for most people which is affordable, like the product itself is missing something. I mean, you can Push the finishes you want. You have to create something that is not connected to your own passion. So that was my frustration. After two years I start to. To think that I had to change something. Plus, when you have a, the. The. When you are like more mass market, you have to just think about swash, for example. You have to have a lot of people reselling your watches. You have to produce a lot. You have to have a lot of middlemen to this into this industry. So at the end of day I think that I didn't create a brand who had where I had to produce a lot because the margins are low. It was a bit like confusing with the first vision of the brand. So in 2021 I decided to turn into something more horological, you know. And that was the purpose of the NASA collab. We. We started this discuss with NASA in 2019 and NASA WASH was released in 2000 in 2021 and the NASA watch was released in 2022. So that was a big turn because that was our first mechanical watches. And the fact that it was something much more serious, like using titanium, recycled titanium, by the way, mechanical movements like sapphire glass. It was a totally different watch, but with the same philosophy like always. Like I said a few minutes ago, but the purpose of this watch was to show the beauty and fragility of the world. Like an astronaut see the earth. So the philosophy was exactly the same. We didn't move from this path, but the product was very different.
- [18:18]
Alon Ben Joseph
Lilian, I clicked on something when you were talking about NASA. Yeah, you just messaged them. Whereas people see that as climbing Mount Everest, you are a doer. So I actually encountered AWAKE because of the NASA partnership. That's how AWAKE came on my radar as a watch collector. I became a consumer. I just bought online the Alain Silberstein watch without even having contact you guys. Then we've met and you are together with your whole team, by the way. So friendly, modest, I would dare to say, and pun intended, un French, that I just had a look at your LinkedIn where I actually never looked at your profile and people blame me of doing too much. Well, you've won the crown, my dear friend, because I count now nine active things besides awake. So maybe let's do an intermezzo. Before we continue on the evolution of the product offering of AWAKE watches, let's talk a bit about you. What makes you tick? Besides that, what really speaks to me that you've focused on space and looking from the earth, from above. You also board member of Respect Ocean and you Made watches of recycled fishnets. So I'm quite curious. Will we see a dive watch made by awake? But let's. Let's talk about you. Are you French? Where are you from? How old are you?
- [19:54]
Lilian Thibault
Okay, I hope this would be interesting, but I'm 47 now. I live in south of France, Exop Provence. Who for the people who know this very nice city. I moved two years ago because just like I'm someone who is like very connected to my own values and you know, when I told you about what I was a bit scary about the future and the kind of world my children will live in. So I moved two years ago because I was living in Paris. I lived my entire life in Paris. I didn't want to raise my kid in Paris because Paris is all about gray about. It's like a very nice. It's the most beautiful city in the world. But there is no place for nature in Paris, unfortunately. It's not a green city. And I wanted my kids to raise my kids in a place where they could connect with nature. And where I live, nature is all around it. Just. We are 50 meters from the. From the. From the past to. To have like a. A pedestrian tree for hours without seeing anything connected to human creations. It's all about trees, all about nature, all about mountains. So this is why I moved two years ago. I'm just not about creating watches, just about living your life connected with your values and take risks. I. I like to touch with. I'm kind of super active guy and this is why I'm obsessed with time. Because I have so many things to do in my life and life is short. So I try to do many things much as I can. Sometimes I will say or say me that I should slow down, but it's possible for me because there is a countdown in life and I try to do as many things as I can. I do a lot of sports, I do a lot of. A lot of things beside my professional life in different, other different companies. I try to help people because I'm not operational in all those companies for sure. Just try to help them, these entrepreneurs to grow with bringing them my own experience, my ideas and everything. So that is very important because there are so many interesting projects in life. I cannot support all of them, but I try to take a bit of my time to help people to achieve their goals too.
- [22:18]
Alon Ben Joseph
Talking about your professional life, give us a bit of a rundown of where you come from and how you arrived at awake and all the other projects that you have going on.
- [22:30]
Lilian Thibault
Sure. So I start my career in 2000, 2000 year 2000. I first started in the TV. I've always been in media. I've been working for TV and for digital companies. I started my first company in 2009. I felt like I was trying to be an entrepreneur. I didn't have any experience, but I just say, okay, just try and I built my first company in 2009. It was a digital company, was helping brands to create like a marketing. I was really, really passionate about what I was doing. I did it for the tech industry. And then because my, the, the, the, the my passion for wash grew on me, I also did it for like wash companies. So basically I was helping ev to have the best online marketing that could, could provide. So I've worked with, I work with a very big group. So in a way that was a way to walk into the industry but not in the like the manufacturing and production side, but into the, oh, you can help these brands to sell their watches. So this, this because in all of my professional experience I always try to do things that I love. I mean I couldn't there, I couldn't be like waking up in the morning and saying I don't want to go to work and everything. So everything I did in the past was always about things that was really exciting me. So I think that's part of the way how you can be an entrepreneur. Like one day you like what you do, just try to do it for yourself, just take the risk. And it worked. I mean before that I didn't have any experience, but you know, if you try nothing, you will never do something that you have in your dreams. So I've been working almost 20 years in digital TV and digital industry, but. And my midlife crisis because I was 40 and I said a bit more than 40 and I start to say that I wanted to do something different. For the second half of my professional life. I've always been working on B2B, working with companies. I say you should try something that you've never did in the past, like being a company that will connect with people, not with professional, but with people. So this is a totally different thing and very, very much more challenging. I realized now with a few years of experience. But you know, it's just about trying to do something new. Try to, to chase your dreams and try to do something that is really meaningful to you. And that was, this is how I started awake, like doing something totally different. I got some experience, I got some skills and I wanted to, to bring them to Create another project. But I've never worked, I've never been working for the manufacturing and everything. So I, I had to learn everything. But at the end of the day it was not easy. But I'm really happy with this move so let's try to continue that direction.
- [25:56]
Alon Ben Joseph
Looking at your list of all the enterprises you're active with, I'll pick out the watch related ones. So you've mentioned that you've hands on helped watch brands with their marketing. Do you want to share a few brands that you can talk about that you helped?
- [26:13]
Lilian Thibault
Yeah, I've been very different brands. I've been working with Patek Philippe, with Hublot, with Rikes Group for big names but also for Richemont. I mean for so many brands, so many different brands. So I cannot list all of them that will be boring. But basically like big brands or big groups that I provided my service to.
- [26:38]
Alon Ben Joseph
That infected you with the bug for watches and is that why you are committed to ask me watch seven years ago?
- [26:48]
Lilian Thibault
Yeah, exactly. That. That was a project with a friend. The idea was to help people to understand the watch to because there is so many watches into the market and that not many people they follow the same, the same brands. And I mean I wanted to bring something with my friend because I'm not operational, I'm not an executive in this, in this company, but my friend is. So I wanted to. The idea was to bring like a very big overview of the market and try to help people with IA to understand the best watch according to the taste in term of design kind of watch they wanted and have like a huge selection of the, of the watch into the market and not just only the most famous ones. So in a way I wanted to bring like my own culture and passion for watches to many people because you know, most of the, most of the brands and most of the watch are just very, very discreet and most people, they don't know about them. So I wanted to bring this kind of choice because there was of choice and I wanted to to be able through this company to help people to choose their next watches.
- [28:02]
Alon Ben Joseph
So exactly at the same time, seven years ago you started Awake. Before we gear back to Awake and the awesome watches and the evolution of your collection which Rob did an amazing intro too. How do you juggle all these balls and these amazing projects? What's the key to success for you?
- [28:22]
Lilian Thibault
It's all about using your time in the right way. Like I mean this is all about being focused on things. Try to concentrate and spend one hour on a project with like is very efficient hour. It's very important when you have like different business or when you're involved in different projects, the focus is the most important thing because you know it's so easy to waste time on not being productive. I try to be very productive on everything I do in, in that way I can do much more thing that I will do if I was like wasting my time or doing things that doesn't bring any value. So I try to always use my time to bring a lot of value to things and to the projects I handle or I help. That's the, that's my. I mean that's the way I do it. I don't know if it's the best way to do it, but that's the, the way I do it.
- [29:18]
Rob Nudz
Are you a watch collector yourself and if so what has your journey attracted you to from other brands and why?
- [29:25]
Lilian Thibault
I remember that my first watch like when we started my collection was a tiger Monaco. At that time I was like, it was like a bit crazy spending almost 2,000. Yeah, well 20 years ago almost €2,000 in a watch was something like. Was just ridiculous but like it was like a kind of accomplishment or I like the design which was different and, and the older story, because you know we're in the watch industry is all about storytelling. And the older story behind that watch was really crazy for me. So I start with a very what I will say, very simple but not that simple watch. But you know what problem with when you're watch enthusiast is like when you just bought your first watch you are already thinking to the next one. That's why I try every time I have friends who say well what do you advise me? What, what should I watch? What should I buy for my first watch? I say be careful because when you're going to start to, to get you interested to watch is going to grow on you and definitely that won't be just you don't. That would. Won't be your single watch, you know. So because I had, I had to experience that and so I moved to Denise. Then my second watch was a denif with the El Primero movement which was like a. Also very much more horological for me. I like the design that was the open heart watch. The first one I felt like that I had the most beautiful watch in the world to my wrist and like that was even more expensive and for me it was even more crazy. But I mean that's the traditional way to start your collection. You are always choosing for something that at least at the beginning for something like even more crazy than what you have in your. In your collection. I've. I've been through Rolex and like just like many people because the. When you start your collection Rolex is like a must have. And I had a lot of must have. I had a reversal that. That was funny because when I think to my personal collection journey I realized that I started to have all the must have. That's that like a watch collector have to have. That was funny because in some way that was a lack of personality. But I wanted to like to be reassured that was I was wearing was something that like have a big approval from the market. But after like collecting this watch I tried to do something different of my. And my professional life was going better and better. So I tried to start with like much more like high end world pieces like Vacheron Constantin. I had the Mercator. So the Mercator is important because like it was something like totally nobody knows about the Mercator which is a crazy watch. So I tried to get away from the like the. The mustard and the hype watches to going to watch it. That was much more, much more like different doing something new because the Mercator have a very specific way to display the time. And also I was at the point that I started to get really interested into the Metedar Metedar very important to my collector journey. So I think it was in 2015 something like that I was able to buy my first. I mean for me it's very important wash which was Patek World Time Enamel Cloisonne which was like for me like the epitome of watchmaking. And I think I still think that Metada as the epitome of watchmaking because the talent and the. The precision the time spent on every watch to create something very unique was for me like a totally different level. But after you had the kind of piece you say what's going to be the next? And you don't you try to realize that you not going to try to be above in terms of price or if term of like creative things that I started to go back into more like much more affordable wash. For for example my one of my last watch is Christopher Ward Bel Canto which is a much more affordable watch. But I like the idea to have like a nice complication into like a very accessible watch for the complication it provides. So no I have a much more like a wide range of watches that I'm interested to. But in the same way that I'm no making My own watches make buying all the watches, like, a bit like, unnecessary because, I mean, I have only one wrist. I mean, I have two, but I wear my watches on only one. So like the, the, the time for each watch is more, more and more low. So I'm still connected to the wash industry because I'm, I love what I do and I love the watches I do. And the, the, the more we grew, the more away, grew, grow, and the more the watches we make are very appealing to me and I want to wear them like every day, not just for displaying to people, anything at all. My old wear my own watches, so. But I still, I'm still connected because I'm a watch lover. So you cannot get rid of it. You cannot like, say, no, I have my company. I don't look at what other do because people in different brands are doing like, very, very crazy things. So I still have an eye on it. And from time to time I said I could buy another watch and I will for sure.
- [35:25]
Rob Nudz
I mean, that's very refreshing to hear because we ask this question quite frequently to people in your position running a company of their own or high up in a major, major group brand, for example, and the answer is often far too political for our liking. It's kicked to the curb and they don't want to say what they actually have in their personal collection. But I really appreciate you sharing that with us. And it's nice to hear that even though you do make your own watch, in the minds of some people, therefore would not need to buy someone else's because, well, you can make what you want. You obviously appreciate the craft, the different areas of it that, you know, Awake does not specialize in and will not specialize in. And so you go after that. So my question is, what's next on the list? And what would you like to see from which brand if it doesn't already exist?
- [36:10]
Lilian Thibault
That's a good question. No, I think that I don't know the brand. I mean, just like you said, the only watches I will buy in the future are watches that I will never do myself or complications that I will never do myself or techniques I will never do myself. So basically, no, I think that I used to have a QP Perpetual Calendar in my collection. I don't have any more. I think that's always too connected to my, my obsession for time. I think that Perpetual Calendar is a very nice complication. I don't know in which brand I will pick it. I'm really into Metedar. I think that in Terms of metedar, Awake will do the job, and Awake will bring me the thing that I really need, because I'm going to bring my brand with the things I love and I need. So I will go for complications that I won't do as Awake. And QP Perpetual Calendar is, I think, one of my favorite complications. No, my favorite is minute repeater, but that's another level.
- [37:23]
Alon Ben Joseph
You gave me a beautiful segue to your newest collection. Rob and I were fortunate enough to see the Sommeil, your newest collection, in Geneva in August last year. Blew my mind looking at Rob's face. He was also blown away because you took metier d'art to the next level. As far as I know, this technique has not been applied in the watch industry yet. Please tell us everything about this new collection and the material that you guys applied.
- [37:59]
Lilian Thibault
That's a very interesting question because, you know, it's always. It's really connected to my personal life. So, you know, as I said, we always try to bring something different, something fresh, something that other brands haven't done in the past. Like, we talk about materials, we talk about technologies. With another. I know I wanted to bring something that nobody did in the past. And I remember then I had this painting in my. I have this painting. It's still here for sure. And this painting has a great story. It was 17 years ago when I made my first trip to Vietnam. I fell in love in the middle of Vietnam. It was Nu Ray, which is the imperial city in Vietnam, totally in the middle of Vietnam. And I fell in love with a painting that I bought there. It was a painting on wood, so this was solid. I couldn't roll it. And I had to take this quite huge painting for the rest of my trip. And that was just a nightmare because it was like something that you never know when. Where you can put it. And it's like, very big. And I take it back to France and was really happy to have it, and I still have it. And this painting was about a very specific technique, hand technique from Vietnam, which is the Son Mai, which means, like, I would say, like Vietnamese lacquer. And I had this painting every day in my office, and I said that, yeah, as I said, I've been really amazed by Metadar for quite a long time now. And I had this metadata in front of my eyes, and I tried to understand how I could bring it because I've never seen it in the watch industry. And I tried to figure out how I could bring this technique into a wash. So we. We made our research and we found this workshop in the north of Vietnam, near Hanoi. And we contacted them and we just like we did with NASA, we share them our project and try to understand if they could help us, that we submit what we wanted to do. And like, it was a lot of back and forth and, and the guys were really enthusiastic about what we've done. By the way, they're working for very big luxury brand that are using this technique for not washes, but different things. And we started the test and I mean, the result was just amazing. And I know that was something that I've never seen in the wash before. This way that they do the dyes is a combination of two techniques. Two very important techniques in Asia and especially in Vietnam. The first one is the use of silver leaf. You know, when you go in Thailand and everywhere you see the, the roof of the temples are made of silver, of gold leaf. So they have a very long experience about silver leaf. And the silver leaf is like applying pure silver with a blush into the dial basis. And you know, this is pure silver so it catches the light like nothing else. And we put some on top of this first layer of silver leaf. We had some layers of semi lacquer, which is very, very unique because compared to the other lacquers from Asia, you have three big countries in, in Asia that use lacquer. It's China, Japan, the most famous one because it's a Yushi lacquer. It's very famous, especially in watch industry, and the Vietnamese, which is like quite unknown. And the specificity of the Vietnamese lacquer is that this is totally transparent lacquer. So it's not here to be the final result. It's here to protect and magnify what is underneath, in that case, the silver leaf. So we had up to 20 layers of lacquer mixed with natural pigment that's going to bring the color to the dye. So it's a very tough work because you, you have up to 20 layers and between each layer you have to polish the surface like perfectly because if there is imperfections and you add another layer, it would be too late. And you have to start from the beginning. So it's a quite long process because between each layer you have to make it dry and you have to polish it before applying the next layer. So it's up to 10 hours per dye. So I mean, that was really, really inspiring. When I went to the workshop and I saw the way they worked, that's very traditional, very ancient way to work. Nothing is done by machines. They do Everything by hand. So I was made and I said that we have to use this technique and with different tests because they never work and watch the past. So it's very different from the different objects they do. So it was like a mutual understanding of things that we could do and not do. But at the end of the day, the results is just like you said. And I'm happy that you will feel some emotions when you saw Dial for the first time. It's something that cannot be compared to anything else. And when we got this result, I was feeling so proud and so happy because I would be able to bring my first Meteor Da onto a watch. And I think that's very connected to our brand vision and mission. Because it's all about time and the way you use it. When you see this guy spending almost 10 hours for your watch, just for your watch. And your watch will be unique because there is no way you can reproduce the same dial two times, because everything is by hand. So I mean, it was so inspiring. And the result is said that the way the dial play with the colors with shoes reminds you about what's the most beautiful thing in the world. That's why you the name of the. Of the different versions of the Son Mai connect you with the beauty of nature. And what we try to achieve when we bring these colors is just the name of the version. Like Lava, Emerald, Amethyst, Outrebleu. The name of the different versions are really connected to what's beautiful in Earth. So it was always connected. Every time we brought a new collation, it has to first innovate and then to be connected to the brand's mission. Because there is no way we do something like just because we like it. It has to be connected to our values and the philosophy of the brand. But that was not the only thing I wanted also to bring something that has never been done before. Because Metedar something for sure, it's something connected to the tradition. But Awake has always been innovative. We started thinking, oh, we can bring this touch of modernity into something that was really modern. We have to do it correctly, not just because we like it. And we created this very specific and unique and exclusive signature. Instead of using Luminova like all the other brands, we try to do something that will pay attention, that will pay tributary to the work of the artisan. And the way we created the plots, the index with a plot of 3D Luminova on which on top we can add the metal index. So basically the opposite way of what all the other brands do and was created something like very unique, but very, very beautiful. Like, the way the lights reflect into the dye is something that you don't find in any other wash. So it's very modern. Some people compared to. They remind them of Tron, you know, the movie. And because it acts like something very modern, but also something very subtle because we have to pay respect to the work artisan. So I think we found the nice balance, the right balance between traditional craft and chimp and this touch of modernity that can make the piece very different from what it look like. And I think that you have two faces for the wash. One face is for the day where you don't notice the Luminova, and one face for the night when you. When the. The light come down and you don't see that much reflection to the dial and something different appears, which is the Luminova work. And I think that's. This combination is really, for me, it's a killer.
- [47:09]
Alon Ben Joseph
It was a killer for my brain as well. I literally had a short circuit in my brain because it was a warm summer day when we encountered each other with you with Tibor and Rob and I, the four of us met, and then I obviously was skewed towards the wake because I had the Alan Silberstein and then you guys had the Son Maze hidden under a cloth. So I first saw the Dare and Dream one. So I had a short circuit in my mind. I'm like, whoa, I need one. And you guys told me, sold out. And then when we wanted to walk off, you're like, wait, wait, we want to show you something on the embargo. And then Rob and I are both chatterboxes. I mean, we compete. Who talks the most? Talking to girls. Obviously, Rob wins always because all the girls flock to him. You can concur that because you've seen it as well in the Cool Cats lounge in the Beau Rivage.
- [48:06]
Rob Nudz
Please stop.
- [48:08]
Alon Ben Joseph
Please keep going. So there was a lot going on. The Cool Cats. It was warm summer day, girls flocking to Rob. There was literally a Swiss TV crew with 289 flocking the room. A lot going on. And then you suddenly say, wait, wait, wait, guys, I want to show you something. And then he lifted, literally the cloth off four watches. First I saw polished cases, and then I, huh, not awake.
- [48:32]
Lilian Thibault
DNA.
- [48:33]
Alon Ben Joseph
Then I'm like, huh, this doll has depth and it has, like, veins. I'm like, is this meteorite? Is this limestone? I'm like, is it lacquered? And then I thought it was enamel. And he didn't say a word. And we're just smiling Thibault. And you were just laughing like what the hell is going on here? And then I turned around the watch, I'm like huh, Beautiful caliber. La Joupere, beautiful finish, which was English French cutting. Like it wasn't a clue de Paris, but I don't even know what you call it. The flange around the caliber and my mind were everywhere. And then there was depth in the indexes because what you were trying to explain that was beautiful. You've basically given the high polished 12 indexes of the hour markers a frame. So it has an elevated 3D full luminous frame. And I didn't understand what it was. So then you showed the dials and then I said, hey, it indeed reminded me of Japanese techniques, but the Japanese don't really apply this. So I thought it was a first. My advice to everyone who's clicking on this story, obviously look at the videos and pictures on awakewatches.com but try to find one at events, you have retailers and I'm trying to twist your arm to represent you guys a bit in Amsterdam in whatever way, Red Bar Crew Ace or whatever platform we have.
- [50:03]
Lilian Thibault
Yeah, that's very interesting. I think that just like you said, we have like a huge evolution since the beginning but we are five years old brand. But I can tell you with my heart that I've reached what I wanted to achieve now. I mean the way what Awake is now is what awake will be in the future. Because this watch, this new watch, this new collection on my collection is the perfect watch that connect with all my patients for products. This is why we moved to La Joubert. You're right to mention it. Our first Swiss made calibre, the watch is Swiss made itself. So now I'm totally in line with the philosophy, product and my passion for watches. So that's the way I mean when I started the company I have no idea that I will be there in five years. But I'm so happy and proud from what the multima has done so far. And I mean that's. We're here because we've done the previous things. I mean that's, that's. I mean usually you don't consider watch brand as a, as startup but when I look into our past, I think that we've been like kind of startup who manage different things to find you the right way and know we in the right way. I mean the awake of 2025 is the. Is what Awake will be in the next 1020 years. Because I mean, I'm really, really in line with what I wanted to achieve. So yeah, I mean, that's, that's, that's, that's interesting. That's smart question.
- [52:01]
Alon Ben Joseph
And my b part of the question is, could awake be what it is today? And I want to dare to say, as good as it is today, if you weren't such a big watch nerd and didn't go through the evolution of buying the icons.
- [52:18]
Lilian Thibault
I'm really fond of details and the way we tried to put details everywhere in the watch and that was already the case for the Naza watch. There are so many details everywhere. The collaboration with this, with Nicola Baron Fogg that you introduced your speech with is also about details everywhere. And this is why I think watchmaking should be. I mean, discovering your watch day after day and notice things that you didn't see in the past is something that I really enjoy, I really enjoy as a watch collector and no, I really enjoy it as a watchmaker. I mean, I know that people will say, wow, they did this. I didn't saw it in the past. No, I understand. No, I understand. No, I see it. This is the purpose of what I wanted to achieve. I mean, what I did was to create watches that are capable of bringing emotions not only with the philosophy, with the values, but also know with the product itself, with the watch itself, where I mean, I put all my passion for watches into this new collection. So, I mean, I hope that answers the question.
- [53:38]
Rob Nudz
It does, it does very well. Now we have one more question for you and we're looking ahead to the future in very practical terms. How will you grow awake in terms of presence in the event space? New retailers, new models, new communication strategies. And what do you foresee as the highest end in terms of price bracket for the brand? In the near future, at least.
- [54:02]
Lilian Thibault
Okay, so in terms of watches, in terms of product, I don't like this word, but that's the main we can use. I mean, we have so many techniques that we're going to explore in the future. I mean, that's just the beginning. I mean, with the Soundmind. But not only we're going to be able to provide different techniques to have a wide range. Because in the past we only did like limited editions. And that was a bit like frustrating for me because, you know, when you do a limited edition, people don't know about it. When we launch it, for example, the NASA, the NADA wash, we saw the 500 watches in like in three or four days. So that's, that's very short. And people just discover the watch one year after and they go and say, where can I buy it? I mean, I'm sorry, there is not anymore. So I mean, I want to try to get away from this like a FOMO thing about limited edition that you have to be there the first minute of the sale, otherwise you won't have it. So this is why the Sunrise is our first core collection. So it will still be there in 2, 5, 4, 10 years until people are not interested into it anymore. So but we're going to enlarge the collection with different techniques, with different way to use the son my technique itself. And we have so many amazing things that's going to be launched in the future. And in terms of distribution, we've always been like online first. I mean 90% of the wash we sell are through our online store. But I want to know going to retail because, you know, the more we grow, the more the wash are sophisticated and the more people need to see the wash. So now our strategy for 2025 is to be much more present into retail. But we don't want like to be like in thousands of shops. There is no point. We cannot do it because the only limit with craft techniques, because awake will be only about craft techniques, is that it takes time. And you cannot produce with industrial process like a thousand watch in a month. That's not possible. So we have to select very few partners. I mean the idea is to have one per country and to find the right one. The right one, the one who will be really feel emotional, that will feel emotional about your projects and that will be able to tell your story to the clients. So that's very important. In the same way, we're gonna be more and more present to shows because shows are very important. Most people, they discover your brand during shows. So we've done like Geneva was last year. We've been in New York for the winter fair, we've been in London for Wash Pro Salon. So we're gonna go in more shows this year. And in terms of the last question I think was about marketing. I think that, I mean we know we are a bit more mature and we need to, we need to show the watches. You know, there are so many, so many brands and so many watches. I mean, I think when you look at social media, you can imagine that there is like a dozen of new wash every day. That's just crazy. So now we have to show people that we here for a long time and you have to show pictures of the of the same watches for quite a long time too. Because you watchmaking and watch collection is not about getting your hands on the last thing. I mean when you want to start install your brand new to the market, people have to understand what you do and what you will do in the past and not change your collections every year or every two years. We've done it in the past and this is exactly what I want to change. Like know that I found what I really, really proud and amazed by with this new technique. I want to make it last. So that's very important to show your core collection now in two years, in 10 years because people start to understand your work and people start to really, really focus on your watch because they see that's not like a random watch that will disappear in a in a few months.
- [58:55]
Rob Nudz
Well, you did a great job of holding together that multi part question I posed here to round out the show. Lilian, that was one of the easiest and most enjoyable and informative hours I've had on the Real Time show. So thank you for that. Thank you for opening up, telling us so much about the brand and yourself. The transparency is greatly appreciated by Alon and me and also the community. If any of our listeners have questions for Lilian or anyone else on the Awake team, then please do get in touch with us. You can contact us via Instagram I'm there Obnudds r o b n u d d s. You can find Alon at a l o n b e n j o s e p h and David a v a u c h e r Or you can contact us via email eitherob Alon or David to herealtime show or via the contact form on the official website www.therealtime.show. we'll be back soon with more top quality watch content. Until then, stay safe and keep on ticking.