I haven't had the luxury of spending a whole day at home for 3 months now. To many people my work seems fun and glamourous attending events, but they can't see the physical strain it has on my body.
On average, I work 14 hours a day including weekends. Almost everyday at 12am I'm still clearing my emails and messages from clients. But I guess it really pays off. This week was amazing, we did 100k in 5 days excluding the pending orders where we have yet to find the gems for some bespoke orders. But as 2020 comes to an end, I really just wanted to have a good rest
Finally today I get to rest at home and watch some Netflix before hosting a Christmas gathering tomorrow and a bunch of interviews on Monday and Tuesday! I'm pretty excited to be hiring my first full time staff!
When it comes to finding the right watch, honestly not many companies does it better than Castellar. It is structured, informative and they provide you the retail price upfront.
Prices on their posts, so you don't have to Google it
For newbies like me, it's so easy to get confused with what you're looking at. A watch may cost $20k, a similar looking one who might have a slightly different hand can be $200k. These are differences that require a lot of attention to detail to learn and recognize it.
And after you find something you like, maybe through a post you see on Instagram, you might then try to google the price of it. The flurry of very similar options will then again confuse you, at least that's what happens to me. So I really love that Castellar posts the retail prices of the watches on their Instagram. It's so much easier to know that most of them are out of my budget :'(
Things I Love About Castellar.co :
The posts are consistently detailed! I really love how much Castellar describes each model with their functions, unique design style and the history of the watch. This gave me so much more appreciation for the models I look that. They also regularly blog on the latest horological developments or new ranges created by our favorite brands.
Also something so special about Castellar is that they review vintage and rare limited edition watches! Some are models that are made with less than 50 pieces in the world! A eye opener compared to the usual standard models we see in today's market.
Castellar is like an all in one dictionary that is easy to understand for someone embarking on this hobby!
The Story and the Dream
Castellar was created by my friend Brendan back when he was in his last year of university. He always had a fond interest of timepieces but only started when he had some time during the Covid-19 Circuit Breaker. After all he had a distinguished career ahead as a lawyer.
We live 2 mins drive apart, so we would often play mahjong or take our fur babies out for play dates. Eventually our conversations started to go towards entrepreneurship and watching him progress from ground zero as a one man show was the most inspiring thing ever. That sheer consistency, determination and discipline is not commonly seen, and that really gives me a good push at times to work harder on my business too.
It started out as a hobby, a pure interest. But one thing Brendan was sure about; he wanted to create a community of watch lovers where people can freely come and learn about these marvels without feeling judged, intimidated or out of place. To Brendan, it was always about the people. A place with good vibes and energy.
What's more exciting as a friend is to see how this unfolds! It's a young company but I'm sure it'll amount to something really big very soon! Right now they offer consultancy and sourcing of second hand watches. Interested in a particular model? Just drop them a direct message on their Instagram page @castellar.co
I was in a bad mood and was unnecessarily nasty to some people. Two in total actually. Now I'm just reflecting on it.
Can't fix burned bridges
One was a life coach, the other a filmmaker. These were people who started a conversation with me, and I replied accordingly. But I got really annoyed and impatient when it came to personal questions regarding my love life or have no actual content other than 'how's your day' kind of thing. I guess I'm at the age where I have enough friends, I don't have enough time and energy to keep up with my own - let alone try to have new ones. I interact and entertain so many people for work already and I guess I'm just exhausted from it.
But I was just unreasonably rude and very ashamed for that. Should have been more patient. Sigh pie, life moves on.