WATCH NFTs with Tom Segura

You can create the zero zero one and ft, which authenticates your piece. But then you authorize another ten, and you let me buy one of those so I can actually own an image—the real thing, the one-of-a-kind dial to create watch NFTs.

[Music]

All right, let's talk about watches then because I always found that I always liked it. I mean, from when I was a kid, I was like the look of either on some people—you'd see the classic leather strap—and some people, I love seeing, you know, like that traditional steel sub look that you—that became so—I love that look.

There we go. What do we got? Is that where we're in here? White face Daytona, black dial. That's the classic steel white face Daytona with a red band—my signature red band. The band is nice, man. Are you a fan of like, uh, Richard Mille? Do you get like those, and you get some of those crazy ones too?

Yeah, you know, right now, I would say, you know, if we're gonna go down the rabbit hole on watches, there are two living watchmakers that have reached Picasso status: Roger Smith and FP Journe. They make watches by appointment. Journe is a legend—a living legend. Imagine if you could have a Michelangelo be alive and come and paint a dial for you—that's who he is. He only makes 900 pieces a year. There are thousands of people waiting to get one from him. They appreciate by 400 percent the minute they walk out the store. If you ever flip one, you never get to buy another one from him.

You really have to prove you're a collector to join the German society. It's crazy stuff. But, I've got a lot of Jordans, and you know, to me, it has nothing to do with telling time. I—somebody said to me, "How can you even tell the time on that watch?" I said, "I don't. This is a piece of art. It's a piece of art, and it's appreciated in value just like art does."

So, my watch collection is up 114 percent in the last 12 months. I have them stored all around the world, and I'm working on a really interesting new deal that I'm funding to create watch NFTs. So that, you know, one of—I mean, to me, I mean, if there’s anybody going to do it, it’s going to be me. Nobody knows the collectors like I do; nobody knows the brands like I do, and I can hire tech guys, which I'm doing. I'm going to call this thing the Wonder Trust Watch Fund.

Okay, yeah, so NFTs, I mean, it's—you know, it was something that I don't even know if it was in the lexicon a year or a little more than that ago, and now it's non-stop. It's all you hear about is all the possibilities of NFT. So you're obviously a proponent of that.

Yeah, well, let me give you a reason why. I have a friend—let's call him Bill. You know, these collectors don't like to—they're very quiet about their pieces. I went to his home recently, and with a lube, I looked at a one-of-a-kind piece, only one—only one in the world. Maybe five other people have ever viewed it personally; I'm one of those five. And I said to Bill, "Look, Bill, can I get a picture of this dial, just so I can have it?" He said, "No, I've never let anybody photograph it for obvious reasons." That's when the whole idea hit, and I said, "Bill, why don't we partner up and create an NFT company so that you can create the zero zero one NFT, which authenticates your piece that's given stays at the piece for the rest of its life, but then you authorize another ten serialized zero one through ten, and you let me buy one of those so I can actually own an image—the real thing, the one-of-a-kind dial? And what's the price? Auction it. I'll pay whatever the world's willing to pay for it."

That's where I'm going with this idea.

I like the idea a lot. Are you a fan of Patek too?

Oh yeah, Patek is like—Patek is if you think about the major brands that you can't go wrong with; Adam, RPK, Patek, you know, Piaget or Patek—and then Rolex for sure. I mean, Rolex makes millions of watches, but certain Rolexes are the ones you want to go after. But then you've got the micro brands, like Ming. I have a one-of-a-kind Ming; no one's ever heard of Ming unless you're a watch collector. Then you go out of your mind to see this watch—it was made for Ming. It's a Ming for me, and his production manager was a huge Shark Tank fan. I reached out; it's in Singapore. And I said, "Listen, I've heard a rumor that Ming's making a Ming for Ming." He said, "Yeah, it's a one-of-a-kind." That said, "I'll buy it." And he said, "I got to talk to Ming and maybe Ming will want you to have it." And he did. I have the only one.

Wow, that's pretty awesome.

Yes! I mean, look, I'm like—I’m giddy like a teenager here. Now I'm gonna turn that into an NFT. I didn't realize that, um, Patek did the thing that—you see from different types of manufacturers, especially like high-end luxury things, where you go in the store and you're like, "I want to get the—what's the, uh, the green, uh, face?"

Oh, the Nautilus? You're talking about the 57-11, which just got—you know what happened to the 57-11? The classic blue dial—that was the entry-level Patek—and it exploded. I mean, maybe you bought it for 30 grand; the minute they canceled it, I think it was 150,000. Now, I'm lucky to have a 57-11, but they also have the last of the 57-11, which is a green-faced version of the same Nautilus. Grown men are weeping to get one.

Yeah, I love that watch, but I didn't realize that when I was in this store, they go, "Oh, you have to own other ones for us to even, like, get you that one." I was like, "Oh, okay."

Let me tell you something: the chance that you'll own that watch is zero. Cool, put you to set you up; you're gonna have to deal with all the collectors around the world that have millions of dollars of Pateks ahead of you. That's the thing you've got to understand. Patek understands the value of their collectors.

And there's something else you should know: Patek has relationships with royal families all around the world. They don't talk about it, but certain royal families, when a child turns 18, what do you think they get? A one-of-a-kind Patek.

Wow!

So when you think of, um, your collection and, and like the, you know, the magnitude and the value of it, ultimately, as you get older, is that something you go, "I want this to my kids"? Is it something you’d want auctioned off? Is it something you wanted shown like a museum style? What's like your ultimate dream for your watch collection?

Yeah, I've been asked that so many times, including from Phillips, which is the world's number one watch auctioneer. They do it every fall— a huge, uh, you know, charity auction, which I participate in—and also the auction watches. I've told my family—that’s always raiding, including my wife, who loves to wear all my watches—and my daughter and son. I say, "Listen, guys, all of these are coming in my coffin with me. I'm not eating anything."

And the reason I'm going to need all this is I'm going to a place where it's a really, really long time. We're talking about—I’m going to need really good watches. And my wife said, "Me, don't worry, Kev, I'll bury them in the case. Don't worry."

[Laughter]

So your collection is hundreds of watches, I'm assuming?

Or maybe—you know what? I've learned because I've had two heists over the decades, and so I no longer disclose how many or where. And I have a very complex inventory control system—a really complex insurance system in place. But that's why I'm so motivated, along with several other collectors, to start this NFT company because all of us that have these massive collections are going to create these NFTs in association with giant insurers because we want the manufacturer to authenticate our serial number, and we want the insurer to ensure based on location. But, you know, my watches—they'll never be a heist again because they're in so many different countries and so many different vaults all over the place.

Well, congrats on that! You know, one of my agents worked out like a really good deal for me on something, and when I was talking, he was like, "How happy are you with this deal?" I go, "Very happy." And he goes, "Cool, you're gonna buy me a watch." And I was like, "What?" And he goes, "Yeah, I'm a collector, so that's your—that's what you're going to do."

Not so easy—not so easy to get watches these days as an asset class. They've exploded to the upside. Even, for example, the recently a standard six-thousand-dollar Rolex—just, you know, that the entry-level Rolex—they put out a bunch of colored faces. One of them was a coral red face on a six-thousand-dollar perpetual, and Kanye was seen wearing it at a basketball game and gave it to his soon-to-be divorced wife, I guess, Kim Kardashian on television. The watch exploded. It just—every woman wants this 41-millimeter entry-level coral red. It's just insane.

Well, that's another thing that happens. I went to—I was in Vegas a few weeks ago, and, you know, walking through one of the nice casinos, and they have every type of store. And I went into, like, one of the high-end jewelry stores—just, you know, looking at watches. Their inventory was abysmal; like, they had, like, two of these and two of these. And I'm like, "Where else do you have this?" They don't have any watches in retail—there are none. You're going to have to deal with your representative.

And, you know, Rolex is sold out, Patek is sold out, Adam RPK is sold out, even Omega—sold out. Everything's sold out.

Okay, well, good to know, guys. You got to know someone to get a watch. Now, let me ask you about big— we're talking about big ticket purchases. One thing that a lot of different couples, families talk about is, is when there's a big purchase made—is there a discussion? Personally, I'll just buy something and show up with it. And then my wife's like, "How much was that?" I'll be like, "It was this much." And then she'll be like, "Oh my God." I don’t—I don't talk about it ahead of time.

Um, but some people have lengthy discussions about whether or not a purchase should be made, and I'm wondering if you have an opinion on that.

Yeah, it's an interesting observation because I did a book—I wrote a book once; I did a lot of research on called Men, Women, and Money. I ended up writing three of them on this topic. And then that first book, which took—I thought it would take me a couple of months to write, it took me over a year and a half. I did a lot of research with divorce attorneys, and I found out something incredible. It doesn't matter what, you know, economic level you're talking about; fifty percent of unions break up between five and seven years—not for infidelity. Most marriages can, you know, survive infidelity. It changes them somewhat, but they can survive. What they can't survive is financial stress.

The majority of breakups have to do with inconsistencies in one couple's spending habits versus another that puts the family under financial stress. That's why the union breaks up; it's just hard, too hard to deal with because really, a family at the end of the day, after seven years, is a business. You basically both have to have common goals; you have to save commonly; you can't get into debt too much. And sometimes people are incompatible—they never did any due diligence going into the marriage about that.

And so, really, you know, when I tell people, look, if you're dating and you're going on your third date, time to start some financial due diligence about your potential partner. In fact, you're getting together for a third time, must mean something. And so, you know, it's worth asking.

I mean, I love the romantic part of any relationship, but at the end of the day, if you're losing money and you're putting your partner under tremendous stress, and you can't support your kids in your home, you're going to get divorced.

Yeah, I mean, I guess you're right. I mean, I—I feel like the, um, probably the most stressful time in my own marriage was those early years; we were struggling the most, right? Because you're just—it keeps you up at night—how are we gonna pay for this? You know?

Yeah, I remember when I got married, I couldn't even afford, uh, any dinner for our guests or anything. We just ordered in pizza, and I said, "Listen, stay tuned; I think I'll figure something out. I'll have a party in a few years when I can afford it," which is basically what we did. But it was really tough for the first four years.

Yeah, and then those—I mean, for us, God, I like—I would say the first few years were—those were absolutely the hardest. We were living in a terrible neighborhood in a horrible apartment, and you know, even like when we would—I would sell something like this, a web thing, and I got a check for it—it was like the day before a bill came from the city for, like, a new tax. And I was like, "Oh!" And it was, you know, thousands of dollars, and like, it felt like you couldn't win.

But, you know, on the other hand, if you can make it and you're with the same, you know, partner you had all those years, that’s equity you've built in your relationship. I'm still married to my wife—the one that we had no money—and she's never been impressed with money. She just doesn't care. And so, you know, it’s not what makes her happy; she just wants to take care of the family. And, you know, it's just—it’s really refreshing actually to find that out. I know she didn't marry for marrying me for money because they didn't have any—so that's good to know.

You feel like, um, when it comes to a lot of times, when you're coming up, right, you think about a sum of money as being enough, and you know, somebody might say, like, "Oh, you know, you have no money." They go, "Oh, a million dollars," or whatever, and then you achieve that and make many times more. People a lot of times look at people that have achieved success at a high level, and they have, you know, more money than they think you could ever need or spend, and they go, "Why do you keep working?"

And I always think that it’s because, well, like, what else are you going to do? But also because you get the thrill out of the deals and the competition and, you know, trying to make it work and seeing it work. Again, it's not so much that like, "Oh, I have this much more money now; I can buy something." It's like being in the game.

Yeah, what I—I would say to that, I've tried retirement. You know, most—I’ve talked to many entrepreneurs that have had big liquidity events—I mean, mine was the classic start in the basement, ten guys—one day we wake up, our company gets sold for 4.2 billion dollars.

Yeah, I mean, it was, you know, we all showed up the next day back at the office saying, "What do we do next?" I mean, you know, we didn't know anything else except working. And even though I woke up and said, "I'm really rich," and— but it didn't change anything.

But I decided, "Well, maybe I’d like to go around the world and visit every beach," like just there's a project—let's go visit every beach; the ones in Cambodia, Vietnam, North Coast of Cyprus—all this stuff, which I did for 36 months.

Was that ever boring? Like, I was going out of my mind! And so I just said, "I got to get back in the game." I—you know, I got to get back in the game.

And so, I just started doing deals again—not so much as an operator, but as an investor. The people that are successful do not pursue money for the greed of it; they’re never successful if they try that. If you're after money because you're just greedy, you'll never have any. But if you have a real passion about a business, you'll wake up one day, like I did, saying, "Wow, how'd that happen?"

Because it's—the pursuit of personal freedom—that is what sets you free. It's that you're driving your business because you love it so much; you want to compete, and once you know one day, it’s worth a lot of money, and somebody buys it, and that sets you free, and then you pursue the things that matter to you.

And that's what I do. I—you know, I’m very fortunate that every day, I have this woman I work with, Nancy Chung, who breaks up my day into blocks. And, every week, at the beginning of the week, I look at the week and I say, "What’s this over here on Thursday at three?" She says, "Yada yada." I said, "I’m not doing that. I don’t care who they are or what they are. I don’t care. I don’t want to be rude; tell them no, I’m not doing it. It doesn’t interest me."

And you know, it’s my time. I’ll cry if I want to, and I don’t have to do it. And so I want everybody to get to that place. It’s a very fulfilling place to be.

That’s—I think that’s great advice! I know that, um, people ask me about, you know, stand-up, and I always tell them that the only thing I know for sure about achieving some success in that field is that you have to have a level of obsession about it.

Um, especially in the first, you know, ten plus years. Like, if what matters to you is having success in those years, I've never seen it work. It's just people that are in love with the process of writing and performing and getting on stage. And all those people that were obsessed and didn't care if they couldn't make rent and all their friends were buying their first homes and all this stuff, and you go like, "I don't give a— I just—I love stand-up."

All those comics that I know are the ones who achieved success.

Yeah, that’s a very dark profession. I had a chance to travel while shooting a documentary as a cameraman once with a group of stand-ups—a lot of drug addiction, a lot of alcoholism there.

Yeah, it's great. It's a really tough, uh, tough, tough business because you're on at night; you've got a lot of crazy people in the audience, and it just grinds on those clubs in LA, in Chicago—been there, done that. To survive that, you’ve really got to have some kind of an instinct of—you know, you gotta care so much about what's going on on stage.

I mean, because other people—people do succumb to the drugs and the alcohol and everything—all the temptations of it. But the ones who, like, I consistently go like, "Yup, that— you know, that person’s totally made it"—they cared so much; they were so obsessed with performing comedy that nothing else mattered.

And then, you know, all of a sudden, 10 and 20 years later, achieving all this great success, and people are—you know, it’s funny when they go, “He’s an overnight success,” or “Like, just came out of nowhere.” It’s like, “I’m well aware—20 years. There are no overnight successes in the comedy space. It’s brutal."

I—you know, I've always thought that the best perch would be to get your own night show on television or something, which there's only five or six of. But the travel is—the food is terrible. The travel is brutal!

I mean, travel—the travel is what kills you. It's like the, um, like that old—I think, I think it was Gene Hackman said it—I might be getting it wrong—but he said, “I act for free; it’s the waiting around that you pay me for.”

You know, on movie sets, and I feel the same way about stand-up. It’s like, “I’ll do the show for free; it’s all this brutal travel that I’d like to get paid for.”

You know?

Yeah! No, I know that is tough. And, you know, as a result, I think you get to see other people's professions, and I enjoy doing that too. If you like that video, where do you see my next one? Don't forget to click right over here and subscribe!