This Watch Made Me An Exclusive Medallion Member l 'ONEflight' by Carl F Bucherer

Mr. Wonderful: "You know, I am right now in the Carl F. Bucherer Boutique in the Bucherer store. It's pretty good! Right now, I'm with someone very special here, a good friend of mine, Faren. He is the CEO of OneFlight.

Faren: "What does OneFlight do? So, essentially, the, uh, the Expedia of private jets, which is non-existent. We're the only one in the world. So, we have access to 6,000 aircraft all over the globe. Wherever you want to fly from, we're there for you."

Mr. Wonderful: "So you have a lot of private clients, obviously, that really value their time?"

Faren: "Yes, okay. You know, people say, 'What do you sell?' and I don't want to say we sell private jet service, but I believe we sell time."

Mr. Wonderful: "Right. But we're in talking about time with watches right now."

Faren: "Yes. Now, let's talk about the history of this project. You called me up maybe a year and a half ago or so."

Mr. Wonderful: "A year? It's been a while."

Faren: "Okay, why did you ask me?"

Mr. Wonderful: "So, I knew you went to watches, and I knew you were the guy to go to. What I wanted to do was to recognize my top-tier clients, and I thought since we're in the business of selling time, what a great reward or an award to give to somebody who I recognize as a top client! I thought a timepiece! So, I called you and said, 'Kevin, I need some help. How do I get a timepiece that's so unique that you can only get it from my hands and really present someone very special to the company?' And you connected me, obviously."

Faren: "So let's talk about the challenge of that. The idea of making a one-of-a-kind piece in a very small run that would become cherished by the person who received it—a memento of an incredible relationship—but to actually not only do that but to build a dial that was different than any other dial the company ever made? These were the things you wanted."

Mr. Wonderful: "Yes. Now, that is really hard to do by anybody's standard. I don't care what relationship you have in the watch industry. I know them all. But to actually do what Faren wanted was a unique challenge."

Faren: "And so I turned, at that time, to a relationship I had in New York with, you know, Tourneau because they're a fantastic dealer. Ira, the CEO, I said, 'Ira, how do I pull this off? What brand would even consider this?' And this is even before Bucherer had acquired Tourneau and the Bucherer stores were merged together, and then Rolex bought them both. So, there’s been a lot of moving around corporately."

Mr. Wonderful: "But he said to me, 'There is one maker in the world that might be able to pull this off that would give you the diversity of optionality that you could design a dial like the one you want—only one.' Yes, Carl F. Bucherer, 1888. That's how long these guys have been making watches."

Faren: "And we went to them. I talked and said, 'Could you even think about doing this?' And they said, 'We can do it!' Ichihuahua! That's when the journey started because that's just the beginning."

Mr. Wonderful: "Here, no one needs a watch, but everybody wants one. Why? Because it marks a moment of time in your life. Many watches appreciate and value over time. That's why I created WonderCare. Want to learn more about ensuring your watch? Go to ware.com."

Faren: "That's just the beginning. How to design the dial? What did you want in features and functionality of the watch?"

Mr. Wonderful: "So we limited it to only 24. It may take me 10 years to identify 24 of my what I call medallion members. But you're funding this project from the beginning."

Faren: "Yes, there's certain identity I wanted to present in there. Obviously, the colors of the company—the blacks and reds—and I wanted to represent aviation. Wait till you see this piece!"

Mr. Wonderful: "All right, before we see it, though, we must get some champagne in here. This is a very special moment. Buy a watch online? What, are you kidding? This is why you don't do that! You get this experience, which you'll never forget."

Faren: "Let's do the reveal! Are you ready? We're going to reveal the [Music] prototype!"

Mr. Wonderful: "Wow! Look at that! That's a beautiful timepiece. Let's go through the basic elements that you wanted that have been interpreted into this style."

Faren: "So first off, the colors of the company, the red and blacks. That's our company; it's our brand colors. I wanted that to signify us. Secondly, it's about the aviation industry, right? So I wanted to have somewhere in there—you wanted an aircraft. We didn't know what we wanted; we just said we want aviation. The idea of a plane came about in just our conversations; you know, with the store. They said, 'We'll put a plane in there.' We didn't know how that was going to turn out, and when I'm looking at this, that plane is in a constant movement. It's a secondhand, and it doesn't do the tick, tick. It's just a constant movement, and that's our brand. The bottom says 'O.F. OneFlight'; the top says 'Medallion.' So it's actually recognizing the Medallion member. I think those elements were very important."

Mr. Wonderful: "The third element was the metal, and you and I talked about the metal in reference to what it should be, and we ended up with gold, and then it ended up with white gold. I think that whole representation has turned out beautiful."

Faren: "Yeah, this is the DNA of why watches are made—to celebrate moments. This is what it's all about."

Mr. Wonderful: "And you have become one of the world's most intriguing collectors because not many companies get to do what you did. I'm happy to have done it with you."

Faren: "Yeah, I'm very proud. I've never had a project like this in my life. I'm glad of the outcome."

Mr. Wonderful: "Now the gold pieces going into production, and within a few months, one of 24 will be on this Earth as well. But what a place to actually reveal this prototype, and what a partnership!"

Faren: "Yeah, right? Fantastic!"

Mr. Wonderful: "Cheers!"

Faren: "All right, thank you."

Mr. Wonderful: "Thank you!"