What was the last watch you bought?
A blue-dialled Breitling Avenger 43. I bought it because Fears had hit a certain milestone, and I’ve always wanted a brand new, chunky Breitling watch since I was a teenager. I’ve always associated Breitling with success, so whenever I see someone wearing it, in my head, they’re successful. So, in 2024, I actually did it. I took the plunge. I went into my local AD in Yorkshire and walked out with a shiny new Avenger 43.
Do you collect anything outside of watches?
I try not to be someone who collects too much because I am aware that I have a personality that would become very obsessive very quickly. However, there are two things I’ve built up collections of. One is matchboxes, the kind you get in fancy bars, restaurants, and hotels. I’ve realised I’ve actually built up quite a substantial collection over the years. In fact, in the new head office, I’m going to buy a glass cabinet so I can display them all in there, because each one is from somewhere around the world.
The other thing I collect is car brochures, usually dating from the 1980s to the 2010s, and mainly British brands. I’m obsessed with cars, and it’s taken me a few years to come to terms with that and actually admit it, but I realise I love car brochures. I love going to bed and reading an old car brochure and imagining if I was walking into the showroom, how I would spec the car, the colour samples, whether I’d want air conditioning or not, you know, all of those things. There’s just something about holding an old car brochure. I absolutely love them, and I’ve got some quite collectible ones now.
What’s at the top of your wish list?
So next year, I turn 40 and that’s a significant birthday. I want to treat myself to a really significant watch, and I’ve been debating for the past few years what it is. It’s probably going to be a 1980s Rolex Day-Date in yellow gold, the absolute classic President watch, but ideally one from around the era I was born. That’s probably at the top of the wish list, or a Bentley, one of the two, you know, simple wants.
What is a recent find or discovery?
I’ve been subscribing to different people on Substack for a while, but I’m dyslexic, so reading takes quite a long time for me. I end up missing a lot of these Substacks because I don’t have time to sit and read them. I recently discovered there’s a button you can press that will read the Substack post out loud, and it has transformed my life. Now, on my commute to work, or when I’m doing the ironing or washing up, I can listen to the Substacks that I pay good money each year to subscribe to. It has transformed my life, and it makes me so happy.
What inspires you?
I mean, something I’ve realised recently is that it’s often a photograph. I saw an image in a Dunhill newsletter a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve printed it out. I’m going to stick it up next to my desk because that one image of a guy in a suit with a particular expression is very inspirational. I don’t yet know what’s going to come from it, but often, it will be a photograph that just suddenly captures something and then my mind just starts going from there.
What is a book, podcast, or album that changed or influenced the way you think?
Even though I’m dyslexic, I do read quite a lot of books. Fiction-wise, a book I absolutely adore, and I’ve read it four or five times, is The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Hands down, it’s the best book he ever wrote. That book was very much my kind of awakening to the sort of Edwardian lifestyle of beauty and luxury, and to understanding that real luxury is effortless. It’s a beautifully written book.
For non-fiction, 10X Is Easier Than 2X by Dan Sullivan and Dr Benjamin Hardy. It’s basically about business and how you grow it. That’s the premise, but it really makes you stop and think, not just from a business standpoint, but in your personal life too, what you want to achieve and how to overcome barriers. You realise a lot of barriers are mental. I recommend it to ambitious friends because it changes how you think about problem-solving.
Who is a celebrity or person of note that you admire?
So, when I was 10 years old, when people said, “who’s your hero?”, I was lucky because I knew who mine was, and I got to meet them in person. My hero at 10, and someone I still really admire today, is Jeremy Clarkson. He was the OG of modern car culture. I may not agree with all his politics or his views on things, but I’ve met him a few times and always found him thoroughly decent. He’s hugely influential and he’s someone I admire.
What’s something interesting about you that not many people know?
One of them I mentioned earlier, I’m a closeted car guy. For many years, I used to say, “I’m not really into cars,” and then reel off all this information. I watch car YouTube for hours every week, subscribe to free car magazines every month, and spend money on it. Even though I don’t own a car. I notice cars, read up about them, and follow loads of car accounts on Instagram. And as a gay guy, it’s quite unusual to be a car guy as well. People assume I’m more into trains, planes, and ocean liners, which I am, but cars are a big thing I can talk about.
What is your ideal long weekend?
At home in North Yorkshire, reading the newspaper and going to my favourite pub for lunch on Saturday. On Sunday, my phone will be off, and I’ll pick up an old book and read it. It will be very, very quiet. The perfect long weekend is just spending time with my husband, Chris, with us doing very, very little, just enjoying being in each other’s company. Doing slow things, no drama, no excitement.
What would we always find in your fridge?
Tonic water. There is always a bottle of Schweppes Slimline Tonic Water, and it’s not that I drink gin and tonic every day, but it’s nice to know you’ve got it if you have an impromptu visitor or you just hit Friday and you go, sod it, I want a gin and tonic. Incidentally my favourite gin is Tanqueray. I try plenty of others and always go back to Tanqueray.
What is a rule or mantra that you live by?
Oh, very, very simple, and I’ve done this for decades: listen carefully, opportunity knocks quietly. I answer unknown numbers, read every email, and talk to strangers. 99 times out of 100, you don’t regret it. You learn something, get inspired, and opportunities appear when you stay open. Something I’ve recently become is an entrepreneur in residence at UWE, at the local business school. I mentor students in their entrepreneur course. These are students, they’re 19-, 20-year-olds, and in the last four months since I started doing this I have learned and been inspired so much, not by their business ideas, but certain things they’ll say and I suddenly think, sod it, why don’t we do that at Fears? Why don’t I think like that? There will be something interesting to learn from them, and I’ve always done that in my business and my personal life, having that openness, to have your eyes open and your ears open, and be ready to be ready to receive an interesting opportunity.
What does the year ahead look like for you?
Well, this is a very big, exciting year for the company. It’s the 180th anniversary of my great, great, great grandfather starting the business. For me personally, it’s 10 years of restarting the business. We’ve got exciting launches, a new head office, and a workshop. It’s also the first year that I will be doing less, considerably less travelling myself. I feel even more rested and sure of who I am and what I’m doing. So, it’s a very big and exciting year for the company and for me personally.
