The Worn & Wound Podcast

This week on the Worn & Wound podcast, Zach Kazan is joined by Kat Shoulders and Cait Bazemore for what might be, according to some, an exercise in futility: identifying three watches (each) under $1,000 that have been released this year. With all the chatter about rising prices (and Geneva Watch Days coming up, an event not known for its orientation toward value) the team thought it would be worthwhile to identify some truly affordable watches that have come to market recently. What they’ve come up with is a good mix of some of the usual suspects, as well as some surprising newcomers. 

We also have our usual cultural recommendations, including a directive from our friend Mark Cho to participate in his Ideal Watch Size survey which can be found hereand closes on Saturday evening. You can find links to our previous coverage of this survey from past years below. It’s always valuable and provides a ton of insight into our perceptions on what’s big, small, and somewhere in between.

To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast on all major platforms including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

If you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review. If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

The word has been out for a little over a week, but in case you missed the news, Worn & Wound acquired Lorier. We’re super excited about it. Before the news went public (save for a small leak), Blake, James, and Zach sat down with Lauren and Lorenzo Ortega, the founders of Lorier, to discuss the acquisition. It’s a very open, honest conversation about what led up to the decision as well as about our goals now that we are working together.

To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast on all major platforms including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

If you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review. If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

Editor’s Note: we had some audio issues on this recording and apologize for the rough patches.

This week on the Worn & Wound podcast, it’s once again time to answer your questions submitted through Instagram and our Worn & Wound+ Slack channel. Zach Kazan is joined by Garrett Jones and Zach Weiss to talk about the usual wide ranging topics of interest to our listeners and readers. Among them: managing our growing collections, the state of Omega, our favorite types of cheese for sandwiches, milestone watches we’d never sell, and our favorite movies of the year so far. There are, as always, plenty of digressions along the way, including a dive into Garrett’s energy drink habit, and an update on OraOrea.

We’ll do another Q&A episode in about a month! 

To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast on all major platforms including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

If you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review. If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

Show Notes

This week on the Worn & Wound podcast, Garrett Jones, Worn & Wound’s Lead Photographer, joins Zach to discuss something many of us have quietly (and sometimes loudly) wondered about: how do I know when it’s time to upgrade my camera? And what about all of our other gear? How do we know when we’re just justifying a gear purchase in the flimsiest way, versus timing an upgrade strategically? Zach and Garrett get into the weeds on how they think about upgrading cameras, EDC gear, and even watches. 

Before that, Garrett updates us on his recent excursion with Tudor and the Flying Bulls, and once in a lifetime aviation experience over Manhattan.

To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast on all major platforms including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

If you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review. If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

This week on the podcast, Zach Kazan and Kat Shoulders are joined by Georgia Benjamin, who by day works in design at Adobe, but by night (and probably all around the clock, frankly) has become quite a force in the watch world. By the numbers, she is among the most followed female watch personalities on social media, and has become a fixture in the broader enthusiast and collecting community. Georgia talks to us about what drew her to watches, how her career at Adobe informs her interest in watches, the growing influence of women in the watch enthusiast space, and why degendering watches is so important in the watch space. 

To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast on all major platforms including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

If you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review. If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

Show Notes 

This week on the Worn & Wound podcast, it’s time to preview the Windup Watch Fair in Chicago. Partnerships Director Nelly Calhoun takes over hosting duties this week, and is joined by Worn & Wound CEO Blake Malin to talk all things Chicago. Together they discuss all the ins and outs of the upcoming show, including a brand new venue, our fantastic sponsors, and all of the exciting activities happening over the course of the weekend. 

Just as a reminder, the Windup Watch Fair in Chicago will be happening this weekend, July 10-12 at Morgan MFG at 401 N Morgan Street. As always, it’s free and open to the public!

To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast on all major platforms including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

And if you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review.

If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

This week on Time on Screen, Zach Kazan and Kat Shoulders explore High Fidelity, the cult hit starring John Cusack as a lovelorn record store owner from 2000. Why High Fidelity? Two reasons. First, it’s set in Chicago, and ahead of our Windup Watch Fair in the Windy City, we wanted to check out a Chicago set film. Second, this movie is truly about an entire enthusiast culture. There are more than a few similarities between the music obsessives in this film and watch enthusiasts we all experience on a daily basis. It’s impossible to watch High Fidelity as a watch person and not think about the person in your collecting circle who most reminds you of Jack Black’s character. 

We hope to see you in Chicago in just a matter of days for Windup! Let us know in the comments what other Chicago set movies we could have considered, and if you can think of other films about niche enthusiast communities.

To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast on all major platforms including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

And if you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review.

If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

This week on the Worn & Wound podcast, Zach Kazan is joined by Zach Weiss to take a look back at the year so far. We’re about halfway through 2026, so it feels like a good time to think about some of our favorite watches of the year so far, as well as some of the biggest watch stories. This has actually been a very eventful year to this point, with too many great releases to name, and some major changes to the trade show scene which will have a major impact on 2027. We discuss it all in this episode, plus a shared cultural recommendation at the end that might just be a trailer for the greatest movie ever made. We’ll find out on Christmas Day. 

To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast on all major platforms including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

If you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review. If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

If you’d like to learn more about our presenting sponsor Hamilton and their America 250 Roadshow, please visit their website by clicking here.

This week on the podcast, Zach Kazan welcomes Kat Shoulders to the show to explore a topic first covered here: watch writing cliches. Zach and Kat run through some of the cliches mentioned in Zach’s original article and discuss whether these ideas hold up and why they happen in the first place. It’s actually an interesting conversation, and gets to the heart of how watches are covered in the media, and what approach should be taken. We’d love to know your thoughts, so let us know what cliches need to be permanently retired in the comments below. 

Before that, Zach and Kat also cover a handful of big new releases, including new watches from Fears, Doxa, and J.N. Shapiro.

To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast on all major platforms including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

If you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review. If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

If you’d like to learn more about our presenting sponsor Hamilton and their America 250 Roadshow, please visit their website by clicking here.

This week on the podcast, Zach Kazan is joined by Worn & Wound cofounder Zach Weiss as well as contributor Cait Bazemore for our latest Q&A session with questions submitted through the Worn & Wound+ Slack channel. Lots of great questions this month, including a whole bunch of non-watch questions, which we always appreciate. This month, the team tackles hot button issues like the most overrated and underrated pizza toppings, and, we’re finally doing it: our bagel orders. There are a few watch related questions in there as well if that’s what you’re still coming to the podcast for, including one about what’s going on with Seiko, and the most impactful watch of the year so far. 

To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast on all major platforms including Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

If you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review. If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

If you’d like to learn more about our presenting sponsor Hamilton and their America 250 Roadshow, please visit their website by clicking here.