Talking Watches With Matt Jacobson)

Today, we're in Manhattan Beach, California to talk to a collector, a connoisseur, and a surfer. He also happens to be the head of market development for Facebook. His name is Matt Jacobson, and today we're talking watches. So Matt, first of all, thanks for sitting with us here today. If you could tell us a little bit about what attracts you to watches in general and how you got into watches in the first place. So my dad was always a watch guy and a tool watch guy. I remember I graduated high school, I got a sub, which I still have. And in college, I just started kind of buying stuff that was attractive to me. And you could buy, at that time, you could buy neat subs for $250, $300. And so that's how I started. And I went through those phases where I was unfocused in what I was collecting. And I kind of had a lot of stuff, and then now I've really kind of honed things down. I have really good examples of things that I care about. So one of the watches that you've had the longest at Aldi's is this, and this is a 6239 Paul Newman. Right. How long have you had that? I think I bought that watch in the mid-90s. And back then, it wasn't exactly what it is today. No. And I had had a 6239 without an exotic dial that I had bought for, you know, a couple thousand dollars. Yeah. And I sold that watch, and I made like $800 that I thought I had just killed it. And I sold it in order to get this watch. So what is this here? That's a patent-pending double red Sea-Dweller with a tropical dial. That dial has turned a beautiful kind of a tobacco brown from the original black. And so could you explain what patent-pending means? I believe Rolex had applied for the patent on the helium escape valve on the Sea-Dweller. They produced a number of these watches before that patent had been issued. And so that's what the patent-pending means. And on the back, it actually is engraved with patent-pending in parentheses. Right. The dealer had had this watch for years, and at the time, subs weren't as hot. It was much more of a Daytona-focused kind of collector's market, and subs were kind of just subs. And this watch kind of hung around. This dealer had it. He kind of had it out and didn't have it out, and then I said, oh, I have to have it. That watch is just so crazy. That dial is just so beautiful. And so what else in the Rolex collection do you really love? I love the Mill Sub because it's the ultimate expression of a tool watch. Completely. And I love that everything about that watch is different. You know, the bezel, the hands, the case, the serial number. Everything about that watch is unique to being a tool watch. I have a kind of ethos around collecting. If something's coming in, something's got to go. And so something I'm buying has to be better than what it's replacing. And I had a great Comex that I loved, but it had to go to make room for the Mill Sub. So talk to us a little bit about your Patek collection. So what is this, for example? So that's a 2526, a white gold 2526, which I think is just such a beautiful, simple watch. It's an enamel dial, white gold case, and you'll see, like, with most of the watches, I don't polish the cases, and I really like the patina, the kind of wabi-sabi of watches and things being worn and used, but it just feels so great on the wrist, and it just looks so great. And it just, you know, I'm a suit and tie guy, and so that's just a good kind of everyday watch for me. And this particular one is so special because it's in white gold, which I've honestly never seen in the metal before. Most of them you see are yellow gold, occasionally rose, but this one happens to be white. And what is this guy over here? That's a Patek 3448. It's the only complicated movement Patek that I have. A friend of mine was wearing it, and I fell in love with it because it just felt like it was such a beautiful watch in the right size. It's got some real heft to it, and I wear it on an Hermes strap, and I think it just looks so beautiful. And then this one over here is a classic, and honestly a little bit different than the rest of your collection with the integrated bracelet. This is the original Nautilus. Right. So a 3700, and I just, I bought that watch because the condition was so insane on it. I bought it from the original owner. There's something about it, it just has this real kind of 70s gentleman's, you know, kind of dress watch feel. There isn't another watch that feels as good on the wrist as that one. The bracelet's beautiful. This is really one of kind of like the archetypes of 1970s watch design. It really is. This and the vintage Royal Oak, the Jumbo, are both just fantastic on the wrist. And then tell us what this is and what you have on your wrist. Yeah, so these are both Patek Beta 21s, and I just love them because I love that this was Patek's reaction to the 70s, you know, big Seiko explosion. From what I understand, it was a collaboration between Jaeger and Patek and Rolex to come up with a quartz movement that they all believed in and participated in and would use a variation of. And I just, I saw this watch probably 10 years ago and I thought, what is that? It looked like, you know, this big television. And so I started looking for them and I thought, well, if I want, if I'm going to find one, I'd really like to find one with the removable bracelet. You know, not all of them had that. And so these both do. And I look at this bracelet and you look how it feels. I have no idea how this bracelet could be made. Like, I mean, I look at it, I look at it all the time and I'm like, first of all, it looks so like, you know, this kind of space, this isn't white gold, but I have no idea how that thing's put together. So Matt, if you could tell us about this small Cartier that you bought for your wife. I remember seeing this watch years ago and then you never see it around. And I thought, God, this would be such a great, you know, nice kind of different piece for her to have. I think it's just such an interesting case and an interesting story behind it. You know, apparently, you know, a version of this watch of a tank came to Cartier after an accident and the owner wanted it repaired. And this is a cast of that case. Just the pure kind of simplicity of a tank watch in a different shape. I just love. And so how does watch collecting kind of connect with your daily life? Do you wear these things surfing? Do you wear these things at work? Is it just something you wear outside? Yeah, no, I mean, I wear an older no-date sub surfing on a NATO strap. They're part of what, I mean, I wear them every day. I wear them to yoga. I wear them playing volleyball and I wear them, you know, not the vintage stuff, but I, but kind of just design from a design standpoint and from a tool standpoint, you know, they're meant to be used. So how do these kind of equate to what you do day to day with Facebook? Is this kind of design aesthetic kind of transformed or kind of interpreted into tech at all? Or is it really something that is totally foreign to most tech guys and most Silicon Valley guys? I think the rate at which the world has gotten hip and that people care about design, you know, is pretty universal. And I think that the world has gotten very flat that way in terms of kind of an understanding. You know, I think that people all spark to and care about good design. And it's part of, you know, it is part of kind of who I am and things that I like and things that speak to me and have a story behind them. So one of the things you're working on a lot now is Instagram. So how has Instagram and the watchful kind of evolved together? You know, I think in particular that Instagram has become a hub or an important platform for people who care about design. And I think publishers like yourself are doing some of the best work on Instagram. And it's just really, for me, it's exciting because I've been with the company from the very beginning from Facebook. You know, to have the opportunity to kind of reimagine, you know, a business on a scale like Instagram again, it's such a blessing. But it's one of these rare mixes of art and technology, you know, where you can kind of take great photography and blend it with technology and share in a meaningful way. It's very, very powerful. And it's early days, you know, in terms of, you know, how this will evolve. But I think that as a platform for expression and to show kind of objects, you know, Instagram has been spectacular for that. So you said one in, one out. So what is the one watch that you've always wanted to buy or find and you still haven't yet? You know, there isn't one. You know, I feel it to a certain extent like a dragon slayer with no dragons left. There's none of these watches that I own now that I would think there's something else I'd really like to have and replace it with. You know, I don't need to own five Daytonas, you know, if I own, you know, the right ones. I love that. And I don't need to own, you know, kind of every expression of a reference of a watch. To me, like what I have now, it's kind of perfect. It feels great.