Love Overdue - A Bit More On The Tudor x Rowing Blazers Neon Noir

So, it's now been a few weeks. And suffice it to say, the love affair continues. 

And now that the dust has settled, all of the lucky "Friends & Family" of Rowing Blazers have received their Neon Noirs, I can now share a little more of the backstory.

First and foremost, the Neon Noir Tudors were only offered to what Rowing Blazers co-founder Jack Carlson and his friend Eric Wind (of Wind Vintage) referred to as "Friends & Family". And in fairness, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was in that category. I have been asked more than a few times by more than a few people - "how did you manage that?" 

I first met the Rowing Blazers team back in December of 2017.  They were conducting a pop-up in Boston on Newbury Street and I wandered over on my lunch break.

Jack was kind enough to participate in a few interviews, and the team (with his partner David doing some particularly heavy lifting) helped me with a customized Tempus Fugit x Rowing Blazers blazer -

It has been interesting to see how Rowing Blazers has grown and evolved over the past 6 years, and I look forward to continuing my sartorial journey.

One other interesting side part to this story. We all received our Neon Noir watches with the very strict instructions to (please) not post any images on social media, etc., until after an embargo date had passed. But as I had my nifty new time machine, I wanted to wear it (albeit incognito) as soon as possible. My Neon Noir arrived on a Tuesday, and I believe I made it all the way to Friday! I discovered that there was a place not too far from me that sold Tudor watches. And it seemed like a safe bet that they would be able to size a bracelet. Friday afternoon the Neon Noir and I drove to Long's Jewelers in Peabody, MA. I felt a wee bit sheepish. I explained that I had a new Tudor watch that (obviously) I had not bought from them, and I needed to get it sized. 

"We'd be happy to do that for you! Would you like a coffee, or some water?" 

Needless to say, I enjoyed a lovely bottle of sparkling water while the bracelet was sized. And serious respect to the person helping me. She took one look at the watch on my wrist and said -

"Three links. I'll be right back". 

Coffee and water were again offered. And the watch was placed on my wrist, perfectly sized. I reached for my wallet, and was told that there was no charge for this service.

Now a few things I will point out as a former Tourneau employee. At the end of the day (or in our case back in San Francisco, night), the very last thing you want to do is hang around close to closing time unless you are in the process of closing a sale. You want to get the watches wrapped, back in the safe, and head home. Your colleagues would be getting agitated, shooting daggers at you, making it clear that they could not wait for your customer to wrap it up and go home. But the team at Long's could not do enough for me, a guy who had come in for service (apparently a free one), who had never shopped there before, and decided to do so fifteen minutes to closing time.

Anyone can sell watches. You can save some money by shopping around, but to a large extent you are not only buying a watch, but you are also buying an experience. An experience that you relive every time you wear that watch. When I wear my Neon Noir I certainly think of Rowing Blazers fondly. But I also now think of the folks at Long's. Their kindness and unbelievable service are now indelibly part of this story.