The Wm Brown Weekly

Articles

The Wm Brown London Black Book

2 weeks ago | wmbrown.substack.com | Matt Hranek

Thank god I have friends and colleagues who live in London and and know it inside-out, otherwise I would never know how to navigate what’s going on in this town. Sadly, I don’t get to London enough, and when I do, it is never for enough time. It always seems like I am missing something (or someone for that matter)—rushing around the city trying to fit everything in. Plus as a creature of habit, I pretty much do the same things every time I visit, not exploring the city to its fullest extent.
Dispatch from Geneva

3 weeks ago | wmbrown.substack.com | Matt Hranek

I would say by now that I’m officially a veteran of these Swiss watch fairs. I would also say I really enjoy them. I like seeing the latest and greatest the brands have to offer, I enjoy the comradery of my peers in the watch community, I love the brand swag bags and care deeply for the people in the trenches meeting and greeting us and repeating the same dialogue over and over again about the latest offerings (I feel you!), and I like the endless espressos and Champagne offerings.
Bulletin Board 44

4 weeks ago | wmbrown.substack.com | Matt Hranek

There’s been a jewelry store in this medieval Italian city since the 17th century. But it isn’t just a store. Walk through the ancient wood-paneled showroom, duck under a heavy curtain, and you are admitted into the inner sanctum of current owner Giuseppe, the 13th generation of this family of jewelers. However, that’s not why this dapper gentleman in his 60s is such a local celebrity.
My Spring 2025 Kit List

1 month ago | wmbrown.substack.com | Matt Hranek

I’ve made no secret about being less enthused about spring than I am the other seasons. There’s a romance to being reunited with a favorite tweed jacket at that first sign of fall, and an excitement to breaking out shorts when summer kicks into high gear. With its transitional temperatures and hard-to-pin-down weather, spring just doesn’t have the same strong and immediate associations. What it does require, however, is utility—particularly where rain is concerned.
Bulletin Board 43

1 month ago | wmbrown.substack.com | Matt Hranek

THE WATCH: A Piaget Polo Cuff Ref 7131ITS OWNER: Nicolas Amsellem, manager of the French-language watch website Les Rhabilleurs and watch expert for the auction business Sancy Expertise Paris. The Wm Brown Weekly is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. THE STORY: This is probably my most-loved watch ever. It was the first one I bought, with the only funds I had in the bank account of my newly born company.
The Laundry List

1 month ago | wmbrown.substack.com | Matt Hranek

I love doing laundry. Back when I was a photographer working with Martha Stewart, I had the pleasure of being on set with her on several laundry photo shoots. I learned a lot from her—I always use her hack for getting wine stains out of kitchen linens—boiling water poured from a tea kettle. And no matter how many times I move, I’ll never get rid of her book The Homecleaning Handbook, which was published in 2006, and is basically a bible on cleaning everything.
Bulletin Board 42

1 month ago | wmbrown.substack.com | Matt Hranek

I love a good clothing store. You can’t beat seeing the product in person, feeling its fabric and actually trying on the fit. Over the years I’ve made great friends via the retail experience, and Chase Winfrey is one of them. I first met Chase when he was working at the old Drake’s NYC store on Crosby Street, and we ended up spending a lot of time together after he joined the team at J. Mueser. I was happy when I heard that his next gig was to be at J.
My love for the BEC (Bacon, Egg & Cheese)

2 months ago | wmbrown.substack.com | Matt Hranek

I love a breakfast sandwich. I grew up eating them at my aunt’s diner in Upstate New York, where it was served on toast with a specific brand of white American cheese called Cooper. It’s slightly denser and more cheddary than those plastic-wrapped singles, and has a very creamy melting point (my mom still buys it sliced and keeps it in the fridge for my visits!). I did not have a proper “BEC”—bacon, egg and cheese—until I moved to NYC some 30 years ago.
Bulletin Board 41

2 months ago | wmbrown.substack.com | Matt Hranek

We’ve got a bunch of cool stuff this week including a wrist check with my friend John Sugden, the debut of our new style survey and a long catch-up with Scott Schuman, aka The Sartorialist. But first, a heads up that I’ll be at Alfargo’s Marketplace in NYC this Friday and Saturday selling wares from my own closet alongside a lot of other great vintage vendors and resellers. If you’re in town, come check it out. THE WATCH: A 1960's Blancpain Aqua Lung.
Bulletin Board 36

2 months ago | wmbrown.substack.com | Matt Hranek

Technically speaking, Dennison is not a new watch brand, having been founded in 1874 by a Mainer named Aaron Lufkin Dennison (yes, he had a beard). From there it went on to have a fairly illustrious history as a British-American watchmaker that produced cases for the likes of Jaeger-LeCoultre, Rolex and Omega, not to mention the British military in both World Wars and for Sir Edmund Hillary during his Everest climb.