And it all clicked: wow, this thing that I’d been thinking of – it does exist, it’s here. Then, I was talking with a friend, and he said, you should come to the HSNY – we have these meetings. And when we first moved to NYC, I had this idea in the back of my head: there’s probably some type of ancient watchmaking society somewhere in Manhattan, in a room on a historical street with really beautiful wood panelled walls and a library with that old fashioned NYC feel. It just so happened that NYC is a great place for watchmaking, so we were both really happy here. After school, my wife and I moved to NYC so she could pursue her education. So my wife and I moved from San Francisco to Miami, and I enrolled in the Nicholas Hayek Watchmaking School, it’s a Swatch Group school. I’d heard about watchmaking school and realized it was free to students. So eventually, my wife persuaded me to try something different. It was fun, but I didn’t want to do it my entire life. Nick: I had a previous career in the tech industry in Silicon Valley. It’s been an adventure these 25 years of my life. We have members as young as nine and probably as old as 90. What you see today is the culmination of that effort. So, I cleaned it out and ordered furniture, office supplies, benches, tables, chairs, and desks. It was actually filled with junk when I moved in. So on January 2, 2018, I moved into our space in Suite 506 with nothing. Finally, they agreed to let us have space. Then, I started working in their library – I’d set up my laptop and sort of stake out my territory. Once every month I’d meet with the Executive Director of the General Society. And Nick and I talked, and I said, I really need an office if I’m going to do a good job – I need to have space. At first, I was working on a laptop in my living room. Then, when I retired from Rolex, Nick asked me to come on as Executive Director after he became President in 2017. Shortly thereafter, I met Nick, and he graciously agreed to help us develop the website further. Finally, when I got to Rolex, I was able to recruit some of my co-workers, and that’s sort of when things took off. All that time, I was asking my co-workers to come to meetings. ![]() I worked for Tiffany right after I graduated from school and then Richemont for eight years. We had to explain to the membership what the Internet was, so we were really starting from scratch. So, I brought in a friend who was a web designer, and she offered to design a website for us. We weren’t getting any new members – certainly no younger members – and the older members were retiring or literally passing away. Then in 2008, when I was elected President, I decided I had to do something more. One of the ideas I introduced early on was that we needed to be more inclusive – that enthusiasts and collectors should be part of the organization – and the membership at the time fought back. In 2000, he asked me to serve as his Vice President. I got active right away and became close friends with the President. I looked around wondering who he was referring to, and I realized it was me. ![]() My first meeting I was 45 years old, and the facilitator said it was nice to see someone young in the room. I went to the Bulova School of Watchmaking in 1994 – the same year I attended my first meeting at the HSNY – and I was smitten from the beginning. ![]() I got interested in watches in the early 90s. How did you all get into horology and your work with the HSNY? Tell me a bit about your careers so far –Įd: I’ll start since I’ve been around the longest. We had the pleasure of sitting down with these two gentlemen as well as the HSNY’s Director of PR and Marketing, Carolina Navarro, to dive deeper into the organization and the importance of watch communities like the HSNY. Now, Ed serves as Executive Director and Nick as President. Eight years later, he became the HSNY’s President, and with the help of members like Nick Manousos, he transformed the HSNY from those modest beginnings into what it is today. He first joined the organization in 1994, and by 2000, he had been elected Vice President. The HSNY’s monthly lecture series is held in the General Society’s main library, and the HSNY’s main office and educational workshop are located just a few floors up.Įd Hydeman has been one of the HSNY’s most crucial members. The General Society, like the HSNY, is a non-profit who’s been a vital partner. ![]() Today, they’re headquartered in the historic General Society building in the heart of NYC. What began as a small group of men in the industry meeting wherever they could find space in Manhattan has grown into one of the largest watch communities worldwide. The Horological Society of New York was America’s first watchmaking guild, originally founded in 1866.
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