PARTS 1 & 2: THE JIM SKELTON INTERVIEW!

By our own Rusty



PART 1: THE JIM SKELTON INTERVIEW!

PART 1: THE JIM SKELTON INTERVIEW!
Post by rusty on Oct 2, 2007, 7:23pm

Jim Skelton Interview with members of the Original Invicta Forum





From MacDaddy, who suggested we do this interview:




"HOW DID YOU GET THE JOB WITH SHOPNBC?

Was it an open call that your agent answered (did you have one?) or did you previously know EL? You've said you were a WIS before, etc. People like to know the details of how one of us WIS went on to become an icon for us all.



Let's go back to the beginning...



A couple of years before coming to ShopNBC I was a moderator for another watch forum, which at the time was the largest and most active on the internet. During that time Invicta was the most prolific brand and had a huge following, but alas... no direct contact with the company had been properly established. I wanted to do a public interview with Eyal for the benefit of the members and while Eyal typically does not grant any interviews he for some reason agreed to it with me. Over the course of about a year we did 2 interviews, the second of which we did by phone. After speaking for a while we hit it off.



Back then I used to do full reviews on watches just because I loved to do it to pass the time, and to benefit the forum. I spent a great deal of time photographing my watches, and taught myself how to shoot at the level I now shoot at. Adding the reviews to the images only seemed like a natural progression at the time and they were fun to do. Eyal had seen some of my reviews and offered me the opportunity to review upcoming models long before their release so that members of this forum could get a sneak peek, and he would be getting direct feedback from me as to any pro's or con's of the product being reviewed. A day or two before the initial watches showed up at my door (Russian Diver I, COSC SPeedway, and COSC Dragon Lupah) Eyal calls my cellphone out of the blue. At the time random hosts were placed in the watch shows and the watch collectors (as you know) are very unique and specific customers who want to know the most intimate details of a watch. It is very difficult to throw someone who is not a "watch person" into these shows because it's really tough to know a lot of detail, and project that on the shows. Just as I could NEVER bounce from department to department like many of our hosts do (apparel, jewelry, electronics, home furnishings), it can be difficult to ask a host who is proficient in those categories to all of a sudden take over the watch shows. Also Shawn Wilsie could not be expected to do EVERY watch show either. ShopNBC asked Eyal if he knew anyone with a lot of watch knowledge that could step in, and he told me that I was the one person that came to his mind.

http://jholbrook.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Invicta&action=print&thread=17500



Watch Brand Forums » The Original Invicta Forum » PART 2: THE JIM SKELTON INTERVIEW!
http://jholbrook.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Invicta&action=display&thread=17501

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PART 2: THE JIM SKELTON INTERVIEW!
Post by rusty on Oct 2, 2007, 7:25pm


From aerowizz:



Does Jim have any official training in watch making?



No.



Does Jim personally design or give ideas to any of the Invicta watch releases?



Yes. I have "influenced" over a dozen different Invicta watches, but only recently has Eyal granted me the honor of producing one of my personal complete designs. The cases, and dials are ready to go and now we await the movement that I want in there. I won't give the design idea away, but it is in my opinion one of the most elegant designs to ever have Invicta on the dial. It will consist of hand laid Chinese lacquer (such as on a Dupont lighter) a couple of rubies, a few emeralds, and a slice (1/3 slice) of a pearl on the dial. The gemstones are to be set as part of an artistic design inspired by a painting that I have in my home.

I also work very closely with ALL of our vendors, and have so far had 3 of my custom designs made, several dozen of my "influenced" models, and I have a special project that I am working on with Lior for what I believe will be the single most impressive dive watch ever made for under $8,000 retail. As it stands it will be a SWI Limited Edition piece (this may change as Lior is upgrading his Swiss Legend line) and will have key elements now done before on any watch. It is so difficult that his factories initially refused to attempt making it, but now they are dedicated to the project and it may take a full year to go from the wax mold sample I have to the 1st functioning prototype.

I am also very deeply involved with the Renato designs. Daniel and I work closely together on most everything. He is a genius at design and graciously allows me to work with him on them. I am currently redesigning the BEAST for an upcoming "Variant 2" project, and Daniel will take that and create his own artistic impression off of that groundwork. We are also in talks about creating their first elegant dress watch that I will probably begin working on this winter.



Does Jim favor the Reserve line over the "regular" Invicta line?



I wouldn't say that I favor it OVER the regular line, but I do like the additional quality that is built into each one. I still buy as many regular line Invictas as I ever did, but now I add Reserve Collection pieces to my collection as well. To get handmade quality with hand polishing, more intricate dials (or more exotic), and the added finishing on the incredible movements i feel that they are a worthy addition to my collection. As much as I truly love the high end Reserve pieces I still wear my $99 Pro Divers all the time.


http://jholbrook.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Invicta&action=print&thread=17501

Does Jim personally design or give ideas to any of the Invicta watch releases?

Yes....he was responsible for the Abortion series also known as the Chinese Zodiac. And from his own mouth, input with the Impotent brand, etc.
Yup....a lot to be proud of.

To get handmade quality...

I don't generally (as in: never) participate in the JS threads but this one thing caught my attention.

Eyal fessed up that "hand made" equated to "we can't get the machines" quite some time ago. I'm gathering from this that JS has employed the "handmade" term as a badge of honor for some time.?

Now I'm paying a bit more attention.
"Hand made" has never been anything to brag about, most specifically if (as in this case) no alternative exists. Is this the first instance of selling swamp gas as substance or is there earlier stuff?

ShopNBC asked Eyal if he knew anyone with a lot of watch knowledge that could step in, and he told me that I was the one person that came to his mind.

No wonder why Skelton prefer Invicta than Oris.

He bragged about designing that Koi watch and it was a Koi that was his down fall. Oh the irony.

:gmov:

Very interesting how he started; I hear Renato is coming back to SHOPNBC in October, It will be interesting to see how Skelton does tomorrow on his first official show on directTV/WOW.net

Dctex99 wrote:Very interesting how he started; I hear Renato is coming back to SHOPNBC in October, It will be interesting to see how Skelton does tomorrow on his first official show on directTV/WOW.net

renato will not be back at shop according to mink himself.

It amazes me how important and great he thinks he is......

The gemstones are to be set as part of an artistic design inspired by a painting that I have in my home.



Oh, Jesus. I'm assuming that Architectural Digest isn't going to be putting Jimbo's rented mancave on their cover anytime soon.

Oh, these cornballs watch shills. Their stories change depending on which way the wind blows.

I really think people like JS give real watch people - the reputable manufacturers, retailers, repair shops, and watch owners - something to laugh at. The best part of it is that the guy is such a transparent egotist he doesn't even realize that he's a walking parody of what those above-mentioned people are. He's to watch people what Dan Aykroyd's classic "Fred Garvin: Male Prostitute" character is to actual guys who get lucky a lot.

But there's actual harm in people like Skelton, and I know more than a couple of people here have noted it in recent months: The watch blog world is getting dumbed down to almost ridiculous levels of goober. WUS is loaded with "What watch will look good with this tie?" posts; people get on here and start waving yellow flags; the "sale or trade" areas on all the sites are lousy with IWG crap that nobody wants, and even less people want to own second-hand. Ugh.

Here's the funny part: Those who thought Skelton was Mr. Invicta are gonna be so confused, they'll accidentally order regular fries instead of cheese fries at Sonic - he's not even gonna get near IWG on WOW.tv, because they don't sell IWG during those presentations (SWI sells Invicta on its sites, but not on the UStream shows). The fact is, if they put a can of conch with a bezel on it, Skelton's gonna sell it to you if told to, you tasteless rubes.

The watch world's goin' to hell in a handbasket, and now Skelton's got a tisket-a-tasket full of fucking Red Line to tote around. Same game, different crap.

TemerityB wrote:Oh, these cornballs watch shills. Their stories change depending on which way the wind blows.

I really think people like JS give real watch people - the reputable manufacturers, retailers, repair shops, and watch owners - something to laugh at. The best part of it is that the guy is such a transparent egotist he doesn't even realize that he's a walking parody of what those above-mentioned people are. He's to watch people what Dan Aykroyd's classic "Fred Garvin: Male Prostitute" character is to actual guys who get lucky a lot.

But there's actual harm in people like Skelton, and I know more than a couple of people here have noted it in recent months: The watch blog world is getting dumbed down to almost ridiculous levels of goober. WUS is loaded with "What watch will look good with this tie?" posts; people get on here and start waving yellow flags; the "sale or trade" areas on all the sites are lousy with IWG crap that nobody wants, and even less people want to own second-hand. Ugh.

Here's the funny part: Those who thought Skelton was Mr. Invicta are gonna be so confused, they'll accidentally order regular fries instead of cheese fries at Sonic - he's not even gonna get near IWG on WOW.tv, because they don't sell IWG during those presentations (SWI sells Invicta on its sites, but not on the UStream shows). The fact is, if they put a can of conch with a bezel on it, Skelton's gonna sell it to you if told to, you tasteless rubes.

The watch world's goin' to hell in a handbasket, and now Skelton's got a tisket-a-tasket full of fucking Red Line to tote around. Same game, different crap.

Well said sir.....even here at WL we probably waste too much bandwidth on the likes of JS, MD, Invicter, geeks and what not. But truly most of this stuff is priceless the best comedy writers in the world could not match this shit, it is that funny...Where else could you find sayings like" Bought three of them and only one worked but that's OK." no place.......priceless....

He rides a Suzuki and a Victory (unless the repo man caught up with him before Miami) - so he is my hero.