Time in the Garage

I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with a lot of people centered in garage culture, often through Garage Visits, where you begin to see how deeply personal these spaces really are. When someone is genuinely engrained in the lifestyle, their garage reflects it. Their space is not contrived. It's not copied from a catalog. It's often a room that, more than any other room in their house, is a reflection of them. In those spaces, during those conversations, my eyes wander. Nuanced things buried in corners. Old tools so embedded in the space that the owner doesn't even think about them. Until you ask. And when you do, a story usually follows. Watches are no different. On the wrist, generally out of mind. But when asked, the story behind it often carries the same interest as the machines they're working on.

As a kid, I spent long nights scouring eBay for a deal on a Rolex Submariner: a mighty cliché watch, I know, though one I developed a real appreciation for. I'm not sure how, this was pre-social media. My dad didn't have a Rolex. But, the simplicity of it, the tank-like construction, it seemed like something that would sit right on my wrist while working on my Yamaha YZ-125 . I never did find that deal on a Submariner. The next decade was Timex, Casio, and yes, a lot of Guess watches.

I'm glad to be sharing this one.

- Matt

There’s a long, well-documented relationship between watches and motorsport. From the early days of rally timing to the partnership between Jack Heuer and racing teams, to the enduring presence of the Rolex Daytona on the wrist of Paul Newman, the connection has been established, repeated, and refined over decades.

It’s a world of chronographs, lap times, sponsorships, and precision.

This series takes a slightly different approach.

Time in the Garage is not about the watches built for racing. It’s about the watches worn by the people who live in and around the garage: the builders, riders, collectors, those spending time in these spaces long after the work is done, such as Gregor from MCM Moto Mecca, who services his own vintage Seiko in the same space he builds custom motorcycles.

The watches in this series are not selected, they show up naturally. They are on wrists that have been doing something else: adjusting a carburetor, fabricating a bracket, riding through a canyon, or standing back and looking at something just finished.

Sometimes it’s a $30 Timex picked up years ago and never replaced. Sometimes it’s a vintage piece passed down from a father or grandfather, carrying more history than the person wearing it can fully account for. Other times, it’s a modern Rolex or Omega, not something chosen for status, but because it was the one that felt right.

What matters is not the watch itself, but the relationship to it.

Garages tend to collect objects that last. Tools that have been used for decades. Parts that have moved from one project to another. Objects that don’t get replaced, they get rebuilt.

Watches fit naturally into that environment.

They pick up marks. They get worn without much thought. They become part of a routine, something checked quickly before starting something, or glanced at without breaking focus.

Over time, they carry the same kind of quiet history as everything else in the space.

Not curated. Not preserved. Just used.

The people in this series come from different corners of garage culture.

Professional motorcyclists and stunt riders. Shop owners and mechanics. Artists. Founders and collectors. People building businesses, restoring cars, or simply spending as much time as they can in their garage.

Some are deeply embedded in automotive worlds. Others come from design, art, fabrication, a host of adjacent spaces. But, each share the same relationship to making, working, and spending time in these spaces.

The common thread isn’t what they do.

It’s how they spend their time.

It would be easy to focus on value or technical specs.

But, that’s not the point.

A watch can be inexpensive and still carry weight. It can be valuable and still feel secondary. In many cases, the most interesting watches in this series won’t be the most expensive ones.

They’ll be the ones that have been worn the longest. The ones that show up consistently. The ones that feel like they belong.

Time in the garage doesn’t move the same way it does elsewhere. A quick 10-minute adjustment can take hours. A day project can stretch across months.

Garage time can just kind of... evaporate. Somehow it can be simultaneously productive though with little to show at the end. The watch is still there, but it’s not the focus. It's a reference point rather than a driver. A way to check in, not to keep track.

That relationship is what this series is interested in.

Each feature in Time in the Garage will be simple. A person. A space. A watch.

We’ll ask a few questions. Why that watch, where it came from, what it means now. We'll let the rest come through naturally.

No heavy analysis. No attempt to elevate the object beyond what it is.

Just a closer look at something small that tends to stay with people over time.