Rich Park, founder of minutes+hours, one of the biggest watch shows in America

When and how did you fire yourself, what you did and devote yourself to the watch industry?

If you have ever worked in retail, you know that the hours are sometimes not friendly and brutal. After a few years I only knew that it wasn't for me. I would not look back and say that I hated this time, but it was just not what I did in the long term. It was definitely scary to jump from a stable job to the unknown, but with endurance I worked out a new career to do what I love. Of course, there is not much tangible income at the beginning when I tried to establish myself, but I am very lucky to have found a handful of great brand partners and put together an amazing team, and it was quickly extended to a full -time career. You know the saying: “If you love your work, never work.”

Her first real work in the industry was a YouTube channel, but they passed into trading shows in Lamicrolux in Los Angeles. This initially focused on smaller independent brands, but represented this big change in her career.

In 2018 I had the idea of ​​starting this type of event and organized a few small brands in a restaurant in the hope that it would arouse something interested and that people would appear. I only released a few flyers and we all got into a full restaurant. It was surprisingly successful, so I continued with more brands and founded Lamicrolux with sixteen brands in 2019. All small independent brands or microbrands, as you say, wanted to put together independent brands and important established brands under one roof.

Of course, this was initially not an easy sale because larger brands hesitate to share the floor with smaller players. They wanted to be a brand that were considered equally. Fortunately, our shows attracted a lot of attention, and when we grew a larger audience, some large brands came in and more soon followed. We shortly had a big mix of independent and large brands – Seiko, Hamilton, Rado, Maurice Lacroix etc. In our latest event in Chicago, for example, over 60 brands with many well -established watchmakers with smaller independent. With this new dynamic we have changed our name in minutes and hours, as this was better our shows. Lamicrolux focused on smaller brands and first in Los Angeles. Now we are much larger and are spreading in several countries in the United States.

How did you get the name of minutes+hours?

When we had drinks with my team after a great Microlux event in Chicago, we knew that it was time for a more appropriate name to represent how we expanded, especially since larger brands came on board. We always went through different names and “hours and minutes” we seemed to be good, which of course rolls off the tongue. Unfortunately it was taken and we didn't want to try to offer it, so we tried “minutes and hours” and quickly got used to it. And minutes and hours have great initials, so we can also call the show M&H. If we say H&M … Well, that's also a business. There is no confusion with ours. Everything went well.

How did you find brands as a young company in the USA when it seems to be such a European industry?

One of our early branded partners was actually Czapek before it was really blown into the luxury brand that is it today. Many people don't know that, but Czapek started a crowdfunding campaign in 2015, but of course is a very expensive, high-end watchmaker today. I only called a few contacts that I had and asked if they wanted to come to us with an open bar and several other brands in a restaurant atmosphere, and they accepted happily. I was very happy that I had such a good reception. There were already enough established trade fairs and general interest in the USA for foreign brands to show interest.

When our audience grew, larger brands could no longer ignore us, and we saw Rado, Perrelet, Christopher Ward, Maurice Lacroix, Junghans, Tissot, Seiko, Citizen and many others. Today we have many established brand partners from the globe on 60 brands from April 5, April 5, on April 5, on April 5, April 5 on April 5, on April 5, over 60 brands from a service in Chicago on April 5 on April 5.^TH and 6^Th. We were even presented in television programs, which is always great. I would say we are closely on the Windup Watch Fair at this time, which is a real performance. Nevertheless, we always want to stick to quality over quantity, so I do not see that we expand over 70 brands, which can be overwhelming for both the audience and the brands themselves.

In the future, our goal is not to try to compete with watches and surprises and bring very expensive brands, but to remain up to around $ 5,000 in the accessible and medium level. There are of course exceptions because some of our brands have gold pieces north of 10,000 US dollars like Junghans, and we have also teamed up with Breitling in the past. If brands like Omega or Grand Seiko want to participate in the future, we would certainly be interested. Nevertheless, we do not want to alienate our core audience and brand partners by introducing a variety of very expensive watchmakers. This is again watches and miracles of the territory.

This year you have three shows in the USA – Chicago, Los Angeles and Austin. Do you see that this extends either more than three per year and/or something outside the USA?

Well, we have other projects in other works than shows, but as far as shows are concerned, Chicago and Austin are our two basic cities. We look forward to adding a third city this year, Los Angeles, but in the summer of 2026 and also minutes and hours in another city and Chicago in spring and Austin entertain again in autumn. Of course we started in LA with Lamicrolux, but have not been for a few years. It's a bit early at the moment, but my team and I also talked about having a show outside the USA.

You also introduced a very cool workshop at the youngest Chicagoer Show The Watch Academy from Cimier.

Yes, we are the first and only clock fair in the USA that offers a comprehensive workshop for watch buildings in which the participants learn something about watching and assembly and also store the clock that they build during the class. It is furnished for adults of all skills and really offers a unique, practical experience and a special watch that you can take home with you.

You also sell watches via your online shop. Can you tell me more about it?

We sell watches and accessories with brands such as Duckworth, Cimier, Laco, Perrelet and more. So far around ten brands. The prices are accessible, with the most expensive pieces falling almost 5,000 US dollars, e.g. B. the Perrelet Turbine Titanium 41 Blue.

We spoke earlier and I noticed how we both remember certain watches in films and television. What are some that really stand out for you?

Well, I love the show Consequence, And the characters had money and bought impressive pieces, but they were more power statements than anything else because they do not know each other about horology. I remember when Shiv's husband Tom tried to impress her father and patriarch to the family by presenting him with a patek for his birthday. And he wasn't that impressed when he didn't really know about watches. I could have misunderstood some details, but that was the core of it. I liked this show very much and it was great for watch lovers like us.

My favorite watch scene was in Glengarry Glen Ross When Alec Baldwin puts his golden Rolex day ahead of Ed Harris' character and says: “This watch costs more than your car.”

We always seem to remember watches in certain scenes. It's all part of the fun.

Rich, it was great to talk to them and congratulations on a very successful Chicago show. I look forward to seeing you on July 26th on the Los Angeles Show^TH and 27^TH.

Thank you, Erik, and I look forward to the show and see you there!

Please visit minutes and hours at www.minutesandhours.com.