What Is Unpolished?
Unpolished is a collector-supported newsletter celebrating the tradition of watches, cutting through the noise to share what’s really happening, including recs on what to buy (and what not to).
Paid subscribers receive two newsletters per week, including commentary, Q&As, original reporting, scoops, and a little gossip. One letter includes the Watchlist, a curated selection of watches at small or under-the-radar auctions, eBay, or elsewhere designed to find you a deal. I’ve been publishing this section throughout 2024, and I’m thrilled with the number of collectors who have snagged watches – everything from vintage Cartier to LeCoultre to TAG Heuer.
The occasional free issue will be a collector’s guide, essay, analysis, or another in-depth article. These will be sponsored, but I won’t be taking advertising dollars from watch brands (I won’t be doing press trips either). If you’re interested in sponsoring or partnerships, drop me a line: tony@unpolishedwatches.com.
Why Should You Pay For Unpolished?
Unpolished has two membership tiers:
Standard subscription: $99/year or $10 a month.
Founding Member: $290/year, includes a custom Founding Member valet tray from Veblenist (MSRP: $120) and an invite to our monthly Zoom.
All paid subscribers will have access to the comments section and regular Q&As.
Founding Members will receive an annual gift. This year’s is from Veblenist, a Chicago-based maker of straps and other accessories, and you can expect similar partnerships in the future. Founding Members will also be invited to join a monthly Zoom with me (and regular guests) where I’ll be radically transparent about my experience in the watch industry and building this newsletter.
Behind Unpolished is a simple idea: good media is worth paying for. Being subscriber-supported is the only way to put the reader and collector first. This allows us to be upfront and transparent, focused on producing high-quality, engaging storytelling that collectors want to read. And we think that’s worth paying for.
Since this newsletter is the hub of everything I’m up to in watches, I want to make sure it stays focused on its collectors and readers. To that end, a few core principles guide me and this newsletter:
Subscription-first
No advertising from watch brands
No press trips
Okay, But Who Are You?
I’m Tony Traina. I used to be an editor at Hodinkee and before that, I was an attorney. While I was a lawyer, I started this very newsletter as a passion project, mostly focused on vintage watches. That newsletter was called "one of the best single-operator newsletters on the internet,” and I started to contribute to publications like High Snobiety, A Collected Man, and Hodinkee. This eventually led to becoming an editor at Hodinkee for 2-plus years before I left in October 2024.
I wrote hundreds of articles at Hodinkee and hosted our weekly podcast, Hodinkee Radio. I’ve also been featured or quoted in GQ, Esquire, the L.A. Times, and other publications. Some of my best articles are linked on this Best Of page.
🎧 If you want to hear me talk more, I’ve appeared on several podcasts besides Hodinkee Radio, including: Worn & Wound Podcast; Openwork by Collective Horology; Hairspring Podcast; The Waiting List Podcast; and O.T. The Podcast.
🎥 I’ve also talked about a few of my own watches on YouTube with Tom Brown (2024) and Oak & Oscar (2022).
You can also follow me on Instagram or even TikTok (groan).
Questions/comments? Email me: tony@unpolishedwatches.com.
Check out the most recent issues of Unpolished here.
