The Grey NATO - 128 - Aquastar, Doxa, And Hayabusa Swaps With Rick Marei
This episode features an extra-long interview that has been in the making for a very long time as Jason and James have an in-depth chat with the man behind the re-launch of brands like Doxa and Aquastar – Rick Marei. From the early days of online watch retail to how Rick’s watch collection helped set him on a path of bringing us all some of the best vintage re-issue dive watches ever made.
Along with watches, Rick chats with the TGN boys about some of his wild cars, almost losing Clive Cussler’s watch, and how he came to own Jacques Cousteau’s own Doxa. After that, stay in the mix for a set of final notes that sticks closely to the diving and car themes brought up in this episode. Thanks so much for listening and to G-Shock for supporting this episode. Just press play!
0:01 This week’s sponsor: G-Shock bit.ly/TGNfrogman
10:46 Aquastar Deepstar bit.ly/3khqL0G
18:28 Frogman GWF-A100 bit.ly/TGNfrogman
27:27 Clive Cussler bit.ly/3jdOcH1
1:00:43 Mazda 323 bit.ly/3kjusTJ
1:07:35 Innocenti Cars bit.ly/2Hhq6hF
1:11:52 E30 BMW bit.ly/3kh1Hal
1:15:50 “A Man And His Car” by Matt Hranek bit.ly/34fwbUp
1:20:40 “Underground Movement: Cave Diving in Jämtland” bit.ly/3kfW5Nj
1:21:07 “Diving Into The Unknown” bit.ly/2pXnpEt
Good old Rick. His on-going feud with the admin of watchlords over posting photos of Doxa Sub cases being on the Walca East assembly line in China. It escalated to threats via emails and at social media sites. Spamming BDWF (bestdamnwatchforum) members as he had access to their emails. Heavy handed moderation at WUS and did I mention threats? Unfortunate that files cannot be uploaded to prove my comments. https://watchlords.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=12963&p=331865&hilit=marei#p331865
"rick.marei@doxawatches.com is who controls the BDWF forum (hosting it on the Doxa server). I would ask him WTF is going on but not mention us. He truly hates me and this forum. Too bad none of you have admin rights to the entire forum or FTP access." https://watchlords.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=42144&hilit=marei&start=75
Tell us something Rick, have you ever designed a watch on your own rather than make homages?
Ole Rick. This guy was a silent part owner of a watch forum. On his downhill slide from Doxa into Aquastar, he sold the watch forums member list to spam emailers. Then justified it by saying since he was the owner it was his right. Then he stopped the forum when we complained, just let BDWF fall into the wind. Others said they would keep it going, but he wouldn’t let them have the information to keep it going, he just let it die and wouldn’t give the backup info to anyone. He left the members with no forum and tons of spam email. What a guy.