BEHIND DIMEPIECE'S FEMME-FORWARD APPROACH WITH BRYNN WALLNER FOR TIMEX

The world of watches may seem impenetrable at first glance. A universe revolving around tradition, luxury and status that casts an imposing shadow, should you look below the surface, horology can provide an abundance of delights. From the sublime engineering of these iconic timepieces to the cultural history and importance of certain models, there is a great deal of joy that can be gleaned from this time-honoured pastime.

Founded with the aim of bringing the traditionally male-dominated pursuit of watch collecting to women and female-identifying people through a femme-forward lens, Brynn Wallner’s Dimepiece has carved out its own lane in the watch realm in the five years of its existence. Borne from necessity when writing for Sotheby’s in New York City, Brynn’s passion for watches was serendipitous. While working at the infamous auction house prior to the Covid-19 lockdowns of early 2020, her interest was piqued as she was tasked with creating watch content – an area she admittedly knew little about. This interest quickly spiraled into passion as she embarked on her journey into the world of watches, autodidactically learning all she could as she further immersed herself in this new domain.  

Reflecting on the lack of femme-forward watch content, Brynn’s lightbulb moment came when she started Dimepiece as an Instagram account, spotlighting iconic watches and women, styling and fashion forward watch content. Expanding into a fully-fledged website focusing on watch-related content and featuring a marketplace, Dimepiece has seen Brynn’s passion transform into a business of its own.

Linking up with Timex earlier in 2025 with the Timex Intrepid x Dimepiece Edition 36mm Dive Watch, a style based on a wristwatch worn by John F. Kennedy Jr. in the ‘90s, Dimepiece and Timex return with a new model brimming with Brynn’s personal style: the Teeny Tiny Timex 20mm Watch. Catching up via video call ahead of the launch of the miniature timepiece, END. and Brynn discussed all things watches, from her first forays into timepieces to her collaborations with Timex.

Could you introduce yourself, who you are and what you do with Dimepiece?

I'm Brynn Wallner and I'm the founder of Dimepiece, which is a platform dedicated to women and watches. I started Dimepiece in 2020; it was a pandemic project after I learned about and fell in love with watches working in the editorial department at Sotheby's in New York. I did some content for watches there and I realized that watches really fascinated me. When that job ended, I had time during the pandemic to start my own thing; it began with an Instagram account, and it just blew up. Now I write about watches, I have my own website and I'm working with Timex. I never would have guessed that my life would be watches, but here we are!

What were you originally posting on the Instagram account?

I was about to turn 30 during the pandemic and my dad asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I was thinking “maybe I should get a watch”, but I realized that when he asked what watch I wanted, I had no idea. The Instagram account was almost a personal research project. I was thinking about what women wear which watches and what piece goes with what kind of style. It would be mostly me cataloguing celebrities, which is not a groundbreaking idea, fashion spotting on the internet, but watch spotting through my lens. Here's Bella Hadid wearing a Cartier Panthère, here's a photo of Princess Diana from the 90s wearing her Cartier Tank Francaise or here's an Olsen twin wearing a Rolex Submariner, for example. The more celebrities I would look at and see how they styled their watches, the more I could discern my own taste, and I guess it resonated with people on the internet as well, because the following grew pretty quickly.

Had you always been interested in watches?

I had no former knowledge about watches. I didn't know anything about them; I didn't even want a watch. When I was working in the editorial department at Sotheby’s, my boss told me that the watches department wanted me to create some content for watches and I thought “that's really random, I don't know anything about watches.”  But I got really into it with these stories about some of the greatest of all time, the GOAT watches, and the more I learned about them, the more I just became fascinated with them, and I started seeing them everywhere. Riding on the subway, I would notice somebody wearing a watch, or when I was watching a TV show or movies, I would notice watches. Once you see them, you can't unsee them. That really sparked my fascination, and I started doing my own research to back it up. When I began writing about watches, Harper's Bazaar tapped me to be their watch columnist early into me doing these pieces and I was thinking, “oh no, now I really need to learn about watches.” I found myself reading all these articles and watching YouTube videos on how to pronounce Audemars Piguet, clarifying what the difference is between mechanical and quartz movement, just self-teaching. If you don't grow up around watches or if you're not independently obsessed with them, how else would you know?

What was the first vintage watch that you acquired and what specifically led you to that watch?

When I started Dimepiece, funnily enough, I didn't even own a watch! The more and more I had a presence on social media, people were DMing me, asking about my collection, and I was thinking “should I lie?” It's kind of embarrassing to be talking about watches and not even own one! The first watch that I got was to celebrate my 31st birthday, a year into starting Dimepiece in 2021. I bought a Cartier Tank Francaise at the Cartier Mansion on Fifth Avenue and it was covered by Vogue. I felt like a princess! The first vintage watch I got was shortly after that. I did a video for a luxury consignment website in the U.S. and at this time I was a new influencer, so they didn't pay me in money, but in store credit instead. I realized that it was just enough to buy a vintage Rolex Lady Datejust from the 1980s, with the classic two-tone champagne dial and a fluted bezel. I call it the 90s mom watch, like what Carmela Soprano wore. I felt like I needed a Rolex in my collection, and this was the one. It was just imprinted in my memories as what a Rolex looks like. I got a Cartier and then the next month I was getting a Rolex; it was really a time of exponential growth for my collection!

How much has your collection grown since that point? Have you been more interested in vintage watches or are you looking at newer pieces?

I don't really shop that much. That first Cartier is still the most money I've ever spent on anything in my life. When my dad noticed that I was doing Dimepiece and I was telling him about me in the watch world, he said “wait, you know I have a Rolex, right?” I didn't know because he never wore it growing up! It was just sitting in a drawer. It's a Rolex Datejust that he got as a graduation present in the ’80s. My grandmother Sally, who's iconic, had the best style, and she got it for him when he graduated law school. It's similar to mine but it's a 36 millimeters two tone with a really pretty blue dial and gold roman numerals. It’s inscribed on the back with his graduation date and his initials. He said, “because you're so active in the watch world, I want to give you this watch. I think you should wear it because I never do.” To me, that was such a pivotal moment because, had I not been so involved in watches, that watch would have without a doubt gone to my brother. Oftentimes, a dad will pass a watch down to his son and that perpetuates this cycle of the watch industry and the hobby being very male dominated. Because I proactively inserted myself into this space, I was the one who inherited the piece, and I felt that that was such a tangible outcome of my entire mission with Dimepiece: to get more women interested in watches.

I also started working with a watch dealer Alan Bedwell, your fellow countryman, a Brit. His mom was big time at Grays Antique Market in London, and he spun off on his own to work in watches. When we started working together he gave me a vintage Heuer diver watch from the 80s. Heuer, Tag Heuer and most brands have halted production on smaller dive watches and any smaller sports watch in general, so when he presented this one to me, I thought “this is an amazing watch!” It was 28 millimeters, so super small but super sporty, with no pink or anything to designate the gender label on the watch. He got it for about 500 dollars on eBay, but it opened my eyes to what was missing in the product offering from contemporary watch brands. I'm still obsessed with that watch to this day. It's one of my most valued watches even though monetarily it's not very expensive.

Having worked at Sotheby’s and in various media roles previously, what inspired you to found Dimepiece back in 2020?

In all the articles that I had commissioned out at Sotheby's about the GOAT watches, like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, the Patek Philippe Nautilus, the Rolex Daytona, women weren't mentioned once, and this was not intentional. They were super rich and well written stories with all of this context around the watch's history and who wore it. The writers are amazing, but I thought “don't women wear these watches? Why are they not included in the narrative?” For example, with the Patek Philippe Nautilus story, it's the story of Gérald Genta and this unlikely success of a really expensive steel watch in the heat of the quartz crisis, which is very insider baseball watch history. I had to choose the images for the article, so I looked up which women wear the Patek Philippe Nautilus, and I found this amazing photo of Rihanna at the airport where she’s wearing a Palace outfit, she's got a Rimowa suitcase and a big gold Patek Philippe Nautilus on. I made that the main photo of the article, even though she wasn't mentioned in the text. It was my way to manipulate the narrative and insert women into it because women aren’t normally mentioned at all. I filed that away in my mind and stewed upon it. I was thinking about why women aren't mentioned in watch history, so I was googling women in watches and of course there are female watch journalists who’ve done an amazing job. I was finding photos of Jennifer Aniston and Ellen DeGeneres wearing Rolex’s, which was fine, but I wanted to see more current celebrities. I wanted to see what the It Girls were wearing, and I wanted to see watches being talked about in a way that was more femme friendly, that was more fashion oriented. I noticed there was such a gap in market and that's what led me, in part, to start Dimepiece when Sotheby's let me go!

Why do you think that the watch market has remained so male dominated, despite there clearly being an appetite for femme-focused platforms?

Fun fact: allegedly, the first ever wristwatch was created for Countess Koscowicz of Hungary by Patek Philippe in the late 1800s. This was when men were checking the time on pocket watches and the thought of a watch on a bracelet was very feminine. The countess wanted something that could double as jewelry and be a little bit more subtle. So, the fact that it even started with a woman, I think, speaks volumes. As we moved into the 1900s, men started wearing watches on their wrists, which was the result of soldiers in the trenches not having the time to check their pocket watch. They made these makeshift pieces on leather straps for easy time checking mid-combat. Similarly, the Cartier Santos was created by Louis Cartier for Alberto Santos-Dumont. He was a pilot who needed a watch that he could quickly check while he was mid-flight so he wouldn't screw up the timing and crash. Wristwatches evolved to be these very utility-oriented pieces that men could use in combat or in flight, and it adopted this very masculine leaning edge to it. At this time, women were mostly housewives, or they were the Queen of England, so they were wearing these tiny watches like the Jaeger-LeCoultre Caliber 101 that was so subtle and looked like a bracelet that she could discreetly check the time without offending anyone during her coronation. You can see the distance opening up between what the purpose of these pieces was based on gender. Advertising back in the golden era of watchmaking was very male oriented; any time a woman's watch was sold, it was presented as something that a man could buy for a woman, rather than injecting a woman's agency into the purchase. Then we hit the 90s and early 2000s and everybody was wearing watches because they needed to check the time in the sweet spot before the smartphone. At this time, I think that advertising really bulked up for women. Women needed a watch by necessity as they had their own jobs, they needed to check the time. It was a leveling of the playing field but then the smartphone hit and now nobody needs a watch. I think it fell off with regards to marketing and product creation, so we regressed a little bit. Now, we're in this recovery period, where there's a renewed appreciation for watches and people are wearing them even though by default they don't need to.

How has the watch market changed since you founded Dimepiece?

There’s definitely been a resurgence of watches in the collective imagination, whether you're a man, a woman, a gay or a they. This is happening because during the pandemic people, rich people specifically, were thinking “what do we spend our money on?” and it went to tangible assets like cars and art, real estate, etc. So, watches emerged as this category that was just exploding on the secondary market. This was when the Patek Philippe Nautilus, which retails for 35,000 dollars was going for 235,000 dollars on the secondary market and we saw records being broken at auction with all-time record highs. It was crazy! Watches were making headlines, whether you're interested in watches or not they were coming across people's desks as they were scrolling or reading the news. At the same time, I think people were bored at home, such as myself. I had the luxury to be bored at home, and I thought, “oh I should start Dimepiece.” I think a few other people, content creators, we’ll call them, who were interested in watches started talking about them in a more fun, light-hearted way. I certainly brought to the table my own sense of humor as well as my love of fashion and culture. I merged it with this category that was once considered very stuffy and male dominated. It was this perfect storm of things going on in the market and new content in people's devices, so all of a sudden watches became this hot category. People coming out of the pandemic also really wanted something that could make them feel put together. We were wearing sweatpants all the time, and we were in the drudgery of the work from home zoom meeting but even if you're wearing nothing below the waist, if you've got a nice watch on, maybe that's a signifier that you're put together, and you feel good. At least that's how I feel; putting a watch on at the end of the day is like a cherry on top and I feel very elevated. It’s cool to find a lifeless object that could make you feel so powerful.

How did the Dimepiece collaboration with Timex first come about?

When Alan Bedwell gifted me that Heuer Diver, that really fired off something in my brain where I was thinking “why don't watch brands make little sporty watches anymore that aren't with a mother of pearl dial and aren't pink?” I wanted something that was smaller but still not so glaringly feminine and I had that in my mind. Alan and I also realized what women wanted because when we linked up in late 2020, as I grew and developed Dimepiece, so many women were sending me messages asking, “where do I buy a watch?” and “I don't know what to do on the secondary market, what watch should I buy?” So, I asked if I should start selling watches with Alan and it came together very organically. We were selling watches to friends and family mostly. It was this very natural progression of us figuring out what the modern woman wants on her wrist. Any time we would list a vintage dive watch that was small, that one would sell in seconds. I personally like them, so it was this category that I felt was really missing from the contemporary offering.

Another side of my business is celebrity watch spotting, and one day I was on Getty Images, scrolling through hundreds of photos of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, as one does, and I was thinking, “wow they were so stylish, look at them in Tribeca with their dog and wow, wow, wow” and then I saw this photo of JFK Jr. where he was wearing a suit. He looked really handsome, and he was wearing this really sporty watch. He looked so good in it that I sent it to Alan and asked what watch he is wearing. He told me that it was a Timex watch, but he said, “do not post that watch, let's get our friends at Todd Snyder to introduce us to Timex.” All we did was send them the photo of the JFK Jr. picture and we were saying “you should reissue this watch, it's so cool.” We were connected with the design team in Milano, and they thought it was a great idea. When we were having zoom calls about it, I just felt a really natural connection, like kindred spirits, it was so easy to talk to them. We discovered that we're all Tauruses. I could feel a good vibe, we just got along so well, and it was so seamless. They loved that JFK Jr. watch and told us that it was an Intrepid watch from 1995. They had their Timex historian look it up and they dug out some old advertisements. They wanted to reissue it and credit us, but Alan and I were thinking “okay this is great” but also this watch is kind of massive, it's 46 millimeters. My whole thing is making watches more inclusive, and I feel like women are excluded from the sportier watches because they're so damn big. We thought let's make a Dimepiece edition that's a little smaller and maybe have some cosmetic details that are more me and they agreed to it! So, Alan and I bought a vintage Indiglo on eBay and studied it. Alan was interested in the look of the patina on it, so we wanted to match that and make the colour of the Dimepiece dial creamier, like it’s 20 years old and you found this watch in your drawer and it’s aged. Then we replaced the Indiglo colour with my pop of purple and we reduced the size from 46 millimeters to 36 millimeters, which is actually pretty drastic.

What then led to your working on the Teeny Tiny 20-millimeter watch?

After the conversation around the 36-millimeter diver watch, I found myself on a work trip in Italy for the first time. I had never been to Italy before, so I met up with the Timex team over there. Finally we crossed the threshold from Zoom to in person! They told me that they were working on a watch for Margiela that was a watch ring. They took their digital watch and made it really small, small enough to fit on your finger. They suggested that we take that tiny case, put it on a bracelet and work with me to help promote it. So, this is what it looks like on the bracelet [shows Teeny Tiny Watch]. It's really small, it's the smallest watch they make. When I saw it, I said “oh a teeny tiny Timex… the TTT!” I had a nickname for it already! I was really enthusiastic about it, and I just think it's so cute. It’s something where the price point isn't prohibitive and people can wear it on the subway. It's not super precious. That’s how the Teeny Tiny Timex was born!

Lastly, is there anything else you have coming up that you’d like to shout out?

I creative directed the editorial for the 36-millimeter Diver watch in partnership with my friend Sofia Ziman. She’s an amazing photographer and she created these really beautiful collages that captured the essence of the watch, which is long summer days, eating strawberries and sand in your toes. JFK Jr. fascination, the Kennedy family, New England.

With the Teeny Tiny, the editorial is centred around everydayness. Summer's over, we're back in our city taking the subway to the jobs that we have to do, going to parties and holding hands. As you said, it's a really every day, wearable watch, so it was a really fun editorial concept to play around with. It's a celebration of the beauty in the everyday. The photos are shot by Hannah La Follette Ryan, aka @subwayhands, who has built a cult following by tapping into this very spirit, and the behind-the-scenes photography was shot by Sofia Ziman. I think what this watch represents is the hope that a lot of people buy it and that it gets more watches on people’s wrists! Which, to me, is a win for all of us. Getting more people into watches and getting them excited about wearing them is really important to move the industry forward. Being cognizant of price point is really important too, because not everyone can afford a luxury timepiece, so being inclusive in the product offering, pricing and size. Everything like that!