How Mad Hudson Is Rethinking What a Watch Brand Can Be

Welcome to The Micro Collector, a podcast where I talk with the founders and operators behind some of the most exciting microbrands and independent watch companies. I'm your host, Justin Dorfman, and in today's episode, I'm joined by Mad and Connor Hudson, co-founders of Mad Hudson Watches. I first came across Mad Hudson through designs like the Broken Time and CD Watch, and was immediately drawn to how different they felt from so much of what we see in the watch world.

There was a playfulness and originality to the watches that stood out, but also a clear design point of view behind them. The more I explored the brand, the more interested I became in the story behind it and the different approach Mad and Connor were taking. In this conversation, we talk about Mad and Connor's backgrounds, their years helping build Projects Watches, and how that experience eventually led to them starting their own brand.

We also get into the thinking behind Mad Hudson Originals and their artist collaborations, how they turn unconventional ideas into functional watches, and why the brand is resonating with both seasoned collectors and people buying their first watch. If you enjoyed the episode, be sure to subscribe for more conversations with the people behind these incredible watch brands. And with that, please enjoy my conversation with Mad and Connor Hudson of Mad Hudson Watches.

Well, Mad and Connor, welcome to The Micro Collector podcast. I'm super excited to have you on today.

We are so excited to be on. Thank you for having us.

Absolutely. I was just mentioning this before we hit record: I really enjoyed seeing your watches, your brand, show up in my feed. You guys are doing something that is unique, that's different. And I love my tool watches, I love my vintage-inspired watches as well, but seeing something completely different and completely unique show up in my feed is really refreshing. So I really love what you guys are doing, and I was really excited to hear the story behind you guys, behind the brand, today. So I really appreciate you guys taking the time.

Yeah, thank you for saying that. We really are trying to have a ton of fun with it — both with the designs and the content and just everything that we do. We want it to remain a really fun, kind of labor of love for us, but also really offer something that is different and unique in the space. So yeah, I appreciate you saying that.

Absolutely. Well, I guess for those that aren't familiar with you guys, with the brand — maybe take us back a little bit, tell us a little bit about your background and how you got into the world of watches.

Yeah, I mean, it's a long story, so I will keep it short. But yeah, I really come from a branding and advertising background. I've been doing that for, I don't know, like fifteen years at this point — working with all different sorts of brands unrelated to watches for most of my career. And Mad is really a trained artist who has designed just about everything under the sun. And one thing that we realized really early on — we've known each other for about twelve years now — one of the things that we realized early on is that we wanted to create something together.

A lot of winding roads kind of led us to both working for a watch company called Projects Watches in 2021. That was when we started. We signed a thirty-day contract to try and get the brand — it took on new ownership. They wanted to bring the brand into the modern era, and then we stayed there for four and a half years and really built that thing up.

We've always liked watches. Mad was collecting some of her mom's old Swatches and stuff. I was a big pocket watch guy growing up. And then also my grandfather was a huge watch collector, and so some of that was passed down to us. So we really liked them, and then as we started to take on this project to reignite this brand, we fell in love with it, and fell in love with it a little bit differently. And that kind of takes us to today, where we knew that we wanted to start our own brand, we wanted to do it our own way. And we've been open about a year, a little over a year now. And we're having a blast.

Well, I also started my watch collecting journey with both Swatch watches and Fossil watches as well. So I went deep down into the rabbit hole. I have a bunch of actually Swatch watches from my growing-up era, like the nineties, that are still in really good condition. And they've got the really cool boxes. Same thing with the Fossils — they had the tin-can sort of boxes. So similar sort of journey on that front.

Tell me about Projects Watches a little bit, because I wasn't familiar with the company, and obviously before this recording I was doing research on you guys and it looked really interesting, and I can kind of see how the path leads to Mad Hudson. But maybe you can tell us a little bit about that company, the mission there and the experience, some of the learnings that you've taken now to starting your own brand.

Yeah, Projects was so cool. It was really an art watch brand. A lot of their sales, especially before they were brought online, were all in art museum gift shops. And so the focus was really heavily all collaborations with artists. Over the years they've worked with a ton of painters, especially architects, a lot of New York-based creators, because when they were getting started, that's where the original owner was working out of. So he was kind of shopping around to all his contacts, and then it expanded from there. And so when we came in with pretty creative backgrounds — we had never really had watch focuses, but we had a lot of art focus — we were able to figure out how to jump in with a little bit of a different perspective, because a lot of the designs weren't so focused on horology from a traditional standpoint, but figuring out how to create these pieces that were representations of artworks from different medias, but all wearable and functioning as a watch.

And so I thought Projects was such a cool place for us to start, because it was kind of like we learned watches backwards. And they had a really great mission — they were a big part in supporting a lot of artists. A lot of the contacts that we made there we are still close with today, and are working with at Mad Hudson too. So that's been such a cool thing.

And I think when Projects got started, which I think was 1991 — which predates both Mad and I by a little — the mission was architecture you can wear. That was, for the first ten years, really, really digging into working with architects, and so creating these really fine art pieces that were really structural in their design. They were James Wines and Michael Graves — those are a couple of really big names.

And so it was cool, because as we started to come in, we really started to increase the aperture of the types of creatives and artists that we would work with to create the watches, which just made a whole new line of really interesting, dynamic designs, and really kind of started our design philosophy about how we wanted to design watches.

Well, I can see that thread between Mad's collecting of Swatch watches, going to Projects Watches and starting to do these collaborations. And then when that chapter ended, tell me about that moment. Was it an immediate idea to say, you know what, let's go and start our own brand? Did you have an idea already of what you wanted to do? Was there a little bit of soul-searching? What was that transition period between Projects Watches and Mad Hudson as a brand like?

It was a wild time in our lives. And I think, sadly, Projects closed doors July of 2024. I think it was just probably trying to get a little too big too fast. They brought in a lot of new team members, really wanted to explode the business, and I think that's a tricky thing to do, especially in the watch world. And so Mad and I were both kind of like, okay, what do we do? We had some watches that were still in development. We didn't know — okay, should we keep going with watches? Should we just be a middleman between artists and getting their projects over the goal line? Should we just jump back into what we were doing previously, on the marketing and art design side?

Mad was five months pregnant at the time too. So it was a very, okay, what should we do? Should we just try and figure it out through a little bit of soul-searching? Not too much — very condensed timeline. We really were talking to some of the artists that we had been working with about reigniting or finishing some of their projects, starting to think about some of the designs that Mad maybe had in the back of her mind that we wanted to get out there to the world. And really just started to think about, okay, what would this look like if we started our own business, if we started our own brand, and tried to figure out how to put this out there.

And that one conversation led to more conversations and more brainstorming and more designs, and it really just snowballed from, okay, how do we figure out how to salvage some pieces of this, to how do we create something that's super unique and super ours, something where we just have the freedom to build exactly what we want to do. And so, yeah — had our daughter, and she's awesome. And then basically a month later started Mad Hudson. So it was a very quick turn.

Mad and I still do some work on the side, from marketing, while we're growing the business — less of it now than when we started, which is cool. But yeah, it was one of those things that kind of started as a very chaotic, tumultuous time and has now turned into just a really, really exciting, and very special thing for us.

You mentioned there were some things — a foundation that you wanted to build upon from that prior experience — and then some things that you wanted to bring that were unique. What are some of the things that you brought, and what are some of the things that you decided, you know, this time, as our own business, as our own brand, we're going to do this differently and bring a new flavor to it?

Well, being so kind of art-forward, especially museum-based art-forward, at our previous company — we loved the vision behind that and all of the interesting concepts it brought, but we thought we could loosen it up a little. And so we wanted to do something similar when it came to our artist collaborations, but be even a little bit more of a big umbrella on who we brought in, and the type of media artists that we worked with, and all of the things that could be possible when it came to collaborating on a watch. So, bringing in content creators and things like that — because at the end of the day they are creatives. Now, between the way that stuff has shifted to artwork online and things that people consider as creative moving forward, all those things are just stuff that we kind of want to experiment with and learn more about people's perspectives on as we get into it.

So some of it was just bringing it forward, loosening it up a little bit from the rigidity that you kind of get with some of the museum-based stuff. And then just putting our own stamp on it from a brand standpoint has been really fun too — not being so specific with, these are our brand guidelines, this is exactly how we need to present ourselves. We've definitely made it a point, like Connor said earlier, to just have a ton of fun — from having a really wide range of funny little madman guys that pop up on all of our stuff, to having really fun, exciting, in-our-perspective packaging and merch. That's just been some of our favorite parts.

And selfishly, from my end too: I got to watch Mad create so many interesting designs, whether it was with artists or artist foundations, but maybe not be able to fully express her own design language, which I got to watch develop for so long. And so I think that Mad Hudson — there's Mad Hudson the woman, and then there's Mad Hudson the brand, right? And being able to provide a platform to get some of Mad's designs out there in the world alongside our artist collaborations felt like a really special and important thing for both of us. It's been really cool to watch people appreciate everything that Mad's putting out there so much.

And just to touch on what she was saying about the brand guidelines thing as a whole: we've really worked for so many different companies and so many different brands, and I think there is this rigidity that Mad was mentioning that we wanted to see how we could do differently, and turn that sideways, and create this very alive ecosystem of a brand where you never know what we're going to come up with next, or where we're going to be, or how we're going to pop up. And being able to kind of architect and blueprint out what that could look like has been really exciting, and really a freeing-up creative project for us.

And I think that with Projects, we were stepping into a thirty-year-old brand and figuring out how to make it work. And it was really fun, and they did a great job at becoming who they were, and I think we did a really good job of helping steer that into a new way. But with this, we are really deciding exactly what we want to do. And we are accountable for all of it, good and bad. And that feels really good, and exactly where we want to play.

Well, tell me a little bit about the brand itself. For people that aren't familiar with Mad Hudson, how would you describe the brand? Maybe tell us a little bit about the watches as well, because I know one thing that I'd seen online was a lot of the collaborations. And then, as I was exploring the collection on the website, I realized, yeah, there's Mad Hudson Originals as well. So maybe talk through a little bit of that as well.

We were thinking about what a defining line is for Mad Hudson. And I think the one we have on our cards, that we put in all of our packaging and have on our site, is that Mad Hudson watches are designed for people who would rather play with the time that they're given than waste it. I love that line. It really defines the fun qualities that we want to bring to everything we do, from a watch standpoint and from a brand standpoint. And I think that's proven through the watches, for sure — they're very playful, unique designs.

And so what's cool about the artist collaborations versus the Mad Hudson Originals is that, for the artist collaborations, we're going to artists who are not typically in the watch world, right? And we're just like, here's a blank canvas of a watch, go crazy. What can you imagine? It's our job to figure out how to make it a wearable, functional timepiece, right? But it really is like, hey, you can do whatever you want with these things. And I think that's a really exciting project for any artist to take on. It creates a tangible piece that their fans can wear with them, and from a watch standpoint just creates some really unique projects. And then Mad's designs kind of bridge that gap between really out-there, conceptual watches and watches that fit a bit more in line with what people come to expect from a timepiece, while still having her own very unique design language.

So this is one of our best sellers, which is Broken Time. This watch is made to look like it's been smashed by a hammer. And the way that you tell the time is actually in these broken windows. So the cracks are just painted on, and the hour and minute hands are fused together and just tick with the seconds. And the way you tell the time is in these windows, so it reads more like a digital, or more like a jump hour, I guess.

And then this is one of Mad's Originals, which is the Eddie. I think this has that unique feel to it where we've heard a lot of people talk about it as a retro-futuristic feel to this watch. And I think that kind of hits the nail on the head for what Mad has tried to do. It is definitely vintage-inspired but still feels really fresh and unique and new. So it's figuring out how we can bring something that's supremely unique while still being familiar enough to be wearable and really exciting. We didn't want to just be kooky and be the crazy watch brand. We wanted some things that were more grounding, that gave us a better chance to reach a wider audience and have a little bit of something for everybody. And if you take some of our more serious stuff and mix it with some of our crazier stuff in your collection, then you've got a great example of what Mad Hudson is.

Yeah, the Broken Time is the one that first caught my attention when I saw it. And I think that might be the case for a lot of folks, right? They see that and they're like, what's going on here? And they have to sort of dig deeper. And then the other one that caught my attention was the CD Watch. I thought that was really cool as well — especially, again, we're talking about nostalgic, the 90s era. Obviously CDs played a big part in my life at that time, so that one really resonated with me.

And then, like you said, I was checking out the Mad Hudson Originals, and I think you've done an amazing job with blending that nostalgic feel, that vintage feel that feels familiar, and then with some colors and some aesthetics that are surprising, right? They seem so different and unique. And I think, to be honest, that's where a lot of the best watch designs come from, right? It's that blending of something that feels familiar, but also something that you've never seen before. So walking that line, I'm sure it's not easy, but it definitely results in a special timepiece.

I wanted to talk a little bit about the collaborations. How do these collaborations come to be? Is it usually an artist that you guys seek out and find? And in that case, what makes you think, this person would be great for a collaboration?

It's always really cool, because creative people tend to hang with creative people, right? So as soon as we started to work with artists on creating watches, it just opened up this door of manifesting a bunch of really cool partners to just be around in our orbit, which is really cool. But it comes in all different shapes and sizes, where we really are taking some intentionality to not just find one type of artist, or one type of creative person. We are looking for somebody who is going to be able to take on this project as a true partner, and really get excited and really want to take this on as this new thing that they create.

I think one of the things that we do when we are seeking out new artists is look at their body of work and try to see if we can pull a watch out of it, right? It's not like we are going to them and just saying, hey, we love that piece, we want to turn it into a watch. It's much more nuanced. It's much more like looking at, okay, what is their process? What is their storytelling behind this piece? Is that process going to lend itself to the process that it is to create a watch? And then we chat with them, and it can glean very fast if they're going to take this on and are really excited about it and want to jump in and do everything they can to make this watch everything it can be. And that includes the watch design, the marketing, and the storytelling behind the watch.

So, yeah, sometimes we seek out those people, sometimes we just randomly meet them, sometimes they are friends of people who have already designed a watch. In some cases, like Brad, who designed Broken Time — his wife is Hannah, who we're coming out with a watch with next year. So we like to keep it mostly in the family, and we continue to find really cool people and really cool opportunities just through this process of working with artists and creative people to come up with cool stuff.

Ricky's a good example, our designer for CD Watch. He was somebody who, actually on his own, does a lot of illustrations inspired by music, especially hip-hop artists, and he did album covers as watches, a whole series of them. And Connor saw that and was immediately like, I need to DM this guy. So that was how we originally met Ricky. And then the CD Watch is more all-encompassing of music as a concept, but — yeah, we didn't want to get sued by Universal Music for the licensed album cover art watches. But it was one of those things where he was digging in and finding the design notes, and you could tell he had an eye for it. He was really looking at the details through his artwork that would make a really great watch. So that's a really good example of seeking out somebody whose creative process is going to translate really, really well — whether they know what a crown or a dial is at first, we can guide them through that process and really help craft a beautiful watch out of their ideas.

The flip side of that: we have a Chicago artist that we're really excited to work with coming up here. His name is Sick Fisher, and he does large-scale murals. And so we'd been talking to him about a watch for a while, and we kind of got to the point where we were like, this is just too small for you — you're so used to working huge. So instead we're going to work with him on clocks. Just take that up a couple sizes to get to a spot where he feels really good.

I was going to say, clocks sound like they would be perfect for him if he's focused on murals. And I'm excited to see that one come to fruition. In terms of the idea, the concepts — it sounds like you guys give the artists sort of full creative control in terms of determining what art piece is going to be turned into the watch. Is that right? So in terms of the concept or the idea, the artist brings it to the table.

Yes, and generally they come — yeah. Every process is a little different, and that's one of the reasons we love working with people, because everybody brings something different to the table. But we always kind of kick people off. We have a little thing we give them that they can see all of the parts that they can customize, really get their wheels turning, and then they'll come back with some concepts, or we'll have a call where we just bounce ideas back and forth, and then usually something rises to the top, or a couple rise to the top, and we'll start to really develop those in detail. Sometimes when we get into the details, it completely falls apart. Sometimes something just completely reigns supreme, and we're like, this is the obvious choice.

I was going to ask how challenging it is to then turn that into a manufacturable watch, right? To me, from the outside, it seems like that would be the crux of the challenge. Artists are amazingly creative, and that's what makes them special, but putting them in that box of that little thing that fits on your wrist and operates in a certain type of way, with existing movements that are available in the market — that can be the challenging part. What are some of the ways that you manage that process?

Yeah, right off the bat we try to show them what's available, to help them start to think in a direction that can make sense clockwise. Like, show how a watch works. When we kick off an artist, Mad has designed this Watch Anatomy 101 deck that we send to every artist to really root them in, this is how a watch works, these are the things that exist to make a watch tick or move, right? And one of the biggest things that's usually a hurdle is that the seconds move the most, and they have to be in a certain part of the watch. But that creates the most dynamic movement when you're just looking at it. If you're thinking about, like, I'd like this bird to move around the dial — if you put it on the hour, it will move, but your eye's not going to see that in real time the same way it would if it's on the second. So it's figuring out how to make the most out of how they want the parts to interact in the actual timekeeping way.

And I do want to say, we give the artist full creative control, but it is a process of them working with Madison to really get it from initial concept, initial sketch, into a full watch. So it's very rare that we will have somebody drop a design down on the table and then that is how it gets carried through. There is some back and forth and some massaging, and just, you know, maybe not compromises but just solves that happen along the way, to ultimately get to creative problem solving — creative problem solving to get it to the best finished product. So we really, really want artists to be able to see their ideas come to life, and I think Mad does an incredible job of helping that happen in the best and most feasible way.

Now turning to your customers, your fans, your collectors — who is a Mad Hudson collector? You mentioned you go to some of the shows, right? Minutes and hours, and so on. Who are usually the people that come to the booth and pick up some of the watches, that are just drawn to it? Is it your traditional watch collector? Is it somebody completely different?

I think one of the coolest things about Mad Hudson that we didn't fully predict as we started it is that we're really horseshoe-theorying a little bit. We have people who have bought their first watches with us, and they gravitate towards us because they're watch-curious, right? Which I think a lot of people over the last couple of years have become — this watch-curious thing. Watches are really having a moment, and people who have never collected them are starting to. So we get a lot of people who are really excited about what we're doing. I think we're super approachable, both from a price-point standpoint and just a unique-design standpoint. So we have that subset of people.

And then over here we have the people who have collected every kind of watch under the sun, and they are really excited about anything that is truly unique and truly different, and just coming to the table with something super new. So it's always really cool being at these shows, because we have people who — this is their twentieth watch show in the last six years, and they are really fired up to be able to see and hold Broken Time or CD Watch. And then we have people who — this is their first watch show ever, and they're trying to find something that speaks to them, and they also grab Broken Time or CD, or they gravitate towards an Eddie or a Marshall, right?

And so I think we are providing a really interesting space for people where, whether you are just getting into watches for the first time, or you are an absolute watch expert and super collector, we have something for both. And I think that's been really fun to explore — both sets of customers, and really being able to come in at an altitude that both types of people can appreciate.

And what about between watches and clocks? I'm curious. Because you're totally right — I think watches have had a strong comeback. Everybody was afraid, when the Apple Watch came out, that watches would just disappear, but it seems like it's almost stronger than ever, in the sense that there's, like you said, true watch collectors who want something mechanical, or something that has history, heritage, that's been passed through generations. And then, on the other side of the coin, you have those who wear it more as an expression of their being, their interests, and so on.

But I feel like clocks too have really come back strong, as an art piece, a statement on the wall, right? And I could definitely see your clocks — you mentioned this mural clock that's coming out, I can imagine that being something that's incredibly popular. Have you seen clocks challenge watches at all in terms of what people are interested in?

That's a very good question, and interesting, because I think it's more that we have to do more convincing to get people to want a clock. It's going to have to be really special and really unique, or even at a price point that feels way less risky to jump in on. Because I think for a lot of people, clocks are way more whimsy — they have to look really good on your wall and go with all of your stuff. I mean, I think that's an interesting thing, right? You're not going to put a clock in your desk drawer and look at it every once in a while — and it's actually one of fifty. If you want a clock, that's going to go somewhere in your house, right? So I think there is a bit of a challenge there.

But yeah, we're just scratching the surface of clocks. I'm really interested in learning more about what people think. We released our first fifteen a couple of months ago, and they sold out in a day, which is really encouraging. They were just with our madman face logo in the case. So a lot of our leather-banded watches have our madman on there, and he's our little guy, our unofficial mascot. And so we designed some clocks with that face on it. It kind of has a death-diver feel to it a little bit.

And people loved it. We've really seen a lot of watch collectors who have also started to decorate their studios with all sorts of clocks and everything. I think, similarly, a lot of the interest in watches again has been sparked, like you said, by handing down from generations, or sentimental things that were given to you — especially people our age getting things from their grandparents or aunts and uncles. I think, in a similar way, we are at a point where the people doing the giving were taking really great care of their clocks in their mid-century-modern homes, things that had some really good swag and design style to them and were worth keeping and passing down. So the interest is kind of swinging back around. When you go to vintage shops and antique stores now, you see a lot of really great, good-looking clocks with really nice dials and cool numbers. And even some of those more interesting desktop clocks that are long and skinny and things like that — I think they're coming back.

Yeah, I think so as well. And I'm wondering — and maybe this is interesting to you, Connor — if we'll see a re-emergence of pocket watches as well, right? I know Swatch had that foray. I know that Studio Underdog also did a partnership, I believe, with Christopher Ward on a pocket watch. Maybe it's not pocket-watch specific, but more wearable watches beyond the wrist, right? I've seen ring watches and pendant watches and things like that. That could be really cool as well.

Well, you mentioned Apple Watches, and I have this theory. Because when we first got started working in watches, there really was this sentiment of, you're working in watches — are people even buying those anymore? Because smartwatches are such a big thing. We ended up doing an artist-designed line of Apple Watch bands with a lot of our watch artists, so that we had more range for people to buy from who are smartwatch people. But even that has kind of fallen off. Super fallen off.

And I think what Apple Watches did a really good job of is that it got people back to wearing something on their wrists, and really accessorizing, right? And so that lasted for a small period of time. I think people started to sort of reject the sentiment that they needed to be that connected all the time — because they're on their phones, they're on their laptops all the time, right? So they didn't need that constant buzz or whatever. But they got very used to wearing something on their wrist. And I think through that they were like, cool — the natural progression is to start to explore analog watches and really get into the collecting of that. Which got back to this analog feeling of, cool, this is a very isolated, cool machine that I can wear.

And so I think what's next after that is probably clocks, and what we're seeing with pocket watches coming back and stuff — I really do think there's a long tail of people really starting to appreciate these things that I think we are just still scratching the surface of, people really falling in love with these things. One of Connor's dream products is the full-size watch on the wall as a clock. Every time we see one — I see those in a pawn shop every once in a while, and I'm like, they're cool, they're really awesome. So yeah, that might happen at some point, for sure.

Very cool. Well, I totally agree with you, Connor, on your theory there, and I'm excited for it. And I'm excited to see what else you guys bring to the market. What's next for Mad Hudson? What are some of the things that you can talk about? You mentioned the collaboration with the mural artist. What should people keep an eye out for?

We have a lot. We have a pretty stacked end to the year, and also a very exciting start to 2027, which — there was some intentional thought behind how we wanted to play that. So this year we have three new watch designs coming out. First up is the Bone Broken Time. This is a kind of off-white with a really cool alternative leather band — I'm really pumped about it. And then we have two new colorways of both the Eddie and the Peggy. So we have Cool Eddie, which is a darker exploration — it's got this really cool dark emerald with some really cool neon hits — and then a mother-of-pearl Peggy. So Eddie and Peggy kind of operate as maybe a his-and-hers concept, or a his-and-his or hers-and-hers. It's just a smaller look at it. And we're very excited about all three of those, and they'll all be out by holiday of this year.

And then we have a lot of these mini projects that we're working on too. So we have some of these clocks, and a lot of really fun merch products that we're going to be working on through the holidays. And then in 2027, we have five or six watches that'll probably be coming out within the first couple of months — quite a few artist collaborations that are just about done, but we really wanted to make sure that we didn't blow through everything in 2026, and that we had a really exciting roster to combine in 2027.

Very cool. Well, you guys are going to be keeping busy through the end of this year, beginning of next year. It's really exciting to see the momentum, and really inspiring to see all the unique and creative designs that you guys are bringing to this space. So keep doing what you're doing. I'm going to be cheering you along the way, and hopefully I'll see you at one of those shows in the near future. But thanks so much for taking the time to chat today and sharing your story with us.