Benjamin Clymer
American watch expert and entrepreneur
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Benjamin "Ben" Clymer (born 1982) is an American businessman known as the executive chairman and founder of Hodinkee, a luxury watch and lifestyle website.[1] He is an influencer in the world of watches.[2][3]
Education and early life
Clymer was born in 1982, and grew up in Brighton, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York.[4] As a youth, he was an avid collector, and first became interested in mechanical watches when his grandfather gave him an Omega Speedmaster MK40.[5][3]
Clymer graduated from Brighton High School in 2001. He earned his bachelor's degree at Syracuse University and his master's degree at Columbia University School of Journalism.[4]
Career
After graduating college, Clymer worked as a project manager at Swiss investment bank UBS.[3] During the 2008 financial crisis, Clymer took a severance package from UBS and enrolled in Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism to earn a master's degree.[6] While at Columbia, also in 2008, he founded Hodinkee as a fan site and blog for watch aficionados. In 2012, Clymer launched Hodinkee's e-commerce platform based on Shopify, and in 2013, Time named Hodinkee one of the 50 best websites in the world.[7][4]
In December 2013, The New York Times dubbed Clymer "The High Priest of Horology", noting his watch and style consulting work with brands including Club Monaco and Gilt Groupe.[3]
By 2015, Hodinkee was known as the most respected influential online resource in the traditional watch industry.[6]
In 2018, at age 35, Clymer was named to Crain's New York Business's 40 Under 40 list.[8] In December 2018, Clymer led the collaboration efforts on the Slim d’Hermès Limited Editions with French luxury goods company Hermes' creative director Pierre-Alexis Dumas.[9]
In September 2020, Clymer was named to Fortune's 40 under 40 list, in the category of Media and Entertainment.[10]
Personal life
Clymer is a collector of watches and cars, and his collection has been featured in GQ and The Wall Street Journal.[2][11][12] Through their shared passion for watches, Clymer has struck up friendships with other well known watch collectors such as musician John Mayer and actor and comedian Aziz Ansari.[3][13] Clymer's vintage Porsche 356 Zagato Coupe was featured in The Wall Street Journal[1] He is also the owner of an unrestored 1967 Porsche 911S.[14] Clymer is married to Cara Barret who also used to work at Hodinkee and lives in rural New York.[15]