Benjamin "Ben" Clymer (born 1982) is an American businessman known as the executive chairman and founder of

Hodinkee Hodinkee, stylized as HODINKEE, is a New York City–based watch website, known as an influential editorial and e-commerce site for new and vintage wristwatches. Founded in 2008, the name comes from the Czech and Slovak word for wristwatch, "ho ...

, a luxury watch and lifestyle website. He is an authority and

influencer A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...

in the world of watches.

Education and early life

Clymer was born in 1982, and grew up in

Brighton, New York Brighton, New York may refer to: *Brighton, Franklin County, New York, a town *Brighton, Monroe County, New York, a town * Brighton, Erie County, New York * Brighton, Syracuse, New York, a neighborhood in Syracuse, New York See also *Brighton Beac ...

, a suburb of

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

. As a youth, he was an avid collector, and first became interested in mechanical watches when his grandfather gave him an

Omega Speedmaster Omega Speedmaster is a line of chronograph Watch, wristwatches produced by Omega SA. While chronographs have existed since the late 1800s, Omega first introduced this line of chronographs in 1957. Since then, many different chronograph Movement ...

MK40. Clymer graduated from Brighton High School in 2001. He earned his bachelor's degree at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

and his master's degree at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

School of Journalism.

Career

After graduating college, Clymer worked as a project manager at Swiss investment bank

UBS UBS Group AG (stylized simply as UBS) is a multinational investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland, with headquarters in both Zurich and Basel. It holds a strong foothold in all major financial centres as the ...

. During the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, Clymer took a severance package from UBS and enrolled in

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sch ...

to earn a master's degree. 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 Shopify Inc., stylized as ''shopify'', headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, operates an e-commerce platform for retail point-of-sale systems that offers payments, marketing, shipping, inventory management, transaction management, and customer eng ...

, and in 2013, ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' named Hodinkee one of the 50 best websites in the world. In December 2013, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' dubbed Clymer "The High Priest of Horology", noting his watch and style consulting work with brands including

Club Monaco Club Monaco is a Canadian-founded luxury casual clothing retailer owned by Regent, L.P. With more than 140 locations worldwide, the retailer has locations in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, South Korea, Mainland China, the ...

and

Gilt Groupe Gilt Groupe is an American online shopping site launched in 2007. In 2016 the company was sold to Hudson's Bay Company for approximately $250 million, which was less than the $268 million taken from investors. Prior to the Hudson's Bay acquisiti ...

. By 2015, Hodinkee was known as the most respected influential online resource in the traditional watch industry. In 2018, at age 35, Clymer was named to ''

Crain's New York Business Crain Communications Inc. is an American publishing conglomerate based in Detroit, Michigan, United States, with 13 foreign subsidiaries. History Gustavus Dedman "G.D." Crain Jr. ( Gustavus Demetrious Crain Jr.; 1885–1973), previously the ci ...

'' 40 Under 40 list. In December 2018, Clymer led the collaboration efforts on the Slim d’Hermès Limited Editions with French luxury goods company

Hermes Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...

' creative director Pierre-Alexis Dumas. In September 2020, Clymer was named to ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...

'' 40 under 40 list, in the category of Media and Entertainment.

Personal life

Clymer is an avid collector of watches and cars, and his collection has been featured in '' GQ'' and ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''. Through their shared passion for watches, Clymer has struck up friendships with other well known watch collectors such as musician

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...

and actor and comedian

Aziz Ansari Aziz Ismail Ansari ( ; born February 23, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He played Tom Haverford on the NBC series '' Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015) and created and starred in the Netflix series ''Master of None'' (2 ...

. Clymer's vintage

Porsche 356 The Porsche 356 is a rear-engine sports car, and the first ever production Porsche model. The 356 is a lightweight and nimble-handling, rear-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-door available both in hardtop coupé and open configurations. Engineer ...

Zagato Zagato is a Coachbuilder, coachbuilding company founded by Ugo Zagato in 1919. The design center of the company is located in Terrazzano, a village near Rho, Lombardy, Italy. History The 1910s: Aeronautics Ugo Zagato was an Italians, Italian ...

Coupe was featured in ''The Wall Street Journal'' He is also the proud owner of an unrestored 1967 Porsche 911S. Clymer is married to Cara Barret who also used to work at Hodinkee and lives in rural New York.Link text
additional text.

References

External links

*
Clymer on 'Cuse Conversations Podcast in 2020
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clymer, Ben Living people 1982 births 21st-century American businesspeople Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni 21st-century people from New York (state) Syracuse University alumni