Pssst. Wanna Buy a Watch?

Denny Morabito (HS'74), Susie Cribbs (HS'00) and Bruce Gerson

Surprising Twists in Early Career Opportunities

Would you buy a wristwatch from Tony Soprano? Would you pick a college on an anonymous tip? Would you trust cuisine developed by your architect?

Some young entrepreneurs from Carnegie Mellon University are betting you would, and so far their bets have paid off big.

Michael Kobold (HS’01) asked “Tony Soprano” (aka James Gandolfini) to be the new pitchman for Kobold Watches (aka “wrist instruments”) after the star of “The Sopranos” television series called to ask him to bring one to the set. The super-premium line of time pieces retail for as much as $22,500.

Gandolfini, who created gangland boss Tony Soprano for the HBO series, pushes the envelope of celebrity endorsement with his pose, indicating with his middle finger that Kobold watches are No. 1. WatchTime Magazine calls it “a brave marketing approach in a mature and highly competitive industry.”

Kobold founded his company as a freshman and began designing watches in his junior year. He graduated with a degree in managerial economics in only three years. Today, the 25-year-old entrepreneur is one of the youngest company presidents in the luxury goods industry.

Luke Skurman (TPR’02) went undercover to give high school students the “real” scoop on colleges by getting enrolled college kids to “tell all” about their universities—the good, the bad and the ugly.

Then he puts it all in a comprehensive guide called “The College Prowler.” In three years, Skurman has published guides on more than 200 of the nation’s top schools, including Harvard, Cal-Berkeley, Yale, Duke, Northwestern, Michigan, Brown, Columbia and, of course, Carnegie Mellon.

Skurman and Kobold are part of a legion of recent Carnegie Mellon graduates who are taking the business world by storm. Whether they are launching their own businesses or reviewing a fistful of job offers from Fortune 500 companies, Carnegie Mellon students are defying the odds in a tight job market and landing in “bling,” as an undergraduate might say.

The “bling” Kobold makes can be found on the wrists of adventurers like Britain’s Ben Saunders and Sir Ralph Fiennes, world leaders like President George Bush and former President Bill Clinton, and celebrities like Bruce Springsteen, Kiefer Sutherland and Tommy Hilfiger.

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