What time is it? Watches and horology

Have we had the new "miniature" Time factors protoypes yet?

Speedbird and Dreadnought in 36-ish and the Willard in 40...

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Good looking watch

Depends which version there are more of...

Quick swap from jubilee to oyster this evening.. on my skx007

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i like it!

I'm in the U.S. so probably not worthwhile for you. Think I am gonna shift it, though. Just think this dial suits a 36mm case more.

I like the mini Dreadnought but I find the issue with a fair few of these small versions is they're a bit thick. The speedbird doesn't wear that big so I'm not sure if a mini version is something I'd go for.

I was glad to see he won't be going with the NHT branding on the dial for the production models.

Hadn't seen those - if only the Speedbird were with a sterile dial.

Are those videos sponsored by the Chinese fakers?

Huh, yeah. Bit of an odd one, that.

I find it bizarre, also. At least he never explicitly identifies the fake from a distance. I mean I think it was relatively easy to tell anyway, but yeah. Weird.

It's just a content thing.

That last Daytona video has 2.6m views. So guessing >$7k already. The sub on is at 5m. And given that they're the type of videos people watch the whole way through it is unlikely to be lower, and could be higher.

And that's before you get the extra traffic to their watch business, as well as grooming buyers. You'd assume the type of people who'd buy 2nd hand like a deal, and thus would be interested in the value proposition of a high-end fake - regardless of whether they'd actually buy one.

Always wondered if completion of a video is a factor with youtube? And what do they consider completion? Cause loads (that i want to watch) I will get 95-99% and then end. Some are started and ended quickly, some bore me halfway through.

Video completion is not a thing for a content creator, as in, it doesn't matter to them. Adverts being viewed are what's important. Hence, they're at the beginning. If the video is longer than ten minutes, you can put as many ads as you want in. Obviously, having a higher average watch time per video is just 'good', though. IIRC GCN have one of the highest average watch times on Youtube for a major channel.

Then we have things like sponsorship deals though - where average watch time definitely is taken into account by those sponsoring videos - I would assume.

Yeah, but it's also without a doubt pushing the rep market too. I see loads of people asking where to get them on Youtube whenever someone makes a video like this and they're always pointed in the right direction. They otherwise probably wouldn't have known about them.

I'm not massively knowledgeable about it, just interested.

But yeah I thought watch time (no pun intended) was a factor in how valuable your video was.

True.

A mate got offered some high end fakes one holding when I was at Uni, but until Velocio brought it up I hadn't thought about it since then. Then I went on the hunt for a 1016. Didn't get one, but thought about it.

Yep, exactly. It makes the totally unattainable for many, attainable. And for those who don’t actually care about horology and merely the way something looks... I think it makes sense. Incoming pitch forks.

I'd never - knowingly - buy a rep / fake, but curiously I'd like to see one and that kind of video makes me want to seek them out. It's weird.

I think its the desire to have the real one... But knowing you wont. So this would be an easy solution.
you know you want it

I really wanted to buy a 1016 from one of a few specific years, and thought I would as a wedding present. Unfortunately though when the time came they'd just jumped so much that I couldn't justify the price. Tbh nor would I have felt comfortable wearing something that old and expensive as much as I would want to - which is part of the appeal of a fake. You can just wear it and ngaf.

I always thought I would get a real (name-brand) and a fake. Where the fake and ngaf knowing you have the real thing.

^ That was the pitch to my mate. It was in the south of France and the seller said most of his clients had boats and wanted replicas for their OG watches.

In Watchfinder's defence you could say it's also an education piece to stop buyers getting scammed.

The cynic in me thinks that that is still a Croc-brain pitch for buying from a reputable dealer like them.

Would a reputable dealer sell a fake under the auspices of having the real one in a safe?!? Surely not... Unless they're bought together? But that sounds risky!

A few years back I sold a Helson to somebody with a super pristine example of the real mccoy. They turned up in a Lambo to buy it too.

Not conclusive proof that some people want homages/fake beaters for their collectors pieces but at least shows its possible.

I think it also works from the other end - that someone who can't afford a genuine piece that they are not 100% sure on buys a rep, or even a series of reps to work out whether a gen would work for them.