What time is it? Watches and horology

Like a lot of small brands / "microbrands" the value is in the design and the unusualness of that design, like you buy it because it's interesting and different and the story appeals to you. They have no experience or heritage with hand finishing or movement development/manufacture or any of the other things that traditionally you pay more money for. So yeah, they may struggle, but having said that the price is pretty much in line with other brands that use the same caliber, like Farer. You have to remember the Seagull movement in the original 01 Series is absurdly cheap.

The Moser move is very smart (even if Moser are probably getting more out of it) as it legitimises the SU brand in the Swiss-centric industry.

£1200 price hike

It's a whole different level of decision making / buyer between the two prices. I agree they'll struggle.

I'm also definitely not a fan of the be here or join this list to buy thing. I know supply is limited but fuck scarcity marketing.

Yeah it's definitely a different/harder sell.

I think there will at some point be a swing back away from the "LOOK AT MEEEE!!" attention currency stuff that everyone is coming out with at the moment. All the loud dial colours and textures, wacky case shapes, collabs, 12 colourways of everything, stone dials, influencer hype etc. etc. People will get fatigued/bored and move on.

The problem is (as Thomas van Straaten mentioned on a recent Fratello podcast), when small brands don't release or announce something regularly they fall off people's radars and all their sales and engagement dry up very quickly. So they're forced to stay on that treadmill of attention.

Oh yeah I was comparing to 02 series prices but the 03 is an upgraded 01 series so £1200 is even harder to justify. For £500 they're a bit different and a bit of fun. For closer to 2k everything about them might have to start getting more serious and grown up which seems a shame. I guess affordable and fun is a larger audience than fun but starting to get expensive but after 10 different colours they have to go somewhere I suppose but that can't just be upwards in price.

I quite like the Series 02 but I don't think it's great value despite the unusual dial construction. I guess the question is what are his ambitions for the brand. I get the impression that he's not content to be like Mr Jones and stay in that £250-£800 lane.

The £2000-£3000 lane does seem pretty busy. Not the best comparison but Anordain appear to still be selling at their new higher price point. I don't know if they changed anything or it was just manufacturing costs or demand for the watches which drove their prices up

AnOrdain were too cheap (who else is doing vitreous / grand feu enamel dials at that price point?), and they have successfully marketed themselves to the USA (thanks in no small part to Hoodwinkee) so they have solid demand.

Time to swim through (drowning in) emails…

1 Attachment

Tried on this today, what a dial !!

1 Attachment

Can’t see it on the parts list, any idea the parts-name for the movement retainer clips?

Highlighted in green. Holds the movement in the inner case groove.

I might be able to jury-rig something if I find a parts watch some time, but the Tissot’s missing the movement retainer clip on one side for some reason.

Hoping to find one for £zero before it goes for a service and I have to pay watchmaker price for the part.

2 Attachments

Ah “casing clamp", grabbed a multi set off that awful dropshipper.

I'm after spring drive with a fancy dial so having a little sale
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/397235/

Having succumbed to the tyranny of Garmin I've consciously worn an actual watch this week. Still can't make up my mind what the use case is for the cocktail time..

Youngest reckons it's a paedo watch

1 Attachment

Yikes

Some kid (12ish?) said "nice watch" to me yesterday which I didn't know what to do with, I didn't think kids were supposed to have any interest in watches. Dunno if he actually knew what it was (Pelagos 39).

^ I liked watches even as a 10yr old! I'd saved up for a year to get £5 to buy this from an ad in the Sunday Express in 1966. Not so different to a Pelagos - lol.

1 Attachment

I had a blacked out divers watch from Cloud Med when I was 8 or 9 and bought a Casio with pocket money not long after.

Amazing.

I was graced with Casio from maybe 5 or 6. Possibly had a watch even younger. I just remember killing the first Casio (probably a World Time or F-91/W-59 type). When that got trashed I was upgraded to a cheap G-Shock, while my sisters had the Baby-G models with the dancing animations on then.

Seamaster 120 quartz today.

1 Attachment

Quite possibly. Have you seen Kettle kids? It's fucking ridiculous

Sodalite dial and probably one of the best I've seen in it's even finish across the dial. I'm sure this goes for a premium, as I know the equivalent datejusts do. White gold I'm guessing??

Had never heard of them!

Obvs kids like watches, we all loved our Casios and Timexes, I just didn't think they'd be aware of / interested in the sort of stuff old farts like me are (beyond I guess being aware of Rolex as a brand like everyone on the planet is)

Very cool, I like it!

Don't look at it on Instagram it's mainly rich kids wearing iced out Ladies Datejusts and the odd really crazy one like this

1 Attachment