Horolonomics

I was on a recent Clubhouse chat which, nominally, was about today's Tag Heuer X Hodinkee release. To set the stage, these collaborators announced the Carrera 'Dato' Limited Edition For HODINKEE reference CBK221D.FC6479. The watch was available in a limited run of 250 examples and priced at $7,250. My use of past tense is not an error. The watch promptly sold out in three minutes and I'm sure, any day now, we'll see how much the flippers profit from the shortage on the secondary market. A prominant collector and artist was in the Clubhouse room and expressed the sentiment that, while reissues are obviously well-received by the market, the lack of design innovation is disappointing. I see his point and agree with it. There is a flourishing space of design innovation among a certain class of brands. Most notably, independent brands and microbrands are arguably at the forefront of design innovation. We also see design innovation among established brands su...

Why does anyone buy a brand new Swiss watch from an authorized dealer? There are certain "obvious" answers, such as Rolex, Patek and their ilk, wherein the market price of a preowned watch is well above retail. If you buy at retail, the AD is effectively giving you money. But I'd like to look at some other brands, where the answer is not as obvious. Take, for example, the Longines Hydroconquest reference L37414966. The Longines Hydroconquest on the grey market. This is a 39mm automatic blue dialed dive watch with rotating bezel and date complication on a steel bracelet. The watch runs off an ETA 2892 based movement with a long 64 hour power reserve. The retail price for this timepiece is $1,275. The watch is available new, on the grey market (Jomashop), for $895, a 30% discount. Watchrecon finds this reference available from a private seller for $610, which is more than a 50% discount from the retail price. Carfax claims that a new car typically depreciates ...

There is growing understanding that the watch industry has an opportunity to improve when it comes to the issue of gender. Cara Barrett recently published a piece for Hodinkee which sheds important light on this subject. Here, I'd like to offer some additional thoughts. Fashion, and the watch industry, reminds me of myself, circa 2011. At that point, I'd worked for the US Navy for about a decade. The "don't ask, don't tell" policy was still in place, which meant we existed in a vacuum when it came to certain issues, issues that many outside our sphere were actively discussing and advancing. A photo shared online by Matt Radick the day DADT ended. The policy meant the military wouldn't ask members about gender attraction and members wouldn't reveal their gender attraction in conversation (or otherwise). In practice, it silenced a lot of discussion about aspects of gender in society. "Don't ask, don't tell" officially ende...