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Hodinkee announcement

MMMD
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It's a pretty little thing, but they've replaced the signature feature of a "Skipper" with a date window. How the hell am I supposed to time my regatta starts with this thing?
Skipper my ascot.
 
Wibbles
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Foo2rama Foo2rama
I agree some of the auctioneer coverage has been a little off... looks at the Speedmaster one. But you are alleging they are making money from pumping a segment before they cover the auction... please explain how exactly they are making any money there.
As I said, the watch sales/journalism relationship is an extremely conflicted one. Not just with the Dink. It's extremely rare to see anything but glowing let's copy and paste the press release praise from watch "journalists". When it does happen it's with the cheap end where they don't stand to lose access to the bigger players.

As for them creating a market... Porsche make more money per car on average then any other MFG. They created the brand and market do you hate them?
Not at all, but I think that's an apples/oranges comparison.
When an error on any watch they have on sale is pointed out they fix it.
I can think of quite a few where they haven't.
Expecting them to be experts on every watch is insane.
Of course, but when you read howlers like a Heuer Bund having an "automatic movement" one wonders. Or vague dating on marques like Longines and Omega when again a precise date is a click away(and Longines will tell you for free by email). This is kindergarten level expertise a google search away.
They can sell at those prices as what they sell is in better then average condition
I would really contest that one. They don't even give a basic service at their inflated prices. Movement shots are variable in making appearances, or lately not appearing at all. So redials are probably ok and don't worry about movement shots folks? Indeed.... Where they do appear like with this Cyma check out where the regulator is... Never mind the dodgy dial with the skewed numerals. Another quick perusal throws up this GP Again no movement shot and an "original bracelet" that is clearly not original to the watch and doesn't even fit. No expertise required to see this. These are not isolated examples.

Would I buy from them? No, I rather research and find one at a better price. Some people are not like that.
. Oh sure, their market is not the established enthusiast, it's the wider market of men who trust the Dink brand to curate their tastes for them. And that market isn't so concerned about values as such. Indeed it's often the case that paying more is seen as a bonus, a way to telegraph their own aspirational value. Nothing wrong with that, it is what it is.
Edited by a mod:
 
ConElPueblo
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Sorry for perhaps guiding this thread in a downward spiral...

I do not care for the goods marketed by Hodinkee, don't care for their advertising relations with brands such as Tudor and others, don't care for their hyped-up pieces (yes, they will feature certain brands/types of watches/etc. before making money of related goods - and I'm guessing that some of the coverage of watch auctions also net a bit of advertising money) of merchandise, I don't care for their fanboys swooning over their "journalism" in the heavily censored comments section, I don't care for the wrongfully described, "curated" choices* of vintage watches in the shop** and I get the creeps from their entire glossy, "premium", hipster "ooh, look at us we're not nerds, we're horologists" agenda. They are a business.


Yes, they do take nice photos. Yes, some of the content is actually rather nice in a not too "up-our-own-arse" kind of way, though those articles are rather rare at the moment. Yes, they are good marketers. Yes, they know their audience.


Wibbles make some good remarks, not least:

Wibbles Wibbles
Not quite. In the vintage market they have influenced that market to their own ends as dealers in same. Give me any page of their vintage sales and I'd bet I could point out some real howlers(and better counsel could point out even more). And overpriced howlers at that. Aimed at the largely uninformed user base they have fostered as one of the "independent voices". And they can be anything but. Look how many articles promote dealers and particular auction houses even particular auctioneers. There is also a tendency to have an article on a particular segment and within weeks or days, a promotion of an upcoming auction in the same segment.

As I said I have zero issue with them making a few quid. I admire that. I do have issue where they seek to manipulate the market with too many editorials that promote such manipulation.

If people want to spend their money on products from Hodinkee, of course they are welcome to do so. And if they proudly show off their new watches on Instagram or on OF, chances are that I'll applaud them on their new acquisition. And pretty much all the watches they have collaborated on with watchmakers are very nice.

It's just not for me. The way Hodinkee approach the hobby and how it is somehow turned into an industry is not what why I am a member here.



* I don't for one second believe that many other dealers are better in this regards.
** I deleted "overpriced" for the same reason as above...
 
jumpingsecond
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I dont hate hodinkee. It's a successful business and brand that started from a passion we all share. I appreciate the historical knowlege they share. But I am sick of seeing them everywhere. As they grow in popularity the less I want to see. Due more to brand fatigue than anything else.
 
Wibbles
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ConElPueblo ConElPueblo
I don't care for their fanboys swooning over their "journalism" in the heavily censored comments section,
To be fair, I was quite active in their comments section for a time and in between general comments(I got Mr Forster off on a hunt to track down the origin of the springboard. the poor soul 😀 I always liked his stuff myself) I also on occasion questioned condition/expert opinion/values and even called shenanigans a couple of times, especially in their Bring a Loupe section* and they never once censored my posts. Maybe that's changed? But that was my experience anyway.

Wibbles make some good remarks,
Ah here, let's not get carried away Sir. 😁


*including one example where a dealer was looking over a 1000 for a particular watch and I linked to a few sales where the same watch was more like 200. The chap who wrote the article was positive in his response. Another when I questioned Patek's "heritage" in pilot's watches.
 
tyrantlizardrex
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An awful lot of people take what watch bloggers and journalists say as the gospel truth - there are nearly always reasons that things get said, or not said.

Hodinkee, for example, went nuts over the Piaget Polo S - but I doubt anyone in the team there bought one.

In this hobby, the one thing that stands true on every occasion is "Caveat Emptor" - if you're putting your money on the table to buy a watch, no matter who it's from, you'd better be damned certain that you've done your research, and know what you're getting into.

Does the seller/blogger/journalist have a responsibility to get it right?

Yes.

Does that mean they always will?

No.

Does that make them a bad person?

I don't think so - so often it's human error, or trusting a source of information that isn't correct, that is to blame, rather than setting out to deceive.

The bigger you are, the less people seem willing to accept that you just make innocent mistakes sometimes.
 
ConElPueblo
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Wibbles Wibbles
Maybe that's changed? But that was my experience anyway.

Well, perhaps my experiences are an outlier, but I had more than a few comments removed, including one that was a reply to someone questioning one of my previous posts, in effect stopping me from countering his point. Oh well, could have been a grumpy blogger manning the censorship boards 😁

Wibbles Wibbles
Ah here, let's not get carried away Sir. 😁

I'll make an effort not agreeing with you from now on.
 
Wibbles
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Was that the one that sold last week on eBay for over 9000 dollars? Fair number of bidders too. Madness. I remember the Dink article on that model and the talk of "Newman dial" and nuances of LIP manufacture. I can say(as I said in the comments on Dink) that having collected LIP watches down the years, they didn't seem too worried or precious about chopping and changing handsets and dials in production and they varied all over the place.
 
Just Livin
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MMMD MMMD
It's a pretty little thing, but they've replaced the signature feature of a "Skipper" with a date window. How the hell am I supposed to time my regatta starts with this thing?
Skipper my ascot.
Spot on!
I actually like the watch. But a 5-10-15 minute timer would have been the way to go. Pretty much all sailing regattas these days run off that. The limited numbers is cool. The price is off IMHO. But it sold out in an hour.

Would love to see one in the flesh!
Edited:
 
WatchVaultNYC
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It looks OK but..

The flat color of the subdial does not go with the sunburst finish. Also looks unbalanced left to right.
 
JMH76
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Wibbles Wibbles
Or vague dating on marques like Longines and Omega when again a precise date is a click away

Where is accurate Omega dating a click away?
 
abrod520
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Smaller premium than I would have expected for the day after the release tbh
 
R3D9
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With the exception of the Ressence (a monotone mess, unreadable mess) I think every limited edition watch Hodinkee has released has been a home run from a design point of view.

In each instance they've been able to convince the watchmaker to keep the dials clean and free of unnecessary detail. The fact that this Heuer has only "Swiss" at the bottom of the dial, for instance... love it!

Just imagine what a Hodinkee Submariner or Daytona might look like.

The ceramic Daytona is one of my dream watches, but I still don't understand why Rolex has to have five lines of text (FIVE!!!!) at the top of the dial. It's just flat-out bad design.

Five lines. 🤨
 
TexOmega
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That Skipper just looks funny with that date window. Appears to be an afterthought. But then, some say I look kinda funny and Mom said I was not an afterthought.👍
 
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