On the different taste the Hodinkee crew push the whole Tiffany signed dials etc when we can’t think of anything more tacky......each too their own I guess....

 

I dont know if I am phrasing this clearly; but now Cara is claiming that this is cyberbullying?

I mean how soft are these kids behind the Hodinkee PR department?

Can't handle criticism about their products; lock the comments, "good positive vibes all around" and now its CYBERBULLYING!?

 

I don't think they intended anything bad by it. They're commenting on manufacturing typical in Asia. Clearly, one is better than the other in this context of ultra luxury watches. I'm all for pointing out racism being Asian myself, but don't feel offended.

 

My appreciation: Corporate Bullshit

 

You´re right. They are clever, in short terms... But I am convinced that they will suffer from this in long term.

 

Well, I'm not Asian, and this is obviously a pedantic tangent, but:

– What does "typical" manufacturing in Asia mean?

– All watch companies use some forms of automated manufacturing, and the Hodinkee clock was certainly not hand-built.

– There is nothing remotely "ultra-luxury" about the movement used in the Hodinkee clock. In fact, I would argue that the only thing that is truly ultra-luxury about the product is its price.

– High-end Seiko are, and have been manufactured for decades at a level that is definitely on a level with its Swiss counterparts.

– They wouldn't have made the comment if not to disparage, as the whole point was to attempt to highlight (or claim) the superiority of their product, and rationalize its cost.

 

So, when is your clock arriving? Will you have an unboxing post for us?

 

While I find the clock unattractive and poor value given the multitude of options out there for a similar price, that's just my subjective opinion.

I wonder how many people criticising Hodinkee and this clock actually know wealthy people (minimum several million net worth and high liquidity)? This isn't about bragging or showing off the social circles you mix with. This is more a question about being familiar with how some/many "rich" people think.

I'll throw out a few examples of clients that my wife has had:

1. After fitting a brand new, bespoke kitchen the client thought it "looked too new" so she asked if the carpenters could "bash it up a bit and make it look worn". They just looked at her with stunned faces. She was willing to pay them more to make it look...less new.

2. A client ordered several bespoke lights from Italy costing almost £1k each. After they arrived they found a chandelier they liked more costing over £10k. Instead of returning the lights they decided to fit them in one of their rental properties. Because, why not?

3. My wife gave a clear specification on rug sizes that would suit a room. While on holiday the client purchased a €10k carpet that was larger than the recommended specifications. When they arrived home and laid it out, it was too large and didn't suit the space. They put it in another one of their rental properties and bought something else.

Yes, a $6k clock may seem ridiculous to some but it's a fleeting thought to some others (with money to spare).

 

I suppose from one extreme end of unfettered capitalism and consumption you could look at things like this in a positive light. Congratulations Hodinkee, you’ve been successful in manipulating people’s taste and profited from it.
On the other hand where do you draw the line between clever and deceitful?
Does your moral compass ever cause you to feel “icky” when you observe someone hoodwinking another?
I get the feeling the 13 pages of seething is people’s ethical standards coming out. They’re kind of outraged to see an outright swindle. A low quality clock has been manufactured by a taste-making company who is in turn selling it for an outrageous price. People in the know who care about this kind of stuff (watch enthusiasts on a watch forum) are rightly annoyed.

 

Your post is perfectly summing up this whole travesty....

 

Sounds about right - a guy I used to know worked his entire career first designing interiors for private planes for LearJet, and then for Bombardier. So he would work closely with people whom had more money than most of us could dream of. People with net worths in the hundreds of millions and billions over the course of time - household names, and those more obscure. Plane interiors are insanely expensive since every nut and bolt has to be FAA approved in order to be installed, but they would think nothing of requesting changes while already in process, and spending another $100K or more to make a very simple change, like swapping the cabinet wood fascia or something like that.

 

Similarly I met a senior guy who had worked at Harrods. He explained that the typical Harrods shopper has no requirement for quality, design or value - their primary goal is simply to find the most efficient method of spending a sh1t ton of money. Their products and pricing structure are designed around that primary requirement.

While I find that the Hodinkee travel clock mings very hard indeed, and the pretentious hipster ad nauseating - you can’t fault the fact that they’ve managed to hook in a decent number of individuals with the same requirement. Well done to them!

 

Just because you can does not mean you should. Let's praise Pablo Escobar for all the poor buggers he killed selling drugs. As long as he made money and people were ok spending it...well done him.

 

Supply and demand. Just because someone makes something it doesn't mean others will or have to buy it. Unless it's a steel Rolex I guess...

 

Haha!

Free market, free will - demand constitutes the supply and visa versa. I think this is too simplistic of an approach to the nuance of the equation. Is it simply free will that drives our ambition to buy? Or does our education (or lack thereof) on a particular product factor into the equation? When companies create a false demand through marketing and misinformation an uneducated population will literally buy into demand. In this case, Hodinkee is "educating" the general population about watches, creating demand for their products from the "education", and profiting from it.
People don't know what they don't know. How can you expect them to make a free choice if they don't know the choice exists and the people "educating" them are leading them to the ultimate conclusion of purchasing a $6,000 travel alarm clock?

 

Correction, $14,000 (321) for the privilege of owning a movement made in the '50s. The last time I checked, hand assembling a movement is not worth more than $200 as watchmakers do this all day long. Not only that, but they also have to disassemble it first for the cleaning which the Omega watchmakers won't have to do with the 321. So does that mean that when you send back the 321 for service later that they will charge you $10,000 for the privilege of assembling your movement by hand again?

It goes to show, in the number of people defending Omega on the pricing of the 321, with clever marketing, you can swindle a bundle.

 

By Banker, for Wanker, surely?

 

my wife being Asian and me spending a lot of time in China it got me thinking how, when over their, I learned many Chinese avoid Chinese made TV and look highly on Japanese made electronics and watches. Anyway any of these things these days are a touchy subject. Most of the time it’s better to remain silent these days it’s difficult to talk about certain things. Anyway how about that travel clock, nice weather today.

 

lol