Category: Editorials

Co-Branded Watches – What’s The Point?

“Why would Bentley need a watch partner?” commentator Sammy Toledo asks underneath yesterday’s post Breitling Bentley Partnership RIP. “If you can afford a Bentley, you should be able to afford one of those watches whose maker would never deign to co-brand, right?” Right! As a Bentley owner, I own a few tasty timepieces and precisely no Breitling Bentley watches. Looking at the selection at chrono24.com, I can see no reason to indulge. But Mr. Toledo’s comment raises some interesting questions about co-branded watches . . .

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New Watch Heritage FTW?

Once upon a time, the watch industry based its competitiveness on technological prowess. Innovations in accuracy, reliability, shock resistance, water resistance, etc. elevated brands to the top of the sales charts. Those days are gone. While enthusiasts may dwell on small details, when you take the ten thousand foot view modern mechanical watches are pretty much of a muchness. What matters now? New watch heritage! Luke Benedictus at timeandtidewatches.com nails it . . .

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The Case for the Creative Caseback

Check out the caseback on the Seiko Presage Studio Ghibli Castle in The Sky. What is that? A crude, barely discernible depiction of the movie’s floating castle obscuring Seiko’s not-at-all-glamorous caliber 6R31 automatic movement. The Brits have an expression for this sort of thing; a dog’s breakfast. Seiko is hardly the only watchmaker guilty of a sticker-based creative caseback fail . . .

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Rotate Watches SOL Part 3

When we left off in Part 2 last week month, it was unknown whether I’d seriously damaged the Rotate Watches “make it yourself” movement. Good news: nope, it’s fine. Bad news: I’m still SOL. Minimal progress and another impasse! Nonetheless, this all took gobs of time and effort. Gather round to hear of my foibles. If you’re not careful, you may learn something before it’s done . . .

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TUDOR Only Watch Fail

I applaud the 54 watch brands who’ve created one-off timepieces for the Only Watch auction. Hats off to charity founder Luc Pettavino, whose teenage son died of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The event will raise tens of millions of dollars for DMD research, with only a fraction diverted for expenses. We good? So, TUDOR Only Watch fail. Actually, let’s start with Rolex . . .

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