Double-breasted suits, phones with cords and mechanical watches – those were the days! These are the days, too. At least for mechanical watches. Despite Coronageddon and the smart watch crisis, there’s little danger of a New Watch Alert drought. Our carefully curated collection of traditional timepieces continues . . .
Unless the Swiss watch industry can create a compelling alternative to the smart watch, it will have reached its zenith. Cheerleaders can point out that the industry has survived two World Wars, the Great Depression and the quartz crisis. But this is different – a sea change as momentous as the shift from pocket to wrist watch. Still there will always be new watch alert buyers contemplating the latest traditional timepieces. Like these . . .
New watch alert! Tomorrow, at 12pm CET, Watches & Wonders online will launch The Mother of All New Product Dumps: 30 brands get 10-minutes apiece to introduce their “novelties.” What could possibly go wrong? Well, for one thing the major watch sites just released the 411 on many of the major brands. We’ll get to that over the next few days. Right now, let’s have a look at the pre-W&W new product that’s being swept aside by the deluge . . .
Today is Earth Day. The event began as a reaction to the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill. I doubt its founders would be happy that the world is currently awash in cheap oil. But they would certainly take heart in the growth of the “climate change” movement. And approve of watchmakers’ greenwashing. Which continues today, with the Element One Limited Edition Earth Day watch . . .
If you read this site you already know the watch market is moving, but not how much nor how fast. Part of this difficulty stems from the unknowables – where the equity markets are going, how long and deep the current downturn is going to be, how shut down everything will stay through the spring, etc. But we also lack good data . . .