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Nice! Although I’m not sure about the fit of that western…
The brushed bracelet is v good.
Wearing my Cartier Privé Asymmetrique to close out the weekend.
I don’t 100% agree. Yes, watch nerds have long acknowledged the importance of the model, but thinking back to Timezone days in the late 90’s and early 00’s, they also viewed it as an ugly, dated design and considered Genta more of a curious footnote than a celebrated designer. Similar story with the Royal Oak.
It wasn’t until after ~2015 that things shifted decisively the other way.
I mean, I wouldn’t know. I don’t own a 5711, but maybe one day I’ll be that cool.Table next to us at dinner last night (on the patio) was a fit and well-preserved older couple -- I'd say he was 70ish and she was early 60s. He was wearing a 5711 and she had what looked like a CPCP platinum Ronde de Cartier. I was wearing my Nautilus too and, as we were getting up to leave, he clocked it and we did the bro nod. That's what it's all about right?
This craze will be over just in time for your 60th birthday.Ive always liked the Aquanaut and detested the Nautilus. Somehow the Naut looks extremely dated to me, and my mental image of its owner tends to be a conservative guy in his 50s to 60s.
The Aquanaut I would happily buy at retail once this craze (if ever) dies down
Ive always liked the Aquanaut and detested the Nautilus. Somehow the Naut looks extremely dated to me, and my mental image of its owner tends to be a conservative guy in his 50s to 60s.
The Aquanaut I would happily buy at retail once this craze (if ever) dies down
This craze will be over just in time for your 60th birthday.
I'm waiting for one of the consumerist oriented brands to create a watch that is also a bitcoin wallet and that displays how many bitcoins are in it.
Yeah, I was there the weekend before. The Patek section was a joke and the Rolex section was an even bigger joke. It's like what's the point to have that much Rolex floor space dedicated to 2 or 3 watches.I actually dropped by Watches of Switzerland at Hudson Yards yesterday with my family to get out of the heat.
First of all, I am such proud dada. Upon entering the store, my 5-year-old daughter pointed at the Patek and Rolex signs and exclaimed: “They have Patek watches and also Rolex! Let’s look at Patek first!”
There were very few Pateks to look at. Obviously, there were no Nautilus or Aquanaut models, but also nothing else other than a few ladies watches. No Calatravas, no smaller complications (annual calendars, travel time, etc.), nothing. Ninety percent of the display slots were empty. This was true last time I was at Wempe in midtown and the Soho Watches of Switzerland as well. Point is, Pateks in general are running scarce.
The Rolex section was even more ridiculous. All slots were empty except for TWO watches, including a 34mm rose gold Datejust. I don’t remember the other, but it was also a smaller ladies model.
Every other brand’s display area was fully-loaded (e.g. Vacheron, Omega, IWC, JLC, etc.). They had like six Speedmaster moon watches ready for purchase, including a couple of the outgoing version.
In some ways, this is to be expected. Perhaps, the broader watch consumer market is simply catching up to more serious collectors, who began heavily consolidating their collections on Patek and Rolex about ~10 years ago. Before then, it was more common for enthusiasts to dabble across the different makers. These days, it’s Patek, Rolex, independents, or you’re a beginner.
Will this change? For reasons discussed before, Patek and Rolex have unique appeal to collectors. The other brands from Richemont and LVMH tend to feel a lot more anonymous and luxury consumerist oriented. Hard to put a finger on exactly why, but one key element is that their marketing tends to feel a lot more forced and their watches feel a lot more influenced by marketing. In contrast, Patek and Rolex exude somewhat of a “we don’t give a **** what you want” attitude. This reflects their conservativism and reinforces an aura of permanence.
In short, increasingly few people have concentrated collections of watches from the likes of IWC or JLC or even Lange. People who buy those watches tend to be more casual about collecting or will never buy more than one or two. Anecdotally, most of my friends and co-workers who have nice watches from such brands tend to have only that single watch, aren’t serious enthusiasts, and usually bought it because they saw an ad or think the brand is “cool”.
Given the underlying drivers, the current trend toward market bifurcation may be more secular than cyclical, unfortunately.
I dropped by multiple stores in Singapore, and there is pretty much nothing in steel from any brand. Singapore's market is so insane that it's basically impossible to get any desirable steel watches from any high end brand with an established history without huge pre-spending (above $100k).
We have 19 Rolex boutiques in an area 1/4 the size of London, and not one has anything other than TT DJs. Cant even buy a 36/41mm DJ/OP in any colour with the purchase of a TT ladies' model.
The GS white birch has a 1 year backorder. VC has stopped taking orders for any Overseas regardless of colour. Even the Octo Finissimo blue dial is on backorder, Zenith's Chronomaster sport is on 3-6 months backorder. Cartier steel watches are now at 3-7% discount if at all (25% was the standard pre-covid). Nothing at PP/AP (no surprise, but buying a perpetual from patek is not enough to get on a waiting list for an Aquanaut, buying a chrono 11.59 is also not enough to get on a waitlist for 37/41mm ROs).
Sometimes I really despise living here, because from reddit posts you can see people from US/EU getting Overseas/hot GS models just by walking in. 36mm OPs (not in blue) also seem possible in certain areas
Who in the US is doing better than this? Sounds like same situation, except with respect to GS.