The Watch Appreciation Thread - Part two (Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Jaeger LeCoultre,

[am55]

+1000. I can't remember whether it was in The Rake or in Revolution, but some years ago Wei wrote an article about a visit to Rolex's manufacturing facility that was a truly awful and peculiar mix of cringing adulation and blatant self-stroking of his own ego.

It read like it was written by a high school student who was terribly pleased at his own self-importance at being invited to visit Rolex headquarters and who had raided a book of quotations and a thesaurus to assist in writing the article.

I think that's a bit unfair, no? Look at the vocabulary often used for the goods on this very thread: boys' toys, playful, fun, excited... and of course they are bought with disposable income.

We're all big kids deep down. Koh just taps into his personal version of it because (some of) his readers enjoy it and connect to it, and this has become more socially acceptable in the last decade or two (I suspect correlating with the internet making it easy for everyone to have a voice).

For a humorous take on it, from Harkaway's Gnomon:
"It must have been a profoundly nervous existence, to be Solomon Kedir or one of those other ministers, but I think that what it did to us who had no such prominence, was more terrible, if more diffuse. We lived in the Panopticon, and Bentham was entirely wrong about how it works. The watchers, watching one another, became increasingly desperate and paranoid lest they miss something, while we, constantly observed, became almost exhibitionistic of our sins. We flaunted them and dared our master to take offence at our juvenile conspiracies and excesses of the flesh."

 

[Journeyman]

Here you go: https://therake.com/stories/craft/the-future-is-now-behind-the-scenes-at-rolex/

That's similar, but the one I remember was even more over-the-top and cringe-inducing. I'll have to see if I can find it.

Edited to add: Found it - they must have printed a shorter version in The Rake and the full version in Revolution:

http://revo-online.com/inside-the-rolex-movement-manufacture-birth-of-the-beating-heart/

Rolex do make good, reliable watches, but things become a bit outlandish at times during the article:

"So the irrefutable fact to me is that in terms of pure, outright, unabashed reliability, there is simply no better watch on the face of the earth than a Rolex."

"Whenever I board a plane, I make sure that the watch on my wrist is a Rolex. That is because, God forbid, if my plane goes down and I’m stranded on a desert island, I know I will be able to survive if I have my Rolex."

And it gets even more hyperbolic as the article goes on:

"I prefer to think about what Rolex has done to shape the history of human culture."

"I mention to Maître Gros that the world has 6,500 spoken languages, but to me, the most international one, the one that defies cultural divides and unites people regardless of religion or creed, is the language of the world’s best mechanical watch: Rolex. He nods his head sagely and says, “Young man, I am inclined to agree.”"

 

[Scuppers]

That's similar, but the one I remember was even more over-the-top and cringe-inducing. I'll have to see if I can find it.

Edited to add: Found it - they must have printed a shorter version in The Rake and the full version in Revolution:

http://revo-online.com/inside-the-rolex-movement-manufacture-birth-of-the-beating-heart/

Rolex do make good, reliable watches, but things become a bit outlandish at times during the article:

"So the irrefutable fact to me is that in terms of pure, outright, unabashed reliability, there is simply no better watch on the face of the earth than a Rolex."

"Whenever I board a plane, I make sure that the watch on my wrist is a Rolex. That is because, God forbid, if my plane goes down and I’m stranded on a desert island, I know I will be able to survive if I have my Rolex."

And it gets even more hyperbolic as the article goes on:

"I prefer to think about what Rolex has done to shape the history of human culture."

"I mention to Maître Gros that the world has 6,500 spoken languages, but to me, the most international one, the one that defies cultural divides and unites people regardless of religion or creed, is the language of the world’s best mechanical watch: Rolex. He nods his head sagely and says, “Young man, I am inclined to agree.”"

Oh, excellent. Not a Revolution reader as I found it a bit thin of critical thought (not that rake is otherwise, however it does have some good contributors) and week as an actual watch magazine - salon puff piece.
Will attempt to read.

 

[MrUnderwood]

Haha, i usually like Wei but he is kind of a douche here. But i reckon he nails what exactly every Rolex owner think of their timepiece. So instead of hating on Wei Koh, rather look at Rolex owners, most of them (not all) are just as douchy.

 

[am55]

That's similar, but the one I remember was even more over-the-top and cringe-inducing. I'll have to see if I can find it.

Edited to add: Found it - they must have printed a shorter version in The Rake and the full version in Revolution:

http://revo-online.com/inside-the-rolex-movement-manufacture-birth-of-the-beating-heart/

Rolex do make good, reliable watches, but things become a bit outlandish at times during the article:

"So the irrefutable fact to me is that in terms of pure, outright, unabashed reliability, there is simply no better watch on the face of the earth than a Rolex."

"Whenever I board a plane, I make sure that the watch on my wrist is a Rolex. That is because, God forbid, if my plane goes down and I’m stranded on a desert island, I know I will be able to survive if I have my Rolex."

And it gets even more hyperbolic as the article goes on:

"I prefer to think about what Rolex has done to shape the history of human culture."

"I mention to Maître Gros that the world has 6,500 spoken languages, but to me, the most international one, the one that defies cultural divides and unites people regardless of religion or creed, is the language of the world’s best mechanical watch: Rolex. He nods his head sagely and says, “Young man, I am inclined to agree.”"

You see to me the tone is very much tongue-in-cheek. Koh is not a Kardashian type influencer; he grew up in a quite literate household, his father being a RI, Harvard and Cambridge educated lawyer and diplomat. The key to this type of (quite English) humour is to say ridiculous things with a straight face and see how long you can roll with it. Then there is the Singaporean tendency to wrap more complex ideas (especially opinions) in light hearted comments with plausible deniability - think LKY's “my name is Jimmy Carter, I’m a peanut farmer, I’m running for president. The next thing you know, he was the president!”.

So these comments strike me as in-jokes about Rolex's marketing amongst the watch community, rather than dreamy-eyed "influencer copy", but then I'm not a Rake reader so could be tone-deaf to the wider context.

I almost suspect the comment about the VW factory being medieval to be another in-joke. Auto manufacturing is some of the most efficient and automated in any industry, certainly more so than what he describes of Rolex.

 

[am55]

An analogy might be Oliver Stone's Wall Street. He obviously wrote the movie in a different tone, but I am sure many readers here know someone who has memorised Gekko's speech and quoted it quite seriously in conversation (see this FT article).

 

[LA Guy]

You see to me the tone is very much tongue-in-cheek. Koh is not a Kardashian type influencer; he grew up in a quite literate household, his father being a RI, Harvard and Cambridge educated lawyer and diplomat. The key to this type of (quite English) humour is to say ridiculous things with a straight face and see how long you can roll with it. Then there is the Singaporean tendency to wrap more complex ideas (especially opinions) in light hearted comments with plausible deniability - think LKY's “my name is Jimmy Carter, I’m a peanut farmer, I’m running for president. The next thing you know, he was the president!”.

So these comments strike me as in-jokes about Rolex's marketing amongst the watch community, rather than dreamy-eyed "influencer copy", but then I'm not a Rake reader so could be tone-deaf to the wider context.

I almost suspect the comment about the VW factory being medieval to be another in-joke. Auto manufacturing is some of the most efficient and automated in any industry, certainly more so than what he describes of Rolex.

Maybe.

And sometimes a douchenozzle is just a douchenozzle.

 

[Riva]

You see to me the tone is very much tongue-in-cheek. Koh is not a Kardashian type influencer; he grew up in a quite literate household, his father being a RI, Harvard and Cambridge educated lawyer and diplomat. The key to this type of (quite English) humour is to say ridiculous things with a straight face and see how long you can roll with it. Then there is the Singaporean tendency to wrap more complex ideas (especially opinions) in light hearted comments with plausible deniability - think LKY's “my name is Jimmy Carter, I’m a peanut farmer, I’m running for president. The next thing you know, he was the president!”.

So these comments strike me as in-jokes about Rolex's marketing amongst the watch community, rather than dreamy-eyed "influencer copy", but then I'm not a Rake reader so could be tone-deaf to the wider context.

I almost suspect the comment about the VW factory being medieval to be another in-joke. Auto manufacturing is some of the most efficient and automated in any industry, certainly more so than what he describes of Rolex.

He's been wearing independents like Urwerk way before people here even heard of them or can even afford one. A bored child of true Asian wealth and political influence. And he's happy being a boy while printing $. So it's natural for those here to bully and hate when someone like him who puts down their common choice of jewelries.

 

[am55]

Maybe.

And sometimes a douchenozzle is just a douchenozzle.

Is this from personal experience? You must know the chap, given your fashion network...

 

[crazn]

He's been wearing independents like Urwerk way before people here even heard of them or can even afford one. A bored child of true Asian wealth and political influence. And he's happy being a boy while printing $. So it's natural for those here to bully and hate when someone like him who puts down their common choice of jewelries.

View attachment 1209474

He is saying buy because you like it. not because it is some socioeconomic signal of where you are on the ladder. which is quite millennial in its outlook considering his generation.

 

[smittycl]

I like reading the Rake but agree Wei’s writing is over the top, intentionally or otherwise. His description here of what amounts to The Rake’s Outlet Barn is hysterical:

What is The Rake Values?

The Rake’s founder Wei Koh explains the philosophy behind our groundbreaking initiative aimed at the ethical, cost-conscious classicist.

therake.com

 

[beargonefishing]

I tried to read a couple of those rake articles and couldn't do it. The writing isn't good, primarily because the writers I sampled overused passive voice. Maybe I'm wrong and should read more articles, but this is really sloppy.

Because of the seasonal nature of luxury menswear, often times unsold garments are cleared off the shop floor and languish out of sight and out of mind in the dark recesses of a warehouse. We feel that this is a great pity. Because for every well-crafted and beautifully styled garment there is a consumer with the potential to treasure it as a beloved staple in his wardrobe.

 

[usctrojans31]

I don't mind the copy in The Rake. Yes, it's flowery and bombastic, but so too is most editorial.

 

[beargonefishing]

Flowery bombast is fine, and probably expected. The unrelenting passive voice is painful to read.

 

[DavidLane]

I happened to be in the city and went to the Hodinkee event at Blancpain. Its a well proportioned watch and looks really really nice in the metal. The lugs have a nice sharp chamfer that looks great, but tough to see in my pic.

Here's my crappy iPhone pic of Ben Clymer's personal piece.

DL-