115: Are some watch features just afterthoughts? - podcast episode cover

115: Are some watch features just afterthoughts?

Jun 07, 202420 minEp. 115
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Episode description

Today we talk about how as enthusiasts we often are judgmental not only about watches but also the intent behind the decisions that make them. Is it likely that watch designers just don't care about certain aspects of the watch design, or is it more likely that there are other priorities at play?

We are also borrowing three watches right now that we will talk about soon. Do you have questions about Serica watches or Atelier Wen watches that we can answer for you?

Transcript

Welcome to this Watch LIVE. Hi, I'm Lydia Winters. And I'm Vu Bui. So what would you say is your typical first impression of a watch? My first impression is typically like, oh, I love it. It's so amazing. No, OK, My typical first. No, my typical first impression is like Leah, Leah. It really is. I don't know why. I don't either. It's but it's like I immediately I'm like, it's a no for me. Like for no reason whatsoever.

I believe almost every watch you own when you first saw it you were like Nah. Yeah, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a quick naysayer. You are. I'm like very quick. Very quick to. Haters gonna hate is what I say, which is what brings us to the topic of today. Oh, wow. Which is watch enthusiast pitfalls. That's what we're calling it. OK. Or I mean, you could say like, are they pitfalls? They're they're more like thinking poorly.

Poor falls. Yeah, they're, they're definitely ways that I think we could all be more open. I include myself in this. Oh, no, I hate her. Yeah, I I live here and I'm trying to get out of it because I really appreciate watches. I appreciate when someone is not. When they're new. Well, The thing is I appreciate it when it's on someone's wrist and they have chosen it, but it's more of just like for me, when I first see it, just on its own, I'm like bull.

Yeah, no, I know. I, I think everyone knows that is how, but I, I think in general, most people are a little too critical of most things, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can put yourself into that too. What? What? Do you really think so? But I think a word that that's been kind of like. We've heard it a lot. Recently, and I know I know I've said it before, but I it's kind of like irking me lately. Is this this phrase in in the watch community?

And it's like, oh, it was an afterthought and I. It bothers me a lot. The reason it it bothers me is because I actually feel that it's just a different priority because you have like X amount of money. You're building a watch. Of course you are actually you're thinking about every aspect. It's a choice, not an afterthought.

So maybe you move the money over to you say like I want the best dial in the world and then that means I don't have as much money for the bracelet or the clasp or the finishing. You know, like you're, it's always about priorities and not about not thinking about it. When you when you say someone just didn't think about it, it takes away all of the work that

they've done. Well, the weird thing is, it's a strange assumption to make is that if someone does something that you don't like, then you assume that either they're incompetent, yeah, or that they. Don't care, I assume those two things. But most people probably don't assume that about themselves. Right. It's like, oh, no, I did that because that's a conscious choice. Like I, I, I thought about it, I came up with a reason and then I did the thing that I thought was

right. But if someone else does something, then it's like, oh, they didn't even care about it. And I feel like we need to be more open and understanding that, OK, in the many years I've worked with so many people who create things, make things, build things, whatever that is. I don't know if not caring is the thing that I've. Seen what I often see. Is it what you said is a prioritization? And usually it's because we're

all constrained in various ways. Maybe the constraint is budget, Maybe the constraint is time, right? There's deadlines there. There are many reasons that people make decisions that you don't like, but I think the least likely, especially for these brands where this is people, especially when you look at the these smaller brands, mm hmm, micro brands, right? This is someone who's like taking a huge risk in their life, probably.

Mm hmm. And doing something that has a very high chance of failure and you're like, ah, they probably didn't even care about. It he's like, think about it so. I think we could do a little more, assuming good intent. Yes, I, I was thinking about, so we have a friend and he's Swedish and he says this thing like where he kind of like he gives an opinion, but then he kind of says this like, or at

the end. So it's like, yeah, I, I don't really think that they even thought about that or, and it, I don't know, there's something about this or question mark that leaves it open that like I, my opinion might be wrong and I really like that. I need that 'cause I'm very opinionated. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I do think we could back it up one more sentence and just not assume that someone didn't care about.

No, not that they didn't care, but I mean, you could say I think that they, you know, they were probably thinking about this. Yeah, that I think is OK. You know, and you kind of just like leave open, yeah, this, this or leaves open the possibility that there's many other things that could. Have happened the thing that bothers me the most is when the assumption is they didn't even think about it. Yeah, and I I that one, I'm

like, you know, maybe it's true. Sometimes there are people out there who are like, hey, I'm gonna start a watch brand just to make a quick buck. Well, let's just say that these people exist and they're like, and I don't care at all about bracelets or crowns. I'm only gonna think about the other parts. And then if I have time, I will slightly after think about the bracelet and crown. Right, like they these people could exist. However, I'm gonna guess they are the extreme rarity.

Yeah, it is nice to think about. Look, people put thought into it, and I guess this brings us to our next like a watch enthusiast pitfall. I wanted to turn it into a game show, Vu said. No, it's not made for you. I I just don't get the game show. OK, OK anyway, but it it is just like again back to this is like maybe it's just not made for you. That is probably the most of the things you don't like in something like watches. Yeah, I think.

It's similar to clothing or other things that the aesthetics are really important. Yeah. Like it's probably just not made for you. Yeah, I think we've talked about this before, but it was a long time ago, so I'm going to talk about it again. And we've done over 100. Episodes but you have this great like you told me about this great saying in Vietnamese, which is like, I don't know how to eat that yeah, so it's. Like instead of saying, I'll, I don't like that it's usually

about food. Well, yeah, 'cause it's about food. It is about food, not usual. And you, you instead of saying like, I don't like that or that's not good, you just say, I don't know how to eat. That so there's not a The thing is, I don't know how to eat that is like you're not judging it and you aren't. You're putting it on you. Yeah, like I'm just. My thing is, is not that. Yeah, yeah. I really like when, when people do that in like watch reviews.

I think Brit Pierce is really great at it. You know, this kind of like, hey, this is, this is really just my opinion. Like, I, this isn't made for me, but it's probably made for a lot of other people. Yeah. And that's that's, that's a good thing, Yeah. That we don't just have like one watch. It's like, oh, here is watch. Yeah. Right. Hope you like it. No, you have to like it. There's no 'cause there's only watch. There is only watch and you can buy watch.

The yeah, that's true. If you think of it the opposite way, the more watches that aren't for you just means that there's a lot of watches out there and more different people are joining the watch world. Yeah, and I would not like it if everyone had the same thing as me. So what I want is for everyone to like different things and then everyone to make different things and then I get to have.

The ones you. That feels like, oh, this says something about me. Well, this is like the the White Birch and it has a little wagtail on the back. And I'm sure that a lot of people are like, or, you know, the Birch bark people are like, I don't, I bird. Bird. Maybe they poop on things. They don't like it, but it's still like that the the extremes of it of having this like more playful or something, you know, colorful or things that can feel more like I that's not for

anyone. No one likes a pink tutor. That's not. True, but that OK, OK. That's. Even worse than the afterthought thing is I see this mainly in comments on things whether it's on Reddit or Instagram is people saying no one wants this? Yeah, but then, then. No, that's probably not true, because at least at least the person who designed it probably wanted. It what does the crowd say? It's not made for you. And I just wish that we could have that perspective, but OK, OK.

The last one, very interesting. I haven't thought of it as much, but we were watching, as always, the amazing Brit Pierce. And she made a video recently about going to a Bulgari event. And one of the things she talked about, because she was looking at the Octofenisimo, the, the very thin tour beyond, you know, amazing watch. And it's like 600,000 lbs. Yeah. And she was like, you know, I think sometimes watch enthusiasts only really appreciate what's in their price range.

I thought that was such an interesting observation because I do agree sometimes you just write something off because it's outside of your price range. But instead. I do that every day. Yeah, it's I was trying not to like literally point my finger and be like, it's the guy across for me. I'm the overly critical one. You are the like if it's not in my price range. But but but then I'm just not interested. Not interested, but that's what she was saying.

She wasn't saying like, save up all your money for like. You know, like it's not about hating those. No, I'm not like. It's not. Shouldn't exist. It's not about pining over it. I think her point was just that it's so cool that it exists. It exists in watchmaking. It's trying to push watchmaking or design and. That stuff trickles down to the affordables. Exactly. So I think there's like bringing that curiosity, I guess is the positive side towards like not appreciating just this wider

range of watches. Yeah, either up or down from your price range, so. We are going to do things. Yeah. Turns out OK, OK, we want to be able to talk about like specific watches. So we want to do like basically watch impressions where we try not to fall into the pit. I fell into the pit. If people, if people know that reference, I'll be very happy. Oh really? Yeah, I'll be super stoked. I know that. It was a very popular show. I know that Mindy. I know that Mindy will.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. OK. We right now have multiple watches in from manufacturers where we are borrowing those watches to check them out. Yeah. And we thought we'd talk a little bit today about like, how do we even plan on talking about those watches? OK, I got to tease the watches real quick. OK, we have a Cereca 6190, the California Dial Field Watch. Yeah, it's what? Oh, I was going to do. The next one we have a Cereca 8315, the black and white travel time.

That's one I've wanted to see for literal years in person. It is and we have the Atelier Wencia which is the salmon dial like hand turned guilloche dial I. So all of these watches, like we wanted to see them. Yeah, I think that's an important part is like, for us, we only want to talk about things that we really like at a baseline. I guess today we were like, you know what? We don't like being snobs and we sometimes are, I don't know. Well, OK, yeah.

But it's still in a positive way of like we can all be better. Yeah, yeah, I. Can I can be a better person? I believe in myself, yeah. So it starts with we have to already be interested in the watch, but we have already it it it is funny how quickly it happens. We have already gotten a lot of offers of like, hey, we can send you a watch or we can send you these accessories or these

different things. And we turn all those down because they're none of them have been specifically things we were genuinely interested in these three watches. For me, it was the 6190, for you, it was the 8315. And then for me it was the Sia, like we are already interested in them. So at a baseline, we're like, hey, this is. There's something interesting here for me. Exactly.

And what we wanna do is like today, kinda talk about in advance that we're going to speak about these watches so that if there are questions that any of you have about the watches, you can ask us on Instagram or send us a message or a voice message and and we will try to answer your questions about the watches. Yeah, Yeah. Because I, I think that's really interesting. One of the difficulties, especially with smaller brands, is it's really hard to get hands on with the watches.

Yeah, that's very true. It's a. Lot of work to go create a podcast that's daily Monday through Friday and do over 100 episodes just so that people will send them to you so you can check them out. But in fact. But that's what. We did. They said we couldn't. They said we wouldn't. So I think we want to take a slightly different approach to talking. About, which is why we made-up the name Watch impressions. I mean, it's kind of already well. Yeah, OK, OK. We.

Didn't make that. Impression OK, so we're. We're we're going to use that because we are not going to do reviews. I don't do reviews. I've never done reviews. No, that's not true. I think in 2001 I wrote a few camera reviews. Oh, right. But I don't enjoy viewing proper reviews because to me, like a review is an objective as possible, which is pretty much impossible. But you're trying to be objective, but you're not really

completely objective. It's a view of like the features, the strengths, the flaws in a watch, like all the good and bad. But it what's not good about watches. Like watches, we're not talking about cars or, or other things where there's like genuine safety concerns and, and, and long term comfort things that you could, you could, you could get into in a review.

We're talking about watches. And I think most of the so-called flaws in watches are actually just personal opinions of things that people don't like. Yeah. And it's also, I think the part of it that's the most interesting is it's so personal because like you said, maybe in a car, a car seat, the seat in the car, not a child's car seat, the seat in the car. Seats isn't. That comfortable to you, But it could be because that's also true. You are like it. It's your body shape, which is

also the same with wrists. It turns. Out because a lot of times they're like oh this strap is so comfortable and someone else is like no, it's not at all or you know. Like sizing, I also think sizing is one of those things, right? Like people are like this watch is just too big or too thick or whatever that is. It's like again for you probably, but there are people with larger wrists or. There are. People who just like big watches on small.

Wrists and they cannot lie. A funny, a funny thing is so yesterday. This really tells you a lot about my family, I think in probably an interesting way. Both. So my mom wrote to me immediately upon listening to the episode and said ha ha ha, you are my daughter and I cannot lie, came out of my mouth too. And then later my sister sent Foo and IA voicemail and she said, hey, as soon as Boo said I like Big Crowns, I said, and I cannot lie at the same time as Lydia, so Boo said.

That's evidently a very notable song in our family house. Definitely, definitely well, maybe not unique to your family, but it's but it's strong and. Strong. It's a strong. But OK, so like one thing I think it's very easy to talk about. I hear so many people talk about how a date at 4:30 is just no good. Date of 4/30 no good, but I know people who like a date at 4:30 because it doesn't interrupt the

indices. I like a date at 4:30 because I feel like then you don't have to stay out late, you just get to eat dinner early. Oh, no. And then today we'll get a message from your mom, like as soon as he said a date at 4:30. Yeah, but I'm one of those people who like a 430 date window and and so like just because one person doesn't like it doesn't mean everyone won't like it. And I think that's one of the difficulties with reviewing that I don't even want to deal with.

Yeah, I, I just don't think that that's that interesting to me is to talk about things that I don't like about a watch that I know are probably more personal to me. Yeah, but I do. OK, So then I want to say one thing. I do think it's really fun to sort of like debate these things. But again, it's in the way of this, this or question at the end. Yeah, me, you know, like or this is my opinion or saying like for me. Well, no, there's some things that also aren't opinions.

Yeah, that's true. Should a bracelet have an on the fly quick adjust? Yes it should. That's not an opinion. That's not an opinion. Watch. Is dead to. Me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Never buy you I. Only have two big platforms. You know. One is quick adjust on bracelets, the other is more transparency and water resistance. Afterthought. Why won't these companies think of about these? Things, oh boy, it was like get rid of all of these. Stop calling these pitfalls. These are called correct

thinking. Exactly. But I think the biggest danger with us having watches in no and they're already can. I can I say the what do you? Think the biggest danger is? The biggest danger is Voo cannot try watches he likes without being like, I want to buy it. I just, I'll, I'll just write to them and I'll say I'll buy and I'm like, Oh my God, Boo. I know it's a review sample. I know it was already scratched up when it arrived. Can I buy it? This guy, this guy, I thought,

you know, for me, I'm like. Seeing watches? Seeing more watches makes me you know, like I get to see them, test them out and then I get to send them back. Voo doesn't have the wants to send back mentality. He's like, so now I keep them. All it is funny because your whole thing that you said was this is amazing because now I can try out more watches and no commitment. Yeah. And I was like, oh, OK. But for me I'm like but I want to.

Keep it. Yeah. Yeah. I would love to know what or I guess we would love to know what watches would you like us to see? What watches do you want to know more about? Yeah, yeah. Get our impressions.

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