I was on a recent Clubhouse chat which, nominally, was about today's Tag Heuer X Hodinkee release. To set the stage, these collaborators announced the Carrera 'Dato' Limited Edition For HODINKEE reference CBK221D.FC6479. The watch was available in a limited run of 250 examples and priced at $7,250. My use of past tense is not an error. The watch promptly sold out in three minutes and I'm sure, any day now, we'll see how much the flippers profit from the shortage on the secondary market.
A prominant collector and artist was in the Clubhouse room and expressed the sentiment that, while reissues are obviously well-received by the market, the lack of design innovation is disappointing. I see his point and agree with it. There is a flourishing space of design innovation among a certain class of brands. Most notably, independent brands and microbrands are arguably at the forefront of design innovation.
We also see design innovation among established brands such as Rolex, with the recent rainbow of stella-inspired OP dials, as well as Audemars Piguet, with the Code 11.59. Archeological evidence that the 5711 waiting list began in ancient Greece. JK, Muse reading a scroll What empowers established brands to make bold design moves?
I've previously discussed the idea that risk management motivates a lot of what we see in the watch industry. If you are a CEO, and you're looking at rolling out a bold new design, I'd imagine you lose some meaningful amount of sleep asking yourself, "what happens if this is a dog?" Actually, you probably don't lose any sleep if you have a network of ADs and a "flagship unobtainium" reference, such as the Submariner or the Royal Oak.The watch CEO's secret formula for empowering creatives and getting a good night's rest. The reason is this: the waitlist for that kind of reference allows you to force the hand of collectors. Authorized Dealers can simply move undesireable designs by essentially bundling the dog with unobtainium. Do you want the hottest reference? Then you need to buy a reference that we thought would sell, but really didn't.
In essence, if you have a waitlist, you're walking the design tightrope with a very big and robust safety net.
It is very important to note that, to my knowledge, eCommerce does not offer this safety net. Suppose that Tag had rolled out the Carrera 'Dato' LE through its AD network and it had been in equally short supply. The ADs could have built the waitlists. This would, no doubt, have been reassuring in the event that the other major recent release from Tag Heuer, the reference CBN2A1F.BA0643 Chronograph Special Edition with Porsche, does not sell through. There are earlier indicators this might be the case: we're 18 days from release and the "Add To Cart" button is still live. Imagine the other branch of the multiverse in which ADs could say "Do you want the Carrera 'Dato'? Well let's get the Porsche Special Edition in your watchbox first."*
In conclusion, I'm not going to claim either version of reality is more preferable, I'd just like to point it out. I'd also like to point out a few corollaries to the "waitlist-as-design hedge" idea. A nice hedge that has nothing to do with risk. First, if more eCommerce means fewer wait lists, then we may end up seeing stagnation in design. The safety nets will be increasingly scarce. Second, these observations mean that Thierry Stern's decision to eliminate the Nautilus reference 5711 is even ballsier than is commonly understood. The guy is throwing away his own safety net and we know he's walking the design tightrope (he's hinted as such). In fact, the elimination of the 5711 has a silver lining for buyers. They will not face pressure to buy a reference simply as a gateway to that unobtainium.
*I've learned that Tag Heuer may have reserved half of the Carrera 'Dato' Limited Edition For HODINKEE timepieces for their own boutiques, which means they may, in fact, plan to bundle the Porsche LE with Carrera 'Dato.'
What it might look like if Aragon and Argon watches actually went to court over the trademark dispute. My prior post described a disappointing development for those collectors hoping to acquire an Argon Spaceone watch via the brand's Kickstarter campaign. The campaign had reached over $1 million in funding when Kickstarter's management stepped in and froze the whole thing over an "intellectual property dispute." When I posted about this development on Instagram , Hodinkee editor Tony Traina noted in the comments that another brand, Aragon watches, had filed a complaint with the US Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) back in April (thanks Tony!). Argon's account replied and indicated that they had already filed a registration for their brand name and they were retaining counsel in New York City. On Tuesday, June 27 of this week, more details were offered via a lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The case is filed on behalf
Rolex's relationship with automotive racing is, at this point, very well-established. A Tudor sponsored car taking the checkered flag in Japan. A clearer photo is later in the post. Formula 1 and Rolex marked a decade of official partnership this year. One of the brand's most successful designs is named after a famous race: the Daytona (500). And, the record-setting Paul Newman Rolex Daytona which sold at auction in 2017 was worn by Newman during his illustrious career on the race track. In this post I will detail a lesser-known relationship between Rolex and automotive racing. In the 1960's through the 1970's, Tudor and Rolex sponsored at least one race car in Japan. I initially learned about this sponsorship through my conversation with Elias, which was also the basis for my prior post on Tudor. While I am not the first to write on the subject of Rolex/Tudor auto racing in Japan (for example, see the posts here and here ), I believe this post will be one of th
Among many avid watch collectors, the term "in house movement" seems to elicit eyerolling disdain. Pieces of an assortment, including balance spring, from a non-Swiss movement. There is a sizeable perception that "in house" is, in fact, nothing more than an unnecessary marketing ploy designed to tease more money out of the wallet of buyers (by way of definition, an "in house" movement means that the mechanism inside a watch was predominently manufactured by a brand itself, kind of like "we make our own bread" at a restaurant). I'll confess that I'd begun to think similarly, that is, until I read a 66 page report posted by the Swiss Competition Commision on May 10, 2023. Yes, this is the kind of thing an economist finds interesting on a weekend, or at least this economist. Before we get into the details of this report, in the interest of full disclosure I should say that the original document was in a different language: lawyerese.
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