3-Watch Thursday #20
The return…from the Christmas food coma
Hello team,
Firstly, I’d like to wish you all a happy new year wherever you are!
2023 already looks set to be as big one here at OxWatch not least because I graduate from university.
*impending existential crisis about no longer being a “young person” in watches*
Luckily, there’s plenty of watch things happening in January that I can share in due course.
You’re not here to read my rambling about the future though, so I’ll crack on with my 3 watch related recommendations for this week.
Hope you enjoy :))
Which Vintage Watch Do You Hope To Find in 2023?
Friend and watch influencer Charlie Dunne (aka Clubhouse Charlie) shared this piece this week to kick off the year at Strictly Vintage Watches.
It’s a bit of a who’s who of collectors in the watch and vintage watch scene.
I’ll leave you to have a scroll and see who features.
It’s really good.
Takeaways from Attending My First Live Watch Auction
This article by Matthew Lopez almost slipped under the radar at the end of the year over at SJX.
I find it an interesting perspective as similar to Matthew I’ve previously only followed auctions online. Lopez’s perspective may have been tainted by the lack of a full audience in the room following the lifting of some COVID restrictions in Hong Kong, but how am I to know whether all the seats in an auction are usually full?
Maybe this year I’ll get over to an auction to experience the ebbs and flows of them myself.
Who knows.
It's Time To Redefine – And Embrace – The 'Fashion Watch'
This week Tony Traina tackled the topic of fashion watches over at the big H.
Off the bat, to me a fashion watch is a Daniel Wellington or MVMT type watch. Tony has decided to pitch this as luxury fashion watches. Think fashion brands like Cartier, Hermes etc. who have clients in other luxury goods.
Some really great points are raised and as ever I’m sure there was much work that has gone into it. Tony introduces us to a wide variety of ‘fashion watches’ and the history involved with the narrative that these watches push the watch industry as a whole forward.
But for me good watches are good watches.
Where is the line drawn on this subject? When I say this I’m thinking about the Guccis and Tommy Hilfigers of the world.
Cartier, Ralph Lauren and Hermes as examples, make great watches with great movements and a design language that fits what their clients expect. This is part of what makes good watches when form and function are found together.
It doesn’t matter whether the form is stylistic as opposed to practical, more that there is a unison between form and function.
Maybe Tony is right that this fashion forward approach pushes watches forward, I think I’m more on the fence and yet to be convinced.
Let me know your thoughts below, or for some entertainment view the absolute monstrosity of a comments section over on Hodinkee.
That’s all from me this week.
Hope you enjoyed and I’ll be back in your inbox at 10:00 GMT every Thursday for the foreseeable future.
Have a lovely weekend when it arrives.
Owen