3-Watch Thursday #47
Lots and lots of content (plus some thoughts on AI again)
Good morning team,
Starting off with a bit of shameless self-promotion. Since I last wrote to you I made a website for myself to showcase my personal brand. I’ve got the domain www.owenlawton.uk as .co.uk is a solicitor based in Plymouth, UK. It’s a place to collect my work as I realised it can be a bit scattered across the internet.
3-Watch Thursday will remain on Substack with a page on the website integrating the 5 most recent emails.
Other than that PSA, nothing else is really needed for this intro except it feels like it’s been quite a busy week on the watch media front.
So let’s get straight into it.
The Waiting List Podcast: Watch Brothers London
I think I might’ve shared a Waiting List episode before, but I’ve definitely shared a podcast before when Ben Dunn of Watch Brothers London makes an appearance.
Before having the pleasure of meeting Ben, I listened to his appearance on Dialed In when he hadn’t long been full-time running WBLDN.
This updated episode on Waiting List was a brilliant insight into the lessons he’s learned over the last year and how he runs such a tight ship. As the title says, “You really have to turn over stock to make it work”.
Thoroughly worth a listen, not least just to hear from Ben, but also for his questions to the hosts at the end.
I also enjoyed the endless baked beans references.
False Promise of Artificial Intelligence in Watch Design
Hot off the press at WatchPro and spotted on a Chris Hall Instagram story this article by Robin Swithinbank was sure to catch my eye having written about AI in watches before.
Taking a rather melancholic approach to the subject at hand, Robin highlights something key that I hadn’t really thought about before:
The human element of watches.
“Here’s a category defined by humanity: for millenia, we’ve been trying to control and measure earth time, knowing all to well we’ll never have more than a finite quantity of it to play around with.
Whether on an egg timer or an atomic clock, the fingerprints of humanity are all over horology. Must we wipe them off to make way for creepy bots?
If there’s hope yet, it’s in our human-ness.”
While this rings true there’s another angle to take the human approach with.
Rather than the study of time (horology), I’d rather argue that craft and skill are what really hold value in watches. On the high end scarcity and beauty drive interest, neither of which can be achieved with AI.
It’s somewhat analogous to the vintage watch market remaining on a stable trend even with all the hype watches of the last few years.
Scarcity and condition drive value.
Hand-crafted watches won’t go anywhere.
I can see some pitfalls in what I have written above and I’m not entirely sure it makes sense but I’ve shared some of my thoughts here at least.
My other thought surrounds the use of Chat-GPT for copywriting which is something I have a strong opinion on.
Robin highlights the idea of needing to reskill and unfortunately, I think it’s true. Say you are a watch writer who mostly works on new releases and lots of copy. Other watch writers are already using Chat-GPT for their copy.
Assisting them.
Making them more productive.
Effectively making them better at what they do.
They’re already doing it and it’s safe to say I wouldn’t want to work in that part of the watch industry right now.
Sorry for being downbeat, I just can’t think of a positive swing on it.
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Swatch Banned in Malaysia
It’s fresh news, but I didn’t see anyone in the watch space talking about the above this week.
In fact, I was sent this by my girlfriend from a UK-based news/content account.
Wearing the watch could lead to a three-year prison sentence and Malaysian police raided stores seizing 172 watches.
Each of the 6 watches is an individual colour from the pride flag, but due to colonial-era laws importing any LGBTQ+ related Swatch Group products is banned and importers will be fined.
Swatch Group are suing the Malaysian government seeking damages and the return of the watches.
I can’t work out how this hasn’t gotten a bit more airtime in the mainstream watch media. It’s a major Swiss watch group in a legal dispute over the free expression that many of us take for granted.
Nick Hyek Jr. has made a statement contesting the ban, “emphasizing the positive, non-political message of peace and love“.
Instagram
I feel like we’ve seen some really cool stuff on Instagram this week, and I’ve got some bits to highlight below.
This whole section will be dedicated to a number of posts that I think were really cool.
Kicking things off with this post on Tiger Eye dials in watches by watches_and_culture. I was really intrigued to see the use of wooden material in bracelets and bezels as shown below.
Next hairspring watches brought us this exclusive French Commandement Des Operations Speciales signed Tudor Black Bay 58. With all the hype around certain (read all) modern Tudor special signed dials, this is another to add to the archive. Maybe I’ll write a piece detailing the different collabs if I can scrape together enough information on them all and find a storyline.
Finally, Justin Hast brought us this IWC 3605. I never knew this existed but this was an electric-powered tuning fork-regulated watch from the 1970s unlike any other. I’m blown away at both the condition and uniqueness of the design.
Just wow!
Thanks Justin!
That’s it for this week team.
Thanks for reading this weeks’s 3(+1) Watch Thursday. Like I said, it’s been a busy week and I felt like there was a lot to share.
Thank you to all those making content that I want to share. It’s a testament to the hard work of the creatives in the watch space.
Have a lovely weekend when we get there and see you next week.