1000 posts, over a decade and a half or so. 66 2/3 posts per annum, slighly more than 1/w - pretty glacial. I guess I was MIA for a long period. Hmmmm, let’s reflect. When I started posting here it was and remains a different world compared to the ‘other places’ available at the time. There was what
1000 posts, over a decade and a half or so. 66 2/3 posts per annum, slighly more than 1/w - pretty glacial. I guess I was MIA for a long period.
Hmmmm, let’s reflect.
When I started posting here it was and remains a different world compared to the ‘other places’ available at the time.
There was what, Timezone?
I had a broken 70s blue dial manual wind Sekonda, a Seiko quartz chrono, an Everite pocket watch, my grail watch Omega Seamaster (pre Bond) and a day date Speedmaster, I was set, but looking for more.
And then I discovered the PuristS.
BAM!
Instead of black dial / white dial, does my wrist look too small posts, I had found somewhere to discuss the minutiae of everything from finishing, lift angles, beat error to aesthetics and the sound tasting of minute repeaters. It was a world of ThomasM himself, nickd, ripwatch, Suitbert, Ming, ei8htohms, Jeff W, Markus, IanS, Jaw, 219, Bernard, SJX, Lord Arran, Anthony, MTF, elanoftroy, JackForster, SteveG, Chuck, Evitzee, Nirvair, ChrisM, Stultus77, Ronald, Damian, Art, Dean, Curtis, Salman, and so on (apologies for those not listed).
I was running my own fledgling blog at the time, more as a diary and an experiment to understand the internet than anything else; and found out things like the fact that the evil google prioritises ‘new’ over ‘fact’, how to drive site visits, link farm, Adsense and so on. Exhausting nonsense. I learned that there appeared to be no way, no place, for a site only interested in non commercial sharing of information, passion and opinion.You had to have an ‘angle’.
It was a world in which the Patek 5101p was an interesting step. We saw the watch bubble grow and burst which is dead easy to claim to have predicted. But it is interesting to see that I was correct to foresee the return to the observatory trials and the introduction of better standards of watch timing accuracy - Rolex and Omega etc, when everyone said it was pointless.
We saw the awful oversize watch naughties, the growth of Chrono24, Cheap Tourbillons, a million new independent brands, I passed up a RO Jumbo at €6000, a Nautilus at £17k, a 3712 (aagh), we saw Swatch strangle supply of parts to us, shilling at auctions become common knowledge, Lost friends on the way (RIP Chuck), publication of list prices from two of the trinity on the internet, One brand Boutiques take hold and finally direct internet marketing land for some of the top tier brands.
However, it feels like 2003 as everything is 30% off list, so we must have gone full circle, except I now have a box of watchmaking tools and not enough wrists.
Thanks to everyone contributing to my ongoing horological education,
Still, the best and only place to be,
Thanks Thomas,
Velociphile
