mkvc
1382
Some level of objectivity is desirable.
I like watches. When I look at a bunch of watches I like many of them. Even of the ones I do not like I often find impressive or at least respectable. I hope that the people who work for watch magazines like watches at least as much as I do, so I would expect to hear a lot of good things about watches from them. Obviously, I think a watch magazine should have a generally high level of enthusiasm for watches.
That being said, there is no shortage of watches that fail to earn respect. They may be inaccurate or unreliable; they may fail to live up to the standards of their manufacturer or they may be sold by a manufacturer whose actual standards are not as high as its advertised standards. It would be nice if the magazines would at least occasionally mention such a phenomenon. However, I do not expect them to do so. They will certainly not criticize their advertisers, and a policy of criticizing only non-advertisers would be worse than a policy of criticizing nobody.
Collecting watches based on the info in watch magazines
I don't count there are how many watch magazines in the market but I do know they are too many watch magazines writing good comment and giving impeccable appraisal to almost every watch in the market. The writers in the magazines seem do not care about co...
Magazines...
....depend on advertiser's money. They are unlikely to bite the hand that feeds them. What you detail is true for Car, Bike, Scuba and any number of consumer product publications. Only a few seem at all free from this influence. Hence the value of website...
Indeed. Even for sites such as PuristSPro, which really try to
maintain some reasonable semblence of integrity while trying to achieve sustainable viability (when's the last time someone here paid a membership fee? How many have bought ABR's to show their support?) there is the very real issue of integrity of intenti...
Thanks, Watch-guy, on many levels.
for taking my cue, first of all. and for putting voice to the thought. TM
Thomas..you are alive! And well I hope!
please keep in touch my friend! I am in a state of confusion as to whether I am still in this for the hobby, or have I "become" absorbed by the gel ( or pus) of the commercial shadow of industry...and am now..a part of the machine. This I ask..because thi...
My dearest Bernard...
many people equate introspection with self-doubt, and from there, to questions about credibility and conviction. To me, introspection is about self-reality and sanity checks; about humility and remembering who we are and why we are where we are. Is it for...
Hey! You started those RUMOURS
of your premature death! As your 'corporate physician', I knew those rumours to be untrue Regards, MTF
Thomas, I know it is an uphill task.
Often and too often, what has been preached is different than what has been practiced. Regards Ling
A Big Thank you to the Mods and the Purists...
for giving us a place to have such thoughtful discussions, I am ashamed to admit I've learned more and taken more from the Purists than given back over the years and I blame it on my non-technical background, having said that because of the dynamic nature...
Note re "pump 'n dump": it refers to posting a watch . . .
. . . and then turning around shortly thereafter to list it on Collectors Market. I very much doubt that you've ever done that, Salman. Selling a watch after having second thoughts is one thing, and no harm whatsoever in doing so; tilling the field before...
My view is impartiality will not hurt the advertisers and the readers.
I agree that not even one magazine is perfect. Regards Ling
Every specialist hobby or interest...
...be it watches, or guitars, or architecture, and so forth, has a dedicated selection of genre publications geared toward the subject. For me personally, I read a variety of these materials in order to educate myself further about the subject of interest...
Daos, I agree but there are many young readers out there.
Sometime, it is too easy to pass responsibility to the readers. Regards Ling
same problem here
Dear Ling, I've been a victim of mass propaganda as well and hence, purchased a few watches that don't exactly sing to me. Right now, after reading The Rake magazine, subsidiary of Revolution, I am inching towards a AP RO jumbo which i have little control...
A miserable purist
Like many had said, we have to read with care. Hope you are more prudent now. Regards Ling
=(
Just bought the new issue of revolution and it is so temping!Eyeing the Richard Lange so badly.-hopeless fanatic
As several have alluded to already
I think we need to take (or at least I do) what I read on anything with a pinch of salt and sometimes a bag full. The nice galmour shots in magazines may highten my curiousity to what may look good but that's about it. The final decision for me would then...
Some level of objectivity is desirable.
I like watches. When I look at a bunch of watches I like many of them. Even of the ones I do not like I often find impressive or at least respectable. I hope that the people who work for watch magazines like watches at least as much as I do, so I would ex...
do individuals?
a few do, many do not, and most react knee jerk defensively which drowns out the constructive criticism.
Started without watch magazines...
Ling, you bring up a good point here. Personally, I use watch magazines strictly as an informational resource. Sometimes the in-depth articles teach me about the specifics of the functional mechanisms of the watch. But I have never let a watch magazine in...
so true
Hi Patrick I fully agree on your thoughts I use and read many Watchmagazines. However, I also participate in watcforums and search on the net, to open my mind to different watches, keep in touch with markets and trends. But at the end of the day, this is ...
Precisely...
I'm very much the same way. And I'm sure you find that the opinions and knowledge on this forum rival that of any magazine. Here, you have first hand knowledge from owners of a watch who have spent more time with the watch and are probably able to give a ...
i believe we all have our own judgement when purchasing watches...
Ling, thanks for bringing up this interesting and meaningful topic which will stimulate us to think it deeper. i think although watch magazines could add some form of weight and impacts on us when selecing which watch to be purchased, however i believe al...
Welcome to reality...
Hi Ling, Welcome to reality.... As BDJL and many others have already pointed out.... Marketing Managers do not put their advertising dollar into a media which is uncomplimentary to their product. But this not only applies to watches, cars, yachts and all ...
Jack, I disagree to equate Government with press member/journalist
For press member/journalist/editor (as the case may be), apart from receiving the advertisers' money, they have some professionalism to maintain. Whereas, the Government is intertwined with politic. In politic, everything is money. When I say everything i...
In defense of print publications (or any media that is not real time interactive...)
Hi, Ling, I debated whether it would be appropriate for me to comment in this thread. I decided to throw caution to the winds. The situation your friend describes is a true one. There are several levels on which one should properly and fairly consider the...
Thomas, certain accountability and responsibility must be there.
I can't disagree with your comment. Thomas, there are many young, naive, new-comer albeit rich collectors out there who can be very vulnerable to the infomation they read in watch magazines. They can't or lack of knowledge to filter those information they...
From the perspective of a media employee writing an article,
I think most of the time it's just a job. I'm in the technical publishing world, and there are automotive writers I know who review cars but don't own one. That doesn't mean they can't drive or that they don't have an objective opinion. They say Why shoul...
first of all Thomas i'd like to thank the moderators for all their hard work
it is very easy for us to forget the time that is used up behind the scenes. if i can spend 3-4 hours a day on the forum then just think what time is spend by the moderators. they all have my immense admiration. secondly i'd like to say that i would happi...
Hi Cazalea, thanks for that well-thought post!! ...
... I really like it, and of course, you are correct. The sad fact is that we, as we are assembled here, do barely represent the target group of even such niche magazines as the watch press. We might be interested in specialities, but the majority of maga...
What a brilliant post this has turned into
A big thank you to Thomas and all the moderators. Ultimately it comes to the standards that a community such as the PuristS aim to aspire to. I've learnt a great deal from this site and will continue to be pleasantly surprised and sometimes frustrated. Th...