Comments:
Calling Peak Watches: Is it downhill from here now that tech & finance bros just buy anything they want? Seeing this may make one pause.
Mark Zuckerberg was spotted last night at UFC 326 alongside Adam Mosseri. ![]()
On his wrist was the highly coveted $924,000 Rexhep Rexhepi Chronomètre Contemporain I in 18k pink gold with a black grand feu enamel dial. ![]()
Not much chance for normal folks to acquire pieces like this...
Oh well, enjoy it Mark!
I believe that watch was $55k CHF when it was released, although now it's around $170k so whoever stamped that retail price has no clue.
Zuckerbutt doesn't even know what he has, he just pays some fool to curate his watches for him. Yes watch collecting has become less and less attractive over the years speculators and tech bros have destroyed a once great hobby.
Agree, some nonsense pricing.... but that's part of why the business of horology may have peaked. Now with sports guy and trappers/rappers, and now this....
Honestly, I have lost a lot of love for horology over the years, I just find myself being grateful for what I have before these fools weren't destroying the market.
Am feeling the same, my wife started feeling the change for the worse about a year or two ago, i kept the faith.
But now it's just too obvious, and too cringe-worthy painful, to ignore.
Well… I do not see anything intrinsically wrong with folks with a bigger wallet purchasing stuff I also want. It’s the supply side that’s off here.
Any normal company would immediately invest to increase output if demand outstrips supply - but these young watchmakers have somehow figured out the market and realized that low output maximizes their profits without having to invest in additional capacity/employees/marketing. Very comfortable.
Love love love the small producers, no need to make more than to keep the family and friends happy, safe, and well fed. Plus the rare talent is simply that, rare.
Of course big industrial producers can churn out 10,000, 30,000, 60,000....... or millions for India consumers each year.
Did Zuch write a passionate letter, get interviewed by RR, then waited for, etc? You're right, time to get a bigger wallet
Did Zuch write a passionate letter, get interviewed by RR, then waited for, etc? You're right, time to get a bigger wallet
Except objectively this talent of sublime finishing isn’t that rare. Their chosen level of output is what makes these watches rare.
There’s tens of these young watchmakers in Switzerland alone. Then there must be hundreds more working at the bigger manufacturers that can do finishing to the nth degree equally well. To your point on the big brands - let’s not forget all of these young watchmakers benefitted greatly from the training and ecosystem built by these houses over the past couple of hundred years. I think that deserves a tremendous amount of respect as well.
Good points, and why we need more watchmaking schools in Asia, US, Thailand, etc. If we have 20 or 50 others doing the same "sublime finishing", then pricing should come down, plus it gives enthusiasts more choices.
I'm looking forward to more U.S.-based watchmakers, tho for price-performance the Chinese/Asia are making some supremely interesting timepieces at very reasonable ask (Behrens for example, and the typical tourbillon watches for under $1000). The more people learn about watchmaking globally, the healthier the industry is.
you saw it coming
I'm still happily finding cool stuff that nobody cares about because nobody told them to care about it. Exactly how I like it.
Exactly
The main issue arising from these values is that basically every young watchmaker aims to create a perfectly polished timepiece for nearly 100k (including VAT).
To be fair, some of these kids have talent. But, still..... It reminds me of being a webmaster in 1998-2000, as some shameless profiteers could ask pretty much any price for a website and hosting.
I was blown away when guys were quoting $50k (in 1998 currency) for a basic website. Even $20k was robbery imho.
I get the feeling that he cares less about that watch than most members here would care about a used skx-007.
It's probably a deduction for Zuck. "Honest, Mr Taxman, I use this watch . . .
. . . to time my coffee breaks."
😏
How would we know though? For all I know the guy is a true watch lover and reads Daniels’ Watchmaking in his limited spare time.
From your lips to god's ears, as they say.
Every time I see a Zuckerberg watch shot I think, "the bubble is about to pop."
Well, isn’t that a matter of perspective?
I guess 95% of the world population will say that of most of the watches presented here! 😉
