u/horo_Swagger

My wallet absolutely hates what’s going on right now.

It feels like every other day they drop something from the archives that I suddenly want to buy and the crazy part is it doesn’t even feel like they’re running out of ideas.

They’ve figured out something a lot of our favorite brands still struggle with.

At this point, some brands should probably be taking notes and if they don’t want to take notes, they should probably just start trying to poach the design team.

Strip away the marketing and what are you left with? A company that built its reputation by borrowing heavily from established design language rather than creating a truly original identity.
The usual response is, “But the quality is amazing for the money.” That’s missing the point. Build quality doesn’t determine whether something is a homage. Plenty of homage brands make excellent watches.

Before you say but the Twelve is great or the Loco is unique, visit the Czapek website.

Nothing kills the experience faster than setting the time on a new watch and discovering a mysterious extra crown position that does absolutely nothing. Click… nothing. That’s not a “feature.”

I get why brands do it. Using a date movement without the date mechanism can save development costs and keep prices down. That’s fine. But when you’re promoting the watch, mention it somewhere in the specs. Enthusiasts notice and transparency goes a long way.

Better yet, use the proper no date version of the movement when one exists. A phantom date position won’t stop me from buying a watch I love, but it always feels like a corner was cut.

Apologist comment away 😁

We don’t need another slightly different steel sports watch.

The brands that will matter over the next decade are the ones willing to risk creating something polarizing truly new designs, new proportions, new interaction with the wearer and complications that feel contemporary rather than recycled design.

Collectors say they want originality, but the market keeps rewarding the sameness . That’s part of the problem.