Be thankful

There is conflict in many places of the world. Men are doing terrible things to each other as we have through history. Inflation is running too high. It is not as high as last year, but it is still making most goods considerably more expensive than they were several years ago. Glaciers are melting. There are large islands of plastic floating in our southern oceans. Many young people have become convinced that they were born into the wrong bodies, an affliction that we wouldn’t wish for them. Everywhere politicians are greedy and incompetent. Seiko can’t line up a bezel. All watch brands are getting more expensive. The world is going to hell in a hand basket, as always.

But as watch collectors or enthusiasts do we have anything to be thankful for? Yes, of course we do, just take a look around you. Here are just a few:

A. The past is longer. Yeah, well of course, so what? If you prefer vintage watches like me there is another year of old watches to count. What did the vintage collector of 1925 collect? They would have been just at the start of the wristwatch era and would not have had many older pieces to find. They would have looked for older pocket watches. Where they were located would have limited what they could find: English and French watches in London, Elgin and Waltham in New York. And bear in mind that pocket watches, because they represented a significant outlay of wealth, were kept in families for generations. The market would have been small and prices high.

B. We are wealthier. Collecting has a natural economic barrier. If you can barely afford one of a thing, how can you have ten or twelve or fifty? Many of us have “grandpa’s watch.” We don’t have grandpa’s collection. Grandpa wore the same watch for years. We now feel guilty if something doesn’t get enough “wrist time” (what a phrase). We may not feel wealthy, but if you have a watch box you are not worried about feeding yourself this week.

C. Wealth is distributed. If you are into your sixth decade and live in a place like Seoul or Singapore you have seen your city and culture transform in your lifetime. Relative to Chicago or Paris your standard of living has skyrocketed. You have wealth your grandparents could only imagine. With this new income come companies that want to sell you watches. There are some companies that can make a go of it in markets that others used to shun: Technos in Brazil, Titan in India. A good product can now be marketed almost anywhere.

D. We are interconnected. There is nothing quite like a brick and mortal “in the metal” trying on experience. However, with the internet a watch manufacturer in Edinburgh can now sell a watch to an enthusiast in Perth. That wasn’t possible even twenty years ago. As our in-person choices narrow, our possibilities actually expand. If you tried to list the watches under $1,000.00 that you could buy on the internet your imagination would fail before your list was completed. With Amazon, you can have a fairly decent Bulova on your wrist within 48 hours in nearly half of the cities on the planet. With sites like eBay and Chrono24 we can find that vintage or discontinued model if we are patient.

E. The industry is expanding. If you lived through the 1960’s and 1970’s you saw the watch industries in some countries disappear, many brands disappear, and a general consolidation. It was happening before quartz gave it a nudge. Today, the cost barrier to entry is such that new companies pop up like mushrooms after a rain. The Chinese watch industry’s ability to keep manufacturing costs low, and the flexibility of the definition of “Swiss” has allowed microbrands to proliferate. Many of these microbrands are vanity projects for people with excess wealth. And what of it? More is more. You don’t want to be limited to the department store selection. You have voted for more choice with your wallet.

F. The invention of the smart watch. This may be counter-intuitive and may run in two directions at once. It is true that the largest growth in the watch industry is smart watches and that these watches displace traditional watches. To a point, but how many people get into collecting because they reject the constant connectedness and short battery life of the smart watch. Smart watches get people to wear watches again, and then another watch consumer is made. Our forums are full of smart watch refugees.

I am sure that I could think of more, but I have parades to watch, turkey to eat, and the traditional embarrassment of the Detroit Lions to witness. Be thankful. It is a good time to be into watches.