Obligatory 2024 retrospective, as management demands.

It’s all the rage at this time of year.

Hello again… I’ve been quiet for a while. End of year in my industry is usually a full-on sprint, and this year is no exception, except the track isn’t drawn out this time, and no one can agree what the starters gun will sound like, or who is actually racing. Yay. 2025 will start as manic as 2024 ended, and therefore I will return from the Christmas break unrefreshed and highly strung, praying for Christmas 2025 to come around.

This year has flown by. That’s a bad thing. I fear my own mortality and time dilation is not fun.

So…

I’ve fallen out of love for watches a little. I’ve deleted my accounts on certain platforms because I really don’t wish to have to be reminded of how banal a lot of this has become, and I am tired of the same shit served seven ways. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

2024 has been a bit of a disappointment, but then again, the boom time was always going to go bust. It’s reflective in the offerings (safe sloppy seconds), the content (Tudor, Tudor, Tudor… Omega Bond simps… the same microbrands… Patek rage). What is the point?

I think we have hit some new lows, and I think we need to take stock of these:

Timex 170 Waterbury Edition. I don’t have an issue with the watch itself, or the $1 offering, but many did. How many people honestly thought they were going to get one of a thousand ? Sooooo many. Grow up. And then… the outrage at the flipping? Again, grow up. Final outrage… the 30% offer off other models if you missed out? It was a very effective marketing campaign – you have to give it to them.

Watches and Wonders. This usually gets decent coverage via the usual channels, and it is usually demure, factual, and lacking in hysteria. I don’t know what happened this year, but every fucker and their dog was chiming in. Many missed the general point of the event. Others were banging on about who won, and who lost. It’s an industry spectacle, just enjoy it. Laugh at something silly, but don’t read anything more into it. Logic goes out of the window above certain price categories, so just stop.

Limited Editions. I think we’ve played this out now. It’s just artificial FOMO, and why a diver needs a meteorite dial is completely missing the point entirely.

Tudor. A pink-dialled chronograph, and a gold Black Bay? Design team really working overtime there.

Spinnaker. SpongeBob limited editions. That’s all I need to say really. What’s the joke, the fact that you will have to wear them? And then the flippers (who wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t a market… just saying). The Fifty Phantoms is just purple for 2024, so that was incredibly predictable. I wish people would wake up a little; when is a microbrand no longer a microbrand – when it sells volumes of watches and is part of a large portfolio of other brands that pump out equally large numbers of similar watches: Cadola, RGMT, Avi-8, Ballast, Duxot, Nubeo, the new Cortebert, James McCabe… Do your homework.

The Cubitus nonsense. Just stop. The Nautilus was hated at release, I’m not suprised the Cubitus is copping a fair amount of flack. However, it’s Patek, it’s not for everyone, and therefore just let it be. It’s like watching people moan about Richard Mille, or even Jacob&Co, and you just wonder why when they are not really affordable and thus they “go to another school” where the rules are completely different. It’s a luxury item, it’s fashion, it’s highly subjective, and if you want to buy a square watch for €50,000 by Patek, do it. I have little to no opinion about the Cubitus. I may never try it on, but I am not actively looking at it, or Patek in general. I know what I am about, and I am happy. If I had the cash, and access, I may then court the Cubitus, but I am not the intended market, and that is the end of that.

There are probably a lot more examples of things I could dredge up. The constant size debate shows no sign of ever resolving itself, and the growing number of emasculated males wondering if anything less than 40mm means they should wear high heels, but here we are. Tool watch fetishisation needs to dial it down a bit, and similarly, by extension the obsession with Daniel Craig and his Omega. The SMP 300 is an aggressively dull watch that is now available in more colourways than types of Skittles. I had shell-less Skittles the other day, they were very pleasant, which I cannot say about the new SMPs. Bond is a terrible role model, and he wore a Rolex. It’s in the books. I realise I haven’t even mentioned Bremont… I wish them well, because I don’t want to see a few more hundred people on the job line in the current UK economy.

I don’t have much hope for 2025. I am yet to review any of the data and figures for 2024, but it would be more for curiosity now, rather than content. My 2025 will consist of decimating the collection, and trading out my vintage VC for a Panerai. That’s all I want. My last watch purchases for 2024 were a 1980s Rotary Sea Dragon, an Ocean Grave diver (Yachtmaster homage), a TC9 Titanium Turtle, a Doidge (interesting AE Miyota 9039 powered job), a JDM Casio Timber Cruiser, and inbound I have a Timex Atlantis Forestry Service from Japan, and a hot pink Casio G-Shock. Then… I’m done for a while. I have too many watches, I don’t wear them enough, and I am tired of all this.

My favourite watch purchase of 2024: the SUF Helsinki Paroni, by a long shot. I could go into a long diatribe about it, but it makes me happy, and it was for a milestone birthday. It is a well-made watch, and it is bright and fun. It is not for everyone.

Honourable mentions: Matterhorn Divemaster 300, the TC9 Turtle is a great watch, a green Baltany Cali dial, and the Seestern Mark XX is so good I bought two. These are all “cheap”, but cheerful. I guess that’s all I really want now, something that does the job and doesn’t get me too hot under the collar.

I am really looking forward to getting my green Timex Atlantis. Hopefully it will arrive between Christmas and the New Year. I want to be a one watch guy, but it’s hard. I can try.

Have a good one.