Why pay when you can go outside?

I wanted to watch an Austin Powers film the other day. My mother has Apple TV, which is the only streaming service that has the Austin Powers series. I don’t know how the payment system for Apple TV works, but if you want to see Mike Myers say “shag” while stuffing your face with popcorn, you have to rent the film, i.e. pay more money on top of your subscription.

Then there’s the irritating thing of films moving from one streaming service to another. I hate that. I don’t want to read contracts, agree to EULAs and give my bank details to every corporation under the sun. I think it’s time we buy second hand DVD players and watch our movies that way, because once you have The Spy Who Shagged Me on DVD, no businessman can take it from you unless it’s from your cold, dead grasp.

I mention all of this in light of WatchCrunch Premium being a thing. Why does everything need a damn subscription these days? Sure, the owners have to make money somehow, but this is a very smooth-brained way of doing it. I knew ads were coming one day. Thankfully, I’m not bombarded with them. WC has had an advertising issue for a while. There were no real rules, so as long as the community was okay with it, no one cared. Where does one draw the distinction between a renowned watch brand with advertising agencies promoting their product and a hobbyist “promoting” their work by showing before and after pictures of a restoration? One is less an advertisement than the other, but a showcase of one’s work can be a type of advertising in its own right. Both have the potential to bring in new customers.

So WatchCrunch Premium is the same platform, but you get a little badge, no ads, and can list more watches for sale and make more offers on watches than normal users. Big whoop. They’re trying very hard to be the next Chrono24. If you don’t sell watches, there’s no real benefit to you going Premium. It’s like people paying for premium adult entertainment. Is it really better than the free stuff that got a generation hooked on online pornography? I don’t know and I don’t really care. If there’s demand, supply will follow.

I’m tired of WC. Poor post performance and lack of engaging discussions mean I don’t visit the app often. I do watch stuff in real life. I’m on a WhatsApp group and I’ve been able to get a business partner through there. Someone’s showing me the ropes of buying and selling and we both get the upside of getting to chat about watches all the time. It’s far better than someone showing their Seiko 5 Sports off for the millionth time. (Maybe one day I’ll feature a portion of my business partner’s extensive collection. He has some very rare stuff that had my salivary glands going haywire.)

Moral of the story: go outside. The online world’s is fun, and I wouldn’t be blogging here if I didn’t like it too, but sometimes, you just need to switch off for a bit. Go on, find a real life watch friend, soak up some sunshine, try work on yourself, grab a bite with friends, learn a new skill. You could always take up watch repair. It’s fun and rewarding once you get past the frankly brutal learning curve. It’s not as expensive as everyone says it is. You could even try amateur photography. An Android phone and a black and white filter are all you need to capture that teenage angsty vibe.

There are so many things I can complain about, but by going outside and shifting my focus from the sorry state of watch social media, life looks like sunshine and rainbows.