1. HAS SOCIAL MEDIA BEEN A FORCE FOR GOOD IN THE WATCH WORLD?

Social media has one of the big forces of change in the world. It has affected every single aspect of our lives. Its impact on the hobby of watch collecting has also been tremendous. Before social media, watch lovers had to rely on individual watch forums to meet like-minded folks and for information. Certainly, there’s nothing wrong with that and many watch forums continue to thrive to this day. However, social media allowed for quicker and freer exchange and flow of information. It also enabled new forms of interactions, making it easier to show and even sell and buy watches. But as good as that sounds, social media has also impacted the hobby negatively and introduced some unsavory behavior along the way. This is an in-depth look at how social media has transformed the hobby.

Source: A Collected Man

2. THE ODD DEMAND CURVE OF WATCHES

I rue the day I turned down the chance to buy an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 15202 at retail. I wasn’t sure about the sizing and my initial first choice was actually the Royal Oak 15400 in blue. That was many years ago. Today, the 15202 is impossible to get at retail unless you are a super VIP, and it is trading well above its retail price. The Royal Oak 15202 isn’t the only watch that’s just enjoying this kind of popularity — there are many others. Usually, the high price is a direct indication of its desirability, but in this case, one has to wonder if its heightened desirability is the result of the fact that it’s commanding prices so much higher than retail. Perhaps there is an inverse relationship between the price of a watch and the demand it enjoys?

Source: NYC Watch Guy

3. HANDS-ON: TUDOR PELAGOS FXD “MARINE NATIONALE”

One of the most talked-about watches of the past month has to be Tudor’s new Pelagos FXD “Marine Nationale.” If you haven’t heard of it, where have you been? Essentially, it’s a new version of the brand’s popular Pelagos diver, but one that has been designed in collaboration with the divers from Commando Hubert, an elite unit that’s part of the French Navy (Marine Nationale). If that sounds familiar, that’s because Tudor once made watches for the French Navy — go look up the ref. 9401. The MN association aside, the watch is made even more unique because it has fixed bars. This means you have to use it with some sort of NATO-style strap but it also means the strap attachment is super secure. Surely, this will be one of the hottest watches this holiday season.

Source: Watches by SJX

4. BEST OF 2021 – OUR FAVOURITE CHRONOGRAPH WATCHES OF THE YEAR

I think watch collectors’ fascination with chronographs can be partly explained by the fact that the chronograph is a genuinely useful complication. Furthermore, they allow their owners to interact with them in a way that you can’t with other watches. You don’t really have to do anything to know the date or phase of the moon — you set it once and that’s it. Also, chronographs are usually mechanically interesting, which means they have movements that are visually interesting to look at. So, if you are thinking of adding a chronograph to your collection this holiday season, check out some noteworthy options by hitting the link below.

Source: Monochrome

5. THE MODERN HISTORY OF WATCH CASE MAKING

There’s no question that round watch cases are the most common and popular. But just how popular is it? And what about other case shapes like the cushion case or the rectangle? To find out, Marcus Siems, a collector, analyzed over 4,000 publicly listed watches on Chrono24 and complied the results. His findings are quite surprising. I underestimated just how common round watches are and how uncommon all the other case shapes were. Interestingly, Marcus also discovered at the Seventies were a particularly fertile period for alternative case designs.

Source: Goldammer Vintage Watches