10 Takes | Seiko, Bulgari, Chopard, and the $445k Datograph
Where you're supposed to try on a Royal Oak; vintage collectors are the real snobs; and the midsize flagship nobody's made.
Welcome to 10 Takes. The last one was in May, so we’re back with a late summer edition.
In today’s email: Why there's nowhere to try on a Royal Oak; Bulgari built its own movement while everyone else went shopping; Nobody's made a real midsize flagship, and Piaget should; Seiko is making more money than Richemont's watch division.
I’m still working my way through Watch Brothers London’s guide to Saatchi and Vintage Collection Patek Philippe, but it’s worth the time.
🎁 Unpolished Members get: (1) Welcome Care Package; (2) 10% off the Unpolished Store; (3) $50 off Watchcheck, + 2 newsletters/week, comments, and Q&As. Find info on all your benefits HERE.
1/ All these events are good, but where can I try on a Royal Oak (or Alpine Eagle)?
There are SO many events this fall, it seems like my entire IG feed is either AI or someone promoting something they’ll be doing somewhere. To list a few:
Aug 21-23: TIME at Wynn Las Vegas
Sept 2–6: Geneva Watch Days
Sept 18–19: Intersect Charlotte
Sept 26–27: Toronto Timepiece Show
Oct 10–11: Atlanta Watch Salon
Oct 16–18: Watchtime and Windup New York (and related festivities)
Nov 6–8: Time to Drive Miami
Nov 6–8: Intersect and Minutes + Hours Austin
Nov 7: GPHG Awards, Geneva
Nov 7–10: Geneva Auctions
Nov 13–16: Coconut Watch and Jewelry Show, Miami
Nov 21-22: Hong Kong Auctions
Dec 5-7: New York Auctions
I’m probably missing some local shows. Many of these have popped up even since I published the Great Big Watch Calendar earlier this year.
It’s obvious to point out that in-person is the new luxury, and that’s especially the case with watches, physical objects that need to be held to be understood. Brands want to meet customers IRL, and it’s also a way for us creators/influencers to try to make some $$.
And community is an excellent thing, but I also wonder if watches are uniquely good at delivering it. Like, you could also go to church or play intramural softball or something. Is the watch a ticket, or is it the main attraction?
Separate but related, two recent interactions:
A subscriber reached out because they were visiting Chicago for the weekend from a small (but lovely!) Midwest town and asked for tips on where to try on a Royal Oak. Good question, sadly without a good answer. The closest AP boutique is 718 miles away.
I was going back and forth with another local enthusiast about the Chopard XPS Alpine Eagle “Mountain Glow.” How does it wear?, they wondered. It’s hard to explain because it’s 41mm, but the effective lug-to-lug is longer since the first bracelet link doesn’t articulate. Sadly, the closest Chopard Boutique is 523 miles away.
Look, if you’re traveling from flyover country to pay your respects at Journe, I get it’s part of the experience to make the pilgrimage to Miami or L.A., explain your unrivaled passion for Mssr. Journe, get spat on, and head home. But for pretty much every other brand, asking someone to travel just to try on your watches is a lot. (Especially when another watch newsletter is nailing complaints about retailers to the door like the 95 Theses once you do walk into those ADs.)
Right now, some brands would rather parachute in for a pop-up. It generates content from collectors and influencers, and maybe that’s all that matters. But it comes out of the marketing budget, and I’d be careful not to mistake all that content for actually getting to know a local collector base.
2/ A midsize postscript
In last week’s piece, I unfortunately forgot to include the new Bulgari Octo Finissimo 37 (it’s since been added). It may be the most instructive example of a larger point I wanted to convey. While many brands (IWC, Parmigiani, AP, Vacheron) looked to existing movements to power their midsize offerings, some didn’t. Rolex, Moser, Bulgari, all took time to build their own. It’s no coincidence these are also the ones that were “late” to the party.
Taking the time to develop your own movement instead of hopping on a trend and quickly finding a caliber to match is worthy of praise. For years we asked, where is the smaller Bulgari Octo Finissimo?? The watch is cool but the 40 wears like a gladiator’s cuff.
We finally got the answer this year, and it was worth the wait.
Despite dropping the diameter to 37 (and the movement itself is 5mm smaller!), Bulgari actually managed to increase the power reserve from 60 to 72 hours (both run at 3 Hz). In his article for 1916 Company, Jack Forster points out this was done by increasing the height of the mainspring to improve torque. Further:
“In the BVF 100 [the movement in the OF 37], the ratchet wheel is made of spring steel, and clipped into position. This reduces the thickness of the ratchet wheel and allows a taller mainspring without an increase in thickness overall, which contributes to the longer power reserve.”
There’s also the price: $16,600 in bead-blasted titanium, comfortably below offerings from Moser, AP, Vacheron, and others. Bulgari knows its place and is owning it.
The Finissimo 37 is still a bit wide for me, but I wouldn’t be mad if that new Minute Repeater 37 chimed in my backswing.
UNPOLISHED STORE
I’ve added a 3 Canvas Strap Bundle to the Unpolished Store. Pick up an Unpolished Canvas strap in each color for $159, a 20% discount on the full single-strap price, and even cheaper for subscribers. A few lug widths are sold out, but those should be restocked within the week:
3/ Give me a ‘flagship’ midsize watch
Last week’s study also showed that there’s a wide-open lane for a true flagship midsize integrated bracelet.
What I mean: Beyond the direct comps like the Royal Oak 37 vs. 41 (or Overseas 34.5 vs. 41), some brands offer a “flagship” with specs and finishing above and beyond: the Audemars Piguet RO Jumbo 16202 or Vacheron Ultra-thin Overseas 2500V. Elsewhere:
The closest midsize flagship is probably Vacheron Constantin’s 222 at 37mm, but not quite. You could also argue the Land-Dweller 36 is the best expression of the current model, since, as commenters pointed out last week, Rolex could’ve used the extra mms in the 40 to beef up power reserve.
One most notable exception: Patek Philippe’s 5610/1P, the 38mm Nautilus 50th Anniversary using the caliber 240. But that was also limited to 2,000 pieces and about as obtainable as a direct answer from ChatGPT (Patek also offered the 5810/1G as a companion in 41mm).
No brand has had the conviction to invest in a true midsize flagship, instead sizing down mainly as a hedge. One that I think is well-equipped to deliver: Piaget.
The modern Polo79 is technically 38mm, but that thing’s an absolute gold brick. The vintage Polo was 34mm, quartz, and slim as an AmEx.
Piaget is all about elegance and ultra-thin, and leaning into that for a refined 36mm Polo79 could bring its modern watches into the collector conversation (under $100k would also be nice). They could even do it in the old rectangular shape.
4/ Seiko and Citizen 📈
Here’s my semi-regular reminder to pay more attention to Seiko and Citizen. Seiko published some financials last week: it’s estimated to sell ~$1.5b of watches this year, up 33% over last year.
Enthusiasts complain about price increases, but the business is working: It’s going to make 2x the profit of Richemont’s watch division, and the stock is up 4x over the past year.
While the Swiss have spent the past decade making their watches harder to buy and calling it desirability, Seiko’s selling watches simply by being available. After all, there’s a reason 11 of the 14 best sellers on Teddy’s website are Seikos.
Citizen Group is no different. And maybe it’s the last gasp of summer, but I’ve been into cheap watches recently. I briefly saw the new Citizen Promaster Dive at Windup Chicago, so just requested a sample. It’s the first time I’ve ever requested anything from Citizen.
Any talk of a slowdown in watches is really myopically focused on a few of the mid-luxury European brands.
5/ Microsnobbery is in
And old-fashioned snobbery is out, according to the Washington Post:
“Every snob, I’ve noticed, seems to come paired with a reverse snob: someone equally certain of their superiority, but convinced that theirs is about authenticity, not status.”
Taste has become democratic, and everything is acceptable, so everyone invents their own standards of exclusion instead of subscribing to some handed-down truth.
This happens in watches all the time.
Below the paywall: why vintage collectors are the biggest reverse snobs in watches, Chopard quietly filing L.U.C. next to the indies; job openings at Hodinkee and Worn & Wound; the $445k Datograph where the bracelet costs 2x the watch.
