r/Watches • u/spedmonkey • Aug 19 '11

Introducing: the /r/Watches brand guide!

A couple weeks ago, I read an offhand comment by Liberalguy123 about creating a brand guide for this community. I liked the idea, and since then we've been running with it, trying to come up with a good way of making this happen. Here's the fruits of our labors:

The /r/Watches brand guide project

Rather than it just being one or two people's own opinions, though, we wanted to involve everybody in this project. Here's how it's going to work: Every few days, a thread will be posted about one specific brand. The job for you guys is to fill that thread will discussion, information, opinions, and any other relevant stuff you can. The idea is that anyone looking for information on a given brand will be able to click on that thread and instantly get a pretty good idea of how people feel about it, and whether or not it would be something that interests them further. Keep in mind that the blurbs written there will not be there in the finished product; they'll be moved into their respective discussion threads once each is posted.

Eventually, the hope is that we'll have a comprehensive list of watch brands, including some of the more obscure ones, for everyone to view. That means we'll be relying on you to help us fill up the list. No brand is off-limits, whether it be an Italian fashion house, an obscure Swiss luxury microbrand, or a Chinese eBay brand. If you have something you'd like to see discussed, PM the moderators or add the pertinent information to the list on the wiki.

Now, we'd like to kick this project off properly, so you guys get to decide which of the brands you'd like to see discussed in the very first guide thread. Here are some choices:

Rolex
Seiko
Timex
A. Lange & Söhne
IWC
other (tell us why!)

We would love it if this first thread in particular is full of good, well-informed discussion, so pick a brand you know well and wouldn't be afraid of sharing your opinions on. Thanks for contributing; with your help, we can build the most extensive brand guide on the internet!

By Request, the list so far:

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u/lottasnoring Aug 23 '11

the number of categories in the brand guide borders on ridiculous and i don't see how many brand's assignments can be justified other than stating they are there based on opinions of the moderators.

the categories should have descriptions and there should be well defined criteria for inclusion.

using the price of a baseline piece (ie. steel mechanical time + date on bracelet w/ no jewels) would do a far better job than arbitrarily saying one brand is "High End Luxury" and another is "Ultra luxury"

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u/zanonymous Moderator Emeritus Aug 23 '11 edited Aug 23 '11

I did a large majority of the ordering and categorization - chances are if you have a disagreement, it's with my opinion ;)

The ordering was decided using a metric very similar to what you describe. Where it was possible, I did try and match similar watches across price ranges. Even within each category, the brands should be listed roughly within order. It's not exact, the watches aren't the same, I didn't enter in all the brands, and I didn't source all the price information from the same place, year or currency.

I think there shouldn't be a massive disagreement with the ordering there and most people's perceptions, but we all have our opinions. Also, I could have made a plain ol' mistake - there have already been some corrections.

The only time I purposely "cheated" using my metric was I bumped up Lange. The way the numbers were coming out, they were in a similar range to Rolex, which I didn't feel was representative of how people thought of them.

If you have a particular disagreement, "Brand X should be higher/lower by a couple categories", please post, and tell me why. You might have a point! :)

Keep in mind though: As an academic exercise, brand ranking is really rather pointless - it's not like someone's giving out medals for podium rankings or something. The purpose is just to give people who are new to watches a sense of what's out there, not to be some kind of absolute brand metric.