Have a Rolex to sell?

 

Watch dealing is a bit like politics. You make a promise two days before election day, then a month later, dementia kicks in. Which is kind of expected,  except that once dementia sets in, you probably shouldn't be making any more promises. Watch dealers change their minds twice a day. Some stock moves fast, while other pieces just sit there. Do you discount them? Or sit tight and wait for a sunny day? In our case, the question is: Do we buy more Omega and Cartier, or do we get rid of Rolex altogether? Strange, you may think. Why Rolex? The best-selling Swiss brand? The most desirable of them all? The truth is, I really don't mind Rolex. But I absolutely hate flippers. If you're new to all this second-hand mambo jumbo, flippers are strange characters who somehow manage to jump the queue and buy brand-new Rolex watches at retail price. Then, the very same day, they frantically call dealers, inviting them to bid on those unused, brand-new-looking watches. The expectation? A 30%, 50%, or even 100% profit, depending on the model. And for the past few months, the flippers have been working overtime. Not just persistent, but downright aggressive. The typical answer - "Sorry, I'm not a watch collector, just a dealer"  no longer cuts it. To them, anything short of "I'll take it" is simply an insult. It is getting hot. Uncomfortably hot. Sweaty hot. Ridiculously hot. Unsustainably hot. I'm out; at least until things return to normal. Until Rolex increases production. Until the shops are properly stocked. Until every Rolex customer can buy whatever they want, when they want it, with no delays and no waiting lists. Until customers are once again treated with the respect, care, and dignity they deserve. It is a promise. Will that day ever come? Only time itself will tell. Rather than writing a lengthy essay on the subject, the short video below provides eight reasons why the time has come for me to say: I'm done. I'm out. For your enjoyment: https://youtu.be/dU9n3NaNDJc?

Self-employment? Don't rush!

 

Yesterday, we talked about a very specific subject: why starting your own watchmaking business in 2026 may be a bad idea. But the reasons given by someone who has spent a lifetime self-employed go beyond horology. Out of seven, the one that will crush your hopes and investment harder than any other is dream misalignment. Your dream is to make, repair, create, and ultimately build a successful small business. To create a workshop environment to be proud of, to advance your skills - but above all, to provide a valuable service to customers. A noble dream, a life worth living. Unfortunately, the watch industry is fragmented and dominated by mega-brands. The dream of a mega-brand is vertical integration - complete in-house control and the elimination of competition - leading to just one outcome: maximum profit. Clearly, these are two different dreams. Two unresolvable propositions. A core misalignment. A misalignment that will have profound and limiting consequences on your ability to run a business - to the point where you will either struggle for decades, be forced to diversify, or quit altogether. The bottom line is this: before venturing into the unknown, make sure that dream alignment exists. Here is an example of perfect symbiosis: Kern makes some of the best, most accurate machines. We invest in them and learn how to produce the most precise components. On the other side of the globe, there is a high-tech customer desperate for those exact parts to be installed in their advanced instruments. A perfect alignment of dreams. An alignment where each party works together and advances together for mutual benefit. An environment which, like a powerful magnet, attracts smart, hardworking people with a desire to do better and go further. Now, as a watch enthusiast and owner, you may wonder: why does the watchmaking industry go against common sense and the basic principles of commerce and cooperation? To that, I have no answer. But if you are to start your own business, then the most important question on your mind should be: Who am I dreaming with?

Watch our latest video here: https://youtu.be/KR4rYSDVSLY?

Ripped apart

 

Have you ever heard of a terrier who gets up in the morning, makes a soy latte, and then complains to the missus: “Yesterday I chased too many cats and possums. They’re all getting faster while I’m getting older and overworked. It sucks to be a dog. Today I’m taking it easy.” Yesterday, literally minutes after we completed a review of Grand Seiko, a delivery arrived on the bench: a humble Seiko 5. And at that very moment I realised we had another little rat in the backyard to rip apart. Life is just amazingly good. Of course, you are not naïve. You know that all this surge of energy and enthusiasm has its purpose: to prove that you can teach an old dog new tricks. And have we learned a lot. That Seiko 5 required the same level of research as a Daytona, the same seriousness as a gold Moonwatch, and the same sense of fairness we apply to the grandest of all Seikos. The end result is a light-hearted video presentation that is also seriously fact-based, loaded with details that only decades behind the watchmaker’s bench can produce. To the lazy, bloated YouTube influencers-go chase your tails. This is how it’s done. Now press play and see what a humble Seiko 5 looks like when examined through a watchmaker’s loupe rather than a marketing brochure. 🔍⌚ Watch here: https://youtu.be/LskUYWMYih0

SEIKO 5 Sports Automatic 'Field Series' SSK059K 39.4mm case size. Stainless steel case and bracelet. White dial. Hardlex glass. GMT and date function. Automatic movement - calibre 4R35. Water resistance 100 metres. Boutique price: $675

The Flow

 

Every now and then, we ask for your opinion in the form of a survey. Yes, your views and opinions matter. But there are certain topics where a survey is not required. For example: what do you value more, and what is more important - the external appearance or the mechanism inside the watch? Hands down, the overwhelming majority would choose the look and feel. And that is how it should be. After all, the role of the mechanism is simply to make things happen - efficiently, reliably, and quietly. Yet there are certain horological gems where the opposite is quite true. Where the complexity and ingenuity of the mechanism outweigh, by far, every other reason for the watch’s horological importance. And that too is exciting and revolutionary, and worth celebrating. And then, only very rarely, we are faced with masterpieces where the maker miraculously achieves something seldom seen: a perfect balance. A watch with an exceptional mechanism, fitted with a dial and hands that simply take us to the next level. Grand Seiko Spring Drive is such a masterpiece.

While Grand Seiko Spring Drive has been around for 25 years, conceptually it is one of the least understood watches. To an ordinary watch enthusiast, how it works is still a bit of a mystery. And so it is for serious collectors, watchmakers themselves, and - surprisingly - even for those who make a living selling high-grade watches. There are a few reasons why. Firstly, detailed technical descriptions and data are not readily available to the general public. Until recently, Spring Drive was primarily a Japanese domestic watch for the Japanese domestic market, with only about 7% sold outside Japan. Most of what we know comes from translated documents, which are merely simplified sales diagrams. The second reason is this: Spring Drive is designed to be repaired and serviced by Japanese in-house watchmakers only. We have never seen a broken or non-functional example on our bench - ever. The third reason is denial. We - and that is literally every watch enthusiast out there - simply refuse to accept that the Japanese might do horology better than anyone else on the planet. We are unable, and perhaps unwilling, to accept Grand Seiko’s superiority. To accept that Japanese watchmakers have elegantly solved a 350-year-old problem. That their attention to detail and perfectionism exceeds anything produced in Switzerland. And that such a masterpiece can be had for less than a fairly average, mass-produced Swiss watch. Or to put it simply: when faced with facts, we still value luxury and branding more than horology. To liberate ourselves and drag us out of this denial, the starting point is to understand how Spring Drive works. The basic concept is flow. The flow of sand in an hourglass. The flow of a river turning a waterwheel. The uninterrupted passing of time. The one who controls the flow makes time. And this is precisely how Spring Drive works: it makes time by controlling the flow of energy. There are no ticks and tocks - just a mesmerizing, uninterrupted glide, regulated to absolute perfection, controlling mechanical, electrical, and magnetic forces. It took Grand Seiko almost 35 years of development to turn this idea into a working Spring Drive watch. When Spring Drive was first revealed to the world in Geneva in 1999, and again in 2000, Swiss watchmakers were not just puzzled - they were speechless. The video published on Friday explains, in simple terms, the concept of flow, how time is generated by its control, and which units are necessary to make the magic happen. It also talks about the nanoscopic amount of power generated - and required - to run the control system. We even take the liberty of suggesting how Grand Seiko might improve Spring Drive further. Just for fun. If you are patient and keen to learn, then this brief introduction to the inner workings of Spring Drive is an absolute must. Dare I say - the best explanation in plain English out there. For your enjoyment: https://youtu.be/q-tG0wPQtxQ?