I began my career in 1992 in marketing. Above my desk was a illustration of a pile of excrement on a plate, surrounded by halogen lamps. The caption read: “It’s a piece of sh!t, but it’s tastefully lit.”
Marketing is about seduction, deflection and concealment. It’s primary purpose is to entice consumers until they become emotionally invested to the point that they disable their critical faculties. This is why the marketing industry is worth over US$500 billion a year: if companies did not propagandize their goods and services, we wouldn’t buy nearly as much stuff as we do. Now, some people are more susceptible and credulous than others; but marketing is so pervasive and intrusive we would have to an ascetic living in a cave to be immune.
The watch industry is neck deep in marketing lard. We collectors are co-conspirators, and we do our part to spread a thick layer of contrivance over our habits. We don’t “buy” watches, we “acquire” them (“my latest acquisition”). A watch is a “timepiece” (“nice piece, bro!”). Heavens forbid that our behavior should be compared to that of The Great Unwashed. No, we’re better than that, and for those of us who aspire to the best, there’s Patek Philippe. It’s the best because it sets itself up that way, which is not the same as being materially superior.
Once upon a time, Patek Philippe used to compete and triumph at chronometry trials. That was when competitive performance mattered. It was good at it, and it’s wins adorned its marketing material.
Today it shies away from competition and rates its own work. Because nothing says transparency and objectivity than self-assessing and literally ‘sealing’ your own products.
Most watch companies deploy sleights of hand, although some are now experimenting with radical transparency. Lists of partners are proudly namechecked on websites, an entirely laudable trait. These watch companies understand that there are people who aren’t willing to pay the high Patek Premium just to be clubbable, and who are simply tired of being doused in schmaltz and deceived.
The work that Horomariobro and others do will - I believe - continue to blow away the puffery that sustains Patek Philippe and any other watch company where there is a reality gap between reputation and quality. In any case, it’s getting to the point where you don’t have to be a horological guru to know that a Patek isn’t always the best value for money. Paying that much extra just to be able to hang with other Patek folks is a high price to pay for, well, things immediately unrelated to watches per se.