Horological Meandering

At last night's Apple Watch Series 2 (and we guess iPhone 7) event, Tim Cook took the fight to the smartwatch sales haters. According to Apple's CEO, Apple was the second biggest watchmaker in the world, behind only Rolex, in terms of revenue for 2015 . N...  

a marketing company successfully sells a digital watch. Why is this not surprising in the slightest to me . Don't misunderstand me, I'm sure they are well-made, highly functional watches but no genuine watch aficionado will consider that watch, or any lat... 

Why not throw in all wearables. There is no doubt a large percentage of non watch wearing individuals use their phone to tell time. Really this is an apple and banana comparison.

Very much choose your message & pick your statistic from there.

the take-away for me is, 1) for a niche it is, mech. watches industry has far too many players. 2) mech. watch manufacturers do too little to educate / woo the young customers (rather some of them get into the idea of creating "wearable or hybrid" watches... 

I like your analytical thinking Cheers Robin

& that confirms my brain is intact for the weekend ;-) TGIF !

My small collection includes a very few electronic watches: a Cartier, a Casio and one unsigned, which are all approaching 30 years old and are surprisingly still working well. Will they endure for the next 70 years plus requiring many, polluting little b... 

The younger generations are not into spending like us on mechanical watches. At most one watch to celebrate something and they are usually done for years and decades. Many folks I know have a Rolex for decades and are happy with it.

that therein lies your explanation! Meaning that relatively younger people and a nice percentage of older ones as well buy Rolexes exclusively as a kind of status symbol which the company has so fervently and diligently worked to establish itself as - abo... 

I won't wear one because my job involves driving around a county where someone would shoot you for wearing a Rolex. My Zenith is just another watch to them, although I do have it insured just in case. IDK about Apple Watches. Are they useful or are they a... 

Rolex sells 'aspirations' & a 'sense of achievement' to the buyers...I think Patek does it too...but only very few ! & they do it well...keeping the brand theme cohesive to the activities / ambassadors they engage with... best, mahesh.,

Is Rolex really the largest in terms of revenue? Just curious...

as per Forbes, $4.7B revenue in 2015 ! best, mahesh.,

A quick search revealed that both did significantly more in 2012 so I guess it may have remained that way...

Rolex is still top dog as far as all watch brands are concerned from a revenues perspective.

on the verge of "smart crisis" Sincerely D P.S. What strikes me also is number 3 on that presentation

If the luxury/mechanical watch industry doesn't do enough to educate and "poach" the younger generation, this matters a lot. We already see less and less youth of today wear a watch, preferring to rely on their phones for time, and for those whom companie... 

But in the long run we cannot compare both worlds. Only a few guys will want to have more than 1 apple or smart watch, on the other hand quite some people is drawn to own more than 1 mechanical/classical watch. So once people has a smart watch we will pro... 

Just like their iphones. I predicted the sales success when it was launched on this forum. As a mechanical watch enthusiasts , i can happily accomodate the apple watch especailly on weekends playing golf . As the functionality improves, many in the younge... 

call it a micro iPad or a nerd gimmick But a watch has wheels, screws, a spring, and a lot of other stuff But NO computer chips

apple products only last a couple of years, merely a fad.

PuristS said, life is too short for such restrictions. The same for quartz versus mechanical. If you choose never to wear any electronic watch, that is fine by me.

mechanical watch no doubt last. But watch brands come and go or even change hands among conglomerates. Rolex watch and brand no doubt will last another 50 years, but others are hard to say...let c which brand will survive this "smart" crisis like the "Qua... 

Will smart watches do the next era what quartz watches did in the 1970's. What are the predictions who will survive. Need to post that on hoMe. Bill

We are witnessing the extinction of High Horology for High Tech. Smartwatches, especially those that plug into an ecosystem will bet the ones that prevail. Eventually the household assistants will come (a la Amazon echo), then the robots will come too. So... 

money.cnn.com Aetna is a health insurance provider. I have always predicted that health insurance companies will require the eventual use of smartwatches by their insured customers.

Have you (Apple owners) installed the new iOS? The HEALTH app has gone bonkers. OK I guess if you are 24 and looking to get in shape for the next 50 years, but ... As I said when the first one came out, if I needed my Mother on my wrist I would just call ...  

I know Apple will take over the watch industry. Imagine when the health insurers want to track your basic health information to determine your premiums! They will then gift you an Apple watch and ask you to wear it as part of your health insurance. Then t... 

So that we all keep perspective, let's refresh. The Apple watch is not a watch, it is wearable technology. It should always be treated as such. Because it is a relative failure in the segment, and did not meet expectations, PR has decided to place it in a... 

Back to only mechanicals are true watches?

Neither the quartz oscillator nor external synchronization would disqualify a watch. I am particularly excited about the revival of hybrid watches with quartz regulated escapements. It is a fundamental question about what the item does best / for what is ... 

Also not a watch? The lack of automomy is a different (and seriously lacking) matter.

To draw us back to my main point :It is a fundamental question about what the item does best / for what is it optimized / its primary function. The Reverso is still a watch, even when the time is hidden, just as the countless watches with covers, and just... 

...made me laugh. Excellent!

I believe there is actually a cookbook for cooking on the motor!

I might actually have one of those cookbooks somewhere. Chop things fairly small, wrap in 2 layers of foil, place in the "valley" of the V8 (oops) or somewhere hot, tie in place with wire (not string) and drive an hour or so. Raise hood, remove package, u...  

Although remember to reduce cooking times for forced induction and/or 12 cyl! :-D

Not produce Iwatches I might have thought smartwatches might be a fad for five years and mostly fade out.

My question is: "what is it?" Many other devices in this category are called "wearable technology" or "wearables" without calling it a watch. So what we should consider is whether this device is in that category along with the Nike Fuel Band and Fitbit (a... 

BT, WiFi(and someday cellular) capabilities.

LOL

Is it a watch? wearable? iPhone on wrist? Whatever. The fact is it fights for the same space on your wrist (unless you planning on wearing both at the same time). So as long as more and more people wear Apple watch, fitbit , or whatnot, it's not good for ...