Unlike a Wempe, supreme and Hodinkee are brands first, brands that thrive on hype and then use that hype and following to make money on collaborations. It may not be as brash as a red tramp stamp supreme sticker but Hodinkee does make sure to get their name in there somewhere Ina way fitting for the watch buying crowd. Not only did Hodinkee get BP to remove the logo on the side of the case but then they got their own brand on the rotor. Strip the date, remove the sailcloth in favor of a nato, remove the polishing, remove the BP stamp, less is more everywhere except when it comes to making sure the hodinkee brand is represented.
Compare that to say the Wempe ALS 1815, they did a unique variant of the 1815 and it's publicized as a Wempe edition but Wempe didn't go and slap their logo all over it even though it's a watch celebrating Wempe's long term partnership!
While agree supreme and Hodinkee execute the application of branding differently, I think it would be a mistake to think Hodinkee isn't equally all about about name recognition and branding.
To be clear, I'm not hating. The new BP looks like a great watch and I would do the same if I were Hodinkee. Good on them from a brand strategy perspective. But, like supreme or those $7k Hodinkee travel watches, when the brand is a brand and not a mnfr, you have to be wary the hype doesn't distort the value of the end product.