Horological Meandering

It brings me sadness whenever we close down any of our forums, but I still hope one day we will re-open the Journe forum.  Hopefully Mr Journe realizes the work you've done and the passion from the community is deemed worthy of his support.

Best,
Anthony

. . . the sudden shock. All I can muster is to say thanks for your hard work and unrequited devotion. Any manufacturer should be proud to have a forum moderated with the skill and dedication you demonstrated day in and day out.

I hope you can make a return trip to Los Angeles in the near future, Brad . . . highest regards, Art

I have always enjoyed your posts and passion for FPJ watches.  It's unfortunate that the forum is closing, but I hope someday in the future we'll see it revitalized with you at the helm again.  I think few people understand how much behind-the-scenes time and toil go into moderating on this site, so you should be commended for all your efforts. 

On a happier note, your new piece is gorgeous and I wish you many years of joy with it.  Hope to see you in LA again sooner rather than later.

Warm regards,

Daos

.. for reasons other than that lovely black CS.

Brad, thank you very much indeed for all of your energy, enthusiasm and effort over the years. This Journe owner did not consider there to be anything in the least 'amateurish' in your dedication to the cause and support of the brand.

The watches always have been and always will be lovely, but this surprising display of insensitivity casts the brand and its figurehead in a whole new light.

Hope to see you active on HoMe, Brad - most especially when the time comes to post sound-files! All the best.

 

Cheers,

pplater.

appropriate flavor profile for your neck of the woods?

Congrats on that SWEET black CS, it looks awesome on your wrist.

As a fellow mod (who also lost support from a brand he loves), I can empathize with the difficult and conflicted feelings you may have with today's announcement.

You have done amazing work, so has Felipe, during the time the PuristS/PuristSPro hosted the FPJ forum.

Thank you,

Mike

I don't know what to say ... if 2mm makes a difference  ...I think you have contributed a lot in bringing knowledge and interest to many, at least to me, about FPJ watches.  Thanks again for the very good work. 

The 38mm looks very natural and nice on your wrist.

See you around.

Kong

While I'm a moderator-at-large you can still follow what's on my wrist daily. Look for BS22FLY on Twitter!

Like to thank Brad for a great job and his efforts.....



Cheers

And hope he will find another brand to moderate!

There are so many which would need to be moderated!

Best,

Nicolas

for many months and participated in the assessment and decision.

Regards,

MTF

I guess it is not an happy end for him.

Best,

Nicolas.

Why does this moderator always have 2 ladies with him on every photo we could find?

Looks happy enough.....

MTF

This message has been edited by MTF on 2010-06-03 07:51:56

 for the life after the inevitable? Just a thought. Could also be compensation measures...

Magnus

I was informed of impending decision but this was ultimately between the PuristSpro management team and FP Journe.

I hope one day this forum will reopen.

No message body

We have seen plenty of brands and Forums come and go over the years, but F.P.Journe is a brand that epitomizes all that Purists is about (I thought). Passion, ingenuity, design, creativity, originality and a certain historical reverence.

 

Brad (and Felipe before him) has done a great job extolling the strengths of the watches and presenting them with enthusiasm and pride.

 

There will be more going on in the background to this decision, but this is a sad moment for Journe, and a loss to the horological community.

 

Andrew

FPJ, PP and ALS are three of my favorite brands. Now it is almost like I am missing something when I log on to the Purists site.

Two years ago we had a dinner among watch collectors in HK and we jokingly dubbed it 'Independents Day'. 90% of the timepieces tabled that evening were from FPJ - that's how important the brand is to the watch community.

It's a real shame for the forum to close down - I hope it will return.

Sam

 

Is this a decision by Journe to close just our forum or forums in general?

This is a shocker and i think Mr Journe should be ashamed. The majority of the usual suspects in the Journe forum have genuine love for the brand and the watches and I consider it a complete embarrassment for Mr Journe to shut it down (unless I am completely missing something). Don't be surprised if you see some of my pieces in the CM or at auction...

I suspect I can't name the forum here, but it is a very well known forum and should not be hard to find.

Oh and just from what I have read so far, it seems this was a PP management decision, not an FPJ decision to close the forum.  I agree with others though it would be good to see the whole story behind this, rather than just the cryptic comments....you might want to hold onto your watches until we know the whole story.

Cheers, Al

Hi Al,

I see no reason why we can't mention Time Zone here. Sure, we can't link to outside sites, but the TZ denizens are horological fanatics just like us. There is no 'us' and 'them', there are just two groups of people (with much overlap) who are interested in the same things. Horology in general can only be strengthened by the existence of these and other sites. We all benefit.

Andrew

We had an open policy for a very long time.

We finally got sick and tired of having a one way open policy, especially after repeated attempts by me and others to "let bygones be bygones."

The last straw was when I made one last attempt to reach out to a very senior executive of that site to "let bygones be bygones."

And my extended hand in conciliation was responded to with his back, and a dismissive wave and a tossed off "not interested" from over his shoulder as he walked away.

Above over the course of years.

I have no more neither the patience nor the wish to be "better than that."

Looking at some of the comments and posts in this thread, I see that my years of being a patient, generous host REQUIRING NOTHING from our guests, I realize I should have come to this point far earlier.

Even to this day, any mention or post of ThePuristS or PuristSPro on that site, even as a simple photo credit or information reference, is immediately consored and deleted by their automatically software. Along with profanity and spam.

'nuf said.

Al, you have been a guest here, and as a result have sold some watches.

We have NEVER forced you or even pressured you to do anything for this site, monetarily or otherwise, other than to ask you to respect local posting rules and protocols.

The very least you can do is to continue to do so, and extend to us the maximum benefit of the doubt.

If you "suspect" you can't name other sites, then don't "cryptically" refer to them.

TM

 

No message body

I will use this, my very first post after years of Forum reading pleasure, buying wonderful pieces from "top blokes" through Collectors Market and my admiration for almost all things Journe, to quote Wilde - "The only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about".
Surely the benefit and reward for the brand, owners and potential owners is greater than any perceived risk?
Thanks Brad for all you have done, return to us soon. David

Could this be a strategic (though IMO misguided) company move to become less web-dependent?  It reminds me of Mr. Journe's remarks at the FHH conference which we reprinted here, wherein he stated that he did not see the internet becoming a serious part of his business model, because of how impersonal it is (paraphrasing).

Personally, I think the internet, and especially serious forums like this, represent one of the most personal forms of relating with the public.

B

soley because of the internet.  If it weren't for the original PuristS forum, I would never have heard of Lange, GO, or JLC nor bought 2 Langes, 2 GOs and a JLC.  I own two Rolex, once again with the help of the internet. 

I frequented the FP Journe site quite often and nearly bought an FPJ, and again, never heard of the brand before The PuristS.  It's too bad the forum is gone, and if true, short sighted on FP Journe to ignore the internet as part of his sales model.

Forgive me if I sound rude; that is not my intent.

First, Brad my friend, thank you for all your work and diligence with the Journe forum. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Thomas, Anthony, and Melvyn:

Obfuscation seems to overshadow this decision. The word ‘amateur’ (and its derivatives) in French has an altogether different meaning than the English denotation supposes. The formulae:

1) Products that are of horlogical merit or attractive to PuristS, in order to get a worthy and passionate moderator.
2) Manufacturer, Watchmaker or Executive that are 'PuristS' in their heart; in the way they say AND do things to promote haute horlogerie and supply information.
3) "Sponsorship" that is not tied to editorial control or censorship.........

All of this begs for explanation. I prefer not to think that the first or the second notion apply to Montres Journe. If the decision is based upon the last of these, then we may all assume that the other ‘brands’ adhere? Forgive my snide remark, but I expect to see a Linda Werdelin forum soon. Perhaps you’ll forgive my snide comment, but offering such a fatuous side-way ‘formulae’ without notation or comment seems condemnation with faint praise.

I, personally, respect all of you. You have given to many of us hours of enjoyment, fostered friendships and camaraderie, and you have done this at personal and financial loss to yourselves. For all of this, we owe you a debt of gratitude. Yet. . . this action seems at best curious and the ‘formulae’ new if not capricious.

Undoubtedly there is a back-story; there always is. How this is now explained is poor form all around. Thank you for all you’ve provided, but forgive some of us who expected more in the spirit of openness than is revealed in the comments to-date.

My thanks and best to all,

Douglas

But whatever the reason, this is a loss for all parties involved. I'll be interested to see whether this occurs elsewhere, but I suspect it won't because of different criteria for justifying a manufactures' forum.

DJK

And I know nothing of any back story or similar -

Its a slap in the face to all of us who have been here since the begining....and who have joined since. 

I dont like being slapped in the face.