good literature...

"li-tera-ture, li-tera-ture. mr. bank, come on. u don't need to read no li-tera-ture. all u need to do is FEEL IT!" frank from oceans 13, bernie mac RIP

some good li-tera-ture...

fact of the matter is loadsatimes good literature does make a lot of difference. watch companies of course spend a lot on their marketing materials, a lot of that money going into very nice annual catalogues for watch buyers or potential customers to read up on and push them to make a buying decision.

from their standpoint its pretty straightforward, communicate to the reader all thats good and wonderful about the brand and its product with the aim that they buy something from the range in production today. the magazines that Patek provide to owners, IWC sell or give to friends and Omega provide at their shop, are pretty interesting too. they focus on lifestyle as well as inspirations for their watches to varying degrees, with the objective of immersing the reader more into what it is that they may love about their watches already.

its gone a little wrong on this one. my interest for iwc was definitely stoked by their annual edition catalogues but my interest went towards a watch not in their current range... the older portugiesers the real vintages have called out to me... in the past though when i owned the st exupery chrono, any feature of it in their or others mags were appreciated too :)

lets look then at the normal magazines then that get published by companies with the objectives of getting loadsa advertising revenues ;) noting that this is the case, please don't expect these magazines to feature watches that they are going to say anything negative about. it will be praises for everything within and its likely that the brand/watch that is praised has also taken out full page advertisements within those magazines. hey its just the way it works yuh and facts are facts, these publications survive on ad revenues from the retailers and brands. while lets look at the 2 types then. the high society mags and the watch mags...

high society mags' watch articles (audience = the rich folks or those who are curious/interested to know who these people are, how they live, what they buy/wear, where they hang out etc.)

A. normal or boring articles - stuff thats pure advertising for the watch companies. why? because its just pure advertising. if its just ads, and ads pretending to be articles, then its about as fun and interesting as being locked in a room and being brainwashed. oops isn't that the whole point? constant in-your-face bombardment ;)

B. good to best articles - articles that seek to educate/inform the reader. provide them an insight as to why horology is a fascinating area to get into. interesting as well as cool (hey it has to appeal to the folks with $$$ (or who want to be there) that may not know how best to spend all that $$$ yuh ;) slowly infect them with the passion.

2 publications i have written for this year... i did the singapore tatlers with jim rogers and nadya on the cover and the asia gmt xxls this year

watch magazines' articles (audience = watch geeks, lovers, enthusiasts, WISes etc) :

A. normal or boring articles - an author who writes flowery prose about the wonders of a brand/watch coz they're paid to. its important to separate it from whether the person is writing for the brand or presenting their point of view. if the former than alls well, we know its a paid advertorial and we'll expect praise after praise. if presented as an expert opinion/view that the brand is all the fantastic things and more even though the author(said expert) may not really "feel it", well then, its kinda sucky no?

B. good to best articles - those that provide you insights into horology that you didn't know of. expanding your knowledge, enhancing your appreciation. those with personal reflections of the authors journey and sharing of views/perceptions... these are worth reading and re-reading, at least to me. as someone who writes from time to time, of course I aim as much as possible to write good articles.

one of the reasons Audemars Piguet is seen as a top Swiss house... its not just Royal Oaks yuh ;)

finally just sharing information from a pamphlet from vianney halter that i got

last year. interesting facts and the numbers of his watches that are in production.