I have always loved watches. From the time I was young, I loved the different styles and colors, chronographs vs. dress; hell, I even loved pocket watches. But, it wasn’t until recently that I started to appreciate the engineering that goes into making a quality watch. 

Luckily, I get to hang out with the creator of spazz.com on a regular basis, so I get schooled on the in”s-and-out’s of a variety of different watches. There is so much to learn and understand, and I am taking it all in little by little. 

So, I decided to write this article to help others like me - the guys who love quality watches but don’t have the money to buy the best of the best. The good news is that you don’t always have to buy the best; just buy the best in the range that you can afford. 

“A fool and his money are soon parted.”

That is a famous proverb that seems to be the foundation of the marketing used by watch brands today. In other words, for better or worse, despite the absolute fact that watches are machines, tools, instruments of time, etc., watch brands want us to view and judge watches subjectively like jewelry. This is how you end up with gold dive watches, for example, and people foolish enough to buy them.

Yesterday, April 26, 2017, the Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) released a white paper on “Fine Watchmaking”. In short, the white paper was created to promote what they’re calling “Fine Watchmaking”, and they defined 4 market segments and 7 areas of expertise by which 46 “independent international experts” used to judge brands against. These people make up what they’re calling the “Cultural Council”. For a watch to be qualified it must score at least 60% where 65% of the score is objective and 35% is subjective.

In total, 86 brands were judged, 68 made the cut, and only 28 were so good they became partners.

Regardless of industry, companies that make products are always trying to create that perfect product that can translate not only to great sales, but that can actually become an icon.

In computers, think of the iPhone. The first true Smartphone and it literally changed how every single human who has ever held a mobile phone sees mobile telephony forever.

In the automotive world, think of what it must have been like when in the early 70’s Ferrari introduced the 308 GTB. In an era where most cars were the size of small boats, here comes this sleek, wedge inspired design that literally sliced through the air standing still. It defined Ferrari for a new generation and defined what an exotic sports car is supposed to be, having influenced hundreds of designs afterward.

Now that SIHH 2017 has come and gone, lets take a look at some of our favorite new watches. But first, what is SIHH?

SIHH (Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie) is one of the two big watch shows in Switzerland that happens every year (Baselworld is the other). SIHH began in the early 90’s with it’s first show in 1992 when 5 brands left Baselworld to set it up: Baume & Mercier, Cartier, Piaget, Gerald Genta, and Daniel Roth. Today the show has grown to 30 exhibitors. As such, the quality of the watches revealed has also grown immensely, which is never a bad thing.

Every year we have our "new year's resolutions", but given the holiday season has just ended, which is always filled with the standard commercialism and retail therapy, I thought it might be worthwhile to give my perspective on the subject. Specifically when we refer to a certain type of spending as "materialism" - this ties in nicely with the watch world, since 2016 was officially the worst year on record since the early 80's!

First, what is materialism?

It has now become common knowledge that this past year has been one of the worst on record for the watch industry. Data released by Bloomberg and the FHS (Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH) show that sales have dropped over 45% between 2015 and 2016, and the level of Switzerland’s watch exports dropped 11 percent during the first 10 months of the year.

After the 2016 Presidential Election in the United States, it is widely expected that there will be some economic uncertainty moving forward (at a minimum). This would affect the US, and by extension the world. Without going into a political rant, the reason for this is because proposed policies from the campaign trail point to an increase in interest rates, which basically means cost of living for the majority of people will go up. If this happens, luxuries are the first to get axed. Back in 2008 when the most recent financial crisis hit, the market was flooded with luxury cars, boats, and jewelry. It was only once the recovery really started to take hold the past couple years did we see, for example, an increase in watch prices to the point where records are being set all over the world.

I am literally beside myself when I browse around online, or happen to stumble upon conversations regarding watches by so called “experts”. The amount of junk thats out there dressed up as fact, when in reality is nothing more than some self-perpetuation prophecy designed to mold and shape public opinion in a particular direction is sickening.

It’s as if over time everything has been turned on its head. What used to be considered important is now less so and vice versa. A whole new formula has been created and passed around, which is then used by those receiving this “advice” against their own interests.

At Spazz.com we call those responsible Horological Douchebags (“HDs”). They don’t want you to think for yourself using logic, but rather they want you to trust them blindly. They’ve “been there”, so they "know of the mistakes" they don’t want you to make (wink wink).

But you still have a brain, don’t you?

A watch's primary function is to tell us what time it is. This is why telling the time is not considered a "complication".

But anything beyond that is.

And some complications are much more difficult to make than others. And combining more than one of these complications into one watch is absolutely spectacular, hence, it's own category: Grand Complications (minimum 3 complications to qualify).

But even doing one of these things well is a challenge, and making them all, even in individual watches make for quite the repertoire.

Today, a convenient summary!

I think the following summary, in chart form should be a lot of fun. And as you will see, it makes it real easy to visualize alternative combinations. I.e., if you prefer the Calatrava to the Reverso, cool. In your personal chart/list, you could just swap them, and it'd still make sense...

One of the things I’ve learned as I continue my journey in the watch collecting and watch hobby world, is that there really was a “golden age” of watchmaking. This golden age reached its summit somewhere around 1970 after Seiko released the world’s first commercial Quartz wristwatch on December 25, 1969, which in turn started what was dubbed the “Quartz Crisis” (how's that for a Christmas present!).

The “Quartz Crisis” referred to the fact that many manufacturers of mechanical watches, some that had been around since the 1800’s started to disappear by the hundreds as people started buying Quartz watches in favor of mechanical ones. Some companies survived of course, but the majority that did were gobbled up by large conglomerates such as The Swatch Group, who bought Omega, Longines, Breguet, to name just a few, or Financière Richmond SA who bought IWC, A. Lange And Sohne, and Vacheron Constantin, again to name just a few.

This is the category where only the best of the best can participate.

If you're a watch company and do not have a watch in this category, you are not a top-tier watch brand. Period.

You may make no-nonsense, reliable, tough, even beautiful looking watches. But to be even considered part of the truly top-tier, you must have a watch in this category.

Of course, what makes it so hard to compete in this category are the technical requirements in general. And this is why only the best of the best compete. It's the category, in other words, that really does separate the men from the boys.

If you've ever caught the bug to collect watches, or if you're a watch lover in general, the question of what would be the ultimate watch collection always comes up. And this is true even if you never actually end up owning that collection ($$$$).

And many blogs and publications have written about this subject. The truth is, it's fun!

For the most part, owning such a collection is just a dream. There aren't too many people (or their wives) who can justify more than a couple "great" watches let alone anything close to an 'ultimate watch collection'.

But again, it's fun to even discuss it.

And when considering the ultimate collection, how to determine the logic behind the collection, or the theme, can be just as difficult. I'd say there is never a shortage of collection themes.

Traditionally speaking, a trio of watch brands from Switzerland have been referred to as the "Holy Trinity" of watch brands.

They are:

• Patek Philippe (PP)
• Audemars Piguet (AP)
• Vacheron Constantin (VC)

...and the 'plus 1', has always been Jaeger LeCoultre.

But referring to Jaeger LeCoultre (JLC) as a 'plus 1', is not giving JLC the proper respect it deserves. Because in many ways, JLC not only belongs in that group, it could be argued that group wouldn't even exist if it weren't for JLC.

COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres) is the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute, which certifies a wristwatch for accuracy and precision, but does so according to standards established up to 1973.

There are other institutes that provide the same function, but the most important detail as it pertains to truly understanding accuracy, is that all of the truly high-end manufacturers have abandoned these certifications because their own in-house standards far and away surpass the COSC standard (and the like).

This is important for the following reason: many companies -- Rolex in particular -- not only have not abandoned the COSC, but use the fact that others have as a way to market their movements as being "better than" the rest, when in fact the opposite is (closer to being) true.

The main issue, in general, when it comes to the watch industry today is that many brands that once were relevant, no longer are. And it's become increasingly difficult to decipher between the true horologically relevant watch brands and the pretenders.

Whats worse, many pretenders were once at the pinnacle of haute horology, so it can get tricky. 

So, here's a list of criteria that all truly high-end brand/watch will meet. If a brand or watch does not meet all of the criteria, regardless of how much it costs, I'm here to tell you to walk away. You have better options

Baselworld 2015 has come and gone, and while some cool new watches were introduced, it was also disappointing in some very specific ways.

But something that has been infuriating has been this “buzz” around the new movement released by Rolex: the 3255 and it’s variants.

As Rolex has put it, this new movement sets a “new standard of performance” is “2X more precise than an official chronometer” has a “50% greater power reserve at 70 hours” and contains “90% new components”.

All of that is absolutely true.

So why is that infuriating? 

Because its only true for Rolex, NOT for the watch industry as a whole. 

While many of the high-end watch brands were introducing some pretty impressive new watches, with some serious innovations, Rolex released a new version of their Sea-Dweller called the Deepsea with a D-blue dial.

One of the "innovations" on this watch is the Blue Luminescence, which features a "chromalight display" whose blue glow lasts up to twice as long as that of standard luminescent materials. This particular shade of blue is the last visible color the human eye can see at extreme depths.

The dial itself incorporates this shade as well, and will shift from black to blue depending on how light hits the dial.

SIHH is winding down, and as usual, there are always some nice things to see.

This year, to my surprise, a couple watches really excited me, perhaps even surprised me. I'd like to discuss those in particular, understanding these two watches are not the only worthwhile watches this year at SIHH.

The first, is more of a collection revamp to me, and it was by IWC.

I've been a fan of IWC for nearly two decades now, but there was a definite turing point for me once Richemont took full control. What was once a very simple, minimalist no nonsense company making serious watches with serious in-house innovations, suddenly became a watch for Hollywood, and started pimping itself out.