Hodinkee article in Wall Street Journal

[SMD]

https://www.wsj.com/style/fashion/ho...hare_permalink

[doctoryellow]

Good transcript

[Michael T]

For subscribers, behind paywall. Maybe why Jack Forester left?

https://www.wsj.com/style/fashion/ho...le_email_share

[askdanny]

Constant layoffs. Sad. The market turned after the acquisition of C&C. No one could have seen it coming. I sure didn't.

Maybe they should stick to high-quality editorial content, straps and vintage pieces. (With some Hodinkee limited editions sprinkled here and there.) It's hard to buy vintage watches online because you fear the watch is mis-represented. Hodinkee should leverage the fact they're trusted.

[dhucke]

Seems like a combination of really bad business practices and a misunderstanding of what drew people in the first place. It became more about fashion than watches (IMHO).

[HMHM]

The main reason why Hodinkee is down the drain is because they have completely lost journalistic integrity and objectivity. Plain and simple. When one is sleeping on the same bed as the companies who you are supposed to objectively review, how can they actually write anything honest about the product? Not only that, Hodinkee have failed to raise any concerns about dubious and suspicious auction lots and results. When Perezcope brought up the topic of the record breaking Speedmaster being a Frankenstein, Hodinkee was so f**king reluctant to release any articles about it. For a supposedly leading watch media, it’s so disgraceful!

Don’t worry BC, you will get another LM Daytona to keep your mouth shut and enjoy the gravy train! As long as you are on the gravy train, others can lose their money buying frankensteins as long they don’t “rock the Swiss Watch Industry”.

[askdanny]

Originally Posted by HMHM

The main reason why Hodinkee is down the drain is because they have completely lost journalistic integrity and objectivity. Plain and simple. When one is sleeping on the same bed as the companies who you are supposed to objectively review, how can they actually write anything honest about the product? .

I don't think pageviews is the issue. I bet they have more readers than ever before. But there's only so much free content you can provide. Bills need to get paid.

[illiguy]

Their schtick has just felt old for some time. This coming from someone who was a very avid reader. I just don’t go to the site, anymore. The most Hodinkee I get is when the Magazine shows up at my door once every 6 months.

[Michael T]

When Cara Barrett and Jack Forester left that was a signal. They were the best.

[Scholar]

I thought it was fine when Hodinkee started selling straps and the occasional collab or watch.

When I was at the 10th anniversary party event in 2018, everyone there was very much an enthusiast and the culture was heavily based on understanding watches. (Something we know Ben himself is deeply into.) I loved talking to the team and the readers.

But the site seemed to take a sharp turn within a year or so. I wonder how much of this was driven by the ownership shifting from people like Kevin Rose, who is a watch enthusiast, to LVMH and the like. Hodinkee is now a store with a residual online magazine attached, and seems self-righteous about its current stance, defensive would be a better term I suppose, epitomized by the article "reminding" the readers of the commenting rules (implying that the jaded attitude of longtime readers was somehow wrong).

A Hodinkee review of a new watch release in the old days was not only a discussion of how the watch wore for a week, but a reflection on the history of the maker and type of watch. Those articles are still gems to this day. Now the articles feel like straight advertorials. There are still good ones, but few and far between.

If this becomes a moment for Hodinkee to step back from its overreach and be under Ben's direct control again, it could be amazing. But that's a big if.

[Scholar]

Oh I accidentally missed part of my message.

I said can anyone expect today's Hodinkee to do things like how in the old days they called out watch brands for lying, such as this open letter from Roger Smith about fake in-house movements and the like?

Hodinkee of 2014 would have written about the 32-series controversy (note, I'm simply saying "written about" before fans of the movement accuse me of anything); Hodinkee today, like most advertorial places, wouldn't want to lose access to Rolex by doing such a thing.

[enjoythemusic]

this could be.... interesting.

i heard that auction houses pulled paintings and whatnot from recent events, fearing that sale prices would be below what they felt was market. Guess no one likes fire sale pricing in art.

[Fleetlord]

They tried to open a big umbrella in a phone booth. Too many things going on in a small space (watch collecting..who does that?) to begin with. Never works out

[illiguy]

How they purchased Crown and Caliber without diligence on back end systems talking is insane to me.

[Maleg]

Originally Posted by enjoythemusic

this could be.... interesting.

i heard that auction houses pulled paintings and whatnot from recent events, fearing that sale prices would be below what they felt was market. Guess no one likes fire sale pricing in art.

I love fire sale pricing on art.

Unless it's my art, then not so much.

[Maleg]

What seems like forever ago I looked forward to any new morsel of watch knowledge from Hodinkee. But well before the pandemic it evolved into a late night informercial. I simply lost interest, and nothing they published could possibly encourage me to buy what they were shilling. It’s no surprise that Hodinkee is in decline, or that they are in denial of the decline.

[enjoythemusic]

some very good comments below the nyt article.

Peter Haynes
Hardly surprising. Hodinkee was a fantastic site when it started, with Clymer writing truly insightful articles on the industry, alongside a growing and strong team of writers, all but one of whom are long gone. Then the money started pouring in, Clymer very visibly checked out and started collecting vintage Porsches and even more expensive watches, and the content collapsed. These days it's mostly (a) "articles" on what's for sale in Hodinkee's [overpriced] shop, (b) "photo pieces" of what minor celebs are wearing at a range of events, (c) press-release rewrites and (d) the very occasional insightful piece, although if anything in the article is on sale at Hodinkee, that's front and center. Net, it's now a lame ecommerce site, and from your article it's pretty clear that Clymer and Fowler are out of their depth strategically. Meanwhile a mass of other, far more thoughtful watch websites are eating Hodinkee's lunch.


Henry S (reply to above)
You very succinctly summed up exactly what happened to Hodinkee, far better than the article did (which read a bit like a hatchet job, even if deserved). Ben essentially sold out, and Hodinkee paid the price

[DC116710LN]

Perhaps no greater symbol of their transition to an ecommerce site than their $6K travel clock

[enjoythemusic]

i'd now LOVE to buy one Travel Clock with mystery movement as a kind of... Trophy... of the recent bubble. C'mon, we all knew it was a massive bubble. Some got high on their own supply and are now feeling the hangover effects,

[Jackie Daytona]

I never got overt into their coverage of the watch world, but my take on it is this.

There is a saying with many variants of it “Don’t believe your own myth/legend/hype/press.

Hodinkee believe their own from what I can see.

[mbalmz]

Originally Posted by Michael T

When Cara Barrett and Jack Forester left that was a signal. They were the best.

to be fair, Cara married Ben Clymer. seems like she's still pretty invested in the business lol

[MILGAUSS88]

Originally Posted by enjoythemusic

i'd now LOVE to buy one Travel Clock with mystery movement as a kind of... Trophy... of the recent bubble. C'mon, we all knew it was a massive bubble. Some got high on their own supply and are now feeling the hangover effects,

I think it's still available for sale from Hodinkee.