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Embracing the Watch Community

I truly am enamored with the watch community! While there are controversies that exist in the business and there are strong opinions for and against a variety of pieces, in general, the space is friendly, inviting, and cordial towards one another. I have felt nothing but a strong embrace to join in a conversation that, up until recently, and probably still now, I had no business participating in. Hopefully, I’ll earn those bonafides sometime soon. Writing here is certainly an attempt to show worth and value to the industry as well, and it’s a really fun project at the very least.

I’ve been challenging myself to grow something in this space of watches. I haven’t fully determined what that looks like just yet, but I know I like being in the mix of the conversations.

Step 1: Start an Instagram Page Dedicated to Watches

You start at 0 followers. You try to take some pics or create short videos by piecing together watch company videos to make something to get noticed. The most fun is connecting with others in the watch world. The posts evolve as my collection has, and as I’ve borrowed a few watches. The photos get better, the content improves, the number of connections grows. It’s a few months in now, and I have about 300 followers. Most of the people I’m following have 1,000 - 3,000 - 10,000 - 100,000+ followers. You certainly can’t compare, but the desire to continue to climb exists. It’s also interesting to note that there’s a snowball effect: as you gain followers, you also seem to have a larger daily increase.

The Instagram page has been great. I’ve connected with some incredibly well-known people in this community, from watchmakers and business owners to other enthusiasts, podcasters, and journalists who are all vital players in the future success of the watch industry.

In addition to Instagram, there are other venues like WatchCrunch that have also provided me with a great community that even has their own app! It’s great for sharing daily wrist shots, asking polls of the community, and even posting these long musings to a group of very avid watch enthusiasts! Max, the creator, has done a great job of making this Seattle-based story become a hit with the watch crews. I’m a fan!

Step 2: Select a Long-Form Structure to Elaborate and Tell Your Story

I’m not ready to start a YouTube channel. I work full time and to be good at this format you really need to dedicate the time and effort it takes to be shooting and editing. I have two daughters at home and when they decide to get into making videos we’ll see. It would also be especially helpful to live in an area that had better access to borrowing watches or heck, even have a true AD, so this isn’t going to be the best setting for me to get into that until I can grow into something more.

There’s blogging! This is enticing, and those who do it well are especially engaging, have great topics to cover, and more importantly - have guests that bring you deep into the conversation and keep you listening week after week or day after day. I would like to participate and join in when and if I’m asked, but again, I want to add value to those conversations and earn those credentials to eventually being asked to join in the fun of podcasting. Someday, and hopefully, it will be as enjoyable to participate in as it is to listen to. But adding value is important and not just participating to pontificate.

So I turn to the world of blogging. I think Tony Traina’s blog had been the first one I read that was prior to his joining the esteemed Hodinkee in his role now. I, of course, am an avid reader of all the big names, A Blog to Watch, Hodinkee, Fratello, Worn & Wound, Time + Tide, Revolution, Monochrome, and many more are part of my daily routine to learn about this amazing industry. And while I’m not writing for anyone else (yet…call me!) I turned to an outlet on Substack that has really allowed me to create, post, and track metrics to see how things are going.

I again, started at 0. I now have 15 subscribers and went from 10-15 reading my initial pieces to now closer to 100 reading each piece. It’s free to produce and free to read, and I am really happy that this will be my twelfth piece and it’s continued to grow. I’m deeply appreciative of those that are taking the time to read this and hope it’s interesting for you, too!

Step 3: Grow into Something to Be Able to Add Value to This Conversation

I’ve had some great text conversations with some very important people in watch journalism. They are always able to provide wonderful advice and for that, I’m grateful. As the followers come, so too have the increase in conversations with those also playing at home. This week I had a huge increase in that good ol’ dopamine.

Last week I made a critical mistake in my post about podcasts. I left off a big one, and when one of the hosts of that particular podcast connected with me, he mentioned he’d actually taken the time to read my piece and gently informed me that I was perhaps missing one or two. I immediately knew what I had done and apologized for my oversight. The critical piece here is that there weren’t hard feelings about it. Rather, there was an offer to participate in a more behind-the-scenes conversation with this host and many of the regular guests that appear on the podcast.

I was absolutely blown away! I’ve spent the last few days basically doing the equivalent of wondering what to do with my hands in a photo (an odd description perhaps but apt—that I don’t want to be seen as foolish or out of place). It’s been yet another important connection to this world of watches and the watch family. I cannot wait to see where this takes me, even if it’s just texting about which brand is doing well or who had the best release from the latest trade show.

All of this to say I’m extremely happy to continue to write this and it not turn into anything more than an avenue to talk with some of the most amazing people in the world. The watch community has wide and open arms. It’s not all about making money and convincing people to spend all they have on these little beauties. Instead, the community is very understanding, if not demanding, that people who are on the inside need to be more careful and live within their means, and that the appreciation of these pieces is more than enough to bring us all together and celebrate.

There, I went this whole piece without bringing any controversy (potential or real) with regards to a certain company that just rebranded and is now using a logo that is mysteriously close to the one that I’ve decided to borrow as my own for these musings. And I should have a new fun watch that joins the collection by the time I write my next piece.

Please enjoy some of my latest photos and I appreciate you taking the time to read this!

Cheers!

Adam