Online video resources for watch nerds

A newcomer to the watch world could be forgiven for thinking the price of admission was too high. The technical detail, the number of brands, models, and their histories can overwhelm simple aesthetic appreciation. Oh, and there’s also the actual price of admission. The hobby comes with a cost that, at the higher end of the scale, excludes most of humanity. In navigating and learning about this world the internet is a mixed blessing. What it may lack in quality, it makes up for in sheer quantity. From online publications, to blogs by individual enthusiasts, to sprawling forums, there’s a wealth of information to sift through. And for recidivists there are even old-fashioned books that are already becoming niche objects; curiosities like fine mechanical watches but with less gear appeal.

Many of the educational resources on the internet are video-based and live on Vimeo or YouTube and are linked to by ezines and blogs as part of their content offerings.

Even here narrowing your focus can lead to information overload. The sheer quantity of content lives on one of the untamed and unorganized parts of the internet – YouTube. Its community apparatus (the Comments section, mostly) is often the home of angry, illiterate abuse that can make you despair of humanity. The survey of some of the resources available here, while by no means exhaustive, is an attempt to broadly categorize some of those resources and draws attention to a small but growing community that cares passionately (sometimes too much so) about watches and collecting them. Some of the channels surveyed below offer something you may not find in quantity elsewhere: detailed and personal explorations of the why of watch collecting itself. Hobby? Obsession? Pathology?

Lifestyle

Furthest away from the confessional community channels are those devoted to marketing the major brands and the aspirational lifestyle where luxury watches are tokens of arrival –  the furniture that decorates this glittering world. The marketing departments at brands like IWC, Rolex, Omega, and Patek Phillipe have all taken Marketing 101 and use YouTube to promote their brands in predictable ways as part of a corporate “Communications Strategy”. Production values are usually high, but the segments are devoid of context and controversy. They stay on message. Also in this category are pure lifestyle channels like JustLuxe and EMKWAN TV where conspicuous consumption is the entire point. Low on information, but high on fantasy, they offer brief escapes into a world that’s just beyond reach.

Edutainment

From postings of documentaries shot for film and TV to detailed CAD-based renderings of how a mechanical watch functions, these resources are often the fastest path to acquiring a basic knowledge of the watch world and of the wrist watch as a beautiful machine. Simply type “how mechanical watches work” into the search bar and spend an hour or so absorbing exploded gear trains and technical animations of the movements. If you are more handy and want to vicariously experience taking apart and repairing watches, there’s a channel for that too.

Reviews

Many individuals’ channels offer brief reviews of a model, giving you a visual overview of its features, looks, and provenance. These reviews are often favourable because the poster has just spent money on what they are reviewing. Review videos attached to online publications are somewhat more objective because they start as journalism instead of appreciative fan pieces where the emotional and financial investment is apparent.

Within this category there’s a species of video that, stylistically and in other (very different) contexts has another name: porn. Unboxing videos are mostly silent with no extraneous commentary, focusing on the slow striptease of unpacking the watch, peeling off its wrapping and languidly turning the prized watch over so it can be viewed purely as an object of desire. The upside of these videos is the absence of opinion and the close, unencumbered, examination of a watch you are interested in. You may, however, need to shower after.

Community

If you are a student of the human condition, this category represents the most fascinating avenue of exploration. Information, thoughtfulness, opinion, personal history, tribalism, and venality are all on display here. It can be a soap opera but with moments of real insight for those who are grappling with their own motivations in being a watch lover and collector. Some of the channels mentioned below are NSFW, so proceed with caution.

One of the most subscribed-to channels portrays a character called Archie Luxury. He’s a Robin Leach for watch collectors and gets additional space here because of how pivotal and polarizing he is in this community. Owners of other Vlogs frequently reference him as a means of distinguishing their voices from his: they are not purveying stock opinions like Archie; they are not morally suspect like Archie. Viewed chronologically, the channel offers a fascinating progression. The earlier pieces dispense reasonable if predictable (all Rolex, all the time) advice on collecting. More recent installments have descended into a portrait of a man in decline and are abusive rants aimed at “amateurs” and rivals. Like watching a car accident in slow motion, it’s difficult to not press Play for the next installment.

At the opposite end of the spectrum sits another character, Jonny Casual. The name of the channel isn’t accidental. It’s, in part, a response to Archie Luxury. Warm, accepting, and, above all, thoughtful, Jonny explores very honestly and personally some of the central dilemmas facing the enthusiastic amateur. Which watch should I get next? What does a grail watch mean? Which watch has to go to make room for another in a collection? How does taste evolve? He also takes his audience seriously and engages their questions about collecting at some length, dispensing reflections and opinions that never try to masquerade as law.

Other prominent members of this small community include Stuart Lomas, Simon Crane, Matt Stevens, Andy Hunter aka ADRIQOS, Time with Don, and Jeffrey McMahon, whose segment on how telling your wife you just spent north of $6000 on a watch is pure comic gold.

Video based watch collecting resources are a rabbit hole you can quickly become lost in but they can also occasionally reward you with invaluable news, close-up looks at a watch or brand of interest, or fresh insights into the gravitational pull of this hobby.