Friday Watches - October 2023
Well it didn't take long for the lepidopteran wingflap of chaos to travel from Northumberland to the Levant where yet again, violence begat violence. The ensuing, pointless, bloodbath a result of the usual story of the power hungry selling lives in a human grocery store (apologies for the misquote Axl but there are comparatively few soldiers, on either side of the aisle, up on the shelves of this store).
Before I let forth a tirade about the futility of it all which would not be best suited to this part of the forum I'll move on to the somewhat inconsequential counting of watches. October was a four Friday month over which we wore 501 watches at an average of 125.25 watches per week which isn't going to break any records. 106 brands were represented and the brand to watch ratio was a reasonable 0.212.
To cut the story short it was Rolex all the way ending the month a sizeable nineteen ahead of Seiko. Omega had yet another volatile month. Although the only other brand to reach weekly double figures it also managed plumb the depths of seventh place with a measly four.
Elsewhere IWC had two good weeks equaling this years weekly high of six although this wasn't enough to top their best month of the year which was back in April. Baltany had their best month ever with four appearances, not bad for a brand which only reappeared this year in September. Four was also the number which Marathon reached equaling not only their best performance of the year (back in January) but also the overall monthly best too. Conversely CWC had their worst month of the year with three which also equaled their worst ever performance.
There was a good number of brands making their first appearances, either of the year or ever, which helped to bump up the monthly total of brands to 106. The nine returning brands included Gevril, Skmei and, more interestingly, MiH in the form of the runner up to the 2021 WCWOTY the MIH Annual Calendar which is a little marvel of watchmaking. The six new starters included Senraw's own branded watches, Kahuna and Meraud (courtesy of Lammylee's rather handsome example).
As ever there were a good number of watches which caught my eye. There was the rare appearance of a non sports Rolex in the form of Guido-K's Cellini. A brace of Bulova stood out: WarrenVRS full lumed GMT and JackW's well balanced square chronograph. Just to round it off was 50kpoeks beautifully restored Grand Seiko 6145-8070.
Without further ado here are the results:
1Rolex71
2Seiko52
3Omega34
4Panerai23
5Timefactors21
6Tudor18
7Grand Seiko17
8IWC16
9Sinn15
10G Shock11
11Longines10
12Zenith10
13Breitling9
14Christopher Ward7
15Hamilton7
16Heuer6
17Citizen6
18Oris6
19Swatch6
20Damasko5
21Doxa (modern)4
22Senraw4
23Baltany4
24KMK4
25Marathon4
26Universal Geneve4
27Yobokies4
28Tissot4
29Garmin3
30Audemars Piguet3
31Girard Perregeaux3
32Glycine3
33Farer3
34Bulova3
35CWC3
36Di Milano3
37Orient3
38Yema3
39Singer Reimagined3
40Blancpain3
41Eterna3
42Borealis2
43Casio2
44Hublot2
45Meraud2
46Muhle2
47Steinhart2
48Fortis2
49NTH2
50Squale2
51Vostok2
52Porsche Design2
53Tutima2
54Jaeger-LeCoultre2
55Patek Philippe2
56Dornbluth & Sohn2
57Airain1
58Boschett1
59Briston1
60Dacor1
61Gevril1
62Glaschutte Original1
63Newmark (Modern)1
64Scurfa1
65Spinnaker1
66Tag Heuer1
67Vacheron Constantin1
68Vario1
69Alsta1
70Maurice La Croix1
71MIH1
72Nodus1
73Pryngeps1
74Racer1
75Ventura1
76Zodiac1
77Alpina1
78Baume et Mercier1
79Bremont1
80Certina1
81Clemence1
82Elliot Brown1
83Fleux1
84Kahuna1
85Le Monde1
86Lorier1
87Orfina1
88Rado1
89Ryte Time1
90Skmei1
91Smiths1
92Traser1
93Welsbro1
94Autodromo1
95Ball1
96Deep Blue1
97Enoksen1
98Ginault1
99Junghans1
100Ming1
101Montblanc1
102Pulsar1
103Record1
104Stowa1
105Suunto1
106Unimatic1
Over the course of the year I tend to get a "feel" about whether or not a brand are having a good or bad year. Sometimes that feel is spot on, sometimes wrong and sometimes far out. And here, in the form of that old favourite Worms, is an illustration of just that.
It has been very clear that Longines have had a cracking year so far and the below chart goes to show it. Currently 24% more than the last best figures at this time back in 2020 and already six more than its best ever year in 2022.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...7649b42e_h.jpg on Flickr
I also had the suspicion that IWC were doing pretty well. The truth is that, this year has been a bit of a mixed bag with a slow start before picking up some pace but then falling back a little. So, although they are doing better than ever it is only just.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c1b43349_h.jpg on Flickr
Finally Damasko which I also thought was having a fairly average year. This time I couldn't be further from the actualité and they are heading for what could be their worst year yet.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a0eacc05_h.jpg, on Flickr
