Friday Watches - December 2023

[Wimm]

December. The season of Peace on Earth and goodwill to all. Apparently. Peace seems to have taken a back seat this year and you would be forgiven for thinking that goodwill has been hard to come by this year too. Many of us on this forum have had some pretty difficult times over the last twelve months, perhaps none more so than the Boss, who not only lost his wife this month but also ended up in hospital. On this forum we work hard to maintain an outward appearance as a bunch of cantankerous sods but, when one of us hits a rocky patch (and had the courage to open up), the forum members never fail to put our differences aside and band together in support. Whether publicly on the forum or privately via PM or message those words and, no doubt actions, do help. It is heartwarming to see these responses and proves that goodwill is all around us if we care too look for it. So well done all of you for having the courage to talk about your struggles and also for being so supportive. Perhaps we should start working on world peace in 2024.

Anyway, before I get tearful I will move swiftly on to watches. December was another five Friday month and the total of 587 was exactly the same as the last month of five (September) and therefore somewhat unimpressive. Even less impressive was ending the year on a new low as the weekly total dropped below 100 for the first time with only 99 being posted. We managed to squeeze out nine more brands than September reaching 129, the second highest number this year. Monthly diversity was an acceptable 0.220 which masks an impressive new weekly high of 0.532 set on the first.

As the year drew to a close the competition between the top brands got quite scrappy. December started with Rolex and Omega tying on ten with Seiko scraping eight. The eighth saw Rolex run away with a large nineteen, Omega inched past Seiko to second by one point. Omega topped the table on the fifteenth with thirteen. Rolex and Seiko tied on twelve. On the twenty third Rolex rose to the top again with eighteen, Seiko next on thirteen and Omega and Panerai sharing third with ten apiece. The last Friday of the year was Seiko's with thirteen, Omega second with eleven and Rolex third with ten. Fourth place was Timefactors' with half as many as Rolex. So I make that one tie and three different outright victors. Not bad but I hope to see some more brands challenge the top dogs in 2024.

The excitement wasn't limited to the top of the table and records continued to be set. Universal Geneve had both their best week ever (four) but also their best month (eight). Their previous best was six set way back in January 2021. On the fifteenth there was a nice pair of Balls (the most we've seen in a week) which included Metallic Muds's tritium spangled one. Pulsar and Studio Underdog had their best ever months reaching five and four respectively. Ulysse Nardin (three), Smiths (of the vintage variety), Jaeger Le-Coultre (sic) and Casio (five) all finished the year on high with their best results of the 2024.

A healthy 129 brands were shown. Nine of which made their first (and final) appearance of the year. These included Prometheus, Archimede, and Luch. A further three brands were added to the overall list of Friday brands. These were Thermidor, Robert and Nautilus.

Quality Man's blatant attempt to curry favour worked when he wore his handsome vintage Accurist. There were a host of other vintage watches which stood out including 459GMB's lovely Bulova Accutron "Up and Down" (now on my wish list) and Ycymro's stunning Rotary monopusher. Rousey's clean RZE Valour and Tetlee's Omega Aqua Terra with the stripey second hand flew the flag for modern watches.

Right, I must leave you there. I need to whip the Entertainments team into shape as we have a gala dinner to organise. I look forward to seeing you all there.

The results for the final month of 2024 are:

1 Rolex 69
2 Seiko 56
3 Omega 55
4 Panerai 31
5 Timefactors 24
6 Grand Seiko 18
7 Tudor 16
8 IWC 15
9 CWC 14
10 Sinn 13
11 Longines 12
12 G Shock 11
13 Universal Geneve 8
14 Citizen 7
15 Christopher Ward 6
16 Hamilton 6
17 Jaeger-LeCoultre 6
18 Oris 6
19 Zenith 6
20 Breitling 5
21 Bulova 5
22 Casio 5
23 Damasko 5
24 Heuer 5
25 KMK 5
26 Pulsar 5
27 Audemars Piguet 4
28 Blancpain 4
29 Bremont 4
30 Eterna 4
31 Patek Philippe 4
32 Senraw 4
33 Studio Underd0g 4
34 Tutima 4
35 Cartier 3
36 Credor 3
37 E C Andersson 3
38 Farer 3
39 Glaschutte Original 3
40 Smiths 3
41 Squale 3
42 Swatch 3
43 Ulysse Nardin 3
44 Vostok 3
45 Anonimo 2
46 Archimede 2
47 Ball 2
48 Certina 2
49 Clemence 2
50 Corum 2
51 Fortis 2
52 Glycine 2
53 Heimdallr 2
54 Helm 2
55 HGP 2
56 Hublot 2
57 Laco 2
58 Lorier 2
59 Marathon 2
60 Moser 2
61 Newmark (Modern) 2
62 Nomos 2
63 Nove 2
64 Pagani Design 2
65 Rotary 2
66 Singer Reimagined 2
67 Sterile 2
68 Stowa 2
69 Tag Heuer 2
70 Tressa 2
71 Accurist 1
72 Aevig 1
73 Airain 1
74 Alba 1
75 Allenby 1
76 Apple 1
77 Aquatico 1
78 Baltany 1
79 Bamford 1
80 Baume et Mercier 1
81 Bedat + Co. 1
82 Bell & Ross 1
83 Breil 1
84 Chronoswiss 1
85 Crepas 1
86 Deep Blue 1
87 Draken 1
88 Eberhard 1
89 Girard Perregeaux 1
90 Heritor 1
91 Junghans 1
92 Lemania 1
93 Linde Werdelin 1
94 Luch 1
95 Luminox 1
96 M B & F 1
97 Maen 1
98 Mido 1
99 Muhle 1
100 MWC 1
101 Nautilus 1
102 Nodus 1
103 Ocean Crawler 1
104 Oriosa 1
105 Oscar 1
106 Pequignet 1
107 Prometheus 1
108 Rado 1
109 Robert 1
110 Ryte Time 1
111 RZE 1
112 Samsung 1
113 Signum 1
114 Spinnaker 1
115 Steeldive 1
116 Steinhart 1
117 Thermidor 1
118 Timex 1
119 Traser 1
120 Vaer 1
121 Vantage 1
122 Ventura 1
123 Victorinox 1
124 Wempe 1
125 West End Watch Co 1
126 Wolbrook 1
127 Yema 1
128 Zelos 1
129 ZRC 1

[notnowkato]

late evening error

[notnowkato]

......

[earlofsodbury]

A compelling summary as always Wimm, thank-you

[Quality Man]

Blatant! How very dare you. Oh to be mentioned in the musings of Wimm, surely I have reached the Zenith of TZ membership? (Watch pun intended).


Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app

[Griswold]

Another great read Will, thanks for taking the time to do this.

[SteveDSSD]

A really informative report as always and I was fascinated to learn that ........." On the fifteenth there was a nice pair of Balls"

[greasemonkey]

enjoyable read as always Wimm,thanks for taking the time and trouble to do this.

[Sinnlover]

An enjoyable write up as always thank you