The Fourth Wheel, Issue 124

The One About The Publisher That Wanted To Be A Retailer, Became One, Stopped Being One, And Then Got Bought By One

Hello and welcome back to The Fourth Wheel, the weekly watch newsletter that has listened to your comments and cut things back a bit. I love getting stuck into a subject and last week’s essay on water resistance saw me get more stuck-in than a runaway elephant in a superglue factory. It’s very easy to think that the only way to give you value for money is to produce more and more content. Certainly I don’t want to leave you feeling short-changed. But enough of you let me know that last week went on a bit (I mean, a lot of you also told me you liked it, so I don’t feel too bad!) and words that don’t get read are like the proverbial tree in the forest. So this week I’ve returned to a slightly more manageable length, as I deliver my red-hot take on Hodinkee’s acquisition by Watches of Switzerland. Enjoy!

ps. Next week I think I’ll do a new watches rapid-fire-judgement, would we like that?

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The Fourth Wheel is a reader-supported publication with no advertising, sponsorship or commercial partnerships to influence its content. It is made possible by the generous support of its readers: if you think watch journalism could do with a voice that exists outside of the usual media dynamic, please consider taking out a paid subscription. You can start with a free trial!

Here’s a little taste of what you might have missed recently:

The Truth About Water Resistance
Everything I Learned About Hairsprings By Visiting Minerva
Review: Zenith’s Expensive Orange Dive Watches
Hall’s Gastronomy of Watchmaking
World Exclusive: Horological Dicktionary On The Record

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The news that Hodinkee had been bought by Watches of Switzerland Group (WSOG) came out last Friday so I am as ever right at the crest of the wave. Or not. One flattering - or sarcastic - fan was kind enough to observe that WSOG and Hodinkee clearly timed the news to avoid instant analysis on TFW. Absolutely right.

Late breaking additions to the news:

WatchPro reports that Hodinkee has sold Crown & Caliber to European Watch Company for “low six figures” - that’s the brand, its data, its social accounts and website. WatchPro also reports that Hodinkee’s remaining inventory of watches has been sold to Boneta Inc, a secondary market wholesaler. I don’t personally understand why WSOG didn’t acquire the inventory along with Hodinkee and just move it into its own sales channels, but maybe there’s a good reason.

Unintentionally sombre? Image: Hodinkee

Obviously the entire horological universe has had time to digest this news and pontificate into the ether on What It Means. So I won’t be doing exactly that - but you can bet I’ve got opinions to share.

Before we get to that I’d like to take a moment and invite everyone to consider the people still working at Hodinkee, as opposed to Hodinkee the title/company/brand. Especially the writers who often take direct and vocal criticism for whatever way in which Hodinkee is supposed to have displeased the faithful this week¹. I don’t say this to defend everything Hodinkee does - read on and you’ll see how true that is - but I speak as someone who has lived through a lot of this shit. I’ve lost my job in redundancies more than once; I’ve seen the magazine I worked for sold to new ownership, and I know what it’s like to work for a company that’s the constant focus of media speculation as regards its financial woes. The latter didn’t impact me personally that much, and as chance would have it this week we’ve learned that YNAP is being sold to MyTheresa, but my point is just to remember that there are real humans being tossed around on the corporate rollercoaster and sometimes it isn’t a great deal of fun.

Ok, on with the opinions.

Is it a good thing?

For WSOG, definitely. It has acquired plenty of valuable data and much besides for, if the rumours are to be believed, not very much money at all². For believers in independent journalism, or anyone -ahem- hoping to build a media business in this world, no. For Hodinkee? Given that as I understand it (and this comes from multiple sources) the business has been pretty close to the brink in the last 12-18 months, having a lifeboat arrive like this is going to be quite a relief. Whether it’s going to be plain sailing from here onwards depends, I suspect, on what seat you’re in.

It matters for all of us who make a living writing about watches, because when the market-leader in your business is in trouble, that should worry you. Plenty of ink and pixels have already been devoted to Hodinkee’s over-ambition and subsequent decline, and there are plenty of major watch websites that have carved out a living without rising so high or falling so fast, but broadly speaking I feel that the watch media needs a Hodinkee. That doesn’t mean it needs Hodinkee specifically; nothing has a God-given right to exist and if Hodinkee’s star wanes, something else will take its place. It’s a broader, more developed, more authentically multi-channel media landscape today than when Hodinkee began and a next-generation rival or successor might look very different. I have plenty of time for the likes of Monochrome, Fratello and so on, but they aren’t close to achieving the kind of status Hodinkee had at its height. Revolution is probably best placed to take market share, as it were, from Hodinkee - and bringing Jack Forster back into the fold is a well-timed, if serendipitous move on that front.

Also, it matters to me because I think independence is important. Thats why I founded The Fourth Wheel, and if I sell this to a retailer in ten years’ time you all have my explicit permission to print this out and beat me over the head with it. (I won’t care, I’ll have my Porsche and my golf club membership).