Green Rambles: When Is Enough, Enough?

At least several times a month, I receive a press release of a new brand in my email box. While I applaud entrepreneurship, it still amazes me that there is a market for all these brands. Or perhaps differently phrased, that the founders think there is a market for these watches. While I don’t believe there is such a thing as too many watches, a new brand should add a new and unique flavor. What is most surprising is that many actually do, especially in recent years.

Not too long ago, the vast majority of new watch brands came straight out of an AliExpress catalog, with the only sense of creativity being the name or logo. Kickstarter was the preferred launch platform, so prior investments were as low as possible, with the opposite going for the potential revenues. Their press releases were always pretty much the same; they either wanted to ‘break the Swiss watch industry’ by cutting out the middle man, or they had a founder that has been passionate about watches his whole life but couldn’t find the perfect watch so he decided to make one himself. This is actually exactly the reason why most of us start collecting in the first place, and we don’t really see this as a problem. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, it always looked like something that was already out there.

With these types of ‘brands,’ enough is really enough. For the ones that take a more creative route, and pair this with heavy investments, putting their money where their mouth is, I can never get enough. At Watches & Wonders, I was enamored by Charles Zuber, a young brand, although with experienced founders, that brings something fresh to the market. Since their start in 2016, I have also been a fan of Isotope, which actually took a different approach to the classic divers watch. Then we have the already seasoned members of the newer brands, of which the relaunch of Czapek is an excellent example. So when is enough, enough? I don’t know yet, but when we reach that point, I will make sure to let you know here.