I believe the watch industry is in a condition of serious danger.  Ten years of incredible sales brought on by what we now know to be a completely artificial boom here in the US and now economic growth in Asia have made it too easy to think for the short term at the detriment of the long without realizing the effects.  Brands have not paid the proper amount of attention and respect to their collectors, their products or their business models.  Here is a short list of what I would like to see change for the health of the industry as a hole.

1. Pricing is out of control.  We ALL know this to be true.  Walk into a retail store and try to buy a nice watch for less than $9000 retail.  It is incredibly difficult.  Watches that were in production 10 years ago now routinely cost double for the same piece.  10 years ago, a Patek perpetual chrono cost about $35,000.  Now $135,000.  Most of the interesting stuff starts at around $100,000.  This is insanity.  Brands need to control their costs better and maybe stop lining their pockets so thickly.  This can only continue for so long before a critical mass of collectors realize things have gotten out of control.
2. Explore new sales channels.  The internet is the most power sales tool in history.  Sorry for my retailer friends, but why are retailers getting the same margins they were before that marketing and sales channel existed?  In many cases, why are they even necessary?  Want to cut costs to bring pricing back to earth?  Here’s a great place to start.  The sales pipeline is stuck in the past.  The answer is not just to open up fancy brand boutiques and keep the margin, the answer is to streamline and cut prices.
3. Create products with soul.  Aside from a few independents and the occasional big brand release, most new watches have no soul.  A mechanical watch either has to be art or extremely practical.  If it’s over about $10,000 you can toss practical aside.  So what we have is an industry trying to make art, but 95% of the artists are untalented dilettantes who in most cases don’t even understand what art is and that it is their job to make it.  To make a watch for $200,000 where things flip around and at precisely 8am it shoots water in the wearers eye and says “I love you” is not art.  To make something just “because it’s cool” is not art except for a very very small number of true tastemakers who have such a solid grasp of the product that it works.   I’m sorry, but most of this stuff is shit.  The product people in the industry need to take a hard look at why mechanical watches exist and what they can truly offer of value – not repetition or novelty.

Will we see this at SIHH next week?  Of course not.  And so I wish my friends – the good guys – good luck at the show, and I will enjoy reading about it from Los Angeles.

First, my leaving in no way reflects on MB&F.  They are fantastic people, running a fantastic company.  I greatly enjoyed my time there and am proud to have helped them get to where they are.  We are parting on very good terms, and I have made it known that I am available to help them in the future should they need anything.

So leaving really came down to two things – personal goals, and timing.  Most importantly, I am ready for a new challenge.  Learning a completely new industry, new skills, and meeting so many great people has been an amazing challenge and growth experience.  Now I would like to synthesize that and all of my previous experience to create something really big.  And the timing was right to make the switch.  I am confident that the gains I have achieved and contacts I have made are stable enough that I can hand them back to our Geneva office, and they will continue here in North America without losing too much momentum.

So what is next?  Honestly, I am still deciding.  I have a few ideas of businesses I would like to start and some interesting job offers.  Some are watch related, some are not.  I got into the watch industry almost by accident.  Now I want to take a step back and make a real decision if I want to get back into it or not.  Most importantly, I want to work with super bright, driven people who are focused on creating something important.  I was lucky to have that experience with MB&F, and I hope to find or create it again.

Of course I will keep the blog going and keep everyone updated here.  If you have any questions about my leaving or my time in the industry, now is a great time to ask and I’ll try to write them up as posts.  Thank you again for the support – the future is very exciting!

Dear Friends,

After 3 great years, I am resigning from my position at MB&F. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able to work with such an amazing team that is creating some of the most fantastic mechanical sculptures in the world. Max and I set out to firmly establish and grow the brand in North America. I believe we accomplished that goal. I have tried to do everything with the integrity I would expect as a watch collector myself, and am honored to have helped foster MB&F’s reputation for passion and pride. I feel comfortable handing the reigns back to our Geneva office as I pursue other projects.

It has been an absolute pleasure meeting and working with all of you. I hope to keep in touch. My personal email address is xxxx, cell phone is xxxx, and Twitter @SDHallock. I will hopefully now have more time to keep up with my blog, www.ticktocking.com, and write for other outlets, so you can follow me that way as well.

Sincerely,

Steve

I will start by saying that in general, I don’t feel that my path was very replicable, but there are some lessons to take. I never wanted to work in the watch industry. Frankly, I’m still not sure if I do. I happened to get an opportunity to work with an amazing team, led by a brilliant entrepreneur, who produce spectacular products. That the products are watches is almost inconsequential to my desire to be involved.

My background is in finance and technology. I created my first company at a young age and went on to start a few other interesting projects. I had some decent successes and some spectacular failures, like most entrepreneurs. Along the way I was able to make a bit of money – and as a young guy with no real responsibilities, I was happy to store some of it in toys: cars first, then watches. I’ll write another post sometime detailing how I really got into watches, but suffice it to say I went down the rabbit hole quickly. I immersed myself in the online forums, learned everything I possibly could, and attended every meetup or brand event that I could – even though I was routinely 20 years younger than anyone else there.  It was at one of these dinners that I met Max Busser, years before we would work together.

Living in Los Angeles, I was able to meet Thomas Mao and eventually was asked to help as he transitioned from ThePuristS to PuristSPro.  This brought me further into the industry, if nothing more than forcing me to think about it on a deeper business level than I had as a collector.

I had sold my last business and was taking a year off when Max and I sat down for coffee in 2008.  He was in Los Angeles and we had kept in touch.  I admired what he was doing and he recognized that I was someone early on who “got it”.  But the meeting was to be nothing more than two friends chatting.  Over the course of the meeting it became clear that he needed some help in the US.  I thought about it overnight, asked him to meet the next day, and from there we decided to start MB&F North America.

My path into the industry was not traditional, and in fact my job is not traditional.  I don’t believe there really is any analogous position in the watch world.  However, there are a couple points that I believe are important not just for the watch industry but for any.  First, learn everything you can about the subject.  Become an expert.  Meet everyone you can.  Opportunities will arise and you will already be a value added employee.  Also, be generous with your time and help.  When the opportunities present themselves for you to be helpful, do it.  Don’t worry about getting paid for everything or lining up whatever comes next.  If you help enough people, it will work out.  Other than that, the only truly important piece is to only get into watches if you’re passionate about them and only with a company that you truly believe has integrity.  The last thing the world needs is another hired gun watch salesmen peddling marketing BS.

I hope that answers the question from those who have asked.  If not, feel free to post in the comments and I’ll try to answer.

I showed up to my local Apple Store at 5am on the day the first iPhone launched, proudly jettisoned my Blackberry, and marveled at the groundbreaking device.  However, after a while I grew frustrated with AT&T service and decided to give Android a shot on another carrier.  This was a few years ago, and I have been an Android user ever since.  I love testing out the newest phones and am not shy to pay an early termination fee or buy a phone at full price, so in that span I have had 10+ Android phones.  Plus, I am a constant tinkerer so I have rooted them and tried various ROMs and customizations.  I have definitely gotten most everything out of the Android experience.

So, like any Android fanboy, I am eagerly anticipating the Galaxy Nexus, Google’s upcoming flagship phone sporting their newest operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich.  I am especially interested because my current phone, the LTE Samsung Droid Charge, is junk.  As Samsung and Google have repeatedly pushed the Nexus launch back, I figured now would be a perfect time to see what Apple has been working on for the last few years.  So I picked up an iPhone 4S and have been using it as my primary device for two weeks.

The short version of my verdict: it’s a great phone with some unfortunate shortcomings.

First, the biggest win for the iPhone is that the hardware and software just work.  Nearly every Android phone I’ve had suffers from some sort of hardware or software issue.  My current Droid Charge has faulty GPS that always thinks I’m a few blocks from where I am.  I’ve had two warranty replacements with the same issue so I believe it is inherent to the phone itself, not my personal device.  My previous phone, the HTC Thunderbolt, would drop it’s connection and never reconnect without me physically turning the phone off and on.  Apps force close.  Performance seems to slow to a crawl after a few weeks of use, not unlike older Windows PC’s that fly at first and slowly start to run like they’re stuck in tar.  Carriers load the phones with unnecessary programs that can’t be removed, manufacturers use their own “skins” which add ugly design and weird functionality straight on top of the OS that cannot be undone without rooting.  The whole thing is a bit of a mess that requires constant tinkering to get working just right.

The iPhone just works.  The phone does not hesitate to open or do what you ask it to.  Whatever the hardware specs, it never hesitates with anything, has only crashed once, and in general requires no tinkering at all.  This is a huge plus most of the time, and for any casual user it makes the iPhone almost a no brainer.  Unfortunately the negative is that what you see is what you get.  If you do want to tinker or change something, you don’t have many options.

Case in point, Google Voice.  I use Google Voice as my primary number.  Google Voice integration with the iPhone is miserable at best.  Whereas Android basically allows Google Voice to take over your phone, Apple has their dialer and address book locked down completely.  This alone may be a deal breaker for me.

And while iOS generally has a better App selection, Android still has the leg up with the most important Apps.  Google Maps on Android blows away maps on iOS.  Gmail is, not surprisingly, a million times better on Android than iOS where you are forced to use a web app.

And that brings us to Siri.  If you read any tech press, you haven’t escaped talk of Siri, Apple’s new voice controlled “personal assistant”.  Apple calls Siri a beta project and in my experience it has been just that.  Slow, unreliable and mostly unhelpful, Google voice search and voice control are much more useful.  ”Navigate to Pazzo Gelato” gets me instant turn by turn navigation to my favorite dessert.  My best use of Siri has been to set my alarm in the morning.

My last big point is LTE.  I cannot tell you how great Verizon’s LTE network is.  I get cable modem speeds with my phone.  I have not had to connect to hotel wifi in a year as I tether my laptop through my phone.  Apple absolutely has to put LTE chips in its next iPhone or it will fall woefully behind.

There are lots of other small plusses and minuses for each, but the bottom line is clear.  It is hard to overstate the value of having a device with fantastic build quality that works perfectly and clearly has had every element well thought out.  The iPhone is that device.  However, I am still eagerly awaiting the Nexus and will likely stay on Android for the foreseeable future.  The core apps are that good.  I just hope the hardware manufacturers can step up their game.

I believe Google is going to succeed with Google+.  They have so many resources and they are completely dedicated to this project.  They know that social signals are an important missing piece of their system.

Today I’ve started the TickTocking Google+ page.  Click the link and add it to your circles quickly.  It will allow us to do all sorts of cool things, the neatest of which is multi-person video hang-outs.  I’ll try to start the first official TickTocking hangout next week, so make sure you get on the page ASAP.

Well isn’t this a meaty topic.  I will direct the conversation by first modifying the premise: *SOME* watch designers have run out of things to say.  With that modification comes my biggest complaint with Jack’s point and that is he is arguing this is a product of the industry and watchmaking in general.  I would argue that this is because there are very few really good product people in the industry.

First, going back to my somewhat provocative recent post (Chronometry, who gives a sh!t?) I think a vast portion of the industry is missing a basic understanding of WHY they are doing what they’re doing and what a mechanical watch is in 2011.  Then you add risk aversion, design by committee, focus on sales and marketing rather than product, and a whole slew of other depressing corporate issues and you’re left with uninspired and confused watches.

There are some genuinely talented and passionate designers in the industry.  They have a very clear raison d’etre.  For them, ideas are a dime a dozen.  They have genius products lined up for years.

Unfortunately, most consumers are not that well educated.  The bad sells as well or better than the good in most cases.  This gives the wrong feedback to the people in charge.  If we educate customers and make them more thoughtful purchasers so that the junk dies and the cream comes to the top, you’ll see tons of amazing products for years to come.  In the meantime, I will continue to cringe a lot.

I like this idea a lot.  I’m going to follow his series here and post some comments as he goes.

The first reason is “They are bloody expensive”.

A fitting place to start.  Most of my friends are not into watches and not fabulously wealthy.  I generally recommend they don’t even bother with a mechanical watch under $3000 or so – and at that you’re really looking at vintage to get good value.  The pieces I find to be particularly worthwhile are all in the yearly salary range.

So yes, this is a very fair criticism.  The way I deal with this personally is to always remember that in general, these are ridiculous purchases.  Therefore, in order to justify their merit, they have to be something really special.  That is why the general tone of my posts is to focus on intangibles, historical significance, etc.  Some pieces, upon close analysis, seem to be bargains even at very high prices.  Others fall completely flat.

This also brings up one of my biggest gripes with the watch media (see Jack, I praise and then I taketh away ).  Who is looking out for us and holding these brands accountable?  Why are there watches that cost 100% more for the exact same watch now than they did 6 years ago?  Why is the media so shy to question where the value is in these things?  I see the tremendous amount of work, risk, and skill that goes into creating pieces at MB&F and even at the high prices they seem like a bargain (no one is getting rich off of MB&F, unfortunately).  There are other watches I see at the same price points that are just silly – offering no value at all.  I do believe the watch media has completely dropped the ball on educating the public as to which is which.

Let’s see what Jack has up his sleeve for Reason Number 2…

EDIT: As clarified in the comments below.  I use MB&F as an example not to say that they’re the only brand making good watches, but simply because I get to see the entire process there so I can be 100% certain in my assessment