Category: Watch thoughts

Last year marked the 10-year anniversary of an icon no-one seems to be talking about anymore. And so, maybe it didn’t come as a surprise that the 10-year anniversary coincided with the announcement of Tudor retiring one of their models that once helped to reignite excitement in the Rolex’s dying sister brand. The job was done, and it had worked. But ten years down the line, trends and expectations of the brand have moved on: what felt spot on in 2013 would now face the risk of being an ugly duckling, not quite fitting in with the rest of Tudor’s line-up, but without the potential of turning into a swan.

So the watch was removed from production and will never be produced again. And as much as I adore this watch I do think it was the right decision. And it’s not the end. Because just as with our dearest characters in popular TV dramas that can die just to make a come-back seasons later, so have consumer brands a way of creating demand in their products by discontinuing legendary products only to bring them back in new, fresh packaging. Or shall we say recycled vintage packaging? One only has to glance at the automotive industry to see what’s going on. Look at the new Defender, the new Land Cruiser, the new Bronco. Or the Mini and Fiat 500 before that. And then look at the new releases from any Swiss watch brand from the last ten years. It’s all reissues from their back catalogue. Ok, maybe not all, but at least 50%.

Guess which watch was at the forefront of that trend?

Tudor Heritage Chrono

When you make a reissue of a 1972 chronograph you know you’re going to get polarising reactions. The 60s and 70s gave birth to some of the most interesting watch designs we’ve ever seen. Sometimes designs were a result of innovative necessity: a solution to a very real problem, as with the Omega Ploprof, designed to allow saturation divers to tell time at 1200 m depth. But often it wasn’t function before form: style meant everything, and both the 60s and 70s had heaps of it. Classics like the Heuer Monaco, Zenith El Primero and Seiko’s 6139 ‘Pogue’ all came out of the 70s or late 60s. What’s interesting is that these are all chronographs. If the 50s into the 60s was the era of dive watches galore, the batten must’ve undoubtedly be handed over to watches for motorsport and racing as the 70s was rolling in. And what do you need for tracking lap time? A chronograph complication.

Tudor’s original 1972 chrono, lovingly referred to as ‘Monte Carlo’ because of its resemblance to a roulette wheel fits right into the 70s ethos with its stark use of blue and orange. This is a watch that wants to be seen. Tudor was always seen as Rolex’s kid brother, or ‘poor man’s Rolex’. But with the Monte Carlo Tudor showed that it had an identity of its own, and quite fittingly this was then the model that was chosen to be reissued and announced at the 2010 Basel World, initially in black or grey. It would take another three years before the iconic blue version was released – the same year Tudor was reintroduced to the American market after a long hiatus. Tudor’s success since then can’t single handedly be given to the Heritage Chrono. In recent years it’s obvious that the dive-oriented Black Bay is the real star of the show, and Tudor has also done smart choices with their brand advocates in order to appeal to a younger audience. But the Monte Carlo is still the watch that grabbed me in 2013 and never let go, and given the praise this watch has received all around the watch community it’s easy to assume I’m not alone in having this sentiment.

Living with the ‘Monte Carlo’

Let’s just get a few niggles out of the way. This watch is not perfect. It’s a reissue but it’s not an exact copy. As such, Tudor decided to make some contemporary design decisions that ten years later are starting to feel questionable. Such as painting the Tudor emblem on the crown blue. Or using knurling for the bezel, crown and pushers, which gives off a utilitarian vibe that doesn’t quite match the otherwise so fun and playful design. The date window at six a clock is too small and barely legible, and the small sizing problem is again noticeable when you try and unscrew the pushers to use the chronograph. There are some sharp edges to the case and bracelet, which work well with the overall aesthetics but your wrist suffers from it from time to time.

And then there’s the size. At 42 mm width and a 50 mm lug-to-lug length, the Heritage Chrono had perfect dimensions in 2013 when large watches was all the rage. But preferences change, and in 2024 it’s more common to see releases around 39mm. It makes a big difference in wearability and comfort. The lume is far from great and reading the minute track on the chronograph sub-dial makes me wish I still had the eyesight of my youth (yes, I do use the chronograph daily – mainly for timing my coffee brew time and rest time between gym sets).

That might be a long list of nitpicking, because in the end I still love this watch. It’s not daily wear for me due to the reasons I mentioned, but it’s a watch I wear on a city break, on a night out or matched with smart casual outfit. There’s more to the Heritage Chrono than meets the eye: I love that despite being a reissue it has a story of its own, and helped Tudor regain its position in the US and the rest of the world. I love that it’s a bit left field and that I’ve never seen anyone wearing it, and that makes me stand out from the Submariners, the Seamasters and the Speedys. I love that it reminds me to live life now and not wait for ‘the right moment’ that may never come.

The Heritage Chrono is discontinued and production has stopped. But it’s not the end. The Monte Carlo will appear again when the world is ready for it, and I will keep wearing and loving mine until then.

Whether you like it or not, AliExpress offers some of the best value for money watches you can buy today. The Chinese factories have stepped up their watch game and created a big following in recent years. Most models to come out of Shenzhen are still copycats imitating the famous Swiss designs, but more and more we’re starting to see some original designs joining the virtual shop windows on AliExpress.

Here are some of my latest finds from spending too much time browsing watches this month. I don’t think any of these will make it to the Xmas tree for me, but maybe you find some inspiration for your or your partner’s stocking.

ADDIESDIVE AD2033

Addiesdive’s new AD2033 slogan reads ‘Exploring the unknown and stealing bravely’. Indeed they’ve explored the not so unknown Tudor catalogue and stolen the Ranger’s face. But instead of staying true to the original field watch, they’ve upgraded it to a diver and added a Seiko bezel. I quite like the look, especially with the BOR bracelet. Fair price at £89 and good dimensions to boot. Unfortunately the bezel isn’t lumed, not even the 12 hour pip. C’mon AddiesDIVE.

Addiesdive panda dial Type 20 chronograph

Powered by a Seiko VK64 is this stunning little Type 20 inspired panda chrono. Not a copycat per se, but also not very original. It’s a beautiful looking piece nonetheless at a good early bird price at £67. The case is very skin diver-esque and has screw-down crown for good water resistance, but the pushers are just made to look like screw-down. And this one has a lumed bezel! I’ll definitely consider this one during one of the sales.

Boderry VOYAGER

Boderry looks identical to Bertucci, which is the real deal here. But nevertheless, Boderry’s version comes with a titanium case, an automatic NH35 movement, 100m WR and a range of toned down but funky colours. It’s just a good deal.

MINUTETIME vintage Rolex Submariner

I’m not a Rolex guy. The brand and what it has become doesn’t speak to me. But I do have a weak spot for the vintage 5513 Submariner. Submariners have been cloned countless times, but this vintage design is seen less and the original Rolex is also more or less impossible to acquire for the average collector. So it’s cool to see the 5513 offered instead of the run of the mill modern Submariner. But what really caught my eye was the bubble boxed crystal. That is mouth watering.

Yes, what we got here is one of my personal favourites. The amount of wrist time it gets would not suggest this, but I can assure you every time I wear it and look down on my wrist I get a good feeling.

This watch was a substitute. Not a conscious one, but when I browsed my large library of screen grabs of nice watches across the web and saw the watch that inspired the Venturo purchase there was no question about it. This watch was the Leoncino with accents in rose gold by Magrette.

The Leoncino, as lovely as it is, was a bit outside my budget. That was in 2018. In 2020 Gruppo Gamma, a brand I have much respect for, put their Venturo Field II on sale. I had seen this watch before but never given it too much thought. This time however, with a discounted price to incentivise me, I gave it a good look and realised that the blue sunburst dial was rather stunning.

As mentioned, I didn’t see the resemblance with the Magrette back then, but given that I put the Venturo on a blue seatbelt nato strap I think it’s pretty obvious what I was going for.

It needs to be said though that this watch is not a substitute anymore. The Leoncino, now available in 40mm is mouth watering, but the Venturo Field 2 is gorgeous and holds its own. The 42mm case is based on an old Rolex field watch and its distinct look makes it, as someone on a watch forum put it, ‘a watch worn by people in the know’.

The watch goes well with most straps you throw at it. You can dress it up or down and the 200m WR makes it versatile to bring on any adventure you have in mind. Inside sits an NH35. Mine runs at -5s/day.

I don’t wear this watch as much as some of my other watches. As a daily I prefer to have at least a date function, and ideally a chronograph. But what it lacks in functionality it makes up for in charm and style. I don’t see it leaving the collection.

Behold the holy grail!

Is that what I will tell my fellow watch enthusiasts in a few weeks time when I proudly wear my grail watch on my left wrist? Probably not. Sure, the grail is a grail because it’s been a barrier to acquire, and as such bear a level of desirability. But it’s desirable to me, not anyone else.

In fact, I’ve never seen my grail on the wrist of anyone else, ever. It made a big bang at Baselworld 10 years ago, yet I’ve never seen it in the flesh (other than when I tried it on in 2018). And for me that’s a good thing. I like the unbeaten path and going against the grain. I like standing out a bit. If my grail was a Submariner I’d have to sit down and have a serious talk with myself.

Instead I’ve got a soft spot for 1970’s chronographs and dive watches. Funky, odd and tool-like – that’s my melody.

A grail watch wouldn’t be a grail unless it’s hard to acquire, maybe even unattainable. But my watch aspirations are modest. My mind is realistic and settles for the attainable (without compromising, mind you, but think Cayman instead of 911 GT3). I think it’s fair to say that it’s grail nonetheless. While other models have charmed me temporarily, this is the one watch my desire has been loyal to pretty much since its release in 2013. This particular grail watch is entry-level luxury from a brand that resonates well with me.

I’m not a fan-boy, but it certainly helps if the brand feels aligned with my own values. For instance, I’m definitely not Rolex. I’m not Breitling either and Omega just feels so vanilla. I’m not feeling Hublot nor TAG. I do feel Fortis, Oris and Sinn.

And I feel Tudor.

So it will be with a certain feeling of pride that I will wear my Tudor Heritage Chrono.

Why now?

I’ve been struggling with the idea of buying a luxury watch for a long time. I don’t like the idea of putting that much money into something as superficial and unnecessary as a watch. Besides, I like to wear my watches without too much caution. They are there to be used and abused. I’m not sure I’d be that carefree with a luxury watch.

Despite this, as with many collectors I’m sure, the idea of owning luxury watches, and in particular my grail watch has become more and more acceptable to me. I always thought I’d take the plunge in association with a big life event. A celebration or milestone. But this isn’t the case. I’ve got nothing going on in my life that I can tie this purchase to. The only post -realisation I’ve come up with is that it’s the watch’s 10 year anniversary – so maybe it’s celebration of the watch itself!

In reality though, Tudor is discontinuing the model this year and I think I rushed to acquire one before prices would go up, as they could easily do for discontinued iconic models like this one. That combined with a good deal found on Reddit, me not getting any younger and the realisation that money comes and goes so we might as well enjoy it (I’ve been working on letting go of my frugal mindset recently) sealed the deal in my mind.

And then what (life after acquiring a grail watch)?

What happens after one achieves a goal? Satisfaction? Emptiness? It’s not like I’ve ben savings up for this watch for years and finally get to reward myself. I’ve been holding back for other reasons mentioned above. But now’s the best time to do anything and I’m curious. Maybe I love it, maybe I’m too cautious to wear it and it ends up collecting dust.

One of my main concerns was that it will clash with my other pieces and I will somehow feel obliged to wear the Tudor more often as it’s now a main piece in my collection. But sop what? Who cares, if I want to wear it i wear it. I’m over that concern and most likely I’ll treat it just like any other watch I’ve got – wear it on a daily whim and to match the attire and occasion. It’s a summery watch though and I might wear it less in the autumn and winter.

I’m not done yet. Now when I’ve opened up the door to luxury watches it might not take long before I add the Sinn 103 ST – my other grail. With those two in my collection I’m not sure what would come next, but I’m sure I’ll enjoy the journey to come.

There comes a point in one’s watch collecting journey where you might ask yourself – Is this an addiction? Why am I spending time and money on a seemingly meaningless activity?

We collect watches because we enjoy it, that is pretty obvious. And as with anything one enjoys, it’s all peachy as long as there’s balance. As long as there’s not too much of it. What is too much of something is normally defined by the context. Too much food is when we gain undesired weight, too much sun is when we get a burn, too much work is when we start to neglect our health and family.

When is too much too much?

Too much watch collecting is a more subjective threshold. For me it’s when I feel guilty because I spend resources that could’ve gone towards improving and investing in my life in some way, be it health, relationships, knowledge or something else. And I do feel this from time to time. Time, yes, indeed time is ironically the resource I feel most guilty about putting into my watch collection.

Luckily I don’t hoard watches, and I enjoy cheap watches just as much as expensive ones so it’s not an expensive hobby either. It’s mainly the time that goes into browsing watches online. But also the cognitive dissonance from growing a collection of items that I don’t need. I hate waste and try to keep in my life only things I need and use regularly. A more sensible collection of watches, where each watch has a distinct function, would be in the range of two to five.

My collection is currently 12 and growing, excluding my Gloriousdays watches.

Can you stop collecting watches?

But am I addicted? Addiction would imply that I cannot control my desires and luckily it hasn’t gone that far. For people with hundreds of watches I have to wonder though. Can they stop if they wanted to? What’s missing in their life that they’re trying to fill with all these watches?

I have periods when I browse watches online for hours every day. Then I have periods when I hardly even think about watches at all. Those periods are usually filled with something else, like recently when I started wakeboarding and don’t think about anything but the next trick I’ll try on the cable.

Filling the void

I believe we collect objects as a substitute for something more meaningful. We lack something in our life and we look the other way and bombard out senses with ‘stuff’ to not have to face this fact.

So regardless of what you’re collecting, and even if it’s far from an addiction, ask yourself this – what’s my collection a substitute for? What’s missing in my life?

Short answer:

No. There are so many better things you can do with your time.

But.

Watch collecting, or any type of collecting for that matter, is quite a nice activity. It’s a short lived pleasure however, just like watching sitcoms or having sex with people you don’t know.

So I just threw watch collecting into the same bag as one-night-stands? Yes I did that.

For a fulfilled life (forget about pursuing happiness, it doesn’t work) you want long lasting effects. Invest in relationships, invest in your purpose, invest in developing yourself. Collect experiences and memories.

That’s the simple formula. And watches aren’t part of it. But that doesn’t have to stop us from acquiring a new one every now and then. Pleasure is important (be it watches or one-night-stands) but it shouldn’t be at the expense of that other stuff mentioned above.

What’s the danger with watch collecting?

There’s a reason ‘watch porn’ is a term. One can get obsessed with watches, browse Instagram feeds for hours, ebay for days. That’s not healthy. And it might actually be a sign of procrastination and avoiding something you should be doing but don’t want to deal with.

And because watches are relatively harmless there is little stigma in obsessive watch collecting. It’s easy to find like-minded people in various online forums that will happily echo your sentiment in order to confirm and support their own skewed view on what brings value to their lives. 200 watches sitting in neat rows in a dozen boxes in their dresser don’t. They might think they do but then they don’t get life.

Of course I’m projecting a bit here, because my philosophy is ‘one watch per occasion’, but I cringe so hard when I read about people brining five watches on a weekend trip or collectors changing watch three times a day just to rotate their collecting.

Hey collector, collect whatever you want to collect. Do it your way and own it proudly. It’s your life, and if watch obsession isn’t a waste of time in your eyes then it isn’t.

And if you have 199 watches and looking for that #200, maybe a cushion shaped bamboo watch is exactly what’s missing in your collection.

When it comes to watches, few topics are so polarising as the quartz versus mechanical one. It’s a silly thing to get caught up in since in the end it doesn’t matter, and you don’t have to take a stance.

No one has ever been forced to choose between battery or spring powered watches for life. Yet, on watch forums you always come across camps of purists (or watch snobs) and functionalists (or cheapos). I belong to the big crowd of middle-ground people who enjoy owning and using both types of watches.

A journey of maturity

In the early days, when a watch was just a watch, I didn’t care. Which means that as far as I was aware, a watch was battery powered. The world of mechanical was still unknown to me. The only mention of anything remotely mechanical was a class mate telling me that you could tell if a Rolex was real by looking at the second hand sweep. Real Rolexes had a smooth sweep, contrary to the ticking motion of a Quartz watch.

Over time I learnt that only really expensive watches used mechanical movements, and since I couldn’t fathom why anyone would spend thousands on a watch I simply left that world to itself and set up my own, Quartz powered, watch brand.

After getting into mechanical watches in 2016, that was for a long time the only thing I would consider (yes, I was one of the snobby campers). In the last year or so I’ve started to appreciate the value proposition in Quartz again. Albeit inherently less charming that mechanical, a Quartz watch will compensate with usability and can still be an awesome looking piece.

Why Quartz? Why mechanical? Let’s list the reasons.

If you’re not quite sure why to get one or the other type of watch, here’s my list of strengths for each type.

Strengths in a Quartz watch

• Accuracy. Thanks to the Quartz crystal, the watch ticks along at exactly one second per tick. If you need accuracy over a long period, Quartz cannot be beaten.
• Practicality. Because a Quartz watch is battery powered and can run non-stop for three to five years on one battery you hardly have to worry about it. It’s a grab and go solution and you’ll be very unlucky to time it so that it runs out of juice exactly when you need it and can’t get hold of a new battery. Combine that with the accuracy of the watch and you can safely leave it in a drawer for months, even years and trust that it will be ready for you when you pick it up.
  • Variety. A Quartz watch can look exactly like a mechanical watch. It can do the same stuff, normally displaying a combination of hands and dials, date and day complications. But on top of that it can also display time digitally. Mechanical watches can’t do that (I’m sure it’s been done, but it’s not commercially available as a mainstream option).
    • Price. Quartz watches are usually much cheaper than their mechanical counter parts. A Quartz movement is dirt cheap to produce on a factory assembly line without human intervenor. Mechanical watches are little wonders of engineering and craftsmanship, and even the cheapest movements require human assembly.

Strengths in a mechanical watch

• Sustainability. A mechanical movement is built to be self-sustainable and last over time. In this day and age where everyone needs to do their part for the environment, it feels good to know that the watch you’re wearing does not require change of batteries and with good care will last for generations.
• Beauty and emotional value. Most people who are into mechanical watches appreciate them for their sweeping second hand and the enabling engineering in motion that goes on under the hood. Mechanical movements are also beautiful to look at in themselves and many of them are showcased behind display case backs for this reason.
• Intimacy. Mechanical watches are less accurate than Quartz. As a result you have to adjust them every now and then. If your watch is hand wound, you also have to wind it up every day for it to keep ticking. All this fidgeting means that over time you build up a closer, dare I say more intimate relationship with your watch. This is all very subjective and to some people this is not desirable or even true and would not be considered a strength.

Hybrids – Best of both worlds?

One doesn’t have to go strictly one or the other nowadays. If you’re a watch collector you’re likely to have plenty of both in your collection, or if you’ve managed to cut it down to a two watch collection, commonly consisting of a daily and a dressy type events watch, it would make a lot of sense to use Quartz for the daily workhorse, and go for a swanky mechanical for the event watch.

But if you’re a hardcore ONE watch only type person you can get a bit of both worlds in either a solar powered Quartz or a meca-quartz movement. It’s not a like-for-like replacement, but at least with solar-powered movements you don’t have to replace the battery as often, which is convenient and eco-friendly. What you gain with a mecaquartz watch is a sweep of the seconds hand that, although not as smooth as most mechanicals, come pretty close to a smooth sweep. In addition, if your watch is a chronograph, you get mechanical pushers with tactile feedback that many people prefer over the mushy press of a Quartz chrono pusher.

My big brother has got two watches. One is for work and formal events, and one is for adventures. That’s all you need really. I wish I could be the same. Just own two watches; an everyday wearer and a beater. Instead I’ve got 16 everyday wearers, and because I like a rugged style, nine of them also second as beaters pretty much.

Ok, so why is this a problem for me? I’m not hoarding, all watches get worn and it’s not like they take up space or create a deficit in my wallet. It’s a problem because a watch is an intimate item, being there with you for all sorts of events, and as such they become artefacts of memorabilia. Even with a fairly small collection of 16 watches (albeit six being the Gloriousdays collection) each watch naturally doesn’t get that much wrist time after all, and they’d be lucky to come along on a trip or other eventful experience.

Two watches, a lot lot lot of memories

Take my brother again. Two watches. They come along on a helluva lot more events than any of my watches do individually. I bet he’s got a bunch of memories attached to each of them by now. His promotion to manager, his engagement, his move to the UK, his move back to Sweden, the birth of his child, his bonding trip to Scotland with our dad… At all these big events in his life he was either wearing his Omega or his Tissot. Talk about charging objects with emotional value!

See, I wish I could do the same. Load my watches with memories. Every scratch would mean something. Obviously they still do even if my collection is larger, but there aren’t hardly any scratches on the watches! And I sort of like a bit of evidence of a rough and tumble lifestyle. It’s all part of the charm.

Collect carefully

It’s easy to get carried away in today’s watch world. There are so many enticing offerings out there and, at least for me, watch collecting is not about owning many watches but is about finding a good deal that ticks all the boxes. This chase for intermittent rewards makes it a mere a substitute for gambling, porn (ever heard about watch porn eh?), or casual sex. In essence it goes against my philosophy in life which is about sustainable living, resourcefulness and avoiding excess. Two watches, maybe even just one watch – heck maybe no watch at all? Nah. One or two, that sounds fair. Ok, maybe even three.

At least I’m not hoarding. When a watch loses emotional value or can’t be justified to stay in the collection I sell it. I keep my collection fairly lean. But the problem with that is that sometimes I sell watches that I’ve had for a while and inherently have built up some memories with them. Letting them go is almost like letting a bit of the memories go. I always make sure to document my pieces through my watch photography though. That is one way I can keep my watches forever.

Could I do it?

Say I had to sweat my collection to only two pieces tomorrow. Which ones would I keep? I bet you can relate. It’s not an easy task, however I also think it’s a fun and maybe even healthy thought experiment. Would you pick your latest crush, or would you pick your oldest friend?

Today my answer would look like this. Next week maybe it would look differently.

Seiko Turtle has a fascinating history preceding the latest iteration/reissue released in 2016. It’s got its ocean-inspired nickname from the iconic cushion-shape case, but also because its a competent diver – just like its namesake.

Many a gospels have been sung about the Seiko SKX, but I don’t think I’m alone in saying that the Turtle probably deserves more recognition than the SKX in many regards. For me, it’s mainly its visual appeal.

Seiko Turtle will look better the more you beat it up

It’s a gorgeous watch that screams outdoor adventure. It’s a beater in its true meaning. It’s designed to be on your wrist whatever your activity. I especially like the day date feature so you can ensure you’re going to the airport on the right day, after weeks of losing yourself in a new culture, environment or hobby.

I’ve got one on order for myself and I’m curious to see if I fall in love with it in person after being infatuated with it online for a while.

I started Gloriousdays in 2012. Ten years ago there really weren’t many watch brands specialising in natural materials like wood and bamboo. It felt new and fresh, and it was the perfect accessory for the type of lifestyle I wanted to portrait with the brand.

Quickly the natural material watch trend took off and more small brands joined the trend – all fuelled by whitelabel designs straight out of Shenzhen.

That’s right. Don’t believe the marketing bs about hand crafted watches, made from carefully selected trees as if the makers sat in some little workshop making watches from trees in their back yard. Go on Alibaba.com and search wooden watch and you see what I mean.

There’s nothing wrong with the white label model though. Gloriousdays works on this model too. There’s still plenty of time that goes into design concepts, face design, material choices and prototyping in order to create a piece I’m proud to wear and sell.

But due to this easy entry level there are obviously lots of choice in todays market, even when the natural material trend has cooled off a bit.

Wood watch brands in 2022

Let’s take a look at what wood watch brands are available in 2022.

Woodwatch

https://www.woodwatch.com/en/

Can’t get more obvious than that. Generic eco-focused branding with the tree planting gimmick. Designs look generic, straight out of the factory catalogue.

Holzkern

https://www.holzkern.com/en-gb/

Aiming for a more premium segment with some automatic watches in the line-up and ghastly combinations of stone, metal and wood designs, which I’m sure appeal to some people.

Waidzeit

https://waidzeitdesign.com/

A wood watch brand out of Austria who’s getting their wood from up-cycled whiskey and wine barrels. Again, designs look fairly generic without much brand DNA apparent across watch designs.

JORD

https://www.jord.co/

JORD are OG’s in the wood watch biz. They’ve been around for quite some time and have always impressed with outlandish designs and mixing all sorts of materials. If that’s your thing you should have a look at their site.

TruWood

https://www.mytruwood.com/

Another generic, we-plant-trees type brand. They are going (mainly) with simple and clean designs which we all have to appreciate in the wood watch world where the norm seems to be ghastly and loud.

treehut

https://treehut.co/

More of the factory catalogue on display here. Listen to some of their marketing spiel, which is obviously utter bollocks.

Located in California among the greatest of nature, Treehut is not only inspired by its environment but also driven by the spirit of innovation.

Our watches are handcrafted with great precision and skill. Each watch we make is naturally unique and handcrafted out of real wood and marble.

BOBOBIRD

https://www.bobobird.com/

At this point we’re swimming in ghastliness. What is it with wood watches and over the top designs? Isn’t wood products supposed to be all about natural minimalism, letting the beauty of the grained material do the talking etc? Bobobird thinks otherwise.

Original Grain

https://www.originalgrain.com/

Another OG (pun not intended) in this area of watch making. As far as I can tell they were first out with the ghastly designs and wild combos of stone, metal and wood in their designs. They must’ve inspired hundreds of budding woodtrepreneurs.

Lux Woods

https://www.luxwoodwatches.com/

More of the same that we’ve already seen on this list so many times before. Sorry, this is getting repetitive and boring. But – they do have and OG design (looks familar? Gloriosudays will say yes) among all the over-the-top designs.

Wristwood

https://wristwood.co.uk/

You can have wood in many places. Buy a Wristwood watch to have wood on your wrist. Part from the catchy brand name we also find generic designs and soppy origin stories on their site.

I have spent a lifetime working with wood, beginning in my Grandad’s workshop as a young boy, his hand guiding mine whilst I cut out the template for a simple toast rack.

selecting the best materials and developing it into a unique and artisan product

Selecting on Alibaba.com, that is?

Svenn

https://www.svenn.co/

Svenn, my man (Sven is a classic Swedish name) – It’s good to see a minimal approach to both watch design and product lineup. Less is more and a fresh breath of air after this hideous list. Keep on rocking! (they also plant trees)

Is the wood watch landscape in 2022 really this bad?

Yes. There is no denying this.

Luckily I don’t have to feel like I’m part of this world with Gloriousdays. Because I use bamboo, not wood 😉

Now go browse some beautiful bamboo watches to cleanse your eyes.