16 Comments
Sep 23Liked by Tony Traina

Hey T, keep em coming. My 'inbox highlight'...

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author

thanks for reading garth 🙌

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Sep 21Liked by Tony Traina

Love the free thoughts and concise writing Tony! Please keep it up! Your insights are a pleasure to read

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author

thanks for reading, larry!

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Sep 21Liked by Tony Traina

"What Nike Can Teach Us About Watches" is an interesting article. As a former analyst it's all about data points, the more the better, more accurate. If I might suggest, consider age groups. Me at 60 did not grow up with cell phones or personal computers. As a male, I grew up wearing a watch, simply to know the time, a pocket knife, because my dad said all men carry one. If I stepped out of the house w/o those things I was walking sideways all day. Working for an agency that sent me overseas, a watch was critical. Fast forward to today. I believe my brain likes analog better, I support this thought with graphs that easier for me to understand at a glance. As a life long Diver, I appreciate depth rating & lovely robust stainless steel. At 60 again, I find myself largely debt free & with more disposable income than in my younger years. Being a watch guy, not a jewelry guy & a life long dive watch wearer. Tudor kinda stokes me, but for me a watch is a tool, like my pocket knife or handgun on my hip. And stainless steel is the material of choice for all three. So to be clear, great article, excellent view into the subject. Overlay data points, generations, demographics & income variables. Thanks

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author

good points and POV, thanks for commenting Craig. I'm hardly a diver, but Tudor is far and away my favorite modern brand, too – a good watch is a good watch, across age, demographics, etc.

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Sep 25·edited Sep 25Liked by Tony Traina

Hey Tony - really enjoyed the article and I totally agree on the idea of little trends embedded within bigger trends and the importance of not confusing the two.

I would offer two other considerations.

First, we have to consider the interaction, or resonance if you like between multiple trends. So the trend of wearing more jewelry interacts with the trend to be more individual/nonconformist. This might mean for a moment a vintage piaget (jewelry and individual) is king but in the long run as the tide goes out on one of those trends maybe the crown goes to old gold rolexes (jewelry but conformist) or obscure 70s chronographs (toolish but individual).

Second. No trend is universal, in fact in the social media age ANY trend immediately fosters its photonegative. Those that dont want to shift to the new will cling to the old harder than ever, people will see those embracing the new and say "Im not one of them" and run the other way. So in truth old rolex midas watches AND 70s brietling chronos will be on trend, just with different people.

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good points, and both things i think about a lot. (1) how quickly trends move, and (2) how with social media especially it can feel like everything and nothing is a trend at the same time.

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I love Angela Cummings, she excels at beautiful inlaids that are very wearable. Her along and many other independent American jewelry designers from the 80's like Kieselstein, etc. are all fantastic, I wish they designed more watches.

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author

keep meaning to link your write-up response to my "market" article. next week!

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Thanks 🙏🏻 and excellent insight about jewelry and watches in this post, loved it 👍🏻

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Sep 23Liked by Tony Traina

Does this trend mean we’ll also see more “jewelry watches” in future? One can dream

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author

i think we already are!

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Sep 21Liked by Tony Traina

Nationalrarities is both interesting and, at least for me, a bit depressing. So many things that were personal treasures, mementos of accomplishment and symbols of life. Just dumped onto a soulless marketplace starting at $1.00. Rarely have I felt mortality so clearly. Here’s hoping I get a smoking deal, with box and papers.

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author

ha, i feel the same. i've bought a couple of watches from their semi-annual "drops" over the years. happy bidding, and i hope we don't run each other up this time 'round.

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The photo of the hands holding the gold Tank Normale is just chefs kiss

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