Perspectives

Structural analysis of horology — brand positioning, market cycles, and the craft–commerce tension.

The collection · 113 essays

Patek Philippe: The Independent Watchmaker That Still Controls the Game

Patek Philippe is not fascinating because it is difficult to buy at retail. It is fascinating because, after...

TAG Heuer’s central problem is not that it lacks history. It has more usable history than...

Hublot is the watch industry’s most useful irritant. Collectors often treat the brand as shorthand for...

Tudor is no longer meaningfully explained as the “affordable Rolex.” That phrase was useful when the brand...

Longines is easy to underestimate because it does not ask to be mythologised. It neither performs the scarcity...

If Tissot disappeared tomorrow, the Swiss watch industry would lose more than a familiar logo in shopping districts...

Cartier’s modern strength is that it never needed to win the same argument as Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet...

Omega is most often misread when it is treated as a substitute for something else. Not quite Rolex,...

Swatch is often misread because it looks unserious. That is the trap. The brand’s cases were plastic, its colours...

Rolex is often discussed as if it were simply the most famous Swiss watch brand. That understates the...