SDC Weekly 106.5; GPHG 2025
The GPHG's 800 CHF Marketing Lottery, Felix Baumgartner's Risk Legacy, Keanu's Stolen Watch Recovery, Rolex Sues Another Company, a Criminal Enterprise Run by Actual Monkeys and more...
🚨 “SDC Weekly again?” Well, yeah, have you forgotten the first “0.5” edition? Actually there were two… here’s the other.
I’ll keep it short, so fvck the pleasantries (and editor, too).
Estimated reading time: ~10 mins // Please read this post online for the best experience (the Substack app sucks!)
If you’re new to SDC, welcome! If you have more time, read some older editions of SDC Weekly here, or longer posts in the archive here.
🎢 The GPHG Lottery
Yeah, I know I said I would not discuss the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) ever again, but Seth Godin’s “Seeing the lottery” was a fantastic read, and it gave me an idea which applied to the GPHG… so here we are. He opens the essay with these words:
In a state run lottery, the deal is very simple: You pay your money, you take your chances. The government randomly chooses a winner and the winner gets a big prize and everyone else gets nothing.
But there are lotteries all around us, hidden in plain sight.
He then goes on to describe how, many systems around us operate just like gambling, but people pretend they are somehow merit-based. You pay your money, take your chances, and most people get nothing - but at least one party wins the prize.
Does this ring any bells?