Cartier's Cost Cutting, Does Rolex Own a Newspaper?, China Update, Watch Deposits, Hypercars and Investment, Rolex Price Lists and Increases, Surveillance Capitalism, 10,000 year clock and much more!
Congrats on the best seller milestone. So incredibly happy for you, and inshAllah wish you continued success in all of your life’s endeavors. Wholeheartedly appreciate the learning and knowledge that you so graciously share. 👏
First, huge congratulations. The content is always first rate and what tremendous discipline it must take to deliver to such a high standard every week. I will say, don't get burnt out. I wouldn't be upset if there was a week off from time to time.
I think you had a poll a couple of weeks back about how to treat the content and I voted to make it 100% paid. There might be an option in between, where the entire content isn't given away a week later. This content doesn't seem to be particularly time sensitive to me, I think I just proved it going back through the last month that I missed. I just feel allowing people to enjoy the content free, only a week later, is too generous. You know what your stats are, so what do I know, but I might try a model where maybe one week is free as a trial but the rest remains locked. I think you might see more conversions. My 2 cents, perhaps not actually worth 2 cents :D
Ok, off to read the rest of this week. Again, congrats and thanks!
Interesting reflections, and they resonate very much. To add some context: The fully paid option will, I think, guarantee reduced reach/readership which is not a good outcome, because ultimately this is supposed to be a community loudspeaker on major issues (in addition to the other random content which is nice but not necessarily 'topical' - Indeed, that is exactly what you refer to when you said most of it isn't time sensitive...
So perhaps you're right - at the moment it is 2 weeks delay (has been 2 weeks, not one, for about 6 months or so). Perhaps I will increase it to 3 weeks from next week... Just because you suggested it 🤣
Congrats F!! It’s a nice milestone to achieve so quickly. You brought up the fact that a lot of collectors view this hobby as a disease, I see it more so as an addiction - of the worst kind. Almost everyone here has an addictive personality I’d guess, I definitely do!
Congratulation! This is so exciting! And I’m sure it’s just a beginning :D
I enjoy every subject to write about but unfortunately can’t comment on everything because my knowledge is more limited than yours and some other people here :) so best thing is to “listen/read” hehehe
Even though you do incredible amount of work I wouldn’t make it entirely paid because someone may just look out of curiosity and fall into this very enjoyable rabbit hole of information and choose to stick around 🤷🏻♀️
Chinese market was super interesting btw! So lame advice to skip it :P
First of all, congratulations on an incredible accomplishment!
Not just the number itself but the quality of content has been outstanding!
Always interesting, educational, challenging, (especially challenging involving some rethinking of previously confirmed biases which is a gift in itself!) …. too many times took me down some unusual side roads and rabbit holes 🕳️ I might never have been aware of!
An unusual combination of circumstances this week required me to read this issue in about seven different parts over four time periods the last several nights thus the late comments ….. as we say “man plans, God laughs.”
Insha’Allah here’s to year number 2 🥂….job well done mate! 🧉
BTW I considered leaving the numerous typos in the first draft (because I voice texted it) in here just to show my solidarity with your humility in suffering this affliction but changed my mind 😜😂🫡
Greta post. Congratulations on a year of consistent hard work and posts. I enjoyed the depth of the post on a larger variety of topics. The economic impact of China I found interesting and can’t help but wonder what other secondary and tertiary effects it may have on luxury sector goods globally.
Great job working “Die With Zero” into watch collection. The gifting and giving now as what stuck out most to me. How the impact early, even though it’s less has a larger impact on the recipients life. Much like your section on discounted rate and opportunity cost. There is a compounding effect, just it quantifies in a different way.
Thank you, and pleased you found SDC - definitely amongst the most voracious consumers in recent memory... although this one guy, Bruce, definitely takes the cake 😂
I think China has a bigger impact than the west cares to admit... both from a production, as well as a consumption angle.
Ha! Glad you liked the 'Die with zero' bit - was a lovely idea, and appreciate you suggesting it. The compounding you speak of, also works in a way I hadn't appreciated: As you make more memories, the positive mental upside causes you to seek out opportunities (to make more memories) even more than you would before... this 'willingness to make an effort', clearly, compounds too. Isn't that wonderful?!
Industrial Design awards are the similar (IDSA, Red Dot, G-Mark, etc.) with similar conflicts of interest. Large design departments typically have a yearly budget and submit products they think have a good chance of winning depending on the category and association they are submitting to. Most have fees associated with submitting. A key KPI for those who manage this for the brands is the percentage of "wins" for the budget spent on submissions. I imagine smaller brands/departments agonize over how much of their limited resources should be devoted to the chance of getting a win and the recognition/marketing value it provides.
Indeed- I'd imagine many use their entire 'marketing budget' on something like this, and spend nothing anywhere else - just because of lower production not needing any more marketing than one of these events.
Congrats on the best seller milestone. So incredibly happy for you, and inshAllah wish you continued success in all of your life’s endeavors. Wholeheartedly appreciate the learning and knowledge that you so graciously share. 👏
Appreciated man, thanks for the generous support from early on - meant even more in those earlier days!
👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼🏆☝🏼
First, huge congratulations. The content is always first rate and what tremendous discipline it must take to deliver to such a high standard every week. I will say, don't get burnt out. I wouldn't be upset if there was a week off from time to time.
I think you had a poll a couple of weeks back about how to treat the content and I voted to make it 100% paid. There might be an option in between, where the entire content isn't given away a week later. This content doesn't seem to be particularly time sensitive to me, I think I just proved it going back through the last month that I missed. I just feel allowing people to enjoy the content free, only a week later, is too generous. You know what your stats are, so what do I know, but I might try a model where maybe one week is free as a trial but the rest remains locked. I think you might see more conversions. My 2 cents, perhaps not actually worth 2 cents :D
Ok, off to read the rest of this week. Again, congrats and thanks!
Hugely appreciated man, thank you.
Interesting reflections, and they resonate very much. To add some context: The fully paid option will, I think, guarantee reduced reach/readership which is not a good outcome, because ultimately this is supposed to be a community loudspeaker on major issues (in addition to the other random content which is nice but not necessarily 'topical' - Indeed, that is exactly what you refer to when you said most of it isn't time sensitive...
So perhaps you're right - at the moment it is 2 weeks delay (has been 2 weeks, not one, for about 6 months or so). Perhaps I will increase it to 3 weeks from next week... Just because you suggested it 🤣
Congrats F!! It’s a nice milestone to achieve so quickly. You brought up the fact that a lot of collectors view this hobby as a disease, I see it more so as an addiction - of the worst kind. Almost everyone here has an addictive personality I’d guess, I definitely do!
Thanks Vinay! I actually agree with your definition and tend to use disease and addiction interchangeably, which is perhaps inaccurate. Noted 😄🥂
Congratulation! This is so exciting! And I’m sure it’s just a beginning :D
I enjoy every subject to write about but unfortunately can’t comment on everything because my knowledge is more limited than yours and some other people here :) so best thing is to “listen/read” hehehe
Even though you do incredible amount of work I wouldn’t make it entirely paid because someone may just look out of curiosity and fall into this very enjoyable rabbit hole of information and choose to stick around 🤷🏻♀️
Chinese market was super interesting btw! So lame advice to skip it :P
Fantastic read as always :)
Thank you!! ☺️ I definitely do NOT know more than anyone, just different things.
And it wasn’t a recommendation to skip - just a health warning 😁
Sorry for typos btw my brain is cooked a bit 🫠
Well you know more than average person generally and about certain things your knowledge is just massive :)
Typos are my speciality 🤣
🏆‼️💯
First of all, congratulations on an incredible accomplishment!
Not just the number itself but the quality of content has been outstanding!
Always interesting, educational, challenging, (especially challenging involving some rethinking of previously confirmed biases which is a gift in itself!) …. too many times took me down some unusual side roads and rabbit holes 🕳️ I might never have been aware of!
An unusual combination of circumstances this week required me to read this issue in about seven different parts over four time periods the last several nights thus the late comments ….. as we say “man plans, God laughs.”
Insha’Allah here’s to year number 2 🥂….job well done mate! 🧉
BTW I considered leaving the numerous typos in the first draft (because I voice texted it) in here just to show my solidarity with your humility in suffering this affliction but changed my mind 😜😂🫡
Man plans, god laughs. Amongst my favourite sayings.
Truly appreciate the kind words, and endless feedback - really means the world.
Thanks for fixing the typos, inspiring me to do better 😄
🤓🫣😬
Greta post. Congratulations on a year of consistent hard work and posts. I enjoyed the depth of the post on a larger variety of topics. The economic impact of China I found interesting and can’t help but wonder what other secondary and tertiary effects it may have on luxury sector goods globally.
Great job working “Die With Zero” into watch collection. The gifting and giving now as what stuck out most to me. How the impact early, even though it’s less has a larger impact on the recipients life. Much like your section on discounted rate and opportunity cost. There is a compounding effect, just it quantifies in a different way.
Thank you, and pleased you found SDC - definitely amongst the most voracious consumers in recent memory... although this one guy, Bruce, definitely takes the cake 😂
I think China has a bigger impact than the west cares to admit... both from a production, as well as a consumption angle.
Ha! Glad you liked the 'Die with zero' bit - was a lovely idea, and appreciate you suggesting it. The compounding you speak of, also works in a way I hadn't appreciated: As you make more memories, the positive mental upside causes you to seek out opportunities (to make more memories) even more than you would before... this 'willingness to make an effort', clearly, compounds too. Isn't that wonderful?!
Compounding memories are wonderful.
Congrats buddy...thx for making this happen every week...I'm always looking forward to it!!!
Appreciate you taking the time, thank you!
Industrial Design awards are the similar (IDSA, Red Dot, G-Mark, etc.) with similar conflicts of interest. Large design departments typically have a yearly budget and submit products they think have a good chance of winning depending on the category and association they are submitting to. Most have fees associated with submitting. A key KPI for those who manage this for the brands is the percentage of "wins" for the budget spent on submissions. I imagine smaller brands/departments agonize over how much of their limited resources should be devoted to the chance of getting a win and the recognition/marketing value it provides.
Indeed- I'd imagine many use their entire 'marketing budget' on something like this, and spend nothing anywhere else - just because of lower production not needing any more marketing than one of these events.