> they know from a long way away what watch brand is on that guy's wrist

No, they didn’t. The makers of movements and makers of cases were separate. From far away you only know the case on the wrist. Not the movement. (I think Rolex was the first mass-market Swiss watch brand to vertically integrate. Patek may have been the first boutique.)

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creeble 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The movement isn't part of the brand. It's not part of the signal. The case/dial/sometimes band are the brand. And if you couldn't tell them apart, they wouldn't be any good at signaling, the entire point of wearing them.

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JumpCrisscross 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> movement isn't part of the brand. It's not part of the signal. The case/dial/sometimes band are the brand

The movement was the expensive part. Audemars, Vacheron and Patek only made movements. The retailer would then put it in a case. That’s the entire point of PG’s essay.

> if you couldn't tell them apart, they wouldn't be any good at signaling, the entire point of wearing them

Which might lead you to revise your hypothesis around why these watches were bought and made in the “golden age of watches.” Then as now there is such a thing as quiet luxury.

	▲	KaiserPro 28 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> Patek only made movements I don't think thats really true, Audemars & Patek deffo made entire watches in the 50s. Don't get me wrong they also designed movements, but by the time of the quartz crisis, Patek bought in movements from outside. It doesn't really help that omega and tissolt were merged with Certina, ETA, hamilton when then turned into swatch, which basically dominates the entire swiss watch industry along with rolex and richemont(who own Vacheron)

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bee_rider 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It’s sort of hard to unravel what’s part of the brand, it’s all imagination anyway.

The watch manufacturer, as part of their reputation, buys “premium” internal components. And then the hardcore watch-heads get to know that this model has that premium movement. Everybody in the club gets to signal to each other by knowing internal details that outsiders don’t notice (or even details that can’t be noticed, I mean, I assume by nowadays non-premium-brand movements are functionally identical to the premium ones).

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randallsquared 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The whole point of pg's essay is that signaling transitioned into being the entire point of wearing them primarily in the 1980s.

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kridsdale1 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

They were. The Acquired podcast on Rolex really opened my eyes to this whole world. They defined the playbook in the 1930s that Apple repeated in the 80s and especially 2000s.