Friday, October 4, 2024

Whodinkee Now?

Tempus Fugit! (that's time flies for those of you just tuning in).


I woke up (or more aptly, was woken up) by the Executive Publisher hoping to get an early (3:30 AM) breakfast. After donning my butler's togs and serving her entree, I toddled back upstairs and attempted to get back to sleep. I did a perfunctory scan of various sites and there was Ben Clymer once again front and center with a big announcement. In all honesty, I found his post a wee bit defensive and definitely self-congratulatory. I wonder how the folks who were made redundant over the years read it?


The headline reads -

Hodinkee Joins Forces With Watches Of Switzerland


In other posts on the subject, it seems a slightly different read has been offered - 


Watches of Switzerland Group buys Hodinkee

Troubled media business acquired for an undisclosed sum.
While I won't go into the heroes and zeroes here - because no information has been forthcoming on the subject, I would say that the whole Hodinkee saga of the past several years has been a mirror image of what is so wrong in Watch Town writ large. Celebrity "chums", limited editions marketed to appeal to the egos of those celebrity chums, and a basic lack of understanding as to the fundamental difference between an elastic and inelastic demand. 

Per Don Hofstrand of Iowa State University's Extension and Outreach program:

An elastic demand is one in which the change in quantity demanded due to a change in price is large. An inelastic demand is one in which the change in quantity demanded due to a change in price is small.

So the next big question for the brain trust at Watches of Switzerland - does Hodinkee's content and influence represent an elastic or inelastic demand sufficient to recoup the amount spent on this acquisition? Was there enough for Tom Brady and John Mayer to get some of their pocket money back? 

The simple truth is that Hodinkee in its previous form was an unrealistic and unsustainable model. And the market spoke. It sounds wonderful to refer to this as a strategic partnership, etc., but in point of fact, it is an acquisition.

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