Entries by Ian Skellern

Winners & Losers In The Watch World Of 2021 And Beyond: There Will Be Fairs, Jim, But Not As We Knew Them

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The point of the large watch fairs is (or was) the sheer scale of their visitor numbers. In no other venue can brands meet with so many clients, collectors and press, and vice versa. If a large fair is limited in visitor capacity by health restrictions, can it still dominate the launch cycles of big brands? Ian Skellern examines likely winners and losers of the brave new world of exhibitions in 2021.

Watch Brand Marketing And Communication Teams: Here Are 3 Relatively Easy Steps That You Can Start Taking Right Now To Maximize Your Efficiency (And Sales)

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In the old, pre-COVID-19 watch world, the far-too-prevalent low standard of press material supplied by brands to journalists was amply counterbalanced by the sheer number of journalists and collectors around the world supplying lots of hands-on, third-party information, opinion, and photography. Now that’s gone, so it’s time for brand marketing and communication teams to lift their games. Ian Skellern shares three easy ways how.

To Mr. Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of Bulgari: Geneva Watch Days In August 2020 Isn’t Optimistic, It’s Delusional!

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“Dear Mr. Babin, I’m speaking as a fan, but you are sure making it difficult. It gives me no pleasure to take shots at you like this, but if you keep standing up and saying these things, I’ll keep rebutting you,” Ian Skellern begins his second open letter on this subject . . .

Why We Will Keep Writing About Watches You Can’t Afford, And Why You (Hopefully) Will Continue To Read This Under The COVID-19 Cloud

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Have you seen the prices of high-end (and not so high-end) wristwatches? Crazy! None of us can afford the watches that we want, and the world economy is tanking. So in the middle of the coronavirus crisis why are we still publishing pointless stories about watches and why are you still reading them? Ian Skellern shares his theory here.

Breguet Classique 5177 Deconstruction: What The Naked Watchmaker Didn’t Reveal – Reprise

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The Naked Watchmaker (TNW), aka Peter Speake-Marin, does a series of deconstructions of a broad selection of modern Breguet watches and movements, starting with the Classique 5177, a relatively simple (for Breguet) three-hand dress watch with date. Here Ian shares a few details that The Naked Watchmaker didn’t reveal.

Open Letter To Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin: I’ve Cancelled My Geneva Watch Days 2020, Now It’s Your Turn (But You Should Have Been First)

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Despite feeling that Geneva Watch Days was wrong, hope, stupidity, and self-interest prevailed enough to cause Ian Skellern to hold off on canceling his accommodation in Geneva previously booked for the now-canceled Watches & Wonders 2020. He was hoping organizing brand Bulgari would cancel the event first and take the decision and uncertainty out of his hands. But it didn’t. Now’s the (well-overdue) time to say bye-bye to Geneva Watch Days 2020 in his opinion.

Geneva Watch Days 2020 Is On: Good News Or *Covid-19 Cough* Desperate, Short-Sighted, Money Grab?

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Ian Skellern’s feelings regarding the rapid series of announcements of watch events like the cancellation of Watches & Wonders and Baselworld as well as the full-steam-ahead project Geneva Watch Days have been equally quickly undulating: from initially being enthusiastically for, Ian ended feeling against Geneva Watch Days. Why put anyone’s health at risk, especially with perhaps little in return but a few photos and a persistent cough? But it is a tough call.

All Gold On Earth Came From A Big Bang (Not That One) In Outer Space – Reprise

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The most common choice for classic dress watches has to be gold, but have you ever wondered where that gold originally came from? And by “originally” Ian Skellern isn’t referring to a gold mine on earth but the original source of the gold before it even arrived on our planet. Spoiler alert: it involves an explosion, a very big explosion!