That Hodinkee travel clock sure hit some raw nerves...

**mlcor** · Jul 27, 2020, 06:29 PM

Apparently, their IG site blew up with venom, causing them to actually shut down comments for a while. Some people complaining that the price was ridiculous (which it is), others that it was "insensitive" to come out with such an expensive piece right now, others all of that plus saying a travel clock during a pandemic was a terrible idea.

I don't do IG, but saw this had happened when I innocently went to Hodinkee's home page and found this open letter:

https://www.hodinkee.com/

Some of the comments following it were pretty thoughtful, others not so much. Personally, the price seems like a rip-off to me, but so do the prices of a lot of their LEs, which is why I don't have any interest in them. I don't think the justifications in their open letter are particularly persuasive. And yet the most compelling argument in their favor is that they certainly quickly found buyers for all 96 of them.

**Sedi** · Jul 27, 2020, 06:45 PM

If they simply had put some more effort in this, they could have avoided the shitstorm. At least make a decent prototype that doesn't look like the watch was assembled by some school-kids. And decorate the movement and use hands that don't look bent on the pictures. Easy. I wouldn't mind the fact that it's a travel clock. That was actually a good idea. So IMO a good idea badly executed and way overpriced of course. Even for a series of just 96 pieces. "Economics of scale"? Yeah, right. My sister works as an upholsterer -- she wouldn't even know what "economics of scale" are as almost everything she does is a "one off" piece. She could probably glue that leather on in a half hour. And it would be straight. So their excuse of how expensive it was to make those is nonsense in my eyes. They simply charged the maximum possible. Well, others do that, too, but at least on some wristwatches for the same price, it looks like they put some effort in and not just "cashed in" with the hipster crowd.

**skywatch** · Jul 27, 2020, 07:17 PM

I suppose the fact that there were buyers justifies the product in a purely capitalistic way. It's easy enough simply to ignore dumb products and look the other way. In any case, I have ogled vintage LeCoultre travel clocks on eBay which looked like beautiful specimens for $500 and less. Easy to ignore the Hodinkee scam. (I do find it somewhat amusing that people got mad about it, though...

)

**mlcor** · Jul 27, 2020, 07:34 PM

Also, when I hear "96 rare movements," I think "no spare parts if something breaks in my $5000+ travel clock."

**tribe125** · Jul 27, 2020, 08:05 PM

“Also, it might be hard to believe, but we're a very small company.“

Bit of a giveaway there. It’s always looked like a one-man band to me, aided by freelancers and service providers. Which is fine if you have no pretensions to something else.

Social-clymers...